And the Caper of the Day is brought to you by:

polluterwatch.com

Three Greenpeace activists deployed a floating banner in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building in plain view of a favorite destination for polluter lobbyists — Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Washington DC office. The banner exposed Murkowski’s close relationship with dirty energy interests and promoted PolluterHarmony, a spoof online dating site launched just before Valentine’s Day to help connect polluters, industry lobbyists, and politicians.

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Iditarod Update for “My teams”.

#50 – Aliy Zirkle is #11. She’s out of Koyuk.

#36 – Michelle Phillips and her fabulous lead dogs are running at #29 out of Shaktoolik.

#61 – Colleen Robertia (who you can read about in today’s Voices from the Flats) is #36 out of Unalakleet.

#4 – Wattie McDonald from Scotland is running #42 out of Kaltag.

#14   – Newton Marshall from Jamaica is #48 in Kaltag.

Lance Mackey is holding on to the #1 spot and is in striking distance of doing what no other musher has ever done – claiming the title of 4-time consecutive Iditarod champion.  He left White Mountain at 8:43pm with 11 dogs.  Nipping at his heels are Hans Gatt and Jeff King with 12 dogs apiece.  They are all heading to Safety and then Nome.  One of them will make it first, and it will happen some time tomorrow.

Here’s your link to the leader board.

And your link to the race map.

Hey, guess what? I agree with Sarah Palin on something! OK, I also agree with her on ACES, “Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share” which created a new system of taxation on oil companies which resulted in much profit for Alaska, and  much hand-wringing with the oil companies. Cry me a river.

I’m still waiting for her to say something about it, now that the Republican jackals in the Legislature are about to dismantle it in front of our eyes. Remember how our self-proclaimed “Mama bear” told Alaskans how she could help us so much more from the outside, than the inside? Remember how the abdication was all for us? But so far – not a peep from the Quitter.

But, I digress. What was I saying? Oh, yes. I agree with Sarah Palin on something other than ACES.

There’s an expression that goes, “If you give a chimpanzee a typewriter, every once in a while, he types a word.” Well, I guess if you give a paid ghost-blogger Sarah Palin’s Facebook account, every once in a while they type something true.

Now granted, in order to find this little pearl, I had to put on the chest-waders and slog through a whole bunch of mental sludge, falsehoods, rhetoric and other unidentifiable glop.  The pearl itself had nothing to do with any of the rest of it.  So, now that I’ve come home and peeled off the waders, and given myself a good scrub down with the pressure washer, I’m ready to deliver to you…. this little pearl I found.  And may everyone remember this and take it to heart.  If they do, we’ll be fine.  Ready?

“America, we must resolve to stay engaged in what our politicians are doing. Don’t get tired and give up. All political power is inherent in the people. America can only be transformed into something unrecognizable if we get so tired that we give up our political power and close our eyes to what is going on. Find the energy to stand for what you know is right.”

Amen, sister.  Whoever you are…

This past weekend, almost 400 Coffee Parties took place across the U.S.  Each one was different, had its own agenda, and asked its own questions.  The people who attended were those who recognize that something is wrong in this country, but they don’t think drawing a Hitler moustache on something is the way to fix it.

Awesome and engaged Mudflatter ‘Valley Independent’ was our Boots On the Ground at the Coffee Party in Wasilla, Alaska.  She tells me she’s feeling more energized about politics than she has in a long time.  Here’s her report.

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from Valley Independent

The Coffee Party is off to a good start here in Wasilla.  The attendance wasn’t huge, but pretty darn good for short notice.  Thanks to Jay for organizing it, and to AKM and Shannyn Moore for helping to get the word out.

The Metro Cafe is a warm and sunny place on Lucille Street, a very busy north-south corridor in Wasilla.  I have been wanting to visit since they opened this summer, so this was a great excuse to do just that.  Their website is here.  Carmen and her assistant were lovely, and make great coffee.

It was fun and exciting to see some familiar faces from around town, and also to have the opportunity to meet several new people, all of whom are willing to work constructively on the challenges that face us on all political levels.

