Traveling on the light rail today...

Our son and I met Melissa for lunch downtown today. I realized how much I enjoy traveling there via the light rail. I enjoy eye contact and smiles with a wide variety of people versus the interaction that you get between drivers of different cars--either none at all, or else the finger and/or horn. (I'll cop to giving and receiving both. I definitely don't enjoy either!) Also, you get to hear little bits of people's stories. It makes me feel much more connected to humanity than traveling in the car.

We went to the library, briefly, as he was close to meltdown. On the steps of the library when we were leaving was Miss Richfield 1981 doing an interview with random people. She is great!

Tag: light rail

Particle

I have just recently joined the street team for the techno-jam group, Particle, who is playing the Cabooze on Thursday, November 2. Today I have received my promotional posters and handbills which I will be distributing to help bring people to the show.

I am psyched about seeing them again--this will be my fourth time. My first time was in April, 2005 when they played with Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead in an arrangement known as Hydra. They blew my mind! I am definitely hooked on their music. Their keyboard, Steve Molitz, is incredible!

If you are a fan of either electronica or jam music and love to dance, please check them out. You will not be disappointed!

The brouhaha du jour

I don't normally care to comment on items like this, but as this sort of thing is becoming a pattern, I think I will comment today.

In this story, a Metro Transit bus driver has been allowed to avoid driving buses that feature ads from Lavender Magazine, a local magazine which caters to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities of the Twin Cites area.

My wife and I have discussed this, as well as the recent refusal of Muslim taxi drivers to carry passengers who have alcohol on board, and the all-too prevalent stories of fundamentalist pharmacists refusing to assist customers who have need for contraception.

My take on this issue is the following:

I think these individuals who are making these choices need to reexamine their consciences and think about the lines of work that they are in. Perhaps they are all being way too sensitive and are not in the correct lines of work. They are proselytizing on the company's time.

I know that if there is something I am not comfortable with on a job that is not a legal issue and bothers me that much, I will need to work doing something else rather than ask my job to accomodate me. Isn't that fair?

Tag: fundamentalism

Expansion of the plans for an international carbon market

As described in this news item, Governor Schwarzenegger is expanding the carbon-trading program with the European Union and seven states in the United States Northeast. (I posted about this program back in July.)

Carbon trading is a means for entities to be rewarded for reducing their production of greenhouse gases. The idea behind it is that innovation will spur economic benefits for those companies who can improve their processes.

Although not a universally-lauded concept, it appears that it will be an important tool in the world's management of the production of carbon dioxide.

Tags: greenhouse gases, global warming, carbon trading

Ratdog plays the Fitzgerald Theatre this Sunday!

Tickets? Check. Sitter? Check. Anticipation? Hell yes, check!

Last night I had a funny dream about the coming weekend's Ratdog show. In my dream, I was chatting with Bob Weir before the show about what I thought their setlist might be. (I'm guessing an opener of Big River.) The show was held in my old grade school gymnasium, and very few people were dancing.

I woke up this morning grinning that the show is coming soon. Melissa has seen Ratdog once, and that was when she was pregnant. So, we will get a night out for music without our son, which should be a fun time.

Today Bob turns 59! Happy Birthday, Bob!

The night before the Fitz show, Ratdog is one of many bands who are helping with the humanitarian effort, Rock For Darfur. If you are inclined to see any live music this coming weekend, please check out the link.

Tags: Ratdog, Bob Weir, music, St. Paul

It was a very nice weekend!

I was feeling run down last week, so the weekend couldn't come quickly enough. On Saturday night, Jefe organized yet another great get together for Oktoberfest in NE Minneapolis at Gasthof zur Gemütlichkeit. This was my second time and Melissa's second time there as well, although it was our first time there together. We saw old friends, met some new people, and drank lots of beer and ate lots of German food. I especially appreciated when Jeff started the cheering for me to finish the first boot of beer. I did! :)

Joe Erjavec v Shawn Mize

Here's the game from Friday night. Shawn definitely schooled me on this one! This demonstrates how not to play the Alekhine and how one should be punished for an opening mistake.

This browser is not Java-enabled.


Tags: Twin Cities Chess League, chess

Twin Cities Chess League, Round Two

On Friday night, Tal Tales (Kelly, myself, John, and Blaine) took on Isolated Pawn Storm (Dan, Shawn, Matt, and Duane) in the second round of the TCCL. As I referred to in earlier postings, we were outgunned rating wise on each board.

Board One: Dan (1949) v Kelly (1295)
Board Two: Me (1287) v Shawn (1900)
Board Three: Matt (1525) v John (1106)
Board Four: Blaine (provisional) v Duane (1521)

I half-jokingly told John and Blaine that it was going to be up to them for us to get a draw in the match, as boards one and two would be a really bitch for Kelly and me. (Dan is Kelly's and John's coach.) I've played Dan and Shawn before, and they are tough players. I knew what we'd be in for.

Duane had the shortest game and lost to Duane within the first half-hour. (The matches are G/90). Kelly and Dan had a pretty interesting game. Dan played the exchange version of the Ruy Lopez (C68). I did not have a chance to pay attention to most of it, but it looked like a good battle. However, Kelly resigned.

So now it was up to me and John. I had a rough game against Shawn. He played the Alekhine's Defense against my 1. e4. The beginning went 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. Nf3 d6 5. d3??? (I've played against the Alekhine's before, so I don't know why I played the horsecrap d3. There is no way I should play the sharp c4 followed by the passive and weakening (to my position) d3. d4 is a key square. By not pushing to d4, I left a big hole in my position for Shawn to take advantage of, which he did. (I'll post the whole game later.) Anyways, that game ended up as a miniature, with Shawn checkmating me in 22 moves.

So, with my game finished, we have lost the match. John, however, is undettered, and is playing a great game against Matt. He remained focused, had at least 12-15 minutes more on his clock than Matt, and had a sweet position. I was pretty sure he would win the game if he kept it up. I watched for a little bit before following Kelly out in the hall.

I said, "Win or lose, John is playing like a m--f--ing stud!" We were talking about the game with Dan and Duane, trying to figure out which way their game was going to go. I said that I thought John would win, although he played a sub-optimal move that could have given Matt a chance to recover.

However, John kept his grip on the board, Matt had severe time trouble, and John mated him. Great game!

I am really proud of our team, despite losing 1-3. I am not sure yet who we will be playing next month, but I feel like we will have a good match.

Tags: Twin Cities Chess League, chess

Kramnik is the World Chess Champion!

The big event is finally over. Kramnik and Topalov were tied 6-6 yesterday, and they had to play four shorter games today to decide the winner. Kramnik won those, 2.5-1.5.

As Kramnik was playing this tournament under protest, I am happy to see that he won and no suit needed to be filed after this event.

Here is a link to Chessgames with the games.

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

Twin Cities Chess League, Round Two today

I'm up analyzing my game from earlier this evening at the Chess Castle. I lost this one, but it was a pretty interesting game.

Later today is the second round of the Twin Cities Chess League. We won last month, but that will be easy compared to what we face tonight. I am on board two, and I think I am likely going to be playing Shawn Mize, a player currently rated 1900. (I'm at 1287, although I will game some points for last month's Thursday Knighter.) Regardless, I'm sure I'll have a tough game, so I hope to be at my best.

Tags: Twin Cities Chess League, chess

South Park last night

Trey and Matt took on the 9/11 conspiracy theorists in last night's episode. I thought it was a particularly funny episode, but that is due in part that I don't believe the 9/11 conspiracies. (I was listening to an excellent discussion on R U Sirius' show a couple of weeks ago about this very subject.)

