dl004d, in blog form

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:20:00 +0000

Is this why DC drivers are so terrible? RT @CreativeVictual: Our street has a new bike lane and some sweet new signage: bit.ly/2gbifW
More than $150 million has been spent this year on TV ads on the health care debate so far this year. Money well spent?

Life after Bob Peck

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:33:00 +0000

I always liked the distinctive Bob Peck's Chevrolet showroom. Until it was torn down, that is.¹

That was three years ago, so it's time for an update: in a nod to the diamond patterns on Bob Peck's showroom roof, a towering new development project will include some of those same features in its facade.

¹I even trekked out to Ballston to snap some pictures only to find out that I was too late to capture the old "Bob Peck" sign.

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:05:00 +0000

The NYT has a great chart on the House Democrats who opposed the health care bill: is.gd/4QW6O
I've been looking for something to blame for my own laziness. RT @cmoffett: How the Internet is killing storytelling bit.ly/3cCojr

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:03:00 +0000

When Title IX was passed in 1972, more than 90 percent of college women's sports teams had female coaches. Today it is just over 40 percent.
RT @sethmeyers21: To all you cab drivers who bitched when I used started paying with CC last year, apology accepted. bit.ly/2gu0Qv

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

It's a shame Ted Kennedy never partnered with one of the 10 billion senators named Graham. A Teddy-Graham bill would have been unstoppable.
American families spend $40 billion per year on maintaining freshwater aquariums. ($17 billion on food and $12 billion on vet bills.)

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:03:00 +0000

RT @TheOnion: Sports: Brett Favre Avenges Storied 16-Year Career With Packers bit.ly/JFxcX

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:03:00 +0000

Philadelphia may care more about the World Series than New York. Game 5 ratings in Philly were 41% compared to New York's 28.7%.
The lowest-rated program on any of the four major networks last week was the Notre Dame/Washington State game on NBC.

Sex appeal of e-book readers

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:42:00 +0000

Sure, e-books save bookshelf space. And trees. But did you know they also give the reader sex appeal?

That's what a front-page story in today's newspaper says. Quoting an official from Sony, the story says if readers are interested in women, they just need "whip out" their e-book device "and watch the magic happen."

Celebrate good times, come on

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:35:00 +0000

As someone who was, ahem, once invited to give a speech at the Pro Football Hall of Fame about the evolution of NFL end zone dances, I feel like I should weigh in on two stories in today's local newspaper about on-field celebrations.

A front-page story by Paul Tenorio examines the recent emphasis on toning down player celebrations in high school football. In particular, a "point of emphasis" memo from the National Federation of State High School Associations regarding Rule 9-5-1, which prohibits "any delayed, excessive or prolonged act by which a player attempts to focus attention upon himself."
A second story in the sports section by Steve Yanda talks about an NCAA "point of emphasis" to crack down on excessive celebrations in college basketball, including "muscling up after a dunk."

In basketball, most post-scoring celebrations occur with the game clock running. So it seems like "excessive" celebrating is actually a competitive disadvantage. I don't see the benefit in stopping the game to penalize a team.

On the other hand, football celebrations usually take place with the clock stopped and thus have the potential to delay the game. Cracking down on that seems fair to me. I'd let them celebrate all they want, but at the risk of a delay-of-game penalty (which ought to be more than 5 yards, by the way).

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Also from that video: 35 percent of book sales on Amazon are for the Kindle.
If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's 4th largest. RT @huardsmith The rise of social media: bit.ly/yozjR
The Vikings/Packers game Sunday drew 29.8 million viewers, the 2nd most for a Sunday NFL telecast ever (49ers/Cowboys in 1995 is No. 1).
Are big-box stores like Bed Bath & Beyond shunning the suburbs in favor of inner city D.C.? Let's take a look: ow.ly/z91c
Beginning today, Rhode Island no longer allows indoor prostitution. I thought you'd like to know. ping.fm/FmbV8

D.C. 2, Silver Spring 0

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:07:00 +0000

Have you ever noticed that the good big-box stores shun the suburbs in favor of the inner city? That's what a popular Silver Spring, Md., blog wants to know.

