Random stuff:

1. It's interesting how different cities have different quirks of law. Like in Boston, all restaurant menus contain a warning about eating raw and undercooked food, and how that might not be so good for you. Even places where nothing on the menu ought to be raw or undercooked (as opposed to sushi places), there's still that unnerving warning, forcing me to check my chicken just a few too many times. But in New York, instead we get signs in bathrooms about how employees must wash their hands -- because it's the law. If I owned a restaurant, I'd be a little peeved if my employees only washed their hands after going to the bathroom because it's the law. In fact, I'd want to put up a sign that says "Our employees would wash their hands even if it wasn't the law, because they don't want to get their pee in your food." Only I'd say it more tastefully. When I was in DC for a few weeks last summer, the only quirk I remember noticing is that they made a big deal about not leaving behind any "articles" on the subway. Which made me extra-cautious with my Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated (no, I don't read The New Yorker and Harper's Weekly... I'm just not that cultured). Ah, federalism. Without it, every state would have the same warnings and customs, and that wouldn't be much fun, now would it?