I think he hit all the right notes with this analysis of how almost remote piece is structured.
Bravo Mr. Brooker, bravo!
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday Video: How to Report the News
From Charlie Brooker's News Wipe, a satirical weekly show that dissects not just news, but how it is reported.
I think he hit all the right notes with this analysis of how almost remote piece is structured.
Bravo Mr. Brooker, bravo!
I think he hit all the right notes with this analysis of how almost remote piece is structured.
Bravo Mr. Brooker, bravo!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Week 38: Pageant of the Transmundane
An overtoasted bagel forced the evacuation of Portland, Oregon's City Hall this week. No real joke. Just think about how many times you've burnt something in the toaster and firemen didn't show up. I'm just saying...
There are times when a Transmundanity winning entry is a singular item which is really weird and memorable.
This week, it is a group of weird things that all add up to a very strange and bizarre look at the world.
Now, I could gild the lily here and try to really sell this week's winner, but it isn't that kind of week.
This is a list of 50 more of the most "interesting" articles on Wikipedia. And by interesting, the proprietors of Copybot mean odd, weird and say what?
And because this week's winning entry has to do with Wikipedia, it seemed like an image of Homer looking up something online at something vaguely like an encyclopedia was the best option for the award this week.
Congrats Holly on this wonderful find. Here is your web 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 blogging village 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.
There are times when a Transmundanity winning entry is a singular item which is really weird and memorable.
This week, it is a group of weird things that all add up to a very strange and bizarre look at the world.
Now, I could gild the lily here and try to really sell this week's winner, but it isn't that kind of week.
This is a list of 50 more of the most "interesting" articles on Wikipedia. And by interesting, the proprietors of Copybot mean odd, weird and say what?
And because this week's winning entry has to do with Wikipedia, it seemed like an image of Homer looking up something online at something vaguely like an encyclopedia was the best option for the award this week.
Congrats Holly on this wonderful find. Here is your web 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 blogging village 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:
Record Warmth and The El Nino Blahs
I should start by noting the return of much warmer than normal conditions after a few days of cooler conditions (see graph, with average highs and lows and observed temps). It is now certain that Seattle will beat its all time temperature record--we are now experiencing the warmest January in Seattle recorded history! 
Not a single day has had a mean temperature below normal. And this warmth has been observed over much of our region. The mean tempeature this month will come in close to 47F...that is warmer than an average March day (45.15F), but not quite April (49.4F). My garden is really responding right now...my grass is really growing and bulbs are pushing out of the ground.
The weather situation that we have been seeing this month, and which appears to be dominant in our future, is classic late-winter El Nino. In such a pattern there is unusual troughing offshore, with the jet stream..the current of strong winds...going south of us into California. They get more storms and precipitation. We get split flow and a dribble of weak systems. Really dead. Below I have put a graphics of the flow at 500 mb--roughly 18,000 ft for you to examine. The lines tell how high that pressure level is above sea level. Winds parallel the lines with higher heights to the right of the winds. The closer the lines are together, the stronger the winds. With all that said, you see the obvious--trough/low offshore and the main winds going to California.
We are running out of time for winter. In three weeks, we pass the unofficial end to NW winter...after which we rarely get major storms or flooding events. And our computer forecasts can see well 1/3 of the way and nothing is going happen here.
Finally, want to see a wonderful video of mountain wave clouds...lenticular clouds..downstream of the Olympics? Check this out!
http://www.drdale.com/lapse/lapse100128.mov
Not a single day has had a mean temperature below normal. And this warmth has been observed over much of our region. The mean tempeature this month will come in close to 47F...that is warmer than an average March day (45.15F), but not quite April (49.4F). My garden is really responding right now...my grass is really growing and bulbs are pushing out of the ground.The weather situation that we have been seeing this month, and which appears to be dominant in our future, is classic late-winter El Nino. In such a pattern there is unusual troughing offshore, with the jet stream..the current of strong winds...going south of us into California. They get more storms and precipitation. We get split flow and a dribble of weak systems. Really dead. Below I have put a graphics of the flow at 500 mb--roughly 18,000 ft for you to examine. The lines tell how high that pressure level is above sea level. Winds parallel the lines with higher heights to the right of the winds. The closer the lines are together, the stronger the winds. With all that said, you see the obvious--trough/low offshore and the main winds going to California.
We are running out of time for winter. In three weeks, we pass the unofficial end to NW winter...after which we rarely get major storms or flooding events. And our computer forecasts can see well 1/3 of the way and nothing is going happen here.
Finally, want to see a wonderful video of mountain wave clouds...lenticular clouds..downstream of the Olympics? Check this out!
http://www.drdale.com/lapse/lapse100128.mov
Friday, January 29, 2010
Flashy New Authentication: AuthSub Adds Support for ActionScript
Today, we are happy to announce the launch of AuthSub for ActionScript, a new component of the well-known AuthSub authentication interface for the Google Data Protocol. This new feature enables Flash and Silverlight applications to access data securely on behalf of a user, without the application ever seeing the user’s private login credentials.
To use AuthSub for Actionscript (or as we’re calling it, AuthSubAS), first ensure that the API you are accessing offers cross-domain support. To do this, simply check for a
Currently, cross-domain requests are only supported by the Picasa Web Albums Data API and the YouTube Data API. However, as more APIs offer cross-domain scripting through an open
To use AuthSub for Actionscript (or as we’re calling it, AuthSubAS), first ensure that the API you are accessing offers cross-domain support. To do this, simply check for a
crossdomain.xml file like those offered by the Picasa Web Albums Data API and the YouTube Data API. Then, if the API supports cross-domain scripting, you can simply point your Flash app to https://accounts.googleapis.com/accounts/AuthSub{Request,SessionToken} and authenticate. If you’re familiar with how AuthSub for JavaScript works, AuthSubAS works in much the same way. For more information, see the AuthSub for ActionScript guide and check out this code sample.Currently, cross-domain requests are only supported by the Picasa Web Albums Data API and the YouTube Data API. However, as more APIs offer cross-domain scripting through an open
crossdomain.xml file, the AuthSubAS authentication will work automatically. For questions about a specific API or to encourage your API to provide AuthSubAS support sooner, visit your API’s support group in Google Groups.Friday Favorite: The Joy of Coffee: A Culture Kills Comic
At one time I had a weekly comic. I miss doing it. I don't know if I will start doing it again however.
Here is one of my classics.
--
Created with the flash-enabled madness of Strip Generator
Bad dirty mind. Bad dirty mind.
Here is one of my classics.
--
Created with the flash-enabled madness of Strip Generator
Bad dirty mind. Bad dirty mind.
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Thursday, January 28, 2010
Hush money
Sometimes cold hard cash just works. From Motherlode, after trying the standard stuff to get her child to stay in their own bed:
This bribe started with a conversation. “Jamie, you know what? We’re tired. Really, really tired.” I went on to explain how big we are, how we just don’t fit in the bed anymore, how daddy is a light sleeper and we all need our rest to stay well. We had this conversation before, of course, but this time I found myself offering him a dollar. One dollar a day, I promised, if he would wake up in his own bed. Yes, it’s a real dollar. The green kind. There are two rules: you can tell us if you really need us, like if you’re sick, but you can’t come in our bed. You have to wake up in your own bed.
The first night came; the first morning came. “I did it!” we heard him shout from his room, and he had. The rosy fingers of dawn were still making their way up into the sky, but he had staved off a few monsters on his own. He got his dollar.
Day two: same thing. “I think I was awake for five hours last night. Maybe it was 20 minutes. Maybe 10 minutes.” Point is, we slept through. Dollar No. 2. “Can I use this money clip?” he asked, holding up a clothespin. Sure....
Day #27 came with a trip to his grandparent’s house, where he has a small savings account. He came with his money clip, eager to make his first earned deposit. “I’m saving up to buy the Empire State Building,” he bragged.
Ugly Betty: Mode Magazine Downsized By ABC
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye Ugly Betty.
A lot of us thought that the writing was on the wall for the show when it was given a slot working the graveyard shift on Fridays at 9 (myself included). Of course, its move to some better television real estate on Wednesdays at 10 raised a few eyebrows and started getting people's hopes up that it might indeed return next year. But alas, that was not to be.
It is a show that has seen better days. Even as a fan, I am willing to admit that it really isn't what it once was. As a series, it lost its spark somewhere along the line. Something that Aaron Davis from Electronic Cerebrectomy has noticed is whenever Betty seems to be getting ahead or starts getting on a roll, the writers eventually take everything that she has won away from her.
I was starting to see the writing on the wall when the ratings for the last two episodes were released and it was dead last in the time slot. That's right, The Jay Leno Show (buoyed by controversy of course) was beating this show.
So for those of you out there who enjoyed the series, there are just 8 more episodes left to say goodbye.
Well, at least we now have the prospect of America Ferrera and other cast members moving on to bigger and better things.
