It Pays To Keep Your Dogs Around

Via TheAtlantic: Having a Dog Around Makes You More Productive

Perhaps part of the underlying reason is related to why people with speech impediments don't stutter when talking to their dog? Our pets make us comfortable and this leads to confidence which leads to success.

Really Old School

Geologists think they have found pristine mantle up in Canada.

Via SciAm: Tricky Mantle: Intact Pocket of Ancient Earth May Have Escaped Mixing for 4.5 Billion Years

New research indicates that rocks from Baffin Island in Canada stem from a patch of Earth that dates back to the infancy of the planet but has somehow escaped geologic recycling and processing since that time.

Blueing Myself

An Arrested Development linkfest

DigitalSpyUK: Cera: 'Arrested Development film is scary'

"I feel scared by all the expectations on it at this point. People ask me about it a lot. And to make a movie that already has expectations built in before the script is even written seems intimidating."

[this sounds a lot like Liz Phair talking about how she felt after making 'Exile']

TheStar.com: Arrested Development, creator Mitch Hurwitz has told GQ magazine that a script is being written for the long-awaited Arrested Development movie. But first Hurwitz and co-executive producer Jim Vallely have to get Running Wilde up and, er, running. Then, when the script is finished, they’ll have to coordinate the schedules of all the TV show’s former stars to get it filmed. “It is our absolute next priority and we can't wait to do it,” Hurwitz said.

Reuters: "Arrested Development" movie script half done

"It's not going to be a big money maker," Hurwitz added. "It's going to be fun, like a family reunion.

Funstyle

Via LizPhair.com
How To Like It.

You were never supposed to hear these songs. These songs lost me my management, my record deal and a lot of nights of sleep.

Yes, I rapped one of them. Im as surprised as you are. But here is the thing you need to know about these songs and the ones coming next: These are all me. Love them, or hate them, but dont mistake them for anything other than an entirely personal, un-tethered-from-the-machine, free for all view of the world, refracted through my own crazy lens.

This is my journey. Ill keep sending you postcards.

Liz is talking about 'Funstyle' - her latest release which surprised everyone.

My personal thoughts are that 'Funstyle' is a funny album. I'm glad she did it. And as I have told people, this woman made 'Exile in Guyville' which gives her a free-pass for forever. But that can also be a trap as she discusses in an interview.

Which leads me to ponder talent versus skill.

There are some industries where it is expected that the workers will spend a long time honing their skills before they reach the full-fledged professional level. Baseball players have their minor leagues and chefs are expected to work their way up from being a line cook. These are skillful endeavors where the best in the business usually do not emerge until they are 30-somethings.

Artists, inventors, and entrepreneurs usually have their best output in their early 20's. These are lines of work that reward raw remarkable talent.

In music you usually see increbible first albums. In college 'Liz's Exile in Guyville' seemed to me to be like Fugazi's '13 Songs' and Green Day's '1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours'. Not only were these albums demonstrations of raw talent but it seemed that the artists, intent on creating something great and in their own vision, applied themselves in a way that a veteran would not and hence created some of the top albums of my lifetime.

Which makes someone like Neko Case so interesting. She clearly has talent, but in listening to her albums, from The Virgianin and Canadian Amp to Middle Cyclone you hear someone finding her voice and finding her confidence. Her rise to indie all-star is more like a baseball player working their way up the minor leagues than like an indie queen with a mythical demo tape who then gets signed for an album.

This difference makes it so that each Neko Case album is met with optimism that it will be better than the last one, and for Liz Phair and artists like her, their new releases are never able to escape the pessimism that critics and fans want every album to be that once a generation album.

If you find true love be happy. Enjoy it for what it is. Liz created a masterpiece. Appreciate it and move on. She has.

Interviews:

Liz Phair: 'I'm Not in Love. I'm Pretty Happy.'

And then it came time for me to write the next record, and I really couldn't. Because I was so crippled.

Liz Phair on How TV Scoring Saved Her Love of Music

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

By The Time I Get To Arizona

I was recently shown a nasty Facebook thread that began with the status update of "hey Arizona - notice how every WWII movie begins with 'Show Me Your Papers'" and it quickly devolved from there with one side arguing that it is great to arrest people who are breaking the law and the other side arguing against profiling.

Neither side came together which is unfortunate.


Points Republicans should concede:
1. their argument against gun laws is that the existing laws need to be enforced first. If illegal immigration is by definition illegal, then like gun laws, don't we just need to better enforce the existing laws?

2. this is a role for the federal government

3. Arizona has a history of poor race relations and so the law is viewed skeptically by outsiders

4. economic studies clearly indicate immigrants (illegal or legal) improve the economy

5. This law has the potential to escalate violence at the border and at routine traffic stops, etc

Points Democrats should concede:
1. Arizona passed this law due to frustration with the federal government's efforts to halt illegal immigration

2. Arizonans in favor of this law don't care about the Constitutionality aspect and probably passed it to bait the federal government into acting.

And we can all agree that the current situation is not tenable but Arizona SB 1070 is not a tolerable solution.

It seems that John McCain's original plan was fairly balanced as it worked to secure the border and offer temporary work programs to undocumented workers. But he was forced to change his position to appeal to the pre-Tea Baggers. Too bad.

Iron Chef! Iron Chef!

Via Wired: Food: How Iron Chef America Engineers a Visual Feast

Nice Beaver

Via PhysOrg: World's biggest beaver dam discovered in northern Canada

"Several generations of beavers worked on it and it's still growing,"

Charcoal Versus Propane In Terms Of Fuel Costs

As I was grilling burgers last night I wondered if it really made sense for me to splurge for a Napoleon PT 450 RBI.



I could buy a lot of charcoal for the price of a new propane grill. I wondered though, over the long term, what is the price of a tank of propane versus a bag of charcoal?

Google found this: The Home Barbecue: Charcoal or Gas

A 5 gallon cylinder of propane costs anywhere from $15-$35 to fill (or swap) depending on the time of year and your location. You may get 12-20 meals out of a single tank depending on how big the meal and what you're cooking. That works out to an average of about $1.35 per meal. The 21-lbs bag of charcoal I just finished lasted about 12 meals at a cost of roughly $10, or $0.83 per meal. With the lighter fluid adding about $0.15 per meal. Monetarily, it is much cheaper to barbecue with charcoal.

So, it looks like there won't be a Canadian made Napoleon grill in my near-future.

Presented By The Law Of Uninteded Consequences

Via INFRASTRUCTURIST: Is the Low Gas Tax Costing You More Money on Car Repairs?

Here's the math from the link:
Car repair costs due to roads in poor condition = $300 - 400
Raising the gasoline tax to pay for road repair, cost to the average driver = $150

More About Honda

My family had 1987 and 1998 Accords and they were great cars. The 1998-2001 is probably the best general purpose used car you can find.

But as I hinted about with the Crosstour post - there's something up at Honda.

And here Edmunds summarizes it: What's Wrong At Honda? Maybe Everything

Another analyst said many recently launched Hondas are "sloppily designed, not very good to drive and even worse to look at."