Lesley Posts

Severe storm watch … again
Charlotte Observer - Charlotte,NC,USA
For the third straight day, the Charlotte metro region is under a severe
thunderstorm watch. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., has
issued the …
<http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/story/158386.html>
For injured Mickelson, wrist watch is on
Buffalo News - NY, United States
The last of his wayward tee shots hit the top of a hospitality tent and led
to his fatal double bogey, costing Mickelson a first Open title and third
…
<http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/97672.html>
TE sleepers: Watch Chicago's Olsen
FOXSports.com - USA
Wiggins had led the team in receptions in 2004 and 2005 before sitting his
production dip by one-third. He'll be used in Jacksonville, to be sure, …
<http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6918970>
Alabama's Smith, AU's Dunlap and Groves make preseason watch lists
The Decatur Daily - Decatur,AL,USA
He earned Coaches and Associated Press All-SEC first-team honors and was a
Rivals.com third-team all-American. The winners of both awards will be
announced …
<http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/sports/070613/lists.shtml>
McRath named to 2007 Bronko Nagurski watch list
Hattiesburg American - Hattiesburg,MS,USA
The watch list consists of 49 players. McRath, a redshirt sophomore from
Powder Springs, Ga., was third-team All-Conference USA and selected to the
…
<http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/NEWS01/70613012/1002>
Stocks To Watch: Boston Scientific, Ford, General Electric, Google …
Minyanville.com - New York,USA
The Akron plastics company cited unexpected continued weakness in Europe
and North America during the third quarter, and said it expects the
weakness to run …
<http://www.minyanville.com/articles/Ford-GE-Google–Intel/index/a/13100>
Giuliani Creating a "Moral and Spiritual Dilemma" for the Right
By Kyle
Perkins said that should Giuliani win the nomination, he would vote for a third-party candidate who reflected his values. "It wouldn't be the first time," Perkins added in an interview last week. A potential Giuliani win in the primary …
<http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2007/06/giuliani_creating_a_moral_and_spiritual_dilemma_for_the_right.html>
Right Wing Watch
<http://www.rightwingwatch.org/>Watch List? Wednesday Hub Don't Need No Stinking Watch List!
By SMQ
Purchased, from devious Gainesville police narcs conducting a "reverse sting," 8 grams of weed that earned Florida jitterbug return man Brandon James a suspension and a third degree felony count. Arrested with James was Brandon Powell, …
<http://www.sundaymorningqb.com/story/2007/6/13/84025/6463>
Sunday Morning Quarterback
<http://www.sundaymorningqb.com>Patrick Holford v. Dr. Sarah Jarvis in the Arena of Diabetes …
By Shinga(Jon)
[About a third of] people can reduce their cholesterol by about 20% over the course of a year, another third of people can reduce it by about 15% and another third reduce it by about 10%. What do they do? It's commonsense. …
<http://www.holfordwatch.info/2007/06/patrick-holford-v-dr-sarah-jarvis-in_13.html>
Holford Watch - The Truth About…
<http://www.holfordwatch.info/>Imperato to dine with George W?
By Joey Dauben
Is this even true? 008 Independent Libertarian Presidential Candidate Daniel Imperato to Attend 2007 NRCC President's Dinner with George W. Bush. Washington DC 6/13/07- As a gesture for multipartisan relations, 2008 …
<http://thirdpartywatch.com/2007/06/13/imperato-to-dine-with-george-w/>
Third Party Watch
<http://thirdpartywatch.com>Preseason Heisman Trophy Watch
… early to begin handicapping the 2007 Heisman Trophy race. As a third-year Heisman voter here is my preseason top five. Drum roll please… 1. Darren McFadden School: Arkansas Position: Running back Class: Junior McFadden came out of…
<http://blogs.chron.com/longhorns/2007/06/preseason_heisman_trophy_watch.html>
Longhorns
<http://blogs.chron.com/longhorns/>

