Evergreen Mountain Short Run

This was a quick run at Alderfer/3 Sisters Open Space in Evergreen, CO.

It was sunny, but a nippy 35 degrees with 10 mph winds when I ran today after work. This is a high-quality run, vs. high-quantity. The average elevation is around 8,200 feet, the trail is an absolutely perfect, gradual dirt path winding through pine woods, and there's a rocky prominence at the top with a view. What more could you want? I only brought my iPhone this time, but I'll try to post daytime photos in better light some time. Here is the GPS track:


It doesn't look like much, but it has a decent 25-minute uphill that will get your heart pumping.

I'm still getting used to running again after taking most of the winter off, so my pace was what I'd call an easy jog. I ran up at an easy pace, and the downhill was essentially my cool-down period. I stretched a little afterwards, but not much. I almost feel like I got a massage!

Below is a typical stretch of trail. It was mostly dry, but the recent snow (I think last night) blanketed some parts in white and other parts in squishy mud. However, the soil is very sandy so it's rarely sticky. Instead, it acts like beach sand, which holds water but presents a somewhat dry surface to walk on. Regardless, I think you can tell from the photo below what a wonderfully serene running trail this is!


Below is the view at the top, facing Mount Evans. You can see the same mountains in the back of the GPS track image. It didn't seem that dark, but my phone is not really capable of capturing the range of light that was present in this view, which faced the west near sunset:


I'm not complaining, it's a cell phone! The next iPhone will probably be even better.

Green Mountain, Lakewood, CO

The title refers to the Green Mountain in Lakewood, CO, as opposed to the one in Boulder. There are probably mountains with the same name in Colorado, owing to the fact that mountains tend to be... green.

In fact, for most of the year this mountain is a smooth, brown lump of a hill, but it would be a shame to dismiss it as not worthy of an outing. For a couple of months in the spring it lives up to its name, flush with wildflowers and green grass. Seen from afar, you realize its mass dominates the west edge of the suburb of Lakewood, and much the western edge of the city actually sits on its gradually-rising slopes. Once above street level, sounds rapidly fade away, and I've seen lots of wildlife here: a group of coyotes lounging in a ravine, rattlesnakes, and plenty of deer. There are typically signs posted by park rangers warning of signs of mountain lions.

Here is a standard section of trail on Green Mountain:


Although the grass may look soft and cushy from afar, it's filled with spiny yucca and cactus, and the grass hides countless round, potentially ankle-breaking rocks. The flowers were just starting to come out a week ago when I visited, and soon they will be sprinkled like different-colored jewels in the grass. This is golden pea:


It's common to see deer, especially early and late in the day (this was morning). Even though this park sees a lot of visitors and you'd think they might be used to humans, they anxiously move out of your way as you pass by. One time I interrupted a sparring match between two bucks, as they charged each other up and down the hill, locking horns and kicking up gravel and brush. They were moving so fast and were so preoccupied, I was concerned they'd head my way and I'd get into the mix!


At this time of year, the low spots and folds in the hills hold moisture and sometimes small trickling "streams" from recently melted snow. It's surprising to be walking through somewhat bald hills and find these lush pockets of vegetation.



Finally as your trail crests the top of the mountain, you have commanding views of the entire metro Denver area, and to the west, the Front Range. Although you are too close to the foothills to see some of the higher peaks behind, it's still a nice view. Below is Mount Morrison, which rises above Red Rocks Amphitheater, and is also the location of Matthews/Winters Open Space.


This area allows both biking and foot traffic, so if you want relative solitude, you might want to visit first thing in the morning. The good news is you can see bikes from a good distance away, and many of the trails are wide enough for passing.

The Goldman Witch Hunt Continues

This story just sickens me, as do many of the user comments. The general public seems to have little idea what the function of Wall Street is, how hedge funds work, and that it's the Senate committee who is the villain, not Goldman.

Hyperbolic statements such as this one by chairman Levin are truly frightening in their implications:

[Goldman Sachs'] conduct brings into question the whole function of Wall Street

With the type of power wielded by our government, in today's incendiary political environment, and the ideological leanings of those in power, no good can come from such a staggering admission ignorance on the part of Levin. It means further bondage and doom for our decreasingly free markets.

Goldman Sachs' financial practices are not the pit of evil they are being made out to be. From what I have read, they are standard practices that neither the Senate nor the public really understands.

For example see this commentary by Sebastian Mallaby on the recent SEC complaint regarding the relationship of Goldman, Paulson, ACA and IKB. It basically throws a bucket of cold water on the overheated popular and government rhetoric surrounding this event.

Hedge funds are designed for betting against success. That's what they're for; to allow you to still make money when investments go south. There's nothing wrong with that.

Or consider this tidbit:

Documents released by the committee this week also demonstrated that Goldman may have been engaging in other questionable practices, including selling investment products with names such as "Timberwolf I" to customers knowing that they might fail.

"Boy that timeberwof [sic] was one shi**y deal," according to one internal Goldman e-mail released by the committee Monday.

Have you ever worked at a large company where everyone was on the same page about a policy or product? I haven't. There is often disagreement, either about the overall product or the details of its implementation; it's normal to have some degree of dissent.

The most this shows -- even if everyone at Goldman thought the product was bad -- is that they are selling poor-quality products. This is cause for customers to question their reputation, but not for a Senate investigation. Just shop somewhere else. Professional investors are not stupid, this is their job.

Additionally, the now-common notion that banks thereby gambled with our future and caused the housing meltdown is nonsense, despite the constant refrain you hear from media and the public.

The entire housing mess could not have happened without excess credit, and excess credit could not have happened without the Fed, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, and intense policy pressure to put people into homes whether or not they could afford it. This is basically an object lesson in why the government should not push market objectives on the economy. That's it.

The U.S. financial system would not fail if large banks failed, you let them fail and you restructure them, like with all businesses. The "too big to fail" idea is alarmism promoted by politicians who have too much power and have no clue how to use it.

There's no scandal to see here. Move along.

My Swallow Is Back

Last year I did a post about a barn swallow that came nightly and sat above my entry way, which has a light and therefore attracts insects. This is this is the fourth year I have had such a visitor:


Of course I have no way of knowing if it's actually the same bird, but it's certainly uncanny the way some bird keeps coming every year in the spring/early summer to sit in the exact same spot.

