Coffee and Provocation

The Racist Roots of Square Dancing
Auto maker Henry Ford put a lot of money into promoting country music in the 1920s in order to discourage people from listening to black and Jewish jazz tunes. Frightened by the urban decadence of couples jazz dancing, he organized fiddling contests and promoted square dances across the country. To this day, American country music is a strangely white medium.

Feminist Fly Fisherwomen
The New York Times reports that women are the only growing demographic in the sport of Fly Fishing.

Terrier Training Fails
David Tennant, the actor who played Dr. Who and battled Daleks and Cybermen, was sent to the first-aid trailer by a Jack Russell Terrier named Ollie, who bit him on the left calf during filming for a highly charged scene for a new TV show in which Tennant was screaming at his co-star and waving his arms. Ollie, the Jack Russell, had had enough of the character that Tennant was playing, a demon by the name of Crowley who was bullying 13-year-old Sam Taylor-Buckand, and he put in his teeth. The on-set dog trainer claims the dogs is a perfect dear, but this same dog has already had a go at others, and so he has been replaced by three laser dots.  Computer generation will fill in the dog;s part later.

A Terrible Tumble in Tasmanian Tigers
The Tasmanian tiger, or Thylacine, went extinct in the 1930s. Researchers recently sequenced the Thylacine genome obtained from a preserved pup pickled in alcohol for the last 108 years. What they found was that the species had a massive die off during a period between 70,000-120,000 years ago when there was big climatic chill. Thylacines never quite recovered genetically -- a phenomenon we see today with cheetahs who also went through a genetic bottle neck around 10,000 years ago.

Less Antibiotics in US Food Animals
A new report from the FDA shows a 10 percent drop in the purchase of antibiotics for food-producing animals between 2015 and 2016.

Electric Beer Trucks
Budweiser has ordered 40 Tesla Semi (big!) electric trucks. Budweiser says the the electric trucks are part of its commitment to reduce its operational carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2025. Budweiser is also experimenting with self-driving autonomous beer trucks.

The Godfather of Coral
Over the last 50 years, Charlie Veron has discovered more than 20% of the world’s coral species.

What Would Happen?
What would happen if all of the world's trees disappeared?   What would happen if we blew up the moon?