Day: March 4, 2012

A remarkable turnout to see Ron Paul tonight in Anchorage. He was in Fairbanks last night. I estimated twenty-five hundred to three thousand. Standing room only in the Dena’ina convention center downtown. We didn’t expect this many people to come. We arrived late and had to wait in line outside (15 degrees) for over a half hour. Security was wanding everyone. Poor Happy Wife got cold feet — she wore ankle boots and no socks. Once inside she kicked off her boots and I draped my cashmere scarf over her bare feet. I got the Oh That Feels Good look. After the rally we walked to Orso for wine and dinner at the bar.

Monday am update: A local news person who was at the rally last night estimated fifteen hundred present, considerably lower than my estimate, which, thinking back on it, was high because I doubled the number of rows of chairs in my calculation. Fifteen hundred is probably about right.

In the event your current sleep aids are failing you, close your eyes and listen to this. Twenty-seven minutes.

(If you don’t see an audio control with a play button leave a comment and let me know what browser you’re using, plus the version number if you can.)

Yours truly speaking at the Molecular Medicine Tri-Con conference in San Francisco last month.

Either because the audience was overwhelmed by my clarity or anxious for lunch, there were no questions. Quite unusual, based on prior conferences where I presented this material. As I walked back to my chair a couple people congratulated me on a nice presentation. I started toward the lunch table and a woman stops me and asks me if I had tried using the approaches I discussed to identify the role viruses play in gastrointestinal cancers. I politely said I had not, and tried to continue toward the lunch table but she stepped in front of me again and proceeded to give me a lengthy (I’m being polite) explanation of how one might do so.

Outside of a dog a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.
— Groucho Marx

We may never know if these dogs would prefer, even if we assume dogs can prefer, to be at rest on a comfy bed of sawdust munchin a Milk Bone. The question usually arises in the context of what’s best for the dog. I don’t claim to know the answer to that or even to have a particularly insightful one. But judging from their apparent alacrity on the gangline these doggies want to run, yes all one thousand miles to Nome. Others will see anxiety, not alacrity, and conclude abuse. When faced to make a judgment about a matter you little understand, if you count a lack of consensus as evidence then be assured the latter viewpoint is in the minority. At least here in Alaska. And Alaskans rarely give a flip what some Cheechako from Outside thinks.

The Happy Wife and I visited the mock start in Anchorage yesterday morning. Today in Willow, AK the real race begins.

Enjoy!

Hugh Neff’s Team

Travis Cooper’s Team

Lance Mackey’s Team

Ramey Smyth’s Team

The Happy Wife in her Faux Fur Helmet.

Probably a veteran — “I don’t do no stinkin mock starts.”