Posts from — February 2011

Hugh Neff is getting to sleep in after reaching Eagle just after midnight. Snow, plunging temperatures, and gusty winds on the American Summit will stop pursuit.

From the Weather Underground forecast:

Periods of snow from Chicken south with snow accumulation 2 to 5 inches…highest amounts near the Alaska Range. A chance of snow north of Chicken. Areas of blowing snow with poor visibility near the Alaska Range. Highs 5 to 10 above. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts to 35 mph near the Alaska Range.

The American Summit is part of the Alaskan Range. With conditions like that and a mandatory 4-hour stop at Eagle for the border paperwork, Hugh can wait in Eagle until the next team arrives, and then leave with comfortable lead and a well-rested team.

Christine Roalofs (9) is making slow progress according to the GPS tracker. She apparently missed a trail marker and had to back-track about five miles yesterday.

Update: 2PM CST- Running tenth out of Dawson, Wade Marrs (15) returned and scratched. He was down to 9 puppies, and the weather has turned very nasty. Still no word on Christine Roalofs.

Update: 4:30PM CST – Finally, Christine Roalofs hit her “HELP” button on the GPS. She was running low on supplies after getting lost and spending a great deal more time on the trail than anticipated. Help was sent, and she was disqualified from the race for accepting it. Her disqualified status won’t be posted until she arrives in Dawson. No idea why the race officials didn’t tell people what was going on hours ago. [Note: Disqualified has been changed to Withdrawn.]

To give you some idea of the conditions on the trail out of Dawson, Jodi Bailey (17) got turned around in the blowing snow during the night, and didn’t realize it until she got back to Dawson. I hope her puppies have a sense of humor, because they are re-running the trail out.

Update: 7PM CST- Although Clint Warnke (25) and Tamara Rose (12) could be on the trail out of Dawson, the Iditarod veterans are choosing to stay in Dawson until the late group of mushers leave. They want to finish the race, and with weather like today, it is better to travel together.

From the YQ Facebook page: Eagle, Alaska – Quote of the day, “One minute you’re running a race and the next, you’re in a survival situation – that’s the Yukon Quest.” Sebastian Schnuelle

Hugh Neff has an almost 10 hour lead because he made it to Eagle just before the front hit and the wind and snow lashed American Summit. Those behind him had to stop and create shelters for themselves and their dogs.

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.

Current standing below the fold [Read more →]

Adapting

Zzz … zzz … zzz

[Editor: Froggie was looking for dry, not comfortable, and a trash can under the eaves of a neighbor’s house, fit the bill.]

Friday Ark

The BBC has the White House reaction to today’s games – Egypt protests: Obama impatient for credible transition

US President Barack Obama says the Egyptian government has yet to put forward a “credible, concrete and unequivocal” path to democracy.

He said Egyptians “remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy”.

Egypt’s President Mubarak has said he plans to stay in office until September’s polls, but pledged to hand over some powers.

Anti-government protesters have reacted angrily to Mr Mubarak’s address.

“The Egyptian people have been told that there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient,” said Mr Obama.

“The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity,” he said.

In his nationally televised address earlier, President Mubarak had said he would delegate some powers to Vice-President Omar Suleiman, but the details remained unclear.

His comments confounded earlier reports that he was preparing to stand down immediately.

From the sequence of the announcements it would appear that the Egyptian military thought they had a deal that would involve Mubarak leaving, and putting Suleiman in charge. Suleiman seemed to confirm this deal. Based on this the US make a statement that reflected this deal having been struck.

Part of the deal was Mubarak making a speech to formally announce the deal, but Mubarak didn’t change his position at all. He says he is going to stay until the elections in the Fall.

Needless to say, the protesters are having none of it, and the White House is thoroughly PO’ed about being gamed by the Egyptians. It sounds like the military cut a deal with the US and couldn’t pull it off, because Mubarak won’t leave. This puts the military in the position having to consider “doing something” about Mubarak.

The protests are expanding, and today’s “drama” will probably increase the turn out on Friday.

The second half of the race began at 3:35AM PST at Dawson when Hugh Neff headed out again. Only the first nine of the teams behind him are within 12 hours of his lead, and Hans Gatt is two hours and 41 minutes behind, but this is the worst part of the trail, and ultimately it is up to the dogs, which is why it is called a “sled dog race”.

It is about 150 miles to Eagle, Alaska on the other side of American Summit. There is a four-hour mandatory lay-over in Eagle, and you hope that you don’t have to drop any dogs, because the only way to get to Eagle in the winter is by dog sled or aircraft, there is no road.

