Patrick Leonard: Hopes & Observations

Administration Claimed Immunity To 4th Amendment

2008-04-03T18:24:00.001-07:00

Time to wax political here - after all, it is the election season...

I know that people want to feel safe, but I for one am also concerned about privacy. It's easy to think that we have nothing to worry about - after all, we don't live in China, right? But a few things have happened in recent years that have me a bit concerned.

It was barely more than 50 years ago that McCarthyism was prominent - jailing, blacklisting, and otherwise ruining people for totally legal political beliefs. Just a decade before that, during WWII, we were putting American citizens into domestic prison camps because their ancestors came from Japan, Germany, etc.

The point is that these things can - and do - happen in the US. Unfortunately, several things have happened recently that that could open the door for this type of government action again. Here's a recent one:

In 2001, the Bush Administration asserted in the footnote to an opinion that domestic military operations are not covered by the 4th amendment. This could mean that the Administration believes the NSA's warrantless wiretapping and data mining programs are not governed by the Constitution and could clear the way for things like offline surveillance of political groups within the United States.

The Constitution is what makes our government work - the thing that makes the USA different from most other countries in the world. When our political leaders try to go around it, we should all be concerned, no matter how good the reason seems to be at the time.

South America trip February 2008 - part 2

2008-03-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

South America trip February 2008 - part 2

Friday, February 8

Feeling a bit better today, I got an early and went for a run. As the first time, I guess I must begin to use the altitude. The Spanish class today and Magna took me to the market -- Mercado San Pedro -- afterward.

It was great to see where the real Cuzcenos shop, see how the market works and to see some fruits and other food that we don't get in the states. One of the most interesting is a fruit called Chirimoya. It's probably the most expensive fruit in the market - 5 Soles for one fruit (five Soles is a little less than two dollars). It's a good-sized fruit, probably enough for two people and really delicious. I took a picture, it's hard to describe what it looks like or what it tastes like. The fruit here is just tremendous. Another example are the Papayas - they are as big as watermelons, no kidding.

In the afternoon I went back to the boys home. The first thing I did after playing football for a little while. I kicked the ball around and played one on one for quite a while with one of the guys who is a good little player - probably 8 years old or so. I told him "eres bueno" (you're good) and he responded "claro" (yeah). Hilarious.

The Director asked me to go shopping with Kellie, a teacher who works at school teaching arts and crafts. They need a lot of materials, so I went out to with her to by some. After a long walk up and down Avenue Del sole, we got what we needed and returned to help finish out the computer class. After class we goofed around and took pictures.

A little after 5 p.m., it was time to go, and boy was that hard. Even after a short time with these guys. They were so much fun and so warm and really hard to leave. A lot of them were really funny too. When I was getting ready to go Kellie was walking out the door and several of the boys were encouraging me to date her. Riot. Since they got excited they were talking fast I could understand everything, but I'm pretty sure heard Alex say "hotel". Anyway, I opted not to follow the advice of this particular 9 year old.

At six o'clock I went to yoga. This is a great place just down the street, and if anyone ever wants to go there let me know and I'll give you the address. We went for two hours, and the instructor's terrific - I did two poses that I've never done before. Yea, long day - I'll be sore tomorrow.

Saturday, February 9

Early morning, about 4am. can't sleep, watching Spaceballs. Dark Helmet is still funny in espanol.

It's amazing how easy it is to slip into this place. I just realized that I haven't thought of my house since I got here. I just remembered that I own a car. Totally forgot about that.

I was thinking some more about the kids and computer class. It was really amazing to see it all in action. The same technology - computers with Windows OS but in spanish, a network in the classroom, connection to the Internet. When they have free time they play video games like Age of Empires. Each of them has the potential to do the same things that I have done, and more. All they need is access to the knowledge and tools.

Sunday, February 10
Uh, not sure what happened today.

Monday, February 11

Early morning flight from Cuzco to Lima. Waited in Lima airport for our afternoon flight to Buenas Aires, not too exciting. Bs As is 2 time zones ahead of Lima and right now actually 3 hours ahead. I haven't researched the reason yet, I presume it's a daylight saving or something like that. But it meant that we were arriving at the hostel at midnight, even though it seemed like 9pm. And the hostel didn't have our reservation, so we ended up riding around in a cab looking for a room, which we eventually found about 1am. Of course, we were hungry and not tired, so Troy and I found a late night pizza place. They love their pizza in Argentina, and this was a great pie.

Tuesday, February 12

Unfortunately we paid for it by getting only 1 1/2 hrs sleep before having to go to the airport. Ugh. Slept on the flight to El Calafate, about 3 hrs in the air.

El Calafate is a town in southern Argentina that is best known for being the access point to the Porito Moreno Glacer, which is a spectacular glacier about 80 km to the West. We actually saw the glacier calve 6 different times - so amazing - each time it created a big wave. I didn't think I would see any, and ended up seeing a bunch. It was like real-time global warming - I don't know if Al Gore was behind this or not, but it was fun to see - and a bit depressing when you think about glaciers like this calving every 10 minutes around the clock.

Wednesdsay, February 13

Drove to Torres del Paine ("Towers" of Paine) - this is about a 6 hour drive that we managed to turn into a 9 hour drive. There was a turn to get to the Chile border crossing, we saw the turn and debated whether it was the right place, but it wasn't clear. We didn't take it, and of course it was. Oops. So we ended up all the way down in Puerto Natales, which added about 3 hrs to the drive. I'd recommend against it.

Oh, and the border crossing. That was a blast. So it goes like this - you drive up and there is a sign saying to park. So you pull over and park and go into this little house where there are 3 lines. Even if you speak spanish it's not obvious where to go since they're not numbered but eventually I pieced it together talking to people there. First the national police, then the immigration, then the customs agent. The process takes about 45 min. Whew. Get in the car, and off we go!

Then in 1/2 mile, you drive up and there is a sign saying to park. So you pull over and park and go into this little house where there are 3 lines. Even if you speak spanish it's not obvious where to go since they're not numbered but eventually... you get the point. First the national police, then the immigration, then the customs agent. Oh, then this time the customs agent goes through the car and takes your fruit.

The first one was for Argentina, the second for Chile. Not sure why they can't put them together. Same deal on the way back.

It was rainy as we drove into Torres del Paine, and couldn't see anything coming into the park. There is a charge to get into the park, which you have to pay in Chilean Pesos. Of course we didn't have Chilean Pesos, since there was no where to change money on the road in. Of course they were nice enough to offer to change Dollars or Argentinian Pesos. Of course, the exchange rate wasn't quite the same... nice racket. Hours away from anywhere, you sort of have to go with it. I'm a little tired.

Got to refugio ("refuge", a cabin like a hostel in the mountains) late and went to bed.

Thursday, February 14

It cleared up today, warm & sunny. Hiked to the towers in the morning and got up to the top about 1pm - WOW! This is so spectacular. The towers were in clouds at first, then they started to clear. Every few minutes it looked different. And after a bit, they were mostly clear. A lot of people don't get this view, even after several trips. I got really lucky. I wish I had more time here.

Friday, February 15

Took a short hike in the morning on the way back and did a 1/2 hour trail run with the pack. That felt great. It was a beautiful morning, even saw a rainbow. Then drove back to Calafate - even took the right route this time.

Saturday, February 16

Flew back to B.A. I stayed in Palermo - fun neighborhood with a lot of activity - restaurants, bars, etc. Spent the weekend walking the city. B.A. is pretty much what you hear, a city that feels like a bit of Europe in South America.

