By Wayan
For all those headed to the Spanish Safeway: Caution. Waiting for you over the door, in the Safeway sign is a whole flock of pigeons.
Pigeons, the city rats who fly, are there ready to poop, ready to dive, ready to make your Safeway day a scary experience. Anyone say “The Birds“?
I say duck and cover. Pigeon poop ain’t pretty on person or perishables.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Tom Bridge
Someone at the Post got a serious kick out of setting this headline & byline:
Or maybe I’m just a bit pervy.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Tom Bridge
Well, Hizzoner managed to once again escape jail time for violating his probation. It’s really nice to see they’re letting him off without so much as a slap on the wrist for not filing his taxes all those years.
Apparently, half the traffic cameras in DC aren’t working, and as such, the city’s losing a boatload of revenue for the broken gear. Why all the issues? Well, they’re switching management companies for the traffic cameras. The new people to run the lights will be the same people that have fucked up the parking meters so badly. Sweet! Way to go, DC!
Virginia’s releasing a fotonovela about statutory rape called “Gracias Papi” or….wait for it… “Thanks Dad.” Something is definitely lost in translation, I think…
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Don
No, not today’s expected beautiful 70-degree weather – Andrew Freedman’s amusing Capitol Weather post from Sunday talking about some of the random experiences he had with the public while working at NOAA.
There was also a phone call from a frightened woman who never gave their geographical location but nevertheless asked me: “can I get out of the basement now?”
“That depends on why you are in the basement, ma’am,” I said with all of the assumed authority of a 23-year-old government worker.
A good read.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Tom Bridge
It took almost exactly a month for Metro to fire the bus driver who plowed over two pedestrians, killing them both.
Can someone tell me why this guy had a job almost one month after he killed two women with a Metrobus?
Can someone tell me why this guy had a job one week after he killed two women with a Metrobus?
Seriously, it strikes me as bad policy to keep a driver on the payroll for that long after the Police have charged him with two counts of negligent homicide after witnesses said he clearly wasn’t paying attention. Why did it take Metro 28 days to fire the guy? Seriously, this is ridiculous.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Tom Bridge
It should shock precisely no one that this is my favorite bank in town. The WTF Credit Union is the, quite possibly, the single best bank in all of DC, which also plays home to the Fed, and the BEP. Turns out, they’re offering some sweet deals this month if you need a second trust mortgage, they’re gonna hook you up. And besides, if you live inside the beltway, you can join right away, tell me you don’t want a WTFCU ATM card. Seriously.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Wayan
Did you read the Beer Madness article in Sunday’s Washington Post? Where Posties put 32 beers in an elimination round similar to March Madness? Might you like I, stopped caring when the idiots, lead by Greg Kitsock, somehow ranked Budweiser better than Victory Lager and Rolling Rock over Purple Haze?
It seems I wasn’t the only one pissed off by the poor palates of the poser participants. In the Beer Madness Live Chat, readers took Greg & crew to task. The first question?
Springfield, Va.: I don’t get it. How can you compare a lager and a bock in the first round? Or a wheat and an ale? Two different kinds of beer. How do you leave Guinness, Harp, and Bass out of the bracket while including PBR?
Greg Kitsock:…Drinkability was another key factor in choosing our line-up. These are all beers that you could down a couple bottles of while watching the big game on TV – no hop monsters or high-alcohol beers like imperial India pale ales or barleywines. (Imagine how we would have felt after sampling 32 IPAs or imperial stouts!)
Remember also that the average consumer picks a beer based not on stylistic correctness, but whether he or she likes the taste. And tastes vary greatly. There is no one correct answer to the question, What’s your favorite beer?
Yeah, and there is a difference between beer and flavored water. No self-respecting quality beer drinker (vs. frat boys and 40 oz’ers) would even put Budweiser in a match-up or feel a contest valid when every single hefeweizen wheat beer was eliminated in the first round. Or as the last commenter so elegantly explained:
McLean, Va.: How on earth did some of these make the round of 32? And where are any of the extraordinary brews from Stone Brewing Co. of Escondido. The Web site Beeradvocate.com named them the country’s best brewery. ratebeer.com named Stone the best brewery in North America, and the third best in the world, behind two Belgian brewers. This is like March madness without Duke or UNC!
