Posts from — February 2011

The New Boss

What’s that?

[Editor: … definitely not the same as the old boss. Tonto has taken over since her sister passed a while back, but most of the group are not happy about it. She is not a nice a cat. When weaning kittens she really lets them know they are on their own and she wants nothing more to do with them. I have no idea what she was reacting to, possibly a noise, but she was prepared to deal with it forcibly.]

Friday Ark

While the group at the Hot Springs wait out their 8-hour mandatory stops before the 75 mile run to the finish, the back of the race is on the trail and facing Eagle Summit.

They might, and I hope they do, get the sunny conditions that Mike Ellis saw, but the version that Sab dealt with is never far away. There is a Winter Weather Advisory out for the area around Fairbanks for 3-5″ of snow and winds up to 30mph in the hills, so I hope everyone makes it to a warm and safe location before it hits.

Update Noon CST: It is very good to see that Tamara, Kyla, and Jerry have made it over Eagle Summit. Hank and his Siberians are the last team that will have to go over this year. He is currently about 15 miles away from Mile 101 at the start of the climb.

Update 1:30PM CST: Hank is about a mile from the summit at 2500 feet. He has 1000 feet up and 5000 forward to go before it becomes downhill into Mile 101.

Update 2:30PM CST: He is at 3400 feet. Not much further.

Update 3:15PM CST: Hank and the Siberian Huskies are over Eagle Summit and on their way down to to Mile 101.

Update 4:15PM CST: Hank arrived at Mile 101 with frosted puppies. Reports high winds at the summit.

At Fairbanks

7 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
8 Mike Ellis (5)

Beyond Chena Hot Springs

9 David Dalton (23)

At Chena Hot Springs

10 Tamara Rose (12)^I
11 Kyla Durham (14)^R
12 Jerry Joinson (21)^R

Beyond Mile 101

13 Hank DeBruin (19)^IΦ

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total rookie.

Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

The Orlando Sentinel reports on the latest stupid Tea Party gesture by Florida’s governor:

Florida’s congressional delegation, state officials and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer are pushing back against Gov. Rick Scott’s decision Wednesday to reject $2.4 billion in federal stimulus money to build a high-speed train between Orlando and Tampa.

“This is a century-type decision that needs to be vetted,” Dyer said. “I don’t think it was given a fair hearing.”

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood intends to meet either in person or by phone Friday with Florida elected officials, likely including Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Reps. John Mica, R-Winter Park, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, to discuss ways of keeping the project alive even as California, New York and Washington state offered to take some of the money.

Scott kept telling the peasants that he had the “proven track record for creating jobs” and so far he wants to eliminate about 7,500 state employees and this action wiped out thousands of construction jobs. With an official unemployment rate of over 12%, he is not moving in the right direction.

Another little problem is that this train has been in the works for years and the legislature has already appropriated money to cover some of the expenses. The Republican leaders in the Lege are not happy with little Scotty, who apparently doesn’t understand his job, or the separation of powers.

It has been rumored that “The Mouse” wanted the train. Messing with “The Mouse” is as bad as saying you hate orange juice or like Fidel Castro. This could get messy.

Dallas managed to hang on and win by 33 minutes over Sab with Ken coming in third. Dallas is also the first “rookie” in, although he is a veteran of the Iditarod. The Official Finish time is 11:05PM AKST [2:05AM CST] for an elapsed time of 10 days 11 hours and 53 minutes and an average speed of 5.7 mph.

Ken came in with 7 dogs pulling and one in the sled because of a muscle cramp, but he picked up four ounces of gold as the first team to reach Dawson and finish the race. Hugh was the first into Dawson and Hans was second, but lost it when unable to finish.

Tamara Rose has a problem. She is down to 7 dogs, the minimum required to continue racing. If she loses another one, she will have to scratch. [Correction: you can technically continue with 6 dogs, but the question is: can you climb Eagle and Rosebud with 6?]

Hank DeBruin and his Siberian Huskies Johannes Rygh has the Red Lantern back at Circle.

Hank has the Red Lantern back, and Johannes Rygh has been withdrawn at Circle.

Kelley Griffin’s trip to the Finish was delayed for 30 minutes by a herd of caribou blocking the trail. Better caribou than moose.

