On Second Comings

According to this Capital Weather Gang post on the current state of the Atlantic hurricane season, it would seem as if a possibility exists that a chunk of what is left of Hurricane Isaac, which struck the Gulf Coast and moved inland last week, may get pushed back out to sea and actually re-bloom.   Interesting enough from a purely meteorological standpoint – I can’t remember a slower moving mass of tropical air wandering about the country for so long.  Indeed, we’re suffering the effects of some of it in the Port Swiller neck of the woods at the moment.  However, here’s the part of the post that I found curious:

[T]he basic point is that there is a disturbance re-entering the northern Gulf of Mexico that has some of Isaac in its “genes”.   However, should this disturbance become a tropical storm, it would get a new name – Nadine – because there is not enough of Isaac’s circulation in its pedigree. As the National Hurricane Center described on its Facebook page:

There have been quite a few inquiries about whether the name “Isaac” would be given to the area of disturbed weather currently located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, if it were to develop into a tropical cyclone. The short answer is no, it would get a new name.

Every now and again it becomes incumbent on ol’ Robbo to issue pronouncements from behind the decanter concerning the issues of the day.  This appears to me to be such an occasion, for I believe that the NHC and CWG representative are wrong:  If the thing goes cyclonic again, it ought to get its old name back. Damn the circulation, it’s still the same wodge of instability.

If for record-keeping purposes some differentiation needs to be made, it could be called “Isaac v.2” or “Son of Isaac” although, being a traditionalist myself, I’d much prefer “Isaac II”.

UPDATE:  According to the Wiki:

Isaac II Angelos (or Angelus) (Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος, Isaakios II Angelos) (September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.

His father Andronikos Dukas Angelos, a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185), married bef. 1155 Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195). Andronikos Dukas Angelos was the son of Konstantinos Angelos, Admiral of Sicily (c. 1085 – aft. July 1166, son of Manolis Angelos from Philadelphia) and Theodora Komnene (b. 15 January 1096/1097) who was the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Eirene Doukaina. Thus, Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan.

Just thought I’d pass that along.  Know why the Byzantine Empire eventually fell?  Because they were all too busy trying to spell out their names instead of biffing the Ottomans.

Why Did The Emu Cross The Road?

Because it was too damned stupid not to……

A plan to allow a group of Australia’s emus to safely cross busy highways via purpose-built tunnels has been rejected because the native birds have “little brains” and are incapable of learning to use the crossings.

I suppose I shouldn’t laugh, since this is An Important Environmental Issue, but somehow the idea of an emu wandering around making little Mortimer Snerd-like “yup, yup, yup” noises amuses me.

The state’s Roads and Maritime Service has proposed underground tunnels to help protect the emus – a measure which has been used to save koalas and reptiles. Elsewhere in Australia, authorities have built suspension rope bridges for others animals such as possums.

However, environmentalists believe underpasses will not save the emus, which lack the intelligence to use them. The population in the area is now numbered at around 120.

“Emus are big birds with little brains,” Mr Whale said.

“There is no evidence that emus have ever gone through an underpass … Farmers open their gate to try and encourage them to go out. Five meters away the emu is butting at a five-strand fence, but can’t work out that there is an opening there that it can get through.”

The Roads and Maritime Service denied the highway would split the emu population, saying officials would ensure the group was left entirely on one side of the new road.

“There’s a lot of effort we’ve put in with our own experts to try to get these emus to move under or over the new highway,” said a spokesman.

Maybe they should try reverse psychology, standing about and saying things like, “G’day, emu mate!  Don’t go in that tunnel, now, it’d be fair dinkum bad on ya’!”

Heh.

I’m reminded of a little throwaway bit by the late, great, Edgar Bergen:

Edger:  Mortimer, just how did you get to be so stupid?

Mortimer Snerd:  Shear determination, Mr. Bergen.   Shear determination.

One Down

Greetings, my fellow port swillers!

Well, Day One of the new school year is in the books and by all accounts it was a success for all the gels.   I don’t have much to say, as I am still absorbing this next step into the Great Unknown, but I thought I’d pass along a pic of the middle gel and her mates in action at her opening ceremonies.  (She’s fourth from the left in the back row, so you can only partly see her, but still….)