5 ms·

I'm trying to figure out where 539 hurricanes is coming from? That's over an order of magnitude more than there's ever been in a single season...

knute 2y ago
I'm thinking it must be tornadoes. There were 907 tornadoes across all of 1984. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tornado_events_by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tornado_events_by_year
tasuki 2y ago
Isn't all of the letter a joke?
- Detrytus 2y ago
  It being a joke does not justify POTUS lying to US citizens :P
  - IncRnd 2y ago
    It's good to keep things in perspective. After all, there are 16,384 misunderstood comments each minute on this very website.
    - aspenmayer 2y ago
      If your comment is sarcasm, does my comment affect your calculations? If my comment is sarcasm, does my comment affect your calculations?
      - IncRnd 2y ago
        I like your comment! Though, I dislike sarcasm, which your post seems to be.
        aspenmayer 2y ago
        I like your comment! Though, we may be in a liar and/or barber paradox. Artists tell the truth using a lie. I dislike lying and yet love art. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_paradox
        IncRnd 2y ago
        I am reminded of what my Grandma used to always say. "A lie spoken is easy to see. Repeating a lie colors it candidly. " -- Granny So, I try to keep things in perspective, especially in comments on this website, so I don't get misunderstood.
        aspenmayer 2y ago
        Your grandmother sounds like smart lady. I appreciate your perspective and share and interest in clarity of thought and expression. I originally thought you must be being sarcastic due to the implausibility of calculating a discrete number of potentially possible misunderstandings of comments when whether something is misunderstood or not is largely subjective and may simultaneously be both understood and misunderstood depending on the reading of a comment as serious or unserious, or both. I thought for moment of asking you to show your work to derive your answer, but opted for a more lighthearted literary device. Concepts like death of the author complicate matters. You may feel that a comment misunderstands your point, but your position as such should not be too privileged as a reader, and it’s possible to both say more and less than intended. We also shouldn’t take for granted that we are understood, and being sensitive to potential misreadings are sometimes a useful device for playing with the actual ambiguity of reality itself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Author https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Author
    - fancyfredbot 2y ago
      I misunderstood this comment initially, thinking that there can't be so many comments on HN. But then I realised each comment can be misunderstood more than once. Seems plausible. Pleased to have done my part.
    - _carbyau_ 2y ago
      And that number immediately triggers my "Nice neat power of 2 answer? Seems unlikely..." suspicions. :-)
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
re 2y ago
Also curious that the letter was from May, before the start of the 1984 hurricane season. Per Wikipedia, 1984 did go on to have the highest activity since 1971, while 1983 the lowest since 1930. But 1983 caused more damage with Hurricane Alicia crossing Texas. The Texas drought reference does appear to be accurate. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/16/us/crushing-drought-in-texas-ending-in-storm-and-floods.html https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/16/us/crushing-drought-in-te...
m463 2y ago
maybe from a list of funding requests? :)
js2 2y ago
It's likely a joke, but it sure stands out. Could also be transcription error. The letter itself contains a typo ("if you will privide") which is fixed in the transcription. (It should have been transcribed as is with "[sic]" added to note the original typo.) Too bad there's not an image of the reply. BTW, the letter was shared to reddit 7 years ago and a redditor replied that it was his uncle Andy: https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/5a95b8/til_in_1984_a_young_boy_named_andy_smith_wrote_a/ https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/5a95b8/til_i... A photo of Andy: https://imgur.com/gallery/tsWkg https://imgur.com/gallery/tsWkg The story has been circulating the Internet at least since 2004: https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/childrens-letters.html https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/c...
- OJFord 2y ago
  > A photo of Andy What kind of amazing self-parody is 'Irmo man wrote letter'! That's brilliant
- Thorrez 2y ago
  There's an image of the reply in that imgur gallery you linked. The image says 539.
hedora 2y ago
The letter looks like pretty typical republican playbook: It implausibly overestimates the scope of problems, then claims that the private sector / volunteer organizations have more capabilities / funding than the federal government. I’m hoping it was self-parody and not just a canned form letter response.

knute 2y ago

I'm thinking it must be tornadoes. There were 907 tornadoes across all of 1984. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tornado_events_by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tornado_events_by_year

tasuki 2y ago

Isn't all of the letter a joke?

