Posts from — March 2012

Your own size!

Limbaugh has been bad-mouthing women for years, but then he made the fatal mistake, the unforgivable error for the media, he attacked an ordinary individual, someone with whom people could relate.

This isn’t written down anywhere that I know of, but it is a hard and fast rule.

Consider – The News of the World had been invading people’s privacy for over a century, but then they hacked the cell phone of Milly Dowler, a school girl who was abducted and then murdered. The paper was shut down and James Murdoch has resigned from the board of the corporation that owned it to escape further ‘personal problems’ as an in-depth investigation continues with multiple arrests being made.

Don Imus had been an annoying jerk on the radio for years, saying outrageous things about people that entire time, but them he made an incredibly stupid remark about the Rutgers women’s basketball team – a small group of readily identifiable individuals, young university students. He passed into history.

Andrew Breitbart gained infamy for the hit-job he organized on ACORN with heavily edited video tapes, and was being feted by all kinds of people as a ‘new muckraker’. Then he did the same thing to Shirley Sherrod, and his star dropped like a rock. Lying about groups is safe, but don’t lie about ordinary people, especially people who will sue you.

Sandra Fluke was the line that should never be crossed, because people will react. Advertisers know this, and they fled the scene. There is power in the individual, as evidenced by politicians using the stories of individuals to make their talking points. Everyone can relate to ordinary people who aren’t rich or famous, in a way they can’t relate to those who have power. As one advertiser put it – ‘I have daughters Ms Fluke’s age’.

Limbaugh will exit stage right. Maybe not immediately, but he has made himself and his program a liability to advertisers.

The ‘Burn’ on the trail to Nikolai is on tap today. Hopefully the snow has covered the worst of it and there won’t be any injuries to dogs, people, or sleds this year.

The standings as of 11:30PM CST: [There was a traffic jam at Nikolai as the first 6 teams wanted to leave at the same time]

Beyond Nikolai
1 Aliy Zirkle (14)
2 John Baker (11)
3 Jeff King (10)
4 Lance Mackey (18)
5 Mitch Seavey (35)
6 Hugh Neff (27)
7 Paul Gebhardt (25)
8 Dallas Seavey (34)
9 Ray Redington Jr (2)
10 Aaron Burmeister (44)
11 Gerry Willomitzer (23)
12 Rick Swenson (60)
13 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
14 Kelley Griffin (20)
15 Michael Williams Jr (51)
16 Ramey Smyth (21)
17 Brent Sass (50)^Q
18 Cim Smyth (8)
19 Tom Thurston (5)
20 Josh Cadzow (55)^Q
[Read more →]

Things are starting to sort themselves out this morning as the major contenders move to the front before the ‘carnival ride’ between Finger Lake and Nikolai – the most “interesting” part of the race.

Aliy made the run from Rainy Pass to Rohn at better than 12mph, but it is all downhill. The standings are listing the speed at 19.65mph, but that’s a mistake. [She made 48 miles in less than 4 hours]. She made it to Rohn 11 minutes after Hugh, but left Rainy Pass 30 minutes after he did. Her puppies want to run. [Note: She will stop on the trail and camp within a couple of hours to feed and rest the dogs. When they work, they eat – a lot.]

At 11:30PM CST:

Beyond Rohn
1 Aliy Zirkle (14)
At Rohn
2 Hugh Neff (27)
3 Ray Redington Jr (2)
4 Lance Mackey (18)
5 Aaron Burmeister (44)
6 John Baker (11)
7 Kelley Griffin (20)
8 Jeff King (10)
9 Paul Gebhardt (25)
Beyond Rainy Pass
10 Rick Swenson (60)
11 Nicolas Petit (9)
12 Jim Lanier (3)
13 Cim Smyth (8)
14 Sonny Lindner (59)
15 Mitch Seavey (35)
16 Anjanette Steer (32)^R
17 Michael Williams Jr (51)
18 Peter Kaiser (28)
19 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
20 Jake Berkowitz (29)
[Read more →]

Ray Redington Jr. led off at 2PM AKST [5PM CST] but his brother Ryan won’t get to leave until 4:10PM AKST [7:10PM CST].

The sun sets at 6:34PM AKST, but the moon is 86% full tonight and the skies are forecast to be clear. The temperature at start time was 19° F [-7° C]. There is snow forecast from Willow to Skwentna tomorrow, with temperatures in single digits.

Things should be fast for the teams up front, but the back of the pack will probably being pushing snow as the sleds in front degrade the trail.

I will wait until later to post positions, which are still in the parade order from yesterday.

Ray made it to Yentna at 5:44PM AKST [8:44PM CST] and left five minutes later.

At 11:30PM CST:

Beyond Yentna
1 Ray Redington Jr (2)
2 Jodi Bailey (6)
3 Tom Thurston (5)
4 William Pinkham (4)
5 Cim Smyth (8)
6 Jeff King (10)
7 Nicolas Petit (9)
8 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
9 Aliy Zirkle (14)
10 Kelley Griffin (20)
[Read more →]

The ‘Steps’ are back. After the start of the parade today, the Trail Committee had to put the Happy Valley Steps back into the race. According to reports from the trail breakers, heavy snow and wind conditions are making the alternate route impassible.

