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This week, in which
You can smell wisps of wood fired smoke outside. The geese cackle, hiss and honk as their wedge shape silhouettes the autumn night sky. Chainsaws roar, leaves yellow and roads steam with new tarmac, just in time for winter falls.

p.s. As an aside, Samuel Beam also contributed the song Such Great Heights to the soundtrack for the NJ-based movie Garden State, which additionally happens to feature songs by Froufrou, Thievery Corporation, and Zero 7. Regulars in my house, all of them ;-).

In which:

• Fall rain started with gusto, even though it’s still too warm for the time of year. Good thing I cleaned the gutters last week.
• I reconnected with old friend Menno in Romania, thanks to FaceBook and Skype.
• A new neighborhood-friend came on board with exciting plans for extracurricular education for our children
• My in-laws spent a night at our house, talking and watching the political spectacle on tv.
• Alec really enjoyed his second Taekwondo class.
• Our cable tv provider dropped the ball; we’ll see them for third time in as many weeks to get our TiVo to work.
• The partisan-political odious opportunism in the political circus made me nauseous.
• I was dumbstruck that the first presidential debate was broadcast LIVE in various European countries, while everyone should be asleep? Who watches this at 3am??
• Eleanor Burnette’s art finally came online!

In which:

- We finally got a chance to see Merz (aka Conrad Lambert) in concert in New York.

- Alec and Bella had their second week of school; really their first serious week.

- The financial markets had a melt-down.

- Bella started her weekly guitar lessons.

- We completed John Adams, the miniseries. Wow.

- Fall chores were here: put away the summer pool, clean roof and gutters, cut the grass one more time, check trees for pruning ahead, get out the leaf blower.

- Amazon’s Kindle showed its usefulness with annotations.

2. Snooze while you can.

3. Get some gas.

4. Get to Joe’s Pub on Lafayette.

5. Enjoy Merz!

6. Capturing beauty with the new lens.

A new breed of solar tower may soon be sprouting up in Namibia, providing the nation with a carbon-free source of electricity and food during the day or night. At one and a half kilometers tall and 280 meters wide, these massive solar updraft towers could potentially produce 400MW of energy each – enough to power Windhoek, the nation’s capital. Proposed by intellectual property company Hahn & Hahn, the towers generate energy by forcing heated air through a shaft lined with wind turbines. Additionally, the base of each tower will function as a 37 square km greenhouse where crops can be grown.

(more…)

“

(Via INHABITAT.)

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees South to avoid a collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, I SAY AGAIN, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse…… Your call.

Via FreakyMartin

From youtube:

Via Read/WriteWeb:

Since Amazon’s Kindle introduction to the world last year, the company has increased the number of available book titles for the portable reader from 90,000 to over 170,000. Most of these titles have also been available at significantly lower prices than their bookshelf counterparts. Amazon is now looking to use the help of the hype surrounding the elections this year to improve its Kindle sales. As of today, Amazon has announced that they will offer two new political books well before their publication dates exclusively on the Amazon Kindle.

Exclusive Looks at the Potential First Ladies

Today, Amazon Kindle owners can look forward to purchasing the autobiographies of both Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama well ahead of their scheduled publication dates. Elizabeth Lightfoot’s ‘Michelle Obama: Grace and Intelligence in a Time of Change‘ will be available starting today for only $9.99. Those without a Kindle won’t be able to purchase the book until its release date, which has yet to be announced. ‘Cindy McCain: Elegance, Good Will and Hope for a New America‘ by Alicia Colon will be available to Kindle owners on Monday. However, this autobiography will only hit the shelves if McCain wins the election.

A Successful Continuing Trend?

The Amazon Kindle is currently available for $359, which is a pretty hefty price. The 190,000+ available books are available for download in less than 60 seconds according to Amazon Kindle Vice-President, Ian Freed. For political debaters and those that are focused on consuming everything about this year’s election candidates and more, Amazon could see a huge increase in Kindle sales, but only of the trend continues. We doubt that just two exclusive books would be enough.

This isn’t the first time Amazon has given exclusives to Kindle owners first. Just two days ago Amazon offered ‘Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama’s Plan to Renew America’s Promise‘ to Kindle owners one day before its scheduled publication date. While this doesn’t compare to what Amazon is doing today and Monday, the offer must have been relatively successful. With more offers like this in the future, we think Amazon has what it takes to make the Kindle a household name to surpass its current estimated number of owners of over 200,000.