The Mueller Testimony - Well that didn't go as planned

I couldn't resist tuning into the live stream of Robert Mueller's testimony yesterday and what I saw left me dumbfounded.

To appreciate why, you're going to need to watch a few seconds of video. Consider Mueller's opening statement:

That message was delivered in a stern tone that matches the mental image we carry of Robert Mueller.

The first crack I noticed came a few minutes later, when Jerry Nadler asked a soft-ball question:

Here Mueller is being asked to explain in simple terms one, if not the most, essential finding in the report. Not only does he fail to provide a response which meets the standard of being helpful the public, he barely manages to get an answer out at all.

Jump a few minutes forward and you see another troubling exchange:

In this clip Mueller is again asked a critical question: is collusion the same thing as conspiracy? His first answer is 'no.' When challenged, he changes his answer to 'yes.' What's troubling is that the change from 'no' to 'yes' seems not based on a further understanding of the question, but upon the notation that the report is a sort of safe space. The problem with this approach is in the details: the report and question have their own nuances, to link the two together may or may not be sensible. This required a level of precision Mueller seemed not to be able to muster. Whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no' is less important to me than his ability to provide a cogent response.

I didn't watch the entire day's full of hearings, but from what I did watch, things didn't get any better from here.

My first thought was to blame the Democrats: how could they be so foolish as to choose such an incompetent witness? But that's ridiculous; someone with such a critical job to do should have the skills needed to defend his or her work. My frustration is now squarely on Robert Muller himself and those that appointed him.

Let me understand this: you spent 2 years exhaustively investigating an attack on our country, and when asked about simple facts you're not able to articulate them with clarity? If your work product is so essential, shouldn't you relish the opportunity to correct the record and insure that all parties understanding your findings?

I'm not sure what the ramifications of this display is, or how to remedy any of this. But I do know I can't unsee what I saw yesterday and that it almost certainly matters. If nothing else, we traded a possible moment of clarity for one that added a new layer of noise.

A Weekend Backpacking Trip's worth of Food

We've got a weekend backpacking trip coming up and I'm trying to be somewhat methodical about the food I bring. Here's what I've got planned so far:

That's 2 meals on Friday, 5 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. A meal is defined as 450'ish calories of food.

Friday's meal 2 (aka, dinner) isn't shown because it's a communal meal of hot dogs, buns, mashed potatoes and marshmallows. This is our goto first-night-on-the-trail meal, and it almost isn't backpacking without it.

I'm trying two experiments, one a bit riskier than the other. For Saturday meal 3 (aka, lunch), I've brought instant pudding mix and powdered goat milk. I'm hoping I can whip up some tasty pudding. Saturday meal 5 (aka, dinner) is even more riskier: it's instant rice, TVP and Big Daddy Cheese Powder. I'm very excited about the cheese powder, as it's made with microbial rennet and is therefore vegetarian. In theory, this meal cold soaks in about 40 minutes, which I may try. I'm hoping that after a long day of walking even if this meal is a bust, I'll still enjoy it.

Other than that, I'm bringing the usual set of bars, nuts and some pre-packaged gorp (thank you Trader Joe's!).

It'll be interesting to see if 450 calories per meal is enough, or if I'll kick myself. Still, I like the idea of being quantitative about it, rather than bringing along a heap of snacks and hoping for the best.

The weekend's food, minus the Friday night's dinner weighs in a 1lb, 12oz.

Review: How to Stop Time

I finished listening to How to Stop Time by Matt Haig a couple of days ago and I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it.

On one hand, I think the concept is clever. Like The Time Traveler's Wife, I think it's fascinating to imagine a fundamental rule of our existence doesn't hold for a group of individuals and see how a story can unfold from there. The storytelling and characters are likable enough that I kept listening, excited to hear where the story was going. And the philosophical ruminations on time, love and the fine line between a blessing and curse were absolutely thought provoking.

On the other hand, I did find the story a bit tedious at a times. I can't tell if the use of flashbacks is brilliant or clumsy. The same goes for the Forrest Gump style interactions with famous individuals: is it novel, or cliche? And is the philosophy espoused, like "how to stop time," profound hard-earned insights or merely deep-sounding chatter most suitable for your Facebook feed?

