History, going cheap.
Robert Sneddon
other people rate. Their heroes grace the silver screen, or the covers
of glossy magazines. Ours do things - scientists, engineers, thinkers of
all stripes.
ObTangent: I'm looking for a new place to stay in the UK, after my
extended Xmas trip to America. I'm monitoring a newsgroup,
ed.accomodation, to see what's available in Edinburgh. The latest flat
to rent on offer caught my eye. It's two bedrooms, a couple of boxrooms,
the usual modern flat with fitted this and that, for a thousand bucks a
month.
Oh, and it's the house James Clerk Maxwell was born in in 1831.
--
To reply by email, send to nojay (at) antipope (dot) org
Robert Sneddon
Chad Irby
> ObTangent: I'm looking for a new place to stay in the UK, after my
> extended Xmas trip to America. I'm monitoring a newsgroup,
> ed.accomodation, to see what's available in Edinburgh. The latest flat
> to rent on offer caught my eye. It's two bedrooms, a couple of boxrooms,
> the usual modern flat with fitted this and that, for a thousand bucks a
> month.
>
> Oh, and it's the house James Clerk Maxwell was born in in 1831.
It's a nice place to stay, but they have problems with the heating and
cooling systems in the house. For some reason, all of the hot air moves
to one side of the room, and all of the cold air moves to the other...
--
Chad Irby \ My greatest fear: that future generations will,
ci...@cfl.rr.com \ for some reason, refer to me as an "optimist."
Dorothy J Heydt
> ObTangent: I'm looking for a new place to stay in the UK, after my
> extended Xmas trip to America. I'm monitoring a newsgroup,
> ed.accomodation, to see what's available in Edinburgh. The latest flat
> to rent on offer caught my eye. It's two bedrooms, a couple of boxrooms,
> the usual modern flat with fitted this and that, for a thousand bucks a
> month.
What makes me pine (other than the price, which is $205 less than
we're paying for a three-bedroom flat in Albany CA), is the
"couple of boxrooms." Storage space. Our really very nice
apartment has, in the way of storage, (a) a clothes closet in
each bedroom, (b) a linen closet in the hallway, (c) quite a lot
of cupboards in the kitchen, and (wait for it, wait for it...)
(d) a little compartment on the outside of the building, with
a footprint of maybe 8 x 2 feet. (That is, <2 metres x <1.)
Into this we shove what used to fill up a three-bedroom house
with a basement. *sigh*
Though I probably wouldn't want to go live in Edinburgh, pretty
though it is; I've never learned to live in snow.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt
Gary Farber
: We in fandom have our heroes, and they tend not to be the heroes the
: other people rate. Their heroes grace the silver screen, or the covers
: of glossy magazines. Ours do things - scientists, engineers, thinkers of
: all stripes.
: ObTangent: I'm looking for a new place to stay in the UK, after my
: extended Xmas trip to America. I'm monitoring a newsgroup,
: ed.accomodation, to see what's available in Edinburgh. The latest flat
: to rent on offer caught my eye. It's two bedrooms, a couple of boxrooms,
: the usual modern flat with fitted this and that, for a thousand bucks a
: month.
: Oh, and it's the house James Clerk Maxwell was born in in 1831.
Seriously, even mondoly, cool.
--
Copyright 1999 by Gary Farber; For Hire as: Web Researcher; Nonfiction
Writer, Fiction and Nonfiction Editor; gfa...@panix.com; Northeast US
Doug Wickstrom
excited the ether to say:
>Robert Sneddon <no...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> ObTangent: I'm looking for a new place to stay in the UK, after my
>> extended Xmas trip to America. I'm monitoring a newsgroup,
>> ed.accomodation, to see what's available in Edinburgh. The latest flat
>> to rent on offer caught my eye. It's two bedrooms, a couple of boxrooms,
>> the usual modern flat with fitted this and that, for a thousand bucks a
>> month.
>>
>> Oh, and it's the house James Clerk Maxwell was born in in 1831.
>
>It's a nice place to stay, but they have problems with the heating and
>cooling systems in the house. For some reason, all of the hot air moves
>to one side of the room, and all of the cold air moves to the other...
There must be an exorcist _somewhere_ in Scotland, who could fix
this.
--
Doug Wickstrom
"Quin tu istanc orationem hinc veterem atque antiquam amoves?"
--Plautus, "Miles Gloriosus"
David G. Bell
nims...@aol.com "Doug Wickstrom" writes:
> On Thu, 11 Nov 1999 17:14:14 GMT, ci...@cfl.rr.com (Chad Irby)
> excited the ether to say:
>
> >Robert Sneddon <no...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >> ObTangent: I'm looking for a new place to stay in the UK, after my
> >> extended Xmas trip to America. I'm monitoring a newsgroup,
> >> ed.accomodation, to see what's available in Edinburgh. The latest flat
> >> to rent on offer caught my eye. It's two bedrooms, a couple of boxrooms,
> >> the usual modern flat with fitted this and that, for a thousand bucks a
> >> month.
> >>
> >> Oh, and it's the house James Clerk Maxwell was born in in 1831.
> >
> >It's a nice place to stay, but they have problems with the heating and
> >cooling systems in the house. For some reason, all of the hot air moves
> >to one side of the room, and all of the cold air moves to the other...
>
> There must be an exorcist _somewhere_ in Scotland, who could fix
> this.
The solution is to seek out a group who can provide a varied and
historically interesting selection of environmental gas and vapour
redistribution systems.
Ask Steve Glover if there if a fan group in Edinburgh...
--
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
Alison Hopkins
Dorothy J Heydt wrote in message ...
>Though I probably wouldn't want to go live in Edinburgh, pretty
>though it is; I've never learned to live in snow.
>
I don't think Edinburgh is *too* bad for snow, but as a Soft Southerner I'll
stand correction!
I suspect what you might also find difficult tho', would be the lack of
*light* in a British winter, she said generalising furiously. The last week
in London has been full of those dreary grey days. Dry enough, not wildly
cold, but so damned miserable. The coldest I've ever been was in Boston one
January; but, oh, the light. Clear beautiful blue skies. However, my chosen
retirement destination will have an average winter range that doesn't go
much below mid 60's, with summers in the 80's, and about 350 days sunshine
a year will do just fine. Oh, and by the ocean. Couldn't stand to be far
from that.
Sorry, I'm rambling, it's that time of year. <g>
Ali
Dorothy J Heydt
Alison Hopkins <fn...@dial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
>Dorothy J Heydt wrote in message ...
>>Though I probably wouldn't want to go live in Edinburgh, pretty
>>though it is; I've never learned to live in snow.
>
>I don't think Edinburgh is *too* bad for snow, but as a Soft Southerner I'll
>stand correction!
I live in California. During at least part of the year you would
in fact think you were in Scotland. But it doesn't snow. Or it
hardly ever snows; the last time there was any snow on the ground
around here at sea level was 1974. We occasionally get dustings
of snow on some of the higher hills, but generally to see the
stuff you have to drive to the Sierras.
But I hear about it. Having to shovel the walk before you can
get out of the house. Pipes freezing. Expensive fuel-oil
heating. Having to wear warm boots when you go outside (I live
in sandals). I just don't think I'd fit in.
Alison Hopkins
Dorothy J Heydt wrote in message ...
>But I hear about it. Having to shovel the walk before you can
>get out of the house. Pipes freezing. Expensive fuel-oil
>heating. Having to wear warm boots when you go outside (I live
>in sandals). I just don't think I'd fit in.
>
<sigh> Given that I wholeheartedly agree with you, I think I was born in the
wrong place. That, or I'm a changeling. I have friends who actually *like*
winter, and think that my plan to live in a place where it's year round mild
is weird. Me, I plan to take all my warm clothes to a charity shop one day.
Ali
Dorothy J Heydt
Alison Hopkins <fn...@dial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
><sigh> Given that I wholeheartedly agree with you, I think I was born in the
>wrong place. That, or I'm a changeling. I have friends who actually *like*
>winter, and think that my plan to live in a place where it's year round mild
>is weird. Me, I plan to take all my warm clothes to a charity shop one day.
Well, come to California. You can choose between desert areas,
where it seldom rains, but does get chilly in the winter (but
doesn't snow); southern California, where it's warm-to-hot
practically year-round and doesn't rain vast amounts; or northern
California, where it's comfortable most of the year and rains
during the rainy season (which is just getting underway, with
lots of freeway accidents from people who've forgotten over the
last six months how to drive on wet pavement).
And then when you start asking yourself, "Why did I come to
California?" you can take a trip up to the Sierras in the winter
and look at the snow, and remind yourself.
Dorothy J. Heydt
(the warmest mundane clothing I own is a raincoat)
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt
part
Gary Farber
[. . .]
: But I hear about it. Having to shovel the walk before you can
: get out of the house. Pipes freezing. Expensive fuel-oil
: heating. Having to wear warm boots when you go outside (I live
: in sandals). I just don't think I'd fit in.
Perhaps not. It's a good thing that people have different preferences, or
we'd all want to live in the same place, and that place would get far too
crowded. It's not winter without some snow, and the idea of living in a
place with no winter fills me with horror.
Mind, Minnesota is a bit much, lovely as it is in many other ways. I like
neither too much winter, nor too little. I'm with the middle bear, here.
As I often am.
Doug Wickstrom
excited the ether to say:
>
>Mind, Minnesota is a bit much, lovely as it is in many other ways. I like
>neither too much winter, nor too little. I'm with the middle bear, here.
>As I often am.
For some definitions of a bit much. I've spent a winter in
Buffalo, Minnesota, and one in (near, actually) Buffalo, New
York. For sheer winteryness, it's hard to beat Buffalo, NY.
--
Doug Wickstrom
"China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese." --Charles de Gaulle
Alison Hopkins
Dorothy J Heydt wrote in message ...
>Well, come to California. You can choose between desert areas,
>where it seldom rains, but does get chilly in the winter (but
>doesn't snow); southern California, where it's warm-to-hot
>practically year-round and doesn't rain vast amounts; or northern
>California, where it's comfortable most of the year and rains
>during the rainy season (which is just getting underway, with
>lots of freeway accidents from people who've forgotten over the
>last six months how to drive on wet pavement).
