While he was at Georgetown, he also discovered A.V. Ristorante, a dim, wood-panelled Italian place-it's still on New York Avenue, still serves garlicky pizzas and pastas, looking fundamentally unchanged since the fifties, and Scalia still goes there.

Do we really want our law written by a guy who thinks that A.V. Ristorante (607 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-737-0550) is a good place to eat?

The food at A. V. sucks. Period. It's bland and boring. Don't eat there. Take D.C. Chowhound's advice, if you find yourself in that crappy area of D.C., walk somewhere else to eat.

...Today, the technologies that permit advertisers to track consumers also give consumers a way to hide from advertisers. Internet users can block pop-up ads and spam, and can refuse to give out more information than a mailing address and credit-card number. Millard and others have thought about trading free cable or other services for the right to track a consumer's buying habits. For privacy advocates, that would invite Big Brother into the home. Others would say that Big Brother has been there for some time.

When I stopped by [Linda Kaplan] Thaler's office one day this fall, she was being visited, as she often is, by prospective clients looking to be noticed in an increasingly crowded media world. "Most clients come to us and want the Aflac duck," Thaler told me. Thaler has considerable charm and enthusiasm, and she talked excitedly about the digital cable box that had just been installed in her apartment, capable of performing remarkable feats: allowing her to record programs, fast-forward and rewind, and skip the commercials (this she did not mention). Despite her professed optimism about the business-if advertising didn't work, she said, "the generic brands of every category would be selling out"-she knows that her agency must become less reliant on traditional advertising. (Similarly, talent agencies in Los Angeles are becoming less reliant on the movie industry by taking advertising accounts away from the agencies.) Thaler wants to produce more entertainment programs, as she did several years ago for CBS with a variety show for a client, the American Red Cross. "I put on my business cards 'advertising and entertainment,' " she said. "I'm interested in entertainment." In January, she opened a new division, KTG Buzz, to expand her agency's public relations and promotional abilities. "Advertising is in trouble only if you think of the narrow box advertising has traditionally been in, which is getting on TV or in print," she said.

Ten years ago, I had to fly overnight from Phoenix to Newark by way of Las Vegas. The crowd that boarded the plane in Las Vegas consisted mainly of guys with beards and leather jackets who hadn't brought anything to read and women with arm tattoos trying to jam bottles into the mouths of crying babies. The plane smelled like cigarettes, even though no one was smoking. These passengers, I decided, represented three filtrations of human desperation: they had elected to use family vacation time to travel more than two thousand miles to lose money playing slot machines; they had decided to fly home after midnight so that they could get in as much money-losing as possible without having to pay for one more night in a hotel; and they lived in or near Newark...

...the course was packed, mostly with Koreans, who are probably the second most golf-addled ethnic group in New York, after the Irish. The starter, who was also Korean, paired Hacker and me with two Korean men. One of them turned out to be the retired owner of a Manhattan wig shop. He told me that his clientele had included many famous actresses, among them Nancy Sinatra and Ann-Margret, but that actresses are undesirable wig customers because they don't like to pay. The best customers, he said, are strippers, who favor huge blond wigs and don't care what anything costs...

mkraft writes "ZDNet is reporting that TiVo has started a testing a new pop-up style ad on a random and limited number of subscriber's TiVo as of this weekend. The ads are designed to be displayed on screen when the user fast forwards through specially tagged commercials.

No surprise. Tivo has been trying to introduce advertising into its service for some time. The question is--what will be the next, advertising-free, tivo-style device? Maybe it will be Wendy Seltzer's MythTV / HDPVR.

I have a Hauupage Win-TV in my computer that acts like a tivo, has no subscription fee, etc. Maybe the home media PC (one built by us, not the advertising industry) is the way to go.