The Quest has a lot of video up at Youtube of this year’s race. If you would like to see a really pretty dog team of purebred Siberian Huskies they have Mike Ellis and his huskies arrive in Mile 101 for a sunny rest.

That was “the thrill of victory”, but a day earlier in the same area, they have Sebastian Schnuelle climbs Eagle Summit. Note that he isn’t riding, he is pushing to get it up the hill. Also watch the dogs. They want to pull the sled. What happened to others was that the dogs wanted to turn their backs to the wind and dig into the snow, which is their natural survival instinct. Also note that it is Sab who needs the rest, not the dogs.

Fairbanks

1 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
2 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
3 Ken Anderson (18)
4 Brent Sass (22)
5 Kelley Griffin (1)
6 Allen Moore (24)^I

Beyond Mile 101

7 Jodi Bailey (17)^R

At Mile 101

8 Mike Ellis (5)
9 David Dalton (23)

At Central

10 Tamara Rose (12)^I
11 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
12 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Beyond Circle

13 Hank DeBruin (19)^IΦ

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total rookie.

Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Australia again: Cyclone Carlos batters Darwin and Top End

Tropical Cyclone Carlos is battering Darwin after a night of wild weather that left houses damaged and streets flooded.
…

In the Darwin suburb of Marrara, a record 435 millimetres of rain fell in 24 hours.

There are serious concerns about storm surge in the Rapid Creek, Millner and Nightcliff areas, with a high tide of 6.6 metres expected at 5.40pm CST, Northern Territory Police said.

Storm surge shelters at Casuarina Senior College and Nightcliff Middle School are now open to residents affected by flooding.

But cyclone shelters are not open at this stage.
…

At 12:30 am CST Tropical Cyclone Carlos was 15 kilometres south-east of Darwin and 125 kilometres south south-east of Snake Bay and moving northeast at 5 kilometres per hour.

Gales with gusts to 100 kilometres per hour are currently being experienced on the coast between Darwin and Point Stuart.

Gales with gusts to 120 kilometres per hour are expected to develop over the southern Tiwi Islands tonight, and may extend further south to Daly River Mouth during Thursday and as far as Port Keats on Friday.

Gales may also develop between Point Stuart and Goulburn Island, including Croker Island tonight, if the cyclone takes a more easterly track.

This is the equivalent of an Atlantic Tropical Storm, but it was just a low pressure system this morning. The sustained winds are in the 50 to 60 mph range.

Darwin is on the North Coast of Australia in the center, in the Northern Territory.

The bad news this morning is that another dog has died. Geronimo, on Hugh Neff’s team died at Eagle Summit. He was a 3½-year-old male and cause of death is awaiting a necropsy.

Both Hugh Neff and Dan Kaduce have withdrawn from the race. They sought outside help and were transported by vehicle to Mile 101.

The current leaders are taking their mandatory 8-hour stops before the race to Fairbanks.

The weather for the second half of the race has been brutal. If you look at pictures of the leaders you will see what looks like sunburn, which is the lowest level of frostbite on their faces and hands.

Hugh and Dan’s teams refused the climb up Eagle Summit. When Hugh had to leave Walter behind, he lost his “weather leader”. Walter is one of those dogs that would want someone to open a window for him on a Hurricane Hunter. Sab, Ken, and Dallas Seavey have leaders like that, and they went over the mountain.

Gwen Holdmann writes about climbing summits in her article, The Mental Factor, on the Yukon Quest site.

Update at 11:50PM CST: Must have been a GPS glitch, because now Sab and Dallas are shown side-by-side. No more drama for tonight.

Update at 11:40PM CST: From the GPS it looks like Sab has missed a turn in his rush to catch Dallas. Nothing in this race has gone they way anyone thought.

Update at 11PM CST: The order of the leaders is unchanged and they are spaced 5 miles apart. They are going to have to feed and rest the dogs at least once, and it will happen soon, as there is still about 25 miles to go. I definitely won’t be able to stay up for the end.

Update at 8PM CST: From the GPS the order at the front is Dallas, Sab, and Ken.

Update: Ken Anderson has been assessed a 30-minute penalty for not checking out at Mile 101. Ken apparently forgot that 101 is a checkpoint this year, and not just a dog drop, as in the past. He has to stay at Chena for 8½ hours, not just 8.

