The Death of Sparkle Motion photo 2369 213 300 right Sparkle Motion after I painted the flag of New Zealand on her photo If you are not already familiar Sparkle Motion is the name given to our mighty Kiwi flag bearing Subaru Rather than bore you with details we will get right down to her last voyage strong From Dunedin to Queenstown strong a href tags Sean Peterson Sean a a href tags Tisa Peterson Tisa a and myself left Dunedin on Wednesday afternoon amazingly enough right on schedule of 3 00pm Before taking to the road we aired up the tires tyres in N Z properly and filled the pipes with oil to ensure a safe trip to Queenstown about 4 hours to the southwest of Dunedin Within about 20 minutes of passing Mosgiel just outside of Dunedin the car started smoking from the right part of the hood We continued on for a short while longer with small bursts of white smoke every so often until eventually pulling over to find out that the radiator had sprung a leak and was steaming hot smoke onto the battery We were not concerned with the battery but knew without a proper cooling system the car would overheat After trying to go a few more kilometers the temperature began rising and we were forced to turn back with the intent of heading back to Dunedin About 10km back towards Dunedin we stopped in at a B P and had a look Not only was the radiator pressure not holding but there was no coolant left in it Worse off is that they seem not to use anti freeze in this country and so the radiator has small rust deposits here and there from water erosion Much to our surprise we were able to pick up a small bottle of radiator solder We added this magic potion into the radiator pipe as instructed by the package and the serviceman and within minutes the hole had disappeared and the radiator was fixed or at least holding for the time being We drove to Queenstown monitoring the area and car temperature all the way without any problems Upon our two days in Queenstown and Wanaka much hilarity and shenanigans ensued but thats a different story strong From Lake Wanaka to Ranfurly strong After an afternoon of fishing in Lake Wanaka we reeled in 1 salmon and 1 trout we began heading back for Dunedin at about 5 00pm Sparkle Motion was running quite well as we passed through Cromwell Upon getting to Alexandra we decided that we would take the scenic route between there and Dunedin so we could see more of the country This took us down Route 85 Upon traveling down Route 85 for an hour or so we noticed that the car had begun smoking again The problem was the radiator leaking once more and so steam was shooting out from the right side of the car the drivers side in NZ We continued driving but kept a close eye on the temperature We finally came upon a town called Ranfurly which is about 130km from Dunedin We stopped in Ranfurly to check the radiator but also noticed a worse smell As it had happened some oil had begun dripping onto the engine and was being burned off This of course created even more smoke and smelled terribly After checking the oil level and thinking that everything was A OK we took back to Route 85 After about 10km of driving we were noticing heaps of white smoke shooting out the rear exhaust and then a bit more coming out of the front We deduced that we had put in too much oil and it was overspilling and furthermore burning We continued on but with extreme caution but at about 7 00pm and still 110km from Dunedin the car began handling poorly as we had just turned off of Route 85 and onto Route 87 which is the even more scenic route into Dunedin a href tags Sean Peterson Sean a and I got out of the car to investigate the matter but could see nothing more than a small cloud of white smoke coming from the engine block There was white smoke coming from the engine hot steam spraying from the radiator and a small oil leak on the concrete below We decided to start the car with the hood up to get a better idea and as I turned the key a bucket of oil fell onto the concrete below We had located the problem the Exxon Valdez was nothing compared to our car Assuming that the oil would hold we decided to head back to Ranfurly as we obviously needed repairs About halfway there the car became entirely inoperable as clouds of white smoke covered the air and we left a trail of oil behind us We pulled over at the entrance to a farm and began looking to fix the car We realized fairly quickly that the pressure sensor connected into the oil well that reads the oil pressure had blown apart and thus created a large hole for oil to drain Of course as we drove the oil would get pushed by the wind and hit the hot engine block causing it to burn and produce copious amounts of white smoke Add that to the already existing radiator steaming a href tags Sean Peterson Sean a and I tried to fix the car for about 2 hours with my Leatherman but we just could not wedge anything in there with enough force to combat the 60psi of pressure that the well was yielding About 8 cars had asked us if we needed assistance by now and with an huge windstorm coming in and nightfall upon us we had the 9th car take us back to Ranfurly To make this long part of the story short we found a mechanic still available but after several attempts at fixing the car it needed to be towed back to Ranfurly We gave the hotel manager the fish that we had caught and he put the three of us in a room without charge When we got up the next morning the car had already been fixed and went on our way Minus 150 00 kiwi dollars strong Driving From Ranfurly to Dunedin strong If this were an epic drama