Tonight: Tropical storm conditions, with hurricane conditions possible. Rain and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. East wind 33 to 38 mph increasing to between 36 and 46 mph. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph.
Watching the TV channels last night and then this morning, it's obvious they're searching for the least little thing to report. It's like here in the midwest when they forcast a deep snowstorm and it doesn't happen. They get out with the cameras and show the 1 inch of snow by scuffing through it with their shoe daintily for the TV cameras.
The MSNBC and weather channel are counting how many people are without power and mentioning it every two minutes.
Rather than saying that this hasn't been as strong as they predicted (hoped) and that its more like a tropical storm, they act like they're pushing one of the political candidates that they love: they just keep on pushing their story line and trying to twist the facts to fit their fantasy.
Non event afaic. Flooding looks like the worst of it and shore line damage. Many trees down as ground was saturated and not much needed to topple the low root system trees.
Our power blipped over night but stayed on. We are fortunate this morning.
NYC and Long Island are getting the tropical storm effects now.
I guess in the next few days we will find out what kind of dirty tricks the politicians pulled on us while they had everyone distracted with the storm that wasn't.
New Jersey governor Christie expects storm damage in billions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Sunday that he expects damages from Hurricane Irene to run into the billions of dollars along the state's Atlantic coast and from inland river flooding.
"I've got to imagine that the damage estimates are going to be in the billions of dollars, if not in the tens of billions of dollars," Christie said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" program.
You expressed my feelings exactly. They continue to hype it to the Nth degree even as I write this. Compared to what they were predicting/expecting, it was "THE DUD OF A LIFETIME" instead of "the hurricane of a lifetime" that they were predicting on the national news. Other than some coastal flooding NYC had hardly any damage at all. The winds may have gusted to about 50 mph once in a while there early this morning.
Watching the TV channels last night and then this morning, it's obvious they're searching for the least little thing to report.
Exactly! I was telling all my friends and others that would listen how annoyed I was about the Weather Channel and all the rest of the national media about this. They have been nothing short of disgusting.
The truth is that the dire warning beforehand suited both politicians and journalists. Just as with the minor earthquake that shook the east coast last week causing no loss of life and virtually no damage, Irene became a huge story because it was where the media lived.
For politicians, Irene was a chance to either make amends or appear in control. The White House sent out 25 Irene emails to the press on Saturday alone.
There were photographs of President Barack Obama touring disaster centres and footage of him asking sombre, pertinent questions. With his poll ratings plummeting, Obama needed to project an aura of seriousness and command. He was all too aware that the political fortunes of his predecessor George W. Bush never recovered after the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005.
From talking to some relatives this morning, it looks as if there was actually more damage done in southern New England due to squall line thunderstorms in narrow bands than what was reported near the center (NYC) of this so called "hurricane of a lifetime". The gusty winds in these squalls in MA, RI,and CT nicked out power for a lot of folks including my brother (living near Gillette Stadium) and my sister in Lakeville, MA.
Funny how so much of that stuff comes from Britain, the most self-destructive nanny state on the planet - and they complain about the US. Their days are numbered.
Don`t make `litttle` of the hurricane of a lifetime They only have one every sixty five years? so this is it......
Down here in Charleston, I don`t dare even express an opinion as I know what can happen in the blink of an eye total fear and horrible destruction, which when I was younger was quite exciting, as we were brought up to stay with your house and protect it....That was before insurance was available...Now everyone rides it out in their car stuck in traffic Tony
For some reason the UK manages to get better photo coverage of events than our media. At least on the Web. They had great coverage of the Tsunami. I don't think any US media covers major events worth a hoot.
If it's not open tomorrow it will not be because of flooding in NYC. The City has had little flooding. If it's not open it will be due to lack of public transportation. I'm not sure if everything will be back to normal with transportation tomorrow after they shut everything down. My guess is that the stock market will be open.
I was skeptical of the hype regarding this weather event until I see the results of the HEAVY RAIN/Surge that resulted in huge flooding around the shore and any body of water inland as well. Also, all low lying areas were inundated.
While the wind speed did not live up to the hype, the flooding did not disappoint
Regardless of the media hype, nothing could be worse than the loss of life, and let's all be glad the storm was NOT the storm of a lifetime... because there would have been a lot more damage and more loss of life.
