Monday, July 30, 2012

What I’ve learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0031

1501.  Of all of Hofstede’s Dimensions, though, perhaps the most interesting is what he called the “Power Distance Index” (PDI).  Power distance is concerned with attitudes toward hierarchy, specifically with how much a particular culture values and respects authority;
1502.  The Korean language has no fewer than six different levels of conversational address, depending on the relationship between the addressee and the addresser: formal deference, informal deference, blunt, familiar, intimate, and plain;
1503.  Western communication has what linguists call a “transmitter orientation” – that is, it is considered the responsibility of the speaker to communicate ideas clearly and unambiguously.  But Korea, like many Asian countries, is receiver oriented.  It is up to the listener to make sense of what is being said;
1504.  If you forget your contact lens case, a(n empty) shot glass is a decent substitute;
1505.  It’s not a good idea to go hiking in sandals.  But if you do, you should probably wear socks;
1506.  As human beings we store digits in a memory loop that runs for about two seconds.  We most easily memorize whatever we can say or read within that two-second span;
1507.  Playboy Playmates (i.e., Crystal Harris) are undoubtedly attractive in person, but they don’t look like their pictorials . . . hair and makeup, lighting and camera angles (and, most likely, photo manipulation) definitely make a difference;
1508.  Working in a rice field is ten to twenty times more labor-intensive than working on an equivalent-size corn or wheat field.  Some estimates put the annual workload of a wet-rice farmer in Asia at three thousand hours a year;
1509.  What redeemed the life of a rice farmer was the nature of that work.  It was meaningful.  First of all, there is a clear relationship in rice farming between effort and reward.  The harder you work a rice field, the more it yields.  Second, it’s complex work.  The rice farmer isn’t simply planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall.  He or she effectively runs a small business, juggling a family workforce, hedging uncertainty through seed selection, building and managing a sophisticated irrigation system, and coordinating the complicated process of harvesting the first crop while simultaneously preparing the second crop.  And, most of all, it’s autonomous.  The peasants of Europe worked essentially as low-paid slaves of an aristocratic landlord, with little control over their own destinies.  But China and Japan never developed that kind of oppressive feudal system, because feudalism simply can’t work in a rice economy.  Growing rice is too complicated and intricate for a system that requires farmers to be coerced and bullied into going out into the fields each morning.  By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, landlords in central and Southern China had an almost completely hands-off relationship with their tenants: they would collect a fixed rent and let farmers go about their business;
1510.  The Fisker “Karma” (plug-in hybrid sports sedan) looks like the lovechild of an Aston Martin (DB9) and a BMW (Z4);
1511.  We sometimes think of being good at mathematics as an innate ability.  You either have “it” or you don’t.  It’s not so much ability as attitude.  You master mathematics if you are willing to try.  Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds;
1512.  Every four years, an international group of educators administers a comprehensive mathematics and science test to elementary and junior high students around the world.  It’s the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the point of the TIMSS is to compare the educational achievement of one country with another’s.  When students sit down to take the TIMSS exam, they also have to fill out a questionnaire.  It asks them all kinds of things, such as what their parents’ level of education is, and what their views about math are, and what their friends are like.  It’s not a trivial exercise.  It’s about 120 questions long.  In fact, it is so tedious and demanding that many students leave as many as ten or twenty questions blank.  As it turns out, the average number of items answered on that questionnaire varies from country to country.  It is possible, in fact, to rank all the participating countries according to how many items their students answer on the questionnaire.  Now, what do you think happens if you compare the questionnaire rankings with the math rankings on the TIMSS?  They are exactly the same.  In other words, countries whose students are willing to concentrate and sit still long enough and focus on answering every single question in an endless questionnaire are the same countries whose students do the best job of solving math problems;
1513.  The psychologist James Flynn points out that the overwhelming majority of Chinese immigrants to the West – the people who have done so well in math here – are from South China.  The Chinese students graduating at the top of their class at MIT are the descendants, chiefly, of people from the Pearl River Delta (i.e., rice farmers).  He also points out that the lowest-achieving Chinese Americans are the so-called Sze Yap people, who come from the edges of the Delta, “where soil was less fertile and agriculture less intense;”
1514.  There is actually a significant scientific literature measuring Asian “persistence.”  In a typical study, Priscilla Blinco gave large groups of Japanese and American first graders a very difficult puzzle and measured how long they worked at it before they gave up.  The American children lasted, on average, 9.47 minutes.  The Japanese children lasted 13.93 minutes, roughly 40 percent longer;
1515.  Brian Marshall’s (the bassist for “Creed”) birthday is on April 24th;
1516.  In the Pearl River Delta, the rice farmer planted two and sometimes three crops a year.  The land was fallow only briefly.  In fact, one of the singular features of rice cultivation is that because of the nutrients carried by the water used in irrigation, the more a plot of land is cultivated, the more fertile it gets.  But in Western agriculture, the opposite is true.  Unless a wheat- or cornfield is left fallow every few years, the soil becomes exhausted.  Every winter, fields are empty.  The hard labor of spring planting and fall harvesting is followed, like clockwork, by the slower pace of summer and winter.  This is the logic applied to the cultivation of young minds.  A mind must be cultivated.  But not too much, lest it be exhausted.  And what was the remedy for the dangers of exhaustion?  The long summer vacation – a peculiar and distinctive American legacy that has had profound consequences for the learning patterns of the students of the present day;
