Destiny or chance

It is still dry in Northwest DC, where I am ensconced, but NASA has provided a clear picture of our destiny. Sandy is poised to turn west and wallop the east coast of the United States:

Our destiny

It is notable that there are several other apparently strong storms in this picture, besides Sandy. Maybe this is less destiny and more mere chance. Whatever. It’s going to rain big. Glad I cleared those gutters I can reach this morning. Also brought in wood for a fire. We are always well-stocked with food and drink. The big worries are trees and power. Let the oaks stand and our power stay on and I’ll count us lucky indeed.

PS:  How does @AdamSerwer find this stuff?

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2 thoughts on “Destiny or chance”

  1. I hope it doesn’t hit you hard. In NYC everything is still ok though I find these are lowest barometric pressures in NYC history which is precondition for storm to become hurricane again.

  2. And up here, south of Boston, it’s still quiet, overcast and drizzly. I spent yesterday fiddling with my mother’s sump pump, so maybe this time I won’t have to do it after the water is already sloshing around the basement. (Call a plumber and have a new one installed? Please – this is New England.)

    Looking at the NASA photo, what struck me was how fortunate we are – destiny? surely not chance – that it’s such a big country. After all, the Founders planned from the beginning on the country eventually stretching across the continent. And now, no matter what happens, it can’t get all of us, there are always millions untouched to carry on, sending tents and cherry-pickers to put the wires back (they’re on the way from Ohio already). Paying taxes…

    Here in Massachusetts we don’t need to lose electricity (it’s pretty much guaranteed to happen in my area this time) to spare us campaign ads for a few days. Nobody bothers much about where our electoral votes are going, although everybody is too polite to speculate openly on how much our former governor, Romney, will lose by. We’re hoping, of course, for a record in the percentage by which a candidate loses his home state. Those innocents out in the Mid-West who are endorsing Romney as having a better chance of bringing comity to Washington either never looked at his record as governor, or are simply assuming that the Democrats are psychologically incapable of being as destructive as the Republicans have been. Considering the possible effects of a hurricane is less depressing than contemplating what a Romney administration could bring us. Laws and Supreme Court rulings do get us all.

    Possibly my last patrol of the Kosovo web-sites before the lights go out:

    the national budget for Kosovo next year is 1.586 billion euros. Remember that the over-due pension payments from Serbia are projected to be at least 1+ billion euros. Is there an economist out there who would be willing to project what the infusion of that amount of cash into the country’s banking system could mean?

    Kosovo picked up two recognitions yesterday (well, one had been announced before but without the requisite stamp from a Belgrade notary public). Burundi is said to be significant because it is the first of all those states that have been looking to keep on good terms with Russia and China, although a quick look at Google shows that it gets what aid it does get from the West.

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