There was another mass ascension of balloons Thursday morning, and many of them swept across the North Valley at low altitudes. Picture time!
Road crew pursues the balloons. Quite an international crew here (I saw one vehicle waving the Union Jack).
Almost looks like Godzilla is marauding south along the Rio Grande River!
Pleasant trip along the Rio Grande River with Bruce Warren, to feed the Canadian Geese at Tingley Beach. Flawless, except when a bolt loosened on his tire, and he had to stop to fix it, and he accidentally squatted in a sticker bush, and I had to pull stickers off his ass. But other than that, perfect!
And the Canadian Geese approved too!
On the return from Bernalillo, in the sunset gloaming, we were fortunate to see all five contestants for the America's Challenge, hanging low over the Rio Grande Valley just after launch. These were long-distance hydrogen balloons. The goal was to travel as far as possible (last year's winner landed at the ND/Canadian border). Most years see a dozen challengers: because of the recent rise in the price of hydrogen, and the fact that it's mostly a European sport, this year there were only five. Unlike the hot air balloons, they are happy to launch just before sunset, and here they were, hanging low over Alameda and Sandia Pueblo.
Shortly after noon, I went to Ira's Family's house. Ira had flown in from Vegas for the weekend. Both he and his mother were quite tired - they had awakened at 2:30 a.m. and attended the dawn Mass Ascension of the hot air balloons at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Ira had enough energy to come with me to Blake's Hamburgers: Ira's mom went to take a nap with the cats.
In the evening, Ken, Marra, Richard, Michelle and I went to Bernalillo to the Range Cafe for Michelle's Birthday Dinner. A good time was had by all!
Left: Flock of Sandhill Cranes.
Sandhill Cranes live their lives as pairs.
Easier to get closer to the Canadian Geese.
Community Farming in the Land of Enchantment!
On Sunday morning, Michelle wanted to work on the row she's rented, and the row she adopted, at Los Poblanos Community Garden. I accompanied her.
Michelle works on her rows as the Johnson Grass encroaches from the edges.
Johnson Grass is a pretty, non-native grass (it's from California) that works real well for erosion control, but is the bane of NM farmers, because it's very difficult to uproot.
There were quite a few Canadian Geese nearby, who flew over us while we worked and as hot air balloons floated by. We could hear Sandhill Cranes behind the surrounding stand of Johnson Grass, but we couldn't see them.
Left: Looking through the windows at parallel contrails at Las Vegas' Mccarran International Airport.
In the evening, we headed into the Heights to see my nephew Aaron, and his Whippet, Blizzard. Such a cute dog! We ended up at Chili's and discussed the job market in all its many manifestations.
Dale Johnson was confident he had a legal right to pursue and detain Luis Gutierrez that fatal day in April 2009.
The Yolo County sheriff's lieutenant, who was then a sergeant and head of the county's gang task force, testified in Sacramento federal court that, when Gutierrez ran from him, he had cause to believe Gutierrez was up to no good.
He was a "Hispanic male" in baggy clothes walking in an area where gang members hang out, Johnson testified.
He saw the officer's badge, Johnson said, yet ran away, with his hand in the right front pocket of his shorts.
"It was a very dynamic thing that had happened," Johnson told the jury of eight women and one man. "It was not normal. I believed that some criminal activity could be taking place. He could have just committed a crime. He may have a warrant out for his arrest."
It was over in less than a minute, according to Johnson. He caught up with Gutierrez, grabbed him briefly by the shoulders but couldn't hang on, and Gutierrez ducked away and stopped. Gutierrez swiped at him with a folding knife, he testified, so Johnson pulled his service handgun and fired four times.
She appeared uncomfortable recalling the incident, and was a reluctant witness who had to be subpoenaed by plaintiffs' lawyers in order to assure her appearance at the farmworker's wrongful-death trial. She gave short, mostly one-word answers, volunteering nothing.You don't have to believe that Gutierrez had a knife, or that one was planted by the cops. All you have to believe is that Gutierrez didn't recognize his plainclothes assailants as cops, and decided to flee from a highly-irregular, highly-aggressive approach while vulnerable on the Gum Avenue overpass. And for that, he was killed.
