You move down here and you can get to experience it annually, sometimes more than once a year even.
I have a thousand years of power.
And the strength of ten gorillas.
Yes, but not everyone knows that we drive the same car.
It's nasty out there. Riding my motorcycle across the bay bridge was not a good time, but I seem to have not died.
Riding my motorcycle across the bay bridge
!
I've been in SF all week; a gust of wind damn near picked me up going to get coffee this morning.
1. What else would you expect from someone who appropriates 3rd Reich slogans?
I've been in SF all week
I might be meetup-averse, w/d, but I'm still offended.
And the strength of ten gorillas.
Or one me.
Trees through houses and cars is what Sac always looks like in a storm. It is an overmature urban forest.
Now I have to decide if I'm about to drive to Oakland.
I might be meetup-averse
The truth comes out!
I'm told that the black paint doesn't make my Focus any less gay.
!
Yeah. By the time I realized the folly I was already on the bridge, and couldn't turn around. At least no one tailgated me.
8: a gust of wind damn near picked me up
Hott!
Now I have to decide if I'm about to drive to Oakland.
From where? Roads are closed all over - checking 511.org and the CHP site would be wise.
Especially if I lift them up to the bar and spot them a little.
From Sac. Yeah, I'm watching the CalTrans site.
Also, a friend of mine created and started 511 as a project in undergrad. F'reals.
By the time I realized the folly I was already on the bridge, and couldn't turn around
I hate that "this was a really, really bad idea" feeling. Then, you have to ride it out.
I've been in my car driving on ice thinking the same thing.
12: Ogged is just averse to explaining what he does and why he is famous.
From Sac.
Two hours ago, I would have said "insanity," but it does seem to be calming down, so "not unless you gotta."
Becks actually assigned me to beat you up for skipping out on the party after I told her I was coming out here, so I really should've let you know. On the other hand, I figured everyone who actually made the meetup had had their fill of unfogged-affiliated people, and last night was my first real free time.
"had had their fill of unfogged-affiliated people"
Or so the stories go...
Two hours ago, I would have said "insanity," but it does seem to be calming down, so "not unless you gotta."
Yeah. The bridges are all going to be a zoo as the Golden Gate has the two middle lanes closed in case the wind blows someone out of theirs (!), and the Richmond-San Rafael bridge is closed because a) two tractor trailers blew over, and b) waves were breaking over part of the eastbound lanes (!). Probably worth leaving early (now?) or late.
Also, a friend of mine created and started 511 as a project in undergrad. F'reals.
That explains why the design of the site looks like it comes straight from 1997.
Aw gee, that's nothing. Florida gets blow jobs all the time (and no snark remarks, please)
I'll be on my way in half an hour. Better to drive in the light, I think.
With these clouds, it'll get dark quickly. I'd scoot. Be careful. It's a little calmer in Sac from a couple hours ago, at least.
Wow, this really makes me not want to go home. At least in Boston it's just, y'know, cold. Instead of throwing you off of a bridge weather.
It was cold enough to throw people off a bridge in Boston yesterday, though.
On the other hand, I figured everyone who actually made the meetup had had their fill of unfogged-affiliated people
AFAIK, the only Bay Area person who made it to Unfoggedcon was w-lfs-n, and he doesn't count.
El Suburb is similarly situated to Oggedville in re: power, and ohhh am I happy the roof/exterior paint/neighboring trees got fixed up last summer. The power's out at my parents' place, though, and since they're stuck out of town, my SIL may end up going over there just to make sure there isn't another tree through their roof.
"No weather" my ASS. Suck it, East Coast.
20: I hate that "this was a really, really bad idea" feeling. Then, you have to ride it out.
Yeah. Mine were mostly of riding in thunderstorms on a wide-open interstate below Birmingham, AL.
"Yes, that was a lightening strike right in the middle of the road where I'm headed. Yes, I'm probably the tallest object around here. Well, it probably won't hurt at all..."
Will it be better tomorrow? We're supposed to fly into Sacramento at mid-day. And I'm quite frightened of flying under the best of circumstances.
I drove up the coast and I was fine, pussies.
Growing up in California, weather was something that happened to other people, like meteor strikes or cholera.
Not as bad up here, but this is one big-ass storm.
I made it to unfoggedcon. And isn't labs west coast?
Am I the last one to get Unfoggetarian's pseud? Clever.
