In Defense of DC

I know that the Washington area is the laughing stock of the country the way we shut down when we get snow. I used to laugh at it all of the time, still occasionally do. But our inability to cope with snow and cold like, say, Minnesotans, is valid.

First of all, all of you in northern climes know how crazy it is during the first snowfall of the year. It's like everybody forgot how to drive in it over the summery. Every snowfall here is like that, because they're so few and far between. We just don't get to practice all that much. And when the first snow hits, it's more likely January or February, not October or November. That means that the last time we drove in it was probably last January or February, not just a few months back in April. Many of you in WI and MN get more experience driving in the snow in one month than Washingtonians will get in an entire lifetime. It's not because we're stupid (though some people are), but just inexperienced.

Next, Washington is an international city. Have you ever played the license plate game on long road trips? Where you keep track of all of the states that you've seen? They're all here. I see Hawaii on a regular basis. Even GUAM. And then there are the foreign dignitary plates. Washington is full of people from all over the country and all over the world. People move in for short terms of service, and move out again. It's a constantly shifting place. Many of these drivers are from places like Hawaii, Guam, etc. Some of these people have never seen snow in their lives. That makes it trickier.

In a place like Washington, we have our fair share of "bad drivers". So do other places, for certes, but our bad drivers are bad in a WIDE variety of ways. I've heard it said that in so cal, the bad drivers are at least usually consistent in what you can expect. Not here. That's one reason our traffic is so bad on a normal day.

For example, were my classes not cancelled for tonight, I likely could not have gone, because our sitter is from a warm part of Peru and has never driven in the snow.

As for the cold... Yes, I know that a couple of weeks ago while we were all complaining about the freezing temps, it was 20 below in MN. It's all relative. In both places, it was a good 20 degrees plus lower than what we were used to. How often do we get that? I heard it was the coldest snap in 10 years. Our houses aren't insulated for that kind of weather. Why should we over insulate and over prepare, when it's only happening occasionally? Most people don't have coats that keep you comfortable under 20. Would you spend $100 on a coat you'll only use once every 5-10 years?

We prep for what's normal around here. We have equipment for what we expect. What's better? Prepare for the worst case scenario, or just recognize that people don't have the practice, and close everything occasionally?

I'm sure I'll continue to rant and rave about how people drive, and the stupid things that they do, like the guy who passed the plow on a winding road in front of me this morning. But Washington has it's reasons. I'm growing more and more annoyed at people on weather blogs, etc., taking on an air of superiority about Washington shutting down. We get it. You're used to it. We're not. Stop being a jerk.

ETA: flonzy's comment reminded me of the other point I forgot to make. When we get a storm, it's frequently part ice-storm. Those tend to throw even experienced snow drivers into ditches.

Latin Help?

Any Medieval Latin gurus on here? I'd like my laurel scroll text to be in Latin, if possible, Middle English, if we can't figure out the correct Latin.

We, King Ragnarr and Queen Anneke, do induct Mathilde Bourré into Our Order of the Laurel on this day, March 24th AS 41*. We award her these arms by Letters Patent:

Rex: Regina:


(*Is that right? March of 2007?)




Thanks! Help me stop being such a bum and slacking on getting stuff to ladyaneira!

::blush::

Spamming your flist

Ok, so I'm home, and blissfully stuck here. I'm posting a lot. Sue me. ;-)

My Latin plea reminds me that I never followed up on my physics plea a while ago. The gist of it was that I was asking for an easy way to explain why pulling on a rope sideways exerts more force on the end of the rope than pulling on it directly.

I needed to explain why lacing rings sometimes gap more than using eyelets. Here's what I ended up with (In the Eyelets and Lacing article here):

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Why [do lacing rings tend to gape more often]? The forces pulling at the opening of a fitted dress are largely horizontal. The body is trying to pull the dress open horizontally, but the lace is holding it closed. If your lace is more horizontally situated, it’s going to be more effective at countering the horizontal force of the dress pulling open. If the lace is vertical, it’s almost completely perpendicular to the horizontal force, and much less effective. Why? Well, it has to do with physics, trigonometry, and a principal known as vector addition4. In other words, that’s just the way it works. A dress made with lacing rings is much more likely to gape at the opening.

4:There’s a common problem given to high school physics students which illustrates the principal. If your car is stuck in the mud, there’s s telephone pole directly in front of it, and you have a very strong rope or chain, what do you do? The answer is to tie the rope to the car and to the pole, then push or pull on the side of the rope. The horizontal pull is going to translate into a much stronger force being applied to the front of the car to move forward (vertically) than it would if you were to directly pull on the rope.

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It wasn't highly scientific, but with the info that you all shared, it helped me frame my thoughts in a way that I could explain. At least, I *hope* it came out ok. :-D Thank you.

ETA: Ack! Just saw a typo in my PDF. I should really go clean those up.