The King of Pointland

Four Forty Four?

Some shocking news has come my way over the last two days. If shocking news makes you uncomfortable, stop reading right now. This sentence is just here to give you time to stop reading. Stop reading. Let go.

For the rest of you, here is disturbing news item number one: I thought it had been settled long ago: middle A is 440 Hz. If somebody stops you on the street and says, "Hey, you, what's middle A?" Then you say, "Young man, middle A is 440 Hz." Right? According to two music nerds I spoke with at Doug's party, it's not so clear. These days, many people are tuning their harps, pianos, and what not to 442 Hz, and in Japan, it's up to 444 Hz! This is ridiculous. Neither of the candidates has a plan to address this problem of A creep, either.

Disturbing news item number two: When I heard that a Krispy Kreme donut shop was opening in Dupont Circle (that's in Washington, D.C. for my foreign readers), I was very excited. You see, friends, I have never had a Krispy Kreme donut right out of the fryer. People who have describe it variously as a spiritual and/or orgasmic experience. Dining on a fryer-fresh Krispy Kreme donut is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for this bjournalist to have a fulfilling life. But today I picked up the Washington Post business section, only to learn:

The famous Hot Doughnuts Now sign may be in the window of the Connecticut Avenue shop, but the doughnuts are made out on Highway 1 in Alexandria. They truck them in, heat them up and then drizzle on the hot glaze that ups the calorie count from obviously-bad-for-you to obesity-inducing.

Take it from a doughnut junkie -- a Krispy Kreme fresh out of the fryer tastes better than a batch imported from Virginia, despite the assurance that it is as close to the original experience as you're going to get.

And a Krispy Kreme in a box at the supermarket might as well have been made in Minnesota. Hot doughnuts have the half-life of a sub-atomic particle. Hostess cupcakes hold up better over time. Cartoned up in cardboard, Krispy Kremes taste as fresh as an Amtrak sandwich.

Sigh.

Random Art

There's a Glatt to Like

n the beginning, when God created College Park — the town being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the university and a wind from God sweeping over the ODK water feature — God said, "Let there be Gourmet East"; and there was Gourmet East. And God ate at Gourmet East, and it was good. They served "Chinese Food, the Fast Food Way!"

A young man named David ate many meals at Gourmet East. He always ordered beef-fried rice, noodle chips, and water. It cost him four dollars and change.

After many years, the restaurant closed, and there arose in College Park a freshman class that knew not Gourmet East. In its place followed Ricky's Rice Bowl, Java Head Cafe, and Terrapin Taco House. Hidden from the view of Route 1 traffic, they withered, and died.

And the people of the Lord cried up to Him, saying, "Why hast thou forsaken us? Yea, though our sons and daughters, rejected by Brandeis, are cast out from Brooklyn to the Maryland wilderness, thou provideth but one kosher restaurant, the cafeteria at the Hillel center, and the food is bland, and the portions are small! You want we should fast every day?"

And the Lord remembered his people, heeding their cry, and he called unto to his servants, Shaul, Maya, and Doron, saying, "Go out from Silver Spring, to a place I will show you. Make a restaurant there, and serve kosher Israeli food. Provide falafel for your customers, and shwarma, and Iraqi kebab. Ooh, and hummus. I almost forgot hummus."

And they opened the restaurant, and they named it Pita Plus, meaning, "The Lord hath blessed us, and commanded us to serve pita ... plus a whole lot more!"

I hope Pita Plus survives. Their falafel is divine. During my first visit, the restaurant was nearly empty. A waitress, seeing me read a place-mat menu, helpfully provided a menu I could keep, and explained my options. One of the owners yelled out, to no one in particular, "We need more business!"

The second visit was similar.

This past Sunday evening, however, they were packed! The kid behind the counter warned me I'd have to wait twenty minutes, because they were swamped and there were four tables ahead of me. I decided I could wait. While taking my order for a falafel to go, he said, "OK, do you want to make this easy and get that with everything, or do you want to pick out each individual item when he makes it?" I compromised and had him record my wishes.

Here's a warning: the guy who assembles your falafel may remind you of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. There's a counter under glass with all the ingredients from which you can choose. The first time I ordered, it went something like this:

Falafel Guy: [pointing to hummus] You want this?
Me: I want Tahini, ..
Falafel Guy: [pointing to hummus again] No. You want this?
Me: Ummm, yes.
Falafel Guy: [pointing to cabbage] You want this?
Me: Uh, yeah.
...
Falafel Guy: [pointing to tahini] You want tahinah.
Me: Yes.

Then he handed me a free falafel patty, and then he threw another one in the bag, for good measure.

You have to follow their system.

Friends: let me know if you'd like to try it out; I'll go with you.

Patrol Craft Fast

The Washington Post has an excellent analysis of the evidence in the debate between John Kerry and Swiftboat Veterans for Truth over the events of March 13th, 1969. Be sure to check out the burried map graphic.

