Hi-Energy
Yesterday evening, despite little sleep the night before, I ended up doing, back-to-back, Pepper Von's hi-energy step aerobics class AND hi-energy 'Victor/Victoria' dance rehearsal with Runaway Stage Productions - four hours of not a hell of a lot of sitting down. I got little sleep last night too, in order to participate in a meeting this morning with the City of Davis. Tonight, there is more 'Victor/Victoria' rehearsal. Then tomorrow evening, Pepper Von's hi-energy 'Get Fit Jam.'
I sense some lo-energy times coming on........
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Davis Enterprise Review of "Cabaret"
I'm glad Bev seemed to like our production, particularly since the Music Circus production of "Cabaret" was no doubt still fresh in her mind (she reviewed that show for the Davis Enterprise as well). I also liked her use of the adjective 'bone-chilling' to describe Robert Coverdell's 'Tomorrow Belongs To Me.' I remember, from seeing DMTC's show in 2000, that that song can have a tremendous impact on the audience, but since I'm part of the ensemble singing the song together with Robert, I find it very hard to gauge its impact on the audience. The song should flash-freeze the bones, and I'm glad to read that it does!
I'm glad Bev seemed to like our production, particularly since the Music Circus production of "Cabaret" was no doubt still fresh in her mind (she reviewed that show for the Davis Enterprise as well). I also liked her use of the adjective 'bone-chilling' to describe Robert Coverdell's 'Tomorrow Belongs To Me.' I remember, from seeing DMTC's show in 2000, that that song can have a tremendous impact on the audience, but since I'm part of the ensemble singing the song together with Robert, I find it very hard to gauge its impact on the audience. The song should flash-freeze the bones, and I'm glad to read that it does!
Life is a 'Cabaret,' ol' chum!
Local company delivers a lively rendition of darkly ironic musical
Author: Bev Sykes
Enterprise drama critic
Between 1929 and 1933, Christopher Isherwood lived in Berlin, which formed the backdrop for chronicles he wrote on his return to London and published as "The Berlin Stories."
One such tale, that of writer Clifford Bradshaw and cabaret singer Sally Bowles, was dramatized by John Van Druten as the play, "I am a Camera," later made into a 1955 British film with Julie Harris and Laurence Harvey.
In 1966, John Kander and Fred Ebb won a Tony Award for their musical version of this material, which they called "Cabaret." The musical, of course, became an enormously popular film vehicle for Liza Minnelli and Joel Gray in 1972.
In 1993, director Sam Mendes revived the Kander/Ebb musical for his cabaret theater and gave it a darker, harder edge, emphasizing the decadence of the period. By the time the show moved to Broadway, where it enjoyed another successful run, the production — while still maintaining the darker feel — had lost a bit of the "edge" that it possessed in the smaller venue. The tunes were so familiar to the American public that it was difficult to keep patrons "down" for two hours.
The Davis Musical Theatre Company opened its 2005-06 season Friday with the Kander/Ebb version of "Cabaret." Set in Berlin in 1930, just before the Nazis come to power, the action takes place at the Kit Kat Club, a seedy nightclub where one goes to escape the reality of life.
"Leave your troubles outside," purrs the Emcee, played by Ryan Adame.
While not actually a part of the story, this master of ceremonies is the unifying character who brings all the action together, and Adame is perfect in the role. With a garish, white clownish face and lascivious manner, he commands attention.
Cliff is played by Ryan Favorite, last seen as Lun Tha in "The King and I." While we caught a hint of Favorite's talent in that earlier show, he truly shines in "Cabaret."
The character of Cliff has endured many permutations over the history of this story, being heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual, depending on the particular version or director. Director Steve Isaacson's Cliff is unquestionably heterosexual, and the chemistry between him and Sally (Jessica Hammon) is authentic and believable.
Hammon is a bubbly Sally, with a huge smile. Her British accent isn't always spot-on, but she inhabits the character and has a terrific voice, especially while belting out the title song. She needs to learn about stepping into the spotlight, however, as half of this big number was sung with her face in shadows.
