Bloggers 1, Smoke-Filled Room 0

Repost from Slashdot:

"A few days ago a bi-partisan bill (PDF) to create a searchable on-line database of government contracts, grants, insurance, loans, financial assistance, earmarks and other such pork was put on 'secret hold' using a procedure that does not appear to be mentioned in the Constitution or in the Senate bylaws. This raised the ire of bloggers left and right and started an all out bi-partisan effort to expose the culprit by process of elimination. As it turns out it was our old friend the right honorable Senator from Alaska, Mr. 'Series of Tubes', Ted 'Bridge to Nowhere' Stevens."

Well done, I say!

• Bloggers 1, Smoke-Filled Room 0 (30 Aug 2006, Slashdot.org)
  

Generations....

A woman who I consider the matriarch of my father's side of the family, whom we affectionately all call Wadimama (it's kind of like "Dadi Ma", grandmother, but not really), passed away after suffering a major stroke last weekend. Mom and dad had visited her last weekend and it seemed like she was going to be, relatively speaking, okay.

Headed down to Winston-Salem in the morning, looking through photos from my sister's wedding last April in StL to make sure I remember everyone's names tomorrow... To the right - dad's side of the family [L to R: Harish Uncle, Shashi Auntie, Me, Mom, Pradeep Uncle, Dadi Ma, Madhu Auntie, Wadimama, Arun Uncle, Rashmi Aunti, Aman, Dad].

I really liked Wadimama.... 

XM vs. Sirius

It's infuriating! Even after reading this three-web-page article, I still can't decide which one I would rather have... But I feel much better informed :) (not that I'm planning on buying either anytime soon, but a guy can dream as though he actually has unlimited cashflow...)

• XM vs. Sirius: Endless Options Narrow to One (13 Aug 2006, WashingtonPost.com)
  

Democratic Wave?

84 days to the election!

"If the congressional election were held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate in your district or the Republican candidate?"

Organization	Survey Dates	GOP	Dem	Diff.
Newsweek	8/10-11	39%	51%	12%
Fox/Opinion Dynamics	8/8-9	30 %	48 %	18%
AP-Ipsos	8/7-9	37%	55%	18%
Post/ABC	8/3-6	39%	52%	13%
CNN	8/2-3	40%	53%	13%

and there's more where that came from!

• Parsing the Polls: Is a Democratic Wave Building? (16 Aug 2006, WashingtonPost)
  

Squid the Orchid!

It feels like I've been taking care of Squid the Orchid (named by myself, of course) for about 8 months; I rescued him, essentially, from the trash at work. He was a miserable-looking flower with four mostly-dead leaves and rotting roots.

Now, thanks to my lovely coworker and resident green thumb Tom, Squid lives AND just flowered! Woohoo! Note: Nigerian elephants courtesy of Adeola Ogunwole; Belize-ean turtles courtesy of Sarah Schrag ;)

 

Public vs. Foundation Spending

I mean, really:

In its 2007 budget proposal, for example, the Bush administration eliminated a $93.5 million program to underwrite the development of smaller schools, specifically citing the increase in support for those schools from “nonfederal funds” from the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation.

• Gates’s Charity Races to Spend Buffett Billions (13 August 2006, NY Times)

DCA -> STL (or, rather, IND); Storm's last ride :(

What a tremendous week. I say this often, but I don't know if I've ever worked so many hours and in such a focused manner as I did this week. Plus, the move across town and Ian's departure. Rough. Anyway, after a rather delayed start, I got on the road at 4 PM. Got a lot of my anger/frustration out at the very beginning, which allowed me to enjoy more of the incredibly beautiful drive (GW Parkway, I-68 West through western Maryland -- the valleys were breathtaking, I wish I had taken out my camera!!).

Since this was going to be Storm's last ride (I've had Storm since Aug 2000, learned how to drive a manual on this car), I was pretty nostalgic. We crossed 50K miles, finally, somewhere in Virginia. Refilled in western Maryland, went 450 miles without stopping (13.5 gallons) - the best he's ever done!

It's too bad, then, that we didn't make it much further past Indianapolis. Poor storm. Thank God I'm alive.