While working yesterday morning I did what I usually do when I'm in here and there's no one to disturb, I had Pandora blasting away.  It produced an interesting new group that I've really came to like after a couple hours of further listening.

The group is The Duke Spirit.  They are hard for me to describe...bits of pop, grunge, fuzz...but the vocalist really reminds me of Grace Slick, with a bit of Ann Wilson thrown in.  I think that is mostly what I like about them -- and much of the new music that grabs my attention -- although they aren't totally retro, they are a bit of a throwback to my formative years with rock music.

Now, I like to actually hold the 1s and 0s of my digital music in my hand so I will undoubtedly acquire CDs of a couple of their albums (I particularly like their first, Cuts Across the Land).  When I bring home a new CD, my standing joke is to inform my wife that I have found a new friend.  Upon hearing my new friends she usually (mostly not joking) asks: "Did we pay actual money for that?"... as she did the other day when I brought home the new Sonic Youth album.  I suspect that will be the case here, but will proceed undaunted.

To give you a bit of the flavor, here are a couple of music videos from The Duke Spirit: The Step and The Walk and Lassoo.

When we gather in Seattle in two weeks for our annual event prior to the WSU-Hawaii football game at QWEST Field we'll be missing one of our usual cast of characters -- Rick DeBowes.

It's OK, though, he has a good excuse.  Rick's DVM alma mater, the University of Illinois, made the wise decision to honor him with the Erwin Small Distinguished Alumnus Award.  They, unfortunately, scheduled their celebratory event to coincide with our event in Seattle.  This award is especially meaningful to Rick this year, because Dr. Small -- who had a long and distinguished career at Illinois -- died on July 1, and so he made the (correct) decision to go to Illinois to personally receive his award.

So, please join me in congratulating Rick on this much-deserved award; I know you'll give him a pass for being in Urbana-Champaign instead of joining us this year in Seattle -- he'll have to settle for the matchup of Illinois-Illinois State.

Congratulations, Rick!

First a bit of a side note:  The early morning is a good time for me to get work done; few people around, few distractions, and nothing new yet added to the plate as will inevitably happen as the day goes on.  These last three mornings have been special, however.  There are few places better to sit at this hour than the deck off the dining room of the Ross Point camp looking out through the Ponderosas to the Spokane River.  Wi-fi, 24/7 coffee, scenic, and quiet -- except for the Osprey whistling just over there...

Now to the meat of the post.  I have commented before the complexity of "organic" agriculture (and conflicted ideas of what really constitutes organic).  Several days ago, I came across this op-ed piece in The New York Times, which got me to thinking about it from a different angle.  Tomato blight, which has been on the rampage in the Northeast this summer, threatening entire crops.  Apparently the losses are potentially so great in some cases that some organic farmers are faced with this ... lose your crop, or break organic and bring out heavier chemicals to save at least some of a crop.  A dilemma indeed.  Just more evidence, I guess, that things usually are not simple.

The thing I found most interesting in this commentary, however, was the speculation that the blight was exacerbated, in part, by the increasing local/sustainable movement (so-called locavores).  I think is a great idea in general; grow your own and/or buy locally (as in the farmer's markets in Pullman and Moscow).  An interesting point in this analysis, however, is that the increase in locally grown tomatoes in the region placed a demand on "imported" young plants, which came from, say, the Southeast U.S. where such things can get started earlier in the season (apparently not many local gardeners start their own plants from seed). Perhaps, the author speculates, the fungus came along.  The author recognizes that climate (a cooler, wetter June than normal) and other factors may be involved as well.  But the essential point is fairly clear:  local gardening and growing of produce depends on a nation-/world-wide web of commerce, with practices and decisions made miles away that makes local ... not so local after all.

Not an argument against growing your own and/or buying locally, mind you.  Just an observation that, trite as it may seem, solutions are rarely as simple as they may seem.

It has been a while since I inflicted a music post on you, so I thought I'd rectify that.

This one is prompted by my having listened to a song by The Notorious Cherry Bombs while walking home the other night.  This, for some reason, got me to thinking about so-called super groups, which by my definition (confined mostly to popular music) are musical groups that are formed of individuals who have significant success with another group or as a solo artist, such as The Notorious Cherry Bombs, led by Rodney Crowell and Vince Gill, and fleshed out by other former members of Emmylou's Hot Band.  At least I consider them a super group by my definition -- although they have a more tangled history than some super groups.  They perform one of the most tongue-in-cheek, self-consciously satirical country songs ever penned -- "It's hard to kiss the lips at night that chew your ass out all day long."

My favorite super group has to be The Traveling Wilburys.  If you've never listened to them, you owe yourself a try.  Who can go wrong with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne (of ELO)?  Roy died before the second album, and so it has just the remaining four. 

The most recent super group is Chickenfoot, consisting of Sammy Hagar (solo career, Montrose, and Van Halen), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Michael Anthony (Van Halen), and Joe Satriani.   Not my cup of tea...

There have been many such groups over the years, and I'm not sure who I would consider the first.  One could argue Led Zeppelin or Cream.  Bad Company also comes to mind (but later than the other two).

Any of you want to offer up a different super group to consider as the first?

Well it happened again...

Late August, which seems so far away in early May when we graduate a class, always sneaks up on me.  Every year I think I have plenty of time to enjoy a summer and get ready for fall.  And, every year it goes so fast.  You would think someone people trusted to be their dean would eventually learn not to be surprised at how fast it goes.

The good thing, though, is that this is such a great time of year.  As I write, 98 enthusiastic members of the Class of 2013 are circulating outside in the hallways and around Bustad 145 with the energy and excitement that only the start of a new adventure can generate.  This evening, we begin the Cougar Orientation and Leadership Experience (COLE), which carries on through mid-day Thursday.  This is a fantastic launching pad for these students, and a good way for the dean to get to know the incoming kids.

And...hopefully there'll be some down time to get that Embryogenesis lecture ready for 10:00 next Monday. 

Slightly less than three months to the first Cougar men's basketball game...

Nationally, college basketball-related stories are starting to pick up and recently there've been a couple worthy of note regarding WSU:

Here's a blog post about WSU's potential as an under-the-radar, surprise competitor on the season; music to my ears (UPDATE: sorry, I didn't realize this one required a subscription -- I try not to link to things most people can't see)!  Another recent post by another ESPN writer has an interesting look at sophomore Klay Thompson (coupled with a story about Ralph Sampson III -- this story is about sons of former NBA No. 1 draft picks who had long, distinguished NBA careers).

...Is it wrong to look past football season? 

Recently I wrote about sensationalized headlines proclaiming that "swine flu" was attacking the brains of the unborn.

Although my point was about the twisting of scientific information into the headlines of a popular press, and not about the details of the science itself, one always runs the risk of getting the science a bit wrong when it is not one's area of expertise.  What I don't know about influenza virus would fill volumes and my blog post elicited a clarifying response from Jeannine Majde-Cottrell -- a long-time collaborator of our college's Jim Krueger and an adjunct faculty member in the Neuroscience program.  Jeannine is decidedly an influenza expert.  She sent her response by private email rather than as a comment to the blog, but I think it worth posting her comments to provide better information about the possible connection between flu (or as she points out, possibly, infectious disease in general) and brain development.  So, here it is:

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