Outside of the Busboys and Poets coffeeshop at 14th and V Streets NW, there's a large plexiglas box filled with shoes. It's called "The Empty Shoes of War," and each pair of shoes symbolizes an Iraqi civilian killed in the war. As a volunteer for Code Pink, local blogger and activist Nikolas Schiller had helped out with the event where the memorial was unveiled.

So when Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi whipped his shoes at President George W. Bush yesterday, Schiller was struck by the podiatro-political nexus. As he writes on his blog, "Last night I was reminded of the shoes in the memorial and conceived the idea of putting up a small guerrilla thank you note as a way to publicly thank al-Zaidi for doing something millions of people around the world would love to do if they were given the opportunity."

He put it on the plexiglas box:

The Post's J. Freedom du Lac wrote about the Jonas Brothers yesterday and called Kevin Jonas "the other one." He (or, more accurately, his e-mail inbox) was then set upon by furious Jonas fans, who have told him in no uncertain terms to stop being so old and bald and mean.

Today, Style fronted a piece about the fans' reaction, reprinting several letters. This has allowed several bloggers, including this one, to get posts out of the whole sitch.

Via instant message, du Lac (a friend, FWIW) says he's gotten "about 50" e-mails from furious Jonasites, "not really a huge number, but ... enough!" And as to jokes about his byline---Gawker's Richard Lawson said "(srsly?)" after citing him---du Lac says, "Glad the writer noticed my name. I'd hate to be 'the other one' of the Style staff."