Department Of Silver Linings–“Thanks, Frances!”: When it comes to hurricanes (see below), cable news armageddonites see nothing but death and destruction. Wetasses see, well, big surf. And as the remnants of Hurricane Frances ripped through the the eastern seaboard, monster waves started pounding the coasts from North Carolina to New Jersey. Check out this report from Surfer magazine (Warning! Surfer-speak ahead!):

“I’m checking 5th Street and I just about trip over my jaw. I witness a surfer cleanly exit a stand-up pit, fade back into a bottomturn and connect a mid-face snap back into the barrel. Again, the surfer cleanly exits…

Typical of hurricane season on the East Coast, the surf has gone from dead flat to overhead in the matter of one night. Also typical of the East Coast, it’s been flat for nearly three weeks. My surfing suffers. I battle the stiff offshores to get into a solid wave. Sloppily, I pull up into the tube. Luckily, the barrels are perfect, and this one lets me out. The first barrel on the first wave of the first hurricane swell-a feeling so pure, the Buddha would be jealous.”

Well, I don’t know about the Buddha. But I’m definitely jealous (note to self: learn to surf, you loser!)…



“I never thought I’d say this, but here goes: I love New Jersey…”