Back to work today after a vacation to my nation's capital. I cannot believe how much spam I have to clean out of my work mailbox! Apparently the spamming frequency increased dramatically while I was gone. Also apparently my work address is being used as the reply-to address by some spammer because I have an enormous number of delivery-failed messages. (Unless they are spams disguised as delivery-failed messages, which were all the rage for awhile.)
Meanwhile, I'm extremely pleased to note that the automated programs I maintain only put out a total of about ten messages, most of which were informative rather than true errors. I generally code my systems (which almost all run from cron) to only put out output if there is an actual problem and have the email redirected to myself so that I get the error messages in my inbox, or receive nothing if everything is running soundly. At the end of last year I had a backlog of minor issues to fix, which I tackled in earnest at the beginning of this year. The last time I took a few days off I probably had almost 1000 of these messages (some of these run every hour), so I was very gratified to see that I had far fewer than expected this time.
Later this year we'll be taking our whole family down to "The District". The Smithsonian, Botanical Gardens, the Capitol Building, National Archives, and other government buildings and monuments are fairly obvious. 30 years ago the FBI tour was wonderful, but they're closed for renovations.
I don't think we'll have time for a detour to the NSA museum on the beltway or Fort McHenry in Baltimore
One does wonder why the city is capital but the building is capitol.
Re:Capital vacation ideas
jdavidb on 2005-01-25T18:18:18
The national archives may have been the highlight of the trip. Most surprising was seeing the Articles of Confederation present and the Louisiana declaration of secession! I'm still not sure if what we saw was the original Articles; it seemed to not be worn enough. (The Declaration has faded to the point of illegibility.)
I was also shocked at the rudeness and impatience of the people who talked on top of the man who explained that flash photography was not allowed, then tried to take flash pictures.
Alas, we did not get to see the Air and Space museum nor the main Smithsonian. Our day was almost gone by the time we got to them, and the next two days were spent snowed in.
We did get to see Mt. Vernon on the 20th, which was a nice place to be while the main D.C. was overrun with tourists.
:) Oh, another spectacular treasure at the national archives was the George Washington inaugural masonic Bible which is temporarily on display there and, contrary to popular misconception, is not reused in every inaugural.
Re:Capital vacation ideas
n1vux on 2005-01-25T22:41:14
Thanks for the reply! Sorry you got snowed-in. My own snow-in was much more amusing since it was self-contained, and there were PerlMongers and other interesting people milling about. How much snow does it take to shutter D.C.? Used to be about 0.25"!Mt Vernon, lovely, although I'd rather re-visit Monticello -- Jefferson's inventions are fascinating.
Alas, Washington's Bible is on special display only through today with his Inaugural address. You caught it just in time. Yes, the canard about Washington's Masonic Bible is a mainstay of conspiracy theories. (In light of which, it could be moved to be with the "backside of the Declaration" exhibit if the Lodge will loan it longer
;-). The question of who would hold the family Bible for VP Cheney was the subject of some Daily Show Topical Humor during the recent festival of democracy. I should point out for those following along from home that The Articles of Confederation on display in the Charters area would likely be the Constitution's antecedant in effect from 1781 to 1789, rather than the later, better known Civil War's southern confederation of similar name. But the Louisiana Declaration suggests they might have both the 1781 and the 1860 Articles on display? Either one would be fascinating.
Re:Capital vacation ideas
jdavidb on 2005-01-26T15:08:21
We still found the snow-in an enjoyable time, being from Texas and not often seeing that much snow. Went out to take pictures periodically, and every couple of hours or so one of us would look out the window and say, "Look! Isn't it beautiful!"
I believe there were about 6-7 inches of snow. At one point they were predicting 30 mph winds and white-out, but that doesn't appear to have happened. However, in the middle of the night before that was predicted, I woke up and looked out the window to see snow blowing around high in the air, and feel it come in right through the cracks between the door and the door frame! I had stuffed a sheet in those cracks each night before; I had to pick that night to forget.
When we discovered Saturday that it might not be safe for a second day of sight-seeing, we looked for a grocery store to stock up on food for two days. (One of us is, after all, a pregnant woman.
:) ) The crowds were astounding! People make fun of southerners for all swamping the grocery stores when 0.25" of ice or snow are predicted ... these people in Washington are fairly used to it (having just had the same thing earlier in the week), and they still go crazy! Every aisle in the store had a line from the front going halfway to the back of it. Noone can make fun of southerners again... In 1988 G.H.W. Bush was sworn in on a stack of two Bibles, including Washington's. This was the first inauguration I remember seeing; hence, I was under the impression that this was always done. From what I've seen in other online forums, many other people are also under this impression. It was interesting to see the list of only about five times this has been done, including once when it was planned but not done for weather reasons.
Here's the real back of the Declaration. Apparently many people were interested.
:) We saw at least two prints of the Declaration made for the bicentennial in 1976 from the printing engraving made in 1823.
The Articles we saw were the predecessor to the Constitution. I think the Confederacy called their document a Constitution, though I could be wrong; didn't get to see that (which would be fascinating!).
Storm hoarding
n1vux on 2005-01-26T16:39:04
Glad you had good use of your snow-in time.People make fun of southerners for all swamping the grocery stores when 0.25" of ice or snow are predicted
0.25" of Ice is serious trouble and not to be made fun of.
Lines up here for "milk and bread" are normal when Winter Storm Watches or Heavy Snow Adisories are posted, ever since the Blizzard of '78. We laugh at ourselves. Although this last weekend, half the line was due to party-shopping for the Patriot's AFC game.
I will have to make sure to see the Articles. As Bostonians, we're quite fond of Hancock as well as Adams, and recall Shay's Rebellion.
Re:Storm hoarding
jdavidb on 2005-01-26T16:45:22
I've found it interesting that the Articles state "the Union shall be Perpetual." In other words, secession was explicitly disallowed. The Constitution does not do so. Many are fond of claiming that prior to the Civil war all states took the right of secession for granted. This would seem to indicate that is not the case.
Articles and Constitution
n1vux on 2005-01-27T04:54:42
I've found it interesting that the Articles state "the Union shall be Perpetual." In other words, secession was explicitly disallowed. The Constitution does not do so. Many are fond of claiming that prior to the Civil war all states took the right of secession for granted. This would seem to indicate that is not the case.Or conversely, that it was explicitly Perpetual in the Articles, but not so in the Constitution, could imply that the States had reason to believe that Secession was one of the Rights Reserved to the States in the (new) Constitution?
Re:Articles and Constitution
jdavidb on 2005-01-27T14:32:05
Yes, that's possible, too.
