East Coast Storm & Hurricane Trackers New Orleans Mariposa Cat Adjusters Conference

This big huge, fast moving storm has gotten all the hurricane people online excited... it's not a hurricane but if feels like a hurricane. And, isn't it all about how it "feels" when it comes to something like tracking weather?

Yes.. it is, trust me.

Sort of gets the blood rushing



Every weather person online was showing off their new.. beautiful... images for their websites that will be used later in the hurricane season. Like to put these pics below on my wall... Wall Wxr Art ;)

It's a tightly wound up storm.. fun to watch as it moves far off the coast fast...

As for me.. I'm watching the weather in the Gulf of Mexico as I will be traveling to New Orleans today to be the Keynote Speaker at the Mariposa Adjusters Conference.

I have to tell you... I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say..

So often I work with people BEFORE the story.. tracking the storm, putting advisories into my own words and looking for information many need to properly prepare to hunker down for a land falling hurricane.

These people are the first step in putting things back to "NORMAL" which really IS an illusion but we do so love our illusions don't we...

And..in the South Indian Ocean they are finding debris that may or may not be from the missing plane.

Time will tell.. it ALWAYS does..

Besos Bobbi
Ps...Winter...please just go away..........

Cyclone Gillian, Search for HM370 & Ameila Earhart's Missing Plane from 1937. New Orleans...

This very beautiful cyclone named Gillian is spinning out in the South Indian Ocean far from any inhabited area ... with the exception of Christmas Island. Unfortunately it isn't going to help the search for the "objects" that could be from the Missing Malaysian Flight HM370.

You know that saying... "when it rains it pours"  ... for all of you who always wondered where Christmas Island is... there it is..

http://www.smh.com.au/national/tropical-cyclone-gillian-hits-christmas-island-20140322-359ou.html

Interesting to see how different things look in another part of the world than ours..

Christmas Island is one of the areas where conspiracy theorists kept asking if you could land a plane. The weather is going to to down hill there soon. Truth is we are all conspiracy theorists right now as we have no real knowledge of what may or may not have happened...so we are all guessing. By the time you read this in the morning.. maybe we will know more, but as of Saturday Night Geraldo Rivera and crew on FOX have not yet figured it out.  First of all you need a body, a weapon and a suspect in most murder mysteries. In a plane crash it helps to have debris and a ping, ping from the black box which seems to sound more like a heartbeat oddly. Go figure there. Who knew? Now we do. 

Up close and personal..

Beautiful storm.. sad we are watching it because of the ongoing search and mystery of the plane that has caused the biggest search it seems since Ameila Earharts plane went down in 1937. Kind of odd to me. HM370 suffers the same fate as Earhart's plane in 1937. Maybe some numerology thing there... it's not my thing so you'd have to ask someone else...

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/underwater-search-amelia-earharts-plane-will-resume-2014-f8C11391271

A good site to use always is http://www.hurricanezone.net/as they do a nice job of covering the whole wide world.

Note our side of the world is fairly quiet with regard to the tropics...

Despite the pear trees being in bloom... winter is still refusing to leave ...

Forecast for this coming Tuesday.. don't shoot the messenger please.....

I don't want to hear anything about winter weather causing travel problems..

I'm due to leave Raleigh on Wednesday for New Orleans so speak at

Mariposa Cat Adjusters Conference 

and looking forward to hearing what other speakers have to say

about what happens AFTER the storm hits.. 

I am so looking forward to this trip.. 

... please no winter weather problems anywhere.. 

I can handle tropical weather, but I am super done with cold, wet, winter weather..

Besos Bobbi

Ps please let me click my heels 3 times and wake up in New Orleans... and when I get back to NC.. please let the dogwood tree be in bloom... 

http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e7b3zea3f5cdb355&llr=8wkyw4jab

Search for HM370 at the Bottom of the World..South Indian Ocean.. "Bobbing Object 78 Feet Long"

Going to use a weather satellite to illustrate the region where the suspicious objects are that may or may not be part of the missing plane. This satellite which helps with forecasting tropical development during the Hurricane Season is just as useful predicting what the weather will be like in the search zone later this week.

The search zone which includes planes, boats and probably submarines is at the bottom of the world.. or at least the South Indian Ocean. And, if this is the debris that floated to the surface we have no idea right now where it floated from...

Around 11 PM last night it was announced that they had BREAKING NEWS from Down Under that pieces of the plane may have been located. They say "may" as all they have right now is satellite imagery of a large object around 24 meters which translates to 86 feet long ...give or take a few inches. It was said to be "bobbing up and down" in the water...coming up to the surface, disappearing again. That in itself brings up a lot of questions ...

a) wouldn't it have sunk if it landed there over 2 weeks ago?
b) isn't it too big?
c) isn't there a lot of "ocean junk" in that part of the ocean...an area infamous for junk and debris..
d) how did it get there (hate that one.. obviously it flew there....)
e) why there?  If it is the plane we will find out in time...

And, the questions go on and on and on... and truthfully we have no answers.

Can you tell from the pictures below? Drudge is of course skeptical and probably worries this is some sort of ruse where we move our satellites to get a better picture while the real plane is elsewhere being fitted for a terrorist attack. I'm guessing. A lot of people have raised that question and wondered "hmnnnn" and can't argue their logic.  What do you think?

Another very good theory was put online last night regarding a possible emergency on the plane and the pilots being overcome with the passengers as it continued on automatic pilot until...it crashed into the sea.
Based on the possible fuel left on the plane it is worth noting it should have gone further than this possible crash site. Something to think on...

