Book Update

After the Pop Culture conference in ABQ in February, I decided to write an almanac after all. The summer season of travel is coming up. Basically I decided to take my BrBa pages and condense them into a book. At first, I intended on getting a publisher (McFarland Press seemed the best), but I’ve decided to self-publish. The reason is it will be easier to change and update the text provided I retain close control. The reason I was worried about that is discovering that some people might object to content. Ann Lerner at the ABQ Film Office warned me that I couldn’t use private residences unless I had permission. So I asked the owners of the White house, if I could publish their address and post a map regarding location. They said absolutely no way. So, I’ve decided to remove the addresses of all private residences. This degrades the function of the book somewhat, but who’s to say that’s enough? Hence, the need to self-publish. It will be the weirdest Breaking Bad guide – one that doesn’t mention the addresses of the Whites, the Schraders, or Jesse Pinkman. C’est la vie.

Work has been slow, so I’ve had the opportunity to write and edit. I nearly have the text ready. There is an issue regarding picture pixellation. Most of my pictures are 96 dpi, but they recommend 300 dpi. I’m thinking it won’t matter much, because I was going to go black-and-white rather than color, in order to keep cost low. On another edition, after rephotography, maybe I can create a color coffee-table version. I’m still not sure Amazon will accept the lower dpi, but I will find out. I also need to obtain permission to use a photograph by Garry Winogrand. I haven’t obtained that yet.

I’m going to call the proposed work “A Guidebook to Breaking Bad Filming Locations” by Marc P. Valdez (with contributions by Sven Joli). With luck, it will be ready for publishing next week. If luck fails, I might have to strip out a bunch of photos. But I intend to get something done here.

Vote For "Auburn Road"!

Over the last year, I appreciated the energy boost a group of teen girls added by attending "Get Fierce Funk" aerobics at Step One Dance and Fitness, but it wasn't until tonight I learned they aren't just friends, but together form a singing group called "Auburn Road". Currently, they lead in KCRA's A-List "Best Band" voting category, and I encourage you to add your votes too!

Rephotographing Winogrand's ABQ Picture

Interesting blog post.

Anonymous Issues A List Of Demands To The City Of Albuquerque

Most of them are reasonable, but people may resent the intrusion.

Red And Blue Lights Again

Apparently even though Jiffy Lube replaced the tail light, there is some kind of electrical defect, and the rear lights are still failing. Time for a repair!

Southwestern Skylight

John writes in regard to "Light visibility in NM"

I've seen a number of these lately for different places.
Not much light pollution in Socorro & Catron Counties--more that I would have expected in the San Juan Basin though.

I reply:

It’s impressive looking at the Permian Basin. More light than you’d think necessary.

DMTC's "A Chorus Line" In Rehearsal Sunday Night At The Ballet Studio

The Folks At "Inhabitants Of Burque" Blog Did An Excellent Job

Much weaker elsewhere in the media spectrum:

"Tom Sawyer" - DMTC Young Performer's Theatre - 3/30/14

Albuquerque Unrest

Anonymous makes good on its warnings against the Albuquerque Police Department regarding the James Boyd killing, and launched cyberattacks. People turned out to demonstrate too, although many experienced protestors apparently shied away. That just meant more-immature people took to the streets without much guidance. APD finally fired the tear gas.

I'm amazed how upset people in Albuquerque got over what they perceived as disrespect to the flag. I remember the Vietnam protests, where the disrespect was much more aggressive. I also remember the National Guard bayonet attacks against UNM students back in the day. In comparison, these demonstrations are much more restrained.

I'm also amazed how the national media AREN'T covering the story. All the people on CNN can talk about is the Malaysian airliner. A near-riot in an American city clearly can't hold a candle to the missing airliner story. The blogs are mostly quiet too, although I notice the FDL folks were covering it.

The only local folks who covered the story at all in any completeness - maybe mostly just one guy - were at the "Inhabitants of Burque" blog. Everyone else seems to have fallen down on the job.

Albuquerque Journal:

The rally began at noon. After 9 p.m., police used around a dozen canisters of tear gas to disperse protesters near Central and Vassar, several people were seen being arrested, and Mayor Richard Berry said in a late-night news conference that an officer was injured.

“We respected their rights to protest, obviously,” Berry said, “but … they’ve taken it far beyond a normal protest.”

The march along Central boiled over at several points, with protesters ignoring police commands to disperse and having a standoff with officers in riot gear. The demonstration came after an online “hacktivist” group, known as Anonymous, issued a call to action in response to seeing video of Boyd’s shooting. The group also waged a cyberattack against the APD website, which was inaccessible throughout the day Sunday, and what appeared to be a number of officers’ personal phone numbers were released by a purported hacker.

