Istanbul Virtual

When I was in Istanbul a couple of weeks ago, I didn't expect to do any geocaching. First, there aren't any "normal" caches within 10 miles of the city center. Second, Turkey wasn't a country where I felt super-comfortable rummaging around for hidden containers.

The only two caches near where I was staying were virtual caches, which as I've mentioned before is a now-obsolete form of a cache that contains no physical container. I had no expectation of finding either one -- one was on the Asian side of Istanbul, and the other was at a bridge connecting the two sides. Since I had no plans to go to Asia, how could I find them?

As it turns out, our conference excursion included a cruise on the Bosphorous. I turned on my GPS, and was wondering how close we'd get to the cache at the bridge. After all, it was a one-hour cruise, and I knew we had to turn around at some point.



As you can see from the tracking, I got pretty darn close! In fact, by the standards of virtual caches, that counts as a find! It's kind of neat that the cache essentially was our turn-around point.

I snapped this picture of myself at the cache location.



This find does nice things for my countries-cached-in map. (Click for the full-size version, where you can see I get credit for Singapore and Puerto Rico.)



Unfortunately, finding a virtual cache means I don't have a chance to drop off any geocoins. I plan to take care of that next month in Canada.

Do You Think...

Here in Prince George's County, we're watching the opening of the huge new National Harbor development. Prince George's County tends to have a bit of a chip on its shoulder about the lack of high-end development. National Harbor, across the Potomac from Alexandria, is supposed to change all this, with its giant convention center, hotels, restaurants, etc.

Unfortunately, one of the first things that happened after they opened is a bunch of people got sick with norovirus. Not good PR.

The next thing that happened was repeated sightings of mice in the rooms and hallways. Yesterday USA Today posted this gem from a National Harbor spokeswoman:

She says potential guests worried about mice should book a room close to the river (because most complaints involved rooms near the back where mice apparently got in through holes unwittingly left during construction). And she says that on request "a team will go into a room" before a guest's arrival and inspect it, down to the heating and air conditioning ducts, to make sure no pesky mice are there.

Hey, not every hotel offers to check the room for mice before you check in. "Would you like a no mice room?"

It was in this context I read a Washington Post article this morning on "how the deal was done". It mentioned none of the above problems. About ten paragraphs in, however, I got to the part that almost made me spit out my tea:

The history of the site, once an Indian burial ground, made the land even richer.

Seriously? They built it on an Indian burial ground, and they thought that was a good thing? Is anybody going to be surprised if National Harbor is next visited by a plague of frogs?

Give Up Already!

No, not Hillary. I'm talking about the media. As the Democratic nominating process drags on (and on and on...), it becomes more and more clear that the media is looking for a way to keep alive the idea that Hillary might win. Why? Entertainment value? I'm not sure.

Consider the following passage from today's Washington Post:

Clinton expects victories in West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico. Obama's team expects to win Oregon, North Carolina, Montana, South Dakota and Guam. That makes Indiana the critical battleground.

No, it doesn't. Looking at Wikipedia, WV, KY and PR combine to offer 134 pledged delegates. Let's assume Hillary wins those primaries by 10% and wins the delegates by a similar proportion. The latter is a reasonable assumption, but the delegate selection rules are a little bit wacky. Obama has been a little bit better about figuring them out, but it probably won't matter here. That would give her a 74-60 advantage (rounding in her favor). Similarly, let's give Obama a 10% advantage in "his" primaries, which are worth a total of 202 delegates. That's fairly generous to Hillary, since he has racked up bigger margins of victory, on average, so far. That puts him ahead with those delegates 111-91 (again rounding in her favor).

So we come to Indiana. Let's again give her the "decisive" 9% victory she got in Pennsylvania. (You may have thought it was 10%, but the media don't understand rounding.) This time we'll round in Obama's favor, which means she ends up winning the Indiana delegates 39-33.

So if Hillary wins the one remaining "battleground", then she'll end up with 204 delegates. Obama, on the other hand, would get...204 delegates. Wow, that just shows how close the race is, doesn't it?

Except it's not. Obama has a lead of about 130 delegates even including Hillary's slight edge in superdelegates. These figures would get him about 100 delegates away from the nomination, with about 300 superdelegates left to endorse. Who thinks more than two-thirds of the superdelegates would be willing to ignore Obama's lead in pledged delegates? Who thinks more than two-thirds of the superdelegates would vote for Hillary even if everything else was tied?

