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Not sure if you're serious. Here is a rant by Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh says Irma hurricane warnings are a scheme to benefit retailers, media, and the “climate change agenda”

Actually, he does have a point. In 1999/2000 lived through hurricanes Floyd and Irene. I worked for the Miami-Dade county government, who made a big deal about hurricane preparation. So I deliberately got an apartment outside the hurricane evacuation zone, asked for an apartment on the second floor or above, the only one available was on the 9th floor so Ok. I stocked one shelf with food that didn't require refrigeration, and an aluminum foil BBQ with charcoal. I didn't touch that shelf, it was for hurricanes. When the hurricane came, I moved my car from the ground floor of the parking structure to an upper deck. That was it, I was good. I made a point of avoiding stores when the hurricane was announced, because shoppers were insane! But the lady I was with at the time insisted on shopping; she got more groceries despite the fact her apartment had enough to feed an army (her father's words), and more batteries despite the fact she had a large drawer filled with batteries still sealed in their original package.

Hurricanes are serious, but media hype is overblown.

   

She claims to be poor yet can afford a computer, internet connection or a smartphone to Tweet, okay.
Now she's begging for online donations, sounds like another GoFraudMe scam taking advantadge of the situation.

   

Reason #37 why I live where the wind hurts my face.

   

I'm not sure, but poor people can get a computer. I volunteer for a charity called the Computer Lending Library. When government departments and crown corporations upgrade their computers, rather than throw the old ones in the garbage, they're given to an organization that cleans off government data then donates them to charities. We're one of the charities that receives them. But realize these computers will always be old. When Windows XP was current, we gave out computers with Windows 2000. When Windows Vista came out, we gave out Windows XP. When Windows 7 came out, we still gave out XP because Vista sucks. When Windows 8 came out, we gave out Windows 7. When Windows 8.1 came out, we still gave out Windows 7. So always one generation obsolete.

However, when Windows 10 came out, Microsoft caused a problem. Because these computers had Windows licenses through a volume license agreement, most computers would have the license revoked when they were donated. That means the organization that cleans them up for donation had to purchase a "refurbisher" license from Microsoft. They did get a discount because they're a charity, but did have to pay something. So charities such as the organization I volunteer for have to pay that much money for the computers. It's not much, but the number of computers we go through every week adds up very quickly. The charity raises money to pay for that. The organization that provides these computers to charities offers upgrades for additional money, but our organization can only afford that base model. That means we only pay the cost for the Windows license.

The problem was Microsoft insisted everyone get Windows 10. They won't sell licenses for old versions of Windows anymore. So old computers that can't run Windows 10, just won't work. We're running older computers that were built for Windows 7, but forcing them to run Windows 10. Our charity works with a computer recycling company. We get memory taken from old computers brought in for recycling. That allows us to upgrade memory to run Windows 10. But still, don't expect great performance.

We used to give out Microsoft Office; it was Office 2003. We had a charitable discount, and it was a volume license so we didn't get media, just permission to install on multiple computers. Microsoft insisted we buy the newest, latest version of Office. That required more system resources, had difficulty running on the old computers we use. And Microsoft dramatically increased the cost. We couldn't afford it, so switched to Libre Office. Libre Office is free and can do everything Microsoft Office does. It requires more memory than Microsoft Office, but again we get free memory from a computer recycler.

We did get a couple Apple computers, but it's been a while since we got any. We now have 4 working MacBook laptops to give away. They work, but no one wants them. Poor people won't accept them. They run OS X, not Windows, and they don't even run the latest version of that. They have a PowerPC processor, so the latest version they can run is several versions old. These are laptops with a working battery and WiFi, but no one will accept them. Two run OS X 10.4 Tiger, the newest ones run OS X 10.5 Leopard. The newest ones are 10 years old now.

   

In Selkirk?

   

I volunteer in Winnipeg, but they have a smaller operation in Selkirk as well. The charity's head office is in Selkirk, and the computer recycler is there too.

   

I don't know if we can donate to Canadian non-profits but let me find out. We've got ~150 HP Z600 with 2x Xeon E5606 processors and 24GB RAM each that we're retiring this year. They're heavy and big but they can still crunch SAS data sets just fine.

   

Thanks. We're upgrading computers to 4GB RAM, so 24GB is lots! Some of the computers we're getting now come with 4GB, so we don't need to upgrade them. We got a number of computers with a similar processor, but that matches or exceeds the best we get.

Last year we got individuals through the immigration centre. We get government funding to pay for our space, and the Windows license. The instructor is paid, the rest of us are not. I am the substitute when the instructor is away, so far I've gotten 3 days work this year. But government funding does not pay for immigrants. So immigrants must accept a computer with Linux instead of Windows 10. Because Linux is free.