this is the part where it would all come together at once We made it back to Route 87 and casually drove along for about 20 minutes or so until slowing for a one lane bridge To those not familiar with one lane bridges a common New Zealand site they are simply one lane bridges where one side yields right of way to the other If the bridge is long enough it will typically have midpoint nooks for cars to wait in while another goes by As I slowed for the bridge I proceeded to down shift in the usual fashion The bridge appeared clear and so I began to accelerate and enter it I accelerated past my next gear speed and as I stepped on the clutch to up shift both a href tags Sean Peterson Sean a and I heard a loud pop So now here we were driving down a one lane bridge in the south of New Zealand with a flag bearing twenty year old Subaru which now had no clutch and consequently no way for me to control the car s speed Again we tried to fix the problem but could barely tell what it was All of the springs seemed to be in tact We finally decided to put the car into first gear start it up while pressing the gas and power shift it into the other gears In case you are not familiar with power shifting it is shifting gears without the use of the clutch This worked But I could neither down shift nor start from a stopping position which posed some problems driving through a mountain range We made it back to Mosgiel about 20 minutes south of Dunedin and when we got to the first traffic light I turned off the car put it in first waited for the green and started it up once again Everything was going fine until we got into Dunedin where there is a giant mountain the highway goes up About 5 6 of the way to the top the car would go no more as smoke began pouring out every which way A passerby had a tow rope and pulled us to the top of the mountain through the speeding traffic The problem was now that we could no longer start the car in gear as something had gone wrong in the gearbox apparently photo 4225 385 300 right Sparkle Motion getting towed away photo So for the next two hours a href tags Sean Peterson Sean a and I worked as a diligent and slightly frightened team to get the car back to my house The procedure worked by having me put the car into first gear and turn the key while a href tags Sean Peterson Sean a pushed This would generate enough spark to get the car going but a href tags Sean Peterson Sean a would have to run along and manage to jump into the moving car as there was no way for me to stop Up and down hills and mountains through yield signs technically Give Way signs in New Zealand traffic and stoplights we eventually got the car back to my house where it stunk of a burning transmission The car let off a light smoke for several hours afterwards from the oil we had burned and there was even a small puddle from all of the radiator fluid a k a water that had leaked out of the rusting apparatus Suffice to say this would be the last time Sparkle Motion was ever started

The Engine Failure The plan was for a solo XC from AUS gt AQO gt LZZ gt BMQ gt AUS Total time planned was 3 5 hrs including FSTB gassing up and eating lunch I think the flight was about 160nm round robin Preflight was completely normal oil was just a tick below 5qt gas looked fine instruments were okay and the mags checked out The left one dropped just slightly below normal so I leaned out the plane for about a minute per our procedure and rechecked it It tested within the norm the second time I departed Austin at 17 51Z a bit behind schedule but I was okay with this Very smooth departure and climb I even got routed over my property and then Mueller so I was really enjoying my views I probably reached my planned altitude of 6 500 just after the towers on Hwy 360 I leaned the mixture out as always waited for the brief drop in RPM and then a few ticks back to the right Around this time I was switched over to Houston Center for flight following on 134 20 photo 21130 521 520 left Climbing past 5 000 feet on my way to a planned 6 500 photo Around 18 35Z just getting over the intersection of HWY 281 in Marble Falls and still at 6 500 feet I noticed the engine was starting to lose power I couldn t hear it or feel it but I saw it on the tach It was dropping about 100 RPM for 1 2 second every 15 20 seconds or so I just began monitoring it and after a minute or so alerted Houston Center to my finding They asked if I wanted to declare any emergency and I said no I just wanted to say it in case the problem got worse and I needed more attention They asked me to keep them updated and business was as usual The problem persisted About 2 5 minutes later the problem got worse and I started noticing the engine dropping about 300 RPM for 1 2 seconds every 15 20 seconds with the 100 RPM drops interspersed between those I immediately alerted Houston Center to the problem with something to the effect of Houston Center Cessna 67796 My engine is definitely having problems now probably going to have to land They quickly started giving me very close attention and asking if I had power and such I replied yes but that the engine was suffering power losses At this time we established that I was a student pilot on a solo XC I had already located a bunch of fields by this time and as HC noted Horseshoe Bay was just a few miles off to my west about my 10 o clock according to Houston Though I tried to remain calm I m sure they could sense some panic in my voice by this time Still I kept doing things as needed and now treated the situation as an emergency assuming that the engine would