Where C-SPAN is the local TV news
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| The Washington Canard Where C-SPAN is the local TV news |
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
IT'S THE TALK OF THE NATION I already tweeted this last week, but I figured I had better save this real headline from NPR.org for posterity, if not for any particular reason:  The pen may be mightier than the sword, but is it any match for the nozzle? Labels: activism, Gas prices, gloibal warming, nozzle rage, NPR Tuesday, July 08, 2008
NO MAO! NO MAO! Other blogs, such as (hat tip) Marginal Revolution, are asking readers to guess what's missing from China's new 10-Yuan note. I, on the other hand, have already mentioned the fact as a cheap pun in the headline:  Apparently taking John Lennon's advice about carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, this removal is one more encouraging step toward a society itself a couple times removed from "socialism with Chinese characteristics." Many of the economic reforms have been instituted, and now it is only the symbolic affectations that remain. Sometimes those are even more difficult to change. Thursday, July 03, 2008
THE BEUTLER FILES: 30 CENT EDITION Cross-posted from Blog P.I. The biggest news in the District's blogging circles yesterday had nothing to do with John McCain's campaign shakeup or Barack Obama's rhetorical shift centerward but the inexplicable shooting of one of liberal blogging's up-and-comers, Brian Beutler. Early in the day I'd seen Dave Weigel's IM message reading "Brian Beutler for Batman/Mayor" but did not understand the context. Hours later the news broke beyond his close friends, and thankfully along with it that he is hospitalized at Washington Hospital Center and should recover. The blog tributes flowed in, bringing with it a wave of complaints about the relative safety of Northwest Washington. Megan McArdle started with "I just found out a friend of mine got shot three times in the stomach last night in my neighborhood during a mugging," and though vowing to delete any opportunistic comments about District v. Heller, she couldn't avoid addressing public safety: When DC does try to "do something", it's something stupid and quasi-fascist like locking down neighborhoods instead of putting more cops on the beat and using the advanced police tactics that are now the norm in every other city. From what I know, Fenty seems like a better mayor than DC's previous disasters, but the city government remains corrupt and incompetent. No one should have to spend their lives feeling this afraid.The American Spectator's J.P. Freire concurred: I can only echo Megan's thoughts about the state of crime (and crime-fighting) in this city -- it reminds me of the needless and violent murder of the New York Times's David Rosenbaum, who was left unaided, ailing on the sidewalk, ignored in his death. There's an illusion of safety in this city, conveyed by the economic development and the swollen demographics familiar from college. But we're not on college campuses where things feel safe (and are sometimes very much not). We're in a city, a particularly criminal one.John Aravosis offered more details on the neighborhood in question: The neighborhood he was shot in, like a 5 minute walk from me, has an ongoing gang war on the very corner he was shot. It's been going on for years. And years. And years. But DC is such an inept city, that all we hear about is how fighting crime is hard work. Sound familiar? I've looked at condos right next to where he was shot. $400,000 for a one bedroom. I laugh when I see places like that, because I know there's a gang war going on about 100 feet away. And now this would be our second mugging-shooting we've had in the last month or so.And I'm pretty much in agreement with all of this. I was once the victim of random violence myself, albeit of a much less serious nature: more than a year ago I was struck in the head by an unseen assailant at about 3:00 a.m. on a side-street just above Florida Avenue. It wasn't a mugging; I just kept walking, hoping that no sudden movements would pay off, and there was no follow-up attack. I'm pretty sure it was done on a dare or for the thrill, likely both. And it shook me from my complacency, at least for awhile. Shortly after, I moved one neighborhood over -- to approximately three blocks north of where Beutler was shot on Wednesday morning. But it wasn't all (understandable) hand-wringing about the state of the city. Nicknaming Beutler "30 Cent" after the projectile-prone rapper, Dave Weigel reported: Collaboration began on a lengthy list of "Brian Beutler Facts," inspired by the (now surely played out) list of oddball stories of Chuck Norris. Sample entries: "Lance Armstrong wears a Brian Beutler bracelet." "The active ingredient in Levitra is Brian Beutler." "Meatloaf would do that for Brian Beutler."And Julian Sanchez followed up: Brian Beutler is awesome. If you read his phenomenal