I Never Liked This Store Anyway

Circuit City is firing 3,400 of its in-store workers because they make too much money.

Generally speaking, these would be people who have worked for the company a long time and have accumulated raises over the years, like these two guys, who have worked there since the days of blank cassettes and boomboxes.

But don't cry for them - they can apply for their old jobs back, at a lower pay rate, after a waiting period of 10 weeks. I can only presume that the expectations for their job performance will be lower, too.

As for me, I'm not shopping there anymore.

How Not to Get Older

Last night on the Charlie Rose show, a panel of scientists were talking about new basic research on the aging process.

The short of it is, they've discovered certain genes that regulate the aging process. Apparently they're basically the same set of genes in all living things. One scientist at the University of Wisconsin has studied a group of rhesus monkeys since 1989. The study is pretty simple: The control group of monkeys eat a regular diet. The test group of monkeys are fed a diet in which calories are reduced 30 percent.

They've discovered over the years that the monkeys who have had their calories restricted are healthier and are showing fewer signs of aging.

Now, why would that be? The answer is also pretty simple and quite logical:

From an evolutionary standpoint, the idea is that, when food is scarce, animals' bodies (controlled by their genes) go into a kind of protective "standby" mode. They don't age as fast and they conserve all the energy they can. This allows them to stay alive until food is more plentiful and they have enough energy to breed and raise their young.

It makes perfect sense that these kinds of "conservation, anti-aging" genes would be selected in all kinds of creatures, because all animals have to deal with privation from time to time.

So ... controlling what you eat really is the secret to staying young and healthy longer. (Exercise helps too, of course.)

Local School Makes Good

I'm glad to see ISU on a list like this:

Concern over global warming has more U.S. college students looking into careers in alternative energy, leading U.S. universities to add new courses on clean energy technologies and the environment.

U.S. schools targeting green technologies and eco-friendly programs include Middlebury College, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Williams College, Illinois State University, and the University of California at Davis.

It makes me wish I'd finished my master's degree there.

Icky ...

is the only word that expresses my feelings about this.

Some Things Make No Sense

Today, in my Yahoo e-mail account, I got a message from Yahoo Sports. This is not unexpected, because I have signed up for a fantasy baseball team through Yahoo.

Here's the thing, though. The message got diverted into my spam folder.

So ... apparently, Yahoo thinks that they themselves are guilty of spamming me.

You'd think they'd have the spam filters set better than that.

The Songs, They're Silly

From Mari-Rose, "Songs to Wear Pants to"

I Like This Band

Sloan

Close Call

I'd never heard this before. From today's Writer's Almanac:

On this day in 1989, a mountain-sized a steroid passed within 500,000 miles of Earth. According to NASA, this was a very close call. It would have hit with the strength of 40,000 hydrogen bombs, created a crater the size of the District of Columbia, and destroyed everything within 100 miles in all directions.

I'm glad it didn't. 1989 was a really good year for me.

Voxtrot!

Voxtrot's debut full-length album comes out May 22.

New Willy Mason Album

Willy Mason's new album, "If The Oceans Get Rough" has its domestic release today.

Yay!

12 Million Muggles

Scholastic is going to print a first-run of 12 million copies of the last Harry Potter book.

For comparison, that's the same number as the all-time sales of The Beatles' Abbey Road.

Song Title of the Day: March 14, 2007

"Man I Hate Your Band" by Little Man Tate.

It's a great song, too.

Happy Pi Day

India revealed to me yesterday that today is "Pi Day." It took me a while - I thought she was saying "Pie Day," but after giving it some thought I finally realized that today is:

3.14

Happy Pi Day!

(It's also my mom's birthday.)

Bumper Sticker Oddity

Dropping the girls off at school yesterday morning, I saw one of those bumper stickers on a car that said something like, "Don't laugh at my car. My reward is in Heaven."

The thing is, it was a lot nicer and newer car than anything we have. In fact, I think you could sell all of our vehicles and not end up with enough money to buy that car - used.

My CD Wish List

Updated March 14, 2007:

Okay, here we go. I need to keep this someplace, and here it is. Right now it's on post-it notes, all over the place. Here's the list, in no particular order. CDs I really really want are in bold:

• Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros (not sure of title)
• The Long Winters, "Putting the Days to Bed"
• Michael Franti & Spearhead, "Yell Fire"
• Wilco, "Kicking Television"
• Cold War Kids, "Robbers and Cowards"
• The Walkmen (the newest one, something like 100 years or 100 miles or something)
• Neko Case, "Live in Austin"
• Gomez, "How We Operate"
• Badly Drawn Boy, "One Plus One is One"
• Badly Drawn Boy, "Born in the UK"
• Catfish Haven, "Tell Me"
• Voxtrot, "Raised by Wolves (EP)"
  
• Chin Up Chin Up, "This Harness Can't Ride Anything"
• M. Ward, "Post-War"
• Kathleen Edwards, "Back to Me"
• White Whale (not sure of title)
• Arcade Fire, "Funeral"
• Arcade Fire, "Neon Bible"
  
• The Decemberists, "Castaways and Cutouts"
• The Decemberists, "The Crane Wife"
• Calexico, "Garden Ruin"
• Amos Lee, "Shout Out Loud"
• The Shins, "Wincing the Night Away"
• Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, "Living with the Living"
• Wilco, "Sky Blue Sky"

So...there you go.

Quinn's Writing, India's Teeth

Quinn can write a Q - Mari-Rose was working on it with her.

India has lost one lower tooth and the one next to it is quite loose. The first one is already starting to come in.

Hum.

Poem for Parents

This is a great poem from today's Writer's Almanac. Perfect for parents.

Song Title of the Day

"Self Loathing Rules" by Shout Out Out Out Out

Song Title of the Day

"Supernatural Car Lover" by Robert Pollard. It's a good song, too.

Funny Headline of the Day

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer comes this story:

"Truce holding, say MILF, Army"

I'm not sure what the disagreement is, but that's pretty impressive, to keep a whole army busy like that.