Best Leisure Time Blog

posted by Adam Johns on Dec 24

Highways remained slippery Monday for some holiday travelers in the upper Midwest in the aftermath of a blustery snowstorm that blacked out thousands of homes and businesses and snarled air travel.

 At least 19 deaths were linked to the weekend-long blast of ice and windblown snow, which led to multi-car pileups that closed sections of several major highways on the Plains.

Conditions had eased Monday, with sunshine across much of the region, but that didn’t necessarily mean safer roads, authorities cautioned.

Highways in northwestern Wisconsin still had slippery patches Monday, said State Patrol dispatcher Linda Luhman in Spooner.
“We haven’t had anything major, accident-wise. Slide-ins and minor property damage, but no serious injuries or fatalities,” Luhman said.

Early Monday, Sgt. Tim Elve of the Dane County Sheriff’s Office said: “The roads aren’t quite as ice-covered, but we’re still telling people not to drive unless they have to. The interstate is still slick and the rural roads are really bad.”
Authorities had issued urgent pleas for travelers to stay home Sunday but officials worried that people would insist on driving Monday, regardless of the weather, to get to Christmas Eve destinations.

“I know it’s the holidays, but we hope people use some common sense when traveling,” said Sgt. Chad Breuer of the Grant County Sheriff’s Department in southwest Wisconsin. “There are a lot of people saying, ‘I’ll just leave that much earlier,’ but still, the roads are not favorable for traveling.”

The storm rolled through Colorado and Wyoming on Friday, then spread snow and ice on Saturday from the Texas Panhandle to Wisconsin. On Sunday, snow fell across much of Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota and parts of Michigan and Indiana.

Up to 15 inches of snow fell over the weekend on parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which typically gets heavy snow, and freezing drizzle glazed some highways Monday morning in counties along Lake Michigan. The area of Madison, Wisconsin, got three to four hours of freezing rain early Sunday, making driving treacherous.

The storm system had blown out to sea Monday morning, but in its wake wind blowing at 25 mph picked up moisture from Lake Erie to create lake-effect snow in Buffalo, New York. Five to 10 inches of snow was possible there and in other parts of western New York by Tuesday morning, the weather service said.

Wind was measured at 88 mph over Lake Michigan, with gusts of 50 to 68 mph across the Chicago region, according to the National Weather Service.

Because of the wind, airlines canceled more than 300 flights Sunday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the city Aviation Department said. Municipal officials said the wind had knocked out nearly 170 traffic signals, and there were more than 500 reports of fallen trees and limbs.

Travelers packed hotels in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Sunday night after blowing snow and poor visibility forced them off Interstate 35. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty authorized the National Guard to open the city’s armory for stranded travelers.

Accidents on highways slippery with snow and ice killed at least seven people in Minnesota, three in Indiana, three in Wyoming, four in Wisconsin and one each in Texas and Kansas.

More than 11,000 homes and businesses were without power at some point Saturday in Wisconsin because of the freezing rain, ice, gusty wind and heavy snow, utilities said. Michigan utilities reported some 31,000 customers were still without power Monday morning, and in Illinois about 3,900 ComEd customers remained without power Monday, down from a Sunday morning peak of more than 225,000.

Source: CNN

posted by Adam Johns on Dec 21

Brandon Sanderson, author of the fantasy “Mistborn” series, will finish Robert Jordan’s final novel.

Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., died from a blood disease in September in South Carolina. He was working on the 12th book in his “Wheel of Time” fantasy series at the time of his death.

More than 44 million books in the “Wheel of Time” series have been sold worldwide, according to publisher Tor Books. The final book is titled “A Memory of Light.”

“To me, Robert Jordan is still kind of a mythological figure,” Sanderson told the Daily Herald of Provo. “I would have done this with no credit and no payment, to be perfectly honest.”

Sanderson, whose first novel, “Elantris,” was published in 2005, has four books in print.

Jordan’s widow and the book’s editor, Harriet Popham Rigney, said she was “absolutely delighted” that Sanderson agreed to finish it.

“He left copious notes and hours of audio recordings,” Rigney said in a statement on Tor Books’ Web site.

Jordan’s books tells of Rand al’Thor, who is destined to become the champion who will battle ultimate evil in a mythical land. The first title in the series, “The Eye of the World,” was published in 1990.

Source: CNN

posted by Adam Johns on Dec 18

Two prides of lions stretched luxuriously in the midday sun, casting an occasional lazy glance at crowds of zebras, impalas and giraffes waiting anxiously for a turn to quench their thirst at the water hole.

 shadow of mud-caked elephants in the shimmering afternoon heat punctuated only by whirlwinds of dust. In the distance, herds of wildebeest and gemsbok emerged on the vast salt plain.

