The Weirdest Comments I've ever Gotten

Because my blog only lists comments from the entries which are currently on the front page, what happened to me last night would likely fly under everyone's radar.

I got some of the weirdest comments I have ever gotten, and I thought you all needed to see them for their pure entertainment value.

It started at an entry I posted back in April with a video featuring the cripple fight from South Park juxtaposed with the fight scene from They Live.

At 1/30/2009 04:01:00 PM, Anonymous JEsus man with the plan added...

the little man liked to poop and jesus ate a whole lot of midgets. little black midgets to be exact, jewish too. damn him DAMN HIM!

And then they mosied into the Alvin and the Chipmunks do Punk entry and left this gem:

At 1/30/2009 04:02:00 PM, Anonymous the crack head added...

damnit lil chipmunks need to rock dat shiz. they needs some lil poeple over their shoulders and some spikey shit

And then a few minutes later, they hit my post about Provocative Blogging Questions with the following:

At 1/30/2009 04:05:00 PM, Anonymous the crazy dude with a beard added...

god damnit! the son of a bitch turned into a crazy purple giraffe. and the fucking blue money is dancing. OOOOOOO SHIT! my friend just turned into a yellow JAG MAN!!!!!!

And then they finally seemed to have hit the wall at the Jones Soda entry with this masterpiece:

At 1/30/2009 04:07:00 PM, Anonymous pimpin dawg added...

its true i drank that shit and my stomach blew up. now i gotta spend my life mopping up blood and food i lose when i eat. fuck them all. i cant even crap anymore. its bull shit. my finger just fell off and my eye fell out great

No links... no ads for anything... just pure random weirdness. I kind of liked it truth be told.

Tags: alvin and the chipmunks, punk, jesus, south park, jones soda, midgets, they live, blogging, giraffe

A Nice Day

The front is through, the convergence zone has weakened, and a nice day beckons (gardening day for me!). Take a look at the latest high-resolution visible satellite image (attached). Mostly cloud free and sunny over central an southern Puget Sound, with a very weak residual convergence zone feature near Everett. Offshore you will see some scattered showers moving in, but they are very weak and most won't make it across the Olympics. So partly sunny and mid-40s over the Puget Sound lowlands and some minor snow showers over the Cascades. No precip in eastern Washington's Columbia Basin.

PS: For those that are interested, I will be talking about mountain meteorology and snow at REI on Thursday evening at 7 PM. And doing a book signing afterwards.

Wimpy Front, Great Convergence Zone

The front today had very little precipitation and attenuated cloud, but the convergence today was well-defined with a beautiful precipitation band...take a look at the recent radar image...

Way too warm for snow in the lowlands with it... Tomorrow looks generally dry over the lowlands...with some light snow showers in the mountains.

Stuffed toy entrepreneurship

This story on the NYT Motherlode blog reminded me of my earlier post on the subject of stuffed toys.

Had the parents of 10-year-old Soski, who lives in Glendale, Calif., had a spare Teddy locked away somewhere, they might not have found themselves in need of rescue by firefighters on Friday night.

In the middle of a temper tantrum, Soski threw his stuffed bear over a guard rail atop a steep incline near the family’s home. His mother climbed over to rescue the Teddy, but slipped. When Soski’s Dad tried to come to her aid, both parents became trapped 80-feet down on the rain-slicked slope, unable to climb back up. All this with Soski alone at the top of the hill.

The boy — who, let’s remember, started all this trouble in the first place — ran to a neighbors house and someone called 911. You can see video of the rescue here.

One solution to all this is, when your child becomes attached to some toy, to get a spare. That, of course, is easier said than done. We did that for our son's ET (yes, the same ET that later turned out to be so pivotal in the movie, In America) and we still have an ample supply of those. Sadly, he moved on to a $2 IKEA blue dog that got thrown his way during a visit there. Equally, sadly, we didn't stock up. Who knew?

Recently, he lost said toy. Someone may have mistaken it for a dirty rag. Suffice it to say, IKEA had moved on. I decided to see if eBay would help but the closest it got to was this anteater. That wouldn't cut. But I did notice how many stuffed toys selling at seemingly premium prices were on eBay. It occurred to me that a more comprehensive entrepreneurial activity of buying up stuffed toys and cataloging them could be a very lucrative business -- not to mention socially desirable as it could save lives or embarrassment, whichever you regard as worse.

A quick Google search indicated that this idea was not novel. Here is one service. No luck on the IKEA thing though. He will just have to deal. Nonetheless, I suspect that the problems associated with matching children with lost toys is going to get easier and easier.

