I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

This was a poem by famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

And here’s love and statistics.

You are perfect; I’d make no substitutions
You remind me of my favorite distributions
With a shape and a scale that I find reliable
You’re as comforting as a two parameter Weibull
When I ask you a question and hope you answer truly
You speak as clearly as a draw from a Bernoulli
Your love of adventure is most influential
Just like the constant hazard of an exponential.
With so many moments, all full of fun,
You always integrate perfectly to one.

(hat tip: Andrew Gelman)

Related Reading:

کبھی کبھی ان حبس بھری راتوں میں
جب
سب آوازیں سو جاتی ہیں
آدھی نیند کی گھائل سی مدہوشی میں
اک خواب انوکھا جاگتا ہے!
میں دیکھتا ہوں
گرد کی اس چادر سے اُدھر
(جو میرے اُس کے بیچ تنی ہے)
وہ بھی تنہا جاگ رہا ہے۔

My Dad translated it for me and my English speaking friends.

Sometimes in the nights so humid
When all the noises subside
Then in the beaten drunkenness of midnight
A strange dream opens eyes!
I see through this blanket of dust
(That is spread between me and her)
She too is awake alone.

Related Reading:

In addition, we wanted to do our usual scenic drive through the Blue Ridge there. However, we realized that a good description of what Jim Baker named Snake Run is not available on the web any more (except in the wayback machine here.) So here is a description I salvaged as written by Jim Baker:

A scenic and challenging 250 mile day trip that crosses Blue Ridge four times.

One of the problems with communicating about various fun drives is that a road rarely offers the same challenges for very long. A road may have ten miles of totally insane turns, but be otherwise tame and boring. When a fair amount of time is required to get there to begin with, there needs to be more driving time to make it worthwhile. So a good run recommendation should tie several different roads together to stay in the twisties.

This run was mapped out by CSR from Miata.net, and I’ve run it twice, once as a performance run with other Miatas, and again the following weekend with his wife as a leaf-run. It’s called the “Snake Run” for a ten-mile portion of the run for want of a better collective name.

The route:

GA 60 from Dahlonega to Suches, GA 180 from Suches to US 19/129, US 129 South to Alt 75, Alt 75 North to GA 348 (Richard Russell Scenic Highway), GA 348 to GA 180, GA 180 to GA 180 Spur (Brasstown Bald), GA 180 from Brasstown Bald to GA 17/75, GA 17/75 South to Helen.

Mileage:

About 250 miles round-trip from Atlanta, depending on how you get to and from the run. About 90-100 of it is the actual run, and the run itself takes two-three hours to complete, depending on traffic and how much you care about your car. The entire trip can be done in just half a day.

Getting there:

From Atlanta, Dahlonega is most easily reached via GA 400/US 19. Take 400 north from Atlanta, and turn left at the intersection with GA 60. There are several gas stations here and more (plus various food) in Dahlonega just 5 miles further north on 60.

Take the opportunity to gas up in Dahlonega. There is only one gas station on the run, and it’s only 16 miles further up the road. There are three places to stop for snacks on the way, so that isn’t as important.

The run:

From Dahlonega, take 60 north to Suches. Two pitfalls: 60 takes a right-hand turn in downtown Dahlonega, and it splits off unmarked from US 19 about 8 miles north of there. Don’t turn until you see a sign for GA 180 on the right. And look for the sign, not a town, because Suches is essentially just a single convenience store.

GA 60 is a great run in its own right, all the way up to Copperhill, TN. This run only takes in about 16 miles of it, however, as it climbs the southern face of Blue Ridge, crosses it, and comes down into Suches. The first really nice twisties are here, but can be spoiled by traffic. 60 is actually a main corridor for local traffic in this area, so it’s pretty well traveled, even though it’s only two lanes.

GA 180 skirts along the northern slope of Blue Ridge and runs for about 30 miles in two sections. The next section of the route takes in the first 10 miles or so and is nicknamed “the Snake”. This road has some very tight twisties, including several hairpins, more esses than you can count, and one genuinely terrifying steep downhill off-camber turn. Take this road cautiously until you are familiar with it. A lot of these turns have zero visibility, and a choice between running into a cliff or falling off of one if you screw up.

Because it’s so impractical, there isn’t much local traffic that doesn’t actually live somewhere along this road. There will be a number of sports cars and motorcycles on any decent day, but these tend to to stay out of your way. The real problem is sightseers; especially during leaf season, this is a very scenic road. Watch out for brake fires and other comedy from people with ordinary cars and no clue what they are doing.