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Veteran_pilots_theory_on_missing_plane_goes_viral.html
A very well written article and a very logical possibility for what may have happened.. if this is the crash site.

Next we think on the ocean currents that could have moved the bobbing objects to that spot and see if it is logical that this would be objects from the plane. The image below is the ocean currents specifically for March and April...as there are variations from month to month in that region of the world.

Understand there is something known as an Ocean Gyre there (think Sargasso Sea in our part of the world)

Also known as a "trash vortex" 

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/

http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/trashislands.htm

(sad we pollute this beautiful planet so badly... sad but true)

These gyres are everywhere...it's in the bottom left of the picture below..

The weather there is not very good. A cold front just past through and there are high winds and bad surf.

It's a very remote area of the world to have to do a search of this type..

http://www.geelongweather.com/wxsatimagewvcolorwa.php

Good Water Vapor Loop.

Amazes me how online weather experts last night were saying how weather shouldn't be a problem??

Wrong.. well it was very late in the middle of the night...

From the link above ....was the pilot looking for a safe landing site and he simply ran out of time? Only time will tell... 

"Actually he was taking a direct route to Palau Langkawi a 13,000 foot strip with an approach over water at night with no obstacles. He did not turn back to Kuala Lampur because he knew he had 8,000 foot ridges to cross. He knew the terrain was friendlier towards Langkawi and also a shorter distance."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Veteran_pilots_theory_on_missing_plane_goes_viral.html#Td7TMxbsw1sGBL0C.99

I'll be back with more information as it develops and more on Spring...when Spring shows it's sunny face later in the day. For now it's 44 degrees... and I don't consider 44 degrees at 9AM very spring like :(

Besos Bobbi

Ps... Keep in mind prayers for the loved ones of the passengers lost on HM370... they need our prayers if it is or isn't the crash site...either way they need our prayers.

Pilots of Malayasian Missing Plane in Youtube Videos.. And Why is it Called A Cockpit??

Who are you and what do you think on?

The way you view the missing Malaysian plane tells a lot about who you are and how you think...

If you are a Negative Nancy...... you most likely think it's at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

If you are a very Negative Nancy...you think it was pilot suicide....

If you think on the bottom line money wise you most likely think...
... it's been sold for way over $300,000 to someone who wanted a Boeing 777 badly.
... the people were sold off to human traffickers.. easier than getting rid of lots of corpses.

If you believe in miracles... the plane crashed somewhere on a small island, hidden by a dense, green jungle canopy and they are waiting Gilligan Island style for rescue... a bit of Lost and Survivor mixed in there..

If you tend towards paranoia......you believe the plane is going to be used by terrorists.

If you are a political person.....you think this has to do with the political situation in Malaysia or China..

If you are a person who has watched one too many soft core porn movies you think....
The co-pilot let some girls into the cockpit... ... ... and they were really terrorists ... Girls in the Cockpit Gone Wild I suppose......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSAMSZhCfXY


The young co-pilot was filmed in an interview with a CNN journalist not so long ago.  Who knew that was not his 15 minutes of fame?

Victim or behind the hijacking? You be the judge...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIyirl5NGMs


If you are a writer you think...... millions of plot lines pinging around your head like a pin ball.
.... Terrorists found the fix it up guy pilot on Youtube and when they learned his marriage and life was a mess they offered him a fortune to fly the plane somewhere... in the middle of the night..on the night when they changed the clocks to a secret location in the NW area of China that is disputed and connected to places where Al-Qaeda has free roam.........more to come on this one...

See  the Youtube video of the pilot below. Listen to his voice on Youtube. I am not making this up. You be the judge...

Does he sound like someone who might steal a Boeing 777 or be a victim of hijackers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uzRYGJvt-A


One thing I will say is he was or is someone who believed he knew more than the Average Joe and liked to share things online. Link to his Youtube site that is still active. Who knew I would learn so much from the pilot of the missing plane? He has some really good advice that might help me with my new computer. Smart man..

https://www.youtube.com/user/catalinapby1

You can't make this stuff up. He knows how to make a candle on the water and how to cut glass and well check it out yourself and why was his site name "catalinapby1'???  I mean I wonder on things like that..

Wherever this plane is I predict one thing for sure ...and that is... many young people may decide to study more on aviation and how to fly a plane or work in that industry. People have become fascinated by it morbidly or while praying they are alive or....for whatever reason would most float your boat.

As I said earlier... what you think about this plane crash says a lot about who you are...

I'll tell you what I know 100% for sure and that is the man who gave this interviewed lied. He hosted the two missing passengers with the stolen passports who had rock climbing gear in their backpack with a laptop the night before their flight on the missing plane.  I do not believe for a moment that he never, ever asked them "so why were you here in Malaysia?"  Really? Yes, I raised a houseful of teenagers and I can smell a lie really far away and this is one of them. He may have bought whatever story they told him... but he didn't answer a phone from an old friend... go pick them up.... put them up...drop them off at the airport and never once say "so whatcha doing here my friend?"

http://abcnews.go.com/US/day-malaysia-airline-passengers-stolen-passports/story?id=22852454

You tell me if that makes any sense?

Tomorrow we will "discuss" Spring and pray really hard it shows it's face fast!

Besos Bobbi
Ps..Since I know you wonder on these things, but were afraid to ask. It's called a "cockpit" because:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cockpit

See below and remember... you heard it here first...

cockpit (n.) 