In Minnesota, an overweight loner Chippewa neo-Nazi goth teenager shot and killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend, then went to his high school and shot and killed a security guard, five students, a teacher, and himself. The National Rifle Association suggested that such rampages could be stopped if teachers armed themselves. Foghat's guitarist died, and Florida lawmakers were considering an Academic Freedom Bill of Rights, intended to stamp out "leftist totalitarianism," that would allow students to sue teachers who insist that evolution is factual. Several IMAX theaters in the American South decided not to show a film about volcanoes because it might offend Christians, and a study found that the stealing habits of rhesus monkeys are similar to those of humans...

Terri Schiavo, a brain-dead woman in Florida, was still
alive. The Supreme Court refused to hear a case brought by
Schiavo's parents to force the reinsertion of the woman's
feeding tube. Outside of Schiavo's hospice, protesters
knelt in anguished prayer; many wore red tape across their
mouths with the word "life" written on the tape. Disabled
protesters cast themselves from their wheelchairs onto the
driveway, shouting. Schiavo's parents asked the protesters
to go home. A North Carolina man was arrested for trying
to have both Schiavo's husband and the judge who denied
the request to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube killed, and
a man who wanted to "rescue" Schiavo was arrested for
attempting to steal a gun from a Florida gun shop. Senator
Bill Frist--a doctor who as a Harvard medical student
adopted pound cats as pets, then killed them to practice
his surgical technique--diagnosed Schiavo from afar,
suggesting that her condition could improve, and it was
discovered that Tom DeLay permitted his brain-dead father
to be taken off life support in 1988, even though his
father lacked a living will...

-I go to the Apple store on Thursday the 17th to buy a 12" Ibook with bluetooth and an upgraded harddrive. Annoyances:

• In San Francisco, at the Apple Store, they can't sell me the damn computer as I've configured it! The larger hard drive and bluetooth adapter will have to be installed at the factory and shipped to me! This is in San Francisco, mind you, not Podunk.

• In order to order the Mac, you first have to sign in, enter your credit card information, and only after that are you given the grand total with taxes and shipping charges. That sucks. The make you register first approach is an e-commerce trick to make you not abandon your shopping cart. It's dirty! When I complained, the salesperson seemed not to care.
  

On December 21, 2004, NMFS received an application from Boeing requesting an authorization for the harassment of small numbers of Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) incidental to harbor activities related to the Delta IV/EELV, including: transport vessel operations, cargo movement activities, harbor maintenance dredging, and kelp habitat mitigation operations. In addition, northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) may also be incidentally harassed but in even smaller numbers. Incidental Harassment Authorizations (IHAs) were issued to Boeing on May 15, 2002 (67 FR 36151, May 23, 2002), May 20, 2003 (68 FR 36540, June 18, 2003), and on May 20, 2004 (69 FR 29696, May 25, 2004) each for a 1-year period. The harbor where activities will take place is on south VAFB approximately 2.5 mi (4.02 km) south of Point Arguello, CA and approximately 1 mi (1.61 km) north of the nearest marine mammal pupping site (i.e., Rocky Point).

Letters to Augusto Pinochet From Officials at Riggs Bank
As quoted in a report by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations:

Monday, March 21, 2005; Page E09

On February 14, 1996, Chairman Joe L. Allbritton wrote:

Dear General Pinochet:

I would like to express my profound thanks to you for according me and my associates such a magnificent reception at the Calvary School in Quillota on my visit to Chile. As a horse enthusiast, your fine young calvary officers, their horses and the superb performance they put on was excellent. It was indeed a personal pleasure to spend the day with you in Quillota and to have an opportunity to personally convey our appreciation for the longstanding relationship between the Chilean Armed Forces and the Riggs Bank. We attach great importance to our relationship with you and the Chilean Military and look forward to expanding our cooperation in the future.

Chile is clearly a very impressive country with an excellent future thanks to you and the policies and reforms you instituted. As I expressed to you, I will be only too pleased to be of assistance to you and your country in anyway I can in Washington, D.C.

I would like to thank you for the superb cufflinks you presented to me and please know that you would be most welcome to visit my wife Barby and me at our house in Middleburg, Virginia where we raise our thoroughbred race horses.

