Electioneering for McPalin at the polls in Thousand Oaks

Electioneering for McPalin at the polls in Thousand Oaks
I was a poll inspector three elections running; this is the firstone I've missed. Here's what I saw when I pulled up to my pollingplace this morning: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My polling place, at approximately 9:00am, the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church at 3415 Erbes Road, Thousand Oaks, CA . Parked in the driveway was a Lexus van (California license number 5 TKS 345) plastered everywhere with McCain stickers, Yes on Prop 8 stickers, Christians for McCain stickers-- a campaign on 4 wheels. This was well within the 100 foot limit of the polling place-- 78 feet to the front door, to be precise. (Another voter and I measured it with a measuring tape she had.) I complained to the poll inspector in charge of the site, Tawne Newcome, and she said she knew about it-- because it was _her_ vehicle. I told her it was out of line, and illegal. She got huffy and said she'd already moved it three times, that it was more than 100 feet from the front door (That was nonsense; it was 52 feet from the closest wall of the building, 78 feet from the door), and anyway, it was registered to her husband, so it didn't count. (?!?!) I and several other voters demanded to talk to her supervisor; we registered a formal complaint. I demanded she be removed from her position, which is supposed to be apolitical. The poll inspector Tawne Newcome, a Thousand Oaks resident like the rest of us, threw what I'd call a hissy fit: arguing, red-faced, furious, yelling.Myself and another voter, Susan Schroer, complained to the VenturaCounty election supervisors (805 654-2784). I spoke to a DonMorris, who told me there was "nothing wrong" and that they were onthe situation, that the vehicle was parked further than 100 feetfrom the "Polling Place" sign on the front door (How he knew this,from the city of Ventura 30 miles away, is a mystery to me.) We also called the police to have the car removed as a traffic hazard (it took up about 30% of the driveway). Mrs. Newcome left the site, reportedly to call her lawyer. She was replaced by her supervisor. The other poll workers-- Democrat AND Republican -- all seemed relieved that the nutjob had been removed. Submitted by Ted Newsom 1669 Woodside Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362 805 300 6462 I hereby release all claims to copyright of the above image.This information may be circulated and reproduced.email from the other voter/witness:This picture and previous two were taken of car parked fifty feetfrom polling place in Thousand Oaks, California. When I went in tocomplain I was told that car belonged to precinct captain. Precinctcaptain stated it was her husband's car and he needed to be contactedto move it. Other volunteers had offered to follow her to park inother location and drive her back to polling place and stated thatshe was initially parked right next to building.Distance of car from polling place was measured by another voter andmyself and found to be 50 feet from polling place. Volunteers statedthat captain said it had to be 100 feet from "entrance to pollingplace" . This was measured and found to be 75 feet. Afterapproximately 30 minutes captain got in car and left, stating she wasgoing to speak with her "Republican representative attorney".-- Susan Schroer

April County Council Report

-Submitted by Kay H.Dear 4-H Members,At this past County Council meeting, officer elections were held. The final decisions were made as follows:President: Mary BVice President: Amber YSecretary/Community Service chairperson: Tori BTreasurer/Fundraising chairperson: Tiffany BReporter/Publicity chairpersons: Jeffrey K and Kay HHistorian: Sophie PRecreation: Laura MDistrict V Delegates: Tori B, Kay H, Jeffrey K, and Mary BFormal officer installations will be held at the 4-H Awards Program on May 3rd, 6:00 pm, at Living Faith Fellowship. 4-H has some other exciting events coming up! Quickly approaching is 4-H County Events Day this weekend, on April 19th, 8:30 am. It will be held at Creekside Community Church, and 4-H members from around the county will be giving speeches, demonstrations, and illustrated talks in their various project areas. There will also be a talent show and a fashion revue. A concession stand will be available, and he proceeds will go to the Heifer International project. Don’t forget to bring your spare change, as this is the last opportunity to donate to the cow banks and support this worthwhile service project. Hope to see you there!Also coming up is Jr. Congress, which will be held May 9-10 at Mid. Florida Baptist Assembly. Jr. Congress is an event where 4-H members aged 8-13 years old can attend workshops in various areas, and have fun learning new things. This will give you a taste of what overnight camping is like! The cost is $30.00, and the Registration Deadline is May 2nd. For a brochure, please email Mr. Terry at eterry@ufl.eduWe are looking for Youth Fair non-livestock committee members. If you would like to be involved in making Youth Fair decisions and planning for next year‘s fair, then feel free to join. Youth members and adults are welcome. Contact Mr. Terry for more information.Please be aware that the Standards of Excellence paperwork deadline is April 25th.Our next County Council meeting will be held on May 20th, immediately following the 4-H Volunteer Dinner. Please join us to learn more about County Council and how you can become involved!

