On the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, there is no Category 6. But 2005’s Hurricane Wilma brushed up against where a 6 would be if the scale were logically extrapolated to include another category.
An extrapolation of the Saffir-Simpson scale suggests that if a Category 6 were there, it would be in the range of 176-196 mph. Hurricane Wilma, which had maximum recorded wind speeds of 175 mph, would have been on the verge of breaking into this hypothetical new category.
2006 was a quiet hurricane season, in part due to El Nino conditions in the Pacific, but 2007 has gotten off to an early start with subtropical Andrea hovering off the coast of Florida, three weeks before the traditional start of the hurricane season–an ominous portent for the hurricane season this year.
Dan Froomkin writes White House Watch for the WaPo website.
North Korean Humor
Reuters reports: “As military chiefs from both sides of the Korean peninsula met on Tuesday for talks, a general from the North started proceedings by telling a joke at George W. Bush’s expense.
“‘I recently read a piece of political humour on the Internet called ’saving the president’,’ Lieutenant-General Kim Yong-chol was quoted as saying in pool reports from the talks.
“He then retold the old yarn about Bush who goes out jogging one morning and, preoccupied with international affairs, fails to notice that a car is heading straight at him.
“A group of schoolchildren pull the president away just in time, saving his life, and a grateful Bush offers them anything they want in the world as a reward.
“‘We want a place reserved for us at Arlington Memorial Cemetery,’ say the children.
“‘Why is that?’ he asks.
“‘Because our parents will kill us if they find out what we’ve done.’”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/05/08/BL2007050800898_pf.html