Personal Musings on the weather and weather alerts

Yeah, I've noticed this kind of thing. We have summers here which regularly break 100 degrees for many days in a row, but in recent years they've started warning people about temps around 90. I don't even go jogging until it's over 90. I visited a weather website which was actually giving names to rainstorms, as if they were hurricanes. Bizarre. Is this the wussification of America? Or just that in capitalism everything is a product and has to be sold by making it exciting and interesting? Both probably.

Or maybe it's just that weather reporters are just weird, like those ones that go stand in the street during a hurricane to show us what wind and rain look like. They just can't help themselves.

Chesterton said:

Yeah, I've noticed this kind of thing. We have summers here which regularly break 100 degrees for many days in a row, but in recent years they've started warning people about temps around 90. I don't even go jogging until it's over 90. I visited a weather website which was actually giving names to rainstorms, as if they were hurricanes. Bizarre. Is this the wussification of America? Or just that in capitalism everything is a product and has to be sold by making it exciting and interesting? Both probably.

Or maybe it's just that weather reporters are just weird, like those ones that go stand in the street during a hurricane to show us what wind and rain look like. They just can't help themselves.

Click to expand...

People need to take precautions when the temperature rises to dangerous levels. 90+ degrees can be dangerous, depending on the humidity level and people's state of health. This has nothing to do with being macho (or any other ridiculous value) but has to do with common sense. If you don't take proper precautions, heat stroke can be fatal.

Heatstroke is a condition caused by your body overheating, usually as a result of prolonged exposure to or physical exertion in high temperatures. This most serious form of heat injury, heatstroke, can occur if your body temperature rises to 104 F (40 C) or higher. The condition is most common in the summer months.

Heatstroke requires emergency treatment. Untreated heatstroke can quickly damage your brain, heart, kidneys and muscles. The damage worsens the longer treatment is delayed, increasing your risk of serious complications or death. (Mayo Clinic)

It has nothing to do with wussification or capitalism and everything to do with intelligence.

pescador said:

People need to take precautions when the temperature rises to dangerous levels. 90+ degrees can be dangerous, depending on the humidity level and people's state of health. This has nothing to do with being macho (or any other ridiculous value) but has to do with common sense. If you don't take proper precautions, heat stroke can be fatal.

Heatstroke is a condition caused by your body overheating, usually as a result of prolonged exposure to or physical exertion in high temperatures. This most serious form of heat injury, heatstroke, can occur if your body temperature rises to 104 F (40 C) or higher. The condition is most common in the summer months.

Heatstroke requires emergency treatment. Untreated heatstroke can quickly damage your brain, heart, kidneys and muscles. The damage worsens the longer treatment is delayed, increasing your risk of serious complications or death. (Mayo Clinic)

It has nothing to do with wussification or capitalism and everything to do with intelligence.

Click to expand...

When do you think human beings figured out that getting overheated can cause problems? Last year? If you need a nanny to live under normal life conditions, that's fine. Lots of people do. I totally respect that.

Chesterton said:

When do you think human beings figured out that getting overheated can cause problems? Last year? If you need a nanny to live under normal life conditions, that's fine. Lots of people do. I totally respect that.

Click to expand...

Apparently some people do need a nanny to tell them when they are in danger of becoming overheated. Those who disregard heat warnings can die because of their ignorance. I hope that you, like many others before you, pay attention to a "nanny" before it's too late!

I have lived in Florida and New Mexico and understand the effects of high temperature: it can kill you. Don't let your pride be the cause of your death.

Chesterton said:

wussification

Click to expand...

@Pavel Mosko @Quid est Veritas?

Encountered something new last night. Since I don't have television, I and a friend went to a sports bar to watch Texas play in the Little League World Series. During the second inning, the game was delayed due to weather. "Ah, rain delay", you say. "Well that happens sometimes in baseball." But no, this wasn't a "rain delay". There was no rain. They named it a "weather delay". You might ask what other weather could it be? Very strong winds? No. Ice or snow in August? No. What's left, fire and brimstone? No. A cloud passed over the ballpark. The TV cameras showed us beautiful clear blue skies of evening just beyond the park, but some clouds passed over the park, and the kids had to be protected, and were not allowed to play. Might be analogous to how adults are being protected since the beginning of 2020.

