September 19, 2003

SEVERAL READERS SAY I WAS WRONG to link Gregg Easterbrook below regarding media hype and Isabel -- but only Pyrojection did it while observing Talk Like a Pirate Day, a date that I have sadly neglected. [Well, it's not Blog Like a Pirate Day, now is it? -- Ed. Yeah, that's my excuse. . . .] And it's true that lots of people are without power, etc., and some people have died. But it's not as if Isabel wasn't a hurricane -- it's just that, once again, it was overhyped.

UPDATE: Okay, maybe I'm wrong. The Smarter Cop points out that hurricanes are unpredictable, and often strengthen or veer at the last minute. But I have to say, the sight of all those correspondents standing on the beach, yammering, makes me wish -- as Dave Barry pointed out -- for a tidal wave or something.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Hurricane losses may be less than thought. Which doesn't mean there weren't losses, of course. It just wasn't the Mother of Storms that the coverage suggested. Rich Galen has some unflattering observations on the coverage.