(I would have promoted this even if it didn’t come from someone running for statewide office.  This is fascinating. – promoted by JulieWaters)

Understanding the needs of our state and bringing more Vermonters into the political process are two important ways we can help move our state forward. That’s why yesterday we launched a new interactive application for Facebook that allows people to share, discuss and vote on questions and answers posed by our campaign. We’re also excited to be beta-testing this application with an innovative company that is based right here in Vermont.

Brick Oven Media is a Colchester-based startup that specializes in cutting edge social media technology. When CEO Thomas Bacon asked us to help test and launch their flagship product, Gooroo, I saw it as a fantastic opportunity not only to encourage and support a local Vermont innovator, but also to utilize a new online platform for communicating with Vermonters.

The Gooroo application is available in the “Q&A Game” tab of our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/mattdu… or directly at http://apps.facebook.com/mattd… .  

Gooroo is specifically designed to encourage open and transparent conversation. The application allows Vermonters to answer questions about a range of topics, including policy ideas, news events, and problems faced by our state. While we’re constantly meeting with Vermonters around the state at events such as service politics projects, house parties, meetings and forums, Gooroo provides a great new platform through which we can engage with people online. By allowing voters to actively interact with their political leaders and with each other, Gooroo helps facilitate the type of open, democratic and accessible political process that is part of Vermont’s history.

Additionally, it’s exciting to see this type of cutting edge software being developed right here in Vermont. As a state, we need to continue encouraging exactly this kind of ingenuity.  The ability for inventive people like Tom Bacon to freely implement their technology and business ideas is absolutely critical for the future of Vermont’s economy.  As a former employee at a small Vermont software company myself, I not only understand the need to build the environment and infrastructure necessary to allow innovators like Gooroo to flourish– I also have the experience to make it happen.

I encourage you to try out  the Gooroo application today. You can visit it through the “Q&A Game” tab on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/mattdu… or by accessing it directly at: http://apps.facebook.com/mattd… . Check out the application and join us in a conversation about how to move our state forward.

Elections – Governor: The Jim Douglas-Jason Gibbs strategy of throwing everything they can think of at Deb Markowitz (on Brian Dubie’s behalf) in order to generate an incompetence narrative flailed a bit yesterday. From a Gibbs press release (that, again, made no mention of his actual opponents in the Secretary of State election):

DUXBURY – Jason Gibbs today sent a letter to incumbent Secretary of State Deb Markowitz urging her to verify the accuracy of information available to Vermonters serving in all of the uniformed services.

In the letter, Gibbs notes that Governor Jim Douglas, in a satellite interview from Afghanistan on Saturday, noted that the date being provided to troops when he was in Baghdad, Iraq was still the old date of September 14th, not the new date of August 24th.

This raises significant concerns about the accuracy of information being provided at military posts around the globe, Gibbs said.

Not only is this return to the typical GOP strategy of using troops as political hockey pucks rather nauseating, it turns out to be an epic (and rather embarrassing) misfire. When the change in the primary date was made, the Secretary of State followed procedures properly, working with the Federal Voting Assistance Program. According to insiders, the breakdown in communication was the responsibility of the Voting Assistance Officer overseas.

So instead of directing their (manufactured) shock and outrage at candidate Markowitz, Douglas and Gibbs would be better served by taking aim at Vermont’s Adjutant General – Michael Dubie. That would be Brian’s brother.

Oops.

On the upside, this episode may finally put an end to Markowitz’s record of warm & fuzzy characterizations of Jim Douglas. According to reports, in some public appearances earlier in her term, she went so far as to refer to him as a “mentor.”

GMDers-

I thought you might be interested in this event. It should be a good time!

– Doug Racine

An Evening with Joe Trippi

Tales from the Trails & Forecasts for 2010

Monday August 2nd

7:30 pm – 9 pm

Burlington Country Club Banquet Room

568 South Prospect St, Burlington, VT  05401

$40/individual or $75/couple – http://www.actblue.com/page/tr…

Light hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Cash bar.