Bottom line is that it is a very good thing that the storm didn't live up to its billing. In the end, it didn't even qualify as on of the top ten worst storms.
While the wind speed did not live up to the hype, the flooding did not disappoint
Very true!. My main gripe all along was with the wind speed. Can you imagine how much worse it would have been, if there were sustained winds of say 100 mph or greater?
A couple of the PHD meteorologists on the Weather Channel were quoted as saying on Friday and again yesterday that it will not matter much in the final outcome if this reaches NYC as a Cat 2, Cat 1, or even a strong tropical storm. These dudes were full of skata (Greek for crap). It would have been catastrophically worse of the winds were a lot stronger.
> It would have been catastrophically worse of the winds were a lot stronger.
After Saturday evenings comments on Drudgereport and elsewhere that the winds weren't up to the advertised level, I heard talking heads today explaining the winds higher up were going much faster than at the ground level. That must have been to justify the Cat 1 rating.
Someone this evening was on showing how the winds eastbound behind the tropical storm center were much faster than the winds at ground level ahead of the storm center.
The talking heads seemed to be making excuses all around. And they were using the flooding due to the heavy rain on already rainsoaked grounds to explain that the lack of winds was being compensated for by the extra flooding.
I just wish these East Coasters would care as much about storms in the Midwest, be they rain or that awful White Death stuff we get in winter. A local joke is that the White Death is coming because all the elderly rush out and crowd the groceries at the scare tactics by the TV weather guys about approaching storms, often 1-2 days away. Then the snow comes and it's _nothing_ like the build up by the TV (and radio) guys. The three local stations compete to see who can be the most terrifying to the older people.
Charlie, you are spot on again. The winds on the back end were stronger than the front!
I this was a Cat 2, NYC would not recover for 2 weeks. After the eye past our lat, it was projected that Zone 1 in NYC would not have to cut power because the underground electrical system was not in danger of flooding.
Wind speed was 75 at the time the eye wall reached NYC. Hardly breaking my speed limit!
The intensity lies in the flooding, however. This storm was extremely wide and wet. Very devastating to the low lying country. :sick:
Charlie, you are spot on again. The winds on the back end were stronger than the front!
Thank you for the compliment OW! Yes the winds were actually stronger in parts of NYC this afternoon with sunshine than they were when the center (refuse to call it an eye since there was no eye) passed through early this morning. There were gusts of greater than 60 mph this afternoon. The reason for this is very simple. The sunshine caused a lot of turbulence/mixing and the result was stronger wind gusts to reach the surface.
As I consider that the entire United States Eastern seaboard has been inundated with too much water... one thing comes to mind...
MOSQUITOES!!
Every time I visit the South or the East, I am amazed at the number of those horrible blood-sucking disease-spreading insects.
They breed quickly by the billions in standing water. It only takes a tiny amount of standing water to produce tons of mosquitos. And there will be soooo much standing water along the entire East Coast.
I can't even imagine how many mosquitoes will result.
EDIT: I sent an email from "Tagman" to Anderson Cooper on CNN, mentioning the threat of mosquitoes... wondering if he or any other reporter will follow up. It'll be interesting to see.
Oh no ! Now they will be issuing mosquito warnings !!
" A large swarm of mosquitoes was sighted moving north at 40 mph. These mosquitoes were as large as hummingbirds and have been known to take down small deer. WARNING..DO NOT GO OUTSIDE".
Obama will create another government entity... MOSQUITO ABATEMENT COMMAND CENTER (which will become known as BIG MACC), and he will provide us all with on-site status updates on their war against the deadly mosquitoes. Any citizens that violate BIG MACC's mandatory curfew will be arrested and placed in quarantine in case they are carrying deadly contagious diseases from mosquito bites. If they resist arrest, deadly force will be allowed, and they may be shot... bodies will need to be incinerated to avoid spreading any contagious diseases.
Could be. Obviously parts of New Jersey were impacted by the storm, so it would be no surprise if his property has been affected to some degree, or subjected to a power outage and/or a lack of normal infrastructure services.
Len is a very smart and resourceful individual, so I have full confidence that he and his family will be just fine... even if they have been inconvenienced for the short term.
Like you, I am anxious to hear from him to know the status of his situation.
We all care about Len around here, and are hoping for the best.
