French Press Coffee Pot

Bodum has been making travel coffee presses similar to this one for years now, but the $15-20 price point of this particular model is notably lower than usual. This cheaper price is primarily due to plastic being used in the construction instead of glass. This does give you the advantage of a slightly lower packing weight, but there's a host of disadvantages to offset this.

The Bodum French press received an American Culinary Institute Award for the best French press coffee maker back in 2004. What you'll notice is that back then, they were still being made with glass, and they were still being made in house in Bodum's native Denmark whereas they are now farmed out to China for manufacture. Clearly, in the attempt to go lower budget with the product, the quality has dropped significantly.

The French press is basically a large narrow beaker with a plunger equipped with mesh to act as a filter for coffee grounds and tea leaves. The coffee grounds or tea leaves are added simultaneously with hot water, and brew by mixing together. The plunger then is used to press the grounds or leaves down to the bottom so that you can pour the coffee or tea out, hopefully without detritus floating in it.

The major problem with this particular unit is that the plunger filter does not function very well. Tea leaves and even coffee grounds seem to regularly find their way through into your beverage.

Tea is the most serious problem. Only the biggest leaves seem to get compressed and held successfully to the bottom on a consistent basis, while smaller leaves work their way through the filter with regularity. Aside from having the sediment to deal with, this can also ruin teas that are not meant to be steeped for too long, like green tea. Coffee will also go bad fairly quickly if you leave it in contact with the grounds, usually becoming unpleasantly bitter within twenty to thirty minutes of beginning to brew it. Finely ground coffee is almost impossible to successfully compress with this unit, so if you usually have coffee intended for paper or mesh filters at home, you'll likely have to get a separate supply that is ground as coarsely as possible just to use with this press.

One other large problem is that the manufacturers claim that the thick plastic both protects your hands and retains heat, but it really does a pretty poor job of both. Getting the coffee or tea poured in a timely manner can be a challenge as, like the Ghostbusters, it's too hot to handle, then once you finally get it out it's too cold to hold. Or drink, as the case may be.

Bodum has some great products, but this really isn't one of them. I guess you can make it work well enough to function for camping, but unless you can snag one for less than $10 somehow, I'd just look for a better French press.

Instead, here there’s an Intel Core i3 530 processor running at 2.93GHz (from Intel’s desktop range, rather than their notebook line-up), paired with GMA HD graphics, 4GB of DDR3 memory and a 640GB 7,200rpm HDD. In the side of the casing is a slot-loading Blu-ray player (that doubles as a DVD burner), while up front is a 1920 x 1080 23-inch widescreen display. Gateway are quoting 300 cd/m2 brightness, a 5ms response time and 1,000:1 contrast ratio. It’s certainly bright and reasonably crisp; meanwhile the touch system is very responsive and accurate, though Windows 7 Home Premium remains a less than finger-friendly OS. We wish Gateway had developed some sort of touch-pack customization that ran on top, at least for multimedia and internet access.

Connectivity, meanwhile, includes WiFi b/g/n, gigabit ethernet, six USB 2.0 ports – two on the side, four on the back – eSATA and HDMI, along with a multi-format memory card reader. We’re a little disappointed not to see an HDMI input – which would allow you to easily use the ZX6900-01e as a display with your games console – though the native 5.1-channel audio support is handy. Obviously you’ll need a suitable speaker system, though, since alone the ZX6900-01e only has a pair of average-performing 5W speakers for basic stereo. Happily the Blu-ray drive is pretty quiet in use, and so even the integrated speakers are enough to listen to movie soundtracks without straining your ears.

We used Geekbench to put the ZX6900-01e’s hardware through its paces, an artificial benchmark that gauges processor and memory performance. The all-in-one scored a very respectable 5313 altogether, surprising us in fact. That score also holds true for day-to-day use, with the Gateway proving responsive in pretty much everything we threw at it. With the integrated Intel graphics this probably isn’t the machine you’d turn to for video processing, but internet access – including playing 1080p HD YouTube content – together with local HD video playback and multitasking turned out to be a walk in the park for the ZX6900-01e.

At last week’s Google I/O conference, the search giant revealed plans for new web video technologies, an update to Android, and Google TV. Before we get into what Google TV is, it’s worth noting something that it isn’t – a tablet. (You’re probably thinking, “I don’t need a fancy analyst guy to tell me that Google TV isn’t a tablet, it’s sort of self-evident.” Bear with me.) Apple’s unbelievable early success with the iPad is due in large part to the fact that the iPad isn’t an entirely new product – it’s a sibling to the iPod touch. However, in addition to extending the iPhone/iPod/iTunes ecosystem to include the iPad, Apple rewrote its apps for the larger form factor and encouraged developers to specifically target the iPad with a segmented app store. Google is now targeting all three screens, the PC, TV, and phone, but missed the opportunity at its annual developer event to promote its vision for things that fit in between the phone and PC. There will be dozens of Android tablets out this year, and none of them will have an optimized experience. I think this is a major missed opportunity.

However, they did launch Google TV, which is based on four technologies: Android 2.1, the Chrome browser, Adobe’s Flash, and an Intel processor. Google TV isn’t a single product, it’s a platform that can be built as a standalone box or integrated into other devices. Logitech has signed up to build a dedicated Google TV device, Sony promises to have embedded Google TV in some of its TVs and Blu-ray players in time for the holidays, and DISH Network will have a settop box with Google TV in it at some point. Best Buy has agreed to sell these things.

