alrighty, craploads of pictures! naomi, becca, julie, jamie and i went down to va beach this weekend for a half marathon. we ran, we cried, we celebrated birthdays with an ice orgy. pictures follow.

a couple of upcoming events:

thursday, september 16th, 7-10pm, DCist is going to have a launch party at reef in adam's morgan, and you are all invited. it's not a hip exclusive thing - it's not like we have the place to ourselves, it's just kind of going to go on. i'm betting it will turn out more like a big happy hour. i think it'll be really fun, and i'm going to bring my digital camera and maybe your mug will end up on the fabled pages of DCist. so come on out!

wednesday, september 22nd, time TBD, my coworker and i are hosting a fundraising happy hour with raffle prizes at front page in dupont. i think raffle tickets/cover charge will be $5, and all drinks are $2.75 (which is front page's normal happy hour specials, but those are still pretty awesome prices). you should definitely come to this, as i have about $700 left to raise in one month. eek. ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVENT DONATED YET, MOFO.

la la la...i'm going on a six mile run on the mall tonight, so if you see a girl in black running shorts and a gray tank top dry heaving by the WWII memorial, that'll be me! 20 miles comes on saturday, and i refuse to even think about that. anyway hopefully i'm staying in tonight and can finally put up the vabeach/ice orgy 2004 (TM) pictures from labor day weekend.

oh also, kriston and jeremy were kind enough to join me last night at the ipod party thing at saint-ex. it was fun, pretty low attendance though. best part of night: me putting dismemberment plan's "the city" on my playlist, and when the song came up on rotation, the bartender (not knowing we had selected the song) went into an absolute rant on how much he hates travis morrison. "he's famous in d.c., big fucking deal! d.c. is nothing! i've met him, he's a HUGE asshole, he's crazy! i hate him! terrible music! sounds like dave matthews band on dischord! he's got a LISP!!!" we really just didn't know how to respond. whatever. "the city" is an AWESOME song.

haha, whole foods suckers! you're actually eating poop:

But as organic products — and their claims to superiority — have grown more common, scientists, policy analysts and some consumers have begun to ask for proof. Where's the evidence, they ask, for the widespread belief that organic foods are safer and more nutritious than those raised by conventional farming methods?

The short answer, food safety and nutrition scientists say, is that such proof does not exist. Indeed, by one well-established measure of healthfulness — contamination with fecal matter and potentially harmful bacteria — some organic foods may pose greater risks to consumers.

As food fights go, this one might not be as raucous as the cacophony over low-carb diets or reshaping the food pyramid — yet. But since 1989, when organic-food activists raised a nationwide scare over the pesticide alar in apples, many scientists have seethed quietly at what they perceive as a campaign of scare tactics, innuendo and shoddy science perpetrated by organic food producers and their allies.

Now, many of those experts, who had been content to pursue their research in academic anonymity, are being called to testify before congressional committees and weigh in on a swirling public debate about America's diet. As they begin to find their voice, the organic food industry may find them about as welcome as a plague of aphids. And it will take more than cow manure and dried chrysanthemum leaves to make them go away.

NOT EVEN COW MANURE will stop these people. that's the kind of renegades they are.

and some dude over at the volokh conspiracy agrees that organic food is a bunch of bunk:

WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT ORGANIC FOOD? Not all that much actually. While environmental activists and some health food junkies swear by it, there’s little basis for believing that organic food is any better for you or the planet.

One reason people advocate eating organic foods is the claim that pesticide residues pose a threat to human health, specifically cancer. This argument sounds plausible – after all, what kills bugs can’t be great for people – but it ignores the basic fact of toxicology that the dose makes the poison. Pesticide residues on food are too miniscule to pose a cancer threat. Ample research, such as that by Bruce Ames, shows that most of the carcinogens that humans consume are natural. Fruits and vegetables come with various pesticides of their own, thanks to Mother Nature. As with synthetic residues though, the doses are too small to pose a threat to human health. In addition, the above argument for organics assumes that such foods come without pesticide residues. This too is a questionable assumption , as Howard Feinberg explains. So, eating more fruits nad vegetables may help keep you healthy, but sticking to organics won't reduce your risk of cancer.

What about organic farming’s environmental benefits? The BBC claims a study published in the May 31 Science gave the environmental impact of organics “a ringing endorsement.” Not so. What the study found is that organic farming uses less energy and other inputs than conventional farming. (See summaries here.) As a consequence, however, organic farming is far less productive. On average, the study found, organic farms produce 20 percent less per acre than their conventional counterparts. This means that to produce the same amount of food, organic farming requires substantially more land than conventional farming. This may not be a big deal in the U.S., but in developing nations, organic farming will mean more habitat is cleared to make way for farms, fewer people get fed, or both. Moreover, as Ron Bailey points out, organic farming’s energy benefits may be a mirage, as the Science study didn’t consider the newest, most energy-efficient conventional farming techniques.

So, eat organics if you want, but don't think you're doing yourself or the planet any favors.

i've decided i'm going to wage a war on organic food, just like i've done with the retarded low-carb diet. people. just eat normal food. buy it from your safeway. you'll be okay, i promise.

anyway, if you want to keep spending hundreds of dollars on free-range beef and hormone-free milk, blow your life savings away. i'll be over here, eating my waxy, pesticide-soaked apple. at least it's not covered in fecal matter!

ah, there's nothing like a damning indictment of the president to make you feel cheery in the morning:

...In retrospect, it's doubtful that even White House aides understood all the information embedded in the records, specifically the payroll documents. It's also unlikely they realized how damaging the information could be when read in the proper context. Seven months later, the document dump is coming back to haunt the White House, thanks to researcher Paul Lukasiak, who has spent that time closely examining the paperwork, and more important, analyzing U.S. Statutory Law, Department of Defense regulations, and Air Force policies and procedures of the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, Lukasiak arrived at the overwhelming conclusion that not only did Bush walk away from his final two years of military obligation, coming dangerously close to desertion, but that he attempted to cover up his absenteeism through swindle and fraud.

you don't say.