Tuesday, April 15, 2008

cougars in chicago

at 6 p.m. last night, chicago police cornered and shot a wild cougar. the chicago tribune reports that it is the first to roam city streets since chicago's founding.

this is not entirely accurate, as i have it on good authority that many locals are well-practiced in the art of cougar hunting.


note: this is not the FH's first cougar post. she was almost eaten by the feline variety in 2004.
also, thanks for the tribune link, jdt!

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what jefferson 1 is about.

i have been paying particularly close attention to the jefferson 1 situation (see the press release). though response has generally been outrage, a not-insignificant portion of blog/youtube comments are in the "she was being irresponsible" camp.

to me, this is certainly not about the questionable dancing of some participants, or the questionable activities of thomas jefferson. to me this is not about misuse of public property, it is not about race. this is not about the interaction between the jefferson 1 and the officer, the group's motives, or what the law should be.

this is about the transparent enforcement of a clear rule of law, and the need for easy access to laws. officers could not cite any type of rule authorizing the arrest. this strongly suggests they either a) didn't know one or b) didn't think she needed to know. this is about detaining a human being without citing or, as it seems, having, just cause. it's moreover about the real possibility that countless individuals outside the jefferson 1's socioeconomic status are arrested without being shown the law in writing. and they may not have the resources to fight back. they mayn't feel that they even should fight back. that is what this is about.

the albeit flawed founders were generally in favor of a government with clear, set rules not subject to the whim of the ruler like their former king, or his extensions in the form of a state. this is about that perhaps-impossible ideal, as certainly there are unavoidable gray areas in enforcement. but this is about asking the law's representatives to move a little closer towards that ideal.

that's what i think, anyway.

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

illegal peaceful assembly

in honor of thomas jefferson's birthday, last night twenty individuals gathered with ipods at the tj memorial in dc to hold a "silent" dance party. unfortunately i wasn't there, but i hear that quiet dancing ensued at midnight... and ten minutes later a participant was arrested.

find details here from:
the event's co-organizer
the agitator
megan at the atlantic
outside the beltway
below the beltway
julian sanchez
f & s .org

peaceful assembly is, at times, restricted. what about this case? certain elements seem suspicious, including that police refused to give badge numbers or cite cause for arrest. the memorial website states that it is open 24/7, but that "for planned events dependent upon the activity and number of participants a permit may be required." the number and nature criteria are oddly missing. the phone line is closed on weekends so we must wait for monday to find out.

but whatever the case, it reminds me of a certain movie about dancing...

update: eye-witness interview
update 2: great article in the american spectator on the incident. though the eye-witness interview is down, footage of the incident is online now.

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Monday, December 04, 2006

more to come after finals, but...

the APA just asked me a question i ask myself all the time:

oops! how did i get here

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Isn't it after finals? - John

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Thu Dec 21, 02:43:00 PM  

haha. true enough.

now there's a fresh post, thanks for keeping me in check :)

my excuse: 26kbps connection. apparently dial-up is still hot in ohio.

By Blogger ns, at Sat Dec 23, 01:50:00 AM  

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Thursday, August 10, 2006

photos from my trip

well, as everyone can tell the trip is over and we're still alive. despite a few incidents, such as the near-fistfight with a french TV journalist in cyprus, the i think it went very well. you can check out some photos here. they look much better if you open up the fullscreen view (top right button).

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Holy crap, Nikki, those pictures are beautiful. It makes me wish I had gone to Italia. Why does our culture—so much wealthier than that of Renaissance Italy—concentrate on making better gadgets when we should be building cathedrals?

Anyway, I'm glad that you had what looked like a wonderful vacation and thanks for sharing the awesome pictures. What sort of digital camera are you using?