Week 38: Pageant of the Transmundane

Improperly prepared Blowfish testicles poison seven in Japan while a defendant caused a mistrial by smearing feces on his lawyer's face. Which is weirder? I don't know. But I do think this week's Transmundanity winner tops both of those stories.

This week's winning entry comes from the New England style lodgings of Casual Slack.

Jen discovered and reposted a rather unique family portrait that I think will leave some readers scarred (or even just scared) for life.

And because a family portrait is involved, naturally, I had a particular Simpson image in mind for this week. Yes, it is one of the famous family portraits Bart found a way to wreck. If you can think of a more appropriate Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award image, I'd like to see it.



Congratulations Jen. Here is your badge.




The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Tags: casual slack, homer simpson, try n save, pageant of the transmundane, family portrait, gary busey, jen, new england, feces, bart simpson, blowfish, testi

2 Hours of self-play

[HT: Boing Boing] Can a 9 month old keep themselves occupied, free of parental attention, for over 2 hours? Apparently so.

Dense Fog

There is dense fog around the Sound right now....that is generally a very good sign for day ahead. To get dense fog at low levels, one generally needs intense surface cooling...which generally requires clear or nearly clear skies aloft. You also need little mixing (otherwise you would have a thicker fog layer, which tends to be less thick at any one level). So in many areas, particularly away from the Sound, this fog should burn out during the next few hours.

There is a well-defined surface-based inversion over us right now (see graphic), with the cool, moist air only about 500-700 ft thick. Pilot reports at Sea Tac indicate the low clouds and fog top out at around 700ft.

Friday Favorites: Maybe CSI:NY should investigate this

The reason I am reposting this is simple: CSI has a new lead actor after the departure of William Petersen, and the franchise seems to be worth talking about again.

I wrote this entry back in May 2006 (as you will likely notice, most of these entries are from early to mid-2006. I don't know how far in the future some of the things I am writing now are going to become Friday Favorites).

--

I was not an early watcher of CSI, I admit. But there has been something that has been bothering me for a little while now.

It lays mainly in the theme music for the second spinoff of the franchise, CSI: NY. You see, "Baba O'Riley", while being a great song by the Who, has no connection to any kind of crime fighting.

Am I being picky? I would say so. However, let's look at the facts.

The original show has "Who Are You" as its theme, and given the fact that it is about forensic scientists trying to solve crime through DNA and other evidence, it really fits.

Then there is CSI: Miami with "Won't Get Fooled Again" which isn't the most closely tied to the field, but an argument could be made that forensic evidence makes it less likely that the police/CSI's would get fooled by lies and such, so I'll buy it.

And then you have CSI: NY, with a song which has absolutely no connection to CSI whatsoever. Teenage Wasteland indeed.

Considering the fact that you could probably just throw darts at a list of songs by the Who and get a song that you could connect to forensics, it is just, I don't know, bad form on the producers' part.

To test this supposition out, I randomly chose two numbers and applied them to a who compilation I don't own to see if I could accomplish this feat. I chose numbers 3 and 7, then selected 20th Century Masters: The Best Of The Who as the compilation.

What did I end up with? "I Can See for Miles" and "Behind Blue Eyes".

Let's look at "I Can See For Miles" first. Here is the first verse and chorus.

I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise
I know that you have 'cause there's magic in my eyes

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah

If you think that I don't know about the little tricks you play
And never see you when deliberately you put things in my way

Well, here's a poke at you
You're gonna choke on it too
You're gonna lose that smile
because all the while

I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah

Now, you are telling me that they couldn't have had Gary Sinise looking at a crime scene with UV light and those special glasses, swabbing people and doing all the other CSI type things better to that? I mean, that has a lot more to do with the subject at hand than the current theme.

And then there is "Behind Blue Eyes", which is essentially about crime and conscience, and that isn't good enough for New York? Come on. Did they not even look for another song? If I can do better by random, how hard could it have been to find something when you were really trying?

*grumble* I guess maybe they are saving a song or two for the inevitable CSI: San Francisco or the like.

Tags: csi, miami, new york, the who, who are you, baba o'riley, won't get fooled again, lyrics, i can see for miles, television

Coldest Temps

The answer to my question in the last blog: the coldest temperatures are generally in the hour AFTER sunrise--so this time of the year around 8 AM. Temperature is controlled mainly by two factors: solar radiation during the day that warms, and infrared radiation emitted by the surface that cools (day and night). When the sun sets there is only infrared cooling and thus fairly rapid cooling sets in, cooling continues albeit at a lesser pace all night, when the sun just rises its feeble warmth is still dwarfed by the infrared cooling, so net cooling occurs and temp can still fall. Not until about an hour after sunrise is the sun's warmth large enough to balance the infrared cooling and temperature starts to rise.
I have attached the plot of temperature on the roof of the atmospheric sciences bldg at the UW that illustrates many of these points...the plot on the bottom is the solar radiation and air temperature is the third plot from the top.
Weatherwise, a weak front will approach western Washington late tomorrow afternoon, and showers should be felt tomorrow evening. The mountains will get some light snow--but not enough to really help. A convergence zone should form Saturday am and with cold air moving in behind the front, there could be some wet snowflakes in the CZ, particularly above 300 ft. More on this tomorrow.

