Thursday, January 31, 2013

Roos at Wolverine

Wolverine State Brewing just put out a new beer using the fine materials of RoosRoast Beer. Now you can drink beer without getting sleepy and falling asleep on friends couches. The beer is aptly called Barista. The photo below showcases John Roos at his finest.
Photo credit Cesarina Fuortes.

Eroders show Friday night in Ypsi

Our BFFs in kitchen punk band Eroders are playing their Ypsi debut with Eat Meter and Cat Trap Action Plan. These babes are some pretty serious rockers and they have a new tape out on Flesh Wave, plus a split-7" with Fake Surfers. Get it!


The fun starts at 8 PM on Friday, February 1; $3 at the Playboy Mansion. From the invite:
"totally gonzo hunter s. thompson style rock'n'roll gig!"
Now listen to "Dont Care" while you RSVP and invite your friends here.




Action Show this Saturday at Vault of Midnight

Jeremy Wheeler is curating his first art show. Appropriately it's a show of art inspired by 80s action movies. Action Show is from 7:00 - 9:30 at Vault of Midnight's Ultralounge. And um, apparently you're supposed to uh, "enter from the back." I think in this case that means the alley. Action Show comes right before the Michigan Theater shows the classic 80s ninja musical: Miami Connection. This trailer is not approved by the MPAA. You can tell because there's a lot of people getting killed and blood.

Anyway, here's an example of some of the artwork that will be on display at the Action Show: this piece is entitled Ripley and it's by Erin Norris.

Sounds like a fun time.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Love and Honor?

Once, for like a day or so, I was an intern in the costume department of a movie called AWOL. It wasn't the best time of my life and handling vintage clothes all day made me feel gross. Anyways, the film was shot in Ann Arbor, features Miley Cyrus' boyfriend, and had some names from the Screen Arts and Culture department involved in its conception. The movie is now called Love and Honor and it doesn't look good to me. In two weeks it'll be available on demand and in two months you can watch it in theaters.


Affordable housing in Ann Arbor



If you're looking for a good longer read, Concentrate Media has a good article exploring the lack of affordability in downtown Ann Arbor:
Because Washtenaw County has an unusually high median income of $58,200, our "low income" threshold is closer to 75 percent, meaning a single person making $43,700 or less fits the bill, and should have a monthly housing cost – including utilities and taxes – of no more than $1,093.

Where market values are higher, citizens can apply for Section Eight vouchers, which pay landlords the difference between these income limits and market rate. But before the average 20-something schoolteacher gets excited about qualifying for this benefit, Hall warns that it's not quite that simple.

"There is a huge wait-list," she says. "We had 15,000 applicants for Section Eight in the last round."

So while a teacher making $35,000 may technically qualify as low income, that hardly matters if she is standing in a line in which 60 percent of 15,512 applicants reported incomes of $9,999 or less. And those are the households that Hall and the Housing Commission are truly working to serve. Most of their work is with those in the "extremely low income" category of 30 percent of median income: $17,500 for a single person locally, or $20,000 for a couple.

What are your thoughts gentle readers? Downtown is certainly an expensive area. How can we increase socioeconomic diversity in and around downtown? What would the benefits of this be?

Stamps School on Tumblr

U of M's Stamps School has a pretty good Tumblr. They reliably post something cool every day. So if you're into Tumblr, you should check it out.

'Unbroken Down'

Detroit native and CCS graduate Dave Jordano was featured in Wired yesterday for "Unbroken Down," a photo collection featuring his hometown. He showcases his share of poverty, ruin porn, and hipsters, but also Kovac's Bar! Barber shop! Art in Mexicantown!

It's nice to see some images about what makes this city so special. I mean, you can see crumbling buildings all over the world. To get this shot, you have to be in Detroit.

(Ruin porn always makes me think of the wink-eyed, mixed-up Anna Karenina quote at the beginning of Nabokov's Ada: "All happy families are more or less alike; all unhappy families are more or less similar." I have to side with Nabokov on this one, even if he didn't mean it. Unhappy cities are all alike, and each happy city is happy in its own way.)