Joe Trippi – heralded on the cover of The New Republic as the man who “reinvented campaigning” – is widely recognized as one of America’s leading and most influential political strategists. In 2004 he won Wired Magazine’s Rave Award for his use of innovative technology in politics. Leading Internet companies, from Yahoo!, to Google, to Bebo invite him to speak to their employees and affiliates. Trippi is the author of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everything the story of how his revolutionary use of the Internet combined with an impassioned, contagious desire to overturn politics-as-usual grew into a national grassroots movement – and changed the face of American politics forever. He is currently consulting on the Racine for Governor campaign.

Although it was a surprise message delivered at this years “Netroots Nation” progressive blogger conference, the video from President Obama is clearly meant for readers of this site as well, as we are all members of the greater progressive blog community.

(Fellow blogger Philip Baruth’s campaign continues to set new standards for State Senate races. – promoted by GMD)

Dear GMDers,

We’ve just released a new campaign film by noted Burlington filmmaker Bill Simmon, of Candleblog fame.  It’s called “Long Race,” and it’s the stories behind the campaign’s focus on single-payer, universal broadband, and shutting Yankee down on schedule (with the bill for clean-up paid in full by Entergy Louisiana).  Hope you all like it.  

It’s a step and a big step. It is really telling that no matter how much government money intended to improve our physical communications infrastructure is being thrown around, publicly owned projects like Burlington’s BT and this ECFiber project are treated like lepers in a downtown department store.

Nope … no tax dollar for the public, but gosh all mighty we got plenty of tax dollars for the big private corporations. And these big private corporations are offering nothing close to the level of service being provided by or envisioned for the publicly owned utilities.

In the release below you’ll see the sentence “The [publicly owned ECFiber] pilot project will be financed with privately-raised funds.” Any other takers for that line?

Anyway … press release from ECFiber.net follows:

For Immediate Release 7/26/2010

For more information, contact Bob Merrill, 802-457-4938,  info@ecfiber.net

ECFiber Project Underway

With financing plans well underway, we have decided to proceed with a pilot project. At its regularly scheduled meeting, the ECFiber Governing Board gave the go ahead to investigate the deployment of a pilot Fiber to the Home project within its territory. The Executive staff immediately set out to identify suitable target areas to begin deployment.

“We have identified several unserved areas that will help to prove our concept,” said Project director Tim Nulty. “Engineering crews started the pre construction process the morning after the vote. We’re very excited to get to work. This has been a long time coming.” Nulty hopes to make the first pole applications within a couple of weeks.

“Delivering cost effective high quality reliable broadband to rural America is a challenge,” said Ron Cassel, coordinator of the build-out. “We decided that we needed an innovative approach to that challenge. We have built a successful model in our labs, but there is no better test than a real life deployment. That’s when the rubber hits the road. We now have a solid roll-out plan in place, and hope to be installing our first customers in a few months!”

The pilot project will provide a solid foundation for the capital lease used to build out the rest of the network, providing 100% coverage in 23 towns in East Central Vermont. While the intent of the project is to prove that the larger project is viable, according to Nulty, “it will be able to stand on its own if we don’t raise another dime of capital.”

The pilot project will be financed with privately-raised funds.

Pomfret resident Loredo Sola, who chairs the Governing Board, was moved by the vote. “This is an historic day for ECFiber, for Vermont, and for rural America. This is the first project of its kind, and will become a model for the rest of the country.”

All of Vermont’s gubernatorial candidates were invited to the meeting; Matt Dunne attended. He applauded ECFiber for its vision, and especially for getting 23 towns to agree to such a complex and important undertaking. He said that the response to the ECFiber effort demonstrates the level of desire for true broadband coverage.

###

ECFiber is a group of 23 towns working to build a community-owned, subscriber-funded Fiber-to-the-Home network to provide phone and ultra-high-speed internet services to 100% of the homes and businesses in the member towns. For more information, see www.ecfiber.net.

————–

Bob Merrill

www.bobmerrill.com

It sports a popular cookbook. David Mamet called it “the best place on earth.” It was lauded in the New York Times. And for nearly 19 years I – and many others from in and out of state – called it the best place for breakfast in Vermont. Now we can call it closed.

