Last Saturday, Michele and I volunteered a couple of hours at the San Francisco Orchid Show. Or, more accurately, I volunteered us both to help man -person? people? – the Succulent and Cactus Society booth at the 59th Annual Pacific Orchid Exposition – Show and Sale at the Fort Mason Center in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. 

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a federally run urban park made out of an old Army base. This is not the sort of thing that a private party would ever do. In a gross over generalization, I would say that the private sector is great at innovation, at solving problems, at seeing opportunities, but the private sector really sucks at providing for the public good. If this land had been sold to the highest bidder, it would not be a green area at the edge of San Francisco, but the rows of houses would just continue to the water. 

So, because of the Federal Government turned the land into an urban National Park, I am able to go to a plant show in a huge building that was originally built to load Soldiers and Marines onto ships to be sent to war against the Japanese. There are three buildings and each is a huge open space with giant garage doors lining each side wall and, now, they are a public resource. It makes me proud to be an American and very happy that I live near by. As an aside, what an unhappy and scary experience that must have been: taking a train from a training facility to a giant warehouse; waiting and waiting until it is time to get on a ship – say the West Point AP23 with 7,978 other "passengers" – expecting that, when you get off the ship, it would be to land on some previously unknown Pacific island killing ground. End aside.

Now the open space is filled with orchids and people admiring the orchids, and music and enjoyment. In a slightly ironic twist – a large portion of the admirers are Asian, or gay, or Asian and gay. Maybe that is why the Republicans are so anti-government; Orchid People just aren't their demographic.

All pictures taken by Michele with her iPhone (after I forgot my camera.)

  Lancia was once one of the world's great auto makers.  It seemed genetically incapable of producing an uninteresting car.Its early 50's bread and butter sedan, for example, was the Aurelia – all Lancias were named after Roman roads – it had a front engine V-6 engine, a rear mounted 4 speed trans-axle with inboard brakes, all independent suspension. It was an aluminium and steel bodied wonder. The 2 seater convertable was even better. It could run all day long at 100 mph when most cars couldn't get to a hundred.

 I have owned several Lancias and each one was an idiosyncratic charmer. Like the Fulvia with a 1600 cc V-4, front wheel drive, and an aluminum body by Zagato.

Now Lancia is just a rebadged Chrysler. It may be a good car, even a great car, but it is not a Lancia.

These are interesting and exciting times. Watching – from a very safe distance – people take to the streets to fight for their freedom is both exciting and scary. The air is thick with possibility and – for me, at least – real democracy in the middle east seems possible. So does a crushing by an entrenched establishment.

In Bahrain, the Formula One race has been cancelled by the government. "Government" mean the "crown prince"  in Bahrain. But he did the right thing and the opportunity for real reform seems possible. Not so much so in Libya and – even – Egypt. One of the things dictators usually do so well is stopping any alternative governmental organisations from forming.

So, in Egypt and Tunisia, people will have to dig their way out of the rubble and form a government out of nothing. Hoping the army doesn't step into the void, hoping the cronies don't keep control and out last the people, hoping the Islamists don't take over. Right now, it all seems so possible, but as Donald Rumsfeld said, "Stuff happens."