--Chuck

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Thu Aug 10, 11:38:00 PM  

Welcome home, Nikki:)-JWC

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Sun Aug 13, 04:53:00 PM  

thanks john :)

chuck! good to hear from you! italy was so beautiful, i was expecting a lot and found even more to love than i anticipated. the cathedrals were amazing, but an excellent reminder of how a good religion can go terribly wrong when paired with power. anyway, right now i'm using a canon elph 6 megapixel camera. it's pretty excellent (and small).

anyway let me know if you're even in chicago!

By Blogger ns, at Sun Aug 13, 07:16:00 PM  

Canon, eh? The pics are so gorgeous that I may well follow you down that road.

I have some rarely seen family in Chicago, so I may very well try to swing a junket or two.

--chuck

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Thu Aug 24, 11:00:00 AM  

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Monday, July 24, 2006

out hangin' with the lebanese

i won't be posting for the next week or so, as i'll be on vacation in cyprus and rome. i'm excited, though a little leery of being so close to israel/lebanon. if we don't die, it will be awesome.

and if the apocalypse comes, i can always say i was there first!

i may post a few things if i get near a computer again (now i'm in an airport), but not sure if that will happen... i wouldn't want to tease.

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Be careful over there, and send me an email already.

By Blogger Greg Newburn, at Mon Jul 24, 10:29:00 PM  

thanks :)

maybe i will now that i know you haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

By Blogger ns, at Sat Aug 05, 05:57:00 PM  

What would make you think that?

By Blogger Greg Newburn, at Sun Aug 06, 03:05:00 PM  

well liberteaser is vanished, and you didn't have any message on your cato email address saying how to contact you! i thought you'd been kidnapped by the libertarian mafia.

By Blogger ns, at Tue Aug 08, 12:19:00 PM  

nah, libertarians don't like me enough to kidnap me.

I'm not sure anyone does, sadly...

Hey look up in one of your fancy neuro-textbooks this disorder:

Apaathy about everything, being completely uninterested in things that used to keep you interested, and not being able to recognize the consequences of actions.

Because I think I have that. You tell me what it is, then give me some pills to fix it.

By Blogger Greg Newburn, at Tue Aug 08, 03:29:00 PM  

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Thursday, June 08, 2006

monkeys!

um, would we call this animal abuse in the US?
People come to the monkeys for support, zoo director Zhanetta Kochenovskaya told Interfax. "Anyone can come into the room where the monkey family lives and tell them of their troubles and problems. You can whine, tell your secrets and even cry out loud."

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Wednesday, June 07, 2006

just wanted to say...

i can't wait to see the $4.1 million dollar picture of brad and angelina's baby, which is guaranteed to look exactly like every other one-week-old baby. awesome.

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Saturday, June 03, 2006

being pollock

jason just showed me a great use of flash and other web wizardry, jacksonpollock.org. my first one:

there are also sites like this for mondrian.

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Thursday, June 01, 2006

the way i like my democracy

with "beer, cigarettes and pork rinds"

(from a land far, far away in the delicious bureaucrash archives)

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Sunday, May 28, 2006

hedgehog locale update

quiz:
what do jessie jackson and john ashcroft have in common?
...thomas sowell and paul wolfowitz?
...milton friedman and kurt vonnegut, jr.?

answer:
they all went to the university of chicago.

and soon i will, too. in chicago's masters program i will study lots of fun and exciting stuff, like brains (yes, brains are fun! and exciting!). i'm taking the summer "off" so officially no longer staff here (although i'd like to think of myself as director emeritus), and will instead be here for the next few months.

now that i'm finished freaking out about those decisions, i'll probably do some more blogging...

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Congratulations. I am certainly hoping that you turn out most like Jessie Jackson. A penchant for rhyming prose might improve the digestability of neuroeconomic reseach.
"We've got to probe
The frontal lobe
To give your subliminal choice
An academic voice.
Can I get an Amen?"

JC

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Mon May 29, 10:11:00 AM  

HA. thanks, you :) i'll add that verse to my first academic paper.

but to succeed i "must know it is not my aptitude but my attitude that will determine my altitude."