1517.  When it comes to reading skills, poor kids learn nothing when school is not in session.  Virtually all of the advantage that wealthy students have over poor students is the result of differences in the way privileged kids learn while they are not in school;
1518.  The way in which education has been discussed in the United States is backwards.  An enormous amount of time is spent talking about reducing class size, rewriting curricula, buying every student a shiny new laptop, and increasing school funding – all of which assumes that there is something fundamentally wrong with the job schools are doing.  Schools work.  The only problem with school, for kids who aren’t achieving, is that there isn’t enough of it;
1519.  Fennel tastes like licorice;
1520.  Robbie thinks wax figures are creepy;
1521.  Panna cotta is kind of like custard;
1522.  When you’re out, you can get free stuff (or discounts) just for “checking in” on foursquare (foursquare.com);
1523.  It’s kind of nice getting a free (alcoholic) drink when you get your measurements taken (e.g., at Alton Lane);
1524.  Every Tuesday, Lucky Bar (LuckyBarDC.com) in D.C. has $.25 wings from 5 o’clock to 11 o’clock (with a minimum order of ten);
1525.  Any vehicle maintenance outside of what’s specified in the owner’s manual is unnecessary;
1526.  Any (vehicle) fluid flush is more than just emptying the reservoir.  It means draining and refilling the lines as well;
1527.  On game days, the (Washington) Nationals have 400 (or so) $5.00 grandstand tickets.  They’re only available at the box office and ticket sales start between 2 and 2-½ hours before the game.  For a seven o’clock game, they’ll probably sell out around 5:30;
1528.  American University is just down the street (i.e., Massachusetts Avenue) from the (Washington) National Cathedral;
1529.  The Embassy of Brunei would make a great place for a (wedding) reception;
1530.  Wax figures are kind of creepy;
1531.  We grow up and form a certain view of our parents.  It’s interesting to meet their friends and coworkers and listen to their stories about them.  You might see another side of your parents you haven’t known before;
1532.  (Caffeine free) Diet Coke, two years after the best use by date, doesn’t taste anything like it should.  It’s watered down and tastes more chemically;
1533.  A strange thing about life is that ambition and satisfaction are at war.  If you’re ambitious, you aren’t satisfied and if you’re satisfied, you aren’t ambitious.  Most of us are plagued by ambition;
1534.  The optimal way to influence the emotions, moods and feelings of others is to change your own emotions, moods and feelings instead of trying to make them feel a certain way consciously.  If you change your own feelings first, then the other person’s mirror neurons will cause that person that you are interacting with to feel what you are feeling, without them consciously knowing that their state just changed;
1535.  You have a sense of when you are emotionally overreaching when it feels as if your actions are being based on, or influenced by, your desire to cause a response in the other person rather than by the way that you feel, your mood or your intent;
1536.  The good thing about having an education is that it'll be a lifelong consolation to you.  It'll be a pleasure every day of your life.  Because of it, you'll be more aware.  You'll be more interested in things.  It isn't what an education does for you that makes getting one worthwhile.  It's having one.  Being educated is an end in itself, and it sets you apart from most of the people on the planet;
1537.  After sampling five different Scotches, your taste buds are pretty much blown;
1538.  Every Wednesday, Lucky Bar (in D.C.) has ½ off burgers (including turkey and veggie);
1539.  No person was ever honored for what s/he received.  Honor has been the reward for what s/he gave;
1540.  On Monday and Tuesday nights, you can get two entrées and a bottle of wine for $28.99 or one entrée and a glass of (house) wine for $14.50 at Laporta’s Restaurant in (Old Town) Alexandria;
1541.  The “Dewar’s 12 Clubhouse” (at the Verizon Center) is rather spartan;
1542.  The Italian “commedians” were the first professional acting troupes and they were also the first to employ women;
1543.  If the (ice) hockey career doesn’t work out for him, John Carlson (of the Washington Capitals) could make a living cleaning (hockey) helmets;
1544.  During “Museum Walk Weekend,” you can visit the member museums of the “Dupont Kalorama Museums Consortium” (DKMuseums.com) for free. . . . It’s in early June;
1545.  Woodrow Wilson is the only president to live in D.C. after his presidency;
1546.  The NoMa-Gallaudet U Metrorail station is just the New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U stop;
1547.  Robbie likes pinot noir . . . and the zoo;
1548.  Campari and soda isn’t bad . . . as long as you don’t mind bitters;
1549.  People can look quite a bit older after losing a lot of weight.  Their features can sink in without fat to fill them out and the excess skin can dangle loosely;
1550.  Honesty is not having to remember what you’ve said;

Monday, July 23, 2012

What I’ve learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0030

1451.  Flowering cabbage are creepy;
1452.  You can have your fortune read using the marks left on your cup by the (coffee) grounds in your Turkish coffee;
1453.  You can project movies onto the façade of the Hirshhorn Museum in D.C.;
1454.  Time and again a person is reminded that the hardest thing in life is not meeting some challenge but knowing what the challenge is that needs to be met.  Challenges have a way of slipping by unnoticed; most lives are the story of a series of unseen challenges;
1455.  The debate between conservatives and liberals boils down to which comes first, politics or culture.  Conservatives argue that the culture drives our politics, that a politician can do only what the culture allows him to.  Liberals argue that government policies shape the culture;
1456.  The tomato marmalade and the Ottoman rice at Agora (AgoraDC.net) in D.C. are tasty;
1457.  The values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are;
