A Lot More Category Fives Headed Towards The Gulf Coast: My assumption that most people seek out, absorb and base their opinions on scientific facts is wrong. In fact, many don’t, including scientists, a lot of whom work within a rational framework only when it comes to their own line of study. I can’t believe people who are perplexed by the number of high-intensity storms in the Gulf of Mexico region this year, and remain in ignorance of the fact that there are many more to come in the next decade. That we still live on this coast (be it South Padre, Houston, New Orleans, Ocean Springs, Mobile Bay, Pensacola or the Florida Keys), after a Katrina, with a Wilma on its way and many more to contend with, is equal parts disbelief and pride to me.
Incredulity — What are we doing here?
Chutzpah — We are here! And how.
For example, in another entertaining NO Metroblog post, Jack Ware opines, “In about the last 24 hours Wilma has gone from a Tropical Storm to a Category 5 hurricane. Amazing. She’s rolling past the little arrows on the lane in God“s Bowling Alley …” While Jack extends that metaphor into the post rather nicely, I am in turn stunned by people who are surprised at yet another Big Honking Storm in the Gulf. At first, I thought it was laypeople ignoring science, much less treatises on increasing hurricane activity. However, when I mention it to fellow scientists, they look at me like I’m a Cassandra and, golly, they have never heard of such studies before. Even USA Today did a story on it, for the love of mainstream reporting.
[NOAA’s] official outlook is for 12 to 15 tropical storms, seven to nine of them becoming hurricanes … three to five could be major hurricanes, with winds of at least 111 mph … the trend is likely to continue for another decade or longer because a global climate pattern causes ideal conditions for hurricanes: warmer Atlantic waters, more summer monsoons over western Africa and fewer monsoons in the Amazon basin.
Science, people, science! Yet, do not misconstrue my take on these findings to imply abandoning New Orleans or the Gulf Coast. Just recognize that wherever we live in the Gulf states, we are susceptible to this activity and must be prepared to live with the consequences. If anything, it is a call to cities such as New Orleans to shore up their defenses and to be very realistic during rebuilding. Nor is Houston safe from the wrath of Vayu and Poseidon.
Will Durant was not kidding when he said, “Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice.” Add the word climatological to that statement. Any of you feeling especially smug while residents of San Francisco, L.A., Seattle-Tacoma, Hawaii, the Plains states or hilly regions should take some time to think about this, too. Nature happens. And we go on.
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Cellphone Alternatives: Given that my solar plexus still reels from merely peering at my post-Katrina cellphone bills (despite Verizon’s kind credits and refunds), I’ve been exploring alternatives to the daylight robbery that is the American cellphone industry. No more paying for incoming and outgoing calls, while the person on the other end does the same. As internet access returns to New Orleans, I encourage readers to contact friends and family using instant messaging (I’m partial to GoogleTalk myself — less cluttered than other IM software) and my new plaything, Skype. Not intent on boring my readers with the intricacies of Voice over IP, let it suffice to say that you can talk to someone over the computer with a microphone-headphone combo for free. As real, live telephones get involved, so does money.
Would it be encouraging to tell you that my parents (gasp!) managed to install the program, acquired a headset and called me on my laptop last night? Crisp and clear with a decent internet connection, and they’re going to use this technology to call me from their Indian travels. I’m talking about my parents here, winners of Most Insecure Passwords On The Planet five years running. If they can do it, and plan to get through to me from halfway around the world, so can you.