Take the final resolution: it had an almost anti-climactic feeling to it. It seems like once the main character untangles his truth, his problems solve themselves. But perhaps that's by design? While I may wish for a Die Hard style action movie finish, often our greatest challenges play out in our heads where realizing the will to move forward is the decisive step.

Ultimately, any book that has me rolling around so many questions in my head is a winner.

The Great Smoky Mountains Adventure Day 3 -- Into the Wild

[Composed 7/11/2019]

I'd been looking forward to today's adventure since we started planning this trip, nearly a year ago: hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). The forecast called for rain at 11am, so we had the kids up and out the door by 7am. Our goal was to hike up to Alum Cave, a 5 mile out and back hike that promised impressive views at the top.

About 10 minutes into the hike J. asked if I could carry him the rest of the way. Uh oh, I thought, this is going to be one long hike. But in truth, the kids did the 5 miles with almost no kvetching and with nearly boundless energy.

The trail was indeed a high quality one, with plenty of blooming Mountain-Laurel for me to take pictures of, an inviting creek to follow, funky one-railing bridges to cross and impressive views once we started to gain some elevation. The only wildlife of note we saw was an itty-bitty snake (perhaps 3 inches long?) another group of hikers had discovered at the 'cliffs.'

Both boys talked at length about Minecraft on the hike, and I don't know if I'm impressed or mortified at the quantity of natural knowledge they've gained through this game. We talked about bedrock, rock hardness, tool selection and ecosystems in general all by way of the game. The designers of this game have made a world that necessarily educates kids, though I want them to be more impressed with the rocks in front of them than the rocks they see on screen. Speaking of rocks, someone is no doubt going to come across a circle of rocks the boys created; a sort of mini-Stonehenge. Like Stonehenge, the discoverer of this layout of rocks may come up with any number of theories for their positioning: were the boys trying to leave a message? Or maybe create a navigation or time telling aid? Perhaps they were casting a spell to get our hike to end sooner? Nope, they were explaining a critical Minecraft concept to me, one that went whizzing over my head. Though I was impressed with their use of visual aids.

We got back to the car after 11am and the sun was still shining. Let's hike some more!

We made our way to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the GSMNP, and the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. The closer we drove to the Dome, the thicker and grayer the cloud cover was. By the time we arrived at the parking lot, visibility was almost nil, as we found ourselves in thick fog. The kids hiked the .5 mile up to the Dome with urgency, as we could hear thunder in the distance. We made it to the foot of the Dome and the rain began. Fortunately, we'd come prepared with umbrellas. We took a few limited-visibility pics at the top of the Dome and scurried back to our car in the rain.

It wasn't the most leisurely trip to Clingman's Dome, and I'd hoped to hike some of the AT in the area. But alas, mother nature had other plans.

After logging 6 miles, we called it a day and headed back to our Airbnb. We arrived in a full fledged downpour, the weather forecast had only been off by an hour or two.

At home, J. finished building Yoda's Starfighter. D. had finished building Anakin's Starfighter the day before. It was an interesting study to watch them build. D. had laser focus, knocking out the steps of the building process one by one. J. took a more fun-based approach: build some, play some, repeat. Everytime I'd come over to "rescue" J., helping him with the next step, I found that he knew exactly what to do. He wasn't stuck, he was just having fun. Both approaches to building legos were great, and it was fascinating to see them in action. I love Legos, but I'm often critical of the price-to-output ratio. That is, they're always a bit more expensive than I think they should be. But in this case, I found both of these sets priced quite reasonably: at around $20 each, they were both quite complex, and came with valuable minifigures. I stand impressed.

Tomorrow's all about trying to catch sight of some bears in the wild. I've tried not to get the kids' hopes up, but it's probably too late.

Apollo 50 - Go for the Moon

This past weekend we braved crazy hot temps and an electrical storm to watch Apollo 50: Go for the Moon on the DC Mall. I knew the show included a projection of a Saturn V rocket onto the Washington Monument, but other than that, I had no idea what else we'd see.