The Washington Post isn't the only offender. Time calls Indiana the "next stop". What about North Carolina, which votes the same day? Well, it's a smaller state, right? Uh, no. Well, it has fewer delegates because of wacky rules, right? Uh, no. It has 43 more. Well, it doesn't count because it's not going to vote for the Democrats in the fall. Hmm, according to the same Time article, "[Indiana]'s a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964..." North Carolina at least voted for Carter in '76.

So basically Indiana matters because it has the most dramatic tension. Just remember: none of this coverage is about who is going to be the nominee (it's Obama). All of it is about giving the news media something to talk about for the next two weeks.

Stuck in my hotel...

...and enjoying every minute of it.

I got in to my hotel in Istanbul about 7pm yesterday after an interminable taxi ride through pollution and traffic. Since I have today free, I called the concierge to see about arranging some sort of tour. I figured I'd be happier in a bus (hopefully air-conditioned) than walking around and breathing pollution.

No luck. The "Tour of Turkey" bicycle race is starting today, so the roads around the hotel are closed. They could put me on a Bosphorus cruise at 1, but since the conference tour includes a Bosphorus cruise, I think I'll pass. I've spent the past 7 days working, traveling, or both. The conference opening reception is tonight, so I will technically be working tonight, but otherwise a day to relax doesn't sound too bad.

My hotel room is very nice. The desk clerk apologized for not being able to upgrade me to the executive floor, so they gave me a corner room (and free breakfasts). One window has a view of some allegedly fashionable neighborhood of Istanbul, and the other looks out on the Bosphorus. I slept very soundly, despite an excessively firm bed and dragged myself downstairs before the breakfast buffet closed at 11. I plan to spend the rest of the day ensconced in the room enjoying the Internet connection.

Hilton Istanbul

Off to China

No, not me. It's another one of my geocoins. I released Free State Generic #1 and #2 just to have something to release. Free State Generic #1 is, appropriately, trekking around Maryland. Free State Generic #2, for some reason, I released in Virginia. Then, for some reason, someone grabbed it and took it to just outside of Beijing. Oh, well. I hope they love Maryland over in China.

The Merchant of Venice

Stratford

Today eight of us headed to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform The Merchant of Venice. We had dinner in a pub first and then went to the play. I had never seen or read the play. Beforehand, one of my colleagues commented that it was anti-Semitic. I promised to explain afterwards why it wasn't.

Of course, afterwards, I realized it was. I had a fairly tenuous argument that I decided not to push. Nevertheless, I'm sure someone has retold the story from the standpoint of Shylock; I think that could be a fairly sympathetic story about how the Venetians subverted the justice system to deprive him of his property and force him to convert to Christianity. It would, at least, be historically accurate.

The play was good. Not great, but good. Some of the actors seemed sub-par, but others were excellent. Still, it was hard to beat as a way to spend an evening in this part of the UK.

I took a few pictures; please enjoy.

Driving around the Czech Republic...

No, I'm not the one driving around the Czech Republic. My geocoin is.



Yes, despite my instruction that the coin wants to return to America (instructions I'm happy to see made it into the picture), the coin is still bouncing around Bohemia seven months later, as you can see from the picture below. (Note that the lines leading east are from its brief trip to Kazakhstan). Maybe I overestimated the frequency with which geocachers cross borders.

Despite being in Europe currently myself, I have no plans to drop off any more coins. Based on a brief search, the caches near my hotel here in the UK are either too small or annoying to find. There are very few caches in Istanbul, and I don't feel comfortable digging them up.

And You Want to Run My Economy?

So I read an article on politico.com today saying that Hillary Clinton is not paying her campaign bills promptly. Apparently some of this is standard practice -- consultants defer getting paid in the heat of the campaign. I assume there's some sort of system where candidates raise money even after they've dropped out to make good on these bills -- or maybe the consultants are willing to take the risk of not getting paid in that case.

But it appears that Hillary's campaign has broken new ground in not paying their bills.

"She owed Iowa’s Sioux City Art Center Board of Trustees $3,500 for catering and venue costs, New Hampshire’s Winnacunnet Cooperative School District $4,400 in event costs..."

Really? Stiffing an art center and a school district? I guess since she doesn't need their votes right now, they can wait.

