[News] Hurricane Helene (Florida)

Albion my Albion · Sep 26, 2024

There is a very serious storm in Florida right now.

Helene rumbles into Georgia as dangerous Cat 1 hurricane after slamming Florida: Updates

Helene made landfall in the Florida Big Bend region Thursday night before it is expected to move inland at a fast pace across the Southeast.

www.usatoday.com

Hurricane Helene likely to hit Florida tonight as Category 4 storm: Live updates

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. − Hurricane Helene strengthened into a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 125 mph Thursday and may just reach the next level as it roars toward landfall and possible devastation along Florida's Gulf Coast.

The National Hurricane Center, which at its 2 p.m. ET update (6:00 p.m. UK) had reported Helene's sustained winds as high as 110 mph − just shy of Category 3 status − tweeted about a 10 mph increase 25 minutes later.

At 5 p.m.,(9 p.m. UK) the center issued an even more dire advisory, saying: "It seems likely that Helene will be at or very near Category 4 strength when it makes landfall in the Florida Big Bend this evening."

Florida · United States

United States

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The Florida Big Bend is just below Tallahassee, the Florida state capital.

Bozza · Sep 26, 2024

No, but I've had the Weather Channel on all evening watching the coverage.

Landfall is going to happen whilst we're sleeping. Sounds like it's going to be hitting around high tide, so it's likely to be pretty devastating.

The main tourist areas in central Florida won't experience anything too bad - l've been flicking to a live stream from the Magic Kingdom every now and again - it's a bit breezy with some squally showers, not massively different to Worthing today to be honest!

AZ Gull · Sep 27, 2024

Bozza said:
No, but I've had the Weather Channel on all evening watching the coverage.

Landfall is going to happen whilst we're sleeping. Sounds like it's going to be hitting around high tide, so it's likely to be pretty devastating.

The main tourist areas in central Florida won't experience anything too bad - l've been flicking to a live stream from the Magic Kingdom every now and again - it's a bit breezy with some squally showers, not massively different to Worthing today to be honest!

The affects of this are being felt all the way over here in Arizona........

Not weather wise, of course (it is actually ridiculously effing hot in Arizona right now, record-shatteringly hot for this time of year), but both the Atlanta Braves and NY Mets are neck-and-neck with the D'Backs for the last two wildcard play-off places. The Braves should be hosting the Mets today (Wednesday) and tomorrow, but due to the storm both games have been re-scheduled to a double-header on Monday (the regular season was due to end on Sunday).

That means the D-backs could well end their season and STILL not know their fate until the double-header gets decided on Monday (with the Wild Card series starting on Tuesday). As if my nerves weren't racked enough already...

Albion my Albion · Sep 27, 2024

AZ Gull said:
That means the D-backs could well end their season and STILL not know their fate until the double-header gets decided on Monday (with the Wild Card series starting on Tuesday). As if my nerves weren't racked enough already...

The D-backs simply couldn't Dodge(rs) this situation, could they? Maybe you could start drinking Brooklyns instead of Manhattans?

What is the difference between a Brooklyn and a Manhattan drink?

The Brooklyn is one of five cocktails named for the boroughs of New York City, along with the Bronx, the Manhattan, the Queens and the Staten Island Ferry. It resembles a Manhattan, but with a specific type of bitters (several types of bitters can be used in a Manhattan) and the addition of Maraschino liqueur.

Eeyore · Sep 27, 2024

AZ Gull said:
The affects of this are being felt all the way over here in Arizona........

Not weather wise, of course (it is actually ridiculously effing hot in Arizona right now, record-shatteringly hot for this time of year), but both the Atlanta Braves and NY Mets are neck-and-neck with the D'Backs for the last two wildcard play-off places. The Braves should be hosting the Mets today (Wednesday) and tomorrow, but due to the storm both games have been re-scheduled to a double-header on Monday (the regular season was due to end on Sunday).

