Bush Fires in Victoria

Sad news from Victoria today where bush fires threaten the Chalet atop Mt. Buffalo. According to fire crews, it's a matter of when, not if, the fires will reach the chalet. A resort farther down the mountain has been completely destroyed. The chalet was the site of a conference Aussie and I attended several years ago. It's a grand old place with huge fireplaces in every public room, a lovely dining room, and those old-fashioned rooms like you see in old movies with antique furniture and footed tubs and lace curtains. What a loss!

Atlantis is Next

The shuttle Atlantis has been moved into the massive Kennedy Space Center assembly building (pictured) where it will be attached to a fuel tank and twin booster rockets in preparation for launch next month. The flight marks NASA's return to assembly of the International Space Station following the 2003 Columbia accident.

"We need to shift from the return-to-flight mode back to a more operational assembly sequence where we're flying, hopefully, four to five times a year and completing the assembly fairly quickly," Atlantis commander Brent Jett said.

Atlantis will be hauling a second set of massive solar arrays which are needed to boost the station's power output for partner laboratory modules. A firm date for the launch will be set following a flight review that ends on August 16th. The lift-off of Atlantis and six astronauts from Cape Canaveral in Florida is targeted for August 27 or 28.

Modern Monopoly

The London version of Monopoly is swapping its iconic bank notes for debit cards and replacing the dog and iron playing counters with a burger and a mobile phone in a bid to catch up with the times. The changes also include an increase in property prices, rocketing rents, and a change in the London addresses printed around the board. The new version of the game, called Monopoly Here and Now Electronic Banking, comes with a little machine that transfers money from one player's bank card to another.

Despite the changes and the upgrades, there is one thing that remains the same - the 'go to jail' punishment. "You do go to jail, that will never change," the spokesman said.

Museum to Feature Shiloh in Wax

According to a recent article on the ABC (Australia) website, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby Shiloh Nouvel will have her own figure at the Madame Tussaud's wax museum in New York. She will be the first baby ever given the honour and will be joining more than 200 celebrities portrayed in wax statues. The statue of Shiloh will feature her mom's the pouty lips and delicate features and "will lie peacefully inside a woven bassinet" in her "very own African-themed nursery," near figures of her parents, the museum said in a statement. "The nursery - painted a pale yellow - also includes jungle-themed curtains, a whimsical chandelier, a white changing table and giant stuffed animals. Soft African lullabies will be played in the background, and guests can pose for a 'family photo'with the three figures," said the museum, which promises to send $US1 per photo to the UN children's fund UNICEF. Jolie has been a United Nations goodwill ambassador for several years.

Advertising Ruse

Aussie and I got an envelope in the mail today with STATEMENT ENCLOSED stamped on it, so Aussie opened it to discover that it was from GEICO, a company we do not do business with. On the top of the letter above the fold was printed: "Please review your summary statement". Aussie being curious as to how we could have a bill from GEICO opened the letter out to read the following:

STATEMENT: At GEICO, we will strive to give you an outstanding
customer service experience. We will support you online and by
phone and help you...

The Statement continued for several lines, then was signed Ted Ward who is of course the Vice President.

Add this ruse to the fact that I hate that lizard with his fakey accent which IS NOT AT ALL Australian, we will never ever buy anything whatsoever from GEICO.

Quitting is Just a Jab Away!

According to this article, smokers struggling to kick the habit may soon be able to dispense with nicotine patches and chewing gum, in favour of a simple injection. The nicotine vaccine works to block the pleasurable effects of smoking from reaching the brain and reduces the withdrawal symptoms of giving up smoking. It is currently being trialed in the United States. Researchers say, "What this does is it keeps nicotine out of the brain altogether, and in that way keeps a smoker from finding it rewarding to smoke. The vaccine should also reduce the severe withdrawal symptoms of giving up smoking.

Heavenly Help

"We had just been wondering whether the cabin we're building is getting too expensive, and then this falls out of the sky," Bjørn Herigstad said with a laugh.

According to news from Norway in Aftenposten, a meteorite weighing around two kilos landed right in the yard outside Bjørn Herigstad's cabin in coastal Jæren, western Norway, over the weekend.

Herigstad isn't sure what he’ll do with the meteorite, which could be a valuable sales object. A quick check on the Internet revealed prices as high as NOK 700,000 (more than US$100,000).

