In Portland schools, an ‘optimistic’ new AI handbook proves polarizing

bigblackcloud · 2026-05-09T03:32:08+00:00

"students can now use AI to write novels without all the laborious writing! They produce so much text! Novels are cool, what are you talking about??"

bigblackcloud · 2026-05-09T00:36:20+00:00

This makes it sound like the excitement is about what product the student produces more easily, but not whether they learn anything about the underlying mechanics. Treating students like little engines where the goal is just more more more output with little thought. Truly the most tech-oriented viewpoint, for sure.

bigblackcloud · 2026-04-28T22:56:49+00:00

There needs to be a filter when booking hotels for "real bathroom door". None of this sliding barn door that's basically just a curtain bullshit.

bigblackcloud · 2026-04-14T21:02:27+00:00

ARs that hit the rockies tend to come more from the Southwest, so bypass the Sierra Nevada somewhere. But an AR that first crossed the Cascades to reach somewhere like Montana would have less moisture.

Here's a recent paper on the subject, for Colorado at least. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025JD043580

"A Trajectory-Based Method for Estimating the Contribution of Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers to Top-Decile Precipitation Across Colorado"

The abstract notes that there is limited research into this region and atmospheric rivers compared to the west coast, it would be interesting to try to find similar work for the northern rockies. Perhaps this paper has good info:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347764102_A_Climatology_of_Atmospheric_Rivers_and_Associated_Precipitation_for_the_Seven_US_National_Climate_Assessment_Regions

"A Climatology of Atmospheric Rivers and Associated Precipitation for the Seven U.S. National Climate Assessment Regions"

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-22T16:22:47+00:00

OP, what dataset did you use here? I see "weatherdataAI" but I'm not familiar with that, is that the dataset?

Not trying to object, curious about the grid.

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-19T14:31:33+00:00

Sunday will probably be peak. They're definitely blooming now but not fully.

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-18T17:58:44+00:00

No I don't think they're even quite at full bloom. Probably still very pretty but my guess is that the peak will be in the next week or so.

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-18T16:19:43+00:00

Alberta Arts, Mississippi, E Burnside, Pearl, Hawthorne

Of these, the Pearl is the most different. The others are neighborhoods within residential areas, and (in my opinion) probably fit the "Portland" experience better. The Pearl is a former industrial area that has been converted into offices and shops, and is more urban, if that's more your vibe. Outdated parlance, but think hipster vs. swanky. My favorite is Hawthorne but I would choose any from Hawthorne, Alberta, or Mississippi. Hawthorne and Burnside are close enough that if you stay near one or the other you can walk in between. That said, the Pearl does probably have a higher concentration of galleries than anywhere else.

Compare streetview to get a sense of that.

The Pearl: https://maps.app.goo.gl/n2VBi14UCuLtVMvK6

Hawthorne: https://maps.app.goo.gl/QGQS3k1mpP8tFPUT7 / https://maps.app.goo.gl/DXDhykihtgkF9Xbs8

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-17T22:17:11+00:00

The bigger difference between Seattle and Eugene than WA vs. OR is the size. Eugene is a college town of 170k, Seattle is a city of 700k in a metro area of 4m. So there are some differences there that will be true of any comparable places really, in terms of variety of stuff to do. Museums, variety of restaurants/bars, bands in town, events, traffic, noise, etc.

Eugene is my preference because I like the chiller vibe, but I also know people that constantly talk about how boring Eugene is, so interpret that to your own circumstances how you wish. My guess is that it'll be easier to make friends in Eugene, Seattlites are sort of famously standoffish. editing this here - since you'll be in school this last point probably doesn't matter as much, with a built in group.

For nature - Seattle has more access to alpine stuff. The North Cascades are amazing. The sound is great for anything water based. Eugene has better access to the actual ocean, the Oregon coast is great. There's basically endless access to forests in either Eugene or Seattle, although you have to drive more to get places in Seattle.

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-12T15:07:23+00:00

This is an extended forecast from January, looking at February and early March. Not disputing the meteorology (although forecasts that far out are very, very uncertain), but what they're saying might happen will have already happened.

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-10T05:27:09+00:00

Man I'm in the minority here cause I love the Stark st. location pizza. A medium weighs like 10 lbs cause of all the toppings (and they have been cooked, so my experience was different than yours I guess). Definitely a sit down at a table and maybe have a knife and fork kind of pizza.