reporting, count yourself lucky. If you know him, count yourself even luckier. (2) You can add your wishes for a speedy recovery at the first link. I'm not the praying sort, but if you are, it couldn't do any harm.I echo those sentiments. When Beutler first moved to town a few years ago, we had a brief jocular exchange on a post at my personal blog, The Washington Canard, also titled "The Beutler Files". Since then I haven't met Beutler in person, but in this small world of Washington bloggers, we share more than a few acquaintances. And as you may have already noticed, we share a last name (if not the pronunciation thereof). There's room in this town for the both of us, and let's hope it stays that way for a long time to come. Monday, June 30, 2008
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG POST Yeah, yeah, it's another filler post for the sake of the monthly archives. If you've read even this far, I'm sorry. Labels: Metapost Saturday, May 31, 2008
BRIDGE TO THE 21ST CENTURY So this is kind of interesting: View Larger Map I am writing this post on the weekend that the new span of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge connecting Alexandria, Virginia with P.G. County in Maryland is scheduled to open. If you plan to be driving and if you are foolishly looking to the Washington Canard for traffic news, I can confidently report that NewsChannel 8 suggests that you stay away. But you've probably already noticed what I find intriguing: in this aerial shot, the newest of the two spans is months away from completion, yet Google Maps shows all the traffic running across the unbuilt section. The other span you see is not the old one -- that was demolished two years ago; the bridge that Google Maps does not recognize is the first of the two spans, completed two years ago (it stands to reason). I don't have a car in the District and I haven't been the navigator on any recent trips that crossed the bridge, so I can't say whether the conflict with reality is enough to cause trouble for the car-bound relying up on directions from Google Maps. If anyone has any insight, please share them in the comments. P.S. It's possible and perhaps inevitable that the embedded image will change next the Google Maps satellite passes by. So I've also saved a larger version to my Flickr accoumt. P.P.S. At the time of posting, the embeddable map is not working. I'm sure this is temporary, but if it's not, I guess I've got a topic for my next post. Labels: Alexandria, Google Maps, P.G. County, Potomac Monday, May 26, 2008
WATCHING "TOP GUN" FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND I spent the part of Friday night I'll gladly tell co-workers about later at the Nationals game, but that was over before midnight, and I spent the sordid hours that followed drinking PBR and watching "Top Gun" with my roommate. He pointed out all the clichés mocked in "Team America" and I pointed out that those clich´s were born with this film -- at least we could agree that Parker & Stone's epic satire could not have existed without "Top Gun." It had been years since he had seen it, but "Top Gun" was a childhood favorite. Who could forget heroes Maverick and Goose, villains Iceman and Slider, or instructors Jester and Viper? Who could forget Goose's tragic death when an aerial accident led to eight seasons on "E.R.", or Slider's tragic relegation to the background when Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer stopped fighting? Well, not me. But as I studied the end credits, I realized I'd never given much thought to the actual Navy fighter pilots with actual nicknames who provided actual expertise about how to flip the bird to MiGs piloted by unidentified villainous Communist-aligned nations in the "Indian Ocean, Present Day." Thank you, IMDb, for helping me give them their due: technical advisorThere. Now, if that isn't a fitting blog post for Memorial Day, I don't know what is. Labels: IMDb, Memorial Day, Top Gun Friday, April 25, 2008
SAY UNCLE People have been telling me "congratulations!" this morning, but I assure you this is certainly none of my doing:  I don't even know what his name is yet, nor whether they've settled on one, but the newest addition to the Beutler family arrived sometime during the night, 1 a.m. PDT/4 a.m. EDT. I received a text message from MGB at 1:10 a.m. saying: We're go for launch with the baby.And another at 3:56 a.m. (on the East Coast, that is) saying: It's a boy!It's been a few months since the proud papa updated his blog, but I predict he gets back in the habit soon -- with less drunk-blogging more baby-blogging. UPDATE: The kid still doesn't have a name, but from the looks of it, my brother has already turned him into a Phish phan:  UPDATED AGAIN: For these pictures and more, I've created a whole Flickr set of the images MGB has sent my way. UPDATED, SUNDAY A.M.: James Morgan Beutler. Labels: Baby, Beutler, Eugene, MGB, Phish |
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