Portland is Hot, But Seattle is Cool

As we enter the warm portion of the year,  differences between Portland and Seattle temperatures are again becoming evident.  Seattle has a far more maritime climate than Portland and thus is considerably cooler during the summer.   In fact, the Willamette Valley as a whole has a far more continental climate than the Puget Sound basin. 

To illustrate this situation, consider some topographic maps.  Seattle is clearly open to the influence of cool waters, with Puget Sound at its front door and a sea level path to the Pacific Ocean.  With water next store and high pressure offshore, constantly pushing marine air into the Puget Sound interior, it is hard to get the Puget Sound lowlands in the 80s or 90s during the summer.  Only when we have strong offshore and downslope flow can Seattle and vicinity get toasty.

But Portland and the Willamette Valley are another story!  The Willamette River or even the Columbia is no Puget Sound, and the Willamette Valley is surrounded by mountains or high hills on all sides, thus isolating it from the marine influence during the summer--a period when the Pacific cool, marine layer is relatively shallow and unable to surmount the terrain.  Thus, it is far easier for Portland to bake...and it is not unusual for the high temperatures from Portland to Eugene to be 5-10F warmer than Seattle...sometimes much more.

Lets begin by looking at the monthly average maximum temperatures at Seattle, Portland, and Salem.
Consider July.   In that month Seattle has an average high  of 75, Portland gets to 79, and Salem, a torrid 82F.  Not need to head to Hawaii...drive down to Salem.  But look at the winter high temperatures...there is very little difference among these three stations...and that is not surprising. With strong, deep flow coming off the Pacific and lots of clouds, we all suffer with cool, wet conditions.

But the mean monthly temperatures tell only part of the story...what about the extremes? Below is a plot of daily means and  extremes...lets consider the daily extreme high temps (yellow colors).  Seattle has only gotten above 100F once---103F in July 2009.  But for Portland, daily records above 100F are numerous and above 90F commonplace over most of the summer....very different than Seattle!

Lets illustrate with last summer:  here is the plot of temperatures at Portland (green line) and Seattle (red line for July 1, 2011 to Sept 1, 2011.  Portland is warmer on virtually every day, sometimes by as much as 10F.  They just don't have Seattle's natural air conditioning.  But they do have better food trucks, several of which sell cooling drinks and ice cream.

And if you think the Willamette Valley is warm during the summer...it is nothing compared to the next basin to the south...the one including Medford and Ashland.  They laugh at 100F temps down there....but that is a story for another day, and one that includes fog during the winter.

Big Ben's Barracks: Ben crashes Kordell Stewart's retirement party

By Artistry

Former Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart formally retired Wednesday, bringing closure to a saga that pretty much everyone thought ended like 10 years ago.

Who, exactly, was demanding this?

During the retirement press conference, Stewart spoke of how he hopes current QB Ben Roethlisberger will learn to embrace new offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

“I think once they find a rhythm amongst each other," noted Slash, "I think things will be a little bit smoother."

Finding a rhythm amongst each other.

Stewart, his wife, and his son then took a walk to the cafeteria, where they sat down to reflect, share a meal, and enjoy a quiet moment together.  Then Ben Roethlisberger appeared.  A GTOG source happened to be in the vicinity and filed this verbatim transcript of the ensuing conversation.

Sit down with Ben and Kordell, after the jump...

Ben: You all mind if I sit down? Scootch over.

Kordell: Hello, Ben.

Ben:  Hello, Slash.  I just wanted to come by and tell you I admire what you did. It's not easy to admit defeat.

Kordell: What are you talking about?

Ben: You were not going to unseat me, you recognized that, and you stepped down. You did it with grace, and you did it with honor, and I wanted you to know face to face that I appreciate that.

Inferior Commander of Men

Kordell: Uh, thanks. But I haven't played football in many years. I really wasn't competing with you at all. This was really a retirement only in a symbolic sense.

