Genius Grants: Keepin' it Tight

What's tighter than a "genius grant"? Awarding it to a great musician. Denver native, Bates graduate and current C'ville resident Corey Harris is a recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant in which he will receive $100,000 over the next 5 years. Two Tight-Nods to the Foundation and for Mr. Harris for always keepin' a wrench at the ready.

Here is a list of all the recipients. Here is Harris' MySpace page. And here is Harris performing "Honeysuckle":

Tighten up: C'ville vacation edition

The missus and I spent four nights in a B&B outside Charlottesville (yes, I feel very old writing that), and while the old college town and surrounding environs overwhelmingly lived up to its reputation for tightness (pictures to follow), all signs pointed toward the near-universal law of the universe that tourists must tighten their shit up. In particular, I refer to the following sign, posted outside the hiking trail around Crabtree Falls (the tallest cascading waterfall East of the Mississippi!):

Did I mention this is a waterfall? What this sign means is that there are people in the world stupid enough to try to climb a waterfall. I can only imagine how many have been injured, in addition to those who died. Presumably, some have climbed partway up the falls unharmed as well.

My anger at people stupid enough to attempt climbing a cascading waterfall is compounded by my anger at the Virginia Park Service, for dissuading potential Darwin Award Nominees from meeting their destiny. While anyone who climbed the falls and perished deserves a forceful, if posthumous, tighten up, I will refrain issuing a similar declaration to VA, if only because the precision of the sign (why not just write "many" or "over twenty"?) caused me to smile. I wonder: if a 24th person is stupid enough to plummet to their death, will the notoriously cheapskate state of Virginia spring for a new sign?

(On an unrelated note, Virginia does need to tighten up for their insane new speeding law, whereby going 75 in a 55 could net you $3550 in taxes and fines, as well as up to a year in prison. The best part of the law? It only applies to Virginians! What an insane state. VA's 42nd district needs to tighten up and boot out Dave Albo, their child-rapist loving representative in the House of Delegates, who authored the bill).

As I said, Charlottesville - and specifically the Blue Ridge Mountains, where we spent the bulk of our trip - abounds with tightness. Three examples:


Sweeping vistas.


Rolling hills.


Bow-tie wearing vineyard guard dogs

Recycling bins: Too tight for environment

As summer approaches, and that lingering sunlight hangs in the warm air, folks can't help but gather every Friday downtown for Fridays After Five, a long-standing tradition here in Charlottesville. There's good music, kettle corn and of course, beer. Everyone is smiling, kids are running around and everyone feels just a little bit more amicable than usual (perhaps a side-effect of the beer, but I'd like to think it's just a wave of good ol' fashioned well-being). Everything is just about perfect with this setup. Just about.

Enter, the Budweiser Recycling Bins. The beer vendors have been nice enough to distribute their beers in Solo No. 2 -- or maybe No. 1; I can't remember -- cups. Either way, both are recyclable here in Charlottesville, as the recycling center accepts both No. 1 and No. 2 plastics. Awesome!! Except these stupid lids they put on the bins have openings that are too small to actually accommodate the Solo Cups. You have to bend the cup in order to force it through. I mean, it seems like a no-brainer: leave the lids off, cut bigger holes or get different lids altogether. I understand the worry: drunk people like to put trash in recycling bins, but I guarantee that drunk folks, spurned by the square-peg-in-round-hole scenario, are just as likely to neglect recycling their Solo cups and will just trash them.

Come on, Charlottesville Pavillion, LLC! Get new, skinnier recyclable cups! Get new bins! Get new lids! Cut bigger holes for the cups! Whatever you do, tighten-up!