Hurricane Michael Becomes an Extremely Dangerous Category 4 Storm….


Unfortunately the predictions of continued strengthening have proved accurate. Hurricane Michael now holds sustained winds over 130 MPH with additional strengthening likely prior to landfall later today. This makes Michael a Category-4 hurricane; the strongest to hit the Florida panhandle in history.  It looks like Panama City Beach is in the bulls-eye.

[National Hurricane Center] At 100 AM CDT (0600 UTC), the center of Hurricane Michael was located near latitude 27.7 North, longitude 86.6 West. Michael is moving toward the north near 12 mph (19 km/h). A northward motion is expected this morning, followed by a northeastward motion later today and Thursday. On the forecast track, the center of Michael will move across the northeastern Gulf of Mexico this morning.

The center of Michael’s eye is then expected to move inland over the Florida Panhandle or Florida Big Bend area later today, move northeastward across the southeastern United States tonight and Thursday, and then move off the Mid-Atlantic coast away from the United States on Friday.

Data from Air Force Reserve and NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 130 mph (210 km/h) with higher gusts. Michael is now a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some additional strengthening is possible today before Michael makes landfall in the Florida Panhandle or the Florida Big Bend area. (read more)

As many long-time readers will know, we do have a little bit more than average experience dealing with the aftermath of hurricanes. I ain’t no expert in the before part; you need to heed the local, very local, professionals who will guide you through any preparation, and neighborhood specific guidelines, for your immediate area.

But when it comes to the ‘after part’, well, as a long-time CERT recovery member perhaps I can guide you through the expectation and you might find some value. Consider this little word salad a buffet, absorb what might be of value pass over anything else.

A category-4 storm can and will erase structures, buildings and landscape. This storm is very similar to Hurricane Charley which impacted the SW coast of Florida in 2004. The coastal topography will likely change in the 60 mile wide area of immediate impact.

Total infrastructure failure should be anticipated and it will take weeks for restoration. The coastal communities are the most vulnerable; however, the inland impact of the storm will continue unimpeded until the eye-wall crosses onto land.

That means communities inland for 50 miles will likely see consistent 100+ MPH winds for several hours. That scale of sustained wind energy will snap power poles and reinforced concrete.

As the backside of the storm then reverses the energy direction, any already compromised structures will not withstand the additional pressure. In many cases the backside of the storm is worse than the front.  If you are inland, prepare yourself for a long duration of extensive wind damage followed by an extended power outage.

For those who are in the path of the storm, there comes a time when all options are removed and you enter the “Hunkering Down” phase.  You’re just about there now. Fortunately, just like Charley, this particular hurricane will move fast and that might mitigate some of the coastal storm surge (only one part of one tidal cycle).  However, in totality from impact through recovery this is going to be a long-duration event.

When the sustained winds reach around 45mph today the utility company will likely, proactively, shut down the power.  This makes things a heck of a lot safer in the aftermath; and much easier and safer during the rebuild.  It is almost a guarantee you will not lose power due to damage from the storm but rather because of proactive measures from your power company. Do not expect the power to be turned back on until it is safe.

Hurricanes can be frightening; downright scary.  There’s nothing quite like going through a few to reset your outlook on just how Mother Nature can deliver a cleansing cycle to an entire geographic region.   The sounds are scary. Try to stay calm despite the nervousness.  Telephone and power poles, yes, even the concrete ones, can, and likely will, snap like toothpicks.  Trees will bend and break; the sounds are dramatic.

There’s a specific sound when you are inside a hurricane that you can never forget.  It ain’t a howl, it’s a roar.  It is very unique sound in depth and weight.  Yes, within a hurricane wind has weight.  Stay clear of windows and doors, and within an interior room of the house or apartment if possible.  That scary roar sounds like it won’t ever quit…. it will… eventually; but at the time you are hunkering down, it doesn’t seem like it will ever end.

A hurricane wind is a constant and pure rage of wind that doesn’t ebb and flow like normal wind and storms. Hurricane wind is heavy, it starts, builds and stays; sometimes for hours.  Relentless, it just won’t let up.  And then, depending on Michael’s irrelevant opinion toward your insignificant presence, it will stop.  Judging by the forward speed the hurricane force wind will likely last around 2 hours before it stops.

