Posts from — March 2008

The two leaders are in Unalakleet and the others are beyond Kaltag
The Current standings:

1 Jeff King (11)
2 Lance Mackey (6)
3 Paul Gebhardt (69)
4 Ramey Smyth (48)
5 Zack Steer (26)
6 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)
7 Kjetil Backen (42)
8 Hans Gatt (38)
9 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
10 Jessie Royer (3)
11 Martin Buser (13)
12 Rick Swenson (61)
13 Jim Lanier (4)
14 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
15 Ed Iten (32)
16 Ken Anderson (9)
17 Aaron Burmeister (14)
18 Silvia Willis (40)
19 John Baker (67)
20 Mitch Seavey (33)

In 28^th place, William Kleedehn (66), the leading rookie, is in Kaltag.

In 67^th place, Rachael Scdoris (55) is resting in Ruby.

At the back in 87^th place, Rodney Whaley (78) at Cripple.

[Cross-posted from Why Now annex]

Jeff King picked up the trophy and $2,500 in gold for being first to the coast, but don’t count Lance Mackey out. There was fresh snow on the long trail between Kaltag and Unalakleet and Mackey is down to 14 dogs. It is likely that Mackey preferred to rest his dogs by letting King’s 16 dogs break the trail, because he pulled over just a little passed Kaltag to camp knowing that King was withing two hours of him. There are times to lead, and times to follow in a long distance race, and new, heavy snow is a time to follow this far out.

[Cross-posted from Why Now annex]

Jeff King has opened up a 10+ mile lead on Lance Mackey according to the GPS Tracker (subscription) , and may make it t0 the coast first.

[Cross-posted from Why Now annex]

It’s not just a musical question .

You, of course, remembered to “spring ahead” in the process to see how many small children going to school can be run over by sleepy motorists in the dark.

The invention of the clock was obviously the first step towards fascism.

The top 2 are beyond Nulato, 3-9 are in Nulato, and the rest are beyond Galena.
Current standings:

1 Lance Mackey (6)+1½hours
2 Jeff King (11)
3 Mitch Seavey (33)
4 Paul Gebhardt (69)
5 Rick Swenson (61)
6 Hans Gatt (38)
7 Kjetil Backen (42)
8 John Baker (67)
9 Jessie Royer (3)
10 Jim Lanier (4)
11 Ramey Smyth (48)
12 Ken Anderson (9)
13 Martin Buser (13)
14 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
15 Ed Iten (32)
16 Sigrid Ekran (24)
17 Zack Steer (26)
18 Ray Redington Jr. (49)
19 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)
20 Warren Palfrey (44)

Update: at about 10PM AKST Lance Mackey went through the Kaltag checkpoint with Jeff King about 6 miles behind him on the GPS site.

At 27^th place, William Kleedehn (66) is in Galena and still the leading rookie. Rachael Scdoris (55) is beyond Cripple in 66^th place. At the back, in 87^th place, Deborah Bicknell (21) is on the trail beyond Ophir.

[Read more →]

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

Roger Ailes [the good one] covered this earlier, but Kristin Kloberdanz of Time magazine would like to catapult some propaganda in : Criminalizing Home Schoolers

Parents of the approximately 200,000 home-schooled children in California are reeling from the possibility that they may have to shutter their classrooms — and go back to school themselves — if they want to continue teaching their own kids. On Feb. 28, Judge H. Walter Croskey of the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles ruled that children ages six to 18 may be taught only by credentialed teachers in public or private schools — or at home by Mom and Dad, but only if they have a teaching degree. Citing state law that goes back to the early 1950s, Croskey declared that “California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.” Furthermore, the judge wrote, if instructors teach without credentials they will be subject to criminal action.

[Read more →]

David Goldstein of McClatchy Newspapers has the details: Gadget’s failure could triple cost of 2010 census

WASHINGTON — The 2010 census is already in trouble.

The hand-held mobile computers that are supposed to replace the pens and paper long used by census takers aren’t working properly, and delays could send the cost from $600 million to as much as $2 billion.

The Census Bureau has done little, if any, planning for what to do if the handheld mobile computers can’t be made to work. As a result, an important census dress rehearsal this spring has been delayed by a month as the agency looks for backup plans.
…

[Read more →]

The Associated Press reveals the Hedgemony’s latest agitprop tactic: Dear Taxpayer: This letter cost you $42 million

WASHINGTON – At a cost of nearly $42 million, the IRS wants you to know: Your check is almost in the mail.