Update 11:30PM CST: Christine Roalofs (9), the current Red Lantern, has apparently stopped for a break about 40 miles from Dawson. The GPS showed her moving earlier in the day, but her position hasn’t changed in the last couple of hours. She left Scroggie Creek with 10 dogs at 8PM CST on the 9^th.

Beyond Dawson

1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13)
3 Ken Anderson (18)
4 Brent Sass (22)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
4 Brent Sass (22)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Allen Moore (24)^I
7 Wade Marrs (15)^I
8 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
9 Dan Kaduce (10)
10 Kelley Griffin (1)

At Dawson

11 Joshua Cadzow (16)
12 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
13 Mike Ellis (5)
14 David Dalton (23)
15 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
16 Clint Warnke (25)^I
17 Tamara Rose (12)^I
18 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
19 Didier Moggia (7)
20 Kyla Durham (14)^R
21 Hank DeBruin (19)^I

Beyond Scroggie Creek

22 Christine Roalofs (9)^R [earlier report of arrival was in error]

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 ABC reports a Cop charged over Perth bushfire

A 56-year-old Perth police officer has been charged by summons over a bushfire that destroyed 72 properties.

Robert James Stevens from Roleystone has been charged with carrying out an activity in the open air that causes or is likely to cause a fire.

It is understood sparks from an angle grinder the sergeant was using during a total fire ban started the blaze.

Stevens is on leave and was off duty at the time. It is also understood his wife is ill.

He is due to appear in court next month. If convicted he faces a maximum penalty of $25,000 and a year in jail.

How can anyone be this stupid. If he had ever used an angle grinder before this incident, he would have to be aware of the sparks it generates. After seeing the sparks, did he even bother to wet down the area where he was working and have a hose ready? The winds were really gusty and the humidity extremely low, didn’t he even consider the danger? He is/was a police officer, did he think that the law didn’t apply to him?

McClatchy reports on another Scott outrage: Florida governor’s plan to ax pill database alarms police

MIAMI — Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants to eliminate a computer system aimed at curbing the illegal sale of prescription drugs at storefront pain clinics, a move that alarmed narcotics investigators, drug-treatment advocates and some lawmakers.

Just two years ago, state legislators approved the creation of a prescription drug monitoring program that would allow doctors to review the drug purchases of their patients, to prevent patients from seeking narcotics from multiple doctors — a practice known as “doctor shopping.”

The Legislature approved the measure in response to an explosion of storefront pain clinics across South Florida, making the region the main supplier of black-market pills across Appalachia and the East Coast.

Now the governor wants to erase the database before it even gets off the ground. A proposed bill included in the budget package the governor unveiled on Monday would eliminate the database — even though it won’t be financed with state money.

Get real people – the man was CEO of the corporation that ran up the biggest Medicare/Medicaid fine ever imposed, and you expected him to OK a curb on the rampant abuse and criminal behavior in the South Florida medical community? That data base threatened his friends and peers, so, of course he axed it. Next thing you know people will be surprised when he reduces the ability of the state to investigate Medicaid fraud.

The Miami Herald reports on the latest outrage: Lawmakers demand Florida budget details from Gov. Scott

Gov. Rick Scott’s bold budget plan wasn’t even 24 hours old Tuesday before state legislators started ripping it apart and leveling a familiar charge against the governor: He wasn’t forthcoming with details.

Whether it was his billions in cuts to Medicaid or to schools, legislators said they weren’t sure what Scott specifically wanted to do in his budget, which would further widen a $3.6 billion shortfall next year due to nearly $2.4 billion in proposed tax cuts.

The criticisms and tough questions weren’t limited to Democrats; Scott’s fellow Republicans were skeptical of what many thought were skimpy details in his $65.9 billion budget.

The bipartisan concerns underscored a growing sense in the Legislature that Scott’s proposal is rooted in unrealistic political calculations, not the subtle calculus it takes to run the nation’s fourth-most populous state. In the House K-12 budget committee on Tuesday morning, eyebrows arched and heads shook as lawmakers tried digesting Scott’s plan to slash state-paid per-student spending by 10 percent.

Details, the Lege “don’t need no stinkin’ details”. CEOs don’t provide details, they just present the broad outlines of what they want the “corporation” to do, and underlings take care of the details.  He doesn’t seem to understand the link between “taxes” and the “revenue” side of the ledger.

As long as you refuse to accept that the problem is one of low demand, and keep messing around on the supply side, things will get worse, not better.

The first ten are in at 10AM CST and it looks like Hugh Neff has a commanding lead, but it is built on taking less rest than the field. If he can keep it up, he should win, but the worse of the Quest is ahead, and there is no way of knowing how long he and, more importantly, his team can maintain this regimen. Thirty-six hours isn’t a long recovery time.

