Heatwave

[lamaros]

The guy that clears 100 meters around his house and works to save it with his two children, all experienced CFA members, manages to save the place despite other losses.

That someone who has such experience and preperation could have lost the house, that it's still at "moderate" risk, should give an indication of what people were/are up against.

Also, the Victorian Premier, John Brumby, surprises me with the depths of "you stupid fuckwit" he can reach.

[UnSub]

Examples?

I'm still getting over Channel 10 actually using "a day burned in our hearts" as a promo to their Late News. Subtle guys, real subtle.

[Tale]

Cockatoos are trying to out-cute the koalas.

Sulphur-crested cockatoo before the bushfire:




Sulphur-crested cockatoo after the bushfire:

[Tale]

B) Must have been some INTENSE heat. When he describes loosing vehicles and such due to melting.

Something like that was what made me understand it too - I saw a TV interview with a basic, working-class kind of guy who said something like "we ran when I saw what happened to my truck - I was looking out the window and saw my truck didn't burn, it melted, so I grabbed the kids and we ran for the oval (a sports field), and the house burned down behind us".

[Lantyssa]

Floods in Texas

In all fairness, Texas is so large that it doesn't flood everywhere.  Mostly in the lower elevations of East Texas like Dallas and Houston.  W. Texas almost never floods, and as long as you are south of certain areas, tornado season doesn't really apply to you either.  But then you get to places like Pecos and El Paso, where no one really wants to live anyways as it's just dry dirt 95% of the year.

Houston has been designed to drain water exceptionally well.  We have one of the best drainage systems in the world.

Recent developments have complicated that because the builders have found it easier to purposefully skirt the few building restrictions we have, go "whoops" afterwards, and take the fine because they're not going to be forced to tear down a building.  What they've done is mess with ground water retention and it messes up all the planning.

Allison was a once in 500 year storm.  Nowhere can handle 39" of rain being dumped on it in a twelve hour period on top of a storm system passing over the area three times (due to a front pushing it back) and it stalling for a hefty period.  Ike was just so damn large on top of it's high winds that it was bound to do lots of damage to infrastructure.  Just massive in size.  Water damage was mostly the surge along the coast, again a problem simply due to Ike's size.

[Tale]

Westboro Baptist Church verdict: http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20090216_australia-national-memorial-service.pdf

[MahrinSkel]

American media not falling for Phelps' trolling anymore, so he's going after Australia's?

Wonder if this will work:

How the hell is he going to get his freakshow to Melbourne by Sunday?  Or is he opening it up for an Australian franchise (you do have fundies down there, don't you)?

--Dave

[stray]

Someone just needs to beat his ass. The whole idea of "Oh, he just wins if you do that" is bullshit. There is no better incentive to behave correctly than a simple beatdown.

[Tale]

American media not falling for Phelps' trolling anymore, so he's going after Australia's?

If the American online media is not using this stuff in the current internet environment, the American media fails. I don't think "falling for" is what happens anymore.

The Australian media will use this to the max, but not because they fall for it. I spent the last five years in an Australian job with the title News Editor, so please believe me.

I would have put this at the top of the front page because it will outrage readers amid the national mood of sympathy for fire victims and they will click on it and discuss it in the comments with each other, generating millions of clicks which will earn my media employer vast amounts of money, and ensure I am employed/promoted. This stuff is gold for online news sites.

[MahrinSkel]

Please, be our guest.  Maybe you can convince him and his congregation/extended family to immigrate.  The outrage value is played out in the states, and the media realized that covering his stunts just encourages him to make a mess out of the grief of yet another set of innocent bystanders.  So please, take him with our blessings.

--Dave

[Triforcer]

Is it wrong that everytime I see the title of this thread, I think of Flash's Rogues?

[UnSub]

Well, the memorial IS happening on Batman Avenue...