A lot of us thought that the writing was on the wall for the show when it was given a slot working the graveyard shift on Fridays at 9 (myself included). Of course, its move to some better television real estate on Wednesdays at 10 raised a few eyebrows and started getting people's hopes up that it might indeed return next year. But alas, that was not to be.
It is a show that has seen better days. Even as a fan, I am willing to admit that it really isn't what it once was. As a series, it lost its spark somewhere along the line. Something that Aaron Davis from Electronic Cerebrectomy has noticed is whenever Betty seems to be getting ahead or starts getting on a roll, the writers eventually take everything that she has won away from her.
I was starting to see the writing on the wall when the ratings for the last two episodes were released and it was dead last in the time slot. That's right, The Jay Leno Show (buoyed by controversy of course) was beating this show.
So for those of you out there who enjoyed the series, there are just 8 more episodes left to say goodbye.
Well, at least we now have the prospect of America Ferrera and other cast members moving on to bigger and better things.
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Inversions and Inverse Barometers
Well folks, there will not be any active weather for a long, long time. But there is always something meteorological that is interesting. Weather is like a fine wine...the subtleties are often the most rewarding. And a lot less expensive.
Take today. A high pressure area has been overhead, with relatively clear skies aloft and light winds. This time of year you know what that spells? Temperature inversions and fog.
Why? Under clear skies there is good infrared radiation cooling to space from the surface, allowing it to cool faster than air above. This produces an inversion in which temperature INCREASES with height. Want to see the effect in action? Look at the figure below from the Seattle Sand Point profiler near Magnuson Park in NE Seattle. In this figure you see temperature (in C) plotted with height for various hours (this is in GMT, 12 is 4 AM, 18 is 10 AM, etc). You can see a good inversion in the morning in the lowest 400m, which gets "burned off" when the sun finally got in to heat the surface. When the low-level air gets cooled to saturation we get fog.
Its just not fair...we get high pressure over us and it gets colder in the morning and some fog.
What about inverse barometers? I had number of emails and blog comments about the tide tables being WAY off last week--at some locations the water level was nearly TWO FEET higher than predicted! Here are two examples of this effect at Neah Bay and Astoria. The red line is observed and the blue is predicted. The green line is the difference.
Tide tables are normally pretty reliable, so what is going on? Fuzzy math? Nope...the answer has been the unusually low pressure this month. Take a look at the pressure at Seattle, Astoria, and Sea Tac in the plot below. From roughly the 15th to the 23rd the pressure was amazingly low...roughly 980 mb (mb is millibars, a unit of pressure). This is approximately37 mb below normal (1017 mb).
So why is this important? It turns out that low atmospheric pressure results in a higher sea level. This is known as the "inverse barometer effect", with water level rising about 1 cm for every 1 mb drop in pressure (see the figure below). Thus, with a difference of 37 mb from normal, sea level would be 37 cm or 14.5 inches below normal. Thus, the extraordinarily unusual low pressure, something not considered in the tide models, resulted in the predicted water level height being much too low! There are also secondary factors, such as the sustained unusual winds offshore and higher than normal wave activity...but the pressure anomaly is the main driver.
Take today. A high pressure area has been overhead, with relatively clear skies aloft and light winds. This time of year you know what that spells? Temperature inversions and fog.
Why? Under clear skies there is good infrared radiation cooling to space from the surface, allowing it to cool faster than air above. This produces an inversion in which temperature INCREASES with height. Want to see the effect in action? Look at the figure below from the Seattle Sand Point profiler near Magnuson Park in NE Seattle. In this figure you see temperature (in C) plotted with height for various hours (this is in GMT, 12 is 4 AM, 18 is 10 AM, etc). You can see a good inversion in the morning in the lowest 400m, which gets "burned off" when the sun finally got in to heat the surface. When the low-level air gets cooled to saturation we get fog.
Its just not fair...we get high pressure over us and it gets colder in the morning and some fog.What about inverse barometers? I had number of emails and blog comments about the tide tables being WAY off last week--at some locations the water level was nearly TWO FEET higher than predicted! Here are two examples of this effect at Neah Bay and Astoria. The red line is observed and the blue is predicted. The green line is the difference.
Tide tables are normally pretty reliable, so what is going on? Fuzzy math? Nope...the answer has been the unusually low pressure this month. Take a look at the pressure at Seattle, Astoria, and Sea Tac in the plot below. From roughly the 15th to the 23rd the pressure was amazingly low...roughly 980 mb (mb is millibars, a unit of pressure). This is approximately37 mb below normal (1017 mb).
So why is this important? It turns out that low atmospheric pressure results in a higher sea level. This is known as the "inverse barometer effect", with water level rising about 1 cm for every 1 mb drop in pressure (see the figure below). Thus, with a difference of 37 mb from normal, sea level would be 37 cm or 14.5 inches below normal. Thus, the extraordinarily unusual low pressure, something not considered in the tide models, resulted in the predicted water level height being much too low! There are also secondary factors, such as the sustained unusual winds offshore and higher than normal wave activity...but the pressure anomaly is the main driver.
A proposal to extend the DNS protocol
Today a group of DNS and content providers, including Neustar/UltraDNS and Google are publishing a proposal to extend the DNS protocol. DNS is the system that translates an easy-to-remember name like www.google.com to a numeric address like 74.125.45.104. These are the IP addresses that computers use to communicate with one another on the Internet.
By returning different addresses to requests coming from different places, DNS can be used to load balance traffic and send users to a nearby server. For example, if you look up www.google.com from a computer in New York, it may resolve to an IP address pointing to a server in New York City. If you look up www.google.com from the Netherlands, the result could be an IP address pointing to a server in the Netherlands. Sending you to a nearby server improves speed, latency, and network utilization.
Currently, to determine your location, authoritative nameservers look at the source IP address of the incoming request, which is the IP address of your DNS resolver, rather than your IP address. This DNS resolver is often managed by your ISP or alternately is a third-party resolver like Google Public DNS. In most cases the resolver is close to its users, in which case the authoritative nameservers will be able to find the nearest server. However, some DNS resolvers serve many users over a wider area. In these cases, your lookup for www.google.com may return the IP address of a server several countries away from you. If the authoritative nameserver could detect where you were, a closer server might have been available.
Our proposed DNS protocol extension lets recursive DNS resolvers include part of your IP address in the request sent to authoritative nameservers. Only the first three octets, or top 24 bits, are sent providing enough information to the authoritative nameserver to determine your network location, without affecting your privacy.
The Internet-Draft was posted to the dnsext mailing list today, and over the next few months our group hopes to see this proposal accepted as an official Internet standard. We plan to continue working with all interested parties on implementing this solution and are looking forward to a healthy discussion on the dnsext mailing list.
(Updated 24 Jan 2011 to fix broken links)
By returning different addresses to requests coming from different places, DNS can be used to load balance traffic and send users to a nearby server. For example, if you look up www.google.com from a computer in New York, it may resolve to an IP address pointing to a server in New York City. If you look up www.google.com from the Netherlands, the result could be an IP address pointing to a server in the Netherlands. Sending you to a nearby server improves speed, latency, and network utilization.
Currently, to determine your location, authoritative nameservers look at the source IP address of the incoming request, which is the IP address of your DNS resolver, rather than your IP address. This DNS resolver is often managed by your ISP or alternately is a third-party resolver like Google Public DNS. In most cases the resolver is close to its users, in which case the authoritative nameservers will be able to find the nearest server. However, some DNS resolvers serve many users over a wider area. In these cases, your lookup for www.google.com may return the IP address of a server several countries away from you. If the authoritative nameserver could detect where you were, a closer server might have been available.
Our proposed DNS protocol extension lets recursive DNS resolvers include part of your IP address in the request sent to authoritative nameservers. Only the first three octets, or top 24 bits, are sent providing enough information to the authoritative nameserver to determine your network location, without affecting your privacy.
The Internet-Draft was posted to the dnsext mailing list today, and over the next few months our group hopes to see this proposal accepted as an official Internet standard. We plan to continue working with all interested parties on implementing this solution and are looking forward to a healthy discussion on the dnsext mailing list.
(Updated 24 Jan 2011 to fix broken links)
Little Black Napoleon: An Idea That Has to Come to Fruition
A few days ago, I was riffing in the comments section of my post on blaming Leno for his role in that NBC unpleasantness, when I said a certain phrase that tickled me.
Little Black Napoleon.
And over the course of that night, I started to imagine how a play about Napoleon at Waterloo would turn out if the leads were played by diminutive African-American actors.
Yeah, welcome to my warped little world.
Since I can really only think of three actors who fit this bill off the top of my head, well, it made the task of doing so a very easy.
For instance, who could play Napoleon... hmmm... who was in a picture recently looking defiant, angry whilst incarcerated? Why, it is Gary Coleman of course.