By Blogger ns, at Mon May 29, 12:42:00 PM  

congratulations!

By Blogger David, at Mon Jun 12, 01:22:00 AM  

thanks! i will be at GMU util the end of August though, so you had better hang out with me. :)

By Blogger ns, at Mon Jun 12, 10:26:00 AM  

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Wednesday, April 12, 2006

big, pointy teeth

life imitates art in this story of... "monster rabbit" targets vegetable patch

reuters:
Smith himself has described it as a "brute" which had left huge pawprints.
"This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster," he was quoted by newspapers as saying.
"It is absolutely massive. The first time I saw it I thought to myself 'What the hell is that?'
"We have two lads here with guns who are trying to shoot it, but it is very clever."

monty python's holy grail:
this cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived!
that's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!
that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide!

thanks to christy "not germanic" rhoton for link.

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Thursday, February 23, 2006

free drinks and pancakes

two worthwhile dc events featuring free stuff for a good cause. see you there!
  • visit your local IHOP on tuesday, february 28th for a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. the catch? the leukemia and lymphoma society will be collecting donations if you'd like to give in exchange for your pancakes. i'll be helping the IHOP in arlington from 11 - 3 in case any of you want me personally to coerce you into donating. view the flyer here. more about LLS here.
  • LiNK (liberty in north korea), a relatively new organization set up to promote freedom and human rights in north korea, is hosting a benefit happy hour and raffle on wednesday, march 1st, 6 - 8:30 PM at cafe asia in rossyln. a $10 donation gets you a free drink. visit the evite, poster, or website for more info.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

unfortunate word of the day

looking for a sign of what to do with your relationship? merriam webster has just given you a clear one. since this word is certainly not word-of-the-day quality, m-w online is definitely trying to send someone a signal today.
The Word of the Day for February 14 is:

eradicate \ih-RAD-uh-kayt\ verb
1 : to pull up by the roots
2 : to do away with as completely as if by pulling up by the roots
for those of you who are looking to pull your relationship up by the roots, read the scientific rules for attraction before you start over.

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Wednesday, February 08, 2006

otherwise, it would all just be dots

my new (and first) logo is based on this classic example of pattern perception:



those who have never encountered this image simply see splotches. once the image of a dalmatian (center right, facing away, head down) is point out, most people cannot help but see it henceforth (if you still cannot see it, this demonstration points it out). this illustrates a point of gestalt psychology. without a lens - believing the dog is there - most could not perceive it. however, once you apply this filter your mind fills in the lines between the dots, making the dog unmistakable.

we employ filters while processing all kinds of information; they are crucial for connecting otherwise random-seeming points in our lives and work. otherwise, it would all just be dots. everyone, even journalists and academics, must apply filters when forming data points into stories. the 'hog will hopefully serve as a reminder (to me) of this, and that i have filters as well.

okay, and that hedgehogs are cool - as if we need reminded of that.

anyway, i hope you like the site. although some people feel it is too blue, i think it's just right (huge thanks to designer-extraordinaire JDT).

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Wednesday, October 12, 2005

light the night: one step closer

hopethank you to everyone who donated to DC’s light the night walk. my team raised over $1,750! DC walks have raised $1.4 million so far this year. this money will not only go to research, but also to family and patient counseling, financial aid, education programs, caregiver resources, and more.

at the start of the walk, leukemia survivors and patients lit their white balloons first. the wave of white lights throughout the sea of walkers was incredibly emotional. each balloon is attached to a story, one of tears, suffering, and – often – a feeling of helplessness. every nine minutes someone dies from blood cancer, and countless suffer untenable lives everyday.

although the situation is grim, the outlook is not. i think we all caught the distinct smell of hope in the air that night. we will conquer this.

thank you again to all of my sponsors, and to my wonderful teammates, for putting us one step closer.

thanks also to bristol-myers squibb, without whom we would be much further from a cure.

