I was shocked this morning to find that Bloomberg has purchased Business Week magazine. Not shocked that they had bought it – it makes good sense and allows Bloomberg to leverage their reporting and data into a consumer market – but shocked that a brand like Business Week, one of the major magazines in America, would sell for only five million dollars.

If you want to think about how fast and far the media marketplace has shifted, think about that.
–

As I’ve commented, we don’t have a TV (although, thanks to the miracle of Netflix, we’ve seen almost all of the Sopranos, the Unit and Dexter, and the Wire is rising in our queue). But I’m not unaware of TV culture – here in LA, the bus shelters are billboards and many (most?) of the ads are for TV shows. Note that I personally decided a few years ago that as long as the City is giving away the store to rich corporations (like Cirque de Soleil) they should just give the bus stop billboards to women’s clothing line Bebe and improve the mood of half of the City’s commuters. Their billboards are, um, deeply aesthetic and enriching in a kind of rich puchritudinous Carvaggio way.

If you know what I mean.

Back to my point…the current crop of non-Bebe billboards are all for either Dexter as a dad or a show called ‘Trauma’, which you know is about selfless EMT because they all the beautiful actors are out in the field with coveralls selfless looks and blue nitrile gloves.

Now I’ve never seen Trauma, and if I play my cards in life right, I never will.

But…it has triggered what may be the last funny Downfall hack, after which one hopes we can put the genre to bed. hat tip to the Ambulance Driver blog…

I’m a trained First Responder, and have nothing but respect for the folks who drive the ambulances that show up when things go all pear-shaped. I’d like to remind them that this, too shall pass. And that maybe the TV show will lead to some of the Bebe models applying for jobs driving…
–

Back in the 16th Century, the Catholic Church got in trouble because – among other things – it allowed the wealthy to buy grace. They could pay the Church and be forgiven their sins – presumably freeing them to go right on sinning.

I’ve remarked in the past (can’t find the posts, and I’m in a hurry to go do chores) that one thing that’s made me uncomfortable with modern liberalism is my observation that the staunch liberals that I know are often pretty bad people; their personal behavior is often worse than the staunch conservatives I know. And that troubles me a lot.

While we like to believe we live our lives flying high in the rarified air of ideas and policies and grand dreams, the reality is that we live it sandwiched between our neighbors. And to me, any value system that privileges the ethereal while ignoring the concrete is suspect. What is, is.

I’ve taken some shots for this from progressives who have challenged my notions for a lot of reasons; the plural of anecdote is definitely not fact, etc.

But now, someone’s gone and done a study. Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong at the University of Toronto (pdf – h/t Register UK):

Consumer choices not only reflect price and quality preferences but also social and moral values as witnessed in the remarkable growth of the global market for organic and environmentally friendly products. Building on recent research on behavioral priming and moral regulation, we find that mere exposure to green products and the purchase of them lead to markedly different behavioral consequences. In line with the halo associated with green consumerism, people act more altruistically after mere exposure to green than conventional products. However, people act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products as opposed to conventional products.

Their study suggests that thinking about environmentally conscious products leads to more altruism and honesty; buying environmentally sound products, however leads to selfishness and dishonest behavior.

That’s consistent with some of my personal experience, as well as studies which have shown (for example) that conservatives are more charitable than liberals.

And this bothers the hell out of me.

I was discussing Michael Moore’s latest with a friend and I explained that I was troubled by his technique, and by his personal hypocrisy. I explained that I have two friends who do low-income housing with nonprofits in New York and here in Los Angeles. Each of them created, early in their careers, a limited-equity coop that they chose to live in. Each of their personal residences could be sold (even in today’s climate) for nearly a million dollars on the open market – but they will never see that because they made the moral choice to live the values they espouse. That’s the kind of liberalism I support.

It appears, sadly, to be almost too rare to mention.
–

Figaro has a series of articles culminating in an internet poll:

…and 70% of the French don’t think he deserves it.

This is going to turn out badly.
–

Obama has won the freaking Nobel Peace Prize??

On one hand, the prize itself has been badly devalued by some of it’s recent winners – El Baredi? Arafat the kleptocrat terrorist? Jimmy Carter the dupe, Al Gore, carbon profiteer?