>
>And then when you start asking yourself, "Why did I come to
>California?" you can take a trip up to the Sierras in the winter
>and look at the snow, and remind yourself.
>
>Dorothy J. Heydt
>(the warmest mundane clothing I own is a raincoat)
<g> You guessed it. The Chosen Retirement Destination is San Diego or
someplace close to, but probably no further north than Carlsbad. Every time
I visit SoCal I house hunt and build up more research. Oh, and on the rain
thing; my SoCal girlfriends all make puppy dog eyes at us when we're
visiting and get heavy rain. Would we mind driving, as we're more used to
wet! :)
Ali
Geri Sullivan
>
> It's not winter without some snow, and the idea of living in a
> place with no winter fills me with horror.
I felt that way before living in Minnesota for 20 years. I don't anymore.
Geri
--
Geri Sullivan g...@toad-hall.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Dick said, 'Oh, Baby. Where is the cookie
for Spot? Where is the one for Spot?'"
Kip Williams
>
> On 12 Nov 1999 05:06:26 GMT, Gary Farber <gfa...@panix.com>
> excited the ether to say:
>
> >
> >Mind, Minnesota is a bit much, lovely as it is in many other ways. I like
> >neither too much winter, nor too little. I'm with the middle bear, here.
> >As I often am.
>
> For some definitions of a bit much. I've spent a winter in
> Buffalo, Minnesota, and one in (near, actually) Buffalo, New
> York. For sheer winteryness, it's hard to beat Buffalo, NY.
After 20 years in Colorado, I moved to Georgia. Looking for some
consolation in the situation, I told myself "well, at least I won't be
feeling cold. 20 years in a temperate climate should prepare me for a
warmer one." Wrong. As soon as the temperature dipped, I felt as cold as
I ever had. Colder, because the cold now came equipped with dampness,
which cuts to the bone. Next was Houston, which also delivers a
superlative kind of cold when it wants to.
Now we're in sunny Virginia. Only problem here is that if the weather
gets cold, we invariably hear a booming noise nearby, and our power goes
out for a day or two. Damn power company.
--
--Kip (Williams)
amusing the world at http://members.home.net/kipw/
Zandy Hemsley
>However, my chosen
>retirement destination will have an average winter range that doesn't go
>much below mid 60's, with summers in the 80's, and about 350 days sunshine
>a year will do just fine. Oh, and by the ocean. Couldn't stand to be far
>from that.
Have you visited Perth, Western Australia? Winters feel like a bad
English summer, weather about the same (say 10-20 Celsius). Summers are
hot and dry with blue skies for weeks on end (say 30-40 Celsius). Most
places in the city have an easy 10-20 minute drive to the beach.
It would be a nice place to retire to.
--
Zandy Hemsley
`How will it end?' - The Truman Show
Beth Friedman
>Gary Farber wrote:
>>
>> It's not winter without some snow, and the idea of living in a
>> place with no winter fills me with horror.
>
>I felt that way before living in Minnesota for 20 years. I don't anymore.
I've lived in Minnesota for almost the same amount of time, and I still do.
I love snow, even though I dislike the cold.
--
Beth Friedman
b...@wavefront.com
Dorothy J Heydt
Gary Farber <gfa...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>...It's a good thing that people have different preferences, or
>we'd all want to live in the same place, and that place would get far too
>crowded.
California is *already crowded. But to continue,
>It's not winter without some snow, and the idea of living in a
>place with no winter fills me with horror.
I have seen some people newly arrived from the East (or other
places where it snows) experiencing their first winter in
northern California, and horror is not what they're filled with.
They arrive in the fall. (I should explain that these were all
new graduate students at Cal.) Our fall looks a lot like their
summer (the hottest weather we ever get), and our late fall/winter
looks a lot like their fall (rainy), and so they just idle
along....
And then one day, in February or so, it's spring. Flowering plum
trees lining the streets of Berkeley burst into bloom. So does
everybody's garden. The sun shines, the air is mild, the
Easterners go into a springtime daze and wander about quoting
Elizabethan poetry, propose marriage to the most unlikely people,
and generally goof off and don't get their papers done.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt
Dorothy J. Heydt
Mike Kozlowski
Geri Sullivan <g...@toad-hall.com> wrote:
>Gary Farber wrote:
>>
>> It's not winter without some snow, and the idea of living in a
>> place with no winter fills me with horror.
>
Heh. I like winter, but I'd like it more in moderation. If winter lasted
from December through January, I don't think anybody would complain about
it.
But going, as winter does, from December through April involves quite a
bit of overstaying its welcome.
--
Michael Kozlowski
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mkozlows/
Gary Farber
: trees lining the streets of Berkeley burst into bloom. So does
: everybody's garden. The sun shines, the air is mild, the
: Easterners go into a springtime daze and wander about quoting
: Elizabethan poetry, propose marriage to the most unlikely people,
: and generally goof off and don't get their papers done.
That's a lovely thing to do in the spring.
In which month do you get to throw yourself in a pile of snow and roll in
it, and throw a snowball at your beloved, and then go gloriously sledding
down the hillside? When do you feel the melting crystals on your cheeks,
and watch them slowly floating out of the sky? When do you examine them
closely in your hand, and marvel at the beauty which is never alike from
one to the next? When do you stick your tongue out to taste the pure snow
flakes dropping from the sky? When do you marvel at the beauty of a light
snowfall compared to the glory of a swirling snow storm? And how is life
bearable without all this at least once a year or so? How does it ever
get to be *winter* without snowfall and a land covered in beautiful white
snow? How can life be worth living without this?
Doug Wickstrom
<za...@this.domain.is.invalid> excited the ether to say:
How do you feel about flies?
Martin Wisse
<fn...@dial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
>Dorothy J Heydt wrote in message ...
>
>
>>But I hear about it. Having to shovel the walk before you can
>>get out of the house. Pipes freezing. Expensive fuel-oil
>>heating. Having to wear warm boots when you go outside (I live
>>in sandals). I just don't think I'd fit in.
>>
>
>
><sigh> Given that I wholeheartedly agree with you, I think I was born in the
>wrong place. That, or I'm a changeling. I have friends who actually *like*
>winter, and think that my plan to live in a place where it's year round mild
>is weird. Me, I plan to take all my warm clothes to a charity shop one day.
Personally, I wouldn't want to live in a place where the only way to
tell what season it is, is by looking at the calendar. Give me a place
with seasons like those only found in children's books, a cold winter,
hot summer, rainy autumn and sunny spring.
Unfortunately I live in the Netherlands where often the only way you
notice the seasons have changed is by the temperature of the rain
pouring down...
Martin Wisse
--
I made this!
...
...
You must be *very* proud
Dave Weingart
>Heh. I like winter, but I'd like it more in moderation. If winter lasted
>from December through January, I don't think anybody would complain about
>it.
>
>But going, as winter does, from December through April involves quite a
>bit of overstaying its welcome.
Around these parts (Long Island), winter will come in December, and
leave...oh...mid February or so, although we traditionally must have
snow sometime Lunacon weekend in March.
--
73 de Dave Weingart KA2ESK O, what can ail thee, geek-at-arms
mailto:phyd...@liii.com Alone and slowly telnetting?
http://www.liii.com/~phydeaux The net has crumbled from the load
And no hosts ping
bdaverin
Heydt) wrote:
> I have seen some people newly arrived from the East (or other
> places where it snows) experiencing their first winter in
> northern California, and horror is not what they're filled with.
Forgive me for snipping a rather nice piece of writing, but I'd like to
speak up as a transplanted New Englander who has been living here in
the Land of the Lotus Eaters for over 15 years to provide a different
perspective.
I miss snow in the winter. Badly. That cold snap we had last year gave
me the best taste of winter I've had in ages (and finally reset my cold
tolerance back to original levels, thank Ghu... I was getting soft).
This area does not have seasons, it has climate. It's the fly in the
ointment as far as I'm concerned. Oh, sure, the ability to avoid
frostbite was charming at first, but when the weather does its best to
coddle me on those days it's not dumping the contents of a bulimic
cloud on my head, it gets boring. Seeing trees flower in February is
just wrong to me no matter how often I see it, like fluorescent lime
green polyester clothing. And having to drive five hours to get to real
winter is no compensation. I stay mainly because it's the biggest
complaint I have, and the benefits far outweigh the almost monotonous
weather.
This was your Equal Time moment for the day.
--
Brenda Daverin
bdav...@grin.net
* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
Dorothy J Heydt
Gary Farber <gfa...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>In which month do you get to throw yourself in a pile of snow and roll in
Well, let's see, any time between about October and April that
you have the free time and a few bucks to go up to the Sierras.
Marilee J. Layman
Kozlowski) wrote:
>In article <382BFA57...@toad-hall.com>,
>Geri Sullivan <g...@toad-hall.com> wrote:
>>Gary Farber wrote:
>>>
>>> It's not winter without some snow, and the idea of living in a
>>> place with no winter fills me with horror.
>>
>>I felt that way before living in Minnesota for 20 years. I don't anymore.
>
>Heh. I like winter, but I'd like it more in moderation. If winter lasted
>from December through January, I don't think anybody would complain about
>it.
I think winter is fine, but I don't like snow because I can't walk in
it. A couple of years ago I couldn't leave the house for two months
because the snow wouldn't melt. The neighbors took trash out and
brought mail, and my friend Mark picked up fresh fruit & veggies and
my meds.
--
Marilee J. Layman Co-Leader, The Other*Worlds*Cafe
relm...@aol.com A Science Fiction Discussion Group
Web site: http://www.webmoose.com/owc/
AOL keyword: BOOKs > Chats & Message > SF Forum > The Other*Worlds*Cafe
Avedon Carol
Heydt) wrote:
>"couple of boxrooms." Storage space. Our really very nice
>apartment has, in the way of storage, (a) a clothes closet in
>each bedroom,
That's one more closet per bedroom than my house has. There are no
hall closets, cedar closets, or pantry closets in it, either. And
ours is not unusual in that respect.