16th September 2005 ……………………………ANOTHER GREEN WORLD:
………….THE FINAL EPISODE OF THE ELECTION TRILOGY
I am trying to imagine our brave new future under the Green party-
………….
Dolphins and Whales vie for attention off Mission Bay. There is no poverty. When a man walks into the supermarket to buy a potato, genetically modified so that it peels itself, he is wrestled gently to the ground by a benevolent mob and tickled into submission.
“Not on our watch my friend” they say.
Outside on the street, women with large breasts and men with an unfulfilled erections search in vain for a Hooters restaurant. There is a party going on at the local hall and beneath the unflattering glow of neon tubes, men with beards and women in muslin skirts kick up their heels, shamelessly intoxicated on organic feijoa wine. Marijuana is legal and letters to the editor are plagued by great “ideas” people have had the night before.
“why does THE MAN make us smoke cigarettes in tiny white tubes. It would be soooo much easier if we could just buy plastic bags full of smoke….”
Cyclists are everywhere. And jugglers. There is grave shortage of chip oil as cars have been converted to run on the new fuel. Our water is so pure Keith Richards flies in once a week for a glass.
Old journalists bemoan the insipid debate in parliament.
“We miss Rodney Hide. At least he was colourful!” They chant.
But when pressed, no one can remember exactly WHAT colour he was. Eventually Jane Clifton pulls out some felt tips and sets them all straight. He was a kind of puce color, with american spelling.

Meanwhile the Right Wing future is very different:
………………………… All the roads have been widened so that they can accommodate Hummers. It is the car of choice for small men with something to prove in the bedroom. Paul Homes has ordered a Sherman tank with leather seats and crush velvet trim. There is a special compartment for someones undies.
Fencing is the big growth business in the country. Now that people have more money in their wage packets they want to make sure no-one else can get any of it. Especially maoris.
www.bloodymaoris.co.nz is the biggest website in the country. People can go on there to discuss the problems with maori. Some people have never left.
A complaint was sent to the United Nations about the website but when the protest got to New York they found the UN was gone.
George Bush is our best new mate. We have his ear.
Apparently, he wants it back so he can go to the toilet. To hold up our end of the bargain, we have provided him with a list of innocent countries to invade that might have weapons of mass destruction but definitely have oil. Every kindergarten has a nuclear reactor and with a bit of work we should have got rid of that pesky ozone layer by lunchtime. Gerry Brownlee’s smug grin has been declared the ‘eighth wonder of the world’, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering belly. It is on permanent display at the New Lynn Steakhouse.
What’s that Noise?
It is Katherine Rich and Muriel Newman riding on a water cannon through the needy suburbs flushing out those on a sickness benefit. In a solemn ceremony the treaty of Waitangi has been burnt and our friends the americans are going to fire it into the far recesses of space. It is illegal to mention it and anyone who has actually read it is banned from speaking in parliament. Fortunately for the National Party none of them had. Their maori affairs spokesman was proud to admit that he learned most of his New Zealand history at the urinal at the pub. After changes to the haka were called for, the maoris took it back. A demand is made for the All Blacks pre-match display to represent the people who swept the national party into power. So now before the an All Blacks game they stand around a barbie in stubbies holding a beer can, moaning about the missus and talking about accounting. So, there you have it. A fair headed, level appraisal of the two main positions. You can now make an informed choice. The options are clear. Swim with the dolphins or leave your undies in Paul Holmes new tank.
Do the right thing.

The EU’s Bridge Project has begun a series of pilots to mark the second year of its three-year initiative to develop RFID applications based on EPCglobal standards.

The project, whose members include Carrefour, Nestle, Sony, and El Corte Ingles focuses on business-based research leading to pilots, deployment and the development of training materials in the use of RFID across a range of business sectors, including the pharmaceutical, textile, food manufacturing and retail areas.

Bridge website.

Security and privacy issues are never very far away from RFID, and we have already had a few scare stories over the security of RFID data, which to date have lacked much credibility. To that end, the Bridge Security working group has put together a Security Analysis documenting the requirements for enabling both ‘open’ and ‘collaborative’ business applications.

That Bridge is driving pilots plus ‘horizontal’ activities such as training, dissemination activities and policy reports is encouraging. The EU certainly wants RFID to be a technical success, and is putting together a number of support activities for it. Bridge is just one example.