Several good suggestions were brought forth – we’ll be working on those at future meetings.  Speaking of future meetings, our next meeting will be at the Metro Cafe at 10 am Saturday, March 20th. This is a non-partisan event, so anyone who wants to engage in civil discussion about the issues and be a part of finding solutions is not only welcome, but encouraged to attend.

Phil Munger has a post with pictures on his blog, Progressive Alaska, found here.  Bill Hess also stopped by and is working on something for his blog, Wasilla, Alaska by 300, which can be found here.  Thanks to both of them.

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Here’s the second installment of our Voices from the Flats  Iditarod Report from LoveMyDogs who is tending the kennel of Iditarod musher Colleen Robertia while she’s busy with other things!

In her piece, she’s referring to Lance Mackey, the current frontrunner and reigning champ; Jeff King, former champ and until recently the frontrunner in this race; and DeeDee Jonrowe, veteran musher and perennial crowd favorite.

It’s getting exciting as the leaders race along the ice of Norton Sound, with Nome getting nearer by the hour…

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NUMBERS
(In honor of yesterday, Pi day 3/14)

by LoveMyDogs

Numbers, numbers, numbers. Following the Iditarod from home is all about watching the numbers. Position number, Bib number, Time In, Time Out, number of dogs coming in, number of dogs going out, rest time, speed. It could be one heck of a math class (and so much more fun than those old word problems that used to drive me bonkers).

How does one know who is really leading? The numbers to watch are speeds travelling from checkpoint to checkpoint. But more than that, how much rest is taken and where? And how many dogs does each musher has.

Of course this does not tell the whole story. It doesn’t tell you if the musher is getting rest. It doesn’t tell you how the dogs are eating. It doesn’t tell you how they are dealing with weather. It doesn’t tell you if a sled is broken. It doesn’t tell you if a musher camped somewhere on the trail to be able to blow through a checkpoint. It doesn’t tell you if a musher is carrying a hurt or tired dog in his sled bag (thus increasing the amount of weight the dogs have to pull without the help of the dog in the bag). Most of all, it doesn’t tell you what kind of head games are being played.

My friend, Lance, is a master of head games. He almost always has a plan. And no one but Lance knows that plan. Best of all, it can change without warning. He always seems to have a Plan A through Z and can adjust easily to changing conditions. Is he messing with Jeff now? Conserving some of his dogs’ energy? Would he rather chase Jeff? Always keeping him in sight? He knows that he might be able to catch him in the hills (after all, he is younger and has longer legs). But what about Jeff? He is wily and has been doing this for a long time (Old age and craftiness beat youth and vigor?). And is it all about Lance and Jeff? Hans Gatt won the Yukon Quest this year. He has talented dogs and has also been at this game for a long time.

Lance has a way of standing and staring at another team and stroking his chin and then making some cocky, one-line quip that could cut a newer musher to the bone and make him second guess himself and his dogs all of the way to the finish line. This is “old-school” mushing and seems brutal at the time, but getting under your opponent’s skin is often times the only weapon you have left in your arsenal.

Then one looks at number of dogs. What information can we glean from this? It is hard to say. DeeDee has been running for hundreds of miles with 8 dogs while the front runners have 12-13. How can she possibly be staying as high in the standings as she is? Well…more math. 8 dogs, 4 feet each, number of booties… 32. 12 dogs, 4 feet each, number of booties…48. The number of food bowls, straw beds, blankets, coats, hours to feed, take care of feet, stretch and massage sore muscles are all increased if you have a bigger team. All of these chores cut into the musher’s rest. So maybe DeeDee is getting more rest.

And remember, you are only as fast as your slowest team member. You can drop dogs, you can’t drop the musher.

There are mushers who like to be in front. There are mushers who like to lie back in wait and reel the front runners in on the last leg. There are mushers like the Smyth brothers who notoriously wear running shoes between Safety and Nome and run the whole way as fast as their dogs can run.

Anything can happen and a lot of it is luck. The weather is a huge factor. Fatigue seems to be the one thing that levels the playing field. I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the less resilience I have when it comes to lack of sleep.

The test of wills continues. Who will win? Keep watching the numbers….