1458.  It makes a difference where and when we grew up.  The culture we belong to and the legacies passed down by our forebears shape the patterns of our achievement in ways we cannot begin to imagine.  It’s not enough to ask what successful people are like, in other words.  It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn’t;
1459.  If you make a decision about who is good and who is not good at an early age; if you separate the “talented” from the “untalented;” and if you provide the “talented” with a superior experience, then you’re going to end up giving a huge advantage to that small group of people born closest to the cutoff date;
1460.  Parents with a child born at the end of the calendar year often think about holding their child back before the start of kindergarten: it’s hard for a five-year-old to keep up with a child born many months earlier.  But most parents, one suspects, think that whatever disadvantage a younger child faces in kindergarten eventually goes away.  But it doesn’t.  The small initial advantage that the child born in the early part of the year has over the child born at the end of the year persists.  It locks children into patterns of achievement and underachievement, encouragement and discouragement, that stretch on and on for years;
1461.  You should bring sunglasses if you visit South Beach (in Miami). . . . The sun is really bright;
1462.  You don’t need to tip in South Beach.  The bars and restaurants automatically add gratuity;
1463.  Clothing is optional in the “Garden of Eden” on the top floor of “The Bull” (BullKeyWest.com) (in Key West);
1464.  (During Fantasy Fest, some) bartenders in Key West don’t mind if you have sex in their bars . . . as long as you don’t bother the other customers;
1465.  Achievement is talent plus preparation.  The problem with this view is that the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play;
1466.  Once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works.  That’s it.  And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else.  They work much, much harder;
1467.  The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise.  In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours;
1468.  Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good.  It’s the thing you do that makes you good;
1469.  The other interesting thing about that ten thousand hours, of course, is that ten thousand hours is an enormous amount of time.  It’s all but impossible to reach that number all by yourself by the time you’re a young adult.  You have to have parents who encourage and support you.  You can’t be poor, because if you have to hold down a part-time job on the side to help make ends meet, there won’t be time left in the day to practice enough.  In fact, most people can reach that number only if they get into some kind of special program – like a hockey all-star squad – or if they get some kind of extraordinary opportunity that gives them a chance to put in those hours;
1470.  We pretend that success is exclusively a matter of individual merit.  But there’s nothing in any of the histories we’ve looked at so far to suggest things are that simple.  These are stories, instead, about people who were given a special opportunity to work really hard and seized it, and who happened to come of age at a time when that extraordinary effort was rewarded by the rest of society.  Their success was not just of their own making.  It was a product of the world in which they grew up;
1471.  There's an open container law in Key West, but the police look the other way if you have your drink in a plastic cup;
1472.  If you like dive bars and/or live music, go to Key West;
1473.  In general, the higher your (IQ) score, the more education you’ll get, the more money you’re likely to make, and – believe it or not – the longer you’ll live;
1474.  The relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point.  Once someone has reached an IQ of somewhere around 120, having additional IQ points doesn’t seem to translate into any measurable real-world advantage;
1475.  The four socially and personally most important threshold regions on the IQ scale are those that differentiate with high probability between persons who, because of their level of general mental ability, can or cannot attend a regular school (about IQ 50), can or cannot master the traditional subject matter of elementary school (about IQ 75), can or cannot succeed in the academic or college preparatory curriculum through high school (about IQ 105), can or cannot graduate from an accredited four-year college with grades that would qualify for admission to a professional or graduate school (about IQ 115).  Beyond this, the IQ level becomes relatively unimportant in terms of ordinary occupational aspirations and criteria of success.  That is not to say that there are not real differences between the intellectual capabilities represented by IQs of 115 and 150 or even between IQs of 150 and 180.  But IQ differences in this upper part of the scale have far less personal implications than the thresholds just described and are generally of lesser importance for success in the popular sense than are certain traits of personality and character;
1476.  Practical intelligence includes things like “knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect.”  It is procedural: it is about knowing how to do something without necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it.  It’s practical in nature: that is, it’s not knowledge for its own sake.  It’s knowledge that helps you read situations correctly and get what you want.  And, critically, it is a kind of intelligence separate from the sort of analytical ability measured by IQ.  To use the technical term, general intelligence and practical intelligence are “orthogonal:” the presence of one doesn’t imply the presence of the other;
1477.  The middle-class parenting style is “concerted cultivation.”  It’s an attempt to actively “foster and assess a child’s talents, opinions and skills.”  Poor parents tend to follow, by contrast, a strategy of “accomplishment of natural growth.”  They see as their responsibility to care for their children but to let them grow and develop on their own.  One style isn’t morally better than the other.  The poorer children are often better behaved, less whiny, more creative in making use of their own time, and had a well-developed sense of independence.  But in practical terms, concerted cultivation has enormous advantages.  The heavily scheduled middle-class child is exposed to a constantly shifting set of experiences.  She learns teamwork and how to cope in highly structured settings.  She is taught how to interact comfortably with adults, and to speak up when she needs to;
