Tornado Alley: Chesapeake?

The Washington Post reports a "shocking" statistic, namely that Maryland has had the 3rd highest density of tornadoes over the past two decades, beaten out only by Kansas and Florida. How is it we have more than the other Great Plains states?

Key word: density. That is, the statistic is the number of tornadoes per 10,000 square miles. That's a bit misleading. In raw numbers, Texas has the highest number (155), followed by Kansas (96), and Florida (66). As you'd expect, the other large numbers are in the central U.S. -- the so-called "Tornado Alley" -- and the deep South (sometimes called "Dixie Alley").

Competition From Batman

The local blog Silver Spring Singular broke the story: police pulled over Batman in our area. For not having tags on his Batmobile.

Hey, I've got dibs here! When I'm lurking in the DisasterCave, and the Discovery Building lights start to pulse [http://youtu.be/M4K6uZInl-c], I want to be able to respond without this guy showing up to upstage me. In his black Lamborghini. Before I get there on foot.

Unfortunately, when the County Police tweeted a confirmation, the other tweeters' sympathies seemed to be with Die Fledermaus.

"LET HIM DO HIS JOB."

"Another case of DWB [Driving While Batman]"
_______________________

Police video of the traffic stop

Cat Food

A missing hiker was found after 42 days in the woods. Rescuers reported "she's alive. And she's got a cat."

"Authorities said Margaret Page, 41, took some food with her but ran out, and stayed alive by drinking water from a nearby creek. She fed her cat, Miya, with cat food she had packed."

Damn, I knew my survival kit was missing something.

I wonder if they really taste like chicken.

Bigfoot exercises

There's a series of emergency exercises going on this year entitled "Formidable Footprint" -- which sounds like euphemism for Bigfoot. Some individual exercise names are:

Operation Acorn Drop
Outbreak Anarchy
Pandemic Pandemonium
Accommodating Accommodations

Campus Whirlwind [reap it!]
Felonious Fog [arrest it!]
Extreme Exposure [Mountain Dew and skateboards?]
Mailstrom Mayhem [spam attack?]
Rumble In The Rubble [wrestling event?]

Alien Hail

I thought the Weekly World News went out of business, but apparently they still exist online. Good thing: as they describe themselves, they are "the world's only reliable news."

ALIENS BALLS FALLING ON U.S.

Large metallic balls dropping across the U.S. (and Africa). NASA and the U.N. confirmed the alien balls are from Planet Zeeba.

The hollow balls with a circumference of between 4 and 10 feet have been found all across the U.S. in the last forty-eight hours, according to authorities with NASA and the United Nations Panel on Extraterrestrials.

With a diameter of 3 to 6 feet, the balls have a rough surface and appear to consist of “two halves welded together.”

Preparing for Tsunamis in the U.S.

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) added to its tsunami sensors so they now ring most of the Pacific Ocean. As a result, Hawaii was warned about the recent Japan tsunami 7 hours before it reached them.

Sensors are also in the Atlantic. It's highly unlikely one will happen there -- but one possible scenario could dwarf what happened in Japan.

CAPSHIELD 12 - Day 2

Today we spent hours scouring semi-collapsed buildings looking for survivors, and hauled out seven people on stretchers -- which we then carried 100 yards. As one of 4 litter bearers, my share of the weight was 40-50 lbs for each. It wasn't that bad, but I was exhausted by the end.

We'd found every body in every building, and transported all the survivors... but then they told us to do an eighth, just for show, because VIPs were watching. This one was from decon: 200 yards, mostly uphill. Ugh.

Finally, we wrapped for the day, had some pizza, and went home to nurse our own injuries.

CAPSHIELD 12 - Day 1

Soldiers sat around the clearing, some having a smoke, others trying to catch a few winks. The lonely sound of a harmonica floated in the breeze. "Hmm hmm hmm hmm-hmm-hmm, hmm hmm hmmm-hmm-hmmm" ("Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam...") They weren't in uniform; add a campfire and they could be cowpokes.

Except for the simulated blood, lacerations, embedded glass fragments, and impalements. Also, the Old West ambience was spoiled by the guy entertaining us with Chewbacca noises before going back to typing on his phone.

War is hell.

They told us the scenario: a Cat 3 hurricane hit, leaving downed trees and power lines, etc. "That's it?" I thought. "So we open some shelters. Big deal."

But wait, there's more. "There are protesters... (damn occupy-Wall-Streeters!) AND terrorists attacks, with both shootings and bombings. The terrorists post a viral video threatening more." (Not a tape like Osama bin Laden; a YouTube video that lots of people share. To which my reaction, of course, was "what, no Twitter?")

The Montgomery County CERT (including DisasterMan) jumped into action. It was the annual CAPSHIELD exercise, practicing with the military to respond to mass casualty incidents. Once again, photographer Matt Laur got some great shots.

More at: CAPSHIELD - Day 2