Post-Commit Web Hooks for Google Code Project Hosting

By Mike Parent, Google Code

We love to create building blocks that fuel user's imaginations. Today we are announcing Post-Commit Web Hooks for Project Hosting on Google Code, to allow web services to receive repository commit notifications. Projects can use this feature to integrate with all kinds of external tools, including continuous build systems, bug trackers, project metrics, and social networks. The notification follows the Web Hooks model, and is delivered as an HTTP POST request containing a JSON commit description.

To help get you started, we've created an example application that performs various tests that are useful for managing documentation. You can find the source code in the contenthooks open source project.

We would love to hear feedback about new and interesting uses of Post-Commit Web Hooks!

The 20 Men I Admire Meme

Weeks ago, Samuraifrog tagged me with this meme, and sometimes it takes me a while to get things together for something like this.

The title basically says it all.

Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the blog that tagged you.

2. Link back to the originator of this meme, which is The Dino Lounge.

3. Create your own list of 20 men that you admire and post them on your blog.

4. Tag 5 other people to participate in this meme.

5. If you like, please let The Dino Lounge know that you've participated in this meme so he can check out your posting and comment on it.

And here is my list:

James Joyce


Niccolo Machiavelli


Charles Darwin


Otto Von Bismarck


Terry Pratchett


Samuel L. Jackson


William Carlos Williams


Penn and Teller


Patton Oswalt


George Carlin


George Clooney


The Coen Brothers


Ennio Morricone


Bob Ross


Mr. Rogers


Will Durant


Roger Ebert


Salvador Dali


Now you know I don't tag people, so if you want to do this, then just run with it.

Tags: charles darwin, otto von bismarck, machiavelli, james joyce, penn and teller, dino lounge, terry pratchett, samuel l jackson, william carlos williams, patton oswalt, salvador dali, george carlin, george clooney, coen brothers, fred rogers, bob ross, roger ebert, will durant

Dirty Ridge

A term often used in meteorological circles is "dirty ridge." No, this is not some kind of meteorological pornography. Rather its when there is a "ridge" or area of high pressure that is not strong enough to keep us dry and cloud free. Weather disturbances with sufficient amplitude can inject clouds and rain into the northern portions of the ridge...that is the dirty part. Take a look at the upper level pattern for Thursday at 4 PM (see graphic). This represents the heights of the 500-mb pressure surface about sea level and is roughly at 18000 ft (sea level pressure is typically around 1012 mb). The ridge is obvious.
I have included the 24h precipitation for the next two days...you see some precipitation over the northern portion of the domain...particularly over the mountains. Lots of rain shadowing. This is typical for dirty ridges since the flow tends to have a strong westerly component (from the west), which produces good rain shadowing (and strong orographic enhancement).
By the way, when do you think we typically get the lowest temperatures of the day? 9 PM, midnight, 3 AM, 6 AM, or 8 AM...or perhaps some other time? Will give the answer in the next blog.

Sea Kittens? PETA Please

There are a lot of groups that I like to ridicule, and if you read this blog regularly, I am sure you can think of a few whom I've targeted more than others.

However, I haven't really gone after PETA, despite how many times one of their campaigns, celebrity spokespeople or ads has irked me.

One person has really read my mind about one of the newest PETA campaigns however, and I thought it was worth sharing.

Fish are Sea Kittens? Wow... that is really messed up. I am glad that Spricket24 put her thoughts to electronic celluloid, because I think she basically hit all the points I would have, especially about the economic repercussions of PETA's ultimate aim of stopping commercial fishing.

Tags: spricket24, peta, sea kittens, fish, criticism, karen alloy, campaign, land shark

The Wrestler at Wrestlemania

Back in August, I wrote a somewhat scathing entry about how as an adult, I longed for the kind of fun wrestling I watched when I was a kid. But I started watching wrestling again after I started playing Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, and I have to admit that I may have been off base.

It was also in the Fire Pro Club forums that I had first heard about The Wrestler, a movie which many of the jaded fans of wrestling were looking forward to seeing because it was a more realistic fictionalized depiction of this form of entertainment.

