Quotes, URL's, Links And References-by:older Femmes, Butches, Ftms, Mtfs, Queer, Etc.

[sweetlady]

8-| (h) 8-| (h) 8-| (h) 8-| (h)



http://gmapsmania.googlepages.com/100thingstodowithgooglemapsmashups



:D:D:D


Numbers 3, 7, 22, 23, 44, 48, 59, 72, and many more.


:D:D:D




(y)(y)




(f)





There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Mohandas Gandhi


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(f)(f)(f)(f)(f)(f)(f)






http://www.proflowers.com/flowerguide/rosemeanings/lavenderrose-meanings.aspx




GASP! :o

http://image.orientaltrading.com/otcimg/3_654.jpg





Remember corsages?

http://blossomsflorists.co.uk/images/weddings/lavenderRoseCorsageBIG.jpg


AND


http://florists.ftd.com/pics/products/C55-3901.jpg






http://parisparfait.typepad.com/paris_parfait/images/2007/05/11/lavender_roses.jpg





Now THIS is a conservatory! ;)

http://www.gardensireland.com/images/pictures/killruddery-house.jpg





Exquisite:

http://tashaphotography.com/gallery2/d/472-2/lavender_screwCopying.jpg





I could spend a few days here:

http://www.lavenderbalingup.com.au/images/home.jpg





http://www.hawleysflorist.com/images/lavender-roseslg.jpg





http://www.fromyouflowers.com/images/products/new_large/FYF-2DOZP.jpg





Sweet: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41P28WCQH8L._AA280_.jpg





http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416PJTE0ZHL._AA280_.jpg







Absolutely beautiful and I wish I had one of these (and definitely without the white dress!):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/2078755804_623e354d35.jpg






What gorgeous wallpaper:

http://estore.websitepros.com/stores/1742552/catalog/violarose.jpg






http://flowersbysleeman.com/mcart/images/07m100.jpg





http://www.organicstyle.com/common/product/detail/flowers/Cool-Water-Roses-2dz.jpg






http://www.lynnbullockdesigns.com/images/other/lavendaroseaddressbook.jpg







http://www.floristexpress.net/images/products/small/FYF-W3.jpg





I love flowers cut short and in a bowl:

http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/FTD/V855?$medium$




Or with purple anything:

http://www.flowersbyfudgie.com/images/products/simpcharmWEB_250.jpg





http://image.bizrate.com/resize?sq=160&uid=577832610&mid=20





Lavender roses with white daisies on navy. Cotton calico. Fabric!

http://www.modestsewingpatterns.com/fabriclr.jpg

from: www.modestsewingpatterns.com/calicofabric.html





Pretty:

http://www.countryfloralsandgifts.com/shop/images/site_images/Picture%20856.jpg





Painting:

http://www.pegginsbergwatercolors.com/images/gallery/lavender_rose.jpg'

from: www.pegginsbergwatercolors.com/other.html





Stained Glass:

http://stanleylivingstonart.com/db3/00293/stanleylivingstonart.com/_uimages/LAVENDERROSESBUTTERFLIES-75DPI.jpg

from: www.stanleylivingstonart.com/_wsn/page3.html






Wonderful:

http://www.dailypainters.com/images/thumbs/572/lavender_roses.jpg

from a web site with lots of lavender paintings:

www.dailypainters.com/paintings/keyword/lavender





http://www.bellevuecrossroadsflorist.com/images/amyfrankbo-ks.jpg





Fabric again: http://www.thekingsdaughters.com/fabriclic.jpg

from: www.thekingsdaughters.com/fabricchoices.html





http://www.chezbloom.com/Images/Lavendar%20fields2.jpg





Cross stitch:

http://www.crossstitchstuff.com/images/VictoriaSampler-BCSLavenderRoses-Thumb.jpg

from:
www.crossstitchstuff.com/Products.aspx?Category=8





With lavender bear:

http://image.bizrate.com/resize?sq=160&uid=377021830&mid=24





On sneakers anyone? http://www.sassyswirls.com/ROSE3frameds.jpg





Painting:

http://static.zoovy.com/img/creative/W150-H150-Bffffff/greenelavenderroses.jpg

from: www.bigbusybeeart.com/category/.1a.stilllife/





Tea set:

http://www.usedhomeschoolbooks.com/files/pics/Lavender%20Rose%20Patt_website.jpg


from:

www.pumpkinseedpress.net/teatime.asp





Heart Quilt:

http://www.rosepatchwork.com/quilts_by_jg/images/Lavender_roses_small.gif

from: www.rosepatchwork.com/quilts_by_judy_gray.htm





I could SO LIVE HERE:

http://www.greenmanradio.com/images/collage/Unity%20Architecture.jpg

from: www.greenmanradio.com/Landscape%20Course.htm




(f)(f)(f)(f)





Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l) (f) (l) (f) (l)



The Out Traveler: kd lang on traveling


by Randy B. Hech

From the spring 2008 issue of The Out Traveler

"I Always Like to Go Places I've Never Been"


The finishing touches were being put on to "Watershed," k.d. lang's newest album, scheduled for release in February, when she spoke with Randy B. Hecht -- but she gave a sneak preview of the sound of the CD, which she produced herself.


"It's quite lush-sounding," she said. "It's kind of genre-less to me. It basically sounds like a culmination of all the sounds I've touched on in the last 25 years. So it kind of incorporates my entire past." Following the CD's release, lang will tour Australia, Canada, the United States and probably some U.K. cities. You can also catch her performance Jan. 26 prior to Olivia's Caribbean cruise.


Have you done Olivia cruises before?


Yes, I have. It's really fun; it's actually really cool. I was a bit cynical about it when I was first asked to do it -- I don't know why -- and when I showed up there they were really nice, really organized, and the audience was great, so I had a very good experience. I'm really looking forward to doing something special for them again.


Is it odd to do a concert and then have someone from the audience be in the next cabin?


I don't actually stay on the boat. We have to get on to the next date. We do it where they dock, and I go on the boat and do the show and then leave.


So you're a port of call.


Yes. [Laughs] I've been called that before.


How do you choose music for your own travels, whether you're touring or on vacation?


I don't really listen to a lot of music when I'm working, just because my ears need a break and I need a break from music. When I travel on my leisure, it really depends where I'm traveling. If I'm traveling somewhere pretty exotic, I generally don't listen to music, because I like to listen to the music that travel supplies me with. I go a lot to India, and there's always music blaring on the streets from car radios; there's music everywhere in India, so there's no point in taking music there. So it really depends on what the destination is and why I'm traveling.


How much of an association is there for you between particular songs and places?


Oh, a lot. A song will always transport me to a place. Always -- whether it's a place in time or a geographic place. To me, it's inseparable. It's like smell and memory; it's just intrinsically linked.


Have you found that travel is conducive to your songwriting or to other facets of your creativity?


Oh, most definitely. I love to hear the soundtrack that that particular location or environment conjures. We were in Tahiti about a year ago, and we went to this little island . . . there was a little French restaurant there playing cafe music, and it was very bass- and drum-heavy. It really inspired me, and it was while I was writing my record and working on my record. Things like that always happen. Or if I'm in India and I hear Bollywood strings, I get really excited by the concept of strings.


You've mentioned India twice. Is that your favorite travel destination?


I wouldn't say it's my favorite. It's a place I go every year. Certainly it's a place I love to go. It's kind of a spiritual destination for me. I'm a Buddhist, so we go there to practice. For vacations . . . I always like to go places I've never been, so it's hard for me to say my favorite vacation spot is...actually, it's home. But in terms of when I choose to travel for leisure, I always choose somewhere I've never been.


What destination is at the top of your wish list?


I would have to say Vietnam or Cambodia. Asia's always got the most allure for me. Asia never ends for me. China, Japan, India -- all of those are so fascinating to me.


What new connections to gay culture have you encountered through travel?


[In 2002] I did the Australian Gay Games. I sang at the opening ceremony. It was really overwhelmingly beautiful to see representatives from China and Iraq and Afghanistan walk through that door at a time of turmoil. It was right when the Bush administration was going haywire. It was really an amazing thing to see people come through that door that were supposed to be our arch-enemies, and yet the gay culture was the thing that trumped any political platform.



k.d.'s travel tips:

Five travel essentials:

I travel so light that it's insane. I take one bag no matter where I go, no matter how long I go for. So in that is always my passport; my rosewater spray, which I always have to have; my mala ; my iPhone . . . and . . . I think I only have four things, that's how light a traveler I am.



Japan:

A culture [in Japan] that is dying, unfortunately, is the public baths. I think they are so amazing and such a beautiful part of Japanese tradition. I always seek them out.



Australia:

Australia is my favorite place to eat, bar none. In Sydney [my favorite eatery is] Longrain, which is a Thai restaurant but very cutting-edge. That's a great place to eat.



