- If only the super high-tech jet fighters had identified, clarified & classified, they’d have seen the attack for what it really was.
- Good grief. “Traditional marriage” didn’t go away when gays were let into the club. It doesn’t need a discriminatory law to “restore” it.
- South Coast Plaza has Christmas decorations up ALREADY. Halloween doesn’t exist, I guess. Or Thanksgiving.
Category: General
Quake and Con
We had an earthquake about an hour ago — 5.4 in Chino Hills, a bit east of Los Angeles. We’re all long-term Californians at work, and there wasn’t any obvious damage (a couple of precariously-balanced objects fell over, but that was it) so discussion was mainly curiosity. Where was it, how big, what type of quake, etc.
But it got me thinking: What if it had happened during Comic-Con?
The quake was felt in San Diego, though there haven’t been any reports of injuries or damage, well, anywhere. Now consider 120,000+ people crammed into an already overcrowded building, many from other parts of the country who have never experienced an earthquake before and aren’t accustomed to them. Some of them would undoubtedly freak out.
Now imagine a hundred or so people in the middle of that Comic-Con crowd panicking and deciding they need to get out, now.
Yeah. I’m thinking stampede. Not a pretty thought.
The Inadequacy of the Car Horn
This morning I found myself asking the question: How do you tell someone their gas cap is open at 65 MPH?
I was on one of those giant, arcing ramps connecting one freeway to another, and noticed that the car in front of me (a PT Cruiser, I think) had something flopping around on its side. It quickly became clear that it was the gas cap, still tethered to the car, with the open flap above it. As we both merged onto the next freeway, I contemplated: how could I tell the driver?
On city streets, I’d try to pull up next to the car at a red light, roll the window down, wave, maybe honk the horn, and then say, “Your gas cap is open.”
But on a highway with no stopping points, at a speed where safe driving distance would keep us out of earshot?
I thought about honking the horn. But what good would that do? A horn only says one thing: “Hey!” Sure, you can vary it a little to give it a sense of urgency — “Hey! Hey!Hey!” “Heeeeeeeey!!!!!!” But it doesn’t allow much for specifics. I suppose you could try Morse code, but I wouldn’t count on most people being able to understand it — I’m an Eagle Scout and I only remember 4 letters — and it would take too long to spell out a message anyway.
Should I try to get in the next lane, match speeds, wave, and try to point to the back of the car? No, that didn’t seem safe.
Flash my headlights? No, that had the same problem as the horn. Too vague.
Outside of the basics (turn signals & brake lights) and a few standard signals (flashing the brights to tell someone you’re passing) — there really isn’t a good way to tell another driver something specific, like “Your lights are off,” “You’ve got a coffee mug on your roof,” or “Stop trying to crawl into my trunk.” Which I suppose is just as well, judging by a random sampling of bumper stickers and the way people treat other drivers. The enhanced road rage might cause more hazards than the enhanced communication would solve.
As for this morning’s PT Cruiser, I eventually I saw it move over to the shoulder. I guess there must have been a warning light on the dashboard.
Hidden Costs of Moving
This past week has mostly been taken up by unpacking, at least to the point that we can use things. We got most of the bedroom set up the first night — we needed somewhere to sleep — but the rest has been slow going. We finally got the TV and DVD player hooked up today, and tested it by re-watching Raiders of the Lost Ark.*
One thing I’ve noticed is all the extra expenses that pile up after the move.
You have to replace things lost during the move. I misplaced the screws that held together the bed frame when I dismantled it, so after we moved the last boxes in and got cleaned up, I drove out to Lowe’s looking for replacement hardware. Similarly, we forgot to remove the under-the-cupboard paper towel holder, and had to get a new one.
There are also things you can’t take with you. Stick-on wall hooks in the closet, for instance.
Or things that are included in one place, but not in another. Our old apartment had a built-in lock on its garage storage. At this place, we had to get a padlock. (Well, actually, we didn’t. A day after buying it, I found one in my toolbox that I’d forgotten.) We also had to get a shower curtain rod. Fortunately we have plenty of lamps, but that’s one I’ve run into when moving before.
All this on top of the stuff you expect to pay: rent, deposits, boxes, movers or a rental truck, pizza for friends who are helping, etc.
*Regarding Indy, I had originally planned to re-watch the entire Indiana Jones trilogy before going out this weekend to see Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But it took a while to empty enough boxes to get the TV set up. We did manage to watch Last Crusade on one of the computers, which was a bit awkward. We went out with friends on Saturday to catch the new film. It was a lot of fun, but not phenomenal. Better than Temple of Doom (which is still better than a lot of films) but not as good as Raiders or Last Crusade.