1478.  Key West has feral chickens;
1479.  The restaurant prices in South Beach are actually reasonable.  They’re less than what they are in D.C. and you can find a lot of breakfast and lunch items for under $10.00;
1480.  The plain truth of the Lewis Terman study is that in the end almost none of the genius children from the lowest social and economic class ended up making a name for themselves.  They lacked something that could have been given to them if we’d only known they needed it: a community around them that prepared them properly for the world;
1481.  Lewis Terman’s genius study was an investigation into how some children with really high IQs who were born between 1903 and 1917 turned out as adults.  And the study found that there was a group of real successes and there was a group of real failures, and that the successes were far more likely to have come from wealthier families.  In that sense, the Terman study underscores the argument that what your parents do for a living, and the assumptions that accompany the class your parents belong to, matter;
1482.  The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents.  It comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our particular place in history presents us with;
1483.  Jewish immigrants were not like the other immigrants who came to America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  The Irish and the Italians were peasants, tenant farmers from the impoverished countryside of Europe.  Not so the Jews.  For centuries in Europe, they had been forbidden to own land, so they had clustered in cities and towns, taking up urban trades and professions.  Seventy percent of the Eastern European Jews who came through Ellis Island in the thirty years or so before the First World War had some kind of occupational skill;
1484.  Autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.  It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five.  It’s whether our work fulfills us.  Work that fulfills those three criteria is meaningful;
1485.  Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning;
1486.  Jewish doctors and lawyers did not become professionals in spite of their humble origins.  They became professionals because of their humble origins.  The conventional explanation for Jewish success, of course, is that Jews come from a literate, intellectual culture.  They are famously “the people of the book.”  There is surely something to that.  But it wasn’t just the children of rabbis who went to law school.  It was the children of garment workers.  And their critical advantage in climbing the professional ladder wasn’t the intellectual rigor you get from studying the Talmud.  It was the practical intelligence and savvy you get from watching your father sell aprons on Hester Street;
1487.  A “culture of honor,” it’s a world where a man’s reputation is at the center of his livelihood and self-worth;
1488.  In Albion’s Seed, Fischer argues that there were four distinct British migrations to America in its first 150 years: first the Puritans, in the 1630s, who came from East Anglia to Massachusetts; then the Cavaliers and indentured servants, who came from southern England to Virginia in the mid-seventeenth century; then the Quakers, from the North Midlands to the Delaware Valley between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries; and finally, the people of the borderlands to the Appalachian interior in the eighteenth century.  Fischer argues brilliantly that those four cultures – each profoundly different – characterize those four regions of the United States even to this day;
1489.  The triumph of a culture of honor helps to explain why the pattern of criminality in the American South has always been so distinctive.  Murder rates are higher there than in the rest of the country.  But crimes of property and “stranger” crimes – like muggings – are lower.  The homicides in which the South seems to specialize are those in which someone is being killed by someone he (or often she) knows, for reasons both killer and victim understand.  The statistics show that the Southerner who can avoid arguments and adultery is as safe as any other American, and probably safer.  In the backcountry, violence wasn’t for economic gain.  It was personal.  You fought over your honor;
1490.  The “culture of honor” hypotheses says that it matters where you’re from, not just in terms of where you grew up or where your parents grew up, but in terms of where your great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents grew up and even where your great-great-great-grandparents grew up.  That is a strange and powerful fact.  It’s just the beginning, though, because upon closer examination, cultural legacies turn out to be even stranger and more powerful than that;
1491.  There were clear differences in how the young men responded to being called a bad name.  For some, the insult changed their behavior.  For some it didn’t.  The deciding factor in how they reacted wasn’t how emotionally secure they were, or whether they were intellectuals or jocks, or whether they were physically imposing or not.  What matters was where they were from.  Most of the young men from the northern part of the United States treated the incident with amusement.  They laughed it off.  Their handshakes were unchanged.  Their levels of cortisol actually went down, as if they were unconsciously trying to defuse their own anger.  But the southerners?  They were angry.  Their cortisol and testosterone jumped;
1492.  Cultural legacies are powerful forces.  They have deep roots and long lives.  They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and social and demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished, and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behaviors that we cannot make sense of our world without them;
1493.  What you find is that northerners tend to give off displays of anger, up to a certain point, at which point they level off.  Southerners are much less likely to be angry early on.  But at some point they catch up to the northerners and shoot past them.  They are more likely to explode, much more volatile, much more explosive;