Sincerely . . .

On October 31, 1997, Barbara Allbritton, then a longstanding member of the bank's board of directors, wrote:

My dear General Pinochet:

It was a great pleasure and honor to be with you on Wednesday at tea at the Military Club. You were so very gracious to allow us this time with you and I was extremely pleased to have this appointment to meet and be with your son Marco Antonio.

The elegant lapis lazuli box you so kindly gave to me shall be used and displayed with a great deal of pride and pleasure. It shall be a reminder of this special time we spent with you during our trip to Santiago.

I do hope that you will come to visit us when your schedule allows. I shall look forward to receiving Mrs. Pinochet and having the pleasure of knowing her.

I am so appreciative of the book you sent to me that your daughter Lucia did on your life. After reviewing it I feel I know you and your family, and now I am excited about the possibility of meeting more of your family and having our friendship develop more.

With appreciation and respect for you and all you have done for our world.

Sincerely . . .

On November 10, 1997, Riggs President Timothy C. Coughlin wrote:

Dear General Pinochet:

Your gracious reception of the delegation from Riggs Bank during my Chairman's recent visit to Chile is much appreciated . . .

Riggs is privileged to serve Chile's banking requirements, and we will do everything with our power to promote economic trade and military alliance between our two countries. . . .

The opportunity for all of us including our wives to meet with you and your son, Marco Antonio, was a particular pleasure. . . .

Of the books that you have given me, I am just finishing my reading of 'The Crucial Day.' The factual objectivity with which you tell the story of Chile in the early 1970s is both fascinating and instructive. History provides for fair and proper judgement only when the true facts are known[n]. . . .

Sincerely . . .

On November 14, 1997, Joe L. Allbritton wrote:

Dear General Pinochet:

Just having returned from South America, Barby and I wanted to express our sincere appreciation for the warm reception accorded to us during our recent visit to Santiago. Please be assured that you and you Government have a strong advocate in the Riggs Bank and I earnestly share your views concerning enhanced trade and economic ties between our two countries.

I am pleased to report the business relationship between Riggs and the Chilean Military is prospering. I am also grateful for our thriving personal friendship, which you have demonstrated through your gracious hospitality and stalwart support of The Riggs.

As I mentioned to you in our discussions, the long-term prospects for Chile's adherence to democratic, free market principles are strong, which is the direct result of your leadership. You have rid Chile from the threat of totalitarian government and an archaic economic system based on state-owned property and centralized planning. We in the United States and the rest of the Western hemisphere owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude and I am confident your legacy will have been to provide a more prosperous and safer world for your children and grandchildren.

I thank you for the marvelous gifts extended to both Barby and myself, including the history books, which I have found fascinating. I ask that you convey our best wishes to Marco Antonio and the rest of your family. I look forward to continuing our discussion and would be most pleased to reciprocate your gracious hospitality the next time you are in the United States.

Warmest personal regards . . .

On November 25, 1997, Coughlin sent Pinochet a note via the Chilean Military Mission in Washington to commemorate his birthday.

Dear General Pinochet:

On the occasion of your birthday today, all of your friends and supporters at Riggs Bank send you our appreciation and congratulations for all you have done for Chile. Please accept our best wishes for every success in your continuing service to Chile in 1998 and many happy returns to the date of your birth in the years to come.

Sincerely . . .

SOURCE: U.S. Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations

In a memo distributed only to Republican senators, the Schiavo case was characterized as "a great political issue" that could pay dividends with Christian conservatives, whose support is essential in midterm elections such as those coming up in 2006.

[...]

Republicans acknowledged that the intervention was a departure from their usual support for states' rights. But they said their views about the sanctity life trumped their views about federalism.

An unsigned one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators, said the debate over Schiavo would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters. The memo singled out Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who is up for reelection next year and is potentially vulnerable in a state President Bush won last year.

