From the AKC website

Most Notable Dog Trends in 2011 Include:

• Larger dogs are moving up, with the Labrador Retriever (1), German Shepherd Dog (2), Golden Retriever (4), Boxer (7), and Rottweiler (10) all making this year’s top ten.
• It is the year of the Setters, with all four making big jumps over the past year – the English Setter (from 101 to 87), the Irish Setter (from 77 to 70), the Irish Red and White Setter (150 to 147), and the Gordon Setter (from 98 to 94).
• Coonhounds made the largest tumble – the Black and Tan Coonhound (from 91 to 109) and the Bluetick Coonhound (from 119 to 136) had the biggest decrease in rankings this year. The Redbone Coonhound also dropped from 122 to 126.
• Terriers are making a comeback! Closing the gap this year, a couple of breeds that had been on the decline over the past decade have risen up the ranks over the past year – Bedlington Terriers (from 140 to 134), Border Terriers (from 83 to 80), and Dandie Dinmont Terriers (from 164 to 160).
• Among smaller dogs that rose in the rankings this year are the Brussels Griffon (from 80 to 77) and the Manchester Terrier (121 to 119).
• This past decade has proven that bigger is better, with larger breeds continuing to increase in popularity. Among them: the Bernese Mountain Dog (from 54 to 34), the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (from 101 to 82), the Bullmastiff (from 49 to 40), the Rhodesian Ridgeback (from 57 to 44), the Irish Wolfhound (from 86 to 79), and the Belgian Malinois (from 94 to 74).

A complete list of AKC’s Most Popular Breeds, including statistics for 50 U.S. cities, is available on the AKC website at http://www.akc.org/reg/dogreg_stats.cfm.

Actually two blogs. Kirsten, aka Vander’s mom has a wonderful blog about her living in Germany for three years, 6 months, and 3 weeks: A Stranger in a Strange Land  and now that she is back in the USA she started a new blog called The Chaotic Ramblings of a Former Haus Frau.  I have to say Kirsten my mental image of a haus Frau does not look anything like you!

USGS Release: 3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate— (4/10/2008 2:25:36 PM).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

This is so awesome. Please take a moment to read (LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE IS ABOVE):

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?