#38509: — 09/02  at  04:38 PM
Also, there appears to be a buffer zone of safe real estate around the Mormon disastor area. They like to squirt out babies too, so people better hurry up before they fill it up.

#38510: PZ Myers — 09/02  at  04:47 PM
The map is incomplete, though. Some of those areas are arid and nasty, with a history of fallout from nuclear testing. And they've got scorpions and polygamists all over there.

I think too that the midwest ought to have big caution labels about earthquakes. We don't have 'em often, but when we do...whoa.

#38512: — 09/02  at  05:05 PM
PZ, The only thing that I can assume is that you have never actually been to West "By God" Virginia. If you had you would opt for a good old hurricane any day.

#38514: — 09/02  at  05:13 PM
"The map is incomplete..." Yup, it left off the New Madrid fault, which someday will destroy half the midwest - assuming the tornadoes don't.

#38517: Chris Clarke — 09/02  at  06:01 PM
West Virginia has coal mine slurry floods, mine fires and meth mouth. Virginia has this.

#38519: Linkmeister — 09/02  at  06:06 PM
I see that's only CONUS; don't even think about Hawai'i, either, since we have volcanoes.

#38523: UrsulaV — 09/02  at  06:42 PM
Dude. Mothman lives in West Virginia.

What? I'm scared of Mothman, okay?

#38531: — 09/02  at  08:18 PM
He's more scared of you than you are of him, Ursula.

#38533: Aaron M — 09/02  at  09:02 PM
afarensis: Since I live about fifty miles from it, the New Madrid fault was my first thought as well. Whee!

#38539: — 09/02  at  10:15 PM
Yellowstone isn't actually showing signs of needing to be worried about as far as volcanoes go, but there's the horde of invasive tourists every summer.

Plan for what you can, and harass your local and state governments to plan for those who can't plan. How on earth could they imagine that everyone in a city like New Orleans would have the means to evacuate themselves???!!!???

#38543: arensb — 09/02  at  11:12 PM
The legend doesn't say what white is. I'm guessing it means "rednecks".

#38547: — 09/03  at  12:20 AM
Harrumph. I live on top of a hill in southern California. We have earthquakes, none of which in the forty years I've lived here originated nearby, and since my house sits on a slab atop rock it's reasonably immune. We routinely ask each other after each shake, "Did you feel that?"

My town is notorious for landslides and fires. The slides happen to people who live on the sides of hills. My home's on the top. It's a longer walk to the beach, but at least the water doesn't linger here. Fire might be a bigger danger, and we evacuated once, but being on top of the hill protected us then, we've since replaced our shake roof with something non-flammable, and if our neighbors would do likewise I'd feel incrementally more secure.

A heavy snowfall would cut us off from civilization, but that's barely more likely here than the equivalent event in hell. Perhaps only the disappearance of gasoline or imported water would threaten the sustainability of our lifestyle.

#38553: charlie wagner — 09/03  at  06:01 AM

HERO OF THE DAY


"A Concert for Hurricane Relief," a heartfelt and dignified benefit aired on NBC and other networks Friday night, took an unexpected turn thanks to the outspoken rapper Kanye West.
Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "
George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

LOSER OF THE DAY

In a statement, NBC said, "Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him, and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks.

"It would be most unfortunate," the statement continued, "if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion."

#38557: — 09/03  at  07:39 AM
I grew up in West Virginia.

I would cut my own throat before living there again.

#38559: — 09/03  at  08:15 AM
Hey, I seem to be living in the little sliver of white in between 'Tornado Alley', 'Gets Pummelled by Hurricanes', and 'Desert and Stuff'. I must be brilliant!

Well, except for the tornadoes that roll through here every few years. That 'Tornado Alley' region may be a little truncated ...

#38561: — 09/03  at  08:16 AM
I currently live in West Virginia, and I like it. Beautiful mountains, rivers (although filled with mine runoff), affordable housing. Also, mountaintop removal mining, mercury-laden air (makes beautiful sunsets, though), massive flooding every time it rains a bit. But overall, not a bad place.

#38563: — 09/03  at  09:06 AM
i'm a first time commenter, though i've been reading this blog for awhile now. I'm gonna have to jump in with support with my state too. It's not entirely bad, and that coal will come in handy once the usa is obliterated by natural disasters. The old bomb shelter at the Greenbrier Hotel might also come in handy, it was built for the entire legislative branch. But as it seems to be a tourist destination, i don't know how useful it would be these days.

#38570: decrepitoldfool — 09/03  at  09:55 AM
Actually tornado wise, we're pretty safe here in the midwest. Tornados are spectacular, but small. There are only 1100 of them a year, and millions of square miles for them to cut their swaths through.

Captcha: "atheist"