Incidentally, the tree in the photo would probably still be standing if the roots hadn't been paved over. People did this.
For some reason the phrase "hurricane force winds" didn't really register with me.
Apo is right. The shitty thing is, this probably means we're due for an earthquake.
People did this. Bad people. Probably Republicans.
Am I the last one to get Unfoggetarian's pseud? Clever.
So long as I'm hanging out here, no one else will ever need to worry that they are the last to get something. I still don't get the pseud.
Apparently "pause endlessly" means "comm", and "go in" means "enter", and "then" means that the first should be combined with the latter. It requires experience in some sort of crossword-puzzle-type activity to figure out.
Am I the last one to get Unfoggetarian's pseud? Clever.
No. And we actually discussed it at UnfoggedCon -- Too long, I said. You need to do something, if only because it barely fits on your name-tag.
Longish discourse from Unfoggetarian, pause (9) etc., response from the circle at the time: overthinking. Oddly, I don't think I determined what it actually meant.
Pause (9), I'm sorry if I missed the actual explanation.
Oh yeah, it's not an acrostic, is it? It's a crossword of the kind favored by Brits.
Oh! That is clever. It's also why the NY Times crossword makes me cry -- I never would have gotten that.
How does "comm" mean "pause endlessly"?
comma (pause) minus -a (endlessly) plus enter (then go in): commenter. The (9) signifies the number of letters.
OK, "comma" minus "a". Ha. Is joke.
"Cryptic" is the American term for that kind of crossword.
I used to do the Irish Times cryptic crossword in college. It's just a matter of figuring out the conventions.
Am I the last one to get Unfoggetarian's pseud? Clever.
I never would have got it if he didnt tell me. Even when he explained it to me, it was basically over my head. Very nice guy though.
35: Sac should be a little drizzly, still, tomorrow but the wild-assed winds are gone at this point. It's calm now. The most dangerous part of your trip tomorrow is your drive to the airport.
Winds kicking up around here in SLC as well, but nothing brutal. I think the higher gusts are 40 or 50 mph.
57: Thanks. Your information will help me to calibrate an appropriate dose of anti-anxiety meds. Something that will balance my duties as a parent with my intense desire to cut my own throat at the first sign of turbulence.
I always thought the pseud was a description of the typical Unfoggetarian's method, and the number was a snarky way of saying that everyone here is alike. Ah, well.
59: I can appreciate. I was in a 6-seater single prop that ran out of gas once at 3000 feet coming back from some friends' wedding at the NC Outer Banks. Relax; there is no safer way to travel than on a commercial flight.
62: No, but let's not talk about the other 5 guys who wanted the parachute.
Incidentally, if you're going to get a flat tire, I recommend you do it in a well lit parking garage rather than out on the road.
Unfoggedtarian's pseud was actually explained some months back in comments.
65: I totally missed that explanation. I'm always already out of the loop.
By "some months" apparently I meant October 2006.
62: No. The flight, if you could call it that, ultimately turned out much better than my friends' marriage.
Whereas had the flight turned out worse, you would be dead now?
do you have threads on concentration and memory here?
i would love to read if there are
when i was young up until 25 i suppose, i could read once and remember things, now not so
i usually like to learn things like if you feel tired or distracted one should think about two completely different things like f.e a tree and icecream
or sugar and meat or lemon and speaker
then your brain's confused and gets an impulse to work
Knee-jerk gluttony aside, that advice in 70 actually seems quite plausible and interesting.
are you a neuroscientist, Beefo Meaty?
i read you were referring to your research in comments
I am an (very) embryonic computational neuroscientist (that is, an undergrad studying the topic). Might be better to just call me an "enthusiast" at this point.
what would you recommend as measures to prevent the weakening of memory which i think threatens me, aside from pomegranate juice?
i know good sleep, daily reading, hand motor activity are important
what else?
75: Geez, I used to know a bunch.
Truly, read, memorizing poetry is very good for the brain. Start out with shorter ones, rhyming and metered, and then move on to longer, more complex ones. Plus, it will have the additional effect of helping your English, which I know you've said you'd like to do, if you memorize English poetry. Sonnets are particularly good for this.
i'm like seriously asking for advice
and people are joking
the Iliad, nice, if i have enough time, sure
but i never could memorize poems effortlessly
i like to read but citing out loud is what i think only geniuses can do :)
oh, i got a serious advice
please disregard 79
74: Do you know if On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins (the Palm Pilot guy) gets any cred in academia, or is it basically just another glorified vanity book by a really rich smart person like Wolfram's atrocious A New Kind of Science?
