Coyote Gulch

Friday, June 9, 2006

Coyote Gulch is heading down the two-lane blacktop for some camping and star-gazing. We may even get our toes wet at a hot springs (or two). We won't have any broadband access for a while and the old cell phone data plan would break the bank (if we can get a signal) - so no posts for a couple of days. We'll be back late Monday. Send email to coyotegulch AT mac.com if you run across something you think we should comment on.

8:08:18 AM

? for president?
Political Wire: "A new Gallup poll finds Hillary Clinton with 'a wide lead over other 2008 Democratic presidential nomination hopefuls among Democrats nationwide, while Rudy Giuliani has a slight lead over John McCain on the Republican side.' Thirty-six percent of Democrats support Clinton, while 16% percent Al Gore. Meanwhile, Giuliani and McCain 'are closely matched in the Republican contest, with 29% of Republican registered voters supporting Giuliani and 24% supporting McCain.'"
"2008 pres"
7:57:21 AM

Vengeance
Jesus' General: "Dear Rep. Musgrave, I was very sorry to hear about the recent assault against your office. Some people might think shoving an envelope full of dog doody into a mail slot is funny, but unlike your local police department, national-security-oriented bloggers like myself see it for what it truly is, a biological attack launched by Francoliberalislamunists from Mexico."

7:52:18 AM

Ritter or Beauprez for governor?
Rasmussen Reports: "The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll in Colorado finds Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter (D) edging out GOP Representative Bob Beauprez by five points, 43% to 38%, in the race for Governor. The two likely nominees have been neck-and-neck for a few months now. In April Beauprez led by a couple points, 39% to 37%. In March, Ritter had a point on Beauprez, 41% to 40%. Ritter's late-February lead over Beauprez, 40% to 33%, was substantial, but a blip; at the time, popular Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper had just squelched speculation that he might seek the Democratic nomination. Still, Colorado has been trending toward the Democrats. And Republicans have been bogged down recently by in-fighting, having to do partly with the nationwide Republican malaise; partly with the passage last November of a measure, Referendum C, that weakens the state's tax-capping TABOR law; and partly with voting procedures at last month's assembly." Thanks to Coloradolib for the link.
"denver 2006"
7:48:42 AM

Super Plastic Both Attracts and Repels Water

Technology Review: "A new, practical method for making surfaces with patterns of areas that strongly attract and strongly repel water could lead to a highly efficient method for capturing clean water. This versatile material could also find uses in fabricating new types of devices for medical tests and chemical synthesis. Scientists have reported numerous applications of water-attracting (superhydrophilic) and water-repelling (superhydrophobic) surfaces, including fog-free eyeglasses and windshields, and self-cleaning cloth and glass. Now a group of researchers in MIT's materials science and engineering department has combined those opposing characteristics on a single surface, by using a simple and versatile fabrication process...

"Robert Cohen, Michael Rubner, and colleagues started by assembling a nano-structured film made of alternating layers of positively and negatively charged polymers and silica nanoparticles. The film's structure and a coating of waxy fluorinated silane cause water to bead on it, forming near-perfect spheres that easily roll off. To add the superhydrophilic regions (to which water droplets cling), the researchers applied a naturally hydrophilic polymer to selected areas.

"In dry regions of the world, without easy access to clean water, such a material could be used for collecting water. In this application, the hydrophilic areas of the material would attract moisture in the air, collecting water drops that accumulate, until they spill over into the hydrophobic regions and roll into a collecting channel. Currently, in countries with limited access to clean water, the inhabitants typically use large polypropylene fiber meshes to harvest water from fog. The new technology 'would provide a more than tenfold increase in water capture compared to the inefficient nets that are used currently,' says Andrew Parker, a biologist at Oxford University and the Natural History Museum in London, who has studied the desert beetle that inspired the MIT work. If the new material 'could be added simply to the roofs of houses in areas subjected to desert fogs,' says Parker, 'then a water supply could be gained with little effort.' Rubner's lab is also taking the technique further. 'When we harvest water, we have chemistry built into the hydrophilic area so that it has an antibacterial agent to kill off bacteria and other things that cause harm,' Rubner says. This decontaminates the water as it accumulates so that the collected water is safe for use. Applying this technique, the researchers have been able to kill common harmful bacteria in four minutes, he says."
"colorado water"
7:35:53 AM

