The perils of common Twitter usernames
August 27, 2011 3:04 PM Subscribe
When @Irene Met Hurricane Irene A mild mannered 28 year old social media strategist in New York has a Twitter handle that's being mistaken for Hurricane Irene's.
pretty cool. if I had an appropriate twitter handle I would have done the same thing. humor ala bronx snake mixed with readiness and disaster prep info - good idea.
posted by davidmsc at 3:16 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by davidmsc at 3:16 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is something that seems so much better in advance of the storm. Curious to see the first-person explanation of how Irene killed a kid with a tree branch.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 3:16 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 3:16 PM on August 27, 2011
From 1998: El Niño is a climatic phenomenon which has produced floods, tornadoes and, according to some scientists, has prolonged the fires that have devastated south-east Asia in the last year. Al Nino, a retired naval pilot in California, has been deluged with telephone calls accusing him of being the cause of all the climatic trouble.
"Some of them absolutely curse me out and others just ask me, in a rather grudged way if I can just stop the rain."
Mr Nino says he does not like some of the more abusive calls he gets and would like those to stop. However, he's hoping that when the weather improves, he'll finally start getting some credit.
posted by martinrebas at 3:17 PM on August 27, 2011 [6 favorites]
"Some of them absolutely curse me out and others just ask me, in a rather grudged way if I can just stop the rain."
Mr Nino says he does not like some of the more abusive calls he gets and would like those to stop. However, he's hoping that when the weather improves, he'll finally start getting some credit.
posted by martinrebas at 3:17 PM on August 27, 2011 [6 favorites]
Just kind of blowing my way up the eastern seaboard; it’s like I go to Wellesley.
lol
posted by elizardbits at 3:17 PM on August 27, 2011 [10 favorites]
lol
posted by elizardbits at 3:17 PM on August 27, 2011 [10 favorites]
I never leave the house without my tropopause.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 3:30 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by Cold Lurkey at 3:30 PM on August 27, 2011
Another example of how it's kind of weird we name hurricanes after people.
posted by bleep at 3:38 PM on August 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by bleep at 3:38 PM on August 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Haha! I love that Irene "likes cats" on her OkCupid profile!
posted by duvatney at 3:39 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by duvatney at 3:39 PM on August 27, 2011
Anyone who confuses Al Nino with El Nino is El Ninny.
And to other California-weather-ignorant people, it is NOT always windy in Santa Ana.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:40 PM on August 27, 2011
And to other California-weather-ignorant people, it is NOT always windy in Santa Ana.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:40 PM on August 27, 2011
Yikes, I'm a 79% match with Irene on OK Cupid.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:42 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by iamkimiam at 3:42 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
I've always thought hurricanes should get a second 'scary' name when they become predicted to cause a lot of damage: Arlene Attack, Harvey Hellfire, Katia Kill. Irene the Impaler.
posted by delmoi at 3:44 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by delmoi at 3:44 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Next up on the current Hurricane Names list: Jose. The Anti-Immigration folks are gonna go crazy over that. And after that, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince and Whitney. Could be the only way Whitney Houston could revive her career...
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:46 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:46 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
funny and then theres the real Irene. @springfever
posted by specialk420 at 3:48 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by specialk420 at 3:48 PM on August 27, 2011
Yikes, I'm a 79% match with Irene on OK Cupid.
I found the page in the first place when OKC sent me an e-mail telling me that "she is checking me out right now!"
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:49 PM on August 27, 2011 [5 favorites]
I found the page in the first place when OKC sent me an e-mail telling me that "she is checking me out right now!"
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:49 PM on August 27, 2011 [5 favorites]
I'm only a 51% match with Irene. Surprising it's even that high, since I'm sure I specifically exclude women and 18 year olds, which Irene is listed as.
posted by sweetkid at 3:51 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by sweetkid at 3:51 PM on August 27, 2011
Next up on the current Hurricane Names list: Jose. The Anti-Immigration folks are gonna go crazy over that. And after that, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince and Whitney. Could be the only way Whitney Houston could revive her career...
