In Monty Python and the Holy Grail Dennis the Peasant tells King Arthur: “Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.” If Dennis had encountered the Electoral College he might have had a bit more respect for ‘watery tarts throwing swords’.

Americans can’t vote for President, they vote for 538 strangers whose identities are rarely known, and those 538 people elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Even though they pledge to vote for specific people, there isn’t much that can happen to them if they decide to vote for someone else, other than being labeled as ‘unfaithful electors, tsk, tsk’.

While Frankenstorm took the top spot away from politics for a while, it crept back in. I was reading the comments on a hurricane site last night, and in the middle of a discussion about finding new scale to indicate to people how bad any particular storm might actually be, up popped a comment about how much better Rmoney would have handled the situation. People complained, but then someone else made a comment about Zero and things degenerated.

I have been receiving multiple phone calls on my landline for the past week from the RNC trying to sell me on their brand of snake oil. I pick up the phone immediately because I have friends and relatives in harms way who might need some help, so it’s really annoying.

I can’t wait for this election to be over.

Position: 41.3N 79.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [320°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 992 mb ↑.

Currently about 50 miles [ 80 km] East-Northeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

[Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC) reporting]

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]