Bear Attacks

[7-30-2010 Update]
Via UpNorthLive: Black Bear Sightings On The Rise

Perhaps Stephen Colbert is right about bears?

Or is this like a scenario from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or The Simpson's, but instead of dolphins it is bears who are tired of the humans?

Is it because we're killing all the plankton?

For some reason bears are on the rampage all of a sudden.

MSNBC: 1 dead, 2 injured in Montana bear attack

CSMonitor: Jack Hanna wards off grizzly bear with pepper spray

CSMonitor: New Hampshire bear break-in turns Goldilocks tale on its head

I don't think I'll chase them any more.

Planetary Defense

It is hard to believe that there is not an agency doing whatever it can to protect the planet from impacts. Because as geologists say, a cataclysmic event isn't a question of "if" but a question of "when".

Go NASA!

See CSMonitor: NASA should protect Earth from space rocks, panel finds

Now This Is A Tree House

Want.

Via TH: Almost Invisible Mirrored Tree House Built In Sweden

Drop The Running Shoes

22 July, 2010 Update
NPR: For Humans, Slow And Steady Running Won The Race

Update: NPR covers the new research too: Study: Humans Were Born To Run Barefoot

This is another article about running similar to the earlier post: Run Like A Persistence Hunter

Via SciAm: Running Shoes Jog Joints

This is why I like running in plain "water shoes".

TC To The 'Boat

If I am ever missing look for me hiking somewhere between Traverse City and Steamboat Springs. The trails that connect these two are the North Country trail to the Lewis and Clark Trail to the Nez Prez to the Continental divide trail.

There is a great interactive map at The Partnership for the National Trails System.

Everyone Has To Get Their Monies

Via Collider: David Cross Says ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Film Will Not Happen

Fat

The headline from TH says it all: In 1991 The Fattest US States Were As Thin As The Leanest in 2009

This is especially noticeable when watching movies from the 1980's and earlier. Not just the stars, but all the extras are thin. This was the normal.

Wagon Fever

I have to give station wagons their own tag since I mention them so often.

And I do so because I love them. And my love affair started with the Swedish Utility Vehicle - the Volvo 240 wagon and we (me and wagons) have been going steady ever since.

Wired's writers have the fever too, and the only prescription is to make a list.

See: 12 Wonderful Wagons We Want

I agree with every wagon choice though my list would also include the Volvo XC, the Buick Roadmaster Estate family, and the 1992-1996 Toyota Camry wagon.

And Consumer Reports is in the process of testing the car I would drive if I was told you can only have one car for the next 15 years, the TDI SportWagen. See: 2010 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI

...the vast majority of SportWagens (over 75 percent) are sold with the TDI diesel engine...

Another Reason To Drive A Station Wagon

Bears won't eat them! Or something like that.

Via Barking Up The Wrong Tree: What kind of car is most likely to get broken into by a hungry bear?

From 2001 to 2007 bears broke into 908 vehicles at the following rates: minivan (26.0%), sport–utility vehicle (22.5%), small car (17.1%), sedan (13.7%), truck (11.9%), van (4.2%), sports car (1.7%), coupe (1.7%), and station wagon (1.4%).

Full study is in the Journal Of Mammalogy: Selective Foraging for Anthropogenic Resources by Black Bears: Minivans in Yosemite National Park
I saw something like this on television before. It was video of black bears prying open minivan windows in a matter of minutes and eating the seat cushions and trashing it. Perhaps an advantage of a station wagon is that it is too small for the bears to move around once inside.

Georgia To Morocco

You'd have to cross Canada to Greenland to Norway to the U.K. is all.

See NPR: Hiking The Appalachian Trail -- To Morocco