May 3, 2013

At the Sunset Café...

Untitled

... it's another a bleak, chilly May evening.

(Photo taken yesterday evening, on Observatory Drive, looking out over Picnic Point.)

75 comments:

kentuckyliz said...

Question: is there a good timeline of American religious history, general or law-specific, on the iNterwebZ anywhere?

I thought madame blogress might know, it being one of her special knowledge subjects. At least the law part.

kentuckyliz said...

Busy week at work and in for another one. Relaxing at home this evening. Watching War of the Worlds (modern). Finished my business math class last night and doing final scrutiny on a PDF project tonight and submitting it. Then I can really dig in to my Coursera course on emotional intelligence and leadership. My first Coursera course. Have any of all y'all done one yet?

BaltoHvar said...

Sorry - mid 90's in L.A. today - the place sux-out-loud, but the weather...

AllenS said...

Completely overcast here. Light rain and 31º. Surprised that it isn't snowing. Light dusting of snow this morning, and snow/rain throughout the day. It's hard to believe just how long the winter is lasting. Some warm days, but the warmth just doesn't last for long.

Anthony said...

It's finally less than 80 degrees inside my office here in San Francisco. FedEx me some of that snow, please.

Ann Althouse said...

"Sorry - mid 90's in L.A. today - the place sux-out-loud, but the weather..."

Mid90s is too hot, in my opinion. If I had to put the temperature "decades" in order of my personal preference, it would be:

1. 60s
2. 70s
3. 50s
4. 40s
5. 80s
6. 30s
7. 20s
8. 10s
9. 90s
10. 00s
11. -00s
12. -10s
13. 100s

Phil 314 said...

Sounds like last week when I was there.

You all really should learn the concepts of sunshine and warmth.

Ann Althouse said...

I much prefer having to put a coat on to go out and having the heat running inside to being hot outside (with nothing you can do about it) and needing air conditioning.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Grass is nice and green.

chickelit said...

86 degrees on the coast here now. According to my crystal ball, in a week or two you'll be moaning the heat.

edutcher said...

Two words that simply don't go together - chilly and May.

kentuckyliz said...

Finished my business math class last night

What kind of math, dare I ask?

Calc, algebra?

Ann Althouse said...

Sorry - mid 90's in L.A. today - the place sux-out-loud, but the weather...

Mid90s is too hot, in my opinion. If I had to put the temperature "decades" in order of my personal preference, it would be:

1. 60s
2. 70s
3. 50s
4. 40s
5. 80s
6. 30s
7. 20s
8. 10s
9. 90s
10. 00s
11. -00s
12. -10s
13. 100s


Man, you are a cold weather lady. I agree about mid-90s (especially when the humidity is the same), but, had I my druthers

1. 80s
2. 70s
3. 60s
4. 50s
5. 40s
6. 30s
7. 20s
8. 90s
9. 10s
10. 00s
11. 100s
12. -00s
13. -10s

As The Blonde once observed on one of our cruises, "That's my ideal - high 82, low 78".

With low humidity and a nice breeze, it was perfect.

PS Mid 90s with 20% humidity wouldn't be more bearable than you think, Madame.

rhhardin said...

Cold outside eats up aerobic capacity, if you're a bike commuter.

You have to heat up all the air you breathe, and that takes more oxygen in turn, and it sort of goes unstable.

The result is greatly reduced commute speeds, to avoid having to heat up much air.

Hot outside is wonderful. Breeze always keeps you cool.

Synova said...

Say... can any of you old dudes think of any Mars landers/rovers that I've forgotten? I have:

Viking 1&2, Pathfinder (Sojourner rover), Phoenix lander, Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit and Opportunity, Mars Science Lab (Curiosity rover)

I'm skipping the ones that cratered.

Sydney said...

My brother (a newly minted Lutheran minister) found out Tuesday that he's being assigned to a church in Minnesota. On Wednesday the television said it was snowing there. My poor sister-in-law.

Julie C said...

About 88 degrees here in Northern California. I finally gave in and turned on the air conditioner this afternoon.

Got the tomatoes and the peppers in the ground just in time!

Unknown said...

I much prefer cool temperatures. Above 79 degrees and I get sad. I have lived in cool climates for about 90 percent of my life and that's just fine with me except I would like to be able to grow things that take more than 65-70 frost free days.
Can't have both, so I'll take the cool climate.

pm317 said...

MY husband is growing mint in a pot on our deck. He is pretty excited about making mint chutney with it tomorrow for brunch.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Weather report from South Texas is that we got a bizarrely late cold front yesterday afternoon. It's normally into the 90s daily by mid-April, but we've had an unseasonably cool spring overall, and this morning when I left the house it was 53 degrees with a stiff wind blowing that probably dropped it down another 8 degrees or so. Unreal! But pleasant!

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

No Hummingbirds sightings yet in my little piece of SW Wisconsin.

On the bright side, I've had large numbers of feisty gold finches at the feeders the last few days. They really brighten up these otherwise dreary spring days.

sakredkow said...

And in international chess news World Champion Vishy Anand finished in the Alekhine Memorial which ended this week in St. Petersburg. Lev Aronian won and Boris Gelfand, the last unsuccessful challenger to the WCC crown, finished 2nd.

Several of the top 10 players were either at the Alekhine or playing in the FIDE Grand Prix in Zug. Anand's forthcoming challenger Magnus Carlsen however played in neither.

Tim said...

Low 90's in Northern California...and it's wonderful.

We have a dry heat here (seriously - humidity is 14% right now), and it makes all the difference in the world.

Our economics and politics are decidedly second-world, but our weather and sports teams (did you catch the Golden State Warriors upsetting the Denver Nuggets in the NBA playoffs last night?!) are terrific.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

That view looks familiar...

Is that MacArthur Park?

Basta! said...

60s in Boston for a few weeks now, which means we're in the middle of a delightful long spring. I'm definitely with Althouse's 1-2-3. I wish I could find a place that went from spring to fall to spring ad infinitum.

When it rises into the 80s I don't leave the house, into the 90s and I don't leave the bed.

Shanna said...

IT snowed in Arkansas today. Snow! Freeman may have gotten it (I didn't).

That is insane.

Shanna said...

My preference is for high 70's or low 80's with a breeze in the spring or high 60's/low 70's in the fall. Instead, it's going to be 40 on my run in the morning. That's pretty cold for winter, it's absolutely insane for May.

Although it's better than the 108ish weather we had all last summer.

traditionalguy said...

But what is wrong with the mid 90s? Sounds like a moderate weather to me.

The 90s in California is the seasonal Santa Anna hot winds that blow from the inland towards the always cool Pacific coast. They also cause the brush fires in the wind.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The Royals and the Rays played in rain for 3 1/2 innings on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium, with Kansas City taking a 1-0 lead before being stopped by rain. The infield was fixed up and looked playable, but then the snowfall began with the temperature down to 37 degrees.

Its a freak show out there.

Anonymous said...

I left Modesto CA after seventeen years (a good story about my final day at work could follow at some point): I got used to air-conditioned regularity, looking out the window at the hazy overcast sky and thinking it is Fall, until going outside at 8 AM and finding it already Ninety-plus degrees. Now I am in Seattle: 75 degrees is already too warm.

I have acclimated.

rcocean said...

"Now I am in Seattle: 75 degrees is already too warm"

Well, don't worry it won't get above 76 till August, then it might creep above 80 for a day or two. Then its back to clouds and 60 degrees.

rcocean said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcocean said...

"Now I am in Seattle: 75 degrees is already too warm"

Well, don't worry it won't get above 76 till August, then it might creep above 80 for a day or two. Then its back to clouds and 60 degrees.

Freeman Hunt said...

Yes, we woke up to snow covering the ground. Bizarre!

Anonymous said...

Re: "
Well, don't worry it won't get above 76 till August, then it might creep above 80 for a day or two. "

I've been here since 2004. Love Real Weather. It seems every Summer has the day or four above ninety degrees: I have progressed from sleeping on the cool-ish kitchen tile in those rare situations to sleeping in the driveway. The Stars are always Beautiful.



garage mahal said...

All the single ladies, all the single ladies...

(•_•)
<) )╯
/ \

( •_•)
\( (>
/ \

(•_•)
<) )╯
/ \

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Meanwhile...

The great Lindsay Lohan checked into a California rehab center early Friday.

I wish her the best.

Chip Ahoy said...

Did Britain send an unmanned explorer to Mars? They sent a dog. My ack waintences did these, not me.

Beagle spotted by Curiosity's cameras.

He got Beagle 2 as well. The white thing is surreptitious bear. There were vids of him snatching Beagle 1, I think.

Beagle 3.

Methane on Mars.

Reason Beagle II stopped transmitting.

2 mysteries explained. But I do not understand what is explained. What happened to Beagle and ?

What Beagle would have seen.

Beagle has landed.

Beagle has landed, no mistake.

This means it may be on next week (The movie).

Now we know what happened.

Beagle mission criticized for cutting corners.

And many more, almost too many to link, but all that got me thinking, hey, maybe they sent up something that looked like robot floor cleaner and named it Beagle I and then later another one Beagle II so two fails, and that put them off further Mars exploration permanently.

Anonymous said...

Background: Fiance of the Time dumped me. In sweltering Dallas. While visiting her Grandparents. Grandad was in the Hospital. This dumping happened in polite whispers (don't want to wake the neighbors) on the front lawn at 2:00 am while smoking a cigarette.After the News I drove Grandma, the Fiance and her two Boys to the Hospital twice a day until it was time to Fly Home.

Fast-forward a month or three and I am in a groove, if by groove you mean drinking to closing hour, having a 2;30 am breakfast at a diner, dropping people off, then smelling for the clean-ish-ist shirt before heading off to work. This was called Tuesday: the Light Day.

Fast-forward to a beautiful early-summer day on the patio of a restaurant/bar ensconced by cinderblock between a lush park and an adult-video store: Modesto, I still Love You.

At a patio table a group of men in their Fifties (and above) are playing a dice game. One of the men's daughters (mid-twenties?) is sitting with them. laughing along. By even telling this story you can guess: Hot.

Hot-hot.

So I make the Obvious Move: I go to the Bartender and pay for that Table's Next Round, then go back to my seat.

When the drinks arrive I get appreciative nods and the Daughter is now sitting on my lap. Life can be Good that way.

We laugh ( I hadn't developed the Dr. Monkey joke as yet), time goes by, and she excuses herself to the restroom. At this point modesty prevents me from standing straight up. Until.

Junior College Football Dude comes up and confronts me. He is her ex-boyfriend-but-still-boyfriend if that makes sense: it made sense to him, which is I guess what matters.

The obvious: he threatens to beat the hell out of me. In front of a table of young Junior College Girls.

I stand up and explain things:

1) She sat on MY lap;

2) I have been on a Bender for, oh, 36 hours and -- as such -- am invincibly Charming and totally off my rails;

3) as such: if he is going to beat the Hell out of me he better throw the first punch; otherwise, my drink is waiting.

At this point the table of young Junior College Girls are laughing at the sight of the Angry Junior College Football Dude and the Swaying Thirties-ish Bender Guy with Glasses.

I ask one of the Junior College Girls at the Table if she would be willing to hold my glasses because I can't afford to have them Broken. She laughs and says "Yes", so on the table they go.

Lap Girl returns from the Restroom and proceeds to dress down Angry Junior College Football Dude, gives me a kiss on the cheek, and leaves.

The Junior College Girls at the Table are now laughing harder.

Angry Junior College Football Dude tells me I will be Sorry, and is then escorted to the far side of the patio by one of the bouncers,

Now is the time for Ice Water.

I drink many, many glasses of Ice Water before I am fit to go Home.

As I approach my car, keys in hand, I briefly catch a flurry of motion from the side of my eye until: Sucker Punch.

I bang my head against my car door, then bounce my head on the pavement. This combination may explain some of my Althouse postings, I reckon.

I wake up from one of the restaurant's cooks tapping me with his foot:

1) am i alive?

