Obama's speech on race (37 min)

I know it's a long speech. Get a drink and have a seat. But listen to it.

What I posted to CNN

The idea that being a black man is an advantage in American politics (even Democratic politics) is laughable. Senator Obama is not the first African-American man (or woman) to run for president. He started the campaign running against a well-liked frontrunner who enjoyed the support of the majority of African-Americans. It is not Senator Obama's race that is the secret to his success. It is his powerful vision for what the country and its politics can be, which has attracted so many people.

It is perfectly fair to question this vision, and whether it is realistic.

It is also perfectly fair to "throw the kitchen sink", praise the Republican, offer the 2nd job, for when you are behind you want to start a fight to change the dynamic.

But listening to the conspicuous non-denouncements ('people are entitled to their opinions') of supporters, I now see a more disturbing pattern.

* Attempting to define Obama by his race (Mr. Clinton: doesn't he remind you of Jesse Jackson?)

* Encouraging racial division (Texas Latino leader Adelfa Callejo: blacks didn't support us... we're not going to get over it soon)

* Stoking resentment to affirmative action (Ferraro: the black man is getting the job the white person should be getting)

* Reminding superdelegates that there are a lot of racists out there (PA governor Ed Rendell: lots of people here won't vote for a black man).


Even if I give Hillary the benefit of the doubt on the "as far as I know" religion comment, I can't help but see a campaign strategy at work.

* Attack Obama until he responds angrily on something.
* Portray Obama as the big angry scary black man who attacks the white women, takes the white people's jobs, and is on the other side of a racial struggle against Hispanics.
* Stir up enough racial animosity that superdelegates fear a racial backlash against Obama in November and give the nomination to Clinton "for the greater good"


I hope I am wrong. As a former Clinton supporter (met her and liked her, encouraged people to vote for her last year), I am deeply ashamed of this campaign's behavior.

She seems willing to "cut the child in two"; I wish the superdelegates the wisdom of Solomon.

Michelle

I heard she was pretty smart, but this was the first extended interview I've seen. It also reinforces a lot of what I am thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyBc33UjvDU

Obamacycling

Check this out:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/barack-obama-supporters-learn-to-obamacycle/161582213

And see it in action:

http://www.obamacycle.com/forum/topic/show?id=1997397%3ATopic%3A1935&page=1&commentId=1997397%3AComment%3A5058&x=1

Oh what the heck, one more here:

http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/video-interviewer-picks-the-wrong-obama-supporter-to-try-to-railroad/

How conspiracy theories are born

Dateline: Houston, Texas

Approximately 1:05 pm, February 14

Office phone rings. My phone is 713-4xx-xxxx... this is important.

It's a recording. Male voice says, this is a short 4 question political survey done on behalf of the American Research Group (a legit polling company, by the way).

Press (1) for Democratic Primary, (2) for Republican Primary. [1]

First Question: Hillary Clinton: (1) only person you'd vote for (2) preferred candidate, (3) acceptable but not preferred, (4) haven't heard of her, ... [3]

Second Question: Barack Obama: (1) only person you'd vote for (2) preferred candidate, (3) acceptable but not preferred, ... [2]

Third Question: Are you definitely planning to vote in the Primary on February 12? Press...

then the phone cuts out.

Now.

First of all, it is 100% possible the phone just cut off. We use wireless phones and they can be spotty. Now I've never had a line drop out during a call, but there was interference I could hear. So I'm willing to accept that the poll just happened to abort after I selected my preferred candidate.

But.

It cut off right on the words "February 12". Leaving them lingering in my mind.

Because the Texas primary is March 4.

Two coincidences?

Actually, it probably is. If you wanted to turn off someone's voters, you'd tell them the primary was *later* than it is, because believe me everyone will hear about the primary over the next 3 weeks. And there were elections in Virginia on Feb 12, and we have offices in Virginia, and though a Texas number was called...

See, it doesn't make sense either way. But, I tell you, that's how conspiracy theories are born.