die at any moment I went through the emergency checklist though it didn t seem to fix the 300 RPM drops I was still communicating with Houston treating the situation as an emergency and the problem was still persisting I definitely had Horseshoe Bay in my sights just a few miles off to the west and was just a little below my previous altitude I informed them that the problem was still continuing and that I would be heading for Horseshoe Bay Though I had them handy I requested the runway configuration airport elevation and the CTAF All three were given to me Just as I started my left turn and about 1 second before my heart would momentarily stop the engine lost almost compete power I can t be sure but it dropped down to about 1000 1200 RPM basically just above idle and held there for a moment before jumping back up At this point I told Houston that I had a more severe problem and that the engine was probably about to die They passed me over to Horseshoe Bay and those guys started bringing me in They cleared out all other traffic and told me either runway was mine for the taking I was still around 5 800 feet at this time PA is 2 100 about 3 miles west of the field and more or less on a perfect left line for a left downwind to runway 35 the preferred runway was for 17 but surface wind was only about 3 kts so I stuck with 35 I told Horseshoe Bay that I would be making a long extension of my downwind in order to lose my excess altitude I probably went about twice as far as normal before turning base doing the best I could to calculate all of the differences quickly in my head The engine seemed to be working with me at this point but I was also making a lot of adjustments to it so hard to know for sure I turned base still a bit too high but plenty far out On final I quickly got down to a good altitude slowed enough for flaps and added a notch The other two notches came in at my discretion as I basically was landing by feeling it out I put it down on 35 and it was actually a really nice smooth and otherwise uneventful landing Taxiing didn t seem to be much of an issue either The guy waved me to a spot and was happy to see me We called Houston Center immediately to let them know and also Flight Service to alter and close my flight plan photo 21110 521 520 left N47796 on the ground at Horseshoe Bay after my failed engine photo

The Nike Cluster On May 16th 2000 Dave Guezuraga and I launched a new type of model rocket that we had never used before Dave was the engineer behind this particular rocket and it would seem in hindsight that he crafted the machine rather well The launch site was set at Zilker park and though the sunset made for some scenic views it was only the result of us getting there late As a note it s usually not a good idea to launch model rockets at night if you expect to find them again We had a rather large crew audience for this particular launch which consisted of Eric Zavesky Klaus Wagner Annie Van Zandt and Dayna McKay The schedule called for at least one test launch of the Nike Cluster but time permitting two would ultimately ensue To give a peek into the power of this rocket this particular rocket flew on D engines specifically D12 3 engines but it happened to fly on 3 of them at once It was roughly equivalent to 24 class A engines strong The Nike Cluster Launch Number I strong photo 35954 739 300 right A bottom view showing off its 3 class D engine mounts photo Launch Number I Launch Date May 16th 2000 Launch Time 20 18 Launch Location Zilker Park Approx Landing Distance 200 meters strong How did we capture this footage strong If you happen to notice the glass looking thing sitting in the middle of the above bottom right picture it is actually a 10 gallon aquarium The purpose of having it was so that we could capture the footage that we did Generally speaking we would put it directly next to the launch pad with a video camera inside of it For this particular shoot the video camera was a Sony Digital 8mm The aquarium simply helped to protect the camera from being destroyed strong The Nike Cluster Launch Number II strong photo 35981 739 300 right The ignitor hits all three D12 3 engines at once photo Launch Number II Launch Date May 16th 2000 Launch Time 20 48 Launch Location Zilker Park Approx Landing Distance 200 meters Notes Rocket barely recovered Sustained damage from landing in a tree lost parachute and nosecone In the interest of science and exploration why stop at one launch when you can do two Truthfully it was probably not a good idea for us to have gone ahead and launched the Nike Cluster a second time The sun was almost down and it was apparent that recovering it may be somewhat of a problem The video camera we used to capture the images happened to have nightvision on it and I suppose we figured we had some sort of an advantage over the night sky We weren t entirely wrong It took about 30 minutes to recover the Nike Cluster from the first launch and have it prepped for launch II It just so happens there would not be a launch number III