And I have to say that this award – to Obama before he’s actually, you know, accomplished anything – devalues it further. It becomes one of those MTV awards bands with a hot single get before they develop substance abuse problems, enter rehab, go broke, and wind up working at Jamba Juice.

Chait and Kaus both agree that the savvy thing for Obama to do would be to turn it down. It becomes a twofer then – he’s won it and he’s shown some humility and a sense of proportion.

I actually think it’s going to be interesting this morning to see if he does.
–

For years, I’ve taken the position that the “gun show loophole” was basically irrelevant to gun policy in the US, and was simply another effort by people whose core policy was to ban any guns any where as soon as they could to add another layer of unneeded regulation.

But I’ve gotta say that if the facts are as Bloomberg’s undercover investigators set out – that 19 of 30 private (non-FFL) gun show vendors actually sold guns to people who commented to them that “I probably couldn’t pass a background check” – there’s a real problem and a regulatory answer (requiring all sales to go through FFL-type paperwork, if not through FFL’s) may be called for.

I know this is heretical, but watch the videos for yourself. As a member of the gun community, I’m certainly wary of Bloomberg’s stance and actions on firearms. But I’m, flat disgusted with what I see on these videos.

Start throwing rocks if you will, but watch the videos and look in the mirror first.

…that we’re not going to expand the police department for a bit:

Council committees recommend LAPD hiring freeze
Members of the budget and public safety panels agree to discontinue a new recruit class and halt police recruiting efforts.

Two committees of the Los Angeles City Council recommended Monday that the city stop hiring police officers starting next month and wait until January to see if the budget picture has improved enough to resume recruitment.

The good news is that there’s plenty of cash for the incompetents at the top:

Outgoing DWP chief Nahai would keep full salary as consultant under proposal

Officials at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials plan to give a consulting contract to the outgoing general manager of the power agency that would pay him the same salary he was earning as the DWP’s top executive.

…I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue.
–

I’ve been thinking a lot about Iran lately. It’s obviously a pivot point in the coming history of the Middle East. And part of me wants to view the recent actions – Obama’s apparent toughness (I’ll say apparent because like others I’m unhappy that he didn’t use the UN as the forum for the disclosures) seems good. the fact that France, Germany and the UK are siding with us is clearly good, and the fact that Iran is willing to open the formerly-secret facility is good.

But I keep getting this nagging feeling at the back of my neck. Yes, I don’t completely trust Obama internationally (more on that later). Yes, the Iranians have played us – with a pair of deuces in the hole – like masters. So there are reasons to worry.

But I just can’t make the data points fall into a neat line on one side or the other of the issue.

So I want to do something that I do at work when I have a decision to make with very little data – I want to box it in by asking ‘How will I know if I’m wrong?’ Proponents of both extreme positions – that we just got screwed by the Iranians and that we’ve just made a huge breakthrough with Iran – as well as the ‘we’re muddling forward and need to deal with a Nuclear but inherently nonbelligerent Iran (the Juan Cole position, as far as I can tell) need to stand up and say what facts would convince them that their position on this was wrong.

Please weigh in in the comments.

And because I want to make this a wide-ranging discussion, I’m going to do something I never do and openly shill for my commenters to go out and bring other people here and ask them to pile into the discussion.

Because my security with any of these positions will go up dramatically if I know that there is a point short of Tel Aviv as a crater or US troops fighting in Tehran that we can use to change course.
–

So I finished my last project and decided I’d take a week and go for a ride.

I debated riding back to Seattle, but already did that a few years ago and know many of those roads. Plus the good roads are all v. twisty and with the pulled hamstring, I was finding it hard to ride twisties…

So looking at Google Maps, I decided to ride to Boise ID. I saw a bunch of interesting routes out and back, and realized I could make it pretty easily; if my leg and schedule was up to it I could even head into Utah for some great roads on the way back.

Another data point was that a good friend lives in Sacramento and wanted to get some facetime; so I decided I’d head up to Sacramento Sunday and north from there.

So the trip kind of took shape.

Day 1 – LA to Sacramento.

