Posts from — February 2010

Update at 11:45PM CST. Zack, Ken, and Sonny finished with times that also broke last year’s record. Joshua Cadzow is the first Rookie in. Good weather and a fast trail led to these times and the low attrition rate.

At Whitehorse
4 Zack Steer (2)
5 Ken Anderson (17)
6 Sonny Linder (20)
7 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R
8 Brent Sass (12)
9 Abbie West (1)^R

Beyond Braeburn
10 Normand Casavant (10)
11 Sam Deltour (4)^R
12 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
13 Mike Ellis (18)
14 David Dalton (3)

At Braeburn
15 Kelley Griffin (15)

Beyond Carmacks
16 Cindy Barrand (9)^R

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The last day before the beginning of Lent on the Gulf Coast that once belonged to France, it is Mardi Gras, “Fat Tuesday”: Laissez les bon temps rouler!

It was first celebrated in Mobile, Alabama, but the big show these days is in New Orleans, and it is a holiday in the state of Louisiana, because people wouldn’t show up for work anyway, so why fight it.

The tradition is to serve King cake, which is a circle of cinnamon bun dough with a white frosting on top sprinkled with sugar colored purple, gold, and green. If that weren’t bad enough, they put the figurine of a baby in the dough, and whoever finds it in their piece is supposed to be lucky. Actually if you find it and don’t choke on it, I guess you are lucky. You should use a small ceramic figurine, as some of the cheap plastic versions melt in the oven [yummy].

Update at 8:00PM CST. Hans Gatt has won his fourth Yukon Quest with a new record, arriving 9 days 1 hour 38 minutes after the start of the race. [Official race time and new record: 9 days and 26 minutes.] Lance Mackey is on track to be second and Hugh Neff third.

At Whitehorse
1 Hans Gatt (13)
2 Lance Mackey (11) +1:03
3 Hugh Neff (23) +2:43

Beyond Braeburn
4 Ken Anderson (17)
5 Zack Steer (2)

At Braeburn
6 Sonny Linder (20)
7 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R
8 Brent Sass (12)
9 Abbie West (1)^R

Beyond Carmacks
10 Normand Casavant (10)
11 Sam Deltour (4)^R
12 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
13 David Dalton (3)

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The current record of 9 days 23 hours and 20 minutes, was set last year by Sebastian Schnuelle on Day 11. At the rate the leaders are going they could knock almost a day off that record.

Gerry Willomitzer (5) decided to scratch because he couldn’t get the plastic runners [like skis] to fit properly on his sled. The runners are designed to slide on and slide off, so you can change them for different conditions. Apparently Gerry had either a bad set of runners, or his sled is warped, but in either case going on would have worn out the dogs for no good reason.

Many of the top mushers use the $3K+ aircraft aluminum sleds built by Hans Gatt, currently running third. This is not an inexpensive sport to enter, especially when you consider feeding up to 14 dogs for two weeks, as well as the $200/dog for harness, coat, and booties.

Now “the people” get to speak about the quacks who created our current mess: Dynamite Prize in Economics :

The Dynamite Prize in Economics is to be awarded to the three economists who contributed most to enabling the Global Financial Collapse (GFC), or more figuratively, to the three economists who contributed most to blowing up the global economy.

Vote early and often for false prophets who justified greed with their “academic brilliance” and love of the works of a chain-smoking, Russian-immigrant, romance novelist who never learned to share. Select 3 ne’er-do-wells from this Rand-om selection of cult figures with a Galt complex.

Note: Alfred Nobel made his money by inventing dynamite. Irony in every bite.

Update at 11:30PM CST. The leaders are evenly spaced across 59 minutes. This is the endgame. They are at Braeburn for the mandatory rest stop, and then the sprint to Whitehorse. The leaders are more than a day ahead of pre-race predictions.

At Braeburn
1 Hans Gatt (13)
2 Lance Mackey (11)
3 Hugh Neff (23)

Beyond Carmacks
4 Zack Steer (2)
5 Ken Anderson (17)

At Carmacks
6 Sonny Linder (20)

Beyond Pelly Crossing
7 Brent Sass (12)
8 Abbie West (1)^R
9 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R

At Pelly Crossing
10 Normand Casavant (10)

[Read more →]

Why are you being hustled by street vendors to buy sad and drooping former roses, vegetative matter that missed the cut for bouquets, or were too late to the hospital?

Blame Esther A. Howland (1828 – 1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her guilt is writ large by the Greeting Card Association’s Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary. She imported the concept to the US from Britain to bolster her father’s stationery store in 1847.

Of course, it wasn’t long before the stationers had infiltrated school boards and imposed the now mandatory exchange in the classroom to push the low end product of Asian children and prisoners.

Seeing the success of the card merchants, the confectioners jumped on board to fill the lull between Christmas and Easter with the benefit that the bulk of purchases would be made by desperate men with less sense of taste than a golden retriever. If the box was red, heart-shaped, and said chocolate, a man would buy it.

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Year of the White Tiger Geng Yin

Chinese New Year
[Spring Festival]

Update at 11:30PM CST. Gerry Willomitzer, a personal favorite, became the first musher to scratch from the Quest. He left Dawson and then returned. apparently the team didn’t want to race. Hans had a 40 minute lead on Lance and Hugh after Scroggie Creek. Lance and Hugh are running together and Hans is 40 minutes behind.

Beyond Pelly Crossing
1 Lance Mackey (11)
2 Hugh Neff (23)
3 Hans Gatt (13)

Beyond Scroggie Creek
4 Ken Anderson (17)
5 Zack Steer (2)
6 Brent Sass (12)
7 Sonny Linder (20)

At Scroggie Creek
8 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R

Beyond Dawson
9 Abbie West (1)^R
10 Normand Casavant (10)
11 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
12 Sam Deltour (4)^R
13 Kelley Griffin (15)
14 David Dalton (3)
15 Mike Ellis (18)
16 Cindy Barrand (9)^R

[Read more →]

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)
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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

Joby Warrick and Glenn Kessler have written an article for the Washington Post that I want to like, Rhetoric vs. reality: Iran faces nuclear setbacks. Even the headline is good, which is rare, and it contains two informative paragraphs:

Beneath this rhetoric, U.N. reports over the last year have shown a drop in production at Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant, near the city of Natanz. Now a new assessment, based on three years of internal data from U.N. nuclear inspections, suggests that Iran’s mechanical woes are deeper than previously known. At least through the end of 2009, the Natanz plant appears to have performed so poorly that sabotage cannot be ruled out as an explanation, according to a draft study by David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS). A copy of the report was provided to The Washington Post.
…

A separate, forthcoming analysis by the Federation of American Scientists also describes Iran’s flagging performance and suggests that continued failures may increase Iran’s appetite for a deal with the West. Ivan Oelrich, vice president of the federation’s Strategic Security Program, said Iranian leaders appear to have raced into large-scale uranium production for political reasons.

But the they feel the need to write about the opposition to these views by quoting “some officials” and “a former U.S. official”, who think this is a ruse by the Iranians. If these guys had any real evidence, why are they hiding behind anonymity. These are the same class of “experts” who were certain Saddam had WMDs.

The Iranians are using 50-year-old technology that most people have given up on because it is a PITA to operate efficiently. The high-speed centrifuges breakdown regularly and and require a lot of maintenance. Because of the radiation hazard they aren’t easy to maintain or repair, and the parts require a great deal of precision to make.