Great News!

Via DCist.

Smoking ban in Virginia soon. It'll make the entire Metro area smoke free. Perhaps the geeks should move out to Virginia one week....

Buffalo Bills, Howard University, and Eritrean Food

Notice anything interesting about this mural, my loyal readers? It's a DC Ward 1 (the Official Homeward of the Wiki Karmel (is that two words, USOWK?)) mural. Let's go through the features:

• DC skyline. Check.
• Cluck U Chicken reference. Check.
• Elephants and Donkeys. Check.
• Buffalo Bills logo. What?

The image on the left is the Buffalo Bills logo, the Official NFL football team of the Wiki Karmel. It's also the team logo of the Howard University Bison.

Howard University is where I discovered Five Guys*. I guess it's becoming something of a national sensation these days. But back in the day** a gaggle of geeks I rolls with used to go to the Five Guys near the Howard University Hospital. That is until they closed it. Leaving us very hungry one night. And forcing us to scour the area for a meal that five people would all agree to. In the end, we chose Eritrean. Very tasty. Good choice.

*I think it's horrible now. The first time I went, I told them to "go nuts"*** with barbecue sauce and jalapenos. And they did. But every time I go there now, they never "go nuts". It saddens me.**** Also, I get indigestion every time I eat it.

**I actually hate the expression "back in the day".*****

***Recently I was at the new Shawarma place in Adams Morgan and I told the woman behind the counter to "go nuts" with the hot sauce. She did. I cried. But it was still tasty.

****Speaking of being saddened by early toppings overload, the Great Wiki Karmel used to live on the Upper East Side (for a month) with FGS (Fort Worth, TX) and Mers-Nads. We went one time to a Coldstone Creamery. Twas my first time. And the dude behind the counter obviously didn't care about his job because he gave me something like 8 Reese's Cups. It was toppings overload (and awesome). Everytime I went back, I got a "normal" employee who gave me one or 2 Cups. So sad. Now I don't eat Coldstone. But perhaps that's because I'm lactarded ...

*****Back in the day, I used to say "back in the day" all the time. Now I don't.

Fact. Bears eat beets.

Question: What is the only state capital named after a Vice President.

Answer: False. Black bears.

But seriously. The BOTU posed this question to me earlier today (it was a Jeopardy final question).

My first thought was Jackson(1), MS (which coincidentally was the BOTU's first thought as well).

Then I thought Montgomery(2), AL.

Consulting Wikipedia, I came across a third option: Madison(3), WI. Was he a Veep too?

Turns out both of us were wrong (the answer later).

Jackson gave us the great Fred Smoot, of dubious fame(NSFW). The first successful (?) lung transplant occurred at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. And the USA International Ballet Competition is located at the Thalia Mara Hall. Weird.

Montgomery is home to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (too easy...(4)) and the Montgomery Biscuits. Really? The Biscuits (5)? Also, Zelda(6) (no, not that Zelda(7)) Fitzgerald(8) is from there.

Madison is home of The University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Great Wiki Karmel has never been, but apparently the Halloween Party is out of this world. The band Garbage is from Madison. I'm a fan(9). It's also a sister city to Vilnius, Lithuania, which is currently the European Capital of Culture.

So....All of those are wrong. The answer is..... (djembe roll......)

Jefferson City, MO. Raise your hand if you got that.

Of course, out of my loyal readers, only FGS (Fort Worth, TX) has his hand in the air.

(1) 7th President
(2) Continental Army General during American Revolution
(3) 4th President
(4) Haha. People from Alabama can't read! (10)
(5) Actually, the name Biscuits came from a fan contest. The owner (who must be related to Andrew Elliott, Esquire) is quite the fan of puns. "Hey, Butter, Butter, Butter" or the team's souvenir store, the "Biscuit Basket". They actually shoot biscuits at fans during games instead of t shirts.
(6) The creator of Zelda actually did name his damsel in distress after Z Fitz.
(7) A damn fine game, however. It gets two thumbs up from the Great Wiki Karmel.
(8) Thoughts on Gatsby, my loyal readers? I'm very meh.
(9) Though only of the self titled album. I didn't like 2.0.
(10)It is the official policy of the Wiki Karmel (the blog, not the person), to not mock any loyal readers. If I have offended anyone, I apologize.

Shark Attack!

As I've briefly touched on before, the Great Wiki Karmel does not like sharks. I saw Jaws* when I was five...I've been terrified ever since. I mean, seriously, these things are killing machines. Machines! Why would anyone ever mess with one. Now I know what you are thinking, my loyal readers: the chances of getting attacked are ridiculously small. You might even point out that in 1996, there were 18 shark injuries/deaths and 43,687 injuries from toilets. But I'm not taking a chance. I'm not even going in ankle deep. And no, Always Y, this isn't a "fear" of sharks. This is respect. Respect for my life!

*As much as I hate sharks (and Jaws), John Williams is the man!

hmm...

hello loyal readers. i would like to say that i'm back. but as you can see from the previous post (dated june 12th, 2007*), i'm not a man of my word when it comes to blogging. do not fret though, my loyal readers, as the great wiki karmel will try to keep it going.

*because i know you were all wondering**, it's been 602 days. which is 86 weeks exactly. or 1.65 years.

**actually, none my loyal readers were wondering for two reasons:

1. my loyal readers have all been counting the days, longing for more wisdom to be dispensed from their great sage. it's been a long wait. i am sorry.
2. seeing the date above, the few loyal readers who haven't been counting (shame on you), quickly did the math in their head. as i did...