Good luck, and I hope that everyone comes through unscathed. Also remember to protect your computer with your body during the storm. After all, what's life without a computer?

global warming. this is what happens when you mess about with the worlds weather and pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere - huge hurricanes tearing about, one after the other. it's going to be a lot worse in years to come, you know.

Your cynicism impresses even me Pete.

Mustie, Its not cynicism. although it hasn't been proven yet, it sure has a fair part in the deal. Anyway, Climates never stick to a single place, look at Holland for example, the last time the snow here was heavy enough to make the traffic and all stop, was 15 years ago, since then it all went down hill, the last good icy winter we had here was 7 years ago, when we had the last "Elf-Steden-Tocht"
the last years, and certainly counting from the year 2000, there hasn't been a flake of snow, nor a drop of ice here. I'd Stake my shoes for it that the Dutch will be facing a mediterranian climate iin the next ten years, while sw in South Africa for example, could be facing our climate. Just to show, a single climate isn't part of a single country, it will always move on, although the process takes a couple of centuries, I think that Global warming has sped up the process

I actually wasn't being cynical, well not overly so. Realistic, I would have thought. Truth is, whole areas of the world will become very difficult to live in. Florida and the Caribbean/Gulf of mexico will be will hit time afater time by increasingly more ferocious hurricanes. Countries like Bangladesh will be under near-permanent flooding, and low lying areas will perforce have to be protected by sea defences, or will be washed away. Summers are a thing of the past, what we've had this year in the UK has been and will be the norm for yeasr to come.Climate change is real and happening now and it's too late to stop it, even if the powers-that-be wanted to, which they don't, overmuch.

I agree with Pete. Weather on the whole on this planet is just going to get worse. It sucks, but he like he said, there's not much that can be done about it except prepare for it.

Well they say that weather patterns becoming increasingly severe periodically, and I would imagine that this is one of those years. The flooding in Melbourne was unbelievable not too many months ago.

DAMN! no plywood anywhere luckily though i bought some sheet metal hell it is tougher than that wood...cost a hella lot more but who can pu a price on safty? i have a wife and 3yr old daughter to protect

also bought a generator and filled up 9 or 10 5 gallon containers full of gas cause everyones doing what they did with charley and buying all the gas possible for their cars and running the stations dry before 10am!

but at least we have our stocks from charley and bought a few more porvisions cause thedamn track brings it dead balls over the metro orlando area which is REALLY close to me and they estimate like 120-140mph winds over that area for about...roughly 24 or so hours as it weakens and basically turns to a Cat 1 and exits on sunday at 5pm....so from Sat2pm till Sun 5pm this big ass monster is gonna roost over our heads....

thanks to the TLR family for caring...you guys are great....talk to you after the storm...that is IF we have power and a house!

When things get better i will drop a line to you all....again thanks...gotta go put up my steel wall defence (litterally). You all be safe!

your fellow modder and freelancer lover
Richie "Dark_shadow2004"

"To live is to die....but living is to die slowly..why waste time on trivial things just play as hard as you can"

Good luck! *Goes and checks weather reports before Stargate starts*

I really feel for you. I hope you're going to be ok. I've been in a few of these big storms at sea, and they're terrifying. they last for ages and you don't think you're going to make it, the noise is deafening, the wind is incredibly powerful, the seas are mountainous, you can't see anything, and even big ships are chucked about like toys.

it's bad enough on land, but any small vessels out at sea in that will be lucky to get back. God help anyone caught under this.

amen to that pete, global warming i think is a bunch of baloney, in roman times there where vineyards as far as york.

@Mustie .... ha ha ... very funny,

Act of God! What a concept! *runs to others in office ... Hey guys! Here's a way to save money on Frances.... we'll just scr*w our clients out of what they deserve by claiming it was an Act of God....*

No. In regard to insuring buildings against damage caused by storms in the USA, it is one of the oldest forms of insurance sold to both commercial and personal customers. Known as the Windstorm peril, such insurance is available BUT, like everything else, you have to buy the coverage. In places like Florida where hurricanes have a certain greater likelihood of occurring or in states up and down the central part of the US which is referred to as "Tornado Alley" the cost is somewhat greater than other places. To many, that additional cost makes the insurance appear to be too prohibitive and many forego the coverage.

Our commercial clients do not forego the coverage. It most often happens in the personal markets.

@kimk

No. Not weather. I am in the commercial insurance business ... No. Not life insurance. I don't go door to door trying to sell life policies. And I have clients all over the country, some with sizable assets located in Florida... which is why I worry and follow the hurricanes on NOAA and such.

Edited by - Indy11 on 9/2/2004 5:53:25 AM

I've always wondered, who insures insurers? can you insure yourselves, or do you have to get someone else to do it?

For those who have an understanding of being a bookie or I think in the UK horse racing... a tout (sp?), insurance companies need to hedge against being knocked out by a total disaster. Similar to what bookies and touts do, insurance companies "lay off" the risk that they've underwritten.

The term used is rather pedestrian but it is called "reinsurance."

Subject to specific rules and regulations, an insurance company may hedge as much or as little as it wants to by reinsuring itself for business that it has underwritten in any one market, any one insurance contract, any segment or class of business, etc., etc., etc. To the extent that an insurance company does not hedge or lay-off a risk, it is insuring itself.