Santa Barbara, Calif.:

I just finished a tour at Santa Barbara. I was finished at 8:30 p.m. and changed my clothes immediately and rushed to La Super-Rica, which is one of my favorite taco stands. Just an amazing place. I usually go to more ethnic, more low-key hole-in-the-wall places.




(f)(f)(f)(f)(f)






[B]Quidquid discis, tibi discis.

Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself.


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(h) (h) (h) (h)




http://gps.outtraveler.com/



(h) (h) (h) (h)




(f)





Quid est veritas?

What is truth?



Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)


;)



http://dryerasemagic.com/




:o Now I can literally mark up the walls. Brilliant.


;)




(f)





Veni, vidi, vegi.

I came, I saw, I had a salad.


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;);)



http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/14/fashion/20080214_DOGSHOW_SLIDESHOW_9.html


OR


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/13/fashion/14dog.9.jpg



:)



;)



(f)






"Blessed is the person who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of that fact." - George Eliot


Sweetlady & Wyatt the napping Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:):)



http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/funny-martin-200802.html?c=y&page=1



Hmmm......Smithsonian magazine.......la-ti-da.

;)




(f)





Chow.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o:o





http://www.scholarpoint.com/Community/Connect/archive/2008/01/28/weirdest-wackiest-scholarships-you-ve-never-heard-of.aspx




;);)



(f)





"Blessed is the person who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of that fact." - George Eliot


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:):):)



Here's a new factor to consider if you're deciding on a design for a tattoo: No matter how privately it's located, you should probably pick something that you wouldn't be embarrassed to have live on forever in an FBI biometrics database. This week, the bureau is set to award a $1 billion, 10-year contract for a massive expansion of the physical data it stores about the people it comes in contact with. The FBI already has 55 million fingerprints on file, and to that, it wants to add palm prints, iris scans, pictures for facial recognition, and shots of scars and tattoos. In the running for the contract are Lockheed Martin, which currently runs the fingerprint system, Northrop Grumman and IBM. As CNN reports, you don't have to be a criminal or a terrorist to be checked against the database. More than 55 percent of the checks the FBI runs involve criminal background checks for people applying for sensitive jobs in government or jobs working with vulnerable people such as children and the elderly, according to the FBI. Law enforcement agencies are exited; privacy advocates, not so much. "This had started out being a program to track or identify criminals," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project. "Now we're talking about large swaths of the population -- workers, volunteers in youth programs. Eventually, it's going to be everybody."



http://www.siliconvalley.com/latestheadlines/ci_8174512



http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/04/fbi.biometrics/index.html



:o:o

:|:|



(n)(n)




(f)




"Is nothing, including tat location, sacred?"


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)



Q U O T E D



"A Blackbird jet flying nearly 2,000 miles per hour covers 32 body lengths per second. But a common pigeon flying at 50 miles per hour covers 75.


The roll rate of the aerobatic A-4 Skyhawk plane is about 720 degrees per second. The roll rate of a barn swallow exceeds 5,000 degrees per second.


Select military aircraft can withstand gravitational forces of 8-10 G. Many birds routinely experience positive G-forces greater than 10 G and up to 14 G."


-- University of Michigan researchers explain why aircraft engineers are still bird-watching



http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=6312




8-| 8-|





(f)





"Ever been upside down in an open-cockpit bi-plane?"


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:|:|:|:|:|



Maybe while Jack Bauer is waiting around for the next season of "24" to take shape (interesting WSJ story on that here, btw), he could look into what the heck is suddenly happening with undersea communications cables in the vicinity of the Middle East. Last Wednesday, two cables in the Mediterranean responsible for 75 percent of the Internet capacity connecting the Middle East and Europe were severed, disrupting traffic from Egypt to India. OK, this sort of thing happens all the time, and the likely culprit was thought to be a dragging anchor. Then Friday, a third cable was cut, this one off the coast of Dubai. Hmm. Then yesterday, authorities revealed a fourth cable, also off the UAE, had been damaged Friday, and the Egyptian transport ministry said on-shore video cameras showed no ship traffic within 12 hours where the first cuts occurred. Double-hmm.


Industry experts say it's curious, all right, but almost certainly the sort of coincidence that will happen in a complex system over time. But human nature much prefers conspiracy over coincidence, and those so inclined are working hard to figure out a plot in which this would all make sense.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120189888101136151.html




http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_8129418




http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_8137115




http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/01/africa/ME-GEN-Mideast-Internet-Outages.php?loc=interstitialskip




http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2153455.htm




http://www.arabianbusiness.com/510232-flag-plays-down-net-blackout-conspiracy-theories?ln=en




http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2153974.htm?section=world





:o:o



^o) ^o) ^o)





"Smile everyone, smiles!"


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer
(l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

8o|8o|




Q U O T E D


"I don't think they're equally flawed -- I think Leopard is a much better system. (But) OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary."


-- Linus Torvalds auditions for a role in the PC vs. Mac commercials



http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/utter-crap-torvalds-pans-apple/2008/02/05/1202090393959.html




:|:| What does na actor know about enabling technology anyway? ;)



;)



(f)





"Slowly we turn, step by step, inch by inch..." - Three Stooges.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:s:s:s



February 13, 2008

I Love You, but You Love Meat

By KATE MURPHY


SOME relationships run aground on the perilous shoals of money, sex or religion. When Shauna James’s new romance hit the rocks, the culprit was wheat.


“I went out with one guy who said I seemed really great but he liked bread too much to date me,” said Ms. James, 41, a writer in Seattle who cannot eat gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.


Sharing meals has always been an important courtship ritual and a metaphor for love. But in an age when many people define themselves by what they will eat and what they won’t, dietary differences can put a strain on a romantic relationship. The culinary camps have become so balkanized that some factions consider interdietary dating taboo.


No-holds-barred carnivores, for example, may share the view of Anthony Bourdain, who wrote in his book “Kitchen Confidential” that “vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans ... are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.”


Returning the compliment, many vegetarians say they cannot date anyone who eats meat. Vegans, who avoid eating not just animals but animal-derived products, take it further, shivering at the thought of kissing someone who has even sipped honey-sweetened tea.


Ben Abdalla, 42, a real estate agent in Boca Raton, Fla., said he preferred to date fellow vegetarians because meat eaters smell bad and have low energy.


Lisa Romano, 31, a vegan and school psychologist in Belleville, N.Y., said she recently ended a relationship with a man who enjoyed backyard grilling. He had no problem searing her vegan burgers alongside his beef patties, but she found the practice unenlightened and disturbing.


Her disapproval “would have become an issue later even if it wasn’t in the beginning,” Ms. Romano said. “I need someone who is ethically on the same page.”


While some eaters may elevate morality above hedonism, others are suspicious of anyone who does not give in to the pleasure principle.


June Deadrick, 40, a lobbyist in Houston, said she would have a hard time loving a man who did not share her fondness for multicourse meals including wild game and artisanal cheeses. “And I’m talking cheese from a cow, not that awful soy stuff,” she said.


Judging from postings at food Web sites like chowhound.com and slashfood.com, people seem more willing to date those who restrict their diet for health or religion rather than mere dislike.


Typical sentiments included: “Medical and religious issues I can work around as long as the person is sincere and consistent, but flaky, picky cheaters — no way” and “picky eaters are remarkably unsexy.”


Jennifer Esposito, 28, an image consultant who lives in Rye Brook, N.Y., lived for four years with a man who ate only pizza, noodles with butter and the occasional baked potato.


“It was really frustrating because he refused to try anything I made,” she said. They broke up. “Food is a huge part of life,” she said. “It’s something I want to be able to share.”


A year ago Ms. Esposito met and married Michael Esposito, 51, who, like her, is an adventurous and omnivorous eater. Now, she said, she could not be happier. “A relationship is about giving and receiving, and he loves what I cook, and I love to cook for him,” she said.


Food has a strong subconscious link to love, said Kathryn Zerbe, a psychiatrist who specializes in eating disorders at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. That is why refusing a partner’s food “can feel like rejection,” she said.


As with other differences couples face, tolerance and compromise are essential at the dinner table, marital therapists said. “If you can’t allow your partner to have latitude in what he or she eats, then maybe your problem isn’t about food,” said Susan Jaffe, a psychiatrist in Manhattan.


Dynise Balcavage, 42, an associate creative director at an advertising agency and vegan who lives in Philadelphia, said she has been happily married to her omnivorous husband, John Gatti, 53, for seven years.


“We have this little dance we’ve choreographed in the kitchen,” she said. She prepares vegan meals and averts her eyes when he adds anchovies or cheese. And she does not show disapproval when he orders meat in a restaurant.


“I’m not a vegangelical,” she said. “He’s an adult and I respect his choices just as he respects mine.”


