A Black Fox Hunting

I had the good fortune to spy this handsome fox on Thanksgiving Day near the edge of Dillon Reservoir, when it came out to hunt for dinner:


I got in my car and drove down the road a bit so I'd be ahead of it, and quietly got out with camera in hand, walking up to the edge of the hill to peer over.

The sneaking was unnecessary, because the fox trotted out of the weeds, into the parking lot, and headed right towards me. I backed out of its way towards my open car door(!), but it was not concerned with me; it was using the edge of the parking lot to sneak up on its prey without making any rustling sounds in the grass. In the top photo, the fox was only about 15 feet away.

Then it passed in front of my car, and kept going to my right, checking the tall grass for rodent snacks. After I snapped the photo below, it did a fox leap (nearly straight up into the air) onto its prey:


I've only seen one other black fox before, and it was along the road up Lookout Mountain in Golden, CO. Great animal!

Morning At Keystone

This is a view from the lodge at the top of Dercum Mountain at Keystone ski resort. That's the Tenmile Gore Range in the background:


This is my preferred way of spending Thanksgiving since my nearest kin are 5 hours away (and I made the trip a few weeks ago). And if you read my blog much at all, you've probably guessed that I beat a path to the mountains on my days off ;)

I'll post some more when I get home and can offload my Canon G9 images.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.
- Update: iPhone image edited for contrast in Photoshop and re-uploaded.

Red Indian Paintbrush

Here's a photo from warmer days, of Indian Paintbrush, which you are likely to encounter pretty much anywhere out here:


I've seen Paintbrush in white, yellow, yellow-green, pink, red, and orange. If you're lucky, you'll see them somewhere like the amazing Yankee Boy Basin near Ouray CO (a.k.a. Galt's Gulch).

Clouds At Loveland Pass

Cold-weather clouds seem to take more surreal shapes than summer clouds, often looking more like paintings or spacecraft than meteorological phenomena. This photo was taken at Loveland Pass on U.S. 6.


When you drive this stretch of road, you realize why the Colorado Department of Transportation is quick to close it during inclement winter weather. Much of it lacks guardrails, has narrow shoulders, and a steep drop-off. To miss a turn would make for a very bad day.

Breckenridge Ski Day

On Sunday, I skied in Breckenridge, CO. It was a stellar day weather-wise, with cool temperatures at night that warmed under blue skies and sun to maybe 35 degrees. It felt quite warm in the sun.

The snow was nice, but worn smooth in areas where people are apt to stop or slow down. Since the hard early season snow can be hard for the ski or board edges to grip, it pays to ski near the edge of the trail where the snow is a bit less scraped. You can see one of the smoother areas in this shot:


That's Bald Mountain in the background. The southeast-facing view below shows the town of Breckenridge, and the peaks of the Front Range, in the background:


Just like the other early season ski outings, it got busy towards noon. The chair lifts start on the right side of the image:


The long wait and more crowded trails were my cues to leave for lunch. Since the surface makes it harder to turn, some people ski or ride using fewer turns and therefore greater speed. Mix in lots of skiers of all levels weaving back and forth, and it's an accident waiting to happen. Things will improve once more terrain opens.

The scenery in Breckenridge is great. You have views of the Tenmile Range and the ski area from everywhere in town. Down every side street, you get a view like this:


This final shot was taken from near Denver at Genesee Park. It's a nice last stop in the mountains before I get back to the city:

The Tenmile Range From Sapphire Point

This photo was taken from the Sapphire Point trail near Breckenridge, CO.

How Cats Help With Moving

I took this photo a few years ago while trying to move out of my apartment and hit the road to Colorado. Dig that groovy carpet color!


Marty (bottom) meowed for literally 1/3 of the 3-day drive from NY to CO. I cannot even describe the agitated state of mind this produced in me; I spent most of the trip alternating between thinking up humane and legal ways to dispatch him, then calming myself back down. It was bad.