DMTC veteran Mary Young delivers the kind of performance we've come to expect from her as Fraulein Schneider, who runs the boarding house where Cliff takes up residence. Fraulein Schneider has a larger role to play in the stage version of this story, and her romance with another boarder, Herr Schultz (William Hedge), is quite tender, especially in their lovely duet, "Married."
Hedge, making his DMTC debut, is very good as the old Jewish greengrocer whose heart belongs to his landlady. He gives her special bits of fruit as if they were diamonds.
Heather Sheridan, a boarder who has a lot of "gentleman callers," has some projection problems, but otherwise she does a good job.
Michael Manly, in his return to DMTC after a nine-year absence, is quite good as Ernst Ludwig, the German smuggler who befriends Cliff. Wendy Young makes a fetching gorilla (in "If You Could See Her Through My Eyes"), and Robert Coverdell sings a smashing rendition of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," the bone-chilling song that epitomizes the rise of the Nazi Party.
Michael Miiler choreographs the show, with lighting design by Isaacson and Dannette Vassar. Jeannie Henderson does her usual outstanding job of costume design; the gown for Sally's closing number is spectacular.
"Cabaret" is an entertaining evening of theater which — everyone hopes! — genuinely is the final DMTC show to be presented at the Varsity Theater.
Copyright, 2005, The Davis Enterprise. All Rights Reserved.
The Coast of Texas
This morning, I heard on the radio that they were evacuating Galveston, TX. Apparently a consensus had developed that Hurricane Rita was heading for the middle coast of TX, arriving by evening time, Friday, and given the chaos surrounding Hurricane Katrina, no one wants to take any chances with another urban area (especially one already known to be very vulnerable, through the actions of the hurricane of 1900, which killed 5000 people there).
Sure enough, the NOGAPS model predictions had changed, in order to finally join the consensus formed yesterday by most of the other models. Yesterday, NOGAPS predictions had been an outlier among the other predictions, showing Rita as hitting Brownsville, TX, and then moving up the Rio Grande Valley into NM. The consensus instead shows Rita moving through eastern and central Texas only, and not making it as far west as NM.
The reason NOGAPS shifted its forecast is apparently because the model decided that the large trough that has developed in the western U.S. will not be quite as deep as originally thought, and will therefore move east a bit faster than originally thought. Usually the accuracy is limited by initialization errors of the temperature and pressure fields, and since radiosonde coverage over the eastern Pacific is skimpy, initialization errors tend to be large, particularly over the western U.S.
In any event, the Freeport/Matagorda Bay/Victoria, TX area is in for a bumpy ride. Galveston probably won't see the worst of it this time, but they may get some flooding.
This morning, I heard on the radio that they were evacuating Galveston, TX. Apparently a consensus had developed that Hurricane Rita was heading for the middle coast of TX, arriving by evening time, Friday, and given the chaos surrounding Hurricane Katrina, no one wants to take any chances with another urban area (especially one already known to be very vulnerable, through the actions of the hurricane of 1900, which killed 5000 people there).
Sure enough, the NOGAPS model predictions had changed, in order to finally join the consensus formed yesterday by most of the other models. Yesterday, NOGAPS predictions had been an outlier among the other predictions, showing Rita as hitting Brownsville, TX, and then moving up the Rio Grande Valley into NM. The consensus instead shows Rita moving through eastern and central Texas only, and not making it as far west as NM.
The reason NOGAPS shifted its forecast is apparently because the model decided that the large trough that has developed in the western U.S. will not be quite as deep as originally thought, and will therefore move east a bit faster than originally thought. Usually the accuracy is limited by initialization errors of the temperature and pressure fields, and since radiosonde coverage over the eastern Pacific is skimpy, initialization errors tend to be large, particularly over the western U.S.
In any event, the Freeport/Matagorda Bay/Victoria, TX area is in for a bumpy ride. Galveston probably won't see the worst of it this time, but they may get some flooding.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Hurricane Rita
No real change in the forecasts: the NOGAPS model says Rita is headed towards Brownsville, TX, and the other models point at places farther north (the middle coast of Texas).
