Concentrating on my footwork

SB running the 3-2-1 on Pikes Peak this morning. What is a 3-2-1? Drive to the top of Pikes Peak, 14,110', run 3 miles down the trail to A-Frame (Timberline, 12,000'), turn around and run back to the summit, turn around and run back down to 2 miles to go sign, turn around and run back to the summit, turn around and run back down to the one mile to go sign, turn around and run back to the summit. 12 miles all above 12,000' elevation. My uphill splits were 16:16, 14:57, 18:31 for the first three miles; 14:14, 18:59 for the next two miles; and 21:16 on the last mile.

Sound slow? Try it buddy boy. 

Running the 3-2-1 on Pikes Peak

  

Jonathan Schell on Bush's Failed Empire

TomDispatch reprints from the Nation Jonathan Schell on Bush's Failed Empire:

"Consider, for instance, the following passage from a speech called 'The Price of Empire,' by the great dissenter against the Vietnam War Senator William Fulbright.

'Before the Second World War our world role was a potential role; we were important in the world for what we could do with our power, for the leadership we might provide, for the example we might set. Now the choices are almost gone: we are almost the world's self-appointed policeman; we are almost the world defender of the status quo. We are well on our way to becoming a traditional great power -- an imperial nation if you will -- engaged in the exercise of power for its own sake, exercising it to the limit of our capacity and beyond, filling every vacuum and extending the American ‘presence' to the farthest reaches of the earth. And, as with the great empires of the past, as the power grows, it is becoming an end in itself, separated except by ritual incantation from its initial motives, governed, it would seem, by its own mystique, power without philosophy or purpose. That describes what we have almost become…'

Is there a single word -- with the possible exception of 'almost' at the end of the paragraph -- that fails to apply to the country's situation today? Or consider this passage from Fulbright's The Arrogance of Power with the Iraq venture in mind:

'Traditional rulers, institutions, and ways of life have crumbled under the fatal impact of American wealth and power but they have not been replaced by new institutions and new ways of life, nor has their breakdown ushered in an era of democracy and development.'"

From Israel To Lebanon

From Israel To Lebanon

Think Progress » Armitage Fears Bombing Campaign Will ‘End Up Empowering Hezbollah’

Bush's former #2 at State, Richard Armitage Fears Bombing Campaign Will ‘End Up Empowering Hezbollah’

Today's Front Pages

Today's Front Pages 541 front pages from 48 countries.

Word List: Adjectives of Relation

Word List: Adjectives of Relation

A Zero Energy Home

A Zero Energy Home

Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine has quotes from the Rapture Ready/End Times Chat online bulletin board 

Wired News: Tesla Roadster

Wired News: Tesla Roadster: "Take a tour of a prototype of Tesla Motors' new Roadster, a blazing-fast sports car powered by lithium-ion batteries."

Update:
Here's a Washington Post article. And here is the Tesla Roadster web site.

Roger Ebert

My favorite movie reviewer Roger Ebert is recovering from cancer surgery. Zum Wohl, Roger.

James Wolcott: World War Two-and-a-Half

James Wolcott: World War Two-and-a-Half: "President Bush speaks to the camera: 'We're going to call it World War III, but there'll be no draft of your precious darling geniuses, no tax increases, no sacrifice demanded, and I promise not to preempt your favorite programs, such as American Idol.'

Fred and Wilma Flintstone, feet propped up on baby dinosaur: 'Er, okay; fine; whatever.'"

Sustainable and vegetarian cuisine is on show in Sin City | By Cathy Huyghe | Grist Magazine | Main Dish | 14 Jul 2006

Sustainable and vegetarian cuisine is on show in Sin City: "Quick: Where can you eat vegan doughnuts for breakfast, vegetarian Chinese for lunch, and 13-bean soup for an afternoon snack? Hint: In the same city, you can feast on sustainable fish for dinner, prepared by one of the country's celebrity chefs, and Kind Apple Cobbler for dessert -- the 'raw' version."