So DC drinkers, what other Georgetown or GWU of beer was missing from this miss-match-up?
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Wayan
I love firemen. These are the guys that are willing to run into a burning building and save your ass when your whole life is going up in flames.
Firemen are right up there with Santa Claus and Superman, but unlike those two, these three are real.
Just one small problem: You really do not want to have them at your front door on a Friday night. This is not a good sight.
Luckily, they were not here to put out an apartment-threatening fire. Only responding to an injured resident. All turned out well, even this photo of DC’s finest.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Amélie
As of the rush hour this morning (and “rush” is just a word today), WMATA has yet to adjust their system clocks to account for the early switch to DST. I’m not sure if they didn’t feel like paying the average $4000 to Microsoft for the corporate fix (which, BTW, actually has a bug in it too), or somebody just hit a big snooze button, ala “Lost”, for the past two days. I guess it’s just Metro’s way of saving some cash, or just confusing the hell out of Washington commuters… but maybe they were just concentrating on the new MetroBus lighting
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Wayan
Do you mix your wines and meats? Say a bottle of white wine with a steak or hamburger?
That seems to be the suggestion of the Super IGA market an 1800 Columbia Road with their two in one deli refrigerator.
I do not know about you, but their efforts failed with me. After seeing this display, I was not in the mood for either.
Which begs the question: Have you seen other economical yet unappetitizing retail fridge combos around town?
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Don
Well, if you weren’t at Jammin Java this evening to see Paul & Storm as well as Jonathan Coulton on their “Those Meddling Kids” tour then you missed the impromptu two-song reunion of local a capella group Da Vinci’s Notebook. Paul and Storm welcomed Richard Hsu and Bernie Muller-Thym on to the stage to assist them with one of their songs, then spoke briefly about some of the corporate hell they have suffered through as a band-for-hire over the years (a modified “Pinball Wizard” to celebrate the “Sales Wizard” of the year at a company awards banquet) and then sang a Da Vinci’s Notebook fave, Enormous Penis (link to WaPo MP3 site (am I the only person who had no idea that existed?))
As I had a complete video equipment failure (dead battery on DV cam, forgot my point&shoot, DID video with my cellphone and OH MY GOD I am way too embarrassed to share video that bad with ANYONE), I do not have a video of the song to share. However as Paul commented “wow, look at all those cellphones up and out” I am pretty sure there’ll be several to pick from on YouTube tomorrow. If I find one I’ll let you know.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Max
If you’re like me and many other DC residents, you love the idea of having a plethora of amazing museums within walking or Metro distance from your house, but you just never seem to find time to go or you end up doing something else instead. Many of us only make it to museums when we have visitors in town because “that’s what you do” when people visit DC.
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By Wayan
On such a beautiful Sunday, why is Wonderland’s beer garden empty?
Might folks not know its beautiful outside today? Are taxes that compelling? Is over hyped Loriel Plaza full? Reef packed?
No matter the excuse, its just that, an excuse. Why are you not enjoying a Leffe right about now?
DC’s best patio is calling.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Don
The last two Lipsynka shows are today at 5pm and 7pm and I strongly encourage you, if you have no other existing plans, to go. I caught the show Friday night and it was a lot of fun. Epperson and Malony do an amazing job of choreographing their action to the recorded material, which itself is an entertaining pastiche of clips from Crawford interviews and appearances. It’s neat to see what additional layers of amusement and meaning they can add with their physical choices while remaining perfectly in line with the pre-recorded action.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Wayan
What are you doing this weekend? Might you want to expand your mind and tweak your senses? Then I would suggest the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Check out this phone booth. Or what could be a phone booth in an alternate universe. Flattened, twisted, its not much of its former Bell Atlantic self.
Looking at it closely, I couldn’t tell if the artist made the phone booth from scratch or somehow melted and twisted a normal one to this odd angle.