1580s, "a pit for fighting cocks," from cock (n.1) + pit (n.1). Used in nautical sense (1706) for midshipmen's compartment below decks; transferred to airplanes (1914) and to cars (1930s).

Purim, Putin, Planes ... Quakes in California & Children...

It's cold and gray in Raleigh today. Very little GREEN showing anywhere today out there... a few vines, pines and magnolia trees... otherwise GRAY and cold. My husband who is from upstate NY and who is rarely, really cold said it was "raw" this morning when he went out to get the paper. I'm inside keeping warm, watching CNN and nibbling on snacks from yesterday's holiday of Purim. It's a holiday of dress up in costumes and give out what looks like Halloween baskets...vs going trick or treat we drive around passing out treats to our friends. Like Easter Baskets gone Halloween dress up. It's a fun holiday... you drink, you dance, you party hardy.

One cute costume last night at the dinner at the temple was this lady...

Raleigh..........still gray in Mid-March...even at a Mexican Fiesta...

;)

In Miami my kids dressed up for a party in the Grove... more color...

And this blog today is sort of dedicated to them and the ongoing news of the day...of the week...

Missing Malaysian Plane going on over 10 days ...still missing...

I don't want to talk about weather...however...note ANOTHER storm may be coming in a week to ten days... you heard it here first. I'll update if the models continue to warn of another winter storm in late March. Oh...but El Nino may be coming..note the word "MAY" and that may change things in the long term.

Also... there was a strong earthquake in Westwood, California... crazy for me to even wrap my head around that one as ... I've lived in LA and it's Westwood..not out in the high desert somewhere. It's been updated to 4.4 which is just a shelf shaker in LA usually and said to have been Encino. A little unclear here but.. time will give more details. Worth noting tho.. because all weather people are really closet geology geeks.

Busy news day.

Crimea voted to be part of Russia... big surprise there....NOT. Boy, you win some .. you lose some. So Putin temporarily lost Kiev and got back his beach... big win for Putin!

And with regard to the plane have you noted there are no hard facts anywhere. Every new "BREAKING NEWS" starts with the word "MAY" and usually is quoted from an "unnamed source"

I'm a big believer that we will know what happened in the end.. but we are not at the end yet.

Note this did happen with a 727 before which people forget and at that time a 727 was looked at the way we look at a 777.  So..not really unprecedented except for this particular scenario....whatever the scenario is exactly as we may or may not know what happened.

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/the-727-that-vanished-2371187/?no-ist

This plane is the 727 that vanished...poof...gone.  Never found.

So you see when they say it never happened before...

...it did...just different Boeing...different set up

I'm going to go here with my kids, because they truly are the best Reality TV show you could imagine. Doubt any are reading the blog today as they are recuperating from the partying... and well who reads Momma's blog? Will change the names to protect the not so innocent. Enjoy... and it's not in the private family Facebook so figure it's sort of fair game ;)  But it does show how everyone everywhere is discussing this missing plane story as it's tragic... a lot of people may have died a horrible death including 2 infants. It's scary as we all fly and it could happen to any of us and that is how we all think.. deep down. It could be in the hands of terrorists....ewwwww. It's a mystery that right now has no ending and no real clues. 

Enjoy.. Happy St. Paddys Day and Shushan Purim (basically the Morning After...) 

Picture from last night... so this blog is officially Green for today

YOUNGEST SON shared a link.

March 13

“A total flight time of five hours after departing Kuala Lumpur means the Boeing 777 could have continued for an additional distance of about 2,200 nautical miles, reaching points as far as the Indian Ocean, the border of Pakistan or even t...See More

Malaysia: No Debris Where China Satellite Pointed, New Report Suggests MH370 May Have Flown on...

google.com

U.S. investigators suspect Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 continued flying for about four additional hours after it lost contact with air...

Like ·  · Share

MY YOUNGEST BROTHER: Yep that's what I told you when we were talking the other day about it during dinner.. what I think happened was like 911...they were gonna fly it somewhere specific to crash it into....

March 13 at 8:01am · Edited · Like

YOUNGEST SON From 777 Wiki page: "The 777-200LR is the world's longest-range airliner and can fly more than halfway around the globe; it holds the record for the longest distance flown non-stop by a commercial aircraft."

March 13 at 8:16am · Like

YOUNGEST SON Flight 370 Was a 777-200ER.... The ER stands for extended range..

March 13 at 8:18am · Like

ME: Has extra fuel usually than normal flight time. Sometimes planes go missing...usually not missing just not where they were supposed to be and there is always a reason.

March 13 at 8:29am · Like

OLDEST SON So assuming it was hijacked and diverted. Where is it now? Crashed? Or landed on a deserted island. Is this lost tv show??

March 13 at 9:17am · Like · 2

OLDEST DAUGHTER: to S.. on the tv show they were dead... my question still says the same isn't the black box radar locator? Or ppls cell phones have radar gps even if not on.... so .. explain

March 13 at 9:23am · Like

OLDEST SON: They weren't dead. Watch the finale again.

March 13 at 9:43am · Like · 1

YOUNGEST SON: Wait "S:... They were dead

March 13 at 9:44am · Like · 1

OLDEST DAUGHTER: They were in the btwn world ... point is I vote for the aliens

March 13 at 9:56am · Like

OLDEST SON: omg. seriously? I have to explain it to you? Yes, in the finale they were dead. But they lived their lives, they were alive when they crash landed on the island. They just weren't letting go of their connection to the island and sort of floating around at the end of their lives and needed to let go so they can pass on.