From Silver Spring Singular:
Can someone provide a reasonable explanation as to why there is not a Bed Bath & Beyond in or near downtown Silver Spring? I really think that's a market research fail on the part of BB&B corporate. In the past few years they've added urban locations in both Chinatown and Columbia Heights, yet we've been completely ignored.

Oh, the irony.

Evidently, Bed Bath & Beyond is ignoring the suburbs while it opens new stores in D.C.'s Chinatown and Columbia Heights.

Is this a first for D.C. and a major retailer?

D.C. finally has a Target, and now it has more Bed Bath & Beyond outlets than Silver Spring.

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:01:00 +0000

The top five most expensive airports in the nation: Huntsville, Grand Rapids, Savannah, Wash. Dulles and Houston Bush. ow.ly/yCot
The new season of "Better Off Ted" starts Dec. 8. Scrubs (the Brett Favre of TV shows) will start up again on Dec. 1. ow.ly/yGuE
Way to go, Lisa Simpson! RT @GrameenFdn (a client): Today, Yeardley Smith gave $900K to Grameen. Join her and make a gift: ow.ly/yJJm
RT @jcatherine: How texting is "corrosive toward poetry and imagination" in what used to be courtship: bit.ly/NJ4hD

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

And thus ends a wonderful two-week stretch for D.C. football fans. The Redskins resume their Sunday afternoon schedule next week.
Speaking of which, the last two weeks are exactly why many people in Los Angeles don't want an NFL team.

Barack Obama as Alan Thicke

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Yesterday's New York Times Magazine cover story by Jodi Kantor focused on Michelle and Barack Obama's marriage and seeks to answer the question of whether any couple have a truly equal partnership when one person is president.

The 10-page story describes Michelle as a "single mom" when she lived with the kids in Chicago while Barack served as a legislator in Springfield, Ill. But Michelle says the equality of any partnership “is measured over the scope of the marriage. It’s not just four years or eight years or two. We’re going to be married for a very long time."

It seems the Obamas are taking a page from Dr. Jason Seaver and Maggie Malone of the 1980s TV show Growing Pains. You may recall that from year to year, Jason and Maggie took turns being stay-at-home parents while the other one pursued a career. In fact, Jason may have even been television's first stay-at-home dad.¹

Anyway, my point is that Michelle is implying that things will even out in her relationship with Barack after they leave the White House. I'll be curious to see if it works out as well as it did for the Seavers of Long Island, N.Y.

¹Sure, I could look it up. But I don't feel like it.

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

I'm confused. Why is Notre Dame playing Washington State in San Antonio?
The parent of a trick-or-treater just asked if our Jack-o-lanterns are real. I'm taking it as a compliment.
Palau is in the news for accepting the 6 Uighurs from Guantanamo. I wish Marnie + I could join them. It's been 6 years since our honeymoon.

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:01:00 +0000

I just got to the part of Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" that mentions Twitter. Tweeting, it says, can help the human mind change the world.

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:02:00 +0000

TV ratings this year are up 2 percent. ABC credits DVRs for keeping viewership high. ow.ly/xp0Q

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:02:00 +0000

72 percent of rich Americans (average income of $415,000) belong to social network sites. ow.ly/x8Uc
Only three players in NFL history have said they are gay. All made the announcement after retiring. Jason Maloni has more: ow.ly/x6MX
How many people does it take a TV network to cover a World Series? Fox will have 150 workers at Yankee Stadium tonight. ow.ly/xbuI
Fox's baseball ratings so far have been 12% higher for game action after 11 p.m. Eastern than before that time. ow.ly/xbHx

Tweets from LeavittDC

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Welcome to a new daily¹ feature: my tweets.

