On this fourth anniversary of You-Know-What, scientists are nervously tracking radar images of Hurricane Ophelia, hovering just off the coast of the Carolinas in case it decides to veer overland vis H. Katrina. The governor of North Carolina has lost no time in declaring a state of emergency, since weather models predict landfall on Wednesday. Thankfully the energy of this hurricane is much smaller than Katrina, so things shouldn’t be so bad.

Meanwhile in the heavens, a sunspot named 798 is busy whelping new solar flares. Cosmic concidence, or just Murphy’s law?

But anyway, I went to watch a gala show, celebrating the beginning of a performance season. Nothing like classics like Rogers and Hammerstein to feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even if the weather is threatening to cook one’s innards.