March 13 at 9:56am · Like

YOUNGEST SON But they all really died on impact...

March 13 at 10:11am · Like · 1

YOUNGEST SON:  I have to rewatch that series

March 13 at 10:11am · Like · 1

OLDEST DAUGHTER: I think I need to watch it too... ugh maybe we all have different perspectives... anyway back to the plane..

March 13 at 10:13am · Like

MY YOUNGEST BROTHER:  No you got to stop and ponder and think that it landed somewhere and they are being held hostage somewhere and there would be an announcement sort of ransom demand from some terrorist group if in fact there was no explosion and now usa saying it traveled for at least 4 hours after falling off the radar???

March 13 at 10:29am · Like

ME: to (youngest son) thanks. Note...very possible the plane crashed .. either accident or on purpose... if not. http://hurricaneharbor.blogspot.com/.../missing-300...

Hurricane Harbor: Missing 300 Million Dollar Boeing 777 .. Malaysian Vice .... Follow the Money...

hurricaneharbor.blogspot.com

March 13 at 1:23pm · Like · Remove Preview

ME to YOUNGER BROTHER..read the blog. Its the capital of human trafficking...people smuggling irs not Miami. Love u...

March 13 at 7:17pm · Like

YOUNGEST BROTHER: Latest conspiracy theory is there were 20 members on the plane from a company called Rolls Royce in Texas they're working with the military on cloacking military aircraft and their all mayasian/chinese and their thinking that there might be some type of connection there to the disappearance of the plane..

..

March 13 at 7:45pm · Like

ME: (to youngest brother) freescale not RR... http://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/9718356

RF Military Systems Engineer

www.linkedin.com

Freescale Semiconductor is the global leader in embedded processing solutions, s...See More

March 14 at 1:36pm · Like · Remove Preview

#2 OLDEST DAUGHTER (and serious sleuth like youngest son...) Since ya'll aren't watching. 

Malaysian officials have made a statement saying the systems were deliberately shut down. The plane took sharp dives and after that continued to fly at a low altitude... for about 7 hours which is coincidentally, the amount of fuel the plane would have had. They are saying it flew about that long off course, possibly in the direction of Kazakhstan (or Thailand where the passports were originally stolen... My Speculation)

And yet for some crazy ass reason unbeknownst to me, the two Saudi boys named Mohammed with stolen passports, minimal luggage and rock climbing harnesses and gear were cleared as not a threat... Let that sink in for a while. 

Personal opinion: when the altitude dropped, they stole a plane, are probably, savagely killing passengers and have plans for the plane that's probably in a hanger on some remote island. Because terrorists think a plane is the ultimate weapon.

March 15 at 12:59pm · Like

DAUGHTER #2 to MY YOUNGER BROTHER: add those engineers (hopefully terrorists were smart enough to make sure they were engineers...) Kept them alive and have plans for them . Can't blame the US gov for everything.

March 15 at 1:03pm · Like

Daughter #2;  FYI: did u know 2 of the 911 hijackers were from Malaysia, and to get to the computers to deliberately shut down the communications devices you would have to manage to climb into and under the plane..... Hum...

March 15 at 7:22pm · Like · 1

ME: so far mommy and D#2 are right.." plane could have landed and refueled but either way most likely did not crash (cnn showed points in thailand that a 777 could have landed..) and plane was hijacked diverted whatever u want to call it and think freescale has been awfully quiet... and yeah now looking to see if any might have been from the nw part of china which is arabic not chinese and has been trying to hook up with al kaida

March 15 at 11:33pm · Like · 1

YOUNGEST SON: Firstly I'd like to say its really sad been I've been saying since day one. They will not find this plane. Whatever happened has already happened. Planes been sold.. Hidden... Dismantled.. Whatever. Don't want to even imagine where the passengers are. Easily the biggest heist in 100 years. And if the plane did somehow crash. Friendly reminder that the titanic sunk in 1912 and was not found until 1985

10 hours ago · Like · 1

ME: oh lord u sound like my friend.

9 hours ago · Like

ME nite. and everything floats to the surface sooner rather than later and hopefully wont get worse. love u Z

9 hours ago · Like · 2

ME:  wear green tomorrow...oh gee hmmm "M" got the green costume. nite

9 hours ago · Like

DAUGHTER #2: In part to the air France tragedy, our ability to find parts at the bottom of the ocean has improved a bit since 1912/85.... But I think your absolutely right that what's done is done. It's scary as hell.

9 hours ago · Like

DAUGHTER #2 Can google just snap new pics....? 

What does that entail?

9 hours ago · Like

YOUNGEST SON:  Mommy.... Not everything floats. Titanic is still at the bottom of the ocean

9 hours ago · Like

DAUGHTER #2: Plane parts float, luggage floats.

