OK, Really Outta Here This Time

We’ve got a room west of I-95 in Del Rey, for three nights. On the current track, the storm will be coming in late tomorrow and Saturday, though the initial bands will probably appear sometime tomorrow morning. Our biggest concern in the house is storm surge, so I’m packing up computers and other documents to take. There’s an 8 PM curfew, so we need to get everything over there before then.

I’ll check back as soon as I can.

See Ya…

We’ll probably be evacuating in the morning, the way things are looking. I hope we’ve buttoned up the house well enough. We’re only a hundred yards or so from the Intracoastal at the north end of Boca Raton, just south of Del Rey Beach, so we may get some flooding, if it keeps heading in the direction that it looks like. Palm Beach and Broward counties may be really plastered. It’s looking pretty scary out there. I hope that we’re not without power for too long, but the size and intensity of this storm looks like it could make Charley a spring shower in comparison, and this may be the new record holder for damage in dollar value if it hits here. Rush Limbaugh (who lives up the coast in Jupiter) may become homeless, at least in Florida.

I still have a few pieces of plywood to attach, but our storm shutters are up. Don’t know when I’ll be able to check in, but I will as soon as possible. I sure picked a heck of a week to move to Florida.

Dark Anniversary

Today is the sixty-fifth anniversary of the German invasion of Poland, which set off the greatest conflict of the twentieth century. The beginning and (especially) end of this war won’t seem quite so clear cut to history. I agree with John Hillen that:

The president should define the goals in the war on terrorism ad nauseum – it will lend strategic and moral clarity to the debate – in much the way that FDR’s Cassablanca conference declaration of unconditional surrender put a cap on what was then a murky WWII alliance strategy. In the meantime, Republican policy makers should grab a copy of Reagan defense official Fred Ikle’s “Every War Must End” and start figuring out how this applies to the war on terror and the way in which this should be put to the public.

Nature’s Judgment?

Paul Dietz points out (in comments) that if Frances hits the cape as a Cat 4 or greater, none of the major facilities are designed to take it. If the VAB, OPF and LC-39 are significantly damaged, it could mean that the Shuttle will retire even sooner than the current plan (i.e., it will never fly again). It would be a strange end to the current trajectory of our four-plus-decade manned space program, but it might be an opportunity for a clean start, since there won’t be an opportunity for a rear-guard action to save the Shuttle (and it may even finally put to rest notions of Shuttle derivatives, though that’s probably asking too much).

[Update a few minutes later]

As Paul mentions, he found the info at the new and improved NASA Watch, now with an infinite percent more permalinks.

Nature’s Judgment?

Paul Dietz points out (in comments) that if Frances hits the cape as a Cat 4 or greater, none of the major facilities are designed to take it. If the VAB, OPF and LC-39 are significantly damaged, it could mean that the Shuttle will retire even sooner than the current plan (i.e., it will never fly again). It would be a strange end to the current trajectory of our four-plus-decade manned space program, but it might be an opportunity for a clean start, since there won’t be an opportunity for a rear-guard action to save the Shuttle (and it may even finally put to rest notions of Shuttle derivatives, though that’s probably asking too much).

[Update a few minutes later]

As Paul mentions, he found the info at the new and improved NASA Watch, now with an infinite percent more permalinks.

Nature’s Judgment?

Paul Dietz points out (in comments) that if Frances hits the cape as a Cat 4 or greater, none of the major facilities are designed to take it. If the VAB, OPF and LC-39 are significantly damaged, it could mean that the Shuttle will retire even sooner than the current plan (i.e., it will never fly again). It would be a strange end to the current trajectory of our four-plus-decade manned space program, but it might be an opportunity for a clean start, since there won’t be an opportunity for a rear-guard action to save the Shuttle (and it may even finally put to rest notions of Shuttle derivatives, though that’s probably asking too much).

[Update a few minutes later]

As Paul mentions, he found the info at the new and improved NASA Watch, now with an infinite percent more permalinks.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!