NOGAPS also says the storm will punch far enough inland, right up the Rio Grande Valley, to seriously upset the weather in New Mexico, and even possibly affect Arizona. Cool if that happens!
No real change in the forecasts: the NOGAPS model says Rita is headed towards Brownsville, TX, and the other models point at places farther north (the middle coast of Texas).
NOGAPS also says the storm will punch far enough inland, right up the Rio Grande Valley, to seriously upset the weather in New Mexico, and even possibly affect Arizona. Cool if that happens!
Tesla Would Be Jealous
Wrong dress ensemble for the occasion:
Wrong dress ensemble for the occasion:
An Australian man built up so much static electricity in his clothes as he walked that he burned carpets, melted plastic and sparked a mass evacuation.
Frank Clewer, of the western Victorian city of Warrnambool, was wearing a synthetic nylon jacket and a woollen shirt when he went for a job interview.
As he walked into the building, the carpet ignited from the 40,000 volts of static electricity that had built up.
Take A Walk On The Wild Side
Apparently I'm in! I joined the "Victor/Victoria" cast at Runaway Stage this evening. We had one of Ron Cisneros' trademark vigorous rehearsals: tonight, of the 'Finale,' and 'Le Jazz Hot.' A strange mix: the young, talented Runaway dance corps, plus (mostly) older veterans of the Sacramento musical theater scene.
Apparently I'm in! I joined the "Victor/Victoria" cast at Runaway Stage this evening. We had one of Ron Cisneros' trademark vigorous rehearsals: tonight, of the 'Finale,' and 'Le Jazz Hot.' A strange mix: the young, talented Runaway dance corps, plus (mostly) older veterans of the Sacramento musical theater scene.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Like A Javelin
New, NOGAPS (Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System) forecasts bring Hurricane Rita's path a bit northwards (with passing showers around Tampa), ultimately hurling the storm like a javelin into the Gulf Coast around Brownsville, TX, and penetrating deep inland, up the Rio Grande Valley.
The National Hurricane Center seems to think the storm will come in even farther north, on the Texas coast. The 'spaghetti model' guidance puts the NOGAPS (NGPI) predictions on the southern envelope of all the other models. The key seems to be what will happen with the trough developing over the western U.S. The NOGAPS model shows the trough as stalling and digging over the west coast, even cutting off from the westerlies, and thus will move inland very, very slowly, which means Rita won't feel its effects until quite late, and thus Rita won't turn north until late. Presumably the other models bring the western U.S. trough further inland more quickly, which means the path turns north much sooner, thus bringing Rita into the Texas, not the Mexican, coast (my instinct is to go with the NOGAPS model on this, so watch out Brownsville!)
But whatever the quibbling regarding hurricane path, there is agreement on one thing:
New, NOGAPS (Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System) forecasts bring Hurricane Rita's path a bit northwards (with passing showers around Tampa), ultimately hurling the storm like a javelin into the Gulf Coast around Brownsville, TX, and penetrating deep inland, up the Rio Grande Valley.
The National Hurricane Center seems to think the storm will come in even farther north, on the Texas coast. The 'spaghetti model' guidance puts the NOGAPS (NGPI) predictions on the southern envelope of all the other models. The key seems to be what will happen with the trough developing over the western U.S. The NOGAPS model shows the trough as stalling and digging over the west coast, even cutting off from the westerlies, and thus will move inland very, very slowly, which means Rita won't feel its effects until quite late, and thus Rita won't turn north until late. Presumably the other models bring the western U.S. trough further inland more quickly, which means the path turns north much sooner, thus bringing Rita into the Texas, not the Mexican, coast (my instinct is to go with the NOGAPS model on this, so watch out Brownsville!)
But whatever the quibbling regarding hurricane path, there is agreement on one thing:
ALL INDICATIONS ARE THAT RITA WILL BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO... WHERE A LARGE UPPER LEVEL ANTICYCLONE IS FORECAST BY THE MODELS TO DOMINATE AND PROVIDE A WEAK SHEAR ENVIRONMENT.