Japan snack

What makes you smile...?

Some poeple never smile or laugh.Life is too short and sweet not to see the beauty and laugter around us..I love to smile and walk around with a huge smile for anyone who walks my way...Life is so wonderful even in bad times..I am glad to still be alive and have what blessings I have in this life.I always think positive and move forward...My kids makes me smile.When they laugh I laugh and feel so much hope towards another day.My husband makes me laugh when he acts silly...When my cat rushes around me wanting me to pick her up it makes me smile...The earth and her beauty makes me smile in wonder.Space and all the heavenly stars makes me smile in awe.....The abilty to write my stories and poetry makes me smile...Friends calling me makes me happy and of course makes me smile...I think if more people would look around and see what is given to them they would walk around with more smiles...A smile is free and one of the most beautiful things you can share with the world...So pass around a smile..Lets make the world a brighter place...

The shadow of the torturer

The U.S. Department of Justice has made public four classified memos, issued to the CIA between 2002 and 2005, that provided the legal basis for the CIAs enhanced interrogation techniques  torture  applied to terrorism suspects in their custody. The memos are available, in PDF format, on several Web sites (see, for example, the ACLU and the New York Times). Coverage: CBC, CNN, Marc Ambinder, New York Times. One technique, from the memorandum of August 1, 2002, relating to the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda operative who had been captured in Pakistan earlier that year, immediately grabbed my attention. Abu Zubaydah had a fear of insects that interrogators wanted to exploit: In addition to using the confinement boxes alone, you would like to introduce an insect into one of the boxes with Zubaydah. As we understand it, you plan to inform Zubaydah that you are going to place a stinging insect into the box, but you will actually place a harmless insect in the box, such as a caterpillar. If you do so, to ensure that you are outside the predicate act requirement, you must inform him that the insects will not have a sting that would produce death or severe pain. If, however, you were to place the insect in the box without informing him that you are doing so, then, in order to not commit a predicate act, you should not affirmatively lead him to believe that any insect is present which has a sting that could produce severe pain or suffering or even cause his death. [redacted] so long as you take either of the approaches we have described, the insects placement in the box would not constitute a threat of severe physical pain or suffering to a reasonable person in his position. An individual placed in a box, even an individual with a fear of insects, would not reasonably feel threatened with severe physical pain or suffering if a caterpillar was placed in the box. Further, you have informed us that you are not aware that Zubaydah has any allergies to insects, and you have not informed us of any other factors that would cause a reasonable person in that same situation to believe that an unknown insect would cause him severe physical pain or death. Thus, we conclude that the placement of the insect in the confinement box with Zubaydah would not constitute a predicate act. The New York Times reports that this particular tactic was not, in the end, used. But as someone who has an irrational fear of insects myself, I still have a thing or two to say about this. A phobia of insects is an irrational fear. There is nothing irrational about being afraid of insects that can sting you to death, much as there is nothing irrational about being afraid of grizzly bears, great white sharks or crocodiles. Being afraid of deadly insects is reasonable. But if you have an irrational fear of insects, even harmless ones, then whether or not it stings, or whether or not its sting is deadly, does not matter one damn bit. Being in physical contact with a large insect, no matter how harmless or benevolent, is just about the worst kind of personal hell I can imagine  even if Im fully aware that the bug cant hurt me. Ive often said that if I had to choose between being locked in a room with a rattlesnake, or a room full of dragonflies buzzing about, Id pick the rattlesnake every time. (But then again, I would, wouldnt I.) People dont understand entomophobia as much as they understand, say, ophidiophobia. I would think that quite a few people would be horrified at the notion of being trapped in an enclosed space with several live snakes, no matter how harmless or tame those snakes were. This memo argued that this tactic didnt rise to the level of torture; then again, this same memo tried to argue the same thing about waterboarding. One gets the impression that theyre testing the letter of the law while violating its spirit. Lets not get hung up on the question of whether or not it was torture. Without cover of authority, Id be sent to prison for doing stuff like this. So would any police officers, if they interrogated suspects in this manner. This, and the other nine tactics mentioned in the memo, ranging from face slapping to waterboarding, is beyond the pale of acceptable behaviour  outside the interrogation rooms of Bush-era CIA secret prisons, that is. Previously: Verschärfte Vernehmung.

The Farmer doesn't get a wife..

