THE STICK WILL PREDICT (The Tropical Storm Cindy Thread)

Figured I'd start a thread for those of us those along the gulf coast dealing with Tropical Storm Cindy. For the moment, all is calm in South Louisiana; it's a little windy, but we've had a very long break in the rain.

For a piece of local color, we have a local television station called HTV. I've worked there after college for a few months, and my time there was interesting. Its founder, Martin Folse, who produced the low budget monster movie Terror in the Swamp (1985), opened the studio, which covers local events, football games, weather, etc. Despite having no formal meteorological training, Folse fancies himself a weatherman. He has "the stick", which he uses to predict the paths of hurricanes and tropical storms. Though most people my age consider it more of a joke, and tune into actual meteorologist for information about the weather, it's scary on how the older generation puts their complete faith in a piece of wood.


As of late, Mr. Folse has found himself embroiled in legal trouble over accusing a local gas station employee of bad mouthing vets and participating in organizing a protest outside of the station.

There's a really good good article written about him called Martin Folse: Destroyer of the Community that popped up online a while back.

You can live stream HTV's coverage of the storm here. He takes calls from the public, that alone makes it worth watching.

Stay dry, Gangland.

Appreciate it, Dani8! Looks like the majority of the strong stuff will miss us.

Well that;s good news. So his stick must be broken.

I hate it that they still name tropical storms and hurricanes after people. Could you image how bad you would feel if your name was used in a hurricane that killed hundreds of people It's time to change that.

Yea, I doubt anyone will be named Katrina down here from now on.

I know, right. Is that an old sailor thing?

Originally they were named after Saints, depending on which day the hurricane hit. Like Hurricane Santa Ana of 1825 hit on July 26, the day dedicated to Saint Anne. They started using the lateral/longitude to name the storms in the 50s, but that became too confusing (especially if there is more than one in the gulf). They name them after people so it's a simple way for everyone to talk about the storm.

Could you image a month after Katrina hit and you're setting in a crowded restaurant, with people who've lost loved ones in that hurricane, and you hear 'table for Katrina'...Ughh

Seriously they need to switch to Greek alphabet followed by numbers. Much better and more ominous to here a level 5 hurricane Beta 3 is coming right smack at you.

Yea, but Katrina looks better on a T-shirt; people cashed in on making shirts after that storm.

Hell, that would be terrible.

But from living in the area, people tend to blame Katrina less on the weather, and more on just the general unpreparedness of New Orleans. It was the failure of the levees that made Katrina the disaster it was; the storm itself wasn't entirely catastrophic. Politicians and the Army Corps of Engineers get more of the blame than "Katrina".