Google TV allows consumers to browse the web on their TV, watch YouTube on the TV, and search for content to watch. Searches return results with both traditional broadcast and cable results mixed with Internet video content. It wasn’t clear what Internet content will be included; when I asked Google if Netflix Watch Instantly shows would be included in search results, they told me to ask Netflix. (At that point I didn’t bother asking about Hulu, which actively blocks its content from Google TV alternatives such as Boxee’s upcoming Box being built by D-Link.)

Since it’s based on Android and supports Flash, Google hopes that developers write apps for Google TV, and the company is extending the Android Market to Google TV to make it easy to find apps. This is far from the first app store concept we’ve seen – even for televisions – but the potential for unique apps is one of the more compelling aspects to the announcement. On the flip side, Google TV doesn’t necessarily have a tuner (unless it’s built into a TV or satellite set top box) and there’s no storage as part of the spec, so there is some setup required to get Google TV to talk to your TV, cable box, or DVR if you actually want to watch or record the traditional TV content you found in your search.

I like Google TV as a platform, but find the initial execution lackluster. The problem is simple: consumers are not willing to attach another device to their TV unless it offers a clear value proposition. For example, game consoles play games and optical disc players play movies and the Roku is an inexpensive way to stream content from Netflix. The Google TV value proposition – search-based directory and viewing Internet content on the TV – does not justify the expense of an integrated solution or the cost and complexity of an external box. (At least Google isn’t also asking for subscription fees – its investment will be repaid with advertising).

But Roku was only successful once the cost of the box dropped below $100, and Google’s Intel-based solution is bound to be more expensive than that. Google needs to get the price down and then either convince cable operators to embed Google TV into the cable boxes they already rent to consumers, or get a much bigger coalition of TV manufacturers to embed it into their sets. Today’s piecemeal approach doesn’t offer consumers enough value and won’t get Google a large enough footprint in the home.

Pc TV Tuner

The Gateway One is the probably the sleekest and stylish desktop PC that Gateway ever produced.and is probably Gateway's answer to Apple's iMac but at price that is slightly higher.

The Design of the Gateway One is slim, stylish, sleek, and minimalist. You won't see any CPUs here, everything can be found at the back of the 19 inch screen. You will also do away with wires since the Gateway One has a wireless keyboard and mouse, and the only wire you can find on the Gateway One is the one at the back of the screen. So where do you put your USB and audio cables? The cable found at the back of Gateway One runs down to a power module where you can find USB and Ethernet ports so you can eliminate cable clutter by stashing the power module under your desk, preserving the wireless aura of the Gateway One.

Underneath the Gateway One's stylish facade, you can find a 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 processor, Intel P965 motherboard, a whopping 3 GB 667 MHz DDR2 memory, 256 ATI Radeon 2600 XT Graphics card, and a 500 GB hard disk drive. Other features and specifications of the Gateway One includes, an external ATSC/NTSC TV tuner, 16x dual layer DVD burner, 802.11n wireless network, and comes bundled with Windows Vista Home Premium.

The Gateway One comes into the category of the all-in-one desktops which can provide you with Internet browsing, gaming, music, and TV viewing capabilities which would make it perfect for your living room or kitchen. The screen even resembles a flat panel TV. There's also no need for speakers as the Gateway One already has “hidden speakers†found on the front panel. While keeping the speaker in the front panel keeps up with the minimalist design of the Gateway One, the sound emanating from it leaves you wanting to plug in your own speakers. The speakers on the Gateway One is their own patented, NXT SoundVu. Maybe next time Gateway will partner with Altec Lansing or Harman Kardon to bring better quality sounds on the Gateway One, if they ever decide to make a second generation of the device.

One good thing about the Gateway One is that upgrading your key components is easy. Like the HP Blackbird, the Gateway One has a tool-less chassis. You simply pop out the back panel by sliding two latches and you will get access to the inside of your PC. Unlike conventional desktop PCs where you have to struggle with wires and cables to add or remove a hard disk drive, with the Gateway One, you simply slide a hard disk drive unto one of the drive bays and you're good to go.

The Gateway One is slightly pricier than the Apple iMac. While the iMac costs $1,649, the Gateway One costs $1,799 but you can get one with a slightly lower configuration for $1,299. The Apple iMac has a larger screen (20 inch compared with Gateway One's 19 inch) and a faster processor (2.4 Ghz vs. 2.0 Ghz) than the Gateway One so I don't get why there's a $150 premium. However, if you're tired of seeing Apple everywhere and you're used to working with a Windows PC, then Gateway One is a good alternative.

AP Photo

Long before she met Mr. Big, she was a self-conscious 17 year old. Rebecca Dana talks to Candace Bushnell about The Carrie Diaries, the new young-adult novel that follows our heroine through high school.

Long before Carrie Bradshaw became Mrs. Big, traipsing around Abu Dhabi with her gal pals in Sex and the City 2, she was 17-year-old “Bradley,” a boy-crazy high-school kid coming of age in suburban Connecticut.

“Of course I deliberated over whether or not Carrie should remain a virgin,” Bushnell says, “and when I was in the character’s head, it seemed that she just wasn’t ready.”

This portrait comes via The Carrie Diaries, Candace Bushnell’s new novel, a prequel which zooms back in time to the future archetype-defining heroine’s formative years. Aimed at a young-adult readership à la Gossip Girl, the book looks at our lady before she got her Louboutins, when she was just starting on the path to a glamorous New York City adulthood: her first dalliances with writing and sex, her preternatural dancing skills, her nascent feminism.

The Carrie Diaries. By Candace Bushnell. 400 pages. Balzer+Bray. $18.99.
How did Bradley turn into Carrie? What did she want from life before she wanted everything? The Carrie Diaries is a hot-tub time machine ride back to the early 1980s, to a more innocent age, when high-school seniors weren’t all vampires or sex-crazed maniacs, as they’re depicted in most teen literature today.