Jordano has an exhibit at the DIA until June 16.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Earnest Young White Woman seeking $500,000,000 to save Detroit via Kickstarter

OK, so actually she's seeking $15,000 to "fund a comedic, Detroit-based web series." You can read more at Deadline Detroit. Kind of reminds me of the infamous "Detroit Team" from Curbed Detroit.
Via: @TimChilcote

NFL fans in Michigan

Facebook has an interesting article showing how their new Graph Search can be used to code counties by the NFL team they favor. It's interesting that the dividing line between between Packers and Lions fans in the UP is very similar to the 1805-1818 border of the Michigan Territory:

Michigan Territory map by: Jengod

Flooding on the Huron

There is a flood watch for tonight and tomorrow. Rain and snowmelt combined with frozen soil means that little precipitation will be absorbed. Though the Huron River flooding is unlikely, I thought I'd share with you what different stages of river height would mean. I found this list on HAMweather and found it pretty interesting. To put it in perspective, the river is currently at 12.47', has an action stage of 13.5' and a flood stage of 15':
22.5 WATER REACHES MAIN MICHCON BUILDING.
22.0 WATER REACHES BACK BUILDING AND PARKING LOT OF MICHCON.
19.5 CANAL ST FLOODS BY GAGE. WATER REACHES APARTMENTS ON ISLAND DRIVE.
18.3 THE RECORD FLOOD OF MARCH 14, 1918 IS REACHED
18.0 YPSILANTI MUNICPAL WATER PUMP, SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT, HIGH SERVICE PUMPING STATION AND CITY WELL FIELDS BECOME INUDATED. FORD MOTOR COMPANY WILL ALSO BE AFFECTED BY THE HIGH WATER
17.5 THE EDISON POWER PLANT IN YPSILANTI FLOODS
17.0 WATER MAY BEGIN TO BACKUP DRAIN ON WALL ST AT CANAL ST AND ALSO IN PARKING LOT OF APARTMENTS AT THAT INTERSECTION. PARTS OF CANAL ST FLOODS. WATER BEGINS TO FLOOD ISLAND DRIVE.
16.0 RIVERSIDE PARK DIRT PARKING LOT FLOODS. WATER MAY BEGIN TO BACKUP STREET DRAINS ON ISLAND DRIVE BY ISLAND PARK.
15.0 FLOODING BEGINS AT ISLAND PARK, RIVERSIDE PARK AND FULLER RECREATION AREA.

Monday, January 28, 2013

University of Michigan Heritage

U of M's Bentley Historical Library has just launched a cool interactive U of M Heritage Website. There are a lot of cool stories from the University's early days. I particularly like the story of the first woman to attend school here, Mary Downing Sheldon:

“I wish there were not so many boys here,” [Mary] told her sister Lizzie. “I feel very much out of place…. But do not think that I am a victim and a martyr. For I am not. I have precisely what I want. I am in a University and have a chance to see it all from the inside.”
The stories describing early student life are great. Especially the descriptions of the large fence around the Diag that was needed to keep the wandering cattle from interfering with classes.

The death of a snowman

Little known fact: While a student at U of M, Aurther Miller wrote a largely unknown play called "The death of a snowman." True story.

There's always money in the Banana Stand, or A2GastroBoy's Dining Survey Results Released

A2GastroBoy has just released the results of his 2012 dining survey. He has really upped his game this year by creating a new hybrid metric combining the percentage of people who had visited the restaurant. You can see the the top 2 restaurant for each category above, but you'll have to click through to see the top 10. Another highlight form the survey: 24.2% of respondents think Ann Arbor needs more banana stands.

Thoughts on the recent apartment fires

Last Sunday, the 20th of January, there was a large fire in the apartment building at 1310 Packard. On Friday, the 25th, there was another fire. This time in an old house that had been converted into apartments at 410 S Division. The Ann Arbor Fire and Police Departments as well as supporting Fire Departments from nearby municipalities did a great job extinguishing the blazes and evacuating all the people and pets from the buildings.

In his article about the 401 S. Division Fire, Ed Vielmetti, pulled the property's permit history from the City's Etrakit System. The file, presented on Ed's website, shows that the building's rental permit had expired in the summer of 2012. I checked the rental permit for 1310 Packard, and it too had expired.