Every once in a while, I like to share an actual “mudflats story.”  Some might call this a slow news day story, but I think it’s pretty exciting.

A rare seahorse is recovering after being found stranded on mudflats on the UK coast, aquarium chiefs have said.

The spiny seahorse was discovered near Weymouth, Dorset, by Justin Roulland while he was out digging for ragworm.

The tiny fish had become stranded on the mudflats above the waterline after a particularly high tide and was at risk of being attacked by seagulls.

The seahorse was taken by Mr Roulland – the owner of a fishing tackle shop in Portsmouth, Hampshire – to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Portsmouth, which is now looking after it.

Blue Reef’s Robbie Robinson said: “The little fellow is recovering well and appears to be in relatively good condition.

“It’s difficult to be certain how he came to be stranded in the mud although it’s quite possible that he could have been picked up by a bird in the shallows and accidentally dropped.

“Justin said there had been a very high tide and when he found him he was barely alive. Apparently he popped him in a bucket of seawater and then nursed him overnight before bringing him in to us. As he was stranded above the waterline and at risk from the seagulls, it was definitely the right thing to do.”

Blue Reef is currently involved in a nationwide captive seahorse breeding programme. When it has recovered, staff plan to transfer the seahorse to the aquarium’s sister centre in Newquay, Cornwall, to join a pair of female spiny seahorses.

Mr Robinson said that there are thought to be two species of seahorse found in British waters – the short snouted and the spiny.

I love this story.  I love the fact that it got 10 paragraphs in the Belfast Telegraph.  I love the fact that they called the seahorse a “fellow.”  I love the fact that some guy who owns a bait and tackle shop rescued a hapless rare seahorse from the risk of seagull attack on the mudflats and that it made the paper.  When my own state is doing everything it can to systematically kill off one of its biggest tourist attractions by shooting them from the air, this whole incident just makes me want to go hang out in Weymouth for a while.

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Oops!  Almost forgot your Iditarod Update!

“My Teams”

#50 – Aliy Zirkle has moved up into the #9 spot! Her personal best in the Iditarod until now has been 11th.  Go Aliy!  She’s out of Unalakleet.

#36 – Michelle Phillips and her fabulous lead dogs are running at #29 out of Kaltag.

#61 – Colleen Robertia (who you can read about in today’s Voices from the Flats) is #37 out of Nulato.

#14   – Newton Marshall from Jamaica is #44 out of Galena.

#4 – Wattie McDonald from Scotland is running #47 out of Galena.

The rookies are hanging in there really well!

And there’s been a little excitement in the front of the pack.  The front runners have reached the coast of Norton Sound, and our new leader is the reigning champ Lance Mackey of Fairbanks who overtook Jeff King of Denali Park for the #1 spot.  (Maybe it was that eight course meal King got for reaching the Yukon first that slowed him down)  King is running close behind, and they are both out of Shaktoolik and heading for Koyuk.  The end is getting near.

Here’s your link to the leader board.

And your link to the race map.

Blog on the Mackey – King Switcheroo

Alan Grayson has really done it this time.  I did not think I could love him more, and I was proven wrong with this one email.  This is possibly the most hilarious anti-Palin piece I’ve ever read – and trust me, I’ve read a lot of them.  I bow to the master of the Palin takedown.

This is an actual email from Rep. Alan Grayson on Palin’s recent visit to Florida.  Don’t be drinking anything when you read it.

Subject: Palin Attacks Grayson; Grayson Applies Calamine Lotion to the Resulting Reddish Skin

On Friday night, Sarah Palin came to Orlando, and attacked Rep. Alan Grayson. This is what she said:

“I got to meet quite a few candidates who are lining up in a contested primary who want to take out Alan Grayson. And I think Alan Grayson — what can you say about Alan Grayson? Piper is with me tonight, so I won’t say anything about Alan Grayson that can’t be said around children. [Good one, Sarah!] But thank you, Florida, for allowing candidates in a contested primary to duke it out over ideas and principles and values, all with the same goal, and that is unseating those who have such a disconnect from the people of America. That’s what the goal is here in this race against Alan Grayson. Please fight hard, and do this for the rest of the country. Fight hard, and send a conservative to Washington, DC.”