I decided to try some twisties, but was late as heck getting out of the house. So I abbreviated the route and went up the 5 to the 58, across the 58 (a favorite road) and then up the 101. I could have taken the 198 back across, but my leg didn’t enjoy the 58 much, so I just took the 152.

I’d bought a Palmer windscreen mount for the Tiger, and put the stock windshield back on it. Set at medium height all the way forward, wind noise and buffeting are almost all gone. The mount still flexes a bit – looking at them, I’d say making the lower brackets a heavier gauge metal would help.

But it was a great purchase and a wonderful bit of gear – made the ride infinitely better than it would have been without it.

I used my Zumo for navigation; typically in combination with Google Maps on my Blackberry – the latter as a ‘scouting and thinking’ tool.

I was missing two pieces of gear that I kind of wished I’d had – music for the straight bits (I gave my son my Etymotics earphones when he deployed) and heated grips which I half-wired on but never had time to finish.

I survived fine without both of them…

I did more slabbing on this day than I wanted, but it felt great to get out on the bike. Visited my friend, helped her set up the new senior apartment for her dad and stepmom (who is suffering bad with Alzheimer’s), and had a great visit…

Day 2 – Sacramento to Burns, OR

And off the next morning – late again – for Carson City over the 50. I’d decided to take the 395 north – I’d ridden it south on the Seattle ride and found it beautiful.

Over the pass, into Nevada, and out of the Central Valley heat. Up the 395, into and through Reno, and out into the countryside.

Usually I travel with TG, but this time I went by myself – I wanted some solitude, and it kind of worked for me. I realized as well that when I’m alone I pay more attention – I’m not paying most of my attention to my companions, but instead to looking out at what’s around me.

Sometimes it’s funny. I stopped at a country store near Lakeview, OR – literally a one-pump gas station with an attached general store – and I do mean “general” when I checked out with my Fig Newtons and Gatorade, they had a bucket of 3′ come-alongs near the cash register – as though for that crowd they would be an impulse item.

On the way out, I was filling the Camelback when a pickup pulled in next to me – a well-worn mid 90’s GMC…and two brothers got out. My first reaction was “damn, those are good-looking guys!” My second was “Wait- does that mean I’m gay?” But seriously – if these guys were in LA or NY they’d be making six figures as models. Six two or three, 210 or 220, fit and with the “high school quarterback” walk. They were wearing work-dirty clothes and there was a pile of chopped lumber and a chainsaw in the bed.

Just then a car pulled up to the pump and a young woman got out who immediately started talking to the guys – and her voice was the funniest, cutest “I have a huge crush on you, just do me now” I’ve ever heard. In fact, if you could bottle that effect and sell it, it would go for billions.

I stalled, fiddling with the bike and gear just to listen to them talk.

In fact, listening was the key on this trip. I managed to walk into more interesting conversations…

Onward, past the great alkali lake and through a haze of dust (I thought it was fog – until my eyes started to burn) and out into beautiful high country and into town in Burns just as it got dark.

When I don’t have a reservation, I typically try and do a lap of the town just to check out the options – there was a nice hotel with a coffee shop attached, but it looked a little Applebee’s-ish to me. There was another less-nice one with a lot of semis in the lot and it was across the street from “Glory Days Pizza” which – as a Springsteen fan – made my decision.

Which was lucky, because it turned out they had a jacuzzi that was actually hot and that has one jet so powerful that it actually cracked my back. Felt great…

Did laundry, walked across the street to eat, ordered my pizza, salad, and beer and sat down next to a table with a huge group at it – like fifteen people. Which turned out to be the PTA for the town, holding a meeting.

I lingered over the beer, listening to them talk about fundraising, and how they had raised over $1,050 to send some group of kids somewhere (I’d walked in midconversation). I really and truly love that kind of stuff…

Set the alarm for early, and packed the bags…

Day 3 – Burns, OR to Ely NV

On the road at 6:15…decided to grab breakfast on the way. About an hour later, pulled into Vale, OR and saw the Starlite Cafe – with a full parking lot. My experience is that country cafes tend to do early and then very late breakfasts – some people eat after chores.

