What’s funny to me is that today would be a normal winter day for much of the rest of the country, but it’s like Armageddon here. Oregonians don’t know what to do. The snowfall had stopped by last night, and yet . . . almost nothing seemed to have been sanded, salted or plowed this morning. They didn’t even bother. OSU says: “Yellow alert,” come in to work if you dare. The Corvallis School District says: “Shut it down! Shut it DOWN!” I don’t know why the City of Corvallis isn’t doing anything. The roads are just going to refreeze and be even worse tomorrow because of the city’s negligence (or lack of resources for these situations?).

It is true, however, that Oregon drivers tend to be poor winter-weather vehicle operators. Because when do we ever get a chance to practice snow driving in the Mid-Willamette Valley? People around here burst into tears at the thought of driving with snow on the sides of the road. After all, there could be BLACK ICE! Still, others have their cameras out to document this remarkable, magical event like we’re in Disneyland. And I guess I can understand that. Last night, the moonlit snow was quite dramatic around midnight, since the moon is still almost full. The middle of the night seemed eerily like dusk.

At lunchtime, a woman I work with bought a mysterious “ice-snow scraper” object. She said she had used a plastic pancake spatula this morning to remove the snow and ice from her car. Isn’t that awesome?

Today’s “extreme” winter weather reminds me of some news from last week. For the second straight year, Corvallis was named the most secure small town in the United States, according to the fifth annual Farmers Insurance Group of Companies study. The “most secure” rankings took into consideration crime statistics, extreme weather, risk of natural disasters, housing depreciation, foreclosures, air quality, life expectancy and job loss numbers in 138 U.S. towns with populations of fewer than 150,000. Read the article: “Corvallis is safety town for second time.” State College, Pennsylvania, my former hometown and the location of Penn State University, came in fifth for small towns.

According to the fifth annual Most Secure U.S. Places to Live rankings from Farmers Insurance Group of Companies: “Those seeking a place to live, work or raise a family in a safe and secure environment should consider the Pacific Northwest.” But maybe not this week.

Portland had some pretty bad weather in January 2007 too. This “Portland drivers in the snow” video is classic. LOOK OUT! I have three little children in my car!

Cold weather got you down? This is hilarious: “Man tries to pay bill with spider drawing.”

And this is kind of hilarious, in an incredibly depressing way: Bush dodges shoe and his reaction. Yes, an Iraqi journalist actually threw two shoes at President Bush during a news conference on Sunday, after which Bush flippantly smirked and giggled. Hooray for cultural competence in our world leaders! Let’s be thankful that it’s almost over.

I will most likely get a new cell phone (and two-year plan) sometime between now and the end of October, probably through T-Mobile because their monthly plans are the least expensive. But what phone to choose? There are so many options. Even though there’s a certain appeal to phones that are just phones, I think I’ll probably choose a smartphone instead of a basic cell.

Smartphone vs. basic cell phone

Of course it seems really useful to have email, Internet (with a usable mobile browser), integrated Wi-Fi and data cable capabilities built-in, but do I really need a phone with all that? I’m in front of a computer screen for most of the day already. Email and Internet would be incredibly handy to have on my phone while traveling or on vacation, but I doubt I’d like to browse the Web on my phone when a regular computer is readily available.

(By the way, regarding mobile Internet access: Even though T-Mobile hasn’t rolled out 3G service nationwide yet, it’s apparently coming to Portland by October 1, 2008 and will continue to expand until they finally catch up to the rest of the competition, maybe in 2009.)

Though I definitely see the appeal of smartphones, I’m not completely sold on whether I will enjoy trying to roll the functionality of my laptop and iPod into my phone (there’s always the battery life issue). I still think I might prefer to carry multiple devices as needed. In general, I’m actually pretty disappointed that so few mobiles devices are doing “convergence” (or “all-in-one”) very well. Most cell phones (and even smartphones) are junk, at least those offered in the U.S.

I do have the comfort of knowing that if I end up going with a CDMA phone after all (via Sprint or Verizon Wireless), there’s always BitPim for viewing, manipulating, and backing up cell phone data via Windows, Linux and Mac.

Google Android early adoption?

One thing I’m trying to figure out is just how bad of an idea it would be to get the first Google Android phone on the market, the T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream). Like any first generation product, it’s bound to have really annoying problems at first, right? This is why I’m usually not an early adopter. But the G1 is tempting, even with Big Brother Google on board (a Gmail account is required to set up the phone). The open source Android operating system and SDK should enable many awesome free services and applications. Once it matures, the Android Market should be much better than the more tightly regulated and arguably anti-competitive iPhone App Store.

T-Mobile phones and HotSpot @Home

I kind of like (meaning: dislike less than most) a few Nokia and Samsung cell phone models, but I’m also thinking about whether I should get the forthcoming T-Mobile Shadow II (HTC Cleopatra) instead. A woman I work with has the T-Mobile Shadow (HTC Juno), released about a year ago, and I’ve played with it a few times. It seems pretty nice, Windows Start menu notwithstanding.