Oh well, it was a lot more interesting while the cameras were whirling and the attention was at it's height..But, why should a girl lacking all that attention stay with a Man that works so hard and fails to give her the attention she needs..Those type of "reality" make me puke but obviously they do attract a large audience apparently and once the paparazzi go, so do the attention seekers..Meanwhile another Farmer has his heart ripped out..She reminds me of Tina Turner's song "What's love gotta do with it".. Sarah Walton seeks new love after farmer Ben Honey Article from: March 23, 2009 12:00am SHE went looking for a rural romeo on The Farmer Wants a Wife, but Sarah Walton discovered country life was not the roll in the hay she had expected it to be. Walton, 28, fell head over heels for Jamberoo dairy farmer Ben Honey on last year's series of the Channel 9 dating show, but their romance hit the rocks when the TV cameras were turned off. "Country boys are big and strong and know how to handle a woman," Sydney girl Walton has told Zoo magazine. "(But) he was always tired. He was up at 4am and got home late. "Let's just say that a roll in the hay isn't all it's cracked up to be." Not working: Farmer splits with Urban Princess The nanny packed her bags and left country NSW and headed back to Sydney after a couple of months. Walton has told Zoo that she is now looking for love again.

Lijiang travle

Badong characters

Dream fortells

I dreamed I was sorting my books,and would take them to some other place.

Will that fortells I WILL LIVE INTO NEW HOUSE? LOL~~

Day Nine in Vietnam: 21 May

HANOIAM: Visit to U.S. Embassy, NGO Resource Center to speak with NGOs about development in VietnamPM History museum, Hoa Lo prison, Water puppets show this evening.A most fascinating and diverse list of activities for the day!First off, we went to theUS Embassy in Hanoi. Passports were scrutinized, we went through security, and received a visitor's badge. The building we wnet into is not the main Embassy buiding, so it was guarded by local guards, not U.S. Marines. We talked with Ralph Falzone, a Foreign Service Officer at the Embassy. After a very interesting overview of his career path (including how difficult it is to pass the foreign service exam!) he gave us a short briefing on some of the main emphases of the work in Vietnam (the most significant being human rights and children's welfare). He said that due to some major abuses, adoption of Vietnamese children by Americans would probably be put on hiatus for at least two years. His own work was focused primarily on human rights. He was very personable and the Q and A was fascinating. I asked about child labor, and he said that in the villages it is very hard to regulate, mainly because so many children work on the farms, and sell trinkets to tourists. All too soon we had to leave. The next spot was a visit to talk with two NGO (non-governmental organization) workers, Andrew, working with Catholic Relief Services, and Ted, with Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, both of whom have been in Vietnam for about ten years. Of course, they are not allowed to address faith-based issues, but they do valuable work in improving the lives of the Vietnamese through health education and other programs. Check out the links for more info.After lunch,we went to the history museum, which was rather a disappointment, as most of the emphasis was on prehistory, and most of the later historical exhibits were heavy on (non-translated) texts and not so much on individuals. (For example, I'd like to have seen more emphasis placed on Hai Ba Trung, the two sisters who launched a rebellion against the Chinese in the first century AD.) But there were some superb bells on display, as well as another massive stele on an equally massive turtle (symbol of longevity)Later on, a tourist activity sine qua non: the Water Puppets (in Vietnamese "Múa rối nước. We poured into the Water Puppet Theatre Than Long with about 2 million other tourists and crammed our bodies into the very tight seating (obviously not designed to Western proportions!) The loudspeaker gave a brief intro in Vietnamese, English, and French, and the band of traditional Vietnamese instruments gave a short number to begin.What are water puppets, you ask? Good question. They are (usually wooden) puppets that float on the surface of a submerged stage, and are manipulated by means of very long poles by artists behind a curtain. The movements are very intricate. Each separate piece or story (which deal with life in the village, nature, episodes in the life at the royal court) is accompanied with music and sometimes an explanatory song (in Vietnamese). It was quite entertaining but I couldn't really see myself going back for more...it was good to experience it once. Here is a link--I can't make the embed work.

"I have no regrets", says Dick Cheney.