(Reuters) - The Obama administration is considering unveiling new plans next week to revive the ailing housing market and reduce foreclosures, including an effort to help troubled borrowers refinance their mortgages.
That sounds ok? sort of.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA, which together account for 90 percent of the U.S. residential mortgage market, would be given permission to begin refinancing plans for borrowers that are current on their mortgage payments and not considered seriously delinquent, according to the sources.
They tried this and it was a flop. If you are making your payments the bank will not talk to you. If you are delinquent you are not a good risk. Too many sub prime loans given to people that will not qualify today.
allow more borrowers to take advantage of low mortgage rates, including allowing borrowers to refinance even if they owe a significant amount above their property's current value.
The idea is to help struggling borrowers refinance at current low interest rates, which would cut their monthly payments and free up cash for other spending. The hope is that this could drum up overall business activity.
If you refinance a home that is upside down it is still upside down. There is no incentive to stay. I am real curious how this will create JOBS? How will this get people into the millions of foreclosed homes? People need jobs before they can qualify for a loan. And it has to be more than a job at McDonald's part time. :sick:
I am VERY concerned about yet another plan from the Obama administration. Based upon his record there is nearly a ZERO probability that it will be any good.
As we end this month, I have somehow managed to bring my portfolio nearly all the way up to levels I had in the Spring!! Higher than when I first opened up the Scottrade account! That is truly amazing to me. As a result, I am ringing the register today and scaling down my equities exposure as we will be moving into what is historically a volatile September.
Also, consider that there will be a jobs report Friday, as well as moving into a Labor Day weekend, followed by Obama's "plan" next week.
All that said, I have sold about 3/4 of my positions... leaving around 1/4 of my original position... but still in equities significantly enough so that I do not abandon my investments altogether. I will buy more on the next big dip, which I feel certain will happen in September.
I don't want to be greedy when I have been sooooo fortunate to restore my account so quickly.
I have not done any buying or selling and am still about $24k below the Spring peak or -7% of my IRA and Scottrade portfolio. I just have a hard time selling anything.
I am not too worried what Obama will do, now that we have a little common sense residing in the House. Though everyone of his executive orders has killed more jobs and created ZERO. I am still furious about him raiding the Gibson factory. It was purely political as they are non union and support the GOP.
I am really getting worried about Len and his family now. There has been very severe flooding in parts of NJ. I hope he was not affected. Maybe OW can chime in and give us an update.
I am not too worried what Obama will do, now that we have a little common sense residing in the House.
I am definitely worried. This guy has an agenda, and it's not a good one. It will increase the dependency of more Americans on a much larger government.
Consider that about half of Americans pay no income tax at all. He wants to increase that number at the expense of the hardest working Americans... putting ever-increasing tax burdens upon small businesses and upper-middle class taxpayers. The truly wealthy will never be hurt, and many of them fund his campaign.
Those non-tax-payers which represent more than half the voting population are therefore capable of re-electing him, and motivated to do so, since they pay no income taxes, while the wealthiest are capable of manipulating the media and providing massive campaign funds.
Just think about that. It's a dangerous formula, to say the least.
I saw the images of the Patterson, N.J. area, and other areas of N.J. that were completely flooded... but I have not heard reports that it is a deadly situation. I think Len and OW will chime in when they are not so busy with more serious and important matters.
I am confident that they will ultimately come through this OK, and will eventually have the opportunity to tell us about their challenging experiences as a result of the storm.
Posting here may not be possible for them currently, and even if it was possible, I would venture to say that it would not be their highest prioirty right now.
I am in complete agreement with you on Obama. He is not a stupid person and he knows exactly what he is doing. He wants to bring down the America that you and I know. Period.
That said, I also agree with you on paring back somewhat..just hope I can pick the right ones to sell.
It is all over the financial news today that the impending sale of T Mobile to AT&T most likely will not happen now because of gov. interference. Curiously, no one has mentioned that this is really good news for Sprint. I bought S a couple of weeks ago on the news that they would get the new I-phone, so this is even better. S is up about 8% today but still cheap.
Approximately 228,000 Jersey Central Power & Light customers statewide remained without power late Tuesday afternoon, down from a peak of about 670,000 customers affected by Hurricane Irene-related outages, according to company spokesman Todd Meyers.
As of 5:08 p.m. Tuesday, electricity was still out for approximately 77,977 customers in Monmouth County ( where Len and I live).