I know one reason Obama doesn't have the money problems Hillary has is that he has raised a lot more money than she has. And I don't want to see the election necessarily go to the candidate with the most money. But in an election where all the remaining candidates are senators, probably the best test of executive experience is a look at the management of their respective campaigns. Forget 3 AM phone calls --- I'm more worried about a candidate who won't answer the phone when her creditors call.

Never Go Against the Family

Apparently, Bill Richardson's endorsement last Friday of Barack Obama violated a sacred trust in American politics. No, not that you should endorse the candidate you feel is best for the country -- rather, you should endorse the candidate whose husband gave you two high-level appointments. Does this make Richardson a new Benedict Arnold?

No, try Judas, according to James Carville. (Wait, Which candidate is Jesus?) Even Richardson said that his ties to the Clintons almost led him to endorse Hillary.

What kind of a country are we living in where loyalty to a family is supposed to trump everything else? One governed by dynastic politics. No matter how qualified Hillary may be, the idea of handing the country over to the same 2 families for 24 years should give anybody pause. The Richardson endorsement is an excellent example of what's wrong with turning the two-party system into the two-family system. What once was a meritocracy can descend into an aristocracy.

Underwater

Christina's out of town this weekend -- she's up in Connecticut visiting a friend of hers. She sent the following picture from the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.



I posted the picture to her travel blog. I should probably set it up so that posts to that blog go to her mailing list, too.

So I'm alone for the weekend. Well, alone with the cat and the incontinent dog. Fortunately, Christina talked me into buying a "male diaper garment" for him, so he's a little easier to deal with until we can get him fully diagnosed.

High As a Kite

 

Today we went to Lake Artemesia to try to fly kites. The wind wasn't really strong enough, and the pictures I took don't look so great. Instead, please enjoy this picture from last month of Christina flying a kite with the San Diego skyline in the background.

Presidential Trivia

This political season, I've heard speculation a few times that John McCain might serve only one term if elected, because of his age. That got me to wondering. Who was the last president to say, "Nah, four years is enough. I'm outta here."?

The answer...Rutherford B. Hayes. Every other one-termer since 1880 has said, "Nah, I think I need another four." I found that surprising, but something to keep in mind. Now, we've never had a first-termer as old as McCain, so maybe he'd be different. But 132 years is a lot of precedent.

The 10% Vote

I was watching another clip of a Republican talking about "Barack Hussein Obama" and wondering why they thought the technique of using his middle name would work. After all, it doesn't take much effort to find out, 1) he's named after his father and 2) he's a Christian.

But I was reminded of something I read several years ago. Someone asked one of the movie studios why they put quotes from reviewers you've never heard of before on movie ads. (For example, Sunday's Post had an add for "Jumper" noting that Total Film said "It's 'BOURNE' Meets 'The MATRIX.'" Total Film is "the United Kingdom's second best-selling film magazine," according to Wikipedia.) The answer (I'm paraphrasing from memory) is that their research has shown that 10% of moviegoers will pick a movie based on a quote about that film -- even if the source of that quote has no credibility. This is why Sony got caught making up quotes a few years ago.

So I realized -- the "Hussein" jibes are for that same 10% of the population. Because of the most gullible segment of our population, we will have to endure silly attempts to make Americans believe that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim or Saddam Hussein's cousin or whatever. Clearly, if you're a reader of this site, you're too discerning to fall for that. But maybe Obama needs to fight back. Perhaps with posters that say "We must elect President Obama -- Time Magazine*"






*(The reader comments part of their web site, that is.)

Geocaching Update: Archived

Since my last update, I've found two geocaches, one in Virginia and one in California. That gives me cause to update my state-by-state map:


On a sad note, for the first time, one of the physical geocaches I've found has been "archived." Lake Lure, which I found last August in Santa Barbara, is no longer an active cache. It was a fairly neat cache...it was on a utility pole in a park. You had to pull on some fishing wire wrapped around a pulley to bring a little capsule down from about 12 feet up. The capsule contained the log, which you signed, but nothing else. In October, someone notified the owners that "a portion of the cache is broken," so they disabled it and promised, "We will get out to fix this one soon." Last month, a reviewer noticed that it was still disabled and posted a note telling the owners to either fix it or archive it. Having heard nothing, the reviewer archived it today. It's no longer available for finding, and people are free to put a new cache in that area as a replacement. (Active caches have a 0.1 mile radius that prohibits other caches.)

Of the 42 caches I've found, 40 are still active. The other archived cache that I've found was the event cache, which, understandably, is no longer available for finding.