Kip Williams
> And then one day, in February or so, it's spring. Flowering plum
> trees lining the streets of Berkeley burst into bloom. So does
> everybody's garden. The sun shines, the air is mild, the
> Easterners go into a springtime daze...
That's kind of like Statesboro, Georgia. The summer was hellishly hot
and buggy, the winter cold and wet, but for about a week or two in
February, it was the nicest place. The trees were covered with flowers,
and air was of a wonderful temperature that made bike riding seem
self-propelled. Then it was over, and we were back to the usual two
seasons. Glad we got out of there, though I do miss the perfection of
those two weeks.
Geri Sullivan
>
> In <FL3FK...@kithrup.com> Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
> [. . .]
> : trees lining the streets of Berkeley burst into bloom. So does
> : everybody's garden. The sun shines, the air is mild, the
> : Elizabethan poetry, propose marriage to the most unlikely people,
> : and generally goof off and don't get their papers done.
>
> That's a lovely thing to do in the spring.
Agreed.
> In which month do you get to throw yourself in a pile of snow and roll in
> it, and throw a snowball at your beloved, and then go gloriously sledding
> down the hillside?
The time before last that I went gloriously sledding down the hillside,
I ended up with four stitches on the bridge of my nose. I made myself
get back on a sled again the next year, just to prove I could and would,
but I haven't been motivated to do so again since.
>When do you feel the melting crystals on your cheeks,
> and watch them slowly floating out of the sky? When do you examine them
> closely in your hand, and marvel at the beauty which is never alike from
> one to the next? When do you stick your tongue out to taste the pure snow
> flakes dropping from the sky? When do you marvel at the beauty of a light
> snowfall compared to the glory of a swirling snow storm?
And that diamond snow, where everything glistens. It's really pretty.
There's a quiet that comes with snow that's really quite wonderful.
Then there's telling the relative temperature by how long it takes your
nostrils to reopen after freezing shut upon inhaling. That's fun, too,
in a weird sort of way. I'm ready for different kinds of fun, and
different wonders.
Zandy Hemsley
>On Fri, 12 Nov 1999 13:45:55 +0000, Zandy Hemsley
><za...@this.domain.is.invalid> excited the ether to say:
>>English summer, weather about the same (say 10-20 Celsius). Summers are
>>hot and dry with blue skies for weeks on end (say 30-40 Celsius). Most
>>places in the city have an easy 10-20 minute drive to the beach.
>>
>>It would be a nice place to retire to.
>
>How do you feel about flies?
>
while. The locals will all recognise the 'Australian Wave'.
It is exceedingly tolerable - I only freaked out when the locusts
started swarming. (Well, see also under spiders, snakes, jellyfish,
sharks, etc.)
D. Potter
>>"In article <FL3FK...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
Heydt) wrote:
> I have seen some people newly arrived from the East (or other
> places where it snows) experiencing their first winter in
> northern California, and horror is not what they're filled with.
Forgive me for snipping a rather nice piece of writing, but I'd like to
speak up as a transplanted New Englander who has been living here in
the Land of the Lotus Eaters for over 15 years to provide a different
perspective."<<
Forgive me for snipping your rhapsodic recollections of snow, but as a
transplanted New Yorker who has lived in the Bay Area for five years (that
long? yes, that long) and who will be visiting the Mysterious East for a week:
If I never experience snow, hail, frostbite, ice on sidewalks, freezing rain,
sleet, wind-chill factors, or below 35-degree-Fahrenheit ambient temperatures
ever again in this lifetime, it will not be too soon. My brother, on the other
hand, has been known to request pictures when he knows that snow has fallen
back home.
Perhaps winter and I interacted badly in my youth, or a previous life.
-- D. Potter "...arguing with (fitb) is like
herding cats...only less productive."
Dorothy J Heydt
Zandy Hemsley <$news.response.9909$@ticketnet.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>How do you feel about flies?
>>
>Hey! You just develop this nervous twitch of the hand and arm after a
>while. The locals will all recognise the 'Australian Wave'.
Or you put a row of corks on strings around the brim of your hat.
Ross Smith
>
> In article <DoF5lMAz...@ticketnet.demon.co.uk>,
> Zandy Hemsley <$news.response.9909$@ticketnet.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >>
> >>How do you feel about flies?
> >>
> >Hey! You just develop this nervous twitch of the hand and arm after a
> >while. The locals will all recognise the 'Australian Wave'.
>
> Or you put a row of corks on strings around the brim of your hat.
But (learning from Rincewind's experience) remember to take them out of
the bottles *first*.
--
Ross Smith ......... r-s...@ihug.co.nz ......... Auckland, New Zealand
"Well, yes, I was aiming at him, but I've never hit anything with
a rocket launcher before, so I didn't think it mattered." -- Axly
Rebecca M Lesses
[snip]
>
> I have seen some people newly arrived from the East (or other
> places where it snows) experiencing their first winter in
> northern California, and horror is not what they're filled with.
>
> They arrive in the fall. (I should explain that these were all
> new graduate students at Cal.) Our fall looks a lot like their
> summer (the hottest weather we ever get), and our late fall/winter
> looks a lot like their fall (rainy), and so they just idle
> along....
>
> And then one day, in February or so, it's spring. Flowering plum
> trees lining the streets of Berkeley burst into bloom. So does
> everybody's garden. The sun shines, the air is mild, the
> Easterners go into a springtime daze and wander about quoting
> Elizabethan poetry, propose marriage to the most unlikely people,
> and generally goof off and don't get their papers done.
>
> Dorothy J. Heydt
It's recently been getting pretty cold here in Poughkeepsie, NY -- we've
had at least one hard freeze that seems to have killed off the flowers
that were still trying to bloom. I'm not looking forward to real winter. I
spent last year in Israel, where the winters are usually mild and last
year we essentially didn't have a winter -- it only rained a few times in
Jerusalem (not good for the water level) and hardly got cold at all. I was
able to work on my computer out on the enclosed porch almost all winter. I
wore sandals all the time. I could definitely get used to living that way.
I grew up in Cambridge, MA, and lived in the Boston area most of my life,
and I'd have to say that I'm *tired* of winter and would gladly leave it
behind....
And I'm applying for jobs in California, so who knows, maybe I will be
able to leave winter behind....
Rebecca Lesses
Religion Dept., Vassar College
rele...@vassar.edu
Mary Kay Kare
dpot...@aol.com (D. Potter) wrote:
> Brenda Daverin wrote, in response to Dorothy J. Heydt:
>
> >>"In article <FL3FK...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
> Heydt) wrote:
> > I have seen some people newly arrived from the East (or other
> > places where it snows) experiencing their first winter in
> > northern California, and horror is not what they're filled with.
>
> Forgive me for snipping a rather nice piece of writing, but I'd like to
> speak up as a transplanted New Englander who has been living here in
> the Land of the Lotus Eaters for over 15 years to provide a different
> perspective."<<
>
> Forgive me for snipping your rhapsodic recollections of snow, but as a
> transplanted New Yorker who has lived in the Bay Area for five years (that
> long? yes, that long) and who will be visiting the Mysterious East for
a week:
> If I never experience snow, hail, frostbite, ice on sidewalks, freezing rain,
> sleet, wind-chill factors, or below 35-degree-Fahrenheit ambient temperatures
> ever again in this lifetime, it will not be too soon. My brother, on
the other
> hand, has been known to request pictures when he knows that snow has fallen
> back home.
>
> Perhaps winter and I interacted badly in my youth, or a previous life.
I'm with you D. I spent 3 years in Ohio and 2 years in Michigan
immediately before moving to California (and the Great Plains where I
lived the rest of my life could be pretty brutal in the winter too. I've
been here a little over 10 years now--got here just in time for Loma
Prieta. Which fairly seriously traumatised me and I told Jordin I wanted
to talk about living elsewhere. He thought for minute and said that the
only place he'd want to go from the Lab, at that time, was back to MIT.
And earthquakes of that magnitude only happen every 40-50 years in any
given location. Winter, he pointed out, comes every year without fail in
Boston. And here we still are.
MK
--
Mary Kay Kare
Science Fiction Fandom: where people contradict you just to be polite.
Ruth Sachter
<rm...@columbia.edu> wrote:
>On Fri, 12 Nov 1999, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>
>[snip]
>>
>> I have seen some people newly arrived from the East (or other
>> places where it snows) experiencing their first winter in
>> northern California, and horror is not what they're filled with.
>>
>> They arrive in the fall. (I should explain that these were all
>> new graduate students at Cal.) Our fall looks a lot like their
>> summer (the hottest weather we ever get), and our late fall/winter
>> looks a lot like their fall (rainy), and so they just idle
>> along....
>>
>> And then one day, in February or so, it's spring. Flowering plum
>> trees lining the streets of Berkeley burst into bloom. So does
>> everybody's garden. The sun shines, the air is mild, the
>> Easterners go into a springtime daze and wander about quoting
>> Elizabethan poetry, propose marriage to the most unlikely people,
>> and generally goof off and don't get their papers done.
>>
>> Dorothy J. Heydt
>
>It's recently been getting pretty cold here in Poughkeepsie, NY -- we've
>had at least one hard freeze that seems to have killed off the flowers
>that were still trying to bloom. I'm not looking forward to real winter. I
>spent last year in Israel, where the winters are usually mild and last
>year we essentially didn't have a winter -- it only rained a few times in
>Jerusalem (not good for the water level) and hardly got cold at all. I was
>able to work on my computer out on the enclosed porch almost all winter. I
>wore sandals all the time. I could definitely get used to living that way.
>I grew up in Cambridge, MA, and lived in the Boston area most of my life,
>and I'd have to say that I'm *tired* of winter and would gladly leave it
>behind....
And having grown-up in the Hudson Valley countryside about 10 miles
east of the Vassar campus and also lived in walking distance* of it,
while I miss the clear, crisp, _sunny_ fall and winter days, I don't
miss the snow and slush and ice that come with it.