That means the D-backs could well end their season and STILL not know their fate until the double-header gets decided on Monday (with the Wild Card series starting on Tuesday). As if my nerves weren't racked enough already...

I don't even know what sport that is. But it does sound rather exciting

AZ Gull · Sep 27, 2024

Eeyore said:
I don't even know what sport that is. But it does sound rather exciting

It's rounders.

Albion my Albion · Sep 27, 2024

Eeyore said:
I don't even know what sport that is. But it does sound rather exciting

Zeberdi · Sep 27, 2024

I have relatives in Miami, Florida so comparatively safe on the West coast of Peninsular Florida. I have family also in Atlanta, Georgia and are in the path of destructive winds and flooding so hoping they will be safe. Hurricane Helene is set to make landfall as a cat 4 in about 4hrs.

CNN describes Helene as ‘one of the largest storms in the Gulf of Mexico in the last century’ with winds that will effect large swathes of the Southeastern seaboard.

HURRICANE HELENE

(Should the thread title perhaps be changed to ‘Hurricane Helene (Florida) ’? It took a while to find the thread tbh.)

Han Solo · Sep 27, 2024

AZ Gull said:
The affects of this are being felt all the way over here in Arizona........

Not weather wise, of course (it is actually ridiculously effing hot in Arizona right now, record-shatteringly hot for this time of year), but both the Atlanta Braves and NY Mets are neck-and-neck with the D'Backs for the last two wildcard play-off places. The Braves should be hosting the Mets today (Wednesday) and tomorrow, but due to the storm both games have been re-scheduled to a double-header on Monday (the regular season was due to end on Sunday).

That means the D-backs could well end their season and STILL not know their fate until the double-header gets decided on Monday (with the Wild Card series starting on Tuesday). As if my nerves weren't racked enough already...

I had never seen a baseball game in my life until last year when I tried "Out of the park Baseball", which is a manager game similar to Football Manager.

Unlike in FM there's no "average performance rating", you have to look at a mix of abilility ratings and the stats of the players and... well, I'm not a very good baseball manager. "Oh, you have '.432 OPS', wonderful!"

For whatever reason you also need like 40 players and half of them are people who come in every three weeks and throw a ball or two so its not like you can just collect 20 good lads and win titles.

First season was a complete misery as I tried to do everything myself and it all went horribly wrong. Didn't know the rules, didn't know how points were scored, and this had a noticeable impact on results.

My dear Oklahoma Raiders or whatever the f*** they're called were dead in our division last by the 82th game, when I assumed the season would be over. But no. It just kept going and going and going and by the 150th game I just assumed my game was broken and looked it up and... goddamn.

By the second season I had left the match management to a Head Coach and just tried to do my job as a General Manager instead.
We didn't win shit over my 20 year spell as their GM but reached playoff a few times. By watching some of our playoff adventures I finally understood how the sport functions and its quite fun, I see the charm in it.

How the hell people are able to follow at team playing 162 3-4 hour games per year is beyond me though.

Eeyore · Sep 27, 2024

Albion my Albion said:
View attachment 189427

AZ Gull said:
It's rounders.

Another sport that owes its existence to Stoolball. Yep, bat and ball games all originate here in Sussex.

Yet Stoolball still gets a red underline when you write it

PTC Gull · Sep 27, 2024

I live in Port St Lucie on the East coast but we are currently oop north in Virginia. However speaking with friends back home it’s appears a lot of wind and rain until early morning tomorrow and then back to normal. As mentioned before, north Florida and Georgia are in for a stormy night. Folks on the Gulf coast getting again. 3rd time in a year.

AZ Gull · Sep 27, 2024

Han Solo said:
... and it all went horribly wrong. Didn't know the rules, didn't know how points were scored, and this had a noticeable impact on results.
....

Han Solo said:
...
How the hell people are able to follow at team playing 162 3-4 hour games per year is beyond me though.