And if anyone knows the phone # or email for American Research Group, I'd love to hear it.

[Edit #1: Found the number and left them a message.]

[Edit #2: Got a call from American Research Group. Their mistake, poll was being worked on and wasn't supposed to be running yet. They apologized and said it was fixed, thanks to my call. Totally true story. And why, perhaps, I'm not a conspiracy theorist at heart.]

[Edit #3: and the results]

The kind of things you don't read blogs for

Who said a blog can't be an electronic notepad?

Who said you can't use it to write up all the tedious things you've learned in one evening about home networking, such as:

• You can't string wireless routers together. Those are bridges.


• AT&T customer support doesn't care if the tech already told you it was the line coming into the apartment. They will make you get the modem off the carpet and remove the router.


• AT&T customer support doesn't care if you've told them that the problem is intermittent, they will still ask you after each test "is it working now?"


• AT&T customer support are very patient and polite, but have little sense of humor when you respond to their instruction to "now wait until the connection stabilizes" with a pithy "I've been waiting for two weeks now."


• AT&T's DSL technicians are the kind of folks you want as a neighbor to help you with projects. The kind that give you their phone number to call them directly next time. And they laugh. Now where was that number?


• Number of new networking devices purchased in the past 2 weeks: 4


• Number not actually needed: 2


• Number of additional network devices to be purchased this weekend: 2


• Things that can mess up your DSL line: other unfiltered phones, the test ringer the phone company puts on your line, dimmer switches, TVs, modems on carpet, aged modems, phone cords running parallel to the power cords, thin phone cords, long phone cords, logical network routers you cannot see, and apparently at least one more thing yet to be determined.


• Current Internet Crush: Slate magazine. Articles on "Stop hating on the new compact flourescent bulbs" plus a 30+ minute audio book club discussing Eat Pray Love. These are the people I want to invite over to drink the good stuff.


• Single worst thing your router can do to you: give bogus DHCP addresses. Hardcoded IP, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS servers Ahoy! Remember to reprogram every time you plug directly into the modem to troubleshoot your DSL. And forget about talking to non-PC devices on your network. You don't even want to see the workaround.


• Why your Belkin Network USB hub won't let you connect to your USB devices: Because when you moved your PC and hub onto a new router daisy-chained to the old router, so your DHCP would work and they'd be on the same subnet, the Windows Firewall would not open up as many ports as the original setup, and your UDP packets would be dropped. Which you would see once you read all about the new Vista advanced firewall, with 3 separate modes and rule-builder interface. It's UDP port 19540 inbound that is being dropped, by the way. And no, it's not in the guide. [edit: okay, so it is in the troublehooting help... but who reads that?]


• Chance of your Voice-over-IP wireless router still giving you a dial tone after you daisy-chain it off the wired router that gives out proper DHCP addresses: Guess.


• Reason the remote iPod will not show up in iTunes while the remote digicam will copy pictures: not a clue


• It's one thing troubleshooting stuff like this for 7.5 hours. It's another to do so when your Internet connection bounces up and down constantly for hours at a time.

Do dentists wander around looking at people's teeth in their spare time? This computer stuff is like Invasion of the Body Snatchers sometimes.

Super Tuesday lessons

Here is what I expect we'll see tomorrow.

McCain has it won, not because he won everything (he won less than I thought), but because Huckabee won the south. Huck won 5 or so states, so he will not drop out. Neither will Romney, though Romney has to keep lending his own campaign money, while Huckabee gets by on free publicity. With both in, McCain builds a lead that is insurmountable.

Why won't one of them (Huck, Mitt) get out? Each thinks the other is a fake conservative, that is, Huck thinks Mitt isn't really a social conservative (those Mormons think Jesus and the Devil are brothers, right Mike?), while Mitt thinks Huck isn't a real economic conservative. Huck loathes the Wall Street crowd, and Mitt can't stand Mike's piousness... neither will back down and each would rather see McCain the nominee. They will both get their wish.