“I always felt Carrie had suffered some kind of loss, which makes her understand that the world isn’t perfect, it’s not a fairy tale,” Bushnell says. “She’s developed a grand sense of humor and a keen eye for the absurdities of being human that help her make her way through life.”

It is an exciting moment for fans of this franchise—the millions of women and gay men out there who’ve had to content themselves for the last decade and a half with a character perpetually single and frozen in her thirties. On movie screens this Friday, Carrie makes her debut as a full-blown grownup, married, and contending with recession-era financial constraints. And on the page, we finally get to meet the virginal Carrie, literally pre-Sex.

• Michael Patrick King: Can a Straight Man Love SATC? (“Of course I deliberated over whether or not Carrie should remain a virgin,” Bushnell says, “and when I was in the character’s head, it seemed that she just wasn’t ready. So I had to go with what felt authentic for the character at that place in time.”)

There is a special pleasure in seeing the making-of this iconic character, in tracing her adult quirks and neuroses back to their swim-team and English-class origins. In many respects, the young Carrie reveals greater depth in 400 pages than her grownup self ever has, struggling more directly with the complexities of life when she didn’t have sex, Cosmos, shoe binges, and long brunches with Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte as palliatives for her angst.

The idea to do The Carrie Diaries—aside from the obvious cash-register ka-ching! of introducing a whole new generation to the entire Sex oeuvre and its many spinoff products—came out of Bushnell’s interest in the “specific social, sexual and economic circumstances that forged the Sex and the City women.”

We first met Carrie and her friends in the mid-1990s, when they were struggling to balance work and life as modern women in New York. But Bushnell had a lingering curiosity about the earliest stages of that impulse, which she sees as taking root 15 years prior. “Carrie’s budding interest in feminism, her curiosity about how to conduct herself given the new sexual freedoms, as well as the rejection of male authority are fascinating themes for me,” she says.

Although the adult Bradshaw of the original Sex and the City book and HBO series grew out of first-person columns Bushnell wrote for The New York Observer, the young Carrie bears no resemblance to the author’s high-school years.

“There’s nothing that happens to Carrie in The Carrie Diaries that happened to me, but I did try to capture the universal emotions of being 17 in a suburban high school in the early '80s.”

The next book in the Carrie Diaries series, out next year, follows Carrie through her first summer in New York, and as long as it follows its predecessor onto the bestseller lists, there are surely more prequels to come, carrying the character up to the point of our first glimpse of her, way back when.

And then what? Unless a series of picture books chronicling Carrie’s toddlerhood in the 1970s is on the way, the only stage of her life that remains unplumbed is retirement. What will Carrie be like once she’s an old lady?

“Aw, heck, I don’t know,” Bushnell says. “Ask me again in 20 years.”

Rebecca Dana is a senior correspondent for The Daily Beast. A former editor and reporter for The Wall Street Journal, she has also written for The New York Times, The New York Observer, Rolling Stone, and Slate, among other publications.

Plus: Check out Book Beast, for more news on hot titles and authors and excerpts from the latest books.

Get a head start with the Morning Scoop email. It's your Cheat Sheet with must reads from across the Web. Get it. For more books coverage follow Book Beast on Twitter.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.

Too bad you couldn’t watch this video on an iPad.. and the iPad doesn’t have GPS so mounting it in your car is basically not very useful.

Oh and mounting it above your stove makes for a cute video but have fun cleaning the grease off and watching the heat damage it.

Am I a killjoy? Maybe, but face it – half the uses in that video don’t stand up to actual use.

Touch Screen Cash Register

There have been several times in the past in which I ordered something several months before it came out and waited patiently for the product to arrive. However, for some odd reason that I can not explain, I was on the edge of my seat for the release of the new Troll Touch screen. This screen has been described as the future of computer screens and one of the best to ever hit the market for consumer use. I had to have one and it killed me to have to wait several months for it to be delivered. It's arrival finally came a couple of days ago. I am so excited about my new Troll Touch screen that I decided to write up a review of this new product that is going to take the computer world by storm.

Several third party developers have come out with their own touchscreens that are compatible with your Mac computers. One thing I noticed about these screens is that they have several flaws that are not found with the Troll Touch Screen. The third party touchscreens happen to not recognize your touch as smoothly as the Troll Touch does. You are forced to put a bit too much pressure on your screen to get something done. By doing this, you are slowly causing damage to your computer screen. You do not want to do this because your screen will soon not work and there goes the hard earned money you paid for it.

The arrival of the Troll Touch screen is something that is truly marvelous. Troll Touch has been placing their touchscreen technology on many different types of displays for years. So it was only a matter of time that the company incorporated their technology into a solid computer screen for the Mac. The company made sure to not miss a beat with their latest product. Here is my review of the the Troll Touch and why I think it is one of the best screens you can purchase on the market.

To put it rather honestly, the Troll Touch touchscreen does what all of their technology has always seemed to do, that is work. In order to have one of these fancy touchscreens, it is going to cost you a pretty penny. You can get the screen with the new iMacs for the prices of $2499 and $3899. The first price will land you a 20-inch screen model with a 2.0GHZ system. You will get the 24-inch touchscreen and 2.8GHZ for the much higher price. If you happen to already have a iMac and just want to upgrade to a touchscreen, they displays are also sold separately. You can own the 20-inch screen for $1099 and the 24-inch screen for $1599. Trust me, it is well worth the price.

