New Nine Inch Nails single

You can hear it on the NIN MySpace page.  I’m really not sure whether I think a Nine Inch Nails MySpace page is one of the great things about the internet, or one of the signs that it’s all ready to come crashing down.

Nine Inch Nails is one of the few bands whose cd I will buy without hearing anything from it.  It’s a pretty short list, especially after Garbage’s most recent cd refused to let me rip MP3’s and they fell off the list.  Actually, the list may just be Nine Inch Nails at this point.  Cake’s most recent cd was pretty mediocre.

Anyway, hearing that the new cd is coming out in April is the first time I’ve been excited about music in a while.  I haven’t listened to music on the radio in a long time.  When HFS went away, leaving us with only DC101, I mostly switched to NPR.  I’m tired of the RIAA, of copy-protection, of DRM.  And I’m tired of the same old crap music being played over and over.

But I should have a new cd on April 17th.    I’m looking forward to it.

Moving Tuesday

So I have a question. Let’s just say that we need to park a moving truck in front of our new place for a few hours while we unload. So, we go to the police station to get “No Parking” signs 72 hours in advance, just like we’re supposed to. We go put up the signs in front of the house and realize that on the day we’re moving, the side of the street where we live is already no parking because of street cleaning.

So, my question is this: Is it unethical to just park the truck there, on the restricted side of the street, for as long as it takes to unload? Tuesday was chosen in good faith. That is, we chose the day and then found out that it was street-cleaning day.

I don’t suppose it matters too much whether it’s unethical or not, because we’re going to do it anyway. But we’d like to not piss off our neighbors (or the police) before we even finish moving in.

Dont talk about hot weather when its 18 degrees F out.

Report: January hottest on record – CNN.com

That didn’t just nudge past the old record set in 2002, but broke that mark by 0.81 degrees Fahrenheit (0.56C), which meteorologists said is a lot, since such records often are broken by hundredths of a degree at a time.

Explain that, Neil Cavuto!  Warmest on record!  By almost an entire degree.

Of course, clowns like U.S. National Climatic Data Center scientific services chief David Easterling give him plenty of ammunition.

Larger increases in temperature farther north, compared to mid-latitudes, is “sort of the global warming signal,” Easterling said.

Scientists don’t use phrases like “sort of”.  It makes it sound like you aren’t sure.  And maybe you aren’t, but you have to sound like you are.  Especially when many are so quick to dismiss your work as liberal propoganda and lies.

Its official

The wife and I are officially District homeowners. Now all we have to do is move in. The snow and ice, combined with missing the deadline to reserve parking in front of the house for a few hours, are making that difficult. But the wife remains optimistic that we’ll move no later than Monday.

I got to the house early yesterday for the final walkthrough, so I wandered around the area for fifteen minutes. It’s quite different than Falls Church. There are actually people around, for one. And two police cars, lights and sirens going, arrived rapidly in front of 7-11 as I waited at the light. I imagine it was a belligerent customer, or perhaps a shoplifter. I can’t imagine the store was being robbed at 2:30PM on a Thursday.

Anyway, I can’t wait to move. I can’t wait to be finished moving.

Finally, a reason to hate elevators

I just got stuck in one for about five minutes.  I was on the way back from getting lunch, so I imagine this is punishment for eating at McDonalds.  Still, I don’t think it was really necessary to be stuck there with one guy who thought he was really funny (He wasn’t), a guy who stuck his phone out between the crack in the door trying to tell his office-mates that he was stuck (We were there 5 minutes.  You aren’t that important), and a woman who laughed incessantly and also made jokes (She wasn’t funny, either).

So, this is a message to everyone stuck in a small space with people you don’t know:  You aren’t funny.  I don’t care if you are a professional comedian doing very well for yourself.  If you are stuck in an elevator with me, do me a favor and keep your wit to yourself.

Snow day

Little Mazda that could So, I’m not going to work today. I’ve got stuff I can do from home. But the wife had to go in because her boss is completely insane, so I took her to the Metro. It took a few minutes to get out of the parking spot, because they haven’t plowed the parking lot.

Big snowy hill But a little push from the wife, and I was out. The roads are bad. I made a nice little U-turn after dropping her. All I had to do was turn the wheels a bit, give it a little gas, and wait for the back end to swing around. Even in a front-wheel drive car, you can do a power slide if the roads are slick enough.

When I got back, some clown had taken my parking spot, and I had already passed the only other open spot, so I had to do a three-point turn in the snow. Keep in mind that the snow is piled anywhere from an inch to six inches, and the ground clearance of my car is probably more like four inches.That's where I made my three-point turn

In any event, you shouldn’t be driving out there if you can help it. And if you have an automatic and don’t know how to drive, like the woman I tried to help out of her spot when I was outside taking these pictures, don’t even bother. It’s days like these when the shortcomings of automatic transmissions become most apparent.

The roads were much less plowed than I had anticipated when I went out. The intersection of 66 and Lee Highway was particularly bad. Considering that’s one of the busiest intersections in the area, you’d think they’d plow that one first. However, you’d be wrong.

So, if you live in the DC Metro area, don’t go anywhere today. It’s not worth it.

Do I really care about the zoning board?

Opposition to mayor’s zoning commission nominee growing

You know, I’m really kind of excited to move to a place where things like “Who’s on the zoning board?” actually interest me. I realize that the decisions of the zoning board, especially in an area like Columbia Heights where tons of new construction is happening, really make a difference.

However, it worries me that people who run for office in the District seem to have legal problems at well above the national average. Maybe it’s just Marion Barry throwing off the curve.

If we ban it, it will go away

WIStv.com Columbia, SC: AMA asks for movies showing smokers to get “R” rating

The [American Medical Association alliance] says their research shows that smoking in movies recruits close to 400,000 adolescent smokers each year, eventually killing over a third of them.

Okay, I’m totally on board with trying to keep kids from smoking.  And frankly, I think we’re well on our way – with more and more places banning smoking in bars, I think we’ll soon reach the tipping point where we really start to make progress towards getting rid of cigarettes completely.

But R ratings for showing people smoking?  Why don’t we just take children from their parents at birth and raise them in sanitized cocoons where they’re only exposed to purified air and educational material until they turn 18.  Obviously human beings are inherently incapable of raising children, so we should just outlaw that.  While we’re at it, people eat too much fatty foods.  Let’s ban eating.  You can get your nutrients from an IV in the hospital.  It’s safer there anyway.  Otherwise you might go out and drive somewhere in your SUV and talk on your cell phone or adjust your iPod and crash into a farmer’s market.

I’m sure most of you have seen the movie Demolition Man, where Stallone goes to “cryoprison” where they freeze him for 70 years and he wakes up in a place where kissing and salt are illegal, because exchanging body fluids and eating salt can be bad for you.  This is funny because it’s so ridiculous.

It’s not looking so ridiculous any more.  They start with fois gras and trans fats.  Eventually they’ll get to something you care about.

I didnt sign up for ice

Okay, snow I can deal with. That doesn’t scare me. You have to drive more slowly, and leave more distance between you and the guy in front of you. It can be nerve-wracking, but it’s not that big a deal.

But now they’re calling for half an inch of ice by tomorrow, and that’s where I have to draw the line. Ice is NOT COOL. Half an inch of ice on the ground means you should be curled up on the couch with a nice blanket and your significant other, and not out on the road. After all, it will be Valentine’s Day.

I have to talk to my team lead and see if there’s anything constructive I can do from home tomorrow.