But the point of this blog was to analyze the Democratic results. There are too many easy headlines for the right one to be written, but luckily you came here.

The headline is, with McCain the Republican nominee, Obama has shown that he can compete in the swing states that will decide the election better than Clinton can.

Let's break it down.

Here is how the states will probably come out:

Clinton: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennesee. She previously won New Hampshire and Nevada. (Florida and Michigan were uncontested.)

Obama: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Utah. Previously: Iowa, South Carolina.

Obama got more states, Clinton got bigger ones, and the easy headline is "Split Decision" and stay tuned to sell more horserace newspapers. And certainly it is a tight race.

But.

In the 2004 election, 12 of the 50 states were decided by 5% or less. Six went Republican, six Democrat. Clinton doing well in Massachusetts or Obama doing well in Utah means little, as everybody knows how those states will vote.

Not everyone knows how these states will vote:
Colorado (+5%R)
Florida (+5%R)
Nevada (+3%R)
Ohio (+2%R)
Iowa (+1%R)
New Mexico (+1%R)

Wisconsin (+1%D)
New Hampshire (+1%D)
Michigan (+3%D)
Minnesota (+3%D)
Pennsylvania (+3%D)
Oregon (+4%D)

To win the 2008 Presidential election, Clinton or Obama needs to do well in these states. Maybe Virginia (+8%R) will be in play after electing its second straight Democratic governor and a Democratic senator. Other states may be up for grabs. Mostly it's about those above.

So let's break them down.

Colorado (+5%R) Obama by +33%
Florida (+5%R) not contested due to party rules
Nevada (+3%R) Clinton by 6%
Ohio (+2%R) not yet held (borders Obama's Illinois)
Iowa (+1%R) Obama by 8%
New Mexico (+1%R) exit polls show Obama by 5-10%
Wisconsin (+1%D) not yet held (borders Obama's Illinois and Minnesota below)
New Hampshire (+1%D) Clinton by 3%
Michigan (+3%D) not contested due to party rules
Minnesota (+3%D) Obama by 33%
Pennsylvania (+3%D) not yet held
Oregon (+4%D) not yet held

So the Clinton has won two contested presidential toss-up states (Nevada and New Hampshire) by an average of 5%, while Obama has won four by an average of 20%, with two more likely wins (Wisconsin, Ohio).

If Clinton has demonstrated an electability advantage, it is not in the midwest battleground states, but in strong support from Latino voters. Latino voters make up a sizable share in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Republicans will win Texas, and Democrats California. Republicans will also win Arizona, especially with McCain as their nominee. McCain's moderate and politically brave positions on immigration will make him competitive in Florida and New Mexico. Clinton won both Arizona and California tonight, but neither are tossups. She also won Florida, but as a front-runner with name recognition in an uncontested race. The only relevant Latino-heavy battleground she contested was New Mexico, which it seems she lost (or certainly did not dominate).

The point of all of that is to say, Clinton showed dominance in some Southwestern states, but not the one that mattered (save Nevada). All the other states she won tonight were either her home states, or their neighbors: New York plus Jersey and Massachusetts, and Arkansas plus Oklahoma and Tennessee. Democrats who know her well (home states and neighbors) are loyal to her. And she has a notable advantage over Obama in the Hispanic community, but that doesn't translate (except perhaps in Florida) to an electoral advantage.

Meanwhile, Obama plays well in the western states (Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico) that will be 2008 toss-ups, and has the potential through both increased African-American turnout and religious-inflected oratory worthy of a Southern preacher , to force a non-Southern non-evangelical McCain to play defense in states like Virginia and Louisiana.

Simply put, Obama probably plays better in Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wisconsin, while Clinton probably only plays better in Florida and Nevada. New Mexico and Nevada are useful but ultimately likely to go to the Arizonan McCain.

To put a further, harsher, light on it, Democratic primary voters have been about 60% women, and the white and Latino women have tended to vote for Clinton. The (fewer) men (all races) have voted more heavily for Obama. In a general election, there will not be a 20% surplus of women voters, so the likely results in a general election in these tossup states would be more strongly for Obama.

