We’ve always known that it’s true, but it’s nice to see that other people are acknowledging the preëminence of Vermont in US politics.

thats what a construction worker yelled to me yesterday.

a road clean up crew guy just told me this today:  “go git some”.    that was my mantra for the measly 50 miles I covered from Demopolis, AL.  Go git it!  Go on, git some!   

But then I called it quits to stave off frostbite in the feet, and to do some site-seeing. 

I’m in Selma, AL.  It’s been slow going, getting all the kinks worked out and trying to adjust to sub-freezing temperatures.   Apparently it’ll be 70 this weekend, which is more what I had expected.  

Off to visit the National Voting Rights Museum, very apropos today.  

Hope ya’ll are staying warm.

the madapes met for the traditional five days of togetherness this past week – Peter stayed with both Dan and I in NYC for a few days, then we rented a car and drove home.  It was too short, but good to be in the same place.

Peter is now in Cali, circumnavigating Lake Shasta or something?  Dan is in NY writing and watching football.  I’m taking off this morning for my hastily planned Southern Campaign.  I’ll be arriving in Jackson, MS this afternoon and biking straight east on US Route 80.  We’ll see how it goes.  SIPA people, I’ll see you in DC in a few weeks.

Happy new year all!
元旦节快乐!

a good idea whose time has come:

restaurant review by dish, for an ever-growing number of beijing restaurants.

so you get to actually see what the dishes are before you make the trek out to some far-flung district, and see what people (ok, expats) have to say about them.

plus, some occasional witty commentary.

chinabites.com

The Technology, Environment and Design talks (google sponsored) were recently pointed out to me. The talks range from the African AIDs crisis to the present and future direction of space travel. There are webcast videos of all the talks up, and new ones every week or so.

Among my favorite talks thus far are Emily Oster’s challenge to the statistical portrayal the AIDs epidemic in Africa , Carolyn Porco’s description of NASA’s Cassini mission major findings, Bill Stone’s rally for space exploration, and Hans Rosling’s great ’07 lecture on geopolitical trends in health and statistics.

ps, along the lines of generosity: mexican food style, and certainly worth checking out is FreeRice, which quizzes you on your vocab as you donate rice through the UN’s World Food Program; aggrandize argotistically!

donateyourtaco.com

Thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury, we all get a free taco – but if you can’t make it to taco bell today, these guys are trying to get Taco Bell to donate an equivalent amount of texmex goodness to the Red Cross. Pretty smart.

Thanks to the globe for the tip.

go sox!