Friday, July 22

Ghoulish Weathermen

Is it just my imagination, or do TV weathermen become more ghoulish during hurricane season?

This thought came to mind this morning as I watched my local forecaster excitedly tell me that Tropical Storm Franklin was the sixth - SIXTH! - tropical storm of the season. "And," he gloated, "IT'S ONLY JULY!!!".

And what's with that name? Franklin? What kind of a name is that for a hurricane? Are they running out of names? For a long time hurricanes were always given feminine names. Who could ever forget hurricane Camille? Now they include masculine names too. They still talk about Hurricane Andrew. One year there was a Hurricane Georges - with an "s". Not that there's anything wrong with that.

If the Weather Service is running out of names for hurricanes, I have an idea for them. If baseball teams can name their stadia after corporations, why not name hurricanes after some of the finest companies the business communities have to offer? How about hurricane Enron? Or tropical storm Worldcom?

I guess that would be a bit redundant, thought. Naming a disaster after a disaster.

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