But it isn't an original thought. One imagines it was spoken by Pope Junius when he initiated the Papal Inquisition; by Ferdinand and Isabella, when they followed up with the (much more popular) Spanish Inquisition. Pol Pot never expressed regrets, nor did Caligula, to my knowledge. Genghis Khan, Stalin, Idi Amin, Tojo, and Hitler saw nothing wrong with torture.Way to go, Dick. You have placed my country on the same level as the historical pariahs mentioned above. You scum!Now, if some see that as an ad hominem attack, I can't help that. It is an attack on a policy and an attitude that was clearly illegal. This man is still - as his approval raiting hovers around 18%- defending actions that, whan done by the Japanese in WWII, resulted in trials, convictions and executions. Executions by the United States - the same United States that committed the same atrocities during his time in power. Even if we assume that Bush was a finger puppet who did what he was told, that still leaves Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Rice and the authors of the torture memos who were guilty of what we executed Japanese soldiers for. Oh yes, and Cheney. Musn't forget Cheney On the first page, I spoke to the illegality of torture. Would anyone care to look at it from a moral standpoint? One of the first moral imperatives I learned as a Christian was "the end doesn't justify the means". Simply put, If you agree that torture is -on its face- an immoral, sinful;, disgusting act, no amount of argument about how much success it may or may not have had is relevant. If it was wrong - it was wrong. If it was a crime- it was a crime. If it was a sin (for the Christians among us) it remains a sin.Cheney, Rummy and the rest, including, incredibly enough, the famed torture victim John McCain, insist that there was information gained that may have saved American lives, and that makes it all okay. Yep. And Pope Junius would have said that he may have broken a few heretics' bodies, but it was worth it to save their souls. Hirohito might have argued that the Japanese race needed to protect itself against Western incursions into their area of influence. We all know Hitler had a clear-eyed view af a better world - without Gypsies, gays and Jews. Surely they all thought, along with their lockstepping minions, that the end justified the means. Is this really the company we choose to keep?

So how about that World Baseball Classic?

Javier LopezDaisuke MatsuzakaDavid OrtizGeovany SotoRafael PerezMagglio OrdonezRoy OswaltMike AvilesJose GuillenJoakim SoriaManny CorpasMelvin MoraBrian McCannCarlos DelgadoJJ PutzJose ReyesWilly AybarDavid WrightDerek JeterDamaso MarteJimmy RollinsShane VictorinoAki IwamuraThis is the short list of players who were off to either slow starts, are still struggling, may no longer be in the majors, or were injured at some point already this year. Now, it's pretty subjective since guys like Adrian Gonzalez, Jonathan Broxton and Kevin Youkilis are having the times of their lives despite participating (even if Youk was injured) in the Classic. Still, is it off base to assume at least one of these guys struggling was a result of an unnatural work load so early in the season?Oswalt threw twice the pitches he normally would and now all of a sudden he looks lethargic and his velocity is down. Lopez has always been terrible and now has reached his ceiling of crappiness. Ortiz has a long list of things surrounding his reasons for being one of the fastest drops to mediocrity in sports history, but the Classic could be a minor factor, Aviles, Soto, Corpas and Aybar could be a product of the common struggles of a player in their second full season. Guillen, Delgado, Ordonez, and Mora could be a product of age and Reyes and Wright might have a dropoff in numbers due to their ridiculously stupid layout of a new ball park. Victorino, Rollins, Jeter, and McCann have snapped their slumps and are now reverting back to normalcy in their numbers. Putz is coming off of an injury.That leaves Aybar, Aki, Marte, Soria and the aforementioned Oswalt. With Tampa playing into November, it's not irrational to figure their late play in 2008 and their early play in 2009 are key reasons for their poor numbers and ultimate injury in Aki's case. Marte and Soria are probably a direct result of trying to produce artificially high velocity so early in the year and in Marte's case he tried to pitch injured to begin with and probably further aggravated what ever was wrong with him.It's still early, but I'd be curious to follow these names all season and compare them to who participated in 2006 to see if there are any patterns. Even if there aren't, it's still pretty interesting to follow what guys who were performing in early March are doing in early June.

craigslist crime blotter 5/11/09 - Nasty pranks editionTrench Reynolds' Crime News

Woman charged in Craigslist harassment case: 40-year-old Margery Tannenbaum of Hauppauge, NY was arrested for posting a sex ad on craigslist in order for people to call her neighbor. It was allegedly for revenge against the neighbor’s 9-year-old daughter who had some kind of dispute with Tannenbaum’s daughter. She’s a regular Lori Drew in the making. *** Kansas teen offers sister in Craigslist joke: A 16-year-old Wichita girl placed a joke ad on craigslist giving away her 4-year-old sister. Even though no charges are being filed police didn’t think the waste of man hours was all that funny. *** Craigslist ad leads Bellingham police to alleged bike thieves: Police in Bellingham, WA arrested Jeremy Randall Schuitema, 22, and David Jordan McDonough, 19, for selling stolen bikes on craigslist. *** Craigslist escort led cops to dealers: Police in Providence, RI arrested 4 drug dealers that were referred to them by a craigslist hooker who referred them to her other clients as well. Even if you were to legalize prostitution it wouldn’t get rid of the drug problems that follow it. Related Posts

craigslist crime blotter 5/11/09 - Nasty pranks editionTrench Reynolds' Crime News