His (more intelligent) brother Chuck, on the other hand, sat in the front seat and alternated between napping, trying to sit in my lap, and looking out the window. His totally mellow and trusting attitude reinforced my respect for his intelligence and, for lack of a better word, character. He was an exemplary pet.

View From The Lodge At Loveland

This shot was taken at the base lodge at Loveland Ski Area.


I like the multiple layers of this image: the outside and mountains directly ahead, the reflection of the interior, and the view past the interior of skiers in the other direction (to the of right of center).

Letter To Senators On Health Care Bill

I am asking you to Vote NO against cloture on the health care bill, and NO against this bill.

The bill presented by Senator Reid is MORALLY WRONG and forces medical choices on the public against their will.

Government has:

• No moral right to decide who I can buy insurance from and on what terms.
• No moral right to redistribute wealth to pay for different peoples' health care.
• No business being in the health care business and competing with private firms.
• No moral right to tell insurance companies or health care providers how to do business.

The bill coming up for debate violates our rights in all these areas and will slowly crush the medical industry, making it less competitive and more expensive.
REAL REFORM would mean removing government interventions in health care and insurance, not making them worse.

I also used the Grassfire.org site to send faxes.

Another Humans-Cannot-Reason Health Bill

Those Senators who would like to further restrict our right to choose how to live our lives proudly revealed yet another travesty of law and individual rights yesterday.

Like all such bills, and much of leftist policy, it is based on the premise that I cannot think and act to make my own decisions, and that a proper and flourishing society can be built by forcefully erasing the thought and action of its individual members.

It cannot.

Whether the bill's creators do not care about this, or willfully intend it, the bill would rapidly accelerate the decline of the medical industry, and would constitute extensive violations of our individual rights.

The bill is nothing new; it's the House bills tweaked to satisfy various special interests. Good luck deciphering what those changes were, but the essentials remain. For example:

• The insurance exchange, which is simply a way for government to control insurers and the public.
• Preventing denial of service to individuals with pre-existing conditions.
• Massive redistributions of wealth, which can only increase with time, as the reality of government-dominated market hits the economic fan.
• Penalties against plans that don't meet the official requirements.
• The establishment of massive government oversight over health care, to tell us what we can and cannot buy, what insurers can offer, and what providers can do and will be paid.

Despite the centuries of evidence that freedom begets prosperity, and oppression begets poverty, politicians still deny the fact that you cannot legislate costs and things you don't like out of existence. Such attempts will always make the situation worse. The laws of economic causality cannot be overridden by a bill; only the thought and action of free people can bring about better health care products.

I saw this depressingly unprincipled reaction from conservatives. For example, they are worried that "the Senate has severely weakened the pro-life language" and "The Senate bill does not have a price tag".

What if it did have a price tag? That's like worrying how much it will cost to build the ovens needed to commit genocide. The bill is an immoral abomination from top to bottom!

At the same time, a government task force seems to be priming people for the rationing they would inevitably experience under such a program, by coming out with reduced recommendations for mammograms. Take that as a sign of things to come. Soon, they will also be able to tell you if your mammograms will be paid for.

Wile E. Coyote Misses Lunch

While walking during a lunch break at Standley Lake in Arvada CO, I interrupted the lunch of this canine, who was sneaking up on a colony of prairie dogs:


It crossed a ravine to get out of my path, and pretty soon it was relaxed enough to lie down and enjoy the warm noon sunshine (waiting for me to leave, no doubt).

Coyotes tend to be shy with regard to humans, but I've also seen them hunting bigger prey than rodents, and they do attack people and pets if they need to. We both keep a respectable distance.


One evening at dusk I took a misguided bushwacking "shortcut" around North Table Mountain in Golden, through an open hillside of dried grass, yucca and scrub. It's an area that is right above a suburban subdivision. While picking cactus thorns out of my shoe, I heard what sounded almost like a human scream. Several hundred yards away, I saw a group of coyotes circling some deer through the brush, racing in and out in relentless pursuit of their prey. I can only assume the sounds came from when the coyotes bit down on their prey. They were confident, determined, and it was apparent that an unlucky deer was not going to make it through the night. Needless to say, I got the heck out of there.