Let's take a look at where my geocoins are these days. As you'll recall, geocoins are specially minted coins that have tracking numbers. People are supposed to move them around and log their movements.

• Free State Mover #1. Since September, this has traveled a grand total of 40.9 miles from the West of England into Wales. It was last spotted on January 27. On February 22, someone posted a note on the cache it's in: "Did not find. Clearly, lots of work has been going on at the site - I wonder?" So this one may be MIA.
  
• Free State Mover #2. Since September, this has traveled 6173.5 miles. Of that, however, 5858.4 miles were when someone took it to Kazakhstan, and then immediately brought it back to the Czech Republic, where it continued to bounce around. A Czech cacher has been holding onto it since the 23rd. It's gotten quite a tour of the Czech Republic, but doesn't seem on its way back here.
  
• Free State Mover #3. I put this together with the idea of leaving it in Puerto Rico or Singapore, but didn't find a suitable cache. I'll probably try to drop it off in England next month.
  
• Free State Generic #1. Someone picked this up on Jan. 29 and said, "Retreived [sic] to place in another MD cache". He appears to be in Florida at the moment.
  
• Free State Generic #2. Someone picked this up on Feb. 16 and said, "WE [sic] will move it along shortly." They don't appear to have gone geocaching since Feb. 17.
  

I've had a geocoin I've been waiting to place since Jan. 24, so I can't complain about any of those, but I wish they had more exciting stories to tell.

Around Town

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in traveling to various places around the country and around the globe and forget about nice locations just around the corner. I'm not planning to go anywhere in March...March 2005 was the last month I spent entirely at home, so this is somewhat of a change of pace for me.

Thus it's a good time as any to enjoy what Maryland has to offer. Today Christina and I walked around University Park; we explored various parts of the town park, as well as the town creek.

Things I don't expect to see on my drive to work...

I was wondering what all the police vehicles were (I apparently drove by about an hour after the accident). Fortunately, nobody had life-threatening injuries.

The Android's Dungeon Endorses...

Well, tomorrow is the Maryland primary, and I'm keeping up a certain symmetry by being out in California for the Maryland primary, just like I was in Maryland for the California primary. My next stop apparently should be California, Maryland.

I did, however, get my absentee ballot in well ahead of time. For the Democratic presidential nomination, the Android's Dungeon endorses Barack Obama. I really like Obama, so I have a number of reasons, but I should go eat breakfast and get to work, so I'll just highlight two of them.

*Dynastic politics. As much as I liked Al Gore in 2000, he was a Senator's son. As much as I was unenthusiastic about John Kerry in 2004, he was the son of a federal government employee. I believe it is important for the health of our democracy to elect people from different families...fresh blood, if you will. As qualified as 'legacy' candidates sometimes are (and sometimes aren't), I think we need to reinforce the idea that you don't have to be related to someone famous to become president. I don't relish the idea of a race between a president's wife and an admiral's son.

*Integrity. God bless Bill Clinton, but the Clintons have come to stand for the idea that, "Hey, if the Republicans will do anything to win an election, we have to be prepared to as well." Think I'm exaggerating? The New Republic, in an editorial that reminds us they're still not sure whom to endorse says,

Looking at their plight with any detachment, it is even possible to develop a measure of sympathy for the Clintons. Or it was, anyway, right up until the point at which Hillary threatened to steal the nomination.

They're referring to Hillary's, "I agree with the decision not to count Michigan and Florida...oh, wait, I won? That changes things," plan.

So I've cast my absentee ballot for Obama, and I encourage readers who are eligible to cast future votes for him to do so. It's an interesting election year; maybe we can avoid making it too interesting (although a deadlocked convention would be fascinating...).

Subscription Services

As a reminder, if you go to my home page, there's a link to subscribe to the Android's Dungeon via e-mail. Now, if you go to Christina's site, you can subscribe to her weblog by e-mail, as well.

For those of you using an RSS aggregator like Google Reader or similar, there's a feed of my site here and hers here.

Countries Visited

I was updating my Wikitravel home page, and I decided to check that the links to other pages were working. This, in turn, reminded me that it was time to update my countries visited map.



Map generated by World66.

Since my last update, I've visited Malaysia and Singapore. The mostly likely country to be added in 2008 is Turkey; we'll see.

Headed home

Had a fun night last nite @ Spamalot.