Palin, the former half-term Governor, current-nothing and future-even-less, charmed the all-Republican audience with her folksy folksiness and her homespun homespunnery. Atypically, Palin was wearing clothes that she had paid for herself. At the end of the event, she shared her recipe for mooseface pie.

In response to Palin’s attack on Rep Grayson, Grayson actually complimented Palin. Grayson praised Palin for having a hand large enough to fit Grayson’s entire name on it. He thanked Palin for alleviating the growing shortage of platitudes in Central Florida.

Grayson added that Palin deserved credit for getting through the entire hour-long program without quitting. Grayson also said that Palin really had mastered Palin’s imitation of Tina Fey imitating Palin. Grayson observed that Palin is the most-intelligent leader that the Republican Party has produced since George W. Bush.

When asked to comment about what effect Palin’s criticism might have, Grayson pointed out, “As the Knave’s horse says in Alice in Wonderland, ‘dogs will believe anything.’” Earlier, as the Orlando Sentinel reported, Grayson said, “I’m sure Palin knows all about politics in Central Florida, since from her porch she can see Winter Park,” which is part of Grayson’s district.

Grayson said that the Alaskan chillbilly was welcome to return to Central Florida anytime, as long as she brings lots of money with her, and spends it. “I look forward to an honest debate with Governor Palin on the issues, in the unlikely event that she ever learns anything about them,” Grayson added, alluding to Politifact’s “liar, liar, pants on fire” evaluation of much of what Palin has said.

Scientists are studying Sarah Palin’s travel between Alaska and Florida carefully. They hope to learn more about the flight patterns of that elusive migratory species, the wild Alaskan dingbat.

Politico did not elaborate on how exactly Rove suggested this should occur, but we can assume it means doing a lot of reading.

Acknowledging that the politics of the day will change between now and then, he still said there’s not a moment to lose.

“This is her year to get ready for the hot spotlight that will fall on her…I don’t know if she wants to, she certainly can, she did very well in the 63 days she was on the national stage,” Rove said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Really?  Was it only 63 days?  Those for whom that 63 days felt like a lifetime cannot fathom an entire four-year Palin presidency.

But will she or won’t she?  That’s the question that nobody seems to be able to answer for sure.  Keeping us guessing keeps her in the spotlight, however, and speculation alone has fueled sales of her book, anticipation of her next book, and supported six figure speaking engagements across the land – to loggers, and bowlers, and liquor wholesalers, and NASCAR fans alike.  So, even if Palin is not planning to sit in the political dunking booth to which she would be permanently confined in the run up to the 2012 election, she benefits handsomely from not telling us that.

Some of them are [rescue dogs] and some of them are children of retired + rescue dogs etc. Her kennel is very mixed in terms of where the dogs come from. But she is definitely an advocate for rescuing dogs.

Her lead dog Penny was the smallest dog to start the Quest last year. She finished the race in lead. They are very careful about breeding and most of their dogs are spade or neutered. Joseph is constantly bringing dogs home from the pound. They also have a Golden, a pug (both rescues), a German Shepherd and numerous dogs with various health problems (a “wheezer”, a sled dog born with a liver shunt, etc.) who inhabit their home. The German Shepherd was Colleen’s before they ever had sled dogs. One of her goals is to be competitive with a small kennel of dogs that may not come from top bloodlines. I was standing in their house last night and looking around at all of the dog beds and dog food bowls and laughing because there are more places for the dogs to sit than humans. Their Golden thinks my lap (wherever it is perched) is the only chair in the room.

Lovemydogs has kept us all up to date with frequent comments on how the team is doing on the trail, and how she is doing back at home base. Colleen’s husband Joseph also has a blog he’s been updating with information on the team.

Colleen’s team is one that I picked to follow, before I even knew about the connection with Mudflatter ‘lovemydogs.’ Serendipity.

I asked her to contribute as a Voices from the Flats writer. Here is her first contribution. Thanks lovemydogs, and here’s to a successful run for Colleen and her dogs.

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~Robertia’s team at the Iditarod start in Anchorage wore jackets that read, “Until There Are None, Adopt One.”