Woman charged in Craigslist harassment case: 40-year-old Margery Tannenbaum of Hauppauge, NY was arrested for posting a sex ad on craigslist in order for people to call her neighbor. It was allegedly for revenge against the neighbor’s 9-year-old daughter who had some kind of dispute with Tannenbaum’s daughter. She’s a regular Lori Drew in the making. *** Kansas teen offers sister in Craigslist joke: A 16-year-old Wichita girl placed a joke ad on craigslist giving away her 4-year-old sister. Even though no charges are being filed police didn’t think the waste of man hours was all that funny. *** Craigslist ad leads Bellingham police to alleged bike thieves: Police in Bellingham, WA arrested Jeremy Randall Schuitema, 22, and David Jordan McDonough, 19, for selling stolen bikes on craigslist. *** Craigslist escort led cops to dealers: Police in Providence, RI arrested 4 drug dealers that were referred to them by a craigslist hooker who referred them to her other clients as well. Even if you were to legalize prostitution it wouldn’t get rid of the drug problems that follow it. Related Posts

craigslist crime blotter 5/11/09 - Nasty pranks editionTrench Reynolds' Crime News

Woman charged in Craigslist harassment case: 40-year-old Margery Tannenbaum of Hauppauge, NY was arrested for posting a sex ad on craigslist in order for people to call her neighbor. It was allegedly for revenge against the neighbor’s 9-year-old daughter who had some kind of dispute with Tannenbaum’s daughter. She’s a regular Lori Drew in the making. *** Kansas teen offers sister in Craigslist joke: A 16-year-old Wichita girl placed a joke ad on craigslist giving away her 4-year-old sister. Even though no charges are being filed police didn’t think the waste of man hours was all that funny. *** Craigslist ad leads Bellingham police to alleged bike thieves: Police in Bellingham, WA arrested Jeremy Randall Schuitema, 22, and David Jordan McDonough, 19, for selling stolen bikes on craigslist. *** Craigslist escort led cops to dealers: Police in Providence, RI arrested 4 drug dealers that were referred to them by a craigslist hooker who referred them to her other clients as well. Even if you were to legalize prostitution it wouldn’t get rid of the drug problems that follow it. Related Posts

A Sustainable Climate Company? [Framing Science]

If you read the NY Times or WPost in print, you've probably noticed over the past 6 months the regular full page ads that have been placed by Monsanto. Similar to the nuclear energy industry, Monsanto is seeking to re-frame and re-position food biotechnology as a "middle way" technology needed to adapt to climate change. For example, one recent ad running at the NY Times headlines: "9 billion people to feed. A changing climate. NOW WHAT?" In smaller print the ad continues with these themes adding to it a narrative wrapped around social progress with the beneficiaries farmers and people: Experts say we'll need to double agricultural output by 2050 to feed a growing world. That's challenge enough. But with a changing climate, the challenge becomes even greater. Providing abundant and accessible food means putting the latest science-based tools in farmers' hands, including advanced hybrid and biotech seeds. Monsanto's advanced seeds not only significantly increase crop yields, they use fewer key sources--like land and fuel--to do it. That's a win-win for people, and the earth itself. Producing more. Conserving more. Improving farmers' lives. That's sustainable agriculture. And that's what Monsanto is all about. THE WORLD'S FARMERS WILL NEED TO DOUBLE FOOD PRODUCTION BY 2050. BIOTECHNOLOGY CAN HELP. MONSANTO: imagine. Read the comments on this post

Computer loaded w/Windows XP Media Ed/Office 2007/Adobe CS3 Master Col (Rockville MD) $150

For sale is one totally fast, fully updated, absolutely reliable, great looking PC tower. NOTE: You will receive the TOWER ONLY. NO manuals/cds/monitor. Super fast INTEL Pentium 520 with Hyper-Threading Technology (2 virtual cores) CPU Speed 2.8GHzFSB 800MHzLevel 2 Cache 1024MB 1GB DDR2 Dual Channel RAM 40GB brand new hard drive 8(!!!) x USB 2.0 Ports Front/Rear audio/mic jacks Loaded software: Z Windows XP Media Edition SP3Z Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise SP1: Access Excel Groove InfoPath OneNote Outlook Power Point Publisher Word MS Office Tools Z Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection: Adobe InDesign CS3 Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended Adobe Illustrator CS3 Adobe Acrobat® 8 Professional Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Adobe Fireworks CS3 Adobe Contribute® CS3 Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Adobe Soundbooth CS3 Adobe Encore CS3 Special Features: Adobe Bridge CS3 Adobe Version Cue® CS3 Adobe Device Central CS3 Adobe Stock Photos Adobe Acrobat Connect™ Adobe Dynamic Link CS3 Adobe OnLocation™ CS3 Adobe Ultra® CS3 Z Nero Premium Edition Z Complete Internet Security, Antispyware/Antivirus Suite

