Hello from College Park, which got smashed by an F3 tornado last evening. My wife was in the university parking lot at ground zero when the lightning was doing that gay disco thing, and she threw away her umbrella and ran to her car and drove out. Tree branches were raining down, and the wind was whipping her car as if to pick it up.

Close by, the tornado really was picking up cars and throwing them. Two sisters died, and their father was injured, when their car was hurled into a building.

Tornado tip: GO INSIDE.

I was at home when it happened. We live in a high-rise, and the lights were flickering, so I went down to my car to look for some flashlights. I noticed that the clouds were scudding by in a different direction from the wind and thought, this can't be good. When I came back in, all the lights in the building were out, including the backup lights. Two students asked me if I'd seen the tornado at College Park, and I said, "Oh, shit!" They described where it had hit-- exactly where my wife parks, and I knew she was leaving just then.

I groped my way up to our 5th floor apartment in total darkness, to grab a flashlight and see if she'd made it home and to check for messages, and my plan was to go back downstairs and wait for her. But she walked in a few seconds after I did.

So I'm feeling grateful for the small things today.

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What others say about boorite!

Sounds pretty rough, Boorite. Hope you and your wife are both OK. I bet it's a bit messy outside today.

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I LIVE!

Nasty. I've never been anywhere near a tornado, and have this kind of morbid curiosity about what it would be like. From the sounds of things, I wouldn't want to find out.
We don't get many natural disasters round these parts. We had an earthquake that measured around 4 on the Richter Scale a few years ago, but that's about it.

I blame those liberal, feminist civil libertarians.

(Oh, and glad to hear you and yours made it through ok, boorite. A tornado in College Park?!?!?!?!)

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

I'm glad you're both okay. Craziness. All we need is the aliens to land on December 31st and this will be the craziest year since the Village People premiered.

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I ate a hooker half a bottle of knife.

Only since, though. Not including.

Yeah, we're not supposed to get tornados here. I've lived in Louisiana and Ohio, and when I moved to Maryland I thought I was leaving the tornados behind. I have recurring nightmares about the damn things.

We didn't know the extent of the damage until this morning. In fact, my wife didn't quite tell me what she'd been through until this morning. Anyway, once she was home safe, it wasn't so bad. The power was out until after midnight, and so we lit a bunch of candles and listened to John Renbourn and Stefan Grosman on the battery-operated boombox. We have a gas range, so our dinner plans were hardly affected.

Andy, you should drop by the States some Autumn for a taste of our bracing continental weather. It's shite.

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What others say about boorite!

Well, I visited New York and Washington DC last year, and didn't really notice any disasters, natural or otherwise. It was far too hot, though, and the cheap, sordid hotels I was staying in didn't have functioning air conditioning. Does that count?

Tornadoes have been known to hit all 50 US states, some just more than others ...

Suburban Washington now boasts 3 class-A disaster areas: The Pentagon, College Park, and the Redskins.

For the more tornado-prone parts of the country, this is actually a calmer period. But autumnal weather on the mid-Atlantic can be most interesting (I actually love it). In four weeks or so, the leaf-fest should be peaking here, and that might be worth a visit, Andy.

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ken.kaufman@gmail.com

It's too bad Jeff George was out of town yesterday.

BTW, funniest Dennis Miller moment I caught last night, made after the Redskins finally started moving the ball on their final drive [paraphrased]: "Looks like they've decided not to go with the prevent offense."

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

Yes, that counts. You should also experience some thunderstorms, especially in the Gulf South. You've scarcely lived until you've had a foot of rain dumped on you in two hours, followed by another foot of rain overnight.

Kaufman, I like the seasons here, too. In fact, I confess that I love big weather in general. What a spectacle.

Speaking of spectacles, the Redskins. What a spectacle. At least we can look forward to....

The Wizards!

Ah yes, let's just stick a dunce hat on the greatest basketball career ever. Why not?

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What others say about boorite!

I'm very glad your wife's okay. I agree. Enough with the disasters, already.

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I am a delicate fucking flower. https://beacons.ai/jesskent

Best of luck! I grew up learning where to run when tornados hit. I've had trees fall in my yard but I was inside - nothing like what your wife went through.

I remember being in Florida when a sudden 10 second twister leveled a cinder block building 1/2 mile from the gas station I had stopped at. When I got to my friends house a lady on the news said she had been in the shower when the roof came off. She pushed her hands against the wet tile but kept getting sucked up out of the shower. She landed naked and wet but fairly unscathed in a bush 3 stories down.

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"Jelly-belly gigglin, dancin and a-wigglin, honey that's the way I am!" Janice the Muppet

[Click to view comic: 'Dr. Not Quite So Evil']

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100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.