Beyond Chena Hot Springs

1 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
2 Ken Anderson (18)
3 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
4 Brent Sass (22)

At Chena Hot Springs

5 Kelley Griffin (1)

Beyond Mile 101

6 Allen Moore (24)^I

At Central

7 Jodi Bailey (17)^R

Beyond Circle

8 David Dalton (23)
9 Mike Ellis (5)

At Circle

10 Tamara Rose (12)^I
11 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
12 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
13 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Beyond Slaven’s Roadhouse

14 Hank DeBruin (19)^IΦ

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total rookie.
Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

I’ve seen and heard the usual suspects complaining that the administration and CIA “missed” what happened in Egypt.

Actually, it is quite understandable, because the US has been so focused on “terrorists” that they have stopped looking a societies. There aren’t a lot of social anthropologists or labor specialists at the CIA, and the administration believes in the the policies that created the unrest in Egypt and much of the Arab world.

Matt Stoller explains it at Naked Capitalism. The economic policies of the Obama administration were being followed by the Egyptians, and it resulted in high unemployment, just like in the US. Rising food prices tipped the balance.

Egyptian unrest is a labor reaction to wealth concentration. The people at the bottom got tired of waiting for prosperity to “trickle down”, and went into the streets to demand change.

Of course, the “War on Terror” means that US cable systems don’t carry Al Jazeera, or people would have been aware of the problems earlier. As Lambert put it at Corrente:

I mean, after live blogging AL Jazeera on the air, tracking their live blogs and tweets in real time, and doing the same for the BBC, Reuters, CNN, and the Times, for what? 18 days? during my waking hours, all when the story is a successful and non-violent revolution in the heart of 7000-year-old civilization in the Middle East… Well, coming back to the Sunday Bobbleheads of this world seems just a little…. Well, stale. Provincial. Insular. Like watching state TV and then phoning it in.

If the CIA and State Department would like to know what is going on in the Middle East, on the “Arab street”, they might consider this:

Hugh Neff left Central about 20 minutes before Hans arrived, so his lead is down to the rest time Hans takes, which will probably be about 4 hours, because there is overflow on the trail between Circle and Central. Water and -40° F/C is not good for living things, so you have to warm up and dry off.

Apparently Hans and his team fell through thin ice and were completely soaked. Sab got them out and started a fire to dry everyone out before they all continued to Central.

Hugh had to leave his lead dog, Walter, behind in Central, which will make climbing the “twin peaks” even harder, but Hans and Sab have a lot of warming up and drying to do.

It is snowing in Central, and if there is blowing snow on the climb up Eagle Summit, things can go wrong quickly.

Update Midnight CST: Now they are saying that both Dan and Hugh and their teams are at Mile 101. I have to get some sleep, and give them time to figure out what is going on.

Update 11:30PM CST: Dan Kaduce (10) has gone back to Central by vehicle effectively withdrawing.

Ken Anderson didn’t stop at Mile 101 but went up Rosebud immediately.

Sab is resting at Mile 101.

Still nothing official on Hugh Neff.

Update 10:30PM CST: Dan Kaduce has gone to the Steese Highway and flagged down a vehicle and gone to Central. Officials at Mile 101 have sent snowmobiles and supplies to Hugh’s location, and Central is sending vets after being contacted by Dan.

There is definitely a problem, but no one is certain exactly what the problem is.

Update 10PM CST: Sab is the new leader, having made it to Mile 101.

Update 9PM CST: Hugh Neff is hunkered down with Dan Kaduce. Sab has managed to make it over Eagle Summit and is on his way to Mile 101.

I have a feeling that Dan Kaduce has joined Brent Sass and Sab in the running for this year’s Sportsmanship Award, because I don’t think Hugh would still be hunkered down if there wasn’t a problem.

Update 8:30PM CST: It still isn’t clear where Hugh Neff is, but from the working GPSs it looks like the group at the mountain have started the ascent and are taking turns breaking trail. The race marshal at Mile 101 has sent a snowmobile out from there which tends to make me believe that no one has made it over the summit. The snowmobile can hopefully break a trail over the mountain, but if the winds are kicking up, it won’t last long. The machine has been out over an hour and hasn’t reported anything.

Update at 7:30PM CST: Eagle Summit has been attempted without success. It is apparently impassable. It is not clear where Hugh Neff is as his GPS isn’t working at the moment, but Dan Kaduce tried it and had to turn around.

