Friday, July 29, 2005

CNN.com - New weapon in fight against smog - Jul 22, 2005

CNN.com - New weapon in fight against smog - Jul 22, 2005: "STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- From catalytic converters to alternative fuels, the fight against big-city smog has for years been fought inside combustion engines and exhaust pipes"

God bless Sweden!

Thursday, July 28, 2005

...slowly she turned: butterbeans! the literature

...slowly she turned: butterbeans! the literature: "When I am dead and in my grave,
No more butterbeans will I crave.
And on my tombstone I want it wrote
10,000 butterbeans went down my throat!"

Butterbeans, field peas, chicken pastry, and cream corn - New southern conscientiousness never tasted so good.

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Wireless Jammer : Gizmodo

I think this is a GREAT page. blah blah blah! test

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

TRAFFIC

I'm here in fabulous Metter, Georgia. Ray and I got caught in a traffic jam last night coming out of Hilton Head, SC. They were doing some sort of road construction and had to close one lane - and sometimes both lanes. We sat in stop and go, inch along traffic for 3 full hours!!! I tried to make it back to Monticello, but gave it up around 1:30 last night.

The traffic on Hilton Head is bad to begin with and then some asshat decides to close down the road at 7pm on a school night.

A sincere "You Suck!" to the SCDOT.

Monday, July 18, 2005

gotoAndLearn.com

gotoAndLearn.com

I have to say - gotoandlearn.com by Lee Brimelow is freakin AWESOME! The site has video tutorials on Flash, Actionscript, and Video. Lee takes a video of the screen and narrates his work for our benefit.

He has the right tone and pace for this type of video instruction. There are others sites like his ( www.cartoonsmart.com and designsbymark.com ), but they don't have the same something that Mr. Brimelow has. (maybe it's because he isn't trying to sell anything.)
His site is simple and easy - just like his instruction!

A big thank you to Brimelow!

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Good Morning USA!

Hey Everyone! I made it back safe and sound to the USA. The Flight was easy thanks to a timely dose of Meletonin and a inflatable neck pillow.

This post is coming to you from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. My jet lag is paying the benefit of early morning work sessions, so I'm up early and on the Fairfield Inn wifi. In an hour, I'll cruise down and get some breakfast or maybe a dip in the pool. Life is good... if not a little strange.

My first day, dad and I drove the country roads (plenty of new construction) up to Conyers for a shopping trip to Best Buy, Sam's Club, and the Mall! The products were awesome and the people were scary. By the time we got to the mall, I really was going over CPR in my head as I was afraid that one of those overweight people was going to kick off into cardiac arrest. After being very fat in Taiwan, all of a sudden, I'm in pretty good shape. (At BestBuy, we bought a Vonage Wifi router phone adapter for VOIP - phone to phone calls via the internet for about 40 bucks a month... set up was easy with Tech Support from India - thanks SiDah - sorry to geek out like that)

The First thing I ate was a Tillman House farmers breakfast with biscuits and gravy, breaded deep fried pork chops, grits and scrabbled eggs! Hell Yeah! It was fantastic. Salads, BBQ hot dogs and burgers - I'm in food heaven.

And I'm so grateful to Dad and Patti for throwing a BBQ party where I could catch up with everyone in Monticello, And, for inviting me down and putting me up in Hilton Head. I'll stay here until Tuesday when I hope Ray will pick me up and we'll ride out somewhere on some kind of adventure... I don't mind (how does Richard Villa say it - Victim traveler) as long as we get to spend some quality time together.

I miss my Brother. Last year on my visit to America, he was in Alaska so I didn't get a chance to catch up face to face. We have been good about chatting and staying in touch.

I miss the gang in Taiwan - The little impromptu party at Bai Nain was great and Thanks to Terry, Domini, Craig and Sarah for making my last day special.

Speaking of the Taiwan gang. Eddie and Mel are making a move from McCarthy to Homer, Alaska. Regardless of where, I hope they are having good time together and in Alaska.

I'm hoping to have a good summer hanging out with Cousins and getting involved with Family. Mom is around. Nanny and John are always fun for a visit. Tommy and Ken are in Lumberton. Debbie and Dave and family are right in Wilmington. And, of course, Grandpa and Marilyn have some coffee waiting for me around sunrise.

And speaking of sunrise, the sky is turning light and I'm ready for a swim! stay tuned!

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

goodbye Taiwan!


Thank you Taiwan for an eventful and fantastic two years.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Couple feels right at home in eco-friendly house made of straw

Couple feels right at home in eco-friendly house made of straw: "Miles off the paved highway and at the end of a long, bumpy driveway that cuts deep into the woods, Mick Womersley puts the finishing touches on his solar panel-topped home. It's not your ordinary rural dwelling, even for one designed to be ecologically sound. Womersley, a human ecology professor, and his wife, Aimee Phillippi, live comfortably in a house built of roughly 200 straw bales."

