Historic day in Egypt! Amazing turn of events … congratulations to all those stubborn activists on Tahrir square and all over the country.

Yeah – that’s a pretty good song. I like it – not just because my website 11foot8.com gets a shout out at 00:22 in the Das Racist piece.  No – it’s really a cool song – better than Juicy for sure. And now we have some real hipster cred.

Free Jazzmatazz is a collaboration between Das Racist and pianist Vijay Iyer – from their album Sit Down, Man.  Download it for free from the Village Voice. Listen to the music. Shut up and have a PBR!

Yes, horses like to eat hay, but my god – these guys EAT HAY! Lots of it! Each of our horses can eat several hundred pounds of hay a week.

We have had a pretty cold winter, so far, and so they eat even more than they usually would because when it’s cold their metabolism kicks it up a notch to keep them warm. In the fall I started buying 1,300 lb/650Kg  hay rolls of nice fescue hay from a local farmer. The last one (number 5, I think) they ate up in 2 weeks.  That’s 300 lbs per horse per week! The quest for hay – good quality hay – for our horses has become a significant part of my life. That’s fine – I am not complaining. I am just amazed at their ability to chew through huge amounts of hay.

My previous supplier ran out of hay, and so we’ve been buying square bales of hay at the feed store, which is pretty expensive ($5-$10 a bale). Last week I found another local farmer who still has some for $60 a roll. It’s a bit more expensive than the other guy, but it’s a very nice fescue/orchard grass mix. I got two rolls last week and today I put one out in the pasture today.

These are 900 lb rolls, which is nice, because they are a bit easier to manage than the enormous 1,300 lb rolls. I dropped one roll in the pasture and Wally and Cleo got right down to business and started ripping huge mouthfuls of hay from the roll and munching on it with great gusto.

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“Peace be with you” – that’s how Barack Obama greeted the audience at Cairo University in June 2009. During his speech in the “timeless city” he said

I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things:  the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.  These are not just American ideas; they are human rights.  And that is why we will support them everywhere.
President Obama, June 4, 2009

So where was that support for democracy and the rule of law during the last 10 days, Mr. President? Where was your commitment to democracy when a million Egyptians took to the streets and demanded just that: “the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.”

For the US President (or the VP) to tip-toe around the issue of the people of Egypt demanding an end to the oppressive 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak is an embarrassment. That regime has been supported way too long with Billions of taxpayer dollars. But, yet again, “peace” is defined by the administration’s political comfort zone, not by the rights of the people to self-determination. Yet again, “peace” is what’s convenient for the “international community” – just like in Cote D’Ivoire. In Egypt the status quo is convenient, because Mubarak promised not to threaten Israel. I understand that Israelis are nervous about Egypt’s unrest. And I unequivocally support the right of Israelis to live in peace and free from oppression. And I also support the right of Egyptians to do the same. I really don’t think that that’s mutually exclusive. On the contrary – I am certain that a democratic Egypt is a much better and more reliable neighbor to Israel than an Egypt that’s run by a corrupt dictator.

The situation in Cote D’Ivoire is the exact inverse of Egypt. There, a corrupt ruler – Gbagbo – is clinging to power and the UN wants his opponent – Ouattara – to take over, even though his opponent’s democratic credentials are no better. But Ouattara is much more convenient to the “international community” than the current ruler, who has been hostile to the AU and the UN.\

In Egypt, change is a risk. But change is coming. It would have been a great opportunity for “President Change” to say “Yes, you can!” to the Egyptian people and politely asked Mubarak to get out. One simple signal like that would have done more to encourage open, democratic society in the Middle East than years of war and forced regime change. Yet, President Obama chose to be president “small change” – once again. What a shame.

May Peace be with you, people of Egypt. But we have now seen that when you must, you kick butt! Good for you! Hang in there and good luck! Assalaamu alaykum!

This week was not difficult enough with both kids at home with the flu … no, today this guy calls and explains he’s trying to collect on a $250 loan someone using my name and SSN  took out last year somewhere in California. Great … another one! I explained politely that 1) I have never been to California and 2) I certainly have no California driver’s license and 3) most types of payday loans are illegal in North Carolina and unenforceable.

He pushed back and suggested I just pay the $250 to make sure it won’t ruin my credit. Yeah, right. The bank is too lazy to check whether the SSN matches the driver’s license, but NOW they are going to report the bad debt. I mean, they could Google my name and figure out I don’t live in California. But that’s their problem.