At least the snow should cushion the Steps.

These reports are not making me optimistic about possible conditions at Rainy Pass. That’s a nasty weather area most of the time, and if the wind is kicking up, finding the trail will be a problem. It sounds like John Baker’s record will be safe this year.

As you look at the list of mushers you will note a number of people have shared last names.

Seavey – Dan begat Mitch who begat Dallas
Buser – Martin begat Rohn
Redington – Ray and Ryan are brothers
Smyth – Cim and Ramey are brothers
Berington – Kristy and Anna are identical twin sisters.

Jim Lanier is breaking with his tradition and will not be running an all white team this year. He needed to fill in some positions and couldn’t find the dogs in his Northern Whites Kennel. At 71, even with a hip replacement he keeps on mushing. But then, Dan Seavey is three years older than Jim.

I’ve mentioned several times that moose are insane. Except for cows and their calves, and a short time in the Fall, moose even hate other moose. People often end up shooting moose, because there is no other way of stopping their attack. Of course, under Alaskan law, if you kill it, you eat it, or get ready for a major [four trailing zeroes] fine.

If you have to shoot a moose to protect your dogs, even in a sanctioned race, you still have to stop and butcher the animal, then take several hundred pounds of meat on the sled with you. Hopefully the weather is cold or you are close to civilization.

The heavy snow this year is leading to more moose encounters than normal. Moose don’t like to break trail through the snow any more than humans do, so they will use any roads or trails they find.

Irving, a wheel dog on Karen Ramstead’s team was put on the injured/reserve list as the result of a muscle tear to a rear leg caused by a moose encounter on a training run outside of Willow.

On Friday, Demon, a new lead dog on Zoya DeNure’s team received bruises to his shoulders from a moose on a trail in Anchorage, across from a ‘Jiffy Lube’ and strip mall.

Zoya really wants Demon to run, as a reward, the ultimate ‘good boy’, because he is one of her ‘rescues’. I hope he gets his chance, but I doubt he will make the whole trip. Zoya and the vets will be watching him closely.

The Susan Butcher Day parade of teams that marks the ceremonial beginning of the Iditarod started at 10AM AKST [1PM CST] in light snow.

There is plenty of snow at the start, with up to two feet reported on the trail, but it is powder. It will be fast for the front, but the trail can break down, and the wind can move it around and create white-out conditions. You can’t make snowballs or snowmen out of powder snow, it doesn’t pack.

The real racing starts tomorrow from Willow with the re-start. I expect the experienced teams will move quickly to the front to avoid the trail breakdown.

There are four winners of the only the Yukon Quest, and four winners of only the Iditarod, as well as two, Lance Mackey and Jeff King who have won both.

Lance is in a rebuilding phase, with younger dogs, but he will probably add some more veterans to his Iditarod team than he used on the Quest team he just ran.

John Baker is back and there is no reason to think he will change his strategy of ‘cruise control’ that won last year. Velvet and Snickers will set the pace and John’s team will move along at their trot – the most efficient use of their energy. This is a distance team, not sprinters, and they can keep it up seemingly forever. Warm weather is the only thing that will really bother these dogs. They set the overall record time for the race on the tougher Southern trail: 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds.

The Mushers List is after the fold [Read more →]

At The End of Her Rope

I could use a thumb for this hook.

[Editor: CC was taking a ‘walk-about’ this afternoon. The initials are for ‘Crazy Cat’ – what else would you call a cat who likes showers and vacuum cleaners?]

Friday Ark

It’s Saint David’s Day, and, as he is their patron saint, it is a national holiday in Wales. The Welsh wear leeks or daffodils [called Peter’s leek in Welsh] on this day.

I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.
– Clarence Darrow

I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. – Mark Twain

Probably based on the Celtic belief that the spirit hangs around for a bit after one dies the custom developed that: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.”

OK. He’s dead … it was the nicest thing he has done in quite a while.

Ms Gillard beat back the challenge from Kevin Rudd in the Australian row by a vote of 71-31. It looks like the people who work with him don’t really like Mr. Rudd. It is a good thing that is over because the country is facing more flooding from yet another ‘big wet’ in New South Wales, the capital district, and parts of Victoria.

The Midwest of the US is preparing for storms from the same system that tore up the South.

[You have to wonder when some people will finally notice that the climate is changing.]

Under the Michigan system, the Mittster and St Santorum both got 15 delegates, but the Mittser took Wyoming today. Super Tuesday doesn’t look good for Mitt, so he needs all the cushion he can get. If Mitt just handed out the money he is spending on advertising in these states, he would get more votes than he does.

Locally, the Fox TV station has been trying to hold up the cable system for a higher fee, but the cable system is bleeding subscribers, so they don’t want to do anything that raises the price. At the moment my Mother is one of the only two subscribers on this block, and she has the minimal subscription. Everyone else has dumped cable so they could afford the gas to get to their multiple low paying jobs. I think the TV station may be in for a surprise, as the cable company decides they can’t afford them.