I don't think this way because I think the present administration is a good one--I think they are one of the worst we have ever had. However, I think the simplest explanation of events is the correct one. Bush and Co. abused it, to be sure, but I don't think they caused it.

Tag: South Park, 9/11 conspiracies

He's Lincolnish, he's superstantial, and tomorrow...

Stephen Colbert has Andrew Sullivan on his show! That should make for a good interview!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I did not realize that this was under serious consideration by some, but it was reported on the morning news that neither Jon Stewart nor Stephen Colbert are going to run for the White House in 2008. LOL!

Robert Anton Wilson

In the last few days, I have found out that Robert Anton Wilson is dealing with end-of-life health care issues that are quite painful. I hope that this part of his life goes as well as possible and that he passes on gracefully.

I have been rereading my dog-eared copy of The Illuminatus! Trilogy in the last couple of weeks. I picked this book up during the summer of 1989, and I think this is my third or fourth read through it now. It is a delightfully crazy read that deals with many historical conspiracies in a unique way.

He is one of those modern writers that not enough people are aware of, and in my opinion, that is unfortunate. He was written some other great works, including the Cosmic Trigger series, Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy, and others. He challenges mainstream thinking between his fiction and prose. He was one of my favorite writers in my early 20's and continues to be one of my favorite writers today. I never met him, but I thank him for his contributions!

Tags: Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus Trilogy, end of life care

My human-machine interface

This morning I had a long overdue eye appointment. Part of my checkup was to get a retinal scan with a new machine that takes a picture.

Sticking my nose close up to the machine, they took two good pictures of my right eye. However, something did not feel right when they took the first picture of my left eye. I had tensed up and got faint from the combination of my awkward posture and the light being shot into my eye. Things were fuzzy for about two minutes before I could see normally again.

This is pretty damn funny to me, because I've had this reaction to other tests over my lifetime. I need to relax more, but I often forget!

Tag: stress

A somber weekend

Although I had time to write this weekend, I did not feel up to it at all.

On Saturday, I attended a funeral of one of my professors at the University of Minnesota. Her class was the first one I took in my program, the Master of Liberal Studies, in the summer of 2003. My major output during that time was my paper on teaching chess in the classroom that I have published on my website and on the Minnesota State Chess Association's website.

Jill had been sick for a couple of years with cancer. Since she was a person I did not see very often after the class had ended, I did not know that she was going through this ordeal. I had found out by e-mail this week that she passed and the arrangements for her funeral.

I stayed through part of the reception and talked to one of her friends, a fellow musician. We talked about losing loved ones. (I lost my brother in January of 2004.)

I felt okay during the time I was at home that evening, but I woke up tearful in the middle of the night from a strong dream dealing with Michael's death. I hadn't felt that way in quite a while, and although I shouldn't have been surprised considering that I was at Jill's funeral earlier, it still caught me off guard.

I spent the rest of the day both sad and tired.

Tags: grief, death

I've reached a small milestone with blogging

I started blogging three months ago, on July 5th. This technology is fairly new to me, but as I enjoy writing, I have taken to it. I am learning more about my writing style as it evolves in this space, and I am learning about the community of people who read and create blogs. I have enjoyed my established friends' blogs, while enjoying the work of new blog friends.

I have enjoyed two aspects of this. I enjoy the diary-like reflection of blogging, in which I may post something that does not necessarily get read or commented on. It helps capture a certain mood or thought of a particular day. However, if it were only for that, I would be journaling offline and not publishing.

What makes this technology interesting is creating conversations over many miles with people I don't see very often or will never meet. As I enjoy conversation in general, I enjoy those people's blogs who engender a space for discussion. Recently I have been reading and commenting on Terra Praeta's blog, and I enjoy the conversations there.

I think that this technology can be wonderful if we use it wisely to bring important issues to light, wherever we are in this world. We are a complicated planet of people living in a complex time. We are interdependent on each other, whether we are fierce individualists or live in strong communities. We need to bring our voices and our best thoughts together to create societies that will prosper and promote the best of humanity. Despite our many shortcomings, we are a marvelous species that has learned much, but still has plenty to learn. I think this is a place we can use to help us learn more about each other and help create a good future.

Tags: blogging, optimism

Listening to my first CD ever purchased today

In the years between becoming a reformed Deadhead and seeing Mickey Hart and Bembe Orisha at the Minnesota Zoo--a twelve year stretch--I started buying compact discs. Although I was not going to any Dead-related shows, I still purchased one great Dead-related disc, Deadicated. Between having my favorite band's songs covered by a wide array of musicians and having proceeds from this CD going to the Rainforest Action Network and Cultural Survival, I had to have it.

I enjoyed most of the album, but Suzanne Vega covering China Doll and Cassidy, the Indigo Girls playing Uncle John's Band, and the strange cover of Wharf Rat by Midnight Oil stuck out for me. (The last one is strange because the Dead's music was new to them at the time of the recording.)

It's good to listen to this again and feel the joy of other musicians playing the Dead's music! :)

Tags: Grateful Dead, Deadhead

Game Seven: A pretty well played draw

I made a comment on Susan Polgar's blog that I wish that game five will actually be played rather than be a forfeit win for Topalov. Like many fans, I am having trouble with the less-than-professional behavior. Over the last couple days I have rooted less for Topalov, although I admire his games.

With that stated, the seventh game was actually a pretty good game. They both played well and although Kramnik was a pawn up at the conclusion, he could not convert that to an advantage and the game ended in a draw.

I am now a bit heartened that they played serious chess rather than mind games with each other!

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

Dick Cheney is a dick!

Andrew Sullivan posted this today. The administration seem like a bunch of bullies who can't stand up to criticism of their policies. They have to resort to intimidation tactics like the one they used on Steve Howards. They are a despicable lot!

Tag: Dick Cheney is a dick

An important analysis about the torture and detention bill

I have not read his blog before, but Glenn Greenwald published this excellent analysis about the torture and detention bill.

I think this is the time to carefully read up on the bill (H R 6166), look at how your senators voted on it, and tell them with your vote in November what you think.

Tags: civil liberties, war on terror, torture

Private web searching

This morning I heard a story on Future Tense about a search engine named Ixquick. Unlike other search engines, this one will not store information, like your IP address. This provides a means for you to avoid having private information gathered about you while you search.

I believe that people have the right to privacy from government and corporations. Those entities should have a policy of consumers and technology users opting-in if they wish to share their information. This right is not automatic, though, and people need to think about their privacy in the digital realm and take practical steps to protect themselves.

Tags: privacy, search engines

A nice weekend, with apple picking!

This was a very nice weekend; yesterday was sunny and the high was in the low 80's. Melissa has never been apple picking before, so we went to the Afton Apple orchard.

We picked a bag each of Spartan and Cortland. It was fun walking around. Our son kept one apple in his hands for nearly an hour before finally eating it. Our feet were very sore last night, and that felt good to get in plenty of exercise.

It was nice to also disconnect electronically from the world for most of the weekend. I had enjoyed keeping up on the World Chess Championship, but with the problems Kramnik and Topalov were having with each other after game four, it was wonderful to unplug from it and find out that they started playing again today.

With the forfeit win going to Topalov in game five and with a draw today, Kramnik still holds the lead in the tournament, 3.5-2.5 with six games remaining.

Tags: family life, chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

Crickets

Sh-t or get off the pot!