This place was almost full, and I got a lot of attention as I walked in wearing my HiViz Aerostich. A couple in the corner booth – he was in his 60’s outsized (huge hands) and she was petite with a neat white perm looked me over as I stripped off the layers and he asked “Kinda brisk on that motorcycle, isn’t it? But it looks like you’ve got the gear for it.” I explained the Stich (Yeah, it’s Gore-Tex and has armor in it) and sat down. He asked where I was from and where I was going. I told him Boise and he shook his head. “You know we’re gonna have weather tonight, right?” I told him I’d been watching and figured I’d run south into Nevada. He told me not to linger in Boise too long and went back to his breakfast.

It was wonderful – not just the food (yes, great American breakfast) but the conversations. I was seated between the couple I’d been talking to, and three women who’d walked in just before me – two sisters and a cousin, I gathered. Across from me at the counter were two ranchers.

All three groups had conversations that I was fascinated to hear. the ranchers were discussing a hand that one had sent over to work for the other for a bit.

“Did you ever get any work out of him?”
“Well he painted a fence and helped me roof a shed.”
“Not bad.”
“It took him like two weeks.”
“You’re kidding…”
“No, two weeks.”
“Paint a fence and do some roofing?”
“Yup.”
“Sorry about that. He never did much for me either. I thought it was just me.”

The women were discussing a broken-down pickup, dogs, and a new house the cousin had just moved into.

“Yeah the truck broke down so my husband went up to get it. I told him I’d wait here for him to get it running and come down and get me. He had to take a trailer because I had a horse on the back and the hitch is different from his to mine.”
“How long do you think he’ll be?”
“No way to know with him and that truck.”

“You like the new place.”
“It’s nice enough. Lots more to clean.”
“How are you gonna do when it snows up there?”
“Should be the same as before. We only had two bad weeks last year.”

“I’m waiting to see which dog we’ll wind up keeping out of the litter. There are five good ones, but the one I like is a bitch dog.”
“Yes, I think so. Bitch dogs just seem to do more, don’t they?”

(these are from notes I took on my Blackberry)

I needed to make time, so paid up and started to leave. The guy in the booth I’d been speaking to asked if I had everything I needed if the weather turned bad. I thought about it for a sec and said I ought to go to a hardware store and get some overgloves.

“Down the street to the Dairy Queen, one block more, turn left and it’ll be right there. Say hi to Bud and tell him John will be by later on.“

Bud was helpful, and I picked up some heavy chemical handling gloves that were well-textured and fit over my Held winter gloves.

And off to Boise.

At Ottawa, the road shifted to an Interstate, and at a gas station I hit Yelp on the BBy and found a coffee house when I figured I’d sit for a moment, get some cocoa and check out the local scene.

Went to Dawson’s, had some great cocoa, and outside saw a blue Prius with the bumpersticker:

“Lincoln freed the slaves.
Obama/Bush enslaved the free.”

I’m not in LA any more, Toto…here they all come from the dealer with “Obama/Biden” stickers.

The skies are getting dark and it’s time to head south. I decide to make for Elko, NV and start down from Boise to Mountain Home where I’ll pick up the 225 south.

Now the fun begins…

On the 225 south, as soon as I cross into Nevada, there’s nothing. No traffic, no towns, no crossroads…nothing. No police, either. So 80 becomes 90 becomes 95 becomes 102, and after about half an hour of that, I think “why not?” and run it up to about 124 on the GPS. For the next hour, the Tiger just keeps rolling along at well over 120 the entire time.

It’s kind of weird. Trucks and cars are doing 80+ and I’m closing on them at 40mph. The first few times, it’s scary. Is that truck stopped? But after a while I learn to read it and it’s fine. I know I’m kind of playing with fire – if there’s a police car coming the other way I’ll never react in time; if a tire blows, whatever happens – I’m hung out there.

But when I slowed down it felt like I was crawling, and soon enough I’d wick it back up.

I’m riding under broken clouds, and soon a wind picks up…

And after the second or third gust, I realize that riding a fully loaded touring bike at 100+ with crosswinds is not a good idea. So I back down to 95 or so – just a little faster than the traffic. The winds are manageable at that speed.

