O'Mally Rally October 7, 2010

I couldn't have said it better.

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Going Mad in Herds

By MAUREEN DOWD

Published: August 21, 2010

Gulf of Mexico: Send Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Hair, Fur and Panty hose

This isn't intended to be a flip post. But I am so frustrated with BP's oil spill in the Gulf. And, I did hear a story on the BBC about people collecting hair and fur to stuff into pantyhose to make booms to sop up the oil.  Here's a link to the podcast.

Here's the frustration:

• Why isn't there a huge effort being made to protect the shoreline?  
• Why didn't they start that protection an hour after the oil spill happened?  Like there was ever any question that the oil would sooner or later make it to our wetlands, beaches and ports.
• Why is there no call to inspect every drilling site in our waters?
• Why is there no government demand that before you have a license to drill, you have a vetted plan to clean up your mess and prevent it from reaching shore??
• BP is responsible for the spill and fixing it and paying for everything.  But isn't the government responsible for protecting our coast line?  If the Mexicans had invaded would we be satisfied with the government saying "well they're responsible and will pay for the damage caused"?

Since none of that has been done, we need the federal government to organize all entities -- state and local governments, noncommercial and commercial companies and we the citizenry at large to do something to clean up the current mess and try to keep the rest of the oil from coming ashore even if all we can do is cut our hair and send it to Alabama.

This summer hair will be worn very short and dogs will be sheared. Where's Beau?

A Day in Manhattan

My friend Goldie had her foot re-organized a few weeks ago and is not allowed to stand on it at all for weeks and weeks.   But she wanted to go to a college -- Columbia University J School --  reunion in New York City this past weekend.  Since my Mother, who lives on East 77th Street, would always like to see me, I decided to drive Goldie up to NYC from DC.

Here's Goldie on her knee scooter. She managed to get around very well.  Her class has some really accomplished journalists in it, including some Pulitzer Prize winners.

While Goldie hung out with her classmates, my Mom and I met cousin Jon at Madison Square Park with the intention of walking along on the High Line, which we did.   But the park turned out to be quite an adventure itself.  Here's Mom and Jon.  

There was a Sikh food festival.

Now, the really funny thing is that British artist Antony Gormley has a sculpture exhibit in and around the square made up of a naked man in bronze. 

This the naked guy, penis and all. 

So I'm assuming the Sikh's didn't approve of the appendage. So they covered him up:

That's Mom with the Naked Man in his Gramper (diaper for 'gramps').  What's really cool is that this bronze man was everywhere around the park, on the roofs of several buildings all around us.  There ....

and there

...

look there too!!!

   

My mechanic loves me...according to Google Voice.

My mechanic loves me, or at least he called me “my love” on the Google Voice Mail text message on my cell phone.  I haven't told my husband yet.  My mechanic also said he was "resolved to get a call back" and that my car was “the same kind of dead” it was last time. What a garbled mess.  Especially considering the fact that there is almost nothing wrong with my car. 

For those who don't know.  Google Voice is "voice mail" for your phone that turns voice messages into text so that you scan them quickly and decide whether you need to return the calls, without listening to someone's unnecessarily long-winded message.  It's in invitation-only Beta.  You can get an invitation by Googling 'google voice'.  So it's really not that exclusive. There's more to it than this, like getting a google phone number, etc. Google probably calls it Google phone service. Look it up yourself. 

And to think I’ve been dying for a Star Trek-like universal translator.  With one tap of a button, your Chinese becomes my English.  Despite the garble, I’m optimistic that we’ll have a universal translator in my life time and will keep the Google Voice message service.

From Orchids to Octopi - A Darwinian Play from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences

From Orchids to Octopi - National Institute of General Medical Sciences

My Obama Boots or No Frost Bite at the Inauguration

I bought these boots after the 2008 election with the intension of going to the inauguration no matter what the weather would be. So I looked for boots that were comfortable and light enough to walk the eight miles back to my house from the Capitol, warm enough for c
old weather, and dry enough for rain and mud. These boots have served me very well this crazy winter ! And they were a smart move last year. Here's a funny story about toes.

My podiatrist told me that last February he saw a woman patient complaining of pain in several of her toes.

"Have you been out in the cold a lot lately?" he asked her.

"No. Well I was at the Inauguration," she answered.

"You have frost bite," the doctor told her. She wore nylon stockings and pumps to mall. No

wonder.

The next week, a man came in with frost bitten toes.

"Did you go to the Inauguration?" the podiatrist asked.

"Yes," said the main who reported that he had worn sneakers stuffed with two pairs of socks,

cutting off circulation to his toes. "How did you know?"