Still – I called Equifax and placed a 90-day fraud alert on my credit file. And I also placed a freeze on my file with all three credit bureaus. NC residents get that service free of charge, and all three have websites for placing a security freeze on your file:

Equifax Security Freeze / Trans Union Security Freeze / Experian Security Freeze

In addition, I am also now paying Equifax $7/month to email me whenever there is any change to my credit report.  I hate to do this, but who knows what that jerk who is using my SSN is up to next. The entire “credit bureau” system is a huge scam … they collect all kinds of information about you and then  you have to pay them to manage it. OK – so you get a free credit report every year (when did you last check your credit report?) but when someone is running around committing crimes using your SSN, that’s not enough. I wonder what’s next in this little saga?!

Time for a new truck crash video compilation. This is the Sergio Leone remix of the 2010 truck crashes at the Gregson St. railroad trestle. Enjoy!

Es ist mal wieder Zeit fuer einen Kompilationsfilm der LKW-Enthauptungen an unserer beruechtigten Eisenbahnbruecke hier in Durham in North Carolina. Diesmal ist der Film Sergio Leone gewidmet undf seinem Klassiker ,,The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” … auf Deutsch: Zwei glorreiche Halunken. Viel Spass!

Last night it snowed again … while Julia was at her viola lesson. On the way home I had a bit of trouble because the heater in the car does not work and so the wiper would just schmier the snow across the windshield, where it would then freeze. I had to deploy lots of washer fluid (with cleaner) to keep the windshield relatively ice free.

The sleet last night froze and then it snowed on top of that, making for a fairly slippery affair on the road. Schools called a snow day, Duke is on a severe weather plan and so we stayed home – except for Laura, who went to open her store in the afternoon. I worked from at home and shoveled the driveway. And then I took a walk through our woods.

Lots of ones today – 01/11/11 at 11:11 ( or 11/01/11 for the rest of the world …)

Happy one-eleven day!

Any ideas for how to celebrate 11/11/11 in 10 months? Maybe a party!

Finally – a voice of reason in the presidential tug-of-war in Côte D’Ivoire: Ghana’s president Atta Mills refuses to take sides, the BBC reported on Friday.

Mr Ouattara called this week for a special forces operation to remove Mr Gbagbo.

But President Mills appeared to reject such an idea in a speech on Friday. “I personally do not think the military option will solve the problem in Ivory Coast,” he said.

“Ghana is not taking sides,” he said, pointing out that:

“We have about one million Ghanaians living in Ivory Coast who could be victims of any military intervention.”

Ghanaians, Ivoirians, Bukinabe … everyone living in that country would suffer tremendously from a war – except the people who are calling for military action. I am appalled by Ouattara’s call for UN military intervention to remove Gbagbo from power. Ouattara is sitting pretty in his hotel in Abidjan, but the ordinary people who are not protected by UN tanks are the ones who would suffer.

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Deha – our 18-year-old siamese on caturday.

Photo by Zack Wheeler

Lunch today at Dain’s Place on 9th St. in Durham. I had a “Defibrilator” – a 1/2 pund burger with bacon, sweet chili, cheddar cheese, cole slaw … and topped with a hot dog … except I had mine with goat sausage. :)

We uploaded some videos of the Wally and Cleo to Laura’s YouTube channel. I shot this one on Dec. 26 after the snowstorm. Cleo was very excited about the snow. This might be the first time she experienced a real snowfall because she lived at the coast for most of her life.

Wir haben ein paar Videos unserer Pferde bei Laura’s YouTube Seite eingestellt. Diese Video habe ich am 26. Dezember gefilmt nachdem es die ganze  Nacht geschneit hatte. Cleo war ganz aus dem Haeuschen wegen dem Schnee. Wahrscheinlich hatte sie noch nie so viel Schnee gesehen, da sie den Grossteil ihres Lebens bisher and der Kueste verbracht hat.

Boy – what a surprise that year had in store for us! Perhaps the greatest change in lifestyle for Laura an me since we had children … and a much bigger surprise than the children! Of course I am talking about our horses, Waldo and Cleo.

While building our horsefarm and figuring out the ins and outs of horse-ownership was our big adventure this year, Laura and I were also pretty busy with work, and the kids were busy with school. Laura’s store had a good year and has weathered the economic troubles of the last three years quite well. I think that One World Market‘s  success shows the success of weaving a business into the social fabric of a community, and integrating social justice and community building into the business model. And of course her store’s success is also a direct result of her’s and April’s hard work keeping the customers happy.

