KRAC Blog

I know it is wrong, but I want to learn to play cat piano. "In order to raise the spirits of an Italian prince burdened by the cares of his position, a musician created for him a cat piano. The musician selected cats whose natural voices were at different pitches and arranged them in cages side by side, so that when a key on the piano was depressed, a mechanism drove a sharp spike into the appropriate cat�s tail. The result was a melody of meows that became more vigorous as the cats became more desperate. Who could not help but laugh at such music? Thus was the prince raised from his melancholy." Probably sounded something like bagpipes. (Via BoingBoing 

Hey, has anybody else checked the date for the Lake Placid Half Marathon? Because I think it's June 11, 2006. Unless there are two of them.

Weekly Grocery Lists for Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, Summer 1962.

Westminster kept me from paying proper attention to the Winter Olymipics, but now that I know that half the US curling team comes from Bemidji I intend to correct that in a hurry. 

Two races with potential, both on February 26: The Polar Bear Run, in Olcott. Beat the Bear and your shirt will say I Beat the Bear. If the bear beats you your shirt will say I Can't Believe the Bear Beat Me.

Or, the Chilly Challenge, which offers the opportunity to see our Captain's high school picture.

Too bad the Delta Sonic isn't having a race that day; it'd be an opportunity to return to the halcion days of Dave's youth.

Runner's World has a Half Marathon plan. Frankly, it looks too hard, but it is still tempting. The trick to it would be finding a way to get on the track-- the article makes it clear that the speed work is at the heart of it.

Cross-Training News! Swimming in syrup is as easy as swimming in water. This means that I don't have to change gyms, I guess, although where I'd find a gym with a syrup pool is hard to know. Mmmmmm, syrup.

You just never know what Mr. Ed's will throw at you. This year the track was clear, if a little soft. It wasn't snowing, but the wind was so strong it was like running in pudding. Even so, it was good to be out in it, and now our season's benchmarks are set. Shouldn't be too hard to beat: Jim ran 25:00 flat, good for 12th in his age group; I poked along three and a half minutes slower at 28:38-- 09:13 minute mile pace, good for 19th in mine (and nipped at the line by the second and third place 50-54 year old women's finishers-- I won't let that happen twice).

The real issue is whether to run the Lockport Y-10 this Saturday. What is it about Niagara County that makes it the scene for insane winter races? The report on the Lockport Y-10 is that it's downhill for the first half, then on a grade for the second, until the last bit, which is a serious hill. Even so, it sounds like it might be worth doing-- we will probably never have better weather.

Mildly amusing coverage of the Stones' pre-Super Bowl press conference here.

"[S]cenarios like today's press conference still illustrate the Stones' hydroelectric coolness with amazingly lucidity: These fellows certainly seem comfortable in their own skin. Perhaps this is because that skin is now translucent. You can literally see every ounce of bone in Charlie Watts' face; before hitting the town, I think he just wraps his skull in saran wrap and throws on a sport coat."