Most Dangerous Roads

Take a gander at these photos of five roads deemed the most dangerous in the world.

Update: I should note that that page's author doesn't really describe how the list was compiled. As far as I know, it's really just a list of roads with photos that make them look really hairy.

Democracy in Africa and elsewhere

Apparently democracy is working fairly well in Benin, with three peaceful transfers of power in the last 15 years. They used to be known as "Africa's Cuba." WorldAudit.org ranks Benin as 48th on their democracy ranking chart; the highest-ranked African country is Ghana at #37. The U.S.A. is #15. Myanmar is dead last. It's good to see civil society is working in a few African countries, but a pity about Zimbabwe, Sudan, Eritrea, etc.

I'm not really sure how their methodology came up with an 84th-place ranking for North Korea, considering that they acknowledge them as coming in dead last (#150) for press freedom. It seems like it may have something to do with essentially having an "N/A" for political corruption; it may not really be measurable there.

It's worth looking at this table to see which countries are improving and which are getting worse. Watch out for Belarus, Haiti, and Zimbabwe, which dropped to the lowest "Political Rights" rating in 2005, the most recent year for which they have data. I wonder if Iraq's rating will go up for 2006, with the elections.

Update: Sudan has been bypassed for chairmanship of the African Union in favor of Ghana. Good.

Bryce Canyon Photos

OK, this is a test to see if Yahoo photos works the way I think it works. This is the link for my photos; you should be able to follow that link and get to a public folder with my photo albums on it. Let me know in the comments if it works. Thanks. Update: OK, I know it works now.

Here are a few shots from Jen's and my Bryce Canyon trip last month. As you can see, the scenery was nothing short of spectacular, and the snow only enhanced things. The first day of photo-taking had sub-freezing temperatures, and the second day it was above freezing.

Cory Doctorow, Twit

In the asinine online war of words between atheists and Christians to see who can be more pompous, Cory Doctorow was oh-so-subtle in his latest jab at religion, offhandedly referring to the New Testament as "that novel." Oh, that clever Cory. We get it, you think the Bible is fictional. What's assy about this is the way his casual tone of dismissal assumes that between him and his audience, the fictionality of the Bible is a given, since anyone smart enough and cool enough to read his blog, well, they'd have to be atheists, right?

Furthermore, his description of it as a "novel" is just inaccurate. Yes, the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and Revelation are narratives, but Cory is a novelist himself and ought to at least understand that not all prose is a novel. But the bulk of the New Testament is a collection of letters. A compendium of letters and several separate narratives does not make a novel.

Steel Coaster Poll Results

The results from Mitch Hawker's 2006 Steel Coaster Poll are up. Here are the rankings. I mentioned the poll earlier. I can't really judge the results much, since I haven't ridden anything ranked higher than #24, Excelerator at Knott's. In contrast, I'd been on 7 of the top 30 rides* in the Wooden Coaster Poll, and would agree with the #1 placement of The Voyage at Holiday World..

Just looking at the coasters I've been on (i.e., most of the ones in California and Nevada, plus a few of the generics), the real egregious misplacements would be California Screamin', which I consider fairly mediocre, too high at #46, and Knott's Silver Bullet, which I prefer slightly to its park-mate Excelerator, too low at #110.

I also think Vekoma's generic Suspended Looping Coaster is underrated at #307. I believe it gets docked points for its ubiquity; there are dozens of these things at parks around the world and coaster fanatics get bored with them. My one experience with one was Kong at Six Flags Marine World. It was a fun ride, not uncomfortable, with a layout similar to the more intense Batman: The Ride.

*The three coasters at Holiday World, the Coaster at Playland in Vancouver, the New Mexico Rattler at Cliff's, the Dania Beach Hurricane at Boomer's near Fort Lauderdale, and the GhostRider at Knott's. The oldie-but-goodie Giant Dipper in Santa Cruz comes in at #37. My wooden coaster-riding is more dispersed geographically than my steel coaster-riding, for various reasons, including coincidence. This summer I hope to catch some more of the big parks in the Midwest, including King's Island and Cedar Point, which will help get me a broader view of things.

Oscar fun facts

Variety has a list of Oscar nomination fun facts, but they don't answer my query about foreign-language films with multiple nominations.

Bill Richardson

Ed Morrissey dramatically declares that Bill Richardson could be 2008's "most dangerous candidate." Not dangerous to the country, mind you, (actually, he'd probably be pretty good for the country if he won) just dangerous to the other candidates' chances of winning the Presidency. To support this, he touts Richardson's impressive resume, which includes stints as a Congressman, U.N. Ambassador, U.S. Secretary of Energy, and Governor of New Mexico. I don't know how much of an advantage that really is in an election, though. Absolute neophytes don't win their party's nomination, but beyond that, Americans generally vote for the guy with more charisma. I don't see a clear record of nominations or winners by the more "qualified" candidate and furthermore, I don't think people necessarily should vote for somebody based on their curriculum vitae. Lord knows there are plenty of incompetent people at all levels of government. What's more important is whether you trust your candidate to make good decisions. I'm sure Richardson will tout his experience, and it will be a plus for him, but he has to run on his ability to communicate his ideas with the voters.

How'd I do?

Yesterday I posted my predictions for the Oscar nominations. Here are the actuals for the big categories (you can get the complete list here), and how my predix fared:

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

(4/5) Letters from Iwo Jima is in, Dreamgirls is out. The Dreamgirls snub surprised a lot of people, but it is the overall nomination leader. Some ask how it can happen, but I don't see on its face why it's so surprising that a movie can have technical merit and some good performances but still not be one of your five favorite movies of the year.

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

(3/5) As above, in with the Letters, out with the Dreamgirls. I thought Frears would get dropped in favor of Greengrass instead of the Little Miss Sunshine duo. Anyway, good job, Academy, for nominating Paul Greengrass.

Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

(3/5) I underestimated Clint's appeal (dumb move on my part), and Pan's Labyrinth is the big foreign-language breakout, garnering a total of six nominations. Offhand, I remember that Das Boot did the same, but I'm not sure if anyone's compiled a list of foreign-language films getting multiple nominations or otherwise making it out of their own category. Ran and Cyrano de Bergerac had five each. I suppose it's worth noting this year that the Mayan-language American production Apocalypto had three nominations, the Japanese-language American production Letters from Iwo Jima earned four nominations, and that Spain's Volver and China's Curse of the Golden Flower picked up single nominations without getting into the Best Foreign-Language Film race.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

(2/5) I crapped out here, missing Borat, Children of Men, and Notes.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

(4/5) OK, I did better here, missing Leo and thinking Borat's nomination would come here rather than for writing.

Best Actress
Penélope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

(5/5) This one was pretty easy, matching up with the Screen Actors' Guild nominations and without many viable spoiler candidates.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

(3/5) I had DiCaprio in the wrong category for the wrong movie.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

(5/5) Not a whole lot of viable candidates to unseat the favorites here, either.

Overall: 29/40. Not all that great. Maybe if I'd seen more than a handful of these movies, I might have had a better idea of what they'd nominate, but then again, I still would have probably predicted Dreamgirls for Best Picture along with everyone else.

More hikin' in the San Gabriels

I got a new computer at home that has, among other things, a card reader, which makes uploading photos way easier. Here's a few shots from a brief hike I made in the Angeles National Forest back in November.

Oscar noms predix

Last year I drew up predictions for the 8 major Oscar categories (Picture, Director, the two Writing categories, and the four Acting categories) and nailed 4/5 or 5/5 in each category, 34/40 total. Unfortunately, I didn't post my predictions on my blog, and the one prediction I did make on my blog - that Brokeback Mountain would win Best Picture - didn't come true.

This year my movie-watching has really dropped off, so I've hardly seen any of the contenders. I'll take a stab at it anyway. I must note that these are just predictions based on buzz; I haven't seen most of these movies. Personally my favorite movies of the year were United 93, The Prestige, and A Scanner Darkly.

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Best Director
Bill Condon, Dreamgirls
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Little Miss Sunshine
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Stranger than Fiction
United 93

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada
Little Children
The Prestige
Thank You for Smoking

Best Actor
Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress
Penélope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best Supporting Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed (might be in the Lead category)
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Brad Pitt, Babel
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Tomorrow I'll go through the list and see how I did.

Magic Mountain Ideas

Lance Hart of Screamscape has a number of good ideas for revitalizing Magic Mountain (the comments are good, too). Their problem is that they've been essentially marketing the park strictly to thrill-seeking teenagers and young adults, when with a few fixes, they could have a park that appeals to a much broader demographic. They've been spending all of their money on big new coasters (which are great, I must add) but they've skimped on everything else that contributes to the overall park experience: ride maintenance, park maintenance, theming, customer service, food, family rides, transport rides around the park, etc.

After a lifetime of multiple visits to the Southern California amusement parks, over the past few years I've started visiting parks in other areas, which has given me an interesting new perspective on things. Last summer I visited Holiday World, in rural southwest Indiana, and had a great time despite there being only three coasters in the park. Admission was reasonable (granted, it's not like real estate is pricey there), parking was free, unlimited Pepsi products were free, the rides were all running and well-maintained, the three coasters they did have were well-chosen and are perennially top-ranked, but even beyond that, overall park management was definitely aimed toward customer satisfaction. It was kept as clean as Disneyland, if not cleaner, and the staff were extra-friendly and helpful. You know how some parks will have cubbyholes at the stations to but your bags in while you're on the coasters? At Holiday World, they'll actually collect your bags for you when you're next in line. It's just a great, fun place.

I-10 Business Route in Pomona, Ontario

WARNING: This is a pure roadgeekery post. Those of you not roadgeeks will find nothing of interest here.

I was intrigued by AARoadtrips' page on Interstate business routes, particularly his notes on some local business routes, since I didn't have much of a recollection of seeing many business route signs around here. In particular, he notes that the I-10 business loop along Holt Boulevard in Pomona and Ontario is decommissioned but still has some remnant signing. I was out near that area this morning anyway and decided to follow the route in its entirety to see how much signage remained. Answer: Not very much at all. No signage at all exists to direct drivers from the mainline freeway to the business route, and the signs that remain are all within a mile of each other in central Pomona, even though the route supposedly exists for about 12 miles.

Here are photos of the remaining signs. First, a detail of the sign design:

Next, the only eastbound sign, between Park Avenue and Gordon Street:

Next, the first westbound sign I saw, just west of Towne Avenue:

Another westbound sign, between Garey Avenue and Main Street:

The last westbound sign, just west of Park Avenue:

So there you go. One mile signed on a 12-mile route! I might try finding the business route that goes from Fontana to Colton sometime soon.

Sorry, Darling, No Citizenship for You

People giving their kids stupid names pisses me off more than the average person (this means YOU if you named your daughter Madison or McKayla or spelled a common name wrong just to look clever), but even with the erosion of civil liberties, I'm glad we still believe in basic personal freedom in the U.S.A., unlike Europe, where they deny you citizenship if they don't like your name.

Teacher sez "Don't call me a hero"

My sister Dorothy, a high school teacher, links approvingly to an op-ed piece in the New York Times by another teacher criticizing Hollywood's portrayal of their profession as heroic.

Obama/Schweitzer?

This Time article on Rocky Mountain Democrats sums up what could be the most promising trend for the Democratic Party in a long time. In particular, I loved this quote on page 7 from Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer:

Later I asked Schweitzer how a Democrat could sell that energy pitch in a presidential campaign. "I can do it in a 60-second spot," he said. "Put me on the clock." And he was off to the races: "Folks, we've got a problem. We Americans use 6.5 billion bbl. of oil a year. We produce 2.5 billion ourselves. We import 4 billion from the world's worst dictators. We need to stop doing that. We can save 1 billion bbl. through conservation. Things like more efficient cars, homes and appliances. We can produce another 1 billion bbl. of biofuels with agricultural crops like corn, soybeans and canola. We can produce 2 billion bbl. a year turning our enormous coal reserves to clean-burning gas. We can achieve energy independence in 10 years, create a whole new industry with tens of thousands of high-paying jobs, and you'll never have to send your grandchildren to war in the Middle East. I'm Brian Schweitzer, and I approved this message."

If the Democrats gave me an Obama/Schweitzer ticket in 2008, it could mark the first time in my adult life I've actually felt good about my Presidential vote. And if that ticket were to win, I'd feel very good about it.

