What's That You Say?
Good day, everyone. It's time for another sterling edition of What's That You Say? - where we take all the things you said last week and try to make some sense out of them.
This week's Comment of the Week comes from somegirl, who realizes that some stories - like a group that believes sexual orientation is a choice suing the Office of Human Rights - require a healthy dose of rationalism to fully grasp:
So let's see, the "ex-gay" argument goes like this:
1) There is no such thing as sexual orientation. Homosexuality is a disease, like alcoholism, and can be cured.
2) However, we want legal protection for our sexual orientation, even though there is no such thing.
Is there an "ex-sucks-at-logic" movement?
After the jump: Maryland's sex-offender Halloween signs are one big graphic design FAIL.
Photo by andertho
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Halloween and sex offenders: well, we just knew we'd be highlighting a few of these comments. (Especially since we're apparently read by so many graphic designers.)
Vaughan doesn't really buy the sign's potential effectiveness:
seriously? uh, can they please run these signs by a graphic designer or a child psychologist? preferably both?
this might work for kids escorted by parents, but seems ineffective for the inevitable "group" (dare i say pack?) of kids looking for a sugar high.
i'm pretty sure kids are pretty drawn to graphics, that they don't read that much, and that that font since it's in all-caps isn't all that legible anyways. putting a big pumpkin on the door seems a little like putting a picture of some jonas brother up there and telling kids "NO AWFUL POP MUSIC BY SYRUPY POORLY STYLED 12 YEAR OLDS HERE."
they should really put a stalk of broccoli. or a photo of madonna or something.
Whereas dank had an issue with the color scheme:
As a qualified graphic designer, I have to say: holy crap that's terrible! Green on orange? Condensed all caps? "Residence"? Completely worthless, except to communicate that this is someone worth beating up.
Finally, arglebargle, that's just cruel:
I'm going to print out 20 of these in color, and stick them on my friends and enemies front doors!!!!
Let the fun begin!
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The case of bikes and cars sharing the road: looks like the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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This week in The Magical World of Monkeyrotica, Monkey gives us a fairly comprehensive tutorial about grilling brats:
There are two schools of brat grilling: those who simmer in beer/grilled onions/peppers first, then grill. And there are those civilized folks who grill everything first, THEN let the brats simmer off to the side in the beer and peppers/onions. The latter has the advantage in that the cook can leave the brats alone without fear of burning them, and the guests can help themselves.
Also, mad props to Canales for carrying Mangers Brand halfsmokes, the kind Ben's serves and the only kind worth cooking at home. When you buy your brats, get a couple pounds of halfsmokes and grill them as well. If there are any leftovers, chop them up, add a couple cans of canellini beans and chopped tomatoes, throw them in the oven, and you have some kickass ghetto "cassoulet."
Be sure to peruse the remainder of Monkey's grilling tips in the rest of the thread.
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"Groups" or "wolf packs?" Most of the commentariat thinks that once they drift into the criminal, they lose the right to be treated to the courtesy of politically correct language.
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You know, we usually like to keep things concise around here, but it's late October - why not indulge in some stump speech-type comments? That said, here's Reid on WMATA's failures with NextBus (spawned from a post on express bus route expansion):
"Only at WMATA would it take this long to get it working right."
The mysterious recent disappearance of the back-door NextBus leads me to believe that WMATA has a fundamental beef with the whole idea of NextBus, for whatever reason. It was clearly working on a lot of lines just two weeks ago. Then they all of the sudden stopped (perhaps because of the DCist leak and subsequent uptick in hits). That Catoe was billed as a "bus guy" is complete and utter BS. Anyone that remotely relies on a bus would understand the value of NextBus. I have no idea what WMATA's problem is with NextBus. Maybe the bus drivers are making a stink about it. Maybe it costs too much. I don't know.
San Fran went through a similar teeth-pulling. Like DC they had only a few early routes covered, which turned out to be a lie, since you could back-door your way into the NextBus system and get more lines. Like WMATA, the SF bus agency displayed a similar lack of enthusiasm for the program. Maybe the NextBus people are a bunch of dicks or something, but I suspect there's something else afoot.
What is absolutely clear is the WMATA has lied about this. They said they were initially shutting down the system because it didn't "synch" correctly with their system. Lie. The system worked just fine on the NextBus website until they shut it down. They also said they were worried about how it was only 80% accurate. That's absolutely a lie. The lie, of course, being that they're worried about the accuracy. If they were that concerned about riders getting misleading information, they'd stop publishing bus schedules altogether, which I'm sure are no where near 80% accurate.
They have a problem with the whole idea of NextBus and they're lying to us about why it's not already in place. Catoe should be fired.
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So... we're not giving this one the DCist Commentariat Seal of Approval?
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MikeB's the logistical details of D.C. taxicab licensing rather revelatory:
Only $375?
And it's taught at UDC?
Now it's all starting to make sense.
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See? GhettoBurbs understands why a body could go unfound for a week after a car accident - it's all a matter of boundaries:
To be fair to MPD, this accident didn't happen in their jurisdiction. Suitland Parkway near Suitland Road, the body landing site as described by the WP, is not in SE DC. So this is either the responsibility of the Park Police or the PG County police department, depending on the car's trajectory and the corpse's hang time.
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We'll miss you and your cheap beer, Dremo's - even if some of us miss the Taco Bell more.
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Overheard in D.C. always gets the strangest comments. Take, for instance, this one from boondoggle, which we think is about bad actors:
As Iron Man’s greatest foe is Chinese, this young man wasn’t being racist but merely staying true to the role. This ability to stay in character will serve him well, whether he ends up in a community theater revival of Equus or as pizza delivery guy #2 in Shaving Ryan’s Privates.
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glasswindow will be celebrating the occasion with puns:
I don't know weather to party or not.
There will be a 40% chance of fruit punch.
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This week's Avatar Award For Achievement in the Field of Avatars goes to realidealist, whose avatar is not only timely, but also manages to successfully use a DCist post (the aforementioned Maryland Halloween sign story) as the leaping point for creativity. Double points for you, RI! (Also, honorable mention goes to Tigidal for that wicked trippy optical illusion. Oh, and also to placate IMGoph, who nominated you and didn't have a comment in the roundup this week. See, we're always thinking how to please you guys.)
This week's winner of the Username of the Week award is newhampave, whom we can only hope warns all Washingtonians about the ugly realities of shortening and compressing street and neighborhood names. Unless you were talking about paving a new ham, newhampave - if so, we apologize.