At Dawson

1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13) +2:41:00 [The initial time yesterday was a typo on the site]
3 Ken Anderson (18) +4:55:00
4 Brent Sass (22)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Allen Moore (24)^I
7 Wade Marrs (15)^I
8 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
9 Dan Kaduce (10)
10 Kelley Griffin (1)
11 Joshua Cadzow (16)
12 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
13 Mike Ellis (5)
14 David Dalton (23)

Beyond Pelly Crossing

15 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
16 Clint Warnke (25)^I
17 Tamara Rose (12)^I
18 Didier Moggia (7)
19 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
20 Hank DeBruin (19)^I
21 Christine Roalofs (9)^R
22 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Update at 6:30PM CST: Michelle Phillips (4) has scratched at Dawson. She was down to 8 dogs, having had to leave 4 dogs at Scroggie Creek.

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.

You don’t need enemies.

I first heard this on NPR, but here’s the CNN version: White House criticizes Egyptian government and vice president

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama’s spokesman criticized the Egyptian government on Tuesday for arresting and harassing journalists and rights activists, and called comments by Vice President Omar Suleiman that Egypt is not ready for democracy “particularly unhelpful.”

The remarks by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs reflected a growing U.S. dissatisfaction with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Suleiman, the intelligence officer Mubarak chose as his deputy to bring about reforms demanded by protesters who have convulsed Cairo and the Egyptian economy for more than two weeks.

In another sign of U.S. frustration with the pace of reform in Egypt, Vice President Joe Biden, in a phone call Tuesday with Suleiman, pushed for more progress, according to a White House statement.

Biden urged “that the transition produce immediate, irreversible progress that responds to the aspirations of the Egyptian people,” according to the White House statement.

So Suleiman essentially tells the world that all of the elections held since Mubarak came to power haven’t been free and fair, something that Egypt has denied that entire time, and that you can’t trust the Egyptian people to rule themselves. This is the guy that the White House wanted to deal with the problems in Egypt.

Look, the situation is simple – the people in Tahrir Square have no intention of leaving while Mubarak is still in power. Now Suleiman says he doesn’t believe in democracy, so they aren’t likely to trust him, if they ever did.

In a situation like this, it is time to call in Jimmy Carter and have him set up some elections. He does this a lot and knows who to call to get this organized. First you elect a parliament in free and open elections, and then the Egyptians can decide what they want to do with their country. Before you call the elections, Mubarak has to go, or the demonstrations won’t stop. Everyone admits that today’s gathering was possibly the largest yet.

The original “quest” in the Yukon was the search for deposits of placer gold in the waterways. Someone is going to “find” four ounces of placer gold if they are the first team into Dawson. Everyone “discovers” a 36-hour break from the trail to catch up on their sleep, personal hygiene, and laundry. They’ll need it because the toughest part of the trail is ahead with the worst climbs and normally coldest temperatures on the Quest.

All of the teams are on the trail between Pelly Crossing and Dawson, a stretch of over 200 miles, so position reports beyond yesterday’s are pretty meaningless until they starting coming into Dawson. The climb up Solomon’s Dome isn’t that bad, but the descent to Dawson can be tricky, and the temperatures really start to drop on the other side.

The Fairbanks Daily News Miner has a nice picture of the Aurora Borealis over Braeburn, which has been providing more light at night than the crescent moon.

Update at 4PM: Apparently there have been some computer problems and nothing is coming out of Scroggie Creek. Hugh Neff’s GPS tracker is out of whack and hasn’t been reporting his position for about 14 hours. The race is going through an area of hills and mountains, so communications, other than satellite phones, is fairly nonexistent. [I wonder if I could get Al Jazeera interested in sled dog racing? They seem to be able to deal with these kinds of problems.]

Ken Anderson made it to Dawson with two dogs riding in the sled. The vets are saying that they are seeing a lot of “wrist” injuries, probably from ice chunks on the rivers that have thawed and refrozen.

Finally –

At Dawson
1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13) +3 hours 1 minute
3 Ken Anderson (18)
4 Brent Sass (22)

Beyond Pelly Crossing
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Wade Marrs (15)^I
7 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
8 Allen Moore (24)^I
9 Dan Kaduce (10)
10 Kelley Griffin (1)
11 Joshua Cadzow (16)
12 Michelle Phillips (4)
13 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
14 David Dalton (23)
15 Mike Ellis (5)
16 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
17 Clint Warnke (25)^I
18 Tamara Rose (12)^I
19 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
20 Didier Moggia (7)
21 Hank DeBruin (19)^I
22 Kyla Durham (14)^R
23 Christine Roalofs (9)^R

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.