I've been waiting for it ever since the weather started to turn warm and the insects started to fly, and voilà, two nights ago, there it was!

Sony To Stop Manufacture Of Floppy Disks

Sony has announced it will stop manufacturing floppy disks in March 2011. Other companies in "developing markets" may continue to sell them.

I remember when Apple announced they would not provide floppy drives on their computers. I thought they were simply trying to push cheapness disguised as good aesthetics, but I soon found I didn't need the drive after all. Home networks and larger disk formats like Iomega's ZIP and writeable CD quickly took their place, and I didn't even miss them.

I finally got rid of my remaining floppy disks a couple of years ago when I no longer had access to a drive to read them. They contained programs like MacWrite, Stuffit and I think even the original Bryce and early Adobe apps. I ran them on my first computer, a Power Mac 6100.

The South Park Mohammed Bear

I wanted to post a note regarding this non-troversy generated by South Park, in which a character representing Mohammed is shown wearing a bear suit. The network censored the cartoon after protests from Muslims.

Although I am disappointed with this response, and think they should have backed Stone and Parker, I am more inclined to blame our pervasive culture of cowardice and self-sacrifice, and its effect on government policy.

The culture of cowardice I refer to is one in which people are afraid to identify things as they are, but instead subvert their own rational judgment for the sake of irrational opinions, such as the idea that there may be no representations of Mohammed. Bowing to religious political correctness (whatever that may mean on any given day) is cowardice, not sensitivity.

Furthermore, Islamic totalitarians have become emboldened by the stance of appeasement our government has taken for decades, placing private citizens in a more difficult position than they should be in.

Government sets the tone for how a country's citizens are treated, and the message ours sends is: we are cowardly fools who will not take the actions necessary to protect ourselves*.

Consider this fictional scenario. Imagine you lived in a remote protected fort surrounded by violent hordes. Over the years, those in charge of the fort have had countless opportunities to crush the violent groups outside, but have failed to do so. Now emboldened, the hordes surround the fort, pointing weapons at you, and you have to decide whether you want to mock them. That is essentially the position that Stone, Parker, and the rest of us now find ourselves in.

The perverse irony is that in objective terms, America is one of the most powerful nations on Earth, yet in moral terms we are like that fort, because we have not asserted our moral right to life, and we have surrendered our judgment to religious irrationalism.

(Think about that, and the doctrine of turning the other cheek, when you decide whether you want to vote for a Christian fundamentalist political candidate.)

Essentially, the problem is that our government does not back us up, and does not properly defend our individual rights abroad.

This in turn leads to countless problems such as the South Park episode, as well as other, wider-reaching matters such as invading the wrong countries (Iraq and Afghanistan).

The political origin of the Islamic totalitarian problem dates back to the Iran hostage crisis, when we let a bunch of students in a pipsqueak nation tell us what to do. The situation in which we find ourselves is the product of the decades of appeasement in which we disregarded our own rational judgment and our own rights for the alleged rights of those who wish to do us harm.

Islamic terrorism does not originate from caves in Afghanistan or psychotics carrying bombs in their underwear. It originates from Tehran, and other places that preach the ideas that produce it.

Until we end such state support, and Islamic terrorists fear the name "America", none of us will be safe.

For further reading on this issue, I recommend browsing the Ayn Rand Center's section on Islamic totalitarianism.

*I exlude the exemplary performance of our military from this criticism, although I do fault the military leadership for participating in the government's orgy of self-sacrifice, such as by defining suicidal rules of engagement and sometimes appearing afraid to conduct a real, all-out war against the enemy.

Loveland Powder Day

The resort ski season is not over in Colorado until the end of May, which is when Arapahoe Basin is scheduled to close, and after that, of course you can tour on your own, if you have the gear.

Here is the snowy scene Saturday morning at Loveland Ski Area after a 9" storm the previous day (on top of another 8" from the prior 48 hours):


It looks rather wintry to me, and it felt that way too. Since it was 22 degrees when I started, I tried dressing for spring skiing with two light base layers and a light shell, and I was too cold at the top of the chair lifts in snowy, breezy, near whiteout conditions. However, once you skied down far enough to be out of the wind, plenty of nice powder was to be found. I had quite a few great runs, in up to a couple of feet of snow.

After a few hours the sun came out, lending warmth and visibility. Here is a ridgeline I had just skied down, with my ski tracks on the lower left:


This is the same ridge visible in this photo on the far right, when I was viewing the ski area from the next ridge over, on my recent run. The first couple of times up there, I had to wait for breaks in the clouds because I literally could not see the terrain to distinguish a smooth slope from an abrupt drop or bump.

Here is the view from a little farther down, with the tail end of the snow showers disappearing in the background:


One of the nice things about fresh snow is that it softens more difficult trails and makes them less icy and slippery, and therefore easier to ski. As I was standing on a trail called Over the Rainbow, I took the picture below looking east, because this side view shows the slope angle well. Not a cliff, exactly, but steep enough:


This is the same slope looking down towards the parking lot:


I'm a strong skier, but not really an expert yet, so I'd give myself a score of maybe 7 out of 10 for how I skied this earlier in the day when there was more fresh snow. However, by the time I took this photo you could hear your skis scraping around each bump, so I sought out softer bumps with more snow on them. It was a more halting descent, with starts and stops and without the rhythm of earlier descents in powder. It was probably a 5 out of 10.

By the time my ski day ended, the sun was out in full force and it was starting to turn the formerly light snow into intractable mashed potatoes. The scene at the base was nice and sunny though, tempting me to change into a T-shirt as I stowed my gear and prepared to drive home:


Thankfully, the same great weather was present back in the Denver area, when I stopped for a coffee at Windy Saddle and went for a walk in Golden to enjoy the warm sun. It's nice to be able to go outside and be warm and comfortable! The paths along Clear Creek are a relaxing and scenic way to unwind. This is the view from the Washington Ave. bridge in downtown Golden:


It looks like it's out in the country, but behind me are a bustling main street and the enormous Coors brewery!

Lorenzetti's Fresco Of Good Government

Every time I think of the phrase "good and bad government", which happens a lot these days, I think of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco Effects of Good Government on Town and Country in Siena (1338-40):


That's because I read about it in art history, and then later saw it in person during a trip to Italy. The painting, like the city of Siena itself, has a way of persisting in the mind.

Like other art at that time, it's rendered in broad areas of solid color, with an eye to the emerging use of 3-D perspective. This art lies somewhere in the middle of the historical transition from medieval flatness to Renaissance three-dimensionality and worldly focus. The dramatically-shaded buildings and the people walking around the town's spaces are examples of this.

The work shows the prosperity created by good government, such as good harvests, busy merchants, and even dancing in the street. It's a wonderfully secular, life-celebrating piece for an era that was often dominated by powerful churches and ascetics. Classicism was on the rise, and it is fun to watch its increasing influence on the art of the time.

Arizona Governor Signs Immigration Bill

This is a bill designed by politicians like many others nowadays (most notably in the White House) who care nothing about individual rights and what constitutes good government. Enforcing laws for the law's sake is no way to run a state.

What if federal law said every left-handed person was to be put to death? Would it then represent a gallant defense of "law and order" to support it? Of course not.

Good government involves protection of our individual rights, including the right to travel and move about freely, provided we do not pose a physical threat to others. This includes the crossing of borders.

There is nothing magical about a country's border that permits that country to violate our rights by preventing travel, other than for security purposes. Beyond specifying security checks, any law that restricts movement or imposes immigration quotas is wrong.

We don't need more border security; we need to allow workers to enter the U.S. more easily.

For a good essay on the topic of immigration, how it should be approached and why, see Immigration and Individual Rights.

Clearing Dusk Sky, Littleton, CO

The city of Littleton, CO will be remembered by most Americans as the location of the violent events that took place at Columbine High School. The school itself is lies a quarter of a mile from where I took this photo, and a memorial is not too far behind me. It was too dark to take a good photo of it.

I had been here before when I first arrived in the Denver area, and didn't even realize the memorial and the school were on the other side of the lake. I was there because I was shopping nearby, and saw the park. This is the view west over Johnson Reservoir from Robert F. Clement Park.


Afternoon storms had just moved out of the area and the sky was clearing, leaving behind moist chilly air that clung to my skin like wet cloth.

As you can barely see in the foreground, the rain is starting to produce a flush of green in the normally rather brownish Front Range. The color startles because it's new, and it won't last long unless nurtured by human hydro engineering.

Barrel Cactus Trio

This photo was taken on Green Mountain in Lakewood, CO. There are a couple of varieties of small cactus in the Front Range area, which can make excursions off-trail painful. I once had a spine stick through the thick, supposedly protective plastic on the toe of a running shoe.


I had not noticed until I examined this photo how red the young spines are. The cactus' coloration almost has a peppermint candy theme.

Disneyland... Or Cows?

Remember the "I'm going to Disneyland!" commercials right after the Super Bowls, where winner would declare their intention to head to Anaheim or the Magic Kingdom?

Here's a variation on that theme, from after the recent Boston Marathon, courtesy of winner Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot:

Cheruiyot, 21, surpassed the course record of 2:07:14 set in 2006 by his 31-year-old countryman. A farmer back home, he earned a bonus of $25,000 on top of the $150,000 — and a golden olive wreath from the city of Marathon, Greece — that goes the men's and women's champions.

"I am going to buy some cows," Cheruiyot said.

It's all about perspective, isn't it?

Marathon TV coverage bores some people to death, but I'm fascinated and can just sit and watch, even though I've scarcely finished one myself. The grace and power of elite long-distance runners just floors me. Honestly, I'm not sure I could sprint at the pace they run the entire marathon.

Obama Seeks Regulation Videos

I am pretty much appalled at our government for making this request.

First, the White House sent me emails paid for with money stolen from me (taxes) advocating our enslavement for the health care plan.

Now, they want me to promote enslaving myself with regulation. Here's a possible script: "Hey, look at my shiny chains! I love my chains! Yaaaay!" Bottom line: the Obama administration has absolutely no idea what the proper role of government is: to protect our individual rights, and nothing more. I would not give them the time of day. They are certainly milking their 15 minutes for all it's worth.

These days, "regulation" does not usually mean something that protects us, it means something that preemptively restricts our rights.

I use criminal law with regard to individuals to explain this idea and contrast it with the improper way we approach commercial law in this country. With criminal law, we have the right to act freely until we actually harm someone. Any one of us is literally free to walk right into the street and stab someone with a knife, yet we are left free to do so. Why? The principle of individual rights: that we have a right to be left free to act, provided we respect that same right in others. Only when we use force or fraud against someone are we restricted in our freedom, for example by being arrested or put in jail.

Commerce, on the other hand, is subject to a different principle, even though ultimately it is only individuals who make business decisions and take action. Business is subject to extensive restrictions on their rights before they even do anything wrong. It is OK to be left free to walk the streets with a butcher knife in your pocket, yet if an employer fires someone from a job for reasons the government does not like, they are hauled into court.

The difference in principle is that individuals are generally free until they use force against someone. Businesses, on the other hand, are free unless they use force or they break a rule imposed upon them that has nothing to do with force or fraud, but is simply an edict from the legislature or a regulatory agency. Many regard such rules as no different from the prohibition against individual violent crimes, but they are actually different in kind. One is a real protection and support liberty, whereas the other is a restriction of liberty.

Business should be free to act unless they commit violence or perpetrate fraud. To do otherwise is to start on a slippery slope towards socialism (which we are now part way down), just as would be the case with criminal law applied to individuals. Imagine if we licensed individuals to walk outside their own home, or to only be able to go to a certain kind of store, or prevented them from choosing their friends based on racial background or sexual preference.

The only reason we don't have such unjust laws is that individual liberty is protected by the Constitution, while commerce is not.

This call for videos is therefore simply perverse, because it calls upon citizens to advocate the veritable enslavement of a portion of our population. The EPA should be ashamed and roundly criticized for this campaign.

HT: Diana Hsieh of NoodleFood.