As I mentioned in my YQ 300 post, in the 2009 Quest Yuka Honda spent 32 hours going from Central to Mile 101, most of that time getting over Eagle Summit. We can hope that everyone is safe and warm while they wait for the winds to calm down.

Update 4PM CST: Hans Gatt (13), four time winner of the Quest, has scratched at Central. After the disaster at American Summit, and the “swim” in Birch Creek, Hans has had enough. Originally he wasn’t going to enter the Quest, but decided to at the last minute. After what he has been through so far, attempting the Eagle Summit under current conditions [The highway between Central and Mile 101 has been closed by drifts] would be too much.

[As a result of the “dunking”, Hans has frostbitten hands and can’t take care of the dogs.]

As “Sab” Schnuelle said earlier: “One minute you’re running a race and the next, you’re in a survival situation – that’s the Yukon Quest.”

Update Noon CST: Joshua Cadzow (16) has scratched at Circle. The puppies weren’t feeling well.

Update: Didier Moggia (7) has returned to Eagle and scratched. [Apparently every female on his team went into heat, which makes for a great Valentine Day story but doesn’t help the team concentrate on pulling a sled.]

Official standings below the fold [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.

There were at least three Saint Valentines and all were martyrs, as they should have been for the trouble they’ve caused. None are the reason for the “holiday”, only the excuse. They lived at a time when life and men were short and brutal, so the romantic aura of the holiday is pure piffle. At least one was reportedly part of a draft dodging scheme during the Roman Empire, marrying people so that men with “other priorities” could avoid being deployed to foreign wars, bachelors being preferred for catapult fodder.

It is to be hoped that the individual who first wrote: “Roses are red, violets are blue” was eaten by rabid wolverines, or had hemorrhoids.

… Was turned into Limburger.

Australia has had some problems lately, and those problems are going to cost a lot of money to fix. The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has suggested a tax levy to pay for the clean-up and rebuilding without going into debt [radical concept, I know].

So the ABC has the response from the “leaders of industry”: Cut disabled pensions to help pay for floods: big business

The Business Council says cuts to disability services and foreign aid should be considered as alternatives to the flood levy.

The Federal Government says the $1.8 billion tax is needed to help pay for flood and cyclone reconstruction in Queensland and Victoria.

But in its pre-budget submission, the Business Council, which represents Australia’s top 100 companies, says the government should instead press ahead with returning the budget to surplus through short-term spending discipline.

Council president Graham Bradley says all current spending should be reviewed and disability pensions may not be the best use of government money.

“It is one of the large budget items,” he told ABC Radio’s AM.

“And if you look at what countries overseas are doing in this regard … for example in the United Kingdom, they are taking a really hard look to make sure that there aren’t people currently incentivised to be on disability pensions who really would be much better off going back to work, even if it is only part-time or less rigorous work.”

It would appear that Australian business leaders not only want the “quality of mercy” strained, they want it cut off entirely.  They want the disabled to pay for a natural disaster, rather than having to give up some of their profits.

I wonder if the boards of the “Scrooge 100” have an an inkling of exactly how bad this idea is? Perhaps the Australian parliament could review any benefits received by these companies to see how really necessary those are to the Australian people.

Hugh Neff got into Circle after midnight my time and set out again this morning as temperatures in the -40s settled in over interior. [Note: -40° F = -40° C]

In the current conditions people tend to move in groups as a matter of survival. While you see dogs riding around in the Lower 48 with their heads out the window, sled dogs as a group are not fond of running into the wind, especially at low temperatures. One of the keys to Lance Mackey’s success has been lead dogs that didn’t mind the wind and would run into it.

In addition to the biological component, the race reporting is suffering from equipment that doesn’t like the weather any more than the people. The Quest sites have been suffering periodic outages as 21^st century tools attempt to work with 19^th century infrastructure.

The race has transformed from a sprint to a slog since the Alaskan border and the weather change.

Update: 12:30PM CST

Sad News: Sled dog on Brent Sass’ team dies. It was a sudden death on the trail to Slaven’s Roadhouse, and a necropsy will be necessary to find the cause of death. For the moment Brent is continuing, but he may decide to scratch at Circle, which is on the road system.

