National Geographic - Scottish Sea Kayak Trail in Top 50 Lifetime Tours

National Geographic has listed The Scottish Sea Kayak Trail among the 'Top 50 Tours of a Lifetime" (3rd on list).

Apparently, it's also in Outside Magazine's coveted 'Travel Hot List for 2011', although I couldn't find it.

Which is nice. Sort of...

I wrote the guidebook partly because I knew that if I didn't, someone else would, and there was a trend for guidebooks to recommend campsite locations. Directing kayakers to certain campsites, along the length of Scotland's west coast, would concentrate environmental impact in those places and potentially damage them.

National Geographic Museum Presents Exclusive Look at the Culture of Ancient Italy

Pre-Roman art of ancient Italy will amaze viewers during an exclusive presentation of The Etruscans: An Ancient Italian Civilization. Beginning June 10, 2011 and running through September 25, the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C. will be the proud home to the unique art and artifacts of ancient Italy.

The exhibition will be a highlight of La Dolce DC, a celebration of Washington’s Italian connections, and of ITALY@150, a series of events organized by the Embassy of Italy under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Italy’s Unity.

CDC Launches Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide: Supplementary Tech Tips

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just published its official Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide, yet left out crucial information for a zombie target demographic: geeks.

Should America become besieged by undead hordes, United States Federal agency CDC (“Your source for credible health information”) now has us covered. Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse officially has everything we need to know about preparedness in the event of a zombie virus outbreak.

Or does it?

Zombie apocalypse survival tips for the tech set seem to be missing.

The guide on the CDC’s Public Health Matters Blog begins:

Writepad 5 buddies up with Evernote for app marriage

PhatWare announced this week the release of its handwriting-recognition, note-taking software, WritePad 5, for iPhone. That alone isn't groundbreaking news. But there's an interesting tidbit in the software's feature list: the fact that it offers synchronization services with note-taking and memory-keeping app Evernote.

The latest WritePad also cooperates with Facebook Dropbox, Google Docs, iTunes, SMS services, and Twitter clients. It's one of a growing generation of unrelated apps that allow interaction with third-party software. WritePad, PhatWare's top selling app (according to its own stats), was developed entirely independently of Evernote and its other sync companions. But the separate developers allow cross access to their software to make both more appealing to users.

Forbes: Belichick is highest paid coach

Forbes produces its ranking of the highest paid coaches in sports today, noting that with the NBA's Phil Jackson retiring, the top spot now belongs to Bill Belichick.

"In 11 seasons on the New England Patriots' sideline, Bill Belichick has won 72 percent of his games, made eight postseason appearances and taken three Super Bowl titles," Tom Van Riper writes. "Little surprise, then, that Belichick now takes home more money than any coach in the four major North American sports leagues--some $7.5 million a year, we estimate. The Patriots have never publicly confirmed Belichick's contract details, but industry pundits have little doubt that the long-term extension he signed in 2007 is north of the roughly $7 million annually that Mike Holmgren was getting from the Seattle Seahawks."

Reuters Summit-Intel eyes Apple as it plans future chips

 NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) - Trend-setting products launched by Apple Inc (AAPL.O) are a key factor in Intel Corp's (INTC.O) plans for new processors, a senior executive of the world's top chipmaker said.

Tom Kilroy, a senior vice president at Intel, told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York on Wednesday that the runaway success of the iPad and other Apple products shapes how Intel thinks about future devices and the chips that will power them.

"We work very closely with them and we're constantly looking down the road at what we can be doing relative to future products. I'd go as far as to say Apple helps shape our roadmap," Kilroy said.

"Apple -- they push us hard," he said

Spring Storms brings snow to colorado mountains

Officials say a strong storm system will dump up to 18 inches of snow in the Colorado mountains.

The National Weather Service said a winter storm warning will be issued Wednesday night and continue through Thursday. The heaviest snowfall is expected to be just along and east of the Continental Divide, especially in Larimer County.

Total accumulations there could reach one and a half feet by Thursday night.

Arapahoe Basin is the only Colorado ski resort still open. It had planned to close June 5, but it now plans to run its lifts for two more weekends, June 10 to 12 and June 17 to 19. The chief operating officer says it's too early to say what will happen after that.

Two 9/11 Flight Numbers Retired

United Continental Holdings said the company would permanently retire flight numbers 93 and 175, the designations of the United flights hijacked in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, after they reappeared in a computer reservation system.

The numbers were loaded erroneously May 16 because of an oversight and were removed on Wednesday, United Continental said. Neither number will be used again, according to the airline, which was rebuked by unions representing pilots and flight attendants over the reuse of the numbers.

Single currency dominance to end 2025

LAGOS — The global financial system would no longer be dominated by the dollar or any single currency by 2025 and six major emerging economies— Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Russia—will account for more than half of all global growth, says a new World Bank report.