More Tales of Sacramento At Night
Last night, I dropped by the workplace (as usual), and left around midnight. In the alley outside, a scavenger was going through a large can of recyclable garbage. Dumpster diving is a well-practiced art in Sacramento (indeed, Squeaky Fromme herself spent a number of weeks dumpster diving in Sacramento alleys, just prior to attempting to assassinate President Ford in 1975 at the State Capitol), but this fellow last night was wearing the proper accessory: spectacles with lights on the rim, that allowed him to see into even the darkest garbage cans on even the blackest of nights. How inspired! How practical!
Last night, I dropped by the workplace (as usual), and left around midnight. In the alley outside, a scavenger was going through a large can of recyclable garbage. Dumpster diving is a well-practiced art in Sacramento (indeed, Squeaky Fromme herself spent a number of weeks dumpster diving in Sacramento alleys, just prior to attempting to assassinate President Ford in 1975 at the State Capitol), but this fellow last night was wearing the proper accessory: spectacles with lights on the rim, that allowed him to see into even the darkest garbage cans on even the blackest of nights. How inspired! How practical!
Sunday, September 18, 2005
"Cabaret": First Weekend's Shows
We opened "Cabaret" this weekend. By and large, things worked well, although there were some glitches, of course.
My glitches:
Friday night: I bumbled through the opening and closing scenes, forgot a few steps, and guessed wrong on some song words.
Saturday night: Clothing malfunction - my sailor collar ripped halfway off while going through a quick-change just before the 'Telephone Dance', and I struggled to figure out a quick, workable solution. I ALMOST missed my singing part!
Sunday afternoon: ALMOST forgot to drop hands to terminate a circle dance, and ALMOST dropped a glass while moving a table during a scene change.
Show glitches:
Friday night: Steve's absence doing percussion during tech week meant that the Kit Kat girls had never heard a critical drum solo until opening night. Keyboard and percussion coordination failed during the drum solo, and chaos on the line erupted. We also had trouble with singing during the 'Telephone Dance.'
Saturday night: Not too many problems - Diane H. almost toppled off her chair in the opening scene, though.
Sunday afternoon: The flag drop failed. Chris N. was beside himself with frustration. He had perfected the folding of the flag so that it would always fall properly out of its basket, but who knew the rope would occasionally get in the way? (Sporadic failures are always the hardest to catch in any show).
Nevertheless, each show was better than the one before. In addition, the audiences got progressively bigger, and more expressive. Sunday afternoon's show was excellent, and I think we are going to have even more fun as we go along.
Tonight, I'm pretty tired. I'm just idling away right now, but tomorrow may be busier than I expected. There is an active campaign underway in the local amateur musical theater community to flush out dancers for "Victor/Victoria" at Runaway Stage, and I was urged by friends to look into it. I'm skeptical: I mean, I think I'd make a damn funny-looking transvestite, but maybe it's a worthwhile challenge - I know I have a lot yet to learn about theater - costumes, gesture, acting, walking around in heels!
We opened "Cabaret" this weekend. By and large, things worked well, although there were some glitches, of course.
My glitches:
Friday night: I bumbled through the opening and closing scenes, forgot a few steps, and guessed wrong on some song words.
Saturday night: Clothing malfunction - my sailor collar ripped halfway off while going through a quick-change just before the 'Telephone Dance', and I struggled to figure out a quick, workable solution. I ALMOST missed my singing part!
Sunday afternoon: ALMOST forgot to drop hands to terminate a circle dance, and ALMOST dropped a glass while moving a table during a scene change.
Show glitches:
Friday night: Steve's absence doing percussion during tech week meant that the Kit Kat girls had never heard a critical drum solo until opening night. Keyboard and percussion coordination failed during the drum solo, and chaos on the line erupted. We also had trouble with singing during the 'Telephone Dance.'
Saturday night: Not too many problems - Diane H. almost toppled off her chair in the opening scene, though.
Sunday afternoon: The flag drop failed. Chris N. was beside himself with frustration. He had perfected the folding of the flag so that it would always fall properly out of its basket, but who knew the rope would occasionally get in the way? (Sporadic failures are always the hardest to catch in any show).
