D.C. and the random thoughts...

Taking the Metro... light rail is totally the way to go. I realize there are many subway commuters who think this is no meaningful revelation, but they don't know how good they've got it (compared to sad bastards like me with no meaningful commuter rail service). Railroads mean:
- No traffic jams, EVER.
- Definite (deterministic) travel times - the train is on a dedicated highway, and runs on schedule.
- Bulk purchasing (with a monthly pass).
- Get some reading done along the way.
- Probably some environmental benefits in there too...
- Meet your neighbors. ... I have driven in my car for 1500 miles over the past week. In contrast to the train and walking, the automobile is isolating and sterile. It keeps us isolated from each other and depersonalizes the human condition all around us. People become the car they are driving. No wonder there's road rage.

Trains: The benefits are legion...
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Overheard on the radio, a discussion of Pink Collar Jobs.

I'd never heard of such a thing codified before, but it puts a name on what has bothered me about whether or not such a thing as gender equality can be realized... not because of law or culture or society, but because of self-selection. There are many women who go into career paths traditionally occupied by women: Teacher, Secretary, Nurse, etc., and regardless of equal opportunities, there remain differences. The day I see a woman on a highway road crew (ok, more than just a token individual) with a jackhammer or a mound of steaming asphalt in hand (instead of working in Flagger position), I will then believe in unbounded equality. Until then, I'm afraid I'm a pragmatist. Ideas and Notions are great, but show me the reality of it.
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Seeing the Vietnam Memorial is hard to describe in words. As I was walking along the wall, I couldn't even begin to imagine, while there by the names etched in granite, being able to speak - for any reason.

There's just... so many. So many that died for this notion of "Stopping the Advance of Communism".

And then Iron Curtain fell in 1989, and it seemed to have fallen all by itself, and Communism was no longer a threat, so one begins to wonder how big the threat really was? Or was it just that it's so easy to judge in hindsight?