Not your Grandma's Folk Festival

Actually, there were quite a few ladies there that could fit the "grandma" label. The Folk Festival happened at Hill this weekend. Half of Ann Arbor was there so I won't say too much. It took me a while to realize that they got Colin Hay to be the MC. His sense of humor grabbed me more than hearing his classics. That's not to say he wasn't excellent, he just had the funniest segues. The other point of focus for me, personally, was Brother Joscephus and the Love Revolution.
They were a flashbulb of energy and not on the stage long enough. There were ten of them, and it felt  like a circus act that was directed by a gospel choir. I don't know if that's the best way to put it, but they were truly captivating. They'll be back in April and I will probably gush over them then.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Wintery Mix

Looks like we've got a wintery mix coming tonight. Here are some wintery mixed drink ideas to get you though the evening:

1. Hot cocoa with whiskey.

2. Hot cider with whiskey.

3. Hot toddy. I like to combine boiling water with lemon juice, cloves and honey for a few minutes then add a good pour of whiskey or brandy.

4. Wassail. The classic British Christmas concoction. The NYTimes has a good article discussing the history of the beverage. If the recipes seem too involved, then just combine ale, cider and whiskey.

5. White Russian. Not hot, but how can you go wrong with this classic?

If you're going for any of these whiskey based drinks, why not try some Traverse City Whiskey Co. Bourbon?

If you need some songs for a wintery mix tape, we strongly endorse the following:

Please share you suggestions for wintery mixed drinks or wintery songs for a mix tape.

Iorio's interview

The Underground Printing Blog has a cool interview with Iorio's Geleteria co-owner, Nick Lemmer. It has some good reflections from the store's year and a half in the business in Ann Arbor.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Happy birthday Michigan!

It's Michigan's 176th birthday. How are you celebrating? I'm gonna eat a coney dog stuffed pastie. Fusion cuisine.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Huge fire!

Right now there are a ton of fire trucks responding to an apartment fire on William at Division. It's the old house that has been converted to apartments on the southeast corner. Hope folks are OK. Looks like the AAFD sent both Tower 1 and 2. Correction: at least Tower 2 is from Pittsfield FD.

UPDATE: @Vielmetti has updated us with this information about the property:

Folk the Police

Folk the police, comin' straight out the underground. Come see all your favorite local folk bands as they cover gangsta rap this Sunday at the Blind Pig.

Back to the Future

The Ann Arbor of the past looks eerily similar to the Ann Arbor of today. I see street signs, protest, and a slew of other things I love about this city. All photos are from the Flickr account of John Knox. Look through the Flickr, it's worthwhile. If anyone out there has great photos like these to share, please do.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Safe Sex?

This arguably could evolve into the worst thing to come out of Ann Arbor since Ann Coulter. Gizmodo and TechCrunch have been covering Playbook, an app created by a University of Michigan student.
photo from tech crunch
While the creator of the app has stated that it is supposed to be gender neutral, the language of the app "Keep track of your hookups and share them with your bros" might suggest to women to never hook up with someone who has an iPhone or $.99. The twitter feed about this is pretty interesting, David Fontenot (the creator and notorious Don Juan virgin) is tweeting to Hugh Hefner about the app, labeling it a private social network. It really just reminds me more of r/creepshots. Obviously this guy is smart, maybe just not socially so. I hope that he puts future efforts into something intelligent/not sexist/not terrifying.  Just kidding, I am terrified of men like this, whose new predation territory has extended to the internet. This is not/will never be a good idea and I recommend that people continue just talking about their hookups rather than taking the time to find a picture on the internet and rate the encounter.

Restaurant Week 2013: Share your stories

Gentle readers, it looks like I wont be making it to Restaurant Week this winter. I'm wondering if you have had any particularly great Restaurant Week meals in the last few days. If I do manage to make it out tomorrow night, where should I go to?

Free Condoms, Free Cupcakes

Right now, there are free condoms and cupcakes in the basement of Angell Hall/Mason Hall/really near the Fishbowl. Students supporting Planned Parenthood are giving them away in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

The few, the proud, the winter bike commuters

In the winter, the snow helps you figure out which of the bikes are abandoned.

