We do frequent disaster drills, but nothing will test the system like the real thing. We did this without a glitch.

As the country continues to dissect the recent natural disaster, we might want to start considering what about the disaster wasn't actually 'natural' at all. ... Human activity, the burning of fossil fuels, is causing global warming. Global warming is causing the oceans to warm. Warm oceans are steroids for storms.

There's nothing to him but feathers.

After denial they go through anger. They take on a 'poor-me' attitude, as if everybody owes them something.

He came back after a month and had blisters on his feet. He was walking six hours a day.

[T]he normal and the everyday are often amazingly unstoppable, and what is unimaginable is the cessation of them. The world is resilient, and, no matter what interruptions occur, people so badly want to return to their lives and get on with them. A veneer of civilization descends quickly, like a shining rain. Dust is settled.