The World Chess Championship is turning into a frickin' debacle! Topalov and Kramnik are fighting over Kramnik's use of the bathroom. There have been accusations of cheating, no handshakes this morning at the board, and a delay that led to Kramnik forfeiting the game.

This is despicable behavior and an utter disappointment to me as a chess fan. I'm frankly pissed off about this. What a load of crap. This really stinks! How offal!

Please keep up on the news and fan reactions at Chessbase, Susan Polgar's blog, and Chessgames.

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

My win against a tough opponent this evening

I have been playing at the Chess Castle for a couple of years now. I play in the Thursday Knighters, an all-month event, which, coincidently, takes place on Thursdays. :) The tournament director, Norm, is particular difficult for me to beat. I nicked him once in a King's Gambit in 11 moves, but I was really lucky there. Otherwise, he has beaten me in all of our other meetings.

Tonight I played him again; I have the White pieces.

1. e4 e5. Every game with him starts this way. I've played the King's Gambit and the Scotch against him, but I wanted to try something different, something he did not see me play before.

2. c3. My goal with this was to eventually push d4. What I liked about this move was that it gave me a safe pocket for my White-squared Bishop.

By move 7, I had pushed my d4, and we both had castled. I had a pinned Knight on f3, but that was not a concern.

On move 8, Norm played Qb6, attacking my Pawn on b2. I calculated a couple of variations, but 9. b3 was the safest move. I did not feel a need to rush into anything just to lose material later.

We exchanged Pawns, which I liked, via 9...exd4 and 10. cxd4. I had both center Pawns as well as the f2, g2, and h2 Pawns. This left me with another chain of Pawns on a2 and b3. Norm on the other hand had four connected Pawns on his Queenside, and three connected Pawns protecting his King.

It appeared that the reason for Norm's exchange was to attack with Qb5. Inaccurate play on my part would have led to 11...Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Qxg5, losing a piece. I thought this a good attacking move on Norm's part, so I brought my Bishop back to safety with 11. Be3.

Qh5 looks like trouble for me, but it also his third Queen move. I played the natural Nbd2 to protect the Knight and to take pressure off my Queen guarding the Knight on f3.

Norm played 12...Na6 to prepare for the 14...Nb4, attacking my Bishop. I loved that Bishop, I certainly was not going to allow tradeoff of it. The trouble with that sequence is that I chased the Knight back to a6 in a couple of moves. That was a rough spot for the Knight.

I spent eleven minutes before 17. e5. I knew that push was going to open up counterplay, but I was prepared for it. He responds with the very logical 17...Nd5. I spent another eleven minutes before 18. exd6. Only after this game did I realize that the imagined threat of 18...Nc3 was nothing to fear, as I would have played 19. dxe7, 20, exf8=Q+ and ended up with a strong material advantage despite losing my Queen on d1.

We traded off a couple of pieces, and I ended up with what I thought was a worse Pawn structure. I had three sets of Pawn islands, each with two, while Norm had three and three.

He captured one of my center Pawns, but I could not take back because my d-Pawn was pinned. However, I had the handy 24.Bxh7+ followed by 25. Rad1 which protected that remaining Pawn and took some pressure off.

At this point I was feeling alright, as I had over thirty five minutes left, while Norm was getting close to eight.

I took the pin off my Pawn by retreating my King to h1 and off the dark square. Whew!

He goes Pawn hunting and ends up a Pawn ahead. However, I had my pieces in better spots, so I was looking for attack and mate. He brought his Queen over to g5 to protect the Bishop and Pawn if I decided to try to win the Pawn that was now on g7.

My nifty 33. Kh2 to drive his Queen away was what I needed for victory. On 34. Rh5+, he resigned due to 34...Kg8 35. Bh7+ Kh8 36. Bg8+ Kxg8 37. Qh7#. It felt good to win against him, as he is a tough opponent for me. It also feels good to write up this entry, as I need to wind down after a long tense game--it was over four hours long! I'm wiped now, so good night!

[Event "Thursday Knighter IX"]
[Site "Chess Castle"]
[Date "2006.9.28"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Joe Erjavec"]
[Black "Norm"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.e4 e5 2.c3 Nf6 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bd3 c6 5.O-O Be7 6.Bc2 Bg4 7.d4 O-O 8.Bg5 Qb6 9.b3 exd4 10.cxd4 Qb5 11.Be3 Qh5 12.Nbd2 Na6 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Nxf3 Nb4 15.Bb1 Rae8 16.a3 Na6 17.e5 Nd5 18.exd6 Nxe3 19.fxe3 Bxd6 20.e4 Bf4 21.Bd3 Qa5 22.Qc2 Qb6 23.e5 Bxe5 24.Bxh7+ Kh8 25.Rad1 Bf6 26.Kh1 Rd8 27.Ne5 Rxd4 28.Ng4 Rxd1 29.Rxd1 Qb5 30.Bd3 Qg5 31.Rf1 Nc7 32.Rf5 Qh4 33.Kh2 Qe1 34.Rh5+ 1-0

Tag: chess

Update on World Chess Championship

After checking out game four yesterday, I haven't read about the tournament. I went to Susan Polgar's blog today and found this article:

Topalov may leave the match! Holy moly! Let's all keep an eye on this!

(For those who have not been keeping up on this, the score after four games is 3.0-1.0, in Kramnik's favor.)

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

New books to read...

It's a partially dreary day, but it is a good day to get out of the house nonetheless. We met Melissa downtown for lunch today.

After lunch our son and I went to the library. I wanted to borrow David Shenk's newest book, The Immortal Game. However, since it is so new, there are no copies available at the main library. In the process of doing a search for his other books, I found out that he co-authored the book, "Skeleton Key: A Dictionary for Deadheads". I didn't realize until today that he was responsible for that, despite that I had briefly perused it a few years ago.

Besides that book, I also picked up his "The End of Patience" and "The Forgetting--Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic." I am excited to read through all three of these works, as he certainly has diverse interest areas!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the first entries I came to was "Reformed Deadhead." It describes a person who is done with touring and wants a more rooted existence.

I have an earlier post about when I became a Deadhead, but I just realized that September 5 of this month marks the 15th anniversary of when I became a Reformed Deadhead. I had tickets for three nights at the Cleveland Coliseum, where the Cleveland Cavaliers used to play basketball. My now friend, then wife, Carillon, and I just finished the second show. For some reason we had the third night tickets in our pocket. As the show ended, we looked at each other and asked, "You done?" "I'm done." We sold our third night tickets and that was the end of our Grateful Dead show experiences.

Tags: David Shenk, chess, Deadhead, Grateful Dead

Andrew Sullivan, a civil libertarian!

My friend and classmate, Janet Cohen, has been a reader of Andrew Sullivan for a few years now. I started out by reading a few of his essays, and I appreciated where he was coming from. I now read his blog a couple of times weekly.

Today he posted an article on a bill that, if passed, would allow the "president the right to seize anyone in this country, detain him or her without charges indefinitely and torture them in secret."

Buck Fush! He and his cronies act like he is the king. He is not. He pisses me off. I can't wait until the assclown's reign is over.

Thank you, Andrew, for your focus on all of our rights!

Tags: civil liberties, Andrew Sullivan

Another nice bike ride this morning

My son and I biked up to the post office this morning. I had to run an errand related to my role as secretary of the Minnesota State Chess Association. I am coordinating the efforts of the individuals involved with the production of our journal, the Minnesota Chess Journal, so I was mailing some scoresheets from the latest tournament to one of our members who annotates games.

It was a very nice morning. It was sunny and in the high 60's. This will be the last sunny day for at least the next couple of days. So we enjoyed a ride around the neighborhood, and he fell asleep during the trip.

