Constructive Criticism = Personal Attack?
Why is it storm chasers respond so negatively to constructive criticism? There may be several answers, depending on who you ask and the chaser in question, but today's entry will focus on an experience I had last week.While browsing youtube, bored (which happens quite often on this side of the calendar), I came across a video of a night time tornado somewhere in Mississippi I think (after the person's reaction to my comment, I have found I care less and less about the details of his YT offering). The video was ten minutes long (the full amount allowed by the popular video upload site for its users), which I thought kind of odd considering it was a nocturnal tornado

Perception = Reality = Fleeting
There's two things storm chasers are horrible at estimating: the distance they are from a tornado, and the importance of storm chasers to the general public. The latter inspires today's entry, as yet another rash of "impending legislative doom" speak is making the rounds on StormTrack.Apparently this guy named Richard Heene is behind some sort of strange publicity stunt, the point of which is still unclear. Because the guy claims to be a storm chaser, and has made some television appearances as such, some of the ST community are in an uproar about how this is going to reflect badly on storm chasing. I don't think so, for a couple of reasons.For one thing, Heene is so

StormTrack: What Really Happened
I'd like to use this entry to talk about what exactly transpired on StormTrack a few days ago. My original comment about the Reed Timmer worshipers was the catalyst for what became, if we're going to be completely honest, the most entertaining few days that lost and wandering forum has seen in some time. But in the ensuing melee, two things were severely misunderstood: (1) I was never taking personal shots at Reed Timmer, I was taking shots at his army of admirers. (2) My original comment was perceived as "out of context" when it in fact centered on a very popular storm chasing topic...it just so happened my opinion was in the minority. Allow me to expound on each point.I get ti

Judge Not
There has been much conversation throughout the years over "storm chaser" versus "tornado chaser". The popular point-of-view is that being a storm chaser brings some kind of mysterious nobility to an individual, while being a tornado chaser automatically qualifies a person as a mindless adrenaline junkie, who "just doesn't get what chasing is all about" and "fails to understand the 'entire chasing experience'". I say hogwash. Choosing to make the tornado their primary goal does not make a person some Mountain Dew-swilling, extreme freak. Not when you think about it. Anyone can find a storm. You can be thirty miles away and succeed in storm chasing. All it takes i

Mox Nix
This blog is what I should've done four years ago when I started blogging. For years I struggled with the identity of my blog, torn between day-to-day happenings and strictly chase-related stuff. I tried each, but neither felt right. Going back and forth between the two, the reader never really knew what to expect on here. I know some people enjoy that "unknown" aspect, but as the writer, I'd prefer my little spot on the world wide web, reserved just for my thoughts, have an identity. Thus, I decided to do away with the old Passion Twisted blog (whose name, although convenient, always seemed a cheesy play on the very original 'Passion Twist') and start anew, with a fresh outlook...hopefully