SkiLudlow 2011 For the past 6 years my good friend Jason Kujda has put together a marvelous ski trip to Breckenridge Colorado for he and all of his friends He handles every component of it and even lets people pay in installments Since he has been busy this year building up his career namely saving money so that he can finally get married he decided that he was no longer going to do the ski trip After some discussion I finally decided that I would go ahead and take it over and last October announced to everyone that I would be handling it this year The following is the text that I sent out to everyone em The rumors that you have no doubt heard by now are true The annual SkiKujda trip has been successfully hijacked in a carefully planned and executed coup d etat 2011 promises to be bigger and better than all other years combined photo 35934 740 300 right Front of the skiludlow card everyone was given photo But let us not forget the many years of wonderful rule by Jason Kujda From overseeing the great fight of 2006 to his blessing laid upon the conception in 2007 Perhaps the introduction of Catchphrase in 2008 or the engagement that would soon follow And let us not forget the Banana Man Skier of 2009 the diplomatic relations with Tyler Canon of Missouri and of course SkiKujda the Movie which premiered in 2010 Only time will dictate this man s place in history The Basic Plan photo 35943 740 300 right Back of the skiludlow card everyone was given photo Most everything has already been explained to people individually but for anyone still on the fence here are the details and a breakdown of what is included We will fly into Denver on Wednesday March 23rd 2011 Depending on the flights available we will try to arrive between 10am and 1pm MST We will pick up our rental cars head into the mountains and get settled into our condos at Sawmill Creek Thursday morning we will pick up our ski rentals and then plan to ski all day Thursday Friday and Saturday Per our previous few years we ll likely try to organize a group trip to Vail on Friday for anyone who is interested in going our lift tickets will include this in the price Each day after skiing is usually met with some relaxation a social hour in the hot tub with plenty of beverages and a dinner on the town For the super human Keystone also offers night skiing As per our custom we will be planning a large group outing at The Dive Bar on Saturday night On Sunday morning we will check out drive back to Denver and fly back home What the trip includes For about 650 probably less you will be getting 4 nights in a condo basic ski rentals for 3 days upgraded skis and snowboards will be more a 3 day lift ticket also good for one day at A Basin Vail Beaver Creek and Keystone and a rental car with gas included to get you to and from the mountain There is a good chance of a few additional surprises too As always any excess money will be refunded appropriately There is no attempt to make any money off of this trip em And since there has always been a t shirt for the occasion this is the outlined version that I sent off to the printer of the first skiludlow shirt photo 35939 740 520 left The periodic table of elements with some slight modifications photo

AS GasTracker v1 0 Released photo 261541 740 300 right An overview of the basic HTML graphing photo photo 261540 740 300 right A screenshot of the data view photo This script will allow you to keep track of your gas mileage and have the results displayed in an easy to read website None of the data is harvested from anywhere on the web but is rather entered manually by the user and for the user Currently the program only supports the English system of miles and gallons Future versions intend to include the metric system as well as conversions between the figures If the demand seems to exist a future version will allow the user to import a CSV file or something similar This should satisfy any users who have historically kept up with such data with Excel and other spreadsheets Download from Freecode at a href http freecode com projects gastracker http freecode com projects gastracker a Download directly from Tar GZ a href files software packages AS GasTracker_v1_0_0 tar gz AS GasTracker_v1_0_0 tar gz a 43 789 bytes WinZip a href files software packages AS GasTracker_v1_0_0 zip AS GasTracker_v1_0_0 zip a 62 133 bytes

New Zealand Today Response photo 264397 740 300 right The cover of the magazine photo While taking a rather enjoyable and short flight from Christchurch to Dunedin I came across a seven page article in an NZ Today magazine written by editor Allan Dick With a bolded introduction proposing my thoughts in return for 100 and a supply of tea I could not refuse the offer I love tea My background in brief I am an American citizen twenty five years of age and have been traveling this fine country for the past seven months I hold an honors degree in Mathematics and have resided in the state of Texas most of my life I am generally employed as a computer programmer or web developer but I love to write especially when there is some degree of philosophy involved I am of the age where I still believe I can help the world and my future ambitions include working with NASA and even running for president of the United States Dear Mr Dick I found your views of the world fairly entertaining and certainly captivating enough for a travel through the sky There are a few things I disagree with and I would like to use this time to share them with you Firstly I would like to comment on your thoughts regarding toll roads and tax increases on petrol Allow me to note early on that I am much more in favor of toll roads over petrol taxing The reason is fairly simple toll roads ultimately create a simpler albeit more expensive passage from points a to b I doubt very sincerely that a toll road that whisks drivers to an uncharted area will be built or that an existing road will be tolled without the existence of alternate perhaps somewhat longer routes Because of this I see a toll road as a luxury a luxury affordable to those who are willing to pay its toll Petrol tax is amongst other things