Sun Rays Over Bergen Peak

The low storm clouds and sun combined to make for some interesting light Saturday when I was at Elk Meadow in Evergreen, CO. Light is streaming over the south ridge of a small mountain called Bergen Peak. It was the type of dramatic sky you'd see in a Biblical movie right before God starts to speak:


Below is a close-up of the center. The trees on the ridge line broke the sunlight up into numerous thin rays:

Bison Warning + Low Clouds

One doesn't see this particular warning very often, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it. It seems like something that was prompted by someone's unfortunate experience.


The photo was taken on the periphery of the buffalo enclosure near the Chief Hosa exit on I-70 west of Denver. Drivers who are familiar with this stretch of road know it's the first place you get a good view of the high peaks when heading west out of Denver.

I didn't see any bison this time. I was actually trying to get a shot behind me on the other side of the road, of the weather over the foothills:


Somehow this image didn't really come together to show the low-lying clouds quite the way I wanted; they covered the mountain tops, as you can see on the right. I probably should have shot a wider angle, farther right, and with more clouds and less hill. But it was fun to try, and the scenery was great. The air today was uncharacteristically humid, and you could smell the dirt and the trees in the crisp mountain air. It was unsettled weather right on the verge of rain, and I got a bit wet at the end of my trail run an hour later.

Objectivist Round Up

This week's Objectivist Round Up is hosted at Sacred Ego. The Round Up features posts by bloggers who advocate Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Topics include saag paneer, Mountain Midwifery, financial pedagogy, and real human beings at a Tea Party rally (as well as some nut cases/hecklers), and more. Enjoy!

On Earth Day

As someone who enjoys the outdoors, including national parks and other relatively undeveloped lands, and blogs about those things continually, it might seem counterintuitive that I'm against environmentalism per se, but I am.

Although a complete discussion of this issue is beyond the scope of a quick blog post, my general stance is that environmentalism is less about our relationship to the Earth, than about our relationship to each other, and to our possible future.

I hold that no good can ever come from either sacrifice or coercion, and environmentalism advocates both of these things to an unprecedented degree, as is evident in the movement's constant attempts to rule over industry world-wide.

Although it claims to be pro-Earth and pro-quality of life for humans, environmentalism advocates a reversal of the Industrial Revolution, a lessening of human influence on our home planet, and advocates doing so by force.

No goal worth accomplishing is not also worth convincing people of rationally. Coercion reduces our freedom and quality of life, lessens the number of good ideas in the world, and prevents the material improvements based on those ideas.

Life requires expanding our sphere of influence in this world, not lessening it. Living beings by their nature shape their environment. To deny humans this ability is to deny their ability to live fully.

As for possible negative side effects of human activity, we already have legal principles to deal with such problems. Environmental harm should be dealt with like any other damage: as part of protecting property rights. Environmental harm is not permissible under property rights properly defined and defended by law.

Therefore, I agree 100% with the brief synopsis provided by this blog post by the Ayn Rand Center, and I hope that anyone reading this blog will pause to give the viewpoints therein due consideration.

How The Health Care Bill Will Violate Our Rights

As an advocate of limited government and individual rights, I vehemently opposed the Democratic health care bill. I oppose any bill that does not call for the deregulation of the health care industry at the federal and state levels.

The purpose of this post is to provide a partial enumeration of ways in which the new health care bill will violate our individual rights and reduce our freedom. Supporters of the bill often seem to wonder why there was so much opposition to it, in the manner of "what's the big deal?", stating that this bill simply brings us in line with other so-called "civilized nations".

Personally, I wonder what is "civilized" about coercion, since most of the bill consists of forcing policy on people against their independent judgment. It is doubly unjust because it is the existing government meddling that has brought us here in the first place.

Note that this is merely a partial selection of points from a summary of the legislation provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The page numbers refer to the page within the PDF.

• We lose freedom when government requires that everyone have insurance, and penalizes us if we do not (p. 1).
• The American Health Benefit Exchanges will infringe upon our right to trade freely with whoever we wish, not simply government-approved vendors (p. 1).
• Forcing employers to provide health care vouchers to employees infringes upon the freedom of the employer (p. 1).
• Forcing employers to automatically opt-in employees violates the freedom of the employer (p. 1).
• Imposing new annual fees on the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector infringes upon their freedom (p. 4).
• Imposing an annual fee on the health insurance sector infringes upon their freedom (p. 4).
• A new excise tax on taxable medical devices violates our rights (p. 4).
• A new tax on tanning services violates our rights (p. 4).
• Creating co-ops violates our rights to the extent our tax dollars fund them (p. 4).
• Allowing states to prohibit insurance payments for abortion violates the rights of companies providing those plans (p. 5).
• Establishing and subsidizing a high-risk pool for those with pre-existing conditions violates the rights of those funding it (p. 6).
• Mandating dependent coverage violates the rights of insurers (p. 6).
• Prohibiting pre-existing condition exclusions violates the rights of insurers (p. 6).
• Prohibiting lifetime limits on policy disbursements violates the rights of insurers (p. 6).
• Any reporting requirements required by law by individuals, employers, insurers, or practitioners is a loss of freedom (p. 6).
• Limiting deductibles violates the rights of insurers (p. 7).
• Mandating that plans comply with certain benefit categories violates the rights of insurers (p. 7).
• Establishing an office of health insurance consumer assistance would violate the rights of those being forced to pay for it via taxation (p. 7).
• Imposing health plan administration practices and penalizing insurers that do not adopt them would violate the rights of insurers (p. 8).
• Letting the government decide what an allowable readmission is would violate the right of patient, insurer and service provider to decide on the terms of readmission (p. 8).
• Establishing comparative effectiveness research would violate the rights of those funding it, and will be used to impose further coercive restrictions based on its findings (p. 9).
• Funding tort reform research grants would violate the rights of those funding it via taxation (p. 9).
• Establishing plans to pay hospitals based on performance on quality measures (as defined by government) violates the right of patients to decide whether the services are worthy (p. 9).
• Grants for small-business wellness programs would violate the rights of those who pay for it via taxation (p. 11).
• Requiring chain restaurants and vending machine packages to have nutritional information would violate the rights of those providing the food (p. 11).
• Establishing a Workforce Advisory Committee would violate the rights of those funding it, and will be used to impose further coercive restrictions based on its findings (p. 12).
• Providing scholarships and loans for health care professionals would violate the rights of those funding it through taxation (p. 12).
• Increasing funding for community health centers would violate the rights of those funding it through taxation (p. 12).
• Funding research on trauma care would violate the rights of those funding it through taxation (p. 12).

