The Return of Terrance the Tortoise

Its April 30th and we still hadn't seen Terrance. Last winter he popped up in mid-April. We were beginning to worry. Then this evening after work, we spotted him along the edge of the rosemary. Yup, he's up and at 'em.

True, he's a Western Box Turtle, not a tortoise, and he's slow, but he's busy hunting. Snagged a bug on his way back to his burrow underneath the Euonymus.

Good to have you back, Terrance!

Soon to come, another episode of SchleppCast in which Schlepp rescues a hummingbird who was trapped in the garage.

The Mauser

Horrific news from Virginia today. The massacre at Virginia Tech has that feel of 911 for some reason, even though it is two orders of magnitude smaller. Perhaps it is the innocence lost... yet again. Another assault by unfathomable forces--one by extreme ideology, the other by extreme instability. Perhaps they are, deep down, the same thing. Schlepp's heart goes out to all those touched by these senseless acts of violence.

I am reminded that on the wall behind me is a wooden gun rack holding the 8mm Mauser that Grandpa brought back from France. As the family lore goes, he picked it up off the battlefield of Verdun. Its a carbine, originally designed for cavalry use, but the machine guns of World War One ended that.


Instead, the Mauser on my wall became an artillery officer's sidearm. The idea is that if you are in a rear echelon artillery battery and you have an opportunity to shoot a sidearm at the enemy, they'd better be at rifle range or else your artillery is as good as captured.

Grandpa was career military, a brevet company commander, and had a Sharpshooter medal. He was a Kansas farm boy who grew up with guns, probably hunting for food, not sport. He came back from the Great War and put all the guns away. Never taught his sons to shoot or hunt. He took the carbine apart and sanded the stock down, planning to refinish the gun, but never completed the task.

Years later I had a gunsmith friend in Santa Fe finish what Grandpa had started. With newly stained wood and browned barrel, it only needed a replacement shoulder strap. It hasn't been fired since at least 1918, although the gunsmith tells me it should be fine. Perhaps in 2018 I'll fire the Mauser, to celebrate a century of peace, at least for one small rifle.

But as yesterday's events bear out, Grandpa was right--guns are for killing. I'll follow his example and not fall into the trap of bringing a gun into my CSF classroom. The best we can hope for is to make it harder for madmen to lay hands on them.

I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before anyone even at the cost of your life. -- Mahatma Gandhi

Shrine of the Stone Lion

Schlepp had an interesting weekend. Instead of traveling somewhere exotic and faraway, he traveled to someplace exotic and nearby. With an eclectic group of fellow hikers he climbed an obscure mesa in central New Mexico and visited the ancient and little-known Stone Lion Shrine at its eastern rim.

True, there is a well-known Stone Lions Shrine just north in Bandelier National Monument with its two famous carved lions, but this is a single lion shrine. The ancestors of Cochiti Pueblo no doubt carved this remarkable work and set up the stone ring around it. They set the standing stones in place.

Apparently, in years past, the University of New Mexico used a helicopter to remove the lion to the Maxwell Museum, but protests caused it to be returned. I wonder if that is when the tail went missing?

At any rate, the shrine appeared unused, even now, just two weeks after the equinox when we would have thought there would have been a ceremony. Ten years ago there were sea shells, obsidian, and quartz crystals, but today... nothing. But still the Stone Lion quietly guards its sipapu and looks out forever across the endless mesas.

Arrivederci Amman!

Its the final day of the workshop. Everyone wandered off to home or caught flights out or are waiting for tomorrow's flight. Tim, Ruth, Amir, Kent, Hanada, and Ghada had dinner in the Marriott's Cigar Lounge. (It wasn't really smoky, but it has big comfortable chairs and is much quieter than the Champions sports bar.)

Ghada, our heroic workshop coordinator, finally got to meet Schlepp. I think everyone except Gen. Shiyyaab has posed with the furry one. Frankly, its been a good trip for a little bear and international security.

Travel home tomorrow starts at 5:30. There's a two-hour connection in London (tricky but possible) and then a 1:50 connection in Chicago. With customs, passport control, picking up and rechecking luggage, this will need a minor miracle to pull off. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post with all the exciting details.

