So what happened to the picture that used to be my header.
Well I think perhaps it was looking a little tired and drab. So I’ve replaced it with a picture taken during our trip to southern Africa in August of 2010. But I thought the picture was interesting enough to let it hang around. It is a picture I took in 2009 of the Mediterranean pine caterpillar, known as the procesionaria in Spain. If you’re hiking in Spain or France in pine forests in the spring you will see long trains of these caterpillars, they can be yards long, crawling across paths. They are blind I think and get very confused if the line is broken by a thoughtless mountain biker for example. What protects them from too many attacks is the poison they emit that can sicken your pets and small children. Here is a good resource on these little critters.
And I see them in some ways as a metaphor for many federal government executives, of which I was one. The linear approach, the following (not always blind…but sometimes), and the defense mechanisms when threatened.
RecoveringFed 
Procesionales!
Welcome Joan. You need to come to Texas…but in the winter, your mom says.
And while legislation of competition may be sometimes hard for that individual, it’s a good idea for the race, since it ensures the survival in the fittest in each and every department.
People ultimately have to get at data quickly and easily. They just don’t care as much about attractive sites and pretty design.