Missing Posts Found
Five posts since last weekend didn’t show up properly in the feed, so if you’re following by RSS or LiveJournal, you probably missed these:
- No, They Don’t Read — A study finds out just how little people actually read on the web.
- Hazards of DRM on Music (or video, or any other media) — If the DRM provider ever shuts down (as Microsoft is shutting down PlaysForSure), the tracks you bought will be a waste of bits.
- Efficiency at the DMV — no, really!
- Weirdest Spam Yet — It’s NOT your fault that your spells and rituals aren’t turning out like you want… YET.
- Judging a Book’s Cover — Historical novels that reuse the same covers, sometimes many times over.
(For the record: the GMT timestamps were set to zero. It seems to be this problem, probably triggered by turning on the XCache-based object cache last weekend. I’ve applied a patch, so let’s see if it works.)
Efficiency at the DMV
Yes, I’m shocked as well. 🙂 This morning I had to go into the Department of Motor Vehicles for the first time in several years, and was surprised to find that they’d actually worked out a very efficient system for handling people as they came in. I don’t know if this is standard across the California DMV, or if it’s specific to the Laguna Hills office, but I was impressed.
It’s a 2-stage system, starting with a single line, then a set of take-a-number queues running in parallel.
- Everyone starts in a single line leading to a “Directory” desk. The clerk at this desk handles initial questions and hands out the appropriate forms.
- You fill out the forms, then go back to the desk without standing in line again.
- The directory desk assigns you a number in one of several queues, depending on the type of service you need (ID, license, registration, testing, etc.).
- They call your number and send you to an open window.
The thing that impressed me was step 2. They have you fill out the forms before they assign you to a queue. That means that you won’t get caught half-way through the form when your number is called, so clerks at the windows don’t have to wait around while you finish filling things out. That means they can handle more people in the same amount of time.
The only problem I noticed with this part of the system was that it wasn’t clear where to go if you had an appointment.
Well, that and the occasional clueless visitor. I felt really stupid after marveling at the simple optimization, then discovering when I got to the window that I’d missed a section. 😳
Clouds Replace Smoke
The change in the weather has brought in clouds today (Saturday), and even the occasional sprinkle of rain. It apparently helped slow the Santiago Fire considerably.
I went into work this morning to deal with some network problems (you may have noticed that this site was down for a while), then went over to the Spectrum to grab lunch and take a look at Leopard. (Incidentally, my plan seems to have failed: Amazon shipped the box yesterday, so I’ll have it in just a few days. And I’ll really want to put it on the PowerBook.) I went up to the top of the parking structure to take a look at what was visible.
There’s considerably less smoke than yesterday, and you can see the beginnings of a layer of haze below the hills. The cloud of smoke peeking out from behind the lower peak just in front of Saddleback stayed there, without getting visibly larger or smaller.
The air’s been relatively clear, except for the fertilizer smell when I walked out of the office. People were out shopping and sitting at outdoor tables. I saw one woman walk by with a face mask, but everyone else seemed to be taking things as normally as possible.
The apartment complex cleaned out the pool, which a few days ago had intricate patterns of ash lining the bottom.
They also finally cleared away the remnants of the tree that collapsed on Sunday. They chopped it up into smaller pieces, and moved it off the sidewalk, but left the stacks of logs, branches, the stump and piles of sawdust sitting on the lawn for the rest of the week. After a day or so, the sawdust turned almost bright orange. My best guess is that they ran the sprinklers.
Of the two co-workers who live out in Silverado, one cleared out on Tuesday, while the other stayed to help out with, well whatever he could. Putting out spot fires, rescuing animals, scouting. His wife has been sending out email updates whenever he manages to contact her. I ran into the one who evacuated at the office today (he frequently comes in on weekends). At the time, the prognosis didn’t look good, but now it sounds like the canyon homes were spared for another day.
It still wasn’t encouraging when, walking to the Corner Bakery at the Tustin Marketplace tonight, Katie and I were again able to see a red glow in the mountains. We went looking for a spot where I could both steady the camera and see the glow, and finally set it up on one of those waist-height light poles lining the entryways to the parking lot.
The glow brightened and dimmed several times while we paused.
This is a 10-second exposure taken around 8:50 PM. You can see how well-lit the parking lot is by looking at the trees. I suspect the Marketplace is the primary reason we can’t see as many stars from home as I’d like.