But by the time she had finished Wednesday, her testimony dramatically contradicted the accounts of two Yolo County sheriff's deputies accused of violating the victim's constitutional rights and killing him without just cause.
...She was driving east on the Gum Avenue overpass above state Highway 113 when she noticed a black Ford Taurus behind her going east in the westbound lane of the two-lane street.
Still in the wrong lane, the car pulled to the curb and two men jumped out and began running at Gutierrez, who was walking east on the sidewalk adjacent to the westbound lane. She said there appeared to be nothing unusual about Gutierrez, who looked behind him and began to run from the two men.
Even though the pursuers were dressed in T-shirts and jeans and the car was unmarked, Fletes said she assumed it was police business because she recognized Yolo County sheriff's Sgt. Dale Johnson from a fitness center she frequented and knew he was a law enforcement officer.
Curious, Fletes said, she slowed down and eventually pulled to the curb and stopped.
She said Gutierrez ran 10 to 15 feet down the sidewalk, then veered into the street in front of her car. Johnson was hot on his heels, no more than 15 feet behind, with a gun in his hand, she said. At this point, she said, she did not see the other man who had alighted from the car.
"I heard one shot, but I don't know where it came from," Fletes told the jury. She said that just before Gutierrez reached the other side of the street he turned to face Johnson, then fell to the ground.
"I was told they had this under control and to move forward," Fletes recalled.
...Virtually every part of Fletes' testimony runs counter to the story told to the jury earlier by Johnson and the other pursuing officer, sheriff's Deputy Hernan Oviedo.
Yesterday, Joe The Plumber and I worked on a broken sprinkler head (and in the process detected a broken pipe that will just have to wait for repair). Afterwards, we stopped off at Pancake Circus, located at 21st & Broadway, where this book is on display.Hey Marc,I replied:
My name is K. I was given your Facebook contact info by a mutual friend Caitlin Kiley. I am a local Sacramento filmmaker and film student at CSU Sacramento. I am directing a short film I wrote, as a senior film project CSUS.
I am looking for the lead role and you were recommending to me by Caitlin, who is helping a bit with casting. The character’s name is Barny and I was wondering if you'd be interested in acting for my film. Barny is a recently fired clown. He is older, scruffy faced, and dirty. He is pretty depressed and somber since being let go from the circus. He was a clown his entire life, the circus lifestyle is all he’s ever known. He had a good career as a young clown in the past, but his time in the circus is over. Now, he is having a hard time adapting to and facing the harsh and cruel 'real world'. Naturally, he is still trying to act like a clown, but people are not very accepting of him. He's experiencing a loss of identify. The character develops as the story progresses.
Hi K.:He replied:
That sounds HILARIOUS! I'm flattered that Caitlin suggested me! The main hindrance I see is that I don't consider myself to be a very good actor. Nevertheless, sometimes people naturally fit certain roles, so it's certainly worth giving it a shot.
October looks difficult. I'm traveling next week, and I'm head of DMTC's Haunted House Committee.
Here's a video of me and a friend (who, oddly enough, was once a clown).
Hi Marc,We're heading over to my house this afternoon for a reading, to see if I'm suitable for this role.
Thanks for the quick response. Yes, most of the filming will be done from the middle of October to the first week or so of November. Sounds like that is a busy time for you, but we may be able to work around your schedule if that could be a possibility?
