Picture a small town that is being hit by a hurricane. Metal road signs flying through the air at 200 miles per hour; wooden planks crashing into houses and walls; windows and rooves flying apart and crashing to the ground; possessions and furniture and debris everywhere. Wind damage is enormous, and costs run in the billions.

Now picture the same small town (evacuated, of course), filled with 1 trillion Styrofoam peanuts. Pumped into every house as densely as they can; filling every field, street, nook and cranny to a height of 10 stories high. Bring in the hurricane.

The air is saturated with fluff particles! Metal road signs and wooden planks fly mercilessly at 200 mph, but are shielded during collisions by dozens of pieces of styrofoam! Windows break open but furniture stays put because the house is packed solid with fluff. Possessions still strewn about the streets, but many are spared because they are landing on fluff!

Yes, cleanup would be tough... I'm sure that styrofoam bits would be found on islands over a thousand miles away. So, for the sake of the environment, please develop a biodegradable type of soft fluff (known as Hurricane Fluff) that may be used in the trillions with no environmental impact.

Thank you.
-- phundug, Feb 01 2004

Oh. I thought you were going to want Hurricane Fluff as the name of the next hurricane.
-- DrCurry, Feb 01 2004


what the dog just made on the floor is also biodegradable. Sorry, this can't work.

Much simpler to improve building codes for solid shutters, etc. Or, as Sam Kinnison put it, "move to where the food is".
-- theircompetitor, Feb 01 2004


OMG. This scares me. I didn't know people could even think of such things.
-- futurebird, Feb 01 2004


I keep thinking of straw from thatched *roofs* driven into a telephone pole.
-- FarmerJohn, Feb 01 2004


This morning's major news story - "Man's Heart Pierced with Styrofoam"

"After Hurricane Pajorca hit the mainland just last night, major damage ensued, but nothing was as horrifying as the tale of one man, who was struck with a piece of Hurricane Fluff flying at 200 miles per hour. Tim?"

"Yes, Chelsea, it was a horrific sight. The man, Sebastian Fiztsfield, was hit in the chest, where the deadly piece of expanded polyhippotpotamic plastic pierced his heart. He was then rushed to Miami Hospital, where he now lay there dying, as doctors rush to remove the Styrofoam. Let's hear one witness to the accident."

"It was horrible! It was really windy, I was hunched over with my specially reinforced umbrella. Even though it kept turning inside out, it affored protection from the hail of Hurrcane Fluff. I was just trying to get to safety when this man dashed out in front of me, and was immediately struck. His chest just exploded in a spray of blood and bits of Fluff. I didn't know what to do. It was horrible"
-- DesertFox, Mar 31 2006


Well, having actually been through hurricanes Charley and Katrina, and having also spent the last year doing work relating to the property damage of storms Charley, Ivan and Katrina, I can say with complete certainty that as far as reality is concerned, this is a dumb idea.

However, the halfbakery that it is, I won't let a little reality bother me on this one. That might spoil the fun.

I'd like it better if it were called "FEMA Fluff" -- but then again, that's baked.
-- zigness, Apr 01 2006



random, halfbakery