A Return

The Dead have returned. And this time, I think, they are back to stay. This makes me happy.

For the non-cognoscenti, The Dead are the remains of the Grateful Dead -- after the losses of Ron McKernan, Keith Godchaux, Brent Mydland, and most recently, Jerry Garcia -- with the addition of keyboard player Jeff Chimenti and guitarist and singer Warren Haynes.

When Jerry Garcia died, in 1995, it was the end of "The Grateful Dead." They had survived the earlier losses with replacement members who grew and evolved with the band. Jerry, however, was a center and a prime mover and it made no sense to carry on without him. The other original members, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kruetzman, and Mickey Hart, weren't finished, of course. They all had solo musical identities and continued to play (check out the Evening Moods album by Bob's band Ratdog).

In 2004, the band hit the road for a tour as The Dead, with some of the same players, but it didn't work. The band members now admit that they weren't getting along very well, they weren't really committed, and the shows showed that. I made it to one, in DC, thanks to the kindness of my dentist (Thanks, Dr. B!), and I enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away.


I did not make plans to check the band out for this new tour. I'm not sure why. It might have been inertia, doubt, or general busy-ness. But I now regret it. Have a listen to the first show in the tour, April 12, in North Carolina, for evidence why. The widget above will get you started.

It came to me during the fourth tune -- He's Gone -- that this was a turning point. This song is about loss, and accepting loss and carrying on:

Like a steam locomotive,
rolling down the track,
He's gone, gone...
And nothings going to bring him back.
He's gone.

This song has had special resonance since the death of Jerry Garcia and you can hear it in the crowd's reaction and their singing along. I was also struck by the moment, starting about 9 minutes into the performance when the band performs a vocal "nothings going to bring him back" coda. Warren Haynes, who has the unenviable job of filling Jerry's role, starts to take an emotional lead both celebrating and replacing Garcia. It's the moment where I thought: this time for real.

This tour was inspired, it is said, by the group's pulling together a quick concert last fall in support of then-candidate Obama. They found that they enjoyed the music, and the sense of common purpose. In preparation for this tour they went into the woodshed for extended rehearsal.

This time, it seems, they are not just playing the old music by rote. They are playing the old tunes, but approaching them as new. And the set lists (I follow grateful__dead on twitter for updates) show that they are digging back into the early days of The Grateful Dead and trying things that had fallen out of the repertoire in the last days of the band.

This is good stuff.

Monday at JMU

We took a quick trip out to Harrisonburg, Virginia, for a campus tour of James Madison University this weekend.

We started with a family visit on Easter Sunday in Montgomery Village, west of Washington DC. My sister Margaret and her husband Lou host an Easter party most years at their home. We get to see most of not all of my family and lots of Lou's family as well. After loads of food and a great deal of conversation, we drove south to Manassas, Virginia, where we holed up in a Holiday Inn for the night.

Monday morning, we headed west on I-66 and south on I-81 to Harrisonburg and James Madison University.

JMU is a pretty cool school. It is a slightly sprawling campus; certainly walkable but spreading 100 years of architectural history across a series of hills. A young man from Karen's church is a freshman there and he joined us for lunch and gave us his own tour after we took the official tour.

Nice place. It might be worth an application for Colleen. If she wants.

I took a scenic detour on the ride home. JMU is in the Shenandoah Valley, between a pair of mountain ranges. It was just a short hop east off of I-81 to reach Skyline Drive, which follows the tops of the mountains through Shenandoah National Park. We got to drive the northern quarter of the park. It was late afternoon on a cloudy day, but worth the extra 45 minutes or so to it added to the drive home.

I am drawn to both mountains and water. I live near the ocean, but miss mountains. So I was happy to drive in even the low mountains of western Virginia.

Third Golf Game of 2009

Andy and I joined our friends Rich and Sandy for a round at Deerfield Golf and Tennis Club, in Newark, today. Rich and his family had come down from Connecticut for the weekend; they are old friends of Andy and his family. We decided to meet Rich as his family crossed into Delaware, and take him up to Newark. And, since my friend Sandy lives up that way, we had our foursome.

Deerfield was built in 1955 as Louviers Country Club. It was created by the DuPont Corporation as an amenity for DuPont employees. In 1994, it was purchased by MBNA and renamed Deerfield. In 2005, the state bought Deerfield and added it to White Clay Creek State Park.

The Deerfield course is quite hilly. Almost all of the holes feature elevation changes; down, up, over, around. For a golfer like me -- one who usually plays on the flat courses of coastal Sussex County -- this is a real challenge. Add the fact that this was our first outing on a real, full golf course, and you can imagine how rough things seemed.

