Leta and I are both impressed by the capsule summary of celiac disease and gluten intolerance written by Jean Bauch for Wegmans, a medium-sized regional chain of supermarkets that has been expanding into the D.C. area.
Some puzzles: 1
This bus stop post is sporting a new gizmo at the top. Is it a wireless network booster? A relay mechanism for GPS units (where is that dang bus, anyway?)? A base station for Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft? Nope, it’s an experimental solar-powered lighting fixture.
Still counting
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects, is in pre-publication. As summarized in the press release, the study examined onshore projects only, and concluded that wind projects will have a measurable impact on CO2 emissions by 2020 but will not reduce sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide levels.
The report seems to haver on the effects on vertebrate populations—birds and bats:
… the committee saw no evidence that fatalities from existing wind facilities are causing measurable changes in bird populations in the United States. A possible exception is deaths among birds of prey, such as eagles and hawks, near Altamont Pass, Calif.—a facility with older, smaller turbines that appear more apt to kill such birds than newer turbines are.
Too little information is available to reliably predict how proposed new wind projects in the mid-Atlantic highlands would affect bird populations…
Worth the wait
Oh, my: Tony Long watches Star Wars for the first time:
I watched it with a friend, a veteran of many viewings. She knew I wanted to approach this with fresh eyes and an open mind, so she was careful to keep her opinions to herself. Still, I knew where she stood. The fact that she owned the DVD told me what she thought of the movie. Every now and then as we watched, when I’d turn to her with a bemused expression, she’d simply smile and say nothing.
A pity that Princess Leia didn’t show my friend’s restraint. Geez Louise, what a harpy.
Some links: 15
Hmm. I thought that I must have linked to the Clean Sweep self-assessment questionnaire the last time that I filled it out, but I guess not. 88 out of 100—still lots of work to do! Though I can’t say that I think sunglasses are all that important.
7×7: Shakespeare
With the theme of Shakespeare, it’s not surprising that two of the pieces in Washington Ballet’s latest installment of 7×7 feature spoken-word accompaniment. But it is a couple of the wordless pieces that are the most effective of the evening.
Trey McIntyre’s Queen of the Goths, drawing on two scenes from Titus Andronicus, ends with a saucy flourish. quick bright things, by Matthew Neenan in response to a line of Lysander’s, is a colorful romp for six.
In Lovers Speak, Brianne Bland and Runqiao Du dance a meaty, muscular adagio duet by Matjash Mrozewski. As their bodies intertwine on the floor, there’s a strong sense of intimate improvisation.
The standout piece is by Cathy Marston, scored by Henryk Górecki: Whispers recounts Hamlet’s scene from Act III with his father’s ghost and Gertrude in her chamber. Third-season company member Zachary Hackstock gives an agile, expressive performance as he is called upon both to partner and be partnered. This is lean-forward entertainment that you can’t get from a screen.
- 7×7: Shakespeare, Washington Ballet, England Studio Theater, Washington
Washington Ballet continues to make improvements to the friendly confines of its England Studio Theater. Stepped risers (that apparently stow away like a trundle bed) now allow for six rows of seating (and every seat has a back). Sight lines are pretty good, though seats on the extreme right and left lose sight of some of the far upstage action.
I am only going to say this once
(Via Language Log.)
10 years of “Here I am”
I cracked the electronic mic ten years ago today with a GeoCities account (back before the Yahoo! acquisition). My first project was a set of photos taken from various vantage points along the 70-odd miles of Interstate 66. Painstakingly scanned and cropped, most of them nevertheless were quite pedestrian, and I’ve since taken the set down.
Nearly six years later, I migrated most of the rest of the content to a Comcast account. My Larry Shue appreciation page is still up, as is the suite of pages about the Wood Duck. I was experimenting with several blog-style efforts (here, here, and here), but the page-maintenance effort was dragging me down, so I climbed on the dedicated-software bandwagon once it picked up some steam, and the result was pedantic nuthatch.
I’ve a couple of Blogger-based side projects (here and here), I write and maintain the web site for Reston Community Players, and my fingerprints are beginning to appear in a couple of wikis.
Last year, after a futile bit of FTP-juggling and username chicanery, I realized that I was going to run out of disk space on the Comcast account, and so I moved my blogging house here. And now you know everything.
John Doe
“He commits the same crimes year after year,” according to poet Cathrine Grøndahl.
Calico
Cool: I spotted a couple of little things worth adding to the wiki for Against the Day.
Resonances
Via Table of Malcontents and elsewhere, John Cage performs Water Walk for Garry Moore and the audience of I’ve Got a Secret, original air date 1960. The sound engineers picked up most of the sonic goings-on, including the interesting echoes in the bathtub, but the rubber duck thought it had a tacet.
Oh, John, what would you have made of/with YouTube?
At the park: 8
There is a spiffy new sign at the park entrance designating Huntley Meadows Park as a stop on the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail. In the capsule description of the site, the designation of Wild Turkey as a year-round resident may be a little optimistic.
Gassing up
Revised testing methodology from the Environmental Protection Agency means substantially reduced gas mileage estimates for hybrid vehicles, as John Gartner reports. This reduction is in keeping with anecdotal reports that mileage estimates for hybirds had been inflated. As an example: while the previous estimates for the Toyota Prius were 60 mpg City/51 mpg Highway/55 mpg Combined, the new numbers are 48/45/46. (Remember that hybrids paradoxically get better mileage for EPA City conditions.)
What Gartner’s report doesn’t point out is that estimates for conventionally-powered cars are also being reduced. The old numbers for the 4-cylinder manual transmission Honda Accord were 26/34/29, dropping about 10% to 23/31/26.
Charlotte Church meets Enya meets Sarah Brightman
One more reason to read a book, a really long one, during pledge week: Claire Dederer explores the phenomenon that is Celtic Woman:
[Their popularity] may have something to do with the fact that they are Irish. Ireland is a country that does a lot of psychological heavy lifting for Americans. We’ve imbued the place with mysticism, greenness, quietude and rootedness. Milky-skinned maidens, singing beautiful music in front of a wall of ivy. It’s the very vision of what we want Ireland to be. Or at least what PBS viewers want Ireland to be.
At the park: 7
The mergansers appear to be done with nesting for the season; birders on the boardwalk spied a hen with seven merglets feeding on the main pond. The Wood Ducks, on the other hand, are still hard at work slow-cooking their eggs. We have five active nests, including (unfortunately) a dump nest with 22 eggs in it.
Aloft, we saw a mini-kettle of three Red-shouldered Hawks picking up altitude. We heard or saw a couple of heron species, gnatchatchers, cuckoos, flycatchers, and vireos, but generally didn’t pause to take closer looks. On the walk back through the woods, Myra and I paused over a perplexing male tanager (most likely a Scarlet), along with a female; the male showed lots of streaky orange.
There are noticeably fewer Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) in the main wetland this year, so perhaps whatever control measures are in force are being effective.