Little things like varying up the route you drive/walk each day are actually quite effective as well, read.
w-lfs-n recommends varying ones' grammar, from time, to time.
82: I think it gets, if anything, less respect as a serious intellectual work, but people are plenty willing to take his money.
but i never could memorize poems effortlessly
...which is exactly the reason to do it. I make all my poetry students memorize a poem, and it's really interesting how many of them flat-out refuse, and then do it, and then thank me afterwards.
Start with ones that will encourage you because they're easy, like some from William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" ("The Poison Tree," "The Tyger," "The Lamb," "The Garden of Love," etc.) Then try a few sonnets (Donne, Shakespeare, Sidney), then maybe some more complex poetic forms. Always recite them aloud.
Honestly, I wasn't a very good writer in English, and didn't have a very good memory, before I started memorizing the texts I was writing about. It totally reorganized my brain.
Summarizing Proust is a good way to improve your Proust summarization skills.
Alternately, you could get a DS and Brain Age.
The underlying heebie vs. read It Girl competition subtext: am I only imagining it? Yes. Is it a pleasant image? Yes it is.
I think Napi is the real It girl, but I question the texture of his hair.
See, I wrote 88 with no knowledge of 87 -- I can't speak for 89, though, and whether heebie is claiming that she should be declared the winner of any Proust related contests.
Here it is, in case people were wondering.
87
Proust in bullets, would you post yours, please?
no contest at all, i just like to use people :)
advices i mean
78. it will have the additional effect of helping your English
Cautionary tale: I knew an elderly retired schoolteacher who told me he once set a kid to learn Browning's "Home Thoughts from the Sea" as an imposition. A couple of days later, the boy came bounding in: "I've learned it, sir".
So he's told to recite it and begins: "Nobody, nobody, Cape Saint Vincent ..." At which point the teacher interrupts and say, "Excuse me, but what you think that actually means?
"Oh, but, sir, it doesn't mean anything! It's poetry, sir!"
Oh, and then there's this: Bloody Fascist!
My dad called yesterday to say they had no power. I asked to speak to PK and said "it sounds like you're having an adventure!"
"NO!" he said. "I CAN'T PLAY MARIO!"
I have raised a horrible person.
Get that poor kid an emergency backup generator before his brain starves.
96:
Is that supposed to surprise us???
Napi:
Monty Python is a genius. By the way, which one is Monty?
Before any natural disaster, a good parent always gets back up batteries for the DS.
Napi:
You missed it. This is the poetry that Read should memorize:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxpyuVWh9a8&feature=related
85: Thanks. Yes, with his philanthropy, I'm sure Hawkins will not get the public beating that Wolfram has. Here is a page of great snark on ANKOS including:
"Can you give us the answer to life?", they asked the computer.
Deep Thought pondered their question.
"Yes," he said. "But it will be tricky. And first I have to write Mathematica."
And the classic "A New Kind of Review" which ends with:
It is staggering to contemplate that all the great works of literature can be derived from the letters I use in writing this review. I am pleased to have shared them with you, and hereby grant you the liberty to use up to twenty (20) of them consecutively without attribution. Any use of additional characters in print must acknowledge this review as source material since it contains, implicitly or explicitly, all future written documents.
96: I have raised a horrible person.
As have we all bp, as have we all.
103.2 is awesome. I suppose I shouldn't be quite so harsh to On Intelligence. If you take it as a very smart, very rich guy saying "hey, I'm no expert, but wouldn't this be an interesting thing to look into? P.S. I have bags of money." it's quite successful.
104: as have we all
However, Stormcrow Lifen00b #1 has redeemed himself by pointing me to this TV clip from a more innocent time. "Nintendo 1988 Inside Edition TV news report with Super Mario"—and yes the host is indeed who you think he is, pre-falafel.
a very smart, very rich guy saying "hey, I'm no expert, but wouldn't this be an interesting thing to look into? P.S. I have bags of money."
This would be better as a pop-up book with a page where a large 3D cutout of Hawkins pops up holding two enormous moneybags. And when you pull the tab on the top of his head, his two pupils are replaced with enormous dollar signs.