As we left Lewes this morning, Andy and I stopped at Surf Bagel. There we ran into Emory Buck, a friend from Epworth United Methodist Church and a fine golfer. When I told him where were headed he said, "Better bring your A-Game." The thing is, I don't really have an A-game.

I did not play particularly well. I'm embarrassed to post the scorecard, but there it is -- a shameful 129.

My front nine was disastrous; a full 72. While I had some good drives (I have found a decent swing with my 3-wood), my iron work is still inconsistent. And I was misjudging my short irons. Ironically, the problem stems from the fact that I now hit my pitching wedge correctly. So I was hitting it too far and had to learn to dial back a bit. And my ability to get out of sand traps, while sufficient to the friendly traps we have around here, was no match for the deep traps I found at Deerfield.

The back nine was a bit better, I managed a 57. Now, if only I could putt.

While I'm not happy with my result, I was pleased with many of my shots today. When you catch the ball right, and watch it fly up and out and down the fairway, it feels great. That's why I plan to get out there again soon.

Wait... What?

There is a discussion paper posted on the web site of the Open GIS Consortium entitled "Uncertainty Markup Language (UnCertML)."

The Uncertainty Markup Language (UncertML) is an XML encoding for the transport and storage of information about uncertain quantities, with emphasis on quantitative representations based on probability theory.

I believe that this is a serious paper, but I have to admit I looked to make sure the publication date wasn't April 1.

I'm just not sure how much of this I should read...

It's Census Time!

I was out cutting the grass this morning. It was my first run at the lawn this year. The grass was thick. While I was working on the front lawn, I noticed a car driving slowly around the neighborhood, stopping in front of each house for a minute or so while the driver entered data on a small handheld computer.

He noticed my watching him and so stopped, stepped out, and let me know he is with the Census Bureau. I was not surprised; it was what I thought he was doing. I explained and we had a nice short chat.

As one of my responsibilities as a Delaware state employee, I serve as the Governor's Liaison for the 2010 Census in Delaware. I spent Friday of last week at the Regional Census Office in Philadelphia, discussing plans for the census with staff there and with state folks from Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Bureau let us know that address canvassing was about to start and that Delaware is one of the places where it is starting first in our region.

Address canvassing is a huge job and the first major step in the decennial census. Around 140,000 temporary census workers will fan out across the whole of the US and, block by block, check more than 145 million addresses. The census itself is a mail-based survey; everyone gets a census form in the mail (though there are non-mail ways to get information from those without addresses and such). If the Census Bureau does not have a comprehensive and accurate database of addresses, the census won't work.

So the folks out there now, checking addresses, are vital to the census, which is a key to our democracy. Be kind to them.

Meanwhile, when I broke for lunch and checked the web, I found a comment by Nancy Willing on Brian Shields' post about Google Streetview having recently added imagery of Seaford:

I think the Google Street lady stopped in front of my house yesterday. She pulled right up in front of my house, jumped out and (very energetically for her apparent age) and stood briefly in front of each house in the cul-de-sac, furiously writing something in a notebook before driving away.

While I did leave a correction comment (can't help myself), Nancy was not too far off the truth.

One of the important things that the address canvassers are doing is making sure that the addresses that the Census Bureau has are coded to the correct census blocks. and they are making sure that those blocks are defined by streets that are actually there (after all, things change). This information becomes part of the Bureau's Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system -- known as TIGER.

TIGER is often referred to as a precursor to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the Bureau's TIGER data was for many years the base-map for most GIS applications in the US. Google Maps, and Google Earth, are the most recent outgrowth of GIS activities; they provide a common base map for access to a wide range of public geospatial data.

So the work of the address canvassers can be directly related to Google Maps, streetview and applications like that. In a way, that was "the Google Street lady" in front of Nancy's house.

More Disclosure: GIS and geospatial data are another part of my state job; I am State GIS Data Coordinator for Delaware.

Three Days, Four States, Three Universities: 866 Miles

Karen, Colleen and I took a road trip this weekend and visited universities in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. Christina stayed with a school chum with whom she was completing a project.

Karen had a half-day in-service on Friday. I took a half-day of vacation and she drove from Lewes to Dover (39.3 miles) to pick me up after lunch. We then drove to Wilmington Friends School for Colleen's lacrosse game. We had to detour around a traffic mess on I-95; 295 had had to be closed for emergency repairs and that backed-up 95 and parts of SR 1. Luckily I was able to call my friend Kim, who lives up there. She navigated us around the mess, but it added to the drive (56.6 miles).

We got to meet the head of the Wilmington Friends Upper School. Rob Lake is a very nice young man, knowledgeable about lacrosse and popular with his students. We enjoyed our short chat.

