I Find Myself Thinking About...

Summer, in Vermont. Here's a shot from a hike Karen and I took this past summer on our annual stay at the far north end of the Green Mountain State.


Each summer, we spend a week at The Tyler Place, in Highgate Springs. We've already planned our summer 2005 visit, and I've been thinking back on our stay in 2004.

Los Super Seven Return!

Here's exciting news: Los Super Seven will have a new album out in March.

According to an article on Billboard.com, the new recording will hit the stores on March 22 and will feature guest appearances by some of my favorite artists, including Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, John Hiatt, Delbert McClinton, and the core members of Calexico.

This will be the third Los Super Seven album. The second, Canto (short samples available here in real Audio and Wave formats), has been a favorite of mine for some time. Los Super Seven play Mexican-American rock, blues, folk and country music -- sometimes all in the same song. The rhythms of Canto have proved perfect for intense typing sessions when I want to hammer our a document at work.

I am particularly excited by the addition of the guys from Calexico to the new album. They have been a great new find this past year. Their sound is classic, but their approach is fresh and challenging and I like that.

According to a news update on the Calexico web site, the new recording focuses on "Border Radio" music, from the 30's to the 70's. This was an outlaw style of radio that brought great new sounds into American music, supported some classic acts and inspired others.

This should be interesting. There's a great debate on in this nation about the changing demographic of America, the addition of so many Latinos, and what that means for our national identity. I say, if it means more of this sort of music, then I'm all for it!

I Should Hesitate to Complain, But....

Several Delaware papers have run items this weekend about what's described as a "new" e-government service from the State of Delaware. The Sunday News Journal Article, State info can come in e-mails, is fairly typical. The Department of Technology and Information (DTI) now offers e-mail listservs of state information.

This is a great idea, but it's not a new idea and certainly not unique to Delaware. What bugs me a little is that several state agencies, including mine, have been offering this sort of service for years, but we are not mentioned in the story and are not listed as options on the web site set up by DTI.

In State Planning, we've worked through DTI to take full advantage of e-mail listservs to offer updates about land use planning issues, and to help create the community of GIS professionals that is the Delaware Geographic Data Committee.

One might say that the difference here is that a press release went out about this "new" service. That seems likely, though I have not been able to find it on-line on the state's portal, on the Governor's web site or on the web site of State Representative Bob Valihura, who is quoted in the News Journal story. I am fairly certain that I also sent out a press release, but it was a year or so back, and I haven't archived those on my site.

I am hesitant to complain because any increase in public access to government information is good. Any increase in public awareness of public access to that information is also good. I do wish that the news coverage could have included all of these services, though. I also wish that the site set up by the GIC and DTI included all of the services that the DTI listserv system offers. That part worries me; who isn't talking to who?

In My Little Town...

This is 1812 Park, in my town, Lewes Delaware. A battery of cannon was located here in the war of 1812. Now it is a lovely green spot overlooking the town dock and the Lewes/Rehoboth Canal. This is a shot from early fall, a beautiful time of year here.

A Bird, by M. Mahaffie

I always wondered what my art would look like among that of the great masters. This was created using Art.Com's ArtPad.

Someone Just Not Happy With Anybody

Driving in Delaware this morning I saw a car with two hand-lettered signs in the back window. On the left-hand side, a sign read "Ban Bimbo Ruth Ann." On the right, "Bush is a Murderer."

I don't think I've ever seen any car with both anti-Bush and anti-Minner signs before.

For those outside of Delaware, "Ban Ruth Ann" signs are a protest against Delaware's law against smoking in indoor public spaces. Governor Ruth Ann Minner, a Democrat, supports that law, as do a number of us here in the first state. Why "Bimbo" was added to this particular sign mystifies me.

It is usually the case that cars I see with "Ban Ruth Ann" signs also sport "Bush/Cheney '04" signs. Opposition to the smoking ban tends to come be from libertarian and anti-government "interference" circles, traditionally supporters of Mr. Bush.

As I drove on this morning, I found myself wondering: is this a sign of a change in that trend, or simply evidence of one very unhappy motorist.

Dredging Up History, an Update

News Journal reporter Molly Murray, a Lewes resident, has two follow-up articles in the December 13 edition of the News Journal on the mass of 17th century European artifacts dredged from the Delaware Bay floor and spewed onto Lewes Beach this fall.

In one -- Beach artifacts boost preservation -- Molly explores the mistakes that appear to have led to a dredge ripping through the site. In another -- Discovery excites, intrigues experts -- she looks into the level of excitement and interest this discovery has generated.

These are two important sides to the story. I'm glad to see the Journal taking a continuing interest.

Three Cheers for Skipper!

Skip Purnell has been given the second annual Governor's Heritage Award by Governor Minner. It's a well-deserved award for a man who, in a quiet way, has been an important leader in Delaware.

Skip and his wife Til are among the first civic leaders Karen and I got to know when we first came to Delaware. Til is a leader in the environmental community and has been active in community theater. I covered her environmental efforts as a reporter and worked with her on theater projects. We met Skip, a less public leader than his forthright wife, through Til.

As I settled in as a state employee over the years and became more aware of the larger governance and public data-sharing issues, I've come to realize how much of a force Skip has been. His has been a constant, strong voice for sharing data and information with the public we serve and for taking full advantage of technology to do so.

In person, Skip is a craggy, bemused, and intense presence. His interest is always piercing. A conversation with Skip is a fascinating seminar on whatever you are talking about, but without being all long or tedious.

I'm glad for Skip. I have long held both skip and Til Purnell in high honor. It's good to see the rest of the state agrees.

Could This Be Our Lost Colony?

A dredge working the Delaware Bay off the Roosevelt Inlet hit something this fall and, according to a story in today's News Journal, ended up spewing out slightly chewed bits of history onto Lewes Beach. Could this be the long-lost Swanendael settlement that made Lewes the "First Town in the First State?" Or is it another of the many shipwrecks that lie on the bottom of our bay?

UPDATE (12/10/04): A follow-up story in the News Journal now suggests that the artifacts pumped onto Lewes Beach are likely from a bit later in the 17th century than would indicate the Swanendael settlement. Still, whether this is a shipwreck or another early settlement, it's a fascinating story. I hope we make a careful study of what's been pumped onto the beach, find the off-shore site and study that, and present what's been found -- and what's been learned -- somewhere like the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes.

Thinking Snow, Making Flakes

It's about 60 degrees outside this evening, but stormy and cooling down. I'm thinking about snow. Seems like a fine time to make a few snowflakes!

I made the flake at left (Posted by Hello) at the fine Make-A-Flake site by Lookandfeel New Media. That's also where I made the one posted on 12/5 (below), which I played around with in PaintShop as well.

I found that site through MetaFilter last winter. This year, I thought I'd poke around and see what other flake-maker sites are out there.

Snowflake Designer is a nice little flash site that shows you the changes to the flake as you cut from or add to the folded "paper."

Snowflake and Snowflake II are freeware Windows 32 applications provided by AM Software, a programmig outfit that appears to be in Russia. I'm not sure I want to download these, but there they are.

Make a snowflake pattern online is a more scientific sort of site, but fun to play around with.

My favoriate of the crop I've found so far is SnowDays, by PopularFront. It is similar to Make-a-Flake, but with a cooler way to cut the flake paper.