Typical scenes on an average day in Namibia’s Etosha National Park, which is home to rare black rhinos and the world’s largest population of cheetahs and where a single photo frame captures multiple species of wildlife, shaming its more famous neighbor — South Africa’s Kruger Park.

“Thank goodness for digital cameras,” I thought as our two oohing and aahing daughters clicked away endlessly and jostled for the best vantage point at the car window, which was hastily closed as a male lion heading for a shady bush sauntered way too close for comfort.

We visited in late September, the end of the six-month dry season when the landscape takes on almost ghostly qualities as dust and sand envelops the scrub and vegetation. It’s the best time for instant, quick-fix game viewing — in contrast to the hours sometimes spent in Kruger. Although visits are possible all year round, it can get uncomfortably hot between November and February.

Etosha is deservedly the highlight of a visit to Namibia, a country dominated by the Namib and Kalahari deserts and roughly the size of France and Germany combined, which is attracting growing numbers of tourists — especially from Europe — lured by safaris and sand. Endless, endless sand.

And above the sand?

Ballooning, paragliding, skydiving and rock-climbing adventures abound as the southern African nation seeks to carve out a niche market among well-heeled tourists in search of the wild and adventurers thirsting for the spectacular.

Nearly 850,000 tourists visited Namibia in 2006, according to official statistics, a rise of 7 percent on 2005. Small fry compared to the numbers who flock to Paris or Rome, but in a country with a population of less than 2 million, this translates into big bucks.

A recent study carried out for the government estimated that tourism accounts for 18 percent of gross domestic product and in the next 10 years will be the largest single contributor to the mineral-dependent economy.

It’s not just the “Brangelina factor” — although Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s decision to have their daughter Shiloh in the seaside resort of Swakopmund certainly helped catapult the little-known corner of Africa onto the international map.

It’s also because Namibia remains wonderfully unspoiled, an “insider’s secret” tempered by increasing accessibility through regular nonstop flights from Frankfurt and London as well as daily connections with South Africa. Cars are few and far between on its fantastic, tabletop roads — one of the happier results of brutal German colonial influence and apartheid-era South African control which ended only with independence in 1990.

It’s clean, safe — at least by African standards — and the food is simple but tasty, with game being a staple on many menus. Our daughters — having declared they wanted to become vegetarians — sneaked seconds of the gemsbok steaks, although drew the line at zebra.

There is a high quality, though fairly limited, choice in guest houses, farms, hotels and posh safari lodges — as well as camping for the budget-conscious. Prices are comparable to those in South Africa — the Namibian dollar is pegged to the South African rand, which can be used everywhere.

A taxidermist store, with luridly painted model animals, stands near Windhoek airport in testimony to Namibia’s growing popularity with the hunting fraternity that is not content to view the wildlife through the lens of a camera.

The government has woken up to the economic potential and is seeking to overhaul the tourist industry and spread its benefits.

Accommodations in Etosha were upgraded ahead of the park’s centenary celebrations in September. Locals complained that prices also rose, but even so they are cheaper than the privately run lodges around the park and offer unrivaled nighttime game viewing around the water holes in the camps. Bed and breakfast in a double room at a waterhole chalet in Okaukuejo — near the western entrance to the park — is $104 per person.

It’s easy to travel independently — be warned that car hire is expensive because of the high rate of accidents by tourists driving too fast along empty roads. But it is often cheaper and easier to go with an organized tour as their all-terrain vehicles are equipped for long desert drives. Some also combine it with a visit to other southern African countries. Budget camping tours — with equipment included — cost as little as $100 per day while 10-day luxury safari packages — including internal flights — can be up to $10,000. One option for the adventurous is to hire an off-road vehicle with its own tent built in the top.

We met an Italian couple who had asked family and friends to contribute to a honeymoon tour embracing South Africa’s Kruger Park, Botswana’s famed Okovanga Delta and Chobe Park and the Victoria Falls on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.

“Why, oh, why did we settle for a TV, toaster and towels?” I sighed, listening to accounts of their dream journey.

Namibia’s coastline is long and desolate — and notorious for shipwrecks. Its best-known resort, Swakopmund, remains heavily influenced by its German colonial past — Germany gained control in 1883 and surrendered the territory to South Africa in 1915 — and is particularly popular with German tourists. It was hard to share in the enthusiasm for a Bavarian-style beer festival (though Namibia makes an excellent brew) and the town’s designer shops and kitsch held little allure after the raw beauty of Etosha.

By contrast, the sand dunes were breathtaking between Swakopmund and the port of Walvis Bay (which is incidentally the starting point for journeys to Napoleon’s island exile, St. Helena, for those with an extra couple of weeks on their hands).