Reflections on the Crosswalk Ordinance

The AAPD is currently in the midst of a Crosswalk Ordinance Enforcement Campaign. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the ordinance. I think it's good to yield the right of way to pedestrians who are waiting to cross at marked crosswalks. And after a year or so of enforcement of the law, I see more motor vehicles yielding to pedestrians. That said, there are still some spots where I routinely see cars fail to yield to pedestrians, notably the stretch of Huron between Fletcher and State. Unfortunately, this is not one of the targeted crosswalks on the AAPD's enforcement campaign.

By biggest criticism of the ordinance, is more of an issue with how the city communicates with its citizens in this post-newspaper age. How do we get the word out about our new ordinance to all the folks that live here, and to the numerous folks who commute here for work everyday?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Nerd Nite at Braun Court

Ann Arbor's inaugural Nerd Nite will be tomorrow night at The Bar at 327 Braun Court. The event, which has been described as "The Discovery Channel with Beer," is from 7-9 and features 18-21 minute informal presentations on a wide range of topics. There are also rumors of "bands, acrobats, trivia, and other shenanigans." Sounds like it should be a good time. Anyway, cover is $5 for this event and you can RSVP via Facebook here, if that's your thing.

Weather discussion group

Do you like talking about the weather? If so, this job might be perfect for you. Via Cragislist.

H/T: @jimchuck

The Great False Fire Alarm Crisis of 2013

Tumblr user, rocknrollercoaster, posted these pictures of what must be very cold and very sleepy residents of South and West Quad huddled outside their dorms this morning. Apparently there was a false fire alarm at 12:30 AM.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Chit Chat reviewed on Pitchfork

I've seen Chit Chat around Ann Arbor and Detroit a few times recently. Seeing them reviewed on Pitchfork reminded me I should probably say something about them in my irregular posting here on Damn Arbor. I always like to see our local music acts make The Big Blogs! Check out some tracks on bandcamp:


So far I'm a personal fan of "Communication." Definitely don't miss it when they open up for West Coast babe Ty Segall on February 7 at the Blind Pig:


 RSVP and invite your friends here and get tickets here! (That rad poster art above is by Jeremy Wheeler, who will also be DJ-ing on February 7.)

Previously:

Winter biking

Gentle readers, if you haven't been outside yet to day, you may not yet be aware that it's hella cold outside today. Days like today make me really glad I impulsively bought those ski goggles on SteepandCheap earlier this year. As a Conquer the Cold Celebrity Commuter, I've been thinking more about winter commuting this year. Gentle readers, do you have any winter commuting advice for frigid days like today? What do you do when the mercury dips below 0? Do you give up on biking and walking, or do you have special strategies for getting through the cold?

New developments at the old Borders Building

According to an article on The Com, the old Borders Flagship Store is being converted into restaurant and retail space on the first floor and office space on the second:

Oakland County developer Ron Hughes of Hughes Properties said the building at the corner of East Liberty and Maynard streets is being subdivided into five restaurant and retail spaces on the first floor, with contemporary office space on the second floor.
All in all, this doesn't seem like too bad of an idea. It's nice to see something finally happening to the building.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Traverse City Whiskey

Quinn and I tried a bottle of Traverse City Whiskey Co.'s bourbon last night. It was pretty good darn good. And at $26 per bottle, the price was quite reasonable. It's nice to see local distilleries starting to pop up.



Sunday, January 20, 2013

Lost Napkin, serious inquiries only

I enjoy Damn Arbor and all. I am pretty amused by annarbor.com's ridiculous comment sections. However, the website I hold in the most esteem and believe best reflects Ann Arbor is Craigslist. Take for example a posting from earlier today. I really feel for this person's pain especially with the upcoming doom and gloom of restaurant week. I can foresee many more napkins getting lost.

Brill at the Performance Network

Leonardo DiCaprio is taking a "long break" from acting and that means I probably won't enjoy movies for a while. However, theater is not yet ruined by news like this. 'Brill' is currently being performed through February 10th at the Performance Network Theatre.