Ben: You know, we are sitting here, you and I, like a couple of regular fellas. You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do. And now that we've been face to face, if we're out there and I gotta put you away, I won't like it.

Kordell: Are you quoting Pacino in "Heat"? What does that even mean? No disrespect, but I'm just trying to have a sandwich with my family.

Ben: You're a worthy adversary.

Kordell: We are not adversaries. We have nothing to do with each other.

Ignored orders from the same General

Ben: I heard what you said at the podium about me and Coach Haley.  Are you a better fit for his system?  Maybe.  Are we going to be running the ball more?  Probably.  Would he prefer you as the starter?  I imagine so.  But you just retired, didn't you?  Yes, you did.  I need you to stop undermining me and my men.

Kordell:  Easy, dude. No one is undermining anyone here. We're getting on a plane tonight and heading home to Atlanta, OK? We'll be out of your hair.

Ben:  We'll be running the ball more, so you got what you came for. Is that it? Now you're happy?

Kordell:  What are you talking about?

Ben:  You and the fans are getting your wish.  Congratulations.

Kordell:  I think we're done here.

Ben:  Oh, we're done all right.  But know this:  I'm going to play the only way I know how. If I have to draw up a play in the sand and scramble to find the open guy because I don't understand the playbook, that's what I'm going to do.

Kordell:  Knock yourself out.

Ben:  Maybe I will.

Kordell:  Good.

Ben:  God is good. God is great.

Kordell:  OK. Good luck.

Ben:  It's not luck.

Kordell:  Check please.

Ben:  You're always welcome here.  But remember...

Kordell:  I know. If I get in your way, you'll put me down.

Ben: I will not hesitate. Not even for a second. Have a safe flight.

Dog suggested Ben get rid of ball quicker; Dog put down by Ben.

Get real, GSN viewers

A faux tweet reminds us of that reality slate slowly working its slouching way toward GSN.

War of the Rose Sisters got a mention in GSN's upfront presentation. But the show is now apparently on track to the network's schedule. At least they've put out a casting call and scheduled taping in June. The project sounds vaguely like a Pawn Stars ripoff, with a couple of auctioneering sisters in Toledo, Beth and Pamela Rose, bidding on items brought in by civvies. But the sisters are supposedly competitors, hence the "war" between them.

Yeah, the idea sounds lame to me, too. I know, I shouldn't prejudge. But GSN does have a history of making bad hash of reality projects like this.

Meanwhile, the GSN Internet board ties itself in knots because not enough old game shows get onto the schedule. Hey folks, you better worry about any traditional game shows getting GSN air time, regardless of production date. After all, this Rose sister stuff is only the first of the reality projects surfacing from the upfront. There's a lot more where this one came from.

Empire of the Dead "Fracas" AAR

Second game, and a continuation of the campaign.


Scenario "Fracas"
Location: Botanical Gardens
Time of day: Day

In this scenario both gangs run into each other by coincidence - and decide to settle the score. This is your basic "fight to the last man" scenario. Which did not bode well for the Gentlemen's Club.

However, the Gentlemen managed to win the roll and made the scenario take place during the daylight hours, reducing the powerful stats of the Graaf with daytime penalties.
However the enemy Thralls with long range weapons would now be even more dangerous!

Scenario rewards

Win = 20 Shilling
Draw = 15 Shilling
Lose = 10 Shilling
Each kill = 5 Shilling
Each man left standing = 2 Shilling

The Gentlemen were now 50 points below the Nosferatu in standing, which mean they would earn a bit more if they won the scenario.

The game took place in the "Botanical gardens", a lush area with lots of trees and the occasional exotic plant (white base markers). The exotic plants would be one out of 10 random poisonous or in other ways dangerous plants. A model that moved within 2" of a plant marker would need to roll and see what kind of plant it is - and then suffer its effects. Both players took turns placing these plants, as such all plants were placed in strategic locations blocking several important routes.

