I finally got back on Google Earth bandwagon this week after a long absence, and check out all the sweet DC-centric stuff on there! Look at all those wikipedia spots, and panoramix.com pictures that are just tied directly into Google Earth. Very sweet. Add in the Metro stations and other transit options that were already there and you’ve got one helluva service. Oh, and it’s free.

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Only heathens need respond.

It was eerily quiet along Lee Highway this morning as I was driving my lovely wife to work. The only thing I could figure was that the rapture had come overnight and that I was not among the elect. I guess I had it coming. All the way through Rosslyn and even along the Roosevelt Bridge traffic was sparse enough for me to change lanes without slowing down. Not once did I feel compelled to do any single-fingered turn signaling.

I only hit stop-and-go traffic when I got into the District, trying to merge onto E Street, but that’s to be expected, as even an act of God could not make all those camels fit through the eye of a needle at the same time. Plus, I figure it makes sense that those who are not swept up to Heaven by the swift and merciful hand of God might as well seek refuge in an urban center such as DC.

So if you made it to Heaven, I am sure DC Metblogs would love to get a report so we can find the local angle up there. Please report as soon as you can.

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Well, while it’s always sad to see the Pentagon Row skating rink go, at least there was a joyful sight nearby – beautiful green metal cases, full of the hope and promise of frivolity, snark, and sarcasm right around the corner. Rejoice, DC, for today we join the civilized world – the Onion has come to town.

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Check out the new ordering placards and line signs at the 15th and K Street Cosi. Cool, eh? If they only worked as good as they look.

Today’s foray to Cosi, day four after their install last week, revealed the result: total chaos.

I almost kneecapped a kid who I thought was cutting line the salad line after a 10 minute wait. He only wanted soup.

Good luck if you’re headed to Cosi soon, lines are out the door, even on rainy Tuesdays.

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Aside from the head shaking “I thought we got over this crap 30 years ago” reaction, the real money quote in this article is this:

The probable cause to arrest the protesters as they retrieved food from their parked van? They were wearing black — a color choice the FBI and police associated with anarchists, according to the police records.

Yeah, anarchists. Quite the DC scourge, them. I’d like to see some commentary from Cathy Lanier on this matter, particularly since she describes herself as proactive and says “Our information-gathering will be constant.”

Is this the kind of information gathering we can expect, Ms Lanier? Does that specialized unit still exist? How much more money does MPD plan to squander on lawsuits in the coming year?

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Check out the big wheels these Bahrain big wigs roll with. No sedate Lincoln Town Cars or cheap-ass taxis here. This crew slaps cash in hand and makes drivers smile. All the guys waxing these cars mid-day did so with hot money grins.

The drivers I talked to said that they were getting serious green to drive around DC, and drive fast and loose too. Apparently the Bahraini dignitaries liked a good gas pedal stomp at every green light and tire-squealing turns. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

If I had more money than god too, I’d be one nut-case driver. I’d even honk at Don, just for fun.

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Yesterday, the DC City Council passed Mayor Fenty’s school takeover plan by a vote of 9-2. There’s a prolbem here that I’ll get to in a second, but it has to do with the past year’s election cycle. The plan can be read in its legal entirety [PDF] via the dc.gov website, but for all intents and purposes, the school system will be held under the Mayor’s perview. In specific, a new Chancellor of Schools position will be created, and they will manage all the schools’ needs and responsibilities, from school standards to collective bargaining. The new Deputy Mayor for Education will directly oversee the new Department of Education, and the Chancellor of Schools.

The power grab here is fairly well monumental. Now, I understand the Mayor’s public motives for doing this: he wants further accountability in the schools, and that’s going to require the usurpation of authority out from under the school board and the DC Superintendent of Schools. But my real concern here has to do with that issue I mentioned in the first paragraph:

For something this important, shouldn’t the council wait until the new councilmembers from Wards 4 and 7 are seated before bringing up such an important issue? I realize that the margin of victory for the mayor (9 to 2, Schwartz and Mendelson dissenting) would not be altered with two new members voting against the measure, but it strikes me as unfortunate that the Mayor would be unwilling to let all Wards of the city be part of the process.