What the RFID industry really needs in Europe is for someone to be a standard-bearer for implementation, as Wal-Mart has done in the US. Tesco and DHL have made strong moves into RFID, but technical issues, especially accuracy allied to the business case, have meant fast-track progress – and visibility - has stalled.

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of organisations dirtying their hands with RFID, but users who are on the cusp of making a business case to their executives, still need an example they can cite of an organisation that has isolated a compelling business-driven argument for RFID adoption – and by going for full-scale implementation, can capture the imagination and offset many of the ‘RFID…yes, but’ stories that have emerged recently. Of course, it depends on whether that compelling business case actually exists. Perhaps the mindset is sharpened when it’s a competitor that has taken the plunge and gained a competitive advantage through RFID.

Mark Roberti in RFID Journal has argued that there are examples out there providing real business benefits. We just need to see more of them.

11-City Speaking Tour Kicks Off Friday, June 15 at Natural World Museum Exhibit “Making the Choice: Bringing Forth an Environmental Renaissance”

San Francisco, CA (USA) — : Kicking off an unprecedented visit and 11-city speaking tour, The Oracle of Tibet (www.tibetanoracle.org) – the Venerable Thupten Ngodup, Tibetan monk and healer – made his first-ever public appearances in the United States on Friday, June 15 at the Natural World Museum (www.artintoaction.org ) exhibit Making the Choice: Bringing Forth an Environmental Renaissance currently on display at San Francisco City Hall’s 4th Floor Rotunda Gallery.

As the advisor to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Government, The Oracle shared his knowledge with the masses and speaking on critical universal issues such as Global Warming and the importance of personal and collective responsibilities of humanity – a focus of the Natural World Museum’s City Hall exhibit. Co-hosting the Oracle’s City Hall appearance along with the Natural World Museum is the Presidio-based Partnerships for Change (www.partnershipsforchange.org) and Philip Stein Teslar.

“It is a humbling honor to host The Oracle, and to have his first experience of the United States be this exhibit,” said Mia Hanak, Executive Director for the Natural World Museum. “From the ‘rooftop’ of the world in the Himalayan mountain range he has seen the snow pack diminishing. The Oracle shared his essential message about the importance of understanding our local and global impacts, and conscious choices we make in our everyday behaviors and habits. NWM’s exhibit directly reflects the environmental values he is inspiring us to embrace, as they are critical for the well being of the present and future generations.”

As a cabinet-level official of the Tibet Government in exile, The Oracle’s knowledge is usually reserved for advising the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government. This tour will also be part of his effort to preserve the lineage of the Nechung Kuten and help fulfill a prophecy that was handed down hundreds of years ago to develop a college of Monasteries known as the Dreyang. After San Francisco, the tour will continue on to Portland, Los Angeles, Aspen, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Louisville, Washington, DC, New York City and Miami. The Oracle will return to San Francisco for two final appearances in the City on August 8.

“With the blessings of H.H. the Dalai Lama, this earth conscious team has assembled to launch this extraordinary tour of the Oracle of Tibet. It is this magnitude of consciousness from both industry and non-profit working hand in hand that reminds us that time is of the essence; and that it is a time for change” said Jacqueline Miller of Partnerships for Change.

The idea for “Making the Choice” came about in June 2005 when San Francisco hosted World Environment Day: the first time a North American city had been so chosen. It was during that event that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom asked NWM to design an exhibit that would help connect the daily actions of San Franciscans with the impact their choices have on the environment worldwide.

The exhibition features seven environmental topics: Waste Reduction, Water, Environmental Health, Transportation, Urban Design, Urban Nature, and Energy. The show features painting, sculpture, photography, video, and installation artwork from local and international artists including: Christopher Lamarca, Chris Jordan, Rob Larson, Edward Burtynsky, Free Soil–Amy Franceschini, Lucy Orta, Fred Tomaselli, Harri Kallio, Era and Don Farnsworth, Sven Pahlsson, Free Range Graphics, Leslie Shows, Robert Bateman, Judith Selby Lang, Alison Moritsugu, Allora & Calzadilla, Icleandic Love Corp, Agnes Denes, Giles Mingasson, and Fei Yang.