a highly regressive tax You can assume that as I have found my way to New Zealand such a tax increase would not ruin me and I will assume that since you are a published editor that it would not ruin you either but it seems somewhat unfair to simply include you and I in this mix The people that it hurts are those near the poverty line They pay the same 5 cent per liter increase as an example that you or I would only it is significantly more of their income with each liter pumped I have been asking myself why you make petrol cost comparisons to the UK Europe and Japan but fail to include the United States Not surprisingly these comparisons follow the same introduction that claims Petrol in this country is too cheap Petrol in New Zealand by any American standard is incredibly expensive Even with gas prices currently high in Texas I would expect to pay no more than 1 30 US gallon 0 51 NZ liter A Californian who would probably pay the most within the US might shell out around 2 40 US gallon 0 94 NZ liter Within that range prices can vary significantly around the United States but any way you dice it it is still considerably less expensive than anywhere in New Zealand That brings me to your claim that if petrol was not so inexpensive that New Zealanders would all be driving smaller cars Again using my homeland as an example the SUV Explorers Land Runners etc has been on the rise for years now Americans want their cars larger and the car companies will stop at nothing short of being able to transport your entire estate in the backseat I realize that this is the same idea that you describe occurring in New Zealand but what s wrong with it Your claims are not geared at being more efficient nor reducing gasses in the atmosphere but rather your argument is with respect to transport and traffic problems Not only that but specifically if people want to fix the aforementioned problems they will need to expect an increase in petrol tax I did not say I have a PhD in mathematics but lets see if I can get the algebra right If I drove a truck that only got 14 miles gallon and tax on gas is roughly 40 cents per gallon then I am giving the government roughly 2 8 cents per mile of travel On the other hand if I drove a mini that got 40 miles gallon with the same tax rate then I am paying the government only 1 cent per mile traveled The distance is the same but I am ultimately paying a higher tax rate to drive that gas guzzling vehicle Also as the truck s four wheels do not harm the roads any more than the mini s four wheels the road maintenance cost is the same for both Don t get me wrong I am not advocating further pollution of the Earth but you neglect to discuss green politics and thus I am simply arguing that driving smaller cars hurts the government s revenue rather than helps it This is especially true when we throw diesel into the equation Another point I would like to make is regarding your visit to a Challenge petrol station Perhaps you are much wealthier than I but the ability to save money is just that Your blurb about a man thinking he would save 20 on petrol at a Challenge station over a BP station is humorous but its connotation is also somewhat arrogant Years ago I would ask my mother why she spent the time to cut out market coupons in the Sunday paper even though I knew we could afford our groceries without them Her response was always you don t become wealthy by wasting your money It seemed silly to me when I was ten but it is perfectly logical now Consistently saving 2 cents per liter of gas adds up quite quickly and claiming the savings are not worth your thought is capitalistically incorrect It is incredible what amount of money a shrewd shopper is able to save in a year saving on petrol is just one of those savings Furthermore scoffing at the consumer for his or her desire to save a few pennies undermines the goal and ability of a free and competitive market to work for the consumer You point out in the same passage how even though only a few pennies could be saved via Challenge the BP station was still empty It is by that very example that the BP station would ultimately have been forced to lower its petrol prices by 2 cents in order to resume business If Challenge then wished to drop another cent or two it could do so thus regaining control of the local market and BP would have to match it and so on and so forth Eventually both stations would assume a financial level where they could no longer afford to drop their prices and the competitive market has been a success the consumer is now paying the most nominal price for his or her petrol In regards to your overall argument this does not adversely affect what the government collects as the tax rate on petrol remains constant If anything the government is able to collect slightly more from this local market as people may be more inclined to consume higher quantities of petrol finally available at a cheaper rate As for your concluding paragraphs in this section I tend to agree We could probably solve a lot of problems in the world if real solutions were provided and the powers that be ie politicians stuck to those solutions instead of finding ways to mend them for personal financial gain Since however we do not live in such an idealistic world we need to work with what we have Flat taxes can be great in certain areas specifically when some of the proceeds will help those that the tax hurts most Increasing petrol tax does not do this There is zero return a poor person will expect to gain over a wealthy person with reduced traffic or better roads Choosing