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What funny/interesting thing happened in your life today?


Ultimate Steve

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Tuesday was an absolute mess. I was hit by a monsterous Deracho (a fast-moving severe thunderstorm with high winds) that became one of the most destructive events my area has ever seen, right up there with Hurricanes Irene and Sandy. The storm was moving at 110 mph with Category 1 hurricane-equivalent wind gusts, hail as big as baseballs, frequent cloud-to-ground lightning, and sustained winds high enough to uproot trees. It was surprisingly quick, lasting less than half an hour, but was incredibly destructive. Most of my town (me included) lost power, trees were down everywhere, most roads were blocked by debris and power lines, two nearby towns were declared disaster zones, and one person was killed in my town. I later found out that the reason for all that damage in my town and in the nearest 10 miles was due to a huge macroburst that formed nearby, creating winds of 110 mph - as strong as a high-end Category 2 hurricane. Along with that macroburst, there were AT LEAST seven tornadoes, two waterspouts, two microbursts, and one other macroburst that formed from this Deracho. School was canceled for the rest of the week, and while we’re likely to have it tomorrow, the town is still not completely fixed up. Some roads are still impassible, and a good portion of the population does not have electricity yet. Some may not get it back for a few more days. 

My experience with this storm was...not fun. I was already quite nervous about it beforehand, and when that giant shelf cloud hit and everything went berserk, I was honestly freaking out. The power went out almost immediately and we had to go into the basement. However, after the initial strike (which lasted for 5-10 minutes), everything began to slowly calm down. There were very little lightning flashes and it wasn’t apocalypse ink black outside. Eventually, under half an hour after the storm hit, it was safe enough to return upstairs. When I went outside to check everything, I found that a ten foot long tree branch had hit the side of my house and took off my gutter. If it was any bigger it would’ve gone straight through my room. For the next few hours, the only sounds besides the eerie silence were rainfall, occasional fumbles of thunder, and the sirens of emergency vehicles. 

That first day, I spent quite a lot of time building some LEGOs I got for my birthday (don’t judge) and reading. About a day after the storm, we got our power back, so I spent the next two days finding planets in K2 Campaign 15. Friday was a very successful day - I found nearly three dozen new planet candidates! Now I have to complete the homework I forgot about and is now due tomorrow. Darn. 

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So, for the first time in a while I've had free time, I wasn't super tired, and there wasn't very many clouds, so I went outside with binoculars and a makeshift stand and saw the ISS! I looked for a few minutes and *almost* got to the point where I could see the solar panels distinctly (it will be better if it flies directly over, but that won't happen for another month or so). Then, I notice another moving dot in the sky, about a minute behind the ISS... and after thinking for a few seconds, I realized that it was most likely the Cygnus that launched yesterday!

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On 5/22/2018 at 7:15 PM, XB-70A said:

Today I discovered that pedestrians are less and less following the rules of crossing:

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Fortunately, the old man coming in front also braked for them :)

You know, this is something which really puzzles me often:

Squirrels. Squirrels are seemingly so damned smart. People set up obstacle courses for them to learn and attain food treats, and the Squirrels are so smart they actually figure out and solve some amazing puzzles. They're very adaptable and adept little critters. Yet, the streets in NJ rural areas are littered with the corpses of dead, flattened, road-kill Squirrels. Automobiles have been around for over 100 years now; You would think that Squirrels would learn by now how not to get run over. I just can't figure it.

 

:lol:

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23 minutes ago, LordFerret said:

You would think that Squirrels would learn by now how not to get run over. I just can't figure it.

It’s extremely difficult to judge the speed of an object coming directly, or nearly so, at you, and squirrels don’t have the best eyesight to begin with (attuned more to movement I think).

 

Me? I’m sitting in the ER with my wife. :( Which is neither funny nor, thankfully I suppose, all that interesting. The nurse is Vlad. Vlad has the personality and beside manner of a damp sponge. I’d rather we had one of my Vlads. Any of them. Even the nutty one. 

Come to think of it, IIRC they’re all pretty nutty. What was that about squirrels?

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5 hours ago, p1t1o said:

Thats funny, I wonder if its related to https://www.wetnwild.co.uk/ all the way over here in sunny South Shields!

Okay, this was funny. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and I initially found the disambiguation page to be very confusing. Until I realized: It's all about the apostrophes, capitalization, and spacing. There's Wet 'n Wild. And then there's Wet'n'Wild. And then there's Wet N' Wild. And finally there's Wet N Wild. So, no, our Wet'n'Wild is not part of the same corporation as your Wet N Wild. Wild. :D

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My SOSE teacher collapsed about 10 minutes ago, and we are all standing out in the hallway while some other staff help her. What a way to start a Friday morning...

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9 minutes ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

My SOSE teacher collapsed about 10 minutes ago, and we are all standing out in the hallway while some other staff help her. What a way to start a Friday morning...

Time Zones have struck again. 

it is 7 PM/19:00 for me

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