9 hours ago · Unlike · 1

ME:  new "may" have happened

a) pilot's wife and children moved out the day before

b) he was at a court hearing for controversial anti gov leader hours b4 flight

c) others on plane knew how to fly a plane.. 

d) may have flown at 5,000 ft

e) may have flown at 40,000 ft

f) kazakstan says they saw nothing

g) israel doen't trust them.. setting up what if it bcomes a cruise missle

h) kerry lost crimea

i) big wig ex aviation execs said it may have landed somewhere

j) china doesn't like malaysia

k) it may be at the bottom of the Indian Ocean 20,000 ft below

l) Malaysia don't like pilot who doesn't like rulers of Malaysia

m) co-pilot was looking for girls on board while pilot stole the plane

n) it may have flown over the himalayas

o) al kaida really wishes it had thought of this

p) movies are being written pending ending

q) weezers get no respect

r) don't believe it had xtra fuel they didn't request any (??? wtf huh?)

s) the word "hijack" is as politically incorrect as "stupid"

t) diverted is new world for hijacked

u) Malaysian air too cheap to pay 4 receiver 4 sat signal think virginmobile

v) putin very impressed someone pulled this off... taking notes

w) happened b4 727 ppl have short memories Angolan plane http://en.wikipedia.org/.../2003_Boeing_727-223...

x) maybe it did have a cloaking device from freescale.. hmnnn

z) pilot liked wearing political tee shirts

BONUS ... song... (stupid friend insists its under the sea...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPQVrjnC1jo

The point of me using my discussion with my kids is.....

You are ALL doing the same thing...

I know you are and no I am not a spy...or Miss Cleo.

Almost everyone..everywhere is watching CNN again..

for real investigative journalism

discussion.....

..praying for good news

expecting the worst news...

My advice... go on with life.

Live, love and try to be happy.. 

Kiss your kids, hug them... steal from them if you have a blog... enjoy what you've got while you've got it. Do acts of goodness and kindness. Give charity. Watch the news. Stay informed on the weather and the news... enjoy sports. 

And.... a special thanks to my middle son who thinks he is the oldest who went to my father-in-law's retirement home and took a basket of Purim food to an old man... jolly old man who is alone in FL as a favor for his step-father .. my husband. He sat with him.. talked, shmoozed... made him feel good. Make someone feel good today.. while worrying on earthquakes and missing planes and how to pay our bills and worrying on death and taxes... 

If a holiday comes along...enjoy it!! My kids did last night at Chabad of the Grove...note the pregnant nun is my daughter in law due in May ... her husband the priest is not the oldest son and only one child here actually wrote in the post from Facebook... it's a mystery...........   

May you all be blessed and know when to enjoy the holiday..note Green daughter there is set for today ...

L'Chaim (to life) and Cheers!

Besos Bobbi
PS...if that's true about the rock climbing gear. That's a big hmnn "stolen passports, minimal luggage and rock climbing harnesses and gear were cleared as not a threat... Let that sink in for a while."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofpXMA7uH7g

Missing 300 Million Dollar Boeing 777 .. Malaysian Vice .... Follow the Money Trail...if it didn't crash...

Staying with the news that many people are watching and wondering on today and for the past week. I know I've wondered a lot and discussed the possibilities with very intelligent people ...all of whom have different theories.

This is the map that is the possible search area...if the plane did not crash and if it kept flying without refueling. Sticking with the news story that many people are watching and wondering on the most today and that is the missing Malaysian plane, it's crew and passengers. Over the night there was breaking news and then this morning there was more breaking news that last night's breaking news was wrong. And, it goes on and on.

This morning there was news that weather satellites are being used in the search.

This is the general area where the plane could be...

Let's remember a few facts.

In that part of the world human trafficking... is a bigger problem than drug smuggling. Keep that in mind. Don't even try to wrap your head around how anything could be bigger than drug smuggling or arms smuggling. Fact... the government of Malaysia was always more worried on human trafficking.. than anything else.. even more than terrorism.

Money always talks and it goes far in shady, sketchy places. Money goes even further than normal in such places that are filled with smugglers who smuggler people. That means they have to hijack, steal and sell human beings on a regular basis. Think Miami Vice turned into Malaysian Vice. You need a network, you need plane strips, runways, trucks... people who for a price never say anything.

This flight was a middle of the night flight. In the dark of night in empty places used by smugglers... it could easily have been put down in the quiet of the night flying in under radar in an area where few people live and are used to smugglers. Fly the plane in.... give the passengers over to human trafficking smugglers who will never say nothing. Fly the plane off with a pilot who knows how to fly a 777 and no one is the wiser and all of this could have been done before anyone was really even looking for a missing plane.

Why? Don't know.
But what we do know is that plane crashes have wreckage... even a little wreckage and planes do not disappear.

If the plane did not crash..that is a very logical assumption. If you can wrap your head around the fact that in that part of the world human trafficking is a bigger industry than drugs or arms smuggling or terrorism.

What is a value of a Boeing 777? More so what is the value of a highly techsavy passenger list?

My son's comments to my thought process:

"Sell the people... Use the scientists on board... Sell the plane... 777 is worth 300 million."

Think outside the box always. And, in this case the box could be even bigger, because IF that happened or something like it they could have refueled the plane..and the search box gets even bigger.

Seems logical to me. If the plane did not crash... it's somewhere hidden away by someone.

Planes, vehicles and people often disappear in sketchy parts of the world. This is just the first time a commercial plane this big has gone missing. Think on the ships that are routinely stolen near Somalia... big ships. Why not go after a Boeing 777?

Just my thoughts while we speculate, wonder and pray for the families of the people who are missing along with a $3,000,000 plane.

Besos Bobbi

As always excellent article.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304914904579434653903086282?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304914904579434653903086282.html

#MH370 A World United ... in Trying to Make Sense of it All & Praying for Families of the Missing..