In deference to his wife, Mr. Gatti has cut back substantially on his meat consumption and no longer eats veal. For her part, Ms. Balcavage cooks more Italian dishes, her husband’s favorite.


In New York City, Yoshie Fruchter and his girlfriend, Leah Koenig, still wrestle with their dietary differences after almost two years together. He is kosher and she is vegetarian. They eat vegetarian meals at her apartment, where he keeps his own set of dishes and utensils. When eating out they mostly go to kosher restaurants, although they “aren’t known for inspired cuisine,” said Ms. Koenig, 25, who works for a nonprofit environmental group.


Though the couple occasionally visit nonkosher restaurants, Mr. Fruchter, 26, a musician, said he has to order carefully to avoid violating kosher rules. “We’re still figuring out how this is going to work,” he said. “We’re both making sacrifices, which is what you do when you’re in love.”


Even couples who have been eating together happily for years can be thrown into disarray when one partner suddenly takes up a new diet. After 19 years of marriage, Steve Benson unsettled his wife, Jean, when he announced three years ago that he would no longer eat meat, for ethical reasons.


“It had been in my head a long time, but I could have done a better job of talking about it,” said Mr. Benson, 46, a math professor at Lesley University, in Cambridge, Mass. Ms. Benson, who is also 46, and devises grade school curriculums, said she worried her husband would judge her if she continued to eat meat, “but we talked it out and he is not proselytizing.”


Another concern was whether she would be able to cook vegetarian meals that would meet the nutritional needs of everyone in the family, including their teenage daughter. “I wanted us all to eat the same thing for pragmatic, household economy reasons, but also because that’s part of being a family,” Ms. Benson said.


So, she cooks vegetarian dinners and makes lunches for herself and her daughter that include meat. She and her daughter have “meat parties” when Mr. Benson goes out of town, she said.


“There’s this feeling that if we eat the same thing then we are the same thing, and if we don’t, we’re no longer unified,” Dr. Zerbe said. She and Dr. Jaffe said sharing food is an important ritual that enhances relationships. They advise interdietary couples to find meals they can both enjoy. “Or at least a side dish,” Dr. Zerbe said.


For people who like to cook, learning to bridge the dietary divide can be an enjoyable puzzle. Ms. James, the gluten-averse writer, eventually found a man who did not love by bread alone. On her first date with Daniel Ahern, in 2006, she told him that she was gluten-free; he saw it as a professional challenge.


“As a chef, it has given me the opportunity to experiment with new ingredients to create things she can eat,” said Mr. Ahern, 39, who works at Impromptu Wine Bar Cafe in Seattle. Ms. James said she fell in love with him after he made her a gluten-free salad of frisée, poached egg and bacon. They married in September.


Since then, Mr. Ahern has given up eating bread at home, though he still eats it when he goes out. For her part, Ms. James has begun eating offal and foie gras, which were once anathema. “We’ve changed each other,” she said.




:|:|:|



Love me, love what I eat? C'mon.


;)




(f)





"Who's been eating my porridge?"

(l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:|:|:|:|:|



I know we'd rather spend our time talking about search in normal Internet terms, but the times compel me to round up some reports on the more intrusive type of searches:


* The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Asian Law Caucus have filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security for refusing to provide details of its stepped screening process at the border, which has included seizing, examining and even copying data from travelers' computers, cell phones and other devices. Confidential company information on that laptop? Too bad. The groups, having gotten some 20 complaints, also want to know if border agents are asking travelers about their political and religious beliefs. "The public has the right to know what the government's standards are for border searches," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "Laptops, phones, and other gadgets include vast amounts of personal information. When will agents read your email? When do they copy data, where is it stored, and for how long? How will this information follow you throughout your life? The secrecy surrounding border search policies means that DHS has no accountability to America's travelers."



* Speaking of border searches, there's an interesting legal issue cropping up in a Vermont case. In December 2006, agents at the U.S.-Canada border allegedly found child pornography on the laptop of one Sebastien Boucher. Later, after Boucher was arrested, authorities were blocked from accessing the files by a password-protected encryption program. The government wants Boucher to disclose the password, but he's refusing under Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. The first ruling in the case favored Boucher's argument; the government is appealing.



* Meanwhile, out of Denmark comes the story of the fellow who was visited by police who were convinced they had him on a stolen credit card rap based on traffic through his wireless connection. His attempt to explain that he runs an unsecured network met confusion (as did certain other technical details), and the officers confiscated his laptop. They also took into custody his roommate's computer -- an original.



http://www.asianlawcaucus.org/altruesite/files/alc_dev/foia%20complaint%20pdf.pdf





http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763.html




http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/02/07




http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_8198399





http://rottenindenmark.vox.com/library/post/somethine-about-cops.html




:o:o:o:o:o







"Keep your mitts offa my stuff."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l) (l) (l)




http://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-Origami-Heart




(l) (l) (l)




:)



(f)





"I have a heart on for you." - Sorority pledge told everyone with whom she came into contact on Valentine's Day. (True story: It was me!) :o


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;)



http://gizmodo.com/351219/private-cloud-is-a-rocking-bed-both-ways




;) Now these are just two-person-in-a-bed accidents just waiting to happen!


:D:D



(f)





Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:):)



http://www.improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/



:)



(f)





Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.

How well you live makes a difference, not how long.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o:o:o



February 15, 2008, 1:24 pm

Internists Tell Feds to Lighten Up on Marijuana

Posted by Shirley S. Wang


Ease off on marijuana, a national doctor group is telling the feds.

The American College of Physicians, 124,000 members strong, has issued a 13-page position paper asking the federal government to drop marijuana from its classification as a substance considered to have no medicinal value and a high chance of abuse, reports the Baltimore Sun. (Read this Health Blog post for one doctor’s high opinion of medical marijuana.)


“They’ve said essentially that the federal government has it all wrong,” Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, told the Health Blog. The ACP, which represents internists, is the largest physician group to date to ask for such a classification change, he says.


The Sun reports that the ACP’s declaration could pressure legislators and regulators to consider pushing for the schedule change. The federal government thus far has resisted fully exploring the medical benefits of marijuana, but a dozen states have legalized medical use. The ACP paper makes a broad case for easing restrictions on marijuana research and says that doctors and patients in these states where medical marijuana is legal shouldn’t be penalized under federal law. position paper


But at least some in the government disagree vehemently with the idea of legalizing medical marijuana. “What this would do is drag us back to 14th-century medicine,” Berta Madras, the deputy director for demand reduction at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told the Sun. “It’s so arcane.”


http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/02/15/internists-tell-feds-to-lighten-up-on-marijuana/?mod=googlenews_wsj



GREAT feedback in the blog including:

"Someone tell Berta Madras that ‘arcane’ means ‘known to a few, esoteric,’ and that the word wanted was ‘archaic,’ which means ‘old or outdated.’ I’d really love it if our policy-makers at least had the vocabulary of a reasonably bright high school senior."






Position paper:

http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/where_we_stand/other_issues/medmarijuana.pdf





(y)(y) Medical uses should be completely legal.






(f)






Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(S) (S) (S) (S) (S)




http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/13feb_lunareclipse.htm



(S) (S) (S) (S) (S)



(y)(y)(y)



(f)






"Blessed is the person who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of that fact." - George Eliot


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:D :D :D



This looks like an ordinary retail display page, but only for a few seconds until the animation starts:


http://producten.hema.nl/




PRICELESS! Remember to turn your sound on..........Keep watching, this animation is really good and hilarious! And who knew how funny the German name of that "portable stereo" would be.........

;);)




(f)







Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.

How well you live makes a difference, not how long.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:D


;)



http://failblog.wordpress.com/



(y)(y)



(f)





There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Mohandas Gandhi


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:D


(y)(y)



Commentary: A descriptive slideshow by Craig Damrauer showing the equations for the new math of global warming.

July/August 2007 Issue

Mother Jones

Artwork by Craig Damrauer



http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/ps/2007/07/ps.html




(y)(y) Definitely a few favorites in there. I'm glad that I took the time and found the electronic version since in my more recent weeding out of old magazines - I wanted to throw out the original print version that I had.


;)



(f)






"It often shows fine command of the language to say nothing."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o:o:o



The science behind a familiar "compelling, brief event that is an integration of cognitive, emotional, somatic, visceral, and neural processes."



http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm?volumeID=21&editionID=157&ArticleID=1303



;);) Don't drink anything while clicking on the above link or you might choke..........




:D:D:D



(f)





"You didn't expect that one, did you?"