Sunday, February 17

Got tickets to the futbol (soccer) game at night. I'm excited, haven't seen a proper futbol game - outside the US. It's different, the game is just not as important in the US - crowds aren't as big or wild, level of play isn't as high, although that's changing. And this is the Boca Juniors, one of the top teams in South America and the biggest in B.A.

No beer or water, but plenty of spit & urine. Excellent. Suffice to say that you should avoid sitting in the seats below the visitors section if you to one of these games...

Monday, February 18
More walking the city - spent a lot of the afternoon in Recoletta, nice hood. This is where more of the nice high rises and fancier places are.

Flight out at night, and long journey home. Lots of sleep and reading on the plane. Can't wait to come back again...

South America journal - Feb 2008

2008-03-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

South America trip February 2008 - part 1

"I just remembered that I own a car. Totally forgot about that..."

Friday, February 1
Well, the trip started out on an interesting note... I got to the airport in Denver at 4:30 in the morning to check in for my 6:40 flight to Chicago and found out that it had been canceled. I was informed that I was lucky I got there early so that I can get on a 6 a.m. flight that they created to leave 40 minutes before the one that they cancelled. Lucky me. Of course, it didn't take off until 7:30.

I got to Chicago, got off the plane and shock... my Chicago - Toronto flight had been canceled. Two flights canceled in one morning. So after are several hours of trying to find different routes to get from Chicago to Lima on a mileage points ticket (not the easiest thing to do), I finally talked to a flight attendant (who lives in Peru, coincidentally), who was nice enough to take me to a customer service person, who spent about two hours figuring it all out. (side note: they couldn't get it fixed within the confines of my mileage award ticket, so the United agent actually bought me a ticket on Delta to get me out the next day - a really impressive instance of United customer service, which they aren't always great at).

The moral of the story is don't ever connect through Chicago.

Since I was in Chicago for the night, I went to visit my grandmother. I didn't see her very often so that was a nice surprise. I picked up dinner from her favorite restaurant -- Hackney's. We watched Wheel of Fortune.

So we got through dinner, and the usual grilling about my love life or lack thereof... and I decided to get out my laptop and show her some techie stuff.

The highlight of the night was when I showed her Google Earth. At first, she wasn't sure what she was looking at, because she still thinks that my computer is a typewriter. So I zoomed in on Peru, her house, my house, and after a while she started to understand that you looking at an interactive satellite view. At the same time, however, there happened to be a travel show on TV about South America. So I was showing her Google Earth on South America, and on the television there is a travel Channel show about South America, and she got horribly confused. For someone 92 years old to whom all of this stuff is fairly mystical, that had to be a very confusing thing. I can understand why because even I got a little bit confused.

Saturday February 2
Flew from Chicago to Atlanta, sat at Hartsfield Airport for 5 hrs, flew to Lima. Uneventful - nice.

Sunday, February 3
Sunday was beach day. After a long flight my reward was to go to la playa in Miraflores. My goal was to surf, but there aren't really any surf shops near the beach - strange. And I couldn't find a locker either. And since the airline still had my bag, I didn't have my board shorts or anything else. So surfing wasn't in the cards, but still a great day at the beach.

I went out to watch the Super Bowl, and of course there were only a few places that show it. The first place called Corner Bar in the Miraflores neighborhood looked good, but it was full and I couldn't get in. So my backup plan was the Marriott. They had a game on, but what an oddball collection of people. It was a lot of Giants fans are found myself rooting for the patriots who, of course lost. My second Super Bowl in a row outside the country.

Monday, February 4.

I originally put this part in a Sunday, because the two days just ran together, but I guess it's actually Monday.

Left the hostel at midnight to get to the airport before 1 a.m.. So that I can hopefully find my bag coming in on the flight from Atlanta. At this point I was giving it about a 20% chance, but I had to get out there and try since my flight was leaving at 5:30 a.m. it just meant getting to the airport a few hours earlier. And miracle of miracles the bag showed up. I slept for about an hour in the airport Chapel with my head on that backpack, making sure it was not going anywhere. I can tell you when I checked in at 4 a.m. and was not happy to give my backpack back to an airline, but I didn't have a choice, so try again.

Anywho... finally got to Cuzco at 7 a.m. and my bag showed up as well. I think the trip karma is starting to change. Jim (President of Globalteer) met me at the airport, and we went into Cuzco. After getting settled in the hotel, we met for coffee to do orientation for the program. And I can say I was a bit nervous. I really didn't know what to expect - I was excited and glad to be there and really looking forward... but didn't know what to expect. It turns out that there is a computer class at both the boys and girls orphanages on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I was hoping to be able to do something like that was happy to hear that.

In 3 p.m. we went out to the boys home (called Hogar (home) de Menores "Maria Salome Ferro") where 60 boys live in old house, donated by a family over a hundred years ago. So they have a nice building but lack of funds to maintain and buy books by sheets chairs etc. I helped the teacher, a college student named Elmer. We took the kids through basic lessons about how to use the computer configuring Windows those types of things. Of course they're all experts already at videogames. I think highlight of the class lies when I showed them Google Earth. It was already downloaded, so someone had seen it before, but the kids in his class didn't seem to have. We spent time looking at satellite views of Cuzco and Lima, and then I asked them if they wanted to see where I live. So we typed in Denver and flew up to the United States and onto Denver and they were all thrilled to see a city in the states, to see the roof of my house and the Rocky Mountains. That was fun.

Then I met with the director of the home, whose name is Janette. She seems like a wonderful (and I'm guessing tough) woman and she immediately gave me an assignment. So I have homework. She wants a software application to track the health of the kids -- information like height and weight -- on monthly basis. It was funny, she immediately brought this up, almost as soon as I sat down. I talked to her at some length to find out where requirements were and told her that I would work on it. I spent time on the flight down learning Ruby on Rails, and I think that will be a good tool for this app.

Tuesday, February 5.

Got some exercise in the morning, then headed down to the library with Judith, the other volunteer. This is a neat program started by an American woman from New York/Boulder, who wanted to provide a place for kids to go when they're not in school, where they can read and study. I read through a book about dinosaurs to one of the kids there. And of course found out that he reads Spanish, much better than I do. That was a bit humbling.

The afternoon I got my Spanish lesson. It was three hours, which is a bit long, but my instructor named Magda a lot of fun and actually really enjoyed the lesson. Today was mostly review, and tomorrow we'll start getting into the past tense and some other new things. I alternate between feeling like my Spanish is really improving every day that I'm here, and feeling that my Spanish is really horrible and it's frustrating when I try to talk to people. There are a lot of Spanish-language schools in Cuzco, a lot of people live here to study Spanish, and many of them volunteer as well. My school is called Maximo Nivel, and it's a big school on Avenida Del Sol. So far it's been really good.

I went to dinner with Jim Elliot, who runs Globalteer and Judith, another volunteer. I found a little place called Las Cupulas close to the Plaza de Armas. I only mention it because it has a great courtyard in the back and aren't really that many places to eat outside in the city, which is surprising because the weather here is really nice almost all year round. After that we went to Nick's, which is a good ex-pat bar just a block or two off of the Plaza. Tuesday is Quiz night which is a good time, I recommend it. It was also nice enough to put CNN on the TV even though he's British. So I got to catch up with Super Tuesday.

Wednesday, February 6.