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Wednesday, October 05, 2005

last chance...

the leukemia and lymphoma society's light the night walk is tomorrow night.

a big THANK YOU to those who have donated.

to those who are saving their $ for katrina victims, please keep in mind that many leukemia patients lived in that region. the society is doing their best to restore normal lives for these doubly-afflicted people. your donation can help!

a statement from the society on their hurricane efforts:
"In order to help meet the critical need to restore health care to the communities ravaged by the hurricane, the Society will commit $1 million to help get blood cancer treatment centers and patient support services in the devastated areas up and running again. The organization will carry out this commitment through two of its major fundraising campaigns: a half million dollars from the 2005 Light The Night Walk and a half million dollars from this year's School & Youth Programs.

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Tuesday, October 04, 2005

comments down

forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but comments are down. disappeared, in fact. not quite sure why, but i'll try to figure it out.

and no, it's not a clever way to get greg to stop harassing me to post.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2005

what i do have

i don't have happy hours, a myspace page, or a 10,000 hit-a-day readership, but what i do have is one kickass shirt:



thanks, guys!

make your own at neighborhoodies.com.

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Thursday, September 22, 2005

discussing anarchism with strangers

the other day i was on the metro reading murray rothbard's for a new liberty. the clean-cut gentleman seated next to me, who appeared to be about 45, was engaged in a phone conversation for half of our journey. shortly after snapping shut his cell phone, i noticed him peering over me and reading along. hoping to subtly proselytize, slowly moved my hand away so he could fully appreciate rothbard's acumens.

after a few minutes i looked up and he, embarrassed, apologized for reading over my shoulder. he noted that what i was reading seemed interesting, and i told him a little about rothbard (what little i know). he then told me a little about his family. his grandparents were coal miners in west virginia, who advocated unions and all sorts of government programs. he went on to explain that the carter era's fiascos, as well as union corruption, made his parents and grandparents skeptical that government intervention was the solution. we then had a long, interesting, and thoughtful discussion of unions, their viability, and their compatibility with a libertarian worldview.

funny, the people you meet on the metro - or anywhere, really. the media likes to portray america as a nation divided, with everyone falling into one of two boxes. i'm always pleasantly surprised when talking to the "average" person (outside the policy world) about how non-ideological they are. or maybe i'm just lucky.

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Tuesday, September 06, 2005

what artist are you?

this is a somewhat amusing quiz, especially if you know the artists they're referring to in the questions. my results (they're right about the trousers):

You scored as Piet Mondrian. You are a painstaking and disciplined worker with your eye on the prize. You appreciate silence and simplicity and you always change into fresh trousers when receiving guests.

Piet Mondrian

95%

Cecily Brown

65%

Vincent Van Gogh

60%

Bob Ross

50%

Willem DeKooning

40%

R. Crumb

25%

Artemisia Gentilleschi

25%

William Blake

15%

What artist are you?
created with QuizFarm.com


i'm happy with most of it, but a little disappointed i'm only at 50% on bob ross. bob ross is awesome.

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Monday, September 05, 2005

fun with memos, part 2

the half of my salary uncle sam allows me to keep will be taxed again when i spend it. a good example is my cell phone bill, with four separate government charges making up over 10% of my total payment. the "regulatory cost recovery charge" and "federal universal service charge" are my favorites.

some of it will also go towards more taxes, such as the virginia car tax. this weekend i got my “bill.” someday i'll regret writing passive-aggressive memos, but for now:

thinking of forced taxes (and the programs they fund) reminded me of one of my GRE words:

internecine: adj. mutually destructive; causing harm to both sides

[aside: quick! someone play scrabble with me before i forget all these words!]