Then silence.  No birds. No frogs. No crickets. No sound.

Nature goes mute.  It’s weird.

We have no idea how much ambient noise is around us, until it stops.

Due to the speed of the storm there will be convoys coming to construct a pre-planned electricity grid recovery process even before nightfall today. Convoys from every city, town and state from the east-coast to the mid-west.  A glorious melding of dirty fingernails all arriving for the meet-up.   Depending on your proximity to the bigger picture objectives at hand, you will cherish their arrival.

But first, there will be an assessment.  The convoys will stage at pre-determined locations using radios for communication. Most cell phone services will likely be knocked out.  Recovery teams will begin a street-by-street review; everything needs to be evaluated prior to thinking about beginning to rebuild a grid.  Your patience within this process is needed; heck, it ain’t like you’ve got a choice in the matter…. so just stay positive.

Meanwhile, you might walk outside and find yourself a stranger in your neighborhood.

It will all be cattywampus.

Trees gone, signs gone, crap everywhere, if you don’t need to travel, DON’T.

I mean CRAP e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

Stay away from power-lines.

Try to stay within your immediate neighborhood for the first 36-48 hours.  Keep the roadways and main arteries clear for recovery workers, power companies and fuel trucks.

Be entirely prepared to be lost in your own neighborhood and town for days, weeks, and even months.  Unknown to you – your subconscious mind is like a human GPS mapping system.  When that raging Michael takes away the subconscious landmarks I guarantee you – you are gonna get lost, make wrong turns, miss the exit etc.

It’s kinda funny and weird at the same time.

Your brain is wired to turn left at the big oak next to the Church, and the road to your house is likely two streets past the 7-11 or Circle-k. You don’t even notice that’s how you travel around town; that’s just your brain working – it is what it is.

Well, now the big oak is gone; so too is the Circle-K and 7-11 signs.  Like I said, everything is cattywampus.  Your brain-memory will need to reboot and rewire.  In the interim, you’re gonna get lost… don’t get frustrated.

No street signs. Likely no stop signs.  No traffic lights.

Remember, when it is safe to drive, every single intersection must be treated like a four-way stop…. and YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION.  Even the major intersections.

You’ll need to override your brain tendency to use memory in transit.  You’ll need to pay close attention and watch for those who ain’t paying close attention.  Travel sparingly, it’s just safer.

Check on your-self first, then your neighbors. It don’t matter if you’ve never said a word to the guy in the blue house before.  It ain’t normalville now.

Break out of your box and check on the blue house down the street too.  In the aftermath, there’s no class structure.  Without power, the big fancy house on the corner with a pool is just a bigger mess.  Everyone is equally a mess.

The first responders in your neighborhood are YOU.

You, the wife, your family, Mrs. Wilson next door; Joe down the street; Bob’s twin boys and the gal with the red car are all in this together.  If you don’t ordinarily cotton to toxic masculinity you will worship it in the aftermath of a hurricane.  Git-r-done lives there.

Don’t stand around griping with a 40′ tree blocking the main road to your neighborhood.  Figure out who’s got chainsaws, who knows how to correctly use them, and set about safely clearing the road.  If every neighborhood starts clearing their own roadways, the recovery crews can then move in for the details.

Stage one focuses on major arteries… then secondary… then neighborhood etc.  It’s a process.  Oh, and don’t get mad if your fancy mailbox is ploughed-over by a focused front end loader who is on a priority mission to clear a path.  Just deal with it.  Those same front-end loaders will also be removing feet of sand from coastal roads.  Don’t go sightseeing… stay in your neighborhood.

For the first 36-48 hours, please try to stay close to home, in your neighborhood.  Another reason to stay close to home is the sketchy people who can sometimes surface, looters etc. Staying close to home and having contact with your neighbors is just reasonable and safer.

Phase-1 recovery is necessarily, well, scruffy…. we’re just moving and managing the mess; not trying to clean it up yet.  It’ll be ok.  There are going to be roofing nails everywhere, and you will likely get multiple flat tires in the weeks after the hurricane.

After this storm half of the people living near PCB are going to fit into two categories, two types of people: (1) those with a new roof; or (2) those with a blue roof (tarp).

