Wow, the US SUCKS!

[ShaiGar]

All that damage from a category 1 hurricane (in the southern hemisphere we call them cyclones, same categorisations). Every single year in Darwin, Aus, we get cyclones, from mere tropical storms (considered light rains I went for a jog in the last one), to category 5 cyclones. Normally the cyclones are category 1 - 3. We haven't had any substantial damage here since 1975 which was a Cat5.

• Building houses on the beach,
• Using bad building materials
• Not being prepared for cyclones (though living in the gulf),
• Having inadequate evacuation methods,
• Not having quality warning systems in place,
• Not learning from Katrina...

Yeah, Sucky... Luckily It's not yet cyclone season yet (or wet season for that matter), and i've already bought cloth tape, and put the dyke in front of the shed (bedroom) door, got my LED lanterns and spotlight from the shop, and started a stockpile of batteries.

*insert baden powell quote**

 

[Ermine]

That responsibility would be mostly for the states on the gulf coast. Surprising that they simply let the hurricanes come every season. But yes, the federal government needs to be more responsive for the bigger hurricane catastrophes.

 

[ShaiGar]

Not to mention the idiots built houses on the BEACH, the actual BEACH!

Regardless of hurricanes, have these morons never heard about beach erosion? I knew it was a bad idea to build on sand back in sunday school with the parable about the house on sand, and then later in primary school when they taught us about beach erosion...

 

[Ermine]

You'd thinnk they'd get it after centuries of hurricane seasons. People are severely forgetful.

 

[Thread Killer]

Living right by the beach, I can see the appeal of having a house on the beach. It looks really nice and I wouldn't mind living there, but yeah, there are risks involved. However, we've been really fortunate in my area not to have been hit hard by a hurricane in maybe twenty years.

 

[ShaiGar]

So? Doesn't mean you won't get one. Add to the risk of erosion and having one right on the beach is stupid.

 

[Agent Intellect]

i don't think you can build a house anywhere without some inherit danger. its still funny to me that humans believe themselves to be above the laws of nature, and yet look how we scurry from its supremecy. like cockroaches.

 

[Artifice Orisit]

i don't think you can build a house anywhere without some inherit danger. its still funny to me that humans believe themselves to be above the laws of nature, and yet look how we scurry from its supremecy. like cockroaches.

Don't insult cockroaches; they know when to scurry away.
Humans just stand around and complain.

 

[Agent Intellect]

Don't insult cockroaches; they know when to scurry away.
Humans just stand around and complain.

lol, you're right. i stand corrected.

 

[ShaiGar]

Gah! You're right. I've been a firewarden for a hotel a few times, and the guests just stand around in the middle of the hotel instead of evacuating when the alarms are on full. I wish they burned to death! Clean the gene poll with some cleansing fire.

 

[fullerene]

Listen, lad. I've built this kingdom up from nothing. When
I started here, all there was was swamp. All the kings said I was
daft to build a castle in a swamp, but I built it all the same,
just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one.
That sank into the swamp. So I built a third one. That burned down,
fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up.
An' that's what your gonna get, lad -- the strongest castle in these
islands.

monty python... gotta love it.

 

[Thread Killer]

I never said we won't get one. It might be stupid but I think people'd prefer enjoying a nice spot by the beach in the midst of their meaningless life than care about erosion. Besides, if the houses are bad, what about the condos that are being built constantly (which I am not in favor of).

And I think the stupid things we do in our everyday lives that we don't even think about is even dumber, things that are in our power to change and easily so.

But I'm not disagreeing but it's really not my fault and not my problem.

 

[ShaiGar]

and gods, the womens

 

[EditorOne]

Just a slight twist on all the thoughts.

When I was a young man jobs requiring brain instead of brawn were few and far between, so my first job out of college in 1971 was as a carpenter on the New Jersey shore. It was always custom, architect-designed homes. The construction crew was having lunch one day at a lavish home we were building right smack on the beach at Stone Harbor, and one of the owners, the wife, dropped by to see how we were doing and to chat. One of the old guys told her it was going to be a nice house but it would probably go down if we got another storm like the big one that leveled a lot of the coast in that area in 1962.
"Yes," she said. "My husband and I talked that over. We decide not to build anything we couldn't afford to lose."
Crickets. We were flabbergasted and speechless. This was, for its time, a luxury home.

Like I said, just a twist: Some people can afford to indulge their stupidity.

:-)

 

[ShaiGar]

That's a good point.

 

[grey matters]

It's a funny thing about natural selection. Most of the idoits in this storm have already bred. Like the woman who was evacuated via helicopter just prior to the storm's arrival. She said that her house was on the higest spot in the area so she didn't see the need to evacuate (dispite the manditory evacuation order and the threat of a 20 ft storm surge) until she saw water under her house. well by that time she was flooded in and had to be rescued. Why can't these people do these stupid things before they breed? This extended childhood thing is messing up natural selection and dumbing up the gene pool. Damn it!

Oh by the way we got through the storm ok. We are currently living in the rehlm of darkness. We managed to get on the internet by bodgerring things ( getting electricity from the car and internet via the house modem). It may be 1-3 weeks before we get electricity. Things are really messed up here, the woods behind us looks like a bomb went off. We are getting along well by resourcelfulness and creative engineering. Yes, we have bred... x2.

 

[fullerene]

hehe "have lots of sex. Promote your worldview"

 

[grey matters]

hehe "have lots of sex. Promote your worldview"

funny, funny.

 

[Agent Intellect]

need more eugenics.


its kind of why i don't want any kids. because i'm a weak sack of shit that will never amount to anything, so i don't want to spread that weak gene onto another generation.

 

[Chronomar]

America, as a collecitve, is stupid (if you don't believe me, view previous examples). It is also fair to point out that ALL groups (by the definition of "group") are all stupid in some way, in my opinion. You can even look at large groups of the smartest people and find, that because of the mob-rule type thing taking over, in some ways, they are stupid. EX: Scientists who, as a group, are unable to accept new ideas, and on the flip side, scientists, who, as a group, are too willing to believe in unproven ideas. Alone, maybe they would just be one crazy/bigoted person, but, as a group, it can be threatening to logical thought. Scientists, are not your general idea of stupid, but as a group, they can embody characteristics that are, well, stupid. As can any other sizable group who all think/act/exist together as one entity. That is my really random point.

 

[grey matters]

Never underestimate the stupidity of of humans when they are in a crowd, even if that human is a scientist. Objectivity and logic get lost amongst self importance and competition.

 

[moonpie]

I feel bad because I haven't read everyone's replies, but I have to add in a little bit of knowledge from my area.

We have a similar problem in that we have mountains in the San Gabriel Valley right next to metropolitan region(Los Angeles County).

People put houses up there like crazy because you get a rad view of the whole city and still don't have a horrible commute. Of course, it also never rains here, the soil and vegetation leads specifically to horrible mudslides and, of course, there is that whole huge fault lines/earthquakes thing.

The reason people keep getting their houses fucked up is because someone moves there, tries to stick it out, maybe one or two disasters go by and they stick with it as long as they can and then they bolt, and then a new person with no knowledge or memory of those events moves in where they left and says to themselves, "Wow, aren't I lucky to have gotten this property," as they overlook the beautiful city from their excellent view on the side of a cliff that will turn into a rolling ball of gravel and house the next heavy rain(which, btw, could be years away-gotta love LA!).

So, that is probably what happens in these positions. Not overly educated or stubborn people go where it is most beautiful/prone to danger. If any of you know a woman, you may also recognize this condition in that context as well.

God bless. Vote Alan Keyes/Cthulu 2008!