Also, some states have closed primaries not allowing crucial swing independent voters. Now I think it is an easy mistake to make, to assume that the candidate with most crossover appeal will do the best, because political moderates usually fail to attract the kind of fanatic support needed to fight a general election. Here, though, Obama's crossover support from Independents and Republicans comes in spite of his most-liberal-in-the-senate voting record (Clinton is #16), and Obama no doubt has fanatic followers. So his crossover appeal doesn't come with the usual downside (ref: the attacks on McCain coming from Limbaugh and Co). And in an open contest (as the general election is), his comparative strength vs Clinton in e.g. New Mexico (closed) and California (closed) would be better.

Conclusion

Clinton has shown she can win in the Northeast, in her home states of Arkansas and New York, in their neighbors, and among Latino voter and older women. Obama has been able to win further outside his (smaller) "comfort zone", including important toss-up states and constituencies that will likely decide the 2008 election.

Hillary Clinton could win the 2008 election, but she would likely need to follow Al Gore's and John Kerry's electoral strategy, but either win Florida or Ohio, while defending marginal upper midwestern and rust belt states. Obama has more strategies available, being able to bring southern border states into play, likely having a native son advantage in the swing states of the upper midwest, with the ability to fight McCain for independents while having a comparatively more motivated political base.

Tonight showed (me at least) that Obama has a far greater chance of winning the presidency than Clinton does.

Key dates and questions ahead:

Saturday: Louisiana and Washington State. Can Obama energize enough turnout to potentially bring the Southern state into play? Or does the Arkansas-neighbor factor work in Clinton's favor? The Washington caucus gives a good sense of who is most competitive in the Northwest, ~+3% Democratic territory that must usually be defended in the general election. Chance for either candidate to demonstrate some electability chops.

Sunday: Maine caucus. Clinton won neighboring NH. Mostly a chance for a winner's picture in the Monday paper.

Tuesday: DC, Maryland, Virginia. DC will go huge Obama, not necessarily a great PR thing as it brings up the race issue. Maryland is reliable Democrat. Virginia is a potential swing state. A big win by Clinton or Obama here gets electability points.

Week Tuesday (Feb 19). Wisconsin. Obama should romp here as a setup to Ohio below. If so, great mo. If not, will send wave of second thoughts.

March 4. Texas and Ohio. Beginning of the end. If Obama can win Ohio (a critical swing state with a modified-open primary), while holding his own in Texas (unwinnable for Dems but demonstrating reasonable competitiveness for Latino voters), he will make a strong case for the electability crown and try to get the establishment (especially superdelegates) behind him. Clinton will spin Ohio as home-field advantage for Obama and hold out for April 22 in Pennsylvania. But that is 6 weeks later, and McCain will be running ads for the general election. Dems will want to shut this game down. Besides, Ohio/Texas is a lot of delegates. If either candidate is within shouting distance of the nomination, there will be tremendous pressure for superdelegates to line up and end it. Obama's trump card is hope that the electability scenario peels off Clinton's superdelegates. Clinton's trump is trying to reinstate the Florida and Michigan delegates she won uncontested.

Stay tuned.

quick funny

Today's smile: http://lolinator.com/lol/alittledistracted.blogspot.com/

What New Hampshire tells us about identity politics

I've heard a lot of questions about what happened in New Hampshire. That is, (1) why were the polls for the Democratic primary off by such a large amount, and (2) how did Hillary Clinton recover so much in the last day or so before the vote?

The answer may include the Iowa "bounce" subsiding after polls ended, independents voting McCain due to Obama being a "lock", and of course, the "tears". The last is most commonly cited, but least understood.

I believe the way to understand this is in terms of Clinton successfully awakening older women to their gender identity. An excellent article on this:

http://iht.com/articles/2008/01/10/america/women.php

The end of that article includes the following point:

In interviews, some Democratic women over 40, who said they had experienced stinging sexism, seemed to long for the election of a female president - they said Clinton would fill the role just fine - as a grand moment of validation.