Keep a joyous heart filled with thankfulness; and if you can’t muster it, then just pretend. Don’t be a jerk.  You will be surrounded by jerks….  elevate yourself.  If you need to do a few minutes of cussing, take a walk.  Keep your wits about you and stay calm.

Now, when the recovery teams arrive…. If you are on the road and there’s a convoy of utility trucks on the road, pull over.  Treat power trucks and tanker trucks like ambulances and emergency vehicles.  Pull over, give them a clear road and let them pass.

When everyone gets to work, if you see a line-man, pole-digger or crew say thanks.  Just simple “thanks”.  Wave at them and give them a thumbs-up. No need to get unnecessarily familiar, a simple: “thank you for your help” will suffice.  You know, ordinary people skills.

Many of these smaller crews will be sleeping in cots, or in their trucks while they are working never-ending shifts.  Some will be staging at evacuation shelters, likely schools and such.  The need to shelter people and recovery crews might also delay the re-opening of schools.

Once you eventually start getting power back, if you see a crew in a restaurant, same thing applies… “thanks guys”.  If you can pay their tab, do it.  If you can pay their tab without them knowing, even better.

Same goes for the tanker truckers. The convenience stores with gas pumps are part of the priority network.  Those will get power before other locales without power.  Fuel outlets are a priority.  Fuel is the lifeblood of recovery. Hospitals, first responders, emergency facilities, fuel outlets, then comes commercial and residential.

Remember, this is important – YOU are the first responder for your neighborhood.  Don’t quit.  Recovery is a process.  Depending on the scale of the impact zone, the process can take days, weeks and even months.

Take care of your family first; then friends and neighborhood, and generally make a conscious decision to be a part of any needed solution.

Pray together and be strong together.  It might sound goofy to some, but don’t be bashful about being openly thankful in prayer.

It will be ok.

It might be a massive pain in the a**, but in the end, it’ll be ok.

√Andrew

√Jeanne

√Frances

√Ivan

√Charley  (Michael will be like this one)

√Irma

Keep a good thought.  Who knows, we might even end up shaking hands.

It’ll be OK.  Promise.

Debt Soars, IMF warns


QUESTION: Do you concur with the IMF WARNING?

RKC

ANSWER: The IMF said: “No financial regulatory framework can or should aim to reduce the probability of crisis to zero, so regulators should remain humble.”  What the IMF is warning about is the risk of interest rates rising and countries who have borrowed in dollars are presenting a major Emerging Market Debt Crisis. Then we have the two-fold risk is the currency and the interest rates. Many others have borrowed but with floating rates. Our model is warning that rates are going to more than DOUBLE. In the face of that probability, we are looking at a very distinct and unique type of debt crisis.

Napoleon – War – Sunspots & Human Excitability


COMMENT: I love when you educate us about the weather, especially the cycles. the NAPOLEON story killed me !!! I’m a french and believe me, nobody talked in school about the weather cycles when he tried to fight Russia and lost everything. I read 3 times your chart which plots the temperatures and the cycle initiated by the volcano a few years ago. you are enough smart to guess that French teachers NEVER talk this story under this angle of cooling temperatures…

REPLY: When you correlate everything you see the patterns. Sure, at Waterloo, the French used CANNONS while the British used CANISTERS. On the day of the battle, it rained a lot. The ground was very muddy, soft and wet mud. In that weather and ground conditions, cannons were not as effective.  It was more than just the weapons. In those weather conditions, Napoleon delayed and that cost him the battle. But had the weather been dry, things may have been different. The cold clearly beat Napoleon on his attempted invasion of Russia.

There is also the Human Excitability Study where war was correlated to sunspot activity. The sunspot cycle is roughly every eleven years. However, this time it’s different. The sun is headed for a very rare, super-cooling period that threatens to topple civilization itself as it has throughout history roughly following a 300-year cycle.

For most of its history, science believed the sun’s output was constant. They finally realized that a thermal dynamic cycle beats like your heart so the sun could not exist if it was a steady outflow of energy. One degree less and it would blow itself out. Hence, it is cyclical rising and falling in intensity.