It was good to ride around, as I had a few reminders from political signs on some lawns about some items on the November 7th ballot. We have an opportunity to vote on Instant Runoff Voting for the city of Minneapolis. Here is specific info for that ballot item.

Also, we have a statewide ballot on an amendment to our state's constitution on the use of current vehicle taxes for a combination of road and transit spending. I consider this an important vote, as the taxes as investments in our state's infrastructure will help keep Minnesota competitive and more liveable in the future. As our ridership in transit increases, we should have less gridlock in our commutes and a cleaner atmosphere.


Tags: family life, chess, voting, instant runoff voting, IRV, elections, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, transit, light rail, taxes

Game Three: A solid, but uneventful draw.

Game three of the match between Topalov and Kramnik was nothing spectacular. No fireworks were present, but at least the game was cooler than the last two, and the result was a draw. Kramnik was White today; tomorrow they reverse colors. I hope Topalov comes out fighting tomorrow and ends up with a win.

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

I've made almost no references to coffee!!!

Despite my nickname, I've only made two references to coffee since I started this blog in July. How is that possible? I drink a good three to four cups of coffee a day. Occasionally more. Who's counting?

Late this afternoon my son and I were traveling around the neighborhood. We stopped in at the Birchwood Cafe, which is normally closed by early afternoon. However, they celebrated their 11th anniversary this weekend, so we were able to stop in for some goodies.

Peace Coffee was preparing French presses. I love those and had a small cup. They had a few handouts, including one for a documentary called Black Gold.

From their Story page:

"Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.

But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields."

I believe that globalism and trade are forces that can act for good. (See my earlier post about Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat.) One essential part of that is fair trade. I appreciate that I can get coffee from all over the world, but I demand that the people who pick it make a good wage for their efforts.

As part of a global community, we can effect the shape of our world by the purchases we make. If economic justice is already an important value to you, look for and purchase products that reflect your values. If this is not something you have thought much about, please take a few minutes to read more by clicking on the links I included here.

Tags: coffee, fair trade, globalism, economic justice, Twin Cities

Game Two: Ugh!!!

Today's game was full of mistakes. I'm sure it's got to be the pressure of playing such a serious match. Topalov had a prime opportunity to even up the match. On move 32, he could have been ahead with an evaluation of greater than +8. However, he plays a horrible move that evens the game.

Susan Polgar provides a good analysis of the game at her blog.

This game helps prove that chess is a bitch. Unless you love her and are willing to take risks and beatings, it is not the game for you! Be patient, and you will find beauty in this!

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

Game One: Kramnik!

That was a good game that should have ended in a draw about 40 moves back, but Topalov pushed it just a bit far and his position crumbled. Great game, anyways!

I was correct that Kramnik would play 1. d4, but it was not a Queen's Gambit Declined. Instead, it turned out to be E04, the Open Catalan System.

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

She's going to Vegas, baby!

Melissa should have an excellent weekend, as she is now en route to Las Vegas for a family function. I have not yet made it to Vegas, but I will have to go with her some time when we can get a family member to watch our little one for a couple of days. Even though I'm not able to go with her, I'm glad she is, so she can have a good time. She's been there before and always enjoys it!

She called from the very small Sioux Falls airport. I told her I'm going to probably chill out and watch a documentary on Burning Man.

We're definitely an odd couple in many ways, but we have learned much from each others' quite different perspectives.

Tag: family life

Kramnik will have White tomorrow against Topalov

On the official website for the World Chess Championship is a description of the ceremony for the drawing of lots. I thought this is a delightful way to start such a tournament!

According to Chessbase.com, Kramnik has played thirty-two games as White against Topalov from 1993 to 2006. Kramnik has mixed up his openings, but I am guessing he is going to play 1. d4, and it will turn into a Queen's Gambit Declined. I am anxious for this game. I have about 10-1/2 hours to wait!

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

First game of the World Chess Championship is this Saturday

Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov will be competing for the title of the World Chess Champion, with the first game this Saturday. This will be an exciting match, as these two have greatly different styles of play--Topalov is extremely tactical and aggressive, while Kramnik is positional and defensive.

I am a big fan of Topalov! His dynamic play is best typified, in my opinion, in this game against Levon Aronian.

Regardless of who wins, this promises to be a great tournament!

Note that the time for the match is 3:00 p.m. Moscow time, 7:00 a.m. Eastern Standard time. That means get up early, US chess fans!

Official site

Tags: Chess, Kramnik, Topalov, World Chess Championship

Oil and human rights

U.S. News and World Report just printed this story, "Dictator and Diplomat", about Equatorial Guinea. The President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, heads a "a corrupt and repressive regime...but Equatorial Guinea is a growing oil producer."

As I discussed in my opinion piece over at Blogcritics, we need to invest more in alternative energy solutions, so that people like Obiang cannot continue to reap the benefits of the oil sales for themselves while withholding revenue from their citizens' basic human needs. The United States and other countries who need to purchase oil should be pushing these leaders for some basic reforms in their countries as part of their price of doing business. Otherwise, we of the oil-demanding countries are merely allowing those leaders to continue the status quo which does little if nothing to improve human rights throughout the world.

Thomas Friedman discusses this eloquently here.

Tags: Oil, human rights

Carbon neutral traveling is catching on

In August I found that science writer Chris Mooney was traveling carbon neutral. I just learned that STS9, who I saw this Friday, is traveling carbon neutral on their fall tour!

Tags: carbon neutral, greenhouse gases, STS9, Chris Mooney

Tool at the Target Center

Last night I went with my friends Jeff and Javen to my first Tool show. This was also my first time seeing any concert at the Target Center. The down side of the experience is that the sound system is pretty muddy, but at least I was warned about that before going.

Anyways, we got in our seats a few minutes after the opening band, Isis, started their performance. I did not find them all that interesting, but to be fair, I am unfamiliar with their music.

Tool began about thirty minutes after Isis finished playing. The stage was very wide with a large amount of space between each of the band members. It looked very clean. They had a curtain above them, and there were film screens behind them.

As I am very new to them, I did not know much material other than that on 10,000 Days. Those songs comprised at least half of the show. I was especially moved by the pair of songs Wings for Marie and 10,000 Days. They refer to the 27 years between Maynard's mom's stroke and her death.

I spoke with my friends after the show. They noted that Maynard was less energetic than in other Tool shows they have seen. Still, Tool is definitely music that sticks to you. It is extremely complex musically and lyrically. The movies and images playing behind them are quite thought provoking. Some are in stop motion. Others are mystical in nature, featuring Alex Grey's amazing artwork. The whole experience is quite unique, with a fanbase that comes from very diverse parts of society.

Tags: Tool, music, 10,000 Days

STS9 at First Avenue

For me last night, as it was for a few other people that I greeted, the Sound Tribe Sector 9 show at First Avenue was my "cherry show." I wanted to check them out, as I've been into Particle over the last year-and-one-half. Althought they are part of the same genre, STS9 has more of an electronica and soundscape-feel and is not techno like Particle is.

It felt strange being at this show, though. I estimated that I was about fifteen years older than the average person there last night. I was talking with a young lady at the rail before STS9 came on, and I asked if she had seen them before, telling her it was my first time. She asked me what other music I liked and I said I've been really into Particle, but was also into The Dead. She asked me what that was like, since that was before her time.

