The forecasted snow didn’t happen as the system moved East about a half hour before the upper air cooled off enough. We did get “ice pellets” last night, and I would have much preferred snow. The little suckers sting.

It didn’t snow in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, actually it was 10°F warmer than here, but it did rain. The outdoor events are not held in the city, but the other venues have also had warmer than normal temperatures for February and a lack of snow.

Unfortunately the games have been struck by a tragedy. While training for the luge, a member of the Georgian team had a horrific accident, and has died. He lost control of his tiny sled while traveling almost 90mph and struck a support column next to the track.

Because of the speeds involved in many of the events, the possibly of serious injury or death is always there.

McClatchy has a nice opinion piece by a former US diplomat, Dennis Jett, who has decided that he has had enough: U.S. should ‘Walk a Mile in My Shoes’ before ‘Going Rogue’

It didn’t seem that way not so very long ago. People around the world breathed a sigh of relief when the presidency changed hands and there appeared to be an administration in Washington that was willing to work with other nations to address some of the world’s problems.

Then the reality of America’s two-party political system set in — the party of hope and the party of nope.

The former hoped it might someday use its majorities in congress and control of the White House to actually accomplish something. It hasn’t because, aside from calling themselves Democrats, the party members seem to have not that much in common.

For its part, the latter party staked its political future on being the party of Reagan — Nancy not Ronnie. Just say no became their answer to everything. They have been devoid of ideas since they failed to come up with a convincing sound bite during the last election for why the McCain/Palin ticket should be put in power. “Employ the elder and inexperienced” for some reason did not resonant with enough voters.

This is the problem with living outside the US for an extended period, you achieve a sense of reality and see the world for what it is, not what you want it to be. This is accomplished by the separation from the media bubble that numbs the minds of most of America. There is no diversity in American media, it has been homogenized by corporations.

Update at 11:30PM CST. Hans Gatt left as soon as he was able, knowing that Hugh Neff would be leaving 2½ hours later, and Lance Mackey 20 minutes after that. The times are adjusted to eliminate the staggered starting times, which is why Hugh gets to leave before Lance.

Beyond Dawson
1 Hans Gatt (13)
2 Hugh Neff (23)
3 Lance Mackey (11)
4 Zack Steer (2)
5 Ken Anderson (17)
6 Brent Sass (12)
7 Sonny Linder (20)
8 Abbie West (1)^R

At Dawson
9 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R
10 Gerry Willomitzer (5)
11 Normand Casavant (10)
12 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
13 Sam Deltour (4)^R
14 David Dalton (3)
15 Kelley Griffin (15)
16 Mike Ellis (18)
[Read more →]

Cold Weather Sleeping

How does she do that?

[Editor: Income is attempting to emulate the circle of his Aunt Dot, but is stuck with a pike position. The flash highlights the lighter guard hairs]

Friday Ark