But younger women, who have grown up in a world of greater parity, seemed less likely to allow gender to influence their vote.

In some cases, this split is playing out within families. Myra Dinnerstein, 73, a former professor of women's studies at the University of Arizona, said Clinton's setbacks had saddened and angered her.

"I used to tell my students that I would never live to see a woman president, and now that there has been a golden opportunity, we are letting it slip away," Dinnerstein said.

A few hours later, after hearing about Clinton's victory in the New Hampshire primary, she sent out a celebratory e-mail message: "Hurrah! I think women got as mad as I was, seeing Hillary trashed. I think they realized that 'the gender thing' exists."

But Dinnerstein's daughter, Julie Dinnerstein, 39, who works for a nonprofit feminist organization in New York, said she would vote for Obama in the Feb. 5 primary.

"Senator Clinton's struggles are not my own, and they are not those of my generation of women," the younger Dinnerstein said. "The idea of a woman being president just does not seem to be as powerful or as revolutionary to me as it does to feminists of my mother's generation."

This reminds me of comments I saw after Obama's surge, and that I continue to see, talking about race. For the generation of people in their 40s and older, who grew up in the 60s, there is a great consciousness of race and gender that filters how they see politics and life. This consciousness enabled many to push for important changes. It also led to (or merely flushed out latent) resentment among others at these changes.

The sometimes bitter irony of the struggle for change is that it often obsoletes the reason for its existence. Progress has been made; both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are entirely credible and viable presidential candidates. Part of this, however, is because they are not primarily seen in terms of their gender or race, respectively.

That's not to say that all problems and prejudices are past. Rather, to paraphrase P.J. O'Rourke, it's that folks learn that hating someone based on their gender or race is sloppy, when if you get to know people there are so many better reasons to hate them. The political left and right have both seen Margaret Thatchers and Clarence Thomases. For every sexist who grudgingly admits that a woman can run a good war, there's a progressive dismayed that someone's skin color doesn't make them an ally. As a generation grows up with consumption- and ambition-driven two-income families, as new external enemies are defined and new waves of discomforting immigrants arrive, the old lower social classes (like the Italians, Irish, Poles, non-landowning, etc) earn their stripes, become the upperclassmen.

As a society, we are slowly moving past the identity politics of the 60s. The 21st century identity politics are those of religion and language. Perhaps in 2040 we will make a fuss of the agnostic or Muslim candidate, or the Spanish-speaking nominee whose parents were granted amnesty by Reagan. Her conservative politics will make us voice suspicion or dismay, and our children will wonder what the fuss is.

Today, though, Democratic voters are in a tug of war between the grandparents who aspire to win the battles of their lives through Hillary Clinton, and their children who look to move past both those battles and the identity politics they represent through Barack Obama.

First podcast attempt

First try. About 10 minutes of news from Friday, Dec 8.

Update: You can now subscribe to the podcast using the "Subscribe in iTunes" link on the right. This will launch iTunes and add the podcast to your "Podcasts" list. New episodes will be downloaded automatically, and you can put them on your iPods or other MP3 devices.

Alternative: Go to iTunes, Advanced menu, Subscribe to Podcast, enter:

• http://feeds.feedburner.com/distractedaudio

Podcasts will be over on distractedaudio.blogspot.com, not here. If you subscribe, you won't need to check that site.

The podcast may show up in iTunes Music Store in a few days, search for "heyjebbo". You can subscribe using the method above now.

Enjoy!

La Javanaise

I've probably never better understood KP's feelings about the woefulness of translating poetry until now.

La Javanaise is a bittersweet French love song by Serge Gainsbourg. The refrain is (badly translated) "If you don't mind, while dancing the Javanaise, our love lasted long as a song."

But the Javanaise isn't a dance. It's a slang. A French slang where you keep slipping in V's where they don't belong (think pig Latin).