1494.  In a typical plane crash, the weather is poor – not terrible, necessarily, but bad enough that the pilot feels a little bit more stressed than usual.  In an overwhelming number of crashes, the plane is behind schedule, so the pilots are hurrying.  In 52 percent of crashes, the pilot at the time of the accident has been awake for twelve hours or more, meaning that he is tired and not thinking sharply.  And 44 percent of the time, the two pilots have never flown together before, so they’re not comfortable with each other.  Then the errors start – and it’s not just one error.  The typical accident involves seven consecutive human errors.  One of the pilots does something wrong that by itself is not a problem.  Then one of them makes another error on top of that, which combined with the first error still does not amount to catastrophe.  But then they make a third error on top of that, and then another and another and another and another, and it is the combination of all those errors that leads to disaster.  These seven errors, furthermore, are rarely problems of knowledge or flying skill.  It’s not that the pilot has to negotiate some critical technical maneuver and fails.  The kinds of errors that cause plane crashes are invariably errors of teamwork and communication.  One pilot does something important and somehow doesn’t tell the other pilot.  One pilot does something wrong, and the other pilot doesn’t catch the error.  A tricky situation needs to be resolved through a complex series of steps – and somehow the pilots fail to coordinate and miss one of them;
1495.  That’s what happens when you’re tired.  Your decision-making skills erode.  You start missing things – things that you would pick up on any other day;
1496.  “Mitigated speech” refers to any attempt to downplay or sugarcoat the meaning of what is being said.  We mitigate when we’re being polite, or when we’re ashamed or embarrassed, or when we’re being deferential to authority;
1497.  Mitigation explains one of the greatest anomalies of plane crashes.  In commercial airlines, captains and first officers split flying duties equally.  But historically, crashes have been far more likely to happen when the captain is in the “flying seat.”  At first that seems to make no sense, since the captain is almost always the pilot with the most experience.  Planes are safer when the least experienced pilot is flying, because it means the second pilot isn’t going to be afraid to speak up;
1498.  Roger Mason, Jr.’s (a guard for the Washington Wizards) favorite restaurant in Charlottesville is the Aberdeen Barn (AberdeenBarn.com). . . . The University of Virginia’s men’s basketball team used to go there for their pregame team meals;
1499.  Robbie likes the circus;
1500.  Each of us has his or her own distinct personality.  But overlaid on top of that are tendencies and assumptions and reflexes handed down to us by the history of the community we grew up in, and those differences are extraordinarily specific;

Monday, July 16, 2012

What I’ve learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0029

1401.  Watching the ballet is kind of like watching a silent movie;
1402.  The ballet is more enjoyable if you read the program synopsis beforehand and actually have some idea of what’s going on;
1403.  Robbie has soft hands;
1404.  During basketball games, the event staff at the Verizon Center is more concerned about searching your (drawstring) bag than they are about searching your jacket;
1405.  Blake Griffin (of the Los Angeles Clippers) is an amazing dunker.  He’s so explosive and he throws the ball down with such authority. . . . He’s not bad at laying it up either;
1406.  Rabbit has a lot of tiny bones;
1407.  In some plays, the actors actually eat and drink.  They don’t have to pretend;
1408.  Apparently, the food at Jaleo (Jaleo.com) inspires public, late night make out sessions by the front windows;
1409.  Some bouncers go on power trips and try to threaten you even though they don’t have any authority.  They don’t have any power if you’re already leaving;
1410.  You can get entertainment, merchandise and service discounts at Recoup (Recoup.com). . . . Recoup also donates a portion of the purchase price to a designated charitable organization;
1411.  Nominal tax receipts have gone up every year–thanks to economic growth and inflation–but in general have risen less after taxes have been cut than after they have been raised;
1412.  The last big tax cut, during the Reagan administration, had no measurable impact on the economy’s growth rate.  And with tax rates now lower in the United States than any in the industrial world, it seems unlikely that they are the main drag, though of course you never really know;
1413.  When you fly, you shouldn’t pack your contact lens case filled with saline solution.  It tends to explode and spray everywhere;
1414.  You can actually get paid to watch TV;
1415.  Everybody in Las Vegas is trying to hustle you . . . from the club promoters to the people handing out cards (i.e., “porn slappers”) and even the women selling beauty products at the kiosks in the casino shops;
1416.  Be wary about the women who approach you (by themselves) in casino bars (and lounges).  They could be prostitutes;
1417.  According to some prostitutes, people don’t do that (i.e., hang out) here (in Vegas);
1418.  Is there something wrong with me that I feel bad for wasting a prostitute’s time? . . . She was talking to me when she could’ve been “busy” with somebody else (and making a living). . . . Sorry, “Taylor;”
1419.  It’s kind of sad when you have a hopeful, innocent (albeit somewhat naïve) sense of the world and all of a sudden it’s dashed away and replaced by a grim, callous reality;
1420.  Pee-Wee Herman (i.e., Paul Reubens) is a pothead;
1421.  They have $5.00 blackjack tables at Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon (BillsLasVegas.com);
1422.  Billy Kraus and David Mauk, the dueling pianists at Napoleon’s (Dueling) Piano Lounge (www.ParisLasVegas.com/Casinos/Paris-Las-Vegas/Casino-Entertainment/Dueling-Pianos-Detail.html) inside the Paris-Las Vegas Casino, are pretty incredible.  They’ll play all sorts of requests from Metallica to the Eagles to even the Spice Girls;
1423.  I’m a fan of the $5.00 virtual blackjack machines at the Excalibur and Luxor casinos.  I like the cheaper minimums and the fact that I don’t feel pressured to make a quick decision about my cards because a (human) dealer is waiting on me;
1424.  Gale Sayers looks like any other Joe Schmoe.  From the looks of him, you wouldn’t think he’s in the Pro Football (and College Football) Hall of Fame;
1425.  The fabled $7.77 meal does exist in Vegas.  Mr. Lucky’s 24-7 (www.HardRockHotel.com/#/Dine/Mr-Luckys-24-7) at the Hard Rock Hotel has a steak and three shrimp dinner with mashed potatoes and a side salad for $7.77.  Don’t bother looking for it on the menu, it’s not there.  Just ask for it;
