BTQ in NYT

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In “Begging the Question, Again” on the Times Topics weblog, NYT deputy news editor Philip Corbett talks about the misuse of the phrase, and briefly mentions BegTheQuestion.info, my pedantic language site. I was alerted to this by the sudden flurry of “nytimes.com” inbound links in my referrer log that day.

BTQ’s continued growth in popularity still has not served to unseat “begging the question” on Wikipedia from its top search position on Google, however Number 2 is nice, though. BTQ has also garnered only occasional mention on Twitter.

Update: Oh hey, now BTQ is intermittently #1. This is an agreeable outcome!

Sunday at the National Gallery

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Tunnel

Calder Mobile Confusing Garbage Can

We spent Sunday after church at the National Gallery, to see the Indian paintings of George de Forest Brush and hear the Lucerne Festival Strings play music by Mendelssohn, Sarasate, and Brahms.

See that garbage can? You know what’s wrong with it? We went up to it and paused for a few seconds wondering if it was really a garbage can or if it was for recyclables. Then we saw the second line and parsed it. Not the best way to label a garbage can.

Caturday!

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Mom got us some Edo-style broiled eel from Tokyo when she came to visit so we’re eating that now with some rice. Here it is with Pandora, who didn’t get any.

Broiled Eel and Pandora

Trains

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Columbus Day Weekend Trains: Nine minutes of video shot with my phone from various trains we rode through the holiday weekend: the Amtrak Northeast Regional, an NJ Transit commuter between Elizabeth and Penn Station, and the subways of New York. Gets a bit loud in places.

Houses, Trees

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Two suburban panoramas from around New Jersey: houses along a street in Union, trees starting to turn colors up in the Watchung Hills.

Suburban Street Panorama

Fall Afternoon Trees Panorama

Both photos shot and stitched with my Nokia 6120c. More shots from the weekend here.

New York Saturday

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We spent Saturday in New York to check out art in Chelsea and meet up with a friend. (Sorry to all our other New York friends, there was really no time for all of you wonderful people!)

Here’s some of the art we looked at in Chelsea:

We also dropped by the New York Central Post Office, shopped around Union Square and the Strand, and I found an excellent new messenger bag at the Penn Station Kmart, of all places.

More photos from the day, including a “PHILATELIC” sign at the Post Office, Michael Scott’s favorite New York pizza place, the lights of the Strand, and OMG Jeans Store:

Philatelic Michael Scott's Favorite New York Pizza Strand Lights OMG Empire State Bldg and Hotel Pennsylvania Macy's

Still-growing weekend photoset here.

Caturday!

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Chelsea Cat 1 Chelsea Cat 2

While browsing through galleries in Chelsea we spotted this cat prowling the halls of 525 W 25th, eventually settling in the sun by a side door. A litterbox sat in a nearby supply niche, indicating that the cat was there with some superintendent’s blessing, possibly to catch rodents.

(Monday note: I’m cheating a bit here and backdating this entry to Saturday because I forgot to post it then.)

Shoulder Update

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Shoulder Injection Site I brought my shoulders and the X-rays to an orthopedic surgeon last Wednesday and he tells me it might be tendonitis. I still have more mobility and less pain than a rotator cuff tear would give me, and the gradual development of the pain points to a growing inflammation causing painful impingement.

A very long-needled syringe was then used to inject Triamcinolone acetonide directly into my right shoulder. In two weeks the joint should be unswollen enough that I can restart strengthening exercises and get more Triamcinolone in the other shoulder, without needing surgery or therapy. (Hopefully.)

Clouds

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It’s been an interesting week to photograph clouds, what with the clear skies and clashing cold and warm fronts of early Fall over DC. Still no new camera after the catastrophe so I just shot these with my cellphone: Altocumulus (possibly perlucidus?) ethereally lit from slightly below by the morning sun over Union Station, Altostratus thinly diffusing a river sunset, Cirrus (fibratus?) clouds over Kennedy Center, and Cirrus spinatus over NW DC.

Altocumulus Sunset Shines Through Cirrostratus Cirrus fibratus Cirrus spinatus

End of the SD1000

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So as I was saying in my last entry, suddenly, disaster struck! As I was maneuvering between tourists to get a photo of the giant squid, my camera slipped out of my hand and crashed to the hard marble floor, bouncing spectacularly as pieces of plastic flew off the camera lens ring and battery cover. I picked up the camera (a Canon Powershot SD1000) with a sad “Argh,” and finding the electronics and screen still working, tried snapping a test photo:

IMG_3521.JPG

Looks like the CCDs might have gotten messed up in the fall; any photo I take now comes out slightly fuzzy with horizontal lines all across, and the exposure bias seems to be permanently stuck at a very bright -2/3 EV, giving any subject an unearthly bloom of glowing brilliance.

So that’s it for this camera. It’s lasted me just three weeks shy of a year since I got it, and snapped 3,512 photos in that time. For a replacement I’ve got my eye on the Powershot SD1100IS, mainly because it’s almost the same camera, just slightly upgraded, for cheap. Plus, I should be able to use the SD1000’s battery on this one, so I effectively have a spare battery and charger to go with it. Still, that SD880IS is tempting too…