The River
by lovemydogs

It’s -40 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s dark. You’re alone with your dogs. You haven’t slept more than 3 hours for days. You cut your own sleep last night/day to massage the shoulder of one of your best dogs.
And now you are seeing things. Was that a big gigantic barn that I just drove my dogs through? What is that doing out here? And why wasn’t it warm inside?

You come into a checkpoint thoroughly demoralized and wonder why everyone around you seems to be drunk. Your dog might be hurt but you can’t leave her with these people. You think about putting her in the sled bag and carrying on. You need to feed your team and get them bedded down somewhere where they can use the calories to recover. You decide to stay. You do your chores. You call home. You cry. You get mad at your husband. He tells you that you are tired and everything will look better after some sleep. You yell that he isn’t being supportive and he doesn’t understand. You hang up. He goes back to his chores at home and his own private world of insanity where he can do nothing more to help you.

The river is one of the biggest mental obstacles in this race. It is HUGE, it is long and it is boring. Running for hours on what is essentially an ice road that never seems to end. The dogs don’t like running in the middle of the day but they need to retain calories to run and not burn them to stay warm. Getting them and yourself out there from every checkpoint is a gargantuan test of will. Once you get going they warm into it and then you have to stay on the drag to keep them from going too fast and injuring themselves.

This is the river.

Colleen said during the Yukon Quest “If this doesn’t throw you into adult onset bipolar disease, I don’t know what will”. Being a friend, handler or significant other of the musher is hard. They come into some checkpoints ecstatic and joyful and others as down as a person can be. You try to tell them that their attitude infects the dogs (because musher and his/her team are as one by now). Most of the time all you can say is, “I love you”, and hope that it gets through. Aily Zirkle once tapped Colleen on the forehead and told her “It’s all up here”. I think that she is right.

Joseph, Colleen’s husband, is going out of his mind. He sits in front of his computer and watches her GPS tracker incessantly because the updates of the standings are hours behind if you aren’t at the front of the pack. He gets frustrated because he wants to see more news coverage of her. He thinks she is beautiful and brave and running this race with the right ethical philosophy. I don’t blame him.

Most of the coverage is of those at the front or the back of the pack. There are 71 people who started this race with their dogs. Each and every one of the mushers left is racing as hard as they can within the limits of their dogs and themselves. Every day is a test. As one of my friends said to me today “Every one of the people who finishes that race is a hero”. Personally, I have no idea how they do it. Lance’s wife used to tell me “they’re all psycho”.

I’m cheering Colleen and Penny and all of her little family on with all of the positive energy I can send her. I’m trying to help Joseph keep his mother hen instincts from causing him to have a nervous breakdown. “It’s the river” I tell him.

~Emilie, a dog handler gets some pre-race love from a member of the team.

I was reminded this morning that today is “Pi Day.”  March 14 = 3/14 = 3.14 = pi.  Roughly.

How could I have forgotten?

I have always loved pi.  I remember the day I learned about pi.  It was the same day I learned about negative numbers – a banner day, mathematically speaking, for a kid with a blackboard and a big brother who was a math major.

So many other numbers just seem to conform.  They are predictable.  You know exactly what you’re getting. But pi is an anomaly.  It is incredibly significant in the fabric of things.  You need it to figure out a circle, for goodness sake.  But it stands outside that metaphorical circle and defies anyone to really figure it out.  You can know what it is, but you can never know IT.  It can’t even be memorized.  It is irrational, and proud of it.  It is transcendental, mathematically and metaphorically. Among numbers it is King.  Or Queen.

Pi is actually

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679
  8214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196
  4428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273
  724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609...

… and on infinitelyand without pattern.  Take that.

So, if I’d been thinking, I might have made note of today at 1:59am plus 26 and a half seconds as “pi moment.”  I wonder if anyone paid attention in 1592 when the date was 3/14/1592 – a full on, “in-your-face” pi day.