You can put a decent amount of pressure on the touchscreen without harming the screen. Your finger acts as the mouse. You can simple click and drag or click on the files or programs you want to access. Troll Touch has done an amazing job on the release of their own touchscreen. It will be interesting to see how Apple's own version stands up. Seeing that it has taken the company so long to develop one, insiders feel that there might be some new kind of technology incorporated into the touchscreen. Whatever it is, Apple is taking forever to come out with it. If you just can not wait like my friend could not, you can order one today without having to wait. Just visit the Troll Touch website to find out more about the amazing touchscreen for the iMac.

Sources:

www.trolltouch.com

Electronic Drawing Pads

The Obama Administration's move to the right is about to give conservatives a victory they could not have anticipated, even under Bush. HUD, under Obama, submitted legislation called PETRA to Congress that would result in the privatization of all public housing in America.

The new owners would charge ten percent above market rates to impoverished tenants, money that would be mostly paid by the US government (you and me, the taxpayers). To maintain the property, the new owners would take out a mortgage for building repair and maintenance (like a home equity loan), with no cap on interest rates.

With rents set above market rates, the mortgage risk would be attractive to banks. Either they make a huge profit on the mortgages paid for by the government. Or if the government lowers what it will pay for rents, the property goes into foreclosure. The banks get it and can sell it off to developers.

Sooner or later, the housing budget will be cut back and such foreclosures will happen. The structure of the proposal and the realities of Washington make it a virtual certainty.

The banks and developers make a fortune, with the taxpayers paying for it. The public loses its public housing property. The impoverished tenants lose their apartments, or have their rents go way up if they are forced into the private market. Homelessness increases. Government gets smaller. The banks and developers win. It is a Bank Bonanza! The poor and the public lose.

And a precedent is set. The government can privatize any public property: Schools, libraries, national parks, federal buildings — just as has begun to happen in California, where the right-wing governor has started to auction off state property and has even suggested selling off the Supreme Court building.

The rich will get richer, the poor and public get poorer. And the very idea of the public good withers.

This is central to the conservative dream, in which there is no public good — only private goods. And it is a nightmare for democracy.

The irony is that it is happening under the Obama administration. Barack Obama, running for office, gave perhaps the best and clearest characterization of what democracy is about. Democracy, he has said, is based on empathy — on citizens caring about and for each other. That is why we have principles like freedom and fairness for everyone. It is why social responsibility is necessary. The monstrous alternative is having a society where no one cares about or for anyone else.

HUD, under the Obama administration, is about to take a giant step toward that monstrous society.

Here is a quote from the PETRA bill. It's intent is to:

provide the opportunity for public housing agencies and private owners to convert from current forms of rental assistance under a variety of programs to long-term, property-based contracts that will enhance market-based discipline and enable owners to sustain operations and leverage private financing to address immediate and long-term capital needs and implement energy-efficiency improvements.

Along the way, tenants' rights will be trampled, since tenants could not longer seek redress from the government through their public officials — because the government would no longer own the buildings.

Stop PETRA. This is urgent. There is a hearing next Tuesday, May 25, before the House Financial Services Committee and the Subcommittee on Housing, organized by Rep. Maxine Waters. Phone: 202-225-2201. Fax: 202-225-7854.

Click here to write to the committee.

Write to your Congressperson now.

If you want to sign a petition, click here.

Here is a letter from the National Association of HUD Tenants.

Here is an informational website, with letters, background information, and alternative proposals.

And do what you can to get the word out. This requires a national discussion.

George Lakoff is the author of The Political Mind and Don't Think of an Elephant! He is Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley.

NEW YORK — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that he is “toxic” to the Obama administration and that the president “threw me under the bus.”

In his strongest language to date about the administration's 2-year-old rift with the Chicago pastor, Wright told a group raising money for African relief that his pleas to release frozen funds for use in earthquake-ravaged Haiti would likely be ignored.

“No one in the Obama administration will respond to me, listen to me, talk to me or read anything that I write to them. I am 'toxic' in terms of the Obama administration,” Wright wrote the president of Africa 6000 International earlier this year.

“I am 'radioactive,' Sir. When Obama threw me under the bus, he threw me under the bus literally!” he wrote. “Any advice that I offer is going to be taken as something to be avoided. Please understand that!”

The White House didn't respond to requests for comment Monday about Wright's remarks. Several phone messages left by the AP for Wright at the Trinity United Church of Christ, where he is listed as a pastor emeritus, were not returned. Wright's spokeswoman, his daughter Jeri Wright, did not immediately comment on the substance of the letter.

Then-Sen. Obama cut ties with Wright when his more incendiary remarks became an Internet sensation in the spring of 2008. At a National Press Club appearance in April 2008, he claimed the U.S. government could plant AIDS in the black community, praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and suggested Obama was putting his pastor at arm's length for political purposes while privately agreeing with him.

Obama denounced Wright as “divisive and destructive” and later cut ties to the pastor altogether and left Wright's church.

The letter was sent Feb. 18 to Joseph Prischak, the president of Africa 6000 International in Erie, Pa. Wright subsequently agreed to write a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the group's behalf to try to get access to millions of dollars.

Wright's original letter ranting against Obama's treatment of him surfaced in an appeal filed by federal inmate Arthur Morrison, boxing great Muhammad Ali's one-time manager, who was convicted of making phone threats.

Thermal Fax

Lassen Volcanic National park is situated in the Northern California portion of the Cascade Mountain Range. This is the same mountain range that includes other known active volcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier which are in the state of Washington. Lassen Peak itself rises over 10,000 feet and its last explosive series of eruptions was from 1914 through 1917. Though this area is still very geologically active, most of us do not have to worry about a major eruption any time soon. The average recurrence interval for major eruptions is about every 10,000 years. I have been to Lassen Volcanic National Park once many years back and can't wait to go again.

