Well, it’s looking quite Christmasy out my window this morning. The trees are full of snow, the driveway is full of snow – everything looks bright and shiny. Well, not super bright, ‘cuz the sun’s not out, but it looks like the snow is mostly over (and I can see a brightening sky off to the west – not sun, mind you, but brighter clouds). And it’s already a lot warmer this morning than it ever got yesterday, so that’s good.
It’s hard to tell how much we got without actually going out there and walking around in it. Maybe 8 inches. Maybe 10. Less than a foot, anyway, which is my official standard for determining whether it’s just a little snow, or it’s a pain in the ass. So, just a little snow, and I’ll have to get out there and plow the driveway at some point (in the afternoon, after I make sure it’s not gonna snow more – though that’s hard to tell around here. All the wind has to do is switch direction and it can pile up in a hurry).
I’ve been trying a new keyboard app for my tablet – SwiftKey. It’s supposed to be very good at learning what you type and then predicting it for you, plus it has a lot of very nice little features. Unfortunately, I don’t really type all that much on my tablet, so it’s probably not going to be very well-trained by the time my 30-day trial is up. But since it’s only $3.99, I guess it won’t break the bank to buy it. It’s a shame that SwiftKey appears to be Android-only, ‘cuz if there’s a keyboard that needs replacing, it’s the one in my work iPhone. Its version of auto-correct truly blows. I don’t know how the kids bang out text messages and tweets (let alone e-mails, but maybe kids don’t use e-mail except to contact their parents) on these things. I’d say in the future, humans will evolve to have really pointy fingertips, except I’m sure they’ll perfect voice recognition (another area where Android blows iOS away) or a brain interface before that happens.
Turns out Megyn Kelly was “just kidding” when she said Santa Claus is clearly a white dude. I’m not sure I get what the joke was (really didn’t sound like her little panel of Foxists were joking around), but she did seem to admit that the part where Jesus was a white guy is still open to debate. It’s kind of shameful to admit that she not only went to SU but was actually born here (though she moved away when she was 9 – they must have messed her up in Delmar).
Out old pal Frothy Rick Santorum says that government-provided healthcare is just a way to kill off the people who don’t vote the right way. I don’t actually think that’s true – but it’s not a bad idea. I’m not sure how you make sure the right people get denied care and die off, though. Maybe some kind of a questionnaire? Of course, assuming he was bitching about Obamacare, that really isn’t government-provided healthcare. It’s not even government-provided insurance. I’m not really sure what it is, to be honest, other than certain regulations about who can get denied insurance and the extent to which insurance companies can screw people and the requirement that everybody (well, sorta everybody) gets insurance and the feds give really poor people subsidies to get insurance. Oh, and there’s something in there about death panels and killing babies and stuff. But no actual health care that I can see.
Well, I suppose I ought to go out there and tromp around in the snow for a while. The dogs sure seem to be having fun.
:cold: :joe: [Peets]
Season 2 of Lillehammer is out on Netflix. :dancers:
(My brain is thinking in emos today….Speaking of brains, the Lobotomy Files is a pretty powerful series in the WSJ.)
The dire weather report on MSNBC just now had Syracuse prominently featured in its weather map although I do not think I heard the word. It sounds like there is more on the way.
I watched Megyn’s ‘explanation’ right out of right wing ‘apology’ style book. “It was a joke, humour. You know, like Jon Stewart and the other late night comedian hosts. I think hers is the worst attempt to invoke that rule yet. It is also rich to see how they rail contemptuously about the ‘victim’ culture and how hard they play the victim card for themselves in cases like this.
I haven’t watched Lilyhammer yet but Scandinavian Silvio has a nice ring to it. I’ve been watching Alpha House and Treme lately.
I don’t think there’s anything major coming our way. But then MSNBC thinks we’re on the Vermont border, right?
I was just getting up and all of the weather maps had S’cuse on them and were talking about more to come Tuesday. It must be a bitch to have a communications dept. that permeates the media and controls the graphics.
😉
Peter O’Toole, star of Lawrence of Arabia, dies aged 81
Actor who shot to fame in David Lean’s 1962 masterpiece and received eight Oscar nominations has died in hospital in London
🙁 :gate: :alc:
Sunshine and everything!
Lovely!
It snowed all day Saturday. Lola was very pleased and did her best to turn some of it yellow. Then about 9 PM it began to change to rain and at midnight it was pouring. Sunday morning was dry and clear and there was no snow anywhere. No plows needed.
Now the weather channel says snow on Monday. Lola will once again be thrilled. Me? Not so much though it is very pretty.
Snow on Shelter Island is not as much of a disaster as snow in the city. The roads get plowed and it’s usually possible to get around. In the city the streets are plowed more slowly. First the large thoroughfares, then the smaller ones and finally the tertiary streets such as the ones in Red Hook. And, the plows throw the snow on the cars that are parked, When folks dig out their cars they throw the snow back onto the street. There is no other place to put it. And so it goes. The sidewalks are supposed to be cleared by the home owners. Some do a thorough job, some not so much. So walking can be treacherous. But the thing I truly hate is stepping off the curb onto what I think is snow and finding it was floating on top of cold, dirty slush which soaks my shoes and pants. Nothing like going to work wet, cold and dirty.
More snow. This, according to the weather channel is an Alberta Clipper, which is neither a ship nor a sports team.