To assist in the cleanup, crews have been deployed to New Jersey from JCP&L’s sister companies in Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio, Meyers said.
They are making progress fast!
2:29 PM EST
Utility crews continue making progress restoring service to customers who lost electricity four days after the first bands of Hurricane Irene reached New Jersey.
There were about 154,000 homes and businesses without service at mid-afternoon Wednesday.
It is all over the financial news today that the impending sale of T Mobile to AT&T most likely will not happen now because of gov. interference. Curiously, no one has mentioned that this is really good news for Sprint. I bought S a couple of weeks ago on the news that they would get the new I-phone, so this is even better. S is up about 8% today but still cheap.
I had 10,000 shares of Sprint. With that huge percentage increase I sold 5,000, then decided to sell an additional 4,000. I only have 1,000 shares now. I think ALMOST EVERYTHING is going to decline significantly in September/October.
It is hugely obvious by the market's performance that I did the right thing in selling most of my positions this morning.
I feel TERRIFIC. I think it is a miracle that I restored my account so quickly.
Now, I will be more careful than ever and wait for the right opportunity in September/October. I am convinced there will be another BIG dip before the market takes off again. That's when I'll buy again.
EDIT: Regarding Sprint... you might want to consider that Sprint owns over half of CLWR (Clearwire), and I would suggest you pay atention to CLWR as well as Sprint. I own a small amount of CLWR, and it was up over 11% today.
The entire storm was a huge rain event which devasted many low lying homes and roadways. It should be one of the top 10 on record for costliest hurricanes.
In Parsippany, NJ, they filmed a Holiday Inn where the guests went to sleep and woke up stranded due to 4 feet of water that crept up on the hotel Monday night!! Yikes! The Willowbrook Mall down the road is still closed.
Oceanfront towns were the hardest hit along with low lying areas around rivers as you would expect. Vermont lost 3 covered bridges which are historic in nature and devastating in it's own right. One was insured for $1 MM and will be rebuilt.
I had no damage and I did not loose power for more than 15 minutes. Looks like Len might still be out...
I had no damage and I did not loose power for more than 15 minutes.
That's fantastic and great to hear.
Eventually Len will fill us in on his status.
I am still concerned about the mosquito population that will explode beyond imagination along the entire East Coast... due to thousands of square miles of standing water, the perfect breeding conditions for mosquitoes, which can typically reproduce dramatically in just one cup of standing water.
No flooding here Charlie and no damage to the house or property but we did have over 10" of rain. I'm on high ground so flooding is never a concern here. I do have a narrow tributary of Big Brook river (here it's a famous dinosaur artifact hunting ground and somewhere locally theres a trex print in it) in my backyard but it's about 30 feet down. What I was most concerned about is that we steepened a hill that leads down to it when we put the pool in and we had about 12" of rain in the last two weeks before Irene. So I was worried about it collapsing in spots but it held up very well as I have put a lot of small trees and shrubs on it. I had also lowered my swimming pool water 12" from the top before the storm so that it wouldn't overflow and I needed almost every inch of that. We lost power near 11 Saturday night and it came back on at 2:15 this morning so we were down about 76-77 hours. I'm well and septic (my whole town is) so we do not have city water. We were using pails of water from the swimming pool for flushing. In 15 years here I never had power out more than about 8 hours and that was not storm related. The longest storm related outage was about 5 hours. We almost put in a natural gas generator last December but then we got all the snow and it was on the ground till mid March so we just let it escape. But I'm putting in one now. In winter this would have been much worse and several years ago some folks in my town were without power in a bad ice storm for over a week. The storm was very bad, but nothing like advertised, at least in the winds department. But there was a 2 hour period that was worse than any storm I ever experienced as the rain and wind was so intense that it felt like marbles were hitting the windows. Incredibly I did not lose any trees nor were there any knocked down in the immediate area.
We are all glad to hear you survived. I have thought about a gas gen set as well. 77 hours is a long time without power. I felt for the people in OK last winter when many were out over a week. Not good in the winter.
Wow, more than 3 days without power is awful in this day and age. It is wonderful to hear, however, that you and your family are in great shape now.