Nevertheless, each show was better than the one before. In addition, the audiences got progressively bigger, and more expressive. Sunday afternoon's show was excellent, and I think we are going to have even more fun as we go along.
Tonight, I'm pretty tired. I'm just idling away right now, but tomorrow may be busier than I expected. There is an active campaign underway in the local amateur musical theater community to flush out dancers for "Victor/Victoria" at Runaway Stage, and I was urged by friends to look into it. I'm skeptical: I mean, I think I'd make a damn funny-looking transvestite, but maybe it's a worthwhile challenge - I know I have a lot yet to learn about theater - costumes, gesture, acting, walking around in heels!
Smackdown - Two Snobby Filipinas Face Off
"A" is an Office Secretary (actually a Substitute Clerk), and "B" is a Visiting Client (actually an idle, wandering employee on break).
(on four previous visits)
A: "Is there something I can do for you?"
B: "I'm just looking!"
(then, on the fifth visit)
B: "Excuse me! Excuse me! Hey, excuse me!"
A: (ignores "B", then finally,) "Yes?"
B: "You're ignoring me! I'm a client here!"
A: "Oh, is that so? On your previous visits to this office, I asked if I could help you, and you said you were just looking."
B: "I don't know how the system works here in the U.S. I'm suffering from a cultural shock."
A: "What are you? What kind of shock are you suffering from? Mental illness?"
B: "I'm a native-born American!"
A: "Congratulations!"
B: "Who is your supervisor?"
A: "Would you like to speak to my supervisor?"
"A" is an Office Secretary (actually a Substitute Clerk), and "B" is a Visiting Client (actually an idle, wandering employee on break).
(on four previous visits)
A: "Is there something I can do for you?"
B: "I'm just looking!"
(then, on the fifth visit)
B: "Excuse me! Excuse me! Hey, excuse me!"
A: (ignores "B", then finally,) "Yes?"
B: "You're ignoring me! I'm a client here!"
A: "Oh, is that so? On your previous visits to this office, I asked if I could help you, and you said you were just looking."
B: "I don't know how the system works here in the U.S. I'm suffering from a cultural shock."
A: "What are you? What kind of shock are you suffering from? Mental illness?"
B: "I'm a native-born American!"
A: "Congratulations!"
B: "Who is your supervisor?"
A: "Would you like to speak to my supervisor?"
Friday, September 16, 2005
"Cabaret" Premieres Tonight!
Tonight inaugurates DMTC's 21st season, at the Varsity Theater, with yours truly as Waiter/Sailor/Max. Come see us if you can!
Tonight inaugurates DMTC's 21st season, at the Varsity Theater, with yours truly as Waiter/Sailor/Max. Come see us if you can!
Helios Airlines Tragedy Clues Emerge
Boy, this sounds really awful (BRAMP! BRAMP! BRAMP!):
Boy, this sounds really awful (BRAMP! BRAMP! BRAMP!):
Reports emerging from Greece portray the unfolding of a grim cockpit comedy, the captain and first officer confused by the sound of a pressure alarm while struggling to communicate. The German captain and Cypriot first officer -- the latter described in some articles as "young" and "inexperienced," which may or may not be meaningful -- did not share a common language and had difficulty understanding one another in English. Both allegedly passed out before the significance of the alarm could be determined. The cause of the initial pressure malfunction, say anonymous sources, was a control knob faultily installed by maintenance staff during the previous evening's inspection.
With respect to the communication conflict between pilots, it's natural to suspect a training problem -- a young carrier with insufficient means to recruit or adequately train linguistically compatible crew members. English is the default and official language of worldwide civil aviation, shared -- in varying degrees of eloquence -- by pilots and air traffic controllers in all but the remotest corners of China and Russia. ... Weakness in fluency is sometimes a problem between controllers and pilots -- several years ago, the near collision of two 747s at Chicago's O'Hare was blamed partly on confusion over taxi instructions, American controllers barking critical orders to Chinese and Korean crews -- but rarely do you hear of dangerous misunderstandings between pilots themselves.
