No more credit card offers

I'm on an anti-junk mail campaign. You can choose to stop getting credit card offers in the mail (which seems to be the bulk of our mail these days).

Send A Holiday Greeting

Go to www.letssaythanks.com where you can pick out a card that will be printed by Xerox and sent to a soldier that is serving in Iraq.

The mission of Let's Say Thanks is to provide a way for individuals across the country to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas. By submitting a message through this site you have the opportunity to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women.

The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from a pool of entries from children across the country.
All you have to do is click on your favorite design and either select the message that best expresses your sentiment or draft a personal note. The postcards are then printed on the Xerox iGen3® Digital Production Press and mailed in care packages

See Charlotte's Web, Support 4-H

For every ticket purchased for Paramount Pictures and Walden Media's production of Charlotte's Web through http://www.fourhcouncil.edu/, Hollywood Movie Money will make a $1 donation to 4-H to help support your state's 4-H program.

Fun with wikipedia.

This is too much fun not to share...

Wikipedia has a list of "protected pages" that have been locked for editing because of heavy vandalism, or edit and revert "wars". There's a lot of gold to be found in here. Take for example THIS version of the page on Down Syndrome from a few days ago...

Also, there appear to be quite a few battles over Turkish/Greek identity.

The complete list of protected pages (hours of entertainment) is HERE.

More tunes

I the iceland flavor I have uploaded several sweet tracks in Viking from the rock band Sigur Ros, whom are awesome.

Apparently, this software may make it unnecessary to have to get our music thru the gmail interface

Who wants one?

I used to want every kind of lego kit that came in the toy catalogs this time of year.

I feel I've matured past that: big boy toys

and a slightly scarier version here.

Who else has a wild gift request, we can compile the most expensive list ever and send it north.

Photo Blog

I could spend all day looking at the photos and reading the comments. Amazing!!

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/

Voters support evolution education

On 7 November 2006, voters in Ohio, Kansas, and Pennsylvania elected candidates who support science. Notably, in the Ohio Board of Education District 7 race, former U.S. Representative Tom Sawyer defeated incumbent Deborah Owens-Fink. Fink was a consistent and vocal supporter of anti-evolution measures, leading the campaign to introduce intelligent design/creationism into the Ohio science curriculum. Pro-science candidates also won races in three other Ohio Board of Education districts: District 2 - John Bender, District 4 - G. R. "Sam" Schloemer, District 8 - Deborah L. Cain. In the Ohio gubernatorial election, voters selected Democrat Ted Strickland. Strickland accepts evolution and opposes the teaching of intelligent design in the science classroom. This is another important victory for Ohio science education because the Governor appoints 8 of 19 members of the Board of Education.
In Kansas, voters placed control of the state Board of Education back in the hands of members who support teaching evolution. Supporters of evolution education once again control the board with a 6-4 majority. Republicans Sally Cauble (District 5) and Jane Shaver (District 9), both supporters of evolution education, replaced anti-science members of the board. However, Republicans John Bacon (District 3) and Ken Willard (District 7) were re-elected. Bacon and Willard were part of the 6-4 anti-evolution majority that redefined science in 2005 and allowed the teaching of intelligent design/creationism. Incumbent governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) was re-elected to a second term. In October 2006, Sebelius called the Board of Education "an embarrassment to the state" and vowed to push for a constitutional amendment to make the board advisory and shift power to a Secretary of Education in the governor's Cabinet.
In Pennsylvania, with 59 percent of the vote, Democrat Bob Casey defeated incumbent Senator Rick Santorum (R ). Santorum, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, was a powerful and influential supporter of the "intelligent design" movement. Santorum attempted to amend the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 to permit the teaching of religious alternatives to evolution in the science curriculum. Santorum was also on the advisory board to the legal group that defended the Dover school board in the landmark case, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, in 2005.
-AIBS Public Policy Office

Last 4...

A view from the street around 2 in the afternoon. A lot of buildings have huge windows and skylights to take advantage of the limited sunlight. The sun never really got high enough in the sky to make it over the buildings, so the streets were in constant shadow or darkness. They really go all out with the Christmas decorations, though, and it was very pretty and festive!


The building behind Bill is the Prime Minister and Parliment's offices. Had it been a workday, I am sure we could have just walked right in to say hi.


Our hotel was the green building in the middle. The yellow building next door has an exhibit on a viking longhouse that was recently discovered where these buildings now sit. There was a really cool glass case covering a hole in the sidewalk over the foundation.


Uh...this was a sign on the escalators in the airport. Apparently dogs should be carried on escalators and not left to navigate them on their own.