I spent a bit of time working on a web application for Janette at the orphanage. Just enough so that I could show her a mockup. I helped Elmer teach the computer class at the girls home this afternoon, which was a lot of fun. I'm always bothered by how few girls go into math and science and engineering, so great to see this group of girls getting comfortable on the computer, especially a group that doesn't have the same advantages that most people in the States and other places have. Oh and I learned some new Spanish words. "Inalambrico" means wireless, and "cable" means cable. "mouse" is mouse - or sometimes "raton". Got to love technology words, so much easier to translate...

After that, I headed back over to the boys home to meet Janette and show her my design. She seemed pleased, but I think I'm not quite on to what she's looking for. She's definitely a tough nut. I got her promise to bring me more requirements on Friday. I stayed later to hang out the boys. We had a good time playing on the parallel bars and seeing who could do the most pull ups. Those kids are a riot.

And tonight I worked a bit more on his application, and got an initial version working, which was fun. I don't get to do any hands-on coding at work, so it's nice to have a project. I won't finish it this week, but I'll finish it at home, and then e-mail link to Janette and Tom are so that they can test it out. Then I'll send it to Elmer so that he can install it. It really is a small world. Hopefully this will be something useful for them and who knows maybe it will be useful for others to...

By the way, I'm dictating this whole journal on Dragon, a voice to text program. It works pretty well. And I can talk more naturally than when I'm actually typing, which is nice. And hopefully it will keep my hands and wrists from falling apart. But I'm still training at and having to fix quite a few errors. I'm sure you'll see some come throooo (just kidding).

Thursday, February 7

Today is "Paro" which essentially means stop. It's a work stoppage in protest of the government's attempt to privatize national treasures like Machu Picchu. I talked to my Spanish teacher about this after her thoughts, and it is interesting to hear her response. Essentially, the government is looking privatize national parks including Macchu Picchu so that hotels and other amenities can be built, and people in Cuzco feel like most of this money goes to Lima. So, because of that and because they don't want to happen. They are protesting and striking. It was very interesting to see democracy in action in Peru we'll see what happens.

At the end of the day I decided to walk up the hill into some of the neighborhoods and get out of the tourist area man these hills are steep. Most people were inside because, at 4:30 a football game started between Cuzco and Montevideo Uruguay. This was the championship game for a minor cup so everyone was inside watching. Anyway it was fun to walk around some of the real neighborhoods.

Watched The Matrix. Pretty much the only TV I've watched this week has been American movies in espanol. Good mindless way to practice. And you get good quotes like hearing Keanu Reeves say "no hay cuchara" (there is no spoon). Priceless.

Engineers Without Borders

2008-03-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

I had a very interesting meeting yesterday with Dr. Bernard Amadei at the University of Colorado (my alma mater). Dr. Amadei founded an organization called Engineers without Borders in the year 2000. after watching a girl in a small village, carry water from the river back to her village and realizing that this daily job kept her from going to school. Dr. Amadei recognized the need for basic civil engineering projects in developing world.

Dr. Amadei says that their priorities are water, water and water. It's remarkable how many people in this world don't have safe clean drinking water. In fact most people don't.

But any other projects as well. Building bridges and roads clean burning solutions for energy is a great program and they have done some really amazing work.in addition, Dr. Amadei started a program at the University called engineering in developing communities. Engineering students in this program. Learn how to apply your skills specifically for developing communities which have different needs than those in the industrialized world. In a recent project, students learn how to compress paper, sawdust and other combustibles into long burning briquettes. Something that can be used in the house from what was litter.

Their biggest need, as you might imagine, is funding. Government organizations like the EPA tend to want to invest in things that are directly related to saving lives rather than research and raised over $1 million in about nine years. It's an impressive amount, but the program has grown over 50% a year. So current projects remain underfunded and students admitted into the EDC program are often not able to attend.

It's amazing the great stuff that people are out there doing...

Masterminds

2008-01-13T15:23:00.001-08:00

Masterminds? can't we find another term to describe the people who organize terrorist attacks? The organizational skill required for an event like this is roughly the same as a mid-level project manager.

Have the people who created the iPod, downhill skiing or the chocolate chip cookie ever been referred to as a "mastermind"? Not that I know of, and each one is much more deserving of the title, IMHO.

I know that we have a lot of smart people in our press - TV, radio, web and print. I think we would all appreciate if just one of them could come up with an adjective that doesn't glorify these disgusting people. And maybe it would catch on...

paintings and other diversions (2)

2007-06-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

I have been painting, but haven't posted in a while. Here are some new pieces.

This is a doorway on a canal in Venice. I love to think that this water-worn door is the front of someone's house - boat access only.

This is the end of a time... a good time, but transitions are always tough.

This is one after my trip to Peru. It's Machu Piccu. A truly inspriational and spiritual place.

This is a good friend - maybe some of me too....

These are some of my paintings. I started working in oils about a year and a half ago, after a lifetime of sketching in black and white. I finally got brave enough to open up to larger canvas, tougher composition, texture, and of course, color.

It's the type of thing that you never really master, but I'm far enough in to enjoy it now. At the risk of sounding falsely modest, I'm somewhere past being embarassed, a bit short of being proud. For the sake of creativity, that's probably not a bad place to be.

The first three are from pictures that I took when I was in Africa. I've been doing landscapes recently, which is a new area for me.

You can click on any of these pictures to see a larger version.

Here are a few older ones. These are less literal and more, what, representational? Maybe a little surreal? I'm not sure what to call this style. Just stuff that pops into my head.

This one is a sculpture by Henry Moore called Recumbant Figure. It's in the Tate Britain museum in London. It's a big piece, probably 15 feet long and 10 feet high. Really amazing stuff. There is also an outdoor sculpture gallery in Dallas that has a lot of his work.

Retail Store Theory of Running a Country

2006-02-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

I think that modern nations can be compared to retail chains.

France is a lot like Nordstrom. Everything is very nice, the experience and atmosphere are high quality, and it's very expensive. This is integral to their culture. It's a conscious choice that they have made.

By contrast, the United States is like WalMart. We want everything as cheap as possible, regardless. You can get decent things, but the emphasis is definitely on low price and large quantity. Experience and atmosphere are secondary.

Of course this is a generalization, and we don't always approach things this way. But it is true for a lot of things. People complain about prices at the gas pump but won't sell the SUV. We are willing to cut some basic programs so that we can pay a few dollars less in taxes. We insist on free internet porn (oops, uh, forget that last one).

It seems to me that the ideal may be somewhere around Target. It's a nice experience, but not overly so. The items are good quality and attractive, but not the best. It's affordable, but they don't sacrifice certain basic things.

The cost of things is important, because things of beauty and quality aren't as useful for the people who can't afford them, but it shouldn't be the only thing, or even the primary thing. Experience and atmosphere are important too. Quality of life is important. Art and beauty are important. These and other things that we sometimes forget about are what make the rest of it worthwhile.

How would you like to see your country run?

Colorado Ref. C and D

2005-09-05T23:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't been tracking this, it will be the major political topic of the election season in Colorado this year.

Other initiatives similar to TABOR are being proposed in a number of other states, so those of you in other parts of the U.S. may be interested to learn from our experience, since this type of thing can have a major impact.

Ref C and D are the budget fix that our Republican Governor and our Democratic-controlled state legislature worked together on during the past session. Leaders of both parties are now actively working together on the campaign to pass it.

