I’m semi-back to posting again after a bit of a break. I’ve forgotten how walking in this town really takes it out of you. Going to buy milk here means a 10 block walk, and the net effect is to make beds and other horizontal surfaces very inviting at the end of the day. All the napping really eats into my blogging. Still I’m glad to be rid of my rental car and back on foot; it cost an arm and a leg but was fun to drive.
Tomorrow I’ll be seeing the Sean Scully exhibit at the Phillips Collection with a friend who’s passing through on the way to Boston. It’s another perk of being in a city where you can be in a gallery just by walking eight minutes in any direction. I’ll also be in attendance as I finally get to see S. act for the second time, only this time I’ll actually know it’s her.
Who am I kidding. I’ll be napping again tomorrow for sure.

Christmas. And my family. And my old friends hearing my music for the first time. And drinks. And thoughtful gifts. And now DC for two weeks. I need a huge nap.

Q: The iPod Zepto box was empty.

A: It’s not empty. Look closely at the period-sized dot in the middle of the box. Now, find the red rectangular square in the center of the dot. This is the outer packaging of your iPod Zepto. In a sterile, wind-free environment, carefully open the outer packaging and remove the clear-plastic inner wrapping. Finally, using the enclosed high-magnification lens, unwrap the plastic and look for a white case. Inside the white case is your iPod Zepto.

(via McSweeneys)

Print these up and take them along if you’ve got shopping left to do.

Essaythree Year End Top Ten

Judge: In Order To Teach Two Opposing Scientific Theories, You Need To Have Two Opposing Scientific Theories

“To be sure, Darwin’s theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions[...]“

Also from the 139 page finding:

“The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the
Board who voted for the ID Policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals,
who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would
time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID
Policy.[...]“

For bonus points see also: Lemon Test, Establishment Clause (*)

Taking the pulse Google style.

Since this building contains a lot of different offices someone had the bright idea of putting in a food court in my absence. It will go into service sometime this week, but had a huge spread of food here today that’s indicative of what they plan to serve.

Sweet God and baby Jesus give me strength.

It doesn’t matter how far away I get from the American south, I will always love so-called ’soul food’. For the uninitiated soul food is simply home cooking of the southern variety but with an African-American twist. I’ve always loved the fact that amidst all the hatred blacks and whites in the south–at the end of the day–were sitting down to identical suppers; cornbread, rice and gravy, fried chicken, collard greens. In some odd way it’s like an edible monument to reconciliation. It’s also damn tasty.

Those who know me know I love to cook often adventurous and sophisticated meals. However, sometimes all I want is a plate of turnip greens, cornbread and meatloaf. Wash it down with some Kool-Aid and you’ve got yourself what could easily be called the culinary lingua franca of 60% of the US. (*)

Though not very nuanced this craigslist post attempts put things in perspective in this timeless season of buying crap. You see a lot of articles on better customer service; rarely do you see any reminding customers that their whims are not law. Bravo from someone who has indeed worked retail at Xmas in a past life.

Crafty bastard stunt of the month

I have a ton of CDs lying around that I’ve burned for one reason or another but had no case for. I have them in stacks all over my office, and I hate buying cases because they seem so overpriced. So when I came into three unopened boxes of 5.25″ floppies I had a brainstorm. Here’s how to alter your old Oregon Trail floppies into something useful.

(1) Grab your favorite non alcohol, non acid solvent–I used Goo Gone–and take off the labels if you want. Not mandatory but I did it since some of these had hand written labels on them.

(2) With a good pair of scissors cut about 1/8″ of an inch of material from the top of the floppy. The top, for those of you born after 1989, is the end closest to the ‘hot dog’ with two notches. Be sure to make clean cuts so the insulation doesn’t fray. You’ll also want to leave the insulation (the stuff that feels kind of like a paper towel) inside to protect your CD.

(3) Insert your removable media of choice and marvel at your bastardly craftiness!

Q: What do you wish people knew about evolution?

A: They need to understand what evolution is about. Many of them don’t. I was truly shocked to be told by two separate religious leaders in this country [the U.S.] a few weeks ago–they both said something to the effect that, “I’ll believe in evolution when I see a tailed monkey give birth to a human.”

Richard Dawkins on the state of evolutionary theory. (via kottke)

“Woomba is a robot and it cleans my business. My *lady* business.”
Funniest thing on SNL in 6 years, easy. (via boingboing)