The dunes have become the center of adventure activities like sand boarding — where the intrepid reach speeds of up to 55 mph an hour and sand skiing. Being in the midst of the dunes is almost like being in the Alps surrounded by an endless expanse of virgin snow — only of course it’s yellow rather than white.

We opted for a quadbiking tour which catered both for adrenaline junkies seeking thrills and spills as well as those wanting more leisurely sightseeing. Victor Gouws, our guide from Dare Devil Adventures, said his oldest client had been an 86-year-old American woman. And she didn’t fall off, he grinned.

Brad Pitt also made a brief foray into the dunes last year, Gouws mentioned casually, as heavily pregnant Jolie stayed in a nearby hotel. But Gouws and most locals shrugged their shoulders about the famous visitors. Tourism is increasing on a monthly basis, and it doesn’t depend on the whim of visiting celebrities.

The majesty of the Swakopmund dunes apparently is insignificant to the famous, much photographed star dunes further south at Sossusvlei, deep in the Namib desert.

Sadly we didn’t have time to make that long trek, settling instead for a quick catamaran cruise in Walvis Bay to see dolphins, seals and pelicans, and look at the nets of one of Namibia’s newest industries — oyster farming. Neither did we make it farther south to the Fish River Canyon — said to be one of the world’s biggest after Colorado’s Grand Canyon.

Source: CNN

posted by Adam Johns on Dec 14

LONDON, England (AP) — A book of fairy tales created, handwritten and illustrated by J.K. Rowling sold for nearly $4 million at auction Thursday.

The buyer, London art agent Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, now has one of only seven copies of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” which is leather bound with silver mounts.

The book originally had been expected to sell for about $100,000. The standing-room-only crowd at Sotheby’s auction house applauded as bidding topped the £1 million ($2 million) mark.

The money will benefit The Children’s Voice, a charity co-founded in 2005 by Rowling and Baroness Nicholson, a member of Britain’s House of Lords.

Rowling, 42, watched the auction on the Web from her home in Edinburgh, Scotland, and said she was ecstatic.

“This will mean so much to children in desperate need of help,” she said in a statement. “It means Christmas has come early to me.”

Rowling, whose Harry Potter books have sold nearly 400 million copies and been translated into 64 languages, wrote the Beedle tales after finishing the seventh and final work in the Potter series.

“‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’ is really a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, and writing it has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I have loved and lived in for 17 years,” Rowling said.

She said the six other copies of the Beedle books have been given to people who were closely connected to the Harry Potter collection.

The information is taken from: CNN

posted by Adam Johns on Dec 9

• Chuck Norris wants to stop distribution of “The Truth About Chuck Norris”
• Norris says book is spoiling his image, includes false “facts”
• Book thanks Norris for “playing along”

NEW YORK (AP) — Trading karate chops for lawyers, tough guy actor Chuck Norris is taking on a new book titled “The Truth About Chuck Norris,” saying it’s a big lie and he wants to stop its distribution.

On Friday, Norris sued Penguin Group Inc. and the book’s creator, Ian Spector, saying his good image is being spoiled by a book that depicts him as callous and unlawful and which he says includes false “facts” that are sometimes racist and lewd.

In a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the actor, whose real name is Carlos Ray Norris, says the preface of the book refers to meetings between Norris and Spector, a Westbury, New York, resident and an undergraduate at Brown University, and the book also thanks Norris for “playing along.”

But, the lawsuit said, Norris never authorized Penguin or its Gotham Books division to use his name, image or likeness in connection with commercial sales of the book, which was published on November 29.

The lawsuit said Norris told Penguin it was not authorized to publish the book but the publisher rejected Norris’ claims. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, a halt to publication and a recall of books already sold.

A message left with a spokesman for Penguin was not immediately returned.

Norris has been in more than 20 films. The actor was a six-time undefeated World Professional Middle Weight Karate champion who in 1997 became the first man in the Western Hemisphere to be awarded an 8th degree Black Belt Grand Master recognition in the Tae Kwon Do system, the lawsuit said.

Source: CNN

posted by Adam Johns on Dec 4

CHICAGO — R. Kelly avoided arrested Thursday by appearing in a Chicago court for a hearing in his child pornography case.

A warrant for the R&B superstar was entered Wednesday after he missed a scheduled appearance. Kelly’s lawyer said his tour bus was stopped by police in Utah after a log showed the driver hadn’t had enough rest, causing him to miss the 9 a.m. hearing.

Kelly is in the midst of a prolonged legal fight after prosecutors say he allegedly videotaped sex acts with a teenage girl. He has pleaded not guilty.

A judge is expected to set a trial date during his Thursday appearance.