Depending on what you want to do, this is great place to visit any time of year. Summers are pretty predictable with the weather where you can expect warm and dry days, but fairly cool nights. It is best to wear layered clothing, no matter what time of year and be prepared. When I came up here we had camped at Graeagle area which is not too far of a drive to Lassen Volcanic National Park. This was during the summer around June and when we drove up to Lassen the following day, I was surprised to see how much snow was still in that area. The whole peak of the volcano was completely covered as you will see by my photo in the article. So in this case it was not expected, since the area we were camping was fairly warm.

MAPS:

Map of Park

Road Map of Park

Map of Park Volcanoes

AMENITIES:

Camping
Hiking
35-Mile scenic drive
Hydrothermal areas of interest
Lakes
Waterfall

DIRECTIONS/VISITOR INFORMATION:

Lassen Volcanic National Park
P.O. Box 100
Mineral, CA 96063-0100
Visitor Center phone number: 530-595-4444
Fax number: 530-595-3262

Northwest Entrance: From Redding, CA you will take highway 44 and go about 50 miles east.
From Reno, NV the entrance will be about 180 miles west from highway 395 to highway 44.

Southwest Entrance: From Red Bluff, CA – you will go about 45 miles east on highway 36.
From Reno, NV – you will take highway 395 to highway 36 and go about 160 miles west.

Butte Lake, Juniper Lake, and Warner Valley Entrance: To access Butte Lake area you will take a dirt road off Highway 44 and head east of Old Station. If you wish to access the Juniper Lake and Warner Valley area, take the partially paved road off highway 36, North of Chester.

Geo-thermal Areas of Lassen Park – General Information:

Let's first go over some definitions so you can better understand what this geo-thermally active area is all about. Lassen Peak itself is considered a Lava Dome or some may call it a Plug Dome type of volcano. This type of shaped dome is formed from very thick viscous lava which as it flowed solidified very quickly to form the build-up of the dome itself. There are many areas inside the park that have what they call hydrothermal activity. Hydrothermal activity is the act of super heated water being formed when ground water comes in contact with magma areas or vents from deep inside the earth.

This activity can create what they call mud pots and boiling pools. There are also super-heated steam vents which are known as fumaroles. These openings emit steam and gasses. One of the hikes you can go on is called “Sulphur Works”. This is the only one I have been on and you might want to bring some nose plugs! The sulphur smell is extremely strong, but it is worth checking out to see “mother nature” at work.

HIKING AND TRAILS:

SHORTEST HIKES (Under 2 miles round trip)

Sulphur Works-(0.3 mile round trip)
On this short hike you can see many of the hydrothermal activities the park has to offer. You will go past hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles.

Crystal Lake-(0.8 mile round trip)
This is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the Lassen Park area. During this hike you will climb approximately 450 feet during the 1st half of the trip.

Bathtub Lake-(0.8 mile round trip)
These lakes are considered swimming lakes and a great place to take a dip.

Inspiration Point-(1.6 mile round trip)
On this little jaunt, you will climb about 400 feet to a great overlook. The overlooks gives you views of Lassen, Harkness, Prospect, Mt. Shasta.

Manzanita Lake-(1.6 mile round trip)
This is a very level and easy walk for people of all ages. During the walk you can get great scenic views of wild flowers (spring), various wildlife, and the lake itself.

MODERATE HIKES (2 – 10 miles round trip)

Ridge Lakes-(2.2 miles round trip)
This is a pretty steep climb up about 1000 feet. You will see gorgeous glacial lakes which circle below the rim of Mount Tehama.

Bumpass hell-(3 miles round trip)
The hike will take you to the largest hydrothermal area in Lassen Park. The climb is gradual up to about 500 feet in height, then a 250 foot descent into the hydrothermal part itself. They also consider this trail one of the most scenic hikes in the park.

Devil's Kitchen-(3 miles round trip)
You will climb gradually to about 300 feet up and it will take you to another one of the main geothermal areas of Lassen Park. On this hike you will see steam vents (fumaroles), mud pots and some various types of wildlife.

Kings Creek Falls-(3 miles round trip)
There is much to see on this hike which takes you down a 700 foot descent. This hike has forests, wildflowers, lakes, small waterfall and is a fantastic hike for photographers. During the early fall (August – September) you will see some bright red berries on the Mountain Ash.

Boiling Springs Lake-(3 miles round trip)
This is considered a very easy climb at only about 200 feet up. You will see wild flowers, mud pots and trees.

Paradise Meadows-(3 miles round trip)
This hike is considered the best if you want some great photos of wildflowers or just to enjoy the scenery. The climb is moderate in nature and goes up about 600 feet in elevation. Mid- summer is best for viewing these wildflowers: scarlet gillia, columbines, monkshoods, gentian, penstemone and others. You will also see some good views of Lassen Peak and Reading Peak.

Chaos Crags and Crags Lake-(3.6 miles round trip)
The elevation goes up to about 700 feet on this moderate climb but you will enjoy very different landscapes along the way. Some of the items you will see are crags and tubes of extruded lava from a 1690 landslide.

Cinder Cone-(4-5 miles round trip)
This hike consists of 2 possible trails. One will take you about 4 miles round trip ant the other 5 miles round trip. This is a very famous trail for photographers and geologists since it takes you around the cone and a short trail to the center of the crater. Some spots of the climb can be pretty steep around 800 feet over some fairly loose cinders.