And pretty quickly it’s evening, and I’m in Elko.

I find a motel, check in, and before I drop my stuff, decide to go get some food. Over my burger, I look at weather.com on the BBy, and uh-oh – it’s supposed to be 34 degrees, with mixed rain and snow in the morning tomorrow.

Hmmmm. I think about it a bit and go back to the motel. When I get there and go to the room it’s a smoking room, so I don’t even drop my gear – it’s a sign from God that I’m supposed to move on. The desk clerk is really nice – I explain about the weather and he just refunds my money and notes that I wouldn’t take a smoking room. So I head down to Ely, which I’d somehow thought was about 100 miles. When I look at the arrival time on the GPS I go “huh??” – but it turns out to be about 190 miles.

And it’s dark, and the wind is just hammering across the road. It’s right-to-left, which I prefer – my nightmare is a car pushed over the yellow line into me. At least I can manage this.

I think…

It’s gusting 40 according to the weather, and I’m trying to keep a pace of 70+, which is overdriving my headlights (memo: get aux lights for the next trip) and the road makes it more challenging. It’s about 4 feet above the desert floor (flash flood protection) and has no shoulder – just past the white line, a gravel slope down to the desert floor is guaranteed to dump me on my ass.

So I struggle for an hour, then accidentally hit on a magic formula. I’m pulling up to pass a truck and just in back of it, there’s an air pocket – where I’d draft it if I was looking for great gas mileage. And in that pocket, the crosswinds hardly exist.

Of course, if there’s any debris on the road, I’m pretty much toast. But with the puny Triumph headlights, I’m pretty much toast anyway, so I tuck in and sit for an hour looking up at the shiny tailgate and just relaxing after the tiring ride.

It starts to rain, but interestingly, the truck shelters me from that as well, and there’s not enough to make the road wet and drench me in spray for a while.

It’s not wet enough to make put something over my leaky Stich; just enough to keep wiping my visor.

But after a while it is, and I back out from the pocket and just follow the truck a half mile behind.

Dark, cloudy night – no moon or stars – just the lights of the truck and a small splash of light from my headlights on a wet road.

The next day I checked them – they were so dim I was concerned – and discovered that the inside of the lenses are filmed and dirty. I’m not sure how to clean it out – maybe pour alcohol in swish it around, and pour it out??

But that night they were just dim and it was dark and kind of scary waiting to see what would roll toward me into the light.

Finally, I make Ely and see a hotel on the side of the road. I pull into the lot – it’s late but the building’s lit – and something’s wrong. Where’s the office? Where’s the registration sign? I orbit the lot to check the sign and discover that the sign says “Big Four Ranch” I’m puzzled – wondering where the “vacancy” and “AAA” signs are and if I’m just so tired that nothing makes sense – and suddenly it hit me – I’m in Nevada…it’s a brothel!! I decide that spending the whole night there is probably going to overtax my budget – I’d taken $600 in cash when I left town to pay for everything except gas.

So back onto the street and finally I turn into the lot for the Jailhouse motel. And see, just behind it, a clean looking place with $35 rooms. Hmmm…back to the “Four 7’s” I go, and I get a small but clean ground floor room right in front of my bike.

It’s drizzling and damn cold, so I get everything off the bike and into the room. I put all the bags in the bathroom and go back to the office to see if they have any old towels I can use top get the gunk off the panniers. He gives me a few rags and tells me to keep them.

It’s late, so I call my wife and ask her to look at the compute and check the weather for tomorrow. She says it’s supposed to be awful, but break the day after. So I tell her I may be stuck here in town. Looking on Google Maps, I can’t find any bookstores. I’m crushed what will I do all day if it’s storming? It’s too far to walk back to Big Four…

Day 4 Ely to Las Vegas

I get up, and it’s not raining. The ground is wet, and it’s freezing…check the weather and it’s supposed to warm up and then about 2pm a rainstorm is supposed to hit. I decide that I can leave about 10 and haul down toward Vegas, which is pretty close, as long as it’s not going to be near freezing.

