Absolute Michigan is going to Pictured Rocks next week (well, some of us). If you haven't already, check out this majestic National Lakeshore Park at Destination: Michigan

See you in September (the 5th to be exact).

Detroit Arts tells us that artists have joined the ranks of those who have reaped the benefits of a presence on the world wide web. Ann writes:

This story was passed on to me, Artists take paintings to masses - USA Today. It is a great story about how much the internet has affected the art world.

She concludes with these figures from the USA Today article:

* The blogosphere has doubled every six months for the past two years to 51.9 million blogs, according to blog tracker Technorati.

* Online art shopping has grown as a complement to gallery hopping and art-fair shopping.

* Interest has increased in original contemporary art as an inspiration for interior design.

* Acceptance has grown of original art for gifting." USA Today

So why isn't your art posted on the web?

Read friends forever: internet and art and be sure to check out the USA Today Article
Check out Absolute Michigan's Artists and Galleries section, that contains both websites and articles

And in the food section today, we have the Kitchen Chick, who writes:

When I was a child, my mother would dredge slices of cornmeal mush in flour and pan-fry them until they were crispy, and we'd eat it slathered with butter and maple syrup. I thought this was a perfectly ordinary dish well into adulthood until my friends expressed surprise. "A Depression-era dish", some called it.

Well, I don't know if it was specifically a Depression Era dish. It was common in the southern and mid-Atlantic States, but not so much in Michigan. It was also apparently common among Italian immigrants. After all, what is fried cornmeal mush but a kind of polenta? And because it was cheap, it was probably common during the Depression Era, too. All I knew, as a kid, was that this fried cornmeal stuff was fabulously tasty, and I always treated it as a special meal.

Read Creamy Maple Polenta by Kitchen Chick
Also read her entry entitled Balsamic Blueberries & Peaches!

Your Brother Kings continues his look at the life of Clara Ward:

Clara was the daughter of Eber Brock Ward, about whom I have written a great deal on this blog (please use the search box to your right if you are interested). As I mentioned a few days ago, Eber Brock's daughter Clara, who was just a toddler when he died, married a European Prince. That began an amazing series of adventures that made Clara an figure of international renown and scandal, as is shown in the press of the times.

Michigan in Pictures takes a look at the history of another Clara, a depot turned restaurant.

The depot closed in 1972. Restauranteur Peter Jubeck bought the building in 1978 and transformed it into an eatery, retaining the quarter-sawn oak interior and installing locally crafted stained glass windows.

Read Clara Ward's adventures in Europe. by Your Brother Kings
Also read Union Depot Michigan Historical Marker at Clara's Restaurant and check out the photos and photo links
Finally, check out the history of Fair Lane, the estate of Clara (and Henry) Ford

The GLRC's Rebecca Williams reports the economic benefits of the natural system aren't always considered when developers start building:

We don't get a bill from wetlands for purifying our water, but scientists say we might pay more in our utility bills if wetlands weren't there to clean up the water.

Bob Costanza directs the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics. He and his colleagues are building computer models that will be turned into an interactive website. He says the website will put a price on the services things such as wetlands and forests provide:

"If you are gonna, you know, put a new housing development or shopping center, what are you losing in terms of ecosystem services and where could you put those things that would lose as little as possible?"

Read or listen to WEBSITE TO CALCULATE VALUE OF NATURE by GLRC
Also read a related GLRC story NEW WAY TO REDUCE CO2 POLLUTION?

Jolli Lodge writes:

The infamous zebra mussels with a clam thrown in...We've done a few dives lately and I have to say the zebras have cleared up the water with their filtering ability. It's too bad they throw off the balance of nature.

Read more about and see this photo of Zebra Shells... by Jolli Lodge
Also read Ten Threats to the Great Lakes by GLRC Environment Report
View the results of keyword search for 'zebra' on GLRC
Mussel your way on over to keyword 'zebra' on Absolute Michigan (type any word into that top right box: food, hiking, boat, etc.)

Having college age children, I was very interested to learn about alternatives for those high-priced textbooks. Mike Wendland writes:

The average college freshman spends $900 on textbooks each semester. Some books retail at nearly $200. For years, there's been a brisk market in used books. But now the Internet has made textbook buying much more affordable, saving hundreds of dollars per semester.

Read Free textbooks online and watch Mike's NBC-TV "High Tech Talk" segment

Y. writes about seeing Sony Classics' "Who Killed the Electric Car?". She comments:

This straightforward, homespun documentary exposes the destruction of a slick, cool 1996 to early-2000s electric car, the EV1, that consumers loved and that you've never heard about, for good reasons.

Read about "Who Killed the Electric Car" by ypsi~dixit
Read the how to help page on the Who Killed the Electric Car website
Also read Driving Green from GreenerCars.com