The Internal Revenue Service is spending the money on letters to alert taxpayers to expect rebate checks as part of the economic stimulus plan.

The notices are going out this month to an estimated 130 million households who filed returns for the 2006 tax year, at a cost $41.8 million, IRS spokesman John Lipold confirmed.

This is to improve the image of the Hedgemony by showing that they are dealing with the “economic slowdown” and are in control so don’t worry. Another $42 million wasted on a PR stunt.

The top 6 are beyond Galena, 7-11 are in Galena, and the rest are beyond Ruby. Current standings:

1 Lance Mackey (6) +5hours
2 Jeff King (11)
3 Paul Gebhardt (69)
4 Mitch Seavey (33)
5 Rick Swenson (61)
6 Jim Lanier (4)
7 Ed Iten (32)
8 Kjetil Backen (42)
9 Hans Gatt (38)
10 John Baker (67)
11 Jessie Royer (3)
12 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
13 Ken Anderson (9)
14 Sigrid Ekran (24)
15 Martin Buser (13)
16 Zack Steer (26)
17 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
18 Ray Redington Jr. (49)
19 Aaron Burmeister (14)
20 William Kleedehn (66)^rookie

[Read more →]

Current leaders and location [> indicates beyond that checkpoint]:

1 Lance Mackey (6) Ruby>
2 Jeff King (11) Ruby>
3 Kjetil Backen (42) Ruby
4 Mitch Seavey (33) Ruby
5 Hans Gatt (38) Ruby
6 John Baker (67) Ruby
7 Rick Swenson (61) Ruby
8 Jim Lanier (4) Ruby
9 Ramey Smyth (48) Ruby
10 Jessie Royer (3) Ruby
11 Paul Gebhardt (69) Ruby
12 DeeDee Jonrowe (39) Ruby
13 Sigrid Ekran (24) Ruby
14 Martin Buser (13) Ruby
15 Zack Steer (26) Ruby
16 Ed Iten (32) Ruby
17 Aaron Burmeister (14) Cripple>
18 Sebastian Schnuelle (68) Cripple>
19 Gerry Willomitzer (7) Cripple>
20 William Kleedehn (66) Cripple> [rookie]

[Read more →]

The Anchorage Daily News provides some more information on two earlier scratches:

… Jason Barron of Lincoln, Mont., scratched Thursday morning in McGrath because some of his 14 dogs were sick. Barron, 36, has finished seven Iditarods with a best of eighth place in 2006. He was 14th last year.

… Cliff Roberson scratched in Rohn after injuring himself lighting a propane stove. “The cooker blew up in his face, and burned both of his eyes. He said it blasted so hard it almost knocked him over,” said Suzanne Roberson, who spoke to her husband by satellite phone Wednesday afternoon. “If he went back out and completed the race, he’d probably end up with permanent damage to his eyes.”

I had assumed Jason Barron’s dogs had gotten sick, because that has been the pattern. Dogs are ailing because of the temperature, rather than the strains and injuries of last year.

They reported earlier that Roberson had eye injuries, and I assumed that he had gotten whacked by a tree limb while he was moving along the trail. Having a propane stove explode in your face is fairly scary, even if you weren’t alone in the middle of a whole lot of nothing and nowhere.

Via McClatchy in DC, Marc Caputo of the Miami Herald notes in his article, Crist: State should oversee revote:

…But Republican House rules chairman David Rivera said he likes the idea of a mail election if the Democrats pay for it. Meanwhile, he has asked the House elections committee to research a bill that would ban the Democratic nominee from the Florida ballot if the national party refuses to seat the state’s delegates.

State Senate Republican leader Dan Webster came up with the idea, but said he’s not wedded to it.

When I said this people thought I was kidding, but they haven’t dealt with the Florida Republican Party of JEB and Katherine Harris. The primary date was changed to get Amendment 1 passed and to screw the Democrats in Florida. Thanks to the DNC, they succeeded.

Following on the heels of Warren Buffet, Paul Krugman says It has begun: “it’s a very good guess that we will eventually be told that the second recession of the Bush administration began in December 2007 or January 2008”.

I’ll stay with November, 2007, although it may turn out that the rules are only applied to complete quarters, which would technically push the start to January, 2008 although the pain had been occurring for most of the final quarter of 2007.

Naturally the Hedgemony is still talking about a “economic slowdown”, as if it will go away if you don’t say the name aloud. Like many similar social groups, Republicans are superstitious and believe in magic.