What was cool about the conversation and fans in general is that this is the evolution of the music that was part of the Haight-Ashbury scene of the 1960s. Just as the Grateful Dead's music itself evolved from jugband to psychedelia to country and blues and so forth over its thirty years, the bands playing now have come out of that tradition. It was a great realization that at one time I was the youngster in my late teens and early twenties getting into the Grateful Dead and being one of the younger people then. Now I'm older and see a bunch of new music fans who are really into bands like Particle and STS9.

The evening began with the opening band, Sub-ID. They were a two piece unit--one bassist and one computer sampler and looper. I enjoyed them and got to experience the energy of the crowd. Then, when STS9 came out, people just went nuts with dancing, moving, smiling, and grooving to the music.

The energy of the show was real intense. I backed away from the stage after two songs, as some exuberant people danced their way up front. I enjoyed this, because I definitely enjoy a bit more room to move. In that more open space I was able to feel the music in a more gentle way than by standing right up front. Regardless of where one stood, sat, or danced, the feeling was very comfortable and happy. I felt very relaxed even today.

I thought it was very interesting that they had an artist working on stage. I also liked that I was able to pick up a poster at the show. These were provided by the fine people at Conscious Alliance. In exchange for bringing ten non-perishable food items, you get a poster. Melissa and I did this in June 2004 at the Phoenix Dead show, too. I love the synergy between music and caring that is part of this wonderful array of musicians and fans!

Tags: STS9, Sub-ID, hunger relief, electronica, Particle

Prisoner of Guantanamo Bay story

This morning we were listening to this story of Moazzam Begg on NPR. Draw your own conclusions.

I'll repost this as I think more about it. I know right now I am appalled that people who are not charged with any particular war crime or particular evidence are being treated inhumanely. This is not how America should treat others.

Tags: Guantanamo Bay, humane treatment, war on terror

A couple of Minnesota environmental items

Yesterday I learned that the ridership for the Metro Transit system--buses and light rail--was over seven million riders in August.

A couple of months ago I went to a colloquium on global warming at Hamline University sponsored by NextStep. Chris Coleman, the mayor of Saint Paul, was talking about increasing the energy efficiency of many of the city's most wasteful buildings. Now, Minneapolis is doing the same, as discussed in this story on the Minnesota Public Radio site.

Tags: light rail, global warming, energy efficiency, green building, Twin Cities

Jon Stewart last night!

This is great!





Tags: Jon Stewart, Fox News, Faux News

Rules changes for the USCF and the MonRoi device

I was just recently made aware of two rule changes by the United States Chess Federation.

#1: Change to rule 15A: (proposed) The player must first make the move, and then record it on the scoresheet.

#2: Use of electronic scoresheets

When I first heard of the change to rule 15A, I was a bit angered. Since my first couple of rated games, I have been recording my moves before I make them on the board. Secondly, I have been passing on this advice to students as a means of rooting out blunders in their games. It is an effective means to help one make better moves and not be impulsive.

It also seems that the first rule change is related to the second rule change. As someone who at the present time will not have access to such a device, I feel a bit disappointed.

Anyways, with that gripe out of the way, I considered the use of the device and how it can help in the future of chess. It is called MonRoi, and FIDE promoted its use in this news release. I think it has great promise in making chess games easier to record (I hate in a time scramble that I can't write down the moves and lose interesting endgames--using a stylus and screen seems to be easier). In addition, it will be easier to load games to Internet sites.

I liked what Chris Bird had to say:

"With my TD hat on I saw the potential for numerous organizers, particularly scholastic organizers, for them to purchase the systems and rent or lease them out for use at events thereby obtaining some costs back. Games from top boards could be displayed in other rooms allowing the parents to watch meaningful games, or friends and family to watch from the comfort of their own homes. Many of the Denker and Polgar players were commenting on how everyone was back home and tuned in to every game they played!"

In the long run, I'll learn to adapt to the rule change and welcome the use of the devices. I look forward to see how chess will change. I think the changes will be more apt to happen when the prices of the devices come down to prices more affordable to the average chess player.

Tags: chess, United States Chess Federation, MonRoi

Particle has begun their fall tour!

Jambase recently featured an article on the techno-jam group, Particle, which has begun a new tour two weeks ago. I am a new convert to their music.

A year ago, Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead played a dozen or so shows with Particle in an arrangement called Hydra. I had not yet heard any of their music, but being both a fan of the Dead's music and being adventurous, I bought a ticket to the show and I was not at all disappointed! (I'll discuss that show at a later time.)

Here is the list of Particle's remaining tour dates, which run through mid-November.

Tags: Particle, jam bands, Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart, Hydra

Don't pick on the box elder bug!

On the morning news, the reporter was talking about getting rid of the box elder bugs which are expected to reach their highest numbers since 1988. I was a bit annoyed with this report, as I found they are nothing but a small nuisance.

On top of that, our son has spent countless hours this summer learning and mastering the word, as in "Dad, bug, look." (I think I heard that about 1000 times this summer as he pointed to large groups of them sticking to our garage!)

Tag: family life

First round for Tal Tales in the Twin Cities Chess League

The first round of the Twin Cities Chess League, aka TCCL, is always a bit crazy. Everyone in the Swiss system registers the first night. (The teams in the round robin section are registered months ahead of time.) As a result of this chaos, some teams do not have enough players.

Our team, Tal Tales, was organized and all four of us showed up. Our opponents were not so fortunate, and only boards one and two were filled. By default, boards three and four were forfeit wins for us. That started us out with a draw for the match at worst. If Kelly or I scored a draw, we would have won the match.

Kelly is a few points higher than me, so he had board one in a game playing White against the Sicilian. I played Black on board two, and my opponent played the English.

I have not had many games against the English, and the few I have had for the most part been disasters. I was a bit distraught early as my opponent rattled off his first six moves using a mere minute. I was keeping pace, but I wondered how long it would be a race.

By my eighth move, the game had settled down. I spent 25 minutes on my eighth through twelth move. This is significant, given that the whole game is 90 minutes per side with a 5 second delay per move. However, he continued to use his time like I was.

My goal with 7...Bd7 and 8...Qc8 was to weaken his White-squared bishop. Although this was my better bishop in the position (I had a pawn chain from e5 to c7), I wanted to eliminate his defensive bishop.

His sixteenth move was solid, but I could not take the bait. If I played 16...Bxc6, he would have had a nasty Knight parked on a nearly invincible square. So I avoided that continuation.

Unfortunately for him, he miscalculated on his eighteenth move. I was forking a Knight and Bishop, and there were two solid ways he could have countered. However, he played neither of those, and I ended up a piece ahead.

He more or less forced me to trade off my White-squared Bishop on move 20. He had a potential of 21. Nxe7+ forking my King and Queen if I did not respond appropriately.

He tried me again on his twenty second move. I trade off Knights, followed by a trade of Queens.

Although he was a piece behind, his Bishop parked on c6 effectively cut off one of my Rooks unless I wanted to exchange sacrifice this piece. I did not, and finally I put that Rook on a7 to good use by coordinating an attack along the a and b files.

I did not think his 27. a3 was a good move. Not only did it allow my Knight to get into his territory, it also exposed itself to eventual attack.

During this late phase of the game, Kelly had lost his game. I did not get to look at much of it because of my intense concentration on my own, so I was fighting to win against some pretty decent counterplay of my opponent.

I had to get my King into safer territory. I played 31...g6 to allow my King to move to a dark square and allow my f7 pawn to move.

I do not remember the specific moves after move 45, as I was down to forty four seconds while my opponent was down to 2:11. I remember that he got his King deep into my territory, that I could not exchange Rooks by Rxd7, else cxd7 and he would have promoted a Pawn before me. I promoted and he resigned shortly thereafter.

