Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
We have this weather phenomenon . . .
Sorry I've been gone. Been trying to avoid getting killed. While getting new glasses.
No, I haven't been messing around with a jealous ophthalmologist's wife. I went to see a friend who is a top-rate ophthalmologist and who has cared for my eyes for years. And along the way kept hearing the theme to "The Wizard of Oz" playing in my head. From a note I just sent another friend:
Been hearing about the storms on NPR.
Ayup. Six dead. Tornadoes to the left of us, tornadoes to the right . . .
Seriously, we were only about a half hour from being in the wrong place at very much the wrong time. And there was no way for us to know it. On the way down yesterday, the tornadoes blew through the I-44 corridor about a half hour ahead of us getting on there. Lots and lots of billboards, highway signs, and trees blown down just ahead of us. Two tracker-trailers blown over and off the road. We tried to stop in Springfield to get some lunch, and about half the city was without power. It was a bit . . . exciting. In not the good way.
Well, we did make it. And back this afternoon. But for those of you who don't live in these parts, and have always thought that Midwesterners were constantly being chased around by tornadoes carrying cows . . . well, in this case, you're pretty much right.
More after I clean out my underwear thoroughly.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to Communion of Dreams.)
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A little bit of pucker power.
Back in about 1981 I was living in Houston. On a particular late afternoon the warnings were given, the sky turned green and the wind, she did blow.
Later I ventured out to rubberneck. I discovered the tracks of two F1 or F2 twisters running essentially parallel. One track a quarter mile to the NW, the other a half mile to the SE.
Close enough for me!
Tornadoes and stuff
Lightning's the thing that gets me. I've seen two tornadoes on the horizon, and they still seem just distant curiosities, like meteorites or mountain lions. They always happen to somebody else.
On the other hand, I've been struck by lightning -- sort of. It hit a light pole a few yards from me (I think; it was the only high thing in the lot), and knocked me on my ass. I was leaning against a vehicle at the time, and there was a bar of white light that snapped into existence for an instant between the bumper and the pavement, just a couple of feet from my face. I think I just missed getting fried.
I've been mistaken for a superhero once or twice since that time. Not because I developed awesome lightning powers, but because I occasionally leave the house wearing my jockey shorts on the outside of my jeans.
But othre thna that, im fnie. It hansn't fafected me at lal.
Sure it did.
Hank, Hank, Hank - sure it did. It's obvious.
It made you into an atheist.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.