between your two options the toll road only financially hurts those who choose to drive it You could argue that it s the same thing where higher petrol taxes only affect those who choose to purchase petrol Unfortunately for many that is similar to arguing that increasing food prices only affects those who eat definitely a true statement but immensely unfair given the necessity If you d like to use my math from above to help your government increase revenue get rid of those small engine anti gas gobbling three cars you have Instead buy a car that gets 1 kilometer to the liter You ll be paying the government the full tax rate for each kilometer traveled The ozone hole over Alexander may slightly increase but you ll get to work faster thanks to reduced traffic from increased government profits Another section of your article that I would like to comment on is regarding the assassination of John F Kennedy I certainly am not picking on you in this matter as there are literally millions of people that have written about the conspiracies that may or may not have existed The point that I would like to bring across especially when depicting American history in a New Zealand magazine is that Kennedy contrary to popular belief is not that unique Ask any American which presidents have been assassinated and you ll most definitely hear Kennedy A generous proportion will also tell you Lincoln I doubt very sincerely however that you will hear the likes of James Garfield or William McKinley both assassinated The fact is that 4 of 43 presidents have in fact been killed just over 9 of our complete presidential history Moreover 4 additional presidents have suffered assassination attempts the most famous probably being Ronald Regan yielding roughly an 18 chance that someone may try to kill you while president of the US Why then is Mr Kennedy so famously credited with being assassinated I have no idea whether or not there was a conspiracy to kill JFK but what I do know is that is that we as humans tend to make up better stories about the more popular or controversial figures There is nothing terribly surprising about that logic but it does put a nasty thorn in the side of conspiracy theorists because scientifically speaking the control group less popular figures has suffered just as many occurrences So what was the great conspiracy to kill McKinley or Jackson or even Truman Gerald Rudolph Ford had assassins after him twice why didn t Oliver Stone make a movie titled GRF The reason is simply that there just is not enough controversy and mystery to dig up Truman approved the incineration of tens of thousands of people in minutes you would think we could find good reason to discuss gunner Oscar Collazo at the same level as Oswald but the time was different WWII did not have the same controversy as the Vietnam war The media format of the time was different and there was not a tremendously sized hippie movement in the 40 s as there was in the 60 s Best of all Collazo was not Japanese and the assassination attempt had nothing to do with the atomic bombs at all but rather issues regarding Puerto Rico The elements just happen to line up for JFK That does not take away from the notion that there could have been a conspiracy but rather that it s easier for us to believe there must have been one instead of considering that perhaps we are over examining one moment in time It does seem that Oswald could not have acted alone but why is it so impossible to accept that perhaps his partner s in crime got lucky and ultimately got away Plain and simple Will we ever know Most likely we will not But quoting you in public life perception is often more important than reality I could not agree more with that statement and would like to use it for my own benefit We will always be more infatuated with the perception that the government set all of pieces moving rather than the possibility that one or two radicals didn t like Kennedy Either way given he was just one of eight presidents targeted for removal in American history his assassination is not quite as unique as we have made it out to be for 40 years I hope you will find my comments insightful and fully worth a supply of tea photo 264396 740 520 left My response in print Page 1 photo photo 264399 740 520 left My response in print Page 2 including Mr Dick s own commentary on the paper photo

State Representative District 46 Filing photo 315901 740 300 right Caption Here photo I m running for the Texas House of Representatives in District 46 Here is what I have to say about it strong A Little Background strong As most all of my friends know I have been highly engaged in politics since my early 20s This escalated around the age of 23 when I began traveling the world more freely and exposed myself to different cultures and ideals It continued into my later 20s as I became more and more frustrated with our destructive 2 party system and sought after 3rd party candidates and dissidents within the major parties Nader Paul Kucinich amongst others At 33 I published my first political science book a href http www amazon com American Healthcare Moderate Kevin Ludlow dp 1480069442 American Healthcare A Moderate Approach a ALMOST a NY Times Best Seller and also began a political science podcast with a friend of mine called the a href http www jkpod com JKPodcast a Sadly it s been on hiatus since the summer due to a new baby but we ll fire it up again soon And so it stands to reason that at the ripe young age of 34 u a href http www lptexas org texas house representatives I have officially filed for candidacy in