Or rather, call it “Tasca”, which is the name of the new restaurant where the much lauded “River Run” used to be. New owner Ignacio Ruiz, who acquired the local eatery from founder Jimmy Kennedy only a year ago, has closed up shop to re-open as a tapas restaurant. Ruiz, himself from Spain, has continued the RR breakfasts since taking ownership, but told Blurt that “dinner has kept River Run alive economically” over that financial drag of a breakfast. Interesting, as everytime I’ve been in there for breakfast, it’s been as busy as ever. The huge portions and reasonable prices always struck me as a combination of questionable sustainability, but clearly there are solutions to such algebraic concerns short of closing up shop.

Hrumph. So much for the best pancakes ever. And the catfish. And the homefries. And the grits with cheese and jalapenos. And, and… I mean, a Spanish restaurant sounds great, but…but… well, crap. Guess I’ll start looking elsewhere for a favorite spot. Dammit.

I have never understood why a businessperson would buy a pre-existing business only to change it completely. Why not just open your own from the get-go?

Sigh.

This is going to be a bit of a departure from my usual birding piece.  Instead of focusing on a trip, a specific bird or a location, I’m going to do a virtual art show.

You see, I’ll be the featured artist of the month at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor’s Center next month.  It’s my first solo art exhibit and I’m a bit excited.  The show runs throughout the month of August, but you guys can get a sneak preview here.  There’s also a virtual gallery available my web site which has more of the prints than I’m presenting here.  So… below, join me for an exhibit featuring some of my favorite photography from the past few years.

I don’t always stop to take photos of geese, but this time, they were being fairly entertaining with one another, engaging in some spring mating rituals, when I noticed this one flying in.  From the series of photos I got as it landed, this was my favorite by far

The blue-winged warbler is a lot of work to photograph, but also a lot of fun.  This one had been around the day before, and I got some shots, but this time it just popped up in a tree almost directly overhead.  

Butterflies can be a fun challenge, but sometimes the results are quite striking

This White-Sided Dolphin was part of a large group that followed our boat for some time while we were out on a whale watch.

Some of the best photos I get come from just being in the yard.  I always keep my camera outside of me when I’m doing yardwork.  This time, I spotted this toad jumping away from the mower.  I grabbed my camera and took a few shots and fell in love with this one

Sometimes I get photos that I don’t realize I’ve had.  I was taking photos of the butterfly on the flower, and hadn’t actually noticed the 2nd one coming up from behind until I looked at the photos later.

This fox sometimes pops up in our neighborhood, but the first time I saw it was the only time I managed to get photographs of it.

One of the advantages of a very fast camera is that you can sometimes get an image of a bird between two stationary moments.  In this case, I just happened to capture this Northern Cardinal as it was jumping from one branch to another.

When hummingbirds first fledge, they are fairly voracious.  I was able to get this photo simply by stalking the bee balm plants from my porch and waiting for the birds to come around.  On a good day, they’d show up every 10-15 minutes, giving me lots of opportunity to get the best birds I can

It can be very difficult to get photos of butterflies in flight, but this Monarch alighting from some flowery reeds made for a really nice shot.

This Mother Moose and Calf were feeding on the side of the road, so I made a point of taking a few photos

On a short walk, I spotted this Newt walking across the path.  I loved the way the light captured its “jewels” as it walked by.

I love the pose of this damselfly.

These robins were nested on a porch; I took the photos through the window in the door so as not to disturb them.

This Syrphid Fly was one of my forays into macro photography.  The bug itself is considerably smaller than your traditional house fly.

Hope you enjoyed this preview.  The exhibit itself will feature a lot more photos as well as some of the many note cards I’ve designed.

A stinky situation is brewing in South Burlington.

On June 28 and 29, VTrans will replace a culvert liner on Dorset Street near Kennedy Drive. The technique causes a strong odor, like a very pungent epoxy or paint. The state says there is no health risk.

