It's been 2 months since our last Five Things you need to know about Michigan posting. I'm tempted to say that there was nothing you needed to know over that period, but the truth is we were busy working and trying to enjoy all the summer fun Michigan has to offer!

(not) Getting the job done

Countdown to Chaos notes that if the Legislature and Governor fail to pass a balanced budget by Oct. 1, they will have failed to perform the only job that Michigan's Constitution requires them to do. You can click over there, read about what will be affected and (if you want) send a message to your elected officials. Does anyone else get the feeling that those on both sides of the aisle are perpetually surprised that what they do has an actual impact on Michigan?

Ben Franklin was a smart dude

Following up on the theme of "you can't expect to live in a place that's worth a darn if you don't invest in it" comes this feature from Celeste at Our Michigan titled Mr. Franklin's advice for Michigan. It's the best thing I read this week ... so go read it.

One, two, three strikes and the Tigers are out

Short of a giant meteor changing the pennant race, I have to agree with the Freep's Michael Rosenberg that the Cleveland's sweep of Detroit makes it time to look at why the Tigers missed the playoffs in 2007. He thinks it comes down to two main factors: not enough pitching and too many injuries and quotes Tiger third baseman Brandon Inge as saying: "To get to the playoffs, first off you have to have a lot of talent, which we do. Secondly, you have to stay healthy, which we did not. It makes it tough."

She blinded me with Science (blogs)

Bootstrap Analysis (of my favorite blogs) notes that The Scientist magazine is asking folks to vote for their favorite life sciences blogs. They're hoping to compile a list of the best life science blogs and with topics ranging from partial immortalization to pharma gossip to cephalopod sex, you're guaranteed to learn something. So click over, cast a comment for a favorite and find some new blogs! (I found Jacks of Science to be delightfully strange)

Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan

I got to the end and realized that in the two months since the last Five Things post, I had forgotten two of the required items: something about the photo and a profile of a place in Michigan. Using my amazing powers of wrapping stuff up in a neat package, I'm going to say that Universities count as places and give you a link to Grand Valley State University. GVSU is a four-year public university that was established in 1960 and provides a fully accredited liberal arts undergraduate and graduate education to more than 22,000 students in all kinds of programs including Health Sciences, which are taught in the GVSU Health Sciences Bldg that was so brilliantly photographed by Paul Harwood. Paul has a lot of great pics that give you a look at everyday life in Grand Rapids and the surrounding area.