Chris -- we asked all over town, but no one had any wool for spinning. Reykjavikians are very modern and trendy and I don't imagine they spend much time spinning wool. There was this one place that had odd, brightly dyed fleece, but the shop employees said it was for making felted things like slippers and not for spinning. :(

We did see Santa Claus wandering though town doing some shopping, however. And about 80 drunk people dressed up in matching Sylvester the cat costumes with medals hanging around their necks. A number of them were doing Borat impersonations. 

View from the top.

Stupid Picasa -- only 4 pictures...

There was this church on the highest hill in the city and for 250 kroner ($5) we could take the lift to the bell tower. (The bells rang every 15 minutes and could be heard all over town. We were in the tower for three loud cycles...)

We had a great view of the city (town? There are only 288,000 people in all of Iceland, but a large percentage of them live in Reykjavik) and the ocean beyond. In one direction we could see a barren geothermal field and watch gysers spouting steam. It was wicked cool.




 

Iceland for Beginners

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Bill and I got back from Iceland last night and we have some pictures to share. It was a great trip and very cool to be visiting during the winter. It really gave us a sense of how stark the landscape is.

Some cool things we learned: Icelanders speak Viking. Also, fortunately, English. While there isn't really crime in Iceland, there is lots of graffti. Two of my favorites. The first, you'll notice, doesn't say not to smoke pot -- just don't smoke too much of it every day.




We visited a frozen pond near the center of town which was used as an ice rink and a soccer field. A small part of it remained unfrozen and ducks, geese and swans gathered there and were fed by locals and Japanese tourists. There was a lot of poo. The photo of the lake was taken around 11:30 in the morning and the sun is probably an hour away from it's highest point in the sky.

 

Rabies Article

USA (West Virginia): rabies outbreak imported from Florida------------------------------------

Millions of dollars are spent every year trapping, testing, and vaccinatingWest Virginia raccoons. 30 years ago, rabies was unusual in West Virginia.Then some hunters decided Hardy County was running low on raccoons. Theybrought some from Florida to stock up the place. At least, that's thegovernment's theory. The culprits were never traced. But in 1977, WestVirginia suddenly had its 1st case of raccoon rabies. Those imported HardyCounty raccoons are now to blame for a rabies epizootic (animal epidemic)that stretches from Canada to North Carolina. Rabies spread upward fromFlorida too, and the 2 outbreaks met in the middle. Raccoon rabies nowblankets the eastern seaboard. (continued...http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2006111831 )

Very Cool FL View from Wikipedia

I am doing some research on the Finger Lakes for a final paper and stumbled on this image from Wikipedia. Thought you all might appreciate it.

Here's the source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:New_York%27s_Finger_Lakes.jpg

The Next Wireless?

An interesting article on truly wireless technology...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129460.stm

Building on Kelly's post...

  

B.Franklin Quote

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. "

Benjamin Franklin

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!!
Hope you all get a chance to enjoy the wonderful day! This is how Kev left for work this morning!

Happy Aniversary

To Kevin and Carrie. Anyone got pictures to post? I can't find any.

Testicle Festival

And you thought you knew everything about Syracuse???

http://www.wtvh.com/Story.aspx?preview=&type=ln&NStoryID=3032

I'll pass!!

If someone does this, I want a video!!

CHECK THIS OUT!!! I think this should also come out of a pumpkin' chunkin' machine!!!! How cool would that be.

http://www.extremepumpkins.com/kersoaktoilp.html

A Little Less Green?

Science News
Week of Feb. 4, 2006; Vol. 169, No. 5 , p. 74

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060204/bob9.asp

Will the highways on the Internet become more few?

Asks Bush.

Funnny.

What is this^2???

Following in JoAnna's footsteps I found something that looks just like brown sugar, but....isn't.

What's this???

Guess what this is a picture of a win a prize!!
The photo below is just provided for amusement. I watched these guys for awhile on Saturday.

  

Random picture from the library...

  

Free Broadband for all (verizon custoomers)!

This may be an incredibly geeky thing to post about but lookee here!

You can use verizon's bandwith for free*! This is a boon to all us who live in the stix or who don't want to pay the cable company for internet. I have it setup on the laptop and it works real goood.

Go Yankees.





* If you already have a cell phone.

More pictures

Arrrrgh....

http://www.piratelaws.com/

Apparently, the busier I get, the more I procrastinate.

More fall - pic theme of the week?

  

Hello, Fall.

The calendar dates are conflicting, but either yesterday or today marks the autumnal equinox. Time for apples, apple pie, cider, warm days and brisk nights, bursts of red, yellow, orange and purple, and the promise of snow.

