It looks like we’re going to be switching area codes this summer. Most of the 29 Corridor from Charlottesville, south to Danville will become 434 in two months.

I remember when they instituted the 540 area code for most of Virginia (southwestern, Shenandoah Valley and north central) and 757 for Tidewater/Hampton Roads back in ‘95. Used to be just 703 and 804. Population growth + cell phones + faxes = new area codes.

Time to get new business cards. [cvillenews]  § “”

Never would have guessed.  § “”

But what's really cool is that even with all these enhancements, you're unlikely to experience any significant compatibility problems with applications you developed for earlier versions of Internet Explorer.

That’s comforting. Thank you, Microsoft, for backwards compatability. Leading the pack as always.  § “”

Apparently, one of the guys I worked with there (government major, hyper-conservative, and the only jewish Republican I’ve ever met) was getting a Level Two White House clearance.

Believe me, he would fit riiiight in at the Bush, Jr. White House. What all a level two clearance status entails, I have no clue.

As far as I know, it could be anything from Door-opener for Mrs. Cheney’s dog to Campaign Strategist for the Assistant Undersecretary of the Postal Service. It’s what he’s been working for. Good for him (I suppose).  § “”

What the hell, it’s only 1½ hours away, not to mention their 10th anniversary show, in their hometown. And it’s all 25 days away. Sweeeeet.  § “”

And no free tacos in sight.

I don't know how long you’ve had Qumin, Shep, but this has become ever poignant in the past few months.  § “”

Which sounds best to you?

Make up your mind while I go pack.  § “”

Although arsenic at high doses kills cells immediately, this study shows that arsenic can be harmful even in low concentrations, says Alan R. Parrish of Texas A&M University in College Station. Hamilton's team observed hormone-disrupting effects using arsenic concentrations comparable to 10 parts per billion (ppb) in water. "These are concentrations that people might be getting," says Parrish.

Large geologic deposits of arsenic exist in Asia, South America, and several U.S. states, as well.

In January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lowered the limit of arsenic in drinking water from 50 ppb to 10 ppb. "There's a growing appreciation that arsenic has health effects at much lower doses than we originally thought," says Hamilton.

Apparently not.  § “”

I also ordered a pound of their Major Dickason's Blend (whole bean, for the coffee mill) and a tea infuser. Amy had brought back some loose (unbagged) English teas for me when she went to Britain a while back. I bought a steeping ball for it, but too much of the leaves floated about, so I bought one specifically designed for one cup at a time.

So, I’m a beverage freak.  § “”

The midway point is at a place called Bill’s Gun Shop. Apparently the place isn’t open yet, since the gates on the place are still closed. So I just turn the car around and face the road, waiting for my boss to show up, so I could see him driving past.

Half a minute later, Bill himself shows up to open the shop and gives me a funny look as he drives in.

Meanwhile there I am just sitting in the middle of Pittsylvania County in my Taurus with my bigass Nader 2000 sticker on the back, right outside a gun store, just hoping that my boss hurries the hell up, and that Bill doesn’t jump to the wrong conclusion.

Luckily, he showed up 10 or 15 minutes later. At one point I thought I heard banjos playing somewhere.  § “”

The rule, which would have reduced by 80 percent the permissible standard for arsenic in drinking water, had been a priority of environmental groups for more than a decade. It had been vigorously opposed by the mining industry and by some municipalities on grounds that the cost of compliance could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars. … The 10 parts per billion standard approved by the Clinton administration is identical to the one adopted several years ago by the European Union and the World Health Organization.

Welcome back to the mentality of harmless tobacco products. Arsenic, like all heavy metals, accumulate in the body over time.
You think compliance is expensive, how about a class action wrongful death suit against your city or county? Arsenic likes oxygen more than your red blood cells do. You don’t mess around with it.

First, it was the air. Now, it’s the water. Just wait, the land is next.

Oh, nevermind. That ball’s already rolling.

God save us all.  § “”

I’m sure there’s some significance in some culture about bottling beer on the first day of spring.

Another two weeks are needed for carbonation for it to be finished (but it’s tasty as it is). Then it will patiently sit in the fridge until April 20th.  § “”

Yeah, it’s a cheap marketing ploy, but I still think it’s funny.  § “”

The image above is a map showing the birthing grounds for caribou in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The dotted zone along the Beaufort Sea is known as the 1002 Area, the region of the wildlife refuge where the oil industry wants to begin drilling.

The map, as well as the rest of the site, was taken down by the USGS without warning, and the research scientist publishing them fired.

Is there any wonder why the site was taken down when it was? Given the options of coincidence or politics, the former is much more plausible, especially given the ties the executive branch has to certain related industries.  § “”

We went to Devil’s Marbleyard in James River Face Wilderness. (Yes, the same one aforementioned, but on the west, not east side). Devil’s Marbleyard is a huge boulder field of Chilhowee sandstone originally deposited in a beach enviroment well over half a billion years ago. During the last ice age 12,000 years ago the enviromental conditions were just right to break apart massive beds of sandstone into the boulder field today.

Just as a courtesy note, if you just ate, you might want to get back to this part later.

Once we got up to the Marbleyard we noticed a peculiar smell. It reminded me of the ocean vaguely. Actually a funky smell from down on the wharf. Below a sharp ledge was the unmistakable sight of a bare rib cage. And a large one at that. Upon closer inspection, we saw the bridle still on the head.