A pressurization knob left out of place by a mechanic, while clearly negligent (apply above questions to maintenance personnel), should not entail a fatal catastrophe. From what we know, the misinstalled knob led to a faulty (perhaps even nil) rate of pressurization, in turn triggering an aural cockpit warning as the cabin reached the equivalent of 10,000 feet. Nothing deadly just yet; there was still plenty of time to troubleshoot and possibly rectify the entire problem.
Unfortunately, the pilots misinterpreted the alarm, believing it to be an errant sounding of the takeoff configuration horn. On the 737-300, both systems share the identical claxon, with a critical caveat: On the ground, the noise means wrongly deployed flaps or slats; in the air, it means the cabin altitude has exceeded 10,000 feet. (Either way, the alarm serves as something of a last resort, with the presumption that crews will have, nine times in 10, noticed and corrected things beforehand.)
Boeing, maker of the 737, acknowledges the potential for confusion, but the use of duplicate alarms is not unheard of, and crews are trained to know, or certainly to seek, the difference. With a token bit of 737 experience myself, I have to chuckle morbidly when reading of the Helios pilots' reaction. I vividly recall a simulator session not so long ago, during which our instructor had programmed a gradual depressurization of the cabin, setting off that very same alarm during cruise flight. All was quiet and uneventful until BRAMP, BRAMP, BRAMP, the speaker screamed. The captain and I sat there for a moment staring at each other. "Why the hell is the takeoff horn going off?"
It wasn't, of course, and after a few moments of scanning the instrument panels, including the pressurization controls, we found the actual culprit. (Wrongly aligned knob or not, separate indicators display the existing level of cabin pressure at all times.) During previous exercises involving a rapid or sudden decompression it was common to hear, and properly interpret, the same horn. Without the accompanying cues, however (a simulated explosion or other violent breach), the sound was confusing. A leaky outflow valve, a balky door seal -- any of several malfunctions can bring about a slow, insidious decompression. Usually they are detected and addressed before the blaring has a chance to start. But, as I experienced firsthand, not always.
...If the takeoff configuration horn is sounding when you're at 30,000 feet, stop for a minute. Maybe it isn't the takeoff configuration horn. Snoop around and see. Do not, on the other hand, assume you know what's happening and begin to dig for a circuit breaker in order to silence the warning. That's what the Helios pilots attempted to do after consulting with their maintenance department via radio. While the captain was up looking for the right breaker to quell the noise, his unpressurized jet continuing to climb, he succumbed to hypoxia and passed out. Already impaired, the first officer lost consciousness soon thereafter. On automatic pilot, the plane ascended to 34,000 feet and kept going all the way to Athens, a way point along its route from Larnaca, Cyprus, to a planned destination of Prague, Czech Republic. Over Athens it entered a preprogrammed holding pattern until eventually running out of fuel.
In addition to a level of incredulity over the egregious and ultimately fatal misinterpretation of the aural alerting system, we're left with a litany of obvious questions: Why were the pilots not able to spot the improperly installed controller knob during their preflight checks? Why did they not catch the lack of increasing pressure during initial climb -- whether on the instrument indicators or simply by feeling it in their ears and sinuses? Why did they fail to draw a connection between deployment of the main cabin oxygen masks, an indication of which was made clear by a cockpit annunciator, and the ongoing siren? Why didn't the maintenance staff, in contact with the pilots over the air, offer a clue as to what might be happening? And when the ceiling masks came popping from their holsters, why didn't the flight attendants summon the pilots' attention, further hinting at the fact that something considerably more dire than a disobedient takeoff alarm was unfolding?
...The crux of this accident isn't about a failure to understand English, it's about why two qualified 737 pilots, regardless of what languages they spoke or didn't speak, were incapable of deciphering the cause of a yelping cockpit alarm, and why nobody was able to help them.