Door opens for filly as Rachel Alexandra will head to Pimlico

Highly regarded Rachel Alexandra moved a step closer to becoming the first filly in a decade to run in the Preakness Stakes when one of the prospective starters, Hull, withdrew from the race on Monday.The entry is expected to become official on Wednesday morning, the same day Rachel Alexandra ships into Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course, where the second leg of the Triple Crown will be run on Saturday for the 134th time. The field has 13 potential starters as of Monday evening, and is limited to 14.Rachel Alexandra would become the first winner of the Kentucky Oaks she romped in the May 1 race, winning by 20 lengths at Churchill Downs to compete in the Preakness. Four fillies have won the Preakness, the last time in 1924 with Nellie Morse. Genuine Risk finished second in 1980 and Winning Colors was third in 1988. The last filly to run in the Preakness was Excellent Meeting in 1999, but she pulled up.After breezing a half mile in 48.80 seconds Sunday at Churchill Downs, Rachel Alexandra had a quiet day Monday, walking the shed row at trainer Steve Asmussen's barn. "She came out of her work in good order," said Scott Blasi, Asmussen's top assistant. "Physically she looks beautiful."Jockey Calvin Borel, who rode 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird to victory in the Kentucky Derby, will be aboard Rachel Alexandra if she runs Saturday. Borel rode the filly in the Oaks, and is committed to ride her the rest of the year. He's called her the finest horse he's ever ridden.Borel is scheduled to be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.While much fuss was being made over the filly's expected entry, Mine That Bird went for an impromptu half-mile workout Monday at Churchill Downs ironically with Borel aboard."The horse looked good," said trainer Bennie Woolley. "I hadn't planned to work him, but he was getting pretty high. He bounced back from the Derby a little quicker than I thought he would. He was getting a little rattled, he was feeling so good. We wanted to let him stretch his legs."If Borel rides the filly, riding Mine That Bird will fall to Mike Smith, a native of New Mexico, where Mine That Bird's connections are based."Mike watched the Derby. He saw how the horse ran and knows the kind of running style he has," Woolley said.Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, the Derby favorite who finished next to last, arrived at Pimlico by van from Delaware Park Monday afternoon. Larry Jones' colt, who suffered cuts on his left front leg during his Derby run, will work out at Pimlico this morning.Derby runnerup Pioneerof the Nile will ship into Pimlico Wednesday and will again be ridden by Garrett Gomez. "He looks strong. It looks like he's sitting on another great performance," said Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

Of Mountains, Molehills, and Numbers

Once upon a time, there was a woman, who, together with her husband, engaged in several acts of what might be termed criminal environmental activism, or, by some, eco-terrorism. She and her husband didnt like Monsanto, and other companies and organizations and even individuals associated with the production and development of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. And, really, who can blame her? GMOs are the suck. Thing is, she wasnt content just going around telling everyone GMOs suck, dont buy or support them; no, she apparently felt the best course of action was burning things down to make her point. A little immature, perhaps, but I guess it gets the point across pretty well. Eventually, as tends to happen to people whod rather craft firebombs than sternly-worded letters, this woman and her husband were arrested, and charged with crimes, and pled guilty, and went to jail. The husband cooperated, and got nine years. The woman got a divorce& and twenty-two years in jail. Now, there are a lot of people around the country who are organizing support for this woman, as they do for all other martyrs to the environmental cause. They write letters and craft websites and put together zines railing against the gross injustice that has been served against this woman, because - waily, waily, waily - she got twenty-two years - twenty-two years! - in jail for burning stuff down. Her supporters like to pull random numbers out of their asses to show how great of a travesty this is - some will tell you the average conviction for arson is only three years, or five, or seven; others will point out that murderers - people who kill others, for crying out loud - get sentences averaging eight or nine or twelve or twenty years, and that people who carry out racially-motivated assault get ten or twelve, but she gets twenty-two for mere arson? What her supporters seem to either forget to mention, or gloss over really, really quickly in the hopes you wont notice, is that she wasnt sentenced to twenty-two years in jail for one arson. No, she confessed to thirteen different acts of property damage. Thirteen, okay? People who confess to thirteen hate crimes dont get ten-year sentences. People who confess to thirteen murders dont get out of jail alive. Now, to be fair, she wasnt actually convicted of all thirteen acts, as her supporters are quick to point out. So what? She confessed, you morons. She admitted guilt and accepted responsibility, and that was duly taken into consideration at her sentencing. She wasnt sentenced based on accusations, or random fairy farts the judge pulled out of his or her arse, but what she admitted she did. This woman got something like twenty months per crime she confessed to. When you look at it that way, hers isnt the the longest sentence ever given an environmental activist, most of whom only committed one or two acts, but is actually one of the shortest. Miscarriage of justice? Not at all. I know these things fuel the almighty persecution complex thats so prevalent among activists, but, please, for crying out loud, being hysterical idiots doesnt help anything, okay?