Green Power Plant in Syracuse?

http://www.esf.edu/newspubs/news/2006/08.08.biofuels.htm

http://www.esf.edu/newspubs/news/2006/08.10.commoncouncil.htm

Tunes for all

We've been talking about doing this for awhile, but this week there has been some major advances put out for stripping the DRM from our precious iTunes (so that we can play them on any computer).

So I set up a gmail acct for us all to log into, the username is stumpietunes@gmail.com, email me for the password.

Check it out, I sent a new tune in.

Picasa and memory lane

So I have discovered picasa will allow me to select photos and directly publish to the blog... This is pretty cool.

Soooo, here are some to take us all down memory lane.

The first one is from the SC backpacking trip. Mud, horses, Maple zigzaging after rabbit scents, rain, rain, and did I mention the rain?

Kevin practicing for Karate Kid 4, although he doesn't look serious enough...

The next picture is from the first Algonquin canoe trip that was "ambitious." 17 beaver dam crossings (actually 34 because we went back the same way) loons, solitutude...

And finally, the Halloween run at Green Lakes SP. I think that one was on our fridge at Planet 504 for a while.



 

MPV - multipurpose vehicle?

 

I was reading the latest Bicycling magazine which has an article about small cars that are friendly bike-carrying, and they mentioned the MINI. So I feel compelled to post this picture of Bonnie hauling a kayak from our August canoe trip. Ahh, canoeing... While I wouldn't drive excessively fast, or corner like I want to, it is duable. So are three bikes or three people and a weekends worth of backpacking gear (as long as one is willing to be somewhat (really) cramped.

However, I can't hose out the inside. You need a jeep or element (preferably in Galapogos Green) to do that. 

crazy dog

I don't know why this is playing on the weather channel web site- but its funny

http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=3393&collection=videocoll8&from=vid_brws2&tab=3&nav=118

Heres a good stumpie post

Check out this map of solar energy available

Sometimes when I stop and look at the big picture I have to ask WTF are we doing? And those numbers are from using photovoltaic cells, the worst of the bunch!

This rant came from my big plans with Kevin to build a stirling engine generator in the silo. I love wikipedia.

Canoeing pics

Check em out: http://theroadtohere.blogspot.com/2006/08/st-regis-canoe-area-adk.html

How Syracuse Are You?

My 10 Year High School reunion was this summer, and although I did not attend I am now on the mailing list serve and get a number of emails from a lot of people I have not seen in quite a while. This one was funny... I am not sure what it means, but almost all the questions are true for me- is that good or bad?! :)

______
Think you escaped Syracuse forever? Try this quiz and find out "How Syracuse are You?" http://www.quizie.com/test.php?testid=479387

Random Post: What is this?

Does this kind of art make any sense? I don't get it. It's the album cover from Joeseph Arthur's Come to Where I'm From. I guess album covers in general don't make much sense.

 

Strange Behavior by Polar Bears

Author: Bradford Lystra

The ice that covers the Arctic Ocean has been shrinking as the Earthgrows warmer, and that's making it harder for polar bears to hunt.Scientists have seen three recent examples where polar bears found foodby stalking, killing and eating other polar bears. The scientists havebeen studying polar bears in the Arctic for more than 30 years, and thisis the first time they've documented this sort of cannibalism.Steven Amstrup leads polar bear research for the US Geological Survey atits Alaska Science Center. He helped write a report that was publishedthis spring in the journal Polar Biology. He says the bears might besuffering from changes in the Arctic climate."The sea ice has been changing dramatically. It has pulled away from thenorth coast much farther then it used to. This may place polar bears ina disadvantage nutritionally. They're either stuck on land where thereis essentially nothing for them to eat, or they have to go offshorewhere hunting opportunities may be more limited. These animals might bestressed and some of them might turn to cannibalism to survive."Polar bears occasionally kill each other and even eat each other, butthose incidents occur during fights over food or mating. Amstrup sayscannibalism is different. He says these bears were intentionallystalking and killing other polar bears.Amstrup says the loss of ice cover on the Arctic Ocean is a loss ofhabitat for the polar bears"It's critical to understand that polar bears are entirely dependent onthe sea ice for their nutrition."Environmental groups recently signed a petition to ask the U.S.government to list the bears as a threatened species. The U.S. Fish andWildlife Service is responsible for making a decision.


---------------Earthwatch Radio is a public service of the Sea Grant Institute and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Here I come...

Oo this is gonna be a big one I can just tell: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/115550.shtml?5day

Photos

A couple of considerations for those who collect desktop backgrounds: 1) a picture by Dr. James Gibbs of an area where he held a "bio-blitz" or something like that this past summer, and B) A picture of a falling lake from Plitvice Nat'l Park in Croatia.