Almost every stressed syllable in the verses begins with V's. If you don't mind, love in Javanaise, as long as a song. I'm just... that's... yeah. Wow.

More Harry Potter news

Jo Rowling at Carnegie Hall

Fresh air

I personally like "...before it was cool"

Vent

T. once told me of his ride in the back of a landscaping truck with a bunch of good old boys who told racist jokes along the way. What offended him, he said, was not so much the jokes (we've all heard offensive jokes) but rather that these guys had judged him to be someone who would find such things funny. I related to that.

I believe that with power comes responsibility. It offends me when those in positions of power do not use their power to lift up (or protect) those with less power. Perhaps the ideal of equality is less widely or genuinely held than I would like to believe. Perhaps people are just short-sighted. But I expect men to speak out against sexism, whites against racism, natives against xenophobia, heterosexuals against homophobia, Christians against religious bigotry. Not because a white straight Protestant American male is better or nobler or stronger than anyone else; rather because he is given the most power in society.

I spent my teens growing accustomed to social conservatism, the desire of people in various majorities to conserve the social status and power they held. I never grew accustomed to economic conservatism, though, perhaps because I didn't grow up surrounded by people with lots of money. I spent my twenties neither rich nor poor, needing to watch my money but confident in my future. On the eve of my thirtieth birthday I spoke to C. in England, and said that I felt I had enough income to live comfortably.

2002 was a watershed year. I turned thirty. America went to war. I went to America. My income and net worth began a steady climb. And I began to be surrounded for the first time with true economic conservatives.

I had always considered the best parts of my life to be mainly due to the good fortune and charity of others: my parents and grandparents who loved me, taught me values and looked out for me; teachers who showed belief in me and gave me opportunities; cousins and friends who shared themselves with me and gave me the confidence to be myself with them,; charitable people who funded scholarships and assistantships; taxpayers who subsidized my education; I could go on. I did my part, but it seemed a vanishingly small part.

So when I was surrounded by other people who were experiencing financial success, I expected to find a community of humble, grateful people who were energized by the possibility of what a difference they could make in the lives of others. Instead I found people who, while on the whole very affable and kind, were mainly preoccupied with the resolution of their new television, the features of their new car, the size of their new deck. These were not bad people; I like many of them. I just could not relate to the lack of humility or sense of responsibility.

Now thirty-five and in Texas, I find a different sort of economic conservative. Jealous of his money, he sees the world conspiring to mug him. He seeks to conserve his economic position, while dismissing equally the distasteful rants of the social conservatives (those nice Untouchables will work for less) and the tiresome complaints of the downtrodden (we can't afford to touch everyone).

But this is not what offends me. I am offended by this: on a weekly basis I am subjected to conspiratorial theses or jokes by those who seem desperate to convince themselves that anyone who would claim wealth carries responsibilities is motivated by greed or stupidity. Not greedy or stupid, us, we privileged.

Perhaps I am unfair. But to hear complaints about entitlement programs from those whose lives (like mine) *are* entitlement programs... it feels insulting, and with hot blood in the face I bite my tongue. Because wealth does carry responsibility, and my responsibility is not to waste the good I can do on self-defeating office rants. Too easy.

But still, another evening gone.

Evolution

"the implication of Wolpert's argument is that, at least under some circumstances, it is better to persist in an irrational belief than to vacillate, even if new evidence or ratiocination favours a change."

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

If you are familiar with the Prisoner's Dilemna (Wikipedia it), it is interesting to me the parallels between the selfish benefits of selflessness and the problem of natural selection of irrational belief. Coincidence? I think not.

Burning Supplies

I do keep thinking of stuff to blog, but as stated in a long past blog, good writing requires you to - in a sense - stop thinking long enough to express a past thought well. My mind hasn't been amenable to stopping, so no real blogs.

This one is practical, though. I am doing a cleanup of the flat, and have several pages of "things to buy for burning man." I've been holding on to them b/c I haven't wanted to throw them out without reviewing them. Specifically, what did I think I needed but didn't, or vice versa.

