DEATH IN DEATH VALLEY

BE NOTHING BUT SERIOUS

     As spring deepens and summer nears, more adventure seekers will point toward Death Valley. That is an equation for danger.
      It is an extraordinary span of the planet, but you must take it seriously.  You may remember scenes from old westerns where survivors crawl across great expanses of sun baked sand, passing bleached horse or cattle skulls, looking desperately for water.  Well, the inspiration was Death Valley.
       We had our own near miss.  As you can see in these series of photos, a blow out put us off to the side of the road and look at the road.

Photo by Linda Rendleman

  Fortunately it was early enough, so the temperatures were not yet lethal.  We had trouble however.  The last tire rotation was done with an automatic lug bolt tightener, making it impossible to loosen with only the jack handle/lug nut tool.

Photo by Linda Rendleman

         We were traveling with a couple of friends, Jim and Linda, and their presence was comforting, but still of no help.  The nearest semblance of civilization was some 20 miles away, and in Death Valley that is an incredibly long hike.  We were spared that task though by a young man from Chicago.  He wore a Chicago Firefighters T-shirt and while his wife and two young children sat in their car, he opened his tool chest, produced a hammer, a better jack than those provided by the auto maker, and soon he had helped us replace the blown tire and was off on his way.  

Photo by Linda Rendleman

     If Death Valley is on your travel agenda, prepare for it.  Make sue your tires are up to the challenge of heat and rough roads.  We thought we had.  I'd suggest a small took kit, a lubricant, patch repair, a hammer or top of the line lug wrench and/or jack. You should travel with plenty of water, food supplies, clothing and/or protection from heat and cold, first aid or medical supplies, make sure someone knows your intended route, and stay on marked roads. It is a remarkable, but forsaken area.  Problems can arise and people experience trouble.  When we drove into the only service station in hundreds of miles, seven other cars drove in or were in line as we purchased a spare.

     Every month some one gets into some kind difficulty and some are not so fortunate.

DEATH BY GPS-AN EXCELLENT AND RIVETING STORY BY TOM KNUDSON OF THE SACRAMENTO BEE

Have a great adventure, but keep in the mind the old scout motto-
"be prepared."
We'll see you down the trail.

SOCIAL REVOLUTION BY SOCIAL MEDIA & THEN CLOUDS!

THE NERDS ARE WINNING

OR

REVOLUTION BY THUMBS

     I had a politically active and satirical friend who, in the '70's, made a point of inverting the lyric of the Gil Scott-Heron song by offering sardonically "the revolution will be televised."  Scott-Heron's tune was "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" but my friend would watch news coverage of protests, demonstrations, street marches or combat footage from Viet Nam and punctuate the moment with his version.
     As we covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, we knew by then that in fact the revolution had been televised.  Arguably the presence of cameras has fueled upheaval and change since America watched black citizens and civil rights activists being fire hosed, beaten, set upon by dogs and southern police thugs. 
    But the universe has shifted in the line from Selma to Cairo.  Old media, those cameras, microphones and the print reporters, observed.  Yes the sound, images and the story lines inflamed as well as informed, but the relationship was of chronicler and player.
        
     As the fervor spreads through the mid east, even as you read this, revolution isn't simply being televised, it is being orchestrated by tweets and enabled by smart phones as well as being sent to you that way. Those little screens are agents of change.
    Consider what has happened in the last month alone.  Now governments everywhere in the world are trying to come to grips with the political power of social media. 
     In the age of old media time moved by news cycles. In this era of social media, things happen in a flash.  It is a world of instantaneous force.

DAY BOOK

JUST WATCHING THE CLOUDS PASS BY

     One summer vacation when I had complained to my mom there was nothing to do, she surprised me by saying "why don't you just lay on a blanket and watch the clouds?"

     I've been a cloud watcher ever since.  That is part of our eco family we see up there, kindred energy on this terrestrial sphere.  Always a fascinating show. Always relaxing and therapeutic.  Sometimes more dramatic than others.

Watching change, subtle subtexts of both color and light.

Of course, you have to look up and not down. But that's good for us as well.
It is not a screen, large or hand held.  It is a dance of nature.  Light at play.
LIFE

See you down the trail.

MANIPULATION

GOUGING AT THE PUMP

     There is pain at the pump, again!  Prices are creeping back up.  In California, where gas is more expensive due to the extra processes necessary  for clean air, it is getting closer to $4.00 a gallon.  We are getting jacked around.

      Five years, when I was a news executive and ran a large organization I tasked our investigative unit to explore yet another swing in gas prices.  Our award winning unit was headed by a former FBI agent who I had hired to lead the team.  He spearheaded our months long inquiry.  The bottom line on their work is that gasoline prices in the US are a product of manipulation often arbitrary and without good reason other than profit.