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Sunday, August 28, 2005

words of the day

okay, i've foundered in the abyss of geometry and reading comprehension. regular readings may be surprised (or not) that my quantitative & vocab skills are not quite up to GRE-par. i've missed being an oblocutor. however, this is my last week of nugatory studying, which means i'll be procrastinating (read: blogging some).

in my quest for a more magniloquent vocabulary, i came across the new american sub-standard politically incorrect dictionary. check it out, although it doesn't really live up to the high expectations its name creates.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2005

my mondrian

mymondrian piet mondrian is one of my favorite artists, so i got a bit excited when i saw this. check out mydata=mymondrian, a digital art piece created by c. j. yeh.

mydata uses your specs to create a personalized mondrian artwork. i'm not sure what, if anything, he does with the data, but the concept is kind of cool.

i have linked to this before, but check out this create-your-own mondrian site.

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Friday, July 15, 2005

beware the hedgehogs

today someone found this blog by searching for the phrase "hedgehogs are taking over the world save the monkeys!!!!!!!!!" in yahoo. i am number 4. love search engines. it is not clear whether this indicates that hedgehogs are taking over the world to save the monkeys, or are taking over in some kind of hog-simian alliance. anyway, stay tuned for more news on that.

in google, searching "hedgehogs in space" brings you here as well. hedgehogs in space is actually a hedgehog breeding operation run by two psychology graduate students, lending more evidence to my theory that psych grads may be the strangest breed of grad student ever.

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Wednesday, July 13, 2005

MIT survey

i finally took it, and

Take the MIT Weblog Survey

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Sunday, July 10, 2005

ban the ban success!

this weekend, ban the ban had modest success at polly's cafe, with around three-fifths of the patrons signing. we (the "three amigos") encountered an odd species in their habitat: pro-ban smokers, a species i naively assumed didn't exist. our mission was not to argue or convert, but some of these folks voluntarily offered up several explanations for their seemingly controdictory behaviors. the pro-ban smokers i talked to either:
  • don't want to smell like smoke,
  • think the ban will make them smoke less, or
  • don't believe it will affect their lives.
of course, these conversations took place over their lit cigarettes. oh, the irony.

speaking of the smoking ban, see greg's, um, interesting analysis of the psychology of politicians pushing it...

thanks to brooke for putting the whole thing together and doing all the work.

update: adrienne critiques ban justifications she encountered. she also mentions the server my compatriots encountered at polly's who was for the ban. i'd post a response on her comments but they're not working, so here's what i have to say about that. we tried to explain that there are plenty of jobs available in smoke-free environments in this city. he eventually agreed, but said they weren’t in what he wanted to do – wait tables. lots of people have the impression that the government needs to step in and make the market cater to them specifically, but it shouldn’t, and can’t, do that for everybody! i want to work in an establishment where no one uses swear words because they cause me extreme psychological and spiritual distress. is it the government’s job to create that ideal environment for me? NO!

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Friday, July 08, 2005

help bar power

ban the ban, DC's movement to stop the DC smoking ban, is taking to the streets tonight. we'll be out collecting signatures to show the DC council that bar patrons don't want the ban.

locations:
  • the big hunt (6-8:30pm)
  • garrett’s in georgetown (6:30-9pm)
  • local 16 (6:30-9pm)
  • polly’s cafe(8-10pm)
  • stetson’s (8-10pm)
  • 18th street lounge (9-11pm)
  • dragonfly (9-11pm)
  • the red room at the black cat (9-11pm)
  • DC-9 (9-11pm)
this nonsmoker, yours truly, will be at polly's from 8 to10 pm. come by and say hi, sign a postcard for the council, and support restaurant and bar owner freedom and a diverse DC nightlife!

on a similar note, last night i was at clarendon ballroom, a bar in arlington, for the first time (sober). it turns out it's smoke-free - voluntarily! imagine that.

