George Mason University economics professor Russ Roberts gets a lot of airtime; he appears sporadically as an expert on a variety of NPR shows – Marketplace on the air as well as the excellent Planet Money podcast. He also hosts his own podcast, Econtalk, which is more of a commitment with its usual hour+ running times.

Now you can add rap producer to the list of media achievements. Howard who? Roberts is on his way to being the new king of all media, it seems.

WBUR and All Things Considered have a story on how the rap came about, but it’s nowhere near as much fun as the rap itself. Pretty well done, though I’d be interested to hear from any of you who aren’t already familiar with the two economic schools of thought about whether it really taught you anything.

‘National Gallery of Art – East Building’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

The latest installment of “security guards in federal buildings need to lay off trying to interpret the Constitution” comes in the form of a couple of security guards at the National Gallery of Art stopping a citizen from entering the Gallery until she removed the pin on her lapel that had a pro-life message on it. Because it’s a “religious” or “political” symbol, the guards seemed to be unclear on which.

To be absolutely fair, Meghan Duke, the Gallery visitor in question, was there the day after the March for Life, when no doubt every guard in every federally-owned building in town has been instructed to ask people to leave signs and other protest-oriented paraphrenalia outside so as to prevent disruptions inside the building.

According to Duke’s account of the incident, however, the guards didn’t ask her to remove the pin in accordance with rules about protest materials (which would have been just as ridiculous as asking her to remove any other small political button), but on the basis that wearing a religious symbol into a federal building is a violation of the First Amendment. Except that when she asked if she could wear a cross necklace, the guards responded that that would be “completely different.” I am speechless.

Here’s an idea for a policy for security guards to follow: Leave the Constitutional interpretation to the courts.

Better to find security guard services who are competent rather than just ones who do this kind of stuff (find here some examples of reputable security guard services).

‘Artomatic 2009 DC Obama’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

By Ebony Kankam, special to We Love DC

This evening, President Barack Obama will enter our homes to deliver his first State of the Union address. In this speech the President will address some of the major problems our nation currently faces, as well as lay out a national plan to solve such problems.

The night will be filled with critiques of the President’s plan for a road to recovery as well as excitement to hear the President’s first State of the Union to a Joint Session of Congress. No matter what your political stance, make this year’s State of the Union a memorable one by watching it alongside of a group of friends or perfect strangers. From bingo games to open mics, there’s something for everyone. Continue reading →

The Penny Arcade guys tipped me to this poll going on over at the WaPo’s Comic Riffs blog – they’re asking what your favorite webcomic is. If you don’t read any then that makes for a pretty easy vote, but for those of us who *cough* spend perhaps a little too much time *cough*cough* reading web comics every day it can be a harder selection.

I’m a little disappointed that Schlock Mercenary isn’t in there, and somewhat surprised too, given our military population. However it’s just about made up for by the fact that Scott Kurtz’s PvP is currently sitting at 0%. Spend a little less time sniping at the print comics on web board and more time drawing and maybe you’ll pick up some readers, Scott.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have never heard of some of the other candidates so I need to go do some ummmm research.

‘Kevin Smith’
courtesy of ‘jareed’

I have a strange devotion to Kevin Smith. Maybe it stems from my dear friend in high school who kind of looked like him and was indeed a guy named Bob who didn’t say much. But my point is, it’s terribly exciting to me that he’s coming to Sixth & I Synagogue to do Q&A on April 22nd. Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster to the general public on Friday the 29th, but there’s a presale on the 28th if you know the password. Which, by the way, is not that much of a password. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you.

courtesy of Me

Crystal City has been promoting their couture week for a while now; events will include t-shirt printing, various design competitions and a multitude of hair and skin consultations. You can check out the full list on their website along with an improvement over last year’s events: more precise timetables.

I enjoyed taking pictures of the body paint last year – my favorite picture is above –  but today’s announcement is even more pertinent to my interests: deals on food and booze.

Morton’s, Hamlet’s, King Street Blues and San Antonio Bar and Grill will all be running specials starting Monday the 1st through the 6th when the Couture week concludes.  You won’t fund your retirement with the savings but a few specials sound fun – King Street’s etouffee in particular.

‘Levitating Lunch (187)’
courtesy of ‘dougww’

The Washington Times has a story today examining the relationship between DC Public Schools and Chartwells, the company providing school lunch/breakfast services. DCPS pays Chartwells nearly $30 million a year, but has a spotty track record for food quality and safety. The most disturbing incident was failure to warn school officials about a tortilla recall after serving those same tortillas to students in Racine, WI. 100 students from 5 schools became sick in connection to the recalled food.

The Slow Cook also recently spent a week in a DC Public School cafeteria kitchen, observing the food quality and preparation. While I agree with their overall premise that pre-cooked “beef crumbles” and nacho cheese heated up on a steamer table still in its plastic bag does not count as “fresh cooked” the way Michelle Rhee wants it to be, I think the real scandal is that so many schools don’t have kitchens in them and therefore couldn’t brown their own ground beef or cook their own vegetables if they wanted to. (And to be fair, The Slow Cook sees this as emblematic of a larger problem of school nutrition standards, and not an issue at DC Public Schools specifically.)

‘Spring Onions’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’

Tonight the National Building Museum will play host to a roundtable discussion with leaders and activists involved with urban agriculture from across the country. They will be discussing the conversion of what are effectively deserts (many urban spaces) into “oases”, or more specifically, urban gardens. Tickets are $12 for members, $20 for the public, and students get in free.

‘Deer II – Rock Creek Park’
courtesy of ‘architeuthis dux’

After spending a few years growing my own food and buying from local farmers, the next logical step, for me, is to learn how to source the ultimate in local meat: Deer. Jackson Landers, a Charlottesville based insurance broker, started teaching a class last fall and got some coverage in the New York Times about it. He’s just announced a weekend condensed class in February that covers everything from deer anatomy, natural history, gun safety (as well as a trip to the range), field dressing, and final butchering, cooking, and tasting. The course costs $380.

I’ll be packing up my trusty Winchester Model 70 (in ’30-06) and heading down to Jack’s weekend course “Deer Hunting for Locavores” in Charlottesville on February 20-21. There are still a few slots left as of this writing.