Washington DC
Topic: Personal

We didn't make it to the Smithsonian today, but we did have a very illuminating afternoon in the Phillips Gallery where they have the original of the Renoir " Luncheon of the Boating Party", one of Bruce's favorite paintings, as well as quite a collection of impressionist works.  The Phillips also had a considerable collection of modern art for us to snark over. We neither of us really seem to feel modernism.

Incidentally, about impressionism - in the movie "Clueless", one of the rich high school girls in the story is described as a 'Monet' - "She looks fine from a distance, but close up, it's a mess."

Now back to the blog entry.

We went to Second Story Books after the art gallery, and if I wasn't growing faint and crabby from hunger, we might still be there.  Bruce added to his collection of reading materials, being as how his apartment can not quite pass as a used book store. Yet.

We have been walking everywhere, the weather's nice and crisp, Bruce likes pointing out interesting views and landmarks to me, and I enjoy his company. Although there's plenty of cabs and the Metro, we still prefer the physical immersion (and the exercise) we get from walking through the city streets, through the parks, and through traffic circles trying to get out without getting killed by embassy cars (which they could do with immunity if they wanted to).

Bruce pointed out to me that DC license plates say, on the bottom, "Taxation Without Representation". I love that open, expressive, and justifiably dour attitude. It's all about the free speech, no?

About today's photos:

(1) Pink and Blue: Magnolias against the sharp blue afternoon sky, a flash of color in winter

(2) Magnolias against the red-brick of the Phillips Collection building

(3) magnoliashadows.jpg: From the inside of the gallery, the magnolia tree outside cast its shadows across the white canvas shade across the window facing the light in the afternoon sun.

(4) We walked by a cleaner's today, where they claim to use "organic solvents". Organic, like benzene? 'Cause you know, aromatic compounds really does the stains in. Brilliant! We pointed, we laughed, we took a photo so you too can point and laugh.

 

From the Inappropriate Vernacular School of American Journalism
Topic: Review

Of all the ways one could have headlined a story about the slave/slaveowner ancestry-link between Al Sharpton and Strom Thurmond, the San Diego Union Tribune chooses "Who's Your Daddy?"

Baby Got Back - Gilbert & Sullivan styel
Topic: Fun
LOLZ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkJdEFf_Qg4

Demodex folliculorum? In MY eyelashes?
Topic: News

http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/eyelash/creatures.html

 

Demodex folliculorum, or the demodicid, is a tiny mite, less than 0.4 mm long, that lives in your pores and hair follicles, usually on the nose, forehead, cheek, and chin, and often in the roots of your eyelashes.

(A follicle is the pore from which a hair grows). Demodicids have a wormlike appearance, with legs that are mere stumps. People with oily skin, or those who use cosmetics heavily and don't wash thoroughly, have the heaviest infestations ... but most adults carry a few demodicids. Inflammation and infection often result when large numbers of these mites congregate in a single follicle.

 

This is worse than centipedes in my vagina!

 

In Flanders Fields the poppies grow...
Topic: Opinion

Smalltown Football vs. The Internet
Topic: Fun
In October of 2006, the town of Snohomish, WA made the news: A Junior ROTC student whose leg was blown open in a grisly accident when the traditional cannon used to blast off a football game exploded on him. Townspeople, with their Traditional Values, sent him heartwarming messages such as "Stay quiet about this or we'll break your other leg."

The story made the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, then the internet, then Fark.com.  After several months of internet ridicule, an arrest had been made and the town apparently is trying to clean up its tarnished reputation for being heartless hicks.

Farkers not only sent emails and phone calls to the town and the high school complaining about their poor treatment of the boy, but also had other kinds of fun while they were at it.

First, they went to the high school's football website (!?) and all voted, repeatedly, that they "will not be attending any games" in the on-line poll. At one point, a town that has about 8,000 residents had an on-line poll showing over 20,000 people will not attend any games.  I mean, according to the (now legitimate again, see below) wiki, the team last won a state championship in 1978, so a lot of my fellow Farkers didn't see why the town was so damn proud of the team to begin with.

And then Wikipedia got involved. Wikipedia, "the encyclopedia anyone can edit", enjoyed extensive free editing for the Snohomish Senior High School entry until an administrator wised to the Fark and locked the page down and cleaned it back up. While it was going on though, it was great times . No, really, it was bleedin' fantastic.  Compare the two wikis; I'm still laughing.  

A little hike won't kill us... will it?
Topic: News
Hard-core hiking trail up a mountain in China:

http://mb14.scout.com/fvanderbiltfrm10.showMessage?topicID=3846.topic

Hah! I knew it, now there's proof.
Topic: News

Office queen bees hold back women’s careers

From the Article:

FORGET “jobs for the boys”. Women bosses are significantly more likely than men to discriminate against female employees, research has suggested.

...

The findings, based on experiments carried out among more than 700 people, suggest that the “queen bee syndrome” of female rivalry in the workplace may sometimes be as important as sexism in holding back women’s careers.

“Female and older participants showed more prejudice against the (idea of a) female leader than did male and younger participants,” said Rocio Garcia-Retamero, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and lead author of the report.

...

The study says: “Female participants had a stronger tendency than male participants to view the female candidates as less qualified than the male candidate . . . they also thought that the female candidate would fare worse in the future in her job than the male candidate.”

 

 

AP Polls have all bases covered
Topic: News
AP Poll: Americans see gloom, doom in 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061231/ap_on_re_us/2007_predictions_ap_poll?feck

AP Poll: Americans optimistic for 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061231/ap_on_re_us/optimism_ap_poll

Topic: News

The son-in-law of the President of Taiwan have been convicted, along with his father, of insider trading. Going to jail for 6 and 8 years respectively. It's the most severe sentence for such crimes ever handed down.  The entire nation (and some expats) have been following this, as it's such a clear case of special-privilege and corruption that the only surprise is how long it took for the dirt to hit the fan. The judge in the case quoted chapter and verse from the Analects of Chuang Tzu, a Taoist scholar who lived in the 4th Century BCE, as part of his sentencing:

"Those who steal a fishhook are common criminals; those who steal a nation are rulers; such does the downfall of virtue and honesty from the doors of those who rule."

Expanding on this, the judge pointed out in his ruling that those in power have come to expect to escape the reach of the law, and it is no longer acceptable; he also implies in his writing that the defendants' abuse of power have contributed to further the unjust gap between the haves and the have-nots in society, to the detriment of the nation beyond simply a criminal act.  He further writes, quoting from classical sources, that the elite defendants have "purchased power with money, and extracted money using power" He called the defendants 'arch-typical elite criminals' who expect to be above the law.  The ruling document ran to 297 pages, over 230,000 words.

Sounds like the judge in this case had a Classical Education.  I mean, I totally agree with him and I feel a sincere respect for the classical scholarship, but jeezus, a 297-page ruling? Surely to read that is a sentence in itself.