The media is obviously using the historic type rains and flooding to justify their never before seen hype. Obviously, the flooding has been devastating for a lot of folks in the Northeast. However, my contention all along was that Irene was never going to live up to the hype in terms of wind. Can you imagine what would have happened if it was a Cat 2-3 when it hit NJ and NYC? That's what they were forecasting Thursday and Friday. Even Saturday they were going bonkers. The Weather Channel was pissing me off beyond belief. The center of Irene passed right over you very early Sunday morning and then right into NYC. I don't think the max sustained winds were any stronger than 50-60 mph. In fact, the City itself probably did not have anything stronger than 40-50 when the center was passing through.
In any case, the flooding and loss of power was of historic proportions.
I want to install a gas generator as well. Home Depot features GE Symphony II generators with power management. I will get a price this week for my house.
Charlie, I tend to doubt we even had 60mph winds. Trees came down because the soil was so saturated from rains before Irene even got here. In fact about 3-4" of rain from Irene fell with almost no wind. The highest gust I saw was in eastern Conneticut at 72mph. I never even saw the TWC meteorologists in eastern NC get a hurricane gust let alone a hurricane wind. And they were acting as if getting strong wind gusts were the same as getting sustained winds. I've long concluded that most hurricane winds at the surface are exaggerated because they are based on estimates off flight level. Either that or a hurricane loses its surface winds before it ever comes ashore. I d'ont think I've ever seen any hurricane output the winds that the NHC says it has. But the winds with Irene were a lot stronger than they were with the other greatest hyped hurricane here (Gloria in 1985). Gloria produced weak winds during the rain and very strong winds in sun after the storm went north because of the mixing. With Irene the winds after the storm were not that strong (maybe 20-30mph with a few higher gusts) mainly I would think because we had a lot less sun. Gloria cleared out to a deep blue sky immediately and gave gusts to 70mph widespread. irene stayed fairly cloudy, even some light showers into early afternoon on Sunday, 6-7 hours after the main rain stopped.
I want to install a gas generator as well. Home Depot features GE Symphony II generators with power management. I will get a price this week for my house.
I think that is a terrific idea. I have thought of adding a system like that here as well. You may not be aware of the history of Malibu, but due to its somewhat limited access on the coast, there have been several circumstances and terrible disasters that left this small beach community completely isolated, with no access and no power.
I have recently had plans approved for a small addition to our "little house near the beach", and if we follow up and actually build it, I would expect to install some sort of generator at that time. I like the idea of a natural gas generator, except that in the event of an earthquake, the natural gas would be shut off. I would prefer to have some sort of dual-fuel capability, if there is such an animal.
It's those rare times when it might be needed that can make all the difference in the world... as you and Len just experienced.
Let me know which model you ultimately decide to purchase.
Comments
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Tonight: Tropical storm conditions, with hurricane conditions possible. Rain and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. East wind 33 to 38 mph increasing to between 36 and 46 mph. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph.
WTF???
Regards,
OW
The MSNBC and weather channel are counting how many people are without power and mentioning it every two minutes.
Rather than saying that this hasn't been as strong as they predicted (hoped) and that its more like a tropical storm, they act like they're pushing one of the political candidates that they love: they just keep on pushing their story line and trying to twist the facts to fit their fantasy.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Our power blipped over night but stayed on. We are fortunate this morning.
NYC and Long Island are getting the tropical storm effects now.
Regards,
OW
Never let a catastrophe go to waste and all that.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Obama takes charge at hurricane command center
Meanwhile I am sweltering out here is San Diego at 94 degrees. Can't the government do something about this temperature. I like it at 80 year round.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Sunday that he expects damages from Hurricane Irene to run into the billions of dollars along the state's Atlantic coast and from inland river flooding.
"I've got to imagine that the damage estimates are going to be in the billions of dollars, if not in the tens of billions of dollars," Christie said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" program.
Everyone jumping on the FEMA bandwagon.
You expressed my feelings exactly. They continue to hype it to the Nth degree even as I write this. Compared to what they were predicting/expecting, it was "THE DUD OF A LIFETIME" instead of "the hurricane of a lifetime" that they were predicting on the national news. Other than some coastal flooding NYC had hardly any damage at all. The winds may have gusted to about 50 mph once in a while there early this morning.
Exactly! I was telling all my friends and others that would listen how annoyed I was about the Weather Channel and all the rest of the national media about this. They have been nothing short of disgusting.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/100102355/perfect-storm-of-hype-po- liticians-the-media-and-the-hurricane-irene-apocalypse-that-never-was/
The truth is that the dire warning beforehand suited both politicians and journalists. Just as with the minor earthquake that shook the east coast last week causing no loss of life and virtually no damage, Irene became a huge story because it was where the media lived.
