Wes Phillips

Given its ubiquity, strength, and lightness, why don't they build bikes out of bamboo?

Yeah, that's a shock to anybody who has ever seen any of those commercials on late-night TV. But here's the thing, this Claire Hoffman article from <I>The Los Angeles Times</I> is a wonderful piece of participatory journalism.

It's Monday, I have a Jon Carroll column that discusses a new book on the differences between men and women, and it reveals the secret to stimulating a "major dopamine and oxytocin rush, which is the biggest, fattest neurological reward you can get outside of an orgasm." So how could I not link to it?

<B>No CDs for you, Tower:</B> <I>The Los Angeles Times</I> <A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tower4aug04,0,736949.story?coll=l…; August 4 that Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and EMI have cut off CD shipments to Tower Records because the record chain has stopped paying its bills. Sony BMG may have also stopped shipping to Tower, but the <I>Times</I> was not able to confirm those reports.

<I>The Age</I> profiles Dava Sobel, author of <I>Longitude</I> (very highly recommended), <I>Galileo's Daughter</I> (ditto), and now <I>Planets</I>.

Bagheera is no shirker. A little heat wave doesn't deter her from her daily duty of making sure our block is thoroughly observed&mdash;especially those good-for-nothing squirrels.

Huckleberry continues his lie-down strike, protesting his exclusion from the air-conditioned bedroom.