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;)

:)




http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-02-11-n78.html





8-|8-|



(f)







Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o:o


;)



..........., but don't read too much into that:


Assorted manmade space junk falls out of orbit on a regular basis, but there's a bit more concern than usual over a disabled spy satellite that is gradually headed back toward Earth. Details are classified, but the 10,000-pound spacecraft could well have toxic material aboard in its thruster fuel or framework, some of which could conceivably survive re-entry and pose a threat on the off chance it landed in a playground. But where some might see a threat, the Pentagon sees an opportunity. Seems the Navy has been doing some work on an anti-ballistic missile system, and while testing it as such would be politically touchy, surely no one could take offense if it were employed in the name of world safety. So, during a weeklong window that starts in a few days, the Pentagon will try to blast the satellite into smithereens with a ship-launched missile just before it enters the atmosphere. And should the mission succeed, it would have the added benefit of ensuring that no bit of of the satellite's sensitive technology survives the return trip. Despite the noble intentions, expect some grumbling from China, targeted for harsh criticism from the U.S. last year when it used a defunct weather satellite as a target in a test of a weapon system.



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/science/14cnd-satellite.html?_r=2&ex=1360731600&en=c797966c6f91a2ca&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin





http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10698http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10698




;)



(f)






Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes. ;)


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)



http://www.usmm.net/postertalk2a.html



;)



(f)





Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o


:)



http://www.instapaper.com/




"The best newspaper in the universe." ???



:)



(f)






Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o:o


^o)



http://www.poochiq.com/



http://www.poochiq.com/sc1_products_iqkit.php




This speaks volumes about the folks-who-are-buying and their IQs :

"IQ Kits Sold So Far: 6,432"




^o)^o) 6,432 suckers who actually paid at least $49.99. Marketing at its finest.



:)




(f)





Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.

How well you live makes a difference, not how long.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:):)



http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/multimedia/2008/02/gallery_google_logos



:)



(f)





Venim, vidi, volo in donum redire.

I came, I saw, I want to go home.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)




http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/02/12/really-stunning-desktop-wallpapers/



:|:| GRRR....I HATE "fat" pop-ups that hog bandwidth................


;)




Here is the link for only graphics:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/category/graphics/





Articles by Topic: Design Showcase

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/category/showcase/



(f)(f)






" Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o



http://assets.lego.com/1033/anniversary.htm



Gizmodo has kindly put together a timeline showing the journey from simple building blocks to sophisticated robotics, and the anniversary received the ultimate tech tribute (and product placement jewel) -- Google doodled its logo out of LEGOs.



http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities



http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2008/01/28/the-ultimate-online-ad-own-the-google-logo/



http://searchengineland.com/080128-081721.php




(y) Never played with them, but bought emough of them for others' kids.

;)



(f)







"I Always Like to Go Places I've Never Been" - k.d.Lang


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:|:|:|




http://www.i4u.com/article14324.html



:o





(f)






"It often shows fine command of the language to say nothing."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;);)



..............know your odds in Texas Hold 'Em and other games.


http://www.pokertips.org/simulator/




:)





(f)




"Blessed is the person who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of that fact." - George Eliot


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(p)(p)(p)(p)(p)



Q U O T E D


"There is no substitute for it, and there is no other product out there that is a viable alternative. ... It's easier than having to worry about files and downloading. ... Anyone can pick it up and use it, and walk away with an image in a minute."


-- Michael Phelan, a sales manager at Calumet Photographic, mourns the coming demise of Polaroid instant film.




http://www.siliconvalley.com/latestheadlines/ci_8258575





(p)(p) Can you imagine a world with Polaroids? - As in the camera OR photos including the time it took for developing? Everyone gathering around to watch the details fill in? The collaborative anticipation accompanying use of Polaroid film is precious. Cell phone cams just do not come close to providing anything experientially close.


:o




(f)(f)





Veni, vidi, vegi.

I came, I saw, I had a salad.


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(f)(f)




Sometimes people are miscast in life. They may appear to be dentists or clerks, but deep down they are actually fierce swordsmen or goddesses with devastating sex appeal. These true selves can emerge in the world of cosplay, the practice of impersonating characters from anime, manga, Japanese video games, and other realms of fiction. When shooting this series of photographs (published in Fandomania: Characters & Cosplay), Elena Dorfman asked her subjects to momentarily stop role-playing and reveal their real-world vulnerability. "They had to come out of character so that I could see a bit of who they were through their costumes," she said.



http://www.motherjones.com/photos/the-anime-within/


OR


Another web site:

http://wildernessfoundationuk.blogspot.com/2007/09/new-math-of-global-warming.html




(f)(f)(f)





Quid est veritas?

What is truth?


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l)(l)(l)(l)(l)




http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20080215&t=2&i=3178560&w=


OR


http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/customslideshow?buddyJS=slideshow20080215135227.js&title=Best+of+the+week&size=9#a=8




(l)(l)(l)(l)



(f)(f)







Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(8)(8)(8)



http://www.atomicplatters.com/





(f)





Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer

[sweetlady]

(~)(~)(~)



Cars (2006)


Prepare to peel out with this revved-up animated adventure featuring classic automobiles, plenty of fender benders, guffaws galore and a Route 66 road trip with a crew that doesn't make pit stops. The star-studded voice cast includes Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt and Cheech Marin. Nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, Cars won Best Animated Film in the first category of its kind at the 2007 Golden Globes.



Cast: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin, John Ratzenberge, Katherine Helmon, Larry the Cable Guy, Bob Costas,
Ray Magliozzi, Richard Petty.



Reviews:

Cars is what a family movie ought to be; funny, original, smart, often thrilling, touching. It's much more than NASCAR for those of you who don't get into that scene (as we don't). It's a mix of contemporary and nostalgic, modern and classic. This movie is sure to appeal to a wide audience. Kids will love the speed and contemporary humor and Grandpa will remember the good old days. At first, seeing the vehicles in humanized form is a little odd, but the animation is so good and characters so "dead on" that one quickly forgets this unusual form of animated characters. Seeing this movie makes you realize how bad most "family flicks" are these days. A must see movie that deserves to become a huge hit. Thanks, Pixar!




(y)(y)

I watched this on-demand and plan on renting a copy from netflix so that I can pause and review many of the scenes that went by much too fast. Five stars and worth re-watching with someone. Pixar rocks once again.



(f)(f)





Quidquid discis, tibi discis.

Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself.


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:):)



http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/robotic_ball_controlled_b.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890



:o


;)










Pleasant dreams and a lovely Friday. (f)


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o:o:o


(y)




Q U O T E D


"While the capacity of our e-mail inbox is limited only by disc space, our mental 'inbox' of working memory is much more constrained. In fact, several decades of research have indicated that our capacity to hold information 'in mind' for immediate use is limited to a mere three or four items. ...


There are at least two primary explanations for this severe limitation in working memory capacity. First, it could be that working memory capacity is essentially determined by storage space, and that some people have larger 'hard drives' than others do. The alternative explanation is that capacity depends not on the amount of storage space but on how efficiently that space is used. Thus high-capacity individuals might simply be better at keeping irrelevant information out of mind, whereas low capacity individuals may allow more irrelevant information to clutter up the mental inbox. High-capacity individuals may just have better spam filters."


-- Andrew W. McCollough and Edward K. Vogel of the University of Oregon say your spam filter appears to be located in your basal ganglia.



http://science-community.sciam.com/blog-entry/Mind-Matters/Working-Memory-Brains-Spam-Filter/300007271




(y)(y)(y)(y)(y)





(f)





Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;)




http://pac-txt.com/



:)




(f)





Pleasant dreams and stay warm. (f)


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

8-|8-|



http://www.crealev.com/




Cool video links........


(y)(y)(y)(y)




(f)





Pleasant dreams.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l)





THIS is a view:

http://archtypevolution.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/lincoln-and-mesa-verde-114.jpg




http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/CAW/1409~Cliff-Palace-Mesa-Verde-Posters.jpg



Lots of photos:

www.eg.bucknell.edu/.../Southwest/mesaVerde.html




Cave art: http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/hands/images/mesa-verde.jpg





Canyon de Chelly

http://www.delsjourney.com/images/news/news_01-06-20/1-1989-Canyon-de-Chelly-Visitor-Center.jpg


http://www.astronomynotes.com/nature/shoffner/Canyon-deChelly.jpg


www.astronomynotes.com/nature/pic18i.htm





http://www.dustylens.com/Canyon_De_Chelly-small.jpg


www.dustylens.com/photography.htm





http://www.nationalparklover.com/images/Utah-Az/canyon_de_chelly/canyon_de_chelly_0294.JPG


www.nationalparklover.com/canyon_de_chelly.htm Gold Mine of Photos...........





http://www.expeditionswest.com/adventures/2003/canyon_de_chelly_2003/images/4.jpg


www.expeditionswest.com/.../index.html




At Sunrise: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/images-11/Canyon-de-Chelly-150mm.jpg



www.delsjourney.com/news/news_01-06-20.htm




http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/outoftown/arizona/navajonation/canyondechelly/03spiderrock.jpg



Another photo Gold Mine: www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/.../index.htm





Hovenweep:

http://utahoutdoors.com/maps/hovenweep_map.gif



Hovenweep National Monument: Where the Voices of the Ancients Whisper

www.utahoutdoors.com/pages/Hovenweep_golden.htm



(l)(l) Remarkable walk (literally and figuratively) centuries back in time.


http://historyforkids.utah.gov/jump_in/images/hovenweep1.jpg


http://www.jqjacobs.net/southwest/hovenweep.html



:o


What were those towers guarding? Water because it was a severe drought?

