2008-11-22T13:46:56Z tag:voices.washingtonpost.com,2008:/achenblog//71 Copyright (c) 2008, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive 2008-11-22T13:46:56Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-22:/achenblog/2008/11/seattle_on_foot.html

This is Twin Peaks country. Was there ever a TV show more hyped and more disappointing than "Twin Peaks"? Other than giving Duchovny his first role, I can't see what good it was in the end. Kind of like "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman": Great buzz but nothing to stick to the ribs. (You recognize in this picture the picturesque Snoqualmie Falls. It's a perfect waterfall, as if designed by an 8-year-old. I mean that...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-20T02:02:27Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-19:/achenblog/2008/11/found_groovy_new_coffee_chain.html

It's called Starbucks Coffee. There's easily half a dozen of these joints here in Seattle. I sniffed this one out while strolling through downtown. The coffee's pretty good -- maybe not as good as Peet's, or Quartermaine, but if they throw in a few extra beans for their basic cup of coffee I think they could become major players. The Washington Mutual Tower. Paper today said 3,000 of these folks will be getting pink...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-18T23:12:59Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-18:/achenblog/2008/11/the_redder_belt.html

[On vacation this week. Today I'm off to Seattle and will post a bunch of pics tomorrow. I hear they have a bunch of Starbuckses there.] Here's a fascinating map from the Times that shows a very distinct belt in the Upper South and Appalachia where the Republicans did better in 2008 than in 2004. It's like the opposite of Obama Country. -- I'm changing planes and I am pretty sure this is Minneapolis,...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-17T04:19:04Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-17:/achenblog/2008/11/paris_achenbach_on_student_fro.html

[I'm off this week and will turn the blog all the way down to simmer. I'll be on a road a bit and will post some photos. In the meantime, here's an article by my daughter Paris Achenbach, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in D.C. It originally appeared in the student newspaper, the Beacon.] By Paris Achenbach Electricity is cut off from your home. A bomb explodes down the street, shattering all...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-15T13:40:04Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-15:/achenblog/2008/11/living_off_the_land_in_space.html

[My story from this morning's paper.] Excerpt: The grand drama of humankind's conquest of space has featured as a recurring subplot the mystery of how people in zero gravity can possibly go to the bathroom. The latest twist in that narrative is about to take place high above Earth, where astronauts will deliver to the international space station a new toilet, officially known as the waste and hygiene compartment, plus a contraption that can...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-14T16:05:19Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-14:/achenblog/2008/11/the_bigger_picture.html

Astronomy puts everything in perspective. When we ponder the vastness of the cosmos our minds are stretched to the point of hernia. On the ride to the emergency room, we find ourselves thinking of the grandeur of this universe of galaxies, stars, planets, moons, comets, and the oxygen mask keeping us alive. Doctor: "When did you feel the first sharp pain?" Patient: "Contemplating the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy." Doctor:...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-13T22:43:14Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-13:/achenblog/2008/11/pale_white_dots.html

[My story on the first images of extrasolar planets.] [Here's the NASA page. And here's a link to images of HR 8799.] Two teams of astronomers made stunning claims today that they have separately obtained images of planets orbiting two different stars in our galaxy. If confirmed, these would be the first direct images of "extrasolar" planets. One team, led by Christian Marois, an astronomer with the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, Canada,...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-12T19:52:18Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-12:/achenblog/2008/11/defragmentation_wednesday.html

My friend Mike came over last night to help me uninstall an antivirus program that had become virus-like itself. It's called AntiVirus Pro and, according to Mike's research, it had become "corrupted." I believe this is approximately the plot line of "Terminator." Though I refrain from hyperbole, I'd go so far as to say that the corrupt program had turned literally evil. Antivirus Pro kept hurling warnings onto the screen, shrieking of doom and...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-11T15:43:33Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-11:/achenblog/2008/11/obamas_should_try_public_schoo.html

I'm thrilled to read that Michelle Obama has checked out one grade school off MacArthur Boulevard and a second school on Wisconsin Avenue near Tenleytown. That's where my kids have gone to school! Only we went to different schools, down the street. The public schools. The Obamas hit town and bee-lined toward two elite private schools in the city: Georgetown Day and Sidwell Friends. They reportedly are interested in another private school, Maret. Let...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-10T14:41:49Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-10:/achenblog/2008/11/transitional_moments.html

Like Obama, I'm in transition. My transition will involve a wide variety of personal upgrades, improvements and accessories. I will learn a language. I will master new cooking techniques that go far beyond the traditional large-pot-of-meat-based manfood. I will develop stunning home-repair skills requiring the use of a tool belt. And already, just in the past few days, I've become the kind of person who wears a hat. I got a nice hat in...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-07T21:18:25Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-07:/achenblog/2008/11/obamas_first_gaffe.html

Just watched Barack Obama's first news conference. He looked presidential, or, more precisely, president-electial. It would be presumptuous to look too presidential, but it's perfectly appropriate to be extremely president-electial. [I'm going to keep making this joke until it's funny.] And he had a good line about considering a dog that's a mutt, like him. But did he have to make a joke at the expense of an ailing Nancy Reagan? To my ear...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-06T23:26:16Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-06:/achenblog/2008/11/obama_among_the_radicals.html

Maybe the Republicans would have had more luck against Obama if their central strategy hadn't been based on nonsense. The GOP tried hard to prove that Obama is a radical, dangerous, risky. But Americans saw otherwise -- that the guy has an aversion to radicalism. It's obvious. Sure, he's known radicals via the university system, but those aren't his people. For a much better glimpse of some of his people, please read this fine...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-06T12:33:32Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-06:/achenblog/2008/11/obamas_secret_weapon.html

[My article in today's paper.] There are a lot of reasons why a guy with the improbable name of Barack Hussein Obama just won the presidency of the United States -- such as Wall Street's meltdown, a wildly unpopular president and an opponent so in love with his own maverick image that he picked Annie Oakley as his running mate. But one reason became obvious only over the past six weeks: his temperament. President-elect...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-05T22:06:04Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-05:/achenblog/2008/11/print_journalism_lives.html

[Photo by Joel Achenbach] Amazing scene outside The Washington Post on 15th Street: Hundreds and hundreds of people are lined up to buy a commemorative edition of today's newspaper. Shown here are Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli and publisher Katharine Weymouth (how'd she get so many copies?) holding the paper. I heard that we're printing 250,000 copies of it. [Update: K-wey says they're increasing the run to 350,000.] The line stretches from the entrance...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

2008-11-05T16:40:03Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-11-05:/achenblog/2008/11/all-night_party_at_the_white_h.html

The spontaneous Obama party on the streets of Washington, D.C., roared past midnight, past 1 a.m., past 2 a.m., with all the centripetal forces driving the revelers to Lafayette Park across from the White House. It was an explosion of joy. Strangers hugged. People danced in clusters. The air became saturated with the sound of honking car horns from all points of the compass. Police stayed back, barely perceptible on the periphery. The White...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.