A very Journey Christmas

Here's a nice clip of Ryan table dancing to Journey. Nice mustache, dude!

We are the champions

Our SOBO football team was crowned champions of the "Medium Core" league on Saturday. Go us! (follow the link to the champs).

Improv Everywhere

This is pure genious. I just spent about an hour on the Improv Everywhere web page.

Here are the "missions" I checked out...

Best Buy
Millionaire

I'll leave the rest to your random wandering...

The Prodigal Returns

I guess Bush senior is picking up the pieces for his son... This article (from Newsweek) is an interesting discussion of 41 vs 43. I've been annoyed by W's insistance that a vote for Dems is a vote for terrorists. It turns out it's actually a vote for his father!

The American people, as politicians like to say, spoke last week—and spoke in no uncertain terms. The 2006 vote does not suggest an eagerness for a sharp left turn. It seems, rather, to be a plea for a shift from the hard right of the neoconservatives to the center represented by the old man in Houston. The re-emergence of Iraq Study Group voices such as Baker, Gates and Alan Simpson—all longtime friends of Bush Senior—is not unlike the entrance of Fortinbras at the conclusion of "Hamlet." These are 41's men, and the removal of Rumsfeld—an ancient rival of Bush Senior's from the Ford days—is a move toward the broad middle. The apparent triumph of pragmatism over ideology on Iraq was welcome news, at least to the public. In the new NEWSWEEK Poll, 67 percent favor Bush Senior's internationalist approach to foreign policy over his son's more unilateral course

Another awesome picture

This one is of Venus and the Moon, from Earth, in the daytime! (via NASA Watch)

OxymorRun

We have a "Fun Run" here every six months. I call it the "OxymoRun". Most folks participate in the 2 miler, and a few participate in the 10K a week later. My goal since I got here has been to complete the two mile race in under 14 minutes without training. I finally made it this year, with a time of 13:58 (of course, my official time is 14:00 because the timer was a bit slow). Here are my official results:

2Mi. Results:
Place: 22(overall) 4(25-29 age group) Time: 14:00

10K Results:
Place: 20(overall) Time: 51:16

Great picture of Sun, Atlantis, and ISS

Wow. You gotta have a look at this picture.

Space Ship Two

As someone who's flown on the KC-135 "Weightless Wonder" (aka The Vomet Comet), believe me when I say that zero-g is awesome. If I had a sh*tload of money, I would defintely give this ride some consideration. Of course, as an engineer, I'd probably also let them make a few dry runs before I trusted 'em.

Passengers will have several minutes of weightlessness during the spaceflight, and then have about 40 seconds to return to their seats...

Imogen Heap

Chris says:

...when you have a free moment preferably late at night when all is dark point your browser to Imogen Heap's myspace page and listen to Hide and Seek. play it loud and don't listen to the words just listen. then listen again, and maybe one more time...

Fox News?

John Stewart on Fox News and the use of the question mark, brilliant.

Science and Exploration

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin gave a speech at Goddard Space Flight Center last week. Unfortunately I was too busy to get over and see it. The link above points to the text version of the speech. Mike made some good points about the role of Science at NASA (since W's Vision for Space Exploration was released, there has been significant concern at NASA and in the science community that Exploration initiatives would steal all the funding from Science.)

Anyone interested in space, and whether/why humans should travel beyond low Earth orbit should have a look. Here's an excerpt (via SpaceRef)...

So a key point must be made: Exploration without science is not "tourism". It is far more than that. It is about the expansion of human activity out beyond the Earth. Exactly this point was very recently noted and endorsed by no less than Stephen Hawking, a pure scientist if ever there was one. Hawking joins those, including the Chairman of the NASA Advisory Council, who have long pointed out this basic truth: The history of life on Earth is the history of extinction events, and human expansion into the Solar System is, in the end, fundamentally about the survival of the species. So to me exploration is, in and of itself, equally as noble a human endeavor as is scientific discovery.

PMJ2

Back to the Pluto thing. NasaWatch chimed in with this point:

IAU's definition 5A just passed - the one that excludes Pluto as a planet. It also excludes Earth and Jupiter because their zones are not cleared (NEOs, Trojans, respectively).

