Sunday Links - 4th of July Weekend 2011

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Some links that got my attention this week:

I found Chuck's Adventures when I was looking for information on the Grand Junction Riverside Trails. This guy seems to have been just about everywhere in the United States. Reading through his posts definitely gave me some ideas about things to do and places to visit. Great blog. I'll be checking it regularly.

This is a sad story about a 7 year old who took his step-father's car for a drive. He was trying to visit his biological father. He drove about 20 miles before being stopped. According to this article, the boy was crying as he was driving. A heart-breaking story. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Today we watched the BBC documentary Kids Behind Bars. It examines the difficulties of dealing with troubled children and teenagers. Some disturbing scenes and some uplifting scenes. The whole program was very interesting.

I really enjoy the OrganicGardening.com website. Lots of good information and ideas here.

The least expected thing that I watched this week was the courtroom drama that ensued after a guy flipped off the prosecutor during the Casey Anthony trial. Another video worth watching if you haven't seen it yet. I bet that this guy couldn't believe this was actually happening. I couldn't believe it as I was watching it live.

This CNN video of an alligator feeding frenzy is over a year old, but I hadn't seen it until earlier this week. If you haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth watching. Here is a link to a longer version of the video clip.

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Sunday Links June 19th, 2011

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200 Year Old Condoms?  

An article about a pair of condoms from the early 1800's found between the pages of an old accounting book. 

Inspirational Story

I'm not the kind of person who is interested at all in the Miss America competition. That said, I did find this story about how the 2011 Miss Alabama survived a horrific car accident to return to the competion to be an inspiring one.


Whole Foods Parking Lot

Do you have a Whole Foods in your town? When I watch this, it just brings back memories of the one that I frequented in Monterey: Getting Real In the Whole Foods Parking Lot. I'm not saying that it's not corny and cheesy, but I'm corny and cheesy, so I enjoyed it.


Bobcats on the loose!

I like bobcats and have always felt lucky when I spot one in the wild. So naturally I enjoyed this newsclip about a woman who has a family of bobcats living in the front yard. Thanks to my aunt Sandy for posting this clip.


Movie of the Week:

This weekend Rachael and I watched "Which Way Home," about child immigrants who, for many different reasons, try to make their way from South and Central America into the United States. The movie allows the viewers to get to know the children well and to follow their individual journeys. It tells its story well and left me feeling sad for the children who fight against harrowing obstacles and against all odds to find a better life and often, their parents who left them behind when they made the trip to the U.S. themselves.



This American Life - Father's Day Edition:
 

This American Life is one of my favorite programs. This week's Father's Day episode was an especially poignant one. It approaches the subject of fatherhood from many different angles. A program that may inspire a few tears, a few smiles, and some head shaking.


Fukushima is "much worse than you think."

Al Jazeera published this article on the Fukushima disaster. It states that scientists believe that the catastrophe is far worse than governments worldwide are letting on.  A quote from the article:

"According to Gundersen, the exposed reactors and fuel cores are continuing to release microns of caesium, strontium, and plutonium isotopes. These are referred to as 'hot particles'. 'We are discovering hot particles everywhere in Japan, even in Tokyo,' he said. 'Scientists are finding these everywhere. Over the last 90 days these hot particles have continued to fall and are being deposited in high concentrations. A lot of people are picking these up in car engine air filters.' Radioactive air filters from cars in Fukushima prefecture and Tokyo are now common, and Gundersen says his sources are finding radioactive air filters in the greater Seattle area of the US as well."

Scary stuff.

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