Village Green/Town²

 Love hearts. That’s what they are called on an episode of my favorite BBC panel show, “QI.” American research scientist Janelle Shane programmed a similar neural network to read existing slogans on Love Hearts sweets, and the program suggested new slogans: "Loving horn", "Buns, buns, buns" and "All hail the chicken".  We would call them “conversation hearts.” They’re made of sugar, cornstarch, and sentiment, I guess. They are as hard as cement and have no particular flavor. Rather like their sister sweets, Necco Wafers. Now made by Spangler, they’re marketed under the brand name “Sweethearts.” Each year they try to update their sayings a bit to remain relevant to popular culture trends.  To my knowledge, real people make these word choices and not neural networks preloaded with specially curated content. I’m not quite sure how this all works because I think that most of these candies are purchased for kids. How will sentiments like their new theme, “Lo...

Once upon a time, when I was a newly elected member of the Oakland Mills Village Board, I attended a big to-do at a downtown hotel which gathered together all the newly elected members of all the village boards along with Columbia Association leadership and the elected CA board members. A festive orientation, of sorts. There were probably refreshments. I don’t remember.  We were seated at round tables in a large banquet room. It was possible that I knew only one or two people in the entire room. The gentleman across from me smiled and said,  “I’m Billy Smith, the CA Rep from X Village and you’re not going to like me because I want to get rid of your pool!” That’s one heck of a way to introduce yourself to a new village board member, Billy Smith.* So begins my story of the trials and tribulations of the Talbott Springs Pool, one of the neighborhood pools being considered for closure by the Columbia Association. For as long as I have understood what Columbia is, and what the Co...

  It was not until I saw a local request on Facebook that I learned that heart-shaped pizza was a thing. Live and learn.  This put me in mind of a recent discussion on the Columbia Reddit: Why is pizza here so bad?   r/ColumbiaMD Don’t worry - - the thread itself is not a litany of discontent. Well, not entirely. If you have strong opinions about pizza or are just looking for a new place to try, this thread will come through for you. Imagine that reading a food review were more like eating a bowl of popcorn. It’s long but you just keep wanting to read a little bit more.  At the moment I am working on a post about the CA proposal to replace some neighborhood pools with splashpads and it is breaking my brain.  If I manage to get it up tomorrow I think I will reward myself with pizza. Do you have any opinions on pizza or pools? Let me know. Village Green/Town² Comments

  Stubborn. Yep, that must be it. Why didn’t I think of that? Crews still working to move stubborn snow 11 days after storm, Snow mounds pile up in neighborhoods amid frigid temps , Jack Watson, WMAR 2 News If you are wondering why all that snow is still in your way, friends, the answer is clear: it’s just stubborn. I’ve seen stubborn used for mules, schoolchildren that aren’t compliant, and, of course, laundry stains. (I grew up in an era where advertisers thought that all women wanted was “to get rid of stubborn stains.”) Snow? Stubborn? It has just as much agency as laundry stains. If you’ve been trying to shovel this stuff, that was your first mistake. You need a tool that eradicates stubbornness.  What would that be exactly? This sentence from the WMAR 2 News piece is both hilarious and cringe-worthy somehow: Tim Gibson broke out the shovel yet again, hoping the sun would do him a solid and get all the snow to liquid. But it does give a hint to our current situation and i...

  Welcome to staring at a blank page Monday.  How was your weekend? High points for me: Watching the world discover on Bluesky that County Executive Calvin Ball is a real human being and not just a game created by cartoonist Bill Watterson. That was delightful. Last night’s half-time show. Reading picture books online courtesy of the Howard County Library, especially this one. Highly recommend.  Water Can Be  by Laura Purdue Salas, Illustrations by Violeta Dabija  I've been so inundated with adverts for Super Bowl related products and events, followed by Valentine’s Day products and events that I am tempted to write a post about local things you can do to NOT celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.  Enough already. This event sounds fun if you’re not allergic. Ever the grammatical nitpicker, I can’t help but point out that cats do not wish to be painted. Image from the Pottery Stop social media  Daniels in Elkridge is again hosting their anti-Valentine’...

  I wouldn’t call it a protest.  You couldn’t exactly characterize it as gang activity.  Loitering, maybe? You may think you want to shop at Ross Dress for Less in the Columbia Crossing shopping center. The Canada geese have other ideas.  Move along, human. We live here now. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that portion of the parking lot filled to capacity. Perhaps we should retrofit it as a bird sanctuary? All that pavement can’t be good for their feet.  ***** The good folks at Comics to Astonish were the victims of the kind of astonishment that nobody wants yesterday. Somehow they still managed to get it all cleaned up, open for business, and even host their usual Friday night gaming group. I’m not a gamer, but I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for this place ever since they posted a lost and found for this sweet little guy in 2021. If you’re into comics or gaming cards (is that proper terminology?) now would be a very good time to visit Comics to Astonish :...