Jeopardy - a Game of Life - RF #71

Clary,
Great photo of Turkish Saddle - Those guys developed some really good art styles and architecture - especially during their stay in Spain and that area.
Before you leave Vienna be sure and check with the Bratislava Airlines - they have GREAT prices for traveling to interesting places all around the Med. ie. for 150 bucks you can go to a Greek island for a week and back. Includes meals and room. Give them a call. They have offices in Wien and will bus you to Bratislava Airport. The above is a couple of years ago - hope they still have those flights.


ul,
I found that in Wien lunch is great anywhere. I don't mind at all reminding you of a chocolate desert - that sounds good to me.... Grin

:wink:

Danon, this will give you an
idea

where we have been.

Right, Bratislava airport is becoming a good "cheap" alternative to Vienna.(Shouldn't say so-)
The bus is 10€ and there are a lot of good deals.
Bus takes about an hour and runs hourly.
Going to Dublin from Bratislava was 39€.

Ah, that was the restaurant that was closed, the one with the cellar!?

Going to Bratislava tomorrow to take friend to airport; don't need to go to Greek Islands, though it is a really good deal; am happy to be planning more travel through Austria, Switzerland, and France.

World travelers may not have a world to travel in anymore if these creeps have their way:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060517/us_nm/environment_ads_dc

""Carbon dioxide... we call it life," TV ads say
By Deborah Zabarenko
Wed May 17, 6:58 PM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A little girl blows away dandelion fluff as an announcer says, "Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution; we call it life," in an advertisement targeting global warming "alarmists," especially Al Gore.

The television ads, screened for the press on Wednesday and set to air in 14 U.S. cities starting on Thursday, are part of a campaign by the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute to counter a media spotlight on threats posed by worldwide climate change.

The spots are timed to precede next week's theatrical release of "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary film on global warming that features Gore, the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate.

Against backdrops of a park, a beach and a forest, one celebrates the benefits of greenhouse gas-producing fuels.

"The fuels that produce CO2 (carbon dioxide) have freed us from a world of back-breaking labor, lighting up our lives, allowing us to create and move the things we need, the people we love," the ad runs. "Now some politicians want to label carbon dioxide a pollutant. Imagine if they succeed -- what would our lives be like then?"

The other ad questions media reports of the threat of climate change, especially a Time magazine issue devoted to the topic, and shows film of a glacier melting and then runs in reverse to show the glacier reconstituting itself.

"We had started work on this several months back, but we sort of changed course once the flood of glacier-melting stories began," said Sam Kazman, an institute lawyer who worked on the ads. "So we did want to get out there before the Al Gore film got into national opening."

'RUNNING FOR ARCH-DRUID'

Fred Smith, president of the institute, a lobbying group closely allied to the Bush administration that stresses limited government regulation and a free-market approach to environmental issues, said he had seen the film and found it "very alarmist," although well-produced.

"There's a lot of pictures of Al Gore pensively looking into the sunset," Smith said. "I don't think he's running for president, but he might be running for arch-druid."

The institute and environmental groups such as Washington-based Environmental Defense agree that average global temperatures have risen about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) in the last century.

But the institute questions the impact of global warming while a broad range of scientists and environmentalists, including Gore, have linked it to more severe storms, melting ice caps and rising sea levels.

"They fly in the face of most of the science," Charlie Miller of Environmental Defense said of the institute ads. "The good news is that there's not a trade-off here between prosperity, jobs, growth and protecting the Earth. We can do both."

Environmental Defense and the Ad Council released public service announcements in March featuring children as future victims of global warming, and these were mentioned critically at the briefing where the new ads were released.

The institute ads will run from May 18 through May 28 in Albany, New York; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Anchorage, Alaska; Austin, Texas; Charleston, West Virginia; Dallas; Dayton, Ohio; Denver; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Phoenix; Sacramento and Santa Barbara, California; Springfield, Illinois, and Washington. "

"The visibility in rainforest is terrible, maybe 10 meters, which is why these acoustic signals are so crucial," Zuberbuhler told LiveScience."

Hey Stradee!




Calmer Cattle Yield Better Beef

When it comes to raising cattle, a calm approach by handlers is the best way to keep the herd relaxed and reduce the risk of injury to caretakers.

Retired animal scientist John Stuedemann studied the disposition of Angus cattle at the Agricultural Research Service's Natural Resource Conservation Center in Watkinsville, Ga.. Since the researchers handle these cattle so much, Stuedemann believes it's best for these animals to remain as calm as possible. Any excitement can lead to damaging equipment or injuring workers.

As the cattle stream through a cattle chute, they were given a "disposition score" ranging from 1 to 5. A score of 1 means the calf is especially docile and a 5 indicates the critter is extremely rambunctious. Most cattle in Watkinsville fall between 1.0 and 1.9.