There are horse trails throughout the forest, but none nearby. What we initially passed off as a big deer carcass was actually a horse that had fallen either from a small 20' cliff at the base of which it rested or further up somehow.

Below the neck and above the “knees” were just exposed bone. I’ll refrain from going into much further detail, but it really added a macabre twist to our dayhike.

We made it up to the top of trail to an overview of the James River Gorge and a nice down-strike view of the Blue Ridge. We had climbed a little over 1600' in 3 or 4 miles in an hour and a half, which worked out to be just right time and energy wise for a bunch of winter cooped professional types. It’s amazing how quickly you can get out of shape. Then we turned on around and hiked on down.

So we learned very quickly today that 1. never break-in brand new boots on the trail, 2. when you forget your camera you’ll need it most (the boulder field, horse and view from the peak) and 3. if you do do #1, bring a pair of scissors sharp enough to cut moleskin.

I think our next trip is up to Ramseys Draft (a personal favorite).  § “”

So we all go to lunch and in the course of conversation, one of them brings up a recent statistic he saw in the paper that over a million people in the U.S. are in jail, coming in at number one globally. Okay. Gotcha.

He then proceeds to say that most of them are in there on drug charges, and that the best way to reduce the rate is to do what other European countries have done: legalization.

Of all the topics to be brought up at a business luncheon, this was down there with chihuahua-riding midget crack whores (yee-ha!).

After a small bit of discussion, the conversation then turned to “act of god” car incidents.

Stranger things have happened. Though not recently.  § “”

Up side: good article; down side: (free) registration required.

Enjoy.  § “”

I was digging through some of my old webfiles tonight and came across it again. So I unearthed it, polished it up (old school HTML code jives so nicely with CSS) and decided to re-post it. As true today as it ever was.

The Stonecutter’s Tale.  § “”

I can just hear him now saying in his regal British accent “Dig that crazy rhythm” and “Are you insane?”. Or even better, “Yo, yo, Camilla. Hook me up with some of those phatty jams.”

Prince. of. White. bread.  § “”

Which reminds me, George “how come all the Internet addresses begin with…three Ws?” Bush, most Internet addresses start with an h, as in http.

Just keep reading the cue cards. Uncle Dick will take it from here (if the quarter-pounder with double cheese doesn’t get him first). Is it 2004 yet?  § “”

The only thing more irritating than hearing cell phones ring while I eat (or better yet, people who let it ring five or six times before picking up) are people who drive with their high-beams on (or those green/purple/yellow fluorescent headlamps). Now if we can only develop a crying baby or shouting toddler suppression device.

Although in all reality, I can imagine seeing gaggles of patrons on cell phones outside of the doors of whatever establishment fighting for space with smokers as people try to get inside.  § “”

So here’s a clip of a large chorus of peeper frogs instead. They can sound like that after a rain in late spring/early summer. Kinda cool to hear once again.  § “”

The page displays the right way in both IE and Netscape (PC—an Apple is unfortunately nowhere to be found in my vicinity), and Blogger works consistently. Hoo-haa!  § “”

Most of the signals I get from other drivers aren’t nearly as polite.  § “”

I’ve never really been exposed to that genre of music before, but I’m diggin’ it.

(Thanks, Mark.)  § “”

I’m sure the syntax isn’t proper, but the damn thing works and displays as intended.

The code hedge will be trimmed in the meantime.  § “”

This number will become very valuable in 14 days, with it’s ultimate value becoming apparent in 46 days.

Do not forget this number.

ARTHUR: Right! One… two… five!
GALAHAD: Three sir.
ARTHUR: Three!  § “”

Yeah, it’s odd, but there’s a goodly amount of desk work to my job. I get out hiking as often as I can, but in order to keep my middle from bulging, I decided to up the water and cut the cheap crap intake. That and I couldn’t see how drinking Coke (or any other type of soda) could be any good for me over time. And I don’t really miss it that much.

I never got all that excited over over-hyped sugar water either. All Pepsi drinkers are beautiful brunettes with perky breasts, and Coca-cola will make me a better basketball player…naturally. I’ve seen too many well-fed people with two chili cheese dogs in one hand, most of the condiments on their shirt and a 42 oz. Tub O’ Drink® in the other hand.

I’d much rather go for some water instead (what is phenylalanine?).

But that’s me.  § “”

I guess the security guard wasn’t paying attention to the lyrics.  § “”

Good show. Bad venue for concerts. Aside from the greater capacity, I can see why DMB opted for Scott Stadium.

Any of the bass from the two drum kits or guitars just bounced around the concrete dome leaving a constant low backgound rumble. The lighting was also messed up so that they had them almost always pointed at the audience so alot of the time Ben and others were obscured by the bright lights in your face.

I completely dug the acoustic set—I’m such a sucker for acoustic guitar—which without the other louder instruments carried great.

The opening act, Jack Johnson, was good too (thanks, Pete). Much more enjoyable than Steve Earl and the Dukes, who opened for DMB 12.17.00.  § “”

Everyone say hi again to BlogVoices.  § “”

 § “”

Luckily the day before was Mardi Gras, so I had a pre-birthday/Fat Tuesday get-together at a local cajun/New Orleans-style restaurant, and then had another birthday party the night of.

Before then, my girlfriend and I spent most of Wednesday watching the Evil Dead trilogy: Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness (director’s cut), that she gave me. Gotta love the campy lines and blatant over-exaggeration. Dad would love it. I should have him watch them some time.  § “”