The program is available to people with income so low they qualify for social assistance. They don't have to be on social assistance, just poor enough to qualify. They have to complete a 1 week training course on computer fundamentals. It's free, but they have to put in the effort to show up, 9:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday for one week. Then they get a 2 year loan. The computer is not theirs, it's only a loan. After 2 years if they're still low income, they can renew it for another 2 years, or return it, or exchange it for a newer one. The newer one will only be that many years newer, it'll still be something a government department or large company threw away.

The training course emphasizes how to use a computer for a job. This is intended to give people the skills they need to get a job. And with a computer to surf the internet, they can look for work. The computers are usually used for Facebook or email, or computer games. They can play DVD movies, or watch Netflix. We don't enforce what they use it for, but hope they get skills necessary to get a job.

If they break it or get it infected with viruses, they can bring it in for a free repair. If it can't be repaired, we'll exchange it. But we only repair computers we issue; if they buy a computer they can't bring it in for a free repair. That's partially do to me; I'm the one who does the repairs, I don't want to compete with myself. It's also because they get government funding. They allow me to give out my business card, so I get something out of it.

Immigrants don't take the course, because government funding pays the instructor's salary. Again, we don't get government funds for immigrants. The Computer Lending Library is closed every August. It's closed right now, the next class begins Monday, the repair shop will open a week from now.

Yes, that means border jumpers coming from the US to Manitoba do show up where I volunteer. They usually get the same older computer everyone else gets, but they get Linux. Occasionally head office in Selkirk sends a special computer for an immigrant, something that came in through recycling instead. Occasionally the business owner who founded the charity spends his own money to upgrade a computer for a special needs person.

   

I don't know about the computers but tell me what RAM you need and if we have it I'll mail it out today.

   

Good live feed here:

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/w ... ,28.88,622

Best surfing ever on the Cuban coast right now.

   

Surf's Up Ace!

   

A couple of problems with your post: First off Hurricane Irene was in 2011, not 2000. More importantly, neither of these hurricanes hit Florida. Both of them paralleled up the coast of Florida, many many, miles offshore before they slammed into North Carolina. The surfers in Florida had some world class waves for a few days, and thats about it. The fact of the matter is that if those are the hurricanes that you have been in, than you have NOT been in a hurricane. When you are ACTUALLY in a hurricane, its fucking terrifying. Yeah Floyd had a lot of hype as it was a 2 MPH short of a CAT 5 hurricane. They told everyone to evacuate, and then nothing happened. People get pissed when they spend a lot of money evacuating for nothing. They miss work. They get stuck in gridlock traffic. They get price gouged at hotels, and stores. After if happens a few times they get jaded. They think like you do that hurricanes are no big deal. Then we get what we had with Katrina. People don't believe the "hype". They don't leave. Thats when the shit hits the fan. Thousands die. Billions of dollars in damages. It goes in cycles. A huge storm hits. Thousands die. In the future they play up the danger of every storm. They tell people to evacuate. People get pissed when they have to keep evacuating for nothing as the storms change course. People quit evacuating because they think like you that they have been through a hurricane when they have not been, or they stop believing the forecasts of doom and gloom that never materialize. They have been through it before. Its no big deal, untill it is. Like Houston.

Harvey was/is bad. Very bad. Irma could be a lot worse. People that are surrounded by water need to evacuate when a monster CAT 5 storm is heading their way. They need to listen to reason, not some talking head trying to make points slamming his political opposition (when did hurricanes become political?), or people that have never actually been in a hurricane telling them its a bunch of hype. Its not politics and its not hype. Its life and death.

   

Hurricane names are recycled. There have been a few hurricanes named Irene. The one I lived through hit Miami October 15, 1999. That one was category 2, but went right over.


My girlfriend at the time worked for Royal Caribbean, came from work on the docks. I told her to come straight to my apartment, which was direct. My apartment was downtown so it should have been easy. She lived in Miami for years, so should have known it. But no, she drove straight to Miami River, which flooded the street that paralleled it. She called me on her cell phone to rescue her. And she didn't stay put, kept driving. I told her if she can drive, then drive away from the river, then come straight to my place. She didn't. She drove into ever deeper water. I waded through waist high water trying to find her. Eventually she drove to the parkade of a hospital. I picked her up there. Her car was high and dry, so we left it there, I just drove her to my place. We were both wet. Outside with the full brunt of the hurricane on us!

   

Your girlfriend sounds like a real winner.

   

Not looking good all that prep on the east side to have the west side hit. Hopefully they had enough time to be safe. And now we wait.

I have an uncle in the Tampa area. He has electric metal storm shutters that go over the windows. His place is also on stilts. My parents have a place in the area too.

   

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