Psychological manipulation is rampant in social media, we see it all the time, but the ultimate master at this game is none other than the tweeter-in-chief Donald Trump. Take for example this one innocuous sounding tweet "It's okay to say Merry Christmas now". Well of course you think. That sounds totally reasonable. Why shouldn't it be okay to say Merry Christmas? Wait, you mean it wasn't okay before to say Merry Christmas? I didn't know that? So you check it out and soon discover there was a "war on Christmas" led by those godless liberal thought police. Oh no you think.
Lieb's Log
The United States is a divided country. Toss out any issue and Americans will split pretty much 50/50 on it. This doesn't have to be a bad thing. The age old favorites, Coke vs. Pepsi, Ford vs. Chevy, just led to more choices without causing any harm. But when it comes to politics we are locked into an two party, either/or, situation that is harming us all. To survive our government is going to need some fundamental changes.<br />
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Winner takes all means we all loose.</h3>
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Coffeneuring is a thing that happens in the fall where people ride their bikes to coffee shops. The "neuring" part comes from Randonneuring where people ride their bikes for hundreds of miles, sometimes for days on end, stopping only for a quick bite to eat. Coffeeneuring is not like that. Rides can be any distance and done at any pace. You just have to stop and have coffee/tea/other along the way. So here are some of the coffeneuring rides I did this fall.
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">To: </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">gib.a.owen.civ@mail.mil </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><gib owen=""></gib></span></span></span><br />
My first full year of retirement allowed me to do lots of bike touring. I rode 7,110 total miles for the year, which is an all time personal best. I got to ride through a lot of beautiful and interesting places, met lots of new friends, and reconnected with lots of old friends. Looking forward to a lot more of the same in 2017
Winter - I've got my plane tickets and my bike is half in the box. New Zealand Feb 1 - Mar 20 . It's a go.
Spring - Coast Range gravel gliding. Hopefully a 200k brevet. Maybe a short trip through the Cascades to conincide with McKenzie pass care free days.
Summer - I may pass on the MVBC Loop Tour this year as I just did most of that route laste fall. Instead I may head up to B.C. and then east to Jasper, and then south to Banff, and back in the US at Glacier. I could take the train home from Montrana.
I'm very satisfied that I met most of my touring goals for the year.
Winter - I did a Florida loop
Spring - 4 day trip to the coast for ACA Bike Travel Weekend.
Summer - MVBC Loop Tour in the Willowas. Then Washington and the John Wayne Pioneer Trail.
Fall - Crater Lake and Ashland.
Seeing so many young people get excited about politics this year because of Bernie Sanders made me think of another time and another candidate who inspired young people to get involved. That was in 1968 and that candidate was Eugene McCarthy. There are many similarities between Gene and Bernie, but first a little background on the times.<br />
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Recently I received a survey from the Democratic National Committee. Most of it was not very relevant to what I care about so I took the opportunity to write them this letter to return with the survey.</div>
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The so called militia that has invaded the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (can I call them outside agitators?) may be a misguided bunch of angry white men, but their intention to get us to take a close look at how our public lands are managed is worthy of attention. The BLM, and to a lesser extent the Forest Service, have to balance a very diverse set of interests and priorities.
Last winter I set some ambitious goals for the year. Here is how it worked out.
Heart of the valley - Yes did this ride again this year. - Heart of the Valley 2015
Valsetz loop - Nope not yet. Did do the Cardwell Hill to Hoskins part, as well as a nice loop including Harris road.
Recently I was listening to a news story about how these psychopaths that shoot up schools are often motivated by various websites and social media groups. Evidently there are sites that go so far as to glorify past school shootings. My immediate thought was "why hasn't anyone taken these sites down?" I then realized this is just a technical problem. As someone who worked in technology for many years I've learned that technical problems are the easiest to solve. Consensus, resources, priorities, these are the hard problems.
With 4 tours covering a good deal of Oregon and Washington, 3 years of commuting all winter, plus numerous overnight tours and day rides, the Soma Saga has been a solid, dependable, and fun ride. This page has the original specs and a picture when it was new. I think I did the first two tours with the Jandd Extreme front rack, but then opted for the Tubus Tara low rider. I've changed the saddle a few times, most recently to a Selle Anatomica X series. The original set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires got 6,500 miles without a flat.
What if I were to tell you that Americans are being held hostage by a terrorist organization, and that these terrorists have enabled the deaths of thousands of Americans, including school children. You'd expect our government to do something about it wouldn't you? What if you then found out that the government won't do anything because this very same terrorist organization has bought out the majority of our representatives through campaign contributions? Time to put an end to this don't you think?
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We need to repeal the second amendment and eliminate all guns. Here is why.</div>
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Politics is a spectrum. In the 1970's and into the 80's the Democratic party was dominated by liberals that kept the ideas of social justice, opportunity, and the well being of all of us in the minds of the American people. When there were political debates these issues were always at the forefront. Then along came Bill Clinton. He saw that they only way to get elected was to move to "the middle of the road". So what happens when you walk down the middle of the road? You get run over, which is exactly what happened to the Democrats under Bill Clinton.