Without further ado,

**************************
Burning Man Supplies Recap
**************************

• AAA Card - good idea but not necessary. Terrain isn't that harsh, and lots of people on the roads, but it is in the middle of nowhere and gas is hard to come by.


• batteries - yeah, but didn't use that many. It's not that dark at night, so headlamps aren't on all the time. Maybe a half dozen or so.


• beef jerky - i did eat it all, so that's good, but you really don't want things that make you thirsty. I hated it by the end. Get real meat (ham with water added) instead.


• bicycles - again, yes and no. It's not *that* bad to walk. Cycling is much faster (water run in 10 minutes rather than 40) but the "roads" kill your rear end. Either pad the seat, make a mutant vehicle, or walk. That said, small cheapo bike is fine, just tighten it.


• bike bell - nah


• bike carrier (car) - absolute must


• bike headlamps - yes


• bike locks - absolutely


• bike rack for back of bike - nah, but a front basket is great


• bike repair kit - eh


• bike taillight - not so important really so long as you have headlamp


• bike water bottle - eh


• binoculars - didn't have, small and light would have been good, as lots to see.


• breads - yes for sandwiches. Keep it moist


• breakfast bars - didn't have, wouldn't recommend


• bug spray - no


• bungee cords - yes, for stringing up stuff in tent. 4-6 is fine.


• camelback - yes, light one, put ice in it YUM


• gifts - fewer, smaller, relevant


• chapstick - yes, 1-2 sticks


• collapsible shovel - no


• compass - nah


• cooler - essential. Wheeled is great.


• costumes - yes (1-3)


• disposable camera - ok


• dust mask - either that or bandana is absolute necessity


• earplugs - if light sleeper. yes, to be safe


• fire extinguisher - suppose


• first aid - must


• fix a flat - nah, have AAA


• flashlights - use headlamp


• fleece/sweater - 1 is fine


• frisbee - ok, but do you want to carry?


• fruit cocktail - would have been great


• gatorade - hated it. hated it. Sprite was a godsend.


• gloves - didn't use, but did get a blister, so I suppose good.


• goggles - essential only behind water


• GPS - unnecessary


• hand sanitizer - yes, 2-3 little bottles from Target hooked to beltloop


• hat with chinstrap - yes, though no necessary if sunscreened


• head lamps - yes, can serve as bike headlamp probably


• high wind candles - no


• ice insulated bags - yes, but *must* be very strong, or else have an outer bag to carry


• instant cooked food - hit or miss. oatmeat good, lasagne passable, rice dishes blandly icky


• lawnchair - yes, but nice if one is there, tend to be some around


• lemonade mix - ick. ick ick, at least instant.


• luggage - well yeah, but it *will* get dust embedded in it for eternity


• matches/lighters - 1 lighter


• nuts - awful. dries the mouth, intolerable. threw them out.


• pb&j - would have been okay maybe with a drink (the J part), but nah


• plastic bottles/tennis balls - to cover stakes. Use bright orange stakes instead, else yes.


• portable shower w drain - cheated this. tough one; yes but drain is something to still figure out.


• power charger for car - yes.


• pyjamas - yes


• multitool - yes, for the scissors/knife and pliers part.


• road atlas - yes, or AAA maps


• sandals - yes, but remember sunscreen for feet!


• long shirt - ok, tho for coverage not warmth


• short shirt - yes


• shorts - yes, or swimtrunks / cool undies


• sleeping bag - yes


• soap - liquid better


• socks - nah


• spray mist bottle - yes, 1


• stove - nah, but if no access then no "just add hot water" foods


• tarot deck - didn't use, no unless built into something


• tarp/plastic sheeting - yes yes yes. car, tent, inside after you leave, bring 3x what you think you need.


• tent - yes, unvented if possible. all about the dust


• tire pump - for bike, yeah i suppose


• toilet paper - yes, but less than you think (some there, and you go less than you'd expect)


• toothbrush/paste - yes


• towels - yes, 1 each + 1 in case


• trash bags - yes, though we went ovweboard. needed about 15 all told.