The 17 minute presentation turned out to be a sound and screen extravaganza. At just a little over 555 feet tall and 55 feet wide, it's hard to imagine using the Washington Monument as a screen with its crazy 10:1 aspect ratio. And yet, the creators of Go for the Moon did just this and did it well. As impressive, if not more so, was the use of sound; which really made the whole experience visceral.

While the content they displayed was archival footage, almost all of it I'd seen before, the format and communal experience brought it to life.

A couple, one of whom worked for NASA and the other JPL, sat in front of us and provided for interesting discussion before the show started. Even the electrical storm in the distance added to the show, proving that nature isn't to be outdone. Luckily, the storm that provided the lightning never made it to us, so we all stayed dry.

It was a remarkable event. But don't be bummed if you missed it, you can catch it on YouTube here. And while you won't see it on quite the scale of the original production, you should have the benefit of watching with air conditioning and the knowledge that you're not going to be struck by lightning. Here's an interesting video that explains the show's setup.

The Great Smoky Mountains Adventure Day 2 -- The View From The Top

[Composed 7/10/2019]

While there are countless attractions vying for your attention on Gatlinburg, TN's main street, we'd done our homework and despite the various pleas of D. and J., we focused on getting to our first adventure of the day: Ober Gatlinburg. This was no minor feat for me, as it required a 2 mile tram ride to the top of the surrounding mountain. While I have a fear of heights, enclosed structures like a tram car usually don't bother me. This one was awfully high up and did enough rocking to give me pause.

Still, before we knew it, we were at Ober Gatlinburg proper and the next stage of our adventure could begin. The kids immediately went on the largest water slide and every other attraction from there.

At the base of the amusement park area is the chairlift that takes visitors up to the top of Mount Harrison and serves as an observation point. The tram description promised it would be the best view of the Smokies without having to hike. My first thought when I saw the impossibly long and steep ascent of the chairs was a hard oh heck no. But as our time at Ober wore on, I started to relax a bit. Everyone on the chairlift was so chill. And if the chairlift hugged the mountain, it really wouldn't be that high off the ground.

So before I had time to change my mind, I found myself standing with J. waiting for a chairlift seat to scoop us up.

The chairlift ride was indeed relaxing. At times the ground dropped away and I had try awfully hard not to think about falling. I won't lie, I spent a good portion of the ride with my eyes closed. But thanks to sunglasses, I don't think J. knew this.

Turns out the Ober Gatlinburg scenic chairlift is the longest of its kind in the US. But we all made it to the top, enjoyed some Bluegrass music and took photos and then made it back down.

Whenever my fear of heights kicks in I try to tease out exactly what bothered me. In this case I decide it's the lack of some sort of safety belt. The clumsy-looking restraining bar feels more like an afterthought decoration than a serious safety measure. Give me a nice 5 point harness, and I'll be far more comfortable cruising up a mountain on a front-porch swing. Of course this is all in my head, Wikipedia promises me that even without the restraining bar the physics of the chairlift will keep me from falling out. Physics-shmisics, you best believe I had a death grip on that chairlift the entire way up and down the mountain.

After a fun time at Ober, we made our way to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. I was far more in my element here, as plunging to my death was quite unlikely.

As aquariums go, this one was top notch. We saw amazing fish, got interesting views of sharks, pet horseshoe crabs and generally got to see all the things you'd expect to see at a top tier aquarium. If I had to level one complaint it would be that there wasn't anything particularly unique about this aquarium. We, of course, may just be spoiled. If you've never walked through a tunnel that's under the shark pool, scrambled by tunnel to the center of an fish tank, or seen a giant spider crab doing its thing, then you're in a for a real treat. But if you've been to the Baltimore Aquarium, then you probably won't see anything new here.

Still, the kids had a great time and I enjoyed snapping pics of the sharks and other creatures. And everybody enjoyed the air conditioning.

After a day of playing at very touristy Gatlinburg, we made our way back to our Airbnb and busted out the Legos for some building time. What a fun day!