Schlepp in Amman, Part 2

Today Schlepp went shopping down the street from the Marriott. By happy accident, he found a sports shop that sold football jerseys (soccer to you Yanks) in Jordan team colors. So we've got nephew Ty's birthday present worked out. We found Jordanian pastries for the gang at the office, some Afghan trinkets at the bazaar, and Dead Sea beauty products for the ladies back home. Now to a bear, they look like packages of mud and salt, but they're supposed to be great stuff.

For dinner the entire workshop went to Kan Zaman, a traditional restaurant. Excellent food, great company, and traditional music and entertainment. Schlepp made lots of new friends--Hanada, Rima, and Hakam from the Cooperative Monitoring Center at Amman.

Now its late and Karl has finished his e-mail to the States and he's done updating view graphs for tomorrow's final workshop sessions. Friday the long flight home begins early. There are close connections at Heathrow and a O'Hare, so stay tuned for the exciting transits through some of the world's most busy airports.

Time for a little bear to get to bed. TTFN

Travel Schlepp in Amman

After an eventful flight over, Schlepp is at last settled in at the Marriott in Amman, Jordan. There have been meetings at the Cooperative Monitoring Center at Amman and preparations for the disaster preparedness workshop are virtually complete.

On Friday the Muslim sabbath, Schlepp toured the ancient Roman ruins downtown, especially the theater of what was then called Philadelphia. Now its 1:14 am on Sunday March 4 and Schlepp is up in the middle of the night to catch the total eclipse of the moon. Its deep rudy red, even here in the middle of Amman with only a slight lightening on the north limb of the disc. Beautiful.

Travel Schlepp on the Go Again

Its official -- the trip to Amman has been blessed by the powers that be and the tickets finally arrived.

With a little luck Schlepp managed to get an aisle seat (unfortunately back in row 43) for the 9+ hours Denver-London. Seating from Heathrow to Jordan appears better. Overall the trip is an uncomfortable one, 25 hours long not counting getting to the airport 2 hours early to check in and then its coach all the way. That makes for a wasted day after arrival just sleeping off the effects.

The technical aspects of the trip involve disaster management and specifically how to respond to a hazardous chemical disaster along the lines of a terrorist event with chemical weapons. What was initially thought to be an academic exercise now turns out to be frighteningly urgent, what with two recent chlorine car bombs in Iraq.

Expect some podcasts during the two weeks in Amman. Friends in Jordan have already found a kafia (traditional headgear) sized just right for a small bear.

Eight Years of Travel Schlepp

Its January 26 and this is the 8-year anniversary for Little Schlepp. It was on Karl's birthday in 1999 that Travel Schlepp arrived from the Bears Cookie Den in Seal Rock, Oregon. The very next day he was whisked off to Vienna for his first international adventure.

Here's one of the first photos taken of TS while traveling. Karl had his new Kodak digital camera (a 1-megapixel DC-265) and the maid at Hotel am Stephensplatz had placed Schlepp in the sconce of the bedside light.

In no time Schlepp was heading out with Karl to historic and picturesque sites all over Europe. That first trip included a stop in The Hague to meet with the OPCW. In the past 8 years he's visited Paris, Venice, Prague, Budapest, Salzburg, Bonn, and Bratislava, as well as toured parts of England and Ireland. He's gone to Cairo, Vancouver, Mumbai, and Ankara plus coast to coast in the US.

Next month he'll take his first trip to Amman, Jordan. There he will help out with a Middle East Regional Workshop on Emergency Preparedness. Its a long flight, but he's used to it. Expect several posts while he's on the road.

New Year -- New Post

Technorati Profile

The odometer of US military deaths in Iraq turned over 3000 recently. Saddam Hussein was executed in a mocking, unprofessional manner on a Sunni holy day (but, interestingly, not a Shia holy day). A milestone and a martyr for the insurgency.

Winter in NM

Record-setting snow fell over the weekend, but luckily we got Kent moved before things really got icy Friday night. By Saturday morning, there was over 15" on the ground.