Holtzman for governor?
Marc Holtzman is still in the news, although he's not yet on the primary ballot. Here's an article from the Denver Post about his efforts to get on the ballot. From the article, "Republican gubernatorial hopeful Mark Holtzman asked Denver District Court on Thursday to immediately place his name on the primary ballot - even though it's still unclear if he has enough valid signatures. The complaint filed by Holtzman's legal team late Thursday contends the secretary of state's office may certify the primary ballot today - as required by law - leaving Holtzman in 'immediate danger' of not being included. His attorneys argued that while Holtzman could suffer 'irreparable harm' by being left off the ballot, no one would suffer by his being included. 'No harm can result either to the Secretary or to the other candidate running for the Republican nomination for Governor, Bob Beauprez, should the court grant the requested relief,' the complaint states. If for any reason Holtzman is later ruled ineligible, 'the secretary can be ordered not to count votes cast for plaintiff.' The suit also asks the court to find that Holtzman has gathered the required 1,500 signatures from the 1st and 7th congressional districts. Last week, Secretary of State Gigi Dennis ruled Holtzman was short in both. Holtzman attorney John Head said he will file additional requests with the court today."

The Denver Post reviewed some of the Holtzman petition signatures rejected by the Secretary of State's office and found that some of them should not have been rejected. From the article, "The Post analysis found specific instances in which valid signatures were thrown out. In the two key districts, 20 names that the secretary of state said were not in the computer, had no valid address or were not affiliated with the Republican Party are exact matches to voter record rolls, a comparison of voter registration and signatures databases found. At least 22 additional names are so close that they probably should have been validated by secretary of state workers. Those people signed the petition using their middle names instead of first names or there was a typo in their address or another minor difference. However, even if every name that could be matched to a district by combining rejected signatures and voter records were validated, Holtzman would fall 161 signatures short in the 1st and 268 short in the 7th. Many of the 4,239 signatures rejected by the secretary of state when workers were unable to find them in the database could not immediately be matched to congressional districts. It is possible those signatures would close the gap."
"denver 2006"
6:20:42 AM

Preferred Options Storage Plan

Officials from the rainy side of Colorado want their concerns considered in legislation that will create the Preferred Options Storage Plan, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "Western Slope water interests want to address the economic, social and environmental impacts of water transfers if they are studied under a water storage bill for the Arkansas Valley. The Colorado River District has obtained the support of U.S. Rep. John Salazar in including impacts on areas where water has been exported in a sweeping study by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Salazar has suggested a study of the historic impacts of water projects under the Preferred Storage Options Plan, which would study enlargement of Lake Pueblo and Turquoise Lake. PSOP, stalled for five years in Congress, also would formalize the Bureau of Reclamation's authority to lease storage space to Aurora, a city of more than 300,000 east of Denver that moves water it owns in Crowley and Otero counties to Twin Lakes via exchanges. Aurora's water is pumped from Twin Lakes through the Homestake Pipeline and Otero Pumping Station. The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project diverts water from the Hunter-Fryingpan drainage area west of the Continental Divide into Turquoise Lake. The Colorado River District has expressed its concerns in the past, reaching an agreement with the Southeastern District in late 2004 on a different version of PSOP...

"[Chris Treese, external affairs manager of the Colorado River District] asked to include Western Slope points of diversion and affected downstream areas in the PSOP legislation. He said he has discussed changes with Salazar's office, hitting several nerves that already have stalled the bill. Last month, Miskel predicted the Western Slope diversions would be raised."
"colorado water"
6:04:54 AM

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