I may also find the T-Mobile HotSpot @Home UMA service useful at some point, which the new HTC phones soon-to-be released by T-Mobile should support. (One of my home routers is already a T-Mobile HotSpot @Home Linksys WRT54G-TM, though it’s been modified with a JTAG header and CPU heatsink and flashed with DD-WRT firmware.)

Apple iPhone and AT&T

I’ve thought about turning into that smug Apple guy and getting an iPhone (an older model, since the iPhone 3G still cannot be unlocked to work with non-AT&T service providers). Because AT&T and I have issues, and since I don’t want to deal with repeatedly jailbreaking/hacking my cell phone firmware following Apple updates (see PwnageTool and QuickPwn), I think I’m eliminating that option. Even though the improved iPhone 2.1 firmware has now been released and apparently sucks considerably less than 2.0.

T-Mobile G1 and Shadow II release dates

Both the aforementioned HTC Dream/G1 and the HTC Cleopatra/Shadow II phones will supposedly be released through T-Mobile within the next few weeks. The G1 has a tentative release date of October 13 (or is it October 20 now?) and will run on Android. Rumor has it that qualified existing T-Mobile subscribers can pre-order the G1 starting on September 17. The Shadow II, due out on October 15, is based on Windows Mobile 6.1. There’s also the pretty nice T-Mobile Dash available, if I decide that I really need a full built-in QWERTY keypad that doesn’t slide/swivel behind the screen (and if I want to continue avoiding BlackBerry devices like the plague but still have a model that mimics one).

Google Chrome and Google domination

I’ve also been looking at Google’s new (currently Windows-only) web browser, Google Chrome, and the open source Chromium builds. I don’t think I’m a fan, at least not yet. I like it about as well as Opera, but certainly not as much as Firefox. Not enough functionality and too many issues. Here are a couple of articles: “Building Google Chrome: A first look” and “The Cloud’s Chrome Lining.”

On a related note, do not underestimate the extent to which Google will continue to take over the world and do serious battle with Microsoft . . . on desktops, laptops and mobile devices . . . with the three-headed monster of Android, Chrome and Gears. The possibilities of OS-independent, browser-based applications are huge. Here’s an article: “Could There Be More To Google, Android, Chrome, & Gears Than Meets The Eye?”

Here’s Tom with the (sports and) weather.

As a quick Olympics follow-up, we have some confirmation that Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt would have utterly destroyed the world record in the 100 meters if he hadn’t slowed to pound his chest victoriously: “Physicist subtracts showboating, says Bolt could have run 9.55 in Beijing 100.” Also, the New England Patriots are probably done following the loss of Tom Brady in their first game of the NFL season.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Ike is still abusing the Texas Gulf Coast. (I will refrain from jokes related to Ike Turner and the “Don’t Mess With Texas” motto.) Best wishes to everyone in Texas.

Another interesting campus activity was the recent display of white and red flags in the Valley Library Quad during the past week, representing soldiers killed since the war/occupation in Iraq began. According to the “Reminders of lives lost in war” article in The Daily Barometer, the flags were to “show the number of Iraqis and Americans that have died since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.” It was a lot of flags; one red flag for each fallen American and every white flag representing five or more Iraqi deaths. See the time-lapse video of the flag setup process on Tuesday, May 6. They took all of the flags down on Wednesday, May 14.

I can’t decide whether I want to go to the Sasquatch Festival at The Gorge next weekend. I’ll already be in Portland on May 22 and 23 for the annual WebVisions conference.

Below are a few entertaining videos and comics to share:

In 2006, Yves Rossy, Switzerland’s “Fusion Man” (or Jet-Man), became the first man in the world to fly with wings and four jet engines strapped to his body. Yesterday, he showcased his talents to the world using the jet-powered wings he designed. Watch the YouTube video and read the story: “Swiss ‘Fusion Man’ Flies Over the Alps With Jet-Propelled Wings.”

(Wait . . . did you say Mr. Fusion?)

I thought of the following stupid Homestar Runner cartoon (actually a Fluffy Puff Marshmallows commercial) from 2002 this week when I tried to explain to a coworker why I was seemingly inexplicably attaching the phrase “for secret eating” to various statements. No, I’m not insane! Watch Meet Marshie.

See a video clip of Sesame Street’s Swedish Chef on Robot Chicken. Adult Swim is the best. Bork bork bork! Björk?

I found the following webcomic somewhat amusing: The Comic Adventures of Left & Right.

That recent 80-degree weekend was just a tease. It is getting absurdly late in April for consistently crappy days like this. We had record lows and even snow in the past week (though no snow in the valley, thankfully, but we did get small hail last weekend). Usually I’m out every weekend playing tennis in the sun by now.