Photo Credit- Performance Network

Old school U of M

Reddit user NotSayingJustSaying has posted some cool pictures of student life at U of M way back in the day.

Looks like fun.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Balloons?

There is an absurd amount of balloons at the farmers market.

Spotted

Spotted at the market was an Ann Arbor bus stop transformation. Throughout the day the group, Bus Spot A2, will be traversing through the city turning "bus stops into bus spots." I left my job to watch them blow up balloons, they are a plethora of architecture students. Talk to them while you wait for your ride. They helped me by giving me the title for this post.

Another exhibit for the Ypsi-Arbor Museum of Ephemera

Last Friday, EJ and I had a dinner with MarkMaynard.com. During our dinner, Mark drew us this little map of Ypsi. Isn't it wonderful. Someday I will build my museum of ephemera.

The Michigan Beer Film Teaser

The Michigan Beer Film Teaser - Rhino Media Productions from Rhino Media Productions on Vimeo.

Stay thirsty friends. Via Great Lakes Guru.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Left behind at the Fishbowl

Inspired by a recent series of Missed Connections from the Fishbowl, @whitrae turned me on to an old blog from Ann Arbor's golden age: Left Behind at the Fishbowl. The site posted odds and ends that the author found abandoned in the Fishbowl. Can someone please revive this site?

Electric Bite Women

There is a party celebrating the release of Electric Bite Women, a new book of poetry, at the Neutral Zone tonight. There will be refreshments!

Hip-hop show Tomorrow at Elmo's Hideaway

I got an email recently from, Prol'e, a young rapper here in Ann Arbor. He asked me to pass along some information to you all, gentle readers. Specifically, he asked me to let you all know that he is having a show this Saturday night at Elmo's Hideaway. You can check out Prol'e latest mixtape, N.A.S.A., here. It should be noted that the title track is not about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Burrito delivery

Though they have no plans currently to employ drone delivered burritos at this time, Darcy's Cart is launching a Friday burrito delivery service. Basically, you have until 7 am tomorrow to order you burrito online here:

All burritos are wrapped in a flour tortilla made by a local tortilla factory. Toppings include local free range eggs, Amish cheese, local potatoes, seasoned rice, housemade chorizo (featuring local pork from small family farms), Michigan organic black beans, local sweet potato, Brinery KimKraut, Brinery sauerkraut, seasonal slaw (featuring local vegetables), locally grown lightly-cooked greens.

Burritos with up to 5 toppings and two sauces are $7 with tax included. Delivery to downtown Ann Arbor is free. Delivery outside of downtown is $2.

Hopefully someday we will be able to have our burritos delivered by soulless drones with pinpoint accuracy. Imagine a fleet of burrito bombers based on top of Tower Place. That would really be something.

'Thin for, like, Detroit.'

A lot of digital ink gets spilled over Lena Dunham in the feminist blogosphere: about her privilege, about her considerable talent, about her HBO show, which is either dismissed as a product of the former or praised as a shrine to the latter. There is also a lot of talk about her weight. I have not seen the show, but I do know that Lena Dunham gets naked a lot, and that her body doesn't look like the bodies we normally see in limited clothing on TV. Howard Stern was the most recent person to crack jokes about her weight, calling her "a little fat girl who kinda looks like Jonah Hill, and she keeps taking her clothes off, and it kinda feels like rape." There are a lot of troubling things about that sentence, so Lena Dunham called into his show to right some wrongs. Here is what she said:
I don't mean to take major issue with you about this. I'm not super thin, but I'm thin for, like, Detroit.
I really want to support Ms. Dunham. It seems like she's bringing to TV a fresh and nuanced perspective about being young and about being a woman and about being an artist. At the very least, she presents on the screen her naked, "fat for New York" body frankly and without apology: unfortunately, there is something revolutionary just in that. Actually,this is my problem: this sound byte sounds like an apology. I can be naked on TV because I'm actually thin compared to people in places like Detroit. That feels a lot less revolutionary to me.

