Victory for the American worker! It's a long read, but Sara Robinson's article from Alternet (reposted on Salon) looking at the history of the length of the work week in the era following the Industrial Revolution is an interesting read, especially if you've worked for an employer that routinely pushed you to extend your work day past the eight hour barrier on a regular basis:

Most modern-day managers assume there will be a direct one-to-one correlation between extra hours and extra output, but they’re almost always wrong about this. In fact, the numbers may typically be something closer to 25-30 percent more work in 50 percent more time.

Here’s why. By the eighth hour of the day, people’s best work is usually already behind them (typically turned in between hours 2 and 6). In Hour 9, as fatigue sets in, they’re only going to deliver a fraction of their usual capacity. And with every extra hour beyond that, the workers’ productivity level continues to drop, until at around 10 or 12 hours they hit full exhaustion.

Cyclovia organizers are looking into hosting another event after the first was essentially rained out. Check out the recap and learn how organizers might fund a second one.

Want to learn how to transport your kids via bicycles instead of cars? The Bikes and Tykes event on Sunday will bring together several experienced biking families to share tips and test rides of their family bicycle setups. More details here.

Meet Tucson's newest bicyclist. He is taking up cycling to shed some of his 330 pounds. Be sure to check out the comments on the story for tips about getting started with cycling.

A pedestrian was stuck and killed this week near along a popular biking route. Read more about the crash.

Hundreds of bike racers took over downtown Tucson for the second annual Old Pueblo Grand Prix. Check out the results and photos.

Don't let yourself get distracted by the Christmas related puns (hey, I feel you guys, editing video is a major pain) because the first episode of "Hopped Up" (by Charles Lynch and Nick Fimbers), a new web show dedicated to "breweries, beer bars, gastropubs and microbrew friendly bars," as it says on their Facebook page. First up, the super nice guys at Tucson Weekly-friendly brewery Borderlands. Looking forward to the next episode, fellas.

Apparently, Jessica Simpson's homage to Demi Moore on the cover of ELLE magazine was slightly too scandalous for the manager of the Safeway at Tanque Verde and Catalina Highway, so they put a poorly crafted cardboard blockade to deter young, easily impressionable eyes. Then, since everyone loves to kick a state while it's down, someone sent the above photo to female-centric snark blog Jezebel. Super.

We spoke with spokeswoman for Safeway who said that this particular store made the decision to cover the magazine after it received multiple complaints from mothers with young children. She also said that other Safeway locations in the area had not received any complaints. She said the company tries to be sensitive to the complaints of their customers but does not have an official corporate policy on blocking magazine covers. Instead, those decisions are left up to the discretion of store managers.

I have really no particular opinion regarding Joe Biden, but no.

Nononononono.
Too soon.

Stop it, Politico. Stop it, right there.

Russell Tyrone Jones was a man who went by many names: Dirt Dog, Dirt McGirt, Ason Unique, Osirus, Big Baby Jesus, Joe Bananas, Peanut the Kidnapper, Freeloading Rusty, Knifey McStab, Little Billy Clinton or most prominently, Ol' Dirty Bastard. And, repairing a cultural injustice, at least one part of his life story is coming to the big screen. Oh, and the guy who played Omar on The Wire is playing him. BOOM FILM HISTORY MADE:

EW has learned exclusively that [Michael K.] Williams, 45, will star in an upcoming film about the legendary Wu-Tang Clan rapper and all-around troubled soul Russell Jones, a.k.a. Ol’ Dirty Bastard, whose impressive mic skills and outrageous showmanship were eclipsed by his erratic offstage behavior, assorted arrests, and an early death.

Joaquín Baca-Asay, the cinematographer on We Own the Night, Roger Dodger and Jay-Z’s video for 99 Problems, is also joining the project, making his feature directorial debut.

The movie is based on the final years of ODB’s life — a true story that is nonetheless stranger than fiction.