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Calif. planning green power revolution - Yahoo! News

Calif. planning green power revolution - Yahoo! News: "Taking global warming seriously

Among recent developments:

• Last month, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger declared the global-warming debate 'over' - a step the Bush administration hasn't taken, although the president said Monday that climate change is a long-term issue - and announced a commitment to curbing greenhouse-gas emissions from homes, vehicles, industry and power plants.

• State regulators are writing rules that, in effect, would prohibit new out-of-state power plants from sending electricity to California if they spew large amounts of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas. The state currently imports about a fifth of its power.

• A 'One Million Solar Roofs' bill moving through the Legislature with Schwarzenegger's support would require builders to offer solar heating and cooling systems to new homebuyers. The goal is to jump-start the solar industry and bring costs down.

• Schwarzenegger and the governors of Wyoming, Nevada and Utah have agreed to pursue a $1.7 billion transmission project called the Frontier Line that would bring power generated in the interior West to California. It would carry electricity from solar and wind resources as well as from fossil fuels."

One Million Solar Roofs sounds good. Industry just has to offer the alternative - sort of like a non-smoking section. It a step in the right direction and allows the consumer and those all powerful market forces go to work.

It's still "deck chairs on the Titanic". The real problem is the growth that requires such enormous energy. ... but at least it's making people think - "Hey, fossil fuels is screwing us up. We should do SOMETHING."

Foundphotos



Foundphotos

These photos are just too funny. It's called Foundphotos and it's just random pictures... I can't stop clicking through them.... A "people watchers" dream site.

check it out!~

Monday, July 04, 2005

July 4, 1776 - What happened?

July 4 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "1776 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress approves a Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain forming the United States of America."

Happy Birthday America!

Sunday, July 03, 2005

TrueMajorityACTION Oreos

TrueMajorityACTION Oreos

Just think if an oreo cookie was worth 10 billion dollars. 10,000,000,000.00 - that's alot of dollars. That's more dollars than there are people on the planet - by a long shot!

Simple message after the click! A funny short animation about our budget and priorities

Friday, July 01, 2005

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

I got an email from Senator Patrick Leahy,
Ranking Democratic Member on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I think it's worth a read....

"""""
This morning, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement from the United States Supreme Court.

This is a momentous time in our nation's history. The next justice will have enormous influence on a woman's medical decisions, the rights of workers and consumers, the civil and privacy rights of us all, the enforcement of our environmental laws, how our elections are conducted, and nearly every other aspect of our lives.

We cannot allow the independence of our courts to be threatened by a judicial activist who places personal ideology above the law. The Supreme Court is no place for fringe judges. And the Senate is not a rubber stamp for any president's nominations.

Join me in calling for inclusive, thoughtful deliberations during this process:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/norubberstamps

The Constitution requires that the President seek the Senate's advice and consent in making appointments to the federal courts. As a Senator and as the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I take this responsibility very seriously.

America must maintain separate but equal branches of government. Neither the legislature, nor the judiciary, should be subjugated to the will of any president - or to the loudest wing of any political party.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/norubberstamps

In recent years, the President has chosen a path of confrontation rather than consultation with the Senate.

I voted against Janice Rogers Brown, a judge quoted telling conservative audiences that the New Deal "mark[ed] the triumph of our own socialist revolution," and that elderly Americans who depend on Social Security "blithely cannibalize their grandchildren."

I voted against Priscilla Owen, a judge who inserts her opinions into the law so freely that President Bush's own attorney general once called her behavior "unconscionable ... judicial activism."

Once again, the power to avoid political warfare over a judicial nominee -- this time to the Supreme Court -- is in the hands of the President. The process begins with him.

President Bush will decide whether there will be a divisive or unifying process and nomination. If consensus is a goal, bipartisan consultation will help achieve it. I believe that is what the American people want and what they deserve. The President can unite the nation and the Senate with his choice, or he can once again divide us.

Join me in calling for meaningful consultation between the President and Senators on both sides of the aisle at:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/norubberstamps

If the President chooses a Supreme Court nominee because of that nominee's ideological fervor or record of activism in the hope that he or she will deliver political victories, the President will have done so knowing that he is again choosing the path of confrontation. He will do so knowing that we will once again be forced to defend our belief that the Supreme Court should not be an arm of either political party. It belongs to all Americans.

If the right-wing activists who were disappointed that their nuclear option was averted convince the President to choose a divisive nominee, they will not prevail without a difficult Senate battle. And if they do, what will they have wrought? The American people will be the losers: The independence of and respect for the judiciary will have suffered a damaging blow from which the judiciary may not soon recover.

We need to send a message that the Supreme Court should be above such partisan politics at:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/norubberstamps

The President and Republican leaders have a choice: choose a battle that divides America, or seek a middle ground with a nominee we all can trust to fairly interpret and uphold the Constitution and the law. Let the Senators who will make this important decision know that America doesn't want us to rubber stamp the President's nominee. Tell them now:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/norubberstamps

I will be working with Democracy for America during this historic period to keep you up to date on the Senate's deliberations. If you would like to send me your thoughts during this debate, please do so at:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/norubberstamps

Thank you,

Senator Patrick Leahy
Ranking Democratic Member, Senate Judiciary Committee"""