2) I am blocking his car.

Of course, my glasses are broken. However, I have prescription sunglasses, which come in handy since I now have a black eye that prevents people from making any kind of (singular, albeit) eye contact with me.

I haven't quit my job yet, which is the Good Story.

rcommal said...

a song for the zeitgeist

Limited Blogger said...

At the Sunset Cafe, please observe West Chester, PA's order to "shelter in place."

(But hey, if you want to call it a request vs. an order, knock yourself out.)

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/05/03/person-barricaded-inside-west-chester-residence/

Anonymous said...

Clean and sober now. Three hours.

rcocean said...

"I've been here since 2004. Love Real Weather. It seems every Summer has the day or four above ninety degrees: I have progressed from sleeping on the cool-ish kitchen tile in those rare situations to sleeping in the driveway. The Stars are always Beautiful."

Stars are beautiful - when you can see them. Everything is a trade-off.

If you don't mind trading off rain in August for the occasional 70 degree perfect day, and the lack of heat/humidity - well Gods speed Betamax.

Just don't complain when you don't see the sun in January/February.

rcocean said...

To be honest, I'll take Seattle over Dallas anyday of the week.

Memphis area is OK, because I live part of the year somewhere else.

Never gotten used to the summer heat here. Never, ever, ever.

Mrs Rc loves it though. Damn her.

Anonymous said...

Re: "
Just don't complain when you don't see the sun in January/February."

I have the Special Weather Decoder Ring: I can see the Sun through the Rain as long as I have the Special X-Ray Specs and some Special Decoder Ring Juice.

I believe We Make Our Own Sky.


Anonymous said...

Today: Mount Rainier, clean and crisp and True. Yesterday, from the exact same vantage point: like it never even existed.

I like Tricky Mountains.

Anonymous said...

And I Love the Night Owls.

chickelit said...

But do you love the woodsy owls?

ampersand said...

How's the smug up there?

rcocean said...

The Pacific northwest breeds smug. Its a lifetime gift.

rcocean said...

Its a good kind of smug. Unlike the Boston-New England kind. Which breeds assholes like "Ted "wanna go for a ride" Kennedy" or Howard Dean.

Although people tell me those types are moving to the PNW.

Not Beta of course.

Almost Ali said...

Quote of the millennia, spoken today by Jodi Arias prosecutor Juan Martinez:

Never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee - (John Donne)

Michael K said...

My son is out fighting the 6,000 acre Banning fire. Fortunately, it's not the huge Camarillo fire. It's over 30,000 acres and going. it's burned to the coast. Long fire season this year.

bagoh20 said...

Just got out of the shower at 10:30 after a 14 hour day of engineering, preparing materials and equipment, and then driving out of town, and putting in about 10 hours of welding, grinding and pounding metal in the mid 90 degree sun - all outside in the beautiful foothills of L.A. It was a a good way to live a day. I love a long day of hard work, especially in the heat. It makes the relaxation, re-hydration and nourishment afterward nearly into a religious experience that I'm sharing with you now.

The dogs, as usual, ran themselves ragged all day, with a bunch others there. My young female Pit Bull (Bailey), who has the personality of the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz, got bloodied up when three larger dogs ganged up on her, but it all ended without any serious injuries, and she came out all right, and with a bloody face went right back to her usual attitude of:

"Put 'em up! Put 'em up!
Which one of you first?
I'll fight you both together, if you want.
I'll fight you with one paw tied behind my back!"

She acts all tough, but when the fighting really starts, she's always running away, and ends up the one bleeding. She has the most endearing, combination of overconfidence, cowardice, and affection that I just love. She always comes into my bedroom to say good night after I go to bed, then goes to her bed and in the morning wakes me up at sunrise with a gentle nuzzle. She's beautiful too. Check her out:

Bailey

Available for adoption... I think, but I'm kind of smitten.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

Michael,

I really appreciate what your son is doing; a lot of us in L.A. do.

I could see the smoke from the Camarillo fires where I was in Sylmar, and even where I started at in South L.A, over 60 miles away. By sunset, the sky was clearly smokey in Sylmar 40 miles away.

This is way too early for a big fire. I absolutely hate these forest fires. The fires in 2009 completely denuded my favorite hiking and backpacking areas that I have spent decades in living some of the most memorable experiences and adventures of my life, lost in a sylvan paradise that since is nothing but blackened rock and dirt as far as you can see. One of the most saddening things I've ever seen, and these fires are almost always started by some lone asshole on purpose. I can't even imagine how someone can be that incredibly stupid.

Palladian said...

Hot weather is repulsive. Any temperature over 70º F is inhuman, especially if the relative humidity is above about 25%. I like spring, because I love plants, flowers and their smells. But beyond that, inhuman. For savages.

Palladian said...

Cold weather breeds intelligence and art.

Palladian said...

I once recorded what I consider the perfect spring weather:

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City. Sunday, April 2nd 2006 at 2:51 PM EST

Temperature: 64º F (18º C)
Humidity: 19%
Dewpoint: 21º F (-6º C)
Atmospheric Pressure: 1015.7 millibars

edutcher said...

OK, The Blonde is coming home around 11:30 last night after babysitting her younger great nephew all day.

Some 5' 2" female cop lounging in a Bob Evans parking lot pulls her over. Asks for license, registration, and insurance.

The offense?

27 in a 25 zone and, "What are you doing out at this hour, ma'am?". Herself suppresses the urge to tell her it's none of her damned business and explains, at which point she is informed she'll have to take a breathalyzer test (since anything with alcohol makes her violently ill, this is a joke, but she complies).

She asks, "Was I driving erratically, officer?". No answer.

She's eventually allowed to go on her way with some yellow slip listing her heinous offenses (I suppose they'd run out of scarlet letters).

I can appreciate the cops would want to be vigilant as this is Cinco De Quatro weekend and some people will use a holiday to whose observation in this country they object violently to go out and get smashed, but it seems to me we're getting awfully close to the, "Your papers, please", stage in this country.

As I say, Constitutional rights is becoming a contact sport?

WWAD?

Palladian said...

I received this amazing Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab release of Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home" and it's incredible. It's a revelation.

My link is, of course, through the Althouse Amazon Portal.

edutcher said...

kentuckyliz said...

Question: is there a good timeline of American religious history, general or law-specific, on the iNterwebZ anywhere?

You may have to define "good".

In any case, this good enough?.

If you want something else, just use your own search terms:

timeline American religious history

edutcher said...

PS I love this headline off Breitbart:

We Don't 'tolerate' religious views on homosexuality.

Lefties are tolerant, even if it means they must be intolerant.

AllenS said...

Presently 31º with light rain

Forecast --

Today -- Rain likely, mainly before 10am. Cloudy, with a high near 45. North northeast wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Tonight -- A 30 percent chance of rain. Cloudy, with a low around 39. North northeast wind around 10 mph.

AllenS said...

And then there's the furnace. It shouldn't be running at all this time of the year. Or, maybe once in a while. Not day after day.

Chip Ahoy said...

Insty has a link to Rosetta Stone sale. You can lean any language you want! Okay, I want to learn Middle Egyptian, does Rosetta Stone have that? No, Rosetta Stone does not have Egyptian hieroglyphics.

That there is what you call a paradox, or if it went further, perhaps irony.

It is a say-what-you-see language, that is, they were not big on silent letters especially when they're being chiseled in stone, you know what I mean. I never heard anyone mention this so I guess it is up to me to tell the world, the Egyptians of the day pronounced the P in Ptolomy because it's right there in stone. The P is a square. It represents a woven offering mat. (incidentally, I notice misinformation about this all over the place about what that is, I just read it means a stool, but G is a stool, and furniture was rare anyway) It says very clearly, in stone, p.t.o.l.o.m.i.i.s , pronounced back then as, puhtollmeeze and not tollamy. The stone says so.

Q(k)-l-eh-o-p-ah-d-r-ah-swacht(egg [daughter])-t[female] --> Qleopadra -- Cleopatra

The way you see this explained varies. It's frustrating because the phonemes are similar but not exact, the triangle thing at front of Cleopatra is actually a cutaway vieiw of mountain side, and they say it means K but it really means Q, a K is a woven basket with a single handle, not a cutaway of a mountainside (without the handle it means something else, two things, actually, and one quite important having to do with lordship) But still, a P is never mistaken for a B or a V as it is in some languages. In Egyptian a P very nicely translates to English P, and that is a square, and the square represents a mat, and the P is always pronounced, there is no case of silent P as there is in English.

So when you see, say, Ptahhotep chiseled in stone, then allow the moment it takes to say the P. He's a puh-hayrow after all.

Rosetta Stone language programs. pish tosh.

There is an online class for Middle Egyptian starting up right now. If you are interested -- and who wouldn't be? -- using the Collier text. So by golly, you're invited. Doesn't it sound like fun?

STEP #1
Send A FIRST AND LAST NAME (it's required) your preferred email address, and an INDICATION THAT YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CM13 SECTION
to Karen, your GlyphStudy moderator, at the following address

Glyphstudy-owner@yahoogroups.com

STEP #2
APPLY TO JOIN THE MAIN GLYPHSTUDY LIST at this link
GlyphStudy-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

STEP #3
APPLY TO JOIN THE CM2013 HOMEWORK LIST at this link
HMWKCollier-Manley2013-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Rusty said...

I got my picture taken by a famous professional photographer yesterday.
I think it's for a book on truly hideous and unusual looking people.He didn't say why he wanted to photograph me.
And I'm fat too. So it could also be about that.
Hey! It's a cafe we can talk about anything.
I'm gonna go look for mushrooms now, bye.

Rusty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
George M. Spencer said...

The Bureau of Economic Analysis is changing the way it measures U.S. GDP in such a way that it will add 3 percent to GDP starting this fall.

One of the changes involves counting the cost of producing TV shows, movies, and music as investments. So...if you spend money developing a sitcom, this is now regarded by the U.S. government as the same as Apple's R&D costs. Theoretically, it can generate long-term revenues just like an iPhone.

And to think the fate of America's economy rests on the shoulders of Jerry Seinfeld. Soon laughs per joke will be used as a calculation by the government which will measure happiness as a form of potential future productivity.

And if I understand it, from now on government pensions' GDP impact will be calculated based on what the government promises to pay not on what has actually been invested.

Not unlike saying unemployment is down without considering the vast numbers of unemployed the government no longer counts.

pm317 said...

Jokes created or saved..

Ann Althouse said...

"My link is, of course, through the Althouse Amazon Portal."

I appreciate the effort, but your link reads:

http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-All-Back-Home-Dylan/dp/B00B89X0AY/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1367661344&sr=1-1&keywords=bringing+it+all+back+home+mobile+fidelity

The word "althouse" doesn't appear, so it's not a link that will work for us. Here's what it should look like:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B89X0AY?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00B89X0AY&linkCode=xm2&tag=althouse-20

To make it clickable: Here

That's the record album that's meant the most to me over the years, with a couple of other Dylan albums closely in the running.

Ann Althouse said...

Only the first page you get to from the Amazon portal will have "althouse" in the URL. Even though you can click to other pages and -- if you complete the sale before going elsewhere -- give credit to us, you can't take the URLs from those additional pages and to give as links for other people.

One way to get the right link is to put the name of the exact thing in the search box and use the URL from that first page. Don't click on the individual item (as it's tempting to do to get a better page). Go with the search results page.

Palladian said...

I did my best, Althouse.

ken in tx said...

Soon I am moving to Austin TX. I just signed and faxed a bunch of paperwork about buying a house there. We plan on spending winters there and summers in the North Carolina mountains, on a TVA lake. Franklin,our dog, is still missing.

ken in tx said...

Here in up-country SC, it is 55 and windy, cool for this time of year. It is usually about 10 degrees cooler in the NC mountains.

chickelit said...

Will you rename yourself "ken in tx"?

ken in tx said...

Yeah, Pollo, I'll have to make some adjustments.