This is neat. Does anyone have the skill to determine whether the incidence of the names on the birth names lists (e.g.) drops or rises after the storms? Or whether the average wind speed increases depending on recent births with that name? I don't want to assume too much about the causal relationship.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 3:53 PM on August 27, 2011
This is neat. Does anyone have the skill to determine whether the incidence of the names on the birth names lists (e.g.) drops or rises after the storms? Or whether the average wind speed increases depending on recent births with that name? I don't want to assume too much about the causal relationship.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 3:53 PM on August 27, 2011
Haha! I love that Irene "likes cats" on her OkCupid profile!
Oh. My. God. Irene is trying to hug every kind of cat on the Eastern Seaboard! And the rain! The rain is her endless tears!
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:59 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Oh. My. God. Irene is trying to hug every kind of cat on the Eastern Seaboard! And the rain! The rain is her endless tears!
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:59 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Lol good read!
Btw Sweetkid, you should change your name to Sweetskid :) I can be your Internet momma.
posted by Sweetmag at 4:02 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Btw Sweetkid, you should change your name to Sweetskid :) I can be your Internet momma.
posted by Sweetmag at 4:02 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Does anyone have the skill to determine whether the incidence of the names on the birth names lists (e.g.) drops or rises after the storms?
Here's some more data to work with. It looks like "Katrina" has dropped from 246th to 867th in popularity since the storm.
posted by Knappster at 4:06 PM on August 27, 2011
Here's some more data to work with. It looks like "Katrina" has dropped from 246th to 867th in popularity since the storm.
posted by Knappster at 4:06 PM on August 27, 2011
Here's some more data to work with. It looks like "Katrina" has dropped from 246th to 867th in popularity since the storm.
Thanks! And I bet bookings for Katrina and the Waves --notwithstanding their uncanny anticipatory rebuttal of this association -- plummeted too.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 4:14 PM on August 27, 2011
Thanks! And I bet bookings for Katrina and the Waves --notwithstanding their uncanny anticipatory rebuttal of this association -- plummeted too.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 4:14 PM on August 27, 2011
I spend a lot of time thinking about
Finding the right guy to settle down to start a family. Just kidding: death, flooding, mayhem, panic, property loss, and is it possible for me to pick up a shark from the ocean and hurl it at Michele Bachmann?
♥
posted by homunculus at 4:25 PM on August 27, 2011 [13 favorites]
Finding the right guy to settle down to start a family. Just kidding: death, flooding, mayhem, panic, property loss, and is it possible for me to pick up a shark from the ocean and hurl it at Michele Bachmann?
♥
posted by homunculus at 4:25 PM on August 27, 2011 [13 favorites]
I'm still disappointed that hurricane names stop at Y. When are we going to see Hurricane Xerxes?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:43 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:43 PM on August 27, 2011
Sorry, I meant W. Me fail at alphabets. Coming back from Jack Layton's funeral I'm a bit sunstruck and now a bit drunk.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:51 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:51 PM on August 27, 2011
Goodnight Irene. Irene has left North Carolina.
Northerners always gets to mock Southerners for the way they panic whenever it snows, and justifiably so. At the first hint that there might be a snowstorm lurking somewhere over the horizon, everyone rushes out and buys up all the milk and bread. Then, when the first flakes start to stick, drivers start spinning out on curves and getting stuck on inclines. Before long all the roads are littered with disabled vehicles and everything has gone to hell.
Now the tables are turned and, from the Southern point of view, Northerners bless their hearts, are ruining a perfectly good cat 1 storm by worrying instead of throwing proper hurricane parties.
posted by Huplescat at 5:44 PM on August 27, 2011
Northerners always gets to mock Southerners for the way they panic whenever it snows, and justifiably so. At the first hint that there might be a snowstorm lurking somewhere over the horizon, everyone rushes out and buys up all the milk and bread. Then, when the first flakes start to stick, drivers start spinning out on curves and getting stuck on inclines. Before long all the roads are littered with disabled vehicles and everything has gone to hell.
Now the tables are turned and, from the Southern point of view, Northerners bless their hearts, are ruining a perfectly good cat 1 storm by worrying instead of throwing proper hurricane parties.
posted by Huplescat at 5:44 PM on August 27, 2011
Now the tables are turned and, from the Southern point of view, Northerners bless their hearts, are ruining a perfectly good cat 1 storm by worrying instead of throwing proper hurricane parties.
posted by Huplescat at 8:44 PM on August 27 [+] [!]