We will have a tougher job next month, as we will be playing an even stronger team, and I don't expect any forfeits.

[Event "Twin Cities Chess League"]
[Site "Roseville Skating Oval"]
[Date "2006.9.8"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Brad"]
[Black "Joe Erjavec"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.d3 O-O 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.O-O Bd7 8.Bd2 Qc8 9.Qb3 Na5 10.Qc2 b6 11.b4 Nb7 12.Rfe1 a5 13.b5 Nc5 14.d4 exd4 15.Nxd4 Ra7 16.Bc6 Bh3 17.Bg5 Ne6 18.e3 Nxg5 19.f4 Ne6 20.Nf5 Bxf5 21.Qxf5 Nc5 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.Qxd5 Qe6 24.Qxe6 Nxe6 25.Rad1 Nc5 26.e4 a4 27.a3 Nb3 28.e5 dxe5 29.Rxe5 Bc5+ 30.Kg2 Nd4 31.Bd5 g6 32.Rd3 Kg7 33.Kh3 f6 34.Re4 Nc2 35.Bc6 Nxa3 36.Rd7+ Rf7 37.Rxf7+ Kxf7 38.Be8+ Kg7 39.g4 Nc2 40.Re2 Ra8 41.Bc6 Nd4 42.Ra2 Nxc6 43.bxc6 a3 44.Kg3 Ra4 45.Kf3 Rxc4 0-1

Tags: chess, Twin Cities Chess League

Cellulosic ethanol

My friend Jeff and I were talking about the promise of cellulosic ethanol a couple of months ago as we were discussing alternative energies. In regards to that, I found this article on Sky Blue Waters that is definitely worth checking out.

Tags: ethanol, greenhouse gases

I played one of the wildest games of chess last night!

Although the turnout at the club for the Thursday Knighter has been a bit low, I decided to play this month. I need the practice for tonight's Twin Cities Chess League match in Roseville.

I normally favor more open, tactical games, but this one was very quiet and positional. Up to move 27, we had exchanged a mere single pawn each. Each of us refused to open the position. We were running low on time--Dennis had 11:36 left on his clock, I had 18:09 after our 26th moves. However, after move 27, the blood starting flowing. It got extremely tactical and difficult as the time ran lower, even with the five second delay. I resigned with 3 seconds on the clock. This is the score of the game as I recall it (I couldn't write down the complete score after move 36). Enjoy!

[Event "Thursday Knighter IX"]
[Site "Chess Castle, Minneapolis"]
[Date "2006.9.7"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Dennis"]
[Black "Joe Erjavec"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e4 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.g3 O-O 7.Bg2 c6 8.O-O Nb6 9.Qb3 Qc7 10.Re1 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.h3 Be6 13.Bf1 Nfd7 14.Be3 f6 15.Rad1 Nc8 16.Qc2 b6 17.Na4 Kh8 18.c5 b5 19.Nc3 a5 20.Rd2 Na7 21.Red1 Rfd8 22.Rd6 Bf7 23.Qd2 Be8 24.Bh6 Nc8 25.Rd3 Ne7 26.h4 f5 27.Bg5 b4 28.Na4 fxe4 29.Rd6 Nf5 30.Bxd8 Rxd8 31.Re6 exf3 32.Rxe8+ Rxe8 33.Qxd7 Qxd7 34.Rxd7 Nd4 35.Nb6 Ne2+ 36.Kh2 e4 37.Nc4 Be5 38.Nxa5 e3 39.fxe3 Bxg3+ 40.Kh3 Rxe3 41.Nxc6 f2 42.Nxb4 Be5+ 43.Kg2 Nf4+ 44.Kxf2 1-0

This is the game on my website.

I said to Dennis after the game that this was one of the most satisfying games of chess I have ever played. I gained something by playing a quieter game.

Tag: chess

Today's wild ride!

It has been a year since we tried taking the E-man out for a bike ride. We have one of those Burleys for the back of the bike, but when we tried last year, all I remember hearing was "WAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Today I decided to try again. I got all the tires pumped up to their correct pressure, tightened the Burley on to my bike, put on my helmet, grabbed his, and went to put it on his head.

"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" again was his response. I told him that Dad needs to get some exercise pretty badly, so he has to go along with this.

"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" this time, with mucus and tears running down his face as I placed him in the Burley.

I start riding, and " ". Nothing. Quiet. He popped the almighty binky into his mouth and enjoyed the ride. We biked through the neighborhood, onto a bike trail, and to a local coffee shop for some food. We ate and had a nice lunch, where he learned the phrase "bike helmet."

When it was time to ride home, he was eager to put on the helmet. We ended up on the bike trail behind a family with a Burley. I couldn't see in, so I asked about their little person. It ended up they were riding with their little dog. *smile*

We got home and he is now enjoying a good nap. I feel good getting some exercise and getting him adjusted to bike riding.

Tag: family life

The Immortal Game by David Shenk

National Public Radio had this story on Tuesday about David Shenk's book on the history of chess.

In the article, it states, "To serious chess players, the book's title has an obvious double meaning: It refers to the game itself and also to a particular match that was played by two masters -- Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky -- in London in 1851."

I looked up this game on Chessgames.com. It is quite amazing!!!

Tag: Chess, David Shenk

"Umphrey's on a Stick"

Last night I went to the Minnesota State Fair for the second time this season. However, my reason was for music and hanging with a couple of friends, instead of eating a ton of food. (I did try the hotdish on a stick. Interesting and not too bad. B-)

I met my friends John and Tracy last year through a music social networking site, and our first concert together was Gov't Mule at the Minnesota Zoo. We went to a couple of others, including Umphrey's McGee. I knew little about them, except that they were part of the jam band scene. I didn't warm up to them at first, but I had a great time by the end of the show. They seemed a bit more calculating and orchestrated like Frank Zappa. One of my online buddies said it was like math being done on stage.

I haven't listened to any of their music since last year's show, but I was excited to see them play again. They played an hour-and-a-half of music. I was most impressed by one of the pieces that included four different modes of music, including a Particle-like movement, some jazz, and some progressive rock. (I don't know the names of any of their songs, so I have included the setlist below.)

I enjoy the fact that they are versatile musicians. It challenged me to listen carefully while having a good time dancing. John, Tracy, and I had a great time!

Umphrey's is playing two nights at the fair, including a second show tonight. Both are free shows at the Leinenkugel Leinie Lodge. I hadn't seen any shows at the fair before last night, but I liked this venue. Be prepared to have a good time, whether you have seen them before or not.

Set One:
Great American, Example 1, Liquid > Phil's Farm, Got Your Milk (Right Here), Uncle Wally > 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Morning Song, Hangover, Mullet (Over)

Encore:
Let Me Go Home Whiskey > Miss Tinkle's Overture

Tags: Minnesota State Fair, Umphrey's McGee, Jam band

Sunday at the Minnesota State Fair

Yesterday we went to the fair for a late afternoon and early evening of live animals, dead animals (on sticks), and other assaults on our senses.

The Miracle of Birth barn is really cool. Baby pigs, sheep, chicks, and other animals have either been recently born or will be during the course of the twelve days of the fair. There were hundreds of people in here when we arrived. (After walking past a few cows, I whispered to my daughter that perhaps the cows were in charge and it was we humans who were on display.)

We split quite a bit of food, and here is my brief review of them.

