Every State Has Its Mark--Porn, Taxes, Arson, Rape, Etc.

My home state is good at something. Way to go Pennsylvania; highest rate of arson deaths in the US at a whopping 55.56 a year. We must be a bunch of pyromaniacs.

At least we aren't the ugliest like North Dakota, the most susceptible to identity theft like in Florida, or riddled with gonorrhea like in Louisiana.

And the negatives keep going. On the United States of Shame map you can find just what distinguishes your state from all the others. But be warned. It won't be pretty.


I could have sworn Maryland would've won the worst drivers award, but no, Massachusetts stole that from us. We just have the alarmingly highest rate of AIDS diagnosis in the nation.

Let's start PotholePalooza earlier

DC streets are a mess. They are not only impossible to navigate but also dangerous. We went to the Air and Space Museum this weekend which admittedly, was cooler than I expected, but on the way a giant pothole took out a tire. The car made a loud BOOM as we drove over a crater in our nation's capital.

The giant hole in the middle of road took out the rubber part of the tire, bent up the frame, and knocked the hubcap loose. So what causes potholes?

Asphalt road surfaces eventually crack under the heat of the day and the constant stresses of traffic. These cracks allow snow and rainwater to seep into the underlying dirt and gravel. During cold winter nights, this water freezes and expands. Some of the dirt and gravel is pushed out as a result, leaving a hole when the water eventually melts.

DC has had problems with potholes for a long time. As seen here, here, and here. Maybe they need to start potholepalooza a whole lot sooner to fix DC streets. It's really unacceptable to have that big of hole in the roads. But until the marathon pothole repair, you still report the potholes, but I wouldn't hold my breath until they're repaired.

On the bright side, I learned the art of tire changing from an expert tire changer. It's something I have been wanting to know in case it ever happens when I'm driving in my car. Good skill to know. For those of you who don't: How to change a tire.

Then with a temporary tire, we stopped at every tire store we could find until one of them had frames for sale. And let me tell you, used tire stores aren't necessarily the nicest places in the world. But alas, what would life be without a little excitement to make things more interesting? Unfortunately the hubcap is still missing...so if anyone has an extra VW hubcap lying (not laying) around let me know.

Always Snowing

Seems like all it does around here these days is snow. Snow, snow, snow. At least it's beautiful on the bare trees of winter.

I had to shovel my car yesterday because in addition to the regular snow fall, the plow trucks made a lovely barrier between my car and the road. Hence the sore arms today.

Some of my co-workers though ended up getting stuck in 6-7 hours of traffic on Wednesday night because cars were getting stuck on the road or slipping all over the place. Some of them even slept at the office. I'm really glad I wasn't scheduled to work that day! But the next morning there were still abandoned cars on the middle of the highways. There would be a car with a small mountain of snow around them and cars are zooming down the road at 70+ miles per hour. I want to know where the owners went? Did they walk home off of the beltway?

Sputnik Moment

Tonight was one of my favorite political events of the year again--The State of the Union Address!

I thought President Obama's speech (well, at least the two-thirds of it) was very good. I like what he had to say about immigration. I like what he had to say about education. I like what he had to say about innovation (specifically in the area of clean energy). He addressed concerns about America being surpassed by other countries, and challenged us to be greater, all the while, elaborating on what makes the US great. His call to action was empowering by calling this our "Sputnik moment." He then addressed the pressing concern of the crappy economy and rising national deficit. However, reinforced his former ideas by saying, "Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may feel like you're flying high at first, but it won't take long before you'll feel the impact."

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) the clapping/standing/sitting/frowning/cheering wars between parties wasn't as nearly as pronounced this year. Perhaps in the spirit of what Obama said himself:

And yet, as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be, I know there isn't a person here who would trade places with any other nation on Earth. We may have differences in policy, but we all believe in the rights enshrined in our Constitution. We may have different opinions, but we believe in the same promise that says this is a place where you can make it if you try. We may have different backgrounds, but we believe in the same dream that says this is a country where anything's possible. No matter who you are. No matter where you come from.

Amen! Sometimes that can be easy to forget in all the ugly bickering and partisanship in our political landscape.

P.S. Anyone catch the Survivor Reality TV show reference? "We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world." Seriously Obama's speech writer? Did you really include that? Sounds suspiciously like Outplay, Outwit, Outlast...

