"
there's a new mexico?" as many of you know, we went '
off the grid' last week. although we did discover some wi-fi by the second day, i still stuck to my '
internet fast' for the most part. but i took notes on some of the interesting things that happened while visiting family in
taos, here are some highlights:
- we saw
shirley maclaine at the santa fe airport, she was wearing a big jacket that said '
ghetto blaster' on the back
- there's a pretty cool radio station called
ktao 101.9fm (
it's solar powered!); and i was listening for the
emergency alert system test to happen, but they didn't participate. (
here's what the test looked like elsewhere) and apparently, they weren't alone: '
emergency drill fails in new mexico'
- meanwhile, they're working on something called the '
taos regional command communications center'. brought to you by homeland security & the local 'power' company
kit carson, it basically looks to be a consolidation of emergency, power & communication services. and, of course: "
this system will also be responsible for monitoring cyber security tied to smart grid and green grid systems."
- our plane out of santa fe was delayed, which made us miss our connection at lax... yesterday, i saw this article about the airline we used: '
dept. of transportation issues first fine against airline for tarmac delay'
- i hope keane made a lot of money licensing "
everybody's changing" to alaska airlines, but damn i used to really like that song...
- the council on foreign relations magazine,
foreign affairs, was prominently displayed on sale at the newport news store in the los angeles international airport.
- i had my first chance to opt-out of the radioactive naked body scanners at lax; instead,
i got felt up by a very nice gentlemen who didn't even tell me his name. it was around this point that i remembered it was veteran's day &
that's why it was so crowded... we were reminded once again that it was a holiday by the fine folks at
heinz ketchup.
i also drove a car for the first time in a decade, saw
petroglyphs & more that i'll mention on the upcoming
episode239... thanks for indulging me, james
from cnn: Initial results of Egypt's first parliamentary elections since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak are due as early as Thursday. Both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Noor Salafi Muslim Party have claimed a lead in ballot counting, but election officials have been tight-lipped. Voting took place Monday and Tuesday, the first in a multi-step process to pick members of the lower house of parliament. The lawmakers will then be tasked with drafting a new constitution. It was the first time some Egyptians -- young and old -- ever cast ballots after three decades of Mubarak's rule.