I've come to appreciate baseball as the greatest of the "American" sports (ice hockey and basketball can get in the sea; American Football is fine as a spectacle but baseball is the sport for those with a brain).
Typically each team has a five-man rotation (starting pitchers) who only pitch every fifth game, so each and every game is unique. A pitchers duel with very few runs scored can be just as fascinating (if not more so) than a slugfest with multiple home runs.
When you start to delve into the details there really is a multitude going on, for EVERY pitch thrown:

* Is the pitcher left or right-handed, and what about the batter. As a general rule left-handed batters struggle against left-handed pitching and vice versa - some batters compensate by being switch-hitters and hit from both sides of the plate, but will often be better on one side or the other. Later in a game managers will start to sub players to get a better match-up.
* What is the pitch count? Deciding which pitch to throw, in which count, is a constant battle between pitcher and batter.
* How good is the catcher at "calling" a game (it is he that calls for a specific pitch from the pitcher as he needs to know what is coming, otherwise there would be loads of passed balls and wild pitches). Does the pitcher agree? (If not the pitcher will shake him off so he asks for a different pitch selection).
* Are there runners on base? Will they try to steal? How will the pitcher/catcher defend against that?

They made some significant changes prior to last season (most notably the "pitch clock") that reduced the average game time by 24 minutes to 2h 40 minutes. They also added a "ghost runner" if the game goes into extra innings (who stands on 2nd base at the start of the inning) which has largely eradicated tied games going to 13, 14, 15 innings or more.

It really is a great game, and there are few things finer than taking in a Spring Training game (pre-season friendly) in Arizona (as part of the Cactus League) in March, with beer in hand and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Albion my Albion · Sep 27, 2024

Zeberdi said:
(Should the thread title perhaps be changed to ‘Hurricane Helene (Florida) ’? It took a while to find the thread tbh.)

Title line changed.

I couldn't find a topic for [Sports/Weather]. So it's back to [News].

Han Solo · Sep 27, 2024

AZ Gull said:
I've come to appreciate baseball as the greatest of the "American" sports (ice hockey and basketball can get in the sea; American Football is fine as a spectacle but baseball is the sport for those with a brain).
Typically each team has a five-man rotation (starting pitchers) who only pitch every fifth game, so each and every game is unique. A pitchers duel with very few runs scored can be just as fascinating (if not more so) than a slugfest with multiple home runs.
When you start to delve into the details there really is a multitude going on, for EVERY pitch thrown:

* Is the pitcher left or right-handed, and what about the batter. As a general rule left-handed batters struggle against left-handed pitching and vice versa - some batters compensate by being switch-hitters and hit from both sides of the plate, but will often be better on one side or the other. Later in a game managers will start to sub players to get a better match-up.
* What is the pitch count? Deciding which pitch to throw, in which count, is a constant battle between pitcher and batter.
* How good is the catcher at "calling" a game (it is he that calls for a specific pitch from the pitcher as he needs to know what is coming, otherwise there would be loads of passed balls and wild pitches). Does the pitcher agree? (If not the pitcher will shake him off so he asks for a different pitch selection).
* Are there runners on base? Will they try to steal? How will the pitcher/catcher defend against that?

They made some significant changes prior to last season (most notably the "pitch clock") that reduced the average game time by 24 minutes to 2h 40 minutes. They also added a "ghost runner" if the game goes into extra innings (who stands on 2nd base at the start of the inning) which has largely eradicated tied games going to 13, 14, 15 innings or more.

It really is a great game, and there are few things finer than taking in a Spring Training game (pre-season friendly) in Arizona (as part of the Cactus League) in March, with beer in hand and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Yeah I've understood a fair bit of the complexity around it and love that part. Also feel that all the complexity is what makes it interesting because the sport in itself isn't exactly the most crowd friendly action packed sport imaginable...

Sounds like good changes, but wasn't there also some sort of changes that pretty much ruled out the odd batting from catchers? That's the type of bollocks I'd hate if I gave a shit about MLB - throwing away the "complex weirdness" of it. But I guess they need to catch younger generation perhaps.. the Tiktok generation seem incompatible with baseball.