:o



(l)(l)(l) All-time favorite: Monument Valley:

http://www.americansouthwest.net/maps/monument-valley-map.gif




(l)(l)(l) My favorite place (one of them.).......

<Sigh....and it is THAT clear out there.....>

http://www.pdphoto.org/jons/pictures2/monument_3_bg_011903.jpg



Big version:

http://www.pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?pg=5496&mat=pdef



http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/monument_valley/map.html




http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/Moonrise%20and%20sunset_Monument%20Valley.jpg




Gorgeous "evanescent light" with lots of breathtaking photos from all over:

www.parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/.../monument_valley.htm




West Mitten:

http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/bigthumbs/screenWest%20Mitten.jpg




I think this is the view from the road south from Mexican Hat in Utah:

http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/forWeb_Apr12_07/bigthumbs/screenIMG_2310_tweak.jpg




Dust storm in Monument Valley:

http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/bigthumbs/screenDust%20storm_Monument%20Valley.jpg




http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/bigthumbs/screenMitten%20and%20red%20log.jpg



http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/bigthumbs/screenMonument%20Valley%20_%20Big%20Sky.jpg





Sunset (gasp):

http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/bigthumbs/screenxmas_06_monument%20valley%20sunset.jpg




(l) Gouldings:

www.gouldings.com/english/finding.htm




http://www.marialanger.com/wp-content/images/travels/gouldings.jpg

Lady helicopter pilot's web site:

www.marialanger.com/2007/08/22/the-mittens/




Yes, the tall cliff IS that amazing looking in person:

http://matkalla.files.wordpress.com/2006/06/gouldings.jpg

http://waitabi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/2003grandcircle/gouldings_lodge11.jpg




(f)





Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(y)(y)(y)(y)



:)



http://www.angieslist.com/AngiesList/



(y)(y)



(f)





"Smiles everyone, smiles!"


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)



http://www.linksoflondon.com/us-en



http://www.linksoflondon.com/us-en/online-shop/women/bracelets




I like:

http://www.linksoflondon.com/us-en/online-shop/women/bracelets/1542-sweetie-18ct-rolled-gold-bracelet





Does anyone like these or is it me? I have one in gold and one platinum-clad:

http://www.linksoflondon.com/us-en/online-shop/women/rings/1996-triple-ring



(l)(l)


(f)





Quidquid discis, tibi discis.

Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself.


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;)



100% Natural Ice: Wild skating on frozen lakes & rivers

http://www.valley.net/~ice/skate/morey.html



(f)


http://www.valley.net/~ice/skate/




A worldwide guide to outdoor skating on natural ice:

http://www.nordicskating.org/



(f)


http://travel.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/travel/escapes/04ADVE.html




http://www.nordicskater.com/calendar.html



http://www.vtsports.com/magazine/content.cfm?storyID=152



(f)






"It often shows fine command of the language to say nothing."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(f)(f)(f)



http://www.dustylens.com/new_page_1.htm



:)


(f)





Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.

How well you live makes a difference, not how long.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l)



http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/22/travel/escapes/20080222_CABINS_SLIDESHOW_index.html




February 22, 2008

Trading the World for a Cabin in the Woods

By BETH GREENFIELD


IT’S my first night in the cabin, and I can’t sleep. The quiet is too loud, as if I were holding a conch shell tight over each ear, and any sounds that do seep through — a wet bulge of snow sliding off a fir tree, the pop of a log in our blazing wood stove — send me tossing and turning, a skittish city mouse in the country.


We are staying atop the modest rise of Mount Mineral in northwestern Massachusetts, my partner and I, tucked into downy sleeping bags spread across a futon in a tiny two-room cabin that has neither plumbing nor electricity. We have come here willingly, to this Quaker-founded retreat named Temenos.


But now it is unnervingly late, and my racing mind settles, albeit briefly, on a scene from just a week before: cocktails at a swank Manhattan hotel bar with friends, who had stupefied reactions to our rustic getaway plan.


“And you’re going there why?” asked one, martini in hand.


I had explained my need to escape — to find some simple peace and quiet in a muffled, snowbound forest that had no chance of cellphone reception.


“That scares me,” admitted another.


I scoffed at the time, but now here I am, awake. What else do I possibly need to relax? And then I notice it: the skylight above our heads has been capped thick with snow since our arrival, but somewhere between my getting into bed and this anxious gazing upward it has cleared, the snow melted off by the warmth of our fire. Now I see stars bright and thick, surrounding a yellow jewel that’s probably Jupiter. The light in the room has changed — from daunting black to a soft-silver glow — and I breathe, falling into my first deep sleep in weeks.


City folk have been finding solace now for more than 25 years at Temenos, a 78-acre forested retreat founded by the late Joe and Teresina Havens. A charismatic Quaker couple with an interest in Buddhism, they purchased the land, which had served as a Civil War-era health resort, and invited groups of friends out to relax and regroup, eventually building four cabins and a lodge, all of which were open to the public.


“Their idea was that being close to nature is healing for the human spirit, and that our lives have removed us from opportunities for doing that,” said Nancy Smith, director of the property.


Though it’s independently run, the property is part of an informal network of simple getaways in the Berkshires called the Western Massachusetts Retreat Association. There are a dozen diverse properties on its Web site, from Stump Sprouts, a lodge and a converted dairy barn that is popular with cross-country skiers, to Woolman Hill, a Quaker-run conference center with three cabins available for private stays.


At Temenos, Ms. Smith, who is a youthful 75, is a constant presence. She said she saw an ad for the job after tiring of a career in international development. “I was hired, and two weeks later I moved in. They were desperate!” she said with a laugh. “It’s been a good match.” She’s lived for eight years now in the large red cabin that once belonged to the Havenses. It’s spare inside, and, like the others, without electricity or running water. But it’s got other luxuries, from floor-to-ceiling shelves of books to a meditation corner that overlooks the forest — places for respite from hard days of loading firewood, pumping well water and other chores.


“People often don’t want to do outright camping, and here you still have that sense of being close to nature and of living simply,” Ms. Smith said. Most guests are from Massachusetts, but some have come from as far as St. Louis, New Orleans and Alexandria, Va. “People all come looking for the same thing,” Ms. Smith said. “They want to get away from their lives.”


I was no exception. But first I had to get there.


The first leg was an easy four-hour drive from Manhattan. The second was more challenging: a hike, about a mile uphill, while lugging plastic sleds, provided at the parking lot, which we’d filled with backpacks of food, clothing, candles, flashlights, sleeping bags, books and Scrabble for the three-day stay. We wore snowshoes rented in nearby Hadley to make the trek easier, as Ms. Smith had warned me in a preparatory phone conversation that there was a good three feet of snow on the ground.


“I haven’t been down the mountain in four days now,” she had said, adding that we should arrive as early as possible, as the cabin would take a couple of hours to heat up and that we’d want it to be warm by dark. Her words loomed large in my mind as we began our journey in, and I began rushing, city-style, to get to the top.


“Slow down,” my partner reminded me. “This is part of the fun.”


I eased up and looked around. And it was wonderful: all the snow I’d felt robbed of during global-warming city winters was right there, crunching under the titanium claws of our snowshoes and weighing down the feathery, nimble branches of fir trees that lined our silent hiking path. I grew nostalgic for walks in the woods of my youth, back when suburbia still had tracts of undeveloped land to explore, and also for wilderness camping trips I’d done in my 20s, from New Hampshire to Oregon. None had ever been in the snow, though, and I marveled at how the stark whiteness threw all of this nature into high relief.


After about 40 minutes we reached our cabin — a squat, wood-shingled box with a nameplate, “Thrush,” and a door frame painted in playful hot pink. The front steps were freshly shoveled, and we stepped inside to find a screened-in porch stacked with firewood; beyond that was a homey, “Little House on the Prairie” meets hippie-camp interior. There were smooth pine floorboards, a table with a single kerosene lamp, wood-panel walls hung with cast-iron frying pans, and shelves with a mix of items from a woven Mexican blanket to a leftover box of Kukicha tea.