Mill Creek Falls-(4.6 miles round trip)
This hike features the highest waterfall in the park which is best seen during summer after the snow melts. The hike will take you onto about a 300 foot grade and you will also pass wildflowers and forest along the way.

Mt. Harkness-(4 miles round trip)
This trail features a fairly good climb up at about 1300 feet past wild flowers and a historic outlook.

Lassen Peak-(5 miles round trip)
This trail takes you on a steady and fairly steep climb up about 2000 feet. This hike begins at 8,500 feet up and takes you up to Lassen Peak for some fantastic views.

Park Road to Hat Lake-(5.6 miles round trip)
This is a wonderful hike if you want to take some great pictures of wildflowers in Paradise Meadows.

Bumpass Hell to Cold Boiling Lake and Kings Creek-(8 miles round trip)
The rise on this hike goes up about 500 feet, then a descent of about 1000 feet. Great view of wildflowers, and a lake that looks to be “boiling”, but are cold gas bubbles.

Summit Lake to Echo and Twin lake-(between 4-8 miles round trip)
This trip can be as short or long as you like depending on which lakes you wish to see. Twin Lake is the farthest at 8 miles. Along the way you will see; various wildlife, wildflowers and can catch a good swim in late summer.

Prospect Peak-(7 miles round trip)
This climb will require you to be in pretty good shape. The climb to the summit will take you up about 2200 feet, but is well worth the view. You will have fantastic views of: Lassen, harness, West Prospect and Shasta mountains as well as several lakes and the crater of Cinder Cone.

STRENUOUS HIKE (OVER 10 MILES)

Pacific Crest Trail-(19 miles through the park)
This is the longest of the trails and you need to travel prepared (water, snacks, layered clothing).
This trail travels for about 19 miles around through the Lassen Volcanic National Park sharing the same track of the Emigrant Trail which is one of the most scenic ones in the park.

35-MILE SCENIC DRIVE AROUND LASSEN PEAK

Stop#1 along scenic drive-your 1st stop alone this trek will be the Lassen Visitor Center and the new Lassen Chalet. About 1 mile down the road, you will find the first trail which is Sulfur Works. This is a great 1st stop to check out the mud pots, hot springs and fumaroles in this geothermal area of the park. During this visit, you will also get views of Brokeoff Mountain (at 9,236 feet), Mt. Diller (at 9,087 feet), Pilot Pinnacle (at 8,886 feet),Mt. Conrad (at 8,204 feet) and last but not least Mt. Lassen Peak (at 10,457 feet).

Stop# 2 is in the area of the largest geothermal spot in the part at Bumpass hell. Along this drive, you will also get views of Diamond Peak. At this stop you will want to take the hike through this largest thermal area and check out hot springs, Lake Helen, Lassen Peak (another 2.5 miles up). Allow about 4 hours for a complete round trip.

At this point you will be driving for a while past many gorgeous areas such as the distant peaks, meadows and wildflowers, Hat Lake, past the Destruction Area which is still visible from the 1915 eruption, the Nobles Emigrant Trail (an old pioneer trail from 1850), and Hot Rock (large granite boulder from 1915 eruption carried down from the mud flow).

You are now at the end of the drive and will come to Reflection Lake which offers a magnificent reflection of Lassen Peak and also a view of Manzanita Lake (which offers swimming, fishing, camping or canoeing).

CAMPING INFORMATIONA AT LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK:

Campsites (Open from June through September – weather permitting)
For more detailed information about the sites and their amenities, visit the link below:

http://www.nps.gov/lavo/planyourvisit/camping_in_campgrounds.htm

Butte Lake Fee: $16.00/night
To reserve: 1-877-444-6777

Butte Lake Stock Corral (Hitching Post only and by reservation only)
Fee: $4.00/per animal and $14.00/night
To reserve: 1-530-335-7029

Crags Fee: $12.00/night
No reservations available-first come first serve

Juniper Lake Fee: $10.00/night
No reservations available-first come first serve

Juniper Lake Stock Corral (high line only)
Fee: $4.00/animal and $10.00/night
To reserve: 530-335-7029

Manzanita Lake Fee: $18.00/night summer season or $10.00/night Sept – 1st snow closure
To reserve: go to www.recreation.gov

Summit Lake North Fee: $18.00/night
To reserve: go to www.recreation.gov

Summit Lake South Fee: $16.00/night
To reserve: go to www.recreation.gov

Southwest Walk-In Fee: $10.00/night during winter and $14.00/night rest of year
No reservations available-first come first serve

Summit Lake Stock Corral (by reservation only)
Fee: $4.00/animal and $14.00/night

Warner Valley Fee: $14.00/night summer or $10.00/night dry camping until snow closure
No reservations available-first come first serve

Group Sites

Butte Lake Group site (by reservation only)
Fee: 50.00/night
To reserve: go to www.recreation.gov

Juniper Lake Group site (by reservation only)
Fee: $30.00/night
To reserve: go to www.recreation.gov

Lost Creek Group Site (by reservation only)
Fee: $50.00/night
To reserve: got to www.recreation.gov

SOURCES:

www.nps.govLassen Volcanic National Park, updated September 8, 2008, accessed September 14, 2008.
http://www.nps.gov/lavo

www.gorp.away.comLassen Volcanic National Park, copyright 1999-1008 Orbitz Away LLC, accessed September 14, 2008.
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_national_park/ca_lasse.htm

High Frequency Pest Repellent

Graco Travel System

A 14-year-old boy is in critical condition Tuesday morning after he was shot up to three times while walking to school in the West Side's Austin neighborhood.