Naturally, he would bring that same quality to this project playing a man who has just escaped from captivity in a bid to regain his former glory. (It is also said that if one was to urinate on a picture of Gary Coleman, the demon of fame would be summoned. However, it is a capricious little creature, so I would not advise you do that).
There would have to be a scene where he is stretched out on the floor saying Merde repeatedly.... just that one Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure reference.
But who would be the Wellington to Gary Coleman's Napoleon? Why there is only one person it can be. I am of course talking about TV's Webster, Emmanuel Lewis.
So while Coleman was getting robbed blind by his parents, little Manny Mo was living a life of privilege as an executive producer of Webster, a show he wasn't even originally supposed to be on. And you know there would be tension between those two on stage. I think there might be a point where they actually try to kill each other, and looking into Coleman's eyes above, I think he would definitely have the advantage.
And playing Field Marshall Blucher would be none other than Tony Cox.
Why? Because any dude that can hit the ground like this...
...is the same dude who has the poise and dignity to play a Field Marshall.
Now you have to admit to yourself that now that I've suggested it, you sort of want to see this too. Come on... you know you want to see it.
Little Black Napoleon.
And over the course of that night, I started to imagine how a play about Napoleon at Waterloo would turn out if the leads were played by diminutive African-American actors.
Yeah, welcome to my warped little world.
Since I can really only think of three actors who fit this bill off the top of my head, well, it made the task of doing so a very easy.
For instance, who could play Napoleon... hmmm... who was in a picture recently looking defiant, angry whilst incarcerated? Why, it is Gary Coleman of course.
Naturally, he would bring that same quality to this project playing a man who has just escaped from captivity in a bid to regain his former glory. (It is also said that if one was to urinate on a picture of Gary Coleman, the demon of fame would be summoned. However, it is a capricious little creature, so I would not advise you do that).
There would have to be a scene where he is stretched out on the floor saying Merde repeatedly.... just that one Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure reference.
But who would be the Wellington to Gary Coleman's Napoleon? Why there is only one person it can be. I am of course talking about TV's Webster, Emmanuel Lewis.
So while Coleman was getting robbed blind by his parents, little Manny Mo was living a life of privilege as an executive producer of Webster, a show he wasn't even originally supposed to be on. And you know there would be tension between those two on stage. I think there might be a point where they actually try to kill each other, and looking into Coleman's eyes above, I think he would definitely have the advantage.
And playing Field Marshall Blucher would be none other than Tony Cox.
Why? Because any dude that can hit the ground like this...
...is the same dude who has the poise and dignity to play a Field Marshall.
Now you have to admit to yourself that now that I've suggested it, you sort of want to see this too. Come on... you know you want to see it.
Tags:
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The January Record
Will this month be the warmest January on record at Seattle Tacoma Airport? It is going to be a nail-biter but it appears we will make it.
A recap. The warmest January month until now was January 2006, when the average monthly temperature was 46.55 F. Where are we right now? Averaging all the days this month, including today, gives 47.1. Still above.
We have five days left.
Using the current NWS forecasts, the mean temperature of those days will be 45.9F.
Properly averaging this with the rest of the month gives a monthly-mean temperature of 46.9F. We make it with .35F to spare! Ok, I would like more of a margin, but it looks like the record will fall.
The east side is really cooking too! The monthly average temperature for Spokane so far is 35.2F which is 8.3F above their normal January temperature (26.9F). We are not going to beat 1953 (37.2F), but this January will come in second or third. A very respectable showing. What is missing in eastern Washington? The normal cloudy cold pool.
But what will really go down in the record books is the broad area of very, very low pressure over the western U.S. this month. Here is an amazing figure provided to me by Nate Mantua of the UW Climate Impact Group. It shows the pressure anomaly, the difference between the actual and climatological pressures, for January 15 through 23. An extraordinary anomaly reaching 21 mb (this is a large number for such things) over a huge area. I have never seen anything like it and probably won't see again for decades. There is reason that half the western U.S. set their ALL TIME low pressure records...records than have stood for 50-100+ years at these locations.
A recap. The warmest January month until now was January 2006, when the average monthly temperature was 46.55 F. Where are we right now? Averaging all the days this month, including today, gives 47.1. Still above.
We have five days left.
Using the current NWS forecasts, the mean temperature of those days will be 45.9F.
Properly averaging this with the rest of the month gives a monthly-mean temperature of 46.9F. We make it with .35F to spare! Ok, I would like more of a margin, but it looks like the record will fall.
The east side is really cooking too! The monthly average temperature for Spokane so far is 35.2F which is 8.3F above their normal January temperature (26.9F). We are not going to beat 1953 (37.2F), but this January will come in second or third. A very respectable showing. What is missing in eastern Washington? The normal cloudy cold pool.
But what will really go down in the record books is the broad area of very, very low pressure over the western U.S. this month. Here is an amazing figure provided to me by Nate Mantua of the UW Climate Impact Group. It shows the pressure anomaly, the difference between the actual and climatological pressures, for January 15 through 23. An extraordinary anomaly reaching 21 mb (this is a large number for such things) over a huge area. I have never seen anything like it and probably won't see again for decades. There is reason that half the western U.S. set their ALL TIME low pressure records...records than have stood for 50-100+ years at these locations.
Create and share Google Sites with new Sites Data API features
Several months ago we launched the Google Sites Data API. Since then, we've worked hard to respond to your top feature requests: the ability to list a user's sites, create new sites, copy existing sites, and manage sharing permissions. Today, we are very excited to announce the release of the Site and Access Control List feeds that make these new features possible.
The Site feed allows your client to list sites and update their properties, such as the title or the theme of the site. Google Apps users can also create new sites. Because creating new sites often involves copying existing ones (perhaps using a site template), we've enabled that feature too.
Here's an example of the kinds of applications you can build with those features. Let's say you're a professor at a university and you'd like to create a Google Site for each of the courses you teach. The Site feed makes it possible for you to create a site course template, use the site feed to create several course sites, and personalize them with the content feed.
But what if you want to restrict access to your sites to just the students taking those courses? With the ACL (Access Control List) feed, you can manage sharing permissions. Everything you can do in the Google Sites admin panel, you can do with the API.
To get the full scoop, review the documentation and change log. We've loaded the Java client library and Python client library with the new features, and offer updated developer guides for both.
Visit us in our new developer forum if you have questions!
The Site feed allows your client to list sites and update their properties, such as the title or the theme of the site. Google Apps users can also create new sites. Because creating new sites often involves copying existing ones (perhaps using a site template), we've enabled that feature too.
Here's an example of the kinds of applications you can build with those features. Let's say you're a professor at a university and you'd like to create a Google Site for each of the courses you teach. The Site feed makes it possible for you to create a site course template, use the site feed to create several course sites, and personalize them with the content feed.
But what if you want to restrict access to your sites to just the students taking those courses? With the ACL (Access Control List) feed, you can manage sharing permissions. Everything you can do in the Google Sites admin panel, you can do with the API.
To get the full scoop, review the documentation and change log. We've loaded the Java client library and Python client library with the new features, and offer updated developer guides for both.
Visit us in our new developer forum if you have questions!
Travolta Helps Haiti with One Hand, while Molesting It With The Other
When I read that John Travolta was flying planeloads of food and supplies to Haiti, I some of my hate slide away. I mean, that was an awesome thing to do.
But then, well, another part of that story started to come out. You see, in addition to the food, Travolta is also flying Scientologists into the area. I wish I was making that up.
Quoting a recent piece from The Guardian, "The Church of Scientology has dispatched several hundred "volunteer ministers" in yellow T-shirts to other disasters, including September 11. They use a process called "assist" in which the power of touch purportedly reconnects nervous systems shaken by trauma. Since last week several hundred have fanned across Port-au-Prince."
Even if Scientologists weren't involved, the idea that there is an army of men and women running around a disaster area laying hands on people is sort of creepy. The fact that the Volunteer Ministry of the church is really a sinister way of preventing people from receiving professional psychological help after a tragedy (there is a paper trail to prove that too) and another way promoting the church to people who are in a state that makes them more susceptible to that kind of influence.
The fact that these people are using a humanitarian disaster in one of the poorest countries on earth to advance their money making scheme is truly despicable. Basically, their presence undercuts a lot of the good that Travolta is doing in Haiti.
So again, Travolta should be lauded for bring literally tons of food to that ailing nation, but the entourage he is bringing with him is really taking the edge off his generosity. Haiti needs food and supplies, but it certainly doesn't need the kind of "spiritual help".
But then, well, another part of that story started to come out. You see, in addition to the food, Travolta is also flying Scientologists into the area. I wish I was making that up.
Quoting a recent piece from The Guardian, "The Church of Scientology has dispatched several hundred "volunteer ministers" in yellow T-shirts to other disasters, including September 11. They use a process called "assist" in which the power of touch purportedly reconnects nervous systems shaken by trauma. Since last week several hundred have fanned across Port-au-Prince."
