as to the joke,

the video makes these connections:

hurricanes cause lots of damage
hurricanes are named
people who've suffered damage are angry at people with those names (this is the fulcrum of the joke. of course the people who've had their house destroyed don't really hate "Sandy", but are shaking their fist at the heavens, they just happen to have a can of spray paint in their hand at the time and the shaking coincidentally follows the path of letters resembling "Sandy")
the authors of the video suggest that the anger these people feel shouldn't be directed at innocents named Ivan, Andrew, Sandy, Katrina, etc but at the real people who are really responsible, namely (hard to avoid that one, really) the politicians, Issa, Boehner, Broun, etc.
the authors suggest that the politicians are responsible by obstructing progress on legislative efforts to slow anthropogenic climate change

...

tl;dr

don't be mad at Sandy, be mad at Boehner, Smith, Inhofe, et al

well alrighty then

Clod would you say I should be more abrasive, or less? Because I was thinking about nudging it up a notch, you know, it can be fun that way sometimes.

My toddler was distressed when a hurricane shared her name and people were saying how bad that hurricane was. She knew they weren't talking about her, but it still bothered her.

I'm not Clodfobble, but I'll give you my opinion.

Depends.

It depends on the situation, sometimes more abrasiveness is called for, sometimes not. What would you be hoping to accomplish? In general, I appreciate (among other things) your calmness, your mellowness, not your abrasiveness.

I dunno, I just feel like sometimes I stifle myself here. But that's good feedback, thanks.

You're welcome.

This is what I think most of the time when I'm here.

Attachment 45295

ps, you should really click on the link for the full effect.

I dunno, I think you should be you. I don't think you should stifle yourself, for sure. I have seen you, and all regulars including myself, go through moods that have sometimes not just been daily but months- or years-long phases. No one on the planet is the same person they were ten years ago. It might be harder to remember that here, where we don't necessarily have the visual picture of aging constantly reminding us, but we all change nonetheless. And that's cool--less abrasive this year, more abrasive next year, it's all still part of you and your story. I do think most people view the community as a whole when deciding whether to stick around, there's not some extra responsibility on you to be a consummate host. Be whoever you feel like being today.

Big mistake, trying to plan your act in advance, don't try to gage your response. Go with the gut, and I think you'll give appropriate to what you get most of the time. But if it isn't, well fuck it, that's the way of the world.

Mexico is getting hit on the west coast by Tropical Storm Manual and on the east coast by Hurricane Ingrid. It does rain in Mexico.

I guess I'll have to go now.

Do you really need a shower that badly?

[james]I've never really been...[/taylor]

A near zero hurricane Karen (similar to near zero SuperStorm Sandy) is approaching the New Orleans region. Since everything that should not be there was removed some years ago, this storm will do damage equivalent to what Sandy should have done. Or were the richest among us permitted to build where nothing should be built?

This Old House last week was at the Jersey Shore where blocks of houses were destroyed. They were talking to all these people who were rebuilding but the main floor was raised 10 ft so they'll "never have to worry again".

That made me think of William Jeanes and his wife during Katrina.

"Never have to worry again."