Here in Portland (OR) now for eight (!) years, I too marveled at such
wonders as green lawns being mowed in February. If I want snow, it's
less than an hour away on the awe-inspiring Mt. Hood (another treat
compared with the worn down gentle mountains of the east).
*That was the winter we had snow drifts so high that I had to carry
our miniature black poodle (who loved playing in the snow) out to a
sheltered clearing instead of walking him...
--
Ruth
ru...@spiritone.com
Alison Hopkins
Zandy Hemsley wrote in message ...
>Alison Hopkins wrote:
>>However, my chosen
>>retirement destination will have an average winter range that doesn't go
>>much below mid 60's, with summers in the 80's, and about 350 days
sunshine
>>a year will do just fine. Oh, and by the ocean. Couldn't stand to be far
>>from that.
>
>English summer, weather about the same (say 10-20 Celsius). Summers are
>hot and dry with blue skies for weeks on end (say 30-40 Celsius). Most
>places in the city have an easy 10-20 minute drive to the beach.
>
>It would be a nice place to retire to.
Yes, everyone I know who's been there says it's delightful, and I'd love to
go visit. I think the only stoppers on it are a) I have a *heck* of a lot of
friends in SoCal, which is a strong consideration, and my Brit chums would
find it a tad easier and cheaper to visit SoCal rather than down under.
Tickets to LA at this time of year from London are to be had for about 250
pounds or so. This latter point is why I think a *large* house will be
needed; I'll never get rid of the beggars! <g>
Ali
Alison Hopkins
Mary Kay Kare wrote in message ...
>I'm with you D. I spent 3 years in Ohio and 2 years in Michigan
>immediately before moving to California (and the Great Plains where I
>lived the rest of my life could be pretty brutal in the winter too. I've
>been here a little over 10 years now--got here just in time for Loma
>Prieta. Which fairly seriously traumatised me and I told Jordin I wanted
>to talk about living elsewhere. He thought for minute and said that the
>only place he'd want to go from the Lab, at that time, was back to MIT.
>And earthquakes of that magnitude only happen every 40-50 years in any
>given location. Winter, he pointed out, comes every year without fail in
>Boston. And here we still are.
>
I've had folks question me about "all those nasty quakes in California". I
remember seeing a British resident of LA, being interviewed after the
Northridge quake and asked if she wanted to go "home". She rolled her eyes,
waved at the brilliant blue sky - and she was wearing a T shirt in
January - and said words to the effect that it was still better than winter!
I've been reasonably close to two large quakes in California - one a month
ago - and it hasn't put me off yet. Interesting point about the 40-50
years, though. Both of these were epicentred (is that a word?) in roughly
the same area, namely near Twenty Nine Palms. The last one was a 7, and the
previous, iiirc, a 6.8 ish. One was a wake up call, and the other
interrupted my dinner. <g>
Ali
Janice Gelb
>
> However, my chosen
>retirement destination will have an average winter range that doesn't go
>much below mid 60's, with summers in the 80's, and about 350 days sunshine
>a year will do just fine. Oh, and by the ocean. Couldn't stand to be far
>from that.
>
I grew up in a place just like this (Miami Beach), and when we were
children we never *could* figure out why other people, who knew there
were places where it was warm in the winter, continued to live where
they had to bundle up, scrape windshields, and shovel snow. I only kind
of understand it now as an adult, and it definitely wouldn't be my
choice!
Of course, we *did* have humidity... lots of it. But my perfect ambient
temperature is still 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
*****************************************************************
Janice Gelb | The only connection Sun has with
janic...@eng.sun.com | this message is the return address.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8018/index.html
The thing about having been around as long as I have is that you
can't fit your hearing aid over your earring. - Quincy Jones
Kip Williams
> I grew up in a place just like this (Miami Beach), and when we were
> children we never *could* figure out why other people, who knew there
> were places where it was warm in the winter, continued to live where
> they had to bundle up, scrape windshields, and shovel snow. I only kind
> of understand it now as an adult, and it definitely wouldn't be my
> choice!
>
> Of course, we *did* have humidity... lots of it. But my perfect ambient
> temperature is still 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
When we were in Georgia, I met many people who couldn't stand the idea
of snow. It never occurred to me to ask them whether they would be happy
in a place with snow in winter and no gnats in summer. I really, really
learned to hate gnats. And roaches. I never saw roaches (except at a
zoo) until we lived in Statesboro. And from our trip to Cape Canaveral,
we knew that the bugs were worse in Florida. More of the roaches flew.
Tinier, invisible, biting bugs existed, making our gnats look slow,
clumsy and benign. You pick your trade-offs. Well, some do. Others just
accept what they get, and the happy ones know that they're in the best
world of all.
Doug Wickstrom
excited the ether to say:
>Janice Gelb wrote:
Gnats, mosquitoes, and black flies -- some of the things get
_worse_ as you go north.
--
Doug Wickstrom
"Now what I contend is that my body is my own, at least I have always so
regarded it. If I do harm through my experimenting with it, it is I who
suffers, not the state." --Mark Twain
Kip Williams
>
> On Wed, 17 Nov 1999 01:41:20 GMT, Kip Williams <ki...@home.com>
> excited the ether to say:
>
> >Janice Gelb wrote:
> >
> >> I grew up in a place just like this (Miami Beach), and when we were
> >> children we never *could* figure out why other people, who knew there
> >> were places where it was warm in the winter, continued to live where
> >> they had to bundle up, scrape windshields, and shovel snow. I only kind
> >> of understand it now as an adult, and it definitely wouldn't be my
> >> choice!
> >>
> >> Of course, we *did* have humidity... lots of it. But my perfect ambient
> >> temperature is still 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
> >
> >When we were in Georgia, I met many people who couldn't stand the idea
> >of snow. It never occurred to me to ask them whether they would be happy
> >in a place with snow in winter and no gnats in summer. I really, really
> >learned to hate gnats. And roaches. I never saw roaches (except at a
> >zoo) until we lived in Statesboro. And from our trip to Cape Canaveral,
> >we knew that the bugs were worse in Florida. More of the roaches flew.
> >Tinier, invisible, biting bugs existed, making our gnats look slow,
> >clumsy and benign. You pick your trade-offs. Well, some do. Others just
> >accept what they get, and the happy ones know that they're in the best
> >world of all.
>
> Gnats, mosquitoes, and black flies -- some of the things get
> _worse_ as you go north.
I know I have seen mosquitoes in northern climates, but never as big as
the southern ones. Gnats... I'm not sure I've seen those even in
Virginia. I'm not sure what distinguishes black flies from regular
flies, but I see flies in most areas of the country, but I don't see
them as worse up North. There were also the aforementioned (though not
named) sand fleas, which beat anything northern for nastiness. How far
north did you mean?
Philip Chee
>I grew up in a place just like this (Miami Beach), and when we were
>children we never *could* figure out why other people, who knew there
>were places where it was warm in the winter, continued to live where
>they had to bundle up, scrape windshields, and shovel snow. I only kind
>of understand it now as an adult, and it definitely wouldn't be my
>choice!
>Of course, we *did* have humidity... lots of it. But my perfect ambient
>temperature is still 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
That's a bit too cold for me (assuming that I've got it translated
into Celcius correctly).
Philip
---=====================================================================---
Philip Chee: Tasek Corporation Berhad, P.O.Box 254, 30908 Ipoh, MALAYSIA
e-mail: phi...@aleytys.pc.my Voice:+60-5-545-1011 Fax:+60-5-547-3932
Guard us from the she-wolf and the wolf, and guard us from the thief,
oh Night, and so be good for us to pass.
... "Sir! Klingons on the starboard bow!" "Well, scrape 'em off"
---
* 10230.17 *
Alison Hopkins
Philip Chee wrote in message <94284884...@aleytys.pc.my>...
>That's a bit too cold for me (assuming that I've got it translated
>into Celcius correctly).
>
>Philip
>
Um... about 22? And would I guess that your ambient would be around the 28
to 30 mark?
Ali
David Owen-Cruise
>Doug Wickstrom wrote:
>>
>> Gnats, mosquitoes, and black flies -- some of the things get
>> _worse_ as you go north.
>
>I know I have seen mosquitoes in northern climates, but never as big as
>the southern ones.
What we lack in size, we make up for in quantity. I've only seen visible
swarms of mosquitoes up here. But then, I haven't spent that much time in
southern swamps either.
>Gnats... I'm not sure I've seen those even in
>Virginia. I'm not sure what distinguishes black flies from regular
>flies, but I see flies in most areas of the country, but I don't see
>them as worse up North.
"Black flies, little black flies, pickin' on my bones, in North Ontario,"
to quote Stan Rodgers. Black flies are a biting fly small enough to get
through coarse mosquito netting and resistant to most insect repellents.
The bites hurt, and bleed freely. It's the swarms of black flies which
keep moose under water most of the day.
>There were also the aforementioned (though not
>named) sand fleas, which beat anything northern for nastiness. How far
>north did you mean?
>
There are times of the year when it's just not sensible to press into the
backcountry around Lake Superior and further north. The black fly season
in late June and early July is one of them.
--
David Owen-Cruise
"Letters are things, not pictures of things."
Eric Gill
Lori Coulson
: I know I have seen mosquitoes in northern climates, but never as big as
: the southern ones. Gnats... I'm not sure I've seen those even in
: Virginia. I'm not sure what distinguishes black flies from regular
: flies, but I see flies in most areas of the country, but I don't see
: them as worse up North. There were also the aforementioned (though not
: named) sand fleas, which beat anything northern for nastiness. How far
: north did you mean?
Black flies have one of the nastiest bites known--VERY painful.
As for sand fleas, have you ever had a run-in with chiggers.....
Lori Coulson
--
*****************************************************
...Or do you still wait for me, Dream Giver...
Just around the riverbend? Pocahontas
*****************************************************
Alison Hopkins
Lori Coulson wrote in message <80usbq$5...@acme.freenet.columbus.oh.us>...
>As for sand fleas, have you ever had a run-in with chiggers.....
>
Aren't they those big black things from Space:Above and Beyond?