My work is going well, too. I expanded my team and we’re getting ready to launch a new, thoroughly overhauled version of one of our lab’s key research tools.  The biggest excitement this year was probably when one of the labs we support moved out and another researcher and his team moved into the vacated space. My little side-business of licensing truck crash videos is also still doing fine. This fall I did 2 licenses with production companies for Japanese television shows. And I am still brewing fuel for my cars (and the truck, of course, which also runs on biodiesel), even though it is getting increasingly difficult to get enough oil. Still, I just started drying batch no.  60, so that brings me to a total of about 3,000 gallons, or 12,000 liters of fuel I made from used fryer oil.

Jacob is doing well in school – he is now in 5th grade and the last year in elementary school and the last year at the charter school where he has been since 3rd grade. He has made some good friends and he also likes his teacher a lot. In the fall he took a break from karate, but in December he started going to classes again. I hope that in January we can start working on our next belt levels. For his birthday, he got a kajak, which he mostly paddles around our pond. But we did take it out on the Eno a couple times as well.

Julia is still a straight-A student at school and has a tremendous work ethic. She is also getting really good at her viola play, thanks to her tenacity and our friend Barbara’s patient and skillful teaching. For Julia, the big event of the year, of course, was getting her horse. She and Cleo hit it off right away, and while we all bonded with Cleo, she is definitely Julia’s horse. And since so many of Julia’s friends are also horse-crazy girls, owning a horse has also been a tremendous opportunity for her socially.

To us, our horsefarm project was remarkable in many ways. For Laura, it was a lifelong dream to own a horse. Now we own two and they live right in our back yard. Backyard farms like ours are not uncommon around here, but still – most horse-owners board their horses. That’s a perfectly good approach, although it can be difficult to find a good place for your horse. And keeping the horses at your own place has some real advantages, as you interact with the animals every day and so you bond with them more. Most evenings we spend at least some time out there with them.

Setting up our horse habitat was also the biggest DIY project either of us had ever undertaken. Heck – it’s so big, you can see it from space! It was fun and exciting and Laura and I had very few disagreements throughout. We divided up the jobs and even managed to get the kids to help. Just the timing was a bit of a problem … if you plan to build a pasture fence, really try to do it in the spring or in the fall, when the weather is less hot. Doing this over the summer was how it worked out, but tamping fence posts in 100-Deg-F heat is not recommended. So what happened? How did we end up on a horse farm, after moving from the country to a subdivision 3  1/2 years ago?

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Today I started drying biodiesel batch no. 60 – which means I have produced 3,000 Gallons (12,000 liters) of the “good juice” since November 2006. Praise the Lard!

Collecting oil in Durham has become increasingly difficult. The competition is fierce and the restaurants are not as busy as they used to be and therefore they are not producing as much fryer oil as they used to. In addition, I now also have to feed a very thirsty 7.3-liter Powerstroke. But in the end that just means we have to get more creative and we can be less picky when it comes to the quality of the oil.

Today I went to the Durham Police Department to file an identity theft report because someone took out a payday loan using my name. When you research ID theft, most advice emphasizes the importance of filing a  police report. However, the officer I spoke with said he cannot do a report because the crime did not take place in Durham. He said to call the police department where the crime was committed. Problem is, the crime was committed on the Internet, on the loan company’s website. But anyway, so I called the police department of the town in California where the address was that was given for the loan. Of course the address was bogus and that police department would not file a report either because I could not really prove that the crime was committed there, either. Great! Now what?

So I did a bit more research about this, and found a website that recommended contacting the State Attorney General’s office. So I called the NC DOJ and ended up speaking  with their consumer protection guy. He said that such payday loans are actually illegal in North Carolina and the collection agency knows (or should know) that they cannot collect for such loans in this state. He said that the entire thing smells of a scam. He recommended I file a complaint with his office against the collection agency and that he then would be able to contact them and tell them to stop bugging me. I did that righ taway and I hope that that will be the end of it.

I was really impressed by how competent and helpful the consumer protection folks at the NC DOJ are. Isn’t it great when government works!? I am pretty hopeful that these guys can get that collection agency off my back.