And then it was recently announced that Mickey Rourke was booked for a match at Wrestlemania 25, which I have mixed feelings about.

On one hand, I think this booking basically killed any chance Rourke had of winning the Best Actor Oscar, much in the same way Norbit destroyed Eddie Murphy's chances of winning an award for Dreamgirls. In fact, it might hurt the entire movie at the ceremonies.

And if it hurts Mickey Rourke at the Oscars, it might also hurt his career after this. In the interviews surrounding this movie, one theme has become evident... Mickey Rourke doesn't want to be a sellout. Well, having a match at Wrestlemania is sort of a selling out of those very ideals he seems to be chasing, and perhaps undercutting the message of the movie as well.

However, since this is going to happen whether I like it or not, I guess I have to look at the positives on this deal.

I don't question Rourke's ability in the ring and I have a feeling he will do admirably in it and will sell it well. And if someone is going to be the professional in this situation and take care of actor in the ring, well, I think Chris Jericho is the right man for the job. He is a performer who has been around the block more than a few times and wrestled under a wide variety of circumstances, so he will work well in this situation. He will make the match pop without unduly endangering Rourke.

So in short, I think this match is a really bad idea, but in execution, it should probably work out fine.

Tags: chris jericho, mickey rourke, fire pro wrestling returns, fire pro club, wrestlemania, oscars, wwe, the wrestler, selling out

Peddling cookies

CNN's iReport has a punch of user-generated stories on the topic of selling your children's charity (re: Girl Scout) cookies at work. I know I have lamented this before but we have a new staff room at work and I cannot believe the amount of trade the cookie peddlers do. I think this year I am going to let my children get in on that action; as a complement to the front of the house stall of course.

Pop Culture and Band Names: Movie edition

Bands sometimes get inspiration from a variety of sources, and this is evident in their names as well. As a pop culture observer, finding a band that takes its name from a movie or television show makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, because it is almost as if the band and their audience is sharing an inside joke.

Off the top of my head, Sweep the Leg Johnny from The Karate Kid or Save Ferris from Ferris Bueller's Day Off naturally come to mind for this sort of naming.

I thought it would be fun to think up band names along the same lines... not that I will ever be in a band or anything (which everyone out there should thank their lucky stars for).

For this, little exercise, I've decided to stick to movies... at some point in the future, I may revisit this topic just using a specific genre of television programming. And the fictional/fake band names in movies are out of bounds.

Here are just a few names that popped into my head in the past hour or so (aside from the first one, which is the whole reason I am writing this entry):

New Style American Girlfriend from Sixteen Candles

Fhloston Paradise from The Fifth Element

We Ate Sand and Howdy Kurt from Raising Arizona

I Killed Your Master, Blood-spattered Angel and Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill

Friendo from No Country From Old Men

Almost any gang name from The Warriors (The Gramercy Riffs, The Turnbull A.C.'s, The Lizzies, The Baseball Furies etc).

Filthy Nasty Things, The Chokey and The Trunchbull from Matilda

Precinct 13 from Assault on Precinct 13 (I was going to say "Napoleon Wilson" as well, but it turns out there is a band called that in Britain.

The Crusty Jugglers from Hot Fuzz

One Bad Stud from Streets of Fire

So, are there any movie quotes/names that you think would make awesome band names?

Tags: sweep the leg johnny, hot fuzz, crusty juggler, one bad stud, streets of fire, kill bill, assault on precinct 13, filthy nasty things, matilda, the chokey, trunchbull, the warriors, gramercy riffs, turnbull ac's, lizzies, baseball furies, friendo, no country for old men, pussy wagon, howdy kurt, we ate sand, raising arizona, fhloston paradise, new style american girlfriend, sixteen candles, save ferris

Coastal Weather Radar

It is time for all those interested to push for a coastal weather radar in our region.

As I have discussed in this blog and in a web page on the topic, http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~cliff/coastalradar.html , the Pacific Northwest has the worst radar coverage of any coastal location in the continental U.S. (see graphic, red indicates no coverage). The only weather radar in western Washington is on Camano Island and its beam is blocked by the Olympics, so there is virtually no coverage over the coast and nearshore waters. We have some of the most active weather in the U.S., but we can't see the details of the storms coming in. Here in Seattle we can plan our days and understand the weather using the weather radar...in Gray's Harbor county you can't. We can't get see heavy precipitation on the SW and W windward slopes of the Olympics, or the coastal mountains of SW Washington. There have been a number of short-term forecast failures that could have been prevented if we had such a radar.

Strong support for the radar exists in the coastal communities, from environment groups, to the forestry industry, to the fishery community, and local municipalities.

