veni, vedi, ... suffragi

I came, I saw, I voted.

Today was caucus night here in Minnesota. The Republican, DFL, Independence & Green parties all met across the state. My new year's resolution was to get more politically active. So, I headed out to caucus.

I figured the Cataclysmic End of the World would occur if I attended the Republican caucus. The Minnesota DFL (a.k.a. Democrats) just isn't doing it for me these days. So, between the other 2 parties, the closest one was at the library. The Hosmer Library is down the street from our house, at 4th & 36th, we're at 16th & 36th. So ... off I went to the Green Party caucus.

Yes, I only went after looking at their party platforms. Yes, they're (9/10) okay with me, as far as policy statements go. That is the policy positions I agree with, not their execution ... which is where I anticipate diverging from the majority.

e.g. suggestion @ the caucus to have a position on supporting the RNC 8 and eliminating the state's PATRIOT-ACT imitation. This is the only point I spoke up about - the two should be separated. I'm all for eliminating the law in question; I'm not so hot on the overly-general-vague statement about the RNC 8. Separate the two. The party went with my recommendation, which was nice.

I didn't participate in the discussion about which person should get the Green endorsement for the gubenatorial race, since the Greens aren't putting forward their own candidate. I have no idea who the two people in question were anyway. When the discussion got around to party platforms and positions ... well, now there I have opinions.

I had to come home and confront Mr.Gopher. "Hi, honey, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to be out of town on May 1st. I volunteered to be a delegate to the Minnesota Green Party Convention." This is Mr. CDU Gopher (read: one of the more conservative parties in Germany, that of course, being "conservative" in a more rational sense than the Dorks here use).

I figured the Green Party would benefit from my participation and lobbying for economic reform and non-environmental positions. I might as well put the gregarious side of my personality to use for the benefit of Mankind. Well, at least the benefit of a few people here in Minnesota.

I'll have to put a more in-depth post about the ins & outs of a political convention in May.

My new year's resolution was, after all, to be more politically active.

Tickets, please

I can see the appeal of spending a few dollars having the Metro Cops spend a shift riding around checking tickets on the Light Rail. Price of a ticket for no ticket? $180. Figuring it costs $60/hour for 2 cops, if they manage to issue 1 ticket / 3 hours, they'll break even financially. And put the fear of god into riders to drive home the point that they do check. I think I had my pass/ID checked three times in the last academic year. Now? Twice in one week - which actually translates to once yesterday and once this evening. And the visit yesterday ...? Was 2 metro cops and 2 TSA. TSA? Well, I suppose the Light Rail does go through the airport. I haven't seen anyone get nailed without a ticket yet, though. I have heard, however, that they have a Zero tolerance policy about it.

running hot? or cold?

Warm September segues into Cold October: aiming for record-breaking? Not me.

October temperatures are also way below average. After a very warm September (+5.5 degrees) we are running 8.4 degrees below average for October. So in a month, we've gone from the 11th warmest September or record to what may be one of the top 10 coldest Octobers on record.

Though I am very thankful for the above-average precipitation this month. It's been too dry for too long here.

Unburied Remains

The remains of the 35W bridge are still sitting on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Like some twisted remains of a giant picked clean by carrion eaters.

A few months ago, en route to my first attendance of the local chapter of the AIHA, I was thinking "... north on 35W, east to ... hey, oh my god, this is the new bridge!"

The bridge in the back-right (although it's not exactly obvious that it is a bridge - the horizontal line) is the Washington Street Bridge that spans the river between the East and West Bank campuses of Rodent U. My bus/bike crosses it every day, and the rusting wreckage seems so pathetically lost. Like the NTSB or DoT forgot it, the stuffed toy under the bed gathering dust bunnies.

7 Deadly Sins - coming to your front door

A couple of geographers from Kansas State University wrangled up a host of national statistical databases, massaged the numbers and used them to quantify lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride on a county-by-county basis across the U.S. ... Greed was calculated by comparing average incomes with the total number of inhabitants living beneath the poverty line.
Graphs are located at: http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2009/mar/25/seven-deadly-sins-nationwide-hot-spots/

Minnesota is pretty cold on most of them... except Envy, with Hennepin & Ramsey Counties leading the pack. This translates to Minneapolis & St. Paul.

Homegrown Terrorism & Stupidity in Winter Cultural Fashions

Minneapolis has become the focus of a wide-ranging FBI investigation into a terrorist group's recruitment of young immigrant men for service in Somalia's ethnic and religious warfare.

"We have seen Al-Qaida franchise itself around the world ..."
Is this like McDonald's? Call 800-4TERROR now to ask about the franchise opportunities in your neighborhood for extremists. Evangelical Christians need not apply.

"Somali youth talk more about March Madness, Kobe Bryant, and the NFL draft than they do about [him],"
At least the discussion of March Madness isn't a total wash: the Gophers are managing to not loose all of their games. (mind you, "not lose" isn't quite the same thing as "win".)

Rep. Keith Ellison, the Minneapolis Democrat who became the first Muslim elected to Congress.
This implies there's been more than one, rather than "Ellison ... the only one who managed to get in"

If they're sitting around wondering why their kids are haring off to the Old Country with no clue about Reality ... they'd do better trying to integrate into Main-Stream America. Walking through Riverside (a.k.a. Little Mogadishu) is a fashion parade of eastern Africa. I really don't care what culturally-specific clothing people wear. I encourage people to keep their traditional languages alive, and am happy the Hennepin County Library system has Somaali books. (In fact, the only foreign language books in East Lake, Hosmer or Hopkins are Spanish and Somaali.)

The avoidance of being American is what leads naive children to do stupid things in pursuit of someone else's nationalism. If the kids had more ties to being American, and seeing America as their primary nationality, they'd be less likely to go wandering off in pursuit of someon else 's nationalistic goals. (Although, admittedly the problem in Somali seems to be the predominance of ethnicity rather than nationalism.)

Speaking of cultural fashion: there are several different groups of traditional/semi-traditionally clothed females around here. The traditional Somalis are quite noticeable with their head-to-toe veil-coverings. While I certainly couldn't tell, at least it would lend itself to wearing warm clothes in the Minnesota Winters.

The other Muslim traditionalists with hijabs are a common sight. Yesterday the weather was -3F when I left for the Light Rail to campus. The wind chill was at least -25F. I'm standing inside the shelter at Lake Street Station. A young woman is there wearing a hijab, coat and ankle-length skirt. Totally unremarkable sight, except ... she wasn't wearing gloves. Okay, a stupidity shared by quite a few others on the platform. Her hijab is a sheer, lightweight cotton/polyester - a stupidity shared by all the other women with them. Why don't you ever see them in heavy cotton flannel or thermal fleece? Not fashionable enough? But what made me struggle to not laugh: Because she was backlit in the bright morning sun, I could also see that her skirt was really sheer. I could see her legs clear up to her knees, where the skirt lining stopped. I was left wondering if she even realized this ... Cultural compliance in form, but not substance.

Quiet Minnesota

Minneapolis recorded its first homicide of the year Sunday afternoon when a 48-year-old man was shot to death in the Jordan neighborhood.

Out little town of 372,833 just can't compete with the big cities like Detroit.

Tale of Dexpereaux (not a review)

"The Tale of Despereaux" is set in the the faraway kingdom of Dor. It's the story of an unlikely hero-- a tiny mouse with exceptionally large ears. That mouse, Despereaux, falls in love with a princess. His fate becomes intertwined with a rat trapped in a dungeon and a servant girl who dreams of becoming a princess.

Kate DiCamillo won the 2005 Newberry Medal for her book, "The Tale of Despereaux." DiCamillo talked with Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer about the film adaptation. She had just returned from the movie's premiere in L.A.

If you ever wonder (i.e., you're anyone I know other than STUF&GBTW or Cinda) about the process of going from written word to visual story on the silver screen ... you'll find this interesting. It popped up on the local public radio station because DiCamillo is a local girl. Opening Friday. I guess, unlike Will Smith popping into Edina, we don't rate a 'premier' here. Yeah, no kidding - the Will Smith. No relation.

(Although on a totally unrelated note, about 'not related', the Security chief at my last regular job was also named Smith, was shorter than I am, and was certainly much blacker than I am - not that this is much of a challenge. Clyde would constantly introduce me as his sister, which always, always made the person do a complete double-take. I could always see curiosity struggling with what they perceived as good taste. After personally being shocked the first time he did it, I encouraged the social confusion by pointing out that he was always considered the black sheep of the family. At which point, the person was never really sure if he should laugh. Which, in effect, gave Clyde & I a good chuckle.)