Relatives told the Chicago Tribune that the teen, Daniel Gilmore, and two or three friends stopped at a convenience store and bought chips and juice just before shots rang out in the 5600 block of West Chicago Avenue.

The incident happened about 8 a.m., as Gilmore was walking to Douglass Academy High School, where he is a freshman.

Gilmore was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood in critical condition. The Tribune reports:

A construction worker on the scene, who asked not to be named, said he saw the boy being carried into an ambulance. “He looked lifeless,” the worker said.

At the boy's house, an uncle, Harry Gilmore, said Daniel was the eldest of four brothers and a sister, and loved to dance and play basketball in the backyard.

“Right now I'm just hoping for the best,” he said…

Police had one person in custody Tuesday morning, but a motive in the incident remains a mystery. Though gang violence is common in the area, police have not indicated that the incident was gang-related.

Did a Mississippi School Stage a Fake Prom for a Lesbian and Her Date?

Constance McMillen, Mississippi teen, recently caused an uproar by wanting to bring her girlfriend, a lesbian, to the prom. Well, after much legal ballyhoo, the school district caved and invited her to prom. Turns out, though, it mighta been fake.

Well, if it wasn't fake, it was the worst attended prom since the year after Carrie White totally PMSed all over everyone. Basically the school district canceled the prom when everyone got upset about a gay person being gay at it, but then a little bit later — after much international scrutiny and ACLU lawsuit stuff — the school district's attorney announced that a parent-sponsored prom was being held and invited McMillen. Constance, her girlfriend, and seven other kids were the only ones to show up to the event.

The real trouble is that there's rumored to have been another prom held that night at a different location, one that, word has it, the parents were fully aware of, and the school district helped plan. So, basically a bunch of grownups may have staged an elaborate ruse so the gay girl and her gay lesbian girlfriend and all their totally homo friends could stand around one place looking like chumps, while the real teens did real things like give birth in the bathroom and rape each other in limos at their own very special real prom. Terrifically done, everyone!

Of course this could all be untrue scuttlebutt, but we find it hard to believe that all those kids really wouldn't go to their big dance just because one girl and her date were there, unless they had another place to party that same night. Though, as some are pointing out, it's kind of a tall order to ask all those kids to keep a secret prom secret, isn't it?

No matter the case, this is the most embarrassing story ever. People are horrible.

UPDATE: A tipster tracked down one of McMillen's classmate's Facebook profiles, and she had lots of nice prom photos uploaded yesterday. So that would fit with the timeline. And there are more than five folks in the photos, so we're guessing that means they weren't the group that went to Constance's prom (the person's “I LOVE Jesus!” bit on her profile doesn't help the case). So who knows. We're not going to give you her name, because, well, she's a high school student.

[Image via AP]

Send an email to Richard Lawson, the author of this post, at richardl@gawker.com.

If you enjoy showing off your family pictures you've probably got plenty of picture frames, full of photos, sitting around the house. This time, do something fun and different with your next set of photos. Make a Scrabble board photo display that's unique and easy to accomplish. Although it will only take minutes to make the photo display your family will enjoy it for years to come.

Often, when letters from a Scrabble game become lost or misplaced, the game is shoved in a closet and never used again. Although you can purchase replacement letters for Scrabble games, you can also create some beautiful and unique things for your house, using Scrabble boards and pieces.

Start by securing the fold in the board. Use flat pieces of wood, and glue or tape, to secure the wood to the fold of the board, on the backside. The wood doesn't necessarily have to cover the entire fold but must cover most of it to prevent it from bending while hanging. The wood pieces must be very thin. Something like a ruler works great. Even plastic rulers work fine.

Choose three or four pictures for your Scrabble board photo display. Place the pictures in small picture frames. If you can match all the frames, even better. Glue two, three or all four of the letter trays onto the board. You choose the way you lay out the trays, placing them all down one side, or randomly placing them here and there on the board. Use hot glue, or another adhesive, to attach the trays to the board.

The trays will become narrow shelves to hold the small photos. Depending upon the size of the pictures and frames, you could put one, two or three pictures on each “shelf”. After you've attached the shelves, and decided on the pictures and frames that go on the shelves, you can then add other embellishments.

Use the Scrabble letters to spell out the names of the people in the pictures or use the letters to tell a different story. Spell out “Hawaii” and put up pictures of your recent vacation. Or use the shelves to display an array of photos showing your child from birth to graduation. Use the letters as-is or turn them over and apply stickers that spell what you want. The blank tiles make it easy to use numbers instead of letters. The design and theme are all your own.

There are other things you can add to the Scrabble board to make it look even nicer. Attach tassels to the corners, glue on faux jewels, or place mini stickers here and there on the trays. The trays can also be painted before being glued onto the board.

If your Scrabble game has no letter trays you can still make the photo display. Simply glue the pictures – with or without frames – to the Scrabble board. Use the letters to make a crossword puzzle on the board, since the room isn't take up by the tile holders. Or, just use the letters to spell fun words relative to the pictures.

Instead of showing off your photos you can use the mini shelves to display tiny collectibles, too. Just place the miniatures on the shelves. You don't have to spell anything out with the letters; you can just use the board and shelves to show off your collection.

When finished the board can lean against a surface or hang on the wall. Purchase adhesive-type photo holders that simply peel and stick to the backside of the board. Now you can hang your Scrabble photo display anywhere in the house. Guests will notice and love your new creation; it will become quite the conversation piece for your family and friends.

Purchase used Scrabble games at yard sales and flea markets and let kids make their own photo displays. The games are usually found for a buck or two making this a cheap but fabulous craft!

