The King of Pointland

Left Justification

The News In Type. A news headline expressed typographically every weekday (including today.)

Devil be Damned

Quotes included in a book I'm reading:

Wanted!

Tea Reader updated.

Take Me Out

I write to you from a very special place: New Jersey. I'm home for Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Mmmm, unleavened bread . . .

On Passover, Jews participate in the Seder, a religious ceremony combining a festive meal and prayer service. This year, as last year, our family attended our Synagogue's Community Seder. As we were sitting down, I asked my brother, "Aren't we supposed to bring our own wine?" At this point in the story it's important to know that an essential part of the Seder is the drinking of four cups of wine, which recall the four times in the Torah that God promised to free the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt.

"I think you're right," my brother responded. Noting that this would make for a good reaction shot, I waited for my dad to come to the table, and then asked him about the wine. The expression on his face was priceless. He ran out to a local store, and the rest of us first commemorated God's promise of redemption with a cup of iced tea.

Of the seventeen tables, ours was the only to forget the wine. We really are The Simpsons. Interesting note: "Seder" is Hebrew for "order".

This afternoon, my dad, brother, and I went to see the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Florida Marlins at Veterans Stadium. The Phillies will play only 71 more games at the Vet, so this is probably the last game I will see there. Built in 1971, the stadium represents the worst in a style of stadium architecture characterized by concrete, astroturf, and an unholy symmetry anathema to all that is good in the world. Where Camden Yards is Degas's Dancer with Bouquets , Veterans Stadium is the man on the Ped-xing sign. Still, I have fond memories of the stadium where, as a child, I saw my first baseball games, and I'll be sad to see it go.

And what about the game itself? The Phillies lost, 7-3, and holy crap was it cold. The winds blew at 17 mph for what seemed like the entire game, and the temperature was a balmy 43 F. I thought I might die. But I didn't. I did get a keen Phillies cap, though. Look for it this summer on a head near you.

BlogShares

Yo, check dis out:

Blogs are to BlogShares what companies are to real stock markets. Like companies Blogs are valued and may be listed on the stock exchange for buying and selling shares in the blog. However, blogs have a single asset of worth in BlogShares: hyperlinks. Hyperlinks to and from other known blogs is what blogs trade upon. Their values are increased by their incoming links and they add value to other blogs by linking to them. Everything else hinges on the network of links between blogs.

This reminds me of an interesting article: "The market in Saddam futures is the latest version of what are sometimes called 'decision markets.' They’ve been around for more than a decade, and in that time their track record in forecasting events has been exceptional."

Observation: quoting from another site and then linking to it is a great way to add content to your blog without having to do much work.

Visitation

My kick ass parents came down to D.C. yesterday and today to see their son, to experience the Cherry Blossoms at least once in their lives, and to generally enjoy springtime in Washington.

So, of course, it was cold, windy, sometimes rainy, and the blossoms were well past their prime. That said, we still had a blast. Thanks to the awesomeness of Maggie, we got comps to see the Woolly Mammoth Theatre production of Sandra Tsing Loh's one-woman show I Worry at the Kennedy Center. It's pretty entertaining, and you get to take your shoes off and turn on your cell phone (really).

That night we had dinner at Vidalia's, wisely recommended by Yael, and today saw the aforementioned blossoms, the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and ended up at the National Gallery of Art's East Building to take in the Kirchner exhibit and other miscellany. One thing I learned: a series of waterfalls added to the FDR memorial help mask the sound of jets taking off and landing at nearby National Airport. Good thinking, Lawrence Halprin!

By the way, an army of 22-year old women has invaded D.C. and now makes up a majority of the population in many neighborhoods. Perhaps it's always been this way, and I'm just noticing, but damn, they're everywhere. I don't know if they're liberating, but I try not to let them occupy my mind. Ha ha.

Fair Use

If you read this article, you'll discover the amusing name for residents of Equatorial Guinea.

Ouch

I bought staples, and a stapler, at Staples today. I bought a Swingline stapler, because Swingline is the Cadillac of staplers. I bought a red stapler. Why red? You guessed it: Office Space. Aren't you clever.

When I arrived home, I loaded my new stapler, and, while closing it, put a staple in my thumb. Don't do that -- it hurts.

Now I'm eager for things to staple. If you have any loose papers that you would like to stay together for the foreseeable future, I'd be happy to affix them together, using my new "747 business" model stapler.

Deja Vu

Before tonight I had seen exactly one episode of Monk. Tonight I decided to watch it again. Yes, it's the same episode. Some friends of mine decided there must be a German word to describe this, and then one of us (who knew German) invented it. I wish I could remember it now.

1386

I have just under 2000 messages in my INBOX. Am I ever going to go through these messages? Maybe.

However, my INBOX has reached a kind of stasis, now that I've begun to associate the message numbers with years. For example, it's 1973 A.I (Anno Inboxi). A few days ago, it was 2037, but this made me uncomfortable -- too much uncertainty. So I got to about 2008 -- not bad -- and now I'm a little baby.

I used to do the same thing with the NASDAQ, when it was hovering around 1900. I'd try to imagine what was happening this NASDAQ-equivalent-year in history. Right now it's 1386.18, so that's, what, January 20th, 1386. Apparently Donatello was born c. 1386. Let's pretend he was born on January 20th. How about that.

Music

I see my friends with their fancy Live Journals, and I'm sure it's swell, but I'm glad I don't have one. Here's one reason: the "Music" link. You may be aware that this is a way to let everyone know what CD, tape, MP3, LP, 45, 78, 8-track, CD-single, music box, Ogg Vorbis, or player piano tape you're listening to.

Bully for my friends, but this would just be too much pressure for me, too much pressure to be cool. Look, here's what Maureen was listening to today: "Catalani: La Wally". Now what the hell is that? Has anyone ever heard of this? Of course not. But you just know that it's very cool, and erudite, and that whatever you're listening to (probably Billy Joel or REM) can't begin to compare.

So you get a little nervous and try to come up with something clever for your livejournal entry. Looking through the old CD collection, hoping to find something hip, the best you can do is Bjork. You pick one of the more obscure tracks, and start listening to it, so that you can proclaim to the world: "Bjork: Isobel".

Thanks, but no thanks.

On the other hand, while driving home from work today I had the new Massive Attack CD going, and I was thinking to myself, "I'm pretty cool." With the windows down and the sun roof open, I was honestly hoping I'd have to stop at a red light so nearby pedestrians would hear my CD and think, "hey, that guy's pretty cool." More specifically, I was hoping the pedestrians would be attractive women.

I have this micro-fantasy all the time. It's almost subconscious, now, but I catch myself putting the windows down or turning up the volume when my car is stopped and I think somebody might be able to hear.

Does anybody else do this?

Broken Glass

I've moved my blog to a new server -- thanks John!

You should be redirected to the new server if you visit the old URL, but why not save yourself the trouble and update the URL in your mind.

Here it is: http://cradle.brokenglass.com/

Tea Time

Tea Reader updated.