Some of you may be wondering: “What’s with this snail thing? I thought you were an engineer, not an malacologist…”
Well, I have actually given the selection of a mascot for this project some thought, so here is my thinking on this. There are really 3 main reason for the snails:
- The subject matter we are dealing with is very serious. I know I can get very deep into the science and technology of the subject of hurricanes and preparation strategies. I also know that storms like this cause a lot of pain and distress to many. I guess I needed to inject a little levity and felt that some whimsical drawings might help.
- Snails actually have a spiral pattern in their shells that has always been fascinating to me. And if you look at satellite and radar images of tropical storms and hurricanes, you will actually often see a very similar spiral pattern. The spiral itself is fascinating from a mathematical and geometric standpoint. It also has been depicted in art throughout human history, such as stone age, pre-Celtic carvings in Europe, pre-Columbian art in Latin and Central America, Native North American petroglyphs, and ancient Greek pottery, to name a few.
- I have also observed snails closely and they actually exhibit two of the fundamental preparation strategies we talk about here – sheltering in place and evacuating! Everyone knows that snails have their own hurricane shelter and shutter system built into their bodies – the shell. They also are mobile creatures, though “slow” from our human standpoint. Snails seem to know when rains are coming and will move to higher ground, without having to be told they are in Zone A, etc.
Engineering
I am also a computer engineer, and if any of you are familiar with software and languages development, especially open source, they often have a project mascot. These are often an animal, plant, or even a fanciful character. So I feel like we needed one for Hunker Down Guide, so the snail it is.
I do promise to mainly illustrate things in a more engineering theme – like showing how a generator works or how to drill holes in concrete walls for shutter attachments.
Names
I started out calling it Hunker, and then Shelly. But honestly, I think they are multiplying and there are probably many many more than I could name. I just realized we could use names of famous hurricanes…well, maybe not. If you have ideas, send me some suggestions.