Additionally, her comment is vulnerable to much of the criticism the show was getting about Ms. Dunham's blindness to her racial, class, and social privilege. I am inclined to cut her some slack: nothing along these lines has been said about her show that could not have been said about nearly any other show on TV. Why should we expect this one young woman to swim against the undertow? But it feels like lost potential. She comes so close to getting people to think differently about body diversity and how we represent and view women in the media, and then undercuts herself with a tone-deaf statement like this. Whydoes she think, are people so fat in Detroit? There are a lot of theories, and none of them has anything to do with Lena Dunham.

Ugh, I do not enjoy jumping on the "rag on Lena Dunham" bandwagon. Let's end on this hilarious scene from her show and put this incident from our minds.

Diamondback Saloon revisited

I've never been to a saloon I didn't enjoy. There is, of course, 8 Ball Saloon here in Ann Arbor. There's Merchant's Saloon in the Jack London district of Oakland. And there is Diamondback Saloon in Belleville.

About a two years ago, EJ and I went with some friends to Diamondback to take line dancing lessons. We had a great time. Last Saturday, we returned to continue our line dancing education and to learn a little two step. And again we had a wonderful time.

If you are looking to go out and so something a little different, I highly recommend checking out the Diamondback with some friends on a Saturday Night. There are free line dancing and two step lessons from 7 - 9 and it's just a really fun time.

In the above picture you can see Earleen's line dance class. This is the second time we have taken lessons from her and she is a really great teacher. It's super fun being able to apply the dances you learn earlier in the evening to dancing later in the night. See:

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

First anniversaries can be the Wurst




Tomorrow (Thursday) is the first anniversary of the Wurst Bar opening in Yipsahlanny. Tonight a friend and I were able to fill up on an exorbitant amount of ice-cream and sweet potato tater tots for under ten dollars. Tomorrow, from 4 to 5 you can binge on draft beers for a dollar. Supposedly, the same deal will also run later in the night from 10 to 11. To prove I am not the only one excited about this, here is an article from Mark Maynard. 

Damn Ypsilanti

This could be me showing favoritism. At the Ford Gallery at EMU there is currently a juried student show. The reception is going on all around me as I type away but the show will be open until February 8th. It includes the work of my best friend, so I definitely recommend it.

Do you ever wish you were better at things?

Brendalinda Performance Collaborative's newest performance art piece, "Do you ever wish you were better at things?" premiers this Friday at Charlie LaCroix's LePop Gallery. The show is based on people's responses to the above question. You can see some of the responses on Brendalinda's tumblr. Check out this example below:

Tickets are $10 for this dance, music, theater, performance art show.

Co-op reputations revisited

Earlier this week, I re-posted descriptions of the Ann Arbor Co-ops from Reddit. It has come to my attention that, while funny, some of these descriptions are 1) dated and 2) potentially offensive. In order to balance out my previous reporting I am sharing a comment from the original Reddit thread made by the user EpiceEmilie:
I live in Black Elk right now. It had kind of a reputation (huge, loud parties, inconsiderate residents, drugs, alcohol, sexual harassment) in recent years, but it's been awesome so far this year. There have been one or two big parties, but it's pretty quiet except on the weekend. There are a few grad students here, and they seem to like it just fine. I've never been to Baker house, but the people I've talked to who live there currently say that it's pretty great. It also had a bad reputation, but it's turned around. Some people say that it's too quiet, but if you want to go to a few parties you can always go at the other co-ops. I can't speak highly enough of the ICC in general and Black Elk specifically. I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but it sounds like Baker house might be a good fit. Keep in mind that, as long as you leave enough time, you can always visit the houses and make up your mind for yourself.
Anyway, I hope this paints a more honest picture of the Co-ops. Also, I hope our invite to Michigan House's semester party still stands.

Revel

Tomorrow is the inaugural night for Ann Arbor's newest queer costume dance party, Revel. Costumes and the Blind Pig, it's a good combination.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Connecting William Street

Last night, the DDA shared their proposal for the connecting William Street Project with the City Council. If you'd like to read more about the DDA meeting, or the council meeting or the draft proposal, check out this Chronicle article, these two Com articles or the draft proposal its self. The connecting William Street Project focuses on developing several city-owned properties along William Street:

Gentle readers, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on what should happen to these parcels. They represent a significant portion of the downtown area and their development could have a major impact on the trajectory of downtown.

