I don’t think I’m constitutionally equipped for a retreat. I’m sitting in a quiet living room, watching morning fogs billow across the Arcata marsh. We’re here to do a re-write of Protest.net, close down the outside distractions, pull together the same group who built the first version so many years ago. But the outside world keeps intruding. I watch with pulse pumping events unfolding in DC (how the hell is Ramsey still police chief?), and follow the inane twitter of foreign affairs pundits, and even following along with the ridiculous RSS 2.0 wars. Plus there is has been the running side show of the computers to Ecuador being trapped in bureaucratic hell.

Work proceeds slowly. But there is a nice framework starting to shape up.

Also, thinking the software should be able to participate in building something like the DC Mobilization calendar, perhaps via allowing arbitrary grouping of events, and allowing embedding.

A few hours later

Sitting on the Arcata Plaza, the fog has burned off, and the sun is warm, as what must be the entire town swirls around us. The Saturday farmers’ markets is setup, booth-to-booth, shoulder-to-shoulder all around the central square. And there is music, and dancing, and juggling everywhere. And lots and lots of children. So many young children everywhere, I don’t understand why Acatans aren’t spreading out to take over the world. Perhaps they are a very successful species in their niche, but too specialized to spread out over a wider geographic range? The market was a studied contrast to the Santa Cruz farmers’ market. In Santa Cruz the market is done and over by 9am, and most of the people who attend are serioius foodies. Sun bathing, juggling, and small children are not part of the mix. Nor is hydroponics growing supply as prominent. (They do have in common an extraordinarily high quality of produce, the absence of which leaves me bitterly depressed when I’m back East). UPDATE, ARCATA: That evening, as we walk back across the Arcata plaza, having just finished large bowls of gourmet vegetarian ramen, the crowds are largely gone though small clumps of young people, sit, or mill around the edges, laughter echoes across the plaza. As we exit from the Southeast corner a man age 18-28 walks up us, “Anyone want a shoebox full of nuggets?”, “Ummm, no thank you”. This is a long way from the covert whisper of “Weed? Weed?” you expect in city parks. We stood there wondering how much are you selling if you your basic unit is a shoebox? Arcata is a very different world :)

UPDATE COMPUTERS: Computers are no longer trapped in bureaucracy, they are now trapped by the lockout along the West coast.