HEAVY WEATHER 2009: MOLAVE (UPDATE)

It’s over. Actually it was over this morning, but we’ve been busy.

Molave turned out to be a Signal 9 (out of a possible 10) typhoon – wind speeds clocking in at about 140kph. The good news: no fatalities (apart from 60 trees citywide and the bus stop sign outside our building), and the center made landfall just to the east of Kowloon  which basically those of us on the west side didn’t get the full impact.

The bad news: it was still pretty heavy. Which was an issue for the Def Citadel for two (2) reasons:

1. This was our first typhoon in the new flat, which meant we didn’t know how leakproof the windows were. This is important because typhoon winds will basically shove rainwater through any gap available. (To get an idea, next time you get yr car washed in an automatic washer, crack the window just a hair. Then imagine the water jet speed cranked up by a factor of 20. Bring towels.) And the only way to find the leaks – and plug them with thirsty bath towels – is to watch and wait.

2. Molave hit land at around two o’clock in the goddamn morning, just before I fell asleep. Two hours later we were running around mitigating water damage and taking photos to to show the landlord that the HK$100,000 he spent renovating the flat didn’t buy him leakproof windows.

Consequently, we got very little sleep.

Luckily I’m used to that.

Anyway, the bright side is that we know where to put the towels next time.

Meanwhile, we have video, if yr interested.

Not of my flat, or even my village. but from Tai Po.

Not exactly a Storm Chasers episode, I know. And HK is overall strikingly typhoon-resistant, compared to our immediate neighbors. Still, we get a number of these every year, and they’re not always light-impact.

Blow-dried,

This is dF

EGGS, BACON, HASH BROWNS, PANTIES AND AN OLIVE

Good morning, Intersluts.

It's Monday morning. Charlie Sheen will make you breakfast now. On Valeria Golino’s tummy.

Greatest short-order sex scene with bacon ever filmed. Obviously.

Over easy,

This is dF

CRONKITE ON THE MOON

I realize I should probably say a few words about Walter Cronkite’s passing, though I’ll be honest with you – while I remember him being on the news, I was too young to pay much attention to him until he was retired. I remember more about the ballyhoo over CBS hiring Dan Rather as his replacement.

So all I really know about him and his career is what I learned in mass comms classes and (later) the Interwub. And while I’d agree he was a legend and an icon, the likes of whom will never exist again (unless you count Jon Stewart – imagine that), I don’t have much to add that hasn’t already been said by a million other bloggers.

Since I didn’t really get to know Cronkite as a personality until later – and considering today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing – I’ll pay my respects with Cronkite’s coverage of the event.

I was only three and a half when Apollo 11 touched down. But it’s still one of the most inspirational achievements of my lifetime, and one that I wish we hadn’t squandered. Cronkite’s giddy enthusiasm for the whole thing was how I felt when I watched the first space shuttle launch on TV. The Space Age was in full swing and I was proud to be in it. Who knew the shuttle would be relegated to the equivalent of a satellite repair van and we would lose our interest in the final frontier?

Anyway, hats off to both the Apollo 11 team for showing what we were capable of as a species, and to Cronkite for cheering them on.

BONUS MOON PORN: NASA is busy preparing the high-def version of the moon landing footage. Which should keep the landing-hoax conspiracy theorists busy for awhile.

BONUS ANNIVERSARY: It’s trillsie ’s birthday today as well. Hope it’s a happy one with good news. And cake!

Where’s my jet-pack,

This is dF