At one of the most tense moments, demonstrators sat down on Fifth Street near APD headquarters, not complying with officers’ demands to disperse. Police were heard calling the protest an “unlawful assembly” and donned gas masks, riot shields and batons.

Protesters eventually moved on after an hour and marched east on Central Avenue and briefly took over Interstate 25, slowing 75-mph traffic and prompting a police response.

From there, protesters arrived at the university area, where one man climbed a Central Avenue light pole and tried to topple it. After that, protesters marched largely unhindered by police toward Girard and Central, where they jumped on top of an APD substation and sprayed it with graffiti.

Riot police finally arrived and arranged themselves in a line across the busy street. They were joined by officers on horseback, in addition to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team. Protesters confronted them at first but then were able to circumvent the line and continue west on Central Avenue.

After repeated commands from police to leave, officers used cans of tear gas, with gas reportedly drifting north across Johnson Field into the University of New Mexico dorms. UNM later advised students to use their air conditioners if the gas caused any issues. Students were already on a “shelter in place” advisory because of the protesting and police activity.

Then the protests reconvened Downtown at APD headquarters. After another dose of tear gas, fewer than 100 protesters left the building and were ushered by a police line toward Civic Plaza.

When protesters arrived Downtown, a man driving a paint-ball gun rental truck stopped in front of the APD building and pulled out what he claimed was an AK-47 rifle. The man said that the only way to meet APD’s force was with force, but protesters persuaded him to put the gun away.

By 11:30 p.m., police had begun moving out of Downtown, though a small fight broke out and protesters dragged city barriers into the road near Fourth and Central.

"Cats" - River City Theater Company (RCTC) - Winter Cast - 3/29/14

Postdocalypse

The rarely-discussed but nevertheless wanton destruction of America's scientific potential (of which I count myself Postdoc Exhibit "A") is discussed here:

According to Brandeis University biochemist Gregory Petsko, who recently chaired a National Academy of Sciences committee on the postdoctoral experience in the United States, less than 20 percent of aspiring postdocs today get highly coveted jobs in academia. That's less than 1 in 5.

...Ethan Perlstein was one of these postdocs—before he decided he'd had enough. ...

But it wasn't just the competition for jobs that deterred Perlstein. Once you land a tenure-track job, you often have to get a big government grant in order to actually get tenure. And those grants are becoming ever more competitive, meaning that young faculty members usually need to apply multiple times before securing one. That is, if they actually do get one before the university that employs them loses patience.

"I guess I just thought, 'Well, I don't want to keep waiting any more,'" recalls Perlstein. "At the time I was 33, and thought, 'Well, I'm also seeing the statistic that says that the average age at which an independent biomedical research gets their first big grant from the NIH is 43 or 42.' And I just thought, 'Another 10 years of just waiting around for my turn in line?'"

You've probably heard the claim that the United States needs to produce more scientists, like Perlstein, to remain competitive with up-and-coming science powerhouses like India and China. ... But what you rarely hear in this argument is the fact that we don't have nearly enough jobs to put to work the scientists we currently have. "U.S. higher education produces far more science and engineering graduates annually than there are S&E job openings," writes Harvard researcher Michael Teitelbaum, "the only disagreement is whether it is 100 percent or 200 percent more."

An Astonishing Evening Learning Dancehall From Laure Courtellemont

One of the most ecstatic dance nights of my entire life! Laure Courtellement taught two master classes this evening, with Margaret Gidding in the first class and myself in the second class getting the privilege of dancing with her! What an amazing inspiration! Pure fun!

The evening hosted at Step One Dance and Fitness, under the able guidance of Elk Grove Dancehall enthusiasts, La Toya Bufford and Catherine Chiemelu.

Courtellement at first put us through a series of dance segments and exercises, which were intended not only to teach us Dancehall basics (for those of us unfamiliar with the Afro-Jamaican art form) but also to convey some flavor of Jamaican street attitude, the mindset of the dances, etc. This was very important for me - it was the first time I had encountered this art form. Then, Courtellement taught us the first 50 seconds of this dance:




What a good teacher, and what an amazing performer she is! These days, Courtellement lives in New York and gets out to Los Angeles once a month. Time for a field trip!




Watching the first Dancehall class from outside. Laure Courtellement taught at Step One Dance and Fitness, March 28, 2013.




Margaret Gidding (left) dances with Laure Courtellement.

