Reclaim the Public Domain

Larry Lessig has announced an online petition to encourage Congress to give meaning back to the public domain.

He needs our participation. Go there. Read it. Sign it if you can!

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Running with Cliff

There is a place along the trail where the gravel path appears to end. It runs smack-dab into a wooden fence with the lake to the left and an asphalt parking lot to the right. Here an unsuspecting runner might not realize that the trail turns suddenly and skirts the edge of the parking lot between faint painted lines by the curb.

I saw a man dash out from behind that fence. What a convenient place to live, I thought, in those apartments over there. You would never have to drive to the lake.

I wondered about the man as I automatically turned at the fence and followed the painted lines. Does he have room mates? Does he work downtown? Or is he a student? I wondered these things about the man, but when we got to the edge of the parking lot where the painted lines meet the sidewalk of Riverside Drive, he stopped.

He looked left and looked right, and then he turned around as I passed him. He watched as I jogged by and then started running again, following me. After several steps I realized that he must have been a stranger in town, that he must have lost the trail back there at the fence. I turned around and waited.

Are you looking for the trail? I asked as he caught up. He was.

His name was Cliff. He was in town on business from Seattle, where 80-degree days are too hot to run. And although it was still early, the heat of the Texas sun beating down on us was evidently making him regret his decision to get some morning exercise.

As we ran the rest of the seven mile loop, I showed him where every water stop was.

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Town Lake Hike and Bike Trails, Austin TX

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