Even if Scientologists weren't involved, the idea that there is an army of men and women running around a disaster area laying hands on people is sort of creepy. The fact that the Volunteer Ministry of the church is really a sinister way of preventing people from receiving professional psychological help after a tragedy (there is a paper trail to prove that too) and another way promoting the church to people who are in a state that makes them more susceptible to that kind of influence.
The fact that these people are using a humanitarian disaster in one of the poorest countries on earth to advance their money making scheme is truly despicable. Basically, their presence undercuts a lot of the good that Travolta is doing in Haiti.
So again, Travolta should be lauded for bring literally tons of food to that ailing nation, but the entourage he is bringing with him is really taking the edge off his generosity. Haiti needs food and supplies, but it certainly doesn't need the kind of "spiritual help".
Tags:
Monday, January 25, 2010
On Celebrities and Social Networks
I will not be dropping any names in this post, so everything I say will be in abstraction.
The genesis of this entry is a simple one. I have a friend on Facebook, and when I was hanging around the site last night, I noticed that a celebrity had dropped them a line on their Wall. It seemed like more than a mere celebrity to fan interaction (beyond something like Thanks for the Support or any other very general message), it was an exchange that was clearly between two people who had mutual respect for each other and a shared history. I wasn't being nosy at this point by the way. I was just looking at a conversation as it appeared on my feed.
However, I must admit that curiosity did get the better of me and I looked at that celebrity's list of contacts, and I found myself seeing a lot of other performers and such whose work I loved.
Now I had a momentary tickle in the back of my brain telling me to try to befriend that celebrity and then the huge weight of the rest of my personality bore down on that impulse and beat it to a pulp because that is something that is quite frankly, a dick move. Celebrities deserve the right to frequent social networking sites and interact with their friends in peace too, and if I, as someone who is merely a fan, tries to invade that space, well, then I am an asshole, as simple as that.
And I should know, as I've been somewhat on the other side of this issue. You see, back in the early part of this century, I became acquainted with a public figure, and at one point, they asked me to be their friend on that antiquated set of web pages known as Friendster (as if anyone really remembers that one). Well, one day, someone started chatting me up on the site, and we became chummy, and the moment I became Friendster friends with them, well, they sent a friend invite to the figure in question as well. That person basically used me to play leap frog to a celebrity. That made me feel incredibly crappy, because not only was I used, but I feel like I let my friend down too... because basically I was exposing them to someone who didn't legitimately earn their friendship. Conversely, while they had a number of other famous friends, I never interacted with them because in essence, I would have been doing what that one user did to me, and that's totally not cool. Their friendship was enough, and I valued it as much then as I do now.
Basically, the way I see it is if a celebrity wants to interact with their fans, well, they will make themselves available in other online venues to do so. Like if you go to Myspace and interact with a musician or comedian on their specially designed page, well, that's ok. However, if you find out someone famous has a personal page on one of those sites that isn't connected to that, well, then you shouldn't really bother them there. For example, at Myspace, I accidentally came across the personal page for someone famous, and on one level, it would have been awesome to write them, but I know that would have been the wrong move. That profile was for their friends and family, and however I approached them would have been a breach of etiquette.
So, if you run across a celebrity on a social network, and you are thinking about adding them as a friend, perhaps you should think twice about doing so. And consider who is saying this, a guy who writes almost exclusively about pop culture, the media and famous people. I mean, I would love to have that kind of access to the people I write about, but bugging them at Facebook/Myspace is clearly not the way to build an organic relationship, so I just don't do it. Of course, some celebrities are cool about their social networking profiles, but if you aren't sure if they are or not, discretion is the better part of valor in that case.
The genesis of this entry is a simple one. I have a friend on Facebook, and when I was hanging around the site last night, I noticed that a celebrity had dropped them a line on their Wall. It seemed like more than a mere celebrity to fan interaction (beyond something like Thanks for the Support or any other very general message), it was an exchange that was clearly between two people who had mutual respect for each other and a shared history. I wasn't being nosy at this point by the way. I was just looking at a conversation as it appeared on my feed.
However, I must admit that curiosity did get the better of me and I looked at that celebrity's list of contacts, and I found myself seeing a lot of other performers and such whose work I loved.
Now I had a momentary tickle in the back of my brain telling me to try to befriend that celebrity and then the huge weight of the rest of my personality bore down on that impulse and beat it to a pulp because that is something that is quite frankly, a dick move. Celebrities deserve the right to frequent social networking sites and interact with their friends in peace too, and if I, as someone who is merely a fan, tries to invade that space, well, then I am an asshole, as simple as that.
And I should know, as I've been somewhat on the other side of this issue. You see, back in the early part of this century, I became acquainted with a public figure, and at one point, they asked me to be their friend on that antiquated set of web pages known as Friendster (as if anyone really remembers that one). Well, one day, someone started chatting me up on the site, and we became chummy, and the moment I became Friendster friends with them, well, they sent a friend invite to the figure in question as well. That person basically used me to play leap frog to a celebrity. That made me feel incredibly crappy, because not only was I used, but I feel like I let my friend down too... because basically I was exposing them to someone who didn't legitimately earn their friendship. Conversely, while they had a number of other famous friends, I never interacted with them because in essence, I would have been doing what that one user did to me, and that's totally not cool. Their friendship was enough, and I valued it as much then as I do now.
Basically, the way I see it is if a celebrity wants to interact with their fans, well, they will make themselves available in other online venues to do so. Like if you go to Myspace and interact with a musician or comedian on their specially designed page, well, that's ok. However, if you find out someone famous has a personal page on one of those sites that isn't connected to that, well, then you shouldn't really bother them there. For example, at Myspace, I accidentally came across the personal page for someone famous, and on one level, it would have been awesome to write them, but I know that would have been the wrong move. That profile was for their friends and family, and however I approached them would have been a breach of etiquette.
So, if you run across a celebrity on a social network, and you are thinking about adding them as a friend, perhaps you should think twice about doing so. And consider who is saying this, a guy who writes almost exclusively about pop culture, the media and famous people. I mean, I would love to have that kind of access to the people I write about, but bugging them at Facebook/Myspace is clearly not the way to build an organic relationship, so I just don't do it. Of course, some celebrities are cool about their social networking profiles, but if you aren't sure if they are or not, discretion is the better part of valor in that case.
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Extensibility + new HTML and JavaScript APIs for Google Chrome
Today's new stable release of Google Chrome for Windows includes a bundle of browser goodness, including extensions and new HTML and JavaScript APIs.
Extensions -- previously available on Google Chrome for Windows on the beta channel -- and are now available to all users. Extensions enable you to provide additional functionality not just on your site, but to bring content and functionality from your site into the browser regardless of what sites the user has open. Google Chrome extensions use the same multiprocess technology that makes the browser fast and more secure, so that extensions won't crash or slow down your browser.
In addition, we're excited to introduce a number of new HTML and JavaScript APIs in Google Chrome, including the Web Storage and Web SQL Database APIs, WebSockets, and more. For more details about these APIs, read further on the Chromium Blog.
If you have questions about the extensions APIs, the extensions discussion group continues to be the best place to get answers. For the new HTML and JavaScript APIs, check out the newly created Chromium HTML5 group. And for those of you who are interested in attending Google I/O, check out the current list of Google Chrome sessions.
Extensions -- previously available on Google Chrome for Windows on the beta channel -- and are now available to all users. Extensions enable you to provide additional functionality not just on your site, but to bring content and functionality from your site into the browser regardless of what sites the user has open. Google Chrome extensions use the same multiprocess technology that makes the browser fast and more secure, so that extensions won't crash or slow down your browser.
In addition, we're excited to introduce a number of new HTML and JavaScript APIs in Google Chrome, including the Web Storage and Web SQL Database APIs, WebSockets, and more. For more details about these APIs, read further on the Chromium Blog.
If you have questions about the extensions APIs, the extensions discussion group continues to be the best place to get answers. For the new HTML and JavaScript APIs, check out the newly created Chromium HTML5 group. And for those of you who are interested in attending Google I/O, check out the current list of Google Chrome sessions.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday Video: Rendez Vu
Basement Jaxx has had a lot of strangely compelling videos in their time. But the one that always pops up in my head when I think of the group has nothing to do with Bollywood, performing monkeys or dancing monarchs.
This one is a weird blend of luchadors, westerns and the movie Rashomon.
While I am not a huge fan of the song, the video is well worth watching.
This one is a weird blend of luchadors, westerns and the movie Rashomon.
While I am not a huge fan of the song, the video is well worth watching.
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Explicit rewards versus love
One of the things that comes up repeatedly when Parentonomics is discussed on the Internet and in print is the appropriateness of using economic rewards or explicit incentives to engender good behaviour out of children. One set of misconceptions is that Parentonomics is some ode to the effectiveness of those incentives but that usually is the impression of those who haven't actually read it. Indeed, it is properly construed as the opposite. But what troubles me more is the alternative notion that parents should use love or affection rather than clear sticks and carrots to generate good behaviour. That notion seems very dangerous.