Ali
Kip Williams
> Black flies have one of the nastiest bites known--VERY painful.
>
> As for sand fleas, have you ever had a run-in with chiggers.....
Not that I'm aware, and I think I'd be aware if I had. I've heard of
them and don't mind not making their acquaintance, along with the black
flies described above and by David. Let's see, in Colorado I remember
mosquitoes and horseflies as the main flying biters, along with hundreds
of others I was childishly convinced would bite me if they could. There
was also the black widow spider that bit Dad, but it didn't really fly.
I don't think anything we had was all that bad, compared to other
regions.
Mike Kozlowski
>There
>was also the black widow spider that bit Dad, but it didn't really fly.
There's something really horrible about seeing flying versions of
creepy-crawly things that don't normally fly. Flying ants still weird me
out, and I had a nightmare just the other night about flying spiders which
still causes me to shudder thinking about it.
--
Michael Kozlowski
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mkozlows/
Elisabeth Carey
>
> Doug Wickstrom wrote:
<snip>
> > Gnats, mosquitoes, and black flies -- some of the things get
> > _worse_ as you go north.
>
> I know I have seen mosquitoes in northern climates, but never as big as
> the southern ones. Gnats... I'm not sure I've seen those even in
> Virginia. I'm not sure what distinguishes black flies from regular
> flies, but I see flies in most areas of the country, but I don't see
> them as worse up North. There were also the aforementioned (though not
> named) sand fleas, which beat anything northern for nastiness. How far
> north did you mean?
It may well be true that sand fleas "beat anything northern for
nastiness", but if you're not familiar with the difference between
black flies and regular flies, you're not in a position to actually
know that. (Neither am I, not being familiar with sand fleas.)
Black flies get through mosquito netting, are apparently immune to the
effects of most insecticides, and inflict very painful bites, which
bleed copiously. It's a terrible, terrible thing, to be in a rural or
wooded area in the north, in black fly season.
Lis Carey
Dorothy J Heydt
Mike Kozlowski <mkoz...@guy.ssc.wisc.edu> wrote:
>
>There's something really horrible about seeing flying versions of
>creepy-crawly things that don't normally fly. Flying ants still weird me
>out, and I had a nightmare just the other night about flying spiders which
>still causes me to shudder thinking about it.
There are flying spiders in the computer game Grim Fandango.
They don't attack the hero, though; they just spin sticky webs
that hinder him from getting the object he has to get in this
scene.
(The beavers, though....)
Kathy Routliffe
Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>
> In article <80g78i$ac0$3...@news.panix.com>,
> Gary Farber <gfa...@panix.com> wrote:
> >
> >...It's a good thing that people have different preferences, or
> >we'd all want to live in the same place, and that place would get far too
> >crowded.
>
> California is *already crowded. But to continue,
>
> >It's not winter without some snow, and the idea of living in a
> >place with no winter fills me with horror.
>
> I have seen some people newly arrived from the East (or other
> places where it snows) experiencing their first winter in
> northern California, and horror is not what they're filled with.
>
> They arrive in the fall. (I should explain that these were all
> new graduate students at Cal.) Our fall looks a lot like their
> summer (the hottest weather we ever get), and our late fall/winter
> looks a lot like their fall (rainy), and so they just idle
> along....
>
> And then one day, in February or so, it's spring. Flowering plum
> trees lining the streets of Berkeley burst into bloom. So does
> everybody's garden. The sun shines, the air is mild, the
> Easterners go into a springtime daze and wander about quoting
> Elizabethan poetry, propose marriage to the most unlikely people,
> and generally goof off and don't get their papers done.
This made me smile. But I still have a friend who went to live in San
Diego or some such, spoke to friends in increasingly desperate tones
about the lack of seasons, and finally moved to Connecticut, back to
Chicago, then back to the east coast. Anywhere but back to California.
--
Kathy
"Right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Kathy Routliffe
Geri Sullivan wrote:
>
> Gary Farber wrote:
> >
> > It's not winter without some snow, and the idea of living in a
> > place with no winter fills me with horror.
>
> I felt that way before living in Minnesota for 20 years. I don't anymore.
I grew up in snow, and still live in it. I hate getting it up my
sleeves, down my collar, or in my mittens. I hate cold noses, toes and
fingers, wet feet, chilblains, frostbite, et bloody cetera.
But the idea of living in a place with no winter? EEEUUWWW.
YMMV
> "Dick said, 'Oh, Baby. Where is the cookie
> for Spot? Where is the one for Spot?'"
Geri, darling, where *did* you get this? I must know.
Kathy Routliffe
Gary Farber wrote:
>
> In <FL3FK...@kithrup.com> Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
> [. . .]
> : And then one day, in February or so, it's spring. Flowering plum
> : trees lining the streets of Berkeley burst into bloom. So does
> : everybody's garden. The sun shines, the air is mild, the
> : Easterners go into a springtime daze and wander about quoting
> : Elizabethan poetry, propose marriage to the most unlikely people,
> : and generally goof off and don't get their papers done.
>
> That's a lovely thing to do in the spring.
>
> In which month do you get to throw yourself in a pile of snow and roll in
> it, and throw a snowball at your beloved, and then go gloriously sledding
> down the hillside? When do you feel the melting crystals on your cheeks,
> and watch them slowly floating out of the sky? When do you examine them
> closely in your hand, and marvel at the beauty which is never alike from
> one to the next? When do you stick your tongue out to taste the pure snow
> flakes dropping from the sky? When do you marvel at the beauty of a light
> snowfall compared to the glory of a swirling snow storm? And how is life
> bearable without all this at least once a year or so? How does it ever
> get to be *winter* without snowfall and a land covered in beautiful white
> snow? How can life be worth living without this?
Absolutely. Even though I hate being cold, I can say without doubt that
this is a true thing. Thank you.
Geri Sullivan
>
> Geri Sullivan wrote:
>
> > "Dick said, 'Oh, Baby. Where is the cookie
> > for Spot? Where is the one for Spot?'"
>
> Geri, darling, where *did* you get this? I must know.
Umm, from the frame of the magnetized notepad on my refrigerator?
You know the company making all of the retro fridge magnets? In 2-D
shapes of PEZ dispensers, old TV shows, cars, and similar sorts of "once
more around the trend cycle" objects? Well, they make Dick and Jane
magnets, and they make a magnetized notepad, too. And in addition to
sporting pictures of Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot, it's got that quote. I
figure it's probably from one of the readers, though I don't have the
original source on hand to check. Or even any of the reprints, which
I'll likely pick up the next time I see them that I can pretend I have money.
Geri
--
Geri Sullivan g...@toad-hall.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nancy Lebovitz
Geri Sullivan <g...@toad-hall.com> wrote:
>
>You know the company making all of the retro fridge magnets? In 2-D
>shapes of PEZ dispensers, old TV shows, cars, and similar sorts of "once
>more around the trend cycle" objects? Well, they make Dick and Jane
>magnets, and they make a magnetized notepad, too. And in addition to
>sporting pictures of Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot, it's got that quote. I
No Puff?
>figure it's probably from one of the readers, though I don't have the
>original source on hand to check. Or even any of the reprints, which
>I'll likely pick up the next time I see them that I can pretend I have money.
>
--
Nancy Lebovitz na...@netaxs.com
October '99 calligraphic button catalogue available by email!
Geri Sullivan
>
> In article <3833B5B4...@toad-hall.com>,
> Geri Sullivan <g...@toad-hall.com> wrote:
> >
> >You know the company making all of the retro fridge magnets? In 2-D
> >shapes of PEZ dispensers, old TV shows, cars, and similar sorts of "once
> >more around the trend cycle" objects? Well, they make Dick and Jane
> >magnets, and they make a magnetized notepad, too. And in addition to
> >sporting pictures of Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot, it's got that quote. I
>
> No Puff?
Not on the notepad, but there is a Puff magnet in the set of Dick and
Jane character magnets. (Sold separately "in stores everywhere. Also in
Canada." ...to quote another favorite banner I clipped from a newspaper
years ago.)
However, here's the rest of the quote, starting from the top. "Sally
said, "Three big cookies. See the three big cookies. One for Dick and
one for Jane. One for me and one for Spot...."
(Hope knowing the context doesn't wreck the quote for you, Ms. Routliffe
who's picking me up at the airport in just three days, or two if you
count this as Thursday.)
Kip Williams
> However, here's the rest of the quote, starting from the top. "Sally
> said, "Three big cookies. See the three big cookies. One for Dick and
> one for Jane. One for me and one for Spot...."
>
> (Hope knowing the context doesn't wreck the quote for you, Ms. Routliffe
> who's picking me up at the airport in just three days, or two if you
> count this as Thursday.)
> Geri Sullivan g...@toad-hall.com
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> "Dick said, 'Oh, Baby. Where is the cookie
> for Spot? Where is the one for Spot?'"
Nah, doesn't ruin a thing for me. I always felt like asking about that
quote myself.
Here's a real-life quote I heard in passing, and never got explained:
He: It was just laying there.
She: Was it dead?
He: No, it winked at me.
(overheard ca 1980 at Colorado State University, if that helps)
Heh. I remember lording it over my friends on the bus because they were
reading wimpy Alice and Jerry stories (with rebus-like pictures instead
of some of the words) while I had the more contemporary Jimmy and Sue.
They sure vanished without a trace.
James Nicoll
Kathy Routliffe <kat...@flash.net> wrote:
>
snip
>This made me smile. But I still have a friend who went to live in San
>Diego or some such, spoke to friends in increasingly desperate tones
>about the lack of seasons, and finally moved to Connecticut, back to
>Chicago, then back to the east coast. Anywhere but back to California.
My father ended up at UWaterloo because he was looking for a post-
university job which had the following criteria:
1: At least 1000 miles from his mother, to limit unannounced visits
[Maude mellowed considerably since then].
2: It had to be an academic job teaching engineering[1].
3: Where ever he ended up had to have weather which included
snow and thunderstorms.
In 1957, that was UW. Actually, it wasn't UW yet but in the 1960s
thats what it became.