The eleven-year cycle in sunspots itself builds in intensity like the Economic Confidence Model (ECM) reaching “grand maxima” and “grand minima” over the course of 300 years. The last grand maximum peaked circa 1958, after which the sun has been steadily quieting down. Today, the drop in activity is at its steepest in 9,300 years, which is being ignored by the Global Warming propaganda.

The last Maunder Minimum, during which the sun languished for seventy years, took place from 1645 to 1715 when the sun’s brightness declined and the number of sunspots collapsed to almost zero. We are seeing almost zero so far in 2018.

Alexander Leonidovich  Tchijevsky (1897-1964) did a study on sunspot and human activity. He found that humans responded even creating wars with the swings in sunspot activity. He may be most notable for his use of historical research (historiometry) techniques to link the 11-year solar cycle, Earth’s climate and the mass activity of peoples.  Just after World War I, Tchijevsky published a book on cycle theory. Perhaps the title was not destined to make the book a smash hit, but it might take a big breath away before you finish reading the last word. The title was: “Investigation of the Relationship Between the Sunspot Activity and the Course of the Universal Historical Process from the V Century B.C. to the Present Day.”

The title is a bit of a long-winded oddity suggesting that human nature becomes more excited during the increased periods of sunspot activity. Whether or not Tchijevsky proved his theory that we are all driven by sunspots, much in the same manner as the moon drives the tides of the seas is another subject which I am not too certain about. Tchijevsky’s work is an interesting collection of knowledge that does illustrate a pattern within human activity.

Tchijevsky did prove that man became more excited every 11 years which did correspond to the know 11-year cycle of sunspot activity. He gathered data from 72 nations from 500 B.C. to 1922. Throughout the 2,422 years, he included such factors of human excitability as war, riots, revolutions, expeditions, and migrations. He took into consideration the magnitude of the event, the size of the area affected, and the number of people involved. The charts that are reproduced here give a very interesting cyclical view of man’s activity which you can call emotion or excitability.

The Tchijevsky cycle clearly indicates that every 11 year cycle period can be broken down into four distinct periods. Period #1 has a duration of three years which is marked by peace, passiveness, and general rule by minorities. Period #2 has a duration of two years in which general excitability grows from political unrest. New ideas or concepts emerge which tend to challenge the party in controL These ideas become popular answers to present day problems but there is a definite lack of a uniting force. Period #3 again has a duration of three years. Under this period the public’s voice is heard. Under a dictatorship, this has been the strongest period of mass riots and revolutions in which major problems are solved. At times, anarchy does prevail but generally democratic reforms are gained. Period #4 has a duration again of about three years. The general excitability declines, and the people go along contented in a state of apathetic moods. Peace movements usually are generated during this period. The masses prosper and go about their normal course of life awaiting the sun to set and the new light of dawn which brings the beginning of a new cycle.

Reflect for a moment about these four distinct periods. Looking at our own recent political history, we see a similarity between this cycle and our preference towards political parties. For example. we had a cycle of peace and passiveness following World War II culminating in the peak of period #3 during the Johnson term. We entered period #4 bringing in President Nixon as everyone went about their business. Gradually we entered period #1 which brought about the Watergate affair resulting in the Ford administration and period #2 which has a duration of 2 years. Jimmy Carter arrived in town ushering in period #3 which is the peak on the 11-year cycle that normally contains revolution of political unrest. This brought about period #4 when we revolted against the Inflationary policies of the Democrats by voting in President Reagan with a sense of returning back to passiveness and old standards and goals.

Who knows if these events indeed were caused by sunspot activity? Perhaps the sunspots do affect our emotions in much the same manner as the moon can move the ocean from side to side. But the fact that remains is this: a cycle does exist. You can find no century on this chart that was ever lacking such human excitability. We are indeed “only human” to capture a saying normally invoked for human error. We have all heard that history repeats itself. Perhaps it is not history that repeats so much as human error. We are not immortal. We have not lived constantly throughout time. We die and are replaced by new generations. Each generation tends to believe that they are smarter than the last, failing to accurately study the errors made by previous generations; they will make the same mistakes.

Perhaps the events might differ but the result is always the same. Just as the Crusaders charged off to the Middle East to free the holy land from pagan Arabs, as they viewed it, we charged off into Europe to set the world free from the madness of Hitler; both resulted in worldwide wars so the events may have been different but the motives, passions, and outcomes were the same.

