Minneapolis / St. Paul Blog

These days I'm thinking a lot about the Panamanian Golden Frog. The Phil Hansen feature is partially to blame for this. A video at the bottom of this post explains why, but for now, check out what's fresh this Friday.

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

In the aftermath of Paul Demko's feature about suicides from St. Paul's High Bridge, he offers up telling numbers about the Golden Gate Bridge and people who choose to jump from same.

Community art projects in public spaces, no matter the scale, enrich the urban soul. Our new slideshow chronicles one such project, ice sculptures from one of the classes at Leonardo's Workshop in South Minneapolis.

Mitt Romney withdraws from the race, which is a good sign that freedom no longer has a chance in our fair nation. What does freedom mean if not bar specials and expensive 1 a.m. potato chip runs?

BRAIN CANDY

The Panamanian Golden Frog lived in the shadow of a noisy waterfall. Unable to hear effectively, the frogs evolved other means of communication than croaking. Waving. This became a signal behavior for the amphibian, of particular use during mating season. 9

"Hey," the male frog on the make seems to be saying in this video. "What's up."

Beautiful and odd behaviors make nature's rarities special. A frog that waves, a giant bird that eats fruit, the dog-like critter than can open its mouth to 120 degrees.

These creatures are lovely and often vanish -- the Golden Frog has. The whole species is extinct in Panama now. It's dead as Jimi Hendrix. Yeah, that Jimi Hendrix.

That's why the Hansen story had me thinking about that frog. Creative miracles that are all-too-temporary.

Of course, Phil Hansen always intended to burn Jimi; his Goodbye Art is meant to be impermanent. Oftentimes, we can stop animals from going extinct if we try. Just sayin'.