From wikipedia:

π (sometimes written pi) is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space; this is the same value as the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius. It is approximately equal to 3.141593 in the usual decimal notation. (snip)Many formulae from mathematics, science, and engineering involve π, which is one of the most important mathematical and physical constants.^[5]

π is an irrational number, which means that its value cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction m/n, where m and n are integers. Consequently, its decimal representation never ends or repeats. It is also a transcendental number, which implies, among other things, that no finite sequence of algebraic operations on integers (powers, roots, sums, etc.) can be equal to its value; proving this was a late achievement in mathematical history and a significant result of 19th century German mathematics. Throughout the history of mathematics, there has been much effort to determine π more accurately and to understand its nature; fascination with the number has even carried over into non-mathematical culture.

The Greek letter π, often spelled out pi in text, was adopted for the number from the Greek word for perimeter “περίμετρος”, first by William Jones in 1707, and popularized by Leonhard Euler in 1737.

So, now what?  How does one celebrate this special day?  Before you just go the safe route and march around in a circle reciting digits, check out this web page which lists all sorts of fun ways to celebrate Pi Day.  This is not a time to hold back your inner geek.  Let it out of the closet and go for a run for pi miles, bake a pie, rent the movie Pi, or have a pi-zza at 3:14.

And as if this was not enough to get your inner mathemetician all a-twitter, you can raise a glass of pi-napple juice and give a toast to Albert Einstein whose birthday was today.

So, Happy Pi Day to you all.  I’m going to celebrate by eating something out of my pi plate.  Yes, I really have one just like this:

Time to empty the spam bin again.  More often than not, the comments in the spam bin are less than flattering.  Once, my intelligence was even disparagingly compared to a ‘fugus.’ (They meant fungus, but I was able to comprehend the typo, even with my limited intelligence).  That’s right – the fugus [sic] was smarter then [sic] me.  Ouch.

But this time, the bin was full of a new and different kind of spam.  It was full of flattering spam.  Presumably, blog software will be so taken with these generic cookie-cutter compliments that it will allow them through.  And then, the sneaky link to a video site, or somewhere that sells vinyl repair kits, or a dating site will sail right on through into the comments section.

Despite this new spam strategy devised to get these comments posted on the blog, the Wordpress gatekeeper out-clevered it but left me a whole pile of fan-spam in the bin, which I have to say, was pretty fun to read.  Not only were the randomly generated comments amusing – sort of like a spam Mad Libs –  but the names of the “commenters” were really great.  Here they are for your enjoyment, minus the links, of course.

Kirk Chimillo – I must say dude, your website is simply great. I found it simply by scoping around Bing and imo I am immensely grateful that I did. Keep it up.

Hunter Giel – I must be honest fellow, your blogroll is simply stunning. I found it simply by scouring around Yahoo and tbh I am 100% grateful that I did. Keep it up.

Earnestine Brendlinger – I must be honest man, your blogroll is simply breathtaking. I found it simply by scouring around Yahoo and fwiw I am immensely grateful that I did. Keep it up.

Wanetta Tamoyo – I must say homey, your website is simply by far the greatest. I found it simply by searching around Bing and to tell you the truth I am without a doubt thankful that I did. Keep it up.

Williams Liemer – I must admit homey, your page is simply out of this world. I found it simply by crawling around Bing and seriously I am definitely thankful that I did. Keep it up.

Branden Dunckel – I must admit friend, your site is simply addicting. I found it simply by looking around Google and imo I am certainly joyful that I did. Keep it up.

Delicia Stefano – I must admit bro, your website is simply stunning. I found it simply by scanning around Google and to be honest I am certainly happy that I did. Keep it up.

Louann Furmanik – I must admit dude, your website is simply miraculous. I found it simply by crawling around AOL and imo I am without a doubt over the top that I did. Keep it up.

Earlene Garlick – I must be honest bro, your blog is simply by far the greatest. I found it simply by looking around Bing and in all honesty I am without a doubt happy that I did. Keep it up.

Jung Sulc – I must confess dude, your blogroll is simply far out. I found it simply by investigating around Yahoo and tbh I am certainly grateful that I did. Keep it up.

And before I head off to bed for one less hour of sleep than I usually get, let me just say this…

I really have to say peeps, your participation is really simply tops.  You found me simply by snuffling around the internets, and imho I am euphoric that you did.  Keep it up!