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“Oh freedom, well that's just some doggies barkin'.. ” Photo by Andrew Pons on Unsplash
Sharing Thursday Things. It has been a long while since I’ve made any special effort to sign up more Happy Subscribers to Thursday Things. A few new readers wander in from time to time, but it’s time to do a little outreach and share the Thursday fun!
By my count we now stand at “scores” of Happy Subscribers. Which means more than 60, but fewer than 80. If we reach 80 regulars, then I could say ThTh has “scores and scores” of Happy Subscribers. Four score, to be exact. That would be a nice milestone to reach!
And it would put us in sight of aiming at the next summit — triple digits! An even hundred! Dare to dream!
What can you do to help, you ask? (I’ll just assume you’re asking that.) Simple! Share Thursday Things with a friend who might like it!
The easiest way to do that would be to forward the email you get in your inbox to whomever you want to pass the newsletter along to. You have my permission to share Thursday Things far and wide! In fact, I encourage it.
You will also often see a “Share” button in the newsletter itself. Sometimes at the end, and sometimes in the middle, like this:
If you click, you should get an option to share the post you’re reading via Facebook, Twitter, or email — or to copy the link. Any of those is helpful!
As always, thank you for reading Thursday Things!
Dogs love soft rock. It’s not me saying this, it’s science! Summertime is the season for the great American road trip. (Maybe not this summer, given the price of gas, but just go with it.) And many road trippers headed to the beach, the mountains, or the world’s biggest ball of twine bring their faithful four-legged friends along.
Dogs love car rides! Especially when they can stick their heads out the window.
Well. most dogs. But sometimes Fido gets stressed out by long car rides. In fact, this happens fairly often:
It turns out two in three dog owners say their furry friends gets stressed out while traveling. That’s bad news for the 75 percent planning to take their pet on a staycation this year, with 72 percent of these dog owners traveling by car.
What to do? Put on some yacht rock, that’s what!
How to calm your dog in the car with music: Play some reggae or soft rock hits
If your dog gets stressed on long car rides, don’t worry, just put on some Bee Gees! Researchers are sharing the 10 most calming songs for dogs, with the 1977 hit “’How Deep is Your Love” topping the charts.
…Sam Sutton, senior lecturer of music at the University of West London, has compiled the perfect playlist to soothe your dog’s nerves in the car.
Yes, the helpful British researchers have compiled a playlist for your pooch:
Top 10 calming songs to play your dog while travelling:
“How Deep Is Your Love” – Bee Gees
“No Woman No Cry” – Bob Marley
“(Everything I Do) I’ll Do It for You” – Bryan Adams
“I Want to Know What Love Is” – Foreigner
“Dark Side of The Moon” – Pink Floyd1
“One In 10” – UB40
“Hounds of Love” – Kate Bush2
“Desperado” – The Eagles
“Many Rivers to Cross” – Jimmy Cliff
“Love is King” – Sade
These are soothing songs for people, so why wouldn’t they be for dogs too?
However, the scientists also warn that other music may be stressful for Fido. If you like to rock out on your road trip, be aware that your dog may not love these songs quite so much. Go to the article for the full list of Top 10 Worst Songs to Play to Calm Your Dog, but I’ll reveal that the first two on the list are “Black Dog” – Led Zeppelin and “Back In Black” – ACDC. Also featured on the No Play list are tracks by Metallica, Deep Purple, Van Halen, and Motörhead. You get the idea.
Whatever you play as the miles roll by, I wish you — and your dog — safe travels and happy listening.
Dear scientists: please stop. Not every scientist is doing useful research like those in the last item. For example, Rice University researchers are turning dead spiders into 'necrobots'
How is this remotely a good idea????
Like something out of a zombie film, mechanical engineers at Houston's Rice University are giving new life to dead spiders, repurposing their inanimate corpses into mechanical gripping claws that can be used to pick up objects. The process, a new area of research dubbed "necrobotics," is outlined in a study by Daniel Preston, a mechanical engineer with Rice's George R. Brown School of Engineering, and Faye Yap, the lead author of the study.
I’m sure that will never go horribly, horribly wrong. 😒
What were they thinking?
Preston's lab specializes in soft robotics systems that often use nontraditional materials, as opposed to hard plastics, metals and electronics.
Non-traditional materials? I’ll say.
He explained in a recent news release that dead spiders have a "perfect architecture for small scale, naturally-derived grippers." Spiders are also biodegradable, he added, and as such are a more environmentally friendly alternative to current robotic systems.
But not to worry, say the scientists:
While the experiments may sounds like the stuff of nightmares to some, Preston and Yap explained that they are not reanimating spiders. "Despite looking like it might have come back to life, we're certain that it's inanimate, and we're using it in this case strictly as a material derived from a once-living spider," Preston said.
Which is what they always say … right before everything goes off the rails and we’re overrun with necrobot zombie spiders.
There’s a YouTube video linked in the article if you want to see the spider necrobot in action.
How to make a spider necrobot. Source: Preston Innovation Laboratory/Rice University
There’s a Boise River? Part of the remit of Thursday Things is to share interesting blogs and podcasts I stumble upon. From Boise is “A twice a week newsletter about the people, places, history, and happenings of Boise.” Unless you live in Idaho (which I don’t) you likely don’t think of Boise much. Maybe you should!
This recent post discusses the history of the Boise River:
Boise, like many cities, is spread along a river valley.
Our river, which shares our city name, is sparkling, cold, clean, and lined with a lovely walking path, numerous shady parks, and thousands of tall trees. Blackberry brambles spill down its banks and fly fishermen can often be seen casting from the middle of its cool current on hot summer days. Floating on rafts and tubes down the Boise River has become a summer rite of passage.
It sounds enchanting.
But it wasn’t always so. It seems for many years the Boise River was a polluted mess:
So far as we can find, the Boise was never a burning river, however there are stories of foam piling up as food byproducts and detergents were directly discharged into the river. It seems revolting to imagine the oils and rotten food, the yellow foams and slimy sludges, and even raw sewage floating on the water.
Read the whole thing to see how the river was cleaned up and revitalized to become what, I assume, is the jewel in Boise’s crown. It might be a great destination for your next vacation. Or a good place to hide out from the coming arachnid necrobot apocalypse…
Looks quiet. Too quiet. Source: City of Boise Facebook via From Boise
Thank you for reading Thursday Things! Again, please click the hearts, leave a comment, and use the share feature to send this issue to a friend who might enjoy it. See you next Thursday!
I guess this means the whole album? Unclear. Or maybe they meant “Bark Side of the Moon”
Dogs are jumping on the Kate Bush bandwagon like everyone else these days.