Here is the most recent statement of that by a Maine pediatrician, Dr William Wilkoff (who by the way objects to economic rewards having just read a review of Parentonomics and not the actual book):
However, there are some palpable rewards that work magnificently. All of us crave attention and approval. Hugs, pats on the head, cuddling on the couch, and uninterrupted lap time are rewards that one can’t buy at the dollar store. But they can be powerful incentives for a toddler. The challenge is to make these acts of love apparently unconditional ... and to make the time to give them.Telling a child, “If you behave, you can have a hug or sit in my lap” has a hollow ring that every child can hear. However, silently “rewarding” a child with extra hugs and cuddles during those windows of good behavior can have magical powers. As you know, helping parents understand this power and then showing them how to find the opportunities to use it is one of the most difficult tasks for a primary care pediatrician.
"The challenge is to makes these acts of love apparently unconditional" !!!! So let us be clear. Dr Wilkoff realises that a child should not perceive a parent's love to be conditional but thinks you can subtly punish a child with less affection and they will realise that their behaviour is not approved of and change. And people accuse me of being touch and cold-hearted. This is not only an attempt to have your cake and eat it too but surely if it is works it is really really troubling for that is going to mean in later life. Give me an explicit time-out over this anyday.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Lawsuit Against Seattle Public Schools
On Tuesday, January 26th, at 8:30 AM, King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector will consider an appeal by a group of Seattle residents (including yours truly) regarding the selection by Seattle Public Schools of the Discovering Math series in their high schools. Although this issue is coming to a head in Seattle it influences all of you in profound ways.
In this appeal we provide clear evidence that the Discovery Math approach worsens the achievement gap between minority/disadvantaged students and their peers. We show that the Board and District failed to consider key evidence and voluminous testimony, and acted arbitrarily and capriciously by choosing a teaching method that was demonstrated to produce a stagnant or increasing achievement gap. We request that the Seattle Schools rescind their decision and re-open the textbook consideration for high school.
By selecting the Discovering Math Series, the Seattle Public Schools chose a deficient mathematics program, based on the "reform" or "discovery" approach. In fact, they are using discovery math at elementary, middle school, and high school now. In this approach math is substantially dumbed down for "equity" reasons and students are asked to discover age-old principles on their own. "Direct instruction"--that is the teacher telling the students the best approach--is frowned on, calculators are brought in very early in elementary schools, group learning is pushed, and students are encouraged to play with objects (manipulatives). But most important of all...there is no evidence that this new age approach to math education works...and plenty to show it doesn't.
How bad are things in Seattle? Very bad. Below is a table of the 5-year average pass rate for the math WASL exam at three grade levels (thanks goes to David Orbits for preparing all the graphs and tables in this blog). And remember the WASL is an easy, dumbed-down exam to start with, with the 10th grade exam testing 7th or 8th grade material. You will notice a huge difference in the performance of minority and low-income students versus their white peers.
And keep in mind that the 68% percent pass rate for the white kids is nothing to brag about. Many end up at the UW without the capacity to do college math. And less than 18% of the black children are passing the exam in 10th grade, and only about a quarter of the kids on subsidized meals are securing satisfactory scores. This table, and a graph based on it below, show another serious issue--student performance gets worse as they proceed through school--particularly for black and low-income students.
But if you think this is bad, take a look at the trends, and particularly the difference in the 10th grade WASL pass rate for white and black students. You will notice that with all the transition to discovery learning of the past decade the difference is increasing--black children are falling behind their white peers. In addition, their absolute performance declined the last few years.
As an aside,why the jump in 2005? Better teaching in Seattle Schools? Unfortunately, there is another explanation. This occurred when the District required those taking the WASL to have acquired at least 5 credits in Freshman year. Thus students who failed more than one class as 9th graders were not tested and the pass rate went up 15% by excluding those students (info from Dan Dempsey).
Remember, there is NO reason to expect the difficulty of the WASL exam was the same each year--in fact the evidence is against it! From 2000-2005 the State WASLed all at grades 4, 7, 10 and gave the IOWA standardized test to all at grades 3, 6, 9. WASL reading scores rocketed up at grade 7 during that period, but the IOWA test reading scores at grades 6 and 9 were flat the whole 6 years. The WASL was a lot more OSPI public relations tool than an assessment of instructional efficacy.
The initial rise period could also reflect the adjustment period to the exam--particularly for the well-off kids whose parents realized they either had to tutor them or pay others to do so.
So you think that with this record of failure, particularly with regard to minority kids, that the Seattle School District would change direction? No way...they went ahead and selected a very poorly reviewed reform math series...the "Discovering" Algebra and Geometry textbooks.
Before the School Board made the final decision last spring they and their curriculum committee had voluminous testimony warning them of a debacle ahead. For example,
Dr. Jack Lee, a well-known professor of mathematics at the UW, and someone known not to be an ideologue, wrote a long letter criticizing this series....some quotes:
Regarding Discovering Geometry
"I would strongly discourage the District from choosing this book. It represents a highly risky and experimental approach to teaching geometry, and I think the experiment, while well-intentioned, is unlikely to have the desired effect."
Regarding Discovering Algebra
"these books have far too much verbiage for students to read, and too little in the way of clearly stated mathematical principles. Definitions, computational algorithms, and formulas seem to be stated vaguely when they are stated at all.”
The Washington State Board of Education hired mathematicians to review the Discovering Math series and others. Here in a quote from the Seattle PI is what they found:
Can you imagine? They were told the series was unsound and still decided to pick these books. Just astounding.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Seattle Public Schools picked high school math books that are not only bad for everyone, but they are PARTICULARLY bad for the disadvantaged who don't have extra cash for tutoring or whose parents don't have the time or backgrounds to help their kids (of course there are exceptions to this). And they were warned of this, time and time again. This is why we have filed the lawsuit and hopefully we will prevail. Seattle Public Schools have poor discovery books now at all three levels, making it nearly impossible for Seattle kids to get a good math education...a necessity in this technological world. Other districts are getting the message and dropping discovery math...such as Shoreline and North Shore. Issaquah wisely put the adoption of Discovering Math on hold.
Finally, to show you how confused the Seattle School District is in the matter of science and math education, they are about to vote (Feb 3) on a new disaster--making Cleveland HS a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) school and spending millions of dollars to do so. Here they have an admittedly failing high school that is doing a poor job educating a nearly 100% disadvantaged population. Very few are doing well in math and science there. They are going to spend millions of dollars and make this a STEM magnet school in which all the kids will take advanced math and science. What will happen to the current kids? Few are ready for the calculus track. And they now going to bus kids in from all over the city (with all the added transportation costs) when the new district plan is to have neighborhood schools? So the district has basically decided to replace the kids! Other STEM high schools have failed in other cities with similar demographics (see comments by Dan Dempsey in the comments below).
The Seattle School Board is going to vote on whether to spend 800,000 dollars for some consultants to get the Cleveland STEM project going. A total waste of money. With the millions they are going to throw away on this, they could replace all of the bad math textbooks in the city with the good books recommended by the state superintendent of public instruction. They could jump to being the best! But they are determined to follow the same path of failure. Another gimmick. Just a tragedy. And an unnecessary one.
The only hope is that parents let the board know they have had enough. And the fact we have two new and very promising members of the school board (Betty Patu, Kay Smith-Blum), with a very capable chair (Michael DeBell), may make a big difference in overruling the current hapless bureaucracy. Keep your fingers crossed. But first there is Tuesday at 8:30 AM on the 8th floor of the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
Finally, how does this effect all of you? Bad math textbooks and curricula are found throughout the state and nation. This fight is going on throughout the country...and most Education Schools are on the wrong side...but that is another story.
In this appeal we provide clear evidence that the Discovery Math approach worsens the achievement gap between minority/disadvantaged students and their peers. We show that the Board and District failed to consider key evidence and voluminous testimony, and acted arbitrarily and capriciously by choosing a teaching method that was demonstrated to produce a stagnant or increasing achievement gap. We request that the Seattle Schools rescind their decision and re-open the textbook consideration for high school.
By selecting the Discovering Math Series, the Seattle Public Schools chose a deficient mathematics program, based on the "reform" or "discovery" approach. In fact, they are using discovery math at elementary, middle school, and high school now. In this approach math is substantially dumbed down for "equity" reasons and students are asked to discover age-old principles on their own. "Direct instruction"--that is the teacher telling the students the best approach--is frowned on, calculators are brought in very early in elementary schools, group learning is pushed, and students are encouraged to play with objects (manipulatives). But most important of all...there is no evidence that this new age approach to math education works...and plenty to show it doesn't.
How bad are things in Seattle? Very bad. Below is a table of the 5-year average pass rate for the math WASL exam at three grade levels (thanks goes to David Orbits for preparing all the graphs and tables in this blog). And remember the WASL is an easy, dumbed-down exam to start with, with the 10th grade exam testing 7th or 8th grade material. You will notice a huge difference in the performance of minority and low-income students versus their white peers.
