Dominic, Aug-05 12:12 (EDT):

Hello. Thank you for sharing your concerns about the Missing E browser extension. People are not being suspended for using Missing e.

shnayerson: 2011-05-13 15:23

Honestly, if you’re using Tumblr, you should be using this extension.  “Missing e” will make you love Tumblr if you didn’t already and it will bring you back if you’ve kind of just lost that loving feeling. It’s a cross-browser extension, so no excuse, unless you use Internet Explorer, and then you need more help than I’m qualified to provide. 

Photo/T.Rob Brown, The Joplin Globe, via AP

Admittedly, should you find yourself in the path or the aftermath of an F4 tornado sustaining winds of 190 mph, I’d guess it’s entirely natural to become deeply attached to whatever armor you’ve got, particularly if it weighs a couple of tons and you might as well be an inchworm in comparison to the Home Depot that just got flattened across the highway.

That said, it was a little—odd?—how many times Anderson Cooper mentioned the make and model of the vehicle from which missing and injured Joplin teen Will Norton was ejected during an interview Monday night with Norton’s family. They noted twice more that it was a Hummer H3 sunroof through which Norton was ripped. Driving home from his high school graduation with his dad, no less. The tiniest Hummer GM makes is mentioned again in the (currently swamped) Facebook page the Norton’s have put together to find their son as well as in the online version of Cooper’s CNN report.

This is highly relevant information to tracking the kid down quickly, I get it. But okay, so how about a plate number? Color? Year? The H3 has been out since ‘06 with a couple of different variations. I’d be shoving pictures of the car, if I had any left, into Cooper’s hand, bumper stickers, whatever, anything that makes it stand out. Except the H3 was destroyed by the storm.

So was that the point then? That this storm was so massive it took out a Schwarzenegger ride? People in Joplin, Missouri, drive hefty SUVs but are also environmentally-conscious? For Pete’s sake, tell us what Will Norton was wearing.

I can’t even begin to imagine the level of shock the people of Joplin are in. If they forgot the name of the state they were standing in I’d hardly be surprised. Cooper, on the other hand…tell you what, Piers Morgan spoke with more sincerity last night. Never thought I’d say that.

It just made me go huh, is all.

What do I know, anyhow; I watched his newscast from my non-raptured, structurally-sound couch. Thinking of the Nortons and the people of Joplin, Missouri.

Spring should never be this sad.

So far this month? This is by far the most awesome thing I’ve read.

Honestly, if you’re using Tumblr, you should be using this extension.  “Missing e” will make you love Tumblr if you didn’t already and it will bring you back if you’ve kind of just lost that loving feeling. It’s a cross-browser extension, so no excuse, unless you use Internet Explorer, and then you need more help than I’m qualified to provide. 

No wonder there are 7 television shows on the air about animal hoarding.

Via (Adweek: Nothing Beats Talking Kittens)

I gotta say, not really looking forward to the inevitable photographs of Bin Laden’s corpse, à la Uday and Qusay Hussein.

Courtesy of the FAQ page at the National Weather Center.

Q:  ”How can I become a professional storm chaser?”  

A:  Very few people make a living as storm chasers. The vast majority of people who chase storms do so as a hobby in their spare time, often at a cost of hundreds or thousands of dollars a year. To become a professional storm chaser, you must be able to consistently acquire and successfully market your storm photographs and video. You may also develop enough skill to have others pay to ride along with you on chases. However, it takes many years to become a safe and successful storm chaser, and the market for storm chase pictures/video and tours is quite competitive. The best way to approach storm chasing is to ride along with more experienced chasers for a few years, and practice severe storm forecasting at every opportunity.

Short for? PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

At 11pm tonight, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, saw fit to assign this (apparently) exceedingly rare sobriquet to today’s massive storm outbreak, after more than 130 tornadoes—mind you, ginormous ones—leveled towns, killed an estimated 40 people, and prompted Alabama governor Robert Bentley to call up 1,400 National Guardsmen (who knew we still had any of those kicking around stateside anyhow?)

This stroke of idiomatic brilliance was divined by the SPC along with NOAA, in conjunction with the NWS, which is in charge of communicating SWS and PDS watches to the public.

PDS: Particularly Dangerous Situation. Wording is used in rare situations when long-lived, strong and violent tornadoes are possible. This enhanced wording may also accompany severe thunderstorm watches for intense convective wind storms.

I won’t say Kafkaesque. I just won’t. Here, Wikipedia can tell you all about it.

According to this weekend’s edition of NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” anyhow. 

Soccer, livestock, Nike factories! (Potentially.)

PETER SAGAL: We went from being the world’s sole remaining superpower to the country that asked to crash in Canada’s basement until we could get it together. And now Canada wants its futon back…

All right, if we do default on our debt, they saw we’ll become a third world country, instantly. Big crisis. But what’s wrong with that? Why not embrace that? A third world United States would finally get interested in soccer

We could enjoy the thrills of bringing your livestock onto public transportation. I’ve always wanted to do that.

And best of all, if we were a third world country, maybe Nike would finally consider building a factory here. (Paraphrased.)

—Courtesy Standard and Poor’s, emphasis on latter

“Maddow To Cooper: ‘You Have A Responsibility To Come Out’ Of The Closet” [Via @BusinessInsider]

“Maddow is one of the very few gay news anchors in America – well, one of the very few openly gay news anchors. Does she feel frustration towards an equally well-known news presenter who is widely assumed to be gay but has never come out? For the first time, Maddow pauses: ‘I’m sure other people in the business have considered reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing, but I do think that if you’re gay you have a responsibility to come out,’ she says carefully.”

(From @noahedavis via aatombomb)

A Yahoo ad campaign that made me laugh. Mark this moment in history, folks.