Thought seriously, several times on whether or not to write about this missing Malaysian Plane... kept waiting for something to make more sense of it all or for something to show up. So far...nothing concrete has shown up and we seem to know less now than we did days ago.  Over three days have gone by and no part of the plane has shown up. The signal from the "black box" didn't send any signals. The oil slicks were not from that plane. People boarded with stolen passports. In itself that is not a big surprise ... but the one way tickets were bought by someone known as Mr. Ali and they sat next to each other on board. That's a big "hmnnn"

What amazes me the most in a way is that so many people have united in prayer.. hoping even though the odds are against it that somehow, somewhere this plane still exists and the people are alive. People just want to believe...they want a miracle. Impressive to sit up at night and see so many people tweeting the same thing .... some impossible dream of a happy ending. Images like the one above were passed around all night filled with the thoughts of one world, many people... all praying for a happy end to this compelling, tragic drama.

It's compelling, mystifying and you can learn a lot from all the information online. That said.. as of Monday evening... we still know nothing. Mechanical diagrams are online mixing with oceanographic studies of the currents in the water surrounding where the plane could have crashed.

As hurricane people who live along the SE coast of the US most of us know about the Loop Current, but most Americans know very little about that part of the world.

Many old time weathermen... started out in the Navy and Air Force working on the weather. Many weather forecasters are fliers themselves. John Hope, who passed away in 2002, is a prime example. Many kids in America grew up watching John do the Tropical Update for TWC during the Hurricane Season.

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/topstories/johnhope.html

"Hope joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, and served for four years. His weather career began while he was in the service, working as a flight navigator. Like many in his generation, Mr. Hope returned to the United States following the war with a new sense of purpose.

He attended the University of Illinois, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and majored in mathematics. He then earned a master's degree in meteorology from the University of Illinois."

Many hurricane forecasters, a few I am friends with, also teach or write about aeronautics and aviation meteorology. A case in point is Howie Friedman who is Deputy Director of the Hurricane Research Division.

http://www.miamiams.org/committees/AMScommittees.html

"Howard A. Friedman is a meteorologist and deputy director of the Hurricane Research Division/AOML, Miami, Florida. Mr. Friedman studied at: New York University, where he received his B.A. (Meteorology) in 1960 and his M.S. (Meteorology) in 1967; and at Florida Atlantic University, where he was a member of the Ed.D. Traveling Scholars Program. He has taught aviation meteorology at Miami-Dade Community College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Broward Community College/Aviation Institute, where he is an adjunct professor."

Worth noting once a long time ago Howie and John shared an office at the old NHC... a small office.

Meteorology and Aviation are intricately linked by the very definition of meteorology: 

"the branch of science concerned with the processes and phenomena of the atmosphere, esp. as a means of forecasting the weather."

Ken Kaye who writes for the Sun-Sentinel covering the tropics, hurricanes and often any story aviation related is a pilot himself.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-stormcenterbio,0,6866284.story

"Ken Kaye is a veteran journalist, having worked more than 30 years as a reporter, editor and columnist. For the past 10 years, he has covered tropical weather, including the tumultuous 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons.

A licensed pilot, he also covers aviation safety issues. Kaye, who enjoys music, exercise and reading, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Denver."

Ken wrote this interesting article on the disappearance of Amelia Earhart whose famous last flight was in the same part of the world oddly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/flight-19-and-amelia-earh_n_2377908.html

It's so true that is hard to figure out how a plane can simply vanish...and yet they do. Everyone has their most likely analog to this story... most being the Air France plane crash.

Until we know ... it's all conjecture.

You can blame it on:
Terrorism
Mechanical failure
Pilot Error
Human trafficking (very big in that part of the world)
Aliens.. (scary what goes bump in the middle of the night on Twitter)
Plasma weapons used...
Devil's Sea much like Bermuda Triangle

Name it and someone has brought it up online somewhere during the last three days. It's just simply unnerving for us to believe that a plane could simply disapeer as if it was beamed up somewhere else.

Take your choice of conspiracy theories...

http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/d/dragons-triangle/
(relates to the Lost Continent of Mu in the Pacific.. read a lot on that when I was 12...)

And, lastly.....people everywhere on the Earth feel badly for the families of the people who were on the plane that.. _________________fill in the blank because we just don't know... and in 2014 when you can Google anything... we hate not knowing something. And, we honestly do ...truly feel more like one world and we care... even if we can't solve the riddle or really bring the people back from ML370. Where it is? We just don't know. Time will tell... we will find out. Seems we are not as in control as we thought we were..

As for the weather we are enjoying the illusion of Spring in the South. Please let me enjoy my illusions for another day or so...



As for weather back home...

Winter has taken a vacation for a few days and it's been delightful. I'm wearing a short sleeve tee shirt and short skirt as I type this and the windows are open. I just watched the sunset.. wow... It's an illusion and I know that but I don't care... am enjoying every moment of no winter layers.

Down South we are enjoying the illusion of Spring. Please let me enjoy my illusions for another day or so...

You can read more about the next winter storm that TWC calls Vulcan ..but the rest of us just call "more stupid winter weather"

A good read on it is below:
http://theweathercentre.blogspot.com/2014/03/impending-snowstorm-to-drop-12-of-snow.html

Stay on top of the weather unless you live in South Florida as winter is not gone... it is simply resting. Soon Cantore will be back on the road and we will have more snow.. more wicked, winter weather and then... eventually............in a few weeks.... we will celebrate Springtime.