13:04 Help @grameenfdn (a client of mine) make a difference using microloans. Join me in giving $27 to fight poverty. ow.ly/wUeY #Give27
17:38 If the World Series goes six games, the Yankees & Phillies will have had 17 days off in the playoffs vs. 20 during the regular season.
18:02 Why take out a newspaper ad when you can buy the same size audience online for a third the price? ow.ly/wWI9 #marketing #advertising
18:05 Following up on my question from a minute ago: The Internet is the only advertising medium expected to grow this year in the U.S. #marketing

18:20 Wow. $5,000 sounds high to me. RT @jasonjwilde: What's it cost to throw an NFL game ball into the stands? tinyurl.com/yf7q937

21:20 Cool look at the optical illusions of a curveball. j.mp/CurveIllusion #baseball (via @revkin)

07:43 Good point. I'm on board. RT @mbostrom: Haven't we reached the point where digital cameras can just be called cameras?

09:16 Thank you to @erdanton for punching up my one-line Twitter bio. "Bite-sized portions of triviality. Hundreds served." Thoughts?

¹Until I change my mind.

Peace out

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:46:00 +0000

Filed under Linguistics.

For years, people have said "Hey, what's up?" to mean hello (rather than actually find out what is up) and "Peace out" to mean goodbye.

But I find it interesting the way people in my office use "peace out" as a verb.

"I'm going to peace out."
"Did he peace out already? Wow. That's pretty early to peace out."

As Bart Simpson remarked after getting a glimpse of the future: "I can't believe 'smell you later' replaced goodbye."

ADDENDUM: I just heard this term used in the past tense: "She peace outed about an hour ago."

First commercial flight on natural gas

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:22:00 +0000

On Monday, a Qatar Airways flight from London to Doha became the world's first commercial flight running on natural gas.

Actually, according to reporter Adam Schreck, the flight ran on a half-and-half mixture of regular jet fuel and natural gas. But still.

Reading this story reminded all over again that I never know how to pronounce the word "Qatar." According to the WJLA weather promos, it sounds like this. Then again, Adam points out that the voice-over sounds more like a British person reading a sponsorship than a Qatari pronouncing the country's name correctly.

One of these days, I'll settle this debate once and for all.

Good time, great taste

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:15:00 +0000

DES PLAINES, Ill. — No trip to Des Plaines would be complete without a stop at Ray Kroc's first McDonald's store, which opened in 1955. These days, this outpost is only a museum, complete with mannequins dressed up as servers with aprons and paper hats. For people who arrive with a craving for food, not history, there is an actual McDonald's in operation right across the street.

Earlier this year, I visited the first Burger King. (Sort of.) Wendy's, you're next!

We're No. 1

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:58:00 +0000

Tonight's Packers/Vikings game could become the most-watched program in the history of cable television.

Cable's all-time top five list includes three NFL games; a Larry King Live episode featuring Al Gore and Ross Perot; and High School Musical 2.

Touchdown, Jesus

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:59:00 +0000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — It turns out that the University of Notre Dame campus is located not in South Bend but in an eponymous community with its own zip code and everything. As long as we're carving out convenient boundaries, can we make it possible to drive from Chicago to Notre Dame without a time-zone change?

I mean, look at the time-zone map. Would it kill them to extend Central Time to one more county?

Uh, so anyway, the video documents my weekend trip to Notre Dame. It was cold. It was rainy. And it was awesome — totally worth the schlep.

The holy land

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:02:00 +0000

Flickr photo by lobstar28.

SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill. — Some people might wonder as they drive by this town why the water tower proclaims the municipality to be a "community of churches." (It's hard to tell from this photo, but trust me: that's what it says.)

That's been the South Holland slogan since 1976. And they take this church stuff pretty seriously. Businesses can't sell alcohol. Cable operators can't offer adult programming or on-demand channels.

As for the slogan, an Internet search reveals that there are 31 churches in South Holland. People, let's be more specific on our water towers from now on. A community of 31 churches. Got it?