I love the Gmaps Pedometer. There are lots of adaptations, but the most fully functional, I think, is USA Track and Field’s running routes database, which allows you to search saved routes and add your own. You could also walk these routes. Just so you know, before you start complaining to me that running is stupid and you don’t do it. There’s also MapMyWalk and MapMyRun, which has nifty little icons for water fountains and public restrooms.
I don’t remember why I started this post.
The view out my window every morning:
I don’t trust people who don’t love finches.
Last year I was obsessed with a pair of boots. They were $250 so I decided to wait until they went on sale. Then they were featured in Lucky as must-have boots. This means that they not only never went on sale last year, they became hard to find. Zappos, when they had them in stock, was more expensive than Nordstrom. It was ridiculous. Nevertheless, I bought the black suede ones when I had the chance. I’ve been lying in wait ever since, knowing eventually they’ll quit being hip and go on sale. Then I could buy the brown ones, because I have to say, they really are all that. I guess I’m going to have to keep waiting. I was just flipping through Self, and guess what’s in their spread on must-have items for Fall? Yup. Same damn boots. It’s okay, there are other boots in the sea. You don’t really want boots that have been floating around in the sea, but you know what I mean.
I just spent an hour completely hypnotized by the World Parrot Trust website. You should go and learn about Parrot conservation efforts and look at the pretty pictures.
Speaking of pretty pictures, hooray for Lori, who had one of her nice photos posted on DCist yesterday.
Also, happy Talk Like a Pirate Day. This is my brother’s favorite holiday, so if you find yourself in the neighborhood of Iraq and you happen to run into him, say “Arrrr” to him for me.
Shaun Dakin, creator of the political do not call list, StopPoliticalCalls.org had an interesting op-ed published in the Washington Post recently.
While John McCain and Barack Obama have plenty to fight about, there is at least one thing that they agree on: Voters who interact with their campaigns have no privacy rights.
What does this mean?
It’s simple: Voters do not have the right to opt out of unwanted campaign communications, either online or off-line. Voters don’t have the right to decide who will contact them or how they will be contacted by the presidential campaigns.
This invasion of the voters’ privacy is bipartisan. Republicans do it. Democrats do it. Heck, even Libertarians do it.
This week, I received an e-mail from the Obama campaign that had the subject line: “Your Neighbors.” Intrigued, I opened the message and learned that the campaign was launching a sophisticated program called “Neighbor-to-Neighbor” that makes “it easier than ever to connect with potential supporters in your community by phone or door-to-door.” It continues: “Neighbor-to-Neighbor gives you the option to make phone calls or knock on doors — the choice is yours.”
The choice may be yours, but what about your neighbors, who may not want you to bother them at their homes?
[continue reading, “A Privacy Shield Against the Campaigns”]
I’ve read lots of hysterical fear-mongering about StopPoliticalCalls.org. This is an opt-out program for people who are tired of being badgered. It does not mean that you opt out of reading or information gathering or learning, it means that you opt out of being harassed dozens of times a day for months on end by robo-calls.
That’s not a desire to cede one’s Civil Liberties or opt out of the political process in any way. In fact, I believe that one of the rights we can all agree to protect is the right to be left the fuck alone. Think I’m crabby now? You should have been around last year when we were getting an average of 10 of these calls a day. I would have had our phone number changed by now if it wasn’t for StopPoliticalCalls so yeah, I’m a fan.