The business community is also strongly in favor. Ref C and D are backed by prominent business group such as CACI (the State Chamber of Commerce) and AeA (the largest high-tech industry group). [In the interest of disclosure I should mention that I sit on the board of the local AeA chapter.]

In short, TABOR puts a limit on the amount of money the state can keep. Funds collected above that amount are returned to the taxpayers in a rebate. This worked well when the economy was growing, but during the recession the "ratchet effect", reset the limit downward. The state keeps growing, but the budget doesn't.

Ref C and D propose to permanently eliminate the ratchet effect and to temporarily allow the state to keep the rebate. Because TABOR was a consitutional ammendment, we the voters have to approve anything related to it.

I am no fan of taxes, but I do believe that for businesses in our state to be successful we need (1) Infrastructure (2) Higher education and (3) a favorable business climate. This affects the first two directly.

According to the non-partisan JBC (Joint Budget Committee), the state will have to cut $400-500 million next year from an already tight budget.

The people who are against this generally argue that government is still too big, taxes too high, and the JBC has their numbers wrong.

I encourage you to take a look and see what you think.

www.voteyesonc-d.com.

Here is a good article in the Denver Business Journal.
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2005/07/25/editorial1.html

Peru Journal part 3

2005-08-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

06/2005 Peru Journal part 3

Hey, everyone, here's the final installment. In this issue we make the trek through the Andes to Machu Picchu.

- Altitude sickness
I started the first day of the hike fine, then quickly started having problems. Falling from the front to the back of the group, I walked with Jose, the junior of our two guides. I had been feeling a cough and some stomach problems for several days, but it wasn't until lunch of this day that I finally allowed that it was probably altitude sickness.

"Not possible", I thought. "I live at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. I eat altitude for breakfast". And this isn't higher than I have been before. Actually, I found out later that it was higher than I had been, but not by THAT much. Anyway, there it was.

"Quantos años tienes?", Jose asked. Great, that's just what I need. 35, I replied. He's 24. Super. Our other guide, Edgar, the "senior" guide, it turns out, is 28. So I'm the oldest person in the entire group.

I'm not really used to bring the oldest person in any entire group, but there I was at lunch, lying on the ground because I didn't have the energy to sit at the table with eveyone else.

It's good, I suppose, to be humbled from time to time. Based on that theory, this was a VERY good morning. Based on any other measure, it wasn't so hot.

- Avalanche overnight
We camped at 15,000 feet near the top of the pass, and everyone went to bed early. At about 4am, we were shaken from our sleep by a thunderous roar, followed by about 10 minutes of rain. The tempurature was probably in the 20s overnight, so rain was not going to be fun for the morning hike. Edgar had sworn that it would not rain, and it looked like he was going to be wrong.

When we got up a little later, we found out that it wasn't rain. There had been an avalanche on Salkantay, the mountain several miles from our campsite. The avalanche threw snow all the way to our campsite and it had "rained" snow on us, leaving a thin blanket of snow. It was amazing.

- Feeling Better
Woke up on the 14th feeling much better. Nuff said.

- Cloud forest
The Cloud Forest is the are on the east side of the Andes that approaches the Amazon basin. It's still in the mountains, but much more green and lush. Really a beautiful place. And they had a good marketing person apparently. I mean, wow, what a great name.

- Hot springs - only 20 minutes.
Our camp tonight was in small village above the river. Edgar told us about a hot spring down by the river, about a 20 minute hike from our camp. He described it as being difficult, and seemed to be trying to talk us out of going, but it sounded like fun so we pressed him to take us there.

After we had been going for about 20 minutes, weren't anywhere near the river bed, so I asked Edgar how long it was supposed to take. 20 minutes, he repeated. I said, no, we've been going that long already. 20 minutes, he repeated. Now, I'll admit that I was tired from three days of hiking and probably a little cranky, so I didn't react well to being mislead. After all, the beers in my backpack were getting warm. So I told the group that I was going back. I'm not sure that they wanted me there as much as the beer that I was carrying, but they asked me to keep going. Ok, they didn't really ask as much as give me a hazing, teasing and berating like I haven't had since Junior High. And the style of it reminded me of Junior High. I thought I had outgrown that, but apparently not - I caved.

After about 45 minutes, we got there and it was well worth it. I felt a little bad for the two local girls who were already there when we bumbled into the pool, but hey, they get to use it all the time.

- See and Say
We stayed in a small village last night, with just a few homes. Woke up in a "See and Say". Rooster, horse, cow. And, by the way, roosters start crowing before the sunrise. And they keep going well after the sunrise. I don't like roosters.

- Peruvian flat
Everything is relative. For the people who live in the Andes, there aren't many truly flat places. They actually have a term - "Peruvian flat", which seems to be anything under about a 70 degree pitch. I spend a lot of time in the mountains, and I'm in decent shape, but this place is different. The mountains are bigger, and the people walk everywhere. I realized the difference as we were getting passed by a grandmother with a baby on her back.

- Pachamama
Pachamama was the top Inca god. I think she represented the Earth. And it's tradition to pour part of drink out on the ground as a sacrifice/gift to her.

- Aguas Calientes & train delay, too much beer
The last day of the hike was the shortest. We got a good jump on the day and made great time. By lunch we were at the train station near the hydro-electric plant. This plant uses the force of the river to provide electricity for the Sacred Valley between Cusco and Machu Picchu. There we got lunch and a few well-deserved beers. Well, maybe more than a few. And they were large beers. Gotta love that.

We got on the train which, naturally, was delayed. Time for more drinks. Well, you know the rest.

- Machu Picchu
Woke up early this morning to get to macchu picchu for sunrise. The surrounding peaks are so high that sunrise isn't until after 7am, even though the actual sunrise is at about 6am. So it was light out, but direct sunlight wasn't hitting Macchu Picchu yet when we got there. As the sun started coming over the peaks, the light on the city started changing minute-by-minute. A light haze in the air diffused the sunlight, creating an additional affect. I'm sure my pictures from the disposable camera (see above) won't do it justice.

Edgar did a good job of telling us about Machu Picchu history, although he clearly didn't like Hiram Bingham, the American credited with "discovering" Machu Picchu. This is understandable, since locals knew about it for a long time before Bingham in 1911. But we had to nudge him along to get him off the topic. Probably around 600 people lived there, but the Inca didn't have a written language so we know very little. And the conquering Spanish weren't making a lot of notes about Inca culture.

After going through the upper Machu Picchu, we climbed Wayna Picchu. We got up there early enough that we moved quickly to the top. Very steep, fun climb. Book says 45 minutes but it took us 23. The view there is fantastic. You can sit on a rock looking over the whole valley.

There was a hawk that hung out with us up there posing for photos. I'm not kidding. Good kisser too.

Our last hike was to the Inca Bridge. This is basically a path built into the side of a massive cliff. The engineering of this had to be incredible. I don't know how they did it.

I'm not sure what it is, but there is a feeling here. It is a truly amazing place. After coming back from the Inca Bridge, I sat in the grass looking over Machu Picchu and felt very comfortable and peaceful. Not at all ready to leave.

- Train to Cusco
Hey, we got to jump onto a moving train tonight. On the way back to Cusco from Machu Picchu, the train stops in Poroy, which is close but some people get off there and take a bus the rest of the way because the train is slow coming into Cusco - it has to go back and forth to get down to the valley floor. It took us a while to decide, and by the time we got off the train, the buses were all full. As we turned around to walk back to the train, we noticed that it was pulling away. Just made it.