We can't go anywhere, subways are closed. Bloomberg did all our worrying for us.
posted by sweetkid at 5:45 PM on August 27, 2011
Must suck to be one of the OKCupid profiles that pops up as "Similar Users." Similar to a hurricane? Wow, there's a potential love interest you probably want to stay away from.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:57 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:57 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
The person in the WSJ article isn't the same as the whoever made that OKC profile, hal_c_on.
posted by sweetkid at 6:12 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by sweetkid at 6:12 PM on August 27, 2011
hal_c_on, there's nothing I can find that links @Irene on Twitter to the OKCupid profile.
Does anyone have the skill to determine whether the incidence of the names on the birth names lists (e.g.) drops or rises after the storms?
I looked at several of the most powerful storms (with names that were thence retired), and couldn't see a clear association. A few names even increased popularity after being a storm, such as Camille (1969). Others, like Janet (1955), were probably already peaking. Sometimes (maybe even often) the use as a storm name seems to have no real effect.
posted by dhartung at 6:14 PM on August 27, 2011
Does anyone have the skill to determine whether the incidence of the names on the birth names lists (e.g.) drops or rises after the storms?
I looked at several of the most powerful storms (with names that were thence retired), and couldn't see a clear association. A few names even increased popularity after being a storm, such as Camille (1969). Others, like Janet (1955), were probably already peaking. Sometimes (maybe even often) the use as a storm name seems to have no real effect.
posted by dhartung at 6:14 PM on August 27, 2011
I wouldn't mind if we went to just numbering them like "H.264 is now battering North Carolina's Outer Banks" or whatever. Naming them after people is so twee.
posted by sweetkid at 6:40 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by sweetkid at 6:40 PM on August 27, 2011
I wouldn't mind if we went to just numbering them like "H.264 is now battering North Carolina's Outer Banks" or whatever. Naming them after people is so twee.
Let me guess -- you went to MIT?
Next you'll want to quit naming days and months after the ancient gods.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 6:48 PM on August 27, 2011
Let me guess -- you went to MIT?
Next you'll want to quit naming days and months after the ancient gods.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 6:48 PM on August 27, 2011
sweetkid: "We can't go anywhere, subways are closed. Bloomberg did all our worrying for us."
You know the MTA runs the subways, right? And that's run by the State of New York and not the city, right? Just checking.
posted by falameufilho at 6:55 PM on August 27, 2011
You know the MTA runs the subways, right? And that's run by the State of New York and not the city, right? Just checking.
posted by falameufilho at 6:55 PM on August 27, 2011
uh, all I meant was that I'm not at a hurricane party because I can't get anywhere.
posted by sweetkid at 6:59 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by sweetkid at 6:59 PM on August 27, 2011
We should start naming hurricanes after various inanimate objects. "Hurricane Chevy Nova" or "Hurricane Compaq Prolinea" or "Tropical Storm Flying Buttress" Hey, I like that. Architectural words and concepts, "Hurricane Cantilever" or "Hurricane Gusset Truss"
Or actually, just ever more ominous numbers. "Hurricane 9000!"
posted by gjc at 7:05 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Or actually, just ever more ominous numbers. "Hurricane 9000!"
posted by gjc at 7:05 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Or products -- "Hurricane Trial Sized Dove Bar," "Tropical Storm Bud Light with Lemon."
posted by sweetkid at 7:08 PM on August 27, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by sweetkid at 7:08 PM on August 27, 2011 [6 favorites]
I've got it. Pharmaceutical names. Tropical Depression Ativan. Hurricane Dexedrine. Tropical Storm Abilify.
posted by gjc at 7:13 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by gjc at 7:13 PM on August 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Hurricane of the Depend Adult Undergarment?
