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