We arrived in Cusco to see the start of the Inti Raymi, the Inca sun festival celebrated each year around the winter solstace. The parade came up Av del Sol to the Plaza de Armas. By the time we got out of dinner, everyone was packed into the plaza. This is one of the Inca traditions that the Spanish outlawed. It was revived in Cusco about 60 years ago.

- Last day in Cusco, Mass
Woke up with the sunrise in the window. Not too bad. Glad to get an early start today. I could really use some more time in Cusco. After breakfast Des, Mark and I walked down to the plaza, and I noticed that they were about to start mass at the cathedral, so we went in. The Saturday am mass is small, and so celebrated in the nave instead of the main altar. So small that I had to point out to the guys that it was starting. Heathens...

It was tough to follow in Spanish. I could get a lot from context based on years of attending mass, and I could pick up words along the way. Glad that worked out.

After mass, I sat in the plaza for a while watching the kids practicing their dances for the evening celebration of Inti Raymi. There is also a music stage set up. I wish I had another day here...

On the way back to the hostel I stopped in at the set museum that I keep trying to see, and it was finally open. Shock. Of course, after all that waiting, it turned out to be all 17th century religious paintings. Not really my genré. But I had an interesting conversation with the guy working in there. My Spanish is still terrible, but has improved so that I can have simple conversations, which is fun. And empowering when you need to get around. The museum building was originally an Inca house, and the basement is original (but not open). The building is Colonial, which is what they call anything created after the Spanish invaded.

Ugh, time to leave Cusco and head to Lima on the way home. I'm not going to bother with Lima, it was basically killing time for 5 hours until heading to the airport.

What a great place - I do expect to be back.

Peru Journal part 2

2005-08-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

06/2005 Peru Journal part 2

We move around a bit in this issue, so here's a link to a map for all you geography buffs...
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/main.adp?country=PE

- Huaraz - climber's town
Cafe California for breakfast. If I lived in Huaraz I would probably come here a lot, which explains Chris knowing the owner. He is from California (has a Berkeley email address) and played Steely Dan and NPR while we were in there. Nice guy, and he helped get our hike figured out.

Its amazing up here. The Cordillera Blanca is in the west side of the Andes, which were pushed up from the Pacific, so the soil is supposed to be very good. They farm potatos, corn and ranch sheep, cattle, alpaca, even at this high altitude. We are about 10 degrees south of the equator, so it is relatively warm even at altitude. Huaraz, at almost 10,000 feet rarely gets snow. 10,000 feet in the Rockies will get you plenty of snow, and not as much farming... And the Andes start at sea level, so they are some of the most dramatic that I have ever seen. They are young mountains, so the peaks are jagged and rough.

Most of the locals, especially in the high villages, speak Quechua as their native tongue as well as Spanish. This is the traditional Andean language, the same that the Inca spoke. This is still a very active and alive language. In this area there are english speakers, but not like in the cities. Spanish is very handy.

One of the great things about Huaraz is that Gringos don't draw so much attention. You can walk around and talk to people and most of them are very friendly and just treat you like a normal person. There aren't too many places that you can go as an American and not draw attention, and not usually positive. It was nice to feel almost anonymous.

- Climbing the walls
At night we went to the Garden Cafe, which is an outdoor bar with climbing walls and a fire pit. What a great concept. Pound a few beers and start climbing! Yet another thing that you couldn't get away with in the States. Hopefully CAFTA & FTAA won't open up the market for personal injury lawyers to sell their services in the rest of the Americas...

I asked Benjamin, the owner, if people often get on the climbing wall, and he said "all the time." Then he challenged me to give it a try. Now, I went to junior high, so I know now dares go. I said "I will if you will." Never fails. No double-dog-dares required, we were standing in the gravel pit in front of the wall getting ready. The bet was who could traverse the wall horizontally without falling. The prize was a liter bottle of Cusquena beer.

This climbing wall is four panels together, and each one is about 8-10 feet across. I didn't make it all the way across, but I got onto the fourth panel before falling. Benjamin didn't get quite that far, and graciously walked me to the bar for my reward. Benjamin - when you're in the States - how about a rematch?

- Vans and livestock
Today was for a long hike in the mountains outside Huaraz, to the Laguna Churup, which tops out at about 14,900 feet. Many peaks in the Andes go above 22,000. The trailhead is more than an hour from town so we had to get a car. Strange that in a town famous for climbing and in the middle of multiple mountain ranges that the trail would be so far. Well, part of it is the distance and part of it is that its slow going over these very difficult roads. These are basically 4x4 roads that they drive on with the equivalent of a VW bus.

So we walked up to the van that we would take to the trailhead. The main reason for this van is for locals who live in the surrounding hills to get down into town and back home. As we approached the van we saw a large crowd of people - and sheep. Most people in this area either farm potatoes or ranch sheep and llamas/alpaca. We paid our fare and climbed aboard. This is a van that looks like it should hold about 10 people, and we sat in the back watching person after person get on, 10, 15, 18... we ended up with 22 or so. And the whole time we were all wondering where the sheep on the sidewalk were going to go. But fortunately the door closed with no sheep inside. Right after that, a guy climbed on the roof of the van, and another guy starts passing sheep up to him. Really. We ended up with about 10 sheep on top of the van and headed up the trail. And every few minutes a sheep leg would appear in the window, then pull back up. Then a different leg would fall into another window, then disappear back above. Every so often, the van would stop, a person would get off. Then one of the sheep would lower to them and villager and sheep disappear down a narrow trail.

The van ride is a bit rough, but it is incredible to travel through these mountain villages and see all of the people just living out their lives. Interested in us as we traveled by, but not very.

We hiked up to Laguna Churup, a glacier lake above Huaraz, which is about a 3 hour round trip. It's a fun hike, with sweeping views some steeper sections, and a little bit of water. At the top is the lake, which is a beautiful (and cold, as a few in our group tested out) runoff from the glacier above. The glacier above is obviously much smaller than it used to be. It used to come down to the lake, and as receded over the past 20 years to the very top parts of the peak above.

- Biking down the mountain
Ok, here's a good idea. Have someone drive you to the top of a mountain pass a little over 14,000 feet, then ride a mountain bike down to sea level. Actually, it is a good idea, but know that if the roads are rough (think single track bumpy but a little wider) and the bikes are old and out of tune, its a bit more work than it sounds. Then throw in the occasional car, truck or bus, and some dogs chasing your bike trying to bite your ankles, and you have more than your ordinary bike in the park.

But what a blast. Its cool at the summit when we start at 8am, but not cold. a jacket and light gloves. Sunny and cool, what a great morning. Even at this altitude there are small pueblos of people farming and ranching.

Who knew a downhill ride could be so much work? The mountain bikes are good enough to do the job, but each one has its problems. None of them have good suspension, one has no suspension and the front deraileur doesn't work. Kevin took that one for the first half, and I took it for the second. In return I gave him my bike with a bad rim that caused flats every few hundred yards or so. Our tech in the chase can hops out to take a look at the rim. He's not a great bike tech, but he does a good job of at least trying to inspire confidence. He has the old style bike hat on, you know, the one with the short bill turned up in the back, as if to say "of course I know what I'm doing.". Well, thank you, Monseur Le Monde.

As we decend, the climate changes visibly. High alpine with rugged peaks gives way to green steppe-farmed hillsides looking across at shear cliffs. It seems like every half hour we're in a new climate. We ride through pueblos on the way, and groups of children run out to greet us, hamming for the camera.

