testMonkey realm

Four glorious days of rafting on Idaho’s Salmon River have come and gone. Sigh. Words never do these kinds of trips justice, so check out the photo set on Flickr here.

Since my time teaching for the college is up (they hired a fulltime “real” professor), I now have some extra energy to put into a side project that I’ve been meaning to start for a while. The website is notindoors.com and its goal is to bring the news, reviews, and special reports of the outdoor recreation industry to all us average folks who’d rather be playing outside than stuck at a desk. I hope to get about four relavent stories up a day in a effort to get more involved with the outdoors and to inspire readers to get outdoors.

I have some long range goals for the site, including a weekly video podcast based on user-submitted pics and video, but it’ll be a bit before that can happen. Short term, I need people to find the site and become readers and participators. That said, have a look at the site and offer feedback (notindoors at gmail dot com) if you can. And bokmark it. And add it to your RSS reader. And show your friends - you get the idea.

I’m glad to report there are still some unmarried scientists out there who are coming up with the next great thing to save the world.

Solar Powered Air Conditioning: duh.

Being a Dad Benefits the Male Brain: whoo hoo!

Scientists Produce Flatulence-Free Beans: where were these when I was living in South America?

Drunk Monkeys Mirror People: why don’t I qualify for these research grants?

Now, don’t you feel smarter?

Um, wow.

The quote from FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate (pdf):

“If numbers are any indication, many Americans are not happy about the way that their airwaves are being utilized,” she writes in a recent opinion. “The number of complaints filed with the FCC reached over one million in 2004. Indeed, since taking office in January 2006, I have received hundreds of personal e-mails from people all over this country who are unhappy with the content to which they—and, in particular, their families—are subjected.”

If I voluntarily sit and watch a show, am I really being subjected to content, whether moral or amoral? I mean, I am subjected to ultraviolet radiation and taxes; in these situations I have no choice. TV, however, yields to my thumb; I push the button and that black box powers off.

From this quote we learn that there are literally hundreds of emails. Hundreds. The current estimated population of the United States is 298,444,215. 298 million. Hundreds, millions, hundreds, millions… you get my point.

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Have a looksee yourself: StateMaster.com has the stats to determine how your state is doing in the fabled war on tooth decay. No one seems too shocked as to which states are losing the most teeth (brings new meaning to the quote: He’s got a real pretty mouth on him, don’t he?); however, I was pretty surprised to find that the two states I’ve occupied the most time in manage to keep more of their chompers in than all the rest.

I guess all that swishing and spitting back in the 80’s was well worth it.

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Future…
…concert piano player?
…soccer goalie?
…boxer?
…one man band performer?
…juggler?
…music conductor?
…burger flipper?
…pickpocket?
…traffic director?
…American Idol contestant?
…super hero?
…super villain?
…ladies man?

Any others?

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