And keep in mind that the 68% percent pass rate for the white kids is nothing to brag about. Many end up at the UW without the capacity to do college math. And less than 18% of the black children are passing the exam in 10th grade, and only about a quarter of the kids on subsidized meals are securing satisfactory scores. This table, and a graph based on it below, show another serious issue--student performance gets worse as they proceed through school--particularly for black and low-income students.
But if you think this is bad, take a look at the trends, and particularly the difference in the 10th grade WASL pass rate for white and black students. You will notice that with all the transition to discovery learning of the past decade the difference is increasing--black children are falling behind their white peers. In addition, their absolute performance declined the last few years.
As an aside,why the jump in 2005? Better teaching in Seattle Schools? Unfortunately, there is another explanation. This occurred when the District required those taking the WASL to have acquired at least 5 credits in Freshman year. Thus students who failed more than one class as 9th graders were not tested and the pass rate went up 15% by excluding those students (info from Dan Dempsey).
Remember, there is NO reason to expect the difficulty of the WASL exam was the same each year--in fact the evidence is against it! From 2000-2005 the State WASLed all at grades 4, 7, 10 and gave the IOWA standardized test to all at grades 3, 6, 9. WASL reading scores rocketed up at grade 7 during that period, but the IOWA test reading scores at grades 6 and 9 were flat the whole 6 years. The WASL was a lot more OSPI public relations tool than an assessment of instructional efficacy.
The initial rise period could also reflect the adjustment period to the exam--particularly for the well-off kids whose parents realized they either had to tutor them or pay others to do so.
So you think that with this record of failure, particularly with regard to minority kids, that the Seattle School District would change direction? No way...they went ahead and selected a very poorly reviewed reform math series...the "Discovering" Algebra and Geometry textbooks.
Before the School Board made the final decision last spring they and their curriculum committee had voluminous testimony warning them of a debacle ahead. For example,
Dr. Jack Lee, a well-known professor of mathematics at the UW, and someone known not to be an ideologue, wrote a long letter criticizing this series....some quotes:
Regarding Discovering Geometry
"I would strongly discourage the District from choosing this book. It represents a highly risky and experimental approach to teaching geometry, and I think the experiment, while well-intentioned, is unlikely to have the desired effect."
Regarding Discovering Algebra
"these books have far too much verbiage for students to read, and too little in the way of clearly stated mathematical principles. Definitions, computational algorithms, and formulas seem to be stated vaguely when they are stated at all.”
The Washington State Board of Education hired mathematicians to review the Discovering Math series and others. Here in a quote from the Seattle PI is what they found:
Can you imagine? They were told the series was unsound and still decided to pick these books. Just astounding.I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Seattle Public Schools picked high school math books that are not only bad for everyone, but they are PARTICULARLY bad for the disadvantaged who don't have extra cash for tutoring or whose parents don't have the time or backgrounds to help their kids (of course there are exceptions to this). And they were warned of this, time and time again. This is why we have filed the lawsuit and hopefully we will prevail. Seattle Public Schools have poor discovery books now at all three levels, making it nearly impossible for Seattle kids to get a good math education...a necessity in this technological world. Other districts are getting the message and dropping discovery math...such as Shoreline and North Shore. Issaquah wisely put the adoption of Discovering Math on hold.
Finally, to show you how confused the Seattle School District is in the matter of science and math education, they are about to vote (Feb 3) on a new disaster--making Cleveland HS a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) school and spending millions of dollars to do so. Here they have an admittedly failing high school that is doing a poor job educating a nearly 100% disadvantaged population. Very few are doing well in math and science there. They are going to spend millions of dollars and make this a STEM magnet school in which all the kids will take advanced math and science. What will happen to the current kids? Few are ready for the calculus track. And they now going to bus kids in from all over the city (with all the added transportation costs) when the new district plan is to have neighborhood schools? So the district has basically decided to replace the kids! Other STEM high schools have failed in other cities with similar demographics (see comments by Dan Dempsey in the comments below).
The Seattle School Board is going to vote on whether to spend 800,000 dollars for some consultants to get the Cleveland STEM project going. A total waste of money. With the millions they are going to throw away on this, they could replace all of the bad math textbooks in the city with the good books recommended by the state superintendent of public instruction. They could jump to being the best! But they are determined to follow the same path of failure. Another gimmick. Just a tragedy. And an unnecessary one.
The only hope is that parents let the board know they have had enough. And the fact we have two new and very promising members of the school board (Betty Patu, Kay Smith-Blum), with a very capable chair (Michael DeBell), may make a big difference in overruling the current hapless bureaucracy. Keep your fingers crossed. But first there is Tuesday at 8:30 AM on the 8th floor of the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
Finally, how does this effect all of you? Bad math textbooks and curricula are found throughout the state and nation. This fight is going on throughout the country...and most Education Schools are on the wrong side...but that is another story.
Week 37: Pageant of the Transmundane
A man in Scotland was banned for life from a public park after he was caught trying to have sex with a tree. No word on if he was a druid, or was just really into nature. I guess he had wood for wood. I'll be here all week (unless Jay Leno wants to takeover my blog that is), enjoy the veal.
Anyway, this week's winning entry is from the blog Maven's Links of Awesomesauce.
What did Maven discover that blew my mind? Well, she found a forum post which had models made up to look like dolls.
I mean, made to look like full sized dolls in a creepy way.
Look at it and freak out.
Now the question I had to ask myself was should I trying to replicate the circumstances, or the results. I tried to replicate the latter, but alas, the image I found the the Simpsons parody of the Pep Boys didn't have Homer in them. So I went with a little Lard Lad action.
Congrats Maven. 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 blogging village 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.
Anyway, this week's winning entry is from the blog Maven's Links of Awesomesauce.
What did Maven discover that blew my mind? Well, she found a forum post which had models made up to look like dolls.
I mean, made to look like full sized dolls in a creepy way.
Look at it and freak out.
Now the question I had to ask myself was should I trying to replicate the circumstances, or the results. I tried to replicate the latter, but alas, the image I found the the Simpsons parody of the Pep Boys didn't have Homer in them. So I went with a little Lard Lad action.
Congrats Maven. 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 blogging village 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:
Record Low Pressure
As readers of this blog can attest, I enjoy talking about record-breaking weather...and during the past several days records have been broken in spades with one of the most unusual West Coast weather situations in years.
I have talked about our torrid month here in the NW, with April temperatures in January. But even more amazing have been the extraordinary low pressures over the western U.S. and particularly the U.S. SW. Here is a sample from the National Weather Service:
...THE LOWEST PRESSURE EVER RECORDED AT PHOENIX SKY HARBOR OCCURRED AT 644 PM MST THURSDAY EVENING WITH A READING OF 29.20 INCHES OF MERCURY. THIS BREAKS THE PREVIOUS RECORD BY A FULL TENTH OF AN INCH.
Other ALL TIME RECORD low pressures:
LINDBERGH FIELD IN SAN DIEGO WITH 29.15 INCHES OF MERCURY AT 1222 PM PST...
LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WITH 29.07 INCHES OF MERCURY AT 121 PM PST...
LAS VEGAS MCCARRAN AIRPORT WITH 29.03 INCHES OF MERCURY AT 514 PM PST.
YUMA WAS 29.12 INCHES OF MERCURY AT 259 PM MST
.Medford, San Francisco,and many others, also had record low sea level pressures.
I mean...this is really historic stuff. Perhaps your grandchildren will ask you about it someday....(maybe not).
The origin of these record low barometric readings? An extensive, very deep low over the western U.S. Below I have a sea level pressure map for Thursday afternoon...you can see this massive low. And also I have an upper level chart for the same...a massive trough over the West Coast with a strong jetstream (where the lines are close together) headed straight into the southwest.
The impact of this jet was profound: record precipitation into southern CA, Nevada, and Arizona. Heavy snow in Flagstaff and northern AZ.
Although we did not set pressure records in Washington in terms of the minimum, we did have very low pressure for an amazing length of time. Check out the plot of pressure at Sea Tac. I cannot remember an event in which our pressure stayed so low for so long (days below 990 mb).
I sometimes get calls from people suffering from arthritis, wanting to know about low pressure and big pressure falls--which they feel worsens their condition. I wonder if anyone noticed anything?
Finally, today will have a few showers and plenty of clouds....and a more serious system comes in tomorrow afternoon (Sunday). But absolutely nothing major happening. No threat of flooding in the Cascades as far as the models can predict. I think those worried about the Green River and Howard Hansen Dam can relax and go on vacation soon. After Jan 1 El Nino years rarely have major flooding and in any case, floods are very rare on west side rivers after Feb 20th...and our computer models show nothing significant for the next week. Plus, the dam water level is way low and there is room for a fairly major storm.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Friday Favorite: My Vote for Late Night 2009? Patton Oswalt
For my final word on this whole NBC late night debacle, I thought I would go back to February 2007 to refresh an entry I wrote regarding who I felt was the best choice to replace Conan O'Brien on Late Night after he moved onto The Tonight Show.