Religious Liberty

Mike Mechanik Previews "Noah"

Irrigation Infrastructure Pays Off With NM Pecans

Who knew?:

Thanks in part to the foresight of farmers who installed sophisticated irrigation systems and in part to the arid climate that helps ward off crop disease, the pecan business has been booming in the farmland around Las Cruces. The prosperous harvest this season has been all the more precious because pecan crops in other states — like Georgia — were ravaged by heavy rain and fungus, leading to high prices and shortages just before the Thanksgiving demand for pecan pie.

...Greg Daviet, a longtime Las Cruces pecan farmer, said that pecan growers here were more likely to have invested in irrigation infrastructure than other crop farmers, because pecan orchards were permanent fixtures and required long-term care.

...Farming historians credit Fabian Garcia, a chile breeder who was head of New Mexico State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station, with planting some of the state’s first pecan trees in 1913. But commercial pecan farming did not really take off in New Mexico until more than a decade later.

As Mr. Arnold tells it, a Texas farmer who was hauling a load of pecans westward broke down one day, spilling his wares on the road. Mexican workers, who loved to snack on pecans and had a special affinity for the nuts from their use in northern Mexican cuisine, brought them to Deane Stahmann Sr., a local cotton farmer.

Mr. Stahmann eventually planted a pecan orchard south of Las Cruces. These days, he is widely thought of as the father of the New Mexico pecan industry, and for many years, the Stahmann family farm was the best-known pecan operation in the region.

As it turns out, the searing New Mexico sun suited pecan trees quite well, as long as they got enough water. Though farmers here must still use elaborate and expensive irrigation systems to manage water efficiently and ensure that their trees get enough water, their front-end investments are now, ostensibly, paying off.

“By and large, you have a far more stable, predictable climate here,” said Richard Heerema, pecan specialist at the Extension Plant Sciences department at New Mexico State University.

...Indeed, in a place long famous for its chiles, pecans have now become one of the state’s most valuable commodities, generating well over $100 million annually. According to state data, pecans and hay have ranked among the top two most valuable crops in New Mexico for the past several years.

...“The thing about New Mexico is, ‘Will they have enough water?'  ” said Lenny Wells, an associate professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia. “Aside from that, it’s the perfect climate for growing pecans. They don’t have the disease issues that we do.”

Now Anonymous Wants To Flame APD's Ass Too

Everyone's peeved:

The Albuquerque Police Department came under new scrutiny Wednesday after officers shot and killed a man outside a public housing complex in the second deadly encounter in the last 10 days.

...But Police Chief Gorden Eden released video from an officer's lapel camera indicating shots had been fired from somewhere before police opened fire. "Put the gun down now, Alfred!" police are heard shouting a number of times, before one officer is seen ducking in response to loud pops.

...The shooting came just hours after hundreds of people took to the streets to protest Albuquerque police fatally shooting a homeless camper in the Sandia foothills on March 16, the 36th shooting involving police since 2010.

A group reported to be the international cyber-activist hackers Anonymous posted a YouTube video threatening a cyberattack against the city over the foothills shooting, calling officers "militarized thugs."

..."We respect this group," Perry said. "They have an ability to get into highly, federally protected computer systems ... and we're going to do what we can to guard against the problem."

Debaffling The Baffling Sink Drainage Issue

Well, this was novel! The kitchen sink backed up. In the sixteen years I've been at this address, this had never happened.

The weird chum flowing from the sink had a weird texture. It wasn't just greasy; it was waxy. Does grease turn into wax after months or years in a pipe? I dunno.

Plunging and snaking didn't work, and a first dose of drain cleaner didn't work, so it was off to Target to get more. Hours after a second dose, the drain finally cleared.

Apparently I had sewer drainage issues too. There was evidence of a spill that went unnoticed last week.

Spring is the usual season when these things happen.

The Meds Must Be Unbalanced

E.: MMMMMAAAAARRRRRCCCCC! Look at this article in the paper!

WASHINGTON — Dozens of seasoned militant fighters, including some midlevel planners, have traveled to Syria from Pakistan in recent months in what American intelligence and counterterrorism officials fear is an effort to lay the foundation for future strikes against Europe and the United States.

...Syria is an appealing base for these operatives because it offers them the relative sanctuary of extremist-held havens — away from drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan — as well as ready access to about 1,200 American and European Muslims who have gone there to fight and could be potential recruits to carry out attacks when they return home. Senior counterterrorism officials have voiced fears in recent months that these Western fighters could be radicalized by the country’s civil war.

M.: Well, that's not good.

E.: (Bursting into tears) What is wrong with them? Why do they have to come here? Don't they have a country of their own they can love and defend? I remember that day, 9/11 - it was the worst day of my life....

(147th repeated rendition of what the worst day of her life was like....)

What is wrong with them?

M.: Don't worry. Everything will be all right!

Working On BrBa Locations Manuscript

Quite distracted these days.