At sea level, we reach a desert that separates us from the coast. Not desert like cactus and scrub brush, this is desert like black sand and nothing at all alive. Not really a place that you want to get stranded.

- Cusco
From the end of the bike ride, we took a bus the rest of the way to Lima so that we could catch our morning flight to Cusco. I'm impressed with LAN Peru Airline. It was only 3 hours from hotel in Lima to hotel in Cusco. We got to the airport late, and they rushed us to the gate with an escort. Try that in the States.

Cusco is impressive from the moment you drive into town. The combination of Inca culture with Spanish architecture is unique and fascinating. It sits at almost 10,000 feet in altitude in a river valley surround by the Andes. I just got here and I already want to come back.

Cusco was the capital of the Inca empire, and many people say is now the tourist capital of South America. It certainly does seem to be the capital of cheap crap and aggressive street merchants. They must all go to the same class to learn.

There is Inca stonework and building foundations all over the city, and many of them have Spanish buildings built on top - a really amazing affect. We stayed at a hostel about 10 minute walk up the hill from the Plaza de Armas. From up there, the view over the town is gorgeous - red tile roofs surrounded by a circle of mountains.

I was a bit nervous about the motorcycle trip, since I hadn't been on one for at least 10 years. Also, I wanted to see things in Cusco. But this was a blast. I sat on the bike and it felt awkward. I had to think, "where is the clutch, how do I shift?" Wooo. But off we went.

We rode up the hill from Gringo Alley out of the city. Pretty quickly you get into small towns, then farm land. Really beautiful. We passed through little pueblos with tiny ancient streets, but these are not busy like Cusco, so it seems that you can speed through intersections, but I kept expecting that at any point I would get T-boned by a speeding llama cart coming down a blind alley.

After 2 hours we came to an Inca ruin, which includes a series of concentric circles going down several hundred feet. This was interesting, and also served as a reminder that I'm not in as good shape as I thought. This trip has been great for that. No shortage of humbling moments. Rode back to the city in the dark, and didn't kill myself or anyone else. Wow.

More on Cusco in the final installment...

from the "you just blew my mind" file...

2005-08-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

from slashdot:

Quantum Information Can be Negative

nerdlygirl writes "In a development that would probably even puzzle Claude Shannon, information can be negative -- at least when the information is quantum. The discovery, by Horodecki, Oppenheim, and Winter, appears in the current edition of the leading journal Nature. If I tell you negative information, you'll know less. Apparently, researchers hope to use this to gain deeper insights into phenomena such as quantum teleportation and computation, as well as the very structure of the quantum world. More details can be found here and here A popular account of the article can be found on Oppenheim's homepage, and a free version of the article can be found in the arxiv for those of us without subscriptions to Nature."

if you're really curious: http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0505062

I know - finding out about imaginary numbers in high school was enough. But the world is ruled more and more by quantum physics. It's why computers work and why they aren't getting any faster anymore (yes, Moore's law is about to end).

and, it could be the way for computers to get many times faster than today's silicon-based systems. http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,40968,00.html

paintings and other diversions

2005-07-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have been painting, but haven't posted in a while. Here are some new pieces (probably a good word to use...)

This is a good friend - or is it me....

This is the end of a time... a good time, but transitions are always tough.

This is one after my trip to Peru. It's Machu Piccu. A truly inspriational and spiritual place.

These are some of my paintings. I started working in oils about a year and a half ago, after a lifetime of sketching in black and white. I finally got brave enough to open up to larger canvas, tougher composition, texture, and of course, color.

It's the type of thing that you never really master, but I'm far enough in to enjoy it now. At the risk of sounding falsely modest, I'm somewhere past being embarassed, a bit short of being proud. For the sake of creativity, that's probably not a bad place to be.

The first three are from pictures that I took when I was in Africa. I've been doing landscapes recently, which is a new area for me.

You can click on any of these pictures to see a larger version.

Here are a few older ones. These are less literal and more, what, representational? Maybe a little surreal? I'm not sure what to call this style. Just stuff that pops into my head.

This one is a sculpture by Henry Moore called Recumbant Figure. It's in the Tate Britain museum in London. It's a big piece, probably 15 feet long and 10 feet high. Really amazing stuff. There is also an outdoor sculpture gallery in Dallas that has a lot of his work.

Peru Journal part 1

2005-07-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

Peru is a fascinating country. It inspired a lot of things for me when I was there. I was there with a group of friends for 2 weeks in June of '05 - in the Amazon, the Andes, and Macchu Picchu. All of these things are in an area a little smaller than Alaska. The board of tourism branded the country "the Land of the Inca".

You can find pictures at http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=299607307203.

Stayed the first night in Lima, which kind of just another big city. More on this later. We flew to the Amazon the next morning, early.

- Amazon
Iquitos is the largest town in the Amazon region of Peru. It grew mostly from the rubber business in the late 1800's until 1912 when rubber started being harvested in Asia and Africa.

Driving to town from the airport, we go by a military base. War with Equidor was not long ago. On a large wall is painted: 'prepararte guerra es manana' (prepare, the war is tomorrow).

We flew to the Amazon the morning to Iquitos, a town on the Amazon river. I lot bigger than I thought, several hundred thousand people.

- Blackberry
Ok, this thing works everywhere. The plane landed in the Amazon, and my Blackberry immediately lights up with email and voice mail. Tomorrow we go into the jungle, no phone for a few days.

- Iquitos
Every town has a 'Plaza de Armas', the central plaza of each city.

I realized that the only long pants I brought are jeans. Oops. For one thing, the easiest way to stick out as a foreigner / American / tourist / gringo is to wear shorts. In most countries in Europe and South America men rarely wear shorts in public. But fashion aside, we're going into the jungle. We had to buy rubber boots today (13 soles / $4 - what a deal...) to protect from snakes' etc. Shorts won't work, and jeans see too hot. It's winter here, and the high temp was over 80F and humid. So we went shopping for pantalones.

There is a place in Iquitos called The Yellow Rose of Texas. The. Staff wears University of Texas gear. Seriously. In the middle of the Amazon. Jason and Sheila would love it.

- Up the river
Boat ride to the lodge. The sky is huge. How to describe the clouds? They look solid, like you could walk among them or climb up their sides. Thatched huts along the bank, people living on, with the river. But the people are hardly noticable, the river is so immense and wild. And it just gets bigger downstream. We're toward the headwaters of the Amazon, and it's probably 1/4 mile across or more. Unbelievable, and it just gets bigger downstream. The world really does need places like this.

Amazing how rich the soil is along the bank of the river its almost black, and the consistency of clay. It would be great to have some of this for my garden. Wait, I don't have a garden.

I thought the 2 1/2 hour ride would seem long, but its so peaceful watching the bank go by and feeling the wind. So of course, I found myself sticking my head out of the boat like a dog in a car. I got a lot of subject matter for future paintings.

- Eduardo, our guide
In the afternoon we took a boat down the river. On the way back to the Amazon we saw kingfisher, hawks, and sloths, which do live up to their name. They sit in the treetops, only coming down to defacate. They actually grow moss on their backs. Really. Impressive level of laziness. I know a few people who aspire to this. Harpy eagles will grab them out of the treetops and carry them away. Wish we could see that.

Caiman, blanco y Negro. According to our guide, the adult white caiman grow to be 3 meters, and the black to be 10 metros. Seriously? I think Eduardo may be exaggerating on that one [looked this up, and they actually grow to 6 meters]. Eduardo grabbed one out of the water so that we could see it and hold it. A few minutes later I grabbed one out of the water. That was fun. I should have my own TV show.

