Multilingual Labels

I think it's really nice to have more than one language on packaging. For instance, I might recognize the words "mise en garde" or "achtung" in a place where they mattered. I know that I can use "douche integral" on my hair and body. I that I can recognize that "en prime" means something akin to bonus.

Maybe with more and consistent exposure to multilingual labeling, we could all pick up nearly substantial portions of other languages without putting in much effort.

Bike Stunts on a Carbon Road Bike

VFF Training

I've started to incorporate Vibram Five Fingers into my running training regimen a little more partly because I want to develop muscles that those shoes target in order to have a strong 8k cross country race at the end of the month.

The VFFs have been killing me. I'm only running about a mile in them at a time and I get really sore. I think what I should do is run a mile in them every day, no matter how sore I am and after about a week it will go away. The truth is that I haven't been running every day. It's no longer abnormal for me to log under 20 miles per week. Isn't that crazy? I don't know what's changed. Maybe my motivation. I think one thing that's kinda cool about the VFFs is that I can get in a little workout in a short amount of time. I'd be happy running 10 minutes in the VFFs whereas I wouldn't normally lace up my Sauconys for fewer than 4 miles.

I hope to get some cross training benefit out of the VFFs, strengthening muscles that are not normally developed by running.

Pick #201

Modest Mouse - "Float On" from Good News for People Who Love Bad News

1,000 Awesome Things

Sarah Mac's blog told me to check out 1,000 Awesome Things, a blog that posts one new awesome thing every day. I guess it'll stop in a couple years.

Sharkwater

I saw an amazing documentary called Sharkwater. There is an online pledge campaign to get people to make it known that they are opposed to shark finning and the astronomical numbers of sharks being killed each year for only their fins.

This film was very moving. I recoiled at the sight of fishermen cutting off the fins of sharks and throwing the rest of the bodies back into the water where the sharks can't swim so they sink to the bottom and suffocate while being eaten alive by other fish. The waste of not eating/using the entire shark is a pretty big issue, but the inhumanity of doing such a thing to a creature is nearly unimaginable to me.

It is difficult to get people to want to protect sharks. We're scared of them. In the movie, they show how gentle sharks can be. My favorite scene shows Rob Stewart hugging a shark. They are on the sandy sea floor and a shark is motionless, embraced by Rob. They stay this way for about 20 or 30 seconds before the shark calmly swims off. Rob shows us that sharks are not vicious creatures. In fact, soda vending machines kill more people each year than sharks do.

If you don't already love sharks, you should watch this film. If you have Netflix, you can get it on DVD. Otherwise bootleg it if you have to.

Pick #200

Mogwai - "The Sun Smells Too Loud" from The Hawk is Howling