Aids that were sometimes used to restrain or hurry cattle through the chute were removed from Watkinsville long ago. Cows are more likely to pass through the chute when pain is removed from the experience, Stuedemann said, and the removal contributes to the animals' calm demeanor.

Calm cattle make life easier for handlers, but sedate animals also tend to be healthier and gain weight quicker. In the five years of custom feeding and care, the 800 steers and heifers posted average daily weight gains from 3.1 to 4.6 pounds. A total of 381 head earned the "Certified Angus Beef" label, while only 30 animals graded "select." The rest earned the grade "Choice" or better.

This research is detailed in the May issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

ul,
That is really the kind of place I love to visit. So many beautiful places in Wien. Thank you for the site - I've bookmarked it for our next visit.

Clary,
I can only guess at your interests - but, have some suggestions. At road interchange 80 West of Wien is Melk. There is the most beautiful kloster I have ever seen at Melk. The Stift Melk. Then, only if you are interested, there is a WWII prisoner camp at Mauthausen (Exit 155). Just past there (Exit 216 or 224) is Gmunden - a really pretty stadt with an island building offshore. South of Gmunden is Hallstatter See and Hallstatt - if you have time this place is HIGHLY recommended for a visit. We had lunch by the lake and just loved it. The town was celebrating it's 4000th year at that time. Then, of course, Salzburg. A suburb on the South side is Hellbrunn with it's seats that spray water. Fun place. I have always stayed at the Gasthaus zum Hussarin in Anif - next to Hellbrunn. But there are many nice places in that area. If at all possible you must visit Berchtesgaden just across the German border - it has a lot of things remaining from WWII and, the boat ride on the Konigssee is well worth it. From there up the Inn river to Hall in Tirol (short drive to Innsbruck). At Exit 68 is a really nice place to stop for the night - there is a pedestrian walkway across the river to old town. This place is a must see. The church has a lot of saints still quietly residing there and the old town itself is just beautiful. From there, I have not explored yet, but look forward to getting lost there someday. Grin

Hope this helps.

sumac,
I must return to read all your links.

aktbird57 - You and your 298 friends have supported 2,386,692.7 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 112,398.4 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 298 friends have supported: (112,398.4)

American Prairie habitat supported: 52,248.3 square feet.
You have supported: (12,665.0)
Your 298 friends have supported: (39,583.3)

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,222,046.0 square feet.
You have supported: (170,744.2)
Your 298 friends have supported: (2,051,301.8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2386692.7 square feet is equal to 54.79 acres

Thanks Danon for your personal favourites list - I agree about Melk, I sent my son and his friend there yesterday because he hadn't been since he was 7! I am very lucky to have Europe on my doorstep.

Color me green with envy, Clary. I find getting lost in Europe really fun. The places I mentioned are all worth a visit and are conveniently close to the main roads - except for the Hallstatt (which is the picture you see most advertising Austria in all the airports of the world)
Here are pics for you to see.



all clicked.

Pitoresque places, Danon. Have you visited the graveyard in Hallstadt?
I am trying to find out what to do this summer. This time we will start from Chicago. North? West?
South? East?

Ul,

There are beaches all around any of the Great Lakes.

And now, for a word from our sponsor.......

http://www.livescience.com/environment/060518_mountain_snow.html

"Bleak Outlook for Snowy Peaks

By Sara Goudarzi


Ain't no mountain high enough for climate change, suggests a new model that predicts that by 2100 the peaks of Alaska will have only 64 percent of the snow pack that existed in the year 2000.

The new global climate model simulated snow cover on the world's mountain ranges from 1977 to 2100 and found that by the end of this century mountains in Europe and the U.S. will lose nearly half of their snow-bound water.

The Andes in South America will suffer a similar fate and snowcapped peaks in New Zealand will vanish completely, the model predicts.

Such declines in winter snow pack means that people who rely on the melting of snow for drinking, irrigation, and farming will greatly suffer, researchers said today.

What to expect: No wind? No rain? Nor winter cold? "

Ul, which direction you head in from Chicago depends on what you'd most like to see/do. West for the most magnificent vistas of mountain, desert and wild beauty (but you have to go quite a distance and pass through some very, very flat prairie first). North, you're soon in Canada. I don't recommend South because it just gets too hot in the Summer months. East are the major cities of the Atlantic seaboard -- Boston, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. That's where the great museums and other city attractions are, along with the Atlantic beaches. But, of course, if you've seen Chicago, there's no need to visit New Yor,

ul,
We had only time for lunch - but, I have seen in our National Geographic magazine the painted skulls of the people from the gravesites. They must remove them periodically because there is no room. The Bronze Age museum is interesting.

Susan,
I know. I have been there. But - fresh water doesn't count. :wink:

Merry Andrew, "which direction you head in from Chicago depends on what you'd most like to see/do"- this is what we can't answer right now.
Too many possibilities.
My husband loves mountains, I love the sea and hot weather. Both we love to travel through the US.