But hey, at least we didn’t get an earthquake last week like the Midwest: “5.2-Magnitude Quake Jolts Midwest, Shaking Buildings but Injuring Few.”

Regarding California’s earthquake status: “More than 99% chance of major quake in state within 30 years.” Plus, geologists “are trying to discover why more than 600 earthquakes have occurred during the past 10 days off the Oregon coast.” Earthquake, earthquake, earthquake.

By the way, I stole Google’s Earth Day graphic for this post out of laziness . . . and because Mother Nature clearly didn’t get the memo about the rainy season ending.

Perhaps this year we are having different seasons: winter, spring, winter, and so on.

I think I had more fun on Earth Day last year. Though it happened to rain a little that day too, which was my excuse to go see a movie. But it was a light spring rain with partial clouds, not like the dreary downpour today. This is still winter weather in the Willamette Valley. And it’s May next week.

Everyone panic about climate change’s feedback loops creating more severe and crazy weather!

I originally thought it might be a paper wasp, because we recently had an open-comb wasp nest on the far side of the building. But this wasp was not slender and had no reddish markings. It seemed rather large, measuring at least 20mm long. I did a bit of research and have determined that it’s a common wasp (Vespula vulgaris), also known as a European yellowjacket.

It might be a queen wasp looking for a warm place to overwinter before starting a new colony in the spring (or maybe her hibernation spot was recently disturbed somehow). Or it could be a lost male/drone. Not sure how to determine this conclusively. I’d wager that it’s a queen. The wasp we found today does show the characteristic ‘anchor’ mark on the face (the clypeus).

Here are a couple of sites with good wasp photos: Space For Nature Gallery and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Laboratory of Entomology.

I also found this interesting information, which may apply to the common wasp/yellowjacket: “The varied markings on the face of paper wasp queens show the bearer’s rank. A blotchier face means a higher status.” So, even wasps are driven by their status. The better the ‘anchor’ mark, the higher the rank for common wasps?

Eli the cat very much enjoyed observing the buzzing wasp in the bottle and pushed it around the room a bit. See a few photos below:

Once the cat become bored and fell asleep, we attempted to feed the wasp some crushed pomegranate flesh/juice, which she seemed to enjoy:

Then we released her outside into the 40-degree rain (the standard Mid-Willamette Valley winter condition) to fend for herself.

Science & Politics

I stopped by the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center while I was in Florida. In related news, earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban humans on Mars at NASA: How To Beat Congress’s Ban Of Humans On Mars

EPA has developed tools to help individuals (and households) reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take action: EPA Personal Emissions Calculator

Japanese researchers pitted young chimps against human adults in tests of short-term memory, and overall, the chimps won: Young chimp beats college students

Cute & Funny

Here are three cute cat videos from YouTube: 1. Crow and Kitten are Friends, 2. Psycho-Cat Christmas, and 3. Japanese Kitten Standing on Two Legs

On December 5 it was apparently the Annual Day of the Ninja. I like this Pirate vs. Ninja comparison graphic. Think ninja.

This is old news now, but I forgot to post it before (and there’s still time before the holidays): Elf Yourself

Oregon & Transportation

More old news: Drafted by the Red Sox in the first round in 2005 out of Oregon State University, Boston rookie Jacoby Ellsbury came home to a hero’s welcome in November after a meteoric six-month rise from Double-A prospect to World Series standout: Red Sox rookie star Jacoby Ellsbury gets hometown hero’s welcome

Even more old news: Oregon State University researchers have discovered which molecules control tissue regeneration in zebrafish — an advance that may one day help scientists learn to regenerate tissues in humans: OSU looks at regeneration

Apparently the weather was really bad in Oregon while I was gone, with high wind and rain. Still, most disasters, such as flooding and windstorms, that Willamette Valley residents will face are not of the catastrophic variety. However, Salem sits near a fault line and seismologists have been warning for years that a catastrophic earthquake could happen here: Oregon gets pummeled by rain, wind. Could the worst be yet to come?

Going to the airport? What are the road conditions like in the Portland Metro area and elsewhere in Oregon: TripCheck

I will soon be heading to western Washington for Christmas: WSDOT Traffic

With airports and highways more congested than ever, new steel-wheel and maglev lines that move millions in Europe and Japan have the potential to resurrect the age of American railroads: Super Trains: Plans to Fix U.S. Rail Could End Road & Sky Gridlock

Music

In case you’ve forgotten, both Radiohead’s In Rainbows discbox (including the bonus disc of eight songs) and NIN’s Year Zero Remixed album have been released for your enjoyment.

On my trip to Florida, for whatever reasons, these were my four most-played albums:

• The Faint “Wet From Birth” (2004)
• Redstart “So Far From Over” (2004)
• Rilo Kiley “Under the Blacklight” (2007)
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Is Is” (2007)

I found that I really liked listening to The Faint in the Miami area.

That is all for now!