One scenic stop on 180: there is some almost unmarked park about halfway in with a fairly scenic pond that is glass-smooth if the wind is calm. Good photo-op, but otherwise not very exciting. There’s a parking fee of $3, so it may not be worth it to take a break only 20 miles into the run.

GA 180 runs into US 19/129. For those who are into this, Vogel State Park is at right by this intersection. Take a right at this intersection and prepare to stretch your legs. US 19/129 South climbs back up Blue Ridge from the north, and then crosses the ridge and heads down towards Turner’s Corner. Several of the uphill portions of this stretch have a passing lane, which is nice for working out frustrations if you got caught on 180 behind a minivan. There are some nice esses with visible banking transitions here and a few long sweepers that beg to hang the tail out, and visibility is much improved over 180. A decently handling car can go much faster than posted limits here. However, again, this is a fairly major corridor and there’s a lot of slow traffic on it. Be prepared for people who come to almost complete stops right in the middle of turns.

Turner’s Corner, like Suches, basically consists of a single store. I haven’t stopped here but it looks to be of the quaint/folk art/Cracker Barrel-without-the-restaurant school of country stores. It’s a decent place to stop for a Coke.

Continuing on south on 129 (19 splits off at Turner’s Corner) is the most boring part of the route. It will be fairly straight two-lane highway for the next 15 or so miles. Look for GA 75 Alternate on the left about six or seven miles south of Turner’s Corner, and take this turn. Again, fairly smooth, higher-speed roads, nice scenery, but not challenging. Continue on 75 Alternate until you reach GA 348, the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway. Those familiar with the area will recognize that we are now only about two miles from Helen, the end of the run, but we have about 30 miles still to go.

348 is a left turn off 75 Alternate. It will pass north over Blue Ridge again, and for driving challenge, it’s on par with the Snake, very low-visibility turns, major elevation changes, and a lot of variety in the type and severity of the corners. 348 also has easily half a dozen pull-offs for photo-ops. There is some kind of lodge at the ridge gap, but I’ve never stopped there. 348 terminates back on the second leg of GA 180. Take a right turn onto 180.

Unlike the Snake, this portion of 180 is much tamer. It’s more challenging than the portions of 129 and 75 Alt you just left, but it’s higher-speed sweepers rather than tight esses. The major attraction of this leg is 180 Spur, which comes up after about 6 miles on the left and which takes you to the highest point in Georgia that you can reach with a car. The peak of Brasstown Bald is 4,784 feet above sea level, and the parking lot at the foot of the trail is about 400 feet below that. The approach up the spur is steep and insanely twisted. It’s so steep, in fact, that coupled with the elevation, we’ve experienced RPM dropoff in gears higher than second. At the summit there is a small store and a coke machine, if you feel like stopping. Parking is, again, $3, but if you don’t stop you needn’t pay the fee.

Going back down the spur is easily the most dangerous part of this run. It’s very tough on the brakes, even with compression braking, and tight turns, gravity and terrified tourists from Vero Beach all conspire against you. Beware.

At the bottom of the spur, a left turn back onto 180 will put you off into a leisurely drive that lets your brakes cool off and your jaw unclench. The next turn is at the end of 180, where it runs into GA 17/75. Take a right turn here, and you are on the last leg of the run.

17/75 South is very much like US 19/129; it crosses Blue Ridge for the fourth and final time of this run, and features uphill passing lanes, higher speed turns and better visibility. 17/75 runs all the way into Helen, the end of our run.

Getting back:

Helen is a nice stop at the end of the run for good sit-down food. There are a lot of restaurants there, mostly German. Alt Heidelberg is particularly good, but get the wurst sampler and avoid the weiner schnitzel. Sometimes, especially during leaf season/Octoberfest, traffic into Helen can look like 5 o’clock rush hour. But if you’ve never seen Helen, you owe it to yourself to see it at least once; imagine if Walt Disney had gotten halfway through making a replica German village, then developed a heroin addiction and died in despair. It’s a tourist trap from hell, with decent German food. The homemade candy shops are also excellent, but, apart from that, unless you are looking for a $500 cuckoo clock or collectible crystal figurines, it’s garbage. The fire hydrants are painted like little people. Helen is over the top, no kidding.

If traffic is too terrible going into Helen, you can take a turn on to 75 Alternate just north of Helen and backtrack your route down that road. A couple of miles down on the left is a country cooking restaurant called, really, The Goofy Rooster. The chicken wings are good.