...Consider also the series of breakdowns, from the tangible mistake of a misrigged instrument to the subsequent garble of procedure and protocol. None of these things, independently, was enough to kill. Eventually, as the miscues compounded, the bottom fell out. We've seen this pattern before, and one hopes we'll learn from it.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
"42nd Street" Rehearsal Video
Melody Davi's feet get some air time on Elmira, NY's WETM TV-18. According to her father, Tony:
Melody Davi's feet get some air time on Elmira, NY's WETM TV-18. According to her father, Tony:
If you can open this, take a look at their first rehearsal on stage last night. It is really more of a walk through since it is the first time using the stairs but it gives a good idea what is going on behind the scenes. Mel is in front in the dance with Billy and then when you see one person tapping, those are her legs.
Hurricane Katrina, in 2005 ....Or Iowa, in 2004?
Here are several pictures from a set making the rounds on the Internet. I put in a request to see who took these pictures, when, and from where. Now, my second-hand contact says they aren't from Hurricane Katrina at all, but from Iowa in 2004. But it's still quite vague, the details on these shots. Nevertheless, I don't care that much: it's the photos themselves that speak volumes.
One advantage of (having once lived in) the dry American Southwest is that thunderstorm cloud base is usually so high that the storm clouds can often be seen in great, picturesque detail. Even though storm clouds east of the Mississippi River are typically much larger, cloud base is so low that they often can't be seen clearly, and so the effect isn't as picturesque.
With a big storm (or a hurricane), violent, humid updrafts are located very close to drier, violent downdrafts. With good visibility provided by a low sun angle (this is presumably near sunset), the effect is to allow great views of amazingly violent processes - much better than what you see even in the American Southwest.
As a meteorologist, I have to say these are the best pictures of 'wall clouds' I've ever seen. Wall clouds are the wall-like clouds that appear to be lower than typical cloud deck. They are caused by violent updrafts of very humid air, air that is more humid than its immediate surroundings, but which is moving upwards so rapidly that it doesn't have time to mix with its immediate, drier surroundings. In violent thunderstorms, wall clouds usually signal big trouble - the location from where funnel clouds will descend. The drier, descending air all around the wall cloud permits the wall cloud to be seen. In fact, I never imagined wall clouds could have such clearly-visible vertical extents as these wall clouds do!
Here she comes!
You open the Venetian blinds, see a skyscape like this, and all you want to do is shut the blinds!
Awesome wall cloud!
A better view of the awesome wall cloud!
The sky is looking increasingly ominous......
Storm Pictures, Attributed!
Aha! Those fabulous storm pictures are indeed from the Midwest!:
Here are several pictures from a set making the rounds on the Internet. I put in a request to see who took these pictures, when, and from where. Now, my second-hand contact says they aren't from Hurricane Katrina at all, but from Iowa in 2004. But it's still quite vague, the details on these shots. Nevertheless, I don't care that much: it's the photos themselves that speak volumes.
One advantage of (having once lived in) the dry American Southwest is that thunderstorm cloud base is usually so high that the storm clouds can often be seen in great, picturesque detail. Even though storm clouds east of the Mississippi River are typically much larger, cloud base is so low that they often can't be seen clearly, and so the effect isn't as picturesque.
With a big storm (or a hurricane), violent, humid updrafts are located very close to drier, violent downdrafts. With good visibility provided by a low sun angle (this is presumably near sunset), the effect is to allow great views of amazingly violent processes - much better than what you see even in the American Southwest.
As a meteorologist, I have to say these are the best pictures of 'wall clouds' I've ever seen. Wall clouds are the wall-like clouds that appear to be lower than typical cloud deck. They are caused by violent updrafts of very humid air, air that is more humid than its immediate surroundings, but which is moving upwards so rapidly that it doesn't have time to mix with its immediate, drier surroundings. In violent thunderstorms, wall clouds usually signal big trouble - the location from where funnel clouds will descend. The drier, descending air all around the wall cloud permits the wall cloud to be seen. In fact, I never imagined wall clouds could have such clearly-visible vertical extents as these wall clouds do!
Here she comes!
You open the Venetian blinds, see a skyscape like this, and all you want to do is shut the blinds!
Awesome wall cloud!
A better view of the awesome wall cloud!