“Together, the words and images comprise a more complete picture” states NWM’s Exhibit Curator, Randy Rosenberg “the scientist’s facts in partnership with the artist’s vision in a way that tells us — implicitly and explicitly, intellectually and emotionally — that we are part of the problem . . . and the solution.”

The San Francisco-based Natural World Museum utilizes the universal language of art as a catalyst to inspire and engage the public in environmental awareness and action. In order to contribute to the sustainability of our world, NWM provides enlightening experiences through innovative site-specific art exhibitions that advance local and global conservation efforts.

This exhibition has been generously sponsored by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, and produced in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services and SF Environment. Philip Stein Teslar, known for tracking time with beautiful designs and promoting the health of the earth with Teslar Technology, has joined Partnerships For Change in this great undertaking of bringing the Oracle of Tibet to the United States.

(via the Buddhist Channel)

Yesterday a group of Kansas fossil hunters went back in time to around 99 million years during the Cretaceous period when East Central Kansas and Nebraska were at the edge of a vast inland sea. The Cretaceous was a period of rapid change that saw the rise of many modern groups and extinction of many others.

The trip was led by Julie Retrum, geology graduate student and Jonathan Hendricks, a post doctoral researcher from Cornell. The trip’s goal was to visit a couple of important sites to collect material for the paleontology collections. We began our trip at 7:15 am in the parking lot behind Lindley Hall at the University of Kansas with Julie and Jonathan providing a briefing about where we were going, and the ground rules for collecting specimens.

We then headed north on 75, not stopping at the world’s largest cinnamon roll in Holton and seeing none of the world famous black squirrels in Marysville KS, but going on into Nebraska to our first stop, an old cropping of sandstone-no fossils but as one hunter remarked it was like walking on a beach. There were also interesting nodules littering the site along with crystals of gypsum, but alas no fossils.

The ‘beach at the first site(above)
Gypsum crystals(below)

Our next stop was quarry full of tropical soils. Finding tropical soils in Nebraska may seem odd but this spot during the Cretaceous was a tropical rain forest and we stopped specifically to see these weathered soils. Today these soils are quarried for clay used to make bricks. This didn’t seem too exciting until we began to notice what looked like pieces of charcoal in the clay.

In a sense that is what they were-the carbonized remains of trees from almost 100 million years ago and yet so fresh the grain of the wood was still visible. Some of the pieces had pyrite (fool’s gold) in association with them and were quite large and we joked about use them as Yule logs. The quarry manager said the clay is nice and fires very nicely, except that the pyrite explodes taking little chips of the brick with it and then forming little rust spots on exposure to air.

A piece of carbonized ‘Yule log’ (above)
Remains of a swamp(below) with some of our
crew digging for plant fossils (below)

From there we went to another site, quite famous for its fossils of early flowering plants and the pictures we saw were quite recognizable to my eye as being related to magnolias. This area during the Cretaceous was apparently a brackish swamp. Along with flower parts the leaf fossils from this site are very complete showing the leaf veins and in some cases the cells through which plants take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.

Alas, we mainly found small bits of plant material, no flowers. Also the clay containing the plant material was very damp and fragile, often disintegrating when handled. Let the clay dry and the plant material would blow away in the wind unless sprayed right away with a fixative. Quite a dilemma! Several people did find some nice pieces of fossilized wood in a dry creek bed at the bottom of the site.

Bits of compressed plant material from the brackish swamp site(above)
Wood from this site(below)

In addition to the KU contingent, two local volunteers Lois (Bottom right in the green hat) and John directed us to our last ‘dig’ , a road cut back in Kansas about 9 miles west of Washington Kansas-that during the Cretaceous was open ocean- guaranteed to have fossil clams.

They were right and we didn’t even have to dig. The clams turned out to be all one species of a group of clams called Inoceramids, which are extinct today and we all collected our fill. Some Inoceramids got to be 8 foot long and sometimes fossil fish are found inside the clam, apparently having used the clam for a refuge.

