Rehosted

Two years ago I started this blog, and it's time to take it to the next level. There will be no more postings here; everything has been moved to:

http://www.indefinity.com/

Please come and visit me there. Lots to share.

Thanks,
Murray

Holidays in Washington State

It's been a long time between updates, so here's a set of photos showing what we've done over the last few months.

Ocean Shores

Alex has a driver's learning permit, so she got some good experience as we headed out to the coast. Tasha considers legroom to be very important.

Lots of Evergreens in the Olympic National Forest

Ocean Shores resembles what I imagine "the end of the earth" might look like.

Cold day in the middle of summer!

The girls and I rented this contraption to use on the sand. Not nearly as much fun as it looks, particularly as we couldn't convince Rupert to pull.

View from our hotel room, which was behind the dunes.

Ruby Beach. Not a postcard, but deserves to be!

The driftwood along the Pacific Coast beaches always reminds me of bleached whale bones.

Brackish pond we encountered.

Leavenworth

Leavenworth is a small town in the Cascade mountains that the railway bypassed in the 1930s. It suffered a slow decline until the 1960s, when it reinvented itself as a Bavarian-themed village. Today it's a thriving tourist destination with strict ordinances to keep the town looking.... well, see for yourself!

Downtown Leavenworth

Despite the glaring sun, Tasha really wanted to give this giant bear a hug... because she'd seen the photos of the last time we took her to Leavenworth:

Scary bear!

Alex bought this hat for a friend.

Heidi and I in the park square.

We stopped at Lake Wenatchee... might come back here for a camping trip.

Silverwood

Silverwood is a theme/water park in Hayden Lake, Idaho.

This tinkertoy contraption would fill up the bucket approximately every three minutes. 30 seconds before it tipped over, a bell would start to ring, signalling the kids to take cover!

Alex, Tasha, and Alex's friend Sloane.

Halloween

Pumpkin carving time

Nearly finished!

Our front door on Oct 31st. I thought of dressing up like a scarecrow and frightening the kids, but that could be dangerous.

Dessert: Braaaaaaiiins!

Even Rupert got dressed up.

Thanksgiving

My own stuffing recipe: day-old french bread, bacon, dried cranberries, apple, celery, broth, brown sugar, butter, chicken stock, red wine, and spices.

22lbs ready to go....

...5 hours later. This bird was so big that I was able to cut enough meat to feed 7 people without ever hitting bone.

We had an unexpected storm in November that dropped a few inches of snow and ice.

Mzungu-Matic

Google Earth is a magnificent piece of software. If you are at all interested in travel, geography, maps, or just "cool shit", definitely check it out (it's free!) It uses the same map set as Google's online maps, but it's in a local application so not only is it faster, but you can do some really nifty stuff like panning and 3D landscape/buildings.

It's not just an interesting toy, either: it has definite practical advantages. Take my brother and his wife, who are currently blogging their adventures as they travel through Africa and South America. With a bit of patience (and $30/year to get the "create path" feature for Google Earth), it's very easy to create a map of where they've been (click to zoom):






Here's a closer view of one of the places they visited:



I'm working on a permanent home for updates to their travels, as well as a way of allowing you to download the data file for your own amusement in Google Earth.

There's a couple of features in the new beta version of Google Earth that let you overlay your own photos and GPS trip data onto the map; I suggested that Greg try do that while on his trip, but he was rightly worried about things like finding batteries in the middle of the Serengeti. It's also possible that he may get into trouble carrying a GPS receiver into some of the places he's going; it's ex-military technology and in some of these places you don't want to take a chance. Regardless, I'll keep tracking his journey and see if there's a way to integrate it into his blog or make the data available for download.

We're leaving for Ocean Shores today; the cameras and GPS are ready to go. When I get back I'll see what kind of interactive A/V presentation I can put together. Here's a photo from the last time we went:

Sunset at Ocean Shores (try doing that on any eastern coast!)

In the meantime, you can stay amused by checking out some of the nifty things people have found with Google Earth (including a very weird place in China), or take a stroll around Mars or even the moon (make sure you zoom in as far as you can go!).

If you're seriously into this kind of thing, you will also want to check out NASA's World Wind which does everything that Google Earth does and a whole lot more.

Those Wascally Democwats!

One of the greatest satisfactions in life is watching someone get hoist on their own petard; I think of it as a kinetic flavor of hypocrisy. So when I saw a promising situation unfold on Fox News last week, I couldn't help but smile.

A few days before the general public became aware of the great Gatorade Terrorist Plot of August 2006, British authorities quietly informed the White House that arrests were imminent. True to form, the Bush/Cheney White House swung into action and prepared to exploit the as-yet-unpublicized news for as much political mileage as they could. From behind the portable missile battery that guards his ranch in Wyoming, Vice President Dick Cheney uncharacteristically took time out from his holiday to conduct a conference call with the press, during which he blasted the Democrats for being "weak on terror" and giving comfort to "al Qaeda types" - laying the psychological groundwork for the news he was planning to break in the coming days.

By the time the arrests in London, the White House had set in motion the Republican propaganda machine, so that Fox News and other complicit mouthpieces could hit the ground running with loaded talking points and "TERROR IN THE SKIES" slug lines the moment the arrests became public. These "useful idiots" in the media pontificate about their journalistic ethics, but the fact remains that they all spout the same Republican talking points on the same day.