Blasphemer - The Game

Blasphemer - The Game

For Better or Worse, He's on It

Los Angeles Times: "at a time when many of his Democratic colleagues have spent the last decade in a defensive crouch, outmaneuvered by their GOP rivals, Waxman has found another way to have an impact — going outside normal legislative channels to exert influence on issues he cares about. In the process, he has also made himself into what many Republicans consider the biggest pest east of the Mississippi.

The key to Waxman's unlikely success is this: He has assumed a big chunk of the watchdog role usually filled by the entire Congress, probing deep into government programs and problems to oversee a president and GOP he believes have run amok.

As ranking Democrat on the Government Reform Committee — the chief oversight body of the House — Waxman has leveraged every scrap of his party's resources. He has poked and prodded the Bush administration on Iraq's elusive weapons of mass destruction, on faulty prewar intelligence and on Halliburton's questionable contracts.

He has thrown up roadblocks to protect environmental laws he helped pass when Democrats controlled the Hill, including clean-air and food safety rules. He nettles and needles, firing off blistering letters to agency directors, Army generals, the GOP leadership and the president.

But the most effective weapon in Waxman's arsenal is a staff of high-powered lawyers, investigators and technical experts who churn out a steady stream of penetrating and fact-laden reports. Many find their way into headlines."

Drought Threatens Amazon Basin

Drought Threatens Amazon Basin: "Brazil's environment minister, Marina Da Silva, said the drought was linked to record sea temperatures in the south-west Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico that had also contributed to last year's record Atlantic hurricane season.

But the destruction of the rainforest by illegal loggers has also been named as a cause, as rivers become choked with silt swept from the denuded land.

Ecologist Carlos Rittl said the continued removal of trees was a crucial factor in the drying of a region that has already lost 17% of its forest cover. 'The science shows that 50% of the rain comes from the trees recycling the water through evaporation, which creates more rain. If you lose the trees you lose the rainfall. It cannot continue like this,' he said."

A-Frame at Timberline on Pikes Peak

 John and I at A-Frame: the three mile to go point on the Barr Trail on the way to the summit of Pikes Peak. 

YouTube - Stephen Colbert, George W Bush's Words

YouTube - Stephen Colbert, George W Bush's Words -- It's true "Because he says so..."

The Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust

The Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust is suing the Bush Crime Family.

Googling Santorum

If you Google Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum's last name you may be surprised at what comes up!

fungiphoto.com Mushroom Photo Catalog

fungiphoto.com Mushroom Photo Catalog

Medical journal reveals that 70 percent of drug decision-making panel members have financial ties to industry

Dope pushers:

Medical journal reveals that 70 percent of drug decision-making panel members have financial ties to industry: "The journal Nature has published studies showing that 70 percent of the drug decision panels run in this country are rigged with decision-makers who have strong financial ties to the very drug companies whose products are affected by these decisions."

Wal-Mart's quest for green | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist Magazine

All I can say is WOW!

Wal-Mart's quest for green

Eric Margolis | Foreign Correspondent : TIBET: THE LOST KINGDOM

Eric Margolis, author of "War at the Top of the World" laments on TIBET: THE LOST KINGDOM, after China completes a multibillion dollar railroad to Lhasa.

Double Rainbow

Double Rainbow over Colorado Springs... The last week or more has been more like the Pacific Northwest climate than the high desert climate we are used to here on the Front Range of Colorado. Very welcome though. We need the rain! 

Rainbow over Colorado Springs

View from my balcony this evening... 

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: Covering Iraq

Rod Nordland, Baghdad Bureau Chief for Newsweek from 2003 to 2005, says the American public has little idea how bad it is in Iraq because the Bush administration is good at spinning the news. Also, he says, the Pentagon is helping it by screening embeds for their past reporting and excluding those who've written critically.

The Jesus Puzzle

Jesus never existed. He is a mythical archetype.

Essentials of Buddhism - core concepts

Essentials of Buddhism - core concepts

"The Naked Truth" - Google Video

The Origin of most Religions.