Utah+

I had a few photos that I didn't get posted on flickr last night. They're from the same Utah day, but the photos are actually taken in Arizona. They're all on flickr now, if you care to look. But here's a taste:

Cliff Dwellers Lodge, Arizona:


Tselgiizhil, Arizona:

Curiously, the USGS maps for this bit of land disagree as to the peak's name. The 7.5' quadrangle calls it Tselgiizhil, but the 15' quadrangle calls it Tsetgiizhii. The 7.5' map was made a year after, so I guess it's correct...

Utah

Just in case you're not one of the people who regularly drop by my flickr page to see if I've posted any new photos, here are some from our early-April vacation to the Southwest. Or more particularly, from April 7, mostly in Utah (with a bit in Arizona).

Court of the Patriarchs, Zion National Park:


Temple of Sinewava, Zion National Park:


The Narrows, Zion National Park:


Virgin River, Zion National Park:

(Chunlin's photo above)

Virgin River, Zion National Park:


Zion Lodge, Zion National Park:


Pine Creek, Zion National Park:


House Rock Valley, Arizona:


And there's almost a hundred more photos from that day on flickr. I tried to cull it down. I really tried!

Yay, Sarko!

Just when you thought Europe (and especially France) had gone over the edge and were beyond salvation, the French go and elect a pro-American president!

I just hope that the parliamentary elections in a month go the same way. Otherwise, he might have trouble getting his reforms enacted.

Everything I've read about the French government's stranglehold on businesses and "tolerance" for criminals has left me utterly devoid of hope for the French people. But just maybe, they've seen the results of those cushy liberal policies and have realized their country needs an abrupt change of direction.

Britain's having an election soon, too, right? Go Tories!

Annette Lake

Ah, good ol' Annette Lake. Fourth time there for me. First time was when I was six years old, so it can't be all too difficult of a hike, right?

All I really remember from that hike way back when was that I was in a real "I don't wanna!" mood when we returned home. Tired and pouting. I wouldn't even pose for photographs.

Yesterday, the trail was covered in snow everywhere above 2900' elevation -- which is less than halfway up to the lake. Needless to say, it slowed us down quite a bit. What should have taken us a bit over an hour took two full hours. Add in a late start, and we didn't get home till after six o'clock.

Actually, I tried to go over to Mt Margaret, but we didn't even make it up to the trailhead because there was too much snow on the road. That and a snowmobile-hauling pickup with trailer blocking the road where the snow began.













More photos at flickr, as usual.

Nevada, part 1

Oh, by the way. I posted many photos from the first day of our minivacation in the Southwest on my Flickr site.

Here are but a few of them:

Las Vegas McCarran International Airport:


Calico Hills:


Calico Hills:


Calico Hills:


Calico Hills:


Rainbow Mountain:


Paradise:

Well, okay, the buildings in the background are in Las Vegas, but the roller coaster is in the unincorporated town of Paradise. Saraha Avenue is the city line.

Happy (Martian) New Year!

I know that the new year doesn't technically start for another eight days, but what fun we'll have in the intervening time!

These are the eight extra-calendar days, which means they don't fall into any month and are thus a time of celebration throughout the worlds.

Well, at least those worlds with countries that use the Sarıman calendar. But that's just about everybody by now, right?

Let the parties begin!

Silly "Love" Songs

A mixtape cd I made a year or two ago:

"Silly Love Songs" by Wings
"It's Only Love" by Tommy James and the Shondells
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen
"Crazy Love" by The Allman Brothers Band
"Say That You Love Me" by Fleetwood Mac
"Lay All Your Love on Me" by ABBA
"Love Me so Bad" by Lyrics Born
"Love That Burns" by Fleetwood Mac
"Best of My Love" by The Eagles
"If Your Kisses Won't Hold the Man You Love" by Rasputina
"Love Letter" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
"If Love Is a Red Dress" by Maria McKee
"Try and Love Again" by The Eagles
"Love and Hope" by Ozomatli
"Somebody to Love" by Queen
"Next Year's Love" by David Gray
"Falling in Love Again" by John Denver
"My Love" by Wings
"Old Fashion Love Song" by Three Dog Night

I'm a Native American

How many generations does it take, living in one area, before someone can consider himself a native?

This photo was taken by Byron Dazey at Seattle's self-proclaimed illegal (Mexican) immigrant rally on Tuesday:


My answer: Washington. And South Dakota. And Minnesota. Ohio. Quebec. Oh, and one who came over from England as a teenager (by herself, mind you!).

So if you're counting just by great-grandparents, I surely am a native American. Blood of the continent.

And if you want me to go back as far as I can, well then: I have great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents who were born in North America. So there.

And if my uncle's story about my great-grandfather (the Canadian who married the Englishwoman) is correct, I could count back further generations than that in North America. Apparently my great-grandfather checked "native Canadian" (or whatever) on some government form (along with "white"). My uncle has been mistaken for American Indian on occasion, he says.

