July 2007 Archives
Congressional Deskbook: "Insert"
Insert: Amendment to add new language to a measure or another amendment.
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This definition is from our Congressional Deskbook. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. The cover and inside pages of this booklet can be customized with your logo and information. For more information, see our Booklets page. The Pocket Dictionary is based on the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider. |
TheCapitol.Net offers training and a Certificate Program in Congressional Operations and Federal Budgeting, we show you how Washington and Congress work. TM
July 27, 2007 07:37 PM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0)
"Eight tips for how money CAN buy you happiness"
The secret to using money to buy happiness is to spend money in ways that support your happiness goals.
"This Wednesday: Eight tips for how money CAN buy you happiness," The Happiness Project, July 25, 2007
The best "gift" you can give someone you love is an experience that results in a positive memory.
July 26, 2007 12:17 PM Link Caught Our Eye Comments (0)
Media Tip 88
Media Tip: 88. Motivate staff by circulating press clippings and media reports. Media successes are sometimes the most visible achievement for an organization
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This tip is from our booklet, Media Relations Tips: 102 Secrets for Finding Success in Public Relations. Practical tips for anyone who works with the media, works with someone who works with the media, or who works at an organization that is covered in the media. An easy handout for everyone in your group to make sure that they are prepared and confident if they ever have to deal with the media. Based on the Media Relations Handbook, by Brad Fitch. The cover and inside pages of this booklet can be customized with your logo and information. For more information, see our Booklets page. |
TheCapitol.Net offers Media Training and Communication and Advocacy Training, and is the exclusive provider of Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Executive Conferences.
July 24, 2007 09:37 AM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0)
Glossary of Legislative Terms: "Perfecting Amendment"
Perfecting Amendment: Amendment that alters, but does not completely substitute or replace, language in another amendment.
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This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. The cover and inside pages of this booklet can be customized with your logo and information. For more information, see our Booklets page. The Pocket Dictionary is based on the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider. |
TheCapitol.Net offers training and a Certificate Program in Congressional Operations and Federal Budgeting, we show you how Washington and Congress work. TM
July 20, 2007 07:17 AM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0)
Faculty Favorites: Dining and Places - Bob Healy
We asked our faculty and authors to share with us some of their favorite things about living in our nation's capital. Their responses are posted in "Faculty Favorites"
Bob Healy (bio), a senior editor at Congressional Quarterly, shares his favorites.
Most interesting places
- Hillwood Museum, former home of Marjorie Post, formal gardens and lavish Russian Art. web site, 4155 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-686-5807
- Tudor Place in Georgetown, late 18th century estate with lovely gardens. web site, 1644 31st Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-965-0400
- Dumbarton Oaks and Dumbarton House in Georgetown.
- Dumbarton Oaks has some of the most magnificent gardens on the East Coast and a wonderful collection of pre-Columbian art in a jewel box gallery designed by Philip Johnson (now closed for renovation, but will reopen soon), web site, 1703 32nd Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-339-6401
- Dumbarton House is an 18th century mansion now owned by the Colonial Dames. web site, 2715 Q Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-337-2288
- Kreeger Museum in Foxhall - personal art collection in another Philip Johnson building. web site, 2401 Foxhall Road NW, Washington, DC, 202-337-3050
- Anderson House Museum, home of the Society of the Cincinnati, a grand early 20th century mansion. web site, 2118 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-785-2040
- You will notice a pattern here - I am very fond of historic houses, to round out the list are the two National Trust houses in DC
- Decatur House is "one of the oldest surviving homes in Washington, DC." web site, 1610 H Street, NW, Washington, DC, 202-842-0920
- Woodrow Wilson House, web site, 2340 S Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-387-4062
Fun things to do
- Walk around looking for unusual carvings on buildings.
- The stone cat atop the roof of the House at Massachusetts and Florida Avenues NW
- The lions on the front of a house on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets NW
- The handbells carved into the keystone over the door of a house off Logan Circle
- The turtles supporting a column of a building at the National Zoo (the Zoo also has a large pink granite eagle that was once over the entrance to the now demolished Penn Station in New York - see "Eagle Eye." ) web site, 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC
- Having cocktails in the summer on the roof terrace of the Washington Hotel. web site, 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-638-5900
- Free outdoor movies at several venues in the summer: (Screen on the Green on the mall; Films on The Vern, movies at Mount Vernon campus of GW (web site); at Strathmore Hall in Bethesda (web site, 10701 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, WaPo 2007), and elsewhere).
- The Capital Fringe Festival in the summer - dozens of live theatrical events all over town. web site
- Walking or riding a bike along the C&O Canal towpath (C&O Canal Bicycling Guide) or Rock Creek Park (web site).
- Picnic and a show at Wolf Trap. web site, 1635 Trap Road, Vienna, VA, 703-255-1900
Favorite Restaurants (I can't limit myself to five)
- David Greggory, web site, 2030 M Street NW, corner of 21st and M Streets, NW, Washington, DC, 202-872-8700 [Yelp]
- Poste Moderne Brasserie, web site, 555 8th Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-783-6060 [TCEDG | Yelp]
- Firefly, web site, 1310 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-861-1310 [openlist]
- Bistro D'Oc, web site, 518 10th Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-393-5444 [TCEDG | openlist]
- Blue Duck Tavern, web site, 1201 24th Street NW (in the Park Hyatt), Washington, DC, 202-419-6755 [WaPo]
- Ardeo in Cleveland Park, web site, 3311 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-244-6750 [Yelp | openlist]
- Jaleo, web site, 480 7th Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-628-7949 [TCEDG | openlist]
- Zaytinya, web site (flash), 701 9th Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-638-0800 [TCEDG | Gayot]
- 15RIA, web site, 1515 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-742-0015 [openlist | WaPo]
For more, see our Visiting Washington DC pages and other Faculty Favorites.
July 18, 2007 06:27 AM Link Dining ~ Dining and Things to Do & See ~ Faculty Favorites ~ Fun ~ Visiting Washington, DC Comments (0)
Keep America rolling!
This is a WWII poster from the Northwestern University archives.
Keep America rolling!
July 17, 2007 07:07 AM Link Art Comments (0)
Media Tip 45
Media Tip 45: Take advantage of trade or specialty press. They are more likely to cover your topic, and this may result in broader coverage.
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This tip is from our booklet, Media Relations Tips: 102 Secrets for Finding Success in Public Relations. Practical tips for anyone who works with the media, works with someone who works with the media, or who works at an organization that is covered in the media. An easy handout for everyone in your group to make sure that they are prepared and confident if they ever have to deal with the media. Based on the Media Relations Handbook, by Brad Fitch. The cover and inside pages of this booklet can be customized with your logo and information. For more information, see our Booklets page. |
TheCapitol.Net offers Media Training and Communication and Advocacy Training, and is the exclusive provider of Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Executive Conferences.
July 16, 2007 09:57 PM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0)
Glossary of Legislative Terms: "Slip Law"
Slip Law: First official publication of a law, published in unbound single sheets or pamphlet form.
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This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. The cover and inside pages of this booklet can be customized with your logo and information. For more information, see our Booklets page. The Pocket Dictionary is based on the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider. |
TheCapitol.Net offers training and a Certificate Program in Congressional Operations and Federal Budgeting, we show you how Washington and Congress work. TM
July 13, 2007 10:07 AM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0)
1778 - 1943 : Americans will always fight for liberty
This is a WWII poster from the Northwestern University archives.
1778 - 1943 : Americans will always fight for liberty
July 12, 2007 06:47 AM Link Art Comments (0)
"Freedom" in the Arab world
Freedom of self-expression is not a "public right" in the Arab world. The "free" stands in opposition to the "bound" or the "enslaved" -- it refers, that is, to freedom from domination. In Yemen and Oman, this freedom is expressed by wearing a dagger (or in more recent times, as I witnessed in the vicinity of Sada in northern Yemen, by carrying a machine gun). The native Baluch and the Jews, who are "tied" to patron tribes in Yemen, do not wear the dagger, nor do they carry arms. The late Imam Mussa al-Sadr stressed at the onset of the Lebanese war: "Arms are the jewelry of free men."
"Open secrets: Discussable but not publishable," in "An Invitation to Laughter: A Lebanese Anthropologist in the Arab World," by Fuad Khuri, 2007
July 11, 2007 06:37 AM Link Caught Our Eye Comments (0)
Media Tip 20
Media Tip 20: Make an effort to get to know the reporters who regularly cover your organization. If possible, visit them in their offices.
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This tip is from our booklet, Media Relations Tips: 102 Secrets for Finding Success in Public Relations. Practical tips for anyone who works with the media, works with someone who works with the media, or who works at an organization that is covered in the media. An easy handout for everyone in your group to make sure that they are prepared and confident if they ever have to deal with the media. Based on the Media Relations Handbook, by Brad Fitch. The cover and inside pages of this booklet can be customized with your logo and information. For more information, see our Booklets page. |
TheCapitol.Net offers Media Training and Communication and Advocacy Training, and is the exclusive provider of Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Executive Conferences.
July 10, 2007 07:47 AM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0)
It's not in your head ... Antibiotic-resistant bacteria
This makes us even less likely to use a public keyboard....
The role of computer keyboards used by students of a metropolitan university as reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant staphylococci was determined. Putative methicillin (oxacillin)-resistant staphylococci isolates were identified from keyboard swabs following a combination of biochemical and genetic analyses. Of 24 keyboards surveyed, 17 were contaminated with staphylococci that grew in the presence of oxacillin (2 mg l-1). Methicillin (oxacillin)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), -S. epidermidis (MRSE) and -S. hominis (MRSH) were present on two, five and two keyboards, respectively, while all three staphylococci co-contaminated one keyboard. Furthermore, these were found to be part of a greater community of oxacillin-resistant bacteria. Combined with the broad user base common to public computers, the presence of antibiotic-resistant staphylococci on keyboard surfaces might impact the transmission and prevalence of pathogens throughout the community.
"Public computer surfaces are reservoirs for methicillin-resistant staphylococci," by Issmat I Kassem, Von Sigler and Malak A Esseili, Laboratory for Microbial Ecology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, May 31, 2007
Hat tip Marginal Revolution
The cleanest person can get a staph infection. Staph can rub off the skin of an infected person and onto the skin of another person when they have prolonged skin-to-skin contact. Staph from an infected person can also get onto a commonly shared item or surface, and then get onto the skin of the person who touches it next. Examples of commonly shared items are towels, benches in saunas or hot tubs, and athletic equipment - in other words, anything that could have touched the skin of a staph infected person can carry the bacteria to the skin of another person.
. . .
[To prevent infection, clean] your hands and skin often. Avoid prolonged skin-to-skin contact with anyone you suspect could have a staph skin infection. Do not share personal items (e.g. razors, towels, etc.) with other persons and keep your towels and clothes clean. Clean items that you share with other people (e.g. towels, razors, athletic equipment) before you use them.
"MRSA: Antibiotic-resistant 'Staph' Skin Infections," from the Minnesota Department of Health
More
- "Drug-Resistant Staph Is Here! - MRSA Bacteria Now Most Common Skin Infection Seen in Urban ERs," by Daniel J. DeNoon, WebMD, August 16, 2006
- "Antibiotic Resistant 'Superbug' on the Rise," Healthlink, May 25, 2004
- "The Rise of Antibiotic-Resistant Infections," by Ricki Lewis, FDA Consumer magazine, September, 1995
- Antibiotic Resistance - from the FDA
- Antibiotic resistance - from Wikipedia
July 9, 2007 07:07 AM Link Caught Our Eye Comments (0)
You have two cows - additions from Bill
Here are two new "You have two cows...." from Bill in Pittsburgh
WIKIPEDIANISM: This cow is a heifer. You can help Wikipedia by milking it.WIKIPEDIANISM: These cows are temporarily protected from milking. Please resolve disputes on the talk page. Protection is not intended to express support of German or Polish cows.
For more Two Cows, see YouHave2Cows.com
July 8, 2007 01:37 PM Link You Have 2 Cows Comments (0)
"Are the wrong people voting?"
Negotiating the tension between “rational” policy choices and “irrational” preferences and anxieties--between the desirability of more productivity and the desire to preserve a way of life--is what democratic politics is all about. It is a messy negotiation. Having the franchise be universal makes it even messier. If all policy decisions were straightforward economic calculations, it might be simpler and better for everyone if only people who had a grasp of economics participated in the political process. But many policy decisions don’t have an optimal answer. They involve values that are deeply contested: when life begins, whether liberty is more important than equality, how racial integration is best achieved (and what would count as genuine integration).
In the end, the group that loses these contests must abide by the outcome, must regard the wishes of the majority as legitimate. The only way it can be expected to do so is if it has been made to feel that it had a voice in the process, even if that voice is, in practical terms, symbolic. A great virtue of democratic polities is stability. The toleration of silly opinions is (to speak like an economist) a small price to pay for it.
"Fractured Franchise: Are the wrong people voting?" by Louis Menand, The New Yorker, July 9, 2007
More
- EconLog - Bryan Caplan's blog
- Bryan Caplan - from Wikipedia
- "Bryan Caplan in *The New Yorker*," by Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution, July 2, 2007
July 7, 2007 01:37 PM Link Caught Our Eye Comments (0)
Glossary of Legislative Terms: "Cloture"
Cloture: process by which a filibuster can be ended in the Senate.
For example, cloture played a large part in the defeat of the immigration reform bill in the Senate last week. In order to end debate (and prevent filibusters) and move forward on the bill, the Senate needed 60 members to vote "yes" to cloture. They did not get to that number and thus did not get cloture, and the bill died.
See "Senate Drives Stake Through Immigration," by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, The Washington Post, June 29, 2007
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This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. The cover and inside pages of this booklet can be customized with your logo and information. For more information, see our Booklets page. The Pocket Dictionary is based on the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider. |
TheCapitol.Net offers training and a Certificate Program in Congressional Operations and Federal Budgeting, we show you how Washington and Congress work. TM
July 6, 2007 10:07 AM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0)
Faculty Favorites: Dining and Places - Ron Faucheux
We asked our faculty and authors to share with us some of their favorite things about living in our nation's capital. Their responses are posted in "Faculty Favorites"
Ron Faucheux (bio), former Chief of Staff for Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), shares his favorites.
Five most interesting places to visit
- The Tidal Basin during the cherry blossoms. map, Virtual tour of the Tidal Basin during cherry blossom time. WaPo Tidal Basin Paddle Boats
- Jefferson Memorial at night. web site, map
- Lincoln Memorial anytime. web site, map (monuments map in pdf)
- Georgetown on a Saturday afternoon. Georgetown BID, Georgetown, Washington, D.C. - from Wikipedia
- The Senate in session during an important debate. web site, map
Five favorite restaurants
- The Old Ebbitt Grill for a typical Washington experience. web site, 675 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-347-4801 [Yelp | openlist]
- L'Auberge Chez Francois for country French in the country (Great Falls). web site, 332 Springvale Road, Great Falls, VA [Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide | Yelp]
- Acadiana for excellent Louisiana cuisine. web site, 901 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-393-1510 [Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide | Yelp]
- Citronelle for the whole shebang. web site, 3000 M Street NW, Washington, DC, in the Latham Hotel, 202-625-2150 [Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide | Yelp]
- 1789 for a classic old Georgetown experience. web site, 1226 36th Street NW, Washington, DC, near Prospect Street, 202-965-1789 [Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide | Yelp]
For more, also see our Visiting Washington DC pages
July 5, 2007 08:17 AM Link Dining ~ Dining and Things to Do & See ~ Faculty Favorites ~ Faculty and Authors ~ Fun ~ Living in DC ~ Visiting Washington, DC Comments (0)
Independence Day
I've got a rocket in my pocket,
I can not stop to play.
Away it goes!
It burnt my toes.
It's Independence Day!
Poem from childhood
4th of July, 2007
July 4, 2007 12:07 AM Link Fun Comments (0)
Media Tip 33
Media Tip 33: There are two types of messages: strategic and campaign. When developing your message, make sure it is a succinct articulation of a vision designed to convey a broad theme or to motivate people to a specific action.
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This tip is from our booklet, Media Relations Tips: 102 Secrets for Finding Success in Public Relations. Practical tips for anyone who works with the media, works with someone who works with the media, or who works at an organization that is covered in the media. An easy handout for everyone in your group to make sure that they are prepared and confident if they ever have to deal with the media. Based on the Media Relations Handbook, by Brad Fitch. The cover and inside pages of this booklet can be customized with your logo and information. For more information, see our Booklets page. |
TheCapitol.Net offers Media Training and Communication and Advocacy Training, we show you how Washington and Congress work. TM
July 3, 2007 02:07 PM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0)
Save freedom of speech. Buy war bonds
This is a WWII poster from the Northwestern University archives.
Save freedom of speech. Buy war bonds
July 2, 2007 11:47 AM Link Art Comments (0)
"Lots of reasons to be cheerful about the world"
There are lots of reasons to be cheerful about the world, many the result of human creativity - the difficulty is remembering not to be miserable.
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Of course we can't drive, fly and build anywhere and as often as we like. But not to be thrilled about what humanity can create is a kind of wilful sadness.
"Don't worry, be happy", by Clive James, BBC, June 22, 2007
Hat tip: ALD
July 1, 2007 12:37 PM Link Caught Our Eye Comments (0)