James Nicoll
1: Ironically, the program he signed up to teach was felt to be too elitist
and got torpedoed and he eneded up in MechEng.
--
Gary Farber
:>There
:>was also the black widow spider that bit Dad, but it didn't really fly.
: There's something really horrible about seeing flying versions of
: creepy-crawly things that don't normally fly. Flying ants still weird me
: out, and I had a nightmare just the other night about flying spiders which
: still causes me to shudder thinking about it.
I hate to think about that time the flying monkeys came to get me.
The flying squids were really cool, though.
--
Copyright 1999 by Gary Farber; For Hire as: Web Researcher; Nonfiction
Writer, Fiction and Nonfiction Editor; gfa...@panix.com; Northeast US
Kathy Routliffe
Mike Kozlowski wrote:
>
> In article <3833305A...@home.com>, Kip Williams <ki...@home.com> wrote:
>
> >There
> >was also the black widow spider that bit Dad, but it didn't really fly.
>
> There's something really horrible about seeing flying versions of
> creepy-crawly things that don't normally fly. Flying ants still weird me
> out, and I had a nightmare just the other night about flying spiders which
> still causes me to shudder thinking about it.
In June or July of 1984, when I was about 5.5 months pregnant, Bob and I
were down in Maryland. We were visiting a friend who lived in a decaying
old mansion on some swamp near Washington. Bob and Stevie went out for
the evening, but I wanted an early night and turned in, in a pleasant
bedroom that had no screens on its windows.
I had turned out my light when I heard a clicking, whirring sound.
Turning on the light again, I saw a cigar-shaped creature on the wall
about five feet from my bed. It appeared to be about five inches long
and completely foreign to this earth.
I could neither get out of the bed to escape the room, nor turn off the
light and hide under the blanket. The first, I reasoned, would startle
the creature and cause it to fly, which would cause me to buckle and
lose consciousness. The second would render me incapable of knowing when
it had left the wall to crawl or fly towards the bed.
I remained motionless for two hours (I could see the clock), until Bob
came home. He looked at the creature and said "What *is* that?" Then he
reached for something -- a piece of wood, I think -- and whacked at it.
It disappeared, or at least didn't fall to the floor. It may have gone
out the window, or it may have returned to Hell.
I don't plan on re-visiting the South anytime soon.
--
Kip Williams
> : There's something really horrible about seeing flying versions of
> : creepy-crawly things that don't normally fly. Flying ants still weird me
> : out, and I had a nightmare just the other night about flying spiders which
> : still causes me to shudder thinking about it.
>
>
> The flying squids were really cool, though.
I remember a dream once with flying black snakes that talked. They would
respond to you, but you couldn't really reason with them. They were sort
of moderately slow and inexorable. It was a long, long ago dream, but I
still remember it.
If you dreamt about the flying monkeys, and if they looked like they did
in WIZARD OF OZ, they could have represented Ross Perot. I don't know
what dream squids represent, but it's not clear here if you're talking
about real ones anyway, and I certainly don't know what they represent.
Kathy Routliffe
Geri Sullivan wrote:
>
> Kathy Routliffe wrote:
> >
> > Geri Sullivan wrote:
> >
> > > "Dick said, 'Oh, Baby. Where is the cookie
> > > for Spot? Where is the one for Spot?'"
> >
> > Geri, darling, where *did* you get this? I must know.
>
> Umm, from the frame of the magnetized notepad on my refrigerator?
>
> You know the company making all of the retro fridge magnets? In 2-D
> shapes of PEZ dispensers, old TV shows, cars, and similar sorts of "once
> more around the trend cycle" objects? Well, they make Dick and Jane
> magnets, and they make a magnetized notepad, too. And in addition to
> sporting pictures of Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot, it's got that quote. I
> figure it's probably from one of the readers, though I don't have the
> original source on hand to check.
Nor would I. We had Tom, Dick and Susan, with Flip the dog and (?) the
cat.
It still sounds obscene.
Marilee J. Layman
> I don't know
>what dream squids represent, but it's not clear here if you're talking
>about real ones anyway, and I certainly don't know what they represent.
The O*W*C's mascot is squids and we throw them every so often.
--=======<:>
--
Marilee J. Layman Co-Leader, The Other*Worlds*Cafe
relm...@aol.com A Science Fiction Discussion Group
Web site: http://www.webmoose.com/owc/
AOL keyword: BOOKs > Chats & Message > SF Forum > The Other*Worlds*Cafe
Jordin Kare
> Gary Farber wrote:
> > : There's something really horrible about seeing flying versions of
> > : creepy-crawly things that don't normally fly. Flying ants still weird me
> > : out, and I had a nightmare just the other night about flying spiders which
> > : still causes me to shudder thinking about it.
> >
> > I hate to think about that time the flying monkeys came to get me.
> >
>
> If you dreamt about the flying monkeys, and if they looked like they did
> in WIZARD OF OZ, they could have represented Ross Perot.
And then there's the cyberpunk version of the Wizard of Oz -- a lovely
several-thousand-word parody I once discovered on the Net -- in which
Dorothy, Toto, et.al. are carried off by the Flying Transportation
Primates, or FTP.
Jordin Kare
Laura Haywood-Cory
> In June or July of 1984, when I was about 5.5 months pregnant, Bob and I
> were down in Maryland.
[snip large creepy bug story, ick]
> I don't plan on re-visiting the South anytime soon.
Heh. I'm in North Carolina and tend to think of everything north of
Virginia as "the North", so I smiled to see your reference to Maryland as
"the South".
Reminds me of a pen pal I had when I was younger; she lived in New Orleans
and in one letter to me she described redbugs, aka chiggers, in great
detail, then wrote, "but I guess you don't have those Up North where you
are." :)
Laura
--
Laura Haywood-Cory
School of Education, CB# 3500
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3500
(919) 962-2468 fax (919) 962-2471
--
Laura Haywood-Cory | Trinoc-coN: the Triangle's
Research Triangle SF Society | speculative fiction conference
http://www.sandbaggers.com/rtsfs | Sept. 29 - Oct. 1, 2000
Next Meeting: 11/16, 7-9 pm | http://www.trinoc-con.org
Monthly SF events | Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill
Ray Radlein
>
> Gary Farber wrote:
> >
> > I hate to think about that time the flying monkeys came to get me.
> >
>
> I remember a dream once with flying black snakes that talked. They
> would respond to you, but you couldn't really reason with them. They
> were sort of moderately slow and inexorable. It was a long, long ago
> dream, but I still remember it.
>
> talking about real ones anyway, and I certainly don't know what they
> represent.
Flying squids in your dreams represent Vorlon spaceships.
If they tell you to jump, jump.
- Ray R.
--
***********************************************************************
"But at my back I alwaies hear
Magneto's minions hurrying near"
- Marvell Comics, "The Mysterious Men of X"
Ray Radlein - r...@learnlink.emory.edu
homepage coming soon! wooo, wooo.
***********************************************************************
Geri Sullivan
>
> Geri Sullivan wrote:
> >
> > Kathy Routliffe wrote:
> > >
> > > Geri Sullivan wrote:
> > >
> > > > "Dick said, 'Oh, Baby. Where is the cookie
> > > > for Spot? Where is the one for Spot?'"
> > >
> > > Geri, darling, where *did* you get this? I must know.
> >
> > Umm, from the frame of the magnetized notepad on my refrigerator?
> >
> > sporting pictures of Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot, it's got that quote. I
> > figure it's probably from one of the readers, though I don't have the
> > original source on hand to check.
>
> Nor would I. We had Tom, Dick and Susan, with Flip the dog and (?) the
> cat.
Interesting. What were the relationships and relative ages of Tom, Dick,
and Susan?
> It still sounds obscene.
Well, yes...I trust you're not surprised. <waggling eyebrows>
It's the "Oh, Baby" that does it, of course.
Geri
--
"Fandom is a very worthwhile hobby, and the most worthwhile
thing in it is doing as well as you can something that
interests you and gives other people pleasure, no matter
how much trouble it is." -- Walt Willis, Warhoon 28
Philip Chee
>Philip Chee wrote in message <94284884...@aleytys.pc.my>...
>>That's a bit too cold for me (assuming that I've got it translated
>>into Celcius correctly).
>Um... about 22? And would I guess that your ambient would be around the 28
>to 30 mark?
Yuppers. More like 30 to 32 in the day. Luckily I work in an (allegedly)
airconditioned office.
Phil
---=====================================================================---
Philip Chee: Tasek Corporation Berhad, P.O.Box 254, 30908 Ipoh, MALAYSIA
e-mail: phi...@aleytys.pc.my Voice:+60-5-545-1011 Fax:+60-5-547-3932
Guard us from the she-wolf and the wolf, and guard us from the thief,
oh Night, and so be good for us to pass.
---
ž 10132.66 ž Go ahead, correct my typos. I'll make more.
Kathy Routliffe
James Nicoll wrote:
>
> In article <38337449...@flash.net>,
> Kathy Routliffe <kat...@flash.net> wrote:
> >
> snip
>
> >This made me smile. But I still have a friend who went to live in San
> >Diego or some such, spoke to friends in increasingly desperate tones
> >about the lack of seasons, and finally moved to Connecticut, back to
> >Chicago, then back to the east coast. Anywhere but back to California.
>
> My father ended up at UWaterloo because he was looking for a post-
> university job which had the following criteria:
>
> 1: At least 1000 miles from his mother, to limit unannounced visits
> [Maude mellowed considerably since then].
>
> 2: It had to be an academic job teaching engineering[1].
>
> 3: Where ever he ended up had to have weather which included
> snow and thunderstorms.
(snip)
Were thunderstorms a rare event where you grew up? I know they were down
in the Annapolis Valley. We'd all go to the window and look out and
watch the light flicker in the sky. We almost never got the forks and
jags of lightning I love to watch so much now that I live here on the
edge of the Great Plains, but what we had, we loved.
I've always been grateful to my grandfather for teaching me to love
thunder before I could become afraid of it. These days, even living in
Chicago where thunderstorms have rolled into town on New Year's Eve, I
will go out on my back porch in the pouring rain to watch them.
