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Saturday, April 14, 2012 - Elephant Butte Lake State Park, Elephant Butte NM

Braided Leather iPad Grip
Braided Leather iPad Grip

Getting a grip

My new iPad is one slippery beast to handle and none of the available covers and cases pleased me so as usual I set off on my own course to try and solve this little problem.

It took a while to isolate the issues and home in on my solution. I started with a simple leather rectangle glued on the back of the iPad. That helped some but it still felt insecure in my hand. Cutting a hole in the center for my fingers to wrap into helped more. Then a friend suggested lacing the edges. Bingo! The grip is firm, friendly, and secure.

Simple. I like it. Now to make another one to reward my friend's suggestion.

Night camp

Site 10 - Paseo del Rio Campground - Elephant Butte Lake State Park, Elephant Butte NM

Disaster and the Failure of Authority

Disasters are almost by definition about the failure of authority, in part because the powers that be are supposed to protect us from them, in part also because the thousand dispersed needs of a disaster overwhelm even the best governments, and because the government version of governing often arrives at the point of a gun. But the authorities don't usually fail so spectacularly. Failure at this level requires sustained effort. The deepening of the divide between the haves and have nots, the stripping away of social services, the defunding of the infrastructure, mean that this disaster—not of weather but of policy—has been more or less what was intended to happen, if not so starkly in plain sight.

The Uses of Disaster Rebecca Solnit, Harpers.org, September 9, 2005

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