Structured Metadata for Entropy

FAQ/NABAQ - Frequently Asked / Never Asked but Answered Questions =df.
A list of questions, with answers, added to a web site. In some cases these questions will be garnered from actual information requests to the owners of the web site. In many cases, these questions will be an anticipated set of questions that the web site maintainers created. In other cases, the questions and answers provided will only be a subset of questions with carefully sanitized, non-controversial responses. For example, I would be very surprised, if
Exxon-Mobil had a FAQ list online, that it would address any of the myriad of questions that consumers might have about the patterns of gasoline pump prices as correlated with crude oil prices, refinery output statistics, corporate profits, and executive compensations ... just to pick an easy example out of thin air.

• W - Bungler in Chief
• Bush for Lawn Ornament
• Stop Mad Cowboy Disease
• "W" in a big red circle with a line through it
• When Did Torture Become a Moral Value?
• If You're Not Outraged, You're Not Paying Attention
• Hail to the Thief

I am driving along behind a beverage distributor's truck. The back of the truck has a Martini and Rossi Asti Spumanti bottle hand painted on the back. How do I know that it is hand-painted, instead of a decal? The picture reproduces everything you would see on a view of the bottle from that angle, including the line with the address of the importer of the wine. The city where the importer is located is spelled Miaimi, FL.

Only in Washington D.C. do you get Santa Claus on water skis, in the Potomac River, on Christmas Eve. He was accompanied this year by the Grinch on a jet-ski, eight reindeer and Rudolf (although some of the deer were on a jet ski too), a bunch of elves, a panda bear, and Frosty the Snowman acting as lifeguard. We decided to check it out this year, along with a lot of other people. They had mentioned it on WAMU a couple of days in advance, which might have helped the attendance. They were due to start at 1:00 PM on December 24 (2005). We arrived at Lady Bird Johnson Park, at 12:30, and parking was already scarces, with several hundred people lined up on the river bank. People were crossing the George Washington Parkway fairly oblivious to traffic, that was brought to a standstill. Most people had small children with them, but there were a few adults-only groups, like ourselves.

You can see some photos, with notations, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferthalangur/sets/1721772/.

Shortly after we arrive, a pair of kids is arranged by their father, who sets them up with a music stand and starts to film them with a VCR. The kids are playing Christmas Carols on a trumpet and trombone. Later, when people leave, their case gets filled with money. Perhaps it's not so awful a place to perform for them. :)

A bunch of boats are already floating in the water, but we don't see any activity that indicates they are putting on dry suits and costumes. Perhaps Santa's Entourage suits up further downstream. Multiple Police Boats arrive on the scene, and one patrols the shore to ensure that nobody gets too close to the river bank. It is fairly crowded, with lots of children pushing to see. Nobody fell in, or got run over though. in all, I saw the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, Eight or Nine Reindeer, a bunch of Elves, and a Panda Bear, either on skis, knee-boards, jet-skis, or in boats. I'll upload more pictures as I get the chance to pick them.

• Frodo has failed, Bush has the ring.


• Republicans for Voldemort


• We're making enemies faster than we can kill them

I am sitting in my car, in the dark, at the
Roaches Run Waterfoul Sanctuary.
I stopped here because I'm early to pick up Paula from her flight ... and the cops chase you away if you loiter by the airport terminal. What have we got here? There are at least ten other cars here - some arrive, some leave. Some are limo drivers, taking a stretch break or a smoke break. One guy pulls up to walk his dogs. What aboot the rest? This is an awesome place for planespotting tonight. Reagan's proximity to the Pentagon and other restricted airspaces reguires some steep takeoffs and hard turns. what are the rest doing? Contemplating nature or looking to hook up? Perhaps an illicit exchange of contraband? There is a truck with New York Plates, pulling in to the lot. ths man with the dogs gets out of his car, goss to the passenger side of the truck. He comes back with a plastic bag. Then, both dr1ve away. Huh.

I see a man, walking along the side of U.S. Route 1, with a coat hanger sagging with pairs of suspenders. He is also carrying a satchel, but that is not so unusual. This guy has somewhere between fifteen and twenty pairs of suspenders on the hanger. What's up with this guy? Is he taking all his braces to the cleaners? Perhaps he is a collector of rare and unusual suspenders? I didn't pull over to ask him.

Hides Hole in Bumper

I guess more people might start reading this now that I've made mention to my family that I have a blog, and where it is. My original purposes in creating this LJ account were to:

• Try out LJ to see if it had some of the privacy features that emacsen told me about. (It does ... they seem to work).
• Create an information access point, as poorly maintained as it might be, so that family and friends could keep up with what's going on in my life in a moderately efficient way. That is ... not have to rewrite or copy and paste the same email response to "How is school?" to a myriad of people.