Last weekend David and I went hiking on Piestewa Peak with John & Sharon...
...And then proceeded to eat back all the burned calories at Sprinkles cupcake shop. ^_^*
( A couple more... )
For the Fourth David and I plus Ian, Sam, and company went to Tempe Town Lake and I took my first good shots of fireworks! I was excited. Tripod and long exposures FTW. Here are just a couple.
And lastly I'm proud of myself for finally printing and framing a poster of one of my panoramas. This is going to my dad for his birthday. I completely re-Photoshopped it yesterday. My first version is here.
- Mood:
artistic
Maybe I should start with just walking out the front door...
Walking a little can go a long way
- Lowers risk of heart disease, diabetes & stroke (30 min/day)
- Reduces breast-cancer risk by reducing body fat (A few hours a week)
- Help you sleep better, by either boosting serotonin to relax you or rising your temp which signals brain to lower temp later, promoting sleep (Afternoon walks)
- Makes you happier by producing endorphins (90 minute walks five times a week yield the biggest boost)
- Keeps you slimmer (30 min/day)
- Keeps your mind sharper and prevents Alzheimer's (minimum 45 min/week)
- Strengthens your bones
Or I could try "active commuting" and park my car a short walk away from work.
How much time a week do you spend exercising? What do you do? How did you get into the habit?
U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects - NY Times
I was just commenting to David the other day that Arizona should be making a huge effort to farm solar energy. Apparently a lot of people agree, as solar companies have filed proposals covering over 1 million acres of federally controlled land to the Bureau of Land Management since 2005, with the potential to power more than 20 million homes.
But the feds just placed a moratorium on new solar projects on U.S. public lands in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah until it completes a 2 year study on their environmental impact. WTF.
They want to know if these plants would harm native vegetation and wildlife and where water would come from for concentrated solar plants which use mirrors to heat and power steam turbines. The result of the study is supposed to be a faster application process, but solar advocates are calling it a death blow to the solar power industry.
The irony is that the BLM is creating a fast track for oil and gas development, even though the Amercan southwest is considered one of the best solar power resources on the planet.
- Mood:
grr
In the late 1970's President Jimmy Carter spoke to Americans about conservation as though they were adults. He asked for personal sacrifices such as foregoing unnecessary trips, carpooling, and using public transportation, and promised that the government would do its part as well. It was very well received by the public but poorly received by Washington, as it criticized government's failure to prepare for the future.
Should Obama and McCain be taking Carter's example?
Jody Powell, press secretary during Jimmy Carter's presidency, says that politicians today treat Americans like children. "The assumption seems to be that Americans are just not capable of unselfish actions."
Powell recommends that the candidates "be very honest about the fact that in the short term it may be more sacrifice than benefit, but for the long term good, this is what needs to be done."
| Saw Wall-E last night and loved it. Music I was curious about the name of the musical used as an introduction to the rest of the movie and also a recurring theme, and why it was used. Found out from an interview here. |
Andrew Stanton, the director, said he was looking for a juxstaposition of old against the new.
He was inspired to pick music from "Hello Dolly", first, because of the phrase "out there" in the song "Put On Your Sunday Clothes," and his vision of matching it to the stars. (Please excuse the video. Linked for the music only.)
Secondly, he liked the connection of the character stuck in the same ol' and wanting to "sneak away for a day, and have a life, and kiss a girl."
And then lastly he had a lightbulb moment when he watched the movie footage for the song "It Only Takes a Moment" and "saw the two lovers holding hands. That was a big ‘Ah-ha!’ moment for me, because I have a character who can’t actually say ‘I love you’ but he can express it by holding hands. And when you get a gift like that from an initial inspiration, you take it as fate. So I ran with it (laughs).”
Also, speaking of the music in Wall-E, I loved the closing credits song by Peter Gabriel, "Down to Earth."
Environmental Theme
Stanton also explains how the environmental theme emerged here, from using trash to show Wall-E's curiousity and using the plant as a metaphor for Wall-E's "desire to live that nobody else in the universe is grabbing onto anymore," rather than any intent to make a "message movie or [have] any kind of ecological bent."
Praise
Lastly a few snippets that I agree with from a glowing review here:
"WALL-E is an amazing piece of art. Pixar’s most mature and compelling picture yet, it captures the essence of good...storytelling." "grabs your attention as long as it plays. It’s emotional, moving; it’s funny; it’s exciting." "endearing" "not merely a love story [but also] a breathtaking, modern epic." "Not since Forrest Gump has a film blended comedy, action, romance, and drama so well."
| I'm disgusted. I knew that Fox was a disreputable news source, but I didn't know how far they had taken their attacks on Obama. Foxattacks.com has compiled a couple videos of clips to expose their smears as well as the contamination of their stories into other news sources. The end of the 2nd video really got me. They compared Obama to Hitler?! Really?! |
"FOX must stop injecting racism, prejudice, and fear into our political dialogue. We intend to hold FOX, its advertisers, and its personalities accountable for FOX's attempts to smear the Obamas."
If you find these messages outrageous too, please sign the petition here.
2. Who opposes sex ed?
3. Which made it harder to get affordable prescription birth control?
4. Who said "I do not support Roe vs Wade. I think it should be overturned"?
( Video and answers behind the cut )
| As an update to my gas prices post and response to Sharon's post.. Kinda startling to see this graph of gas prices in Phoenix for the past 6 years. Hard to believe we were paying $1.29/gal six years ago.  And then here's the latest take off, which started in the middle of February. I hope it levels off soon.  |
I noticed that the lowest gas prices are at Costco, Sam's Club, 7-Eleven, and Arco, but my dad suggested years ago that I stop going to Arco because they have lower quality gas. After a little googling, I found a site that lists the "Top Tier" gasoline retailers. They explain:
"TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline is the premier standard for gasoline performance. Six of the world's top automakers, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Audi recognize that the current EPA minimum detergent requirements do not go far enough to ensure optimal engine performance... These automakers have raised the bar. TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline help drivers avoid lower quality gasoline which can leave deposits on critical engine parts, which reduces engine performance."