"This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," said the memo, which was reported by ABC News and later given to The Washington Post. "This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a cosponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats."

...Meg Daniel presses zero whenever she hears a computerized operator on the telephone so that she can talk to a real person. "Just because they want a computer to handle me doesn't mean I have to play along," she said.

When subscription cards fall from magazines Andrew Kirk is reading, he stacks them in a pile at the corner of his desk. At the end of each month, he puts them in the mail but leaves them blank so that the advertiser is forced to pay the business reply postage without gaining a new subscriber.

[...]

Wesley A. Williams spent more than a year exacting his revenge against junk mailers. When signing up for a no-junk-mail list failed to stem the flow, he resorted to writing at the top of each unwanted item: "Not at this address. Return to sender." But the mail kept coming because the envelopes had "or current resident" on them, obligating mail carriers to deliver it, he said.

Next, he began stuffing the mail back into the "business reply" envelope and sending it back so that the mailer would have to pay the postage. "That wasn't exacting a heavy enough cost from them for bothering me," said Mr. Williams, 35, a middle school science teacher who lives in Melrose, N.Y., near Albany.

After checking with a postal clerk about the legality of stepping up his efforts, he began cutting up magazines, heavy bond paper, and small strips of sheet metal and stuffing them into the business reply envelopes that came with the junk packages.

"You wouldn't believe how heavy I got some of these envelopes to weigh," said Mr. Williams, who added that he saw an immediate drop in the amount of arriving junk mail. A spokesman for the United States Postal Service, Gerald McKiernan, said that Mr. Williams's actions sounded legal, as long as the envelope was properly sealed.

It was the furtive movements of a couple of demonstrators that caught the attention of police officers last spring outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on 16th Street NW. And then the officers saw it, in a glass jar passed from one protester to the other:

A human fetus.

Holding it in his pocket, according to police testimony, was Jeff White, an antiabortion activist. When officers asked what he had, White pulled out the jar and confirmed that it contained a fetus. Set in a clear liquid, the tiny limbs were plainly visible.

[...]

The argument of abortion rights advocates has long been that a fetus is nothing more than a cluster of cells and is not a human being, White's attorney, Brian Chavez-Ochoa, said in an interview.

"If that argument is correct," he said, "then how can somebody be charged by the District of Columbia with displaying a human being" when it was a fetus?

"It's a contradictory argument," Chavez-Ochoa said. "If it's not just a clump of cells, is the attorney general willing to concede that a . . . fetus is in fact a human being?"

...Springmill Products Inc...ships a line of bottled water called PetRefresh for finicky critters nationwide. From their new headquarters on a former tobacco farm in Lawsonville, N.C., the Felses sell their pet water for $1.49 per 20-ounce plastic bottle.

People have developed a big thirst in recent years for bottled water, many of them because they don't like tap water. It seems their pets are no different, and entrepreneurs like the Felses are jumping in to serve the creatures.

A Wallace, Calif., company named Pawier Inc. pioneered the industry in 1990 with a vitamin-enriched water for dogs, which it has now replaced with a water-soluble vitamin supplement. Dog Ventures LLC of West Palm Beach, Fla., sells "DogWater" in containers that double as throwing toys. Then there's K9 Water Inc., a Valencia, Calif., start-up whose catalog lists products such as "Gutter Water" and chicken-flavored "Toilet Water."

[...]

It's also costly to slake a pet's thirst from bottles. With the average 60-pound dog drinking a liter of water a day, that's a roughly $400-a-year habit at $2.29 per 2-liter bottle of PetRefresh.

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin signed off on legislation retaining Russians' cherished right to drink beer in public.

The original bill, which Mr. Putin sent back to parliament in January for amendments, had proposed draconian measures that would have banned beer consumption in parks, stadiums and on public transport.

The planned restrictions were widely unpopular in a country where public beer-drinking is widespread. Many Russians consider beer an everyday drink and Muscovites often can be seen with a bottle en route to work...