I admit that sometimes I get things very wrong. This was one of those posts that given what we know now, was an awful idea. But I still have to live with it and sometimes their is humor in folly.
I am glad what I wrote didn't come to pass.
I also swear this is the last time I am going to discuss this topic on Culture Kills for a long time. That is unless one of three things happen:
a) Conan's final show ratings tonight surpass Leno's final Tonight Show ratings.
b) Leno shows a remarkable lack of class on an upcoming Oprah appearance and he grossly slanders Conan O'Brien, who cannot defend himself because of the nature of his settlement with NBC (there would be monetary penalties and he is not allowed to be interviewed on another talk show for a while).
c) I got a really really bad comment on one of my previous posts about this subject and I single that person out for scorn and humiliation. (I am not talking about well-thought out responses to what I've written... you know the kind of thing I mean)
Other than that, I will likely be silent about this issue for a long time.
Anyway, here is that previous piece of poor prognostication. ;)
--
While I am happy that Conan O'Brien is going to be behind the big desk of the Tonight Show starting in 2009, I am worried about what is going to happen over at Late Night.
You see, there are two names currently floating around for this empty slot: Carson Daly and Jimmy Fallon.
Carson Daly currently has a show following Late Night called Last Call... and much like a bar at Last Call, there is little mirth there left as all the entertainment has left the building. And there is the fact that he isn't a comedian and really, not much of a personality either.
And well Jimmy Fallon... you know, that guy who starred in Taxi with Queen Latifah and is rumored to star as Major Nelson in the remake of I Dream of Jeannie, the guy who couldn't keep a straight face during sketches on Saturday Night Live? Yeah, that guy. I'll admit that the fact that he played Carson Daly on SNL gives him an edge over the former host of TRL, but really, even I have an edge over him. I don't think he has the stuff to fill that chair particularly well either.
I know that when Letterman left that slot in 1993 and Conan O'Brien ascended to those relatively lofty heights, there were a lot of naysayers then claiming that he had no business helming a talk show, and this may seem like more of the same, but there is a big diffence in these situations. Conan was truly an untested commodity, while the limitations of Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly are clear today.
But rather than merely kvetch about the people who are in line for that throne, I thought it would be better to suggest an alternative.
Patton Oswalt.
When you look back at the almost three decades of Late Night, you will notice something profound... the comics who hosted it were sort of geeky and that worked for them and Patton Oswalt with his pop cultural sensibilities would fit well with that aesthetic.
He is also willing to take a joke to its natural conclusion, even if it makes him look foolish to get the laugh. His delivery is very natural and conversational, and I think he would probably be very adept at the art of interviewing.
He has experience working within a writer's room from his stint at MadTV and managing a show from putting together the Comedians of Comedy tour. And because he was a featured player on The King of Queens, he has some additional face recognition with Middle America and experience working on a show week in and week out while at the same time, Oswalt also has quite a lot of cache because of the edgy nature of his comedy. He is the best of both worlds: an affable, genial personality with quite a lot to say.
Now I don't even know if he would consider such a position, but I think if he was interested, NBC should at least give him a shot, as he is far and away a much better choice than either of the personalities they are currently rumored to be after.
So, given the choices out there, who would you hire for that position?
--
Patton Oswalt naturally went on to greater things, including a starring role in a Pixar movie and numerous comedy specials, so clearly, he didn't need that gig, even if it was offered to him. Let's just say, I stand corrected.
I admit that sometimes I get things very wrong. This was one of those posts that given what we know now, was an awful idea. But I still have to live with it and sometimes their is humor in folly.
I am glad what I wrote didn't come to pass.
I also swear this is the last time I am going to discuss this topic on Culture Kills for a long time. That is unless one of three things happen:
a) Conan's final show ratings tonight surpass Leno's final Tonight Show ratings.
b) Leno shows a remarkable lack of class on an upcoming Oprah appearance and he grossly slanders Conan O'Brien, who cannot defend himself because of the nature of his settlement with NBC (there would be monetary penalties and he is not allowed to be interviewed on another talk show for a while).
c) I got a really really bad comment on one of my previous posts about this subject and I single that person out for scorn and humiliation. (I am not talking about well-thought out responses to what I've written... you know the kind of thing I mean)
Other than that, I will likely be silent about this issue for a long time.
Anyway, here is that previous piece of poor prognostication. ;)
--
While I am happy that Conan O'Brien is going to be behind the big desk of the Tonight Show starting in 2009, I am worried about what is going to happen over at Late Night.
You see, there are two names currently floating around for this empty slot: Carson Daly and Jimmy Fallon.
Carson Daly currently has a show following Late Night called Last Call... and much like a bar at Last Call, there is little mirth there left as all the entertainment has left the building. And there is the fact that he isn't a comedian and really, not much of a personality either.
And well Jimmy Fallon... you know, that guy who starred in Taxi with Queen Latifah and is rumored to star as Major Nelson in the remake of I Dream of Jeannie, the guy who couldn't keep a straight face during sketches on Saturday Night Live? Yeah, that guy. I'll admit that the fact that he played Carson Daly on SNL gives him an edge over the former host of TRL, but really, even I have an edge over him. I don't think he has the stuff to fill that chair particularly well either.
I know that when Letterman left that slot in 1993 and Conan O'Brien ascended to those relatively lofty heights, there were a lot of naysayers then claiming that he had no business helming a talk show, and this may seem like more of the same, but there is a big diffence in these situations. Conan was truly an untested commodity, while the limitations of Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly are clear today.
But rather than merely kvetch about the people who are in line for that throne, I thought it would be better to suggest an alternative.
Patton Oswalt.When you look back at the almost three decades of Late Night, you will notice something profound... the comics who hosted it were sort of geeky and that worked for them and Patton Oswalt with his pop cultural sensibilities would fit well with that aesthetic.
He is also willing to take a joke to its natural conclusion, even if it makes him look foolish to get the laugh. His delivery is very natural and conversational, and I think he would probably be very adept at the art of interviewing.
He has experience working within a writer's room from his stint at MadTV and managing a show from putting together the Comedians of Comedy tour. And because he was a featured player on The King of Queens, he has some additional face recognition with Middle America and experience working on a show week in and week out while at the same time, Oswalt also has quite a lot of cache because of the edgy nature of his comedy. He is the best of both worlds: an affable, genial personality with quite a lot to say.
Now I don't even know if he would consider such a position, but I think if he was interested, NBC should at least give him a shot, as he is far and away a much better choice than either of the personalities they are currently rumored to be after.
So, given the choices out there, who would you hire for that position?
--
Patton Oswalt naturally went on to greater things, including a starring role in a Pixar movie and numerous comedy specials, so clearly, he didn't need that gig, even if it was offered to him. Let's just say, I stand corrected.
Tags:
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Warmest January in Seattle History?
It could happen...
Lets face it, the temperatures this month have been amazingly warm...we are experiencing April temperatures in mid January. Take a look at the plot of temperatures this month versus the daily average maxima and minima (plot).
Many of our days have hit highs 5-13 F ABOVE NORMAL, and our minima have generally been higher than the normal maxes. Remarkable. The average temperature this month has been 47.55F--a month when the climatological average is
around 40F--7.5F above normal!!! The warmth this month is essentially due to the generally warm southwesterly flow, although for the last few days, downslope warming has added several degrees.
The warmest January on record was in 2006 when the daily average was 46.6F. So at this rate we are on track to beat it...IF...we stay warm. Unfortunately, temps will cool down to around normal (or perhaps a little warmer than that) this weekend, before a pineapple express heat wave strikes again midweek. We will come close...but no guarantee of being number one. But we will probably be in the top ten warm Januarys in any case. My garden is starting to react--bulbs are pushing up, a chorus of bird songs is rising , and the grass seems to be growing a bit.
Today was extraordinary....strong east winds in the Puget Sound lowlands and spring-like warmth. I went running during lunch to experience it all...there were strong easterly winds, with white caps on Lake Washington. Easterlies are pretty unusual in Seattle...and today's flow was moving right up and over the mountains. As this air subsides on the western slopes there is compressional warming that gives the temps an added boost. The Seattle profiler shows this easterly flow clearly...and the warming when it revved up earlier. The strong easterly flow tonight is keeping the temperatures up--when I biked home around 6:30 PM is was balmy and mild.
Sometimes I am too myopic about the west side..so let me say that the eastern side of the mountains are megawarm too....particularly since around January 10. Don't believe me? Check out the Spokane record below. Eastern Washington is really a bowl and during the winter it typically fills up with cold, cloudy air. The Tri-Cities is no vacation spot in January! (don't email me any complains about this--I am already getting too many comments from the pro-Jim Foreman crowd). This year the cold air was scoured out and warmth and sun has been enjoyed eastside. Is this good or bad for the fruit crops?