1426.  Waving to the cops when you’re inebriated probably isn’t a very good idea, unless you’re in Vegas;
1427.  Why do people (i.e., women in minivans) ask the inebriated guy from out of town for directions?
1428.  (Chef) Rick Moonen (from “Top Chef Masters: Season 2”) flies out of Newark Liberty International Airport . . . and he's a fan of the carryon backpack;
1429.  People who make a huge deal about being nice usually aren’t;
1430.  It’s strange seeing the building where you live in from a plane;
1431.  Gina has a strong tongue;
1432.  If you don’t like eating mushy apples slice them up so that each piece has some skin.  The crisp skin makes the apple seem less mushy;
1433.  The Hard Times Café in (Old Town) Alexandria has $5.00 hamburgers all day on Mondays;
1434.  As we go through life, we have visions about how important milestones in our lives should look and feel.  Most of the time, the reality of the situation is a mere shadow of our vision, but every once in a while the reality is actually better in unforeseen ways;
1435.  I’m sick of my life being “fine.”  I want to actually feel something.  I want to feel my heart pounding out of my chest in anticipation.  I want to feel my heart leap out of my chest with hope and at the same time feel a sense of trepidation at the possibility of falling into despair.  I want to be able to wake up in the morning and be glad it’s a new day and look forward to what the day brings and anticipate good things to come.  I want to go through the day and see the bright things in life instead of the dark.  Instead of wishing the cold winter day away, I want to be thankful for the warmth on my face as the sun shines down.  Instead of fearing the cold and not wanting to get out of bed, I want to be excited at the thought of curling up underneath the covers with someone I love and to wrap my arms around her and feel the warmth of her body against my skin.  Being “fine” isn’t so fine;
1436.  The (Toyota) Prius is disturbingly quiet at low speeds;
1437.  Sometimes there's a reasonable explanation and it's our worst fears that cloud our judgment;
1438.  I don't like to gossip, but I do like to listen;
1439.  Dress for the job you want not the job you're in;
1440.  People are people first and employees second;
1441.  The “endless popcorn” at the Verizon Center really is endless;
1442.  Celebrities (e.g., Boyd Tinsley from the Dave Matthews Band, Michelle Kwan and Alexander Ovechkin) come out to see the Lakers play even when they’re not in Los Angeles;
1443.  Kobe (Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers) sure loves the fadeaway jumper;
1444.  It can feel 10 to 20 degrees colder in the shade (especially in a windy stadium);
1445.  Explanation is where the mind comes to rest;
1446.  The lobster rolls at Hank’s Oyster Bar are better than the ones at Luke’s Lobster (LukesLobster.com);
1447.  The impulse to suppress appetites and sympathies in the name of principle is the mark of a radical;
1448.  If you vote for the lesser of two evils either you are the lesser of two evils, or you are not being represented;
1449.  Democratic politics depends on direct confrontation and commitment to ideas;
1450.  It’s not a good idea to drink John Dalys (i.e., iced tea with vodka) and shots of Jameson (Irish whiskey) starting at 1 o’clock in the afternoon;

Monday, July 9, 2012

What I’ve learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0028

1351.  Writing a check separates a commitment from a conversation;
1352.  Negative interactions can harm romantic relationships.  Odds are that the relationship will fail if positive interactions don’t outnumber negative ones by a ratio of at least 5-to-1;
1353.  Mayor (William) Euille (of the City of Alexandria) is a big football fan. . . . He’s a regular at (Joe) Theismann’s (Restaurant) . . . and he doesn’t like blue cheese (dressing) on his wings;
1354.  It’s no joke when the red flags are out at the beach;
1355.  If you ever need a light and you don’t have matches or a lighter, turn on an electric stove and touch some paper to the heating element;
1356.  Cuban cigars are overrated;
1357.  If you like martinis (and you’re in the Bahamas), order the “Casino Royale” (i.e., gin, vodka and Lillet) at the pool bar of the One&Only Ocean Club (OceanClub.OneAndOnlyResorts.com) on Paradise Island. . . . It’s very smooth and probably the best martini I’ve ever had;
1358.  The line between gambling and investing is artificial and thin.  The soundest investment has the defining trait of a bet (you losing all of your money in hopes of making a bit more), and the wildest speculation has the salient characteristic of an investment (you might get your money back with interest).  Maybe the best definition of “investing” is “gambling with the odds in your favor;”
1359.  It’s difficult to pee in the ocean when the waves are rough. . . . It’s hard to get started;
1360.  There’s a different vibe when you’re peeing among the palms of a deserted (Bahamian) island;
1361.  During the off-season, locals go to Rose Island (in the Bahamas) to watch (American) football. . . . Naturally (because of geography), they’re (Miami) Dolphins fans;
1362.  It’s amazing the number of fish you can see when you’re snorkeling. . . . At some reefs, fish are around you as soon as you get in the water;
1363.  Riding in a powerboat is kind of like being on a rollercoaster;
1364.  For some reason, there are a lot of attractive girls at Logan (International) Airport in Boston, Massachusetts;
1365.  I can say I’ve had (New England) clam chowder and a lobster roll in Boston, Massachusetts . . . albeit it was in the airport;
1366.  Megabus (Megabus.com) is a nicer alternative to the Chinatown bus from D.C. . . . Although, it’s not as flexible (i.e., you’re assigned a particular departure time) and, if you’re coming from Alexandria, it’s not as convenient either (i.e., it departs from Union Station);
1367.  The Hard Rock Café in New York City has the front doors from Abbey Road Studios in Westminster, England;
1368.  Hotel concierges (in New York City) can be very helpful.  They can arrange your tours and purchase your theatre tickets;
1369.  “One World Trade Center” was designed to be 1,776 feet in height in reference to the year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence;
1370.  You can get discount tickets (up to 50% off) to Broadway (and off-Broadway) musicals and plays at the TKTS Discount Booths (TDF.org/TDF_ServicePage.aspx?id=56);
1371.  “Harry Potter” (i.e., Daniel Radcliffe) can (actually) sing and dance;
1372.  The Landmark Tavern (TheLandmarkTavern.org), which opened in 1868, in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City, is one of the oldest operating establishments in the city;
1373.  There are cheap places to eat in New York City besides chain fast food restaurants;
1374.  A lot of buildings have water towers in New York City;
1375.  Character is much easier kept than recovered;
1376.  I think people who accuse you of doing something (e.g., drinking too much) that they themselves do more just don’t want to admit or consciously realize that they’re the ones who really have the problem;
1377.  I think it’s rather odd when you go to a bar, order a non-alcoholic drink and people ask you whether or not something is wrong. . . . Shouldn’t people ask you if something is wrong when you go to a bar and order a drink with a lot of alcohol in it and not something without any alcohol?