Period. Space Space. New Sentence

I always follow the pattern when typing. In fact, I'm even a little anal retentive about it. I will go through every sentence in my papers, emails, blogs, etc. to make sure I've spaced properly. Every period that ends a sentence must have two spaces after it before a new sentence can begin. It's the way I was taught; and I don't plan on changing any time soon.

But some people adamantly argue against this practice.

Farhad Manjoo proclaims why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period by explaining why we started doing it in the first place--and not surprisingly we can blame those wretched typewriters.

The problem with typewriters was that they used monospaced type—that is, every character occupied an equal amount of horizontal space. This bucked a long tradition of proportional typesetting, in which skinny characters (like I or 1) were given less space than fat ones (like W or M). Monospaced type gives you text that looks "loose" and uneven; there's a lot of white space between characters and words, so it's more difficult to spot the spaces between sentences immediately. Hence the adoption of the two-space rule—on a typewriter, an extra space after a sentence makes text easier to read. Here's the thing, though: Monospaced fonts went out in the 1970s. First electric typewriters and then computers began to offer people ways to create text using proportional fonts. Today nearly every font on your PC is proportional. (Courier is the one major exception.) Because we've all switched to modern fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer enhances readability, typographers say. It diminishes it.

Ok, I get that it's an outdated practice, but I still think two spaces (in our digital age) makes it easier to distiguish sentence stops and starts. There's no way that two spaces diminishes readability. Obviously more space equals more demarcation between thoughts. Thereisareasonweusepunctuationandspacestohelpourreadersunderstandwhatweintendedtotype. Two spaces are like an additional tool in our typing toolboxes to help us deliver our messages with clarity. Why take away the tools that help us do our jobs as writers? Plus, I think the extra space is more visually appealing than one space. There is definitely something to be said about the aesthetics of readability.

I agree with Megan McArdle's statement, You Can Have My Double Space When You Pry it From My Cold, Dead Hands

Old habits die hard. [space][space] Haha. And I like my double spaces.

P.S. Ironically, you've probably noticed that this post, and all my others for that matter, don't have two spaces between sentences. That's not because I didn't put them there, but because I use Blogger's html editor which does not publish double spaces, even if you painstakingly type them in. I guess they're trying to teach us two spacers something...

Making Flan

Mmmm, flan. Flan, flown all the way in from Morocco. It's so easy to make, yet so good to eat. Just mix it up, stir, stir, stir, heat, stir some more, and pour. The hardest part is the waiting for it to set before digging in. Delicious dessert! I don't know why flan isn't more popular in the US. It's way better than our pudding or jello.

Minions of Satan

Not squirrels this time. But pigeons.


Why do we hate pigeons so much? "Affectionately known by most people as rats with wings, sky rats, gutter birds and flying ashtrays, pigeons must be one of the most unloved birds around. The hatred can be extreme, with extreme pigeon fearing labelled as peristerophobia, but it is so widely shared several clothing manufacturers produce "I hate pigeons" T-shirts."

I wouldn't even wear an "I hate pigeons" T-shirt because they're so gross. Save the pigeons, smigeons, you crazies.

Plus, pigeons do spread diseases: Pest control experts and public health specialists warn that there are dozens of different human pathogens associated with pigeons, including some that can be dangerous or even deadly. Many experts feel that pigeons are a significant health risk to people.

Get away from me you dirty birds!

Making Sushi Rolls Fail

The first time I attempted to make sushi rolls was a bit of a failure. Let me tell you the 2 biggest mistakes that you should never repeat.

1. Using regular rice
2. Not having sharp enough knives

Not using sticky rice will make your "rolls" turn out more like "lumps", unable to hold their shape. Not having a sharp enough knife in the house will lead you to go crazy trying every knife you own, but consistently squashing every roll. If it can't cut through the nori (seaweed wrap), it's hopeless. You might as well not even try to make sushi rolls.

So after I correct these two glaring problems, I think I'll be able to make some darn good avocado and shrimp rolls. And if you're wondering, yes, you do see a strip of bacon in that photo. My dad and brother-in-law were horrified at the thought of eating any type of seafood, raw or not, in the sushi; so we made special "bacon asparagus sushi rolls", about as not Japanese as you can possibly get. And the worst part? They hated the sushi anyway. Last time I try that. Next time I'm going to put eel in it and really scare them. Bahhaha.