A SMALL second room held a futon with three pillows, a mobile of origami cranes and a wonderfully tall window, framing a view of towering trees shrouded in snow. Outside the front door and down a short path was our outhouse — a surprisingly lovely, clean, odor-free little structure perched on the edge of a steep, wooded slope — and, toward Ms. Smith’s house, a well with an old-fashioned hand pump. The water there is rich in iron and manganese, making it murky, rust-colored and tinged with a metallic flavor. But after a day I grew used to it, finding its flavor fresh and sweet.


The star of the weekend, though, was to be a little black box about the size of two milk crates: the wood-burning stove, which awaited us ice-cold and empty in the middle of the kitchen area. “I’d get started on that right away,” warned Ms. Smith, a spry figure in a fleece vest, Muck boots and purple skullcap.


The task proved to be the weekend’s biggest challenge, as the split wood had absorbed moisture and would not catch easily. Even when the fire finally roared to life, we had to huddle around it, gloved palms spread just inches from its hot surface, to feel any of its warmth. Three hours in, darkness had fallen, and I began to worry, lighting the kerosene lamp and all of our candles before crawling into my sleeping bag wearing almost every stitch of clothing I had packed. I watched with growing dread as my breath made thick puffs into the still-frigid air.


Soon, though, our cabin began to feel just as cozy as it looked. Wonderful warmth spread outward in ripples and filled in every corner of space, until we were toasty in T-shirts. We played Scrabble by candlelight and sipped red wine and devoured a supper of canned lentil soup and Annie’s macaroni and cheese that I heated over two propane burners out on the porch. The next day we hiked with snowshoes and trekking poles for three hours on Temenos trails — up steep rises and along ridges and through thickets of oak and birch trees. We rested in the snow and nibbled cashews at the 1,200-foot top of Mount Mineral, and sat again at a ledge that overlooked the valley below, with Mount Greylock and an orange-crush sunset in the distance.


Sleep came easily that night. But leaving, on Day 3, did not. I had become utterly used to the simplicity.


Still, we waved goodbye to our cabin after loading up the sleds like pack mules, taking every bit of trash we’d produced in deference to a colorful, handwritten quote of the Zen priest Shunryu Suzuki that hung on a wall just inside the entrance: “When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.”


I left only footprints in the snow. But the cabin’s mark on me was indelible.



http://www.boston.com/travel/articles/nytimes/articles/2008/02/22/trading_the_world_for_a_cabin_in_the_woods/





(l)(l) Lived in a cabin in the redwoods for a whole YEAR. The memories of that year have been particularly vivid lately. Perhaps because it has been twenty years ago starting in 2008. <sigh........a good sigh.....> :)

(y)(y)



(f)





"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(f)(f)



http://www.janetleroy.com/



:)



(f)





"Blessed is the person who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of that fact." - George Eliot


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)


(y)



http://www.dustylens.com/test_video.htm





(f)





Quid est veritas?

What is truth?


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(8) (8) (8) (8)


Very cool:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/21/travel/escapes/20080221_MARTIN_GRAPHIC.html




http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/travel/escapes/22guitar.html?ref=travel




http://www.martinguitar.com/



(8) (8) (8) (8)




(f)





Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l)



http://www.zippitydodah.com/vog/images/photos/




http://www.zippitydodah.com/vog/





http://www.sedona.biz/valleyofthegodsbandb.htm





I've driven the 17-mile Valley of the Gods road (and it took a toll on my rental cars too). I LOVE what folks around here say:

"And best of all, you’re unlikely to see a single tourist bus here."

No kidding. THIS is a place to re-visit as often as possible.

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/valleyof_gods05.asp



"Dusted with fine red dirt and punctuated with silver-green brush, the valley lies at the base of a 1,200-foot bluff called Cedar Mesa that was formed when a sea invaded from the northwest 250 million years ago. The area’s jagged towers, gravelly washes, and tortured sandstone formations line Valley of the Gods Road, a 17-mile dirt route that links Highways 163 and 261, forming a scenic loop. Each bend in the road reveals a surprise, a slightly different shade of red or a new rock contortion, many of which are described in Navajo legend as ancient warriors frozen in time. There are places to pull over and hike, have a picnic, or, if you’re so inclined, do some bouldering."


<Sigh.>


:) Spring desert flowers will soon be in bloom!!!



(f)(f)(f)







Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l)(l)(l)



http://www.bluffutah.org/





Where? North of Mexican Hat, Utah of course:

http://www.bluffutah.org/maps.htm



Cliffs to the west of Bluff:

http://www.calfcanyon.com/images/p_cliffs.jpg




Road down Cow Canyon into Bluff, Utah:

http://www.calfcanyon.com/images/ph_road.jpg





Desert gardening at its best: Evening primrose by the old Hunt House wall:

http://www.calfcanyon.com/images/p_primrose.jpg




Love desert gardens! Xeriscape with native and other drought tolerant plants:

http://www.calfcanyon.com/images/p_xeriscape.jpg




(l)



(y) Stayed here once:

http://www.desertroseinn.com/




(l)(l)(l)





Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)


(y)



http://www.blandingutah.org/



(l)(l)



(f)





Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.

How well you live makes a difference, not how long.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o:o:o


;)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_line



http://www.caverntours.com/Zip_line_video.htm





Scary Video: 1200-Feet High Zip Line the School Bus for Colombian Kids

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/scary-video/1200+feet-high-zip-line-the-school-bus-for-colombian-kids-294523.php


:)


http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/canopy/tour.htm





Moaning Cavern: California's largest public cave chamber


http://www.caverntours.com/MoCavRt.htm





http://www.belizex.com/caves_branch.htm





http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071011/A_ENTERTAIN/710110311





http://www.canopy-tours.com/latest/new-twin-1500-zip-line-in-california.html




(y)(y)



(f)






Veni, vidi, vegi.

I came, I saw, I had a salad.


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l)


;)



http://www.zanegreypueblohotel.com/




I LOVE it: "In keeping with the serenity of the pueblo, there are no phones, TVs or clocks in the rooms."




A surprise:

"Parents traveling with children are encouraged to seek other accommodations if they feel our effort to maintain a quiet, adult atmosphere will inhibit their family's enjoyment of our facility."


(y)(y)

Definitely my kind of place.


:)



(f)





"It often shows fine command of the language to say nothing."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;)



(y)



http://astro.wsu.edu/worthey/astro/html/im-indian-heads/indian.html




(f)





Pleasant dreams.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)



http://deewebs.homestead.com/ute.html



(y)(y)




(f)





Quidquid discis, tibi discis.

Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself.


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;);)



http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/



It's a sad sign of the times that there's a link to
report offensive snowflakes...........still, a cute
web site to send this time of year.


Lots of fun.....



(f)(f)





Pleasant dreams and a lovely Friday. (f)


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(ap) (ap) (ap) (ap)




Left click on mouse and can move the point of view faster and in 360 degree rotation, through 360 degree slices of a sphere.





http://www.gillesvidal.com/blogpano/cockpit1.htm






;) Not a Boeing, but still a fun virtual visit. Notice the gaffers tape in a new airplane - the crew must have tripped over something...........;)



(f)





Major e longinquo reverentia.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;)


(y)(y)



March 2, 2008

Online Scrabble Craze Leaves Game Sellers at Loss for Words

By HEATHER TIMMONS


NEW DELHI — The latest bane of office productivity is Scrabulous, a virtual knockoff of the Scrabble board game, with over 700,000 players a day and nearly three million registered users.


Fans of the game are obsessive. They play against friends, co-workers, family members and strangers, and many have several games going at once.


Everyone seems to love the online game — everyone, that is, except the companies that own the rights to Scrabble: Hasbro, which sells it in North America, and Mattel, which markets it everywhere else.


In January, they denounced Scrabulous as piracy and threatened legal action against its creators, two brothers in Calcutta named Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla who run a software development company. Both Hasbro and Mattel said they were hoping for a solution that would not force them to shut down the game.


Jayant Agarwalla, 21, said they did not create Scrabulous to make money, even though they now collect about $25,000 a month from online advertising. They just wanted to play Scrabble on their computers, and their favorite (unauthorized) site had started charging, he said.


“Our family has been playing the game for 50 years now,” he said, and received a set when the game first came out in India. His mother encouraged him and his 26-year-old brother, Rajat, to play as a learning tool, often with a dictionary by the board.


Scrabulous, which most users play on the Facebook social-networking site, has a board that looks just like Scrabble, and the same number of letter tiles with the same point values. Players can send invitations to others on Facebook or search for strangers to play with by posting messages.


There is no time limit for moves or games. Scrabulous keeps track of player statistics, and it does not allow fake words. It cannot, however, prevent players from cheating. One method is an unaffiliated online “helper” program, which generates a list of possible words based on the letters a user has.


Two game companies, RealNetworks of Seattle and Electronic Arts of Redwood City, Calif., say they have signed deals with Hasbro to create online versions of the company’s games. Both say their versions of Scrabble will be out shortly. But Scrabulous has already brought Scrabble a newfound virtual popularity that none of the game companies could have anticipated.