The scientists obviously know about the NEOs (Near Earth Objects, I believe, which are asteroids in orbits that intersect Earth's orbit) and the Trojans (objects in Jupiter's Lagrange points, which are by definition significantly influenced by Jupiter's gravitational attraction.) Obviously this resolution is a bit too vague, unless they've defined "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit" to mean cleared of objects that are not significantly influenced by its gravitational attraction. Either way, seems to me that NASAWatch is just being argumentative, instead of helping the (often confused) media understand the true meaning of the resolution. Thanks for providing such a valuable service, Keith!

Pretty obvious I don't care about this planet mumbo jumbo, isn't it!?!

Planet Mumbo-Jumbo

Lots of talk recently about what a planet is. I'm mostly bored by the discussion, because it's an argument on semantics for most people (except for the scientists who need to classify things). The one aspect of it that amuses me is this contradiction that I saw in a bunch of places (newsday CNN ABC News):

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.

This based on the recent IAU resolution 5 (below). So here's my question: based on the above logic, wouldn't Neptune also be disqualified since Pluto overlaps with its orbit? I suppose they (the media) phrased it this way because they figured (1)(c) below is too confusing for most people to understand. What does "has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit" mean, anyway? I think the IAU knows what it meant. I'm curious whether Neptune had anything to do with them not calling Pluto a planet. I think not (seems to me that Pluto's moon Charon, or other nearby objects might have something to do with it).

RESOLUTION 5A
The IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:
(1) A planet1 is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
(2) A dwarf planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape2, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
(3) All other objects3 orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies".

(see the rest of the resolutions here)

As my old man would say...

AH, ya dummy Naasz!

I won a dumbshit award yesterday. I was playing street hockey and jumped over part of a fence. Unfortunately, I tripped over the other part. Twisted my knee up some. Hopefully it will go away in time for me to play in a ball hockey tournament this weekend in Ocean City, MD.

Lookout Hokies!

Suspected cop killer shuts Virginia Tech campus

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP) -- Virginia Tech shut down its campus Monday and ordered everyone to remain inside as authorities searched for an escaped inmate suspected of killing a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy.

My Pandora internet radio station

Pandora is a pretty cool internet radio site. It builds a radio station for you based on your artist/song inputs, playing music that has the same characteristics as the ones you enjoy. Mine tend to include "major key tonality", "acoustic guitar", "string solos", etc. The list goes on and on, but every time I see it, I think, "yeah, that is what I like". Well, give it a shot and see if you agree. Here's a link to my favorite station.

To immediately listen to this music station I've created (named "Dar Williams Radio") simply click on this link or copy and paste it into your Internet browser:

http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh92154544887126537

This station plays on Pandora, a music listening and discovery service. Pandora enables users to easily create streaming stations that explore their favorite parts of the music universe. When you click on the link, you'll automatically receive a free no-questions-asked trial so you can listen to this station--and create some more of your own.

Enjoy!

Allen Telescope Array

Still reading this one, but think it warrants a look:

This new instrument which – when completed – will brandish 350 antennas, can speed up the search for signals from other societies by hundreds of times and more. Compared to earlier efforts, it will turn SETI on its metal ear. We're not talking about the difference between a Lexus and a Toyota; we're talking about the difference between a Lexus and an oxcart.

In the next two dozen years, the Allen Telescope Array will parse the nearest thousand light-years of space. If there are other occupants of this galactic neighborhood, we could turn up a signal.

But then what? Would the discovery be put under wraps, either voluntarily or by government edict? If we found a signal, would you know?

FINALLY!

College football is officially here, boyz and girls! So say the guys at Tailgate Fever. Go Hokies!

The outlook is good for us this year. Bud Foster may not be scored on all season. The man is a genius. It’s Socrates, Plato, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and Foster. End of discussion. Oh, and those two guys from Guinness.

Google's gift

Google is cool.

Google is about to give its hometown a wonderful gift: a municipal wireless network covering the entire city of Mountain View, with free Internet access for both residents and visitors.

Rinsing the sponge

I don't remember which of my friends I first heard use the expression, "Rinsing the Sponge", but I think it may have been T Rice. I decided yesterday to see if anyone else uses that expression, and found a number of hits on housecleaning, and a couple others that I won't mention, but nothing about my intended meaning: a brief hiatus in consumption of alcoholic beverages to allow the liver to recover. Usually this act occurs after a particularly painful overindulgence, and includes almost excessive consumption of good old H20.