Urban/Kidman Union Bears Fruit

I believe our Nic is pregnant! This would explain so much, including why she married the short guy, tears at the wedding (hormone upheaval), shopping at Target (lt), plus this photo of her obvious bump with pokey navel.

Outback Australia Telescope

An innovative radio telescope made up of square tiles instead of conventional dish antennas will be built in outback Western Australia to study what switched on the first stars.

The Mileura Widefield Array, which will cover an area 1.5 kilometres in diameter, will use 500 six-metre square 'tiles' to gather radio signals from its site in the mid-west of the state.

The array will operate at low frequencies to 'see through' the neutral hydrogen, which is opaque to optical light, that filled the early universe.

Mileura Station (a livestock ranch) is roughly 300km inland from the western Australian coast, a few hundred km north of Perth ,and 350km from the small coastal city of Geraldton . The target region is extremely sparsely populated, and is characterized by fairly flat, sparsely vegetated, semi-arid terrain criss-crossed by shallow washes and watercourses.

Dan Klass Cracks Me Up!

If you have the time, listen to the Dan Klass podcast, The Bitterest Pill. And start with #59: Get Her Some Crackers. He's a stay-at-home dad and his two-year-old daughter is awake while he's trying to be interviewed at home on his podcast by an English chick who is doing an article on podcasting. The two-year-old rules the day! The child's need for cheese and crackers while dad is otherwise occupied is hilarious!

We All Age

Our Sandy is 42! She was wonderful in The Lakehouse, but how much longer can she play the ingenue? I love Sandy, probably because she loves Texas. Can she graduate to the next roles awaiting her talent? Time will tell...

The Haka and the Handbag

The New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, begin every game with a traditional haka. A haka is a Maori war dance (more of a chant with hand gestures and foot stomping) which describes graphically how the opposition will be treated, and the players standing opposite the display on the field have got to be intimidated. Besides the haka, there is also the fact that the All Blacks are one tough team. In this video of the haka, note the "speaker".

His name is Tana Umaga and in a recent pub incident in Christchurch, he famously belted a team-mate with a woman's handbag.

Now Channel 7 in Australia is using the haka and the handbag incident to promote its coverage of Saturday's Tri-Nations Test against the Wallabies by presenting a digitally-altered clip which shows the All Blacks performing their traditional haka with handbags.

All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith described the ads as disrespectful. "It's insensitive, I think, to Maori and disrespectful of all the All Blacks," he said.

There is no video of the clip available on internet, but here's a still photo from it.

ISS/Discovery Passes

Since Discovery has docked with the International Space Station, it's a good time to check the almanac page at the Sky and Telescope site to see if there are any ISS/Discovery fly-overs in your skies. Simply put in your location (even the zip code will work in the US and Canada) and the almanac will give you the dates, times, duration, appearing and disappearing coordinates, and maximum elevation of the passes. The docking will continue until July 14th.

I don't know this for sure, but it seems that the passes could be brighter than usual. However, even if that is inaccurate, the ISS is the easiest object to spot in the clear night sky if you know where to look.

Here are our passes for tonight:
July 06, 9:22 pm 3 min.
July 06, 10:55pm 1 min.

Proofing for Project Gutenberg

Here's a list of the Top 100 downloaded books from Project Gutenberg.
Notice the link at the top of the page which states:

Did you know that you can help us produce ebooks by proof-reading just one page a day? Go to: Distributed Proofreaders

The mission of DP is the digitization of Public Domain books into Project Gutenberg.

I have been proofing pages for DP for a month now and find the "work" very engaging and rewarding. The concentration necessary to proof the pages takes me right out of my everyday life and transports my attention to the printed page. The software used at DP is simply amazing and everything about the operation is highly organized and simplified. There is a proofreading forum and a wiki which puts me in touch with all the other proofreaders from around the world. All the workers from project managers to P1 proofreaders are volunteers.
Here's the link to Distributed Proofreaders. You can look around the site and at the Smooth Reading Pool Preview without signing in. Give it a look-in!

In Progress: Discovery Docking with ISS

We are watching Discovery docking with the ISS on NASA channel. The live pictures are amazing. Here's a summary of the Discovery's mission from the NASA website:

Space Shuttle Discovery fired its engines just after 7 a.m. EDT beginning its final approach with the International Space Station. Discovery, which launched Tuesday afternoon to begin STS-121, is scheduled to dock with the station at 10:52 a.m. EDT today.