In their zeal to outdo each other in criticizing the Democrats' supposed "softness" on terror, it's perhaps inevitable that a few of them would make a meal of it. None, however, can hold a candle to The Weekly Standard's William Kristol, who released this beauty:

The Bugs Bunny Democrats
They're all carrot and no stick.
by William Kristol
08/21/2006, Volume 011, Issue 46

The content of the article doesn't really matter; the important thing is that the title is a snappy sound-bite/slogan that can be repeated during the sixty seconds that network news devotes to politics, or that can be plastered on the bottom third of the screen when you appear on Fox News (Kristol is a regular).

But think about this for a minute: if you look beyond the fact that Bugs Bunny is, yes indeed, a bunny rabbit - and as such can be occasionally seen eating the odd carrot - is calling someone Bugs Bunny really what you want to do?

In nearly every single Bugs Bunny cartoon, Bugs ends up defeating his opponent- through a combination of wit, humor, good planning, skill, and mental agility.

Kristol's criticism of Democrats as being like Bugs Bunny implies that he thinks Republicans are just the opposite: the "anti-Bugs", if you like. And Warner Bros has kindly provided for us a character who fits this description: Elmer J. Fudd.

George W. Bush, hot on the trail of those wascally terrorists.

I have to agree with Kristol: Elmer Fudd is a brilliant metaphor for Bush and the Republicans on a number of levels:

• Bush and Fudd are both simplistic morons with a single-minded obsession on pursuing a foe whose importance they have inflated as a means of justifying their ridiculous (and often hilarious) actions
  
  
• Fudd and Bush both have speech impediments and frequently commit dreadful social blunders

• Fudd is obsessed with guns yet an inept hunter; he frequently shoots himself or innocent bystanders in his fanatical rapture. While hunting cage-bred birds from the safety of his car, Vice President Dick Cheney shot a 78-year-old man in the face.

• While everyone else can see the fuse sticking out of the cake, Fudd is staring cross-eyed in the wrong direction, mumbling one of his homilies and plotting how to divide up the prize. Think Iraq.

• When frustrated as his inability to make progress, Fudd blasts away indiscriminately with his shotgun. When Bush's approval ratings fall, we suddenly start getting terror alerts.
  
  

And finally:

• Fudd's downfall is usually his own making. Were he only able to keep his mouth shut, his gun holstered, and think before taking action, Fudd might stand a chance of actually capturing his prize.

And Bill Kristol might have a chance of coming up with a decent metaphor.

Real Madrid vs. DC United

Ronaldo, Beckham, Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Emerson, Cannavaro, Baptista, Robinho.... you'll remember these as the stars from their respective countries at the World Cup in Germany. What you may not know is that these players all play for the same club when not representing their country... and that club is the legendary Real Madrid, who visited Seattle last night to play a friendly against Major League Soccer's best team DC United. We were fortunate enough to be able to attend the match which was held at Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.

Truth be told, not all of the above stars made an appearance. Zidane has retired, and Ronaldo remained in Europe due to injury and general match fitness. Still, there was some awesome talent on display, and not all of it was from Real Madrid. DC United is a credible side, as demonstrated by the match's 1-1 result. Real had the edge (particularly in the second half), but United's 17-year-old phenom Freddy Adu showed why he's compared to a young Pelé or Ronaldinho.

I was a bit disappointed with the venue; Qwest Field is a new stadium, right next door to Safeco Field where the Mariners play, and to be honest it's nowhere near as good as its neighbor. For a start, we were frisked going in, and secondly the pitch was in terrible condition: most of the grass was brown, and there were visible lumps and debris. Although we had good seats quite close to the action, it was frustrating when the inevitable drunken idiots a few rows in front of us stood up and waved their beers around while making cellphone calls, oblivious to the calls of "down in front!" and the shower of peanuts and garbage being thrown at them. All it takes is one person to stand up, and this causes a ripple effect behind them. Essentially, we spent the last two minutes of the match standing up just so we could see the field at all. It also took a ridiculously long time to exit the stadium, a far cry from the five minutes it takes to get to the street after the last pitch at a Mariners game.

Sign of the times, perhaps: even with only three weeks notice, the entire stadium of 66,000 sold out. That beat the Mariners game that was played earlier in the day, and was in spite of the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert that was happening in Seattle at the same time. Needless to say, traffic was horrendous.

Apart from the venue, the match was great. Being a friendly there were an unlimited number of substitutions allowed, so Real played their entire squad during the course of the game. Robinho came on and provided some spark during the second half, and we missed Beckham who was replaced at half time.

Here's some photos from our vantage point:

Adu (center), and Beckham (bottom right; blue shoes)

Roberto Carlos (left; bald), and Adu (right)

The hightlight of the match was probably when Real were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area, and Roberto Carlo came forward to deliver one of his thunderbolts. He blasted it around the wall, but keeper Troy Perkins made a brilliant diving save. The rebound caused a goal-line scramble, with the ball eventually flying just wide of the net.

All in all, an excellent and memorable event! This is the largest crowd I've ever seen a soccer game with, and it was encouraging to see just how popular the sport has become in the USA.

Chromatastrophy

Here is how our old house looked when we sold it:



Here is how it looks today:



Even our mail carrier made a point of mentioning how, er.... "different" it looks. Love that lawn color, too.

Law 11

Offside Position

It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position. A player is in an offside position if:

• he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent.

A player is not in an offside position if

• he is in his own half of the field of play or
  
• he is level with the second last opponent or
  
• he is level with the last two opponents.
  

Offence

A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:

• interfering with play or
  
• interfering with an opponent or
  
• gaining an advantage by being in that position.
  

Brazil vs. France

France is in the white, attacking the goal to the right. Zidane (top, near the Phillips sign) is just kicking the ball.

So: offside, or not?