It's Big, it's destructive...it's called Charley?

I got up a little afternoon to turn on cable news and see the radar images of Hurricane Charley turning sharply to the east of its original track (it has since seemingly shifted and gone more northwards again). At one point it was affecting the entire state when you checked radar, as is its partner in "controlled chaos", the remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie. Also, it had made a giant leap in a few hours from a Category 2 to a collosal Category 4 with roughly 145 mph winds.

Now, original estimates of damage (based on how it was originally thought to be on track to bullseye Tampa) costs would make it the second costliest Hurricane that has hit the U.S., outshadowed by the utter devestation of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which was a Category 5, which is the strongest out there by the current scale. Andrew caused 31 billion dollars worth of damage and killed forty some-odd people.

Why do we give Hurricanes benign human names? Andrew, Charley, Hugo. Seriously, why not name them a little more appropriately, like, oh, say, Hurricane Devestator, Hurricane Mayhem, Hurricane Chaos. These things have sustained winds along the lines of tornados, especially a Category 4 storm. Sure, there are more human names to cycle through each season for each storm, but then just call them Devestator II, Mayhem IV, Kiss Your Home Goodbye III.

Or if you want to stick with the human naming convention, pick people whose names fit the nature of Hurricanes, whether it be Hitler, King George, Napoleon, Bin Laden, etc. The same convention could apply here for the naming once the cycle of names is used up and needs to be gone through again.

And why am I ranting about something a little less relevant than the damage caused by such a magnificent destructive power of nature. I have no idea, I just thought they should have better names than Bonnie and Charley.

The last Category 4 hit the U.S. in 98(?), while the last Category 5 hit in 92 (but wasn't there a Category 4 or 5 that hit the Yucatan peninsula a few years back real hard as well?).

The losses of property and pain caused to people down there is unfortunate, but its almost inevitable that if you have a home in Florida or one of the Carolinas predominantly that sooner or later a Hurricane will damage or destroy your home.

When I see footage of rooftops being blown off, trees and people struggling to stay up, and branches, roofing tiles, and other miscellaneous objects airborne at 80 mph its awe inspiring from a distance.

The flock of media being blown away by the wind because they stand out in 60 someodd mph winds is also very humorous, and a bit tragic, too, especially when it will probably someday cost a journalist his or her life because they were out to cover the big story (kinda like the media correspondents who were killed in action in Iraq). A moment in last nights "Countdown" recapped some of those kind of moments from last years hurricane season, including one where while the guy is talking about what is going on around him the video camera providing the live feed suddenly has the "Battery Low" indicator fill its screen. D'oh!

And then there is the superstitious convenience of how today is Friday the 13th.
----

I've got good news and bad news.

The bad news is that there goes another house to the ferocious winds of this hurricane, leaving yet another family homeless.

The good news is I just saved a load of money on my car insurance. Oh... shit, no! There goes my car! No don't hit that concrete barricade -- Aw Fuck!!