Alternadad?

I haven't read Neal Pollack's Alternadad, but this review makes it sound insufferable. I'd like to apologize on behalf of my generation. At least Chuck Klosterman (whose Chuck Klosterman IV is full of sharp, if not exactly deep, observations) knows he's just a pop culture reporter.

Moose viewing?

I realized a while ago that I've never seen a moose in my life. Not in the wild, not in a zoo, etc. I've seen maps purporting to show what the moose's natural range is, but how common are they there? What are some easily-accessible places where one might be likely to spot a moose? Why aren't they in zoos?


There's another list for me to make... notable animals I've seen in the wild. I've seen wild coyotes within the L.A. city limits. Some of the more interesting ones I've seen are bobcats, condor, banana slugs, snakes, scorpions, armadillo (deceased), alligator, elk, burros, a sea turtle, humpback whales, porpoises, and (drumroll please...) the Maui mystery big cat. I caught a glimpse of it leaving the roadway while I was on the remote Pi'ilani Highway on the south side of Haleakala. Here's an official notice on it.

I've never seen a bear, a beaver, a bison, a tortoise, a wolf, a porcupine, a shark, or a bighorn sheep in the wild. I've heard many coqui frogs, but never seen one. I've smelled many skunks, but never seen one. I've never seen a pika, marmot, nutria, or badger, either in the wild or in captivity.

The Laura Bush - Barbara Boxer connection

This just in --- Mickey Kaus actually criticized a Republican today, pointing out that Laura Bush implied that Condoleezza Rice isn't fit to be President because she's unmarried and childless. This is the same thing Barbara Boxer caught a lot of flack for last week. See, here I just thought she shouldn't be President because she's been one of the top advisors for one of the worst Presidents in history.

An Andrew Sullivan reader points out the fatuousness of the underlying argument.

More life-tracking madness

Timothy Reichard has a site wherein one can keep track of which Interstate highways one has travelled on. You can look at how I've done on a state-by-state basis here; I've driven (or ridden) on 23% of the country's Interstates.
Putting together your list of highways isn't simple. Besides figuring out everywhere you've been, you'll have to use his Highway Browser to figure out what the abbreviations are for all of the exits that determine the start and stop points for your segments. If you like highways like I do, though, it'll be a fun process.

Steel Coaster Poll

This is your last day to submit a ballot for Mitch Hawker's 2006 Steel Coaster Poll. The results from the Wooden Coaster Poll are up already. I like Mitch's polls because he has you rank every coaster you've ridden (he doesn't show kiddie coasters, and off-the-shelf coasters and clones are listed together) and not just submit a list of favorites. It's a little more complicated than just clicking a button for your favorite, but it works pretty well. Still, not enough people acknowledge X at Magic Mountain as the best steel coaster... what is wrong with people?

While I'm on the subject, let me put in a good word for the Rollercoaster Database, which is complete as anything I've seen (it even shows defunct coasters and parks), and also one for Greg's Coaster Shrine, which is a good way of keeping track of how many different coasters you've ridden. I'm at 72 coasters, 13 wood, 59 steel.

Comment Moderation

FYI, I've turned on comment moderation for the time being because of spam/troll problems.

John Edwards

So, 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards appeared on Jay Leno last night, and I have to say I was underwhelmed. Edwards was great talking about the need for health care, and then when Jay asked him how he was going to do it, Edwards danced around the question and basically said that Congress would work on it. Now, I understand that, especially this early in the game, you can't come out with a point-by-point plan because people are just going to pick it apart; any successful plan is going to have to be something of a product of compromise. But is it too much to ask for a couple of specifics on what sort of plan he would advocate? What does he think should be the core of a plan that works?

It wasn't a horrible appearance, but it just seemed disappointing to see someone acting like such a textbook politician after seeing Barack Obama seem so totally at ease in similar situations. I like Edwards, but I'm not even sure if he would be a good counterpoint to Obama on a Presidential ticket. The only thing he would bring would be Southernness (and whiteness); if Obama is a slick, youngish liberal one-term Senator, then Edwards is a slick, youngish liberal one-term Senator who's not as convincing.

Fun fact: his given name is "Johnny." In his case, "John" is just a nickname.