STS-121 will deliver supplies and equipment to the station. Much of the cargo is located in the Italian-built Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module. The STS-121 crew will also conduct at least two spacewalks while docked to the orbital outpost. During the excursions, the crew will demonstrate techniques for inspecting and protecting the shuttle’s thermal protection system.

Also, arriving with STS-121 is European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter. He will become Expedition 13’s third crew member. His arrival will return the station’s crew complement to three for the first time since Expedition 6 left in May 2003.

About two hours after Discovery arrives, the hatches will open and the STS-121 crew will enter the station for the first time. STS-121 is currently scheduled to depart the space station on July 14 and land in Florida on the 16th.

STS-121 will be the first shuttle mission to visit the station since STS-114 left in August 2005.

No Pork on the Menu

Because this tigeress was born in captivity and nursed for four months by a pig at a zoo in Thailand, the piglets have thankfully lost their place in her food chain!

More really cute photos here.

LeTour

What's the Tour de France without Lance Armstrong? Just another bike race...

However, if you are interested in what's happening day to day in France with the racers, check out the daily news on Lance's website.

4th of July Dinner Party

We really enjoyed our 4th of July dinner with friends. Here's a recipe for the main course which was stuffed Cornish game hens:
1 package long-grain and wild rice mix, 6 ounces
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 can (about 4 ounces) chopped mushrooms, drained
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 Cornish game hens (approximately 1 pound each)

PREPARATION:
Cook rice according to package directions; cool. Add celery, chopped mushrooms, chopped apricots, butter, and soy sauce; toss lightly to mix. Stuff hens; place in roasting pan. Roast, loosely covered at 375° for 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue roasting Cornish hens for about 60 minutes, or until done. Baste Cornish hens with butter during last 30 minutes, if desired.

We added a beautiful wild green salad with maple-coated walnuts and gruyere cheese and also an asparagus side dish. A riesling made the meal complete. We followed with a tasty strawberry dessert and a sweet wine. Then port and chocolate. What a meal!

Need I mention the conversation, the new friends, and the lovely cool night air on the back porch overlooking the Guadalupe River?

Hot and Dry

There is no rain in the guage in the Texas Hill Country. It's dry and there is very little prospect for rain in the near future. Add to that, the thermometer is registering in the upper 90's every day. So it's hot and it's dry and there's no relief in sight!

Since our house sits on the side of a hill with no fear of flooding, we want rain and lots of it. Actually, it would take a flood to reach our average rainfall and to fill the Guadalupe River and recharge the aquifer.

"Prada": What Was Missing?

Days after seeing "The Devil Wears Prada", I have finally hit on what was missing from that film. It had great acting, beautiful clothes, NYC locations, a wonderful supporting cast, but it didn't have a PLOT! I will say that Streep, a fav of mine, has never looked better and her performance was worth the price of the ticket.

Beauty Destroyed

OMG! Whether this is anorexia or not, who cares? Keira was my top choice for "most beautiful woman" until this photo. What has she done to her body? That's not sexy or even photogenic, it's sad! Please Keira, eat a burger!

Flying Dude Video

Here's a link to another BASE jumper, Loic Jean Albert, doing a jump from a helicopter in a winged suit down the side of a mountain. Just watching this trip is scary, but the shadow of the glider suit on the snow is awesome.

Podcast: The Word Nerds

Interested in "words, language, and why we say the things we do"? Try The Word Nerds podcast. It's entertaining and exceptionally well-produced.

Picture Puzzle

While I understand the euphoria associated with the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings, I don't quite understand why the photo which was presented to the press as proof of the death was matted and framed.

Would You Do It?

An Australian couple in their 40s, Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan, smashed the world record for the highest BASE jump in history. (BASE is an acronym for Building, Antennae, Span, Earth and represents the fixed objects from which BASE jumps are made.) The pair climbed a near-vertical, 6604-meter Himalayan peak for 22 days then jumped from the peak and landed back at base camp in two minutes after "flying" down the peak wearing a "wing suit". The wing suit (pictured) mimics the flying style of a sugar glider. The pair reached speeds of 200kmh in their diagonal descent. Read their amazing story in the Sydney Morning Herald article. Heather Swan said the BASE jumping was the "fast track to enlightenment".

Wills' Kate

Over the weekend Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton was on hand to support Wills as he took part in a Gloucestershire polo match on a weekend off from his Sandhurst course. Kate who was impeccably turned out in a simple knee-length black dress looked the part of a princess-in-waiting down to perfection.

