Latest News: Winter is Cold

A few inches of snow fell in Washington DC yesterday. Predictably, the capital is paralyzed.

Britain is shrieking about the cold. “London colder than Antarctica” screams today’s Daily Telegraph. In true “Sunday paper” form, the Telegraph neglects to mention that it’s summer in Antarctica.

The Independent puts things in perspective, listing the world’s chilliest capital cities. The coldest: Astana, Kazakhstan, where the lowest recorded temperature was -61.6F (-52C). Runners-up: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (-56F [-49C ]) and Minsk, Belarus (-40F [-40C ]).

Meat Week DC

Meat Week cuts in today in 15 cities. If you live in the Washington DC area, the juicy details are here.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

The Panda Express

Washington-born panda Tai Shan (known locally as “Butterstick“) is set to leave the National Zoo for Bifengxia (“Green Peak Canyon”) in China. By FedEx.

Federal Express has prepared a special “Panda Express” airplane to transport the four-year-old chubby cub to a panda breeding center in his ancestral home. The plane’s name is rather unfortunate; it’s the same as Andrew and Peggy Cherng’s 820-store fast food chain.

Dinner Music

Have your dinner music and eat it, too. For dessert.

On a diet? Try Spike Jones.

Nota Bene: Only those who serve nouvelle cuisine are permitted to refer to dinner music as “ambient music.”

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, nutritious, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Holiday Today

We would write about the State of the Union Address and other lofty matters, but we are observing the holiday that keeps America humming. It’s electrifying.

 

Note: Fender or Gibson? Kazooka or Hummbucker? Rock on.

Bless you Barbara Stewart, wherever you are.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

iPad: Exclusive Photo

Awesome. Infinite flexibility. The only limit is your imagination.

iPad is a registered trademark of Kotex the Apple Corporation. So is the apple logo. This is parody, allowed under the Fair Use Doctrine.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

 

 

New Subway Map

At last, a truly comprehensive subway map that puts everything in perspective. It was created by Harvard’s Samuel Arbesman, who also blogs.

More about the map here.  You can download a copy.

 

h/t: Daily Telegraph.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length. Please stand to the right on Metro escalators and mind the gap.

Crisis Communication

In the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake, a remarkable high-tech communication channel kept the people of Haiti informed. This innovative technology conveys data through the air, but is not dependent on fragile cell transmitters or spotty WiFi connectivity. It was devised by a guy named Marconi.

Just like WWL Radio brought information to New Orleans during and after Katrina, Haiti’s Signal FM has stayed on the air. You can read about it here, visit the station’s website, and even listen to it.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Javaris Crittenton Pleads Guilty on Gun Charge

Washington Wizards guard Javaris Crittenton has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor gun possession. The 200-pound, 6-foot-5-inch millionaire athlete explained that he illegally brought a pistol across state lines and into the Verizon Center locker room because he feared for his life after he and teammate Gilbert Arenas argued over a card game.

Previously, Mr. Arenas pleaded guilty to felony gun possession. He first said he brought four handguns from his home into the team locker room to keep them away from his children, but later abondoned that claim. It’s pretty obvious that someone who can afford a million-dollar swimming pool can afford to buy a home gun safe.

 

Image (Foul Shooter”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Super Bowl XLIV by the Numbers

 

It’s not too early to look at the numbers for Super Bowl XLIV:

XLIV=44 (forty-four, quarante-quatre, vierundvierzig, cuarenta y cuatro, quarantaquattro, tetratetraconta).

Factors:  44 = 1 x 2² x 11

Divisors: 1, 2, 4, 11, 22, 44 1, 2, 4, 11, 22, 44.  Sum of the divisors=84

Base 2: 101 100; Base 3: 1 122; Base 8:  54; Base 16: 2C (my buddy lives in that apartment!).

Interstate 44 runs from The Illinois/Missouri state line, past the I-44 Speedway in Oklahoma City,  to Wichita Falls, Texas. It is mentioned in C.W. McCall’s song “Convoy.”

+44 is the international telephone code for the United Kingdom and “Plus 44″ is (or was) the name of some kind of rock group.

Title 44 of the United States Code pertains to publication of public documents.

Barack Hussein Obama is the forty-fourth President of the United States.

“44″ is the title of a Washington Post blog.

Element 44 on the Periodic Table is Ruthenium (symbol: Ru).

Retired NFL number 44s: Floyd Little (Denver Broncos) and Pete Retzlaff (Philadelphia Eagles).

In baseball, 44 is a “hitter’s number,” the retired uniform number of  Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey and Reggie Jackson.

The Roman Empire was divided into 44 provinces. Julius Ceasar was assassinated in 44 BC.