painting and baking

Today Favourite Handyman and Fionn painted the new lean-to. Fionn also painted his clothes and for good measure FH painted a stripe of Fionn's hair. Nobody owned up to giving Brighid a paintbrush but she got paint nevertheless. She mixed hers with soil from my precious blueberry plants.While they were on a painting roll, I mentioned my plans for a bright red shed. The neighbour's shed borders our property and is the backdrop to the rampant garden (invited guests: mint and comfrey; admissable gatecrasher: nasturtium; unwelcome and uninvited: wandering jew, convulvulus, unidentified spikey weed and slugs). I've had this idea for a while, but photos of the Elerslie Flower Show exhibit "I see red" (pictured below) have provided fresh inspiration.A strong slash of red would set off the deep greens of our wet west coast perfectly. I quite fancy those tall sculptural plants as well - the article I read said they are everyday, not expensive and exotic. We've been talking about paint a bit lately. I think 2009 could well be our year of paint. Certainly the lean-to looks much lighter and attractive painted white than bare wood.Inside, as per my goals this morning, I got baking. In between doing dishes, changing nappies, managing children and doing laundry, I made two dozen bread rolls, two dozen banana muffins and a double recipe of hummous. I also made vegetable curry for dinner. The bread rolls were a doubled lot of Andrew Whitely's Scottish Morning Rolls and this time I think I got them just right. I kneaded them for longer than yesterday, upped the proportion of wholemeal flour (this partly helps because I have better quality wholemeal flour in stock than I do of white bread flour) and also I remembered to dunk the shaped rolls in flour before putting them on the oven tray. If you would like the recipe, please shout in the comments. I'm not feeling moved to copy it out if all two readers out there are gluten free this week.Cauliflower is an overnight phenomenon. Seriously. No sign of a head yesterday and then today two beautiful cauliflowers, replete with green caterpillars and 'pillar-poo on them. So tonight's curry featured our own cauliflower (which the children LIKED), chilli pepper, celery, garlic and curly kale. How could I not like today?I ran out of time to make new and wonderful lunch food like bread sticks or crackers-from-scratch. Hopefully another day - I am looking for a new staple for lunch boxes. I finished off my cookathon by burning myself when cooking the scraps up for the chooks after dinner. Oh yes. Woe is the idiot.

Our Latest Gaming Obsession: Quatro

I saw this game at my sister's place last weekend and my first thought was "Wow, this is fun!" followed by "Yea, I can make this!" and here it is.The game is called Quatro (Spanish for "four." Or a German luxury car, take your pick) and it's pretty darn addicting.To play you have sixteen wooden pieces, each slightly different from the next, and players take turns trying to place pieces on the board such that they can make a row of four that shares one of four characteristics.For example, the first player picks a piece and hands it to the person at his or her right. That player takes the piece and puts it anywhere on the board, trying to somehow make a row of four. After placing that piece they pick another piece and hand it to the player at their right who also places it and tries to complete a series of four.Around and around you go (you can have as many players as you'd like), each player playing the piece they were given and choosing a piece for the next player to place. As soon as someone is able to complete a row of four in any direction the person who handed them the winning piece is out and the game continues until only one person is left to claim victory.The trick lies in the connections. You have round pieces and square pieces, white pieces and brown pieces, short pieces and long pieces, hollow pieces and filled pieces. Of the sixteen total pieces no two share all four characteristics and it's very tricky to train yourself to see all the possible combinations on the board.If you look at the picture at left here you can see, for example, that the bottom horizontal row can be completed if someone places a hollow piece in that empty spot because then all of the row would be hollow pieces even though some are short and some are tall and they are of different colors. Same for the diagonal--one more brown piece in that upper right hand corner and you've completed a row of four brown pieces diagonally even though the pieces are not all exactly the same otherwise.What makes the game tricky is that you might be concentrating on the fact that there are three hollow pieces in a row but not notice that you also have three square pieces in a different line so things can sneak up on you and get you out unexpectedly.It's a great game for children but entertaining for all and we've been playing it all weekend.How do you make your own game? Well I'm so glad you asked!For the board you can use anything you want--a piece of plywood, a pre-cut piece of craft wood from Michael's, a plastic lid, a piece of cardboard, whatever you've got on hand. I used a $2.79 piece of pine from Michael's then sanded it a bit and stained it with a light stain.Then I used sixteen wooden discs (also at craft stores) and stained those with a dark walnut stain and glued them with wood glue in a four-by-four grid on the top. I drilled a hole in the corner of the board and attached a drawstring bag with a leather lace to hold the pieces when they're not in use.In a burst of creativity I also used my woodburning tool to write the instructions for the game on the underside of the board should anyone forget how to play (though as much as they're playing around here I doubt very much that will happen).As for the playing pieces I used a square dowl and a round dowl then cut them into eight 2 1/2 inch segments for the tall pieces and eight 1 1/2 inch segments for the short pieces. I drilled part way into the tops and bottoms of eight hollow pieces and then stained eight of them with a light stain to match the board and half with a dark stain to match the discs. Easy huh?Here's a breakdown of the kinds of pieces you'll need (one of each kind for a total of 16):short white round hollowshort white square hollowshort brown round hollowshort brown square hollowshort white round filledshort white square filledshort brown round filledshort brown square filledtall white round hollowtall white square hollowtall brown round hollowtall brown square hollowtall white round filledtall white square filledtall brown round filledtall brown sqaure filledTotal price to make? Not including the paint stain, leather lace, scrap of fabric for the bag and sandpaper (which I had already on hand) about $10.50 with some discs leftover. Not bad.Sponsored by Tiny Prints for the holiday party invitations for children.

