I am Karan from Olympia, WA.
Almost every other name used here is a pseodonympseudonimpseudonymn alias.
The rest of it is true - mostly - and all of it is my own.
Don't even think about taking any of it, unless of course, you want to pay me.
Random Wisdom:
Do, or do not. There is no 'try'. - Yoda
Except for incredibly cold temperatures in early December, we’ve had a terribly boring, mild winter. I know...all of you in the rest of the world are going oh-shut-up but for me...I’m a little bit sad about it. I was so prepared too...I even compiled this graphic:
There might be some hope for me...it snowed on April 1st last year!
Remember when I was writing about how I get USGS notifications of earthquakes? Remember when I reported that I didn’t want to move to the west coast of South America? Today, I’m glad we didn’t ignore my trepidation and hook up the old U-Haul.
Chile’s 8.8 quake is 500 times more energy released than the 7.0 quake that shook apart Haiti. It is about twice the depth of the Haitian earthquake which is a good thing...but on a scale of <0 to 10, 8.8 is a mighty shake. The tsunami warnings are all over the Pacific Ocean, even here in Washington we have a tsunami advisory, on the ocean coast and in Puget Sound. (see the difference between a tsunami warning and a tsunami advisory)
Today my earthquake obsession peaked when I opened my email inbox:
click for larger clearer view
Do you see that? At 9:25am Pacific time, in the about 9 hours since the 8.8 quake, Chile has had twelve 5.5 or greater aftershocks. (I don’t see notifications for <5.5) Those aftershocks are frightening in their magnitude...and I’m sure those people are at best getting tired of the shaking.
I’ve been abusing Matt Baldwin’s (of Defective Yeti fame) generosity for as long as he’s put himself up for the abuse and once again, I’m offering up his Oscar Pool for all of my family, friends and visitors.
The Flummel version is here for you to play. Go ahead, guess and submit and then wait for the results. If you guess correctly more than anyone else playing this game, you will win an official prize, from me, the cheapskate. (there’s a hint there in regard to the no-expense-spared-assumption you all have about the prize) Have fun!
will be sour but it is what it is...or as Popeye says, I yam what I yam.
Yes, I’m going to write about the Olympics. The Olympics that, depending upon the venue, are no farther than six hours from me - not east or west of me, but directly north of me, straight up as the crow flies. The Olympics in British Columbia, the very same British Columbia which shares my own beloved Pacific Time Zone. It’s that shared clock that had me happy that I might be able to actually watch all my favorite events in real time...as they actually happen.
NBC is going to have none of that and they proved it on day one. While the Olympians were marching toward their seats in that odd alphabetical order of theirs, our own NBC affiliate was broadcasting pure crap....while at the same moment, beamed the ceremony live to the east coast which as you have probably already guessed if not already knew, it 3 fricking hours later than we who share the time zone. So...we who share the BC time zone...had to watch the stupid thing tape-delayed while struggling to stay awake until midnight.
I don’t know what’s what with the east, but I don’t really care....I figure if you are out of the time zone, there’s going to be some challenge to viewing events but why can’t we watch it in actual time no matter when other’s see it? Why oh why oh why?
I know. Nothing in this world is more important then when Karan gets to view the Olympics so I’d like each and every one of you to send off a scathing letter to Dick Ebersol at NBCGiveKaranHerOlympicsInRealTime.com.
And, even though it’s been a constant source of “discussion” in this house since last night, Leonard disavows all participation in this rant.