Baseball delays can last 15 minutes or a couple of hours, or postpone the game to another day, so since I didn't know how long it would be and since I don't drink, I left the bar. By the time I got home, the game had already restarted, I missed it, and my evening was ruined. Thanks, America.

Chesterton said:

@Pavel Mosko @Quid est Veritas?

Encountered something new last night. Since I don't have television, I and a friend went to a sports bar to watch Texas play in the Little League World Series. During the second inning, the game was delayed due to weather. "Ah, rain delay", you say. "Well that happens sometimes in baseball." But no, this wasn't a "rain delay". There was no rain. They named it a "weather delay". You might ask what other weather could it be? Very strong winds? No. Ice or snow in August? No. What's left, fire and brimstone? No. A cloud passed over the ballpark. The TV cameras showed us beautiful clear blue skies of evening just beyond the park, but some clouds passed over the park, and the kids had to be protected, and were not allowed to play. Might be analogous to how adults are being protected since the beginning of 2020.

Baseball delays can last 15 minutes or a couple of hours, or postpone the game to another day, so since I didn't know how long it would be and since I don't drink, I left the bar. By the time I got home, the game had already restarted, I missed it, and my evening was ruined. Thanks, America.

Click to expand...

What?? Who forced you to leave the bar and miss the rest of the game? Don't blame "America" for your poor judgement. It was entirely your decision.

Pavel Mosko said:

wow a passing cloud is a new low.


I think this stuff started in 1980s. That was when the safe Halloween movement started, and kids gradually stopped roving at night in search for candy. And it was decided that with the off chance of someone tampering with candy, putting razor blades in apples, and all kinds of other stuff was too great and instead the city should put on a nice big Halloween party for all the kids at the local fair grounds, or convention center etc.

That was a big milestone.


Making toy guns look less realistic with bright orange tips etc. another milestone.
In my day, if you pointed a toy gun at a policeman there was a chance he might freak out.... So instead we had to learn manners, but we enjoyed better toys that made us feel like real army men or bank robbers.

Click to expand...

Reductio ad absurdem!!

Is this still the jokes forum section???

Pavel Mosko said:

wow a passing cloud is a new low.

I think this stuff started in 1980s. That was when the safe Halloween movement started, and kids gradually stopped roving at night in search for candy. And it was decided that with the off chance of someone tampering with candy, putting razor blades in apples, and all kinds of other stuff was too great and instead the city should put on a nice big Halloween party for all the kids at the local fair grounds, or convention center etc.

That was a big milestone.

Click to expand...

Are you familiar with Jonathan Haidt who wrote The Coddling of the American Mind? He would agree with you that this started with the fear of such harm to children, which is really statistically very rare, and has since spread to the feeling of the need to keep college students safe from the harm of ideas.

Making toy guns look less realistic with bright orange tips etc. another milestone.
In my day, if you pointed a toy gun at a policeman there was a chance he might freak out.... So instead we had to learn manners, but we enjoyed better toys that made us feel like real army men or bank robbers.

Click to expand...

That's important. We had to learn. In my day they didn't drive 20 m.p.h. in "school zones" and buses didn't have movable stop signs. And the funny thing is this stuff is being done mostly by atheists. You'd think they would appreciate the evolutionary value of the Darwin Award. But they're not known for thinking things through.

Also, as to your topic of weather alerts, I remember years ago reading an article by a psychologist who worked in the advertising industry. He talked about the use of "ALERT" by CNN and Fox News. It's used simply to keep you watching. I used to watch Fox and I remember ALERTs being issued about every 20 minutes throughout every day. It got ridiculous. You hear the ominous music and see the big, bold scary word, and then they'd tell you that the House just failed to pass a bill about dog walking or something.

SongOnTheWind said:

Is this still the jokes forum section???

Click to expand...

Well, I'm using it as a safe space because maybe my enemies in the Politics and News forums won't think to look for me here to report me.

This was one of my favorite weather funnies:

"Wickenburg is a total loss." lol

Pavel Mosko said:

We use to do this in my little California desert city.

Click to expand...

We used to use a magnifying glass to set dry leaves and grass on fire.

Chesterton said:

Since I don't have television

Click to expand...

Welcome to the club