Do me, do yourself a favor. Go to the Hirshhorn and check it out yourself.
You’ll be glad you did,
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Wayan
Are you hungry? Are you really hungry? Then I suggest you head over to the Godiva Chocolates at the Pentagon City Mall.
There you’ll find hand-dipped chocolate strawberries awaiting your taste buds. Tasty, decadent, intense flavors that make love to your mouth.
Just be sure to have a bank account as thick as the chocolate – those strawberries are $10 a pop.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Max
Last night was the opening of the DCist Exposed Photography Show and let me just say that it was a huge success in many different ways:
Many thanks to everyone who attended (and to my friends who came out to support me) and to DCist for taking an idea and turning it into reality! The photos will be hanging at the Warehouse Theater until March 16th, so if you didn’t get a chance to stop by last night, be sure to go check out the exhibit soon.
Photo by andertho
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Tom Bridge
As a postscript to my earlier posting regarding the overturning of the DC Gun Ban by the DC Appeals Court, Mayor Fenty has immediately released a statement condemning the verdict saying that “District residents deserve every protection afforded to them under District law.” Personally, I’m surprised that that is the language that he would use to offer his condemnation, as I think that District residents ought to deserve every protection afforded to them, well, under the Constitution of the United States of America, the Laws of these United States, as well as those granted to them under District law. But, that might just be me.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Tom Bridge
Be sure to check out DCist’s awesome DCist Exposed exhibit that runs at the Warehouse Art Gallery on 7th St. NW all this weekend and next week. It features 38 local photographers, including our very own Max Cook. You can check out their entry pool on flickr, as well as Max Cook’s photos on Flickr. The exhibit runs every night through the 16th at the Warehouse, and tonight’s big reception kicks off at 6:30 and goes til 9:30. I am super jealous of all those that get to go tonight and experience the event with a crowded house and the artists themselves, I will be stuck in a meeting, but I guarantee you, this is the best art show all Spring, so please go out and support our local photographers.
Congratulations, Max! Congratulations to all whose photos are shown!
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
By Tom Bridge
According to the DC Appeals Court, the District’s gun ban is Unconstitutional [PDF] and the Post has a long article covering the verdict. By a 2-1 verdict, the court ruled that the District’s ban on handguns is unconstitutional. The fight’s far from over, as this will likely spend some quality time being reviewed, then appealed eventually to the United States Supreme Court. The brief itself is available online, and is actually fairly readable, something that definitely surprised me. Here are some of the highlights:
Essentially, the appellants claim a right to possess what they describe as “functional firearms,” by which they mean ones that could be “readily accessible to be used effectively when necessary” for self-defense in the home. They are not asserting a right to carry such weapons outside their homes. Nor are they challenging the District’s authority per se to require the registration of firearms.
The six parties who filed suit don’t object to registering their guns, or keeping them confined to their domicile for self-defense in the home, they just object to being told which kinds of weapons are appropriate for defense in the home.
According to appellants, the Amendment’s language flat out guarantees an individual right “to keep and bear Arms.” Appellants concede that the prefatory clause expresses a civic purpose, but argue that this purpose, while it may inform the meaning of an ambiguous term like “Arms,” does not qualify the right guaranteed by the operative portion of the Amendment.
That there should be civic purpose for the guns kept is a fascinating argument, and I think it would be a great thought exercise here to discuss what constitutes a civic purpose? Neighborhood Watch? Volunteer Policing (a la Fire department)? This isn’t a blanket excuse to give people for owning a gun.
Tellingly, we think, the District did not suggest what sort of law, if any, would violate the Second Amendment today–in fact, at oral argument, appellees’ counsel asserted that it would be constitutional for the District to ban all firearms outright. In short, we take the District’s position to be that the Second Amendment is a dead letter.
Shockingly, an outright ban would pass the test, but the singularity of the DC ban, focusing on handguns alone, is what runs them afoul of the DC District. There’s more here, but this is getting long, so I’m headed behind a cut…
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