Throughout history, the wolf has often been the target of misguided hatred on the part of humans. Personally, I love wolves, the largest of the canine species. I learned a lot about how to deal with my own domestic dogs from reading about wolf pack behavior. Just as I admire tigers and other big cats on the feline side, I find the gray wolf to be a majestic creature. Our recent vacation to Wyoming included Yellowstone National Park, where they are marking the tenth anniversary of the reintroduction of gray wolves to the Yellowstone region. (For the record, we did not have any wolf sightings on our trip, but with only 174 believed to be in the entire Yellowstone region, you've got to get up pretty early in the morning--literally--to have a 60-70% chance of seeing wolves in areas they are known to frequent.) I used to run "Wolf Fun Facts" on my old blog, and you may see them popping up again. Here's one: each member of a pack can be distinguished by its call, a sort of code that keeps strangers from venturing too far in to a pack's territory.

Click on the image to see a short movie of the Lower Falls of Yellowstone in action.

The hike down to the brink was only three-eighths of a mile, but that three-eighths took place within 600 feet. The words you're looking for here are "steep switchbacks." Still, very much worth it, and images do not do it justice. Plan your own trip as soon as you are able.

Matthew Baldwin:

That's right: fifteen months old and my son has already McGuyvered up a rocket launcher. finslippy: But why do we resist, you ask? Why not get dressed and enter the playground, where fun could possibly had? Because, that’s why. Because because because. Because we must take every stand we are able to take. Also! Because Caregiver is deceiving you. There is another, better playground, a Naked Playground, with balloons and ice cream and cake. The soiled diaper will lead the way. [The above via Heather.] Chris Anderson: I love the thought that our children are growing up used to having domestic robots in the house. Robots for them are slightly dim but friendly vacuum cleaners, not fearsome weapons or fantasy toys. "Robot love me," declares the two-year-old.

Less than 16 hours after arriving back in DFW from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, both the missus and I had stuffy noses, no doubt driven by allergens. Neither of us had this problem this past week, except for the time or two when we were in the cold, wet weather. So, when we strike it rich, summer home in Jackson Hole, winter home on Kaua'i. Hey, at least I have a plan.

The Rice Owls ended the LSU baseball team's season this past weekend, coming from behind to beat the Tigers 5-4. So, no trip to Omaha this year for one of the most successful college baseball teams in the last two decades. With a record of 40-22, the Tigers have nothing to be ashamed of, and they already have players being selected in the MLB draft.

Yeah, right. Like I care this week about the biggest news in the computing industry quite possibly ever.

Click the picture to see a larger version.

Being in Wyoming on vacation, I'll need some time to digest Apple's move to Intel. In the mean time, this is me and the little phisch enjoying the rapids coming off of the base of Hidden Falls, in Grand Teton National Park.

LSU fell behind early, allowing four runs in the top of the first inning today against Marist. The twelfth-ranked Tigers would only allow one more run in the next eight innings, and would win big, finishing the game 14-5. LSU will face Rice, which defeated Northwestern, 7-3, tomorrow night. Geaux Tigers!

Lawson and I agree that "Survivor: Hoth" would be one reality show we'd tune in to. Me: "Your challenge today, castaways, will be to drag the tauntaun carcass across the mouth of this cave, during the nightly blizzard, while avoiding the wampa..." Lawson: "I'm sorry, Brady, but you were too slow gutting your tauntaun and getting inside. You will face the vote tonight at tribal council. Provided enough of you survive the freezing cold to have tribal council." Oh, what fun it would be, watching some accountant from Miami flounder around on the wastes of the Arctic Circle...

I haven't blogged much about the LSU baseball team this year, mainly because I've been focusing more on the local Texas Rangers when it comes to the sport. The Tigers finished the regular season with a winning record, good enough to get them in to the NCAA tournament. The Tigers were eliminated from the SEC tournament last month, but now stand to host their 16th straight regional for the national tournament. LSU will open play against Marist on Friday, June 3d. Geaux Tigers!

It's so nice to know that when my cat came over minutes ago, rubbing up against my legs, purring, then pushing his head in to my hand when I dropped it down, it was all so that when I picked him up, he could use me as a ladder to get to the top of the high-back chair I'm sitting in. And for this, I scoop the litter.

So I'm hearing that the shortened name for the Washington Nationals is "Nats." Does this not strike anyone else with negative connotations? It has already resulted in the obvious references to swatting.

Jim Geraghty, via Tom:

I’m being warned about the dangers of capitalism from a man who made perhaps more money from merchandising than any other man in history. I’m getting lectured about the dangers of greed from the man who authorized, “C-3POs” breakfast cereal, “The Star Wars Christmas Special” featuring Bea Arthur’s musical number, and not one but two Ewoks made-for-TV movies.

I’m being warned about the dangers of technology, and the glory of primitive cultures like the Ewoks, who are able to defeat the ‘technological terror’ of the Empire, in what is supposedly an allegory of Vietnam. Technology is bad, soulless, dangerous, and dehumanizing. Mmm-hmm. This from a man who replaced a tall man in a hairy suit, a projecting the human-eyed loyalty and sadness of Chewbacca, with the CGI cinematic war crime that is Jar-Jar Binks. A man who tossed aside the Yoda puppet, the spaceship models, the stop-motion animation of the Imperial walkers to go all-computer-animation-and-green-screen, all-the-time. Having been an ardent Star Wars fan since seeing Episode IV at the age of six, I simply choose to ignore Mr. Lucas's attempts to inject a little of his political philosophy in to the prequel eye-candy. Sometimes, you've just got to enjoy the movie for what it is and not read too much in to it.

When did Chuq visit my house?

BEDTIME: Always sleep on the human at night so he/she cannot move around.

LITTER BOX: When using the litter box, be sure to kick as much litter out of the box as possible. Humans love the feel of kitty litter between their toes. [Via Lee and myriad past e-mails.]

John Stossel ran an unscientific, blind taste test of six different brands of coffee, ranging from $12 a pound to $4 a pound. The result was, at least for me, not surprising: the more expensive brands were not necessarily the better tasting coffees. I am not a coffee drinker. I've tasted various coffees scores of times, but it is not something that is regularly brewed in our house. I do love the smell of coffee beans, and of coffee brewing, but don't care for the beverage. When my wife and I visited the big island of Hawai'i in 2001, we purchased some Kona coffee from one of the local growers, Country Samurai. While there, we learned that coffee is a lot like scotch. Most of the coffee one finds is a blend of beans, much like the inexpensive scotches one finds are a blend of malts. The best scotch is single malt, and the longer it's aged, the better. Likewise, the best coffee is from a single batch of beans. Country Samurai sells that kind of coffee, and it was the first I remember really liking. Of course, at $25 a pound, my taste for coffee runs about as expensive as my taste for scotch, which explains why either is a rare find in our home.

Courtesy of Brother Spikey Mace of Loving Kindness, according to the Unitarian Jihad Name Assignment Committee, you may now refer to me as The Gatling Gun of Compassion.

Apparently, the higher-ups at Honda in the mother country love soybeans. A lot.