The Grapes of Wrath

I finished reading the Grapes of Wrath a couple weeks ago. I expected it to be a difficult read, but was, for the most part, entertained. Having finished, now I think it's a tough read. What a strange ending. Certainly are a couple of interesting topics in there, though: the generosity of the poor and the greed of the wealthy; "the bitter conflict between the powerful and the powerless"; man's basic need for work. I've been looking for a reference to this third theme, but haven't found one. It seems that the other ideas are more important to people. For some reason, though, I focused on the way the men in the story were all but worthless when they didn't have work. There's a particular passage (can't find it now) that struck my fancy, dealing with how important a man's work is to him; how it's a part of him, makes him whole or something. Oh well, can't find it.

For some reason I've done a lot of other reading (at least for me) this summer. Here's my current list, starting in late June:

Read:
Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Orson Scott Card, Seventh Son (Book 1, The tales of Alvin Maker)
Orson Scott Card, Red Prophet (Book 2)
Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Orson Scott Card, Prentice Alvin (Book 3)
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Orson Scott Card, Alvin Journeyman (Book 4)
Orson Scott Card, Heartfire (Book 5)

Currently reading:
Sylvia Naser, Beautiful Mind

Zindane: (verb)

What an idoit...

Check out this cool game.

The definition of Zidane from the Urban Dictionary:

1) (name) Captain of the French National Football team during the World Cup 2006. Apparently has a sister involved in not-so-Catholic activities. We know nothing about his mother.

2) (verb) to zidane someone/something: Irrational act of head butting during a crucial moment and being caught in the act by a third-party.

3) (verb) to go zidane: Act of accusing people of saying "bad things" about you and your family and not having the balls of saying what those exact words are to the media, leaving millions of fans in limbo and frustrated.

Judge: Defendant how do you explain your actions?

Defendant: Your honour, I was full of rage. He said bad things about my momma. The only thing I can think of was to zidane him in the nuts.

Judge: What did he say exactly?

Defendant: Bad words. I can't repeat.

Judge: Don't you go zidane on me!!!

And speaking of Chuck Palahniuk

If you like non-stop entertainment in your fictional reading, and don't mind a dark story-line from time to time, I highly recommend the following books by Chuck: Fight Club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, and all the rest except Haunted, which I didn't much care for (but in Chuck's defense, I also never finished reading... got bored and a little too grossed out).

If you like to read the book before you see the movie, it sounds like you'd better pick up a copy of Choke, Survivor, and Invisible Monsters, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed, and all of which could be coming to a theatre near you...

Fight Club

I'm trying to decide how I feel about this article (via DrudgeReport). Apparently some high school kids are organizing fight clubs, like in one of the greatest movies ever made. It sounds like most of the fighters are willing participants, but it seems the rules have changed a bit from "don't talk about fight club": they're actually making and selling videos of the fights. Also, it sounds like the Project Mahem aspect of Fight Club the movie is being taken up by Fight Club the reality.

Anyway, if you've read any of Chuck Palahniuk's books, this quote won't surprise you:

Chuck Palahniuk, author of the cult 1996 novel Fight Club that was the basis for the 1999 movie, declined an interview request but said, "God bless these kids. I hope they're having a great time. I don't think they'd be doing it if they weren't having a great time."

40 seconds is a long time

I've talked to some folks, and seen some blog posts from folks who are comforted by the fact that North Korea's recent launch attempt only lasted 40 seconds. The best was the Daily Show's "Taepodong is not a funny name" video (which I can't find, now).

I for one am not comforted. I commented a while back on some launch failures. It turns out that almost every launch vehicle's maiden launch ended in flames. There are a few exceptions, but most of them had a failure at some point.

Well, anyway, even the veteran Russians have had some failures of late. So don't be fooled into thinking that just because Kim Jung Il is a dope, his engineers are, too...

By the way, check out this Russian (maybe-not) failure:

Launched skyward on June 21 atop a Russian sub-launched Volna rocket, the spacecraft may have actually made it into Earth orbit.

From wikipedia:

The launch took place from Delta III Submarine "Borisoglebsk," in the Barentz Sea. The spacecraft failed to reach orbit after stage one shut down prematurely at 82.86 seconds instead of the expected 100 seconds. The failure was attributed to “critical degradation in operational capability of the engine turbo-pump”. The second and third stage did not separate and the payload did not reach orbit.

