Via ze frank (Autotune connects everything)



Via The Awl (although this doesn't get to why marriage, just why):



Why all the hate, Hollywood? (Via sullivan)



Good lord he's young. But he holds himself well!



Via Jen. My brother probably has flashbacks to similar scenes.

The BBC's Outlook interviews the mixed-race 'Oriental Angel' Lou Jing (mp3). For additional background, this weekend's WP Outlook has a good article.

Apparently the US will send 100,000 students to China. Yay!

(On that note, check out the FACES blog: http://www.thefacesblog.com )

Probably the best article on KSM's trial in NY:

Democracy -- the kind people know in too many other places -- simply means letting the people go to the polls to choose their leaders. But the United States is not just "a democracy"; it's a liberal democracy (that is, one that specifically protects people from government, rather than the other way around) and a constitutional democracy (one in which the precepts and laws are clearly spelled out and binding on everybody from the President to the trash collector).

Our American form of democracy is not about policy but about process: it's about how we make our decisions, under what rules, guided by what principles, committed to what values. The Attorney General has now decided to see whether or not we really believe those words we so casually mouth when we salute the American flag, recite the pledge of allegiance, sing the Star Spangled Banner.

For some context, be careful about who you pick your battles with.

Yeah, you should watch it. The Doctor is back before we say goodbye to the Ten(nant).

It's nice to think that in 2059, gay marriage will be a non-issue in Russia.

( Spoilers! )

And on that note, I thought that part of the episode dovetailed nicely with this clip from Friday's TRMS, about the NASA mission to the moon (an interview with Bill Nye, that science guy!)

I finally put together one of the most nagging things about DC: its relative lack of "walkability."

The first time I saw this term, it was in reference to a new site, WalkScore.com, that attempted to give various (US-centric) addresses a "walkability" score. This was loosely defined based on some general design principles that you see in, well, what you would expect to see in any reasonable city's neighborhood. Areas that include: a center, density, mixed income & use, parks, pedestrian design, and nearby schools and office space.

Big whoop.

Many parts of DC actually get high marks for "walkability." And frankly, for most of them, the site fails to capture precisely why many DC neighborhoods aren't anything near walkable. Certainly, as a whole, DC is 100% more walkable than a random suburb in Virginia, Maryland, or America in general.

But that's not the point. If you're in suburbia, you already know that your neighborhood has a poor walkability score by virtue of being in suburbia. Given the amount of cash we spend as a nation investing in elaborate homes trying to follow the elusive pioneer dream of "our own space" I don't see how one neighborhood's score would be enough incentive to move roots to a completely new environment (i.e. the city).

I digress.

Two things are missing from this idea of "walkability": hills, and the space between neighborhoods.

From personal experience, yes, hills have an influence on what gets considered as "close." That 5 minute downhill trek to a grocery store has to be tempered by a 10 minute uphill one, laden with groceries to boot.

More importantly, however, having "nothing" between neighborhoods makes an otherwise short distance feel even longer. DC's best pizzeria is about 1.3 miles away* from where I currently live. The only thing between that restaurant and me is 1.3 miles of poorly lit residential neighborhood. No businesses en route. Only one bus line goes to the pizzeria, and it takes 0.8 miles to walk to the stop in the first place!

I'm not advocating a business on every block. But simply placing a mental marker on a map or route makes it go by faster. And in the case of businesses, normally also reduces crime. Many times, walking between neighborhoods in DC - mostly because public transit options are not sufficient to get between these places - there's just nothing there that contributes to making the area feel livable. Manhattan is saturated with shops and kiosks; DC simply doesn't have anything there, which leaves derelict buildings and an uneasy feeling about the building you just walked past.


--
*Granted, it's far away. And that alone is a contributing factor to why I haven't been more often. It's also admittedly in a bizarre, transit-phobic corner of town. But it's really, really good.

From Men's Flair:

Whereas women obsess with what looks good, men - the strutting, proud peacocks – often try not to acknowledge ‘good’ in others but compete childishly on what is ‘correct.’ Excruciatingly sanctimonious, men quote from style scriptures and style clerics in the fashion of some odiously pious fundamentalist. I remarked to a friend recently that I am very much in favour of turn-ups, even in single-breasted suits and he agreed. However, there was a dark cloud in my thinking. Something in me told me that there would be ire of volcanic proportions awaiting such a proposition.

-- "Turn It Up".

This is perhaps one of the best summaries I've found about men's fashion to date. What's worse is that fundamentally, men's fashion is pretty boring -- we all wear the same things.

Anyway. I found the quote above from Put this On, a "web series about dressing like a grownup." (I think I got the original link to Put this On from Kottke.) Cute execution, but nothing about how denim has completely taken over what we wear. Constantly. No commentary about how a piece of everyman clothing is now breathlessly revered and can be sold for $500 a pair.

And now, pasta. Have you seen the article about Northern Korean cuisine (and the famine)? It made me simultaneously miss 32nd St. and feel guilty about the fact that those naeng myeon (cold noodles) are, like bibimbap, something of a leftovers/scavenger meal: you put in whatever you can find around the house.

Had a pesto kick last week. Have been craving lots of noodles recently, since right before the weather started to turn. I'm missing even the simplest bowl of freshly cooked ramen - the type you make at home from fresh noodles, not the deep-fried type (although those also have an appeal. As snacks).

What are you afraid of cooking?

Spending lots of money recently. Mostly on clothes.

Most of it is work related (and finding that things don't fit anymore in a good way), but combined with a few other purchases I feel like my wallet is opening up too much. How can I be a productive member of society when all I feel like is an avid materialist consumer, distracted by the smallest *tweet*

I leave you with this good post from the NYT "Happy Days" Blog:
http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/the-referendum/

Gurneys are stretchers with wheels.

And they can fold up.

Thanks, British elementary school, for teaching me all the wrong words to use to try and blend into my country of citizenship.

(I still am going to refer to the things as stretchers - gurney sounds pretty medieval - and yes, if pressed, I probably would have arrived at 'trolley' well before 'gurney'.)

Right now it's the trenches of statistical analysis and SPSS for the nurses.

Meanwhile, work is just crazy crazy (out of a scale of three, for arbitrariness, with crazy being the baseline standard).

6k Statisticians in DC (WP)

For today's grads, just one word (NYT -- for once, the WP was ahead of the NYT, albeit the NYT story is more about statisticians generally)

Wow. It's been too long.

Twitter and Google Reader really have indulged all of my instant "MUST SHARE" impulses.

I suppose some updates are in order:

- Still not quite done with this master's program, so I've to sign up for one final class this Fall.

- Survey Sampling (this summer's course) was interesting. I have considerably more faith in the Census now; our prof in that class also serves as the head of the statistical research division. (Ok, ok, done name-dropping.)

- Involved with a nursing research project involving survey work. Interesting work, albeit mostly busywork so far.

- I am employed again! Broadly speaking it's security work (although nothing half as sexy as what you're probably thinking right now), and I'm having a blast so far. Right now it's occupying more than 50 hours a week in my life. But because, generally speaking, I think it's better to not blog about work, I'll avoid it (and any topics related to work) on this blog. If you happen to catch me being particularly wonkish down the road about a particular agency or branch of government, well, it goes without saying...

Back to enjoying my spacious new apartment.

Started hiking the Appalachian Trail yesterday in upstate NY.

After 7 miles of hiking up and downhill through beautiful scenery, at the shelter, I rolled my ankle on a step.

Ow. After hiking a couple of miles, it didn't get any better, so we're back. Already. Ow ow ow.