Vacations, Weekend Getaways, and Overnights

First as a couple, and then as a family, we've done some pretty cool stuff for our annual vacations, three day weekends, and other getaways over the years...

1986 St.Orres Inn in Gaulala, California.  There are other inns in the area but this is one we visited again.  Perfect spot for a romantic getaway.

1986 Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California.  Nice camping and hiking.  Beware the Banana Slugs...

1987 Grand Portage, Minnesota in winter.  Scenery awesome, rental skiis mediocre.

1988 Virgin Islands by way of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises.

1992 Cabo San Lucas on the Baja peninsula.  Almost got sucked into a timeshare.

1994 and 1996 Yosemite National Park in California.

1995 and 2002 Hawaii, Maui and The Big Island, respectively.

1997 Nordic skiing in Bear Valley, California.  After we struggled back to the lodge through a whiteout seven year old Erik threw off his gear in disgust and swore he would never ski again.  We're glad he changed his mind in time for a fine career as a high school nordic athlete.

1998 Death Valley National Park in California.  In the spring, so it was cool enough to do some backpacking, even though the kids were 7 and 9 at the time.

1999 Black Hills of South Dakota for Independence Day and to bicycle two hundred miles in two days with my brother who was doing the Big Ride that summer.

2000 Yukon River in Alaska for Summer Solstice.  Scarcely dark and mostly warm.  Brought a bear gun, didn't need it.

2000 Barrow, Alaska for Winter Solstice.  Cold and dark.  Saw polar bears, didn't have a gun.

2001 and 2003 Playa del Carmen.  Much less commercial than Cancun; at least it was then.  The adventure tourism was fun, so was lying on the beach.

2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).  Be sure to pay extra for a kevlar boat!

2003, 2005, 2007 Superior Hiking Trail on the north shore of Lake Superior.

2005 Yellowstone National Park.  We backpacked into the wilderness.

2007 Italy.  Mostly staying with family friends in Napoli and doing the Roman archaeology thing.  Then a few days in Roma, where our hotel was at the top of The Spanish Steps.

2009 Camping on Madeline Island in Wisconsin.

Mistakes Were Made

But Not By Me...

Sounds like another interesting read I need to add to the unread bookcase.  Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson address the role cognitive dissonance plays in making us the rationalizing animal.  Tavris is a prolific author and a gifted speaker.  I've heard her interviewed on Point of Inquiry and other podcasts.  This evening I listened to her on Rationally Speaking.  Her work tracks with my interest in the nature of strongly held belief.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...

My fellow commuters' dread fascination with this evening's steady snowfall turned my 23 mile drive from its usual 45 minute jaunt into a 3-1/2 hour slog.  It reminded me of my evening commute on Highway 237 in Silicon Valley back in the day.  It might have been more of an ordeal, but fortunately my iPhone was well-stocked...

photo courtesy Mn/DOT Traveler Information

Skepticality, a podcast I follow routinely, featured Swoopy interviewing documentary film maker Roger Nygard about the DVD release of his film The Nature of Existence.

iTunes U served up two lectures...

Dr. Louis Brighton waxed literal about Revelation, the last book to be added to the Christian Bible.

Then Professor Stanley Ulijaszek from Oxford University spoke in fascinating detail on the anthropology and ecology of the human diet.

Then RSA Events featured two interesting chats...

The first was by Iain McGilchrist speaking about his book, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.

Then Professor John Duncan FRS talked up his new book How Intelligence Happens.

All in all, it was an illuminating, if ploddingly-paced, evening.

Close the Washington Monument

Bruce Schneier is at his very best in this essay responding to the National Park Service's plans to make the Washington Monument as secure as an airport concourse...

photo from wikimedia commons

Whether you agree with him or not - on this or other issues - Schneier asks tough questions which demand thoughtful answers.  He wrote on this earlier, but it's clear the wheels have been turning since.  Bruce drew inspiration from Philip Kennicott's in Washington Post commentary Iconic obelisk presents a monumental security issue. 

Earlier this month I wrote: "Existing precautions do a satisfactory and aesthetically pleasing job of keeping vehicle borne improvised explosive devices away so the structure itself is reasonably protected.  In the absence of a specific and time constrained threat against visitors to the obelisk there is no reason [and no justification] to do a better job detecting man-portable threats at this monument (or others) than at other large public gathering spaces in the District."

If we do not demonstrate stout heart and steely resolve, 2011, the ten year anniversary of 9/11, will become the Year of Fear.

The XM25 Moves From Prime Time to Real Time

Unlike the FN P90 which seems to have only been deployed in the Stargate universe on the SciFi Channel the XM25 is actually seeing use in the real world.

photo courtesy of wikimedia commons

So, we've been watching the development of the XM25 for what feels like a decade now.  Mostly one has seen it on the various cable future weapon shows, now it will be seen in Afghanistan in actual use.  While a little bulky, the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System weighs only 14 pounds fully loaded and fires a 25mm grenade that is wirelessly fused to airburst just inside the window, a little behind the wall, or right above the foxhole from which an opponent is firing at our team.  At $25,000 a piece the XM25 may sound a little spendy but each smart grenade cartridge costs only $25 dollars each.  Others have mentioned it's a lot cheaper and much more precise than using a Hellfire missile or Viper Strike glide bomb for the same job.  In any case we've come a long way since the Vietnam Era M79 Bloop Tube.  Any implement that lets our troops kill more bad guys, with less risk to themselves, while inflicting fewer unintended casualties sounds like a fine idea to me.  Some days our tax dollars get spent on something truly useful to the troops.  Wonder what they'll call it...