Rick's b.log - 2024/10/10
It is the 18th of October 2024 You are 3.145.68.120, pleased to meet you!

That's it, I'm dead, you're dead, we're all dead

This is what greeted me. My manner of death. It isn't pleasant.

What's that wind speed?!?

What I do know: The number reads 4,442.

What I don't know: If that's in miles per hour or kilometres per hour, if there are digits following.

What I do know: Neither of the above unknowns are relevant. Winds blowing at 4,442 mph or kph are "scrub the landscape down to bedrock" speed winds.
The strongest hurricane ever recorded was Patricia in October 2015 which had sustained winds of 215mph (345kph), tying with Typhoon Nancy (1961).
The highest tornado wind speed recorded was in 2013 in Oklahoma where it was measured at 336mph (540kph).
The blast wind of a nuclear blast can reach around 620mph (1,000kph).

Assuming it is mph because it's a British site, what the Beeb thinks is coming (should be here right now!) is seven times faster than that. To put this into context, the wind will be moving at just under two kilometres per second. If you speak funny measurements, that's about 6,500 feet per second or a little under 4,000 knots.

Actually, it's the sort of wind speed that would generate enough friction to cause things to start to combust. So everything will be churned, torn, and superheated with wind speeds at Mach 5.7. Yup, nearly six times the speed of sound. On the plus side, you'll be ripped apart before you have the chance to hear it coming. So there's that, I guess.

A little hiccup.

There will, as you can see, be a brief pause on Saturday, before it starts up again.

To blow until...

The end is in sight.

...next Thursday.

Winds at nearly Mach Six for the next six and a half days? I'm not dead, we're all dead.

This isn't... quite... how I imagined the apocalypse. But 4,442mph winds for nearly a week sounds a lot like the angry sky fairy hitting the Reset button, doesn't it?

Bye.

Was nice knowing you.

But aren't you sorry you spent five minutes reading this crap in what might be your final moments?

Seriously, turn your screen off and go hug your cat.

Don't have a cat? Shame on you. Next you'll tell me you're a <shudder> coffee person.

Your comments:

David Pilling, 10th October 2024, 22:04

Should we be surprised no one error checked the range of values allowed for wind speed - maybe 0..500. Ah well it will teach people not to trust computers. At least the wind blobs turned black (speed>50 ? ). Hackers to blame, sowing mayhem etc.?

Rick, 11th October 2024, 14:30

Apparently there was a '1' missing from the start of the number, so 14,442 miles per hour wind. Nearly nineteen times the speed of sound, or six and a half kilometres per second.  I'm dead, you're dead, *EVERYTHING* is dead.  Those are the sorts of speeds where the air will superheat into plasma (like spacecraft re-entry).

David Pilling, 11th October 2024, 19:35

But on the bright side, think how much energy one could extract from the hyper-sonic wind.

A tree-dwelling mammal, 12th October 2024, 22:03

I don't have a cat. And I drink coffee. Proper coffee. Made in an espresso machine with a pump. The kind of thing that will strip the lining off your stomach, and for the unwary, will cause sleep to become a distant and fading memory.

Rick, 12th October 2024, 23:49

One of the joys of ADHD is that sleep is like being dosed with coffee without having to put up with the taste of coffee...    As for the stomach lining effects, well, funny you should say that. *Proper* tea does that to uninitiated Frenchies who are used to coffee. There's a reason I tell them "thirty seconds". Of course they don't listen because their shitty excuse of tea needs minutes, and they see my teabag in the cup I bring in the morning that's been sitting there for the entire twenty minute journey...but I'm used to it. That's proper morning tea, that is.

A tree-dwelling mammal, 14th October 2024, 20:39

Yes - but I like the taste of coffee. Again, I'm talking about proper coffee here. Made in an espresso machine, one shot of which has around 200mg of caffeine in it. Pour that into a mug full of hot milk (preferably steam heated) and it'll keep you going all day.    Put a double shot in (so 400mg of caffeine at one hit) and sleep will be a distant memory.    For comparison, a can of Red Bull (other energy drinks are available) has somewhere around 100mg of caffeine. Slightly more than a decent quality instant coffee but not as much as a cup of filter coffee - and about half what you get in a single shot of espresso.    Now, tea...    Yes, I drink tea, sometimes. I'm very particular about how I like it:    - Take a large teapot, preferably insulated. Add 3-4 heaped spoonfuls of LOOSE tea (not teabags!)    - Boil a kettle full of freshly drawn filtered water.    - The moment the kettle boils, pour it into the teapot.    - Leave for AT LEAST 7 minutes to brew properly.    - Pour whole milk into the bottom quarter of a large mug. Add sugar to taste (I have two). Use whole milk, not semi. (And don't try using gold top when making tea as the cream won't dissolve.)    - Add the now-brewed tea to the milk / sugar, stirring the whole time.    - Take one Rich Tea biscuit. Dunk, bite, enjoy. Repeat to taste. When you get bored, drink the tea.    And to settle the old argument:    1. When you're making tea in a pot, add the milk first. Always. Without fail.    2. When you're making tea in a cup with a teabag, add boiling water first, let it brew, remove the teabag, add sugar to taste, add milk. Don't put the milk in first. It'll lower the water temperature below boiling and ruin your cuppa. And don't leave the bloody tea bag in the cup while you're drinking it!