When in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, we let ourselves be roped into watching a movie trailer and then filling out a survey on it (Underdog = blech). When they asked the ethnicity question, I checked Native American. It's what I am. I'm not "white." I'm not "Caucasian." I'm American, and damn proud of it.

I sympathize with everyone who wants to move to the United States of America, because this is the best country on Earth. But if you do not follow the rule of law, I'm not sure I want you in my country. What other laws will you break?

The people I want as new neighbors are the hard-working, honest, law-abiding citizens of the world who play by the rules and wait in line to get into this great country. True, we could probably let more of these people in, but that doesn't mean we need to completely open the floodgates of our borders.

Perhaps Europe would be a better destination for migrants who don't honor the rule of law. It's already a magnet for handout-hungry migrants. The United States is supposed to be the shining light for those who want to work hard and succeed of their own volition.

If we don't have immigration control, the United States would have a population of two or four billion and several other countries in the world (China!) would be empty. While I belive this land could sustain four billion people, I don't believe we could handle a sudden influx of that magnitude.

So, in summary: increase legal immigration, clamp down hard on illegal immigration, and don't you dare insinuate I'm not a native.

Don't Touch My Chocolate

The FDA is considering regulations that would let chocolate manufacturers substitute any vegetable oil for the cacao butter that makes chocolate chocolate. That just ain't right.

Sure, you can make something that approximates chocolate without cacao butter (e.g. Whoppers), but it's not really the same thing.

At a time when the health-chocolate coalition tells us that more cacao is better for you (i.e. the darker the better), why is the FDA allowing zero-cacao to be included in what they deem chocolate?

Hmph.


(ht: Tom McMahon)

Il Est Midi Et Demi

EEL-lay MEE-dee ay deh-MEE

Walk Faster!

To me, it seems like everyone's walking slowly. But apparently that's changing. A new study shows that walking speeds the world over have increased 10% in the past ten years.

Still not fast enough.

Singapore's residents have been found to be walking the fastest, followed by Copenhagen and Madrid.

New York, generally considered one of the world's most frenetic cities, is eighth, while London has come 12th and Tokyo is placed 16th in the British study.

[...]

In Singapore, walking pace has risen by 30 per cent and in Guangzhou, China, the figure is 20 per cent.

The most laid-back places are Blantyre in Malawi and Manama, Bahrain.

The research was carried out by Professor Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, who measured the average time it took 35 adults in each city to walk 18 metres.

I don't think I'd want to move to Singapore. I'd rather move to someplace where's there are fewer people in my way...

O Glorious Oceans!

Happy Holy Day of Vasataté!



The God of Oceans is throwing a party and everyone's invited! Head on down to His palatial home beneath the waves and drink deep His intoxicating brew. It's magical! It's good for you! When you wake up the next morning, you won't know what you did the night before!

O serene Vasataté, You really should listen to Your uncle Zhaké more often. . .

Those Cargo Containers

Did you ever wonder about those cargo containers stacked down at the port, on the back of semis, on car after car of the trains? Well, I did. Just a little. The ultimate in modularization!

Well, they first sailed fifty-one years ago, but didn't get going strong till the Vietnam War, shipping war supplies to Vietnam, sailing empty to Japan, and bringing cheap goods to America.

And now we shall turn to American Heritage for more:

Much of the expense of freight transportation has always lain in breaking bulk, when goods are transferred from one form of transportation, such as a ship, to another, such as a truck, train, or river steamer. Since men first went down to the sea in ships, cargo was loaded on board piecemeal and unloaded the same way. This called for great skill both to ensure that cargo space was used to the utmost and that weight was properly distributed. Modern cargo ships required sometimes hundreds of stevedores to be unloaded quickly, and then the cargo had to be loaded piece by piece onto trucks or trains to get to its final destination. It was a cumbersome and expensive process.

In the early 1950s an American trucking executive named Malcom (that’s how he spelled it) McLean initiated a better idea: Carry the cargo in aluminum and steel containers that could fit directly on flatbed railroad cars or trucks. A few crane operators could then load or unload a ship and have the goods on their way in a matter of hours.

[...]

As the first container ship sailed out of Newark, bound for Houston, an official of the International Longshoremen’s Association, the notoriously corrupt union whose members handled cargo at East Coast ports, was asked what he thought about it. “I’d like to sink that son of a bitch,” he replied.

He was right. Most of the cost of freight handling at ports went to the wages of the many longshoremen needed to load and unload ships in a timely manner. Containerization reduced freight-handling costs from $5.86 to 16 cents a ton, a drop of 97 percent. (Containerization greatly reduced the amount of dockside pilferage as well, which also reduced costs substantially.) Since cargo handling is what economists call a “transaction cost,” a cost of bringing a product to market without adding at all to its value, any reduction in it translates directly into increased profits for manufacturers and—thanks to competition—decreased prices for customers.

hat tip: Tom McMahon