The radar would cost around 4.5 million, plus installation costs and land--no more than 6-8 million in total. The region could save that in a single major storm, if the forecast could be improved (e.g., the major flooding in December 07 on the Chehalis). A location somewhere between Westport and Pacific Beach would work. Several of our senatorial and congressional delegation have been supportive, with Senator Cantwell taking a lead (see the web page for more info on this).

There will be hundreds of billions spent on infrastructure improvements for our nation. Wouldn't improving the weather prediction and warning infrastructure for our region be an exceptionally wise use of such funds? And the project is "shovel ready." Radar hardware vendors could deliver and install the unit within a year.

I would be happy to answer questions about this in this blog. But I am suggesting that you contact our U.S. Senators (Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray)...asking for their help (contact info is at http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~cliff/contact.html). Also contact your local congressperson...with those in Norm Dicks district (who have the most to gain) taking a lead.

After so many years of inferior weather radar coverage along the coast and offshore, it is time to fix this serious problem. Perhaps the growing community of those interested in NW weather can finally make this happen. Thanks, cliff

Google I/O 2009, Developer Conference

By Azhar Hashem, Google Developer Programs

I'm excited to announce Google I/O 2009, our two-day developer event that will take place May 27-28, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Last year, over 3,000 developers participated in I/O and they attended 90+ sessions across all of our developer products. This year, much of our content will feature Android, App Engine, Chrome, GWT, AJAX APIs and more. To give you an idea, here are a few of the sessions:

• App Engine, Offline processing on App Engine: a look ahead
  
• Android, Supporting multiple devices with one binary
  
• Chrome, Developing extensions for Google Chrome
  
• GWT, The Story of your Compile: reading the tea leaves of the GWT compiler for an optimized future
  
• AJAX APIs, Using AJAX/RESTful APIs on Mobile Native Apps
  
• OpenSocial, Building a Business with Social Apps
  
• Geo APIs, Building scalable Geo applications
  

We've published a selection of the session abstracts but check back as we'll be adding more sessions over the next couple months.

At I/O, you'll have a chance to interact directly with the engineering teams who work on our APIs and developer products. There will be dozens of in-depth technical sessions that focus on how to write better applications using Google and open technologies. For developers who are working on business applications, we've expanded our sessions and demos on those topics as well. And we'll have plenty of opportunities for the developer community to demo apps that use the latest web and mobile technologies.

We're working hard to make this event insightful, useful, and fun! Visit the Google I/O website to learn more and register. Space is limited so make sure you reserve your spot early. As a bonus, you'll get a hard copy of the Google Chrome Comic book if you register by May 1.

Like last year, Google I/O will be followed by Developer Days that will take place in various countries around the world. Keep an eye out for an announcement with details on dates and locations.

Looking forward to seeing you at I/O!

Snow is here

The snow is here--nearly on schedule (light precipitation almost always starts an hour or two before the models indicate). Look at the radar...light precipitation.pretty much all snow is extensive south of Seattle...but the forecast rain shadow over Seattle and to its north is evident. Temperature aloft are cold enough for snow (as seen in the Seattle profiler), but strong southerly winds are pushing in aloft and they will eventually cause sufficient warming to turn it all to rain.s
WSDOT camera show some light snow on the roads in the south sound (see image)...so be careful...cliff

Rainshadow and snow/rain

I will update in more depth later...but another Pacific disturbance is approaching (see figure) and we will get precipitation...the question is the how much and whether it will be rain or snow. Because the disturbance is moving towards us from the northwest, there will be a strong westerly component as is approaches and moves over us. Westerly flow produces a rainshadow over the central Puget Sound region...as demonstrated last month. The air over us is cold and dry, dry enough the there will be lots of initial evaporative cooling as the precipitation falls into it from above. Evaporative cooling only acts for a short while..until the air becomes saturated. And then the movement of warm air into the region associated with the system will take over and turn the precipitation into rain.

The current run of the high-resolution local model provides the following 24-h snowfall ending 4 PM tomorrow (see figure). The mountains do well (6-18 inches) and light snow is found over portions of NW and SW Washington, and over the Kitsap/Hood Canal area. But little over Seattle. By mid-day all the precipitation over the lowlands should turn to rain. Strong winds will also occur over Puget Sound and NW Washington as low pressure moves north of us tomorrow morning and afternoon.

Here is the latest 24-h snow from the Monday night run...but from the coarser 12-km resolution version. Pretty much the same story.

Google Visualization API interactive samples in the AJAX APIs Playground

By Nir Bar-Lev, Google Developer Programs

We all know that writing code based on existing code snippets is faster and quicker than starting from scratch. It's also a great way to ramp up on new tools or APIs you may be less familiar with.