Dorothy J Heydt
Kathy Routliffe <kat...@flash.net> wrote:
>
>Were thunderstorms a rare event where you grew up? I know they were down
>in the Annapolis Valley. We'd all go to the window and look out and
>watch the light flicker in the sky. We almost never got the forks and
>jags of lightning I love to watch so much now that I live here on the
>edge of the Great Plains, but what we had, we loved.
When I was growing up, we never had thunderstorms in the Bay
Area. Not from one year to the next. The first I ever saw
was in 1965, when I was doing some field work in Montana, where
they had lots of them. Thunderstorms and magpies, that was about
all I could find to like in the place.
The first one I encountered in the Bay Area was in 1976.
Now we get quite a number of them every year.
The climes, they are a'changin'....
James Nicoll
>>
>> My father ended up at UWaterloo because he was looking for a post-
>> university job which had the following criteria:
snip
>> 3: Where ever he ended up had to have weather which included
>> snow and thunderstorms.
>
>(snip)
>
>Were thunderstorms a rare event where you grew up?
Waterloo has more thunderstorms than SF but Bill would
have gotten far more if he'd gotten a job in Windsor. Would have made
getting deported less inconvenient, too. W'loo is just a tad too
far inland to get the really fun weather [or something].
A friend from Windsor has a wonderful story about riding her
bike down a road and suddenly feeling odd while all the hair on her
arms stood on end. It's a wonderful story because she managed to avoid
being part of the lightning stroke. Got to see it close up, though.
--
Kip Williams
> I've always been grateful to my grandfather for teaching me to love
> thunder before I could become afraid of it. These days, even living in
> Chicago where thunderstorms have rolled into town on New Year's Eve, I
> will go out on my back porch in the pouring rain to watch them.
We just haven't had any lightning as swell as we did in Georgia. Maybe
that was what the place was good for. I can remember one day watching
the clouds passing forked streaks of lightning back and forth for a
quarter of an hour, and not even getting a sprinkle on the lawn where I
reclined in comfort. There was also an impressive night storm where the
lightning froze every raindrop in place, evenly filling the air in the
courtyard of our apartment.
That's not to say we haven't had nice shows here, but they were mostly
interesting because the lightning was so close. Not as stylishly
decorative as in Georgia. (Hmmm. They shone like a shaft of gold, when
all around was darkness...)
Kathy Routliffe
Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>
(snip)
>
> When I was growing up, we never had thunderstorms in the Bay
> Area. Not from one year to the next. The first I ever saw
> was in 1965, when I was doing some field work in Montana, where
> they had lots of them. Thunderstorms and magpies, that was about
> all I could find to like in the place.
>
> The first one I encountered in the Bay Area was in 1976.
>
> Now we get quite a number of them every year.
>
> The climes, they are a'changin'....
Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
Dorothy J Heydt
Kathy Routliffe <kat...@flash.net> wrote:
>> The climes, they are a'changin'....
>
>Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
Global warming....
Doug Wickstrom
<kbr...@kbrown.compulink.co.uk> excited the ether to say:
>Janice Gelb wrote in message <80suhl$ls1$1...@ebaynews1.EBay.Sun.COM>...
>>In article 1...@lure.pipex.net, "Alison Hopkins" <fn...@dial.pipex.com> writes:
>>>
>
>
>>I grew up in a place just like this (Miami Beach), and when we were
>>children we never *could* figure out why other people, who knew there
>>were places where it was warm in the winter, continued to live where
>>they had to bundle up, scrape windshields, and shovel snow. I only kind
>>of understand it now as an adult, and it definitely wouldn't be my
>>choice!
>>
>>Of course, we *did* have humidity... lots of it. But my perfect ambient
>>temperature is still 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
>
>
>Oh Janice!
>
>Every year I pray that we wil have a real winter, with snow. It is so much
>fun!
>
>I still don't understand why Americans can't use real units. But - in C (I
>canb't be bothered to backtranslate into F) the ideal temperature is 15-20.
>aand the odd week of -10
I don't understand how the French talked you into using _their_
system. Ours are the honest English units that were good enough
for your parents, and your parent's parents, and your parent's
parent's parents, etc.
--
Doug Wickstrom
"The thirst that from the soul doth rise doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup I would not change for thine."
--Ben Jonson, "Song to Celia" 1616
Ken Brown
>In article 1...@lure.pipex.net, "Alison Hopkins" <fn...@dial.pipex.com> writes:
>>
>I grew up in a place just like this (Miami Beach), and when we were
>children we never *could* figure out why other people, who knew there
>were places where it was warm in the winter, continued to live where
>they had to bundle up, scrape windshields, and shovel snow. I only kind
>of understand it now as an adult, and it definitely wouldn't be my
>choice!
>
>Of course, we *did* have humidity... lots of it. But my perfect ambient
>temperature is still 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
Oh Janice!
Every year I pray that we wil have a real winter, with snow. It is so much
fun!
I still don't understand why Americans can't use real units. But - in C (I
canb't be bothered to backtranslate into F) the ideal temperature is 15-20.
aand the odd week of -10
Ken Brown
Gary Farber
Kathy Routliffe <kat...@flash.net> wrote:
: Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
[. . .]
:> The climes, they are a'changin'....
: Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
The usual cites are El Nino and El Nina.
From there we digress into chaos theory, as well as metereology.
Of course, for many people's purposes, we might simply say that Thor feels
sweaty and overheated.
Ray Radlein
>
> Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> >
> > Area. Not from one year to the next. The first I ever saw
> > was in 1965, when I was doing some field work in Montana, where
> > they had lots of them. Thunderstorms and magpies, that was
> > about all I could find to like in the place.
> >
> > The first one I encountered in the Bay Area was in 1976.
> >
> > Now we get quite a number of them every year.
> >
>
> Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
I blame the internet.
Oh, and violent video games, too, and black clothing.
Kip Williams
> :> The climes, they are a'changin'....
>
> : Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
>
_El_ Nina? The climes aren't the only things changing. Must have
happened while the system was passing through Sweden.
Gary Farber
: Gary Farber wrote:
:> In <38382B5F...@flash.net>
:> Kathy Routliffe <kat...@flash.net> wrote:
:> : Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
:> [. . .]
:> :> The climes, they are a'changin'....
:>
:> : Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
:>
:> The usual cites are El Nino and El Nina.
: _El_ Nina? The climes aren't the only things changing. Must have
: happened while the system was passing through Sweden.
I can't *hear* you. La-la-la-la-la-la-la.
Kevin J. Maroney
>> > The climes, they are a'changin'....
>>
>> Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
>
>I blame the internet.
>Oh, and violent video games, too, and black clothing.
I blame the failed Giuliani administration.
--
Kevin Maroney | kmar...@crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
http://www.nyrsf.com
Rob Hansen
wrote:
>On Mon, 22 Nov 1999 01:07:52 -0000, "Ken Brown"
><kbr...@kbrown.compulink.co.uk> excited the ether to say:
>>I still don't understand why Americans can't use real units. But - in C (I
>>can't be bothered to backtranslate into F) the ideal temperature is 15-20.
>>and the odd week of -10
>
>I don't understand how the French talked you into using _their_
>system. Ours are the honest English units that were good enough
>for your parents, and your parent's parents, and your parent's
>parent's parents, etc.
Well, here's one Brit who still thinks of weather temps in F. You can
tell me the temperature is 10 if you like, but I have to translate
that into Fahrenheit before I know what it'll feel like outside.
--
Rob Hansen
================================================
My Home Page: http://www.fiawol.demon.co.uk/rob/
Feminists Against Censorship:
http://www.fiawol.demon.co.uk/FAC/
Jo Walton
nims...@aol.com "Doug Wickstrom" writes:
> On Mon, 22 Nov 1999 01:07:52 -0000, "Ken Brown"
> <kbr...@kbrown.compulink.co.uk> excited the ether to say:
> >I still don't understand why Americans can't use real units. But - in C (I
> >canb't be bothered to backtranslate into F) the ideal temperature is 15-20.
> >aand the odd week of -10
>
> I don't understand how the French talked you into using _their_
> system. Ours are the honest English units that were good enough
> for your parents, and your parent's parents, and your parent's
> parent's parents, etc.
Yeah, the ninnyhammers.
I can understand the poor idiots using inches and pounds and things,
they didn't know any better, but it completely flummoxes me that they
can have got temperature so wrong for so long.
I mean OK, it's awkward that there are 12 inches in a foot, and 16
ounces in a pound, but the units themselves are fine, considered
individuallly. But Farenheit... oh dear me no, the degrees aren't even
the right size! Awful to think of people struggling along with it
for all those years.
--
Jo - - I kissed a kif at Kefk - - J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk
http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk - Interstichia; Poetry; RASFW FAQ; etc.
Omega
<r...@fiawol.demon.co.uk> writes
>><kbr...@kbrown.compulink.co.uk> excited the ether to say:
>
>>>I still don't understand why Americans can't use real units. But - in C (I
>>>and the odd week of -10
>>
>>I don't understand how the French talked you into using _their_
>>system. Ours are the honest English units that were good enough
>>for your parents, and your parent's parents, and your parent's
>>parent's parents, etc.
>
>tell me the temperature is 10 if you like, but I have to translate
>that into Fahrenheit before I know what it'll feel like outside.
I'll go along with that. I'm always turning to Harry and saying "What's
that in real money?"
--
Omega
"But whatever his weight in pounds, shillings, and ounces,
He always seems bigger because of his bounces".
A A Milne The House At Pooh Corner
Bob Webber
...
: I don't understand how the French talked you into using _their_
: system. Ours are the honest English units that were good enough
: for your parents, and your parent's parents, and your parent's
: parent's parents, etc.
Apart from volumetric units, of course. And tons.
--
Nothing he's got he really needs
Twenty first century schizoid man.
-- Fripp-McDonald-Lake-Giles-Sinfield (King Crimson)
Ken MacLeod
<nims...@aol.com> writes
>On Mon, 22 Nov 1999 01:07:52 -0000, "Ken Brown"
><kbr...@kbrown.compulink.co.uk> excited the ether to say:
>
>>
>>I still don't understand why Americans can't use real units. But - in C (I
>>aand the odd week of -10
>
>I don't understand how the French talked you into using _their_
>system. Ours are the honest English units that were good enough
>for your parents, and your parent's parents, and your parent's
>parent's parents, etc.