For politicians, Irene was a chance to either make amends or appear in control. The White House sent out 25 Irene emails to the press on Saturday alone.
There were photographs of President Barack Obama touring disaster centres and footage of him asking sombre, pertinent questions. With his poll ratings plummeting, Obama needed to project an aura of seriousness and command. He was all too aware that the political fortunes of his predecessor George W. Bush never recovered after the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Funny how so much of that stuff comes from Britain, the most self-destructive nanny state on the planet - and they complain about the US. Their days are numbered.
Don`t make `litttle` of the hurricane of a lifetime
Down here in Charleston, I don`t dare even express an opinion as I know what can happen in the blink of an eye
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365318/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-The-mom- ent-mother-nature-engulfed-nation.html
You got to get out in the thick of things. I would not want to do as the TV reporter did in MD, and get covered with raw sewage.
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/fox-reporter-gives-update-covered-in-sea-foam-20- 110827
I would not step foot in the Ocean on either Coast for fear of being contaminated. The water looks too nasty to me.
I was skeptical of the hype regarding this weather event until I see the results of the HEAVY RAIN/Surge that resulted in huge flooding around the shore and any body of water inland as well. Also, all low lying areas were inundated.
While the wind speed did not live up to the hype, the flooding did not disappoint
Prayers for all of the affected families!
Regards,
OW!
Ditto.
Regardless of the media hype, nothing could be worse than the loss of life, and let's all be glad the storm was NOT the storm of a lifetime... because there would have been a lot more damage and more loss of life.
Bottom line is that it is a very good thing that the storm didn't live up to its billing. In the end, it didn't even qualify as on of the top ten worst storms.
Futures are up at this moment.
TM
Very true!. My main gripe all along was with the wind speed. Can you imagine how much worse it would have been, if there were sustained winds of say 100 mph or greater?
A couple of the PHD meteorologists on the Weather Channel were quoted as saying on Friday and again yesterday that it will not matter much in the final outcome if this reaches NYC as a Cat 2, Cat 1, or even a strong tropical storm. These dudes were full of skata (Greek for crap). It would have been catastrophically worse of the winds were a lot stronger.
After Saturday evenings comments on Drudgereport and elsewhere that the winds weren't up to the advertised level, I heard talking heads today explaining the winds higher up were going much faster than at the ground level. That must have been to justify the Cat 1 rating.
Someone this evening was on showing how the winds eastbound behind the tropical storm center were much faster than the winds at ground level ahead of the storm center.
The talking heads seemed to be making excuses all around. And they were using the flooding due to the heavy rain on already rainsoaked grounds to explain that the lack of winds was being compensated for by the extra flooding.
I just wish these East Coasters would care as much about storms in the Midwest, be they rain or that awful White Death stuff we get in winter. A local joke is that the White Death is coming because all the elderly rush out and crowd the groceries at the scare tactics by the TV weather guys about approaching storms, often 1-2 days away. Then the snow comes and it's _nothing_ like the build up by the TV (and radio) guys. The three local stations compete to see who can be the most terrifying to the older people.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I this was a Cat 2, NYC would not recover for 2 weeks. After the eye past our lat, it was projected that Zone 1 in NYC would not have to cut power because the underground electrical system was not in danger of flooding.
Wind speed was 75 at the time the eye wall reached NYC. Hardly breaking my speed limit!
The intensity lies in the flooding, however. This storm was extremely wide and wet. Very devastating to the low lying country. :sick:
Regards,
OW
Thank you for the compliment OW! Yes the winds were actually stronger in parts of NYC this afternoon with sunshine than they were when the center (refuse to call it an eye since there was no eye) passed through early this morning. There were gusts of greater than 60 mph this afternoon. The reason for this is very simple. The sunshine caused a lot of turbulence/mixing and the result was stronger wind gusts to reach the surface.
MOSQUITOES!!
Every time I visit the South or the East, I am amazed at the number of those horrible blood-sucking disease-spreading insects.
They breed quickly by the billions in standing water. It only takes a tiny amount of standing water to produce tons of mosquitos. And there will be soooo much standing water along the entire East Coast.