I mean, they launched a satellite from a ballistic missle submarine. How cool is that?

"Star Spangled" Launch

I commented before on Discovery's July 4th return to flight launch. Here's a new composite video of the launch, with views from cameras on the Solid Rocket Boosters (those white rockets that are jettisoned first), and a view from the External Tank (the big red thing that they've been having all that foam trouble on).

I like this video because of the perspective it gives on all three of the jettisoned pieces of the launch. Too bad there isn't a fourth view from somewhere on the shuttle.

If you get bored, make sure you fast forward to about 7.5 minutes in to see the SRBs splashdown (watch for the parachute's shadow on the ocean), and then watch the rest to see the ET jettison.

The Fun Also Rises

This weekend Dewey Beach-goers will participate in the "10th Running of the Bull -- Just One -- With Apologies to Hemingway". I like this quote:

"If Hemingway was right . . . and you should 'always do sober what you said you'd do drunk,' " McDonnell wrote on their beach house Web site, "then doesn't it also follow that you should always do drunk what you swore you'd never do sober?"

Read, and then go to Dewey and run with the bulls.

The rocket's red glare

Discover has safely rendezvoused with the International Space Station, and is in the process of attaching the Leonardo module to the ISS. I didn't see the rocket's red glare (I was in the midst of a Tucson-Phoenix-Prescott-Vegas trip), but I assume the folks in south Florida had quite a Fourth of July fireworks display.

Here's an interesting discussion about the launch, and whether Shuttle and ISS are worth the risk of human life. A few quick highlights:

At least two key personnel had given a “no-go” authorization at the recent [Discovery] Flight Readiness Review. One of them was Bryan O’Connor, the Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance, who (as his title indicates) is responsible for flight safety and reliability. The other was chief engineer. Mike Griffin, the NASA administrator, overruled them and made a decision to fly.

So NASA got a lot of flack for going ahead with the launch, and an important question came up: Is ISS worth it?

...no matter how much more time and money is spent in trying to reduce the risk, “safe” will always be a relative, not an absolute term.

Space travel is not safe. Everyone knows that. So why does everyone get so upset when astronauts die? Here's an interesting (and think correct) theory:

What upset people so much about the deaths in Columbia, I think, was not that they died, but that they died in such a seemingly trivial yet expensive pursuit. They weren’t exploring the universe—they were boring a multi-hundred-thousand-mile-long hole in the vacuum a couple hundred miles above the planet, with children’s science-fair experiments. We were upset because space isn’t important, and we considered the astronauts’ lives more important than the mission. If they had been exploring another hostile, alien planet, and died, we would have been saddened, but not shocked ... we would have mourned, but also been inured to their loss as true national heroes in the service of their country (and planet).

Unfortunately, I'm not sure anything can be done to inspire the public more. Space travel is going to take a lot of slow years to become a reality. Those years will require engineers to solve thousands of seemingly boring, unimportant problems. The fact that American's aren't interested is hardly surprising, if you ask me.

The President's New Helicopter

Do we really need to be spending 6.1 billion dollars on some new helicopters for the president? I mean, isn't that a bit much? I guess driving a car to one of his two $325 million dollar (each), $56800 per hour airplanes got to be too expensive, what with gas prices being so high.

I hear the CEO of Walmart doesn't even fly first class (ie, he sits where the people that pay his salary sit). From now on, I'm only voting for the presidential candidate that takes the carpool lane.

NASA and Partners Release New Movies of Titan

This new video from Saturn's moon Tital is way cool. I don't know what all the "bells and whistles" mean, but I like 'em.

Carpool, stupid

Man I wish I could walk to work. Unfortunately, work is 30 miles away. OK, the title of this post should be "Live close to work, stupid", but for an unfortunately large number of us, that either isn't an option, or for some reason just isn't desireable. I could explain why that's true for me, but that isn't the point of this rant, so I will move on. When I drive to work I carpool. I carpool as often as I can. I am a bit of a carpool whore. I give up playing company softball, and happy hour with my colleagues all the time (unless I can convince my fellow carpoolers to participate) because I'd rather share the expense, driving, and most importantly boredom of sitting in traffic with someone other than the local radio traffic guy.

