Los Hurracanes: Riding through one

Normally in the events of a natural phenomenon such as a Hurricane, one's first instinct would be to leave the immediate area and or seek shelter in a more fortified building. My family was not always so fortunate on finances or resources of the sort to make an extensive leave of the area, so riding out the storms that did hit us were common place. Others had the luxury of being a distance that prevented hurricanes themselves from harming them. I will attempt to best describe my experiences in such a situation, but I cannot speak precisely for most categories.

Tropical Depression:
A tropical depression is more akin to a regular rainstorm. Best described as a more severe local rainstorm but it usually becomes nothing to write home about in wind speed. It replaces that often with an immense reservoir of rainfall usually leading to flooding in most areas. The clouds as always are a dark grey, with faint patches of white and when observed closely drift on at a slightly accelerated rate.

Category 1-2:
The primary difference between these 2 is the visual intensity and sound of the wind. A category 1 hurricane is often lightly intensive in terms of what most people are used to seeing and carries a darker shade of grey clouds than would be rain storms. A category 2 hurricane seeks to generate small tidbits of sound and generates winds that could potentially begin to knock down some more embedded or fortified land-lines, including some power sources of increased resistance. The rain comes down harder and a dark grey is the norm for the majority of sight.

Category 3:
A category becomes a breaking point for most and with good reason. As mentioned earlier, full blown categorized hurricanes should be avoided by all means necessary to ensure safety. The category 3 is the beginning of a monster. The clouds range from dark grey to pitch-black and winds are constantly making howling noises, and most of the environment around it is rocking violently and repeatedly with power lines and trees easily coming down with almost no effort. I call the 3rd category a breaking point because it begins to do what a stereotypical broadcasted hurricane is known for, which is wreak havoc on a large scale with a combination of factors. When Charley struck FL in 2004, my father was lucky enough to have worked to such a point as to being awarded with keys to the warehouse at which he worked. Coincidentally it became our designated shelter(as we lived in a mobile home at the time). We rode out relatively well, but woke up to shock at just how much Charley was capable of. The warehouse was made of solid concrete, but one of the walls in our unit had partially collapsed without us knowing it!

Meanwhile Across the street, which also sported concrete walls was no longer even standing! Having collapsed in on itself during sometime in our sleep. Going back home several 2+ton trucks were flipped on their sides or backs, and in rare cases, entire homes were gone. Our house curiously enough being next to a large tree, did not suffer much at all, the only damage being a broken window. The house next to us was no longer there in comparison.

Category 4-5:
2 categories I hope I am never ultimately forced to ride out anytime soon, as nothing in my immediate area will protect me from the force of such winds, storm surges or tornadoes.

To those in the path of Irene, never underestimate the potential of these beasts. Their habit of changing in both direction in strength is beauty and death in grace.

Blog Color choice: Scientific Good

Other than the obvious reason of choosing the "Awesome" design pallet for the blog, I'd thought I would narrow down a more definitive reason for doing so. It is a beneficial one at that, and one that I'm sure some people will come to appreciate. Indeed, the dark color pallet was not chosen for personality or some abstract reason, but in actuality for a common good among viewers. Allow me to explain a bit on the situation.

The dark color pallet is easy on the eyes for one. The harsh contrast presented by white reflective LCD screens tends to strain the eyes, especially as the day winds down, at which some readers or friends tend to access such. The darkness is itself working with you to make the experience smoother. Even in broad daylight a darker screen isn't so much a bad one on reading, though experience may vary I'll admit on position on the globe.

It's not to say that other sites using the overtly white design are bad, far from it, but that I find the darker color more inclusive and something to relax a person, in light of it's other changes. In hopes of continuing that experience I will leave to color be. I know some people(myself included) do spend times of the day revisiting sites, even in near darkness. This is among my shorter posts due to the brief explanation of the circumstance and something I felt I had to share.

I hope my reasoning suits well with a like of the design. If not, then I apologize and may well look into an alternative blend for future reference. Feedback is appreciated on the design, and if your some sort of art dictator who will tear a person to shreds over simple mistakes...I wouldn't mind hearing from you either. =)

G+: Social Networking that propagates interaction.

It is as I have observed quite so, that Google+ does indeed fulfill quite the social aspect of a social network. Maybe it's the excitement, or because it isn't mainstream yet, but either way it does it's job. Never before have I approached people whom I never knew and be able to have conversations with them. From Writers to Tech heads to Google employees to all around average people, nothing has touched on such a level.

It's success in my opinion is no doubt in part of the control YOU as the user has. Not everyone wants to share everything with everyone. Down to the last detail Google has made sure that you have every control when it comes to telling who what you want them to hear or see. Google has made sure to try and replicate reality as much as it can and has done a fine job. Google Itself uses the social network, and by golly the chance to see, meet and talk to Google employees has been a big dream for many that I can speak for. The demographic Population is relatively stable as well. It is filled with young, and adult.

What truly separates G+ from Facebook is it's user base. G+ members don't necessarily try to be what they are not. The Young don't try and intrude to change adults, and the adults remain themselves while interacting with younger members. This is fantastic interaction that builds strong bonds, and leads people down better paths and goals. Never in my life did I think I would be helping others on a social network, being not to chatty or social myself(at least until G+). On Facebook this interaction does not happen. Facebook strictly promotes the known friends and family. There isn't any real way to know someone before hand and expand. G+ on the other hand often encourages you to meet others.

On a final note, G+ has one thing that the other 2 main giants do not and that is integration. Unlike other social networks who solely focus on the singular social method, G+ is integrate with all of Google's services. From one window you can open up Gmail, YouTube, maps, blogs, wikis ect. It's all there at the click of a mouse. G+ serves a purpose to smoothly translate services, which is a big plus for businesses  and something I hope to see grow in the future.

At the end of the day, although I wish Google luck, no matter how dominant Facebook remains, anybody and everybody on G+ is who I'd talk to on a social network.