   

So reads Vermont WCAX news’ almost light hearted report .The situation may be a little more involved. Although the Vermont.gov. website posted a strong smell and odors warning in practically the same don’t worry about a thing language.  

This culvert rehab process known as trench-less repairing has in the past raised some legitimate health concerns. Cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) styrene based technology is a burgeoning repair method for culvert and recently even drinking water pipe rehabilitation. A lining tube is saturated with a styrene based thermosetting resin and installed into the pipe. Subsequent curing with a heat source results in a pipe within a pipe.    

No digging, fewer delays and perhaps no problems if done carefully.

The state of Virginia within the last two years revised its procedures and lifted a ban on this repair. In 2007 it was found the process could result in contamination of soils and receiving waters from the release of unacceptably high levels of styrene into the environment.

Water samples collected from pipe outlets at five of the seven CIPP installations showed detectable levels of styrene. Styrene concentrations were generally highest in water samples collected during and shortly following installation. The maximum duration that styrene was detected at any site was 88 days following the CIPP installation.

Although the sites in this study were not directly linked to sources of drinking water, styrene levels at five sites were higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level for drinking water of 0.1 mg/L.

Certain measurements were also found to exceed the concentration required to kill 50% of several freshwater aquatic indicator species.

Possible causes included: poor installation that did not contain styrene condensate

uncured resin escaping from the liner

insufficient curing and a degree of permeability in the lining.    

Virginia’s substantial modifications to VDOT's CIPP specifications included;    

An inspector training program    

Increased project oversight    

Water and soil testing prior to and after CIPP installation.  

I’m not much of a political animal myself; but I am coming to a rapid understanding of how exactly the tail wags the dog.

The national example-du-jour of Shirley Sherrod speaks volumes about what a powerful weapon of opportunity the unprincipled right has found in the distribution of misinformation through new media.  Ms. Sherrod maintains that she was told to pull over on the road and resign her post immediately because Glenn Beck was going to target her on the rabid Fox.

Of course the whole thing turned out to be a red-herring, but the partisans at Fox and their Republican back-slappers have managed to get plenty of political capital out of embarrassing the White House while distracting the entire country from all of the truly relevant happenings of several news cycles.  And it ain’t over yet.

Is this the shape of things to come in the era of multi-tasking media consumption? Has the Cynical Right found the ideal way to exploit our ever-shortening attention span?  Gone are  the inhibitions that used to restrain fantasy in traditional news outlets.  Not only can you make any outlandish misrepresentation of the facts that serves your agenda, but now, you may also have every expectation that your broadcast lies will impact policy decisions in the highest offices.  And the beauty of it is that there is absolutely no downside for the lying liars and their corporate sponsors. Like Pavlov’s dog, the public has been conditioned by reality TV and celebrity tweets to gorge themselves on scandal and speculation.  They’ll believe anything for five minutes, so long as it’s slathered in breathless hyperbole.  Just keep it coming and for godssake don’t give ’em time to reflect!

This got me to thinking about that dubious Dubie link Julie talks about down below.  Wisely, Julie challenged the poster to provide more context, which was never forthcoming.  Now, this could be an attempt by some individual who genuinely doesn’t  support Dubie, but I think it’s equally possible that this is another red herring, on the same lines as the Sherrod ruse but much less artful, designed to entrap and embarrass his Democratic opposition.  What makes this seem even more likely to me is the error in identifying Dubie as running for “re-election” that appears in the opening statement.  It is so glaring as to be easily overlooked by the casual viewer who is just waiting for the video clip to begin.  Were anyone to take the bait, weak as it is, Dubie’s promoters could have had a field day attacking the Democrats for perpetuating misinformation.  Most attractive about this scenario, from Dubie’s standpoint, is that it would serve as a marvelous distraction, providing cover for Dubie to dodge truly relevant issues for many days to come.  Bait and switch, bait and switch.

Now, as I said before, I am a political neophyte; and Dubie himself doesn’t strike me as all that crafty…all that ANYTHING.  So I may be completely out-of-order here.  Still, I can’t help but wonder if all those road trips to court campaign funds might have also netted him a mess of DC dirty tricksters.