Zagat New Orleans

The first post-Katrina Zagat Survey of New Orleans has been released. That's pretty cool; I've never been in a city with as much good food as New Orleans. Of course, this brings up the broader issue of New Orleans rebuilding... the tourist parts are back, but the rest is a long way away. On the other hand, if they're not going to make the large-scale engineering changes to rebuild it safer, maybe it's not so bad that people haven't come back.

Caltech Wins!

The basketball team at my alma mater, the California Institute of Technology, broke an 11-year, 207-game NCAA losing streak on Saturday by beating Bard College of New York by the rather astonishing score of 81-52. Now they just have to work on that 22-year, 245-loss streak within their conference. I checked the Bard College athletics website, and while they're certainly not a team that wins a lot, they did at least beat Anna Maria College a month ago.

County-counting map

Check out the latest version of my county-counting map, recently updated to reflect the six new counties in Utah (Iron, Garfield, Piute, Sevier, Millard, and Beaver) and one new county in Nevada (Lincoln) that I picked up on my Bryce Canyon/Las Vegas trip. You can make one of your own on Marty O'Brien's website and compare it against the other users.

It's a fun way to mark your progress and provide a reason to explore back roads and rural areas; I took US-89 north to I-70 along the Sevier River to capture a few new counties but found the bucolic, snow-covered valley I drove through to be serenely beautiful. It's getting difficult for me to reach new counties without flying, though; the county closest to my home that I haven't visited is Esmeralda County, Nevada, a 300-mile drive away.

Failure in Iraq

Kenneth Pollack offers the most comprehensive summary I've yet seen on how the reconstruction of Iraq went wrong. The dimensions of failure are really collosal; certainly the article is benefiting from hindsight, but I have to wonder how things might have gone differently if an administration with competence and integrity had decided that Saddam needed to go. Cleaning this mess up is a daunting task; I wish we could see the future with as much clarity as Pollack outlines the past.

Rose Parade

I had a great seat for this year's Rose Parade, as my second-floor office has a window right on Colorado Boulevard. I hadn't seen the parade live in probably 10 years, but it's a magnificent sight; it's impossible to capture the scale and detail of the floats on TV. I didn't take any pictures, but this guy has 200 shots, including this one of the City of Duarte/City of Hope float. My cousin's daughter Nicole is one of the people on the float, waving; a year ago she was diagnosed with leukemia, but thanks to a bone marrow transplant at the City of Hope Medical Center, she's doing much better and even won the Teen Miss Corona pageant.
Note that the photographer, while certainly having a nice collection of snapshots, made the grievous mistake of referring to it as the "Rose Bowl Parade." Ugh. It's the Rose Parade, or the Tournament of Roses Parade. The parade came first, decades before the game (which USC won handily, I might add; so much for Michigan "deserving" a shot at the title).

A couple of my favorite floats, the first from the City of La Cañada Flintridge, the second from Honda, who always submits something spectacular:
You can see more photos on the L.A. Times or Pasadena Star-News websites.

The Oak Ridge Boys were on a float, and I wondered about them and looked them up on Wikipedia. You know when they were formed? 1945! Obviously, none of the original members are with them.

And of course, no mention of the Oak Ridge Boys is complete without referencing the otherworldly vocal stylings of the J & H Productions guy.

Incidentally, can anyone from the East Coast explain the appeal of the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade? I mean, it's a lot of the same damn balloons every year, and they're all just a bunch of corporate mascots. Give me the Rose Parade any day over that. We don't deplete the world's dwindling helium supply, either. (And New York's New Year tradition, that giant jewelled bauble? Just tacky. Don't New Yorkers pride themselves on their sense of taste?)

R.I.P., Kyoko Kishida

Boy, here's one that slipped through the cracks. A tip o' the hat to Slate for alerting me to last week's passing of Japanese actress Kyoko Kishida, 76, who starred in Hiroshi Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes, which is on my all-time short list of favorite movies (the book by Kobo Abe is pretty darn good, too). The bizarre scenario, the stark imagery, the raw eroticism... you owe it to yourself to see this. One of the very best of the Japanese New Wave cinema of the 1960s, which was up there with France's and Italy's, and consistently had more striking photography, if you ask me.