I don't remember the name, but there was a sausage stand near the entrance. I enjoyed a bowl of "Chaurice" with wild rice, corn, and onions. After a few bites, I realized that "Chaurice = Chorizo." B+

The second round featured a roasted turkey leg that cost $7.50. This was one of the more expensive items, but it was quite tasty and was plenty to go around. A-

The fair french fries were a solid A.

The cheese curds were okay. Some may be aghast at that, but outside of the fair, I don't think I would eat them. C.

We walked around and burned off the equivalent of a few cheese curds, and then went into the butterfly house. If you are going to the fair, please check this out. It is on the corner of Dan Patch and Underwood. It is a $3 donation per person and well-worth it. We spent at least half an hour in there! It was beautiful and quite fun!

I had to try the spaghetti and meatball on a stick. It was basically a breaded-and-fried (what isn't at the fair) spicy meatball with a side of sauce. It was a solid food item, and I think this combined with some of the other protein-heavy dishes helped balance out feeling sick from too much fat and sugar. B+

We finished our trip to the fair with some desserts. My daughter had an ice cream cone that I merely scoffed at, as we adults had some fried Snickers on a stick. A couple asked me if they were good. I said that these are the epitome of the fair experience, and that you must love and hate them at the same time. They are a caloric nightmare and very sweet, but tasty and a state fair cultural treasure. A+

Tag: Minnesota State Fair

Too bad I didn't go to the fair last night!

Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips played! I thought it was odd when I heard about it a couple of months ago.

Anyways, here is a local blogger with a recap.

I realize I haven't talked about much chess in my blog

With a few exceptions, I haven't spoken much about chess here. We've had a busy summer, and I haven't had much time to play, with the exception of a few games at the Chess Castle, a few online, and two games through the mail with my dad. Although I've played less often than usual, I've been happy with the frequency of my play.

I am, however, getting very excited for the 2006-07 season of the Twin Cities Chess League. I am the the captain of Tal Tales (please smirk if you get this)! It is an unrated team event played from September through March, seven games total. We started last year in round three, and we had a total of three draws out of five matches. This wasn't bad considering we had a low rating compared to most of the other teams.

Our first round is Friday, September 8. We have a full team with a few substitutes. I hope we improve scorewise over last year. Either way, it is one of the best events in Twin Cities chess.

Tags: chess, Twin Cities

Great August weather!

Last evening I walked a few blocks to get a cup of coffee and to think about the job interview I had earlier in the day. As I was enjoying my cup of good, dark coffee, Melissa calls and warns me about an incoming thunderstorm. I told her I'd be careful, and I planned to wait it out.

However, it started raining heavily at a rate of four inches per hour, and it did not show any signs of stopping quickly. I nursed my coffee as long as possible, then decided to get home. My sandals and the bottom of my jeans got soaked, but it was a refreshing trip home. After the hot and humid spell we had here recently, it feels great to get all this rain!

The weekend weather is predicted to be sunny and in the low 80's, so we hope to get out to the state fair.

Chris Mooney's blog

I just discovered Chris Mooney's blog through PZ Myers' Pharyngula. Chris is the author of The Republican War on Science. He has an excellent post about traveling carbon neutral. This article reminds me that I need to continually examine how my consumption choices add to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The current 4400 story line is an example of egalitarianism vs elitism

The 4400 is a sci-fi show on the USA Network. It is about a group of 4400 people who have been removed at various points in their lives, but all returned at the same moment. Some of them have developed special powers. The government wants them monitored and quarantined.

Without talking about the specifics of the current story line, to me it demonstrates the social conflict of egalitarianism versus elitism. Our country at the moment is plagued by the dynamics of one group of people who are elitists but claim they represent the common folk against another group of people who are also elites. Unfortunately, too many of us believe one side over the other, and some of our political and social situations suffer from rancor.

With that current mood in mind, I have been thinking about the 2006 and 2008 elections. I think that except for the politically partisan faithful, people are tired of this administration and want a change. I hope this actually occurs. I don't mean merely to replace Republicans with Democrats. I am hoping that we elect representatives that a larger majority of us can agree with.

I like President Bill Clinton. Watching Jon Stewart last night made me appreciate him just a bit more. Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen was Stewart's guest. I did not know before this that Cohen was a Republican, but I knew that President Clinton hired a few Republicans. Cohen commented that this is not happening today in Washington.

I hope that we can get back to an environment of governing and move away from an environment of political fighting. I would hate to see another Presidential election with one party receiving a narrow majority and everyone arguing over the results!

I think that we can move ourselves towards an egalitarian political system by making ourselves well-informed about issues and candidates. We can also move ourselves to be less partisan. For example, Andrew Sullivan's blog on Time includes a post today referencing Matt Welch's Farewell to Warblogging.

Note: The partisan mind works differently than the non-partisan mind, according to this story on MPR.

Tags: The 4400, egalitarianism

Making green CDs

I just finished reading this article about Earthology Records in my local paper. I wanted to share it because I'm impressed that they want to tackle the waste that is a big part of producing compact discs.

On a related note, I enjoy buying music and being able to hold and read through the artwork. However, I could not imagine not having that for Tool's 10,000 Days, an excellent mixture of artwork and music. On the other hand, I have also gotten used to playing music on my iPod and doing without the packaging.

One of my favorite shows starts its second season tonight!

I have watched a few good shows on Fox. I've been watching the outstanding 24 for many years, and last season a new show started--Prisonbreak. Like 24, it has a complicated story line, cliffhangers, and good character development. Tonight is the beginning of season two! I am happy that the season break between seasons one and two was short, unlike 24, in which we fans have to wait until January.

(For the record, I love these shows, but I think the Fox News Channel is full of asshats.)

Tag: Prison Break

Blogging and democracy

I watched one item and listened to another regarding the Internet and democracy in the last two days. Henry Rollins had an excellent commentary in his "Teeing Off" portion of episode twenty (the season finale) about freedom of speech, democracy, and questioning the supposed wisdom of our leaders. This morning's Future Tense show featured Iranian-born blogger Hossein Derakhshan and how fifty bloggers have been detained in Iran.

Both point to the idea that the uncensored Internet is fantastic and allows for the flourishing of free speech and democracy, but that this media is also unpopular by those who wish to control others.

(Here is part two of that interview.)

Surprise!

This last weekend was just wonderful! We flew to Ohio on Friday for my 20th high school reunion. We had events on both Friday and Saturday night, and those were enjoyable. However, Sunday was the big day!

My parents' 40th anniversary is a couple of weeks away. Given that, we figured on having a surprise party a few weeks early to catch them completely off guard! My cousin, Anna, was over in the early afternoon. I said, "Well, if we don't see you tomorrow, then we'll see you on our next trip." (We were holding back our laughs.)

She headed off to the restaurant to set up. We left about an hour later to "go out for lunch at the Tong Tong." My family has been going to Tong Tong for nearly the entire time it has been open--26 years. So throwing a party here did not raise any suspicions.

We arrived at the restaurant at 1:30. My mom and dad saw a couple of their friends go in a few dozen yards before us. They also happened to notice both one of my uncle's car and Anna's car. They thought it was a little odd, while I was thinking they were catching on (they weren't they told me later).

So we walk in the door and 41 of their family members and friends were there taking up the center part of the restaurant! They couldn't believe their eyes. Relatives came from out of state to surprise them! (About this I'm very happy! I'm given them some unpleasant surprises over the years, so it was fun to give them a joyous one!)

We had a feast! I always enjoy our meal there, but this one certainly was the best! (Thanks to the owner, Wendy, for accomodating our large group!)

We finished the meal with a cake that my aunt ordered!

