Commuting with Nature / 16.08.2005

Some of the enhanced security is visible to our customers and at the same time, much is not, and that's exactly the way it is designed to be. Polly Hanson Metro Transit Police Chief Taking public transportation often provides its own entertainment. But unlike New York's subway with its Latino-to-Classical music performances (to say nothing of its standup salesmen and vocalists on the ride uptown), DC's Metro is pretty damn tame. No underground music and Metro's clientele are usually button-down and subdued all the way downtown. It's nice to be noticed. So, when, in between the second and third stops on my commute, a...

Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 14.08.2005

Record heat all across the nation this weekend, especially on the east coast. In fact, it was so hot in Baltimore, Rafael Palmeiro [baseball player recently suspended for using steroids] switched to injecting himself with Freon.

Jay Leno, from his nightly monologue
Tonight Show, August 8, 2005

It was SO HOT yesterday I had a hard time completing my bi-monthly lawn mowing. Yes, that lawn. The temperature in Washington peaked at about 101º F (37.5º C). The humidity (as in "it's not the heat, it's the humidity") in our DC swamp made the temperature feel closer to 110. Add to this the region experienced its first "code red" air quality day for the year and you've got the best excuse to stay inside and watch anything on TV (even steroid-enhanced baseball).

Last week in this heat James C. McBride, a DC police officer drank too much water while training to use a bicycle on patrol and died of hyponatremia. Hyponatremia, also known as "water intoxication," is the opposite of dehydration. Your body has too much water --so much that your body can't get rid of it fast enough.

Many years ago when I was a mailman I suddenly found myself in a similar situation. Of course, at the time I had no idea what was happening to me. I was delivering mail in the San Fernando Valley in the middle of the summer. I was a 19-year-old college student spending my semester break as a "Summer Replacement" for the U.S. Postal Service.

Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 07.08.2005

We just returned from our annual East Coast beach trip to Wildwood, New Jersey. This is the ancestral venue for my wife's family and like swallows in Capistrano we dutifully return to this spot the same time each year. Growing up close to Zuma Beach in Southern California, spending both days and nights at the ocean is a bit alien to me. When we made our first annual trip back in August of 2001 I reported on the differences between West Coast and East Coast beach experiences. For the most part, nothing has changed since that post (except this year...

Professional Auteurism / 23.07.2005

Stealing Bandwidth: when someone links directly to internet files from another Web site without the owner's permission. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) often limit the amount of monthly "traffic" to or from your Web site. So, often victims of bandwidth stealing are charged whenever other people use their files in this manner. Every morning I do a quick check of my referral log to see who is linking to what on my Web site. Last week I noticed that one blog had linked to an image I had posted here on Life Outtacontext a couple years ago on the occasion of my...

Fairly Odd Parents-Present, Idiosyncratic Celebrations / 17.07.2005

Apple's iCal Application Icon

Apple's iCal application icon displays my birthday.

I get that little tingly feeling (yes, tingly!) every time I see this icon on a Mac user's monitor. It's for Apple's calendar program iCal. And I feel like every iCal user is talking to me.

Ever wonder why this icon displays July 17 on your desktop? At first I thought every Mac user's birthday was displayed on this icon since July 17 is my birthday. What a nice touch. That Apple! Always taking the computer experience one step beyond. Microsoft would never think to do this bit of PR. I figured the display used some user identification we all had to submit when we registered our computers.

Then, as I made my rounds around the office, I discovered that every Mac was displaying July 17. It was as if all of you were remembering my birthday. It felt so nice to be loved by everyone. And it was a birthday gift I got all year round.

News Outta My Control / 08.07.2005

After another day of terrorism, I am reminded of these words: Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Winston Churchill [ Terrorism, London ] ...

Idiosyncratic Celebrations, News Outta My Control / 03.07.2005

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The Original Pledge of Allegiance
Francis Bellamy, 1892

As July 4th drew near, real estate agents began their annual advertising campaign by placing small American flags (along with their business cards) on every neighbor's front lawn. Despite my conversation with the agent who initiated this trend on our street two years ago, a flag appeared by our driveway Friday afternoon. However, this year my "flag skirmishes" with industrious real estate agents seem less important than they did in the past.

In the post-9/11, post-Presidential election, and present Iraqi War era, Independence Day has become more than just a day for parades, fireworks, and patriotic ardor. In the last few years it's a reminder of how divided a country we really are. Restating this as optimistically as I can, it's become a day to remember the huge range of thought that defines our American psyche.

With Sandra Day O'Conner's resignation from the Supreme Court, on this Independence Day this divide is overt and full of angst. Both sides of the political spectrum, liberal to conservative, and each with their resident subgroups, gather their forces, forge alliances, and devise strategies to maintain their vision of One Nation Indivisible.

On this July 4th I wanted to investigate the origin and meaning of one of the most ubiquitous of American patriotic emblems, The Pledge of Allegiance. And I wanted to see how germane its words were at this point in our history.

Fairly Odd Parents-Past, News Outta My Control / 25.06.2005

Funeral celebrants are part of a persistent move toward therapy and management to handle issues that used to be the realm of religious faith. Dennis MartinAssociate Professor of Historical TheologyLoyola University Chicago When Cliff died unexpectedly at 39 I went to his funeral. I wasn't looking forward to it. He was young and left a wife and an eight-year-old daughter. It was shocking and I faced my own mortality. Funerals are for the living I've been told: a way for us to come to terms with our loved one's death. Cliff's death, however, would be particular hard to accept. When someone in their...