Titled Dirty White Boy, the film focuses on the offbeat friendship between the Wu-Tang Clan co-founder and Jarred Weisfeld, a 22-year-old VH1 production assistant who through a lot of hustle (and the occasional lie) talked his way into becoming the rapper’s manager when Jones was serving a three-year stint in prison in the early 2000s.

Life can be so confusing, with a million things to worry about, and now Zimbabwean women are attacking male travelers, stealing their sperm for some sort of ritual to resort "juju". This is why we need a border fence, to keep this sort of thing from invading our shores:

Local media have reported victims of the highway prowlers being drugged, subdued at gun or knife point — even with a live snake in one case — given a sexual stimulant and forced into repeated sex before being dumped on the roadside.

The sperm hunters first surfaced in the local press in 2009 but police have only arrested three women, found with a plastic bag of 31 used condoms in October. The attacks have continued since they were nabbed for allegedly violating 17 men....

The sperm's exact use is not clear but is thought to be intended for "juju" or traditional rituals to bring luck — anything from enhancing good fortune, boosting business or preventing a criminal from being detected.
It is also not known why the semen is taken forcibly from strangers.

"It's really an issue which is mind boggling," said University of Zimbabwe sociologist Watch Ruparanganda, who believes it is a lucrative business. "It's quite a big mystery. Obviously we know (it is) being used for rituals."

Possibly because I am wildly gripped by musical nostalgia lately, I can't stop listening to the debut from Tanlines, which came out yesterday. Yes, there are weird seemingly Afropop influenced rhythms and modern dance flourishes, but in its essence, Mixed Emotions is a synthpop record full of hooks transported from an era when people cared about OMD and Talk Talk. It's so enjoyable and full of fun catchy hooks that I want to have some sort of hipster barbecue and play the disc on repeat.

Anyhow, there's a video for the second single, "All of Me", directed by Julian Barratt from weird British show The Mighty Boosh. I don't understand the video at all, but it's visually interesting and it has a Tanlines show in the background. Allow yourself some happiness and check it out.

Here's Arizona Public Media's Congressional District 8 debate, featuring the four Republicans who want to complete Gabrielle Giffords' term: 2010 nominee Jesse Kelly, state Sen. Frank Antenori, marketing businessman and sports broadcaster Dave Sitton and former fighter pilot Martha McSally. (If you want to know more about them, check out this week's feature story.)

I didn't see any game-changers last night. As they have in earlier debates, the candidates essentially agreed with one another one most issues, although McSally and Sitton said they'd still seek earmarks for Southern Arizona, while Antenori and Kelly said they would not. And Kelly is sticking with a double-layer fence along the entire border, while the other three said that it doesn't make sense in areas where the terrain doesn't lend itself to fencing.

I thought the whopper of the night came from Kelly, who declared: "We have more oil in this country than in Saudi Arabia."

If you're going by proven reserves of oil, that's a pretty tall tale. Take a look at this chart from Wikipedia:

• Wikipedia

But Kelly was sticking by his assertion today.

"We have more oil than Saudi Arabia and we should develop it as soon as possible to lower gas prices," Kelly said via email.

Kelly cited a Fox News story that included this assertion:

Violinist Miray Rhoads and guitarist Joshua Rhoads, a husband and wife musical duo performing as the dubiously capitalized dUO VibrAtO, bring their take on Django Reinhardt style gypsy jazz, Spanish guitar and tango music outdoors to the Hotel Congress Friday at 7 p.m for a free show on the patio. If you think the group's name might sound familiar, but you can't quite place from where, according to the group's website, the couple plays at weddings, receptions, dinners and concerts around Arizona, so it's possible you've enjoyed their easy listening sounds while toasting the bride somewhere.

The romantic duo will seemingly provide a nice soundtrack to drinks with friends after a rough work week. Forget about the spreadsheets and group emails and feel swept away to a Mediterranean beach without even renewing your passport.

Vist the Hotel Congress website for more information.