News Roundup
Tue Nov 30 2004 16:41 MST #A couple of interesting articles. First an article about the TSA's screening procedures particularly vis a vis shoes.
Then a long rambling thing from the North County News about the state of the election. Little of it is new -- but it's all under reported, and looks a bit different when written up in one article.
Snow!
Mon Nov 29 2004 09:52 MST #So there was snow this morning. Several inches on the ground, and big fluffy flakes falling from the ski. It's about 20 degrees out there. This in the sunny Espanola valley.
Up the 2000ft in Los Alamos it's 5 degrees colder, and 2 degrees if you believe in wind chill. Also .3" of snow in the last 15min which seems to be a good amount to me.
Also on the topic of snow, we went skiing yesterday. Or skinning really, it's almost a different sport. 2.5 hours of skinning up, hard hot work. Basically like hiking a mountain crossed with X-C skiing. The 30 minutes of telemarking down. A much colder, and differently hard work. Quit a work out. This time I bonked not Rachel. It's weird, ya get dumb, and can't think well. But as usual bonked on the way down, not a big deal.
And when we got down we drove the 15 minutes or whatever to 10,000 waves and had a soak and sauna. Which is a good way to recover. A good way indeed.
Congressional Gotcha's
Wed Nov 24 2004 10:12 MST #There seem to be some interesting clauses lurking in the omnibus bills to be passed by the lame duck congress. First the Istook amendment to allow congressmen access to any citizens tax returns. And now a clause in the Intellectual Property omnibus to make it a crime to fast forward through commercials. Looks like the INDUCE Act is rolled up in the omnibus, as it both include clauses which make iTunes illegal.
Update: Looks like the Induce Act was stripped from the omnibus in the senate.
Smoked Salmon
Mon Nov 22 2004 17:25 MST #So last night I fixed what turned out to be a fabulous smoked salmon. It was simple and it was great. So here it is :
Step 1) Go to the back yard pick up a downed apple branch and carve off a tablespoon or so's worth of wood.
Step 2) Heat a 10" cast iron skillet on high with nothing in it for 5 min. Add the wood chips. Wait for them to smoke
Step 3) Turn the stove down to low , drop in some crumbled tinfoil, put the salmon on that, then cover with tinfoil, and a real top. 10 min later you'll have smoked salmon -- if you want it drier keep on cooking.
It is as easy as that, and amazingly good. Just a wonderful find.
Skinning Santa Fe
Sat Nov 20 2004 19:58 MST #So this morning we woke up to a freezing house and rain Lots of rain. The first thing Rachel says to me is not her traditional - "tired so tired", but rather "Skiing!!!!" . The exclaimintion points were audible.
And around noon we started climbing, then skinning something like 1000-1500 feet up the Santa Fe Ski Area. Some 3+ hours later we were at the base. Having had a hike that kicked our asses - then a kick ass ski down. The powder near the top was quite deep. We floated , seriously. A lot of fun.
But a lot of work as well. I am DEAD. And for a change it kicked Rachel's ass as well. We're both dead.
Of course on the drive home she noticed that it was dumping over Pajarito "Skiing!!!!"
No!!!
New Server!
Thu Nov 18 2004 09:30 MST #If you are seeing this we have successfully migrated nmcfarl.org to a new server ! Yipee !!!
This of course means there will be the more than the usuall share of glitches over the next couple of weeks - so if you see something tell me, so I can fix it.
Thanks!
Electing a Dem Gov. in Montana
Mon Nov 15 2004 09:05 MST #I ran across this article an interesting piece that gives insiders view of Brian Schweitzer's winning Montana Gubernatorial campaign . There is a lot of good stuff on which issues shouldn't be ceded to the Republican party, and how to win in the west. This really shouldn't be so hard as the Republicans concentrate on southern issues, and there are plenty of issues where the south is not the west.
On the topic of ditching the south check out the hilarious fuckthesouth.com
Wrong
Wed Nov 3 2004 15:29 MST #For the last four years I could think that we didn't really elect this man -- that the electoral college and the supreme court disenfranchised America. And even the Americans that had voted for this man, had not. They voted for a compassionate conservative. But last night I was proved wrong. America gave their endorsement.
Americans decided that they support a Christian Imperium. A rule of might, where the only higher right is the bible. An America that does not believe in rights, civil or other, even for it's own citizens, much less those of other races and creeds.
These are not views I endorse. This is not the America I believe in.
Voting
Tue Nov 2 2004 11:15 MST #This morning we walked the 4 country blocks to our voting place at 7:30 am. There were more cars in our neighborhood than I have ever seen. And when we got there the election officials were surprised as well. They said there was a line at 6:30 half an hour before the polls open. And there where still multiple lines for us to wait in at 7:30. The folks from La Massilla who use the same building to poll as our local "San Pedro"ans had 2 very long lines. Well very long for rural New Mexico. The officials said that normally it was dead in the morning, that one or two people come in every 5-10 minutes. This was something else completely.
This is a very good sign for Kerry. And a very good sign for the country regardless of who wins.
A very optimistic sign. A good way to start the day.
Snow!
Mon Nov 1 2004 08:34 MST #It's snowing! A few huge fluffy flakes gently wafting down. Pretty.
And if you are a cat fun to pounce on.