Gentlemen's Clubs - "Zendarian officers society"

President with Heavy Pistol
Vice President with Heavy Pistol
3x Membership with Light Pistol

Nosferatu

Graaf with Spear and Shield
Guardian with hunting rifle
5 Thralls, knifes, pistols and 1 shotgun

This game would last 12 turns! The Gentlemen were outgunned and outmanned. Their only hope was to stay out of sight and try to break up the enemy gang so they could be picked off one by one.

As such the Gentlemen spent a couple of turns lurking and moving about the rocks and hedges at the far corner of their deployment while the Nosferatu crept forward slowly firing rifle and shotgun at the Gentlemen. As the Vice President took a hit and dropped a wound, the Gentlemen knew they would have to move.

Everyone started to make a wide flanking move, running across lanes of fire, from cover to cover while the Nosferatu Thralls kept firing their long range guns - but kept missing. Having moved to the top of the table, the Gentlemen split up in two smaller groups and moved around both sides of the shed to get into contact range with the Thralls. The old Gentleman (white beard gramps) got hit and staggered about trying to regain his sense. However two more Gentlemen jumped out of cover and fired their pistols at the Thralls, they managed to kill 1 Thrall and "Down" another! Not bad - the gangs were at the moment equal in number.

The Vice president get shot again but the bullet barely grazed him, he fired back and dropped another Thrall, while a Membership fired at the "Down" Thrall and killed him as well. The Gentlemen were on fire, dropping bad guys with amazing speed.

The Nosferatu regrouped and kept firing at the Gentlemen while moving forward. The Gentleman President runs up amongst his men and heroically fires at the incoming enemies - not realizing he is within charge range of both the Graaf and an enemy Thrall. He is attacked by both and having already been injured by a bullet previously he thinks he is a goner.

The Nosferatu crash into him, but the President slashes the Thrall with his knife, dropping the evil creature - saved by his high combat value as the close combat was a draw. Now the Graaf remained and both heroes rolled 3 dice at each other. Thankfully the Graaf was partially blinded and weakened by the sunlight so his charge bonus was negated completely. Still, the Graaf sported a +1 modifier since he was number 2 in line to fight the President. The President was amazingly enough once again saved by his combat value of 7 beating the Graaf combat value of 6! The Graaf was sucked punched and dropped to the ground, finished off by a fellow Membership who rushed up to help the President.

The last remaining Thrall looked around and then ran off in panic.

What a crazy game - the Gentlemen turned this around completely. They cashed in 6 kills, a victory, survived with everyone and received the underdog bonus. They walked away 70 Shilling richer!

The crazy result would not end there.

During the after action phase both the Nosferatu Graaf and the Guardian (both heroes) rolled "Captured by the enemy" LOL! One Thrall was killed, the remaining Thralls had no lasting effects.

The Gentlemen invested their money in some eye surgery for the Vice President, curing his eye injury. Then every Gentleman rolled on the "Characteristics" chart, upgrading every member with new stats.

President rolled another +1 Combat (he can't get more combat results on this chart anymore)
Vice President rolled another +1 Bravado, (same as above)
The Membership guys rolled +1 Combat and Bravado as well.

Now the Gentlemen's Club is a bunch of brave brawlers haha.

Me and my opponent saved the results, and we aim to pick up from here during our next campaign game. The scenario will be ”Rescue” where the Thralls will try to rescue their captured Heroes.

Syndies slip

Syndicated game shows edged down in the ratings for the week of May 14-20. TVNewsCheck delivers the unpleasant news...

Wheel of Fortune 6.4 - down a tick
Jeopardy 5.6 - down a tick in sympathy with the soulmate
Family Feud 3.0 - down a tick in sympathy with nobody
Millionaire 2.5 - down a tick, a bad week all round

TV by the Numbers gets their top 25 syndie list out in a hurry nowadays, thanks to a couple of new employees. All the game shows made the list. The viewership averages: Wheel of Fortune 9.7 million (weekend repeat 4.4 million), Jeopardy 8.5 million, Family Feud 4.3 million, Millionaire 3.5 million. The numbers still look pretty good compared to some broadcast prime time shows.

