Joint Statement from California Legislative Leaders on Result of Presidential Election

You can read the California government's statement of defiance on this page. Go California!

My home state will be a beacon amidst the darkness.

(It's a brave new world.)

What Happens in Marina del Rey Stays in Marina del Rey

I am off to Marina del Rey for a wedding!

It's always nice on my body to go to California for the weekend and then return.

Visualization: California for Beginners

This visualization provides a good summary of California for beginners.

(Tip of the cap to Maria King.)

Freeway Knot Theory

Some help from knot theorists would be appreciated. Here is a photoshopped picture of a freeway (based on a real one in Oakland, California) that needs to be untangled.

(Tip of the cap to Stanley Somers.)

Note: The original version of my post described the picture incorrectly as being an actual freeway. See this link. Also, this freeway is knotted up even more severely. :)

My Dialect

I took a dialect quiz that I found via this article that Louis Wang posted on Facebook. My results place the way I speak from The Valley in California --- which I already knew --- though according to this quiz I have almost as strong a similarity as how people speak in Sunnyvale (part of Silicon Valley). From the perspective of how I speak, I apparently have least in common with people from Michigan, which might partly explain certain arguments/discussions with Lanth in the past (and, at the very minimum, it amuses me a great deal even if it doesn't explain anything!).

What Happens at KITP Stays at KITP

Tomorrow I am going to fly to Santa Barabara to participate in the three-week brain networks workshop at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara.

I have two comments.

One: Braaaaaaaaains.

Two: Importantly, my final flight touches down in Santa Barbara rather than Los Angeles. This will allow me to avoid 'Carmageddon', which should not be confused with Carmageddon. (By the way, there is a private joke about Carmageddon among The Usual Bastards.)


Update (7/20/11): Here are some pictures from my trip.

Update (7/24/11): Hitler didn't have too many nice things to say about Carmageddon. And while that's pretty damned funny, his comments about the proverbial "third referee" are even funnier.

Jerry Brown is once again Governor of California

Looking at this from a bird's-eye view and without thinking about partisanship, Jerry Brown regaining the California governorship after serving from 1975-1983 is just a really neat story. And his campaign commercial inspired by Dos Equis beer is simply a big win.

Proposition 8 Ruled Unconstitutional

Sometimes, there really is justice: California's Proposition 8 (banning same-sex marriage) has been ruled unconstitutional and overturned.

Excellent!

Today I am ashamed to be from California.

Come on, people. This is lame. Let people live their lives as they see fit when it does no harm to anyone else.