The family across the street got out in the snow by noon and built a truly enormous snowman. Of course, Little Schlepp went out to help.

Although pretty to look at, the storm stranded travelers, caused us to cancel holiday dinners with friends, knocked out power over at Paul and Toni's place. Last I heard, McGoey had borrowed a pole lopper yesterday evening to cut frozen branches away from the utilities.

Christmas Cats

Christmas with the family is always special, but this year we had special guests: a pair of orphaned mountain lion cubs. Their mother had been killed by a poacher, but NM Game & Fish trackers found the den before the little guys starved. Here's a shot of them under the Christmas tree.

About five years ago my sister-in-law Kathleen nursed three other orphaned mountain lions until they were about 35 lbs each. That gang is now happily at the Albuquerque Zoo. Please support wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, in particular, support the NM Wildlife Center, Kathleen's organization.

Happy Holidays from Travel Schlepp

From one small bear to the rest of teddy beardom and all the rest, have a safe and happy holiday, a festive Festivus, a salubrious Saturnalia, a joyous Noel, a wonderful Hanukkah, a rejuvenating Solstice, and a merry Christmas. For all the year's work on international security, nonproliferation, and WMD threat reduction, my job is not endangered by an outbreak of world peace.

Look for the December Schleppcast later today, but first... I have to make a trifle and not get any fur in it.

-- Travel Schlepp

More Lyrics for Iraq

From Loreena McKennett's "Lullaby," based on Blake. She answers the question, "Who has gotten us fouled up in Iraq:?" with "The Kings and Nobles of the Land have done it! Hear it not, Heaven, thy Ministers have done it!"

========================================

O for a voice like thunder, and a tongue
To drown the throat of war!
When the senses are shaken, and the soul is driven to madness,
Who can stand?

When the souls of the oppressed
Fight in the troubled air that rages,
who can stand?

When the whirlwind of fury comes from the
Throne of god, when the frowns of his countenance
Drive the nations together,
who can stand?

When Sin claps his broad wings over the battle,
And sails rejoicing in the flood of Death;
When souls are torn to everlasting fire,
And fiends of Hell rejoice upon the slain.
O who can stand?

O who hath caused this?
O who can answer at the throne of God?
The Kings and Nobles of the Land have done it!
Hear it not, Heaven, thy Ministers have done it!

========================================

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Talking Heads and the Iraq War

LIFE DURING WARTIME
Slightly modified from the Talking Heads 1987 original on their "Stop Making Sense" album. Kinda scary how this song describes what's going on right now in Iraq.

Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons,
packed up and ready to go
Heard of some gravesites, out by the highway,
a place where nobody knows.
The sound of gunfire, off in the distance,
I'm getting used to it now.
Lived in a brownstone, lived in the ghetto,
I've lived all over this town.

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
this ain't no fooling around.
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey,
I ain't got time for that now.

Transmit the message, to the receiver.
hope for an answer some day.
I got three passports, couple of visas,
don't even know my real name.
High on a hillside, trucks are loading.
Everything's ready to roll.
I sleep in the daytime, I work in the nightime.
I might not ever get home.

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
this ain't no fooling around.
This ain't no mudd club, or C. B. G. B.
I ain't got time for that now.

Heard about Baghdad? Heard about Tikrit?
Heard about Diwa-ni-yah?
You oughta know not to stand by the window;
somebody might see you up there.
I got some groceries, some peanut butter,
to last a couple of days.
But I ain't got no speakers,
ain't got no headphones,
ain't got no records to play.

Why stay in college? Why go to night school?
Gonna be different this time?
Can't write a letter, can't send a postcard,
I can't write nothing at all.
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
this ain't no fooling around.
I'd love you hold you, I'd like to kiss you.
I ain't got no time for that now,.

Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock,
we blended in with the crowd.
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines.
I know that ain't allowed.
We dress like students, we dress like housewives,
or in a suit and a tie.
I changed my hairstyle so many times now
don't know what I look like!
You make me shiver, I feel so tender.
We make a pretty good team.
Don't get exhausted. I'll do some driving.
You ought to get you some sleep.
Get your instructions, follow directions,
then you should change your address
Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day,
whatever you think is best.