Something to Crowe About

Read this article written by Jack Marx and published in the Sydney Morning Herald for some amazing insight into celebrity and particularly Russell Crowe's psyche.

I've always thought Crowe was an interesting actor, but had no idea about the person he really was until I read this chilling article.

Jackman Joins Kidman and Luhrmann

Hugh Jackman is confirmed to star opposite Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming period epic, the yet-to-be titled pre-World War II film, co-written with Collateral's Stuart Beattie and The Pianist's Ronald Harwood, which is now scheduled to begin filming in February.

Jackman replaces Russell Crowe, who was pushed from the project last week after dallying on script consultation. Jackman will play a cattle driver hooking up with an English aristocrat (Kidman) whose northern Australian ranch, which she inherits unexpectedly, is threatened by British cattle barons. They undertake a cattle drive across the Top End.

The Graduate Sequel as a Novel

Charles Webb has written a follow-up novel to his original novel which was made into the film The Graduate. The book will revisit Ben Braddock and his now-wife Elaine ten years later, as they home school their two children in upstate New York. Also Mrs. Robinson is somehow featured in its story. At the present time, there is no plan to follow up the new book with a film. However, it's not impossible. Webb's last novel, New Cardiff, was adapted into the film Hope Springs.

Wikipedia has this article about Webb whose personal life is interesting, if a little bizarre.

Lance, We Never Doubted You!

Lance Armstrong, winner of seven straight Tour de France titles, was cleared of doping in the 1999 Tour de France on Wednesday, and anti-doping authorities were blamed for misconduct in dealing with the American cyclist.

British Hotel Bans F-Word

A British hotel, Linthwaite House Hotel in the picturesque Lakes District, is offering football-free breaks for "soccer widows" desperate to escape wall-to-wall coverage of the World Cup. Any guest who overhears a member of staff mentioning the f-word ("football") will be given a free glass of champagne. The sport supplements are being taken out of daily newspapers and, instead of blanket TV coverage of the big games, guests will be offered a string of romantic movies on DVD such as Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman. According to the hotel manager, the bookings are starting to stream in. The World Cup finals in Germany start on June 9, with the final in Berlin on July 9.

Podcast: Filmspotting

Filmspotting is an excellent site for podcasts of movie reviews, criticisms, top 5 lists, marathons and everything else that is film experience. Chicagoans Adam Kempenaar and Sam Hallgren host the podcasts, recently presenting #102. I have downloaded all the past 100 and am having a great time "at the movies" while I walk, work and ride.

Until recently Filmspotting has been known as Cinecast.

Dutch Pedophilia Political Party

Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party, the Charity, Freedom and Diversity party, to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals.

"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, a party founder, told a newspaper. "We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion. We want to have a voice. Other politicians only talk about us in a negative sense, as if we were criminals."

The Netherlands, which already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution and gay marriage, was shocked by the plan. Eighty-two per cent of the public polled wanted the Government to do something to stop the new party.

The party supports allowing pornography to be broadcast on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to late evenings. It also said people should be allowed to go naked in public and promotes legalizing all drugs and free train travel for all.

Return of "The Rocket"

Roger Clemens agreed to terms Wednesday on a one-year deal with the Astros to come back for a 23rd season, or at least the remaining four months of the current season. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner ended his seven-month retirement by accepting a deal that will pay him approximately $14 million -- the pro-rated value of a $21 million seasonal contract -- to pitch for the Astros for the balance of the current season. Clemens' arrival couldn't come at a better time for the Astros, who are 8-14 in their last 22 games. Houston's offense has been inconsistent but the Astros are also in dire need of more pitching.

Schedule for the Rocket's Relaunch:
June 6 Class A Lexington
June 11 Double-A Corpus Christi
June 16 Triple-A Round Rock
June 22 Houston Astros

Chile Gets Latest Telescope

The 8.4m (28ft) Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a telescope which will be 50 times as powerful as other survey telescopes, will be built on a mountain in Chile. It will join the existing Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, on Cerro Pachon, an 2,640m (8,800ft) mountain peak in northern Chile. The telescope will scan the entire sky every three nights, and the observatory will be able to produce color movies of objects that change or move on rapid timescales. The decision to place the LSST on Cerro Pachon followed a two-year period of testing and analysis of the atmospheric conditions and quality of astronomical "seeing" at four sites in Chile, Mexico, and the Canary Islands. The LSST should be under construction by 2009 with a planned completion date in 2012.