The report, Global Development Horizons 2011-Multipolarity: The New Global Economy, projects that as a group, emerging economies will grow on average by 4.7 per cent a year between 2011 and 2025.  Advanced economies, meanwhile, are forecast to grow by 2.3 per cent over the same period, yet will remain prominent in the global economy, with the euro area, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States all playing a core role in fueling global growth.

McCann homers twice, Braves beat Astros 3-1 in 11

When Brian McCann returned to his locker, Derek Lowe shouted across the room: "Great off day, Mac!"

A great off day, indeed.

McCann came off the bench in the ninth inning to tie it with a pinch-hit, two-out homer, then hit a two-run shot in the 11th to lead the Atlanta Braves past the Houston Astros 3-1 on Tuesday.

"If the game is close, I know I'm the first one off the bench to hit," the All-Star catcher said. "I'm ready for that. I know that's my role when I'm not playing."

The Braves were trailing 1-0 and down to their final strike in the ninth when McCann drove a 1-2 pitch the opposite way, the ball just clearing the wall in left-center.

He stayed in the game behind the plate and, two innings later, ended it with his fourth homer of the season — a towering drive down the right-field line, just inside the foul pole against Jeff Fulchino (0-2).

2011 NBA Mock Draft: Where Will John Calipari's Latest PG Product Wind Up?

2011 NBA Draft Order will be set in stone after Tuesday night's NBA Draft Lottery and a number of scenarios are in play. Will the Minnesota Timberwolves draft another point guard if awarded the top overall pick? Could BYU's Jimmer Fredette fall entirely out of the lottery? How would Derrick Williams going No. 2 change the way the rest of the lottery teams made their selections? Bleacher Report will looks at these scenarios and more, along with speculation and rumors from around the web.

Will the Sacramento Kings’ attempted return to relevance be pinned on yet another John Calipari-coached product—in this case, Brandon Knight? 

Tiger Woods Confirms No Additional Damage Done To ACL and Knee

Tiger Woods is coming off his shortest tournament appearance in his career at the TPC Sawgrass Players Championship. He shot a 42 on the front nine before withdrawing from the rest of the tournament.

He has been dealing with a knee and achillies injury since the Master's and hasn't played in a tournament since the early April event.

Here is how Woods described what happened with his leg on Thursday:

The knee acted up, and then the Achilles followed after that, and then the calf started cramping up. Everything started getting tight, so it's just a whole chain reaction.

Woods has confirmed that no further damage has been done and that he simply needs plenty of rest, cold water therapy and soft tissue treatment.

Sony Welcomes PSN Users Back With inFamous And LittleBigPlanet

PlayStation Network is partially back up and some people, after a password reset, are enjoying online games again. As an apology for the downtime and security breach, Sony Computer Entertainment has a "Welcome Back" program planned.

Details have not been announced for North America or Japan, but trickled out of Europe. The PAL PlayStation Blog posted a list of digital welcome back gifts.

Scott Parker is a key target for Arsène Wenger this summer

The West Ham United midfielder Scott Parker is a key target for Arsène Wenger this summer, with the Arsenal manager finally prepared to break his self-imposed restriction on signing older players to long-term contracts.
Parker, 30, will be sold this summer as West Ham, who were relegated to the Championship on Sunday, divest themselves of their highest-earners. While Wenger has a policy of not buying players in their thirties apart from exceptional short-term signings, he is understood to be given to reconsidering after another season in which his squad's lack of experience was telling.

Parker, who was voted player of the year by the Football Writers' Association this season, lives in Surrey and would be amenable to a move to Arsenal. He is expected to be sold for around £6m and would want a three-year contract at the very least, given that his current West Ham deal has three years to run.

Among Wenger's current group of midfielders, he is expected to sanction the sale of Denilson and Tomas Rosicky this summer. Ideally, Parker would play alongside Jack Wilshere in midfield, reprising their successful partnership for England against Wales in March's Euro 2012 qualifier. Interestingly, it would appear that Cesc Fabregas's much-anticipated move to Barcelona is by no means a certainty, with the Spanish champions exerting nothing like the interest they did last summer.

Southern Border Heats Up Once Again; Bill O'Reilly

Two Border Patrol agents were killed Thursday while chasing suspected illegal alien drug smugglers southwest of Phoenix. During the chase, the truck the agents were riding in was hit by a freight train, instantly killing 39-year-old Hector Clark and 34-year-old Edward Rojas. Obviously, the border situation in Arizona remains very dangerous.

And it's not just illegal aliens and drugs that are plaguing Arizona. The border situation is now impacting the public schools there.

As you may know, the state has ordered schools in Tucson to stop teaching ethnic classes because of alleged bias against America. That order has led to some protests. The cultural aspect of the border controversy centers on textbooks and teaching material. On May 10 at a school board meeting in Tucson, a woman read from the works of Rodolfo Gonzalez, a radical anti-American guy who is being used by some teachers: