Jaybird's Jottings

Pallet Cleanser

Move Up Joe

Senator Obama's selection of Senator Joe Biden is an excellent choice.   Working class roots, son in the ANG, great foreign affairs experience and folks like myself won't laugh at his thinning-on-top-with-bulky-blocked hair style...  

By the way, the "Move Up Joe" reference is the nickname to Joe Gerhardt who played second base for the Giants.

Nationals Park Tour

We took it yesterday along with visiting friends Howard and Beckie. 15 bucks seemed a little steep, but you get your money's worth.   The guided tour starts at the center field gate, lasts about an hour and a half and includes Presidents Club suite, locker room, press box, the dugout and the bullpen.     

Best Seats in the House

USA Today is running a series on Best Seats in the House.   Mays Field was covered on Friday.   The page has a 360 panoramic thingy.

Given that Mays Field is so highly rated among the ballparks, has all those beautiful views, the uniqueness of the arcade seats and the splash home runs, I'm surprised to see these seats get ranked number six.  Thought it would be higher.   Then again I am prejudiced.


Fairfax County Asian American History Project

The African American and Latino communities are very important here in Washington, as well as Asian Americans who make up 16 percent of Fairfax County's population (four times the national average). 

One of our friends, Cora Foley, is Asian American and is very active in the Fairfax County Asian American History Project.   The Washington Post details her efforts to compile the stories of Asian Americans living in Fairfax County, with an emphasis on individual storytelling.  The oral history will be released in May 2010, during Asian American Heritage Month.

Dave Dravecky

Hat tip to Chris Silva for passing along a shoutout for his recent interview with Dave Dravecky at their website NYBaseballDigest.  

Rocky Mountain High

Have fun if you go this week.  I know I did when the Air Force sent me there to Lowry AFB four times for training.  Tough, tough duty….

Netroots Rising

On Tuesday I wrote about D.C.'s "favored quarter," the north and west part of the area with the better jobs and retail.   This is also where a lot of the author events take place. 

Yesterday provided me with the chance to go somewhere new and different.   Political consultants Lowell Feld and Nate Wilcox, authors of Netroots Rising: How a Citizen Army of Bloggers and Online Activists Is Changing American Politics were at Busboys and Poets in D.C.  
 
I took Metro to the U Street Station, walked the two blocks west to the corner of 14th and U Street, and then one block north on 14th to V.   This was my first time hitting these once mean streets.   We had read about the remarkable comeback of this part of the District, once a haven for the pusherman and about as far from favored as you can get. 

In his book, Who's Your City,? Richard Florida calls these type areas "hipster havens," with "just the right combination of city grit and posh".   What caught my whitebread suburban eyes was the gentrification and infusion of young people.  The focus was sharp too, on a few still gutted-out buildings, serving as a reminder of the anger that once burned here.    

With the Veepstakes at a fever pitch, (Breaking News, We're Still Standing By!!), and Senator Obama campaigning here in the Old Dominion with Senator Webb and Governor Kaine, this particular author event had some added juice.   A crowd of 30 half-filled the speaker/performance room with an elevated stage and tables.   The help was very friendly and energetic, but their constant in and out with the food orders was distracting.  Then again, this was more of a laid back situation and as the toastmaster noted, Busboys and Poets is a genuine community gathering place.  This made for a perfect fit for the bottom up, activist nature of Netroots Rising.  

With all that was going on in, I told myself, don't be surprised if Feld doesn't show up.   I had started reading his blog Raising Kaine, and thought he might be tied up with Obama's visit.   But he was there early, talking with his colleagues.  

Reading their book, I had been drawn to Feld's background.  He notes how he became interested in politics at an early age.   As a teenager looking on in fascination, Watergate cemented the bonds.  He worked for Uncle Sam, studied the Middle East and majored in psychology.   All those things are part of my story as well.

The comparison ends, however, with Feld getting active in politics.   In 2005, he quit his job as an analyst with the Department of Energy and co-founded the Draft James Webb movement.   He also launched Raising Kaine that year, a "Virginia-focused Democratic political blog" that is getting a lot of attention lately, to say the least.   If you read their book, you will see how important Feld's contributions were for both Webb and Kaine getting elected. 

Feld and Wilcox make for a formidable tandem.    Feld knows people and is more out-going.  During the talk, he worked in getting his colleagues take on some of the things that happened during the campaigns.   Wilcox knows the technologies and was well-versed on those issues and what might happen in the future for bloggers.   (Stay tuned.)   

Feld spoke most passionately about the Webb-Allen race in 2006.   History has recorded Macaca-gate as Allen's undoing.  Feld takes exception, noting that it wasn't a collapse as portrayed in the media.   Credit should also be given to the changing demographics in Virginia, the mistakes Allen made afterward including blowing up at a reporter who asked him about his Jewish heritage, and the "rag-tag army" of netroots activist.

That last part sounds like bragging.   But as Yogi once said, it ain't bragging if you do it.   Feld and Wilcox did it, but are humble enough to say, we, the grass-root citizens who love our country, helped change American politics.

Emerging Hot Spots in D.C.

I rarely read a book twice, much less in the same year.   A gem of an exception for me is Christopher Lienberger's The Option of Urbanism, Investing in a New American Dream.   Leinberger looks at the emergence of walkable urban places.   These are smart growth locations, located in both the city and the suburbs, the author describes as "anchored by regionally important employment, cultural and civic institutions, retail and urban entertainment as well as residential."

Here in the Washington area, Leinberger identifies 20 such walkable urban areas.   As he notes, the vast majority of these are located in Washington's "favored quarter."  A "favored quarter" is a wedge-shaped part of a metro area where investment and wealth are the highest.   In the capital region, the favored quarter includes Northwest DC and the technology corridors in Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland.  

In looking at the map provided in the book, one also see the remarkable east and west contrast in Washington.   The area not only has a favorable quarter, it has an "unfavored half," if you will.   Points east of the Capitol, predominantly black populated areas, contain none of the 20 places.

This racial and economic divide has long been a stark one in the nation's capital, but there is reason for some optimism.    In the current (Fall) issue of On Site, Washington Business Journal's quarterly real estate supplement, (located inside the August 15-21, 2008 issue) they've tabbed 13 new "hot spots" in and around D.C. that have the "potential to become trendy."    Signaling a new chapter in Washington real estate, seven of these 13 places are located east of the Capitol   (Note:  Unlike Leinberger who used objective measures, their selection process involved intangibles and educated guesses.)

One of the points Leinberger makes in his book is that boomers will drive some of the demand for walkable urban.   As he notes, "University of Southern California researchers found that people more than fifty-years old are three times more likely than people in their mid-twenties and early thirties to choose a townhouse in the city as the best living option."      

Katie Wilmeth's cover piece focuses on Gen X and Y-ers, who desire a better life and work balance. They are and will drive (just can't get away from those fossil fuel words...) a significant portion of the demand for new real estate.   According to research, 77 % of Generation Y plan to live in an urban area.  

Another factor Leinberger identifies is boredom.   That is something Roberta and I can relate to.   We live in the suburbs south of Alexandria and like to visit spots in the area on the weekends.   Our southern part of the region is also starting to see some new mixed-use in places like Potomac Yard and Kingstowne.   Then again how charming is Johnny Rockets and yet another TGIF?

Our favorite weekend spots are Bethesda, Silver Spring and E Street, which meet our desire for an indie theater, bookstore and smaller type restaurants, are both located in the "favored quarter."  Things in Washington are changing, however, and we'll keep an eye on these emerging hot spots.    It's always nice to have, well, options.

The Montreal Expos

Giants Win has a link to a very poignant blog note by Jonah Keri on the Montreal Expos - 14 Years Ago Today, My Heart Was Ripped Out.

The Giants have always been my favorite team but I used to pull for Les Expos as a second one.   It started out in the late 70s as the knowing that RUSH liked them.   Geddy had worn Expos jerseys at some of their shows and in 1981, on one of their videos for Moving Pictures, drummer Neil Peart can be seen wearing an Expos hat. 

Then on the liner notes to their 1982 Signals album, they included a thank you to "Warren Cromartie, the Montreal Expos and Intellivision Baseball."   (In his book Slugging It Out in Japan, Cromartie acknowledges his friendship with Lee).     

Of course, it helped that Montreal was on the rise during this time.  '81 was great until the Dodgers Rick F. Monday hit that ninth-inning homer in Game Five, two days after my birthday.   For non-Giants, that's one of my biggest disappointments and I can only imagine how long time Spos fans felt.   

The peak of my Expos fandom came in 1982.   My favorite player was Al Oliver.  When the Rangers traded him to Montreal in March, I was so thrilled.    Big Al had a great season that year, a 150 OPS Plus, his best ever (I know, not much of a fielder).  

As far as the 1994 season, I have to confess that my liking the Expos had waned by then.   The Geddy connection had led me to pulling for the Blue Jays who showed me what it could feel like to win it all.   

The part of the story I find hard to write about is the franchise shift here to Washington.    As I mentioned once before, I think it would have been a lot better if the Expos could have stayed, and Washington got an expansion team.  But I admit I was very thrilled we were getting the team I had a history with. 

Losing a baseball team isn't something I've ever dealt with but in my  readings of The New York Giants Historical Society newsletters and the discussions at Teams of Yesteryear, I've seen the incredibly strong emotions that fans feel a half century later.    Those of us looking on the outside sometimes think they should just get over it.   But we as baseball fans should know just how strong the bonds of love can be between fan and team. 

In the Expos case, the pain is compounded by the wondering.  What if the baseball strike had not ended the season?  Would the Expos still be playing ball?  

Giants fans experienced sort of the opposite thing.   They stood on top of the baseball world in 1954, only to have their hearts ripped out just three summers later.

C'est dommage.

 

Hawaii Governor Reacts to Comments Made by Cokie Roberts

By Jaded Roberts
Special Correspondent with The Garlic Gazette


Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle couldn't help but chuckle.  This past Monday night, Hawaii was the answer to Final Jeopardy!  (What is the only state with a diacritical mark in its name?) 

"I thought at least one of the contestants would answer correctly," she said, "but none of them did."

Sitting in her office in the state capital in Honolulu, Lingle also discussed comments made by news analyst Cokie Roberts.  On the August 10 edition of ABC's This Week, Roberts criticized Senator Barack Obama for vacationing in Hawaii, referring to the state as "some sort of foreign, exotic place."

Describing it as part tongue-in-cheek reaction, part serious booster, Governor Lingle announced plans for a new tourism campaign titled, "Hawaii, It's the Fiftieth State."

"The timing is actually quite good," the governor said. "Tourism is down this summer and we can use the media attention." 

Lingle gave no specifics but said she will make sure one of one thing. 

"We're putting together a special package to send to Cokie.  We'll include the five seasons of Hawaii Five-O that are on DVD, and a primer on our wonderful state."     

"By the way," Lingle added, "Did you know Hawaii Five-O was one of the longest continuous-running police series in U.S. television history?   If that's not American, I don't know what is."


Note:   The author of this article has taken a vacation both in Hawaii and Myrtle Beach.   Actually he and his wife went to North Myrtle Beach.   In the looking back, he wonders if that was elitist... 

The Science of Fear

In college, I majored in psychology.   (Uh, oh, Jay's gonna' psycho-analyze us).

Heaven knows there's a lot I don't remember, but one thing that fascinated and stuck with me is heuristics.   That's not a word you hear every day but it's something we use all the time.  With information overload, we adopt cognitive strategies to deal with all the input.   Heuristics are ways of thinking that help us decide something quick and easily.

They generally work fine but the problem is that fallacies and biases can occur along the way.   One of these is the base-rate fallacy where people ignore or under-use information about probabilities and instead fall back on representative information.   For example, studies have shown we fear being victims of crime more than being injured or killed in a car accident, despite the fact that the latter occurs more often.   

Heuristics are nothing new among social psychologists but are a key component in understanding Daniel Gardner's new book, The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't--and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger.

Gardner was on The Diane Rhem Show on Tuesday.   One caller asserted that with terrorism, we are more fearful today.   That is certainly understandable.  As the author points out in his book, the media, politicians and corporations all profit from fear-mongering.  Gardner, however, disagreed with the caller, citing the fact that we live longer and better, and that prior generations had plenty to fear about.   

I enjoyed this book a lot.    There is something very fascinating in learning about the way our brains work and the cognitive errors we can make.   The subject matter, however, is more than just interesting and enlightening.   Understanding our irrational fears has the potential to save lives.  

In the prolouge to his book, Gardner refers to a study.  In the year that followed 9-11, a lot of people drove to their destinations instead of flying, even though flying was still significantly safer.   The death toll from the additional driving was 1,595.     

JD a Finalist for Journalism Award

Congrats to one of my favorite bloggers, Jacqueline Dupree, who covers the development of the area around Nationals Park.     She is one of four finalists for the Grand Prize for this year's Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism.

JD is up against what looks like stiff competition including Wired and this one who I would handicap as the favorite:

A handful of Kenyan techies launched a site for bloggers and citizen journalists to report, document and map incidents of political violence following an apparently stolen presidential election.  Eventually 130 people uploaded incident reports. The site modeled grassroots information-sharing in a time of crisis and censorship.

By the way, it seems unfair to have a city newspaper in this category, and I think they should have a special category for individual bloggers. 

Anyway, good luck JD, and here's hoping you are still around when D.C. and the Nats get the All-Star Game...

 

 

Sundries

Hail to the Hall of Famers

Congrats to Redskins Art Monk and Darrell Green, inducted into the Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.   Congrats also to the ESPN commentators, for keeping us informed about Brett Favre during the show.  I mean, going three hours without a fix would have been horrible...

Tiger Seeks Cooler Spot

Tiger Woods and Tim Finchem were in town last week.   Finchem announced a change in the date of Tiger's tournament, the AT&T National.   Tiger's tribute to the troops has married up perfectly with the red, white and blue vibes that the Independence Day weekend date brings.   The problem however, is that the temps are hotter than a firecracker.   

No specifics yet but it looks like a move by 2012.  What would be ideal for Tiger's tourney and the military honoring would be to have it on Memorial Day.   Fat chance, however, that's Jack's long held territory. 

The Sports Reporters Talk Baseball - Twice!

There's been a number of indicators showing how MLB is enjoying good times.   Another took place yesterday, not very objective but remarkable nonetheless.   ESPN's The Sports Reporters not only led off the show with MLB talk, they came back to it in the third segment.   That has not happened in ages with them, and may even be a first.  Even more remarkable was the fact that "New York" was mentioned only in passing!

What's next from these guys?  A fairly regular reporter from the West Coast??

Vintage Panoramic Baseball Photos

SABR-L poster Gary Livacari let the members know about some great photos posted at the Baseball Fever website.  As he notes, "there is a fantastic collection of vintage baseball team photos currently being assembled on the Baseball Fever web site."

The photos are at the History of the Game section.    Scroll down to Vintage Panoramic Pictures.

Virginia is for Business Lovers

Forbes release their annual Best State for Business rankings.  Virginia took top honors for the third straight year.  

Georgia did quite well also, moving up to fourth.   Not everybody was pleased however.  One commenter noted the traffic was bad in Atlanta.  

Imagine that, a place good for business having a lot of traffic...

Coffee Blog

You're sitting at your favorite hangout, sipping a cup of java and surfing the Net.   Just ran the board on your blog reading, and could use a new one to visit. 

How about a blog that covers coffee?

Enter Michaele Weissman.   She is the author of God in a Cup, The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Coffee (haven't read it yet but sounds really good) and writes about coffee at her blog.    She was on the Kojo Nnamdi show earlier this week.

I've always loved a good cup of coffee in the morning and on the very rare occasion I don't get it, I'm no good.    I also like a second cup around 10 am.   Sometimes I feel the need for a third but usually resist that urge.  

I suppose this is where I talk a little about my coffee drinkings.   When I was a kid, my Mom and Dad drank it.   Can't remember how it was made.   Some folks had percolators but I don't think we had one.

I do remember freeze dried instant coffee.   That may have been my first cup and, now that I think about it, explains why I have no other memories of coffee from childhood.  The stuff was convenient but as you can imagine, taste was not a priority.    

Like many of us, I drink coffee at work.   I was in charge a few times and recall opening up those large cans of Folgers or Maxwell House.  Always loved the aroma.  

My best cups of coffee were ones that included remarkable  surroundings.   When we went on a cruise in 1997, I used to get up early and have a cup while I watched the sun rise over the horizon.   On trips to San Francisco, there was something very good about sipping coffee there.  Polk Street near Russian Hill has a concentration of spots.

My favorite brand at home is Peets.   I used to drink their French Roast but now like Arabian Mocha Java.   

As far as local places, I once went on the proverbial hunt in Old Town Alexandria.  Never found anything all that great but there are some decent places. 

I had a big-time, gotta-have-it thing for Starbuck's caramel apple cider last winter, but I had to get off that calorie train.   Their King and Union street, near-riverside location has some ambience to it and the building is preserved from the 18th Century.  

I also liked their mocha but stopped going because of the wallet drain and parking.  Old Town has this sorry situation where the merchants and workers park in front of the stores.   There are no 20 minute slots and so it's every customer for themselves.   (oh boy, I finally found a place to get that off my chest!!)

A fairly new entry is Buzz.  They've been getting some buzz in the papers.  It's on the north side of town in an area that has seen some growth and will continue to do so.  They use Lilly coffee which is pretty good, or I should say, I liked it ok.   

The new kid in town is Grape and Bean.    Weismann reviews them and likes it a lot.  I did find their help very friendly and Old Town needed a speciality place like that.   If your starting point is King and Union, where the Old Town Trolley bus starts and stops, walk three blocks up King to South Royal and take a left.  

Be alert, though, Grape and Bean blends in with the houses there. No pun intended of course...