Wallaby Milk to the Rescue

According to this article, researchers from the Victorian government's Department of Primary Industries have found that Tammar wallaby breast milk contains a highly-potent compound which is active against a wide variety of fungi and bacteria including antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The compound was found to be effective against a relative of the hospital superbug MRSA, or golden staph, as well as ecoli, Streptococci, Salmonella, Bacillus subtilus, Pseudomonas spp, Proteus vulgaris, and Staphylococcus aureus. The bacteria-fighting compound is deemed 100 times more effective than penicillin.

Nike Plus

According to this article, Nike has teamed up with Apple to launch a wireless link between your running shoes and your Apple iPod. With a transmitter popped into your trainer and a receiver attached to the base of your iPOD, the system will feed back data from the sensor that monitors your time, distance, and pace which can be heard over the music on the iPOD. The system should be ready for sale in a couple of months.

Imminent Birth

I don't really know why I care about this, but I am checking the news websites continually today for THE birth announcement of the WMBB, the offspring of the WMBC. According to Mr. Pitt, the birth is imminent! It's magic how the premiere of his first biological child will coincide with the premiere of his ex-wife's fourth-in-a-row stinky movie. I can say that because I've personally spent my money to see the first three and being a slow learner will probably go see number four!

The Willie Way

Willie Nelson shares his worldview in his third book of jokes, aphorisms, and heartfelt personal stories. According to Willie, "This book is my way of sharing a little of what I’ve learned in seventy-two years of making music and friends on this beautiful planet. I don’t know if the things I write here will change your life, but they sure changed mine." Possibly the funniest line from the book is Willie's view on marijuana of which Willie is an unapologetic advocate. Here's Willie's unique take on the subject: "I'll support a war on drugs, but not a war on flowers or herbs."

Podcasts

With my new mp3 player in hand, I am discovering podcasts: how to download and manipulate the podcasts . It's a whole new world to me. I am especially intrigued by the level of information available and intelligence and interests of people out there in the wide world. Like bloggers, these people seem to have found their niche in the dotcom world. The best place to start, if you're interested in listening to podcasts, is a podcast directory like podcast alley . Start by picking a podcast genre from the left sidebar and go from there. You'll be surprised at what is out there!

Discovery's Crawl

Space Shuttle Discovery's four-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B is underway! The move brings NASA one step closer to the STS-121 mission, targeted for launch no earlier than July 1. Mounted on the Mobile Launcher Platform and carried by the mammoth Crawler-Transporter, Discovery emerged from the assembly building at 12:45 p.m. EDT. The "stack" rolls along at less than one mile an hour, and is expected to arrive at the launch pad sometime this evening. The STS-121 mission is targeted for launch no earlier than July 1.

Guilty Pleasure

Only people who have actually tried this are allowed to comment on this "recipe" from Ro*tel. It is my guilty pleasure and once you try it, it'll be yours too.

Ingredients:

* 1 lb. pasteurized processed cheese spread, (Velveeta), cut into 1" cubes
* 1 can (10 oz.) Diced or Whole RO*TEL Tomatoes & Green Chilies

Directions:
In a saucepan, combine ingredients; stir over low heat until cheese spread is melted. Or microwave: Place ingredients in a covered casserole. Microwave on HIGH until cheese spread is melted, about 5 minutes, stirring once. Serve with tortilla chips.

Yoakum on mp3

Currently playing in my ears from my mp3 player is Mr. Dwight Yoakum. Thanks, Kel!

When David Letterman said to Dwight, "You wear that hat all the time. How much hair DO you have?"

He answered, "More than you think and less than I'd like."

Terrific answer!

Here's What I Dread

The San Francisco Giants are coming to Minute Maid Park for a series of three games with the Houston Astros, starting tonight. As the luck of the rotation goes, two of the three pitchers the Giants will bat against are pitchers who made their major league debuts in April 2006. Added to this is the fact that Minute Maid Park is a hitter's paradise and you have the formula for that cheat Barry Bonds to hit number 714 in Houston against the Astros. I Hate That!

Dragonfly Migration Revealed

Billions of common green darner dragonflies (Anax junius) migrate every year but until now hardly anything was known about their routes or strategy. New research into the migration behavior is available from a team of researchers from Princeton University. Detailed flight path information was made possible by tiny radio transmitters developed by the team. A transmitter weighing about a third of a gram was attached to green darner dragonfly's thorax with a couple of drops of superglue and some eye-lash adhesive. Then a team tracked the movements by following the signals from a receiving airplane.