1378.  I think people who are generally amiable and pleasant when they’re sober who become mean and spiteful when they’re drunk have repressed anger issues;
1379.  Why do some people lie for no reason at all? . . . Some people will even lie about whether they shopped at Target or Wal-Mart. . . . Do they want to be liked so badly that they’ll say whatever they think you want to hear?
1380.  Philosophy begins in wonder;
1381.  Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around;
1382.  Most of the time when you get out of your comfort zone, that’s the time for a lot of personal growth;
1383.  It's funny how we think celebrities (like the president) are so different from us that we're amazed when they do something normal like go to the store to Christmas shop;
1384.  It’s ironic that we can be afraid of actually getting (at least what we think) what we want . . . perhaps it’s a deep-seated, unconscious belief that we don’t deserve it;
1385.  Robbie likes spicy food;
1386.  You can eat cactus. . . . It looks like a flattened green bean and it kind of tastes like one;
1387.  If you ever have a craving for grasshoppers, Oyamel Cocina Mexicana (Oyamel.com) in D.C. has grasshopper tacos, called “chapulines.”  They’re made with sautéed grasshoppers (chopped), shallots, tequila and guacamole. . . . Grasshoppers are crunchy and they taste kind of sour;
1388.  Robbie likes the ballet;
1389.  A wise man once said, the only thing history teaches us is that history doesn’t teach us anything;
1390.  After hearing some very successful people speak about their past experiences, it seems like most people never envisioned where they’d be right now.  Knowledge and expertise play roles in it, but most of the time it seems like they are where they are out of mere happenstance . . . by being at the right place at the right time . . . by sheer “dumb luck;”
1391.  “Yukon Gold” potatoes make better tasting baked potatoes than white, red or “Russet Burbank” potatoes;
1392.  You can get good travel, food and entertainment discounts at Travelzoo (Travelzoo.com);
1393.  If you’re a karaoke fan, the Hill Country (HillCountryWDC.com) in D.C. has karaoke downstairs with a live band (i.e., “Rock ‘n Twang Band”) on Wednesday nights from 8:30 PM to 12:30 AM;
1394.  New Zealand cuisine is a mixture of English, Asian and Polynesian dishes and flavors;
1395.  “Bronzini” is another name for Mediterranean rockfish (i.e., sea bass);
1396.  The “Pavlova” is New Zealand’s national dessert.  It’s named after Anna Pavlova, the Russian prima ballerina, who toured throughout New Zealand in the 1920’s.  It’s a meringue cake topped with fresh fruit (i.e., kiwifruit, strawberries, etc.) and whipped cream . . . and it’s pretty tasty;
1397.  It’s funny that if a woman grabs another woman’s breasts, it’s perfectly acceptable.  But if a man were to do the same thing, it’d be sexual harassment. . . . I guess it has to do with the subtext of the act.  Supposedly, there’s no sexual undertone when a woman does it, but there would be if a man were to do it. . . . I guess it’s similar to when baseball, basketball and/or football players pat one another on the butt;
1398.  Some women (especially those who went to Virginia Tech) think a gulp is a “sip.” . . . Don’t let them try your wine;
1399.  There’s a reason that Derrick Rose (of the Chicago Bulls) is the reigning NBA “Most Valuable Player.” . . . He’s just so quick getting to the basket and he’s a great passer too;
1400.  By an act of Congress (on April 27, 2006), the “American Ballet Theatre” became “America’s National Ballet Company;”

Monday, July 2, 2012

What I’ve learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0027

1301.  When you’re drunk, you can end up paying for stuff you ordered twice (i.e., at Vapiano);
1302.  Martina Hingis can still play tennis . . . and so can John McEnroe;
1303.  (Vanilla or plain) yogurt with a drizzle of honey is actually pretty good;
1304.  Lindsay Czarniak eats at Virtue (Feed & Grain) (VirtueFeedAndGrain.com) in (Old Town) Alexandria;
1305.  I’m not sure what’s worse . . . to have expectations of others and be regularly disappointed or to have no expectations at all;
1306.  You can get your tire patched for $10.00 at Wal-Mart;
1307.  Mia Hamm is a cheater;
1308.  During the summer, you can watch free movies on the National Mall.  The National Park Service hosts “Screen on the Green” (HBO.com/ScreenOnTheGreen) on Monday nights after dusk;
1309.  If you don’t like soy milk, chances are you won’t like soy yogurt;
1310.  During the summer, you can nosh on light hors d’oeuvres, sip on wine (and/or beer) and listen to live jazz only a stone’s throw away from the White House at the Decatur House (on Lafayette Square) (WhiteHouseHistory.org/Decatur-House);
1311.  What are you when you notice someone you’re attracted to has a couple of white hairs, but you just don’t care?  The answer is: Smitten;
1312.  You know you’re getting old when you have white, facial hair;
1313.  From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, you can visit the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Corcoran.org) for free on Saturdays;
1314.  Don’t overthink.  If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck – it’s a duck;
1315.  If you’re having trouble turning your mailbox key, try a little WD-40;
1316.  On Wednesdays, Mister Days (MisterDays.com) (in Clarendon) has a great Happy Hour.  From 4 o’clock to 9 o’clock, there are $2.00 draft beers and $2.00 food specials;
1317.  Lipstick lesbians do exist (at least at Mister Days);