TVNewser has posted a cable ranker for the month of May (actually, April 30-May 27 in Nielsen months). GSN averaged 282K/231K viewers prime time/total day for the month and ranked 43rd and 41st in the time periods, respectively. So-so, not terrible, not great by GSN standards.

Upgrade now to the new Google Analytics Core Reporting API

Jeetendra

Nick

Pete

By Pete Frisella, Nick Mihailovski, and Jeetendra Soneja, Google Analytics API Team


Core Reporting API Migration Update

Back in December we launched the Core Reporting API to replace the Data Export API. We also announced that we would be shutting down the old Data Export API and that all applications should migrate to the new version.

The time has come for us to shut down the old version. So this is our last reminder to migrate to the new Core Reporting API.

Starting next week, we’ll begin redirecting a portion of Data Export API requests to the Core Reporting API as we prepare to shut down the Data Export API on July 10th. So you'll begin to see Data Feed requests return a Core Reporting API response, and requests for the Account Feed will produce an error.

If you do not migrate, your application will experience service outages.

For more information, visit:
Reminder: Migrate to the new Core Reporting API
Migration Guide: Moving from v2.3 APIs to v2.4 & v3.0


New Guides To Get You Started Fast

It’s important for the Google Analytics APIs to be open and accessible to all developers. It’s common practice for developers learning a new API to start off with the basics and incrementally build from this foundation.

So with that in mind, we wrote a new Hello Analytics API tutorial to give you that basic foundation. The tutorial includes sample code for Java, PHP, Python, and JavaScript. It also walks you through the basic steps of using the Google Analytics API, including registration, authorizing users, retrieving account and profile information, and querying for a report. Once complete you will have a working example that you can customize.

To make it even easier to build applications, we’ve also updated the developer guides for both the Core Reporting API and Management API. Examples for a variety of programming languages have been included, but more importantly the basic concepts have been highlighted.

So whether you’re just starting, updating, or migrating to the new version, you should check out the Hello Analytics API tutorial and Developer Guides before settling down to write that awesome application.


Pete Frisella is a Developer Advocate for Google Analytics, interested in encouraging and promoting awesome Google Analytics integrations. Pete loves to talk tech, travel, and hit the golf course when he can.

Nick Mihailovski is a Senior Developer Programs Engineer working on the Google Analytics API. In his spare time he likes to travel around the world.

Jeetendra Soneja is the Technical Engineering Lead on the Google Analytics API team. He's a big fan of cricket – the game, that is. :)

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor

Legacying: Hacking RISK Legacy mechanics for other games

I loves me some RISK: Legacy, as do the Diana Jones Awards. Lyndsay Peters and Logan Bonner got into the habit of playing Dominion Legacy. And no discussion of destructible game objects would be complete without mentioning Kevin Allen Jr's Sweet Agatha, which predates RISK: Legacy by several years.

I wondered aloud when larger studios would actually start picking up on this idea in non-RISK games. Sure enough, Asmadi stepped up to the plate with We Didn't Play This: Legacies. As Chris Cieslik mentions in the video, writing things in Sharpie is fun!

Much like deck-building became the hot mechanic following Dominon's release, I continue to wonder how Legacy mechanics might be used in future big budget or indie games. In particular, how those mechanics could be used by smaller, independent outfits like my own. I'll discuss my own ideas in a future post, but for now let's Legacy some existing games.

Scrabble: Legacy
Keep a Legacy document in the game box. (This can simply be the game board, the inside of the game box or a proper sheet of paper.) At the end of each game, each player writes one of the words currently in play. Any words on this list are worth half points in any future game.