with the new job thing

Here is where we are with the new job thing:1.) All my references have been contacted. All have informed me that they were told the company intended to make me an offer. The two from my current job told me that the CEO basically apologized for stealing me away.2.) The CEO emailed me to say that all my references had nice things to say about me, and they will be in contact with me in the next few days3.) I'm on pins and needlesIt does look good, even I will admit that, but until I receive the formal offer I refuse to get formally excited or to start making formal plans. Oh, I've given some thought as to things that will need to be done -- cross training for the research assistants I have right now, writing up reports on my current projects and what will need to be done with them, how I'll dispose of some of my stuff and move the rest, housing issues when I get there -- Dancing in Socks Guy has a smallish 1-bedroom which will not be enough for us and all the kitties -- and things like that. But I'm too superstitious to write any of this down.Except -- today I'm going to start sorting through my stuff, particularly the 500+ paperback books I have. My excuse is that I was going to have a yard sale sometime this summer anyway, which is certainly true, therefore this doesn't count as moving preparations and does not constitute a jinx of any kind.I'm a bit of a mess

Sunday links don't pay as muchFelix Salmon

Micro-payments considered for WSJ website: Or not so micro, for that matter. I wonder whether micropayments will count towards the cost of an annual subscription, like the Oyster card in London. I doubt they will, though. Why Are (Some) Consumers (Finally) Writing Fewer Checks? I would have liked some international benchmarks. Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction: Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Marriage: They attract each other, it seems. You Have No New Messages—Ever: I haven't got around to working out how to set up voicemail on my office phone yet. And I'm thinking maybe I never will. And, in case you were wondering: What Will The Market Do Today?

BarCampSeattle and Supernova 2008!

tags: barcamp barcampseattle supernova supernova2008 conference conferences open openflow Two excellent conferences coming up in the next few days that I strongly encourage you to attend. First, this weekend, the very first BarCampSeattle takes place at Adobe's offices in Seattle. The intro session starts at 10am Saturday (tomorrow) so be sure to get there early beforehand to get your badge etc. Watch Robert Scoble interview lead BarCampSeattle planner Tara Brown about what's in store for those that join us for BarCampSeattle. Join us for the informal BarCampSeattle pre-party tonight: Thingamajiggr and follow barcampseattle on twitter for updates. Second, next Monday through Wednesday is Supernova 2008 in San Francisco. Organizer Kevin Werbach has done a great job of bringing together an incredible set of speakers and participants and continuously evolving Supernova's format. Kevin asked me to help out this year with organizing and chairing the Open Flow track which takes place on Tuesday the 17th (I've been organizing it on a wiki page of course where you can view the latest updates and details. We've got good contrasting discussions planned on the topics of what do large companies mean by "open" since they seem to act so differently, what are the realities of "open" as a business model, what is the independent developer community doing to push "open" forward, and finally a session to throw all those viewpoints together and see what happens. Just this past Tuesday we held a teleconference preview on Open Flow. You can download the MP3 (109 minutes) and view the log of the simultaneous IRC chat as well. See also Christopher Carfi's blog post on the telcon. Follow supernova2008 on twitter for updates and hope to see you there! View blog reactions