The ones available in Phoenix are:
76
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
QuikTrip
Shell
Texaco
So here's a filtered list of the lowest priced gas in the valley by top tier gas stations. The lowest of which right now is $4.05 at the QuikTrip at Baseline Rd & 48th St.
"Motorists can expect gasoline prices around $4 gallon through next year, the Energy Department said Wednesday, with oil prices staying well above $100 a barrel...
Gasoline prices are likely to peak at $4.15 a gallon in August and won't go down much after that, the agency projected in a report...
Predicting future oil and gasoline prices is highly uncertain with the volatile global oil markets, Caruso acknowledged. The agency projects oil prices declining to $86 a barrel in 2010 and then increasing to $107 by 2015.
Overall U.S. oil consumption is expected decline over the next two decades because of the production of more fuel-efficient cars and the growing use of ethanol as a motor fuel, Caruso said. Both were required by Congress last December."
US life expectancy tops 78 as top diseases decline
"For the first time, U.S. life expectancy has surpassed 78 years, the government reported Wednesday, although the United States continues to lag behind about 30 other countries in estimated life span...
( Read more... )
| This morning David and I went hiking on Camelback mountain for the second time. I'm so behind on pictures. Here David is at the top of the first climb. We were pretty proud of ourselves.  And here we are in the 2nd climb. We'll be back for more. *shakes fist*  |
If you haven't seen the first season yet, I recommend it. It's the first anime that David and I have watched the whole season of in a long time. We got turned onto it from the Anime Expo 2007 AMV winners, in which a music video featuring it, Skittles, won best AMTV and Best of Show. I heart Mikuru (in my icon).
Commentary: Task as Americans is to be ready for disastersIn a world where natural and man-made disasters can and will happen with little or no warning, we need to be prepared. We face a host of potential disasters: from earthquakes, hurricanes and pandemics to industrial accidents, electrical blackouts, terrorism and the effects of possible attacks with weapons of mass destruction. Our task as Americans is to be ready... |
Unfortunately, I'm still not prepared. :/
Bush advisers agree fossil fuel causes warming President Bush's top science advisers on Thursday issued a comprehensive report that for the first time endorses what most scientific experts have long asserted: that greenhouse gases from fossil-fuel combustion "are very likely the single largest cause" of the Earth's warming... |
This morning my coworker forwarded me a link to MSN Autos Local Gas Prices to find the cheapest gas nearby, so I thought I'd share. PhoenixGasPrices.com is another good one.
The lowest price in the valley on PhoenixGasPrices.com is $3.69 at a Sam's Club in Avondale. The highest is $4.25 at Big Tiger in South Phoenix. And the average is $3.91.
The lowest price in the country is $3.55 in Arkansas. The highest is frikkin $5.05 in New York!! Average is $3.95.
| Phoenix | USA | |
|---|---|---|
| Today Yesterday One Week Ago One Month Ago One Year Ago | 3.913 3.896 3.757 3.393 3.045 | 3.971 3.970 3.933 3.614 3.149 |
Here's a very cool National Gas Temperature Map which lets you zoom into the Phoenix area, and even down to crossroads of gas prices. Looks like Tucsonites have it on average $0.20 easier than we do. And poor California is all in the red ($4.16+)
!!!!
I was asking David the other day whether he thought there would be a demand for a man-made beach/ocean in Phoenix. Dang, shoulda thought of that sooner.
More info and a video here."Get ready for Waveyard . . . Through a series of break-through technologies, we will unveil a diverse range of life-enhancing experiences including surfing, white water rafting, kayaking, scuba diving, snorkeling, standing wave surfing, wakeboarding, boogie boarding, climbing, canyoneering, zip lines, an action river, board sports training, a massive sand beach, concerts, world class competitions, volleyball, an indoor water park, special events, and much, much more.
Your daydreams are about to come to life.
Waveyard will also be home to a resort hotel, resort villas, a conference center, a spa and wellness center, an amphitheater, numerous restaurants, a surf shop and paddle sports store, entertainment retail, office space, and several unique residential opportunities.
Your backyard is about to get a whole lot bigger."
"When is Waveyard going to open?
Our anticipated opening is in 2010."
!!!!
This is exactly what I want to see as a much bigger application on Facebook.
Currently in Flixster you can click "Want to See" next to any released movie, and this notification will show up in your feed. I want to be able to send out a notification like this one before movies are released, which Flixster doesn't currently offer.
But I also want to see something bigger than just movies. I want to see an application that allows you to add any type of thing you want to do, and provides an opportunity for your friends to join in with a link like the "Me too!" one above.
It would work similarly to the Events application without the formality of sending out individual invites and having a date and time picked out. Each activity you pick/create would have its own page with friends that want to join you, an area for information and links, and a wall to make plans on.
It would also be cool if you could bump an activity you created awhile ago onto your friends feed again to see if anyone is interested in joining you.
Ideally it would already have a database of thumbnail images for movies, videos, restaurants, recreational places, etc. And for unknown activities, you could link to a picture on the web or upload your own and it would create a thumbnail of it.
I want this to happen, but I don't know if I could dedicate the time to learning a programming language and then accomplishing such an intensive project.
Thoughts? Would you use something like this? What do you see as being the most useful or the most problematic?
Profile
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
lavendermuse- Crista
Syndicate