The threat of legal action has not gained the companies many admirers. Many Scrabulous fans, some of whom say they bought the board game for the first time after playing the online version on Facebook, call their approach heavy-handed and out of touch.


“The big thing that Hasbro is missing is that this is targeting a young audience that in general is not into board games,” said Venkat Koduru, the 15-year-old founder of the Facebook group “Save Scrabulous.”


Mr. Koduru had three Scrabulous games going as of Wednesday. He has gathered names of more than 1,000 people who have pledged to never buy a Scrabble board if Hasbro and Mattel shut down the online game.


Other groups devoted to saving the game have recently been created on Facebook, including “Please God, I Have So Little: Don’t Take Scrabulous Too.” Tens of thousands of fans have joined in, threatening to boycott Hasbro and Mattel products.


Iain Morgan, 34, a music producer in London who goes by the name Iain Easy, is playing 25 games of Scrabulous at the same time. The funny thing is, he said, he was never a fan of the original board game.


Mr. Morgan, who is the host of a Facebook group called “Help, I’m a Scrabulous Addict,” attributes the game’s popularity to “all these people who are bored at work in their office,” and added that the game keeps him in regular contact with his mother.


The legal questions concerning Scrabulous are complicated by the interests of the companies that own the rights to Scrabble.


Harold Zeitz, senior vice president for games at RealNetworks, said Friday that he was working closely with the Agarwalla brothers to bring the official Scrabble game to Facebook users.


Hasbro, meanwhile, said in a statement that Electronic Arts was planning to release an online version of Scrabble this spring. And Mattel, which signed a deal with RealNetworks last July, says that settling with the Agarwallas would set a bad precedent.

Neither Hasbro nor Mattel would disclose the number of Scrabble board games they have sold since Scrabulous started becoming popular last year. Hasbro estimates it sells one million to two million Scrabble boards a year in North America.


To some online marketing experts, Scrabulous represents a turning point for the board game industry, which has struggled for years to recreate itself as new generations turned to alternatives like the Xbox and the GameBoy.


“If you’re Hasbro or Mattel, it isn’t in your interest to shut this down,” said Matt Mason, a consultant to the entertainment industry and author of “The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism.”


The board game industry will be forced to adapt, Mr. Mason predicts, just as the music industry has adjusted to unauthorized downloads of songs. “If something’s already out there and proven, the companies should go with it,” he said.


For their part, Mattel and Hasbro are trying to protect their franchise as consumers turn increasingly to the Internet for entertainment. They say they consider Scrabble a crown jewel and are working on marketing campaigns for the game’s 60th anniversary this year. The plans include adding anniversary labels to Scrabble packaging and introducing a folding edition of the deluxe Scrabble board.


Scrabble began as Lexico in 1931, the creation of an out-of-work architect, Alfred Mosher Butts. He determined the frequency of each letter in the game and its value by reviewing the front page of The New York Times. His patent was denied, and it was 17 years before he found a manufacturer, which renamed the game Scrabble.


It took many more years before Scrabble became popular, thanks in part to a Macy’s chairman who was a fan, according to the game’s official history.


The Scrabble brand in North America was passed from manufacturer to manufacturer. It landed with Hasbro in 1989. The British game maker J. W. Spear & Sons owned the rights outside North America until the company was bought by Mattel in 1994.


The board game has had a core group of close-knit, intense fans for decades. They attend tournaments, refer to amateurs as “living room players,” and memorize lists of two-letter words.


Until Scrabulous landed on Facebook, no one could have mistaken the game, which had only a few thousand users, for a fast-growing phenomenon.


The Agarwallas introduced their first Scrabble knockoff Web site, bingobinge.com, in August 2005, and renamed it Scrabulous.com a year later. In May 2007, one of the site’s users suggested they adapt the game as a Facebook application, and it took off.


After 25 years with the National Scrabble Association, John D. Williams Jr., the executive director, said he had seen numerous copyright infringements of Scrabble, but the Scrabulous program on Facebook was the most “widespread and intense.”


Dozens of other Web sites offer unauthorized versions of Scrabble, but most force users to play in real time or require clunky downloads to play.


“People believe it to be in the public domain, like chess,” Mr. Williams said. “The idea that Scrabble belongs to a corporation is something that people don’t or are unwilling to accept.”


The Agarwalla brothers are avid players themselves — Jayant had 14 Scrabulous games going as of Saturday, and Rajat was playing 19.


Jayant, who is responsible for the game’s player interface and customer support, said, “People rarely find time to sit down anymore with their family and friends, to invite people over, to prepare the tea and biscuits.”


Even though it is easy to cheat at Scrabulous, he says he thinks few players actually do. “You may be doing it for personal glory, but it really takes the fun out of the game,” he said.



:o


:)



(f)




There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Mohandas Gandhi


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:o



http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/03/03/arts/20080304_COLOR_SLIDESHOW_5.html



:o


:)



(f)





"It often shows fine command of the language to say nothing."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;)



In the mid-1950s, short-sleeve coats and capes inspired by Balenciaga were the high-style look. While impractical for winter, the silhouette, with its attendant long gloves, was widely accepted. Now a new generation has discovered it, wind-tunnel sleeves and all. This is a case of vanity triumphing over function.



http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/29/fashion/0302-STREET_2.html



Classy:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/29/fashion/0302-STREET_3.html




:)



(f)




Quidquid discis, tibi discis.

Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself.


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:|:|:|:|




UH-HUH:

Ultimately, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price if the federal government continues to prevent the local food movement from expanding.



March 1, 2008

Op-Ed Contributor

My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables)

By JACK HEDIN

Rushford, Minn.


IF you’ve stood in line at a farmers’ market recently, you know that the local food movement is thriving, to the point that small farmers are having a tough time keeping up with the demand.


But consumers who would like to be able to buy local fruits and vegetables not just at farmers’ markets, but also in the produce aisle of their supermarket, will be dismayed to learn that the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding. And the barriers that the United States Department of Agriculture has put in place will be extended when the farm bill that House and Senate negotiators are working on now goes into effect.


As a small organic vegetable producer in southern Minnesota, I know this because my efforts to expand production to meet regional demand have been severely hampered by the Agriculture Department’s commodity farm program. As I’ve looked into the politics behind those restrictions, I’ve come to understand that this is precisely the outcome that the program’s backers in California and Florida have in mind: they want to snuff out the local competition before it even gets started.


Last year, knowing that my own 100 acres wouldn’t be enough to meet demand, I rented 25 acres on two nearby corn farms. I plowed under the alfalfa hay that was established there, and planted watermelons, tomatoes and vegetables for natural-food stores and a community-supported agriculture program.


All went well until early July. That’s when the two landowners discovered that there was a problem with the local office of the Farm Service Administration, the Agriculture Department branch that runs the commodity farm program, and it was going to be expensive to fix.


The commodity farm program effectively forbids farmers who usually grow corn or the other four federally subsidized commodity crops (soybeans, rice, wheat and cotton) from trying fruit and vegetables. Because my watermelons and tomatoes had been planted on “corn base” acres, the Farm Service said, my landlords were out of compliance with the commodity program.


I’ve discovered that typically, a farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future. (The penalties apply only to fruits and vegetables — if the farmer decides to grow another commodity crop, or even nothing at all, there’s no problem.)


In my case, that meant I paid my landlords $8,771 — for one season alone! And this was in a year when the high price of grain meant that only one of the government’s three crop-support programs was in effect; the total bill might be much worse in the future.


In addition, the bureaucratic entanglements that these two farmers faced at the Farm Service office were substantial. The federal farm program is making it next to impossible for farmers to rent land to me to grow fresh organic vegetables.


Why? Because national fruit and vegetable growers based in California, Florida and Texas fear competition from regional producers like myself. Through their control of Congressional delegations from those states, they have been able to virtually monopolize the country’s fresh produce markets.


That’s unfortunate, because small producers will have to expand on a significant scale across the nation if local foods are to continue to enter the mainstream as the public demands. My problems are just the tip of the iceberg.


Last year, Midwestern lawmakers proposed an amendment to the farm bill that would provide some farmers, though only those who supply processors, with some relief from the penalties that I’ve faced — for example, a soybean farmer who wanted to grow tomatoes would give up his usual subsidy on those acres but suffer none of the other penalties. However, the Congressional delegations from the big produce states made the death of what is known as Farm Flex their highest farm bill priority, and so it appears to be going nowhere, except perhaps as a tiny pilot program.


Who pays the price for this senselessness? Certainly I do, as a Midwestern vegetable farmer. But anyone trying to do what I do on, say, wheat acreage in the Dakotas, or rice acreage in Arkansas would face the same penalties. Local and regional fruit and vegetable production will languish anywhere that the commodity program has influence.


