{"id":574,"date":"2016-02-26T19:01:42","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T19:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zoebachman.net\/itp\/?p=574"},"modified":"2016-04-07T21:41:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T21:41:52","slug":"rwet-assignment-2-storm-warnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zoebachman.net\/itp\/?p=574","title":{"rendered":"RWET, Assignment 2: Storm Warnings"},"content":{"rendered":"

CONCEPT:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was excited to get to the point of learning mashups – goes back to Hartford’s point about juxtapositions being at the heart of poetry.<\/p>\n

When I was going through the mashup exercises, I was reminded of this time senior year when my friends pulled a super nerdy prank on me. We were in AP English together and they asked me to help analyze this Adrienne Rich poem. Except, it wasn’t really an Adrienne Rich poem – they’d taken her poem Storm Warnings and simply switched out some of the words and altered the syntax (like I said, super nerdy prank). I figured it out, because I loved that particular poem and immediately realized the similarities. <\/p>\n

Thinking about that incident and the intense storm we had the other night gave me the idea to do a mash up of Rich’s storm warnings and the National Weather Service’s storm warning from yesterday. I’ve always had a weird fascination with the language they use when writing storm warnings – in some ways it’s the typical dry language you’d expect from a government agency, but there’s also a sense of care and occasionally the flare of the dramatic. If you ever want to look up past storm warnings, there’s a great site that archives them: https:\/\/mesonet.agron.iastate.edu\/request\/gis\/watchwarn.phtml<\/a> as well as one from NOAA: http:\/\/www.spc.noaa.gov\/products\/watch\/ww0030.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.accuweather.com\/en\/weather-news\/live-severe-storms-tornadoes-louisiana-mississippi-alabama-florida-georgia\/55604043<\/p><\/div>\n

Here are the two source texts:
\nhttp:\/\/www.atmos.umd.edu\/~dankd\/adrienne.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Storm Warnings<\/p>\n

The glass has been falling all the afternoon,
\nAnd knowing better than the instrument
\nWhat winds are walking overhead, what zone
\nOf grey unrest is moving across the land,
\nI leave the book upon a pillowed chair
\nAnd walk from window to closed window, watching
\nBoughs strain against the sky<\/p>\n

And think again, as often when the air
\nMoves inward toward a silent core of waiting,
\nHow with a single purpose time has traveled
\nBy secret currents of the undiscerned
\nInto this polar realm. Weather abroad
\nAnd weather in the heart alike come on
\nRegardless of prediction.<\/p>\n

Between foreseeing and averting change
\nLies all the mastery of elements
\nWhich clocks and weatherglasses cannot alter.
\nTime in the hand is not control of time,
\nNor shattered fragments of an instrument
\nA proof against the wind; the wind will rise,
\nWe can only close the shutters.<\/p>\n

I draw the curtains as the sky goes black
\nAnd set a match to candles sheathed in glass
\nAgainst the keyhole draught, the insistent whine
\nOf weather through the unsealed aperture.
\nThis is our sole defense against the season;
\nThese are the things we have learned to do
\nWho live in troubled regions.<\/p>\n

-Adrienne Rich<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.spc.noaa.gov\/products\/watch\/ww0030.html<\/a><\/p>\n

URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
\n SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 30
\n NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
\n 740 PM EST WED FEB 24 2016<\/p>\n

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A<\/p>\n

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
\n SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT
\n NORTHEASTERN NEW JERSEY
\n SOUTHERN NEW YORK
\n COASTAL WATERS<\/p>\n

* EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 740 PM
\n UNTIL 200 AM EST.<\/p>\n

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE…
\n SCATTERED DAMAGING WINDS LIKELY WITH ISOLATED SIGNIFICANT GUSTS
\n TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE
\n A TORNADO OR TWO POSSIBLE<\/p>\n

SUMMARY…A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS…SOME OF WHICH COULD CONTAIN
\n DAMAGING SURFACE WINDS AND POSSIBLY A TORNADO…WILL MOVE FROM WEST
\n TO EAST ACROSS NORTHERN NEW JERSEY…THE NYC AREA…AND PARTS OF
\n CONNECTICUT LATER TONIGHT.<\/p>\n

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 90
\n STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 10 MILES EAST OF
\n POUGHKEEPSIE NEW YORK TO 35 MILES SOUTH OF ISLIP NEW YORK. FOR A
\n COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE
\n UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU0).<\/p>\n

PRECAUTIONARY\/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…<\/p>\n

REMEMBER…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
\n FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
\n AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
\n THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
\n AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY
\n DO PRODUCE TORNADOES.<\/p>\n

&&<\/p>\n

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION…CONTINUE…WW 27…WW 28…WW 29…<\/p>\n

AVIATION…A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
\n TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 65 KNOTS.
\n A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400. MEAN STORM MOTION
\n VECTOR 21050.<\/p>\n

CODE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

After doing the mashup exercises, I decided to try out the glitch, mashup and replacer code – altering them so they used argv instead of hardcoding the texts. <\/p>\n

glitch_argy.py code
\n