There is a girl in New York City
Who calls herself the human trampouline.
Sometimes when I'm falling, flying, tumbling in turmoil,
I say, woah! So this is what she means!

Paul Simon Graceland

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"You are what you eat" does translate into Russian:

Meals You Eat Reveal Your Character
(Pravda 082903)

The moral of this story: Spicy meals lead to "love deeds."

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D'oh!

London and its surroundings are struggling to recover after a half-hour power outage swept the region.

I seem to think something similar just happened, but I just can't put my finger on it....

Walking around the mall last weekend during the celebrations of MLKjr's March on Washington got me thinking about the history of the area. I've also been doing a project involving the National Archives and stumbled onto this nice set of photos that make the point nicely:

Panoramic photographs taken east from the Washington Monument (1916 and 1996)

People assume The Mall was always there-- especially when reinforced by scenes in Forrest Gump and other movies. But just look 80 years back-- easily within a person's lifespan-- and things look radically different.

Speaking of DC changing, take a listen to this group of stories NPR did about Walter Pierce Community Park in Adams Morgan. (that's right, Tim!)

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And on a different note...

Why do bagpipers always walk when they play?
-- They're trying to get away from the noise.

Given this flawless piece of musical wisdom, it's unsurprising that we hear (or perhaps not) the same thing from the proverbial horse's mouth:

Bagpipes hit sour note for hearing

By: James Doherty

FOR many a Scots regiment, the Highland bagpipe was as potent in the advance toward battle as artillery and rifles.

But a survey conducted by Piper & Drummer magazine has revealed the resonating force of the pipes can damage more than the morale of enemy troops.

Half of those surveyed reported hearing loss and repetitive strain injuries after years of playing.

Some 10 per cent also reported that their passion for the pipes had led to the break-up of marriages, while 84 per cent claimed to know pipe-band members who are alcoholics.
(excerpted from The Scotsman Magazine 082503)

Got to head out... More to come...

For someone whose horse came out from under him at about 30 mph, my dad is actually in good shape. Now that some of the swelling has gone down, x-rays don't show any broken/cracked bones; just a bunch of tendon and ligament damage; especially in his rib cage, shoulder and hip. I guess that's the risk of working with horses, but this is pretty much like a car wreck. You don't expect it but know vaguely that it might happen. Still, it could have been much worse.

Got to roll with the punches-- just like DC did last night with the storm front that came through. It was so self-contained and concentrated into a crescent-shaped band, striking just at the evening rush hour, knocking down trees with 50 mph winds and knocking out power to a good chunk of the metro area. And all this crammed into two hours. With DC the only major population center the storm hit, it almost seems like the weather was taking a swipe at Washington for all the crazy stuff coming out of here. Well, I guess it might make a good premise for a science fiction novel.

Anyway, got to run. More soon.