Burned all my notebooks, what good are notebooks?
They won't help me survive.
My chest is aching, burns like a furnace.
The burning keeps me alive.
Try to stay healthy, physical fitness.
Don't want to catch no disease.
Try to be careful. Don't take no chances.
you better watch what you say.

No good move in a bad position

My father taught me chess when I was so young, that now I can not remember not ever knowing how to play. One of the most important lessons was, "There is no good move in a bad position."

That explains a lot about life in general. It explains why the Democrats can't articulate a magical, silver bullet strategy to deal with Iraq and terrorism. After five years of Republican rule, we've made so many mistakes* that there is no simple, clean solution to get out of the hole they've dug.

There is no good move in a bad position.

_________________________
* Should have bulldozed Abu Ghraib, made Saddam's palaces a national memorial instead of the Green Zone, never disbanded the Iraq army, never disenfranchised low-level Baathists, finished Afghanistan and Bin Laden first, double-checked the WMD intelligence.

Mid-term elections

Its coming down to the wire and here in NM its a close one between Wilson and Madrid. If the number of campaign signs in yards is any indications, Madrid will win. Her signs outnumber Wilson's 3 or 4 to one.

I've already voted and, to avoid the chance of electronic fraud, I did so with a paper absentee ballot. See How to hack a voting machine. More importantly, I read the entire Princeton report "Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine" and believe its methods and conclusions are sound. Of course, my paper ballot gets read with an optical reader and then sent to some master database of votes, so anything could happen. But I will be very upset if the exit polls and the final vote counts diverge significantly as they did in Ohio in 2004.

One thought is to take a video camera, or failing that, your camera-equiped cell phone into the booth with you and record the process. If any unusual behavior turns up, please contact your precinct voting officials immediately with your images. I'd appreciate hearing from any who experience problems. Schlepp 'at' swcp.com.

All that said, in the end it comes down to one thing -- vote on Nov. 7.

North Korean Nuclear Tests

I suppose it was inevitable--North Korea's nuclear test today. At right is the USGS summary map of the area for the day showing a small seismic anomaly. Interestingly, when I went to the site immediately after the North's announcement, the USGS map showed nothing.

Back in 1968 nuclear nations agreed with the signing of the NPT to take "effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament." With current US foreign policy, it's not surprising that North Korea has pulled out of the NPT and has begun building nuclear weapons. Nor is it surprising that a number of other nations might be working to develop a nuclear weapons capability. If the nuclear powers cling to their nuclear weapons and threaten their use, then other nations will inevitably try to join the nuclear club.

Disarmament Sketches

Back in the fall of 2002, I had the pleasure of buying a copy of Disarmament Sketches at a book signing by the author, Amb. Thomas Graham. It was close to the end of the evening, but I had time to ask him one question, "What about Iraq?" This was while UN inspections were in high gear and before the shooting started. He said that it would turn the entire Muslim world from Morocco to the Phillipines into a huge Al Queda recruiting camp.

After the declassification of a portion of the recent NIE report on Iraq, it turns out that Amb. Graham was exactly right.

Electoral Statistics and Prognostications

These links to my favorite poll-watcher in the Netherlands.








And while we're at it re: statistics, here's a graph of the terrorism stats behind the National Intelligence Estimate from http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Instantly clear is the effect of the War in Iraq.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Ahoy, its September 19th already and that means... its International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Get your "5 A's" ready, put on your piratitude, swagger a bit, drink some grog, and get 15 of your friends to hang out with on a dead man's chest. Just to keep you straight about it, those important A's are:

Ahoy!
Avast!
Aye!
Aye-aye!
Arrr!!

Schlepp will be hosting UN visitors, and probably not get a chance to fully embrace TLAP until after 4:30 in deference to their cultural sensitivities and such. Arrr!

Don't miss www.talklikeapirate.com and chase down the links to their half dozen or so short videos on YouTube.

Keep to the code!