I'm more sure on that than any conspiracy story about the missing Malaysian Plane.

It's strange.. very strange and yet this winter has been strange for many of us. The Great Lakes had the most Ice Cover in history ...well since we started keeping records in 1973.

Personally..........I've always wondered why God put a Palm Tree in the middle of North America..

I'm a Miami girl.. it sure looks like a palm tree to me.. 

Besos Bobbi

Ps...with prayers for the families of those who are missing on Flight MH370.

Winter Storm #545 with Snow, Ice, Sleet, Rain & High Surf.. Part 2 How to Play RISK

First off I want to say the NWS Raleigh did an INCREDIBLE job calling this storm. It was a very hard forecast and they got it down to the exact dividing line between ICE and RAIN. We did get bits and pieces of sleet for a bit last night, but it did change over to rain. I've noticed a drop of sleet mixed in this morning to the rain ...but it's momentary and mostly rain. On one side of I-85 it was an ICE event..on the other side..the Raleigh side it was a RAIN event. Good job. The Triangle has a lot of downed wires, trees, power outages and messy weather, but the real Icy mess is up in the Triad. Seems like if I wanted to live near the weather in NC I'd move to Greensboro.. they get a lot more weather than Raleigh. 

https://twitter.com/NWSRaleigh

https://twitter.com/DukeEnergyStorm

Weatherwise... the storm that slammed into North Carolina last night really slammed the Triad region. And, the ongoing rains are hampering clean up efforts. Power is out in many regions. Trees are down blocking roads in the Triangle..though mostly around Durham and to the NW of Raleigh.  Roxboro and areas to the north are dealing with another bout of March Madness and I don't mean basketball.. I mean snow and ice.

Miami area had weather so strong it looked briefly like a mini hurricane.  Wild Squall Line descending over the city and heading out to the Ocean. This end of the road or world picture was taken by my son as he drove over the flyover on I-95. You can see forever from there and a great place to snap pics fast... especially if you are my son.

Another picture Mike posted on his Facebook Page shows how radar looked before ...it moved East.

https://www.facebook.com/TropicalUpdates

It's not the Superstorm of 93, but it IS causing high surf and bad weather over a very wide area from Florida up the Coast. You can see this here and for surfers it's ... Surfs Up!

And...rather than worrying on El Nino or the Hurricane Season be aware... Winter is not over.

You know that old saying "it's not over til it's over" well... it's true.

So buckle up because it seems that the end of Winter is going to be a bumpy ride. And, Spring may be an even nastier one. I'll talk on El Nino and comparison's between this winter and 1978-79 and 1993-94 another time.  But I will point out that this is the worst winter in some parts since 1979 and 1979 brought us Hurricane David and a whole lot of hurricanes riding around the High Pressure and fronts parading east late in the summer.

It's not just about El Nino ... a lot of  Weather Mojo terms like MJO and Kelvin Waves...

It's about Sun Spots and Volcanoes blowing their top and hopefully no asteroids falling to Planet Earth.

So many things can happen between now and the 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

Thanks for reading. sorry for any typos, taking allergy meds this morning and watching the rain fall as I type. Hunkering down today inside to do some writing and typing and thinking and ... watching CNN & FOX. 

Part 2 of today's blog is about geography and International Politics. I tried to explain it in a simple, interesting,  entertaining easy read. If you have the time read along. If you are only interested in the weather. Have a great weekend! Remember tho... we are all on one world looking up at the same blanket of stars.. in this world together. I remember...

Besos Bobbi...

Part 2... Everything you want to know about International Relations you can learn by playing RISK. And, add in some knowledge of geography, climate, demography and the always financially important geology. 

A short illustration of how hard it is to understand demographics & geography and how they relate to meteorological and political boundaries let's look at the three regions of Crimea, North Carolina & Upper Michigan.

Over the long Russian history many areas were under various rule by invaders for decades .. indeed centuries. For example no one really agrees on anything regarding Russia not even Russian Historians. History is always be rewritten and renamed faster than you say Petrograd or Leningrad. In true boomerang, whiplash style it is was renamed Saint Petersburg in 1991. Most people who try to do research on their Ukrainian roots have to look through both Russian records as well as Polish records and sometimes Hungarian or a fourth country. Political boundaries change a lot. They are lines in the sand or through a swamp along a river or where ever some victorious general decided it should be. They are not always drawn according to ethnic lines. The accepted history of Russia shows that they were under Mongol Tartar rule for 300 years ...about the time America has been in existence.

As I said on Twitter. American history is like sushi for lunch. Russian History is like a 9 course meal. Yes, I said sushi for a reason.. figure it out.

 Now look at Crimea. It sits out there in the Black Sea to the South of Ukraine, the North of Turkey and due East of Romania. It has been a sunny, sweet spot for many empires who desired it's important geographic location. Many cultures have left many people from different lands lumped into the boat all trying to ride out the story seas of short term politics. Happens a lot there...

People in the know knew this new battle was coming...

But... look at America and you will see we have our own areas of somewhat disputed lands which don't really belong to any one region. Look carefully at the map of Upper Michigan and tell me what that region has in common with the city of Detroit?

Let's go in closer.. it's not a sunny beach in the Crimea and not a very heavily populated area so really neither America nor Canada is going to go to war over it... though they did back when... and it isn't going to become the 51st State anytime soon.

