|End of an Era

Because of problems I'm having with this blog, I will no longer be updating it. New posts will be added here.

|Friday-esque Web Round-up

Movement + Adventure

• Would You Ride a Bike Superhighway? (Elisha Hartwig, Mashable)
• Cargo Bikes: The New Station Wagon (TOM VANDERBILT, Wall St Journal)
• Edgerunner Xtracycle (video)
• Ultimate Adventure Bucket List 2013 (National Geographic)
• Detroit Bike City - Slow Roll
• Now THAT is a fast bike (104-tooth chainring)! (Michael Graham Richard, Treehugger)
• The big benefits of walking to work (Chad Brooks, Mother Nature Network)
• Riding lessons for U.S. cities from one of Europe’s bike capitals (Greg Hanscom, Grist)
• Disposable Man (Three Mystic Apes)
• Richie Parker (Three Mystic Apes)
• Detroit Bike City — Slow Roll (Three Mystic Apes)

Food + Gardening

• Start a 1-Acre, Self-Sufficient Homestead (John Seymour, Mother Earth News)
• Designing Ecological Backyard Gardens: An Interview with Jessi Bloom (Utne)

Psychology

• 6 Unconventional, But Scientific Ways To Be The Happiest Person On Earth (Dumb Little Man)

Science + Industry

• What goes on when you are not there! (Three Mystic Apes)
• True Facts About The Owl. (Three Mystic Apes)
• Mariachi Band in Connecticut Serenades a Beluga Whale (Three Mystic Apes)
• NASA: Sun Getting Ready For A 'Field Flip' (Scott Neuman)
• Let's All Stop Obsessing About the 'Next Great Thing' in Urban Transportation (Eric Jaffe, The Atlantic)
• Making it: That ticking sound isn't just a watch; small manufacturing in gear in Detroit (Amy Haimerl, Crain's Detroit Business)

Religion

• Fox News, Reza Aslan, and the Historical Jesus (Utne)

Health

• Additional Benefits of Eating Organic (Jeff Boyd, A Better World)

Art

• Baltimore Vacants (Three Mystic Apes) 

BONUS

• List 1: Christian Social Ethics & Action
• List 2: Peace & Justice

|Adventure Film Tours

Outdoor adventure enthusiasts have three major film tours to salivate over.

(1) Reel Rock Tour. Reel Rock 8 will start touring in September: U.S. Schedule. Climbing.

"The REEL ROCK Film Tour brings the best climbing and adventure films of the year to live audiences throughout the world. REEL ROCK shows are high energy, community events that go beyond mere film screenings to include prize giveaways, athlete and filmmaker appearances, non-profit fundraising, and a party atmosphere."



(2) BMFF Radical Reels Tour. U.S. Schedule. Numerous action sports.

"Every year, the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival presents the wildly popular Radical Reels night – a presentation of the best high-adrenaline films entered into the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival competition."  

This focuses on the action/adrenaline films presented at the BMFF. It includes climbing films such as those in the Reel Rock tour, but it also covers other adventure sports.



(3) BMFF World Tour. U.S. Schedule. Action sports plus other themes.

"The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour brings Banff to audiences around the globe. Immediately after the Festival ends in November, a selection of the best films go on tour across Canada, the United States, and internationally from Scotland to South Africa to China, Japan, New Zealand, Antarctica, and points in between. Each year, the films travel to 40 countries reaching more than 330,000 people at over 735 screenings."  

This includes a broader range of films than is shown in the Radical Reels Tour--more animals, culture & conservation.

Events in IL, IN & MI

2013

• October 26, Reel Rock, Ann Arbor MI, Planet Rock.
• October 05, Radical Reels, Grand Rapids, MI, Calvin College, 616-526-6282, jrs39@calvin.edu

2014

• March 29-30, BMFF World Tour, Bloomington, IN  
• April 03, BMFF World Tour, East Lansing, MI, Michigan State University Outdoors Club, 484-798-8650 (Brian Wolff), msuoc.bmff@gmail.com
  
• April 04, BMFF World Tour, Grand Rapids, MI, Calvin College, 616-526-6282, mcw3@calvin.edu  
• April 05, BMFF World Tour, Midland, MI, Chippewa Nature Center, 989-631-0830, dpilaske@chippewanaturecenter.org  
• April 06, BMFF World Tour, Ann Arbor, MI, U of Michigan Outdoor Adventure, 734-764-3967, swerdlow@umich.edu
• April 08, BMFF World Tour, Traverse City, MI, Vasa Ski Club, 989-245-2758, curtpete@gmail.com  
• April 11-12, BMFF World Tour, Chicago, IL,  Mountain Gear, Inc.

|On the Shiawassee River

Both of our jobs contribute to secondary trauma, so I am glad that we both enjoy getting outside to refresh our minds and bodies. This weekend we went biking, walking and paddling. Here are a few shots from this morning on the Shiawassee River.

We thought this bridge looked pleasant, but as we entered the culvert on the right, we realized it was full of large spiders with very large webs. After a discussion that lasted .5 seconds, we decided to get out of there, and I started back-paddling like mad. Then we pulled over to the right to portage, and were greeted by this:

We avoided the snake (later we learned that it was a northern water snake) and continued on the other side of the road, where peace and tranquility returned.

Then when we got back to the portage, the snake was on the move.

|Friday Web Round-up

Food & Farming

• Oba-Chan (video)
• Island Time with Jack Johnson, Chef Ed Kenney, and Surfer Kelly Slater (Carla Lalli Music, bonappetit.com)
• Back to Eden (gardening film)

Business

• The Responsible Company — What We've Learned From Patagonia's First 40 Years (video) 
• Vincent Stanley--Patagonia (video)

Movement & Adventure

• Jay Nelson (Through the Lens)
• Yvon Chouinard: Return to the Outdoors (video)
• From a Wheelchair to the Sharp End – Story of the First Ever Paraplegic Lead Climb (Dave N. Campbell, The Cleanest Line)
• Alaska (Camp 4 Collective) 
• Get Rich With… Bikes (Mr. Money Mustache)  
• Slow is Fast Book Tour (video)
• Duct Tape Surfing (video)

Psychology

• The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric (Shelley Carson, Scientific American) 
• Dustin Hoffman on TOOTSIE (video)

Health

• Study: 'War on gluten' trend misdirected (The Local)
• Bras don't actually work, says French study (Melissa Breyer, Mother Nature Network) 
• Aging gracefully: Germans grow gray together (Sigrid Lupieri, CNN) 

Natural World

• Why Arctic sea ice will vanish in 2013 (Sierra Club Canada) 
• Cities under ice
• Wild Things: Living with Wolves (video) 
• Momenta (video)

DIY

• Wood Pallet Projects: Cool and Easy-to-Make Projects for the Home and Garden (Chris Gleason, book)

|Visitors

These animals visited us in one day. This is only the second time we've seen a deer here.

The crane parents come over once in a while, but this is the first time we've seen the kiddos.

This owl perches on this branch at dusk fairly often, but we hadn't seen him for a few days.

Overall, it was the best day of animal watching that we've had here.

Here are bonus pictures of baby bunnies. This was the only day I've seen two of the little ones. We see one little guy fairly often, though we didn't see it on the same day as these other animals above:

Here the bunny is eating morning glory right outside our window.

|We Like Animals

These are animals we hung out with at our last place:



And these are animals we are currently getting to know:

--COMING SOON--