Winner's Privilege: Add a DL, DW, TL, or TW to any empty space on the board. A single row or column can only have up to three of each

Carcassonne: Legacy
At the end of each game, each player chooses any tile with their meeple still on it. Each player may write their initials on a field, on the road, in a castle or on a cloister. In future games, a player's initials count as a meeple for that player. Each feature may only have one set of initials, but a single tile can have several initials on separate features.

Winner's Privilege: You may initial two separate features of your chosen tile.

Ticket to Ride: Legacy
At the end of the game, the players choose any non-wild card in their hand. Each player draws a star on their chosen card. Any time this card is used to build a track, it is worth one extra point. A card can have up to six stars.

Winner's Privilege: You may initial a track space on the board. In future games, that track requires one fewer cards for you to build. Each space can only have one set of initials, but the full line may have several.

What other games can you Legacy?

Bachelorette Episode 3 Recap: When Emily met Dolly

By Finesse

[Check out the Raw Emotion Podcast here]

Let's get right to it.

Monday night's The Bachelorette begins with Emily's mom bringing Little Ricki and Emily breakfast in bed.  As a friend of GTOG put it in a way that really set the tone for the episode, "I don't want to see her dumb ass mom and daughter."

Chris, the OK looking guy who Emily thinks is hotter than Brad Paisley making out with Kenny Chesney, gets the coveted climbing date, although in this instance it's much more of a, "here put this harness on and we will pull you up the side of a building" date.  Chris wears a modified v-neck with buttons to give him full control over the depth of the V depending on the situation.  He says what we are all thinking: "I think a building is definitely like love."

Another horrible country band with a singer named Luke Bryan takes the stage.  When did it become acceptable for country singers to look like this?

Artistry's raw notes on the Luke Bryan performance simply say, "drunk on you high on summertime."  That means nothing, yet it means everything.  Emily says she has never had a date like that.  We're pretty sure she's had that exact date at least 6 times, and as recently as last week.

Much more, including some of the best photo-shopping you'll ever see, after the jump...

Next up is the group date where Emily's married, less attractive friends get to decide which of these guys they want to throw themselves at.  Or as the aforementioned friend of GTOG says, "Look at all these hens clucking around Emily trying to pick up the scraps."  One of the guys wonders when he sees five women waiting for them: "Are we doing manicures?"

While Emily raps with her friends, she dumps a busload of 6-year-olds on the gentlemen with absolutely no explanation of where these kids came from, who they belong to, or why it is advisable to leave them alone with strange men.  JEF (much more on him later) missed the memo that the park was for the children.

Here's all you need to know about the suitors' interviews with Emily's friends: Sean, glistening in sweat, tells the cameras that he is "determined to let them know that he is here for the right reasons."  He then removes his shirt, says that his life is centered on faith, and does pushups while being mentally raped by Emily's repressed blond friend.

At some point on this date, Doug pulls Emily aside and in 30 seconds tells her about his father's epilepsy, being raised in a foster home, being separated from his sister, and how great he is at being a father BECAUSE DOUG IS THE BEST FATHER OF ALL TIME DON'T YOU DARE TELL DOUG HOW TO BE A FATHER.  Huge moment for Doug.

The next what-seemed-like-eternity of the show was consumed with Tony crying about missing his son and, naturally, receiving vigorous, unsolicited, and unquestionable parenting advice from Doug.  Tony says that he's just trying to find love and his kid is not going to understand that.  We agree.  His kid is not going to understand why he went on The Bachelorette to find love.

Seeking validation from his son that he wasn't getting from Emily (considering he hadn't yet met Emily), Tony forces his son to say "yes" to, "Do you love your Daddy?" and "Do you miss me?"  Clearly bored, the son obliges.

"Is Daddy better looking than Sean?"

While debating whether to leave the show he was going to get kicked off of anyway, Tony calls being on The Bachelorette, "the ultimate sacrifice."  But then he unleashes the line of the season, "At the same time, things were meant to be for a reason."  What a performance by Tony.

Emily strong-arms Tony into leaving the show, but is sad because "I had such high hopes for Tony."  The unedited footage reveals that she went on to say, "I hoped he was funny, or good looking, or charming.  He was none of them."  Goodbye.  As Emily explains Tony's departure to the remaining men, ABC repeatedly  cuts to shots of Travis, still toting an ostrich egg, nodding vigorously for no apparent reason.

Next up is a trip to Dollyworld with Arie, the Jean-Girard to Ricky Bobby's Ricky Bobby.

On the roller coaster, Arie tells Emily that she will be ok, because Arie would surely think of something if the roller coaster snapped in half.  Then as they are writing what would without a doubt be the world's most boring love songs, Dolly Parton takes the stage to no one's surprise but Emily's.  Emily loves Dolly Parton "because she wears costumes every day."  Some of Emily's other favorite celebrities include:

The Pirate Parrot...

...Trick-or-Treaters...

...and The Grand Wizard

Emily and Dolly discuss Emily's desire to have an unlimited number of babies.  Dolly hopes that Emily finds true love, and then talks about being married for 40 years.  Little known fact about Dolly's husband: he's an ass-man.

At the cocktail party, Kalon doesn't wear socks and tells Emily, "I love it when you talk but would you let me finish."  Many have chosen to focus on the rudeness of the "let me finish" part, but let's focus instead on the "I love it when you talk."  What a compliment.  To all the ladies out there interested in Kalon, not only will he let you talk occasionally, there's also a chance he will love it.

Other than Alessandro saying that he wants to be a gypsy, the highlight of the cocktail party was Emily smashing the ostrich egg that Travis has been carrying around for 3 weeks.  Just to make sure I have this right: A grown man brought an ostrich egg onto a reality dating show as a symbol of Little Ricki, vowed to do everything in his power to protect this egg under the rationale that protecting an ostrich egg would prove that he would never let physical harm happen to Little Ricki, which presumes that his main role as Little Ricki's step father would be to ensure that she isn't dropped from a height that would cause her to explode, toted this ostrich egg successfully for 3 weeks enduring endless ridicule along the way, then during his first actual conversation with Emily allows her to smash the egg under the agreed-upon premise, "if you love something, set it free?" Got it.

As the Rose Ceremony winds down, it's between Stevie and someone we're told is named Nate.  What aired on Monday led most people to believe that the final rose went to Nate while Stevie was sent back to the Jersey shore.  But our JEF beat writer got the inside scoop on what really happened...

In a shocking twist not aired by ABC, Emily gives out the final rose to...

...her idol, Dolly Parton, who proposes right there on the spot.  They immediately go to a nearby field where it becomes daytime and they get married...

JEF is beyond devastated, but vows to never give up on Emily, or his company People Water which provides bottled water to animals.

Like all newlyweds, Emily and Dolly begin their whirlwind media tour.  They're so in love...

But soon, Dolly notices that Emily seems distant and detached.  She's going outside to make mysterious phone calls, flying out to L.A. every weekend (or so she says), and sleeping on the couch.  A suspicious Dolly finds a ticket stub for a flight to Utah and tries to put on a brave face for the paparazzi as she takes Little Ricki to school...

Dolly confronts Emily, and Emily panics and explains that she has been going to Utah for fertility treatments because she wants to give Dolly a child.  And it worked!  Emily is pregnant!

9 months later a beautiful baby boy named MAT is born.  Dolly's worst fears are confirmed when she takes a look at MAT on his first birthday...

A devastated Dolly leaves Emily, who immediately flies back to Utah to take MAT to his rightful father JEF. Emily, JEF, Little Ricki, and MAT become a happy family...

Dolly is devastated, but this is a woman who knows what true love is.  She quickly finds a new flame.