>
The Celsius temperature measurements are the only part of that little
exercise in quantitative Jacobinism that feels intuitively right. Zero
is freezing, one hundred is boiling. Can't get simpler than that.
Otherwise, yeah. For everyday use, 'feet and inches are miles better'.
--
Ken MacLeod
Mike Kozlowski
Ken MacLeod <k...@libertaria.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>The Celsius temperature measurements are the only part of that little
>exercise in quantitative Jacobinism that feels intuitively right. Zero
>is freezing, one hundred is boiling. Can't get simpler than that.
The problem with that is that you entirely lose the psychologically
important concept of "below zero." Whenever it's below zero out in the
Fahrenheit world, you know that it's damn cold; sure, it's not
realistically much warmer at one degree above, but zero degrees Fahrenheit
provides a reasonable approximation of the temperature below which it's
not merely chilly, but actively Cold.
The Celsius system lacks such a useful benchmark. Negative temperatures
are suddenly de rigeur for winter, and don't have nearly the cachet that
they should have. And "below negative twenty" doesn't roll off the tongue
in nearly the same way as "below zero."
--
Michael Kozlowski
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mkozlows/
Mitch Wagner
says...
> In article <znJASMAe$aO4...@libertaria.demon.co.uk>,
> Ken MacLeod <k...@libertaria.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >The Celsius temperature measurements are the only part of that little
> >exercise in quantitative Jacobinism that feels intuitively right. Zero
> >is freezing, one hundred is boiling. Can't get simpler than that.
>
> The problem with that is that you entirely lose the psychologically
> important concept of "below zero." Whenever it's below zero out in the
> Fahrenheit world, you know that it's damn cold; sure, it's not
> realistically much warmer at one degree above, but zero degrees Fahrenheit
> provides a reasonable approximation of the temperature below which it's
> not merely chilly, but actively Cold.
That's very parochial of you, sir.
I live in Southern California. Anything below 40 degrees F is, to me,
Fritz Lieber "A Pail of Air" territory. - mw
Rich McAllister K6RFM
> In article <znJASMAe$aO4...@libertaria.demon.co.uk>,
> Ken MacLeod <k...@libertaria.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >The Celsius temperature measurements are the only part of that little
> >exercise in quantitative Jacobinism that feels intuitively right. Zero
> >is freezing, one hundred is boiling. Can't get simpler than that.
>
> The problem with that is that you entirely lose the psychologically
> important concept of "below zero." Whenever it's below zero out in the
> Fahrenheit world, you know that it's damn cold;
Fahrenheit also fits nicely with typical Earth surface conditions
at the other end; over 100 F is damn hot. Celsius squeezes all
of normal human experience into -20 to +40.
Rich
Mike Scott
wrote:
>The problem with that is that you entirely lose the psychologically
>important concept of "below zero." Whenever it's below zero out in the
>Fahrenheit world, you know that it's damn cold; sure, it's not
>realistically much warmer at one degree above, but zero degrees Fahrenheit
>provides a reasonable approximation of the temperature below which it's
>not merely chilly, but actively Cold.
>
>The Celsius system lacks such a useful benchmark. Negative temperatures
>are suddenly de rigeur for winter, and don't have nearly the cachet that
>they should have. And "below negative twenty" doesn't roll off the tongue
>in nearly the same way as "below zero."
But it's *not* a useful benchmark in most parts of Great Britain, where
temperatures below zero Fahrenheit quite simply never occur, or perhaps
occur once in a century. This may be a useful argument for the US's
retention of Fahrenheit, but it's of no value for countries with more
civilised climates.
--
Mike Scott
mi...@plokta.com
PNN has frequently updated news & comment for SF fandom
http://www.plokta.com/pnn/
Bernard Peek
<gfa...@panix.com> writes
>In <38382B5F...@flash.net>
>Kathy Routliffe <kat...@flash.net> wrote:
>: Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>[. . .]
>
>: Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
>
Personally, I blame the nuclear test-ban treaty.
--
Bernard Peek
b...@shrdlu.com
b...@shrdlu.co.uk
Dorothy J Heydt
Ken MacLeod <k...@libertaria.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>The Celsius temperature measurements are the only part of that little
>exercise in quantitative Jacobinism that feels intuitively right. Zero
>is freezing, one hundred is boiling. Can't get simpler than that.
Not if it never gets down to zero Fahrenheit *or* Celsius where
you live. (It never gets up to 100 Fahrenheit around here,
either, but it does inland.) We do have a lot of big lighted
advertising signs around here that give the time and the
temperature on both scales, so I've reached the point where I can
look at a Centigrade scale and think, "Oh, yeah, 16 to 20C is
about right."
Matt Austern
> I mean OK, it's awkward that there are 12 inches in a foot, and 16
> ounces in a pound, but the units themselves are fine, considered
> individuallly. But Farenheit... oh dear me no, the degrees aren't even
> the right size! Awful to think of people struggling along with it
> for all those years.
Odd. I have just the opposite reaction. I have no problem with
centimeters and kilos and things---those are natural. But Celsius is
just wrong; the degrees are too big. The difference between 104 and
105 Fahrenheit is important, and it's obscured if you give the numbers
in those enormous Celsius degrees.
Samuel Paik
> Metric units, discouragingly for everyone except scientific
> researchers, bear little relation to the human body and divide
> inconveniently--they are excellent, of course, for scientific
> computations.
They use some weird muliplier, 12, for heaven's sake!
Much more natual to use 10 or 20.
Sam
--
Samuel S. Paik | http://www.webnexus.com/users/paik/
3D and multimedia, architecture and implementation
Solyent Green is kitniyos!
Mary Kay Kare
<kat...@flash.net> wrote:
But I still have a friend who went to live in San
> Diego or some such, spoke to friends in increasingly desperate tones
> about the lack of seasons, and finally moved to Connecticut, back to
> Chicago, then back to the east coast. Anywhere but back to California.
> --
Well, Southern California does have a problem that way. And San Diego
has, in fact, had perfect weather everytime I've been there, no matter
when it was. Warm and sunny with a slight breeze. Northern California
most definitely has seasons, though they may not be the ones you've known
heretofore. For instance, here, in the winter the grass turns from brown
to green. Because it rains then and only then. I cannot tell you how
weird this was to a child of the Great Plains. But it doesn't bother me.
And we have spring--it just starts in February. We also have fall--and
the trees do turn color. The arterial steets leading to the main street
to our Planned Community is lined with poplars which are a lovely yellow
right now. Summer is hot and dry. Just like it always was.
MK
--
Mary Kay Kare
Science Fiction Fandom: where people contradict you just to be polite.
Mary Kay Kare
> Gary Farber wrote:
> > : There's something really horrible about seeing flying versions of
> > : creepy-crawly things that don't normally fly. Flying ants still weird me
> > : out, and I had a nightmare just the other night about flying spiders which
> > : still causes me to shudder thinking about it.
> >
> > I hate to think about that time the flying monkeys came to get me.
> >
> > The flying squids were really cool, though.
>
> I remember a dream once with flying black snakes that talked. They would
> respond to you, but you couldn't really reason with them. They were sort
> of moderately slow and inexorable. It was a long, long ago dream, but I
> still remember it.
>
You'd probably appreciate the invisible teleporting asps who inhabit our shower.
Mary Kay Kare
> Kathy Routliffe wrote:
> >
> > Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> > >
> > > When I was growing up, we never had thunderstorms in the Bay
> > > Area. Not from one year to the next. The first I ever saw
> > > was in 1965, when I was doing some field work in Montana, where
> > > they had lots of them. Thunderstorms and magpies, that was
> > > about all I could find to like in the place.
> > >
> > > The first one I encountered in the Bay Area was in 1976.
> > >
> > > Now we get quite a number of them every year.
> > >
> > > The climes, they are a'changin'....
> >
> > Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
>
> I blame the internet.
>
> Oh, and violent video games, too, and black clothing.
>
Trenchcoats. Don't forget the trenchcoats.
Mary Kay Kare
<lgha...@email.unc.edu> wrote:
> Kathy Routliffe <kat...@flash.net> wrote:
>
> > In June or July of 1984, when I was about 5.5 months pregnant, Bob and I
> > were down in Maryland.
>
> [snip large creepy bug story, ick]
>
> > I don't plan on re-visiting the South anytime soon.
>
>
> Heh. I'm in North Carolina and tend to think of everything north of
> Virginia as "the North", so I smiled to see your reference to Maryland as
> "the South".
>
> Reminds me of a pen pal I had when I was younger; she lived in New Orleans
> and in one letter to me she described redbugs, aka chiggers, in great
> detail, then wrote, "but I guess you don't have those Up North where you
> are." :)
Heh. Indeed. I'll never forget the time a visiting Iowan gushed, "I
just love you guys' southern accents." Said guys were born in raised in
Oklahoma!
Loren MacGregor
>
> In article <3838E9...@learnlink.emory.edu>, rayra...@earthlink.net wrote:
>
> > Kathy Routliffe wrote:
> > >
> > > Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> > > >
> > > > When I was growing up, we never had thunderstorms in the Bay
> > > > Area. Not from one year to the next. The first I ever saw
> > > > was in 1965, when I was doing some field work in Montana, where
> > > > they had lots of them. Thunderstorms and magpies, that was
> > > > about all I could find to like in the place.
> > > >
> > > > The first one I encountered in the Bay Area was in 1976.
> > > >
> > > > Now we get quite a number of them every year.
> > > >
> > > > The climes, they are a'changin'....
> > >
> > > Anyone out there have any idea why this might be?
> >
> > I blame the internet.
> >
> > Oh, and violent video games, too, and black clothing.
> >
> Trenchcoats. Don't forget the trenchcoats.
A local a capella group has recently changed their group name from
"The Trenchcoats" to "The Coats."
-- LJM