It's a little bit Wisconsin and a big piece of Michigan ... Canadian, Native American..

https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Upper_Peninsula_of_Michigan.html

"The Upper Peninsula contains almost a quarter of the land area of Michigan but just three percent of its total population. Residents are frequently called Yoopers (derived from "U.P.-ers") and have a strong regional identity. It includes the only counties in the United States where a plurality of residents claim Finnish ancestry. Large numbers of Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian emigrants came to the Upper Peninsula, especially the Keweenaw Peninsula, to work in the mines, and they stayed on and prospered even after the copper mines closed."

Point is it ain't happening. But... it explains it on a level that perhaps Americans can understand. There was a movement, by the way, with regard to the Del Marva Peninsular. Every time I travel that stretch of land I think why is this split up so oddly. Read the link below to the 12 States that make more sense, but that are not happening.

Explain it.. makes no sense to me why they drew a line down the middle and seriously never seen a place that feels so much like it's own region. And, how did Maryland get screwed out of most of their beach? 

http://www.delaware.gov/facts/history/delhist.shtml

Lastly another comparison that many Americans could understand is the state of North Carolina. They had this beautiful capital city named New Bern, totally American in that it was named after a guy from Switzerland who developed it, and then suddenly they abandoned that jewel and moved the capital inland to Raleigh. Why did they move the capital to Raleigh? As the story goes and as the lady at the museum in New Bern said "only a decision a bunch of drunk men in a bar could decide" and there is some truth to that. Cliff Notes: There was a bar called "Isaacs Tavern" near what is now Raleigh where those in power gathered, got really drunk discussing and they were convinced that moving the capital from the distant beach city to an interior city could better "hold onto" the far western lands of North Carolina. Of course being America it was voted on not declared by a ruler... but they were supposedly drunk and happy when they made that decision.

I am not making this up. From this official site.

http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=H-3

"Raleigh is among the few capital cities in America to have been designed as such, and its location was determined not by topography or climate, but rather by distance from a popular tavern in what was then Johnston County. Strategically placed alongside a major travel artery through North Carolina, the tavern owned by Isaac Hunter (1745-1823) earned a reputation for quality food and spirits, making the establishment a landmark for locals and travelers alike. Hunter’s tavern was so well known that, in 1788, the Constitutional Convention met in the restaurant and mandated the new state capital be built no more than ten miles away. "

Strategically it made sense, especially to a group of drunk men and the rest is history. In reality much of Western NC is very much like Tennessee and culturally and meteorologically everything East of I-95 is a totally different culture in all ways. 

And, lastly why was Carolina ever divided up to begin with ... hmnnnn??? Seems in retrospect a stupid idea. 

Nothing sets off Carolinians to fightin more than discussion their BBQ style..

https://www.ourstate.com/nc-barbecue-company/ 

Back to Russia .. and St. Pete. It's always Peter's fault in modern Russian history. Peter the Great moved the capital from Kiev to Moscow. He reasserted Russia's influence in the arts, economically and all ways to try and make it more a part of Europe... more European Power than the leftover carcass of a country that had been dealing with one invader after another for centuries. 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/history/peter1st.asp

"Peter's personality has been the cause of much debate and discussion in the 300 years since his death. He was a big strong man (6' 8'' inches - 2.04 meters) who, unlike previous Russian monarchs, was not afraid of physical labor. He was an experienced army officer and navy admiral, a skilful shipbuilder and an amazingly energetic personality. It has to be said that Peter was also very cruel. "

Seems the more things change the less they change or does history always repeat? Many could say that about Putin. Well.. most likely Putin would say that about Putin.. other's have said other things. And, he did fortify the area. Of course he was more than a foot taller than Putin stands on heels, but equally proud though really in my mind no comparison. Just trying to make this easier to understand.

Peter comes along and makes RUSSIA more RUSSIAN and rebuilds

the old Muscovy Empire. 

Moscow was a more secure capital than Kiev on the shores of Europe..

like New Bern over near the beach "Down East"

Rule #1 Attack

Rule #2 Fortify

If you don't understand what I am saying... go out and buy the game of RISK

if you like to drink like the early founders of Raleigh... 

get some Vodka... Rum.. Bourbon...Scotch.. which ever..

Play RISK and you will understand more about Geography & Politics than you ever learned in school.

I played A LOT of RISK in High School with really cute, smart guys... learned a lot!

I was it seems... a really FAST learner

If the world was divided up along geographic, cultural lines it would be an easier ... but more boring world. And, what do you know in cities like Miami that are a metropolitan goulash or Caribbean Stew?

A lot to think on... isn't weather easier than politics?

The politics of Obama and Putin and the EU and G8 are all crashing together like moist hot air from the South slamming into Cold Fronts from the Icy North. They are really short term moments in a long term drama. 

So you may ask "WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT?"

Well... World War 1 was started because of short term problems in the Crimea and we are trying to move away from trigger points in history to discussion and diplomacy. The region has always been a trigger point for world history and an area battled over much more than the Northern Part of Michigan...

Thanks for your time and for reading along. 

Again... Besos Bobbi

Good Reads..

EXCELLENT READ...explains it & compares Ukraine & Russia to Siamese Twins..

http://euromaidanpr.wordpress.com/2014/03/07/ukraine-and-russia-share-a-long-and-common-history-faq/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/12641/12-proposed-us-states-didnt-make-cut

http://survincity.com/2011/01/as-the-mongol-tatars-conquered-russia/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/12/AR2005061201305.html

https://www.ourstate.com/nc-barbecue-company/

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/history/peter1st.asp