• TIM VANDERPOOL

Reid Park Zoo announced on their website that 24-year-old female African elephant “Semba” is eating for two:

Semba was observed breeding with the Zoo’s bull, “Mabu,” in October of last year, and Zoo staff have been anxious to find out whether the breeding was successful. It was!

I wonder what kind of weird cravings Semba will have this time:

Elephants have a long gestation period—23-24 months, and Semba is expected to give birth between late June and August of 2014. In the meantime Reid Park Zoo Staff will be working with fellow experts at San Diego Zoo Global and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Elephant Taxon Advisory Group to monitor Semba and provide the best pre-natal care possible.

I'd like to personally congratulate the Reid Park Zoo, Semba and family. The is great timing because the 2 1/2-year-old male “Sundzu” is losing his cute baby charm and we hardly see the 24-year old female “Lungile." Cue all the crazy comments asking why taxpayer dollars are going to cover Semba's pregnancy and how she's going to "elephant-hell" for having this baby out of wedlock, again.

Flag football ain't no joke, yo.

Just ask this Drexel University washout alum as he pumps up his fraternity's intramural team before it's latest epic battle out on the flag football field.

I'm ready to run through a wall now, bro. Pass me a Smirnoff Ice so I can shotgun it before heading out into battle.

• Blitzen Trapper Facebook Page

Portland, Oregon-based experimental country/folk band is performing at Club Congress on Sunday, Nov. 10. Blitzen Trapper is releasing a seventh album next Monday, but you can listen to the entire album right now at NYT Music.

Buy your tickets here and learn the words to their new songs so you're not "that guy."

• shutterstock.com

You know it can't be good when you hear about job loss in the banking sector. Cronkite News reports some troubling economic news:

JP Morgan Chase, which has been the subject of various federal inquiries, has laid off nearly 500 employees in Phoenix.

The articles also says the bank is expecting to cut loose 17,000 more mortgage jobs by early 2014. I was talking to someone from my old job at Citi Mortgage in Rita Ranch, and they said this could also be the case for the originations and refinance departments here. I wouldn't be surprised if this was rumor, but 760 Citi employees in Nevada received the laid off notice yesterday.

• KXCI Facebook Page

I listen to KXCI on a daily basis, and nothing is more infuriating than the fall membership drive. This isn't an ad, but more of a cry for help. I'm not saying that KXCI shouldn't ask for money because they should, but I just want things to go back to normal and listen to music without any interruption. Some of you reading this can spare the $7,800 and can use the tax break other can sign up for a monthly payment option and feel better knowing that all is good in the Old Pueblo. Click here to become a member of this community funded radio station and end my sadness.

We’re right in the middle of Banned Books Week in America, so be sure to break out a copy of The Kite Runner, Beloved or (if you’re not all that motivated) Captain Underpants, all of which were on the Top 10 list of books that were challenged in 2012 by the micro-brains who fear the power of the written word.

Or you could pick up a copy of Christina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban, which was recently the target of such Tea Party ire in Sierra Vista that Buena High School administrators are celebrating Banned Book Week by banning a book. Way to get into the spirit things, Buena!

The National Book Award finalist, published in 1992, has a minor sex scene that outraged at least one Buena parent, who raised enough of a stink to get the book pulled from the high school’s curriculum.

Ready for the offensive passage? We'll do it after the jump so as to not corrupt our younger readers.

• The Potted Desert
• Purple Heart

This ground cover grows 12 inches to 18 inches tall. Once established, it is drought tolerant needing water every few days. If you have some planted and it is leggy or struggling, it's most likely not receiving enough water. The plant is great in a shade garden or morning sun near a pool or fountain and will become more dense with an occasional pruning.

Weekly beer geeks, you may remember the As-Yet-Unnamed-Beer collaboration between Tucson's Dragoon Brewing Company and New Belgium Brewing, which we informed you of back in July, and have been awaiting with bated breath ever since.



Well, the beer finally has a name: Westerbrü (and yes, we are confident that the umlaut is the source of its powers) — and more importantly, you can finally taste it this weekend.




New Belgium Brewing Southern Arizona just posted information for a series of events taking place this weekend, where they'll be rolling through our fair city to promote the collaboration with Dragoon, who recently won the Born and Brewed Tucson Beer Cup for the second straight year.



From the poster that you can see at right, there will be events on Friday, Sept. 27 at Dragoon Brewing (1859 W. Grant Rd.) from 4 to 5:30 p.m.; at 1702 (1702 E. Speedway Blvd.) from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; and at Tap and Bottle (403 N. Sixth Ave.) from 8 to 9:30 p.m.



And if you can't make it on Friday, Tap and Bottle (who recently took third place in the Mountain West region of CraftBeer.com's survey of the Great American Beer Bars) will be running a Beer Brunch on Sunday, Sept. 29, from 10:30 a.m. to close, featuring beer mimosas, bloody beers, and food from Chef's Kitchen and Seis Curbside Kitchen throughout the day.

• shutterstock.com

Day of the Dead Dominoes caught my attention for many different reasons. I could care less if project manager Art Paredes is trying to use Day of the Dead for monetary reasons but his execution is all wrong.

I couldn't stomach the six minute video describing the history of Day of the Dead and how much fun it is to play with coffin shaped dominoes. No one in this day and age posses the attention span to watch someone talk about dominoes for longer than a Vine. The fact that Paredes has never backed a Kickstarter project before is also troubling. If you're not willing to support a project then why should anyone return the respect? I like to think of Kickstarter as community of people that are looking to help the little guy make his or her idea come to fruition.

The biggest and most obvious question: Why does Paredes need $249,850? Why don't you open a Day of the Dead Domino's Pizza while you're at it? Nowhere in the project description tells me how the funds are going to be used. These aren't the questions I should be asking when I back any kind of crowdfunding project. I believe in supporting new local entrepreneurs, but you shouldn't ask for an early retirement.

No-class act by a bunch of overpaid, immature, arrogant, spoiled brats! "The #Dodgers are idiots" http://t.co/KfZZliBFBV
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) September 20, 2013

Senator McComplain knows a thing or two about coming in second and watching someone take a plunge in the pool (I mean poll) #POoLITICS
— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilson38) September 20, 2013

In between pushing for war with Syria and feuding with the Tea Party, Sen. John McCain managed to get into a Twitter beef with the L.A. Dodgers in recent days. Read all about it here and here.