Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from Wired, Capital Weather Gang and NPR.
The storm chaser dilemma and choice to sit out the May 31 Oklahoma City tornadoes – Washington Post
It was obviously a bad weekend for storms, again, with The Weather Channel team getting thwacked and three chasers getting killed. it was the first such death in the 50+ years of storm chasing and, of course, it happened in a vehicle.
When pondering whether the May 31 tornado event will change storm chasing, Amos Magliocco made an interesting comparison. He wondered if May 31 will impact chasing like the disaster on Mount Everest in 1996 did with climbing. Nine people died there in one expedition, the most ever at once. It was not anyone’s fault per se — an extra harsh storm moved in and did what storms do. But in prior times, those impacted would have been fewer and likely in better condition as a group to deal with it. Amos argued that the event, “brought a whole new level of seriousness to the climb.”
Why Do People Live In Twister-Prone Oklahoma? – NPR
Given the above, why do people live in Oklahoma?
In the NPR.org comments, Aleta Boddy, who lives in Tulsa, says: "Is a tornado a good enough reason for me to abandon this home that I've come to love? Certainly not. Fear of disaster should inform good decisions, certainly, but it shouldn't control your life until you have nothing left but fear."
Watch: How The Dark Knight’s FX Gurus Designed Fast 6′s Fiery Final Chase – Wired
Or… how do you drive a car out of a plane?
“We obviously wanted to help him make it the way he likes to make it, which was to film things for real,” says David Vickery, visual effects supervisor at Double Negative “And to go out as much as possible and shoot it practically. That’s all good, until you start looking at the previs and realize they’re trying to throw tanks through the air and have them jump and race alongside an aeroplane at 100 miles an hour.”
Photos: AP, Wired