Again, this is only a partial list and is not taken from the bill itself. As you can see, the bill violates our rights with almost every provision*. It does not aid the proper function of government, which is to protect our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but rather violates those rights by forcibly overriding our choices and individual judgment. That is why I opposed it.

If you are interested in further reading on health care from a pro-individual rights perspective, I recommend The Ayn Rand Center and FIRM.

*Only its tax breaks can possibly be viewed as positive, because they allows people to keep more of the income that is rightfully theirs. However, even tax breaks have their down side (especially if they are temporary), as they skew markets toward certain products and services, rather than what people would really want on an open market. When any temporary credits are removed, demand will drop, causing market disruption.

Green Mountain Run

Sunday was the first truly warm running day for me this year. I don't know the temp for sure, but I'm guessing it was 70 with the sun, and I was sweating on this long uphill run. Total distance was 5.4 miles, with around 2,500 feet of gain/loss.


Because it was a nice warm day, I forgot all the advice I've ever given about trails with snow, and neglected to bring my spikes even though they're always in my trunk.

Bad idea.

The Flatirons tend to hold snow later in the year than expected. As you are luxuriating in the hot spring sun of Chautauqua Park, you might be lulled into thinking winter was entirely gone... and you would be wrong.

Accordingly, the first mile and a half of my run was relatively dry, but the upper mile (at least) was snow packed and slippery. I trudged upwards slowly, crabbing my feet sideways and kicking the edges of my shoes into the snow to gain purchase. I had rendered myself as helpless as the inexperienced CU freshmen in their tank tops and tread-less street sneakers, slipping and shrieking their way downhill. Oh, the horror!

The best of the trail looked something like this, although most of it is steeper:


The picture below is indicative of the best of the snowy sections, because the snow is not smooth or icy. However, it is steep, and I took care coming down.


The worst sections were nasty, slushy snowpack smoothed by a thousand slipping feet. Combine this with rocks and steep inclines on the side, and it made for a nerve-wracking, tiring ascent and descent.

However, the summit was amazingly warm and free of wind. It was almost as warm as 2,500 feet below on the streets of Boulder, and I'm not sure how that's possible. Usually it's a bit cooler up there.

And there were also the views along the way, including this view of the Indian Peaks:


Next time I will heed my own advice and at least pack the spikes in my running backpack. As an added incentive, I can take my better camera too. Running with the pack is also good practice for longer runs later in the summer.

Star Trek vs. Caprica

I recently saw two sci-fi movies from 2009 back to back, within a couple of days -- Star Trek and Caprica -- and they could not have been more different.

Star Trek

I've watched Star Trek over the years, starting with the William Shattner crew, in their jewel-tone duds and cosmetically Spartan spaceship. They cruised into the unknown, trying to understand the inscrutable and often destructive needs of each shapeless, shifting life form that they encountered.

Star Trek was philosophical in the same somewhat heavy-handed way that Planet of the Apes was, but I like them both because they speak to the wider, universal issues of life. I often felt spiritually elevated after watching a Star Trek episode (which is certainly not the case with every TV show) because the deeds of the crew often represented the best within us.

The new Star Trek movie will be more enjoyable if you are familiar with the series, but it stands on its own as a swashbuckling adventure movie set in space. There was interest and excitement from the first few frames, and it never let up. It was based on the first series (it takes place before Captain Kirk got his ship), but was also different enough to not simply repeat the past.

Some Spock-related stuff about emotion vs. reason was typical bad philosophical dumbness; emotions are not in conflict with reason, as the series often suggests; they are simply different from it. Emotions are not an alternative form of cognition, they are just a psychological response based on the ideas we hold. Note them, and move on.

Anyway, this point was only expressed briefly in a conversation, and didn't intrude any more than that into the movie or the plot. I enjoyed the film from start to finish.

Caprica

BattleStar Galactica: Caprica on the other hand, was an entirely different matter.

I do not watch the BattleStar Galactica series, because it seems like a cynical soap opera in space, and this movie reinforced that impression. Although I liked the cast and it was fairly well-made, the artistic style, pace and plot were uninteresting to me. It was like Ordinary People meets science fiction. There was too much of the former, and not enough of the latter.

Very little happened, and the movie spent endless amounts of time dwelling on narrow personal experiences and events. I'm sure this is all done in the name of "realism", but by way of comparison, I felt like I was watching Captain Kirk do his taxes for an hour and a half.

The fact that the majority of the movie takes place on the streets of Toronto (or wherever they filmed it), and in the characters' homes and cars, should tell you something. This is science fiction as told by a video camera held by someone's friend, like reality TV set in another time and place. It does not portray what I feel about my life, or what I wish to see in the lives of fictional characters.

I don't watch movies to see the ordinary and the passive.

I think what we have here is a clash of schools of artistic thought. Star Trek represents the Romantic school, and Caprica represents Naturalism.

Star Trek had a sense of excitement born of the fact that events of great importance were occurring, and important values were at stake. The characters had the ability to change the outcome of these larger-than-life events (such as a planet being destroyed, or not).

Caprica had a sense of boredom, born of the premise that life simply "happens" to us, like traffic or weather, that principles and moral values and long-term goals are not important, only our reaction to the events of the moment is. Although crucial and important things happen to the characters in Caprica, they experience it as a steady, even-handed stream of disembodied events with no wider emotional relevance or links to principles or other events.

I did not find this inspiring, and I would not want to be like any of the characters from Caprica, or even meet or talk to them. I don't think about life simply as it is, I think about life as it can and should be, and I expect the movies I watch to do the same thing. Even movies that are naturalistic or tragic in nature can at least have a moral dimension that speaks to what we ought to do and feel, and these values drive the plot.