Whatever you decide, both 75 through Helen and 75 Alternate north of it eventually get back to US 129 north of Cleveland. In Cleveland, you can either continue on 129 to Gainesville and return to Atlanta on 985, or take GA 115 back to your starting point in Dahlonega, and backtrack down 400 from there.

And here is a

Google map I created for the drive.

Related Reading:

Then one person discovers that he can tell lies. He, of course, proceeds to take advantage of this ability which no one suspects.

The movie was funny. However, the main romantic plot was a bit underwhelming. The most fun was observing what little differences the writers have put in the movie’s world where no one can tell lies as compared to real life.

I would rate the movie 8/10.

Related Reading:

As is common with sequels, whether of books or movies, they are not as good as the original. In this case, they were good enough for the plane and train ride reading and I did enjoy (and finish) them during our vacation.

The Ghost Brigades does not feature the protagonists from Old Man’s War, though it is set in the same universe. It was a fun read and a decent book.

The Last Colony ties up parts of the story in The Ghost Brigades and the protagonists in Old Man’s War in a new space adventure. It is better story than The Ghost Brigades and a lot of fun to read.

I read Old Man’s War on my phone at the time, Treo 650 and The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony were the first books I read on my new Kindle. I enjoyed reading on the Kindle, with the only issue being the flight crew’s insistence that I had to turn it off during takeoff and landing.

Thus it was that I finished The Last Colony on the flight back from Rome to New York and realized that there was a further sequel, Zoe’s Tale. Waiting for my connection to Atlanta, I made my first impulse Kindle purchase and bought Zoe’s Tale.

Zoe’s Tale is a retelling of the story of The Last Colony from the point of view of Zoe, the teenage daughter of the main characters of the previous novel. Making the same story interesting in a new book without introducing inconsistencies is hard and John Scalzi succeeds somewhat. However, Zoe’s Tale is definitely the weakest book of the series.

Related Reading:

For some reason, people either hate this science fiction movie of aliens ghettoized in South Africa or they love it. I liked it. The movie did use a sledgehammer to hammer home its message at times, but it seemed in the spirit of the movie.

I rate it 8/10.

Related Reading:

At first, I was slow to give out my Google Voice number to people, but over time it’s becoming my default phone number.

Of the features of Google Voice, voice transcription is still a bit problematic as the speech recognition doesn’t work as well as it should. I love it that it can ring all my phones and that I can switch from my cellphone to landline during a call to save cell minutes. Also, I can have different call forwarding rules and voicemail greetings for different people (using groups) in my list of contacts. One pitfall there is that a phone number should only be in one group otherwise you can’t be sure which rules will be applied to it.

There used to be a couple of Google Voice apps for the iPhone and I had bought GV Mobile but when Apple rejected Google’s official Voice app, they also removed all the other previously approved apps from the App Store. (Yes, Apple is more evil than Microsoft!) So now I have to rely on the Google Voice mobile website on my iPhone.

I have also moved my cellphone voicemail to Google Voice. Yes, I like the visual voicemail on the iPhone, but Google Voice gives me a centralized voicemail (with SMS and email notification and voice transcription) and there is more potential there.

On my AT&T landline phone, I have also subscribed to Call Forwarding Busy Line and Call Forwarding Don’t Answer with Ring Control with my Google Voice number as the forwarding number. Thus, if my landline is busy or I don’t pick it up, the call is automatically forwarded either to my other phones or to my Google Voice voicemail.

Since I receive a lot of telemarketing and other junk calls on my home phone, I have set up Google Voice call screening so callers who are not in my contact list are asked to say their name the first time they call me. This has cut down on a lot of junk business calls I was receiving because my home phone number used to belong to a business a few years ago.

I also signed up with Gizmo5 (which has now been acquired by Google) and linked my Google Voice and Gizmo. So now I can receive my Google Voice calls on my computer with GizmoCall open in a Firefox PermaTab.

Finally, dear readers, through the magic of Google Voice call widgets, you can contact me by phone now on my contact page.

Related Reading:

As I understand, the movie has lots of historical inaccuracies. But that is par for the course.

It was an interesting movie, though the DVD print wasn’t good.

I rate The Elephant Man 7/10.

Related Reading:

The movie is about a Jewish special forces unit that’s sent to Europe to disrupt and kill Nazis (and scalp them). However, the Nazi intelligence officer who’s on the trail of that unit gets a lot more screen time. Also, there’s a major subplot about Nazi cinema.

Of course, this is a Tarantino movie so there are clever references to all sorts of movie history.

I loved it and rate it 10/10.

Related Reading:

This movie is better than the last installment. I rate it 7/10.

Related Reading: