I'm going to give you all a break from my scheduled science-y updates. Yeah I know you're terribly disappointed: you wanted to hear about the cosmos, or evolutionary biology, or the pseudo-science of archaeology (hey, we use metric and everything!). But, instead I'm going to just have to break your hearts.
Years ago I was introduced to mc chris through one song, "Fett's Vette." It was an amusing ditty, I memorized the words, rocked out to it, and didn't really investigate him further. I noticed as he garnered roles in the various [Adult Swim] shows, saw him ranting about Kingdom Hearts but never really got past him as MC Pee Pants, or that guy rapping about Boba Fett.
Somehow yesterday while just cruising around the internets (hey I'm in Kentucky and I wasn't planning on gambling on the horse race*...I'm allowed) I re-discovered the wonders of mc chris.
**Allow me a moment to digress. The path I followed to get to mc chris was amusing. I was watching a pretty sweet Canadian rapper's video (Jesse Dangerously, his site is dangerously.ca) and the youtube side bar suggested I look at some random mc chris song. And yes, I use youtube to listen to songs for free before deciding if I want to purchase them. Apparently the fact that they are both white (and rap) was enough for youtube to think I would like them both equally. I did...but it is interesting that youtube has a latently racist filter. I highly recommend you check out Jesse, he's really talented.**
Anyhow, mc chris: he's from the next town over from me back home, representing the North Shore. His style is called "nerdcore" as often his songs include mentions of Star Wars, video games, all that cool nerd stuff. I hate how everything is "____-core" these days. He aggressively supports file sharing; he took down his earlier albums from being sold (on his site, iTunes, you name it) saying "Pirate that shit." So his success has been through file sharing, and actively encouraging his audience to remix his work, spreading the news.
I'd suggest you check out his site (mcchris.com) where you can listen to the songs off his new album "mc chris is dead." My favorite song on there is in fact a remix of his earlier song "geek." The mix is called "zakath geek remix" (you can probably find the original somewhere else on the internet as well, I also recommend "white kids love hip-hop"). It's really an awesome song, and doubly awesome that he's taken those remixes and put them on his album with his own work. So yeah, cruise by at your convenience and check it out. On this album it also turns out he wrote a song about my future wife. There was some sort of "make your own music video" contest for this song, and I happen to like the one I'm posting here the best (although a quick look through the hits on the other videos indicate that the one featuring pretty girls had 700k hits to this ones 10k. ). So yeah: a tribute to my once and future wife: nrrrd grrrl
* Okay, I need to put an addendum here concerning the Derby this year. In case you didn't hear the number 2 placing horse (Eight Belles) broke both her ankles on the track immediately after the race and had to be euthanized right there on the track. What a damn shame. I understand that these horses are bred to race, and to love to race, so they aren't really being "forced" into it (just like sled dogs aren't abused into racing the Iditarod, they love to run). I saw Melanie's thoroughbreds racing each other enough to realize that the enjoy the exhilaration of just sprinting about, that's not my beef. Instead it is in the breeding itself: the emphasis on breeding for the speed traits has left them so delicate especially considering that they're racing at 2 and 3 years old; before they're even necessarily done growing, bones fully fused and solid, etc. The traits for speed tend to make them delicate; hence all the breakdowns (two broke down at the Rolex 3 Day last weekend here as well). I'm not an expert in any way shape or form, but I like to think that I can learn from those around me, and from what Cari and Melanie have shared I think I can safely say that it's cruel to select for traits that are so dangerous in the long run of a horse's life...but there's no way to enforce breeding for sturdier legs and making the next generation of horses slower. Breeders and owners wouldn't go for it...they want speed, and longer thinner ankles with more powerful muscles is faster (if more dangerous). It's not just spindly legs, an extreme example of this dangerous trait breeding is the HYPP disorder found in many quarter horses, causing increased muscle growth essentially at the cost of the disorder killing or crippling the horse later in life.
This isn't particularly well structured, and I haven't cited any sources as to the specific traits that are dangerous and how they're selected...but you have the internet; if you're really going to call me on it google it yourself.
Poor Eight Belles, gave those boys a hell of a race.
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