...to replace or relax the ban on the airborne usage of 800 MHz cellular handsets as well as proposes other steps to facilitate the use of wireless handsets and devices, including those used for broadband applications, on airborne aircraft in appropriate circumstances. These actions should benefit consumers by adding to future and existing air-ground communications options that will provide greater access for mobile voice and broadband services while airborne.

DATES: Comments are due on or before April 11, 2005, and reply comments are due May 9, 2005.

[...]

Comments may be filed either by filing electronically, such as by using the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), or by filing paper copies. Parties are strongly urged to file their comments using ECFS (given recent changes in the Commission's mail delivery system). Comments filed through the ECFS can be sent as an electronic file via the Internet to http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html.

--Effective March 15, we will no longer carry pillows on flights within the 48 contiguous states or flights between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central America or the Caribbean.

We are transforming Delta to provide you with an experience that is simpler, more consistent and offers everyday value. And, of course, you can continue to expect the outstanding service and warm hospitality of Delta's people. We appreciate your support, and we thank you for flying with us.

Manufacturer Make/model (line) Thefts 2003 (Mfr's) 2003 vehicles
produced)

1 DAIMLERCHRYSLER................... DODGE STRATUS.......... 682 62,496 10.9127
2 DAIMLERCHRYSLER................... DODGE INTREPID......... 392 40,366 9.7111
3 MITSUBISHI........................ MONTERO................ 94 13,604 6.9097
4 MITSUBISHI........................ DIAMANTE............... 57 9,981 5.7109
5 TOYOTA............................ TUNDRA PICKUP.......... 162 28,981 5.5899
6 DAIMLERCHRYSLER................... SEBRING................ 180 35,599 5.0563
7 MITSUBISHI........................ MONTERO SPORT.......... 174 35,508 4.9003
8 MITSUBISHI........................ GALANT................. 468 97,418 4.8040
9 JAGUAR............................ XJR.................... 4 845 4.7337
10 DAIMLERCHRYSLER.................. DODGE NEON............. 590 127,902 4.6129
11 DAIMLERCHRYSLER.................. CHRYSLER SEBRING 61 13,337 4.5737
CONVERTIBLE.
12 DAIMLERCHRYSLER.................. CHRYSLER CONCORDE...... 61 13,690 4.4558
13 DAIMLERCHRYSLER.................. CHRYSLER 300M.......... 61 13,719 4.4464
14 SUZUKI........................... AERIO.................. 150 33,931 4.4207
15 FORD MOTOR CO.................... FORD MUSTANG........... 598 143,823 4.1579
16 NISSAN........................... SENTRA................. 293 71,734 4.0845
17 GENERAL MOTORS................... OLDSMOBILE ALERO....... 333 86,229 3.8618
18 MITSUBISHI....................... LANCER................. 283 75,585 3.7441
19 JAGUAR........................... XK8.................... 8 2,151 3.7192
20 VOLVO............................ S40.................... 111 3,014 3.6496

49 TOYOTA........................... COROLLA................ 786 330,244 2.3801

57 FORD MOTOR CO.................... FORD TAURUS............ 757 334,329 2.2642

...Deshmukh declined to provide copies of letters sent to the university from Phi Beta Kappa, but she read some portions to a reporter. One letter from the organization asked about media reports that a Virginia legislator had "influenced your president" to cancel a speaking event [featuring Michael Moore]. Phi Beta Kappa officials also wrote that the incident "renewed concerns about governance problems" at the university.

Ultimately, Phi Beta Kappa decided not to visit the university and rejected a request by about 40 Phi Beta Kappa faculty members to reconsider, Deshmukh said. She said she was frustrated that society officials did not come to campus to question students and professors about the incident.

"We vehemently denied that academic freedom was impinged. The fee was the issue[the fee was $35k]," Deshmukh said. "If they had come and talked to us and walked around campus and not just closed the debate . . . I think they would have found mostly the reaction was this guy is charging a lot of money that would be better spent elsewhere."