     You've heard the talk about running out of oil, well we are a long way from being there.  Some of that talk is disinformation, propaganda designed to affect political policy, but that is the topic of another debate on another day.  Where gas prices are concerned the primary shortage is in refinery capacity.  Our ability to refine has not been significantly increased for years, essentially because the oil industry likes it that way.  With the ability to exercise control, or manipulation, at the step between raw material and finished product, the oil companies are able to exert huge influence on what you and I pay at the pump. 

      We could easily increase the volume of gasoline and keep a lid on prices, but that is not in the best interests of the oil industry is it?  And big oil is big power in the world. So as you watch prices rise, realize we are being played again, but we must not care.  At least not enough to change efficiency of internal combustion engines, or auto design, or to find alternative sources.
      I have bumped up against this topic countless times over the years in my work as a journalist, documentary producer and investigative reporter.  For my money one of the best sources of reason and intelligence on the energy question is The Rocky Mountain
Institute.  If you care about this topic, you should be aware of RMI and Amory Lovins.  
LINK HERE TO SOME OF THE BEST INFORMATION AND INTELLIGENCE ON ENERGY

AND HERE IS AN AMUSING SIDE BAR

 Morly Safer, the urbane CBS 60 Minutes Correspondent vs. a changing order in an old boy's (and old girl's) Club

THIS IS WORTH AT LEAST A CHUCKLE OR TWO-LINK HERE

CHEERS, AND SEE YOU DOWN THE TRAIL.

UPDATE ON EARLIER POST

MORE MOTO

     Cris Conner, subject of the WEEKENDER :) Post is a visual artist and photographer.

You can see more of his creative mind at work at his web site.

LINK HERE TO ENTER THE WORLD OF MOTO GROOVE

GENTLE IN SAN DIEGO

SOFT AND GREEN 

     San Diego is one of America's great cities and true to California, it is expansive spreading almost from the Mexican border north and inland. Its suburbs are forever growing as well.  

     But San Diego is also city of many neighborhoods, like little towns or villages.

Each district shares California's most nearly tropical climate.

We are partial to the area around Bankers Hill and Hillcrest,

the home area of our friend and gracious host.

This is a wonderful neighborhood for walking, which we always do when visiting.

It is only blocks from Balboa Park one of America's great urban offerings.

Museums, gardens, restaurants and plenty of gentle and vibrant green space fill Balboa Park.  It is not surprising then to find this signature memory of what took place across the planet in Cairo in the last days.

Graffiti is rare in Balboa Park, and soon this will be white washed over on the 

bridge over the 163 freeway, but for the time it remains

it too is a gentle bloom of sorts, a reminder of the hopes that

have flowered in Egypt.

See you down the trail

POWER OF NEW MEDIA ON EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION

FASCINATING INSIGHT 

     As people in Yemen have begun to protest for change, CBS 60 Minutes provided a good interview with an architect of the Egyptian revolution.  
     Media and politics continue a seismic shift.  
     Wael Ghonim's 60 Minutes Interview: Egypt's New Age Revolution

THE WEEKENDER :) BECAUSE IT'S ODD & FROM MOTO GROOVE

FROM THE EXOTIC VAULT OF 

MOTO GROOVE

     Cris Conner is a guy with a fertile mind to say the very least.  For years he presided over the airwaves and a team of inventive broadcasters creating a theater of the mind.  Cris is to broadcasting what Dali is to painting.  

     To listen to airchecks of his work and those of his teammates reminds you of a time when creativity, innovation and imagination mattered.  Full disclosure here.  I worked with Cris, also known to his fans as Moto Groove, for many years and was perpetually amused and surprised by what he did, said and the ideas he gave birth to.  He was a pioneer of FM rock, but it was much more than that.  It was about finding a niche in emerging lifestyles and growing it until it had become habitual in the daily routines of an ever growing audience.  It was always fun.  

      But what continues to amaze me is that Cris, who is a photographic artist of exquisite talent, can still find, see, spot and know things that mere humans can not.  From time to time he'll shoot me a link of something he has created or something he has found.  I am usually left amazed, laughing or simply shaking my head wondering what planet he is really from.  I offer this little ditty as exhibit A.

       Enjoy.  I'll bet you've not seen anything like this, short of a wild dream.

 GOODBYE TO A LEGEND

     It was impossible to be around auto racing since the 1950's and not to know Tom Carnegie.  He is best known as being the Voice of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In that vast space, his was the voice booming over the speakers around the two and half mile track.  His style was unique and some of his patented phrases are famous. Tom died on Friday at 91.

     Like a lot of folks in broadcasting, Tom had a secret, his real name. Carl Karnegy was in a public speaking group back in the 1960's. So was my father Karl. They hit it off, starting with sharing the same name with a variation in spelling. I was a kid and more interested in playing ball than being aware of who was on radio or TV, but dad told me to pay attention to Tom Carnegie. In those days he provided sports on both radio and TV and was an early play by play announcer.  

     It was my pleasure to know Tom and to even work with him on a project or two. He left his mark and legions of racing fans have memories of the Indianapolis 500, enriched by Tom's voice. He was a pro.