Certainly an interesting concept and fun to read about:

DENVER (Aug. 17) - If a group of prominent ecologists have their way, lions and elephants could someday be roaming the Great Plains of North America.

The idea of transplanting African wildlife to this continent is being greeted with gasps and groans from other scientists and conservationists who recall previous efforts to relocate foreign species halfway around the world, often with disastrous results.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Science-Nature | Comments (0) | Permalink

Woah, this site makes my brain hurt.

Chris here at works thinks they built this site while reading a book on HTML and that they hadn't gotten to the chapter where they discuss the <br> tag. Someone should also tell them to change the page title.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Humor | Comments (0) | Permalink

Recently, NPR's Morning Edition has brought back their "This I Believe" series where listeners share personal essays on their beliefs. This morning I was treated to an elegant and very beautiful essay from Ruth Kamps, a retired school teacher from Wisconsin...

"I have lost most of my traditional heaven-and-hell beliefs, finding them used conveniently by good people. There is a bit of the divine in the trees and the creatures who reside there. A little wren attacks a large red-bellied woodpecker who is pecking too close to his nest. I am filled with admiration. The transition is complete..."

Read, or better yet, listen to Ruth Kamp's I Believe essay, Living Life with 'Grace and Elegant Treeness'.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Literature/Words | Comments (0) | Permalink

Thanks to Caleb, we have a link to this picture of some tremendous geek vandalism.

Posted by Scrappy| | Comments (0) | Permalink

I'm back from a week up on Beaver Island with the kids. Lots of reading (Sasha was cranking through more than a book a day!), playing on the beach, playing board games and Geocaching.

While Geocaching, we came across something called a geocoin, which you transportfrom one cache to the other.

For those who don't know it, Beaver Island is an island the size of Manhattan that sits 20 miles off the Michigan shore in the middle of Lake Michigan. It's as beautiful and relxed a spot as you can find here in the Midwest

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Family Category: Travel | Comments (4) | Permalink

Today I learned that most of the Marines's killed this week were based in Ohio.
How many more deaths before republican law makers start to question our leadership. Perhaps now Ohio will lead the charge.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

"In three days, Ohio had been handed a crushing burden.

It started Monday with news that five members of the 3rd Battalion headquarters unit, operating in sniper teams, had been killed by small-arms fire in Haditha. Four of those reservists were Ohioans.

On Wednesday, 14 more 3rd Battalion Marines were killed in the same area when their amphibious assault vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. The single deadliest roadside bombing of U.S. troops in Iraq also killed a civilian interpreter and wounded another Marine.

Nine of the Marines killed Wednesday were members of the battalion's Lima Company, based in Columbus, which was hard hit earlier this year during action in the same area where more than a third of the estimated 1,800 U.S. deaths during the war have occurred. "

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Peace_Issues | Comments (0) | Permalink

Summer is the time for roadtrips, and what better way to plan your trip than going to see classic diners. If you're stuck at work and still want to take a virtual tour, check out this diner photo tour.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Travel | Comments (2) | Permalink

NEW YORK (AP) -- Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for violating Major League Baseball's steroids policy Monday, nearly five months after telling Congress that "I have never used steroids. Period."

Jeremy loves baseball, and in particular, Jeremy loves to collect autographed balls from players when we go to games. His prized autograph is when future hall of famer Rafael Palmeiro signed a ball for him during batter practice at a Rangers-Tigers game a couple of years ago. So when Palmiero quietly collected his 500th home run, when Palmiero recently (quietly) collected his 3000th hit, Jeremy was thrilled because he felt a connection to him. And now that a hero of his has been suspended for steroids, what will my 11 year-old son think. Will the autograph or the encounter with a baseball superstar have meaning to a little kid who was in awe of a player headed to the hall?

When I was growing up in the 60's and 70's, we idolized players like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson and Sandy Kofax. Granted, all of these men must have their flaws and are not (except for Aaron) true heroes, but to me they were. Whether or not sports stars are worthy of being heroes is a subject for another time, but when I was a kid, our sports heroes were worthy of our worship because of their play on the field. What will it do to baseball in the future when the stars of the game are stars because their use of steroids. Perhaps Cal Ripken was the last of heroic player in the mode of Willie, Hank and Frank. For this I mourn for my son.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Sports | Comments (0) | Permalink

From Joe Wright, the soon to be father of two, we have a link to the brilliant video Harlan McCraney: Presidential Speechalist.

Posted by Scrappy| | Comments (0) | Permalink

One of my few musical regrets is never having seen k.d. kang perform, particularly during her ledgendary early 90's tours.

Well, at least the good folks at NPR give us this hour-long concert from the brilliant Ms. lang as part of their Creators at Carnegie series. The concert features music from her latest CD, Hymns of the 49th Parallel, which features a collection of all Canadian songs.


Listen to k.d. lang at Carnegie Hall with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Music | Comments (0) | Permalink

It's been a while since I've posted a link to Architect and critic James Howard Kunstler's Eyesore of the Month, where he mercilessly skewers an architectural project. This month he takes on the "Freedom" Tower.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Cool_Sites Category: Humor | Comments (0) | Permalink

To raise some money, the folks at Radio Paradise (the best online station I know of), are auctioning off 2000 CDs. According to the folks at RP,
"Most (90% or so) of the CDs included in the collection are by artists that we play on RP, and many of the CDs are radio-only promo copies - some of which include alternate mixes & versions. Some are factory sealed, all are in excellent condition."

Want to bid on a 2000 CD collection?

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Music | Comments (0) | Permalink