Fahrenheit = Celcius

from Monday
There is a point at which the Fahrenheit and Celcius temperature systems cross: -40

The weather is a constant topic of interest to most Midwesterners. It's the guaranteed safe-topic in any social function. Did you hear how cold it was up in Duluth this morning? [today's answer: -30) And, of course, if they don't sound like they're from here, you can extend the meterological discussion: "Did you grow up here? No? Was it this cold where you used to live?"

After experiencing the bitter cold this morning (today's high was minus 3 F) ... the weather man on MPR said we failed to break the record low temp by a few degrees this morning. So, of course, out of curiosity, I wondered what sort of record lows the Twin Cities get:

December 25, 1879: -39F
so, yes, this is basically -39C

of course, balanced by
December 25, 1922: +52F


Today's frigid expedition was to a sporting goods store for the Jr. Gophers' new & improved Winter apparel. And 2 sleds. New hat, balaklava, thermal socks, and super-warm mittens. The snow boots & snow pants were last week.

As long as the temperature is above 20, we'll be hitting the slopes: well, the hill at Powderhorn Park, 4 blocks from home.

The Calculation of Failure:

Under the arch there ... that's the remains of a 4-lane interstate sitting in the Mississippi River. NTSB finally decided what actually happened on that fateful morning we were watching this on CNN-Germany in the Munich International Airport.

Some of the 35W bridge's gusset plates were too small for the weight of the bridge. Where they should have been an inch thick, they were half an inch.
In 1962, when the bridge was designed, the size of the gusset plates likely weren't calculated.
1977: MnDOT added two inches of pavement to the bridge deck.
1998: added a de-icing system and barriers.
Summer 2007: re-decking the bridge began
August 1, 2007, 3:30 p.m.: Nearly 300 tons of equipment and rock and concrete were placed on the bridge deck, weighing as much as a 747 aircraft.
August 1, 2007, 6:00 p.m.: whole damn thing falls into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour.

"Somebody missed the whole idea that we're going to put 287 tons of weight on the bridge and maybe somebody should look at that," Chealander said.

Every year the American Society of Civil Engineers create a report card for and a cost estimate of fixing the country's infrastructure.

In 2008? $1.6 trillion strike you?

Put it in perspective, Ballarini says. "We have a $700 billion (financial) bailout and we have a $700, $800 billion war, so it's not that we can't generate that money," he says.
A growing number of federal and state lawmakers appear to favor spending more in infrastructure both to address years of deferred maintenance and putting people back to work.

Ballarini's advice?

Don't bank on the leaders following through.

"I'm convinced through education and grass roots movements that we could get these things done. One of the things I'll talk about is that we can't rely on people at the very top to lead us.

click on little picture at top of story for bigger version of photo @ top

#231

Was at Powderhorn Park at 8:45 a.m. There are 2 different wards(?) voting in the same building. The line was gone by 9:10 when I left.

25 minutes for no line?

Jr.Gopher#1 was with me; I wanted him to see the election experience. I figured I could show him my ballot & what I do with it.

Much to my surprise, there was a "Kids Vote!" sign, complete with ballots and a miniature voting booth. This is the coooooolest thing. The kids could get a kiddie ballot with the choices for the president and federal senate/house. It also had the 3 ballot options (for Mpls/state) and it had the choices for the Minneapolis school board. The candidates all had pictures next to their name. After turning in his ballot, he got his own "I voted" sticker which looks different than mine. The ballots are on bubble paper, and I was informed that, yes, they really are going to be counted. The results will get posted on-line & (they hope) published in the newspaper.

I didn't tell him who to vote for, but apparently he recognized Barak Obama and decided that the Constitution Party candidate ought to be elected to the senate and the DFL candidate for the house.

Minnesota the Voting Capital: I just can't get over the huge number of people who turn out here.

Minnesota uses optical scanners: fill out the paper ballot, put it in the machine, and it gets instantly counted. I was voter #231, according to the machine.

News from The Land of 10,000 Lakes*

* according to AAA, there are actually over 12,000

Again, a reason to have a camera: there is this fellow who comes into the local cafe who is the absolute spitting image of Richard Gere. So help me, a total shocking double take. Down to the same glasses, salt&pepper hair, it took staring (covertly) for a while to think, 'no, that's no him'. Of course, had it been him, it would just have become an interesting 'guess who I saw @ MayDay'. Besides, seeing Richard Gere (or anyone else reasonably famous) is far less remarkable in Minneapolis than, say, Big Isaac, West Virginia. Or even Lansing, Michigan. Rather like last year sitting in a restaurant and thinking, god, that looks like Al Franken. After a (much longer) covert stare, I finally realized, yes it is him. Of course, I hadn't realized StLP was his home town.

The Big Brother Factor is in full-swing with the boys. Jr.Gopher #2 sits & watches #1 in a very analytical manner, taking everything in. A few seconds later, the identical behavior appears. Unfortunately, this applies to playing Wild Boy at the dinner table, as well as joyful running around screaming in the maternally approved great outdoors.

Gregor is finally beginning to talk. Not much, but occasionally real, understandable words emerge. So, Müll is no longer his only word. There is little incentive for him to speak, since he comes equipped with a personal translator.

Me (to both boys): Do you want corn chex?
Michael: Do you want corn chex, Gregor?
Gregor: nods
Michael: Gregor wants corn chex, mama.

Boys running full tilt around the wheelchair ramp outside Kinderstube. Gregor falls down, gets back up.
Michael: Gregor, are you okay?
Gregor nods
Michael (to me): Gregor fell down. He says he's okay!

Michael wants a puppy. He doesn't want a dog, only a puppy. I don't want a dog. Dogs slobber. That's why I wanted a cat. Cats don't slobber. Except mine. Mine drools. A lot. So I'm confronted with 'would it be so bad, since I'm getting slobbered anyway?' Oh, there's that little "gotta let the dog out" every 6 hours or so. And that little euphemistic "walking the dog". Walking's ok. But, I'm really looking forward to the collection and disposal of fecal matter ending soon, not starting. Canine additions to the HealthyGopher family will wait until the children are old enough to comprehend "You will take care of the dog". And then I'll probably get the a bunny. Something that can play with the next cat. Cats eat bunnies? Oops. Maybe a guinea pig - Raven hasn't eaten the neighbors' yet.

I am officially done with my ethics class. Interesting reading. Totally useless course, if we're meant to learn anything about ethics. Useful, if we're simply meant to brush up on our composition and writing abilities. Oh, well. C'est la vie.

Pearly whites

this is like watching gangrene spreading; missiles descending upon your position; that slo-mo transition as the pick-up fails to stop at the rail-road crossing. It's so god-awful you just can't take your eyes off it. Our own lunatic in Washington. Well, not directly my lunatic. I've got the rabid Muslim-devil-Bush-hater as a representative.

The “Bachmann Smile” is a like a scary secret weapon. For folks accustomed to following MN politics this is not news. In fact, it is very old news. But for others like CP, who keep headphones on their ears all day listening to MC/VL and The Hold Steady, this could be new. Though we doubt it. The Bachmann Smile is like The Eye, searching for something like a ring to give it ultimate power. And if we want to go deeper into this meta-nalogy, her DFL [i.e., Democrat] opponent Elwyn Tinklenberg sounds like a name poached straight from the Shire. Let’s just hope Tinklenberg has a forthright buddy helping him along the campaign trail, as it seems like Bachmann could sum up the power of a million Orcs at any moment.

Or, as she puts it herself, while being shot down on L.King, “She’s proven herself to be a strong leader in Alaska, taking on pork barrel spending and making fiscal responsibility a top priority”. I'm not sure if Bachmann realizes the "taking on ... spending" does not mean "accepting it".

"Bachmann has yet [8/28/08] to hold an open public meeting for constituents in her district since being elected in 2006." Now that truly blows me away. oh, no! was I misled by the evil "independent" media? She has a permanent, standing "town hall" meeting! It's at: michellebachmann.townhall.com

Her "secret" RNC soiree / schmooze cruise / pow-wow to kowtow was on the river. I suppose it might be considered part of her district, since the boat dock is.