Vacation warning and linky goodness

Am taking off for a much-anticipated vacation, involving camping and other recreational excellence. Check back after July 4 for the resumption of chat here. Until then, an apt quote, and a handful of interesting and amusing links (from my huge backlog) to keep you busy while I'm gone.

Few are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to our hearts; and if people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish.

- John Muir,
naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)

(via A.W.A.D.)

• Tired of trying to get to your local pharmacist during business hours? A prescription refill ATM may soon fill the bill... (via Follow Me Here)
  
  
• Also from the world of technology, a new device that can capture subvocalizations, allowing covert communications or alternative input mechanisms for computers. (via boing boing)
  
  
• A reporter describes the strange experience of trying to get rid of unwanted guns. (via Follow Me Here)
  
  
• Women are smarter investors than men, but appear not to get into it as much.
  
  
• There's evidence that parenting doesn't matter for a child's success, or at least not as much as angst-ridden yuppie parents worry that it does.

  So it isn't that parents don't matter. Clearly, they matter an awful lot. It's just that by the time most parents pick up a book on parenting technique, it's too late. Many of the things that matter most were decided long ago — what kind of education a parent got, how hard he worked to build a career, what kind of spouse he wound up with and how long they waited to have children.

  (via Rebecca's Pocket)
  
  
• Why the new food pyramid may be less about health than agribusiness. (Follow the last link there for further explication.)
  
  
• A list of idioms and their definitions. If only there were more... (via A Tattered Coat)
  
  
• Match wits with an online game of Twenty Questions. (via pal Aime)
  
  
• A neat art project involving globes that show different features than simple geography, such as mountains of debt, or only landlocked nations, energy consumption, etc. (Additional chat about the project is here.) (via Rebecca's Pocket)
  
  
• A few excerpts from Edward R. Murrow on McCarthy and dissent (rather timely this week).
  
  
• The ultimate in patronizing tastelessness: Jesus Loves You sandals. (via boing boing)
  
  
• And finally, a wellspring of bad puns from Echidne of the Snakes.

Pace yourself, now! That's a lot to chew . . .