Ski Trek For Three

A couple and their dog out for some early season cross-country skiing:

Old Glory Robot Insurance

In this time of bad news about medical insurance, we need some insurance-related comedy:

Snowfall, Evergreen Foothills

This photo was taken from the top of a rocky outcrop called The Brother in Three Sisters Park, in Evergreen, CO. The weekend's snow storm, which produced about a foot of snow, was finally passing and breaks in the clouds were beginning to appear.

Ducks Find People Fascinating

And here's the incontrovertible proof of this fact:


Actually, I was eating lunch at Lions Park, and a duck couple wandered over for handouts. What they didn't realize is that no matter how much ducks may smile at me, I don't feed them. They stared for a while, then waddled away.

This photo was taken from about 10 feet away (6x zoom) with the Canon G9.

Microsoft To Release Outlook .PST Specification

This is no longer really "news" (since the announcement occurred in October), but it was news to me.

This post also should have been a pure technology piece, but meandered into politics, as things are apt to do these days, since government is heavily involved in our lives.

I was doing a web search for a solution to my Calendar sync woes, namely: I have found it impossible to completely synchronize my Hotmail calendar with my iPhone.

I found that if you install Outlook (not Outlook Express), and then install the Hotmail Connector, you can pull your Hotmail email and calendars into Outlook, and then iTunes for Windows will sync your calendar to your iPhone. Sounds good, right? However, the Apple sync program only sees the default Outlook folder, whereas the Hotmail data (mail, calendar) is stored in a second folder, has a different name, and is therefore ignored during the sync.

Argh. Bitten again by the Windows/Apple dichotomy.

Therefore, I was searching the web for some way to work with Outlook's .PST file, which seems to be the file read by iTunes when it syncs the calendar (I watched disk activity using Process Monitor). I was thinking I could perhaps write something to manipulate the .PST file and get my Hotmail calendar events onto the phone.

However, it turns out Microsoft never published the format of the Outlook .PST file. Such information is often provided to developers so they can write applications to work directly with the file format (in this case, without using the Outlook Object Model), but this was never done with .PST.

The release of this specification is good news for developers, but unfortunately, it came about for the wrong reasons.

According to this article, the file specification is being released as part of a "deal" with the European Union (read: extortion racket). The EU has a history of hassling businesses and shaking them down in exchange for being allowed to do business in EU countries (the U.S. government does the same thing here, via the Sherman Act and other forms of regulatory oversight).

Here are some of the many reasons why such policies are wrong:

• Government has no right to "permit" or deny businesses to trade in a certain jurisdiction, period. It is a matter between private parties. My wish to buy a software product from Microsoft involves me and Microsoft, and nobody else.
• This practice is a step down from a Mafia protection racket, since the EU doesn't even make a pretense at shielding the victim of extortion from gangs; it is putatively done for the sake of others -- customers and competitors.
• The economics underlying this "justification" is baseless. Monopoly power has always been the result of government franchise, and could not occur in markets without barriers to entry. Commercial practices currently labeled "anti-competitive" are actually normal business arrangements that have been unjustly stigmatized by invalid political and economic theories. Free trade can never result in coercion, no matter how big the business gets; market success does not magically turn into market brutality when a business reaches some arbitrary percentage of market share. Businesses dominate free markets only because people like them and buy their products, and will only remain successful as long as they satisfy those customers!
• The moral nature of antitrust is utterly abhorrent, because it condemns businesses for being successful.
• This is an injustice to Microsoft's customers, whose wishes are being ignored when they cannot trade freely, and whose vote of confidence is regarded as poison, since their purchases turned Microsoft into the alleged monster it is.

I understand why Microsoft does not release every bit of information about its products; some things are intellectual property, or perhaps they don't think it's worth their time, or don't have the resources to expend on it.

However, I am always skeptical when companies jealously hold onto something that is already widely used and implemented, if that was the case here. Enabling others to work openly with a file format creates markets for that format. By enabling free exchange of information, companies can transform property from proprietary to universal, and reap huge benefits. This has happened with Adobe's PDF, for example. Patents and corporate secrets allow companies to recoup their investment and turn a profit on ideas, but Microsoft has long since made its money on Outlook, which is hands-down the de-facto standard when it comes to Windows email apps.

Regardless, I'll be glad when the spec comes out. Then maybe I'll be able to set a reminder in Hotmail so my iPhone will tell me to write my next Outlook post.

The Co-Villains Of "Kelo" Leave New London

After taking part in a destructive and divisive eminent domain controversy, Pfizer has decided to pull out of New London CT to cut costs, consolidating operations at an existing campus nearby. The Supreme Court case Kelo vs. New London made headlines around the country and sparked state laws preventing seizure of property in the name of eminent domain.

The city government of New London deserves any hardship that befalls them.

The citizens of the town have my sympathy, especially those who lost property.

I'm going to buck a widely accepted assumption about local government, and say that government has no right whatsoever to get involved in economic planning and investment, other than to provide an environment that protects property rights and get out of the way.

Government is not an investor; it has no money of its own. It does have the power to seize and use the assets of others, such as tax revenue and property, and to force people to do things they do not want to do. In essence, government economic planning is anti-economic, because it is precisely things that people don't want to invest in that become investments, which is what it means when you do things by force. Invoking the principle of eminent domain to take property is only the most obvious form of this.

Eminent domain is theft, pure and simple. If someone robs your house and says, "Hey, I'll give you $300 for that $300 watch", it's still theft. Any public purpose that requires the theft of property, is a purpose better left unfulfilled.

One of the most telling things in the story was the quote by Clarence Thomas, which is a tepid objection when compared to the injustices committed:

Justice Thomas called New London’s plan "a costly urban-renewal project whose stated purpose is a vague promise of new jobs and increased tax revenue, but which is also suspiciously agreeable to the Pfizer Corporation."

Is that it? Well, grab your muskets, let's defend being dis-agreeable to corporations!

Perhaps justices are known for using understatement.

Even so, it may explain a lot about where this country has gone in the past 100 years, when a conservative judge's objection to property seizure is that it might be for enriching capitalists.

In the past century, America has gone from being from an almost-capitalist state to an almost-socialist welfare state. If the grand public health program, passes, we will officially be a welfare state. If that happens, welcome to Sweden, America!

Green Mountain At Dawn

This photo was taken one November after I had pulled a rare all-nighter at work, and simply decided to stay up until the following evening. It was early, so I got in my car and headed for the trails at Green Mountain in Lakewood, CO, and was rewarded with this sunrise scene:


The entire area was bathed in a golden light like this. It was surreal.

Mount Guyot And Bald Mountain

Here's a shot of Mount Guyot and Bald Mountain, taken with my Canon G9 from the westbound scenic stop on I-70. This view is familiar to travelers through Summit County, CO:


Something I did not expect from this camera was the effect of the excellent zoom capability on the photos I would take, because it opens up a new range of possible shots. In addition, I found that this camera just barely fits in the upper pocket of my REI Stoke 9 pack that I use on trail runs.

As I remember, I rested my camera on a rock while taking this shot. Nonetheless, the fact that in the original I can see distant power lines, and even a structure on the ridgeline of Bald Mountain, is incredible.

Udall Attacks Credit Card Companies

Colorado Senator Mark Udall sent me an email in which he proudly admitted to being a contributor to the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which forcibly restricts the terms that credit card companies may offer their customers. For example, they are only allowed to raise rates under certain conditions. Everything I found in the bill is a violation of individual rights and bans entirely legitimate business practices. It goes into effect next year.

Mind you, I've had my share of aggravating experiences with credit card companies, but in my experience the terms are spelled out in the customer agreement. If consumers don't like it, they can switch cards, stop carrying a balance (my approach), or stop using the cards altogether. Businesses are not slaves whose purpose is to provide for consumers' and legislators' wishes.

The purpose of the email was to ask me to sign a petition to stop the credit card companies from raising rates before the bill kicks in! Therefore, not only will companies be subject to another series of unjust restrictions, but also Udall and others are trying to prevent them from exercising their last few months of freedom by charging what they choose. Despicable.

I wrote the following to the Senator:

I am writing to ask you to stop your credit card petition.

It is bad enough that the Credit CARD Act was enacted to restrict free trade by determining the rates companies can charge and when they can charge them. Now you want to close the last option they have to recoup costs before the measures go into effect? Both the original bill and the petition are reprehensible.

Additionally, in light of recent bank failures, is it really a good thing to have banks with less profit and cash flow? If they had more profits, perhaps they would have weathered the recent crises (which were ultimately caused by government) better than they did.

Business should be free to engage in any practice they wish, provided they do not violate conditions of existing contracts, or commit actual fraud or theft. This law goes beyond that and violates their individual rights.

An adjustable rate means just that: it is ADJUSTABLE. If consumers don't like it, they can search for credit elsewhere.

Attacks on credit card companies threaten us all, because the principle of individual rights applies to us all. A loss of freedom here means a loss for everyone.

Copper Mountain Ski And Hike Day

Saturday I skied at Copper Mountain on its first weekend of the season; it opened Friday. Keystone was also open for the season on the same day.

At this time of year, Copper usually has one long descent comprised of three main trails: Ptarmigan, Rhapsody and Main Vein. Ptarmigan is served by the Excelerator lift, and typically has the best snow during the early part of the day. It also lets off at the top of the mountain, and has great views. Here's an early morning view of Ptarmigan:


You can see that there is not yet a lot of natural snow in the mountains, although some parts are starting to fill in. The majority of early-season skiing is done on a mix of natural and artificially generated snow.

Towards 11:00 AM, the lines at the upper lift also started to grow, and the narrow upper section of Ptarmigan grew crowded. This photo was taken after a wave of skiers/riders descended, and gives a suggestion of the human obstacle course that was brewing later in the morning:


That's not the whole mountain in the photo; it's the lower 2/3 of Ptarmigan, which is roughly the upper third of the entire mountain.

Eventually it was getting tough to find room to ski, so I called it a day. The base area was sunny and warm, and it was great to sit on the deck with a cup of coffee and take in the view. There was a cool cloud hanging out to the east over the Tenmile Range, which made for an interesting photo of the base area. You can see the large lines forming, due to Coloradans insatiable appetite for sliding on snow:


After lunch, I ran the Mount Royal trail. Despite the onset of ski season, it was just warm enough (45-50) to run in shorts and short-sleeved shirt, with a cap and light mittens on, and a fleece for when I got to the top. My hands and arms always tend to get cold first when I run. I brought my excellent Kahtoola spikes for the icy sections, and was able to run up and downhill with no problems. Here's my last shot on the way down:


This run confirmed my initial impression that this trail is steep. It is not that long, but I hadn't run anything substantial in a couple of weeks, and it was hard; I had to stop quite a few times. Nonetheless, it was a fitting end to a great day of outdoor recreation.

Bad News For Representative Perlmutter

My email to my local Representative:

Representative Perlmutter,

Unfortunately, your vote for H.R. 3962 means I WILL NOT VOTE FOR YOU in the future, even though I helped to elect you in 2008.

Humans need to think and act to survive, and bills such as H.R. 3962, by coercing what should be the province of free choice, would violate our rights and kill the engine of economic creation.

This bill would be MORALLY WRONG AND ECONOMICALLY DESTRUCTIVE if signed into law.

True reform in a control-wracked industry means working toward free markets, not piling on additional coercive controls.

House Passes Awful Health Care Bill

My Representative has just earned a "NO" vote in the next election.

Tonight the House passed the bill that could severely cripple our already limping health care system, and violate the individual rights of most Americans.

