| Good morning, everybody. A few funny/interesting things I came across lately I thought you guys would like: 1. The NY Post reports that "the more meat you eat, the shorter your erections last." This is based on a "study" from the Netflix vegan documentary. How was this study designed, you might wonder? Three college athletes wore penis rings to bed, one at the base and one at the tip. One day they ate a burrito made with meat. The next day they ate a burrito made with vegan ingredients. They used the rings to measure the rigidity and duration of their erections. The night after they ate the "vegan burrito," they had harder, longer (lasting) erections. That's it. That's the study. Two nights, two different burritos, three athletes, six penis rings. Cutting edge science, in other words. The final word! 2. A study showing that potatoes are just as effective during long distance races as energy gels. Pretty cool, but not surprising at all. Long before Gatorade rolled around, cyclists in the Tour de France were filling their shirt pockets with baked potatoes and a little salt. It's an age old trick. They also carried around alcohol (to dull the pain of racing), strychnine (as a stimulant), and sometimes even cocaine (for obvious reasons). I don't recommend those last three, but I can recommend the potato if you're in need of quick, absorbable carbs. 3. The song "The Highwayman" by The Highwaymen, a group that was basically the Avengers of the country music world—Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings. I'm generally not a country music guy, other than some of the classic Johnny Cash stuff that everyone likes. I just don't know much about it. But this song is really powerful. The first verse is from the perspective of a bandit, a highwayman who robs, kills, and adventures for a living. He's eventually hung but lives on in spirit. The next verse is from a sailor—"with the sea I did abide"—who sails around the Horn of Mexico, gets caught in a freak accident and dies. But he's "living still." Next is from a dam builder in the Colorado river, that place where "steel and river did collide." He slips and falls into and gets buried in wet concrete. Finally is Cash, the spaceman crossing the universe to find a place to rest his spirit ("If i can"). But he may become a "highwayman again," or even a "single drop of rain." Whatever happens, he'll "still remain." These are adventurers, humans who push the boundaries for better or for worse. They pursue what they want (yes, unfortunately taking someone's belongings and life, in this case), they create and build and shape nature, they explore (and sometime suffer the consequences), they even travel the galaxy. For mostly better and sometimes worse, that's largely what it means to be human—and it's the spirit that animates the highwayman, the sailor, the builder, and the spaceman, a spirit that will always be a presence in the world. A very Primal song. Anyway, that's me. What about you guys? What are you enjoying/laughing at? What songs hit you hard and make you think about your place in the universe? Let me know in the comment section of Friday's Weekly Link Love. Have a great Sunday, everybody. Best, | 