1318.  Rasika (RasikaRestaurant.com) in D.C. makes a tasty chicken tikka masala;
1319.  Weeding is easier after it’s rained;
1320.  A little weeding can make a big difference in how a building looks;
1321.  On Sundays, Murphy’s Irish Pub has a champagne brunch from 10 o’clock to 3 o’clock.  For $8.95 to $9.95, you get an entrée with a glass of champagne.  After that, (champagne) refills are $1.00;
1322.  I wouldn’t recommend being in an elevator during an earthquake;
1323.  If you like Scotch, you should visit the Jack Rose Dining Saloon (JackRoseDiningSaloon.com) in D.C.  They claim to have over 1,400 different bottles of Scotches, bourbons and spirits;
1324.  Life could be worse. . . . You could be in jail;
1325.  You shouldn’t store your tomatoes in the refrigerator.  The cold destroys their flavor and texture;
1326.  You can get free tickets to a Shakespearean play when the Shakespeare Theatre Company presents “Free For All” (ShakespeareTheatre.org/about/ffa) from mid-August to early September.  You can get tickets either through an online lottery or by lining up;
1327.  You have a pretty good chance of getting “Free For All” tickets if you line up a few minutes before the two hour giveaway period begins before shows . . . at least on Sundays;
1328.  Technically, short-term debt means money that’s coming due within a year.  Typically, it means money that’s coming due within 30 to 90 days;
1329.  William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” is rather bloody;
1330.  You can take a boat tour down the Potomac River from the Georgetown waterfront, but be warned the wait for some cruises can be over an hour . . . at least during the summer;
1331.  The area where Washington Harbour (in Georgetown) is located used to be home to a cement factory;
1332.  People will say that it’s really not them when they say (or do) something when they’re drunk.  But alcohol doesn’t give people thoughts, it just removes any filters (or inhibitions) that they might have.  I think alcohol just lets out what you may be thinking (or feeling) deep down inside and people are ashamed and embarrassed to admit it . . . or in denial;
1333.  Some of the (Houston) Astros hang out at BlackFinn Saloon (after baseball games);
1334.  Sometimes you make the right decision and sometimes you make the decision right;
1335.  On Tuesday’s, Don Pablo’s (DonPablos.com) has all you can eat tacos for $6.99;
1336.  On Friday’s, “The Bottom Line” (TheBottomLineDC.com) in D.C. has $1.00 Miller Lite bottles from 4 o’clock to 7 o’clock and from midnight to close, $2.00 Miller Lite bottles from 7 o’clock to 9 o’clock, $2.50 Miller Lite bottles from 9 o’clock to midnight, $3.00 rail drinks and $3.50 wing baskets;
1337.  Don’t believe that you can save another person.  You don’t have that much power, nor do you want that much power;
1338.  It sounds like a cliché, but when you meet the right woman, you will just know.  She will bring out the best in you, not the worst.  She will be a constant source of strength for you through the good times and the bad.  Your face will light up when you talk about her to your coworkers and friends.  She will be the first person you want to talk to in the morning and the last at night.  She will be the one who brings you a week’s supply of homemade chicken soup when you get sick with the flu.  She may not like to watch “the big game” with you, but she will respect your desired pastimes and have her own set of hobbies that she does independently of you, without complaining.  She does exist . . . but sometimes you have to free yourself from the wrong woman before you can find the right one;
1339.  You shouldn’t let water collect on the ceiling.  When it dries, it’ll leave a stain;
1340.  “Playing cornhole” just sounds so perverted;
1341.  RFK Stadium is kind of a dump;
1342.  That isn’t (just) tobacco smoke at a Bassnectar concert;
1343.  You can bring food into (Washington) Nationals games.  If you want a burger (and/or a hot dog), fries and peanuts, go to the “Five Guys” at 1100 New Jersey Avenue, just outside Nationals Park.  Order a burger (and/or a hot dog) and fries and, on your way out, grab some (free) peanuts to put in your bag;
1344.  Military, senior citizens and government employees receive a $3.00 discount off any (Washington) Nationals ticket priced $10.00 or more, purchased at the box office the day of the game.  So, if you are one, remember to bring your ID;
1345.  If you want to avoid the lines at the Navy Yard Metrorail station after a (Washington) Nationals game, there’s a second entrance to the station on the corner of M Street and New Jersey Avenue that hardly anybody ever uses;
1346.  What it means to be a man is that you struggle against your natural instinct to run away from adversity.  You battle;
1347.  We’ll never conquer the weaknesses within ourselves.  We’ll never drive the worst of ourselves away for good.  We’ll never win.  The only glory to be had is in the quality of the struggle;
1348.  Some battles aren’t worth winning.  Others are worth fighting even if you can’t win;
1349.  Depending on when you buy them, you can get tickets to (Washington) Capitals games on StubHub! for less than what you’d pay at the Verizon Center box office (or at Ticketmaster) even when you include the commission fee and the shipping and handling charges;
1350.  “The Twist” is the only single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in two different runs.  The first came in 1960 and the second was in 1962;