Outside The Interzone: Oct 27, 2013

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Geo 365: Nov. 2, Day 306: Cloudy Coast

Back on Route 101 from the Otter Crest Loop, the view down to Beverly Beach was pretty hazy, but the cloud line where moist coastal air was being pushed up the mountainside was very clear. Seeing the clouds forming like this helps clarify why the coast gets so much more rain than we do: here the air is rising. On the valley side of the Coast Range, the air is descending. We have plenty of gloomy, damp weather in Corvallis, but our actual precipitation rate annually is fairly moderate, at just over 40 inches. The actual coast gets 100 to 120 inches per year, and higher areas up near the Coast Range crest can get up to 160 inches or more.

Speaking of the Loop road, I meant to mention that its northern portion is one-way, north to south, and much of it is single lane. There are lots of bikers and pedestrians, so take it slow. But it's a beautiful few-mile drive I hadn't done before, and very much worth while.

Photo unmodified. May 6, 2013. FlashEarth location.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Geo 365: Nov. 1, Day 305: A Tortured Tree

From the same pocket park as yesterday's view of the bridge, we're looking south along the terrace here. This poor tree is probably a shore pine- most other conifers can't tolerate the salt spray this close to shore. These pines can colonize pretty close to shore, but frequently show forms such as the one above, as a result of frequent winter storms with hurricane-force winds and gusts occasionally in excess of 120 miles per hour. Even without the ocean visible, it's easy to tell which direction it's in.

Photo unmodified. May 6, 2013. FlashEarth location.

Follow-up: Looks like the winds that have deformed that tree are going to be up to their game tomorrow.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

#TwoSentenceHorror

So another Halloween Post happened to happen. After being reminded of the #TwoSentenceHorror meme from July by the video clip next to last in the previous post, I decided to look at some others, and write a few of my own if I could, to fit the limitations of Twitter. I'm not going to claim these are any good; I don't yet have the distance necessary to judge my own writing. But there is a real pleasure in accomplishing "creepy" not only within the confines of two sentences, but within 121 characters, as well (The hashtag name + a space equals 19 characters). The first batch is my sole responsibility.

My dog simply won't stop begging for attention. I thought that was over when we buried it.
Had a dream I was on an African safari, & pack of hyenas was chasing me. Woke up with a gasp, realized they'd caught me.
I was the first victim of a plague that killed 90% of humanity. I'd just like to say, "I'm awfully sorry."
Some years ago, gave poison candy to neighbor kid. It killed him; wasn't caught, but brat still shows up every Halloween.
My cat brought me a "present" today. It was a still-warm human hand.
That old graveyard has always creeped me out. I just learned the reason: that's where I was buried.

Here's one that I'm not sure was intended to fit the bill, but it did:

MT @MGhydro "Ice cream scoop?" "Dammit Smithers, this isn't rocket science, it's brain surgery!"

And here are a few from this archive (Some very good ones, there, if you're enjoying these) that fit the Twitter constraint.

"You know that sensation on the back of your neck, that lets you know someone’s watching you? You should." -Gregory Lynn
"Day 312. Internet still not working."
"Wife woke me up last night to tell me there was an intruder in the house. She was murdered by an intruder 2 years ago."