Might watch the playoffs this year. When I went from playing OOTP to watching a game on TV last year it was just in the beginning of the season and I found it really hard to care about "game 3 out of 162" but might be more entertaining now.

Albion my Albion · Sep 27, 2024

Han Solo said:
some sort of changes that pretty much ruled out the odd batting from catchers?

Pitchers don't normally bat. They spend almost all their time perfecting their pitches. Except for the one exception, Ohtani, from Japan, who not only bats extremely well, plays outfield decently, pitches well (but currently can't because he had surgery over the off season after getting a nick in his arm) and has such pace that he steals a great number of bases. Even though his interpreter from last season stole millions of $$ from him to fuel the interpreters gambling habit.

EDIT: I forgot to mention designated hitters (DHs) that only bat for the pitchers and a good job for good hitters who are generally inefficient at playing in the field.

Zeberdi · Sep 27, 2024

Albion my Albion said:
Pitchers don't normally bat. They spend almost all their time perfecting their pitches. Except for the one exception, Ohtani, from Japan, who not only bats extremely well, plays outfield decently, pitches well (but currently can't because he had surgery over the off season after getting a nick in his arm) and has such pace that he steals a great number of bases. Even though his interpreter from last season stole millions of $$ from him to fuel the interpreters gambling habit.

Am I being wooshed here?

I thought this thread was a genuine thread about the hurricane. :facepalm:

Albion my Albion · Sep 27, 2024

Zeberdi said:
Am I being wooshed here?

I thought this thread was a genuine thread about the hurricane.

No whoosing. Both topics are interesting but they should be separated because the weather is the more serious issue.

Zeberdi · Sep 27, 2024

As an alternative to the sports discussion going on the other Hurricane thread - this is for news updates and any discussion relating to the Hurricane for those (like myself) who have family in Florida and Georgia or are just interested in following events as they unfold.

Expected to reach landfall shortly as a Cat 4, with storm surges in some areas expected to reach 20ft at peak high tides.

Albion my Albion · Sep 27, 2024

I sure hope DeSantis went to Miami/Tampa/or Orlando and can now see what the real Florida looks like.

AZ Gull · Sep 27, 2024

Han Solo said:
...
Sounds like good changes, but wasn't there also some sort of changes that pretty much ruled out the odd batting from catchers? That's the type of bollocks I'd hate if I gave a shit about MLB - throwing away the "complex weirdness" of it. ....

I assume you mean pitchers? (because catchers have always hit, just like all other position players).

Yes, there are two leagues - National League and American League - and the World Series is the final match-up between the two League champions. My local team - the Arizona Diamondbacks - are in the National League. In that league, up until 2022 the pitcher would have to take his turn batting. However, in 1973 the American League introduced the designated hitter (who would hit for the pitcher when it was his turn to bat). Because the pitcher was usually the weakest hitter in the line-up it meant that the two leagues developed fairly significantly different strategies to handle the two different scenarios.

It was only in 1997 that inter-league play was introduced (where NL teams would face AL teams during the regular season). It was deemed that the rules of the home team would dictate whether the designated hitter was employed or not. This meant that American League teams would often be at a disadvantage (when on the road) because their pitchers would have to hit when they hadn't needed to previously.

In 2022 MLB introduced the designated hitter for the NL as well as the AL so pitchers very, very rarely ever hit these days (there are circumstances where it might occasionally happen). On the one hand I miss the strategy around pitchers hitting (for instance, do you risk intentionally walking the hitter immediately in front of the pitcher because you are more likely to get the pitcher out, or do you pitch to that hitter; can your pitchers learn to put down bunts to move runners over, etc) but it's probably also true that it is better to see specialist pitchers facing specialist hitters all the time.

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[News] Hurricane Helene (Florida)

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Hurricane Helene likely to hit Florida tonight as Category 4 storm: Live updates