Conclusion

Caprica never rose above the helplessness of the moment, it offered me no vision of the way things should be, and therefore offered me nothing of value by my standards. Star Trek offered a heroic vision of life, and presented it in an exciting and entertaining package. It was worth two hours of my life. The hour and half I spent watching Caprica was wasted.

Loveland Pass Snow Run

A couple of weeks ago, in anticipation of a storm on Saturday and its ill effect on homeward-bound traffic, I booked a room in the mountains for the night. I skied on Saturday, but the heavy snow did not materialize, and I woke up really tired on Sunday. Instead of skiing again, I opted to hang out in the mountains and find other ways to enjoy the sunny day.

One of my outings was to stop by Sapphire Point between Keystone and Breckenridge (actually I stopped going both directions, because it's a nice little walk!).

A second outing, after lunch, was to head up to Loveland Pass either to hike or take pictures. As it turned out, I ended up doing a little run up the ridgeline to a small nameless mountain. Here is the approximate route, which I mapped manually in Google Earth since I did not use a GPS for the run:


It's not much of a run (2.6 miles), but I was wearing snow pants and winter boots, and it's pretty high up (12,000 feet). I jogged up a 30-foot hill to take a picture, and I felt great so I just kept going!

First of all, here is the view roughly north from the pass. This photo was taken from very near the parking lot at the top of the pass. This bowl is a popular ski spot, and people will either drop into the bowl right from the road, or hike up the ridge on the left to get some more vertical*:


I took the next photo from about 30 yards off the road. The hill just to the right of center, with the cornices of snow dripping off the front, is where I ended up:


Here is a shot taken part way through the run, looking back at the road, which can be seen as a dark ribbon in the middle:


The snow was well-packed both from wind and from the many skiers/riders who had preceded me. Even though it was only about 40 degrees, the sun was warm and fortunately a breeze helped to keep me cool. The wind picked up as I got to the top of the ridge, and was pretty much constant when I got to the top of the hill.

The small egg-shaped snowball below was apparently formed by wind action and was resting in a small depression. It's similar to many curious rock forms spotted by the Mars landers' cameras, which makes sense, since that planet is also buffeted by strong winds.


When I reached the high point, I could finally see over the ridge to the other side, towards Loveland Ski Area. The ridge of mountains in the distance is part of the Continental Divide, and the Eisenhower and Johnson tunnels carry I-70 underneath it, and the ski area. One of the ski area lifts goes right to the top of that ridge:


Sitting on a wind-blown rock, in the brilliant sun and surrounded by white snow, was very enjoyable. The white shapes and textures were fascinating, as was the fact that I could be so comfortable sitting on a mountain top in what is effectively still winter. The sunshine makes all the difference. Take it away, and the temperature plummets, as you find out in the evening.

Here is the view back along the ridge I traversed, with my footprints visible in the foreground.


It's kind of hard to tell the scale of things, but if you click on the photo and look on the ridge line just under the peak with the vertical ridges on the right, you can see two tiny specks that are riders who are checking out where to descend. A few minutes later, they rode down into the bowl to the left.

*The backcountry skiing that is accessible from Loveland Pass is not part of Loveland Ski Area, which is on the other side of the ridge to the north.

Clouds Over Sun Up Bowl, Vail

I watched these interesting clouds morph while I rode the chair lift out of Sun Up Bowl yesterday. High winds were pulling them into strange shapes, and seemingly arranging them like rocks in a garden.


Spring skiing is now in full effect, since daytime temperatures are often rising above 32 degrees. The snow melts during the day and it re-freezes at night, making for some difficult crispy conditions first thing in the morning. Un-groomed snow can be plowed through with care (if it's not too hard), but you really have to watch your feet so you don't catch an edge, and it can be a lot of work. I make myself do it so I can learn how to do it better. Thankfully, it was around 40 at mid-day, and the snow softened enough to yield somewhat during turns. Some of the groomed runs were also nice once they had been skied/ridden a bit.

Unlike most days, I opted to ski the terrain low on Vail's front side after lunch, because it's warmer and therefore the snow softens up nicely. The bumps under the Vista Bahn chair lift were almost slushy and very skiable. The lift line even had a few puddles where the slush was slightly melted.

Vail and several other resorts close next weekend, and only Loveland and A-Basin will remain open. Skiing is slipping away, but the excitement of warmer weather in the mountains is growing. I'm looking forward to it!

Lake Trees At Dusk

This photograph was taken at Kountze Lake in Lakewood, CO. The park is a popular spot for water fowl, and has a nice mountain view at sunset. The sights and sounds of birds, water and wind keep it a lively place.

Rock Climbing Film: CORE

Wednesday night I saw the premiere of CORE, a film about world-class bouldering, at -- appropropriately enough -- the Boulder Theater in Boulder, CO. It played to an enthusiastic audience in a climbing town, only a stone's throw from great bouldering terrain, and was produced by a local company (based in Golden). A great recipe for a positive reception!


I should say right off that I am not much of a climber. I do the occasional scramble, and as a kid I climbed like a monkey on anything I could, but I have yet to really get into the sport as an adult.

However, I like climbing and mountaineering films, and I've seen a few at the Boulder Theater; some independent, and some from The North Face as part of their speaker series*, which rock (pardon the pun).

The bouldering subculture is a strange combination of love, obsession, rock-star flair and meditative asceticism. Whatever it may be, in films like this you can see people accomplishing physical feats you would not have thought possible. I'm simply floored by some of the moves they pull off.

The film was a mix of talent, good-natured humor, earnest dedication, hip music, great cinematography and sound, and natural beauty. You don't have to be a climber to enjoy it, but it will certainly help. I'd rate it PG-13 only because of the occasional f-bomb when a climber drops off a rock, and the sound can be loud (I usually wear ear plugs in movie theaters, but forgot), although I did like the soundtrack. In the end, it's simply a film about people who love to climb and are great at it.

Local Matt Wilder climbs a tough overhanging line on the Devil's Thumb, a prominent rock feature within some favorite running territory in Boulder Mountain Park. I'll definitely think of him climbing that, while watching out for bears, the next time I run up Shadow Canyon!

