Tornadoes remind us that life is more than VP

[MikeA]

LOL...you must have been all over that post.  I noticed my error almost immediately and corrected it.  But I am marking your reply because it gives me more insight to your methods with the goals than any other post I've so far seen. 
 
I'm too brain dead right now to assimilate it though.  I've been up all night following the devastation of a tornado that has pretty much wipped out a town about 100 miles from where I live (Greensberg, Kansas).  Imagine a tornado 3/4 to 1 mile wide ON THE GROUND!  VP sort of pales in priority for me right now.
 
The damned storm formed in the panhandle of Texas and turned into a Supercell that spawned tornados for over a 6 hour period!

[babybubba]

" VP sort of pales in priority for me right now. The damned storm formed in the panhandle of Texas and turned into a Supercell that spawned tornados for over a 6 hour period!"
 
One of the most definitive points I try to make to players I train---the game is just a game and there are MANY more important things going on in life. Players who thought they'd find happiness & success going the advantage player route have almost always ended up only caring about what's happenning to them with video poker and couldn't care less about any problems elsewhere--whether it directly affects them or not. My first satisfaction comes from weaning them off the game to the point where they get their lives back. Then I show them how to win with 1/20th the time in the casinos.

[bigboy]

I've been up all night following the devastation of a tornado that has pretty much wipped out a town about 100 miles from where I live (Greensberg, Kansas).  Imagine a tornado 3/4 to 1 mile wide ON THE GROUND!  VP sort of pales in priority for me right now.
 
 
 
Can't argue with you on that point. Imagine if the scientists could develop "something" to prevent/stem these incidents. That would be a heck of an accomplishment. Alas, just like in our pursuit to conquer the gambling world, mother nature ultimately will always win. I hope that you come through this safely. Good luck, MikeA.

[faygo]

[QUOTE=MikeA] I've been up all night following the devastation of a tornado that has pretty much wipped out a town about 100 miles from where I live (Greensberg, Kansas).  Imagine a tornado 3/4 to 1 mile wide ON THE GROUND!  VP sort of pales in priority for me right now.
 
   MikeA
 I hope this hour of the day has found those storms moving away from you and that you and your family are safe.
 
Mike

[MikeA]

Can't argue with you on that point. Imagine if the scientists could develop "something" to prevent/stem these incidents. That would be a heck of an accomplishment. Alas, just like in our pursuit to conquer the gambling world, mother nature ultimately will always win. I hope that you come through this safely. Good luck, MikeA.
 
Thanks bigboy.  We are not threatened in our part of the State right now, nor were we last night when the Supercell twisted through the area west of us.  Oh, we are under a Tornado Watch, but we are used to that in Kansas.
 
I actually live in Andover, just east of Wichita.  Back in 1991, an F5 tornado hit our town and the results were catastrophic.  But as bad as it was in 91 here, it was nothing compared to what hit Greensberg.  The shear size of that monster left a destruction path that makes any other tornadic activity I've seen seem like nothing!

[babybubba]

One thing I realize after reading this thread is we do take our weather out here in Az. for granted. No tornadoes, no earthquakes, no flooding, and no cold weather that makes grumpy old men even grumpier in places like Minnesota.
 
 

[rascal]

I doubt if there is anything worth considering in the future to control or eliminate tornadoes, based on the climatic conditions that create them. Hurricanes are another matter, however. I am not an alarmist, but I do agree that global warming needs to be carefully studied (and reacted to). The water temperatures in the mid-Gulf of Mexico two summers ago when Katrina and Rita kicked up to Catagory 5 were fearsome. More than anything, we need to improve our warning systems and our disaster response, to both hurricanes and tornadoes.

[rascal]

Yeah, Rob, I have been in Scottsdale mid-summer during a drought when things were just lovely.

[shadowman]

One thing I realize after reading this thread is we do take our weather out here in Az. for granted. No tornadoes, no earthquakes, no flooding, and no cold weather that makes grumpy old men even grumpier in places like Minnesota.
 
http://www4.nau.edu/geology/aeic/EQhistory.html
 
http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/aztorn.htm
 
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/talite0406.htm
 
 

[MikeA]

The Fujita Scale is being replaced with the Enhanced Fujita Scale.  I'm not "up" on the definition nor why the standard is being changed though I suppose that it is to enable more objective classification.  I do know that an F5 was a storm with winds in excess of 261mph.  An EF5 has winds exceding 200mph. 
 
I have heard no reports concerning the official designation of the Greensberg tornado of last night, but based on structural damage as seen in the photos and video from the storm, I have trouble believing it will be anything but EF5.  About the only structures left standing in that entire town in the path of the monster are a grain elevator and a damaged court house.  Pretty much everything else was leveled.
 
The bad news is that there is another outbreak occurring as I type at 9pm CDT particularly in the northern part of the State.  However, one did dance around just east of what used to be Greensberg earlier in the afternoon.