Give that lunatic a camera! by piratenews

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Trooper's reading his radar to write the Tornado a speedin ticket.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:01 AM

BYTEMITE

I could never ever do that. I've been irrationally afraid of tornados since I was a kid. Had bad dreams about them and such.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:06 AM

WULFENSTAR

http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg

Tornadoes are great.

They would scare the hell out of me if I had a home or family to lose... but damn, minus that, I would love to have one pass over my head. (knock on wood).

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:28 AM

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Been there done that, back on 4th of July 1996. Clear summer day, getting ready to go watch fireworks.

Thunderstorm popped up while I was in the shower. Looked out the window and "debris" is moving horizontally. Never seen that before.

Go outside after it's over and 6 giant trees in my tiny yard were snapped on half or knocked over, all missing the house. These were 50 to 100 year old hardwoods and pines.

I got video somewhere of the carnage in the neighborhood. Some houses were cut in half. All roads were blocked. Looked like an airliner crashed in forested areas. Only a tornado could do that, perhaps Cat 2, 1/4 mile wide?

Now I always put on my combat helmet during severe storms, and dream of the day I can afford a "safe room".

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:28 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Rue: Backup lights? BWAHAHAHA!

Wulf: Yeah, agree there but... OVER my head. Definitely OVER. Not around.

Byte: I love violent weather, seen a torando, but I have tornado nightmares frequently. Turns out some of them... the ones featuring the windows going dark, then darker... then blowing in... were spot -on realistic. (shudder)

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 2:49 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Ya know, if I'm already that close, turning around or backing up isn't going to be a safe bet, so I'd just go ahead and punch it and try to push through the bastard. Car's a safer place to be than the house, I'd reckon, since the car HAS been crash-tested, and you already know it can take a 100mph-plus headwind, at least. And a good car isn't that susceptible to crosswinds, either. Plus it's been tested for side impacts and rollover, making it a pretty safe place to be in a tornado. Just remember to buckle up in case you get lofted into the air!

Mike

Old friend charity
Cruel twisted smile
And the smile signals emptiness
For me
Starless and Bible black

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 3:36 PM

DREAMTROVE

Mike,

In this "choose your own adventure" you die. Do you want to play again?

The correct answer is travel maximum speed tangential to the storm. Determining your course is easy. The storm will appear to drift right or left, you head in the opposite tangential direction, ignoring the forward momentum of the storm towards you, just as if you were a rabbit in a road and a car was coming towards you.

I recall a story some years ago from the Mt. St. Helens eruption. Geologists had determined that the blast was going to be akin to a nuclear bomb, so they went in to rescue people, in a last minute effort. They found one guy who wouldn't leave his home, unwilling to believe that his home would cease to exist within the hour.

The four men, experts in their various fields started to flee. The geological physicist recommended that they dig a ditch and bury themselves alive. Two of the other men decided to follow that advice, and the three dug a ditch and shovelled themselves in. The fourth took the truck and decided to outrun the volcano.

When they emerged, they found the ground hot and dusted with ash, but began walking the long road home. About a mile and a quarter down the road they found the truck, the bones of the driver infused into the metal. Nothing else of either remained.

Survival is a tricky game.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 8:06 PM

CENTURY22

Mike, Kwicko

Where did you get that photo of Sniper-Cat?
I can't make out the writing in the corner.

That's a popular theory.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 8:15 PM

GINOBIFFARONI

" I don't believe in hypothetical situations - it's kinda like lying to your brain "

" They don't hate America, they hate Americans " Homer Simpson

Lets party like its 1939

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 8:39 PM

I love see the power of Nature unfold. It is the only thing left that has the potential of humbling the species that considers itself above Nature.

BTW I live less than 30 miles from a volcano that at this very moment is erupting and has been for more than 20 years. I worked on many projects that took me to the heart of the eruption. My favorite shot of me at work:

K5 from Seattle shot this of my buddy Mick and I hard at work. When my wife saw the TV program she said, "I never knew exactly what you were doing out there, but no father of my children is going to be doing that!" And so my work out there ended soon after. Fury of a woman beats volcano every time.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 8:43 PM

BTW Notice the effusion crack behind us. The section of the cinder cone we were standing on only last two more weeks. I had a huge amount of trust in the geologists we were working with at that time.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:03 AM

DREAMTROVE

Century 22,

The answer to that would be "From me" and I'll have to dig.