That's way we decided to provide a whole bunch of interactive code samples for the Google Visualization API in Google's recently launched AJAX APIs Playground.

These code samples run the gamut from specific visualizations like for the Motion Chart, Annotated Time Line (used in Google Finance) or Geo Map to covering specific Visualization API topics like event handling and placing data source requests.

The Playground enables you to change the sample code, re-run it, and see the results in real time. You can export your code, save it, and also get a full HTML source. In fact, for most of your programming needs, this tool is all you'll ever need to write, debug and integrate visualizations from the Visualization API into your web pages.

We hope you enjoy the added productivity and wish you happy visualizing!

Humility

Well, one thing a forecaster learns quckly is humility. There is a weak upper level disturbances that is causing this light precipitation. The heaviest precipitation is on the eastern side of the Sound. Take a look at the radar animation to see the details ( http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/loops/wxloop.cgi?atx_n0r+/2h/ ). The models did not handle this light precipitation well...in most of the region there is no accumulation...but some of you are getting up to around an inch (Woodinville and Snohomish seem to be ground zero for the worst). It WILL end later this afternoon and early evening....guaranteed.

Light precipitation is a clear weakness of our current models...working on this issue is definitely on my to-do list....cliff

Sunday Night Videos: Papercuts

I first saw this video by Broadcast back in 2000 on a Canadian cable show called The Wedge, and I was instantly hooked on the band.

I then put it on a mix cd I made for a girl I had just met.

And the weird thing was, every song on that mix cd ended up being relevant. Who would have thought my decisions in making such an item would end up being prophetic? I certainly wouldn't have. This song was especially prescient with a quick reverse in the gender in the lyrics.

That's all I'm really going to say about that, aside from the fact that despite that, I still love the song and the band.

Tags: broadcast, papercuts, the wedge, birmingham, noise made by people, mix tape, lyrics

Sunday Morning Update

The air above us is now cold enough for snow...and there are a few light flurries going on now as the final bands of showers from the passing weather disturbance move through (see figure). Last night some locations received 1/4 to 1/2 inch (a few slightly more)..particularly at higher locations in the North Sound. And as I mentioned last night, the model's definitely underplayed it. Cooler, drier air is now moving through the Fraser River Valley. Take a look at the surface chart (attached)..strong NE winds (20 knots sustained) at Bellingham Airport..with a temp of 27 and a very dry dewpoint of 2F! If you want to get a better idea of the winds go to the Ferry Weather Web page (http://i90.atmos.washington.edu/ferry/Ferryjs/mainframe1.htm) and click on the San Juan Island close up map...winds of 25-30 kts are found at some locations.

The sky has opened up in Bellingham and clearing will move southward slowly during the day. Light snow is still falling over portions of central and southern Puget Sound and will do so until midafternoon. Expect temps to drop into the 20s and teens Monday AM--so protect those vulnerable plants.
Several of you have mentioned the issue of snow on Tuesday, when the next disturbance comes in, with cold air in place. Temps will warm rapidly as the associated front approaches and there should be considerable rain shadowing from Seattle northward. So it is possible that some locations will initially see some snow (particularly south Tacoma) that will turn to rain. More on this tomorrow. But we will have a sunny day on Monday, with a high around 40F first...and no air pollution.

Evidence that I have gone insane

Click here for Exhibit A. It's free but should you view it, consider yourself over-charged.

Modest Model Failure

The numerical models from this morning and earlier underplayed the precipitation over the region. The latest runs appear to have caught up with reality with light precipitation this evening. As a result we are seeing a wintry mix of rain, rain/snow mix, and some light snow over the lowlands, particularly north of Seattle. There is a dusting at some locations right now..particularly above 200-300 ft. The latest 24-h snowfall from the latest high resolution model is attached. Amounts up to around 1 inch are possible..but I suspect that such values will be on the high side. So no big snowstorm, but light snow is possible tonight. The precipitation should be over by 10 AM tomorrow.

Snow Update

The latest models suggest that tonight and tomorrow morning there will be light snow in the Cascades (a few inches at most), and perhaps a dusting SE of the Olympics...and maybe a few flurries over the Puget Sound lowlands....check out the 24-h snow forecast ending 4 PM tomorrow.

Week 37: Pageant of the Transmundane

Officials in Lagos, Nigeria arrested a goat on suspicion of car theft. I always knew goats were crafty, if odd looking, animals, but I didn't know they had the ability to drive cars as well. I wonder if that would count as a meal on wheels for a goat. Could this week's winner top that oddity. We shall soon see.