A beach, a jungle, a swamp and a clam bed all within an hour’s drive and almost 100 million years away-what a treat-and I found myself imaging Leonardo da Vinci shaking his head at the people driving by these sites daily and yet snug in their view that Genesis explains geology and ignorant of the science he helped found.

Other Links:

The History of the Earth and the History of Life.

Charles Sternberg: fossil hunter.

Technorati Tags:
Kansas
Fossils
Evolution

Itinerary West Africa
Lome Togo West Africa
May 2007

10 years of travel, and I finally learned, the itinerary, the route, a trip path, a map inside a country is not important to me, I only want to know how a person traveled across many countries.

To plan a trip, there are maps, never give them out or tell anyone, this is the Traveler Creed, and the Movie The Beach is the bible of this idea, however, let them shoot me, here are many pages with maps on them of west Africa. Africa is about Visas and avoiding Nigeria or maybe now the Sudan, Chad and Algeria.

MAP A motorcycle trip around the world by Peter and Kay Forwood on a Harley-Davidson
Africa Travel Guide and Bicycle Touring Guide
http–home-3.worldonline.nl-~jzoeth-jzmain.htm
Link Community Development [ Events - Africa By Bike ]
starting in Australia Feb 1996.
MAP Keio University SFC - Student Spotlight
My Travels - Mark Moxon, Travel Writer
Niger to Burkina Faso Plans
Peter & Kay Forwood trip on a Harley-Davidson around the world - Planning the 7th Section
Photos-Pictures of Mali (West Africa)
Steve Bougerolle - Travelogue (West Africa 1995-96)
UniMaps.com - West Africa Explored - PRINT

I would assume and believe Richard Trillo the editor and expert from the Roughguides.com West Africa guidebook and a bike rider would also have something good to say.

http://theroughguidetokenya.blogspot.com
http://theroughguidetothegambia.blogspot.com
http://theroughguidetowestafrica.blogspot.com

Itinerary West AfricaClick Here to Read Blog Online
Write letters to Andy

Major Hockstedder, let me assure you, it was not our fault..
I was really charged up to watch the DVR rebroadcast of Trish Stratus, the most decorated Diva in WWE history, and the her special guest, the NHL awards ceremony, but it wasn’t there.

Lots of folks up and down the blogroll offer detailed analyses on how and why it happened. I did grab these soundbites off the wire service:

When asked to comment, Versus programming director, Major Wolfgang Hockstedder, avoided direct blame for the incident stating: “If my head rolls, all heads vill roll!”

Hockstedder’s comments were immediately refuted by CBC public relations director, Sergeant Hans Schultz, who stated, “I see nothingk; I hear nothingk, and most of all, I know nothingk!”
To be honest, I was never really that interested. I hate awards shows as a genre. Sports award shows are no different. Dopey cue card comedy set-ups followed by dopey speeches from guys who aren’t paid to be good at public speaking, and B-list celebrities in search of sports culture credibility. At least you don’t see much political grandstanding and unabashed narcissism at an NHL show.

Congrats to Cap’n Roddy for a Selke part deux performance. I probably would have gone with Sammy, but Rod has earned a little lingering respect. Sammy will get his chances in the years to follow.

…actually doing work. Shocking, I know. While I’ve gotten up before at 2:30, this morning is the first morning in which I feel like I might need the whole time; no cheating by going back to sleep! I’ve still got to write another third of an essay, then write 30 reading entries, then study for the two-hour test. Luckily, I’m feeling surprisingly okay right now; I just hope I don’t crash in the middle of the test (or am unable to write after having to work out “to failure”!). Just one more day….

Very quickly…I decided that I’d institute my first institution here at Spent My Time… …so I’m proud to introduce Feed Friday. For those who don’t know what a feed is, go to Wikipedia! Briefly, its a file that aggregators (here’s a list of them) collect that is almost always a short (or complete) version of the stories/posts on a webpage. This blog, for example, has an RSS 2.0 feed. So, if you download an aggregator (my suggestions: Bloglines or Newzie) and subscribe, you can see all the fun stuff going on here as soon as it happens.