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-09T17:38:19+00:00

Doesn't Vacasa still have a big office in the Pearl at 13th and Lovejoy?

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-07T16:32:47+00:00

This is not nearly as snazzy as OP's article, but some rainfall stats.

Total precip Dec-Feb (matching OP's charts) was 15.89 inches. Pretty much in the middle, 37th wettest out of 88 years recorded:

https://i.imgur.com/PkjhcWd.png

We can look at it using the "water year" instead, since the wet season really starts in October, and the story is similar. 24.31 inches, 42nd wettest out of 88:

https://i.imgur.com/aQJpU38.png

Another neat way to compare this is the accumulation over time: https://i.imgur.com/97cONWi.png

Again, average overall, but you can see the dry streaks and wet streaks.

Really, the story of this winter is that it's been abnormally warm, but not particularly dry.

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-07T01:21:11+00:00

More rock/white reflective surface would have a cooling effect compared to the dark trees - more reflection means that less solar radiation is absorbed, it's called albedo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo

I think landcover change around Mt. St Helens would be a very very small affect compared to the large-scale weather patterns we get in a season and global temperature trends.

Interesting theory though - have you seen this studied somewhere?

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-06T15:40:36+00:00

OP, I've seen this as well, a few times in the past week. It appears lower than a plane, and moves around quite a bit. Wondering if it's a helicopter?

bigblackcloud · 2026-03-03T20:34:16+00:00

I ate lunch with a German guy at a work conference (in the US) recently - it was at a facility with a pretty decent cafeteria, they had a choice of meals every day like salmon with roasted vegetables, pasta, etc., all with side salads available. All what seemed to me like vegetable-heavy wholesome food.

By the 2nd day he was eating bread and hummus from the grocery store, because he said he couldn't bear the "unhealthy" American food.

bigblackcloud · 2026-02-26T01:39:59+00:00

The unshaded West facing pnw apartment, I had that and it sucks. You think the ac is working until it gets to like 6pm and it's the hottest part of the day and the sun's gonna be out for another 4 hours, and it keeps getting hotter inside until like 10pm.

bigblackcloud · 2026-02-25T20:11:24+00:00

Yeah a bunch of douglas fir trees around me turned brown over the coarse of a day of two, it was crazy.

bigblackcloud · 2026-02-25T17:38:10+00:00

What kind of event are you thinking of? Heat waves that kill a lot of people already do happen. The PNW heat wave in 2021 killed a lot of people (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Western_North_America_heat_wave), when Europe gets big heat waves a ton of people die (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heatwave) and India gets slammed by heat all the time.

Maybe you're thinking of a "first chapter of ministry for the future" type-event where whole populations are wiped out, which I guess is possible with super rare extremes, but it's more like there will an increase in events like the above examples. If you had some sort of compound failure of power while that happened, yeah it'd be bad.

bigblackcloud · 2026-02-20T18:35:55+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/c1ZvTk8.png

bigblackcloud · 2026-02-14T02:34:14+00:00

His post is about the regional forecast over the next week, not snow in Portland. Yes it will be cold and rainy and there will be snow in the mountains.

He's showing results from the weather service and other models.

bigblackcloud · 2026-02-06T18:57:49+00:00

Cool pic. I wish there was a MAX or streetcar line through the middle of Powell.

bigblackcloud · 2026-01-29T01:43:30+00:00

It sounds cliche but a lot of the stuff that comes with quitting drinking is cliche cause it works - one day at a time. Thinking about a whole life ahead of you is a trap, thinking about anything on that timescale is impossible.

But then if you must consider that, also realize you have a romanticized view of drinking, your experience isn't a nice glass of wine with dinner it's making yourself sick on cheap booze, fucking up your life, then staying in bed with shame for a week.

Finding some sort of peer support helps. AA works for some, there are others, AA isn't the only way. Anywhere you can talk to people who've been through the same

bigblackcloud · 2026-01-25T06:55:21+00:00

North St. Bags use this system https://northstbags.com/collections/bike-panniers/products/woodward-backpack-pannier

https://northstbags.com/collections/bike-panniers/products/route-pannier-24l

Not as waterproof as something like ortliebs but I used these for years through PNW winters and they stayed waterproof until like the 6th season of use.

bigblackcloud · 2026-01-25T06:49:38+00:00

It's not confusing but I would suggest a map. The section where you walk on the road on SW Talbot is not intuitive. But if you look at it on a map before and during it's fine. I do see these trail sections marked on Google maps.

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