Those who voted for the bill have clearly chosen the path of brute force over the rational mind. To them, our health care choices do not matter, and neither do the choices of doctors or insurers. They regard Americans as stupid, unthinking brutes, to be plundered and ordered about for the sake of other unthinking American brutes.

The bastards.

Crazy Pelosi And Friends - Emails

Speaker Pelosi is an abominably bad representative of the American people, and in this case, I'm not afraid to berate the messenger.

How anyone could possibly be happy about the health care train wreck being formed in Congress is absolutely beyond me. The fact that she takes joy in this means that she relishes the destruction of what little freedom remains in this country. The bill would constitute a major violation of our individual rights and will slowly crush the health care industry into an unproductive, bleeding pulp.

Normally I don't endorse the use of capital letters because in an Internet context it means SHOUTING. However, I get the impression that our legislators are not hearing us, since they persist in endorsing such patently stupid and destructive legislation.

Here is what I wrote to her:

The recent bill you released to much fanfare is awful. How could you get behind such a thing?

Congress DOES NOT HAVE THE MORAL RIGHT to pass this bill on my behalf. It involves forcibly taking money from some for the plans of others, forcing government mandates on industry, and forcing individuals to engage in certain care choices. Its primary method is FORCE.

Real reform means FREEING UP MARKETS, not enacting more controls and using more tax dollars to restrict and further ruin the industry! Remove state insurance restrictions, reduce Medicare and Medicaid, reduce restrictions on the manner in which hospitals can provide care and insurance companies can provide coverage. Industries that are financially healthy and provide great choices are industries in which the government does not get involved!

And to my representative:

I am writing to ask you to OPPOSE THE HEALTH CARE BILL recently introduced by Speaker Pelosi.

The government has absolutely NO MORAL RIGHT to control how I conduct my health care, or to use my money for the care of others. This is a violation of my individual rights. It is morally wrong and will be economically disastrous. As with all government economic meddling, it will result in less innovation, higher prices, and less supply. It cannot possibly work.

Last but not least, it will spell POLITICAL DISASTER for its supporters, since there WILL be backlash. If you vote for this bill, you will never get another vote from me.

What we desperately need instead is to REGAIN FREEDOM we have lost, and preserve it for the future. The damaging constraints government has placed on free trade in medical care and insurance should be removed. That would be true reform.

With the country's best interest in mind, please vote against big government health care reform.

The fact that I have to beg for my freedom is repulsive to me. But beg I will.

Objectivist Roundup

The latest Objectivist Roundup is posted at NoodeFood!

The Roundup features posts by blog authors who live by and advocate Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand.

Go, Reason!!

Indian Tree Golf Course

I pass this golf course in Arvada, CO on my way to lunch a lot. I've admired the great views before, but only today did I pull over and spend some time there. There's a small park on the corner where I ate my lunch and took some photos like this one:


If you zoom in you can see the mountains, and the remaining snow from last week's storm. It was a balmy 70 degrees today.

This was taken with my "new" Canon PowerShot G9, which is a hand-me-down from my bleeding edge techno-maniac brother. He has the best second hand stuff!

And yes, even in this mid-range camera, there is a slight edge blurriness at the very corners (at full aperture, on wide angle shots -- not in this image). I guess I must be unbelievably picky when it comes to sharpeness.

Colorado Monument From Serpent's Trail

This is a view of one of the many canyons in Colorado National Monument, as seen from Serpent's Trail:


And this is the GPS track (yellow line up the middle) from the hike, which shows you why they named it "Serpent's Trail". You can see the road in the photo on the left side:

Two Views Of Mount Sopris

This distinctive peak lies south of Carbondale, CO. The first picture is from near Glenwood Springs, the second was taken later in the day from Colorado Highway 82 north of Carbondale. I think I need to plan an outing on this peak next summer.

Muppet Snake Rock

Some hikers had a good sense of humor. I'm not 100% sure what the idea was here, but it looks like some sort of Muppet-snake-monster-thing, and it made me laugh and to stop and take this picture:


This was taken on the Monument Trail, Colorado National Monument near Fruita, CO.