Tchijevsky’s attempt to relate man’s excitability to sunspot activity did accomplish one thing significant. His life’s work may not have proved or disproved his sunspot theory, however, it did provide us with evidence that man’s excitability, or emotions as I prefer to call it, moves within a cyclical pattern that can be identified

Now We have Caused the Earth to Shift – We Humans Cause Everything


Ok, it is time to all hold hands and jump up and down a few times to set the Earth back in line. The latest is that since 1899, humans are now also causing the Earth’s axis of spin to shift about 34 feet (10.5 meters). Now, research quantifies the reasons why and finds that a third is due to melting ice and rising sea levels, particularly in Greenland—placing the blame on the doorstep of anthropogenic climate change. Another third of the wobble is due to land masses expanding upward as the glaciers retreat and lighten their load. The final portion is the fault of the slow churn of the mantle, the viscous middle layer of the planet. My solution is obvious that we are all to blame and we should begin a program of gradual suicide to save the planet. Those who discovered all this harm humans are doing should set a good example and lead the way for the rest of us to follow. Does anyone want to second that vote?

Solar Minimum Correlates with Volcanoes & Earthquakes


QUESTION: I live in Indonesia. I am amazed that the entire world is not known on your door. I understand that your model puts everything together and provides a whole new perspective. Your warning that here in the Pacific Ring of Fire we should expect a trend of increasing volcanoes and earthquakes has been incredibly accurate. Why do government not listen?

PO

ANSWER: I am deeply sorry that so many people died this week. For those who are not aware, the Mount Soputan volcano in Indonesia erupted on Wednesday, throwing ash as high as 4,000 meters into the sky. This came just days after a major earthquake and tsunami then killed more than 1,400 people on the same island. These things correlate to the solar energy output.

Keep in mind that Solar Minimum does not mean that the sun gets colder but rather it changes. Until it’s not. As sunspots fade away, we enter solar minimum. The sun is heading toward solar minimum now and the sunspot counts are collapsing. While intense activity such as sunspots and solar flares subside during solar minimum, the solar activity changes form. During solar minimum, this is when the sun develops coronal holes. These are vast regions in the sun’s atmosphere where the sun’s magnetic field opens up. This then allows streams of solar particles to escape the sun as the fast solar wind.

These holes throughout the solar cycle during solar minimum can last for a very long time even up to six months or more. Streams of this solar wind flowing from these coronal holes create space weather effects near Earth as they hit our magnetic field. These effects can include temporary disturbances called geomagnetic storms, auroras, and disruptions to communications and navigation systems. These are the effects of solar minimum. These effects in the Earth’s upper atmosphere impacts satellites in low Earth orbit as well. However, on our computer, they also correlate to these periods of an increase in volcanoes and earthquakes.

All I can do is warn from the correlations. I am not presenting a theory as to how they are also causing perhaps geomagnetic disturbance which may go into the Earth itself cause these phenomena. I leave that for specialists to ascertain. Nevertheless, I think this has more influence than driving the kids to practice at school

September the Coldest Month in a Decade – Must be Global Warming


It is not looking very good for the winter ahead. A reader from Calgary sent this picture in about the early snowfall up there. Indeed, Calgary just experienced the Snowiest Day in More Than Three Decades. It Broke an October Snowfall Record. Of course, they will call this Global Warming as well. This is just a taste of this winter to come.

Already, the data is now in for September. The world just had the coldest September for a decade, according to the latest satellite measurements by the University of Alabama at Huntsville.  Naturally, mainstream media will not cover this story. They only like to report how we are destroying the planet and everything is all our fault.

Since the governments have handed out $1 billion for these people to create Global Warming forecasts to justify more taxes, there is not a cold day in hell why they would even give us $5 for a correlation study that shows the opposite. Why fund something that does not produce more taxes?

Well, besides growing food in your basement, perhaps you should buy a sewing machine to make long-underwear to sell to the neighbors when they realize it’s getting colder rather than warmer

Solar Minimum – Biggest Decline Maybe Ever


The sun is entering perhaps one of the deepest Solar Minima in thousands of years. Sunspots have been absent for most of 2018. This is really alarming. Since the start of 2018, there have been totally spotless days for weeks. The sun’s ultraviolet output has sharply declined and this is not going to end well.