the State of Texas a u I am running for the Texas House of Representatives District 46 where I live strong Qualify what this means strong Unless I am able to find momentum in my local community to back my candidacy I have no intention of attempting to run an actual campaign This is not because I am uninterested in it but rather that politics heavily favors the two party system heavily favors incumbents and my opponent is part of both I am historically much more of a political activist than a politician But having said that and since I am eligible to run for office it sounds like an amazing opportunity and I will take it very seriously State district 46 a href http www fyi legis state tx us fyiwebdocs PDF house dist46 m1 pdf essentially east and northeast Austin a has been represented by a href http www house state tx us members member page district 46 Dawnna Dukes a for as long as I can remember Personally speaking she seems like an absolutely lovely woman I have been in her company in numerous events over the years and been introduced at least twice But this coming year I will have my name along side hers on the ballot Though I loathe both the Democrats and Republicans she is a Democrat her legislative efforts in the House have appeared mostly humanitarian in nature Granted this is really more of a surface analysis If you dig deeper you ll likely uncover that she s not been particularly helpful to the LGBT community of Austin she supports drug penalties despite such laws heavily weighing against most of her district and I even found that she would support a state income tax There s also an occasional weird one that I come across in Dawnna s case is was the support of corporal punishment in school I find myself asking what year is this strong How did this all come about strong Several months back the a href http www lptexas org Libertarian Party of Texas a reached out to political activists and asked if any would consider a run for office I responded that I would About two months ago I received a call asking if I was serious about running I maintained that I was Finally about four weeks ago I received a call asking if I was em REALLY em serious about running I took a small step back I explained how I had no proven ability to run a campaign namely as I do not have proper funding for such a thing I also explained that my personal political interests have tended towards Austin and National politics I have been interested in making a run for a Congressional seat Unfortunately the party explained to me that given the number of people seeking a national seat I should start with the state level and they would be willing to back me I welcomed the new idea strong What is the goal strong The Libertarian Party is attempting to fill Texas ballots with people who are well versed in the goals and ideals of libertarianism as a philosophy For the most part this appeals to me greatly and I am happy to get involved I should note here that I am NOT a Tea Party activist and for the most part do NOT agree with the policies of the Tea Party This extends into general women s rights LGBT rights abortion positions I m very pro choice though do understand and respect the views of anti abortionists and immigration policies I inherently support open borders I am also an agnostic atheist and this carries with me dearly into my political views I fully support God just not with respect to legislation of the masses Representative Dukes is a well regarded state politician and it would be foolish to think I could just strut into the ring and unseat her she is good at being a politician That said if I am able to find supporters in the local area I will gladly run as best a campaign I possibly can And should that result in a victory somewhere down the road I will happily take her seat in the House Chambers Beyond that and with all things in my life I intend to have a great deal of fun with the process I m sure I will learn a thing or two about the process of a state campaign from more of the inside out In the next few days I will put together a short document that outlines my political views on major issues If nothing else I am very consistent in my views and am happy to have them documented publicly most already are Having now gotten all of the reality check out of the way strong a href http www ludlow2014 com vote Ludlow 2014 a strong

Zoso Halloween Pumpkin One of the first fancy pumpkins that I ever created. As is probably the case with a lot of college apartments, ours was covered with posters of Led Zeppelin, and I thought it would be appropriate to transfer the 'Stairway to Heaven' poster onto the pumpkin. Here is the commentary from my original website: Introduction While living at the Duval Street apartment, my roommates and I had quite an elaborate display of crap in front of our apartment door. Most of this was designed / put in place by none other than me. We had a park bench, an assortment of fruits and vegetables, plants, a 400 pound wooden Shiner Beer bottle, and for Halloween of 1998, a cool pumpkin. Seeing on how our apartment was a common ground of music lovers and such (we had the full band setup in the apartment), I guess classic rock was always something that everyone could agree upon, regardless of their specific music tastes. And of course somewhere atop everyone's classic rock stack is a collection of Led Zeppelin. I wanted to make a cool looking pumpkin that everyone would find some interest in and so I looked to Led Zeppelin. Perhaps one of the most known symbols (at least to the LedHeads) is Jimmy Page's "Zoso".