Detrytus 2y ago
It being a joke does not justify POTUS lying to US citizens :P
- IncRnd 2y ago
  It's good to keep things in perspective. After all, there are 16,384 misunderstood comments each minute on this very website.
  - aspenmayer 2y ago
    If your comment is sarcasm, does my comment affect your calculations? If my comment is sarcasm, does my comment affect your calculations?
    - IncRnd 2y ago
      I like your comment! Though, I dislike sarcasm, which your post seems to be.
      - aspenmayer 2y ago
        I like your comment! Though, we may be in a liar and/or barber paradox. Artists tell the truth using a lie. I dislike lying and yet love art. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_paradox
        IncRnd 2y ago
        I am reminded of what my Grandma used to always say. "A lie spoken is easy to see. Repeating a lie colors it candidly. " -- Granny So, I try to keep things in perspective, especially in comments on this website, so I don't get misunderstood.
        aspenmayer 2y ago
        Your grandmother sounds like smart lady. I appreciate your perspective and share and interest in clarity of thought and expression. I originally thought you must be being sarcastic due to the implausibility of calculating a discrete number of potentially possible misunderstandings of comments when whether something is misunderstood or not is largely subjective and may simultaneously be both understood and misunderstood depending on the reading of a comment as serious or unserious, or both. I thought for moment of asking you to show your work to derive your answer, but opted for a more lighthearted literary device. Concepts like death of the author complicate matters. You may feel that a comment misunderstands your point, but your position as such should not be too privileged as a reader, and it’s possible to both say more and less than intended. We also shouldn’t take for granted that we are understood, and being sensitive to potential misreadings are sometimes a useful device for playing with the actual ambiguity of reality itself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Author https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Author
  - fancyfredbot 2y ago
    I misunderstood this comment initially, thinking that there can't be so many comments on HN. But then I realised each comment can be misunderstood more than once. Seems plausible. Pleased to have done my part.
  - _carbyau_ 2y ago
    And that number immediately triggers my "Nice neat power of 2 answer? Seems unlikely..." suspicions. :-)
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]

re 2y ago

Also curious that the letter was from May, before the start of the 1984 hurricane season. Per Wikipedia, 1984 did go on to have the highest activity since 1971, while 1983 the lowest since 1930. But 1983 caused more damage with Hurricane Alicia crossing Texas. The Texas drought reference does appear to be accurate. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/16/us/crushing-drought-in-texas-ending-in-storm-and-floods.html https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/16/us/crushing-drought-in-te...

m463 2y ago

maybe from a list of funding requests? :)

js2 2y ago

It's likely a joke, but it sure stands out. Could also be transcription error. The letter itself contains a typo ("if you will privide") which is fixed in the transcription. (It should have been transcribed as is with "[sic]" added to note the original typo.) Too bad there's not an image of the reply. BTW, the letter was shared to reddit 7 years ago and a redditor replied that it was his uncle Andy: https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/5a95b8/til_in_1984_a_young_boy_named_andy_smith_wrote_a/ https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/5a95b8/til_i... A photo of Andy: https://imgur.com/gallery/tsWkg https://imgur.com/gallery/tsWkg The story has been circulating the Internet at least since 2004: https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/childrens-letters.html https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/c...

OJFord 2y ago
> A photo of Andy What kind of amazing self-parody is 'Irmo man wrote letter'! That's brilliant
Thorrez 2y ago
There's an image of the reply in that imgur gallery you linked. The image says 539.

hedora 2y ago

The letter looks like pretty typical republican playbook: It implausibly overestimates the scope of problems, then claims that the private sector / volunteer organizations have more capabilities / funding than the federal government. I’m hoping it was self-parody and not just a canned form letter response.