Friday, October 11

The Electoral College is a complex topic. Read a new US Elections article called "The (Why-Is-US-So-Weird) Electoral College," by journalist Mihir Gupta, to find out more!

You can check it out here.

At least 10 people are dead and about 3.2 million are without power after Hurricane Milton hammered the Florida Peninsula on Wednesday night.

Milton began in the western Gulf as a tropical depression and moved westward, strengthening into a Category 2 as it approached Mexico. On Tuesday, it rapidly intensified to a Category 5, with sustained wind speeds of 180 mph. After that, it slowed down to a Category 3. Cities like Cancun were hit along the way by Milton's outer bands.

Milton then slammed into Florida with strong winds, heavy rain, and a serious storm surge, inundating western Florida. Tampa has been particularly hit hard, as the eye went right over it. At 9:00 PM EDT on Wednesday, wind speeds of up to 100 mph hit central-west Florida. Water levels had gone up by over 8 feet in Sarasota, and a storm surge of 2-5 feet was reported to span from Naples to Charlotte Harbor (about 70 miles distance). 18 inches of rain fell overall throughout the peninsula. Fortunately, the Tampa Bay area was spared from extensive flooding.

At least 27 tornadoes also touched down during the hurricane. Much damage was done to the area, with rooftops blown away, concrete electric poles snapped, and cars overturned. Tropicana Field, the Tampa Bay baseball team's home field, had its fabric roof "shredded" by the winds. In St. Petersburg, a fallen crane damaged part of the Johnson Pope building.

Milton moved quickly, and it passed by Florida by 5 am Thursday. It's expected to reach 60 mph Friday afternoon when it's well into the Atlantic, and it should reach Bermuda by Sunday with sustained wind speeds of 35-40 mph.

Fact of the Day (Facts.net): There is a town called Calama that has never experienced rain.

It is found in the Atacama desert of Chile.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): If you must begin, then go all the way because if you begin and quit, the unfinished business you have left behind begins to haunt you all the time. (Chögyam Trungpa)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Numinous (adj)- Numinous is a formal, often literary, word that typically describes things that have a mysterious or spiritual quality. It can also describe something holy or something that appeals to one's aesthetic sense.

In a Sentence: We were overcome by the numinous atmosphere of the catacombs.