The film depicts a future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality or cyberspace created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source.I picture Obama to be like Morpheus, Chris Matthews like Neo, and Rachel Maddow like Trinity:
Computer programmer Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is secretly a hacker known as "Neo". He is restless, eager and driven to learn the meaning of cryptic references to the "Matrix" appearing on his computer. A female hacker named Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) confirms that a man named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) can help him; however, three Agents, led by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), arrest Neo and attempt to prevent him from collaborating with Morpheus.Wow! If the humans are taking refuge in Utah (Zion), they must cleverly be in southern Utah! And the GOP is wrong, as usual, about mocking Obama as "The One". Obama is not that obvious!
...Morpheus tells Neo that humans are fighting against intelligent machines that were created early in the 21st century and have since taken control of the Earth's surface. The machines harvest the bioelectrical energy of humans, who are kept docile within the "Matrix" – a simulation of the world as it was in 1999. Neo has lived in this simulated world since birth; in reality, the year is closer to 2199. Morpheus and his crew belong to a group of free humans who "unplug" others from the Matrix and recruit them to their rebellion against the Machines. They are able to connect themselves to the Matrix, where they can gain superhuman abilities by using their understanding of the simulated reality's true nature to manipulate its physical laws. ... Morpheus believes that Neo is "the One", a man prophesied to end the war.
...In the Matrix, the Agents drug and interrogate Morpheus in an attempt to learn his access codes to the mainframe computer in Zion, the humans' subterranean refuge in the real world. Neo and Trinity return to the Matrix and rescue Morpheus; in the process, Neo becomes more confident in his ability to manipulate the Matrix, and is ultimately able to dodge bullets fired at him.
... In the Matrix, just before reaching another exit, Neo is shot and killed by Agent Smith. Trinity, who is standing over Neo's body in the real world, whispers that the Oracle told her she would fall in love with the One. She kisses Neo and restores his life. In the Matrix, Neo revives with new power to perceive and control the simulated world, and effortlessly destroys Agent Smith, before returning to the real world in time for the ship's EMP weapon to destroy the attacking sentinels.
The film ends with Neo back in the Matrix, making a telephone call promising that he will demonstrate to the people imprisoned in the Matrix that "anything is possible." He hangs up the phone and flies into the sky.
There’s no question that Romney crushed the president, who gave a poor performance. But the facts are clear: This won’t determine the outcome.Obama looked like his mind was on bigger objectives than this year's sordid campaign tit-for-tat. I liked his presentation!
It’s worth looking back to the 2004 presidential debates. The unanimous opinion was that John Kerry punished George W. Bush. Whereas Bush was churlish, impatient, and aloof, Kerry was dynamic and aggressive. He came away from the debates with momentum and a boost in the polls.
... Obama is winning the vast majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, while Romney is doing the same for Republicans. There isn’t much across-the-aisle voting in this election, which means that Romney needs to win undecideds and break Obama’s coalition to make gains. To do that, he needs to offer a convincing argument to Democratic voters and, so far, his campaign hasn’t been able to clear that hurdle. Yes, the debate helped him look serious and presidential, but that’s never been his problem: Romney moves with an aura of competence. What he lacks is detail and conviction.
Well, I had to watch the debate late replay because I was working late. So I was not feeling great after working a little too hard, and then I had to watch Romney turn on (and leave on) that plastic, smirking, disrespectful smile, lie or change his positions multiple times because it was a different audience (AGAIN!!!), and disrespect one of the most sincere, dedicated Presidents we've ever had over and over again with things he said. THEN(!!!), I had to watch the talking heads and their instant polls say the President "lost" the debate basically because he wasn't as aggressive or as much of a jerk as Romney was. Wow. This isn't one of those trashy reality shows where you get declared the winner because you were the best liar and screwed over all your friends. Is that the kind of behavior he will use to effectively reach out to the democrats when he meets with them every Monday (pretty ironic). It's supposed to be an educational debate to help people who haven't been paying enough attention gain a better understanding of the candidates' plans and positions so they can make an informed decision.Don't worry, Ben! The American people saw and heard all we needed to make an informed decision!
I am so glad this is fake, because it's HILARIOUS and I want to be able to laugh about it without feeling bad for anybody.