Update: Brent lost his veteran wheel dog, Taco, just out of Trout Creek after a six-hour rest stop. The wheel dog is second only to the leader on a team. There was no indication of a problem at the stop. Taco was a 6-year-old male from Jessie Royer’s kennel as a puppy. Brent will be continuing.

Earlier, Brent and his team helped Hans Gatt in a very nasty situation: American Summit Rescue.

It is called sled dog racing because the dogs are the athletes. Sometimes a dog simply pushes too hard, beyond the capacity of their heart. They have been working extremely hard breaking trail through the snowdrifts, so they are giving it everything they have, and sometimes, more than they have.

Update: 11:30PM CST

Beyond Circle

1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13) +5 hours 53 minutes
3 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
4 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
5 Allen Moore (24)^I

At Circle

6 Dan Kaduce (10)
7 Ken Anderson (18)
8 Brent Sass (22)
9 Kelley Griffin (1)
10 Joshua Cadzow (16)

Beyond Eagle

11 Mike Ellis (5)
12 David Dalton (23)
13 Jodi Bailey (17)^R

At Eagle

14 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
15 Tamara Rose (12)^I
16 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
17 Didier Moggia (7)
18 Kyla Durham (14)^R
19 Hank DeBruin (19)^I

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total rookie.

Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Regular sled dog commenter Juanita has been occupied with something else during the Quest: Puppies and More Puppies [Youtube video links].

Kryten came through the storms in Victoria a little worse for wear, and will have to move again as a result of damage to the house he was moving into, so he is still without a regular ‘Net connection, and will likely be using the $5/hour kiosk time for work rather than commentary.

Victoria remains soggy, and the rains continue, but not as bad. Some areas received their annual rainfalls in two days. The vineyards have gone from problems with drought conditions to floods in one season.

The news is much better for Rook, who has managed to find a full-time position in his field, rather than working multiple part-time jobs. It’s nice to know someone can find work in this economy.

Hugh Neff isn’t quite as far ahead as he was yesterday, but his lead is very comfortable.

The weather is a bit better today, but a lot of the trail is drifted over which has led to some cooperative efforts among the teams. The half dozen teams immediately following Hugh are taking turns breaking trail and are clumped together. The same situation applies to the last five teams, who left Dawson last night as a group. Clint Warnke (25) isn’t among them. He decided to scratch at Dawson.

You have to be confident before hitting the stretch between Dawson and Circle, because there are no roads up there. Your choices are sleds or aircraft and communications are limited. Reporting from Eagle was via a packet network on HF ham radio, as even satellite phones are spotty around the Arctic Circle.

Update at 9PM CST

Beyond Slaven’s Roadhouse

1 Hugh Neff (8)

At Slaven’s Roadhouse

2 Hans Gatt (13)
3 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)

Beyond Eagle

4 Ken Anderson (18)
5 Brent Sass (22)
6 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
7 Allen Moore (24)^I
8 Dan Kaduce (10)
9 Kelley Griffin (1)
10 Joshua Cadzow (16)

At Eagle

11 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
12 David Dalton (23)
13 Mike Ellis (5)

Beyond Dawson

14 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
15 Tamara Rose (12)^I
16 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
17 Didier Moggia (7)
18 Kyla Durham (14)^R
19 Hank DeBruin (19)^I

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total rookie.

Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Or, perhaps the “coup”….

The BBC reports the breaking news: Egypt’s Mubarak resigns as leader

In an announcement on state TV, Vice-President Omar Suleiman said Mr Mubarak had handed power to the military.

It came as thousands massed in Cairo and other Egyptian cities for an 18th day of protest to demand Mr Mubarak’s resignation.

Protesters responded by cheering, waving flags, embracing and sounding car horns. “The people have brought down the regime,” they chanted.

Mr Suleiman said Mr Mubarak had handed power to the high command of the armed forces.

“In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, citizens, during these very difficult circumstances Egypt is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of president of the republic and has charged the high council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country,” he said.

“May God help everybody.”

Like I said yesterday, the military was put in the position of having to “do something” about Mubarak. I wonder if anyone has told him that he resigned? Well, they’ll take care of the details later, after they get their next check from the US.

The military needs to understand that the people who gathered have already lost their fear of death, so if it doesn’t start delivering some real changes, especially labor reforms and lifting the state of emergency, the protesters will be back, and the strikes are a certainty. The people won a big one, so they are ready and willing to do this again.