According to this article in BBC Science, the dragonflies tended to only move after two nights of cooler temperatures, indicating a cold front was approaching with favourable north-westerly winds. They also tended to change direction when they met a large body of water, ensuring they never became stranded out over the sea. Two insects were recorded flying out over the ocean before reversing and skirting down the coastline. The data also revealed that the dragonflies' migration patterns are strikingly similar to those of songbirds, suggesting there is a strong evolutionary link to their behaviors.

Happy Mother's Day

Our family's new mom with her daughter Ella Grace

Playlists to MP3 Portable Player

Now that I have my playlists ready, I need to transfer the songs to my MP3 player

1. With WMP (Windows Media Player) open, I plug in the MP3 player to the computer USB port.
2. From WMP select "Sync" from the selections available.
3. Select the PlayList from the drop-down menu "Sync List".
4. Choose the PlayList I want to copy to the MP3.
5. Click "Start Sync".
6. Repeat from step 3 for adding more PlayLists.

How to Make a PlayList

After ripping all my CDs to Windows Media Player, I am ready to make playlists from the collected songs. Playlists are lists of songs (or other audio files) that you can create to organize your library.

• Open Windows Media Player. The window is divided into three sections. On the far left of the Library window under All Music there are 8 subsections. All these subsections contain the songs I ripped with each subsection organizing the songs by a different grouping. All I am interested in now is the alphabetized list (by first letter) under All Music Album Artist, so I will open Album Artist on the + sign to see all the music I ripped listed by the artists' names.
• Select an artist two ways: one, by clicking on the + sign by the artist's name I will see all the albums I ripped by that artist or two, by clicking on the artist's name I will see all the songs I ripped by that artist. In either case the ripped songs will show in the large middle window. There is other information included with the song titles also. The length of each song could be important when making a playlist.
• Now I am ready to make the playlist. Look at the far right side of the window. It's blue. I see Now Playing List at the top with a down arrow. I click that arrow and go down to New List then Play List. Click on Play List and I am ready to make some decisions about the songs I want in my playlist.
• From the large middle window, I can drag song titles into the right (blue) window to build a list of items for my playlist. Lots of options are available now. I can use one or more songs from the artist I have open, then close that artist and open another to add to the playlist.
• After the playlist is complete to my satisfaction, I open the drop down box again and click Save Playlist As and get a new window for naming the playlist. I will give the playlist a meaningful name so I can know which one this is after I have a lot of playlists saved. I'll call this one Music for Fast Walking 1.

Hint: When I couldn't remember what the song sounded like, I put on my headset, selected the song from the middle window song list, and listened to a bit of it by clicking the Play arrow at the bottom of the window (or double click the song title). After listening, I clicked the Stop button and made the decision whether or not to add to the playlist.

"Fairy" Penguin No More

Australia's fairy penguins have been renamed "little penguins" at Sea World theme park operators on the Gold Coast in Queensland to avoid offending the gay community.

Rebecca Smith, spokeswoman for Sea World, confirmed: "We didn't want to upset the gay community.We didn't have any complaints about the name of the penguins, but someone thought it could be seen as offensive so we decided to change it to little penguin instead.The name is more politically correct. We're not treating it as a big issue."

But the name change has had the opposite effect. Queensland's gay community described it as ridiculous and unnecessary.

"If they were called poofter penguins or something more direct, it might be a problem. But I don't see the name fairy penguin as a mickey take," Kamahl Fox, chairman of gay support group Gold Coast Breakers, said.

Wind Farms for Texas

Texas officials announced plans Thursday for the nation's largest offshore wind farm, consisting of as many as 170 windmills out in the Gulf of Mexico. Houston-based Superior Renewable Energy will build and operate the project about 10 miles of Padre Island. It is expected to cost $1 billion to $2 billion and should be ready in five years. Its 400-foot turbines would generate a total of 500 megawatts of electricity, or enough energy for 125,000 homes. Some environmentalists said the spinning blades could kill countless rare birds that migrate through the area each year on their way to and from winter grounds in Mexico and Central America. Jerome Collins of the Sierra Club said his and other groups support wind energy and hoped to work with energy producers to prevent bird deaths and protect the scenic landscape.

