What’s In a Name?

My house was destroyed by a hurricane named Sandy! Sandy is a dog that says woof…not a Frankenstorm!  If we are going to watch our houses destroyed and our property blown away and our livelihoods threatened and our families scared witless on a yearly basis, now that global warming is upon us like it’s The Day After! (Did you happen to see the satellite picture of this last storm?) then we are going to have to give them better names!

They need to be names like Dr. Doom! Or Mr. Destructo! Or Megatron! Or Holy Crap! So then at least we can say things to each other like “I remember back in 2K12 when Dr. Doom wrecked my house.” Or, “It was way back in 38 when Megatron came up from the south and ate New York!” Or “Remember when Holy Crap left us with a shitstorm of trouble back in Ought6?”

Now those are names to be afraid of and to get people’s attention.

“Look out! It’s The World Eater! And it’s headed our way! Evacuate!”

Now that just might get folks to pack up and cross the bridges and seek safe haven someplace else.

I know this was a terrible tragedy and I’m really not trying to make light of a horrible disaster. I’m just trying to relieve some anxiety after 4 days of worry and fright in the face of Mother Nature. She really does deserve more respect than to be called Sandy or Irene or Andrew or Ivan.

We need to start giving nature her or his due and name these storms for exactly what they are and then get the hell out of the way!

Weird Science II

If you are having trouble deciding about the never ending debate over global warming perhaps you should ask nature!

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that it’s October 17th and all of the leaves are still green like it’s the middle of summer? I’m in New Jersey near the east coast of the USA and here, Autumn just ain’t what it used to be.

Maybe my memory’s going but I seem to recall piles of smoking leaves back in the 60s right around this time of year and trees with beautifully colored and falling leaves of orange, red and gold. And November was a cold month where the trees were barren and winter was on the way. Yet today I have flowers blooming and grass still growing and leaf raking is somewhere in the distant future… I guess???

It’s definitely getting warmer! I don’t know whose fault it is but perhaps the fact that there were 2.8 billion people on  the Earth when I was born and now there are over 7 billion people 57 years later and another 2 billion 30 years from now (keep your fingers crossed) might have something to do with it…

I know for you naysayers it still snows in the winter (usually) and it’s still hot in the summer (very) but is it staying warmer later where you are?…and getting warmer earlier too?…just checkin’ and just sayin’… but it seems to me that there’s no point in trying to debate… or debunk nature.

Ho Ho Ho and a bag full of leaves for Santa!