The sky is looking increasingly ominous......
Storm Pictures, Attributed!
Aha! Those fabulous storm pictures are indeed from the Midwest!:
Storm chaser Mike Hollingshead hasn't been paid or given credit for the photos that have appeared in the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Brazil, among other places. Furthermore, the photos of tornadoes in Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa are being passed off as Hurricane Katrina pictures.
Many people received the photos in their inbox. They've been sent thousands of times. Hollingshead has link after link on his Web site to all of the other sites, chat rooms and e-mails where his pictures have appeared.
The pictures were mostly taken in 2004. All were snapped within a few hundred miles of Omaha.
Hollingshead takes the pictures for a living, and about nine months ago, he started getting e-mails from other storm chasers telling him his pictures were appearing around the world.
"People started selling them to magazines like Weatherwise, then a Dutch magazine about weather, then to newspapers and TV shows," Hollingshead said.
He said he tried to correct the Web sites, but it just kept spreading.
Old Man Of The Sea
Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric, wrote a bluff and hearty editorial in yesterday's Wall Street Journal (available on their OpinionJournal service), regarding the five stages of crisis management, as applied in this case, to Hurricane Katrina. The editorial makes interesting reading, on its own terms, about the limitations of large organizations in dealing with calamities.
Welch's editorial is written in the familiar, exaggerated over-confident, cheerily sloppy way that men of Big Business seem to prefer to write. For example, he doesn't check his facts too closely:
Nevertheless, I can't come down hard on Welch: he makes me smile. He introduces his editorial with that familiar stock character, an 'Old Man of the Sea' type, a man wise to the ways of Mother Nature:
Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric, wrote a bluff and hearty editorial in yesterday's Wall Street Journal (available on their OpinionJournal service), regarding the five stages of crisis management, as applied in this case, to Hurricane Katrina. The editorial makes interesting reading, on its own terms, about the limitations of large organizations in dealing with calamities.
Welch's editorial is written in the familiar, exaggerated over-confident, cheerily sloppy way that men of Big Business seem to prefer to write. For example, he doesn't check his facts too closely:
Yes, there has never been a natural disaster of Katrina's magnitude in our history. An entire city has been devastated, hundreds of lives lost, and hundreds of thousands of people displaced. In terms of impact, only an extended catastrophe like the Great Depression can compare in scope.Actually, disasters of this scope HAVE occurred before: Salon compiled a list of the Top 10 killer disasters, and so far, Hurricane Katrina is just number 10. This list doesn't include big property disasters, like the 1930's Dust Bowl, Mt. St. Helens in 1980, the Mississippi floods of 1993, or the even bigger floods of 1927. Perhaps in the long run, Welch may be right, once everything is totalled up, but he's a bit out-on-a-limb at the moment.
Nevertheless, I can't come down hard on Welch: he makes me smile. He introduces his editorial with that familiar stock character, an 'Old Man of the Sea' type, a man wise to the ways of Mother Nature:
Our last day in Nantucket this summer, we bumped into a crusty old islander we know, a sea-hand who has seen his share of hurricanes. We asked him about the storm bearing down on New Orleans. "Probably just another overhyped Weather Channel event," he mused. We saw him again the next day, a few hours after the storm's landfall, and he repeated his take, this time with relief. We agreed--the pictures on TV weren't that bad.Welch inadvertently reveals his 'crusty old islander' as being uninformed at best, or an idiot at worst. On Saturday, August 27th, two days before landfall, while Hurricane Katrina was still far out in the Gulf of Mexico, it required just one glance at the satellite picture (I even blogged about it) to reveal that the storm had, overnight, morphed from a run-of-the-mill minor hurricane into one of the largest, strongest hurricanes ever observed by humankind anywhere, an awesome, thrashing killer that would level anything it even approached. Perhaps the Weather Channel didn't make that point sufficiently clear at the time. Perhaps people were in the first stage of crisis mangement that Welch identifies: denial. In any event, it's quite clear now how powerful Hurricane Katrina was. Maybe even that 'crusty old islander' learned a thing or two from the experience!
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