It was a great game. The Sussex Tech girls led for much of the game, but Friends came back late and won it 11 to 10. It was a tough loss, but I think the team learned a lot.

After the game, we headed south on I-95 through Baltimore, past Washington DC and Richmond to Colonial Heights, Virginia (243 miles). It was a tough drive. it rained from south of Washington all the way down Virginia. Quite hard, at times. We reached our hotel in Colonial Heights at about midnight and crashed.

We were up early Saturday morning and headed south on I-85 to Durham, North Carolina (138 miles). We reached Duke University in plenty of time before a 10:00 a.m. information session. We followed that with a campus tour.

Duke is a cool school. We spent most of our time on the side of campus with Gothic architecture. Another part is Georgian. It's a beautiful place, even on a grey, wet day. We were particularly impressed with the chapel at the center of things; it is impressive outside and in, and surrounded by charming walks. I liked Duke. If Colleen wants to apply there, that would be fine.

Saturday afternoon, we drove down to a Holiday Inn near the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill (9.9 miles). This morning we drove around the UNC campus. It was a quiet time; I assume most students were either at church or sleeping off their Saturday nights. We drove across to Raleigh (25.8 miles) where we also drove around the campus of North Carolina State.

From Raleigh, we drove back to Lewes by way of Norfolk, Virginia, the Bay Bridge Tunnel, and long empty stretches of Virginia and Maryland (354 miles).

It was a long weekend, but fun in its own way. And we got to see a few more campuses and think about where Colleen might go to school.

This is What An Apology Should Look Like

Cape Henlopen School Board member Nobel Prettyman has a letter of apology in the Cape Gazette newspaper today. It refers to an incident recently in which Mr. Prettyman lost his cool and spoke his emotions more than his mind. The politics of the District, and the details of that incident, are not what interests me here. I wanted to highlight the following letter because it is, I think, what an apology from an elected official, or any leader, should look like.

I've taken the unusual step of posting the whole thing here, rather than just linking to the Gazette's letters page, because that page is not a persistent link; letters cycle off the page week to week.

Prettyman: “My behavior was totally unacceptable.”

I am a Cape Henlopen school board member because I desire for our young scholars to receive the best education possible. I have always voted with the best interests of the young scholars in mind. I am passionate about the issues before the school board.

Recently, my behavior has not lived up to the high standards at which I wish to serve. I speak specifically to the events that took place at the March 3 owners meeting. Not only was my behavior not of a high standard, but by any reasonable evaluation, my behavior was totally unacceptable. I wish I could take my offensive words back.

Unfortunately, I cannot. All I can do is apologize for my behavior and pledge not to repeat it.

When I read the article in the Cape Gazette, I cringe at the way my words must appear to the readers. I cannot blame anyone if, after reading this article, they made judgments about me. However, please do not draw any conclusions about my character based solely on a news report. A news article cannot convey my intent. In my heart of hearts I did not intend for my remarks to be taken in a racial manner. Furthermore, I did not intend for them to pit one part of the Cape community against another. I truly and deeply do apologize if my actions and words have offended anyone. I will take all the steps necessary to ensure this behavior is not repeated.

If my words were hurtful to any board members, I apologize to them for any pain I caused. I would be willing to take any training available to board members to help establish a better working relationship with my fellow board members. Since I am an elected official, I apologize to my fellow board members, district employees, citizens, parents and most especially to the young scholars.

I, Noble Prettyman, Cape board member, deeply regret that my words have distracted the district from the important business of educating our young scholars. In the future, I pledge to have the high standards expected of a Cape board member. As usual, I am available to any member of the community for input and discussion by email to n.prettyman@att.net or at 302-684-2658.

Noble Prettyman
Milton

Agree with Mr. Prettyman on the issues, or disagree, but the bottom line is that this is how a leader should conduct himself when in the wrong. I hope that I have the courage to conduct myself this way if and when the need arises.

A Good Day in Delaware

Delaware's General Assembly made me proud today; they stood up for equality. At least some of them. A little.

First, the State Senate beat back an attempt to enshrine homophobia in the state constitution. They voted down a bill that would have added language outlawing gay marriage (already banned in the Delaware Code, unfortunately) to the state's constitution. It would have been the first part of a several-step process to amend the constitution.

Later, the State House approved a bill to add sexual orientation to the list of things for which you cannot be discriminated against. (I think I wrote that correctly). Similar legislation has passed the State House in the past and died in the Senate, but there's a new feeling around and maybe this time it will pass there as well.

There was a rally outside Legislative Hall this afternoon of people in support of banning gay marriage and against outlawing discrimination against gays. It rained on them.