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Wednesday, June 29, 2005

two-legged coward

yesterday, i had my legs waxed. to some who know me well, this will be a shock. to others, you may wonder why this warrants declaration. i will give three reasons, in no particular order:

  1. it was the most painful thing to which i have ever willingly submitted myself. it is difficult for me to imagine worse pain.
  2. i put my well-being in the hands of a tiny, sadistic, chinese woman who i’m fairly certain could not understand a word i said, and vice versa for sure.
  3. this event ended a three month shaving hiatus.

my shaving hiatus began in april when it occurred to me that the only reason i shaved was because of social pressure to conform to some arbitrarily arrived upon norm for leg hair. surely, there is no more pervasive norm that is so against nature. this irritated me, and the more i thought about it the more i needed a better reason than that to ever shave again.

i have never before been so incredibly self-conscious, and began to notice how pervasive the practice really is – even among my contrarian friends, everyone shaves. the double-takes and scornful looks i got from other women surprised me (although friends were supportive). the desire and power to punish deviants, no doubt a throwback to our caveman days, certainly is strong.

for a while i enjoyed my deviant status, and took pleasure in the incorrect stereotypes i was probably categorized under (especially when wearing my “this is what a feminist looks like” t-shirt). at first i derived a sense of moral superiority over the sheep herded up to shave their legs unthinkingly, where i, clearly a more enlightened being, had broken from such meaningless conformity. ah, humans. how weak they are.

but, honestly, i hated it. i mean really, really, hated it. althougth i had certainly internalized society's norm, i felt it was ugly and gross, and even after months, i wasn’t used to it. although able to avoid scorn most places, except the gym and the pool, i couldn’t take it myself.

coward? maybe. norms are present in all cultures, and we seem programmed to create them. i learned that sticking with norms has merit, if only to conserve psychological resources.

to celebrate my liberation from liberation, i shared a pint of ben & jerry’s with david. so good.

more on norms

FYI, wolford net hosiery is excellent at camouflaging, and is probably good to have on hand in case you can’t shave.

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Monday, June 27, 2005

silly thought for the day: insouciance

amy's reference to dean's post on mispronounced words led me to check my pronunciation of "insouciance." the second pronunciation at merriam-webster is hilarious, hilarious, hilarious. it reduced me to an annoying 13-year-old who insisted on playng it over and over again.

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Friday, June 17, 2005

out 6/18 through 6/24

i'll be at a wonderful, fabulous, amazing, thrilling IHS summer seminar and on other traveling adventures next week. until i'm back in DC, i don't think i'll be able to blog much, if at all...

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Thursday, June 16, 2005

DCites: enjoy mexican food and fight cancer!

if you are in the dc area and want to help fight blood cancers, today provides a fun and tasty opportunity to do so.

from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today, baja fresh will donate 15% of its sales to the leukemia & lymphoma society.

view participanting restaurants in the DC metro area.

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Wednesday, June 15, 2005

worth mentioning

a kid from my high school, devon seymour, was killed over the weekend in iraq. the news was sobering; it is easy to forget what is actually going on over there.

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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

dc smoking ban, back again

although solidly defeated last year, smoking ban advocates are at it again. dc residents, please come out to support business and customer autonomy:
The DC Council is considering two bills that would make all indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants, smoke-free.

What’s your opinion?
Ward One Town Hall Meeting
Thursday, June 9, 2005 - 7 p.m.
Lincoln Theatre
1215 U Street, NW
(U Street/Cardozo Metro)
the first section of the proposed bill (PDF) asserts that second hand smoke is unhealthy and uncomfortable. it also states that smoker/nonsmoker separations are not always effective ways of preventing the harms of smoke inhalation. the above assertions are debatable, but even if true one can recognize the ills of smoke while allowing people the choice to be around it anyway.

not surprisingly the bill's distinction between public and private seems a bit fuzzy:
“Public Place” means an enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted.... A private residence is not a public place unless it is used as a child care, adult day care, educational or health care facility.
nb: ban the ban
hat-tip: bill

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Thursday, May 19, 2005

cobwebs, explained

in a suspicious turn of events possibly meant to create balance in the universe, my neighbor passworded his wifi connection while i was i barbados. alas, this is the explanation for the cobwebs at this address lately.

yesterday i submitted and got cable modem of my very own, and should therefore be back to blogging as irregularly as before, for better or worse!