So I wander off to breakfast, where I get another great conversation. I’m the only customer at the Jail House coffee shop, and I sit at the counter to make it easy on the staff. The four waitresses are talking. One of their sisters is having a terrible run of luck, and is broke and sick.

The one whose sister they’re talking about explains that she may have to give her a part of her liver.

“They can take out a third of your liver and it’ll grow back if you’re healthy. And then that third will grow in her and make a whole new liver. She can’t drink or do drugs any more, though.”
“Yeah, I knew it was her liver. As soon as I saw her eyes, I knew it was a liver thing.”
“Her enzymes are off the charts. They want to watch her for a while and see if they go down and if not we’ll do it.”
“You’ll have to be off for a while won’t you?”
“Not too long they say.”
“How’s she going to get home?”
“Today?”
“Yeah – does she have gas money?”
“No, I told her I’d give her some after the shift” Looks out at the empty room, and laughs.
“Well, I’m tight with the Salvation Army lady and if she goes over there I can call and she’ll get some gas money.”
“That’d be great.”

I finish breakfast, check my cash and realize I’m way ahead of budget. I slip a $20 under the plate as I leave…

Go over the bike, lube the chain, load the bags on, and set the GPS for the Rio hotel – I’d asked TG to make a reso there for me so I could go see Penn & Teller…

And we’re rolling 110 pretty quickly. But soon there are enough cars that I have to drop down to 90 – 95 on the theory that a ticket at 100+ is pretty much a guarantee, but I might be able to talk my way out of one for just going 90.

Soon enough, I’m out from under the clouds, and it’s a beautiful clear desert day. And it’s Vegas. I pull into the valet line and drop the kickstand and get off the bike – and the nice valet manager runs up to me and tells me to move the bike.

“As soon as I give the bags to the bellman, OK?”

It’s always fun to pull up to a hotel and hand the hard luggage to the bellman…they get a kick out of it.

Pull around back, check in, clean up, get a ticket to the show and I’m out cold.

I’ve been a Penn & Teller fan since they did a show at the Olympic festival here in LA in 1984. They knocked my socks off (along with everyone else who saw them) and I try and see them every few years.

This year, the show is overtly political. They are staunch libertarians, and do gag after gag poking fun at the government. They do a whole bit with an aircraft metal detector, which winds up with them shilling for their traveler’s copy of the Bill of Rights – laser etched into a small metal plate, just the size to put in your pocket so that when you go to secondary search, you can hand it to the TSA agent.

They’re amazing. But I scored a seat in the second row, and I may – just may – have figured out one or two of their tricks. Others still leave me completely mesmerized and confused. They’re great, go see them…

Over dinner, I eavesdropped some more; two French couples at the table next to me talking smack. I mentioned in French that we have a phrase in the US – “the walls have ears” – which cracked them up so much they bought me two drinks and dessert and we chatted some more. They mocked my French pretty hard – but complimented and thanked me as I left.

Day 5 – Vegas to home

So it turned out that the hot water heater at home had broken, leaving TG and the boys to shower at the gym or in cold water. My plans for extending the trip over to Utah had been scratched up in Boise, and I’d committed to hustle home from Vegas.

I did get to have breakfast with a friend who was there for a corporate event of some Ralph Lauren fashionable caliber.

Then home.

I took Blue Diamond Highway over toward Pahrump – to avoid the slab as much as I could – The GPS short-cuts me on a road I’d never taken before – down to Tecopa.

I swear to God, this is a 200mph road. It’s one of the few public roads I could imagine fully winding up a modern superbike.

Nothing on either side of the road, a great road surface, and straights that go for three or four miles. I got the Tiger up to about 135 on the GPS and that was about it for me. But on a faster bike…

Amusingly I passed the Front Sight Institute on that road – a controversial shooting school cum real estate development. And even by the desert-rat standards I’d been seeing for the last few days, it’s in the ass end of nowhere.

I used to go to Pahrump to buy fireworks for the 4th of July – highly illegal ones in CA. And on the summit of the Ibex Pass, as I headed to Baker was a new sign, they’d just put in for me – “Transport of Illegal Fireworks Prohibited”.

Into Baker, and onto the slab home.

Got cleaned up, dealt with plumbing, and slept like a log…

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