Lets face it, the temperatures this month have been amazingly warm...we are experiencing April temperatures in mid January. Take a look at the plot of temperatures this month versus the daily average maxima and minima (plot).
Many of our days have hit highs 5-13 F ABOVE NORMAL, and our minima have generally been higher than the normal maxes. Remarkable. The average temperature this month has been 47.55F--a month when the climatological average isaround 40F--7.5F above normal!!! The warmth this month is essentially due to the generally warm southwesterly flow, although for the last few days, downslope warming has added several degrees.
The warmest January on record was in 2006 when the daily average was 46.6F. So at this rate we are on track to beat it...IF...we stay warm. Unfortunately, temps will cool down to around normal (or perhaps a little warmer than that) this weekend, before a pineapple express heat wave strikes again midweek. We will come close...but no guarantee of being number one. But we will probably be in the top ten warm Januarys in any case. My garden is starting to react--bulbs are pushing up, a chorus of bird songs is rising , and the grass seems to be growing a bit.
Today was extraordinary....strong east winds in the Puget Sound lowlands and spring-like warmth. I went running during lunch to experience it all...there were strong easterly winds, with white caps on Lake Washington. Easterlies are pretty unusual in Seattle...and today's flow was moving right up and over the mountains. As this air subsides on the western slopes there is compressional warming that gives the temps an added boost. The Seattle profiler shows this easterly flow clearly...and the warming when it revved up earlier. The strong easterly flow tonight is keeping the temperatures up--when I biked home around 6:30 PM is was balmy and mild.
Sometimes I am too myopic about the west side..so let me say that the eastern side of the mountains are megawarm too....particularly since around January 10. Don't believe me? Check out the Spokane record below. Eastern Washington is really a bowl and during the winter it typically fills up with cold, cloudy air. The Tri-Cities is no vacation spot in January! (don't email me any complains about this--I am already getting too many comments from the pro-Jim Foreman crowd). This year the cold air was scoured out and warmth and sun has been enjoyed eastside. Is this good or bad for the fruit crops?
If I Won a Razzie...
It is awards season, and while the majority of ceremonies this time of year are laudatory, self-congratulatory affairs, there is one award that keeps it real and celebrates not just mediocrity but outright awfulness.
I am of course talking about Hollywood's favorite award, The Golden Raspberry. Apparently the long list of award nominees is making its rounds, and people who are on them are getting upset.
Of course, most of the people who get named would never be nominated for, much less win any other award, so perhaps they should take it in the spirit in which it is given.
I mean, I would certainly accept a Golden Raspberry if I won one. Then again, I am a little bit of an attention whore too, and I generally don't get a lot of negative feedback for the things I do, and the little I do get, I really call attention to.
With that in mind, I thought I would give you all a taste of what my speech would be like if I was to win a Razzie as Worst Director (because let's face it, if I directed a movie, it would be terrible... I am willing to concede that).
You know, maybe it is a good thing I haven't really pushed my luck in Hollywood as of yet. I don't think I would work for very long.
I am of course talking about Hollywood's favorite award, The Golden Raspberry. Apparently the long list of award nominees is making its rounds, and people who are on them are getting upset.
Of course, most of the people who get named would never be nominated for, much less win any other award, so perhaps they should take it in the spirit in which it is given.
I mean, I would certainly accept a Golden Raspberry if I won one. Then again, I am a little bit of an attention whore too, and I generally don't get a lot of negative feedback for the things I do, and the little I do get, I really call attention to.
With that in mind, I thought I would give you all a taste of what my speech would be like if I was to win a Razzie as Worst Director (because let's face it, if I directed a movie, it would be terrible... I am willing to concede that).
Thank you for this great honor. When I first heard that I was nominated for this award, well, I cried a little bit. I'm not a proud man, I can admit that. I looked at the work of the other nominees in this category and thought that I didn't have a shot at winning this award.
Let's face it. The depth of directing talent in this category is, how can I put it delicately... its shallow. There are D-Students in film schools around the country putting out shaky little Youtube videos who have more talent than all of those nominated in this category combined.
To continue that analogy, if we are only as good as one pretentious film student making Youtube videos, then the film critics and bloggers out there are the people who leave comments on those videos. The fact that both groups use a lot of derogatory terms for gay people, blacks and women in relation to our work is purely coincidental. At least I hope is.
And we all know that Michael Bay would have been here, but alas, he has unfortunately gotten stuck in his own home. It turns out he's was stealing all the money set aside for story development on every film he has ever made, and now A&E is sending in a camera crew to try to rescue him and tell his story on Hoarders.
I am also guessing that Uwe Boll would have been here too, but fortunately for all of us, his Xbox 360 had a Red Ring of Death, so he was unable to come up with any ideas for franchises he wanted to destroy on the silver screen. And while you can crap on a DVD and call it a movie, most state and federal law enforcement entities would call it by a much uglier name: fraud.
But truly, I join some illustrious company today. Think about some of the luminaries that have been given this award in this category. Steven Seagal, Prince, Sylvester Stallone and Tom Green. Oh did I say luminaries... I meant losers. I mean, wow, I am following in Tom Green's footsteps... well, without getting the pleasure of sleeping with Drew Barrymore... or the prescription I would need after sleeping with Drew Barrymore either. And if he were alive today, we can all agree that Ed Wood would have received a lifetime achievement award.
Speaking of which, I've heard that Tim Burton is planning on making a biographical movie about me. Unfortunately, Johnny Depp isn't available, so he is going with his second choice... Seth Rogen. I apologize in advance that you are going to have to see him run around in tight black leather. Hopefully Tim has learned his lesson from his remake of Planet of the Apes, so he won't arbitrarily change the ending, and if he hasn't, well, I fully expect to see him here next year on this stage accepting this very award.
I also heard rumors that even Eddie Murphy stated he was glad he didn't work on this movie, and we all know, he is a man who carefully weighs his options when it comes to the scripts he is offered. If you don't believe me, you can ask him yourself. Seriously Eddie, what are you doing? You've done a lot of penance for your sins, really you have, but we've all forgiven you for picking up that tranny hooker. You can make good movies again... we've been punished enough already.
Of course, I should also extend an apology to my cast. While they were well compensated for their roles in my movie, they didn't deserve to be painted with the same brush as me. I don't know if they will forgive me when the stench of failure finally fades, and it will eventually fade, but I do know that I have likely given them stories to tell on talk shows for a very long time. I am sure they will work with me again... mainly because I know all their dirty secrets and I am not above blackmail. It is one of those life lessons I learned from observing the Church of Scientology.
Anyway, I am sorry that I have to cut this speech short, but I have to catch a flight. I got a summons... apparently I am being tried by a tribunal at The Hague for Crimes against Humanity. They are talking about giving me the death penalty. I didn't know they could do that, but I can tell by the way you are all looking at me that you want me to drop dead too, so I will just say Thank You once again, and be on my way.
You know, maybe it is a good thing I haven't really pushed my luck in Hollywood as of yet. I don't think I would work for very long.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sorting out the news
Tonight's home work assignment for the 6th grader was to watch 30 minutes of election coverage. You gotta love a school system that assigns TV -- especially on the presumption that you have cable. I'm not being sarcastic. I was really excited. I just love TV and love the idea that I can watch while parenting.
This was all about the Massachusetts special Senate election which had completely sucked up all advertising in this state -- radio, tv and internet. Indeed, they must have maxed out the Google bids. Chances are, if you are in Massachusetts you can still see ads on this blog!
The question was where to get our 30 minutes. Fox News would surely be entertainment value but it wasn't what I wanted her bringing to school. CNN proved to sparse on details. I switched when Wolf Blitzer said (and I am not making this up): "The one thing we do know is that the polls have closed in Massachusetts." Oh good. And then there was MSNBC which I had figured would be more to our political liking but that just had some guy named Keith Oberman whose primary job was to report and then belittle (I guess with reason but he looked like a doofus) three Fox news commentators who at the very least were more famous than he was. So she was exposed to lunacy all around anyway.
In the end, I decided that we would make the best of this and watch the Daily Show.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Mass Backwards | ||||
| ||||
Suffice it to say, she learned more in this 10 minutes than from the mainstream news and in a far more even handed manner.
You know this is one area where, I guess somewhat surprisingly, I would have had a better time with Australian television. Those from the US would be surely interested to learn that the one 24 hours news network, Sky News (owned by Rupert Murdoch) would have been something I would have been happy to show my daughter for actual news reporting. Sadly, the school has never asked us to watch it.
You know this is one area where, I guess somewhat surprisingly, I would have had a better time with Australian television. Those from the US would be surely interested to learn that the one 24 hours news network, Sky News (owned by Rupert Murdoch) would have been something I would have been happy to show my daughter for actual news reporting. Sadly, the school has never asked us to watch it.
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