If you get a chance to see it near you, or on DVD, I recommend it.

*The North Face speakers I saw were: Pete Athans (alpinist, spoke on the Himalayas and the Himalayan Cataract Project), Kit DesLauriers (skied Mount Everest), Jimmy Chin/Conrad Anker (Mount Meru climb. Jimmy was also the photographer on Kit's Everest trip). Since I'm a runner, I'm hoping Dean Karnazes will swing by Colorado this season!

Objectivist Round Up

This week's Objectivist Round Up is hosted at Titanic Deck Chairs. The Round Up features posts by bloggers who advocate Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Enjoy!

Qlueless

I am just amazed that a Qatari diplomat on a flight to Denver tried to light up while in the bathroom. Or, security was clueless and he actually was trying to blow up the plane.

The passenger was in a lavatory and may have been smoking, a U.S. official said. He also may have made an "unfortunate comment" referring to a shoe bomb when questioned on the plane, the official said.

Sigh. Where has this person been during the last decade?

Here is my advice for people on commercial flights to, over, or around America -- especially if you are from the Middle East:

• Follow the rules; it's not your plane, you are a guest.
• Don't make fire or smoke during the flight. Duh.
• Most definitely do not attempt to light a match on your shoe.
• Do not make jokes about bombs. Neither Federal Air Marshals nor TSA employees will laugh at your joke, but they may laugh at you, when you have been subdued and are lying hogtied on the floor.

Bolt: Great!

I finally watched the animated film Bolt the other night, and it was absolutely great: excellent animation, voice work, and a very positive story line.

I won't go into details here, but at root, the theme of the story is about being able to come to grips with reality, rising to the occasion to get what you want, and helping those you care about. There aren't too many film experiences these days that offer unabashed hero-worship, but this one does... often in the form of a gung-ho hamster encased in a rolling clear plastic ball. He is a fan of Bolt's TV show, and gives new meaning to the word "enthusiasm". His impact on the plot and the movie's theme is definitely larger than his tiny size.

The artwork, as usual with Disney, was top notch. The same can be said for the character development and voice acting. It was very easy to become invested in these characters, so the story line mattered. There was plenty of humorous entertainment along the way, some of it excruciatingly funny. Highlights included some superbly animated pigeons with New York accents, and various funny situations involving the sphere the hamster was rolling around in.

I would even stick around for the credits, since there was a lot of creativity put into them as well.

In addition to Bolt (John Travolta) and Rhino the hamster (Mark Walton), a short list of other great characters includes Mittens, a scraggly alley cat (Susie Essman), Penny, Bolt's "person" (i.e. owner) (Miley Cyrus), Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell), and The Director (James Lipton). The list goes on.

You'll just have to see it. Trust me, your time will be well-spent!

Birth Of A Solar System

This short article contains some great Hubble Space Telecsope pictures, and a video that is a montage of images ending up on a frame believed to be a newly forming solar system. Beautiful and fascinating.

Three Sisters Views

Alderfer/Three Sisters Park is in Evergreen, CO and is named after 3 rock formations on a ridge. The entire area is populated with granite outcroppings, some in the woods and some reaching above, including The Brother, which is farther to the west. Late Sunday I took a quick jog over to the rocks to take some pictures. You can see the rocky ridgeline in the middle of the GPS tack below, with the parking lot on the left:


This park is a good place for a trail run in the summer, but it's also great for picturesque short runs or hikes. It doesn't take long to get to the good stuff; it's only a bit over a half mile to either The Brother or The Three Sisters. Here is the trail approaching a sister:


Once on the ridge, which is to the left, the trail descends and eventually ends up at the upper parking lot. The rocks are smooth granite, and make for good climbing, so it's not too much trouble to gain the top of the formations for a great view. This is the view from the top, northwest towards the Mount Evans massif:


This is the view looking down to the north, over the interesting stepped terrain and into a neighboring valley. None of this is technical climbing, but of course it requires care. I get the jitters in high places, so I like to do an occasional climb to keep myself used to heights.


I've had many blissful runs in this park, so I'll have to do a post about a longer outing some time. It's less busy than parks that are closer to the city, and offers trails with foothill terrain in a variety of lengths up to about 10 miles. It's a great place.

Boulder Farmers' Market

Yesterday was the first day of the Boulder Farmers' Market for the season. I arrived late, so I didn't pick up much this time, but there were quite a few vendors and patrons, and stocks were depleted by the time I got there. But that's a good thing for the market!


I did get a cup of coffee from Silver Canyon that was excellent, but regrettably didn't buy a bag, because I just ran out of coffee at home this morning. It was some exotic Sumatra variety that I had not seen before and didn't find on their web site. Oh well, some other time.

Among the things I've gotten here are beef, cheese, coffee, and some indescribably fantastic vegetables later in the summer.

I typically visit the market first (I bring a cooler with ice packs), then hit a trail, grab a bite to eat, and do some other shopping. Boulder is a very congenial city for the visitor, with tons of stuff to do and see; always a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend the day.

Nice COTRIP Travel Web Site

Most residents of Colorado, and many visitors, already know about the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) travel information site called COTRIP, but as I was browsing the site this morning* I just realized how much I enjoy using it, and thought I should mention it anyway. I sent them an email comment saying the same thing.

There's lots of great information, much of it live or refreshed within a span of minutes. My favorite, and the one I use most often, is the speed map:


It shows road speeds over a Google Map background as colored lines, like the Google traffic view, a table of speeds on the right, and also has cameras and streaming video feeds from the highway at critical points.

I plan my drives home using the mobile version, so I don't get stuck in a quagmire, like a wreck on Vail Pass last weekend. Both the full and the mobile version have a section called "Signs" that displays sign devices on the map, which is how I learned about the accident before getting on the highway. Here is an example:


If the highway sign switches between two or more messages, the web image is also animated and changes back and forth.

For the Denver-based skier, the two most educational cameras are probably the Eisenhower Tunnel:


and Vail Pass camera. The tunnel also has a live video feed so you can really see if the traffic is moving. If not, or if traffic is too dense, I'll hang around in the hills a little while longer before driving home. This site has saved me a lot of time in the car on several occasions, and I appreciate that. It's a great resource.

