Science geek moment

So many things to comment on, so little time...which is why I'm far behind in my posts. However, here's a little science geek thrill moment in the news (yeh, yeh, last week, but still): a Rockville, MD, based team circumnavigated the world, collecting DNA from marine microbes. Evidently, there's a lot out there & this expedition was just a start, yielding discoveries of new life forms and ones that could prove extremely valuable in medicine as well as just neat. Read the whole thing here.

On the bright side...

...did I mention how HAPPY I am that DC enacted its smoking ban in restaurants and bars?

This weekend DH Jeff & I were having sangria at the Jaleo's bar while we waited for friends to join us. And it was pleasant! No acrid smoke! No irritated lungs or watery eyes! I didn't even mind when it got crowded! Wow! Jeff mentioned the same thing. I'm like, "Yippee!"

This has to be the most enlightened legislation the District has enacted in - well, forever!

Now, you say, jeez, isn't that awfully nanny state of you, Renee? Well, here's where I explain that I'd be a libertarian if not for people and their human nature. Please explain to me why it ever was acceptable to share your smoke? Oh yeh, you have the right to carry out this systematic poisoning of YOURSELF, but do you have the right to impose it on others? And why should I avoid bars and other places because they haven't achieved enlightenment in this sense? Sometimes legislation is necessary to enforce behavior that folks won't voluntarily carry out on their own.

Virginia in general, however, hasn't reached this point of enlightenment, BUT, I was pleasantly surprised that a neighborhood restaurant, Clarendon Woodgrill, VOLUNTARILY went smoke-free! Wonders never cease!

Technorati topic: smoking, politics

Because they're all so law-abiding

There's an article in WaPo today about an Arlngton woman (around my age, no less) who was attacked, beaten and sodomized with a stick by - anyone, anyone? - an illegal foreign national from El Salvador, while she walking on a bike path. Wow! Our county/state/country is richer for his inclusion! Wait a minute, no it's not - although he faces life in prison, that's on our dime and he's only 18-years-old. Why can't we just execute him and let whatever diety exists (if indeed one does) deal with his soul (if indeed he has one)? Furthermore, why was he in our country in the first place? Anyone, anyone, Bueller? Silence.

Technorati topic: immigration, crime