Did you know that buses sometimes stop?

Of course, I don't know anything about this, but I'd speculate that the driver of the car cut into the bus's lane, not realizing the bus was stopping.

I was out for a walk on Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda and saw this accident involving a bus and a car. There were a couple of (assumidly) Ride-On related vehicles, the bus, the car, three police cars and an ambulance. After a while, a flatbed towtruck and another ambulance came by. The second ambulance didn't stay long so I don't think anyone was seriously hurt.

An article about ship salvage

I actually saw an ad on a website for this article and it looked interesting, so I clicked through and read all 10 pages. High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: The race to save the Cougar Ace. It is about a salvage company and their effort to save a car-transport ship that took on water and was abandoned. It talks alot about the people who do this type of stuff and what they did for this particular job. They only get paid if they are successful but they can make a lot of money.

There is also an article from the Wall Street Journal about what happened to the cars from the boat. How to Destroy Brand-New Cars.

The Montgomery County Fair

Today I took the day off and went to the fair. It's a great place to take little kids, although sometimes they are afraid of the animals. When I was a kid, Old Macdonald's Barn was my favorite place, and it still is. Every year they have piglets and ducklings, and goats and sheep, it is a great place to get close to the animals.

They have other stuff besides animals, We took a tractor ride around the fair, and sat on a school bus and a Ride on Bus, and the fire department had their big ladder truck to look at and a moon bounce for the kids. There is also pig racing, but I wasn't there for that.

Anyway, if you have young kids, the fair is a great place to take them. The fair runs through Saturday, the 16th.

Original Pancake House: Smothered Chicken Sandwich

I didn't plan on going here, since I wasn't in the mood for pancakes or eggs, and hey, what else do they serve? Fortunately, they have a lunch menu with sandwiches and salads and such. I chose the Smothered Chicken Sandwich. Grilled chicken breast topped with bell pepper, sauteed onion, Bacon and Cheddar Cheese and served on a Kaiser roll. The benefit of it being a breakfast place is that I could get hash browns instead of french fries with it.

The sandwich was very good. there were three thick slices of bacon on it, hanging a little bit off the side, as well as the bell peppers and onions. The cheddar cheese was melted over the vegetables. Also a plus, the sandwich wasn't greasy. The hashbrowns were also excellent. Lots of shredded potatoes fried to a golden brown crisp on the top and bottom. They even brought me hot sauce with the catsup. As a bonus, this was one of the cheapest sandwiches on the menu.

The wrap up? I will no longer avoid this place. The do have good options if you don't want pancakes. There are many locations across the country, but only two Original pancake houses in my area, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda, MD and 12224 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD. I went to the bethesda one which is at Bethesda Place Plaza.

The George W. Bush Sewage Plant

Those nutty folks in San Francisco are putting a measure on the ballot to change the name of the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the The George W. Bush Sewage Plant. Funny but pointless. A couple words more at CNN

Dispense As Written (DAW)

The other day I got a prescription, and on it was a note to the doctor "IF you don't want this prescription substituted with a generic, write DAW in the box below" I thought it odd, but the doctor is French, so I figured it may be a French word, even though it looks more German than French. Today I just found out that D.A.W. stands for "Dispense As Written", ie. don't substitute a generic.

Norkys Rotisserie Chicken: Norkys chicken breast sandwich

Norkey's is a new rotisserie chicken restaurant on Old Georgetown Rd in Bethesda. I had the Chicken Breast Sandwich. It is a pretty simple sandwich, chunks of rotisserie chicken on a baguette with lettuce and onions (and Mayo, but I didn't get that) My first impression was that it was larger than I expected. It was pretty tasty, chicken with a lightly charred taste that helped the flavor. The chicken chunks were a good size and moist. It was pretty reasonably priced for what you get too. The only negative was that the onions should have been separated better, I'd occassionally get a bite with too much onion in it. It also came with a small side of spicy mayonaise sauce. I tried it, but the spiciness overwhelmed the light flavor of the chicken.

This was my first trip to Norkies chicken, but probably won't be my last. The location isn't the best, and it is more geared towards carry-out than eating there, so keep that in mind. They also deliver (limited area, minimum order, blah blah). Another note, the sides you can get with the rotisserie chicken are pretty much all starches, fries, rice, and potatoes, stuff like that. It is located 7812 Old Georgetown Rd, Bethesda, MD. They also have online ordering options, but I haven't tried that.

To be a bee in Bethesda

I was walking through the plaza over Bethesda metro station and saw a nice bee swarm on one of the maple trees. It is right on the plaza and they have yellow 'No Parking' tape blocking off the area so it is easy to find. these swarms only last a few days before they move on, so this is a rare chance to see a swarm in a very convenient place. Bees aren't as aggressive as they are swarming, so you can probably get fairly close without any problems, but if you are allergic, you might want to bring your epipen.

Location: Bethesda Place Plaza, Bethesda, Maryland
What: Bees, glorious bees
Why: Because it's spring

I view perl like..

I see perl as much like a leatherman tool, except, in addition to the usual complement of screwdrivers, pliers, and knives, it also has a lockpick set and a microscope. And a chainsaw, and an arc welder. And a limitless supply of duct tape.

And just in case you don't know, perl is a programming language, though, if you don't know that, this post probably isn't relevant to you.

The War on Photography

Bruce Schneier has a good essay on the increasing restrictions on photography and how the reason given is security and preventing terrorism, but it really doesn't do either.

We've been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required.

Except that it's nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The Unabomber didn't photograph anything; neither did shoe-bomber Richard Reid...

You can read the full article about Photography and security on his web site.

Even if terrorists did photograph something what do you think they would use, a big obvious camera, or a cellphone camera, or maybe one hidden in their sunglasses? The people who are hassled for taking a picture aren't terrorists, you'd never notice the bad guys taking pictures.