I think it would be nice if we stopped the silliness of giving these storms names

[RB TexLa]

it seems like something you would do for the benefit of a child. Hurricane #7 of 2008 is good enough to distinguish it from Hurricane #8 of 2008.

[shraby]

1. It's because names are more memorable that numbers.

They aren't as liable to be confused with one another in memory.

[cobalt1999]

4. That's it.

Especially with multiple storms going on like right now.

Storm #7 is expected to be a category 4 with 145 mph winds and 15ft surge; Storm #8 is now a category 1 with 80 mph winds; Storms 9 & 10 are in the Atlantic.

Too confusing. When issuing updates on a storm, people would be confused. Names we remember though. Who remembers Storm #3 in 1968? Say Camille though and people remember. It's just the way our minds work.

[RB TexLa]

6. Sounds like going to the lowest common denominator for the ignorant

I am so tired of everything in this country being dumbed down for the ignorant.

[mrfrapp]

8. I know what you're saying...

I know what you're saying but I also think you're out of tune here. Mnemonics have been employed for centuries and are a proven effective method of enabling people to remember information. There's no shame in it and people who rely on such methods are not ignorant.

[cobalt1999]

11. No, what's ignorant is not presenting information in a way the human brain remembers

There are lots of scientific studies that show this, so it would be ignorant and irresponsible not to listen to the science.

[RB TexLa]

13. Right because everyone has to really think about it for an hour or so when someone says 9/11

real hard to remember something named with numbers.

[cobalt1999]

17. There aren't eleven to twenty 9/11's each and every year either.

Don't bitch to me, I didn't design the human brain. Sorry if your little pet peeve isn't compatible with human psychology.

[LostinVA]

19. I don't drink with Gustav

[RB TexLa]

20. Someone already beat you to that little insult tonight. But you can "high five" yourself as well

and be proud of yourself for insulting a person you don't know for no reason at all.

Did you memorize my username or something?

[LostinVA]

23. You're a memorable poster

:hug:

:loveya:

[dysfunctional press]

21. wow. i'd think that you'd be flattered.

:hi:

[rzemanfl]

2. Works for me, my insurance deductible is higher for a "named

storm."

[gulliver]

3. Naming storms is disgusting...it screws up human names.

Think of poor Katrina Vanden Heuvel for example. Why don't we just start giving mass murders human names? For example, we could call Columbine "Mass Murder Abigail." We could rename the different cancers for better mnemonic recognition. Instead of malignant melanoma, we could could just say McCain has suffered from recurring bouts of Frequently Terminal Disease Marv.

[Fumesucker]

5. The Columbine mass murderers did have names..

Dylan and Eric.

And in fact the mass murders have a name, the Columbine massacre.

So don't name your kid Dylan, Eric or Columbine.

[shraby]

10. Because mass murderers already have human

names. Also malignant melanoma is a name in and of itself, it tells us it's a cancer that will spread and is often terminal.

[SmokingJacket]

12. My son is worried that one of the hurricanes will be named after him.

It's traumatic!

[Xenotime]

15. Good point. I have known people named after hurricanes

and they receive much ridicule and suffering for the death and destruction those storms caused.

[jpgray]

22. We should change serial killers' / ruthless dictators' names to numbers.

Somewhere there is a Paul Pot that wishes dearly a certain Cambodian despot was renamed Genocidal Autocrat #127.

[Catherine Vincent]

7. I think when it gets to the R's, it should be called Hurricane RGBolen.

LOL. :hi:

[Clear Blue Sky]

9. How about hurricane George, Dick, Donald, Condi, Anton, Clarence, etc ?

[bicentennial_baby]

14. I don't name hurricanes with you

[RB TexLa]

16. We'll good for you, you got your little fucking insult in.

give yourself a "high five," you just insulted someone you don't know for no reason, be proud of yourself as a human being.

[DS1]

25. Kind of like telling someone you've never met that you don't drink with them?

[RB TexLa]

26. Speaking honestly to someone is not insulting. Lying to someone is.

There was no reason to lie to the person

[ThomWV]

18. When I was a kid they didn't name storms

They only started doing it in 1953. I can just vaguely remember my parents talking about a storm that was coming having a name for the first time. They thought it was novel, which indeed it was. Don't remember a thing about it beyond that other than that it rained a lot afterward. I was real young.

[proud patriot]

24. but that doesn't make good television

:hide:

[Vattel]

27. How about using expletives

They're good memnonic devices. Hurricane Asswipe, Hurricane Mother-fucker, Tropical Storm Cock-Sucker. Sorry, I'm going to bed.