• travel neck pillow - good not essential


• tripod light/lantern - used overhead light; want some fixed source for tent.


• trousers - not really, 1 for travel back (hot day, costume night)


• umbrella/shade structure - if none for camp. not stay in tent, too hot, need breeze.


• utensils - depends on food.


• vienna sausages - didn't take, suspect would be OK but need drink.


• visine - yes, but clean eyelashes first w/ water else salt runs in eyes, makes worse. get normal kind, not allergy watery-eye


• walkie talkie - nah


• washbasin - nah


• washcloth/puff - 1 ok, not critical, but exfoliating puff afterwards is great


• water - yes, 2 gal/day fine


• sunscreen - yes, and use it


• wet naps - yes, but didn't use tons.


• windbreaker - ok, wasn't cold in '07


• zip ties - optional


• ziplock bags - ok, but NOT repeat NOT waterproof. if could find waterproof would be great


• blanket - ok, want some kind of underneath layer below sleeping bags (little rocks)


• advil - should be part of good 1st aid kit


• kite - ok, good environment if you get out into playa


• videocam - yes, but need approval and keep it polite (good for surveying art, capturing vibe)


• plastic cups - yes, lots if serving drinks but mind disposal


• skin lotion - good idea

Wish we'd had:

• more juicy stuff (think nectarine not apple)


• soda


• more ham


• more cheese

So that's that. And now back to our regularly scheduled procrastination...

Why is it that

...everything that makes us feel alive escapes language?

Or worse, seems capturable in language (hence poetry) but fades so quickly in the noise and fog of convention?

Sitting in the car, not dreading the work to be done back at the computer and voice conference, but already missing the heartbeat and perspective, navigating thoughts and words like landmines, psychic black holes on an astral plane returning us too quickly to the conventional sleep of consciousness.

Burning Wine

I don't know what to say about the vacation I just got back from. It's one of those things that you want to come up casually in conversation. But as I'm not conversing with anyone at the moment, I'll just jump right in.

This was a 3-part trip, of which I participated in 2 parts.

First was California. About 5 days. First night San Francisco. Next day to Monterey for whale watching and south to Big Sur. Next day to Calistoga in Napa valley and wine tasting. Next day to Healdsburg in northern Sonoma valley and more wine tasting. Then back to San Francisco (Richmond) for clothes and camping gear.

Then to Nevada for part 2 of the trip.

On our way to Reno, we headed through Donner Pass. Then on to Sparks, Fernley, and up to Empire and Gerlach. Finally around 10pm, we pull into Camp Fishie in Black Rock City, aka the Burning Man festival. Sandstorms and headaches, red eyes, dust everywhere, sore bottoms from cycling on washboard earth, punishing heat, more sandstorms, and thumping music. I can't possibly do it justice except to say that we all wanted to leave, we all seemed to lose valuable things there, and yet... It was like being a kid in a grown-up Disney, with all the hassle, noise, exhaustion, and amazement. I saw maybe 1/2 of 1% of it in 4 days, and I already wish I could go back.

More Pictures:

Someone else's Burning Man slideshow

Video to come.

Taking out the wallet

Read this today:

Lives, like money, are spent. What are you buying with yours?
- Roy H. Williams

Cry

I'm writing quick because once I find out for sure, I will be too gutted to type.

So there's a new version of iTunes. Update, sure, get some iPhone bug fixes. I say yes to update iPhone, but it fails, says I have to Restore it. Okay, no biggie, guess I better make sure I have whatever I need off it first. Oh, can't get into it. Um, where does it sync all the photos, notes, contacts, etc I've been making.

It doesn't.

That is, I can configure it to talk to some Mac software, or to Outlook for contacts. I just assumed it backed it up into iTunes.

Gone.

The contacts suck, but I can recreate them.

But all my holiday photos and wine notes, seem gone.

Here it comes, rebooting.

Hold your breath.