Second Golf Game of 2009

I played another practice round at Midway Par-3 this afternoon. Unlike last time, I didn't keep score. This is simply because I forgot to grab a score card after paying my greens fees. I tried to keep track of where I was, relative to par from hole to hole, but I was again playing two balls on each hole and by the 8th I was confused.

I was not as happy with my iron play today, and my putting is still pretty bad. But I had a few pars and at least one birdie. And I hit a few wedge and nine-iron shots that looked just right.

Midway Par-3 is a very egalitarian place. It's not the most well-kept course, but it is a pleasant 18 holes and it's great to see couples and families and kids out learning the game. And it was warmish today, with buds starting to add just a touch of green to the trees.

All things considered, it was a nice way to spend a part of the afternoon.

Remembering a Grandparent's Adventures

There was an undersea volcanic eruption in the western Pacific, near Tonga, this week. The Boston Globe's The Big Picture offered a set of fascinating photographs of an island being born from the eruption. The image at right is from that collection.

Scrolling through these pictures brought my mind back to a series of letters written by my Grandmother in which she described a similar eruption that sprang up in the Galapagos Islands, in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of South America, in the spring of 1925.

My grandmother, Isabel Cooper, was an artist. Starting in 1917, she made seven voyages with the naturalist William Beebe to Central and South America, and surrounding equatorial seas, to study animals and plants.

This was in the days before color photography. My grandmother, as the expeditions' “scientific artist,” produced detailed color paintings of the flora and fauna of the Amazonian jungle, the Galapagos Islands, and the open ocean. The image at left is from The Arcturus adventure: an account of the New York Zoological Society's first oceanographic expedition (1926, Putnum). It shows my grandmother at work on the Arcturus, painting a live fish.

During the 1925 voyage, she wrote a series of letters to my grandfather, Charles Mahaffie, who she had met the previous winter and with whom she would carry on a nearly three and a half year courtship – mostly by letter. We are lucky to have these letters in a collection edited by my father.

On Easter Sunday (April 12) of 1925, she wrote from the Arcturus:

I have put in some peculiar Easters: fire at sea five years ago; shooting rapids of the Mazaruni River last year; etc. But this time is the prize. What do you suppose has gone and happened out here in this “ash heap of the world?” Blooming volcano has broken loose, erupting all over the place. Rather decent of it to pick just this time to do it, as we are probably the only people anywhere around for a few hundred miles to observe it.

They had been anchored in Darwin Bay, at Tower Island (now Isla Genovesa), when “the night watch noticed a faint glow in the direction of Albemarle Island [Isla Isabela], about sixty miles away.” When morning came they began a voyage of a day and night, across the span of the Galapagos Islands, to reach the volcano.

We got to the scene of the eruption early this morning, after the wildest possible night. You couldn't sleep. It was too exciting, steaming slowly toward the first active volcano that any of us had seen.

They watched the eruption from off-shore. I think it differed from this week's eruption in that it was on an existing island and featured less explosive activity, but perhaps more lava flow. A small group went ashore and trekked close to the crater. That was probably a foolish thing to do, as she describes their return “in very bad shape.”

Legs full of cramps, from walking on hot lava, I suppose. And all symptoms of bad thirst, tongues swollen, etc. They finished their canteens in the first mile. They ran into some pretty poisonous gases, which they couldn't smell, but which made them sick.

In spite of this, she had wanted to go ashore, if only at the edge of the island, but was not allowed. And she wanted to try to capture what she was seeing:

I tried to make a sketch of the thing: memory sketch of the red clouds and generally hellish aspect at night, as well as the really beautiful colors of the craters by daylight, but have arrived at the conclusion that it can't be painted. Usually takes a good whang on the head to convince me that I can't accomplish something that appeals to me to do, but this time I give up.

They watched the volcano through Easter night and into the following Monday morning before returning to their work. At midnight she wrote:

We have spent the whole evening looking at the crater – flames popping up here and there and most incredible clouds rising out of it and turning all kinds of red. The moon is just about two days past the full, but enormously bright, and adds to the general strange effect.

It's a large world we live on. We in the internet age are used to seeing images instantly from around the globe. We have become used to what in earlier generations would have been strange, fascinating, and special.

My grandmother's time was modern, of course; the voyages of the Arcturus were transmitted by radio (The “wireless”) and reported in the newspapers in New York. But these were just the “when” and “where” details and brief descriptions. The bright colors and fantastic shapes of alien plants, animals and fish needed the work of artists to be brought back to the home-bound public.

So as we page through yet another collection of photos from the other side of the world, or watch a YouTube video from some far frontier, we should try to remember that, at one time, even the other end of our nation was an expedition away.

What we see as “a small world, after all” is really a vast place deserving of respect and wonder. We should not let the ease of access we have inherited blind us to the size and diversity of our planet.