Notice Boards

Record Live HD TV On Your Mac or Windows 7 PC With The Updated Elgato EyeTV Hybrid

The EyeTV Hybrid TV recording stick is now both Mac and Windows 7 compatible, with the EyeTV software bundled for Mac users, whereas Windows users can watch TV through Windows Media Center. It's apparently the world's smallest hybrid TV tuner.

It's available now in the US and Canada for $150.

Send an email to Kat Hannaford, the author of this post, at khannaford@gizmodo.com.

Information on a new PMP from Chinese manufacturer has surfaced. It’s called the Window G85HD and it looks to be a powerful touchscreen PMP, sort of in the vein of the Archos tablet-like PMPs that we’ve seen before. While it’ll probably only be out in China, the device does have some interesting features to it.

You’ll notice that the design is pretty simple and all-white, with the chassis of the device being reportedly constructed with an aircraft-grade aluminum alloy. The display measures in at 4.3-inches with a resolution of 800 x 480, although it will be able to kick it into 720p for playback. Chinese website PC Online got their hands on the device and reported that the UI is very nice. While they didn’t say if the touchscreen was resistive or capacitive, they did add that the touchscreen was “very sensitive”.

The device only has one physical button on it. For ports, it’s got Composite video outputs, along with a USB port and a microSD card slot. As said above, it’s using a “Touch Viva” UI which is reportedly very quick and nice looking with lots of rounded fonts. It can playback most media formats you want, including MKV, AVI, MP4, MOV, FLV and H.264 encoding. You can playback 720p content on a TV with those composite cables. It’s a bit baffling as to why they didn’t include HDMI, but I guess it’s because HDMI hasn’t integrated the Chinese tech scene yet.

We don’t know much else about the device. It will come with either 8GB or 16GB memory. No word on pricing or a release date. Unfortunately, this thing will probably only make it to China.

Pc TV Tuner

Watching TV anytime, anywhere is now possible. No, I'm not talking about Tivo. Instead, we're talking about watching Television on your laptop – that's right, the 8lb computer you carry with you to Starbucks. It's a lot easier than lugging your TV to a coffee shop to catch The Office on Thursday nights.

There are several options for watching TV on your laptop:

Downloads – This is probably the most ubiquitous TV timeshifting solution to catching your favorite TV shows when you want on your laptop. iTunes started the trend, offering downloads (currently at $1.99) hours after the show airs. The quality is good, the show selection is good, and the technology is easy. And of course if you want to see your favorite shows really small, you can always put them on your video iPod!

Amazon followed the trend by recently adding TV shows to their download store. Amazon has an advantage over iTunes by now having the shows of NBC, of which Apple will no longer carry new episodes after the current contract expires. So if you are interested in seeing My Name is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, ER, and other NBC favorites, head to Amazon.com.

Online Streaming – Several networks now offer shows for online viewing. NBC, for instance, offers several shows (including the Thursday night lineup) right after the West Coast airing. NBC, notably, offers shows with only one “made for the internet” commercial between segments, earning them advertising dollars and saving you time (the one hour season premire episode of The Office clocked in at 41 minutes online). Missed Dancing with the Stars? It's on ABC.com. Check the network site of your favorite show – most of the more popular shows are online after broadcast, and more are added all the time. My question is when is House going to be offered online? Only watching it one time isn't enough to catch all the good lines!

TV tuner card – For the average computer user, it's is much easier to get a TV tuner card to work with Windows Media Edition. For a laptop, simply hook up to your USB port, configure the included software, attach your cable and a/v connections, and you are set. This is good if you want/have to watch TV in a room that doesn't have a TV, or the picture is better on your laptop – otherwise you might as well hunker down on the couch in front of the actual TV.

One good use for this method is if you are watching what TV execs like to call a “Dishwashing Show” – you are in the middle of doing something else (in this case, work on your computer), but you want to listen in on your show and check in every once in awhile. A ball game that you aren't paying rapped attention to would be a good example of this.

Check out the PlusTV USB 2.0 Analog Stick ,(which is currently $25 with good reviews at Buy.com). It also records shows for you. At that price, you can't go wrong.

Slingbox – Ah, Slingbox. Everyone has heard of Slingbox, but I don't know that many people who have it. Slingbox works by streaming your TV signal to your laptop, where ever you are. You connect Slingbox (which looks, appropriately, like a box) from your TV connection to an Internet connection in your house (your cable/satellite or desktop), which then broadcasts it to your laptop, where ever you are. DVRs, cable, and satellite boxes can be controlled from your location (aka flipping the channel). You can only broadcast to one computer at a time (so you can't broadcast a show to all your friends' computers when you meet at Starbucks), but you can set it up to broadcast to different laptops at different times. The Slingbox software works on Windows, Macs, and certain mobile devices as well (such as smartphones and PocketPCs.

Slingbox current retails for $189 at Amazon.com.

MobiTV – MobiTV is a cool concept. MobiTV turns your PC, laptop, and even your cell phone into a TV. You don't have to install any hardware or software, just sign up for their service. While fairly geared towards the mobile phone market, it's a great way to watch TV on your laptop without having to install anything. Among the channel line up that MobiTV offers are Fox News Channel, The Weather Channel, Fox Sports, A&E, Fashion TV, Oh! Oxygen, and Biography Mobile. A great choice if you are a news junkie!

They offer a free trial at http://www.mobitv.com/ – check it out.

Life is busy and you don't always have time to sit in front of the TV and watch your favorite show in peace. Kids run around, the phone rings, or you may have to work late. But you don't have to be caught scratching your head next week trying to figure out what you missed – have your TV come to your laptop.