Hot Hollywood

Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, one of Hollywood's hottest couples, have signed up for new projects, both biopics. Ledger is cast as one of six actors who will play Bob Dylan in a biography of Dylan's life. Williams is set to play the title character in Angela Workman's Bronte, the life of Charlotte Bronte, author of the classic novel Jane Eyre. Both films start production later this year.

So, who's waltzing, huh, minding Mathilda?

New Link on Sidebar

I have added a link on the sidebar of my blog: Wine for Newbies. This is the blog where I found the excellent podcasts which are really Wine 101 in content. So far Bill Wilson, the podcast host, has presented 33 podcasts and they are all very interesting and informative. He has a teacherly approach, organized and aware of his audience. If you decide to give the podcasts a listen, I suggest that you start with #1 and work your way through them. Remember, it's Wine for NEWBIES, so if you have lots of wine knowledge, you'd want to find a more advanced source.

Ripping CDs

I am learning how to set up my mp3 player with podcasts and playlists. Here is the first step for getting my CDs onto my mp3 player. First, I have to build a CD library on my computer. I am using Windows Media Player which came installed on my computer.

1. Open Windows Media Player.
2. Click Rip which is listed in the bar along the top.
3. Put a CD you own in the CD drive on your computer.
4. Wait for the window to show the listing for the CD you inserted.
5. Here's the tricky part: Some CDs do not have the information about tracks, artists, etc stored on them that can be read by Windows Media player so the listing in the window will come up with Unknown.
6. If configured appropriately, and you are connected to the internet, Windows Media Player will do a lookup of missing information and load the details.
7. After waiting a few seconds, that doesn't automatically change to list the actual artist and songs etc from the CD you inserted, then you will have to change a setting on your computer.
8. Once the rip is finished, remove the CD and look at the library view. You will see your CD listed under All Music Album Artist.
9. Now you are ready to rip another CD.

Technically speaking this process converts the digital track on the CD to an mp3 file on your computer.

Dirty Harry Box Set Release Announcement

Warner Brothers announced yesterday that the studio will reissue all five Harry Callahan films in 2007. The movies will be released together in an epic box set and are expected to feature commentary from the star Clint Eastwood as well as "footage from the vaults". Can you name all five Harry Callahan films? Here are some clues:

• In the final scene Harry throws his badge in the river.
• Harry suspects that he has a vigilante on his hands, quite possibly a cop.
  
• Harry gets a female partner.
• "Go ahead. Make my day."
• A chase involving a radio-controlled model car featured a modified 1/10 scale 2wd Associated RC10 off road racer with an off-the-shelf Parma International 1963 Chevrolet Corvette body.

So, do ya feel lucky, punk?

Ebert's Must-See Film List

Even though he's not always "right", I do enjoy Roger Ebert's film critiques. He writes a very thoughtful review and has a consistent point of view. Here is his list of 102 Films You Must See Before... It confounds me how West Side Story keeps appearing on these "best" lists. Any on the list you hated?

Tom Hanks Rules the Box Office

You may not love him, but lots of others do! Tom Hanks IS the $100 million man. The two-time Oscar winner's way with moviegoers has earned him the title of Actor with Most Consecutive $100 Million-Grossing Movies, with seven consecutive big box-office films. What's more, The Da Vinci Code opens May 19 in wide release (after its May 17 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival) and the megabuzz surrounding the Ron Howard-directed project practically guarantees it will be one of the biggest films of the year. Currently, according to online sports book BetCRIS, the odds of The Da Vinci Code having a $105.1 million or better opening weekend (Friday to Sunday) are 2 to 1.

Puffers in Airports

While flying this week, Aussie and I were "selected" to experience the newest device in airport security, the "puffer". Here's a summary:

TSA has deployed 59 explosives detection trace portals at 24 airports, also known as “puffer” machines. At the security checkpoint, puffs of air are blown at a passenger walking through a portal. The portals are designed to detect explosive materials on passengers. The machine can detect one billionth of a gram of explosive material."Its cutting edge technology," said Earl Morris of the Transportation Security Administration. "It's what's available out there and we're thrilled to have it because its another layer that we've added to the system in order to protect the flying public."

Passengers enter a portal chamber and wait for a puff of air that targets the human body. "The puff stirs air around the person and the air sample is then collected and analyzed," said Morris. The whole process takes about 15 seconds.

The "puffers" are in 59 airports in Washington, DC: (BWI, Dulles International and Reagan National); New York: (JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Rochester); Florida: (Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami); California: (LAX, San Francisco, San Diego); Phoenix; Boston; Las Vegas; Dallas (DFW); Pittsburgh; San Juan, P.R.; Providence, R.I., Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss; and Indianapolis, Ind.

