Category Archives: General

General

Two Confidence Anecdotes

I recently got a call from Chase left on my answering machine telling me to call an 800 number and have my credit card available to authenticate myself. The trouble is, they didn’t authenticate themselves. Anyone could have made that call to me and if I did what the call said, I would be giving my credit card number (and probably the date, secret code and every else they asked me) to a bad actor. I authenticated them by dialing the number on the back of my card, but I worry that there will be a smart confidence man who will figure this out before the rest of the world figures out how to stop leaving openings.

I also received two calls about my “Virgin lottery territory” piece that Buzz Aldrin liked. Two other people called because they received checks from a “Virgin Lottery” that didn’t cash, they searched for that on the web and my article and phone number came up. Never mind that my article dealt with the 17th century lottery that helped fund Virginia colonization, they thought I might know something about modern fraud.

General

Another (Frickin’) Sunny Day In South Florida

This should be cause for celebration, right?

Wrong. Why?

First of all, I hate the sun. I mean, it’s nice that it’s up there to provide energy and all, but I really don’t like it. It’s bright, I have to put on sunglasses, I have to slather myself with goop to protect myself from the rays, it makes it hotter here than it would be without it (which is hot enough, given the latitude). One of the things that I love about coastal California is that it is so reliably cloudy and foggy (and cool) almost every day, at least part of the day if not all day.

Second, the last couple weeks have been predicting rain every day. I look at the radar, and see thunderstorms all around, but they never make it here (the Gulf coast looks like it’s been getting drenched, though). It’s tantalizing. I see green blotches heading towards us, or standing right next to us, but not moving at all, and either they don’t move, or they move and dissipate before they actually get here.

Today, we were supposed to get Yet Another Tropical Wave that was supposed to bring us wind, and rain, and miserable (by the local standard–what do they know?–they like sun. And flat. And hot. And humid) weather, and yet, the sun has been shining all day.

I’ve filled the pool, I’ve watered the lawn, in vain, to attempt to cause some non-trivial precipitation, but no go.

One of the few things that I like about this God-forsaken (if an agnostic can use that phrase) land is that it gets thunderstorms. But not here. Not now.

[Rant Off]

General

Another (Frickin’) Sunny Day In South Florida

This should be cause for celebration, right?

Wrong. Why?

First of all, I hate the sun. I mean, it’s nice that it’s up there to provide energy and all, but I really don’t like it. It’s bright, I have to put on sunglasses, I have to slather myself with goop to protect myself from the rays, it makes it hotter here than it would be without it (which is hot enough, given the latitude). One of the things that I love about coastal California is that it is so reliably cloudy and foggy (and cool) almost every day, at least part of the day if not all day.

Second, the last couple weeks have been predicting rain every day. I look at the radar, and see thunderstorms all around, but they never make it here (the Gulf coast looks like it’s been getting drenched, though). It’s tantalizing. I see green blotches heading towards us, or standing right next to us, but not moving at all, and either they don’t move, or they move and dissipate before they actually get here.

Today, we were supposed to get Yet Another Tropical Wave that was supposed to bring us wind, and rain, and miserable (by the local standard–what do they know?–they like sun. And flat. And hot. And humid) weather, and yet, the sun has been shining all day.

I’ve filled the pool, I’ve watered the lawn, in vain, to attempt to cause some non-trivial precipitation, but no go.

One of the few things that I like about this God-forsaken (if an agnostic can use that phrase) land is that it gets thunderstorms. But not here. Not now.

[Rant Off]

General

Another (Frickin’) Sunny Day In South Florida

This should be cause for celebration, right?

Wrong. Why?

First of all, I hate the sun. I mean, it’s nice that it’s up there to provide energy and all, but I really don’t like it. It’s bright, I have to put on sunglasses, I have to slather myself with goop to protect myself from the rays, it makes it hotter here than it would be without it (which is hot enough, given the latitude). One of the things that I love about coastal California is that it is so reliably cloudy and foggy (and cool) almost every day, at least part of the day if not all day.

Second, the last couple weeks have been predicting rain every day. I look at the radar, and see thunderstorms all around, but they never make it here (the Gulf coast looks like it’s been getting drenched, though). It’s tantalizing. I see green blotches heading towards us, or standing right next to us, but not moving at all, and either they don’t move, or they move and dissipate before they actually get here.

Today, we were supposed to get Yet Another Tropical Wave that was supposed to bring us wind, and rain, and miserable (by the local standard–what do they know?–they like sun. And flat. And hot. And humid) weather, and yet, the sun has been shining all day.

I’ve filled the pool, I’ve watered the lawn, in vain, to attempt to cause some non-trivial precipitation, but no go.

One of the few things that I like about this God-forsaken (if an agnostic can use that phrase) land is that it gets thunderstorms. But not here. Not now.

[Rant Off]