AmerLisa

Now you know that's just going to be full of hot air.

ImHere

Nor me. I go from AC to AC to AC right now. The thought of dragging the kids round Orlando right now fills me with dread. Actually the thought of dragging the kids round Orlando anytime fills me with dread.

ImHere

For those interested (cindy your clients may be) Emily has just been upgraded to the most powerful storm in the Atlantic basin in July ever, with sustained winds now at 155mph, just about the same as Hurricane Andrew was in 1992.

By by Cayman. Emily is currently producing waves of over 35ft on top of an (expected) 25ft storm surge. Grand Cayman's highest point is 60ft above sea level.

This is what Denis did to Pensacola with 100mph winds:

AmerLisa

So real estate is pretty cheap in Florida right now?

ImHere

Actually, in all seriousness, there has been talk on the local news that another season like last could indeed cause a burst of the property bubble in Florida (well certain places at least). Its already difficuly (and expensive) to get home insurance here. Another good thrashing and it'll be cheaper to rebuild your house than pay the premiums.

cindyabs

We, ex, son and I went to Orlando back in '94 during the World Cup-there were numerous suffering northern Europeans! The thing that struck me most was the hot father pushing a stroller with a screaming toddler with this grim look on his face that read I'm spending 400 bucks a day to be here and we're all going to enjoy it if it kills us. Not a pretty sight. :scared:

Franklin

*LOL*

OK, this might be boring ... so stop reading here if you don't want to be bored ... "Franklin" is the first name of two important figures in science: Rosalind and Benjamin Franklin (though Benjamin Franklin (BF) is famous for his political efforts, he was a pretty important figure in science/technology). BF discovered that storms travel across land! Again from memory (I don't have time to look it up): but I believe Benjamin Franklin planned to watch an eclipse (lunar or solar, I don't remember), he communicated with his brother who was located in a different state (I think BF was in PA and his brother in Kansas, does Kansas straddle two states ... don't know right now), anyway (again from memory), BF didn't see the eclipse because of bad weather (might have been a storm or just cloudy), his brother saw the eclipse, as luck would have it, a few days later he mentioned to his brother, BF, that bad weather appeared over his area, BF wondered if it was the same weather that stopped him watching the eclipse and made the enormously important discovery that storm systems travel across America.

Someone at the Smithsonian picked up on BF's idea and started collecting weather reports from across America and pinned them up on a map of America which in turn spurned the birth of that part of weather prediction based on tracking storm systems. Now we track hurricanes ... sort of a neat application of Benjamin Franklin's original discovery. *waiting for someone to tell me that there was somebody else outside the USA who discovered that storm sytems travel across land/oceans.

cindyabs

More than likely it was Massachusetts since that is where Franklin hailed from orginally. Kansas wasn't anything until just prior to the Civil War when it became a state-1861-much of a bone of contention on the balance of "free" states and "slave" states.

krizzy

I think the same thing....I mean its to hot to sit in the sun..the kids cry all the time.....its wet.......we always went to FL for Christmas......the best time of year to go if you ask me.......

krizzy

You wait until you can only get State insurance..then you'll know what expensive is.....we have that on Cape right now.....everyone has pulled out thinking we are going to get a big one any time now...we only got none State Ins because of our good credit....and it was 3 time the cost we had before......but a lot cheaper than State....

Franklin

*nods* Could be ... I just can't remember. I think I was only "partly with it" when I half-watched-half-slept through a documentary on Benjamin Franklin. I think it was on PBS or maybe Discovery channel. *not sure*

cindyabs

Well being a Yank myself AND a history buff AND having a bio "The First American, The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin, it is so.

As a scientist, he experimented with electricity, heat, and weather research. He is well known for inventing bifocal eyeglasses, a musical instrument called a glass armonica, and the Franklin Stove for heating indoors.



Personally I like John Adams better, but that's got nothing to do with hurricanes.

ImHere

Bit of a clever chappie. Even if flying a kite into a T-Storm and seeing what happened to the the key on the string when lightening hit it isnt too good an idea....good job he survived that little trick.

cindyabs

He was quite a character-a dirty old man, his illegitmate son was the last Royal governor of NJ. One thing I learned from the biography, that he and his wife were never married-it was a common law relationship. They have a tendancy to skip over that kind of stuff in the school history books,

ImHere

well im shocked! I never knew that about him. I guess we got the abridged version of his bio at school.