Ed in Az

Bush ignore "voluntary avoidance" guideline and bike on...

I like to do mountain biking and would certainly respect the guideline and law.
But I am really surprised that this President didn't bother to ask his staff to make sure about the guideline or laws. Of course his organizers sucks! I really wish they would check with the agency about the place that they plan to ride bike on. Of course the guideline was not mandatory but it would be nice if he respected the voluntary avoidance guideline and not bike there.

Snagged this from Think Progress website:
Bush Rides Roughshod Over Protected Federal Land:


Yesterday, President Bush joked about his difficult bike ride through the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument:

I just spent some quality time in [Congresswoman Mary Bono’s] district, and I forgot to tell you that I had the privilege of riding my mountain bike in the desert, as well. The national monument that she helped put together to preserve open spaces - she’s got a lot of humility, she didn’t name the national monument after herself. If I were to name it I would say, Really Hard Bike Ride Monument.

But the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported that by riding through the area, Bush had ignored the “voluntary avoidance” guidelines at the Monument. The guidelines are meant to protect a species of endangered bighorn sheep:

Jim Foote, acting manager of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, said the Clara Burgess trail is also among those monument managers ask people to avoid part of the year to prevent disrupting endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep.

The trail is one of about 10 in the monument under a “voluntary avoidance” program. People are asked to stay off the Clara Burgess trail from Jan. 1 to June 30 during the sheep lambing season, he said.

If this latest Bush bike ride was like his others, a “massive entourage,” including a “long convoy of SUVs and off-road vehicles,” came along for the ride.

Apparently the White House isn’t involved in the Bureau of Land Management’s “comprehensive, multi-agency planning effort … to ensure the survival of the sheep.”

Games[CC] Seeks Opinions

I hope more deaf fps gamers will notice this!

Found this at DeafBase: Games[CC] Seeks Opinions:

From Games[CC]: http://gamescc.rbkdesign.com/

Games[CC] has added a poll to its front news page asking for the opinion of gamers and supporters of closed captioning everywhere. Currently the group needs your help in deciding which genre of game we should focus on for our next closed captioning project. First Person Shooter games D3:RoE and Q4 are on hold until we can determine if there is still a strong demand for those games to be closed captioned. Read more about the new poll at http://gamescc.rbkdesign.com/, thank you.

Posted by Boult at 12:50 AM

An Inconvenient Truth.

Snagged from Think Progress:
An Inconvenient Truth.:

Watch the trailer for Al Gore’s new global warming documentary.

AZ-Sen: Bush's Yes Man

I would like to see Jon Kyl get voted out.

Snagged from: democrats.org: AZ-Sen: Bush's Yes Man:


The Arizona Democratic Party has been at the fore of online organizing by a state party for some time now. Whether it was one of the first active and well attended blogs created in the aftermath of the 2004 election, the creation of the AZ Latino website, or using the web to virally disseminate a message -- they are at it again. Click the image below to view the ADP's latest venture:

According to Survey USA's latest tracking poll, Kyl's approval among Arizonans is a meager 45% -- that's well under the level where an incumbent can feel safe about his or her re-election campaign. Zogby/WSJ (take with a grain of salt) finds his opponent, Democrat Jim Pederson has trimmed Kyl's once large lead to a slim five percent (47.1% - 42.1%). This one's going to be a race, and another potential Democratic pick-up where the pundits once dismissed our chances.

GM's concept truck PAD

This remind me of the Sat Morning Sci-Fi tv series aimed at children back in late 70's which I loved to watch:
ARK II.
http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/644-ark-ii/
http://www.70slivekidvid.com/ark.htm

This shows that I am fan of Sci-Fi!

Snagged from Boing Boing:
GM's PAD concept car and "reconfigurable cities":


David Pescovitz:

Over at the Institute for the Future's "Future Now" blog, my colleague Anthony Townsend writes about GMC's concept truck PAD, "an urban loft with mobility," according to the car company. While it probably won't ever be built, it's a great weak signal pointing at some larger themes we're exploring at the Institute. From Anthony's post:

While cars.com gives this an official "zero chance of production", I think its a lot more realistic vision of the future than it may at first appear...

IFTF's Technology Horizons program is focusing its research this year on the theme of "lightweight infrastructure. These new infrastructure designs will emphasize smaller, smarter, more independent components that can be organized in ways that are more efficient, more flexible, and more secure than the capital-intensive networks of the 20th century.

While at first, the PAD concept may appear as the culmination of the ever-bigger trend in SUVs in America, we can also see it as a lightweight alternative to the traditional home or apartment.

Ants are 40M years older than thought, team finds

It's truly amazing that they have been here that long!

Ants are 40M years older than thought, team finds:


WASHINGTON — Ants evolved far earlier than previously believed, as far back as 140 million to 168 million years ago — and they have plants to thank for their diversity, U.S. researchers reported Thursday.