This just in, DC-based XM and New York-based Sirius’s planned merger has been approved by the Department of Justice, meaning that only the FCC can step in to stop the merger between the two satellite radio companies. I’m not sure if it’s been said yet where the new company will be based, but I suspect that XM’s Florida Avenue facility will remain in place as part of the new network’s planned operations center.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

…chances are it belongs to this Philadelphia-bound US Air 757 that dropped it somewhere over Anne Arundel or Prince George’s County on Saturday. The piece itself isn’t all that big, just 17.5 square inches, but it still might’ve wrecked things but good. So, give US Air a call if it plowed your garden a bit.

Just don’t take them up on any offer for free airfare, if there are parts falling off their planes, I know I wouldn’t want any part of it.

US Airways 757 — Originally uploaded by So Cal Metro

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you’re really interested in the matter, Oyez.com has put up a transcript and recording of the Supreme Court’s hearing last week in the matter of DC vs. Heller. We’ve heard the chattering class go on and on about what was covered and what they’re certain every justices’ comments mean – why not decide for yourself?

I think it’s some interesting stuff, but then I’m an amateur law nerd. A big part of the government’s case here is that they’re not violating the 2nd amendment because while they’re restricting some arms they’re not restricting all arms.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: It doesn’t means all. It doesn’t mean — “keep,” on your reading, at least if it’s consistent with Miller, keep and bear some arms, but not all arms.

GENERAL CLEMENT: Absolutely, Justice Ginsburg, and just — I mean, to give you a clear example, we would take the position that the kind of plastic guns or guns that are specifically designed to evade metal detectors that are prohibited by Federal law are not “arms” within the meaning of the Second Amendment and are not protected at all.

Other stuff seems a little off the mark and entirely discussed for the sake of trying to clarify some things, but its interesting just how extreme some logical conclusions can be. Like this bit, where the justices question the representative for the people asserting that they have a right to a handgun, when they discuss whether it matters that the whole shebang starts out by stating that the underlying point is a well-regulated militia.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So a conscientious objector who likes to hunt deer for food, you would say has no rights under the Second Amendment. He is not going to be part of the militia, he is not going to be part of the common defense, but he wants to bear arms.

You would say that he doesn’t have any rights under this amendment?

Interesting stuff, and worth a read and/or listen.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

With Opening Day just six days away, Nationals Park is advertised as “nearly ready,” but what about the team that will take the field that night? Well, I wouldn’t hope for the playoffs, but there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic after Spring Training. I’m on record as saying the Nationals will finish over .500, and I stand by that. Here’s some of the questions you need to know the answers to as we get through the final Spring Training games:

Who’s our Opening Day Starter?

In past years, it’s been John Patterson or Livan Hernandez. This year it will be Odalis Perez. With Shawn Hill’s health in question, and neither Bergmann nor Chico anything resembling ready to be the #1 starter, the job falls to Odalis Perez, who was only signed by the team to a minor league contract at the beginning of the Spring. The remainder of the rotation as it stands will be Bergmann, Chico and Redding, for the time being. With Redding leaving the game with back spasms yesterday, the fourth slot will likely fall to Joe Lannan until Redding’s at 100% again.

Who’s On First?!

One of the big questions in the off-season was: With Nick Johnson AND Dmitri Young healthy, who’s playing first base?

If you have an answer, please someone either tell Stan Kasten or put it in the comments. The Nats just don’t seem to have one. Both of them are quality players, each with redeeming features. We know what Dmitri can do, we saw it in his All-Star season in 2007, which probably why Johnson got most of the starts this Spring, as his recovery is probably the most scrutiny. Johnson is also probably the more tradable of the two, as his age will be a certain mark in his favor. I can’t imagine either wanting to ride the pine, and with Zimmerman a lock up at third, it’s unlikely they’d be able to make that move, either.

So, Who are these guys?!

The Nationals have proven one thing over their short stay in DC: Anyone the fans like gets shown the door pretty quickly. Livan was gone after a couple seasons, Jamey Carroll was traded to the Rockies, despite every team needing a Jamey Carroll, and of course there’s the release of Patterson this past week. New faces this year include emotionally-troubled outfielder Lastings Milledge (picked up in a trade for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, both sentimental favorites), emotionally-troubled and criminally-susceptible Elijah Dukes, both of whom have behaved themselves in Spring Training, and put on a decently impressing display of hitting and defense. Each of them is a quality find, provided they don’t start getting arrested or shooting their mouths off in the local media. We’ll see.

Why are you optimistic?

Well, I’ve always looked on the bright side of…oh wait. You meant specifically. Here’s why: Great Defense, Improved Offense, and a new ballpark that will bring out the crowds. But generally, I figure the Nationals will do their damnedest to put up a winning season their first year in the new park. We won’t be the Mets, or the Phillies, but I think we can at least best the Braves. We’ll know in May if I’m being pollyanna, or realist.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Someone who I thought was a reliable source of astronomical facts (and knowledgeable of the black magic behind them) said that on Friday, March 21st the full moon would pop up over the horizon and line up nicely with the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol. You know the view. Now I know this photo has been taken a billion times by many, many other photographers, but did that stop me from wanting to try? Absolutely not. I wanted my own shot of this view so I drove up to the Iwo Jima Memorial with camera gear in tow.