Roger Wilco

Perhaps you've heard the good news about today's legal victory for peer-to-peer file sharing software.

From the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision:

In this case, the district court found it undisputed that the software distributed by each defendant was capable of substantial noninfringing uses. Grokster I, 259 F. Supp. 2d at 1035. A careful examination of the record indicates that there is no genuine issue of material fact as to noninfringing use. Indeed, the Software Distributors submitted numerous declarations by persons who permit their work to be distributed via the software, or who use the software to distribute public domain works. See id. One striking example provided by the Software Distributors is the popular band Wilco, whose record company had declined to release one of its albums on the basis that it had no commercial potential. Wilco repurchased the work from the record company and made the album available for free downloading, both from its own website and through the software user networks. The result sparked widespread interest and, as a result, Wilco received another recording contract.

What the Court is afraid to note — because the man won't let them — is that the album is pretty good.

Anagram

Sort of: Adams.

Better Living Through Push Polling

Note: I am South Jersey born and bred.

DuPont survey on VX draws resident's ire

Sunday, July 25, 2004
By Martin C. Bricketto
Staff Writer

CARNEYS POINT TWP. -- After a long day at work last week, Jim Plerhoples was itching to eat dinner and watch "Jeopardy!" at his home here when a telephone survey cut in on his plans.

The survey's initial questions about the economy, health care and terrorism seemed ordinary enough, and he assumed it was the Democrats or Republicans fishing for opinions in an election year.

The inquiry took a strange turn, though, according to Plerhoples. He was asked about potential terrorist targets and how he felt about getting rid of them. Soon, Plerhoples said he was fielding questions about plans to treat waste byproduct of VX nerve agent at the DuPont Chambers Works facility in Deepwater, just three miles from his house.

That's when he started to get angry.

"They're trying to tie in this VX stuff to the war on terrorism," he said in a later interview, pinning DuPont as the driving force behind the survey. "I felt like I was being manipulated."

DuPont confirmed it has been conducting "assessments" in neighboring Salem County through an independent research organization about the controversial proposal. The objective is to measure the community's pulse, according to DuPont Spokesman Anthony R. Farina, not sway public opinion.

"Quiet frankly, this is the responsible approach to gauging the response of the community where we live and work," he said.

But Plerhoples -- whose father and sister worked for DuPont -- isn't convinced. He thinks the survey in which he participated used homeland security issues to generate support for the VX project -- which would dump wastewater from roughly 1,200 tons of neutralized VX byproduct into the Delaware River.

"They're trying to influence people," he said. "I think that's wrong."

While some questions Plerhoples said he answered -- like how he would feel about the project if environmental studies were done -- seem to gel with DuPont's information-gathering stance on the surveys, the lead-in questions about terrorism left a bad taste in at least this resident's mouth.

"Don't try to tie (the project) into being a patriot," he said.

DuPont could not provide the survey's questions. The research company hired to conduct the surveys creates the questions, according to Farina, though DuPont does review those questions beforehand.

Doesn't Mr. Plerhoples get it? We have to dump that waste into the Delaware -- before the Terrorists do it.

The Future Sound of America

For a $25 donation to MoveOn.org, you can get an early copy of the Future Soundtrack for America. Of course, by the time the CD arrives in your mailbox it will be on store shelves, but it's for a good cause.

Here's the track listing:

1. OK Go : This Will Be Our Year
2. David Byrne : Ain't Got So Far To Go
3. Jimmy Eat World : Game of Pricks (BBC evening session)
4. Death Cab For Cutie : This Temporary Life
5. Blink-182 : I Miss You (James Guthrie mix)
6. Mike Doughty : Move On
7. Ben Kweller : Jerry Falwell Destroyed Earth
8. Sleater-Kinney : Off With Your Head
9. R.E.M. : Final Straw (MoveOn mix)
10. Bright Eyes : Going for the Gold (live)
11. The Long Winters : The Commander Thinks Aloud (future mix)
12. will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas : Money
13. They Might Be Giants : Tippecanoe And Tyler Too
14. Clem Snide : The Ballad of David Icke
15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs : Date With the Night (live)
16. Fountains of Wayne : Everything's Ruined (acoustic)
17. Nada Surf : Your Legs Grow
18. The Flaming Lips : Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (live on the BBC)
19. Old 97's : Northern Line
20. Laura Cantrell : Sam Stone
21. Tom Waits : Day After Tomorrow
22. Elliott Smith : A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free

The Elliott Smith song is from the as yet unreleased (and posthumous) album Songs from a Basement on the Hill. And that looks like Chris Ware's artwork on the cover.

Blogadelphia

I will be updating the King soon, don't you worry.

Until then, I present the newest Blog That Matters, my very own brother's Eye of the Storm. He actually gets paid to write, so this should be good.

Now, Dan, would it kill you to give the King o' P a shout out? No, it would not.