*Normally I'd be in the mountains on a snowy Saturday morning, instead of watching them on the COTRIP web site, but for several weeks now, I've been haunted by the shadow of a head cold that threatens to overtake me. I've kept it at bay, but I'm afraid another day of getting up before the crack of dawn and sitting in the predicted 10-25 mph winds on a chair lift all day might finally do me in. I'm taking some down time. I just reached my 30th ski day of the season last weekend, so I'm good for now!

Garmin Forerunner 110

A few days ago Garmin announced the upcoming sale of the Forerunner 110, which can roughly be described as a stripped-down version of the 405 aimed at runners.

It lacks the touch-sensitive bezel of the 405, and instead has traditional buttons. In my book that's a good thing, since I've had trouble with the interface on the 405. The bezel has worked well, but sometimes getting it in and out of locked mode is a pain, and ends up stopping the watch instead.

I was unable to determine what its altitude display will be during operation (if any) since the online manuals aren't yet posted and I did not see it in any of the videos. Because I run in the mountains, I'd like to see that displayed, but it's more important to me that the elevation reading be in the resulting GPS track.

Towards the end of this video I was able to see elevation data being displayed. This could either come from the recorded track, or be added by the Garmin server when the track is uploaded. I'm not sure which is the case, but it's good to know you will have the elevation data when you are finished.

This video explains basic operation, which is similar to the 405:


The terrain in the video is remarkably similar to some of the trails on the west side of Denver -- even the red dirt -- but I don't recognize it. Plus it's too green for before the end of March. Must be some that is place lower and warmer at this time of year.

Based on the first video link above, the 110 also lacks wireless connectivity, but a USB connection is an acceptable trade-off for a price starting of $199.

I'll be interested to check it out in person when it goes on sale.

Objectivist Round Up

I'm a bit late, but I just wanted to point out that this week's Objectivist Round Up is at The Playful Spirit. The Round Up features posts by bloggers who advocate Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. It's all there, from chicken recipes to economics. Enjoy!

Clouds Over Green Mountain

The season for storms is rapidly approaching, as warmer weather changes the daily ebb and flow of weather in the Denver area. You can see the afternoon clouds getting heavy with moisture, and taking on more threatening shades of blue-grey. They have a cottony, torn appearance as opposed to the diffuse and abstract shapes of cold-weather clouds. You can almost imagine the thunder.

When I left work today, a large storm cell was forming over the metro area, so I took a quick drive -- and hike -- up to the top of the hogback near Morrison to get a better vantage point. Below is Green Mountain with ominous, glowing storm clouds hovering in the background:


Incidentally, this is a different Green Mountain from the one near Boulder. This is more of a grassy hill, although from a distance, its slowly rising slopes are more impressive. It rises about 1,600 feet above downtown Denver, and a run or hike over the top will definitely get your blood pumping. It is literally one of the first Rocky Mountains as you head west in this area, along with North and South Table Mountain in Golden.

And just because it's a grassy hill near suburban Lakewood doesn't mean it's not wild. Rangers find signs of mountain lion activity there, and I've come across groups of coyotes napping in its valley folds, and rattlesnakes sunning on its trails. For a place so close to the city, it's a surprising bit of prairie wilderness.

Spring Skiing At Vail

As I suggested in a previous post, I was planning to ski a full day on Sunday after a powder day at Mary Jane on Saturday, and I did. I'm glad I saved my legs, because it was a heck of a day; I gave it everything I had.

The ski weekend pretty much fell together as expected: on Saturday there was fresh snow from a storm and on Sunday it was sunny spring skiing. Unexpected bonus: there was 4" more of fresh snow on Sunday under the bluebird skies.

I arrived early as usual, bought a coffee at Loaded Joe's (Vail), and wandered about taking pictures. Here is the base area from the Vail Village parking garage:


From this vantage point, it looks almost like a modest ski hill back east. But don't believe it; this place is second only to Whistler/Blackcomb for sheer acreage among ski areas in North America. It's one reason I ski there: you can always find some part of the mountain that isn't crowded. For example, here is Sun Up Bowl when I dropped in first thing in the morning. Honestly, it wasn't that much more crowded all day:


This snow, rather than being totally soft like it looks, was actually 4" of soft snow over firm crud, but it was still a good warm-up.

Something I like to do at Vail is to hike above the top of the pommel lift above Siberia Bowl. I get a few hundred extra feet of powder, I like the challenge of exercise at altitude, and the view is great. What's not to like? I did a couple of laps on Sunday.


There are boot tracks because lots of people ski the Vail backcountry, and the path leads to a backcountry gate. The view above is part way through the roughly 0.4 mile hike. I don't go all the way to the gate; I walk a little ways over the ridge and drop into Inner Mongolia Bowl. Here is the happy result of one such hike:


Believe it or not, the powder at the top of this hill was light and fluffy, and at the bottom it was firm and damp. Just a few hundred feet makes a difference!

For me, no day at Vail is complete without some laps of the Shangri-La trees in China Bowl. Because of the shade, snow lasts longer and is softer there. There were loads of soft bumps and slow motion weaving through the trees.


Across the valley in the same bowl is the monster bump run Genghis Khan, with the perpetual snow cornice at the top. Sunday the bumps were crispy at the top (my skis made crunching sounds, and I had to hop my turns to pound through it), but at the bottom the bumps were soft and easy. If you zoom in you can spot two skiers as two tiny specks, like fruit flies, in the middle of this huge face.


I have to say my skis have been performing great, now that I've had them for the better part of a season:


I bought the shortest length of the obSETHeds at 169 cm, but at 5.5" wide at the tip, they are totally stable, can ski powder, land jumps, are absolutely great in medium-sized bumps, and they have enough edge grip under their vertical sidewalls to ski groomers and survive the cat tracks back to the lift. I would not call them a hardpack or small bump ski, but for everything else, they are a blast. Plus, I like the funky psychedelic totem-pole graphics. I get more comments on these skis than any other peice of gear I've owned; a good conversation starter on the chair lift.

There's another Pacific storm coming, which just dumped 10"+ in Utah; hopefully we'll get a refresh just in time for the weekend! Spring is good.