Yesterday I got a call from a collection agency attempting to collect a loan a payday lending company had given to someone using my name.  A while ago I had received a letter from them to that same effect, but none of it made any sense, and so I filed it in the “whatever” bin. I get so many letters that say “important – open immediately” and “official business” and so on that turn out to be just dumb scams that I often don’t even bother opening them. This one looked just specific enough that I was not sure, though. So the lady from the collection agency called and explained the matter to me. Now I had read and heard many an account of coersive and even abusive tactics used by these people, so I was very apprehensive. But she was nice and after some Q&A I was able to establish that there was no way that I actually took out this loan.

So I called the payday loan company and after a few phone calls, we established that someone in California took out the loan over the Internet using my name and SSN and a different address. I have never been to California and so I could not have taken out the loan. In fact, that company would not even lend me any money because I am not a California resident. So this is clearly case of identity theft, albeit causing more of a nuisance (to me) than any real damage. Considering how easy it is nowadays to get valid Social Security Number and name, it’s a bit surprising how easy this company makes it to get a loan on their website! And clearly they do not verify the information carefully.

Well, tomorrow I’ll be visiting the Police Department to file an ID Theft report and then I’ll fax that to the loan company and to the collection agency, and that should be the end of that. This does make wonder though, what if it was not so easy to prove that I did not in fact take out that loan?

This morning we woke up to 3 inches of snow, after a fairly warm Christmas eve. The snow is wet and sticky. Wally and Cleo kept their faces mostly in their favorite hayroll. But in the morning, for a while Cleo was prancing around, bucking and rearing and shaking her head at the snow.

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Once again, the longest night of the year is upon us. On Dec 21, daylight lasted only 9 hours 42 Minutes here in NC, 8 hours 22 Min in Freiburg, Germany, 4 hours 7 Min in Reykjavik, Iceland.

In the old days, when people did not really understand how our solar system works, they worried about the sun and performed ancient rituals to make sure that the sun was strong enough to re-emerge from the darkness and start warming them again once spring came. For many people in the North this was also the beginning of the months of starvation, and they filled their bellies one more time on fresh meat and the wine, beer and mead of the fall before the fight for survival during the deep Winter months.

Today, we have other worries. For many of us, starvation is less of a worry than weight control. We do know that the sun will be back because we know how the Earth rotates around our star, but many other things are not so clear and reliable. So this holiday season let’s celebrate the things we can rely upon – the sun, the moon, our planet, our community, our family.

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An hour ago, at 3 AM Eastern, I rolled out of bed to check out the lunar eclipse. The moon was almost completely in the shadow of the earth. Only a sliver on the right side was still brighter than the rest of the moon. I bundled up and went outside and took a good look at it. The cold Winter air was crisp, the sky was clear  and the moon was bathed in an eerie dark orange color. Coyotes were howling in the distance.

I noticed that someone had left the door to the hay shed open and the horses had pulled out a bale of hay and were eating it. I put the bale back and gave them a couple of flakes (they have an entire roll of hay in the pasture).

Then I went back to the house and got Laura and the kids out of bed to check the cool astronomical event. But when they finally were all bundled up and ready to go out there was nothing to see! In the 15 Minutes it had taken them to wake up and get ready clouds had rolled in. How disappointing! So they went back to bed and I stayed up for a while to see if there is any chance of a break in the clouds – but no. I’m going to bed now, too.

Starting on March 1, 2011, the German military will “suspend” the general draft that has been in effect since 1957. After that date, only volunteers will be drafted into German military service – which essentially transforms the German military into a volunteer army.

This morning Der Spiegel reported that the general draft is only suspended and not completely abolished so that it can be re-instated easily in case of a military conflict. The Federal agency that oversees the conscientious objectors – or Zivis – will be transformed into a national service agency – a sort-of domestic PeaceCorps – that will offer 35,000 men and women every year the opportunity to serve the country in civilian jobs at  non-profits and charitable organizations.

Personally, I am sad to see the draft “suspended” – I would have liked to see it transformed into a draft for a general “national service corps” where the military is one of many options for young Germans to apply their talents to serve the greater good. The two years I worked for the German Red Cross as a conscientious objector were a pretty important time for me and had a lot to do with choices I made later on.

Transforming the German military into an all-volunteer force probably makes sense from an efficiency and efficacy perspective. A smaller, professional force will be better equipped to deal with modern military assignments. But this might also weaken the military’s connection with the general population and its democratic foundation. Yet, of course, a general draft is such a Cold-War relic. I just wish someone had had the wisdom to turn the draft into a proper, progressive tool, not just get rid of it – or suspend it … how half-assed is that!?. But that’s certainly asking too much from the current, half-assed gang of comedians in Berlin.