The second vote before the council will occur before the end of April, still well before the election to seat two new councilmembers, at which point it will be sent to Congress for ratification.

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Are you, like me, awake at 5:01 am? Might it be because your sound sleep was shattered by big-ass bolts of lightening arching through the night sky? Or was it the pounding rain soaking your dreams with visions of drowning?

Either way, stop trying to fight nature, and just enjoy her. Get up, look out your window and behold Mother Nature’s first good thunderstorm of spring:

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Jamba Juice

Or would that be their dairy non-dairy?

This may end up being more a national story, but since it’s been made brutally clear that we have a few strident vegan readers here I thought it was worth mentioning. If you go to one of the DC area’s four Jamba Juice locations and ask for their non-dairy blend thinking you’re not consuming cow’s milk…. you’re mistaken. Like the Consumerist writer, I don’t know if this process addresses the problems of people who have lactose consumption issues but if you’re abstaining for moral reasons this for sure doesn’t make the grade – it’s got dried milk in the ingredients and I’m pretty sure the only way you get that is by milking a mammal.

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Every year spring rolls around in DC and photographers from across the land inevitably flock to the Tidal Basin to see what they can come up with. I guess if it’s your first time shooting down there you’re kind of working from a blank slate (as I was last year), but as the years go by you realize that it’s extremely difficult to get a “wow” shot of the cherry blossoms. Every shot seems to have been done already.

There’s the “frame the Jefferson Memorial with some cherry blossoms” shot. Then there’s the “frame the Washington Monument with some cherry blossoms” shot. There’s also the “show some people on a paddle boat with the blossoms and the Jefferson Memorial in the background” shot. And if you’re a tourist with a camera phone, there’s the famous “point your phone up at a tree and push the button” shot. Those are always spectacular.

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Sorry to go all Cute Overload on you, but this must be seen: DC LJer bumpthekoala brings his bunnies Pants and Boy to see cherry blossoms and the Awakening. Look at the photos. Bunnies! Blossoms! Bunnies! You will melt.

(Via the Washington DC Livejournal community)

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I am of two minds when it comes to baseball. I have a deep affection for the game itself, its history, the ups and the downs, the whole 9 yards. But let’s be frank for a minute here:

The Nationals are six and a half innings into their first game (and likely their first loss of the season) and all I can find on the Nationals Website are press releases that serve one purpose and purpose alone: blowing sunshine up our asses. There’s a paean to Mark Lerner’s first opening day as the owner of a baseball team. There’s a love letter from Dontrelle Willis (wait, doesn’t he play for Florida?) and how much he likes DC (too bad we can’t talk to him about moving up here…) and an article about how glad the team is that they don’t have to move this season.

Wow guys, I’m so glad that you’re skirting the issue that the Nationals are going to be a historically bad baseball team. As in, give a run for the money to 62 Mets for sheer infamy in the annals of the game. As in, Good God, I hope we win 60 games this year. Or, “please God, can there be a rainout tomorrow?” bad. This team’s depths are entirely the doing of hapless GM Jimmy Bowden and his absolutely, positively inept front office. I need only turn you to the page in history, just last year, where we let Alfonso Soriano go to the highest bidder in exchange for…

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RFK

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

There are still a bunch of seats available at RFK, and if you leave right now you can even make it before the first pitch. As I type this, The United States Army Band and the Army Trumpets are taking the field as part of the Opening Day festivities. Ditch that meeting you’re in. Cancel your afternoon appointments. Pledge allegiance to the Nats.

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Now that there is aspring nip in the air, and we’re teased with warm work days but overcast weekend, its time for an annual bipedal migration. Its time for Bike to Work Day!

This is your chance to join thousands of cycling commuters for a celebration of bicycling on May 18th. Show your friends and co-workers how fun it is to bike to work with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s pit stops all over the region – Freedom Plaza will again be the big kahuna party.