I go out of my way to carpool. So when I see newslines about gas pricing being high, when I read reports of traffic problems in the city, I am always annoyed that those articles never mention the most obvious solution. We could cut our consumption in half immediately if everyone decided to "inconvenience" themselves, to agree to arrange their schedule around one other person, and carpool. Imagine the affect that would have gas prices, not to mention your daily drive time. Hello reporters? Hello politicians? Hello miserable (stupid) people sitting in a car by yourself every morning?

On your way to work tomorrow, try to notice how many people are in the cars you pass. Ever see more than one person in the car next to you? Not really.

Rant over. You get my point.

Falcon I Launch Fails

SpaceRef is reporting that the maiden launch of the Falcon I rocket has failed. The future of space exploration will have to wait a few more months, I suppose. Hopefully this won't be too much of a setback. They don't call it rocket science for nothin'...
SpaceRef reports:

The Falcon I rocket was launched today at 5:30 pm EST from Omelek Island and climbed upward for around a minute.
On board video failed less than a minute into the flight.
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's Vice President for Business Development, has confirmed that the rocket has been lost.
Just before the onboard camera went dead the webcam pointing back at Earth (see below) seemed to show some gyration of the vehicle.

SpaceX Reports:

Falcon 1 Maiden Flight Update: Posted March 24, 2006 3:00 pm
We had a successful liftoff and Falcon made it well clear of the launch pad, but unfortunately the vehicle was lost later in the first stage burn. More information will be posted once we have had time to analyze the problem.

---Elon

Sounds like the vehicle started to lose control and the launch safety official hit the self-destruct button (or the vehicle self-destructed on it's own). I surfed around and found some other recent rocket failures:

12 March, 2000: Sea Launch Fails to Deliver ICO Satellite

"I can only express sincere regret to Hughes and ICO for this event," [Sea Launch president and general manager, Wilbur] Trafton said. "Weve got a good rocket and weve got a great team, and as someone once said, this business is not for the faint of heart."

Maiden Launch Failures:
Ariane 5 Flight 501 Failure

On 4 June 1996, the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 launcher ended in a failure. Only about 40 seconds after initiation of the flight sequence, at an altitude of about 3700 m, the launcher veered off its flight path, broke up and exploded.
...
Ignition of the Vulcain engine and the two solid boosters was nominal, as was lift-off. The vehicle performed a nominal flight until approximately H0 + 37 seconds. Shortly after that time, it suddenly veered off its flight path, broke up, and exploded. A preliminary investigation of flight data showed:
...
The origin of the failure was thus rapidly narrowed down to the flight control system and more particularly to the Inertial Reference Systems, which obviously ceased to function almost simultaneously at around H0 + 36.7 seconds.

Dec 21, 2004 : Boeing Delta IV Heavy Achieves Major Test Objectives in First Flight
or did it?
Delta IV Heavy Launch Failure Investigation Continues

Of course there are plenty of other examples (the launch success rate for most space-capable nations is at about 90%.)


UPDATE:
Fuel leak blamed for rocket failure

SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who also co-founded the PayPal Inc. electronic payment system now owned by eBay, wrote on his Web site earlier this month: "No major surprises were uncovered in the course of the investigation." The company plans two more Falcon launches this year, according to its Web site.

NY St. Pat's chairman compares gays to neo-Nazis

"If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow neo-Nazis into their parade? If African-Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?" Dunleavy was quoted as saying.

The main difference being that the two groups he refers to lynched and murdered hundreds to millions of people, while the group he banned just loved each other...

150 Places To Live Rich

I like the sound of this idea (from Forbes):

We've all heard about the wonders of the broadband Web. You can stream video, surf at lightning speeds, search for God-knows-what, get your e-mail in a blink. Here's what you may not know: It can let you live far richer than you probably live now.

Let me explain: For most of us, our biggest expense is the monthly mortgage payment that buys our house. The median house in America costs $210,000. Let's put in a new kitchen, redo the bathrooms and place the house in a good school district. Bingo, $300,000. For this money, you'll get a 2,300-square-foot house on a quarter-acre.

Does $300,000 sound cheap or expensive to you? Depends entirely on where you live, right? You'd say ridiculously cheap if you happen to live in Boston, New York, Washington, the Florida coasts or anywhere in California.

What if you want to live in a grander fashion? Say a 4,000-square-foot house on an acre.

What would that cost you? In Palo Alto, Calif., Greenwich, Conn., Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown or San Diego's La Jolla, easily $4 million. In just as lovely Bend, Ore., where the sky is blue and dry, the Deschutes River trout jump year round and Mt. Bachelor winter powder is bitchin’, maybe $700,000. You'll get more than an acre, too.

