Isabel

I was going to write a post detailing my reasons for why Isabel is a hoax, it's going to be 72 degrees and sunny tomorrow, and we should all head for the beach. After all, Pat Robertson is 7 for 7 in turning away hurricanes this year. (Don't remember any hurricane watches? That's why.)

But I feel bad for making fun of something that, while I think people in the D.C. area are completely overreacting to, could collapse houses and endanger people much closer to the shore. So maybe for Hurricane Jorge, but not this time. I did bet my Mom $5 that Isabel's effect on the D.C. area would be no greater than a bad thunderstorm. This is based solely on the fact that the people around here are reacting the exact same way to Isabel as they do to a "major snowstorm", i.e. 1-2 inches. And you know how weather forecasters are fond of torturing kids on rainy November days by saying: "If it were three degrees colder, this inch of rain would have been almost a foot of snow. A foot of wet, virtually unplowable snow."? Well, the rule of thumb is that 1-2 inches of snow melts into 1/10 to 1/5 feet of rain. So, according to my D.C. fear conversion meter, that's how much rain we're getting. Possibly an inch more.

I understand why everyone near the coast is worried about this hurricane. But is everyone else already bored worrying about terrorists? Osama's kicking over a table right now. "Damn these Americans and their attention spans! What do we have to do, put our threats on DVD?" Is getting worked up a twisted part of the 9/11 healing process, or has it just been a slow summer?

And yes, I'll eat an extra helping of crow on the likely possibility that I'm completely wrong.