- Things that want to dig into your skull
The Batfly, or Tabano, a mosco (mosquito), is a small insect that bites the head and leaves an egg that hatches into a worm which knaws at the skull. You have to put a slab of meat on your head to draw it out. Sweet. We all put our hats on after learning that one.

We learned about a lot of other things that live in the Amazon and most of them seem to have one thing in common. They all seem to want to latch onto you and lay their eggs inside you. Charming.

- The mind wanders...
Long hike through the jungle today. Lots of time to think. I decided that I want to learn more about Buddhism. I'm going to start reading about it when I get back. For one thing, it seems to be the only major religion that hasn't started any serious religious wars. Interesting what happens when you let your mind wander.

Ayahuasca and the Shaman. Our guide offered to put us in contact with a Shaman who would do a traditional ceremony and we could take Ayahuasca, which is like peyote. The deal didn't go down... Ok, so we may not have had the proper religious perspective, but we definitely treated it with the proper respect - at least fear...

- Pirhana
Y este manana, pescando. We went fishing for pirhana. Really. I'm used to lake fishing, where you have to be quiet, cast out far, don't make any ripples on the water. Not here. When you fish for pirhana, you take a stick, tie 6 or 7 feet of line to the end, a hook to that, and bait it with a piece of chicken. Then, smack the water with the bait and the stick about 10 or 15 times to let them know that there's meat in the water. Subtle. Seems to work though. Oh, and don't fall in...

And I caught one! We caught both pirhana and sabado. All were small. The pirhana that we caught were small but they can get to about a foot in length. Eduardo took us to this small hidden area, like a grotto, cool place. He knew the hole there. So he caught 5 or 6 good ones, while we picked out a few scraps. We ate them for lunch too. Tastes like chicken. Not really. They were good, but mostly bones and teeth. We might be thinner if we had to forage for ourselves here.

- The simple life
Amazing how life here doesn't appear to have changed much. There is western influence, but not a lot. T-shirts, rubber boots, a few motor boats. But mostly dugout canoes and washing clothes in the river. Almost no electricity or phones. A bit of radio contact. Everyone seems pretty happy. They joke with Eduardo as we pass in the boat. Of course there are downsides like access to healthcare and mental challenge and stimulation. But it makes you think about some of the advantages of a simpler life.

- Inca Kola
Inca Kola is the national cola drink. Yellow and tastes like bubble gum. whee. It's so nasty. At least they make cool t-shirts. Oh, and naturally, they were acquired by Coca Cola a few years ago.

- Bus to Huaraz: "gonna die sometime..."
We flew out of Iquitos back to Lima, then headed into the Andes the next day. Our destination was a town called Huaraz.

Lima doesn't seem to be big enough to be 8 or 10 million people when you drive from the airport to Miraflores or Barranco, where we stayed. But take a bus north up the coast, and the hour it takes to get out of town makes it feel that way. And, like a lot of places, people aren't too concerned about driving in lanes or merging into other cars. The thought "well, I'm going to die sometime" pops into your head a lot while in Peruvian traffic. Maybe more so than in the Amazon.

Then, a scary/beautiful bus ride from Lima to Huaraz. This goes through the city traffic (see above), up the coast (see far below - from the window of the bus looking down a cliff with no guard rail), then through the mountains (um, now its probably best just to close your eyes). Again, I found the thought "well, I'm going to die sometime" poping into my head.

Yes, a bus ride through the Andes is not the most fun, especially in the seat closest to the bathroom. As soon as we got out of town, the driver started getting aggressive taking his turns, and I was quickly reminded of the Peruvian bus accidents that have been in the news lately. More than a few people feeling nausous, although I didn't see anyone get sick. And at every hard left turn the trash door across the aisle from me flew open. What a great smell. How many times did that happen? 100? 200? At least the trip only lasted 7 1/2 hours...

- The Andes
But all of that faded away when we came over the pass and I saw the peaks of the Cordillera Blanca for the first time. Bright, cloudless sky echoing off of peaks painted permanently white. This is the area where the movie "Touching the Void" took place.

The Andes are younger than the Rockies, and so much more jagged and steep. They are also much taller, reaching over 19,000 ft, and they are only a few hours inland from the coast. Amazing.

Gradually, the bus decended through a collection of high mountain villages into Huaraz, a small city sitting at over 9,000 feet in altitude. The bus ride started in Lima at sea level. Not the 45 minute jaunt up I-70 from Denver to get to 10,000 feet. This is starting at zero, and it's not exactly Interstate. Huaraz is a climber's town.

- Internet cafes
You can't throw a rock without hitting an Internet Cafe. In our 10 minute walk to dinner the first night I counted 10. Seriously. They charge 1 Sol per hour, which is about US $0.30. We kept working the math and couldn't figure out how they are making money. But there are a lot of them, so they must be.

Oh, and no, I didn't go into an internet cafe. I managed to stay off the internet, how about that. Ok, I did cheat with a little bit of email on the Blackberry...

Moscow thoughts

2005-07-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

I visited Moscow recently - fascinating trip. Here are some thoughts. Sorry this is so long, but it made me think a lot...

- Traffic
Lots of things are better than a sharp stick in the eye. Traffic in Moscow is borderline. In a city of 11 million people, there are bound to be some traffic issues. But it would probably help if there was some basic regulation like, say, stop lights. In New York, you can get charged a heavy fine for getting caught "in the box" - in the intersection - after the light changes. In Moscow, everyone is caught in the box all the time in every direction.

- Local perspectives
"Obsessed with freedom":
Lydia, a life-long Muscovite, is not a Communist or Soviet apologist, but she definitely has a different view on a lot of things. I've heard this from other people, that things were easier before. You didn't have to think about things, to worry about things. Ok, I said, but then you don't get to make your own choices, to think for yourself. she said "You Americans are obsessed with freedom."

But the thing that was most striking was when we started talking about culture. We were driving past an old movie theater, and Lydia said that when she was young, one of the first movies that they showed there was Gone With The Wind. She asked why America exports so much bad culture now, and it used to be so good. I think it's a very fair question. I wish we didn't do that. But what is the alternative? She asked me why, and after talking about it for a while, I answered that I think it's 'freedom of expression' and 'market economics'. If people weren't buying American popular culture, they wouldn't sell it. And that there shouldn't be limitations on what people create and put out there. She said that she understood the market part, but that someone should regulate what is good. Well, the naturaly question is - who should do that? that's really the problem, isn't it.

Another thought on this, though... we do have someone playing that role, and it's not just the market. In the early days of Hollywood, there were a handful of studio bosses that decided which movies got made. And is it so different now? The movies, music, and other content that comes through the major distribution channels is fairly predictable. The Internet has helped a lot in giving an underground outlet for other artists, but it still feels that there is a small group who act as the Arbiter of Taste for the rest of us.

"You Americans have a theory for everything."
By the middle of the afternoon, I was getting hungry. This was fun, but enough, I needed something to eat. So I stopped to get a small sandwich and said that I would get something else later. Lydia seemed surprised, and I told her that it's because I eat 4 or 5 smaller meals per day. I explained that this way you maintain a contant level of energy instead of the sugar spikes from eating 2 or 3 large meals. For some reason I thought that she would think this something interesting to consider. Instead, she said "You Americans have a theory for everything."