Nice catch, sweetkid.
posted by a halcyon day at 7:35 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Nice catch, sweetkid.
posted by a halcyon day at 7:35 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
It will be like a big pharma hands tied together knife fight. They are forced, by drawing straws, to buy naming rights to the storms. You buy it, you own it.
posted by gjc at 7:44 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by gjc at 7:44 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Meanwhile, FOX NEWS imitates the Onion.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:00 PM on August 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by blue_beetle at 8:00 PM on August 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
I was eager to see this post, but the Murdoch Block app I installed a couple few months ago wouldn't let me see it. What is Murdoch-y about it?
posted by msali at 8:15 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by msali at 8:15 PM on August 27, 2011
Good ol' Fox. I think they seriously underestimate the resources it takes to come up with the various NWS products. I'm sure they are salivating for the imaginary time when poor, local channels can subscribe to *their* non-reality based weather forecasting service. Meanwhile, the poorer stations will resort to the Farmer's Almanac and Aunt Millie's old wall mounted barometer.
posted by gjc at 8:22 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by gjc at 8:22 PM on August 27, 2011
I think the reason they name them after people is to make them easy to remember. Although I'm not sure why that's important. If people just called "the hurricane" people might get confused about whether they were talking about the current one or the last one.
posted by delmoi at 8:24 PM on August 27, 2011
I was eager to see this post, but the Murdoch Block app I installed a couple few months ago wouldn't let me see it. What is Murdoch-y about it?Well...
Do We Really Need a National Weather Service?(etcetera)
As Hurricane Irene bears down on the East Coast, news stations bombard our televisions with constant updates from the National Hurricane Center.
While Americans ought to prepare for the coming storm, federal dollars need not subsidize their preparations. Although it might sound outrageous, the truth is that the National Hurricane Center and its parent agency, the National Weather Service, are relics from America’s past that have actually outlived their usefulness.
The National Weather Service (NWS) was founded in 1870. Originally, the NWS was not a public information agency. It was a national security agency and placed under the Department of War. The Service’s national security function has long since disappeared, but as agencies often do, however, it stuck around and managed to increase its budget.
Today the NWS justifies itself on public interest grounds. It issues severe weather advisories and hijacks local radio and television stations to get the message out. It presumes that citizens do not pay attention to the weather and so it must force important, perhaps lifesaving, information upon them. A few seconds’ thought reveals how silly this is. The weather might be the subject people care most about on a daily basis. There is a very successful private TV channel dedicated to it, 24 hours a day, as well as any number of phone and PC apps. Americans need not be forced to turn over part of their earnings to support weather reporting.
posted by delmoi at 8:24 PM on August 27, 2011
My friend @davidcameron has the same problem with people in the UK sending hateful tweets his way. He lives in mathowieville, USA. Sometimes pseudonyms just make things easier.
posted by tmt at 8:33 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by tmt at 8:33 PM on August 27, 2011
Hurricane Dexedrine
Every day is Hurricane Dexedrine for me.
posted by spinifex23 at 9:45 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Every day is Hurricane Dexedrine for me.
posted by spinifex23 at 9:45 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
msali: "I was eager to see this post, but the Murdoch Block app I installed a couple few months ago wouldn't let me see it. What is Murdoch-y about it?"
Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal. But obviously you could disable the app if you so chose, right?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:57 PM on August 27, 2011
Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal. But obviously you could disable the app if you so chose, right?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:57 PM on August 27, 2011
Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal.
Oh, I thought msali was talking about the "Meanwhile, FOX NEWS imitates the Onion." link blue_beetle posted.
posted by delmoi at 2:53 AM on August 28, 2011
Oh, I thought msali was talking about the "Meanwhile, FOX NEWS imitates the Onion." link blue_beetle posted.
posted by delmoi at 2:53 AM on August 28, 2011
I hope I'm not derailing things by saying this, but re: Fox News article...Why isn't the first option to fix the shit, rather than throwing it away? I'm really sick of this. Especially when there's people in need of jobs and there's broken stuff everywhere.
Sorry. I lost it reading that article. I hope everybody is safe and sound and looking out for each other.
posted by iamkimiam at 8:20 AM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sorry. I lost it reading that article. I hope everybody is safe and sound and looking out for each other.
posted by iamkimiam at 8:20 AM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
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posted by Johnny Assay at 3:13 PM on August 27, 2011 [21 favorites]