Second, I want to note the death of Ben Ali. You have probably never heard the name, but he was the founder of Ben's Chili Bowl, a major D.C. institution. It's the sort of place one should go to once, for the atmosphere. It's even been visited by President Obama. (And one notable thing about the current first family is that they go out to eat more often and a far wider range of places than their recent predecessors did. This is a good thing.)
Finally, speaking of Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize flap is pretty much a non-story as far as I'm concerned. It's not like the prize has ever really meant anything beyond the committee's desire to give publicity to some idea or other. (In fact, it's often a good way to make sure the recipient ends up being further persecuted and/or marginalized.) That said, I' was surprised as I'd been expecting to to go to Morgan Tsvangirai.