Anyway, back to the Feed (#1 of a potential 56…and counting!). It is Quark Vs. InDesign. If you’ve never down layout, you probably haven’t heard of either of these combatants…and if you have, you’ve likely only heard of one or the other. The site details the ongoing power struggle between QuarkXPress and InDesign for domination of the desktop publishing world. I only use InDesign, so I find this a great site on two levels, both for keeping apprised of Quark in as minimal a way as possible (for instance, I got to find out just enough about their new new logo - by the way, I kind of liked the old one, despite the controversy, and was originally put off by the shiny and complex new design, but after reading the story and the one at Designorati, I’ve been converted; its all about being able to have a good story behind your design, it seems) and for some great InDesign/InCopy tips. The one problem I have is that compared to other blogs/sites, they don’t create new posts very often (for example, I’ve been waiting forever for the new part of the InCopy CS2 In Production series…grrrrrrr). But its worth a little waiting for their content. Whoops, spent too much time, funnily enough. On to the essay…

At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, the Marvel films panel revealed some details on one of next year’s highly anticipated comic book movie, The Incredible Hulk. What? your probably thinking, hey, didn’t they do a movie of the Hulk already? yes they did, but it was a crappy version so they’re doing this remake. There was also some new info. on the Iron Man movie, but we’ll stick with the green guy for today.

We all know that Ang Lee’s 2003 version of the film aptly named “The Hulk” didn’t get a warm reception from the regular moviegoers and fans alike, hopefully this time, with a new director (Louis Leterrier) and a new cast (Edwarton Norton as Bruce Banner, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross and Tim Roth as Abomination) they’ll come up with a better script and an improved and better CGI. It’s scheduled to be released for the Summer of ‘08 but until then here’s a Hulk papercraft from okipapa for all the fans out there. The PDF is roughly 9MB, and has a hulk-size 19 pages on it, good luck with this one.

Hulk [Download]

Tapping into our full potential
Over the last few years particularly, there has been an ever increasing number of books coming onto the market, not to mention inspiring films like The Secret, that are continually reminding us of our almost unlimited powers to create whatever it is that we most desire in our lives. In their own ways they all explain how we can use the magnetic effect of the Law of Attraction to work on our behalf.

We were reflecting on this the other day and wondering why, despite our best intentions, it can sometimes appear that we have not created what we thought we had asked for. After all, the Law of Attraction is always in operation – it is a Universal Principal and as such cannot work sometimes, or choose to work for one person and not another, so the truth is that we are always in a state of creation. In our view the answer to this all-important question is that the level of our creative skill is dependant on our ability to align our manifestations with our highest truths.

To be able to tap into our full potential as creators and to use the Law of Attraction to maximum effect we need to become aware of which level of consciousness we are creating from. As human beings we are rather like one of those magical Russian dolls that is really a succession of dolls of decreasing sizes one inside the other. Using this analogy the outer doll represents the expanded perspective of our Greater Being while each of the inside dolls represent different dimensional levels, culminating with the smallest doll - our personality, or third dimensional consciousness. When we appear not to have created what we asked for it is sometimes because we have not ensured that all these different levels of ourselves are in agreement about what the manifestation should be.

It can be all too easy to listen to the familiar patterns of our personality and not remember to ask our Soul for it’s more expanded view of what is really best for us. The Love and Wisdom of our Soul is always with us and we can best connect with it in the deepest recesses of our heart. Here, if we are prepared to be honest with ourselves we will find our highest truths along with the power to create what is truly in our highest and best good.

Of course, it is not uncommon for us to experience resistance at a personality level as we attempt to bring the personality into alignment with the Soul’s truth. So when this happens do remember the invaluable help and support that some well chosen vibrational essences can provide to smooth your pathway forward.

You might find one of the following combinations helpful:-
Heart Chakra, Unconditional Love, Acceptance, Being Present, Inner Calm.

May all your highest and best dreams come to fruition!