Shocked Croc

According to the Australian Broadcasting online, an airborne four-metre crocodile has made scientists' hearts skip a beat during research on the Ord River in the far north of Western Australia. Scientists had been using an electrical current to temporarily stun fish, so as to study them. But they accidentally sent a shock wave through a nearby crocodile. Scott Goodson from the Department of Environment says the jumping croc gave everyone a start.

"He breached the water, he got a metre out of the water, that's a big croc!" he said."He got a fairly good tickle up, I would have thought!"

Mr Goodson says the reptile is probably just a bit stunned after the accidental shock treatment.

"He's probably taken off and just kicking back behind another rock, I don't think he will come too close to that boat again," he said."There was a lot of people stepping back, that's for sure!"

Paul Caponigro's Running White Deer

Shout Wipes Plus

I saw this product work wonders so I'm giving it my personal seal of approval. My girlfriend was poured red wine into a plastic cup she was holding and the wine leaked quickly through a slit in the bottom of the cup running red wine down the length of her slacks. Another girlfriend grabbed her quickly and took her to the restroom, applied the Shout Wipe to the stain and they returned to the gathering with a damp spot on the slacks, but NO stain whatsoever. I was witnessing a laundry miracle! How handy these wipes are!

mp3-ing

Playing in my ears right now? Lighthouse by The Waifs. Check 'em out!

A Beautiful Pairing

Here's the wine bottle and tasting notes for a Sauvignon Blanc from the Firestone Winery in the Santa Ynez Valley:
The 2005 vintage begins with striking aromas of guava, passion fruit and lemongrass. Crisp flavors of grapefruit zest and guava unfold with appealing mineral accents. A clean, focused texture joins firm acidity for a long, quenching finish.

Here's the Greek lemon chicken soup for starters:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
8 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup white rice
4 egg yolks
1 lemon, thinly sliced, for garnish

In a large saucepan, combine chicken broth, lemon juice & pepper. Bring to a boil and add rice and carrot.Reduce heat, cover and simmer 25 minutes until rice and carrots are tender.Remove 1/2 cup soup and gradually whisk into egg yolks. Stir back into soup.Add chicken and heat through but do not let boil or eggs will curdle. To serve, ladle into bowls & garnish w/ lemon slices.

Add a lemon and herb roasted chicken or a favorite prepared rotisserie chicken:
1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)
1 large lemon
1 tsp mixed dried herbs
2 tsp olive oil

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. . Rinse chicken with cold water and pat dry.Place chicken breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Cut lemon in half. Squeeze the juice from the remaining half lemon into a small bowl. Add herbs and olive oil and stir together. Brush the bird with lemon and herb mixture, then place chicken uncovered in preheated oven.Roast for approximately 90 minutes, depending on weight of the bird, basting occasionally. Allow 20 minutes per pound plus an extra 20 minutes on top. When an instant-read thermometer reads 180 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, the chicken is done. Juices should run clear, not pink. Remove chicken from oven and tent with foil. Allow bird to rest for 10-15 minutes before carving, to allow juices to settle.

Marvelous!

Denzel's Son to NFL

The St. Louis Rams made a splash the day after the draft, signing the son of actor Denzel Washington on Monday.
John David Washington, a 5-foot-10, 200-pound running back, was signed by the Rams after playing for Division II Morehouse College last year.

Washington had a school-record 1,198 yards with a 5.6-yard average and nine touchdowns, and added 10 receptions for 69 yards in is senior year.

He also ended his career as the school's single-game (242 yards) and career (3,699) rushing leaders.

Washington led the conference in rushing last season, and was named national player of the week by D2Football.com last season.

Knightley Generosity

The dress worn by Keira Knightley to this year's Oscars has raised £4,300 for Oxfam in an internet action. The UK size 6 claret-coloured taffeta gown was designed by Vera Wang and sold through the eBay website. The 21-year-old star approached the charity with the gift herself. The proceeds go to Oxfam's £20m appeal for drought-hit East Africa. While the bidding was under way, Oxfam said if the custom-made dress raised £5,000, it would provide enough food to help feed 500 children for 30 days. Oxfam spokeswoman Katie Abbotts said the charity had been "absolutely delighted" with the "generous bids" received, and described the dress as an "amazing donation". Knightley added she was happy to help with the appeal.