The winning entry this week hails from the warm brown shores of The Regrettable Music Blog, a site which has a tendency to bring the strange to light on a semi-regular basis.

However, this is one of those times when you have to see the item in question with little indication of its content, aside from the fact that it is work safe and a little clue in the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award image. Enjoy the oddity.



Congratulations Darren and everyone else at The Regrettable Music Blog. Here is your badge.



The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Tags: lagos, nigeria, goat, car theft, homer simpson, pageant of the transmundane, poodle, regrettable music blog, darren

The Real Parentonomics

The biggest reaction to Parentonomics I get from non-readers of this blog is that they were expecting something very different: you know, talking about the costs of having children and stuff like that. Of course, instead, it is a mainly non-academic set of stories about the travails of one economist parent. I refer to studies in the book but I feel far from expert in all of this. Nonetheless, the title Parentonomics seemed appropriate for how I viewed my own parenting style and so it became the natural title of the book.

But Bryan Caplan looks set to do something that is more closely related to what people were expecting when an economist took a look at parenting. His Selfish Reasons to Have Kids will be published by Basic Books in 2011. This is something he appears to have been working on for some time.

To get a flavour for that book, take a look at this essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In it, Caplan presents the evidence on two propositions. First, that parents add little value through their parenting efforts (something that Freakonomics also dealt with).

The punch line is that, at least within the normal range of parenting styles, how you raise your children has little effect on how your children turn out. You can be strict or permissive, involved or distant, encouraging or critical, religious or secular. In the long run, your kids will resemble you in many ways; but they would have resembled you about as much if they had never met you.

Second, that parenting efforts make neither parents nor potentially children happy.

You might respond, "Yes, but at least parental attention makes the children happier." It's striking, then, that even kids don't seem to want all this parental attention. One notable study by Ellen Galinsky of the Families and Work Institute found that while most parents believe their children want more face time, only a tiny minority of children actually do.

The obvious take-away being: what's the point of it all?

Well, there is a little point. There is a qualifier to Proposition 1.

Recent scholarship does highlight some exceptions. For example, while earlier researchers found that divorce runs in families for purely genetic reasons, some new studies find that both nature and nurture play a role. Another study finds that controlling for genes, run-of-the-mill spanking does no lasting harm, but harsh physical punishment can leave lasting psychological scars.

And kids do prefer their parents to be something:

In contrast, about a third of children wish their parents were less stressed and tired. What kids seem to want from their parents isn't more time; it's a better attitude.

But the conclusion is that there seems to be a vast amount of inefficiency going on:

Ironically, then, a bird's-eye view of parenting research suggests that it would be good for the world if parents stopped trying so hard. Parents would be better off, because they would be doing less of something that — through excessive familiarity — has lost its charm. Children wouldn't be worse off, because parental "investment" has little payoff anyway. In fact, if we take children at their word, they'd be better off. Kids know better than anyone that if mom and dad aren't happy, nobody's happy.

I am very much looking forward to this book as I must admit, I think this is one of the central questions faced by parents that perhaps some good data and analysis might actually help on. But there is also another reason to anticipate its arrival in 2011: Caplan's terrific writing style. A final example:

For example, one prominent study found that when adoptees are 3 to 4 years old, their IQ has a .20 correlation with the IQ of their adopting parents; but by the time adoptees are 12 years old, that correlation falls to 0. The lesson: Children are not like lumps of clay that parents mold for life; they are more like pieces of flexible plastic that respond to pressure, but pop back to their original shape when that pressure is released.

Well put.

The Fraser Gap Wind

One of the more interesting local weather features of our region is the gap flow through the Fraser River valley...and this phenomenon will be quite evident this weekend. In fact, it has already started.
Take a look at the topographic map I have attached. The most substantial weakness in the Cascades north of the Columbia Gorge is the Fraser River Valley, located just north of Bellingham. When cold, dense air fills the interior basin of BC, a big pressure difference occurs down the Fraser..and as a result cool, dry air pushes along its axis to the SE. Bellingham often gets strong NE winds and cool, dry air as a result.
The surface chart for tomorrow at 4 PM shows cold air (blue and purple colors) and high pressure over the interior of BC. This will enable a strong Fraser River flow.
In fact, the Fraser Gap flow started already this afternoon. The plot of wind speed (attached) showed a decided acceleration at Bellingham around 20 UTC (noon PST). At the same time, the relative humidity plummeted as the continental air from the interior hit that location (see plot). Another plot of temp and temp point shows a drop in humidty (dewpoint declined), but the temperature rose quickly. Why? The reason is that strong winds from the Fraser mixed up the air, destroying the inversion and scouring out the cold air that was in place. Later on, as the primo cold air from the interior pushes through the Fraser, Bellingham will be a relative cold spot.
The winds exited the Fraser will be quite strong, especially Sunday morning. Take a look at the computer simulation for 4 AM on Sunday...sustained NE winds of 35 knots are being predicted around the northern portion of the San Juan Islands...people there should be prepared for a good blow.
On Sunday, dry cold air will spread across the region...and it is clear that lowland snow will not occur. Only the mountains will get a light dusting late Saturday and early Sunday. Expect sun the second half of Sunday from Seattle northward and Monday should be sunny too. But the period will be cool, particularly Monday morning, when temps will drop in the 20s and even upper teens in the colder interior locations.