The dog-park debate

There is currently a debate about the prospective location of a new dog-park for near-downtown residents and their canine friends. Given the heated nature of this debate, I feel it would be remiss of me not to draw your attention to the following article, which appears in an "online first" edition of the scholarly journal Urban Ecology: Dog-park soils: Concentration and distribution of urine-borne constituents. The article is paywalled, but here is the abstract:
Off-leash dog parks are very popular locations that allow pets to freely exercise and eliminate wastes in a controlled environment. Although dog park rules require that solid waste be removed by the pet’s owner, urine-borne constituents in dog-park soils have received little attention. This study focused on the soils within two small-dog, off-leash dog parks in Fargo, North Dakota (USA) with the objective to better understand the concentration and distribution of extractable NH4-N, NO3-N, PO4, soluble salts, and pH values in surface soils (0–10 cm) within these two dog parks. Concentrations of soil variables varied widely within each park and were distributed as both gradient and ‘hot-spots.’ The geospatial model types for each soil parameter were more dependent on park than on the constituents themselves. Flow accumulation was correlated with both nitrate-N and P but due to the lack of topography at these parks the flow accumulation was not helpful in describing most of the soil constituents. The results from this project indicate that location of parks, daily/annual use of parks, flow accumulation, and location of park entries may all influence the concentration and distribution of urine-borne constituents.
I added my own emphasis there at the end to highlight the studies conclusions. I'd also like to share one more dramatic fact from the article:
In the United States, dogs produce over 53 million L of urine daily (Beaver 1999). Correlating this value to the population of dogs in the US, each dog produces about 736 mL of urine per day. The concentration of nutrients excreted with dog urine is diet dependent, and in Beagles the total N ranges from 5,000–40,000 mg/L (Castrillo et al. 2001) and an approximate P content of 2,210 mg/L (Wood et al. 2004).
America's dogs, why are you peeing so much?

Rackham hotties

This Missed Connection from December is probably the greatest one I have ever seen:
men of rackham - w4mm (my beautiful versailles)

Date: 2012-12-14, 2:02PM EST
cdcp2-3478376233@pers.craigslist.org

you are so cute.

you make me feel like kirsten dunst/marie antoinette. don't ever stop looking at your computers.

915 E. Washington St.

I realize that the poster was probably referring to the men studying in Rackham, but I'm still going to pretend that she means all the men enrolled in the Rackham School of Graduate Studies. Is making someone feel like Kirsten Dunst/Marie Antoinette a good thing? Regardless, mad props for using the geotag function on Missed Connections.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Issues and Ale takes on right-to-work

Tomorrow night, Michigan Radio and the OG of Michigan Journalism, Jack Lessenberry, will be hosting a panel discussion about the recently passed right-to-work legislation. Via Michigan Radio:

In December, Michigan lawmakers passed controversial right-to-work legislation, which will take effect in April. What does the new right-to-work law mean for employment in the state of Michigan?

Join host Jack Lessenberry for a panel discussion about how right-to-work will actually impact Michigan’s economy and labor force. Free admission

Issues and Ale is an event series co-sponsored by Michigan Radio and the Center for Michigan designed to engage people in conversations about important issues facing Michigan... in an informal atmosphere. Stop by, have a drink, and join in the discussion with your questions and comments.

The event is from 6:30-8:00 at Corner Brewery.

Which Co-op is right for you?

A local Redditor by the name of erinian is looking for new housing options and recently asked the r/uofm subreddit about the reputations of Ann Arbor's Co-ops. Here's the reply from CoopInsider:
A quick, honest run down on the Co-op personalities/experiences/stereotypes. This information has been gleaned from both friends and personal experience during five of the last seven years:

Baker: Graduate students, mostly. If you want a traditional co-op with peace, it's a good one to go to.

North Campus: Graduate students, engineers, international students, and other eclectic Ann Arborites. Maybe a bit dirty and more disorganized sometimes, but that depends on a) your personal effort and b) which house you live in. Also, it's a bit inconvenient if your work is on Central Campus--it may mean taking a bus full of freshmen on a regular basis.

King: Personal apartments in Kerrytown. More expensive, much less community.

I have highlighted those three above because they would be the best fit for most Graduate students. However, because I don't know what you're looking for exactly, and because I want to entertain others, I shall proceed...

Black Elk: Remember that night in college where you did a bunch of acid with your friends and woke up the next morning naked in a bath tub next to a thirty-three year old college dropout? If so, that night probably began at Black Elk. That said, a number of Sober Sallies have lived there over the years and done just fine. Vegan. Awesome fire pit in the back. Even if it had a weekly Molly Maids visit, it would still be dirty. Occasional orgies. If you do not like nudity and don't believe Bush was behind 9/11, you may not fit in here. Debs: Imagine Black Elk, except slightly fewer hard drugs and slightly more trashy sex. Also, I do not believe a Sober Sally has ever lived at Debs and lived to tell the tale.

Gregory: So Gregory is allegedly the "clean" co-op--as in, free of drugs, free of hippies, just a bunch of la-dee-da wholesome fun. That is not the full story. Because they fear bringing illicit drugs into the house, residents have been known to abuse prescription drugs. Some international presence in the past, but maybe not so much anymore as a waitlist develops for the house rather quickly. I've known a lot of weird people to have lived here over the years. They'd call themselves "quirky", but I'd just call them weird. Make of that what you will.

Positive Milk Hotel

This past Saturday Lizzy Courtois and I attended Jeff Mangum's show at the Redford Theater. Folk/indie outfits the Briars of North America and Tall Firs opened for the former Neutral Milk Hotel frontman.

These opening acts were a little inoffensively maundering for my taste, but I could see someone in a plaid shirt somewhere liking them. The four-man outfit Briars played some soulful songs with (at times) haunting vocals and just a little bit of noise thrown in. I can't comment on the Tall Firs because I was in the beer line during their set (on purpose).

Mangum himself was energetic and genuine with the crowd, opening with Two Headed Boy, working his way through the Neutral Milk Hotel catalogue, and peppering the performance with unpublished and lesser-known tracks. Jeremy Thal from the Briars joined him on stage for a few of the songs, chiming in with his trumpet and French horn.

The venue was a little off: the Redford Theater was built in the '20s and features a pagoda-like facade around the stage with a faux night sky painted on the ceiling. The show was also seated, so the audience's energy was constrained in a weird and not pleasant way. This also made the openers more soporific than they might have in a general admission venue. I'd go there to see something like the Hitchcock festival the theater recently hosted, but I wouldn't see a concert there again.

Sadly, Mangum confirmed that he would not be producing another studio album. On the bright side, though, he has a totally bitchin' beard right now.

Batman chasing a lion in front of the Union

Apparently this happened yesterday. Via: thatfunnygirllauren

Does anyone know what was actually going on here?

Blimpy Burger, a review in tweets

Having grown up in Ann Arbor, I forget that some folks still have never gone to Blimpy Burger yet. One of those people was @DragonMgmt, until yesterday that is. Here is his review of Blimpy Burger, in three tweets:

Well there you have it folks. If you haven't yet made it to Blimpy Burger, do it. And for all you vegetarians out there, I think it's worth noting that they cook their vegy burgers in the deep frier so as to avoid contaminating the patties with meat juice.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Beat Ohio

Let's hope this new video by Alejandra O'Leary pushes our boys over the edge. Go Blue!

Hog Wild

the hog wild from Marlene Lacasse on Vimeo.


Check out this cool animated short from Marlene Lacasse, a photographer for the Michigan Daily.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Let's get weird

Let's Get Weird, a new variety show from the makers of Tree Town Sound premiers tonight at Live. Tonight's show features:

Musical guests Abigail Stauffer, Wolfie Complex & Nickie
DJ - Ross Federman of Tally Hall
The creative chaos of Luna Alexander and Matthew Altruda.
Threefold Productions will give a peak into their Shakespearean production of Titus Andronicus. Sad Tire Productions writers Craig Draheim, Kelsea Kerkes, James Walrod & Todd Sheets.
The Sketch Troupe: Craig Draheim, Kelsea Kerkes, James Walrod, Todd Sheets, Kerry Conniff.
Cover is just $5.