Blue House Diaries - Recent Comments

Lightning color

Linnaeus — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:08:28 GMT

The color of lightning depends on a couple of things, mostly distance and particulates in the air.

The farther away lightning is, the more yellowish (or even red) it will look. This is because because the intervening atmosphere scatters shorter wavelengths of light, leaving longer wavelengths to be seen. Yellow is of longer wavelength than blue. My guess is that western Washington's proxmity to the ocean meant a greater proportion of water vapor in the air (possibly also the existence of particulate matter generated by the urban centers along Puget Sound) also had a hand in the situation, and made the lightning there look more yellow than it would in a place like Iowa.

As an analogy, notice that a full moon near the horizon looks more yellowish than one higher in the sky. The light being reflected off of the moon is being scattered by the intervening layers of the atmosphere more so when the moon is near the horizon than when it is not.

Enjoy yourself, chicklet!!

mplo — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:32:13 GMT

Have fun!!

i'm not sure if i buy it

chicklet — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:35:42 GMT

or not, but you always find a way to shine a light, cs.

thanks.

4th of july

chicklet — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:32:47 GMT

is the anniversary of our first date. 21st of July is the wedding anniversary.

I'm trying to pretend that this isn't an election year, at least for today. tomorrow i'll go back to ranting again.

Forgot to link:

Cathy — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:57:25 GMT

An important note, as well, they took this directly to Obama's web site:

Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right

Seems a good place to practice the development of our citizenship.

cool photo

bluebird o'happiness — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:13:20 GMT

Tonight, more fireworks. But I can't help wondering how much pollution it dumps into the air. Should we be concerned? I dunno.

A few nights ago there were electrical storms all over western Washington. Someone spotted a funnel cloud. I saw the lightning - it was yellow, shooting straight toward the ground. In Iowa, the lightning was blue, so what accounts for the change of appearance? What's different about the air here? I felt it coming all day, the sense that something strange was going to happen, the humidity and a weird pressure in the air.

The good: Going to my cousin's house.

The bad: No decent clothes.

The BFD: Still, so much to do.

I love the response of.....

Cathy — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:37:50 GMT

...Mike Stark and some other people. They have just simply stayed calm, and organized a response on FISA, generating Obama's response yesterday.

That's a good thing, even if I'm unmoved by Obama's explanation.

Shutting up is nonsense. Exactly right you are, for "development of our citizenship." It's not for me about damning Obama, it's about never forgetting what our involvement is about and that politicians should be used by us, not the other way around.

As for in the bag, though not your exact words, I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure he's no less susceptible to the charge that Democrats don't stand for anything, are afraid of their own views, will say anything, etc. etc. I think it's pretty clear that's why Kerry lost and I can't imagine why this won't similarly affect Obama. That and the fact that McCain has enjoyed a reputation as a moderate and maintains that in the eyes of voters who aren't paying attention day to day, contradictory evidence, notwithstanding. Unless the Obama campaigns figures out that you define your opponent and set the terms for the debate or get run over by the same busload of bs that's been losing elections for Democrats the last two presidential cycles.

I'm not sure how his campaigning with a return to caution and the same old same old doesn't already tell us what we can expect in President Obama. I mean it's already a problem. It's predictive now.

So you think his life experience, so different than any other president we've had, will make him responsive in ways we can't predict now?

All right, I'll go read the shock doctrine now. If I have something important, or even unimportant to say, I'll return. :)

Meanwhile, Happy Fourth, dear wu and everyone. Celebrate all of our desires and dedication to pursuing "let America be America" if nothing else. Or just the day off.

Perhaps I wasn't clear.

Cathy — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:12:09 GMT

I was not arguing that Obama's new position on not filibustering FISA is OK.

Just the opposite.

And I won't be surprised if any misunderstanding is my fault. I've already said in a different comment today "don't keep silent" when I meant "don't speak up" Big difference. ;)

to be honest

wu ming — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:20:30 GMT

i think that the stars are so aligned for him right now that he'll do fine, election-wise, even with the bad advice he's getting (and perhaps even more problematic, his fundamental approach to the world that makes such advice seem reasonable to him). it's important to given him feedback and not mince our words (and maybe, maybe even organize ourselves into something with a bit more bite than a gaggle of fundraising enthusiasts or venters), but more for our own development as citizens than in any vain hope that he'll heed them and change course.

he might be following a perilous and familiar path, but the moment in history is quite different than all those other times dems thought they would get the presidency on a platter, and he's a far better candidate than we've seen in years, possibly decades.

it's events, once president, that will wrap his little boat upon the rocks.it is for that eventuality that we ought to be focused, IMO, how to build some kind of response, pressure, or hell, even inchoate outrage or a certain intensity, that will have to be taken into account when those events take place.

i think he has the election safely gamed. born at the right time, perhaps. reality, however, will be a bit less amenable. there's our chance.

for what it's worth, his pre-political experience may help us in that sort of moment, in that he has been something other than a white, rich child of privilege and servant of imperial power, has been exposed to left critiques of same (even when he has found them shrill or excessive), and has lived among the victims of the office and power structure he's poised to attain. while it's quite likely that he serves that structure just as a consequence of desiring and attaining control of it, that past experience might give us a bit of traction in pushing alternatives to this wretched system in the event of a crisis.

in short, a left shock doctrine. a long shot, granted, but a better chance in a rupture than most of the time.

I've made up my mind that

mplo — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:15:51 GMT

I really don't like either of the two POTUS candidates that we've got right now, and will rebell at the polls by either voting for a third party or by doing my own write-in. I will not accept having to vote for the lesser of two evils any longer.