My mom told me today that she is still processing this experience. This left them a bit in shock! :)

Wow! I forgot how great a band X really is!

I have seen X one other time, in 1994—well, technically twice, as I won tickets for a Cleveland radio station and got to see a noontime set earlier the same day.

On Wednesday August 9, my friend Carillon and I went downtown to see X with Rollins Band and the Riverboat Gamblers. The venue was moved from The Quest to The Fine Line Cafe. The last minute change caused us to walk in right at 8, at which time the Riverboat Gamblers took the stage.

I feel bad that we never saw them before, because apparently these guys from Denton, Texas play in the Twin Cities three or four times a year. After the show we bought their newest CD and talked to one of them. They have played at the Triple Rock Social Club among other venues.

These guys were energetic, fun, and played well! I was especially impressed with their story. Their van broke down in Vegas over a week ago, and unfortunately they missed almost a week worth of shows. They had just driven 29 hours from Vegas to Minneapolis, arriving an hour before show time to throw a great show!

Their energy was infectious! The lead singer loved to climb! He climbed on the speakers, up to the balcony, and jumped around in the audience. I did not know any of their songs, but I didn't need to. They had an old-school sound that was easy to listen to and made you want to move with them. They played a half-hour set that was over too quickly. Carillon and I had smiles on our faces and we relaxed before the Rollins set.

At 9 Rollins Band comes on stage. This is the Rollins Band from the 90's, with Melvin Gibbs on bass, Chris Haskett on guitar, and Sim Cain on drums. This band put out a few great records, especially The End of Silence and Weight. The last time I saw them was a free show at the Taste of Minnesota in front of the Capitol Building in the summer of 1996, my first summer in Minneapolis.

This is a great band! Melvin, Sim, and Chris play well together. Rollins, as you probably know, is an intense guy. He comes out with these loose fitting black shorts, barefoot, tensing up his muscles getting ready to unleash his verbal load on the audience. We've been there before eagerly awaiting for them to crush us with their sound.

They delivered! They played most of the songs from Weight, including the Sabbathesque Vol. 4, Liar, and Disconnect among other tunes. I was pleased to get such a good set, and then we had another short weight before X came out.

We got a spot right in front of Exene. Everyone cheered as they took the stage. Billy played guitar to our left, while John played bass to our right. DJ was in the back on drums.

The crowd got into it, including a bit of slam-dancing. I had to do my best to hold onto the rail and pogo up and down, as I didn't want to get into the mass of people behind me. Everyone was having a good time and digging the band's energy. I enjoyed most of the show, especially when they played Hungry Wolf. The rhythm in that song is a joy!

This band is like the Grateful Dead to me in that they have a sound that is definitely American. X has a rockabilly influence, the Dead has country and jazz. Both have a chemistry that is enjoyable and works to move an audience to dance!

(In case you are a fan of any of these bands or are curious, here is the list of the remaining dates.)

Bad BP!

In an earlier post, I had provided some praise of BP for their efforts with forward thinking towards the future of energy. I'm writing this brief post because I hope they are being genuine with that effort, but they need to be taking care of the nuts-and-bolts of their current business. Right now it looks like they are sucking in that regards! Grrrrrrr!

Amazing interview on the Henry Rollins show!

Last night we watched our last taped episode of Henry Rollins show on IFC. He was interviewing Stephen Gaghan, the writer and director of Traffic and most recently, Syriana. This interview just blew me away! He talked about the research he did for Syriana, and it was quite unlike most research (he ended up in Beirut with some crazy stories to tell)!

It was definitely eye-opening! (Syriana was based on Robert Baer's book, See No Evil. I went out and bought a copy this morning.)

Thanks to both Henry and Stephen!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of Henry, tonight I get to see the Rollins Band and X! I haven't seen either band in quite a few years, so I am quite excited!

New stupid commercial!

Thanks to Missy, my sense of inner peace went from

Dalai Lama--me----------------------------Lewis Black

to way past Lewis! She rewound the DVR to show me the last commercial, which featured toy Hummers in the Happy Meal at McDonald's. WTF?!!!!! (Mis knows how to push my buttons!!) I just couldn't stand to see the combination of the premier symbols of fast food and gas-guzzling vehicles together. In this age of global warming and high oil prices, I cannot think of less responsible advertising.

(My rant was pretty funny yesterday, but not so today. I'm posting it anyways to open it for commentary.)

However, please don't accuse me of moral superiority. I enjoy burgers, I should try biking more often, and one of the foods I enjoy, soy, is part of the deforestation equation.

Here is an article on SUV drivers. I am reposting this article from my friend Janet Cohen's blog that talks about culture code and products.

Love is...

...having your sweet wife make you a batch of much needed chocolate chip cookies after a really rough day!

Yesterday was one of the most draining days I had in a long time. I had too much incoming information, there was certainly not enough naptime for a little beloved one, and my energy and patience levels ran down to near zero by the time I saw Melissa yesterday afternoon.

I made plans to go to a Jerry Garcia tribute at the Cabooze last night. About half the time I go out by myself, and I normally enjoy myself. However, I wish that either I did not go out or a friend would have gone with me last night, because even listening to Grateful Dead music did little to cheer me up. After listening to a very good rendition of Terrapin Station by The Jones Gang, I left to catch the light rail home. I called Melissa before the train arrived and told her how I was feeling. I figured she was already headed to bed.

But I walk in the door, many lights were still on, and Melissa greets me and tells me she made a batch of cookies! I felt so happy to be back home and lucky to have such a great gal!

If you don't want war, prepare for peace

These are my reflections on the Dennis Prager and Michael Lerner interview I watched on Larry King, as well as Jon Stewart's "This Week in God" on Monday night.

Dennis and Michael are both Jewish men who were weighing in and discussing the current Israel-Lebanon-Hezbollah war. Dennis was advocating for a peace-through-superior-firepower solution, and Michael was advocating for a longer-term solution driven by Israelis and Palestinians respecting each others' humanity.

The Daily Show's "This Week in God" featured a video of three extreme examples of children being "educated" in Christian, Muslim, and Judaic cultures. The people who created the Left Behind series created a violent video game for children based on their books. The Hezbollah have a summer camp for youngsters with a militant theme (weapons-training included). Israeli children were shown writing on bombs that were going to be sent to destroy Hezbollah soldiers.

I was pretty much sickened by that dark humor. I have a difficult time accepting the violence as it exists, but even worse, I can't believe that adults are teaching their children hatred and violence. "Gee, war is such a great use of our time and energies, let's be sure to teach our kids."

Anyways, I thought about a good title for the blog entry this morning as I wanted to fold and spindle the old adage "If you want peace, you must prepare for war." We as humans have more than adequately prepared ourselves for war, but it sure seems that we really haven't done enough to prepare for peace. Finding real peace is difficult. I certainly am not a student of political science nor military policy, and I don't have any useful advice for the current situation.

I just feel the pain of the Israeli people defending themselves and both the Lebanese people and Israelis who have lost family members and friends to the violence. It greatly saddens me. I get angry at the Hezbollah who set up camp in Lebanese-civilian territories. They don't love the Israelis, and they certainly don't love the Lebanese people.

Peace is a state of being beyond ideology and politics. I don't go to peace rallies because I still see division driven by ideology. Rather, I find it more valuable to be communicating with people through blogging, listening to music together, playing chess, or one of my favorite activities, being with my wife and my sister- and brother-in-law watching South Park and being lovable idiots together. (Deb, Keith--you know I'm a drum-circle hippie and not a college know-it-all hippie!)