As part of its effort to tackle the high general aviation accident rate the FAA has been installing webcams at remote Alaska airports allowing pilots to assess local conditions before flying. For many of the locations this is not a trivial problem as power and net are not easy to find.
If you watch long enough, perhaps you'll see a bear.
http://akweathercams.faa.gov/wxcams/map.php
Marin Marais was playing on the iPod during today's walk. I came across a 250th Commemoration Collection at Oberlin College a few years ago (Gasparo Records #1002). The performance of Sonnerie De Ste. Genevieve Du Mont De Paris is particularly fine.
I'm delighted to have discovered the CD in a forgotten pile recently as I was preparing to digitize an old LP to put this piece on the iPod. If you haven't digitized and compressed a few LPs or cassettes, you are clearly having too much fun.
A search of Amazon turned up a copy.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000025YJB/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_4/002-8043928-8969649
The Internet allows you to scan a few papers at regular intervals. My home town's local paper notes that a group of Harley riders has arrived while the state fair is underway. It isn't clear if this is a clash, but having the local symphony orchestra perform for them will certainly be a memorable touch - maybe as nice as the side trip to the brewery.
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20020803/topstories/356183.html
If you haven't been to a small fair in an agricultural state, you really should go. Food on a stick, 4H, more food, carnies, teenagers looking for teenagers and rigged games of chance.
A memorable feature of the Montana State Fair is the cow chip tossing contest. A rather large pile of - well - cow chips is provided and contestants are allowed to choose their missile as long as it meets a minimum weight requirement. There is usually a nice selection ranging from bone dry to recent and potential winners spend some time finding the perfect object.
On a memorable August day a strapping farm girl who easily topped six feet picked out something slightly wet and marched to the starting line. Her size was enough to get the crowd's attention and she responded with a discus short rather than the more conventional shot put style. It was clear that she had strength, but her technique left something to be desired as the brown object found itself release to flight approximately ninety degrees too early in her windup.
For those not in the line of fire the eight pound missile was transformed into a thing of some beauty as it tumbled along its trajectory. Those in the line of fire were attempting to move, but the flight time was low several people were offered a taste of nature. The rest of us left the event with a appreciation for clean things.
State Fairs are cool
Butter sculpture seems to be a fixture at Midwestern fairs. Karrie notes the Minnesota State Fair has Princess Kay of the Milky Way with the winner enjoying the prize of spending hours in a glass booth with a butter artist and a large block of butter that takes on her appearance. She and her family have the added thrill of taking the block home for good eating over the next several moths. I couldn't find good images from the Minnesota Fair, but here is a bit of butter sculpture.
http://members.aol.com/vsculpture/AssetsFood/foodsculpture.html
It isn't butter, but Wallace and Gromit come to mind. W&G is simply the best use of claymation on the planet.. If you have never experienced W&G, you need to run to your video store and rent "The Wrong Trousers". Feathers is my favorite character, but I like minimalism. Chicken Run was done by this shop and was wonderful technically, but not as successful as a story.
http://www.aardman.com/wallaceandgromit/index.shtml
5:44:41 AM 
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