Hike to the Ballpark

I didn't get a chance to mention that our daughter is visiting this week for Rosh Hashana and her Mom's birthday. So today M and I took advantage of the cool (40s F - 5-9C) but sunny weather to hike to the Ball Park, a plateau above Powerline Pass. The Glen Alps parking lot is about a 20 minute ride from our house.

Picture from GoogleEarth - Anchorage.

As we got to Powerline Pass trail from the parking lot, we had a decent view of Denali (officially known in Washington and Ohio as Mt. McKinley) about 250 miles north. It was slightly hazy, but you can see the mountain pretty well. This is the tallest mountain in North America - 20320 feet, 6194 meters.

Here's why it's called Powerline Pass.

There are at least three moose in this picture, but even if you double click to enlarge this they aren't easy to spot.


Part of the trail has a relatively new boardwalk. While this sort of addition intrudes into the natural experience of the hike, there are so many people hiking here now that it is probably necessary to save the landscape. As we got near the top and then on the way down, there are many different trails that hikers have created. Coming down, particularly, when the trails - pretty much straight up and down, not zig-zagged - are muddy is pretty tricky and people, trying to escape the mud, go onto the vegetation, eventually creating new trails. And soon all the natural vegetation will be gone. And since the upper part of the trail often has a large chunk of ice and snow on it, it is usually wet. Coming back - below - it was great to get off the mud and onto this smaller walkway.

Here's the trail going up. Even at about 1:30 when we got to this poing, the trail still had tiny icicles on it. We were headed for that little notch in the ridge on the upper left. From here it looks like a gentle slope, but it's pretty steep when you're closer. Steep enough that the mud paths get really tricky. They were relatively hard still on the way up, but on the way back, they'd thawed a bit more.

Here's a leaf with ice crystals.

There's still a small snow pack at the top.

And here M is just above the lip of the ridge looking at the Ball Park. This was also the snowline today. That's O'Malley Peak in the background. We stopped here to eat before turning back.


Here I'm looking down from the snow pack at the top. You get a better sense of the steepness. My older knees were complaining on the way back. I think it's time to get hiking poles for trips like this. I've marked the parking lot. To the left (outside of the picture) is Flattop. Way in the back, you can see the tide is out in Turnagain Arm and the mudflats are visible.

Here's a view of a little bit of fall color in the tundra.

M's knees are much younger than mine.

This moose was much closer than the ones in the earlier pictures. He was going one way and we another.

Catherine, what are these?

A ground squirrel catching some rays.

Cliff Groh is Blogging the Stevens' Trial

Anyone out there like me who's been wanting to read an Alaskan blogger covering the Stevens trial can do so. Here's Cliff Groh's new blog. Cliff is an attorney who attended many of the trial sessions last year here in Anchorage and he's blogging from DC. From today's post:

Day Nine--October 2, 2008

Washington, D.C.--

The judge smacked the prosecutors hard but let the trial go on.

Judge Emmet Sullivan denied the defense’s request for a dismissal of the indictment or a mistrial, ruling that the government’s failure to disclose material to the defense was not so egregious that he needed to shut down the trial.

The judge did, however, grant the defense’s motion for a continuance until Monday morning. The delay gives the defense time to review the additional materials the judge ordered the prosecution to disclose before the defense cross-examines Bill Allen, the prosecution’s key witness against Sen. Ted Stevens.

The rest is at Alaska Political Corruption. There's posts from Day 1.

Subprime Primer

This presentation was sent to me by a professor friend. He didn't know its origins - so I'll just say thanks to whoever put it together. It's the clearest explanation of how we got here that I've seen. It matches well with the story I heard from another friend who was on a grand jury on subprime lenders in the US Southwest. The red ink was added for use in classes.

I'm still looking for the presentation that takes us step-by-step through the expected consequences of not committing $700 billion of our money.

[You can enlarge it to read it easier by clicking the + button on the top.]

Subprime Mess - Upload a Document to Scribd

Theresa, It's still Fall in Anchorage

Theresa has a picture of Fairbanks snow up. While it's still fall down here in Anchorage, my wife did get her snow tires put on today.

So, Anchorage folks, where was this shot taken from this afternoon? It's very much within city limits.

Bear Tooth VP Debate Sold Out

If you don't have tickets to watch the debate Thursday at the Bear Tooth, find another venue. UAA will also have a large screen TV in the Student Center. With all the attention focused on Palin for the last month, I'm hoping that we're all going to be pleasantly surprised at how good Biden is.

