Oh, juliana. Dear, dear, dear. DON'T, for the love of all things holy and unholy, start the OLIVE TAPENADE smackdown again.

It's 'ffiista Argument #3671.

And Tep, now I am DYIN' to know about the po-po last NYE.

It's 'ffiista Argument #3671.

I know, but the Internets are slow and I need an excuse to not do my filing!

I like the tapenade. And cilantro.

It's been a really long time since I've lived anywhere that had a tourist industry. So I find this very surreal.

Oh my god, downtown Chicago has been dead in the morning this week, but by afternoon it's filled with tourists who walk too slowly and talk too loudly and cluster together, clogging the sidewalks and doorways. Taking public transit is an event, and they won't shut up and let people read in peace.

They keep asking me for directions. They're lucky I'm not more malicious. And two guys stopped me in the grocery store last night for help locating things, and not in a hitting-on-me way. I feel like a shepherd this week, or some shit.

They walk four-abreast! And they crane their heads upward to look at the miraculously tall buildings and then crash into me! And they've always lost somebody named Timmy!

And someone needs to teach them how to jay walk. They mosey their way across as the light is changing. They amble when they take a short cut mid block. Alternately, they stand there in a big insoluable lump when the WALK starts to flash and prevent me from making the light.

SOME of us are going to work, People! Do I show up in your square state and stand with all my nears and dears at the foot of your driveway as you're leaving for work? Do I whip out a map and unfold it there and then spend ten minutes refolding it while you dodge my progeny? NO I DO NOT.

if your part in the DOS is simply downloading their largest file repeatedly

It’s still a DOS attack. You’re not just using the site normally, you’re trying to make it unavailable to others. It seems worth noting that DOS attacks tend to affect innocent bystanders. Odds are that the server they’re trying to overload hosts other websites, too.

I’m pretty sure that most ISP’s explicitly describe that sort of thing as a breach of their terms of service.

It's not that much different from an organized boycott of a company that expresses ideas you strongly disagree with.

It’s completely different. In a boycott you don’t go into the store, stand in the aisles, hide the merchandise, and otherwise try to prevent anyone else from shopping there. A picket line can’t actively block all traffic.

Having a marketplace of ideas means that there are more than few worthless ideas are out there.

11 years on Capitol Hill has ground me down to a head-shaking paste when it comes to dealing with the tourons. I could say I've gone all buddist-loving-kindness but the fact is, around here there is no point in fighting it. There is no 'off-season' in this town. And I've chosen to live a few blocks from the epicenter of all things gawky. It's my own damn fault.

They walk four-abreast!

Friggin mallwalkers.

Is this a DOS attack on Phelps' website? Is there anyone who doesn't think he is a nutcase? I guess I don't see what the point is.

Don't get me started ranting about people who stand in the middle of the aisle on the subway cars, blocking access to and from the doors, and ignoring the perfectly good open seats that could hold their useless carcasses.