Ultimately of course, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price for this — whether it is in the form of higher prices I will have to charge to absorb the government’s fines, or in the form of less access to the kind of fresh, local produce that the country is crying out for.


Farmers need the choice of what to plant on their farms, and consumers need more farms like mine producing high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables to meet increasing demand from local markets — without the federal government actively discouraging them.


Jack Hedin is a farmer.





(y)(y)(y)(y)



(f)





"Bloom where you are planted."


Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

:|:|


:o



;)



http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/28/opinion/20080222_MIGRAINE_SLIDESHOW_index.html





;) Strange stuff.






(S)(S) Pleasant dreams.

SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(y)(y)(y)



http://www.onedayu.com/



:)



(f)




"All good things come to an end."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:D:D:D




http://www.snorgtees.com/



(y)(y)



(f)





"All good things come to an end."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:):)



http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/28/arts/0229-KHALO_4.html



Almost no one in Kahlo’s day knew quite what to do with art like this. It was only in the 1960s and afterward, with the rise of feminism, gay rights and identity politics, that Kahlo began to make sense. And then she made explosive sense, this artist who had been bending genders, blending ethnicities, making the personal political and revolutionizing the concept of “beautiful” generations before.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/28/arts/0229-KHALO_9.html




:|:|


I loved the movie. ;)





"All good things come to an end."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l)(l)(l)(l)



http://www.twinrocks.com/categories/190-Pueblo-Pottery.html




Native American Legends:

http://www.twinrocks.com/legends/



(l)(l)



(f)





"All good things come to an end."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(f)(f)



http://www.stopping.com/



(f)






"All good things come to an end."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(y)(y)(y)


;)



Q U O T E D


"As soon as people heard I was writing a book on assholes, they would come up to me and start telling a Steve Jobs story. The degree to which people in Silicon Valley are afraid of Jobs is unbelievable."


-- Stanford management science professor Robert Sutton, author of the 2007 bestseller "The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't."



http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/02/news/companies/elkind_jobs.fortune/index.htm






"You know nothing until intuition agrees." - Richard Bach


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:D:D:D:D:D


(8)(8)(8) Definitely need speakers for this one.........




Evolution of Dance


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg





List of of previous all-time most viewed videos:

http://www.waxy.org/archive/2008/03/05/new_vide.shtml





(y)(y) Amazing amount of continuous energy as well as great dancing.


(y)





"Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present." - Thomas Merton


Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

:)



http://meignorant.com/3-way_chess


(y)(y)








(um)(um) May your smile be your umbrella. (um)(um)

SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

8-| 8-|




100 Things We Didn't Know Last Year


Interesting list from the BBC


Scan through this list for interesting and unusual facts. Click the "more details" link if you're really intrigued. Samples: Adding milk negates tea's health effects. Denmark is the happiest country in Europe; Italy the unhappiest.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2008/01/100_things_we_didnt_know_last_3.shtml



(y)(y)







"Speaking without thinking is like shooting without taking aim."


SL & WTB (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l)



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Camp_fire.jpg/792px-Camp_fire.jpg




http://www.thisfabtrek.com/journey/africa/mauritania/20051205-atar/fire-4.jpg




http://en.arocha.org/images/ukphotos/114l.jpeg




http://www.rustyparts.com/pb/images/20051013203706_campfire.jpg



http://www.hickerphoto.com/data/media/180/camp_fire_sc124.jpg




http://home.flash.net/~cooljazz/fotosite/myfamily/randi/images/10-4-03_Camping-Fire.jpg




http://fishhookweb.com/bg/Camp_Fire.lg.jpg




"Digital campfire"?

http://www.nextexit.com/nextexit/nextimages/campfire.gif

OR

www.nextexit.com/nextexit/campfire2.html





(l)(l)(l)




(f)



"All good things come to an end."


Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

:o



;)




http://www.unicat.net/en/pics/EX70HDQ-MANTGA6x6-2.html



;)





"Stupidity is an elemental force for which no earthquake is a match."


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

;)



Cocktail Party Physics


Feel smart, have fun


Jennifer Ouellette, author of the books Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics and The Physics of the Buffyverse, believes physics can be both fun and fascinating. And you'll get some interesting cocktail party fodder too.


Have some Pi

http://twistedphysics.typepad.com/



;)



(f)




Happy St. Paddy's Day!


Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

:)



Bix: Fun with Contests


Create, enter, or judge one


Want some mindless fun? Why not create, enter, or judge an online contest. Choose from beauty pageants, karaoke, talent contests, and more. There's even cash and prizes in some sponsored events.


Join the fun


http://bix.yahoo.com/



:)



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"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt


Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

[sweetlady]

:)



http://www.vrlab.umu.se/research/phun/


"Phun is an educational, entertaining and somewhat (!) addictive piece of software for designing and exploring 2D multi-physics simulations in a cartoony fashion."


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(f)





Happy St. Paddy's Day!


Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

8-| 8-|



The American Physical Society is marking the 50th year of the publication Physical Review Letters by posting over the course of the year a series of milestone letters that made significant contributions to physics.




http://prl.aps.org/50years/milestones




If you need to bone up on your math a bit before plunging in, here's where to find some free courses online:

http://education-portal.com/articles/Where_to_Find_Free_Math_Courses_Online.html



(y)(y)


;)




(f)




Happy St. Paddy's Day!


Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

(l) (f) (l) (f) (l)



March 23, 2008

Weekend in New York | Manhattan Teahouses

Morning or Afternoon, There’s a Kettle Brewing

By SETH KUGEL


HOW versatile is tea? It can evoke anything from stuffy formality to cozy comfort.


Chinese teenagers slurp it, as do British royals, although they’d probably prefer a more refined description. It goes well with cucumber sandwiches, barbecued pork or vegetarian dumplings. It can be hot, it can be cold, it can be green, it can be black. It doesn’t even have to be made from the tea plant: just about any dried flowers, fruits or leaves will do.


Unlike coffee, which plays a largely functional role in society (in that it gets society to function), tea is mostly about relaxing. In fact, the only reasonable objection people can have to tea, is that they don’t like tea.


If you have any of those suspicious characters traveling with you when you visit New York, drop them off at Starbucks (conveniently situated one block north, south, east and west of your hotel) and sample a few of the dozens of vastly different corners of Manhattan that devote themselves largely if not exclusively to tea.


Any attempt to list the best tea spots in Manhattan is bound to cause a tempest in a you-know-what, so consider this column merely a sampling of the island’s tea extremes; for more options go to shockingly thorough Web sites like www.teamap.com and www.teaguide.net apparently run by people who have way too much teatime on their hands.


Even among places with European-style afternoon tea, there are sharp contrasts. On the cozy end of the spectrum is Tea & Sympathy, a little restaurant tucked in beside its little West Village tea and goodies shop, and fitting only 10 tables. (Scratch that, there are 10 tables, but they don’t really fit.)


Though monarchs past and present stare down at you from the walls, the atmosphere is more warm than regal. The $30 tea service brings a vast selection of teas from English Breakfast to Lapsang souchong to chamomile lavender, along with substantial finger sandwiches, hearty scones and big chunks of cake.


Whereas you couldn’t help but feel at home at Tea & Sympathy, you can’t help but feel a little out of place at the Four Seasons, one of the grand Midtown hotels that serves afternoon tea.


Tea service there will run you $46 a person, which comes pretty close to being preposterous, especially when you see the size of the six savories and sweets you choose from a menu of 10 items. (Apparently, a portion of your $46 goes to sophisticated pastry-miniaturization technology.) But those two-bite chicken salad sandwiches, Meyer lemon and blueberry tarts and the like sure are tasty, and the service is as gracious and understated as it is friendly at Tea & Sympathy.


Smaller spots, like the Amai Tea & Bake House or Sympathy for the Kettle, are good for those who would rather avoid the formalities of tea service and focus on the tea itself, with a sweet or two on the side. At Amai, not far from Union Square, you choose from a fascinating list whose provenance is described in excruciating detail, at which point a staff member pulls the leaves out of an old-fashioned library card catalog cabinet. At Sympathy, a Lilliputian, cozier pink-walled shop in the East Village, the list is as vast — about 150 varieties, from oolong to mate to rooibos — as the shop is tiny.


Amai’s big gimmick is that many of the sweets available with tea, are also made from tea. Why this matters is not entirely clear, since your daily allowance of whatever is good in tea is already in the actual tea. But the cookies (Earl Grey and currant, lemongrass and ginger) and the extremely moist green tea cupcake justify the overkill. Sympathy follows suit with an equally good raspberry-and-green-tea cake.


Asian bubble tea — the drinks with those arrestingly chewy tapioca pearls at the bottom — has made it big in recent years. There are spots all over Chinatown, but no need to explor