Back

Jewish holidays mean different things to different people - usually depending on how they were celebrated at home. At home for me, although my family was not particularly religious, the High Holidays were days when, as much as possible, you dedicated the day to thinking about spiritual things. Being in the synagogue with so many other Jews all focused on the words in the prayer book and linked with the melodies of the songs to each other and to times past and (I never realized then) to times in the future. In LA as a kid, my mother and I went to a synagogue where the rabbi was an old German rabbi with a white beard. My sense was that this ritual was a connection for my mother to her childhood, before Hitler rose to power. Rabbi Sonderling was really old - it wasn't just my child's sense of old. After he died, we ended up at services in large auditoriums - like the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium - that always seemed strange since I went to the same place to see basketball games and concerts. From sunset to sunrise, we didn't do any normal commerce like shopping or touch money. So today still, that seems to me how one should observe the day. But everyone picks what rules and traditions they care to follow.

















The rabbi's sermons last night and today - at least what I took from them -focused on how we have to adjust our observances as times change. 'Reality' 2000 years ago, 1000 years ago, was very different from today's reality and how Jews (and others) have observed their faith has evolved as times change. The key is to take the basic principles and observe them in a way that makes sense today. That's not doing it justice at all, but will have to do.

Services here are special for various reasons. We've been here over 30 years - longer than I've been anywhere else - and we know a lot of people. And somehow we've been able to avoid the always unpleasant practice of having tickets for High Holidays. At other congregations in the Lower 48, this is a common practice. Running a synagogue and high holiday services costs money and space is limited come the High Holidays. So rationally, from a management perspective, having people buy tickets makes sense. But from a religious perspective it always bothered me. But then Jews don't pass the plate at services.


One thing I grew up with was a 'rule' was there is no applause in the synagogue. People are honored, but no one would applaud. So when that happens today, it bothers me. I also do not use my camera during services. That would take me outside of what was going on. So the pictures here are from yesterday, before sundown.

Where Your Jewish Friends and Colleagues Are

Tonight (Monday, September 29, 2008) is the Eve of Rosh Hashanah. Many Jews, even those who rarely go to synagogue, will be eating with friends and going to synagogue tonight and tomorrow. From the University of Kansas Medical Center Website here is a brief description of Rosh Hashanah:

Rosh Hashanah is a solemn celebration of the beginning of the Jewish year. The new year begins at sunset before the first day of Tishri in the Hebrew calendar and lasts for two days. However, Reform Jews usually celebrate Rosh Hashanah for one day.

Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection when Jews examine their relationship with God. During this period, prayers are said for God's forgiveness, a good year, and a long life. The Ten Days of Penitence begin on Rosh Hashanah (the Day of Judgment) and end on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). During these days, God decides who will die and who will live in the coming year.

Synagogue services are held on Rosh Hashanah. During the services, the shofar, a ram's horn that has been hollowed and straightened, is sounded after each of three groups of prayer. The first group of prayers is a reminder that God rules the world; the second group reminds people that God listens and responds to the sound of the shofar; the third group tells people that God remembers the deeds of people. The use of the shofar comes from the time that Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac, but was stopped by God and instead sacrificed a ram.

On the first night of Rosh Hashanah, special dishes are prepared. Many of the dishes contain honey which symbolizes the desire for a sweet year. A special bread and many fruits are also included in the meal.

The picture of the shofar comes from Jewish-Art.org.

The Emperor's New Clothes - Kathleen Parker Blows the Whistle

From The Emperor's New Clothes

None of the Emperor's clothes had ever met with such success.

But among the crowds a little child suddenly gasped out, "But he hasn't got anything on." And the people began to whisper to one another what the child had said. "He hasn't got anything on." "There's a little child saying he hasn't got anything on." Till everyone was saying, "But he hasn't got anything on." The Emperor himself had the uncomfortable feeling that what they were whispering was only too true. "But I will have to go through with the procession," he said to himself.

So he drew himself up and walked boldly on holding his head higher than before, and the courtiers held on to the train that wasn't there at all.

Talk of the Nation interviewed a conservative little boy, Kathleen Parker, today. The audio will be available at 2pm Alaska time at this link.
[Update: Audio here.]

Talk of the Nation, September 29, 2008 · In her article, "The Palin Problem," columnist Kathleen Parker writes that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is clearly out of her league. Parker says Palin should bow out of the race to save the GOP's chances in 2008.

"McCain can't repudiate his choice for running mate." Parker writes. " ... Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves."

She also talks about the viciousness of the attacks she's getting from conservatives.

And the Winner is...

Saturday's last event for us was the Manhattan Short Film Festival screening at Out North. I figure if we're lucky enough to have people in town who work to get us opportunities like this, we should take advantage of them. The films are shown for one week at venues around the world (except Asia, but the website says they are adding it next year.) Audience members get a ballot and vote for their favorite of the 12 finalists.


I thought all the films were technically well done, but I wasn't that impressed with the content. The shorts that were screened at the Anchorage Film Festival last December were better. In the end I couldn't decide between New Boy and Teat Beat of Sex. New Boy subtly caught interactions among school kids in Ireland and their new African classmate. Teat Beat was an outrageously wonderful animated film in several chapters that showed up between showings of other films. New Boy was endearing, but Teat Beat was really the stand out film - great animation and wickedly creative ways of illustrating the sex. In the end I voted for Teat Beat and J voted for New Boy.


I just checked the website to find out the winners.



Hmmm. There was no animated category. There was only one animated film. My guess is that the two were way out ahead of the rest and so they made up an animated category so both could win.

Now, if the world is lucky, J and I will vote for the winners again in November.

Recent Google Searches - Sept. 08

I tend to copy some of the more interesting or bizarre google (and other) search terms people use to get to this blog. So here are some that came in during the last month or so:

• sarah palin bathing suit - I got a fair number of these right after Palin was selected by McCain. I do have a quote from the Palin biography which linked the words Palin and bathing suit. Those died down after a week or so when, I suppose, more relevant hits showed up. (I was going to say that interest in those declined, but I suspect that wasn't the cause.)
  
  
• where do 5 passengers sleep on a carnival cruise - did this person have any particular five in mind? He got to an old post on cruise line ownership.
  
  
• do the president and the vice president know each other - what can I say? This person got duties of the vice president post, which has been pretty popular, and lists what the Constitution says the VP, President, and Congress' Constitutional duties are.
  
  
• what to do with old ties - I slipped in a video on what to do with old neck ties on a post on renewing old (personal) ties. So it's nice to find someone probably found what he was looking for.
  
  
• high wire fajans - This one took the searcher to a post I really like with a video of Michael Fajans' neat series of life size magician paintings in the Seattle Airport. If the person wanted to see the paintings, he or she scored a bullseye.
  
  
• what's the difference between a hurricane and tornado (from Houston and Louisiana) - This post continues to get regular hits. These two were right as Ike was heading into shore.
  
  
• thai translation mayflower story - here's a google malfunction. All those words show up on my blog somewhere, but not together, but then not that many sites even have those four words I guess. I don't think this person was satisfied.
  
  
• responsible for more deaths: bear or moose (South Carolina) - there were a couple more of these. I did have stats on people killed by bears and by dogs in Alaska, but I don't think I have by moose.
  
  
• gaz thank hole (This one from Montreal made it to Petrol Tank Hole)
  
  
• 22" martini glasses - got to a video of our friend Marty comparing the size of old and new martini glasses.
  
  
• yiddish cat names - don't know if they got what they wanted which was a look at the Michael Chabon's talk here about his book The Yiddish Police Union
  
  
• can i join the army instead of going to jail - the stories of Track Palin's alleged deal that got him into the army has gotten a few people interested in the same deal. This story remains unconfirmed, though people I've talked to who are in positions to know believe it is true, but sealed juvenile court documents apparently remain sealed (or non-existent). One blog I saw says that one of the participants says Track wasn't involved. But given the high pressure tactics of the McCain campaign in Alaska (ie on Troopergate subpoenas), you'll have to forgive me if I don't put it past them to pay people enough to say what they want said. Sorry, but Rove's legacy is win at any cost so I remain skeptical of what people say.
  
  
• how many times has emmanuel onunwor been married - I have no idea how this got here. (He's the ex-Mayor of East Cleveland.)
  
  
• what does the president do to execute laws? This maybe?
  I didn't have this picture up so this person got to the VP duties post instead. (Mariano, if you're looking, I just used Keynote and iPhoto, so sorry about the head.)
  
  
• religion in kenai fjords - They got to Kenai Fjiords National Park, but I don't think there was any religion in that post.
  
  
• what to gain on knowing the firing - This came from someone in the Philippines who got to a piece on the Monegan Firing