I guess I've got a few more years in the rat race before I can afford that $700K thing, though...

UPDATE:

I went ahead and read more, and found out I already live in one of the 150 places to live rich!

Bohemian Bargains:

Baltimore, MD
City Population: 651,000
Metro Population: 2.6 million
House Price: $369,000

Baltimore got its groove back, baby. Pride sparkles in the bold designs of the skyscrapers and museums that surround the Inner Harbor, boast civic leaders. You can see it in the smiles of Little Italy's restaurant hosts and in buffed-up neighborhoods such as Fells Point. Baltimore also boasts the second-highest concentration of professional and technical workers in the United States. The city is a price bargain compared to nearby Washington, D.C.

NASA's Cassini Discovers Potential Liquid Water on Enceladus

This image from the Cassini-Huygens Multimedia Collection, JPL/NASA, may show evidence of liquid water on Saturn's moon Enceladus. This is, of course, a major discovery, since scientists have always been able to find life wherever liquid water exists (on Earth, anyway).

NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon.

"We realize that this is a radical conclusion -- that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," said Dr. Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. "However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms."

The future of space exploration?

Us space types have had our eye on the new Falcon 1 launch vehicle from SpaceX for quite a while. The maiden launch is tentatively scheduled for March 21-25, after a few months of troubleshooting on the pad.

SpaceX is one of those new-fangled aerospace companies trying to provide cheaper access to space. Founded by Elon Musk of PayPal (sold to Ebay for $1.5 Billion) and Zip2 (sold to Compaq for $307 Million) fame, SpaceX is "Revolutionizing Access to Space" by providing, among other things, "a long term reduction in cost by a factor of ten."

In addition to their new launch vehicle designs (photo above), SpaceX is designing the Dragon, a vehicle that could become "America's First Privately Financed Manned Orbital Spacecraft."

Great Baltimore happy hour specials site

OK, maybe I'm biased... this page has been a hobby of a couple friends (Nat and Brent) and I for the past year or so. It is an awesome source for information on food and drink specials in Baltimore. Want to know where to go out in this fine city? Well, fortunately the Barbeerian research team is out on the streets scoping out specials so you don't have to pay an arm and leg for a decent beer and a meal. Check it out.

Am I biased? Nah, this site rocks.

Revenge of the bull

At least two people are being treated in hospital in Mexico City after a bull leapt into a crowd during a bullfight. The half-ton bull - named Pajarito or Little Bird - breached the safety barrier and landed on the fans. The rampage ended when a fight participant entered thestand and killed the animal with his sword.

Consumption Junction...

... has found the main vein where great local, and indy music is concerned. We spent the evenning with our friends Ryan (CJ blogger), Tom, and Jill, eating yellowtail and salmon at the newest Mt. Vernon sushi bar (oops, can't remember what it's called), drinking beer and eating pizza at one of Mt Vernon's coolest bars, hanging out, and finally decided to grab some new music from his blog. So far, I'm a fan...

Rate it? Drink it!

OK, I don't know a thing about beer, except that I like to drink it, and on occassion brew it. The folks at ratebeer seem to revere the frothy stuff at a level far beyond my comprehension. Not that I don't enjoy it, but I guess I'm not the type to analize stuff to the most minute of details. Anyway, my favorite local brew these days is from Brewer's Art. Here's a sample review of their most popular brew, Ressurection, from RateBeer:

3.2	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
	6/10	3/5	7/10	3/5	13/20

Hazy amber body with minimal off-white head. Aroma is medium sweet, herbal hoppy, nutty. Taste is herbal hoppy, nutty, medium sweet, light otange. Medium body.

Maybe it's just me, but shouldn't they comment on whether they liked it or not? I, for one, like it... a lot.

Thin, hun?

Need to lose weight? Move to Baltimore!

"Baltimore Is Named America's Fittest City", Washington Post (via Drudge Report):

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore has been named America's fittest city, with Chicago overtaking Houston as the fattest. Last year's fittest city, Seattle, drops to No. 8 in the new list, released today by Men's Fitness magazine.

When the annual survey named Baltimore the fittest city in America, many Charm City residents had the same response: You gotta be kidding.

This is great news for a certain someone's soon to open fitness center...