Another snowmobile ride over. Clayton finally decided going fast isn’t so bad after all. We finally were able to go over 10mph! Cam also got to ride by himself today, and he did a pretty good job. The snow is getting a little thin down near the gate on Bear Notch Rd, but up top there is still three plus feet of snow.
A hundred or so feet higher in elevation and the snow has piled up. Even here at 750′ or so the snow started to accumulate Friday and it doesn’t look so bare anymore. Up higher there are several feet of new snow. I think snow has fallen for at least part of every hour we have been here. Sure at first it was mostly rain with a little sleet and snow as the temperature shifted but lately it’s been just snow. It certainly proved I need a replacement visor for my helmet. It’s so scratched up I couldn’t see out the trail with it down today and it was snowing so hard I couldn’t keep it up like I have been doing lately.
All in all not a bad day, just one to be glad to put behind me.
This morning started out with a exhaustive check of snowmobile trail conditions and weather forecasts for the day. It was raining in Bartlett, but various weather sites were saying it was mostly snow west and north of here. So we saddled up and drove through Crawford Notch to Fabyan’s in Twin Mountain. Still raining however they got a lot more snow than on this side of the Notch.
After a quick conference with Heather we decide to head north a little ways. Quick drive up to Jefferson and it’s snowing! Clayton even spotted a groomer on the trail. One problem though, I can’t find parking for the truck and trailer. Well, that can be solved by continuing into Gorham. However once we get to Gorham we discover two things. Moose Brook Park no longer has parking and once we get to the new lot a little down the road it’s pouring rain again.
We’re far enough around Mount Washington that it’s easiest to get home via Rt 16 and Pinkham Notch so that’s the way we go. Pinkham Notch is high enough up that it’s snowing again and we spot several spin outs through the notch. We make it back down to Jackson safely however, and back to rain with very little base snow depth. By this point Clay and Cam have been in the truck for over two hours so I decide to humor them with a brief trip to Bear Notch Road. They can at least unload the sleds and drive up and down the road for a few minutes before they get too soaked.
However I didn’t consider that the parking lot would be unplowed with a foot of snow/slush/water over very slick ice. About 100 feet into the lot I get stuck. Even after shoveling out the tires I’m still stuck due to the trailer. Unhitch it and get the truck out. Then unload the trailer and head back in to get it. Eventually we get the trailer out and we have enough time to go for a little ride. On a positive note it stopped raining by this point.
Bear Notch Road is a mess. Trees are down and the trail is ungroomed. However volunteers have been out cutting up the downed trees and the groomer has pushed them aside for the most part. We only go a few miles up the road, to the second turnout. In that distance the new fallen snow goes from a foot or less at the parking lot to about three feet of very heavy wet new snow when we turn around. Luckily we can follow in the path of the work crews and the heavy wet snow packs well so the sleds don’t get stuck anyways.
By 5:30 we are back to the trailer, loaded up and heading back to Michael’s house. Park in the driveway and begin the drying out process. I’m not sure how long that will take though. Hopefully Saturday will be better.
Looks like February vaction’s snowmobile trip will be rained out. Even here up in Bartlett the little snow fallen has been drenched by the rain. The only potential positive is it’s been cold enough that there is still about 2-3″ of heavy wet slush on the ground. If it gets cold enough soon we still may be able to get at least one ride in.
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/07/security_group.html
Primatologist Robin Dunbar derived this number by comparing neocortex — the “thinking” part of the mammalian brain — volume with the size of primate social groups. By analyzing data from 38 primate genera and extrapolating to the human neocortex size, he predicted a human “mean group size” of roughly 150.
This number appears regularly in human society; it’s the estimated size of a Neolithic farming village, the size at which Hittite settlements split, and the basic unit in professional armies from Roman times to the present day. Larger group sizes aren’t as stable because their members don’t know each other well enough. Instead of thinking of the members as people, we think of them as groups of people. For such groups to function well, they need externally imposed structure, such as name badges.
I’ve been thinking about the idea of the nuclear family vrs the extended family for awhile now and it was interesting to compare to this break down of human group sizes to family group sizes. The nuclear family (and it’s associate the post modern family) is the current norm due to various societal factors, especially the mobility of today’s workforce.
By reducing the size of family groups a person also has a reduction in size of the groups mentioned in the article. With fewer people available to seek help in times of severe emotional distress and the larger group of people with which you have special ties you put significantly greater strain on the nuclear family. That is likely one factor leading to the greater number of post modern families. It’s also a significant contributor to the additional reliance on government to provide services that would otherwise be provided by an extended family.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a62_boqkurbI
Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.
Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea’s cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit?
The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale.
The trillions of dollars of debt the U.S. will issue in the next couple of years needs buyers. Attracting them will require making sure that existing ones aren’t losing faith in the U.S.’s ability to control the dollar.
Read the rest of the story. It’s an amazing tale.
The old thundernat.com has been having problems for awhile now. I had been thinking about moving it to a new server and software platform, and the latest bit of down time has given me the final incentive to do it.