So get off your duff and register now to get your pit stop prizes and free t-shirt!

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“I don’t think so” brought to
you by CUServiceCenters.com

My old Florida credit union sent me a notice in the mail last week saying they’d entered into a partnership with other credit unions to allow me to walk into cooperating CUs and get service, which I thought was pretty cool even if I primarily use USAA these days. So I pulled the PDF from the website and was looking through the VA and DC options and I found this.

Maybe it seems too much like a “Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb?” joke to them, but just because it’s named “Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport” and has a code of DCA doesn’t locate it in Washington DC, guys…

Update: Steve points out in the comments that the Metro Washington Airport Authority has a DC address, and that’s true. Their own FAQ addresses this issue and comments that it relates to the Fed being the operating agency until 1987 and their keeping the mailing address for consistency sake and to make it clear what area it services.

However it also explicitly states “Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is located in Virginia. Federal law and Virginia Code both state the Airport is “situated within the Commonwealth of Virginia” (see 59 Stat. 552 (1945); 1950 Va. Code Sec 7.1-10 (1983)).”

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Clean Plate

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

I believe in the Church of Baseball.

I believe in the glory of the game, the earnest truth of a base hit up the middle.

I believe in the greats who have come before, and those who grace our fields now.

I believe in the crack of the bat, the snap of the glove, the roar of the crowd and rustle of the grass. I believe in the smell of hotdogs on a summer night, and the sound of an AM radio nestled between the seats.

I believe in the stand up double, the diving triple and the slow jog of a home run.

Today we celebrate our seasonal observance of the return of Baseball to our hallowed city. We celebrate a return to the game that has passed our idle time since before our grandparents were born. We celebrate the game that has remained “while America has rolled by like a procession of steamrollers. It continually reminds us of what once was, like an indian head penny in a hanful of new coins.”

We celebrate our traditions, past and present.

We celebrate the power of a game to unite a people, to create passion, to create diverse ties that cross all lines of race, religion and socio-economic status.

I will be leaving work at 11:00am today to celebrate all that is right and good with the world, along with 46,000 of my closest friends.

Play ball.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Google WiFi Loving

Have you always hated the Comcast/RCN/Verizon triopoly of broadband Internet service providers in Washington DC?

Have you wanted to flush the poor service and hig fees? Well now you can, with the new Google TiSP!

As a partnership with the DC , Google will be brining high-speed Internet to DC starting today, according to the press release:

Google Inc. today announced the launch of Google TiSP (BETA)â„¢, a free in-home wireless broadband service that delivers online connectivity via users’ plumbing systems. The Toilet Internet Service Provider (TiSP) project is a self-installed, ad-supported online service that will be offered entirely free to any consumer with a WiFi-capable PC and a toilet connected to a local municipal sewage system.

“We’ve got that whole organizing-the-world’s-information thing more or less under control,” said Google Co-founder and President Larry Page, a longtime supporter of so-called “dark porcelain” research and development. “What’s interesting, though, is how many different modalities there are for actually getting that information to you – not to mention from you.”

Now the connection method might be a little unorthodox, but the blazing fast connection at the rock bottom price of $0 cannot be beat. All you need is sewer access, working toilet or not, and a little faith. Or as Google TiSP says: Want WiFi Around? Just Flush It Down!

Thanks Google, I’m gonna do that myself, right about now!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

What bird would you be most shocked to see on a cold winter day in Washington DC? In your wildest, most hallucinogenic, toad-licking dreams would you ever think to see flamingos?

I sure never did till I turned a new-to-me corner of the National Zoo and had this bright pink flock in my eye:

Check it out, we have flamingos in the nation’s capitol! Who would’ve thunk it?

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Went down to see the cherry blossoms and kites today. No doubt we will have more than enough photos of the flowers in the days to come, so I’d like to draw your attention to the Kite Festival instead. After the jump.

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