The Mild Tales of Despereaux

A while ago, Emily Bazelon, arguing against the Tales of Despereaux's G-rating, lamented its violent scenes. This was despite the fact that, having exposed her children to the book, it seemed not to appeal to kids above the age of 8. At the time, I lamented the difficulty of ratings for kids movies and reviews that didn't involve an adult sitting next to a kid. As Bazelon's 5 year old was scared by the movie, I excluded our 4 year old and took the 10 and 8 year old to see it today.

Well I have to say, that the picture of extended violence seemed hardly what was going on. There were a couple of scenes which were scary but no more than all manner of similar scenes in animated movies today -- G-rated or otherwise. I can contrast this with Bolt. If anything, what was different in Despereaux was that the chase and other scary scenes were not humerous. Indeed, there was no humour at all in the movie -- reminding my more of the beautiful Iron Giant than the usual fare.

Instead what we have is a cinematic masterpiece. The picture painted was reminscient of Eastern European paintings of pre-industrial urban life. And the entire story, based on a mavrick mouse and rat, was beautifully crafted. Indeed, I don't want to give too much away because it is such a pleasant and satisfying ride. It isn't shockingly unpredictable but it does involve a story of relationships between individuals and also society that is worthwhile.

But there is a moment of irony. One of the key themes is the mice world that spends all of its time indoctrinating themselves and their children to be afraid. It isn't subtle but I could not help but think about Bazelon's concerns and fears taking her children to this movie. Was that concern the equivalent of mouse indoctrination? Are we guessing about what our children are thinking and what they regard as scary and permitting those emotions? The alternative to cowering being a posture of a lack of concern and confidence. Actually, I have no idea. But that thought did occur to me during this movie. And apparently, we as parents don't really know very much about our children so it is right to ask these questions.

So my assessment of Tales of Despereaux is that it is a great family movie. My 10 and 8 year old enjoyed it but didn't laugh at all. And my attention was fully there thinking this is the sort of higher level movie that I should be taking my kids too. Utility and satisfaction all around.

Friday Favorites: Nothing Short of a Meteor Strike Will Stop It

I've been listening to a lot of music lately trying to get enough cleared music for a couple of podcasts. I mean a lot. Too much. I'm talking full on overload.

So for this week's Friday Favorite, I thought another music related entry was in order. In this case, it is about a song which will exist long after the human race has finally ceased to exist. Be warned... it is a song you may not want to have brought back into your mind.

--

With all this talk about a wider Middle East war and so many new countries pursuing the dream of nuclear armament ownership (it's like a couple's first house, only most homes don't have a creamy uranium center that will liquefy the insides of millions of people in an instant), I've been wondering what would survive the cataclysmic wars of Armageddon.

Of course, Twinkies, cockroaches and Christmas Fruitcake all come to mind, but perhaps a more sinister survivor will emerge.

And of course I am talking about, the Safety Dance, that oh-so-hummable slice of nostalgic Eigties-ana. Think about it. It survived grunge, it survived hip hop.... it is the terminator of songs... and it won't stop until it has consumed us all. Wil Wheaton wondered how it could get recorded? It was a conspiracy to enslave the human race slowly but surely.

Even Matt Groening thinks it will be in part our undoing. I mean, it survived a millenium into the future on Futurama, for it is our past and it is our future... it will be the anthem of our dark overlords.



So today, we must stop it, so I am calling for everyone to burn any copies of Biodome that you can find. Though really, we should have already been doing that. If we don't do this, than someone in the future is going to have to be sent back to destroy Men Without Hats and they will probably end up killing Duran Duran and Men at Work just to be sure, and we don't want that on our heads either... especially since the alternative is so much worse.

Tags: safety dance, duran duran, men without hats, wil wheaton, simpsons, eastern airlines, twinkies, men at work, futurama, funkadelic, wars of armageddon, middle east, terminator, evil, overlord, conspiracy, pop music, 80s, it is eating my brain.