I can't even imagine how many mosquitoes will result.
EDIT: I sent an email from "Tagman" to Anderson Cooper on CNN, mentioning the threat of mosquitoes... wondering if he or any other reporter will follow up. It'll be interesting to see.
TM
" A large swarm of mosquitoes was sighted moving north at 40 mph. These mosquitoes were as large as hummingbirds and have been known to take down small deer. WARNING..DO NOT GO OUTSIDE".
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Yes, I think you are getting the picture.
Obama will create another government entity... MOSQUITO ABATEMENT COMMAND CENTER (which will become known as BIG MACC), and he will provide us all with on-site status updates on their war against the deadly mosquitoes. Any citizens that violate BIG MACC's mandatory curfew will be arrested and placed in quarantine in case they are carrying deadly contagious diseases from mosquito bites. If they resist arrest, deadly force will be allowed, and they may be shot... bodies will need to be incinerated to avoid spreading any contagious diseases.
TM
TM, how do you feel about AAPL now? The market in general is acting a LOT better.
Same as you, of course! Love AAPL. Also love my other stocks, some of which are performing beautifully.
I am thrilled with the market recently. Just hope it keeps going up.
TM
Len is a very smart and resourceful individual, so I have full confidence that he and his family will be just fine... even if they have been inconvenienced for the short term.
Like you, I am anxious to hear from him to know the status of his situation.
We all care about Len around here, and are hoping for the best.
TM
That sounds ok? sort of.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA, which together account for 90 percent of the U.S. residential mortgage market, would be given permission to begin refinancing plans for borrowers that are current on their mortgage payments and not considered seriously delinquent, according to the sources.
They tried this and it was a flop. If you are making your payments the bank will not talk to you. If you are delinquent you are not a good risk. Too many sub prime loans given to people that will not qualify today.
allow more borrowers to take advantage of low mortgage rates, including allowing borrowers to refinance even if they owe a significant amount above their property's current value.
The idea is to help struggling borrowers refinance at current low interest rates, which would cut their monthly payments and free up cash for other spending. The hope is that this could drum up overall business activity.
If you refinance a home that is upside down it is still upside down. There is no incentive to stay. I am real curious how this will create JOBS? How will this get people into the millions of foreclosed homes? People need jobs before they can qualify for a loan. And it has to be more than a job at McDonald's part time. :sick:
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
As we end this month, I have somehow managed to bring my portfolio nearly all the way up to levels I had in the Spring!! Higher than when I first opened up the Scottrade account! That is truly amazing to me. As a result, I am ringing the register today and scaling down my equities exposure as we will be moving into what is historically a volatile September.
Also, consider that there will be a jobs report Friday, as well as moving into a Labor Day weekend, followed by Obama's "plan" next week.
All that said, I have sold about 3/4 of my positions... leaving around 1/4 of my original position... but still in equities significantly enough so that I do not abandon my investments altogether. I will buy more on the next big dip, which I feel certain will happen in September.
I don't want to be greedy when I have been sooooo fortunate to restore my account so quickly.
TM
I am not too worried what Obama will do, now that we have a little common sense residing in the House. Though everyone of his executive orders has killed more jobs and created ZERO. I am still furious about him raiding the Gibson factory. It was purely political as they are non union and support the GOP.
I am definitely worried. This guy has an agenda, and it's not a good one. It will increase the dependency of more Americans on a much larger government.
Consider that about half of Americans pay no income tax at all. He wants to increase that number at the expense of the hardest working Americans... putting ever-increasing tax burdens upon small businesses and upper-middle class taxpayers. The truly wealthy will never be hurt, and many of them fund his campaign.
Those non-tax-payers which represent more than half the voting population are therefore capable of re-electing him, and motivated to do so, since they pay no income taxes, while the wealthiest are capable of manipulating the media and providing massive campaign funds.
Just think about that. It's a dangerous formula, to say the least.
TM
I am confident that they will ultimately come through this OK, and will eventually have the opportunity to tell us about their challenging experiences as a result of the storm.
Posting here may not be possible for them currently, and even if it was possible, I would venture to say that it would not be their highest prioirty right now.
Let's be patient and keep the faith.
TM
That said, I also agree with you on paring back somewhat..just hope I can pick the right ones to sell.
