Highlights: Irene

I doubt there’s a person in the United States right now who isn’t aware of the impending doom that is Hurricane Irene.  For those of us on the East Coast (and I’m in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, which really isn’t coast, folks), the past few days have been especially exciting.

Yep, even 150 miles from the ocean, my supermarket looked like this yesterday:

It’s pretty unusual for a hurricane to get this far northwest, at least in my book.  Irene has recently been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, but it’s still not pretty outside my window.  This week’s highlights were going to be about returning to school, but how can I ignore this?

(Please excuse the lack of commentary; I’m trying to get this post done before we lose power)

Reporters being blown away by hurricanes, on mental_floss

My friend Shannon’s NYC take on Irene

Prepare your fridge and freezer for losing power with these Huffington Post tips

The Kitchn’s 5 Tips for Staying Safe & Well-Fed in a hurricane

Essential pantry items for riding out the storm from Serious Eats (confession: we have very few of these)

Mental_floss answers the question everyone’s asking: What does a “state of emergency” mean?

From Mashable:

• Hurricane Irene: Top 5 Online Sources for Weathering the Storm
• Hurricane Irene’s Twitter account (All good storms have Twitter, you know)
• Amazing NASA photographs of the storm

There’s a lot of concern around here about flooding and judging from the looks of things outside, the concerns are valid.  The most prevalent advice: stay inside.  That’s exactly what we’re planning to do.  Stay safe, everyone.