Category — whole wide world

Ugh, I just spent 2 hour in Photoshop making a fabulous “Happy Independence Day!” image, and now the darn thing won’t load! But I wanted to get my good wishes posted before I take off for the holiday weekend, so here goes:

Have a fun, fantastic, amazing time as you celebrate 4th of July!!! And remember, dogs hate fireworks, so please have extra consideration for your special pooch during their most stressful time of year!

See you next week!

Apparently there is now a theory that over-use of GPS navigation will make people eventually lose their natural sense of direction. While I’d love to try to dispute that, there are unfortunately already far too many stories about people doing really dumb things in the name of GPS, and it seems like the trend will continue as the technology improves.

Some examples of what over-reliance on GPS can cause:

Faith in GPS sends Mercedes downstream when the driver listens to GPS instead of signs warning of danger.

GPS cause accident in France when an elderly man made an “immediate U-turn” on a highway due to a GPS prompt.

Man follows GPS straight into a train and his car gets smashed. He’s lucky he wasn’t still in the car.

A British Village Requests Removal From GPS Maps after too many trucks caused accidents in the town’s narrow streets.

I wonder if there is any information about which GPS units are the most problematic, or if this problem is just something that affects GPS systems in general. It seems like it’s fine to use GPS as a helper in your travels, but don’t rely on it as an authority.

I know I said I would blog more about my Route 66 road trip months ago, so my apologies that is has taken me this long to get around to it. I have decided to go through the states along the way in no particular order, starting with New Mexico.

I LOVE the New Mexico section of Route 66, even if it has been mostly consumed by I-40. It was great to have the GPS system in the car because my obsession with sampling biscuits and gravy at various Denny’s restaurants between Los Angeles and Missouri got us off track more than once. I know there might be plenty of diners and restaurants along the way that some people consider “better” than Denny’s, but I am not interested in those places. I am a huge Denny’s fan and I don’t care what anyone says. I didn’t care that someone scribbled anti-Denny’s graffiti in one of the rest rooms in Joshua Tree National Park, I still ate at that Denny’s later that evening. Which happened to also be Christmas Eve. THAT is how much I like Denny’s.

But anyway… my final point is that I believe the best biscuits and gravy were at the Denny’s in Santa Rosa, NM. That alone is enough for a ride through New Mexico along Historic Route 66, but here are a few more good reasons:

Gallup - Part of Natural Born Killers was filmed here! Also, there is a rumor that if you take a detour onto Highway 666 (now 491) north of Gallup, you might meet some ghostly hitchhiker, so consider yourself warned.

Albuquerque - Home of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Tucumcari - Clint Eastwood has made many cinematic appearances in the area.

Several bits of interesting news on air quality and air pollution:

• According to WebMD, Los Angeles is not even on the list of 10 Worst Cities for Asthma …but Memphis is!

• Green Blog reports on air pollution causing baldness, or at least making it worse.
• From Science Daily: Unmanned Aircraft To Study Southern California Smog and Its Consequences
• 18 States take greater steps to cut carbon emissions

Info on how to protect yourself and loved ones:

• Home Air Quality Tips from American Lung Association
• American Industrial Hygiene Association: Is Air Quality a Problem in My Home?

Luckily, there are a whole bunch of air purifiers and HEPA air filters that improve the air quality in your home, but I’ll post more on those later.

Today is RSS Awareness Day! It’s an entire day devoted to spreading the word about RSS.

What is RSS? RSS means Real Simple Syndication. It’s an easy way keep up to date with websites that frequently update content. When you see an RSS button on a site, you simply click the button to add that site to your RSS reader. It saves you clicks because the reader will update whenever there is a new posting. I primarily use Mozilla Firefox, and when I click RSS buttons on my favorite sites, it adds the feeds to my Bookmarks, allowing me to organize feeds how I want. It is really incredibly easy and convenient, especially if you are planning on bookmarking a site anyway. By clicking the RSS button to add the feed, the bookmark now has a drop down menu with the latest entry titles. I can instantly tell if there is anything new without even visiting the site. And it only takes a second to add an RSS feed.

For example, to add Outdoor Urbanite to your feed reader, just click the green RSS button located in the lower right corner of the page:

It’s that easy! The latest posting headlines will appear in your reader instantly. You save time and clicks while staying current with postings.

So get out there and have some fun adding feeds on RSS Awareness Day!

Hope you get outside and enjoy the beautiful day! Here are some Earth Day links with tons of ideas for saving the planet:

• Earth Day Network
• World Wildlife Foundation
• The Nature Conservancy
• Sierra Club

We got some great pics while driving through Mojave National Preserve. Partner-in-Climb has a very reliable Canon PowerShot A640 that really takes some great photos. The thing I like most about Canon digital cameras is that they are so easy to use and durable. Plus, the pictures consistently look great.

Here are some great Mojave links:

• The American Southwest
  
• GORP Destinations: Mojave National Preserve
• USGS Virtual Field Trip: Geology of Mojave National Preserve
• Hiker Central: Mojave National Preserve
• 3-D Geology Tour of Mojave National Park
• Road Trip America: Hole-in-the-Wall & Kelso Dunes in Mojave

Just got back from a whirlwind road trip on Historic Route 66 (also known as Interstate 40 to Interstate 44.) Lots of stories and pictures to share, but I will need a few days to get settled back into my routine. For now, some trip highlights:

• Mojave National Preserve
• Snow and stars in Arizona
• Wind and sunrise in New Mexico
• All roads lead to Las Vegas
• The Texas Panhandle and it’s surprising lack of rest areas along the highway
• Tornado warnings in Oklahoma
• My first encounter with wild onions in Missouri

Stay tuned for more!

I came across a copy of this apparently new magazine called Science Illustrated that has some absolutely amazing photos of Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve in Madagascar. Tsingy de Bemaraha is dominated by a network of needle-like limestone crags, the remnant bed of an ancient sea, which makes it almost completely inaccessible to humans. That fact has been key to its survival. According to UNESCO, “Madagascar retains only 10% of its original forest cover,” which makes Tsingy de Bemaraha vitally important for the survival of Madagascar’s unique wild life.

Tsingy de Bemaraha is home to my favorite animals, sifaka lemurs. They are so adapted to climbing rocks and trees that their locomotion while on the ground looks like a cross between an upright frog hop and a skip. They are adorable! They are also unfortunately extremely rare and need protection in the face of a shrinking habitat.

Some info on Sifakas:

• National Geographic and National Geographic Video
• Animal Info
• Lemur Center at Duke University
• Primates.com
• National Wildlife Federation
• BBC Science & Nature
• WildMadagascar.org

I just found out that there are actually Sifaka stuffed animals! I really want one, but I am worried that Big Old Dog will claim it as his own, so for now I will consider adding it to my wish list.

If you want to help these awesome animals, Conservation International makes it easy to donate to save the sifakas.