At 9:23PM PST [11:23PM CST] Gerry Willomitzer finished the “Loop” and returned to Pelly Crossing to take the win at the Yukon Quest 300. He was followed just under two hours later by Ed Hopkins with Martin Beck coming in at 5:10AM PST. Gerry spent a total of 2 days, 4 hours, and 12 minutes from his start time [02/05/11 5:12PM] to the finish.

Three teams have scratched : Tom Schonberger at Carmacks, Eric Pourteau at McCabe Creek, and, alas, Genesee Keevil, who left Carmacks and then returned. No word yet as to why, but it was probably unhappy puppies.

Kathleen Frederick is the only one of the remaining mushers who isn’t at or beyond Pelly Crossing, which is a bit worrying because a number of people left Carmacks after she did, and have arrived. It is possible that someone forgot to enter her arrival into the computer, which has happened before with people coming and going at all hours and times arriving on handwritten notes. [Update: She scratched at McCabe Creek.]

Finishers as of Midnight CST:

1 Gerry Willomitzer (57)
2 Ed Hopkins (54)
3 Mathias Beck (70)
4 Aliy Zirkle (64)
5 Susie Rogan (58)
6 Paige Drobny (72)
7 Misha Pedersen (73)
8 Nathan McNee (67)
9 Brian Wilmshurst (60)
10 Jessie Royer (74)
11 Rolf Meili (65)
12 Yuka Honda (56)
13 Oyvind Jakobsen (55)
14 Ryne Olson (62)
15 Fabian Schmitz (59)
16 Megan Routley (63)
17 Jonathan Lucas (71)
18 Maren Bradley (66)
19 Dyan Bergen (52)

Jessie Royer and Rolf Meili were both dinged with 2-hour penalties for failing to properly check out at Pelly Crossing.

Dyan Bergen is the only musher who hasn’t reached the finish line. She has stopped to give her dogs extra rest and is bound and determined to finish. [Update: Dyan made it in.]

There has been the first scratch at Carmacks last night, when rookie Denis Tremblay (2) of Quebec dropped out because his puppies apparently picked up a virus. That’s troubling, because there seem to be a lot of early dropping of dogs.

The early leaders are making their push by reducing rest time rather than running faster. That might win Dawson, but it makes the second half harder, and it is already the pits,

Update at 10:30PM CST

Beyond Pelly Crossing

1 Brent Sass (22)
2 Hugh Neff (8)
3 Hans Gatt (13)
4 Ken Anderson (18)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Joshua Cadzow (16)
7 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
8 Wade Marrs (15)^I
9 Allen Moore (24)^I
10 Dan Kaduce (10)
11 Michelle Phillips (4)
12 Kelley Griffin (1)
13 Mike Ellis (5)
14 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
15 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
16 David Dalton (23)

At Pelly Crossing

17 Clint Warnke (25)^I
18 Tamara Rose (12)^I
19 Jerry Joinson (21)^R

Beyond Carmacks

20 Hank DeBruin (19)^I
21 Christine Roalofs (9)^R
22 Didier Moggia (7)
23 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Allen Dennis (20) has scratched at Carmacks. He was down to 10 dogs, and they don’t seem to have been happy puppies.

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.

This time it’s South Australia.

From the ABC: Outback storms leave an inland sea

Nearly all outback roads are closed across South Australia because of the widespread drenching in recent days.

Thunderstorms have affected a wide area as ex-Tropical Cyclone Yasi moves across inland regions.

Many cattle stations including Anna Creek are accessible only by helicopter.
…

The landscape is sodden across a wide area of South Australia. Yongala received 128 millimetres of rain in 24 hours, beating a record set 121 years ago.

There are 25.4 millimeters in an inch, and the Outback is not known as a garden paradise.

The ABC reports on the continuing problem of bush fires around Perth in West Australia, as a result of low humidity and high winds, Raging bushfire destroys 35 homes

Residents in several West Australian areas are facing a sleepless night as blazes continue to burn out of control.

Around 400 firefighters have been battling a number of blazes over the past 24 hours.

A blaze burning in the Roleystone and Kelmscott areas, south-east of Perth, has already destroyed 35 homes.

Authorities say that figure could reach 60, with winds of up to 70 kilometres an hour making it near impossible to bring the huge fire under control.
…

To the north-east of the city in Red Hill and Brigadoon, an emergency warning is in place for a blaze that has been burning since Saturday night.
…

A third fire in Coorow, north-east of Perth, has burnt nearly 5,000 hectares and is still not contained.

Fire officials suspect that the winds are blowing debris against the high voltage electrical lines and sparking the fires. Once a fire is started the winds are causing spot fires by blowing burning embers around, jumping roads and other forms of firebreak. The winds are also preventing the air tankers from flying and providing assistance.