Time is short this week, so here’s a few links:
- Hurricane Keyser Soze: What’s in a name? Absolutely brilliant commentary on how the National Weather Service names their hurricanes.
When Hurricane Isabel came ashore here a few years ago, I openly mocked it, and Isabel dropped a 250-year-old tree on my car. Now, was I aware on some level that the hurricane could do this? Sure I was. But I mocked anyway, and who could blame me? The only Isabel I ever knew was the moody, vaguely goth younger sister of a high school friend. Could she occasionally annoy? Sure. Did she prompt the odd argument? No doubt. Were there times that Isabel was irrational? Of course. But drop a tree on my car? Sorry, no sir.
We want to fear these storms. We really do. But I’ll be damned if I run from Hurricane Florence. I already have had the experience of being in a mandatory evacuation over a Hurricane named Bob. I didn’t want to evacuate. I felt like a grade-A pussy running from someone named Bob. I still feel that way.
So, is it any wonder that thousands of people stayed in harm’s way, determined to ride out Katrina? Of course it isn’t. … What we need is a hurricane named, let’s say, The Penetrator. You tell me that The Penetrator is coming ashore in 24 hours and I am gone like Keyser Soze. Use the names of famous human predators, like Adolph or Idi Amin or Attilla or Affleck, and people will break out in a mad dash for higher ground.
Brilliant. [via Ministry of Minor Perfidy]
- The Secret Life of a Restaurant Critic: The Restaurant Critic for the Boston Globe explains her job in surprisingly interesting detail.
- Speed Demos Archive: This is why I love the internet. It’s just full of people like this who have way too much time on their hands. These guys have compiled a list of their speed runs – attempts to win a game in as short a time as possible. They’ve got videos of each one. Just in case you wanted to watch someone defeat Metroid in 18 minutes.
That’s all for now…