We’re getting into the climatological heart of the Atlantic hurricane season, when you’d expect the tropics to be teeming with activity if, as virtually everyone has predicted, this is going to end up being an above-average year for hurricanes. Tropical activity historically increases throughout late August and early September, peaking on September 10:

At the moment, however, it’s eerily quiet. Dean was the third-strongest landfalling Atlantic-basin hurricane in recorded history, but now it’s like the calm after the storm. The last six consecutive Tropical Weather Outlooks have said the exact same thing:

FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC…CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO…

TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

It’s still not a “slow season” yet, but if this keeps up for the next couple weeks, it will be.

P.S. Alan Sullivan “continue[s] to expect a subnormal season.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Jeff Masters offers a wrap-up of Dean’s aftermath.

NFL has suspended Michael Vick indefinitely, The Associated Press reports.

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Breaking news from Cuba: Generalissimo Francisco Franco Fidel Castro is still alive. Or so says the Cuban government, but rumors are rampant in Miami that he’s knock, knock, knockin’ on Hell’s door.

UPDATE: PerezHilton.com, that renowned source of international news and geopolitical analysis, says Castro is dead. More here. (Hat tip: A&A.)

Pajamas Media has a roundup of links, which will doubtless grow as more information is known. (However, one of their links, supposedly to a Miami Herald story about the Castro death rumors, instead currently points to a Space.com article titled, “Huge Hole Found in the Universe.” Wait… so Fidel Castro got sucked into a black hole???)

P.S. Glenn Reynolds blames “star-devouring space monsters” for the mysterious hole in the universe. Star-devouring, and Castro-devouring!

Nope, not a software unlocker, but a hardcore, hardware unlocking that requires soldering.

Kinda glad that I actually have my mobile service wtih AT&T anyway, so this isn’t really a big deal for me.

UPDATE by David K.

Two software solutions are being announced today as well, and atleast one claims it works even if you do a restore of your iPhone’s software.

John Evander Couey is sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of a 9-year-old Florida girl in 2005.

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Michael Vick admits funding a dogfighting operation and that “collective efforts” by him and two others caused the deaths of at least six dogs, his plea agreement states.

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The second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is approaching, and on Sunday — two years to the day since my oft-quoted “New Orleans in peril” and “get the hell out” posts — I’ll be giving a talk, or hosting a forum, or whatever you want to call it, on the hurricane at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church at 10:05 AM, part of their weekly “Sunday forum” series. I was asked to do this by Edward Lollis, chairman of the church’s forum committee, who is a fan of my blog and wanted to do something for the storm’s anniversary. Anyway, here is what the church’s official newsletter has to say about Sunday’s event:

Forum at 10:05 AM— “Hurricane Katrina: What Went Right and What Went Wrong”: When Hurricane Katrina roared ashore two years ago today, its human toll would have been far less had Mayor Nagin and the Louisiana media heeded the warnings of Brendan Loy, a 23-year old law student in South Bend, Indiana. Immediately after the storm, Loy’s predictions were acclaimed by the New York Times and Washington Post, and his web log (blog) became one of the most frequently linked-to websites of all times. Loy recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame and moved to Knoxville. He will tell us how he scooped the nation in 2005 and how the mainstream media and government continue to fail the people of New Orleans.

I’ll try my best to live up to that billing. To be honest, I’m still working out exactly what I’m going to say. :) I suspect I’ll be somewhat heavy on the 2005 stuff and somewhat lighter on the “continue to fail” part, as I haven’t followed subsequent events in New Orleans as closely as I’d like. But I think I’ll still have some reasonably valuable things to say, if I don’t get totally bogged down in the minutiae and run out of time! Whatever I say, I’ll definitely have to issue my standard clarification/correction about the whole “predictions” thing — I didn’t “predict” it, I just sounded the alarm, as I always say. Anyway, the church is at 2931 Kingston Pike here in Knoxville, if anyone wants to come on down.