Darwin And The Weather

 I am kind of used to the idea of people ignoring suggestions from authorities. I'm a teacher, after all. But the ones I mean in this instance are the ones where the National Weather Service says there is a hurricane headed straight for central Florida and anyone living in that area should get out of the way. Cut to the footage of the proud and relatively fearless homeowners slapping plywood on their homestead with the very specific intent of "riding this one out." This is nothing new. 

I thought of this as I clicked past a video of a father and daughter having a beer with their burgers, wearing T-shirts and shorts in Buffalo, New York. Not much to see but these two hearty souls sitting outside in a blizzard, "enjoying" their lunch. Then I thought about the camera operator. They talked at least one more person, mom?, into standing in the middle of an historic arctic storm to take in this tableau. I can only assume that shortly after this production, they trotted across the street with their wind-chapped exposed bits to show their neighbors just how clever they were. Before posting it on Al Gore's Internet where we could all sit and stare at this exhibition. 

Exhibition of what? Man's dominance over nature? 

A ban was put into effect in upstate New York to keep residents off the snow-choked city streets. As of Tuesday morning, thirty people had died because of storm-related complications. Among these were those found in cars, homes and snowbanks. Some perished while shoveling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises. Stay home. Stay alive. 

Or go out on the front lawn for a little picnic to prove that you're not afraid of a little weather. 

Back in September of 2013, Boulder, Colorado experienced a flood that destroyed sixteen homes, and required more than eighteen thousand people to be evacuated. And while all this weather-related chaos was going on, students from the University were floating on innertubes through pedestrian tunnels that had become filled with water. Some took the opportunity to try out their white water kayaking skills. 

But mostly, people stayed out of the weather and waited for their chance to go back outside and assess the damage. As far as I know, there wasn't anyone who moved out of Boulder after that storm. Just like the die-hards who rebuild here on the faults of northern California after the most recent earthquake. Hearty souls, all of us. 

Just not too terribly bright.