We can see that this decline in Solar Cycle #24 has been a rapid decline that is twice as fast than any previously. Already the the upper atmosphere is losing heat energy. NASA has conceded that if the current trend continues, this could become a dramatic cold period far worse than many people suspect. The Global Warming crowd is leading the world down a dangerous path because they have been paid $1 billion to create fake research in order to raise taxes as they have been doing in Europe and Canada. Our computer us projecting a very serious decline in sunspot activity. This will be the backdrop to the rise in agricultural prices we see between 2020 and 2024. Of course, thanks to the Global Warming people, it will be too late to prepare

Is Nature Preparing for a New Ice Age or a Pole Shift?


There is a very curious connection between lakes and volcanos in the Arctic. I just posted how there are kilotons of CO2 coming out of volcanos. There is a similar thing now showing up in lakes in the Arctic as well. There are about 300 lakes across the tundras of the Arctic. However, a scientist reports that she has never before never seen a lake like this one. The lake looks like it is boiling. It is making a hissing sound and bubbles are rising to the surface like a pot of water which is on the stove. It is actually producing powerful greenhouse gas called methane that Europe is taxing farmers for because their cows produce it. Who should we tax for this one? Methane gas has escaped from the lake bed and the bubbles are as big as a grapefruit.

There has been a rise in volcanic activity under the ice at both the North and South Poles. Nobody knows if this is a prelude to a pole shift or is this simply a foreshadow of climate change and entering into a new ice age. What we do know is that melting ice does not result in rising sea levels, it results in the water evaporates and it comes back as snow which then increases the glaciers once again. The danger is that this entire Global Warming nonsense is ignoring how ice ages are even created!

In fact, The British Daily Mail is reporting that not only was this forecast of Al Gore dead WRONG, the ice cap has actually expanded for the second year in a row covering 1.7million square kilometers MORE than 2 years ago and it is also thicker! In fact, the ice has melted in some areas and is building up in others as if they are gradually starting to move

Australian Camels Invading Cities?


 

Most people never even knew that there were camels in Australia. Actually, they are not native and they never could have swum there. In the gold rush days, they imported camels to be able to work in the deserts. When the gold mining boom ended, they just let them go. There are herds of wild camels and horses in Australia. If you go to the center near Ayers Rock, you can even order a camel steak.  While I have ridden camels in the Middle East, the only time I actually was in a camel race was in the center of Australia out by the Todd Regatta – not professionally of course. I always figured you had to do it once in life just to make sure you are alive.

If you are planning a trip to Downunder, you have to go to the desert to witness the Todd River Regatta. It’s an ancient riverbed that no white man has ever seen water yet. That will never stop the Australians from still having a boat race. They just have boats with no bottom and you hold it up around your waste and you run in the regatta.

With the drought in Australia, the kangaroos began invading the cities. Not the camels are also starting to invade in search of food. When that happens, you know there is a problem with a real drought

Global Warming Forecasts from 1989 “Entire Nations” will be gone by 2000


Believe it or not, back in 1989 the United Nations warned: “entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.” It really is astonishing how such absurd forecasts were made 20 years ago to start this whole crazy belief in Global Warming and how the threat would be rising sea levels all created by us driving to work. The rhetoric continues relentlessly with every storm now being blamed on Global Warming.

The 2000 Presidential Election came and Al Gore made Global Warming a campaign issue. In August 2000, Gore announced that he had selected Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut as his vice presidential running mate. Then in 2007 Al Gore still kept preaching Global Warming and declared we reached a dangerous ­climate “tipping point”, he warned in his 2007 book Assault on Reason.

There have been critics who rarely are ever heard. Yet to this day, the press blames each and every storm on a theory that has never been proven to be even plausible. Nonetheless, they then turn Global Warming into a political weapon against Trump. The headline in the Washington Post: “Yes you can blame President Trump for Hurricane Florence.” So the implication is if Hillary had been president, there would be no more storms, which by the way has never existed even before humans walked the planet.

Nobody is ever held accountable for their forecasts that are NEVER correct!