It is all over the financial news today that the impending sale of T Mobile to AT&T most likely will not happen now because of gov. interference. Curiously, no one has mentioned that this is really good news for Sprint. I bought S a couple of weeks ago on the news that they would get the new I-phone, so this is even better. S is up about 8% today but still cheap.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Approximately 228,000 Jersey Central Power & Light customers statewide remained without power late Tuesday afternoon, down from a peak of about 670,000 customers affected by Hurricane Irene-related outages, according to company spokesman Todd Meyers.
As of 5:08 p.m. Tuesday, electricity was still out for approximately 77,977 customers in Monmouth County ( where Len and I live).
To assist in the cleanup, crews have been deployed to New Jersey from JCP&L’s sister companies in Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio, Meyers said.
They are making progress fast!
2:29 PM EST
Utility crews continue making progress restoring service to customers who lost electricity four days after the first bands of Hurricane Irene reached New Jersey.
There were about 154,000 homes and businesses without service at mid-afternoon Wednesday.
Len might be on soon.
Regards,
OW
I had 10,000 shares of Sprint. With that huge percentage increase I sold 5,000, then decided to sell an additional 4,000. I only have 1,000 shares now. I think ALMOST EVERYTHING is going to decline significantly in September/October.
It is hugely obvious by the market's performance that I did the right thing in selling most of my positions this morning.
I feel TERRIFIC. I think it is a miracle that I restored my account so quickly.
Now, I will be more careful than ever and wait for the right opportunity in September/October. I am convinced there will be another BIG dip before the market takes off again. That's when I'll buy again.
EDIT: Regarding Sprint... you might want to consider that Sprint owns over half of CLWR (Clearwire), and I would suggest you pay atention to CLWR as well as Sprint. I own a small amount of CLWR, and it was up over 11% today.
TM
Great to hear from you.
Give us some more details.
Damage? Overall conditions?
TM
In Parsippany, NJ, they filmed a Holiday Inn where the guests went to sleep and woke up stranded due to 4 feet of water that crept up on the hotel Monday night!! Yikes! The Willowbrook Mall down the road is still closed.
Oceanfront towns were the hardest hit along with low lying areas around rivers as you would expect. Vermont lost 3 covered bridges which are historic in nature and devastating in it's own right. One was insured for $1 MM and will be rebuilt.
I had no damage and I did not loose power for more than 15 minutes. Looks like Len might still be out...
Regards,
OW
That's fantastic and great to hear.
Eventually Len will fill us in on his status.
I am still concerned about the mosquito population that will explode beyond imagination along the entire East Coast... due to thousands of square miles of standing water, the perfect breeding conditions for mosquitoes, which can typically reproduce dramatically in just one cup of standing water.
TM
Welcome back and take care,
Generator really makes sense.
TM
The media is obviously using the historic type rains and flooding to justify their never before seen hype. Obviously, the flooding has been devastating for a lot of folks in the Northeast. However, my contention all along was that Irene was never going to live up to the hype in terms of wind. Can you imagine what would have happened if it was a Cat 2-3 when it hit NJ and NYC? That's what they were forecasting Thursday and Friday. Even Saturday they were going bonkers. The Weather Channel was pissing me off beyond belief. The center of Irene passed right over you very early Sunday morning and then right into NYC. I don't think the max sustained winds were any stronger than 50-60 mph. In fact, the City itself probably did not have anything stronger than 40-50 when the center was passing through.
In any case, the flooding and loss of power was of historic proportions.
Regards,
OW
You might enjoy these stories from the Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/science/30forecast.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=intebsit- - y%20of%20hurricanes%20still%20bedevils%20scientists&st=cse
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/us/29forecast.html?ref=henryfountain
I think that is a terrific idea. I have thought of adding a system like that here as well. You may not be aware of the history of Malibu, but due to its somewhat limited access on the coast, there have been several circumstances and terrible disasters that left this small beach community completely isolated, with no access and no power.
I have recently had plans approved for a small addition to our "little house near the beach", and if we follow up and actually build it, I would expect to install some sort of generator at that time. I like the idea of a natural gas generator, except that in the event of an earthquake, the natural gas would be shut off. I would prefer to have some sort of dual-fuel capability, if there is such an animal.
It's those rare times when it might be needed that can make all the difference in the world... as you and Len just experienced.
Let me know which model you ultimately decide to purchase.
TM