Making the Pumpkin The process of making a "Zoso" pumpkin is actually pretty simple. 1. Go to your local pumpkin patch 2. Pick out a nice looking 8 pounder 3. Pull out all of those tasty pumpkin guts 4. Surf the web for a picture of the Zofo logo 5. Print the picture and tape it to the pumpkin 6. Use a tack to outline the picture 7. Remove the picture and cut away on the tack holes Thats about it. For anyone who is mildly curious as to what in the hell Zoso means, I couldn't tell you. I've read far too many accounts to really speculate where it came from but the simplest one is that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were looking at calligraphy-like symbols. Jimmy Page found one that he liked and apparently the symbol 'sounded' like "Zoso" (apparently pronounced Zo-So). From that point on, it was sort of a trademark of his. For any of those now curious as to who the hell Jimmy Page is, he is/was the guitarist of Led Zeppelin and is credited with being one of the more (if not most) famous classic rock guitarists.

Sample Page This is an example page It s different from a blog post because it will stay in one place and will show up in your site navigation in most themes Most people start with an About page that introduces them to potential site visitors It might say something like this blockquote Hi there I m a bike messenger by day aspiring actor by night and this is my blog I live in Los Angeles have a great dog named Jack and I like pi 241 a coladas And gettin caught in the rain blockquote or something like this blockquote The XYZ Doohickey Company was founded in 1971 and has been providing quality doohickies to the public ever since Located in Gotham City XYZ employs over 2 000 people and does all kinds of awesome things for the Gotham community blockquote As a new WordPress user you should go to a href http 64 17 5 210 www kevinludlow com util Wordpress wp admin your dashboard a to delete this page and create new pages for your content Have fun

The Zoso Pumpkin While living at the Duval Street apartment my roommates and I had quite an elaborate display of crap in front of our apartment door Most of this was designed put in place by none other than me We had a park bench an assortment of fruits and vegetables plants a 400 pound wooden Shiner Beer bottle and for Halloween of 1998 a cool pumpkin Seeing on how our apartment was a common ground of music lovers and such we had the full band setup in the apartment I guess classic rock was always something that everyone could agree upon regardless of their specific music tastes And of course somewhere atop everyone s classic rock stack is a collection of Led Zeppelin I wanted to make a cool looking pumpkin that everyone would find some interest in and so I looked to Led Zeppelin Perhaps one of the most known symbols at least to the LedHeads is Jimmy Page s Zoso strong Making the Pumpkin strong The process of making a Zoso pumpkin is actually pretty simple 1 Go to your local pumpkin patch 2 Pick out a nice looking 8 pounder 3 Pull out all of those tasty pumpkin guts 4 Surf the web for a picture of the Zoso logo 5 Print the picture and tape it to the pumpkin 6 Use a tack to outline the picture 7 Remove the picture and cut away on the tack holes That s about it For anyone who is mildly curious as to what in the hell Zofo means I couldn t tell you I ve read far too many accounts to really speculate where it came from but the simplest one is that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were looking at calligraphy like symbols Jimmy Page found one that he liked and apparently the symbol sounded like Zofo apparently pronounced Zo So From that point on it was sort of a trademark of his For any of those now curious as to who the hell Jimmy Page is he is was the guitarist of Led Zeppelin and is credited with being one of the more if not most famous classic rock guitarists photo 19568 502 520 left The pumpkin glowing on my front porch photo photo 19569 502 520 left Another picture of the same thing photo photo 19570 502 520 left A closeup of the Zoso logo photo