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Monday, May 16, 2005

i've found my retirement spot...

barbados was beautiful. although i do love dc, it's not hard to guess where i'd rather be:


crane beach. voted in the top 10 beaches in the world.


the resort's pool wasn't half bad (our suite had its own pool as well).

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Friday, May 06, 2005

hedgehog out

i'll be out for most of next week and will probably be posting again at the end of week. i'll miss you!

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Thursday, April 07, 2005

fun with memos

i highly recommend utilizing the memo line to vent frustration when writing checks.

to the internal revenue "service":

to the district court of maryland for a $140 speeding ticket:

who says paying the government can't be fun?!

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Tuesday, March 22, 2005

fun with statues

i realized the utility of my new camera phone the other day while hanging out with my friend darrell in gettysburg, and had to share. we took some liberties with the very silly "return visit" sculpture at lincoln square, placed there in the early 90's by the lincoln fellowship of pennsylvania. although most of the pictures didn't turn out well (the technology isn't perfected) here are a few:




lincoln's friend isn't as honest as his cable knit sweater led us to believe. the image quality isn't great, but can you see he's taking the wallet out of my pocket? sneaky.

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Tuesday, March 01, 2005

my buddies carter and wilson

so, once again an online quiz accuses me of being a liberal, and we’re not talking “classical” here. my results from the “neoconservative quiz” over on the Christian science monitor’s website:

Based on your answers, you are most likely a liberal.

Liberal

Liberals…

  • Are wary of American arrogance and hypocrisy
  • Trace much of today's anti-American hatred to previous US foreign policies.
  • Believe political solutions are inherently superior to military solutions
  • Believe the US is morally bound to intervene in humanitarian crises
  • Oppose American imperialism
  • Support international law, alliances, and agreements
  • Encourage US participation in the UN
  • Believe US economic policies must help lift up the world's poor

Historical liberal: President Woodrow Wilson
Modern liberal: President Jimmy Carter

so, being against arrogance and hypocrisy is liberal, and only liberals grasp cause-effect relationships. does it often seem the reverse to anyone else? i suppose foreign and domestic policy do not have to be consistent.

thanks to john “libertarian” coleman for the link.

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Wednesday, February 16, 2005

it's true, i'm just a girl

i am a woman, and a libertarian. for a long time, this never struck me as unusual. most of the officers of my libertarian club in college were women, and many of the people i work with daily are women as well. the fact that my experience was unusual didn't occur to me until a couple years ago when someone lamented to me the dearth of female-kind in libertarian circles. and just like the dalmatian in gestalt psychology, i began to see it too.

why are fewer women libertarians? many speculate that women reject the seemingly uncaring philosophy, so it's exciting that folks are now trying to polularize a different perspective on the ideology. it also seems that university women's centers create a monopoly on feminist ideas on campus. it’s a shame alternatives aren’t presented.

update: link updated.

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Thursday, January 13, 2005

me in lotr

alina is the king - some girls get all the luck. i am some forest-queen-fairy something-or-other, galadriel.

Which Fantasy/SciFi Character Are You?

the quiz judges:
Possessing a rare combination of wisdom and humility, while serenely dominating your environment you selflessly use your powers to care for others.
"selflessly." hm. does this mean i can no longer be a libertarian?

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Thursday, December 30, 2004

ice storm pictures

a few pictures from from ohio's ice storm, for those interested.

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Friday, December 03, 2004

changes...

i decided the blog's format was annoying, so i've changed it. i hope it's less so now. the content is another story... but there are serious questions i had to consider when re-doing it, such as: do i really need a left and a right sidebar? i'm fairly sure the answer is "no." but it is prettier this way, i think.

and blue is cool. the old site was supposed to be reminiscent of piet mondrian's later compositions, but it didn't really turn out too well - i don't think anyone "got it." on a related note, create your own mondrianesque art here.

any thoughts on the switch are welcome. i'm not sure i'm committed to it.

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