Gino,

"Houston, we have a problem"

Mangolo,

Impressive footage.
Like the cop, you didn't have a camera?
Also, you're insane. Welcome to the club.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:39 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:

Mangolo,

Impressive footage.
Like the cop, you didn't have a camera?
Also, you're insane. Welcome to the club.

We did. We have hundreds of hours of footage. In fact, in the late 90s, it was hard NOT to see our stuff on TV everywhere- I did the Today Show, Nightline, 20/20. ABC, CBS, NBC News, BBC, about a dozen European news shows. If you get on a flight to Hawaii on Hawaiian airlines, they still play our footage and the visitors channel here on the island has our feature documentary on everyday - http://www.bigislandtv.com/programs.html

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

I've had a tornado pass over my head. You know what they say about hurricanes - how dropping barometric pressure makes you feel threatened ? Tornados do the same thing. And it turns out another person I got to talk to the next day had the same tornado pass over HER head - and she said the same thing. She said it felt 'evil'. But no word can quite describe that feeling.

***************************************************************

Silence is consent.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009 12:08 PM

I've been through a few hurricanes. Right before they hit the sky changes into a kind of purple that you never ever see otherwise and you sweat while standing still. Truly amazing experience. Seen a few tornadoes and water spouts, but never had your personal experience with one.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009 12:33 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

I would LOVE to be a storm-chaser. I had no idea back when I was younger that such a thing existed.

Having a tornado passing over my head was quite by accident though. Let me say up front - it was just a small one. After it went overhead, it landed in downtown Pomona and took the roof off a building, plus knocked down a tree. So it wasn't a big one.

I was coming back from jury duty on the 10 Fwy near Cal Poly Pomona when it went overhead. It felt like there was this evil cloud RIGHT over the roof of my car. It felt very claustrophobic. It was dark, and very rainy. And I literally could see only about a foot of the car's hood.

Seeing as Cal Poly is, among other things, an agricultural college - complete with grazing land and experimental herds - and that I was downwind of it - all I could think of was "We've got cows."

But I didn't see anything flying - not cows, people on bicycles, spinning houses ... or anything. In fact, I couldn't see anything at all.

But damn! it was cool !

***************************************************************

Silence is consent.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009 2:48 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Well, my buddy T would give ya a run for your money when it comes to nuts.

When a hurricane (think it was Isabelle ?) was about to hit Corpus, the TX National Guard dragged him off the beach, surfboard in hand, cussing and fighting all the way.

Dammit, finally some good waves outta the gulf and no one would let him ride them, poor bastard.

My friends are insane.

-F

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009 6:03 PM

DREAMTROVE

just your friends?

Okay, I'm certifiably insane, but I know that.

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Thursday, September 17, 2009 1:38 AM

KWICKO

Oh, hell, Frem - that's not crazy, your buddy's RIGHT. Seriously, have you ever SEEN what pass for "waves" on the Texas coast? Laughable.

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Thursday, September 17, 2009 10:18 AM

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Quote:
Originally posted by Mangolo:

Don't you spontaneously combust whan that close to boiling rocks?

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Thursday, September 17, 2009 10:47 AM

LOL! The air temperature where we were standing was about 130F. We are wearing fire resistant flight suits in that shot. In some of my work I have had my hiking boots catch fire. Sometimes we'd work in area that the ground temperature would go above 450F, but the air would be a "much cooler" 140F. In between shooting one day, I cooked up some Jiffy Pop popcorn right on the ground we were standing on! We've melted lens of camera, even parts of the helicopter we'd fly in on sometimes got melted!

All in all an amazing part of my life.

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Saturday, September 19, 2009 11:32 AM

40 miles from my house

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/archive/2009/Jun/HMMvent_03July2
009_web.mov

More recently, same spot
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/archive/2009/Jun/HMMvent_17Sep20
09_x2speedweb.mov

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Saturday, September 19, 2009 11:46 AM