Then she said "and you probably drink LOTS of water." I said, yes, a lot. Lydia said that the Russian joke about how to recognize an American tourist is that they all have a camera and a water bottle.

Khodorkovsky: There is a significant difference in opinion amongst Russians between people who support Khodorkovsky and those who don't. Mikhail Khodorkovsky is the former CEO of Yukos, the Russian energy giant, who is now in prison for tax evasion and other charges. Many in the West believe that his main sin was to announce that he would challenge President Putin in the next Russian Presidentian "election". As with Lydia, who feels that to amass that much money in such a short time he must have stolen it. We have many examples of people who have become fabulously wealthy by working within the system (or close to it). Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffet, and Richard Branson are just a few examples of the many people who have become fabulously wealthy by creating value for others, working hard and enduring risk. In the early days of the American experiment with capitalism, this was not always so clear. The so-called "Robber Barrons" of the Industrial Revolution created the infrastructure that built our country, but also created monopolies and abused power.

As we were standing outside the Cathedral of the Annunciation inside the Kremlin, Lydia starting telling me about Reagan's visit to Moscow during the cold war. President and Mrs. Reagan went to Moscow on invitation from Premier Gorbaochov. Lydia said that he made a very favorable impression on the Soviet people, in part because he smiled so much. They found him surprisingly likeable.

- "Lenin is not a hero anymore"
This was a recurring theme. As though a switch was flipped and suddenly the people who were the national heroes are not any more. People say that he is no longer a hero, but he is still clearly treated as one.

- Power outage
There was a power outage throughout Moscow while I was there. The metro trains, among other things, were shut down for a good part of the day. My colleague Danil seemed a bit embarrassed, but I reminded him that the entire northeast US and Canada suffered a blackout just two years ago.

- Cyrilic and Cyril
It is possible to get aroud Moscow speaking only English with the occasional 'da' and 'spasiba' (thank you), those of is who are Russian-impared definitely miss a lot. Actually, the Cyrilic alphabet isn't too bad to pick up, particularly for those of is who learned the Greek alphabet in between push ups and beer bongs during freshman year of college. Greek and Russian are both based on the Cyrilic alphabet, and while the Russian alphabet isn't the same as Greek, its close. Cyril was a Greek monk who created the alphabet, and there is even a statue of him in Moscow. Do we at least have a statue of Noah Webster or someone?

So after a few days I could phoenetically pronounce many words, such as street signs and painter's names in the Tretykov art gallery. This isn't the same as being able to speak, but it's helpful. It's strange feeling like a mute. I can hobble through Spanish, French or Italian (or English), but Russian is different enough that I was really dependent on my host.

- Kremlin
I had this image of the Kremlin as this grey building surrounded by scary people with guns and a black cloud permanently hanging over the top. In fact, "Kremlin" translates to "Fortress". Like most old European cities, Moscow started as a small village surrounded by a wall. The Kremlin is simply the old central city along the Moscow River. It holds the offices of the President and an amazing number of churches. In the corner closest to the river, there are 3 immediately next to one another.

The Kremlin is beautiful. The outer wall was originally wood, then white stone, and is now a striking red.

Lenin's tomb was interesting. No cameras allowed, and a lot of 19-year-olds guarding it. They don't like people to linger, they push the group through so you don't get a chance to look closely. There are some people that think it's not really a real person. Hard to tell.

- Red square
The 'red' is an old name that was meant to mean beautiful. It pre-dates the Communist party and Red Army by hundreds of years, and the names are apparently coinciental.

St. Basil's Cathedral is the centerpiece, and one of the key landmarks of the city. It almost doesn't look real, like something built in Disneyland copied from a Disney cartoon.

- No starbucks
Seriously. The new 'evil empire' hasn't made it to the old one yet.

- BlackBerry
I expected my Blackberry to work as a mobile phone because of the GSM network support, but I did not expect the data side to work. But the GPRS support was strong. The plane landed at Sheremtevo Airport, I turned it on and everything just worked. The world is truly getting flatter.

- Tatiana, thoughts on Russia at McDonalds
yes, McDonalds. I had not set foot inside a Mickey-Ds for at least 10 years, but the mistique of McDonalds in Moscow was too much. I had to go see. After all, McDonalds played a role in the fall of communism. Not to overstate it, but if there was a Nobel prize for dangerously unhealthy food, the decendants of Ray Kroc would get my vote.

Anywho, I was not disappointed. As I walked up, I saw a building that looked more like a ski chalet than the traditional plastic architecture of the golden arches. Since there is no Starbucks yet (see previous), they have the Mac Kafe inside, which serves lattes and the like. I recommend the chocolate chip muffin. Since I don't know the Russian word for 'decaf', and the nice girl behind the counter didn't know the English word for it, I also broke my no-caffeine streak. She did know the word 'juice', so I got an orange juice as well, which is basically Tang. Hey, if it's good enough for the cosmonauts...

While I was in line ordering (which was really a combination of pointing, grunting and smiling sheepishly), the woman behind me asked me about the book that I am reading. It's 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman, which is a very insightful book about globalization. She said that she's interested in globalization, which makes sense since her country is playing on the opposite (growth) side from mine and Friedman's.
Tatiana is a translator for english-language films to be shown in the Russian market. This sounds like a cool job, and she might be exaggerating, as some people do. I wouldn't know - since I'm a rock star/astronaut/fireman, I don't have to embellish, but I guess some people do that.

We were talking about technology adoption, and she said that she is surprised about how the US is "always first in everything" (her words) and that it has to be very expensive. Other countries get to follow at a much cheaper price, and do the same things, such as computer programming. She said that she thought that it must be so expensive to do this that it can't be sustained and that eventually it would drain the money from the US and we would fall behind. She was not hoping that this would happen, she seemed more concerned.

But the interesting thing to me is that this zero-sum-game understanding of economics seems to still be prevalent in post-Soviet Russia (as well as many other parts of the world). The concept of wealth creation doesn't seem to be widely understood outside of those in business and technology. I explained the technology adoption lifecycle and how early adopters and late adopters all work together to make the market work. She seemed to get it and was excited by the idea. It was ironic, since the conversation started with 'The World is Flat'. Core to Friedman's discussion, and the strategy of most American technology companies, is the assertion that the US must continue to innovate and create to stay ahead of the smart fast-following nations in a world with no boundaries. This, of course, is the opposite of the way that she was looking at it. Her world view, of course, has been shaped by spending most of her life in a collecitivist, centrally-planned economy. Tatiana told me that she is disappointed that her country is "backward" in so many ways, but she doesn't know why this is the case. I hope Tatiana does get the book, I think she'll "get" it.

Many Russians do "get" this, and many, like Tatiana, are in the process. Many still do not. This seems to be the core of the difference in opinion between people who support Khodorkovsky and those who don't. Michail (?) Khodorkovsky is the former CEO of Yukos, the Russian energy giant, who is now in prison for tax evasion and other charges. Many in the West believe that his main sin was to announce that he would challenge President Putin in the next Russian Presidentian "election". As with Lydia, who feels that to amass that much money in such a short time he must have stolen it, The entrepreneural process is still not well understood here. Is Khodorkovsky a master entrepreneur, a theif or something in between? I don't know, but the Russian government and people need to allow for the possibility of the former if they are going to be truly successful in the world economy. Western businesses have answered Russian government's treatment of Khodorkovsky with massive capital flight.

Incidentally, I'm writing this section while flying on Aeroflot from Moscow to London. Still alive, so far....