”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

My darling wife had to call an 800 number on Saturday to check on some ground beef she’d purchased at TJs. She was relieved to find out she wouldn’t have to throw away a gallon of already-made chili but our good fortune might not extend to you. If you purchased ground beef in the second half of September and put it away in the freezer for future use you could have an issue. This Washington Times article has more details about what you should look out for and the Trader Joe’s site has exact identification. If you have any stored ground beef make sure to check the WT article – it lists some stores whose names don’t jump out at me but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one around.

You can make your own decisions, but personally I don’t sweat e coli issues in ground beef. I use a meat thermometer and check to see that it’s 160F so I don’t need to worry.

‘A puppy is but a dog……….’
courtesy of ‘LaTur’

Main Line Animal Rescue in Pennsylvania, known for some unorthodox tactics like using billboards in Chicago to try to get Oprah to do a show on puppy mills, started a new campaign after convicted dog-abuser Michael Vick was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles- they take out newspaper ads in the city of every team that the Eagles play, encouraging fans to volunteer for animal charities on game day and promising to donate 5 bags of dog food to local shelters and rescues for every time Vick is sacked in that game.

The problem, of course, is that Vick isn’t getting that much playing time and is hard to catch besides, so MLAR has been pledging a certain minimum contribution. But the campaign has been so successful that donations of additional dog food have been pouring in from multiple sources. So much so that after Vick was sacked three times in the Eagles/Redskins game, MLAR was able to bring four tons of dog food to the Washington DC Humane Society, which will distribute it among multiple local shelters.

‘Fight!’
courtesy of ‘phi’

Several sources are running stories about a little dustup in the WaPo offices last week. Fishbowl actually has an on-record confirmation from a WaPo source that the sock-in-the-face did happen. The lesson here seems to be that you shouldn’t call anyone a c*cksucker and feel confident they won’t swing at you, even if they’re in their 70s.

The piece of writing that apparently set this whole thing in motion was Saturday’s piece about infamous accidental disclosures in history. Personally I had a hard time working up the enthusiasm to read the whole thing, much less get into a brawl over it.

Update: Tom suggests that this story demands a little Anchorman.

If Halloween just isn’t protesty enough for you then this is your year. Green Halloween aims to use the holiday’s mask focus as a chance to “show the world the real faces of the politicians who have detained and killed our friends in Iran.” You don’t even have to print one out yourself – they’ll hand em out at the 9pm start time.

If you go, do me a favor and find the organizer and tell him about bit.ly or tinyurl.com or something. Putting a link like that one above on the bottom of a flyer is just insane.

‘Washington DC Breast Cancer 3-Day Walkers & Crew 02’
courtesy of ‘Daniel.Techie {TCP/IP} @ 127.0.0.1’

So there was this report on WJLA last night about breast self-exams for women as a cancer detection/prevention measure. As I watched the female anchor warn viewers that the following story contained “graphic images of women’s breasts” I rolled my eyes and wondered what the hell our problem is as a society, and then watched the story, both for self-education and for media-criticism purposes. I wondered how they would handle it.

So I watched, and what struck me was how very clinical it was. The only close-up shots were for the specific purpose of demonstrating the technique. There were no gratuitous boobies hanging out, only depictions of both a doctor and a patient demonstrating the exam procedure. The whole thing was, frankly, the opposite of sexually provocative. It was about as sexy as when my doctor discusses it with me (NOT SEXY AT ALL). And look, I’m kind of a prude about this stuff, so it’s not like I wouldn’t have noticed if it were exploitative.

I’m not saying some pubescent kid with raging hormones and no access to other depictions of nudity couldn’t have found SOME reason to get aroused, but that says more about what puberty is like than about the quality of this report. It was medical, educational, and so it annoys (but does not surprise) me that groups like Concerned Women for America are actually complaining about it. Apparently the Concerned Women are not actually that concerned ABOUT Women. But if nothing else, it generates publicity for the importance of breast self-exam. So, watch it for yourself (maybe not in your cubicle) and decide.

Stairway
Originally uploaded by tbridge

DC Concierge has five bar stairways to avoid including the #1, the bathroom stairs at Lucky Bar, pictured here. I’d have to say, though, that the #1 stairway I’m glad I won’t have to see again, ever, is the one at the old Murky Coffee/Common Grounds in Arlington, which I always worried would just collapse into splinters one day. I’ll also add that the stairs at Madams Organ always made me just a little uncomfy, but the last time I was there was easily 2005 if not before.

My favorite stairs, though, are probably the ones over at 18th Street Lounge, while always add to the “hidden spot” feeling of the whole place.