Freak snow storm

We were up at our Tahoe/Donner place last weekend.  We drove up on Thursday morning and came back on Sunday afternoon.  The surprise event was a freak snow storm on Friday night lasting into Saturday morning.  We got about four inches, but it quickly melted off by the end of Saturday.  Just chalk this up as yet another example of the weather not behaving normally.  Of course it is impossible to even consider that it was a result of global climate change.  Sure!  What ever the case, it was beautiful while it lasted, as evidenced by the following pictures taken in front of our house, including our plow service actually plowing the driveways.

Partisan animus exceeds racial hostility

Dana Milbank's article in today's WaPo is truly interesting; it brings to light something that I was feeling in my bones, but was not able to prove.  Here are a couple of paragraphs from the article that summarize the point under discussion: 

It has long been agreed that race is the deepest divide in American society. But that is no longer true, say Shanto Iyengar and Sean Westwood, the academics who led the study. Using a variety of social science methods (for example, having study participants review résumés of people that make both their race and party affiliation clear), they document that “the level of partisan animus in the American public exceeds racial hostility.”
Americans now discriminate more on the basis of party than on race, gender or any of the other divides we typically think of — and that discrimination extends beyond politics into personal relationships and non-political behaviors. Americans increasingly live in neighborhoods with like-minded partisans, marry fellow partisans and disapprove of their children marrying mates from the other party, and they are more likely to choose partners based on partisanship than physical or personality attributes.

The sad and depressing fact is that one of the authors of the study sees no end in sight.  

Another batch of motion GIFs

Check out these infinite motion GIFs.  All of them are pretty cool, but for some reason I seem to like the guy on the bench with his dog the most.  Also, some of them are very subtle, such as the girl in the blue dress twiddling her thumbs.  

Climate change deniers in retreat...

Check out this article from Dana Milbank in today's WaPo.  Perhaps there is still hope before we turn the corner of no return.  Climate change is for real, and it is scary!  Just ask that poor polar bear whose world is literally melting away.

Math Class Prank

I have run across one of the best April Fools pranks I've ever seen.  Check it out right here.  I love teachers who put in the proverbial extra mile.  Bravo for this guy.