Chris Lang's Web Log
2008-12-28 1830: The Detroit Lions have completed their dismal season, losing all 16 of their games—the first NFL team to have ever done so. (The last NFL team to have a winless season was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976, but in those days, the NFL only had 14 games per season.)
2008-12-28 1820: By Christmas Eve, it had thawed enough to be able to drive (main roads were getting clear, but the neighborhoods were still tricky to drive). So we were able to enjoy our Christmas Eve church service. The service was a bit rough around the edges because they weren't able to have the Christmas pageant, and the liturgy and music had to be improvised on short notice. But we were all very glad to be there, and the service ended with a simple and lovely singing of Silent Night by candlelight.
Now, half a week later, the ice and snow are almost completely gone. I was able to go on a run this afternoon; it was 45 degrees. This felt good since I hadn't been able to run in two weeks.
2008-12-22 1830: We're still snowed in. We got maybe 5 inches more this morning; depending on where I put my yardstick, there was between 9 and 14 inches of snow on the ground. The Weather Service says this is the worst December snow storm since 1968, and the worst winter storm since 1980. (The Weather Service put the total at about 12 inches, but it varied substantially across the local area. The January 1968 event was 16 inches.)
We are under another winter storm watch for Wednesday, but the Weather Service doesn't know if we'll get snow or ice; it depends on the track of the storm.
2008-12-21 1400: I found some icy berries this morning in the park.
2008-12-21 1300: We got about 7 inches of snow before it changed to a light freezing rain at 9 or 10 p.m. last night. There is 3/8ths of an inch (5 mm) of ice on the snow, and on tree branches. It doesn't look like temperatures will go above freezing until tomorrow afternoon.
2008-12-20 1930: The promised snow is in progress. Late in the afternoon, it picked up in intensity. Perhaps 3 inches had fallen when I ventured out with my little Canon PowerShot SD450 camera to the park a couple of blocks away from my Mom's house. (They're still predicting 6+ inches, followed by freezing rain overnight.) The lake there was partially frozen, and people were out enjoying the snow. It's hard to see in my picture, but the third picture below shows a great blue heron, standing at the edge of the water among several snow-covered rocks, a bit to the right of the center.
2008-12-19 1800: Yesterday, Seattle had thunder snow. I was in Seattle for some sabbatical work, staying at a hotel at South Lake Union. I was half asleep, and I saw a flash of light through my closed eyes. I wondered if that was some odd neurological thing, or if I had for some obscure reason dreamed seeing a flash, when I heard thunder. I got up to see what was going on. It was snowing hard. This worried me, because I planned on driving back to Portland that morning. The forecast was for heavy snow showers, up to 2-3 inches accumulation. The local news channel said that snow was heavy along a narrow "convergence zone," where the Pacific moisture met cold arctic air. They said this was in Seattle; they said that Renton, Washington was in bad shape with side roads closed. So at 10 a.m. I drove south on I-5, in subfreezing temperatures in a heavy snow shower. It got worse a few miles south of downtown, and I noticed that the signs referred to Renton (near the junction of I-5 and I-405). Fortunately, traffic was smooth if rather slow; we drove on packed ice and slush. South of Seattle, the weather rapidly improved. I was worried that I would encounter more snow and ice in Portland, due to the cold air from the Columbia River gorge, but in the event, it was 40 degrees when I got there.
But the worst weather may be yet to come: We are under a winter storm watch for Saturday into Sunday; 6-12 inches of snow, freezing rain, and high winds (up to 50 mph gusts in Portland).
2008-12-14 2000: I finished the little Paul Krugman book, The Return of Depression Economics. It proved to be a fast and easy read; I read it in about four hours on the airplane. I thought it was interesting. The book is a greatly-updated version of a book he wrote in 1999 about the economic crises in Latin America and Asia. The new edition describes the earlier crises, and the efforts to resolve them; he labels the earlier episodes as warnings that we failed to heed. He then explains in general terms what has happened this year (I think the book was written before early November). He keeps the writing light (at one point, he refers to the fictitious currencies the globo, the latino, and the gringo; and he uses a remarkable true story about a baby-sitting pool to explain abstract economics principles).
2008-12-14 1800: The weather outside is frightful!
I'm in Portland, visiting my Mom. We got several inches of snow today, a light, powdery snow blowing in a cold arctic wind. (It's supposed to get down to the teens here tonight; cold for Portland.) I walked to the local Powell's Bookstore, and saw cars sliding around on the ice and snow.
We've no place to go, so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
2008-12-07 2000: I finished the book by Rabbi David Wolpe, Why Faith Matters. This turned out to be rather interesting. It is written in a warm and personal tone; the author tells of his own questioning, and also his experiences with faith when he had cancer, and also when his wife had cancer. He makes a case that religion has moderated and lessened war and hate, contrary to the claims of the New Atheists. He describes faith and God in terms of personal experience rather than as doctrines that are open to scientific testing, but he does appeal to the cosmic anthropic principle (the observation that the universe appears to be tuned for life) as evidence for God. However, he is by no means an "intelligent design" proponent; he quotes well-known evolutionists such as Francis Collins and Kenneth Miller who affirm that evolution and religion are compatible, and that evolution and biology show us God exists in their beauty. While I reckon that no serious atheist will find this book a challenge to his or her beliefs, as someone inclined to theism, I found it helpful. I also appreciated his ecumenical perspective; he writes for an audience of diverse faiths, and quotes Christian authors as well as authors from Jewish or other traditions. (Popular evangelical author Rick Warren supplied a forward to his book.)
I finished another book: A. Lee Martinez, A Nameless Witch. This is an offbeat and droll little fantasy novel. The nameless title character hides her extraordinary beauty because beauty is unwitchy, but she falls in love with a White Knight who she accompanies on a quest to defeat an evil sorcerer. Her other traveling companions include her familiar, a murderous, demonic duck named Newt; and Penelope, a sentient magical broom. She disregards her mentor's advice to never feed a troll; as a result, she has another loyal traveling companion, a troll named Gwurm.
I bought a couple of books today: The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman, and The Rest Is Noise, Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross. The latter is a history of modern classical music written by a New Yorker music critic, and was a New York Times Notable Book of 2007.
2008-12-04 1430: I happened across a humorous comparison between the textbook Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms by David MacKay, and Harry Potter.