A little to my surprise I discovered about fifty other photographers up there, all with their cameras, tripods, and telephoto lenses, many identical to mine. I felt a little silly setting up my gear next to these guys (and three girls) so that we could all get basically the same shot, but as Ron Burgandy says, “When in Rome.”

We were all ready, fingers anxiously placed on our camera’s shutter buttons (or remote chord buttons as it were), shots lined up, apertures set, shutter speeds set, ISO’s set, when all of a sudden, “Where’s the damn moon?” Someone shouted, “Hey, it’s over there!” The huge orange globe lumbered into the sky about 3-4 frames to the right of where we’d all hoped it would be. I think the term that best sums up our disappointment is “WTF?”.

All in all, it was still fun to go up there and see the full moon from such an awesome vantage point. I managed to get some interesting shots anyway, and can only hope that later in the year I’ll get to try again.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

…As seen by my brother in his local grocery store in Mountain View, Wyoming… the Marionberry pie.

Upon Googling this coincidentally-named fruit, I discovered that not only are marionberries delicious, they are also high in antioxidants.

Finally the name is associated with something wholesome and nutritious.

DC Mayor?

Originally uploaded by Jack Black’s Stunt Double

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Murky Coffee (Arlington, not the former one in DC) was rather packed today, full of people who should have been in church for some salvation, rather than at Murky for a double breve half-skimaccino. I swear, folks – do you like the crackle of hell fire? Do you relish being enveloped by the stench of brimstone?

Here’s what you do, folks. Next year, come Easter, go to church instead of the coffee place. Leave the coffee for those of us heathens who are likely condemned anyway. Save yourself! I will gladly take your place in line, saving you from damnation, and as a reward for my selfless act, I will also obtain entrance into heaven. Everyone wins, and for once it will not be so darned crowded at Murky.

Photo: Fire of Hell Originally uploaded by muneeb_sami

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

No really, I am not exaggerating. DCist wrote about this yesterday and I got this far in their post

“Passengers want meters installed in D.C. taxis and they’re telling us they want the meters to be based on the existing zone system,” said Solomon Tesfaye with the Coalition in a statement.

Before subjecting poor Tom Bridge to my stream-of-consciousness in instant messenger that amounted up to “lies lying liar LIAR LIAR you pinnochio motherfucker do you TYPE with that long nose NOBODY wants zones NOBODY NOBODY NOBODY except you cabbies and the thirteen zone ninjas who love that crap.”

Once I settled down to my normal level of froth I actually checked out the petition which manages to be even more retarded and full of lies.

We do not support the time and distance meters since fares are totally unpredictable

I don’t know how much more predictable than X DOLLARS PER MILE computed by an odometer reading can be.

are more susceptible to over-charging riders

I had to pause for laughter here. Proponents of the zone-make-it-up-when-you-get-there system are concerned about over-charging riders? Not to mention, the certified box that reads off on odometer is going to be prone to over-charge… how? Odometers are accurate within about 1% of their reading, so to potentially get hit with an extra $0.25 for another 1/6th of a mile you’d have to get your cabbie to take you 60 miles.

Or we could compare the likelyhood of a cabbie taking a roundabout way and being undetected to the chances of a cabbie quoting the wrong zone fare to a patron. I know which one I’ll place my bet on being more commonplace.

and will likely unfairly victimize riders in the poorest outskirt neighborhoods, through higher prices and less taxi availability.

Somehow magically, putting a meter in a cab is going to make it less likely to hang out in poor neighborhoods. Because we all know how easy it currently is to find a cab in some of the less desirable neighborhoods now, right?

Why is anyone listening to these clowns anymore?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

So, we’re at the end of our second week with the brand new design here at Metroblogging DC, and we’d definitely like your honest feedback on what you think is great and what you think you could live without, or what you miss from the old site.

I know that we certainly miss the Submit A Story option from the old site. I understand our coder is hard at work on a replacement for the old system. In the meantime, please feel free to email story suggestions to tbridge at gmail dot com. The Powers That Be are hard at work at making some of the currently non-functional things, like the various home page views, actually functional.

In the meantime, add your comments on our new look here, or, if you’d prefer, email them to me at tbridge at gmail dot com. I’d be glad to talk with anyone about the new changes here.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

WMATA has released the new Nats-branded SmarTrip cards pictured to the right. You can find the WMATA news release about them here. Personally I don’t see the appeal of the one depicting the new park, even if I helped pay for it.

The locations where you can get one are just as inconvenient as the standard SmarTrip card, though they claim there will be employees selling the cards at the Navy Yard station at 11am on the 28th, then again on March 29 as well as before games on March 30, April 7, April 9, April 12 and April 13.

Personally I’ve never quite understood why they don’t have them in vending machines since they don’t require activation, but then the number of WMATA’s decisions I understand are pretty small. One happy one is their announcement last week that they’re taking a four week break from trackwork on the red line, which hopefully will reduce the pain marginally as they get the feel of handling the gameday crowds.

One more thing for all you more remote folks planning on coming to the game: remember, Metro’s parking lots are free on weekends so if you managed to get your hands on opening day tickets you have no excuse for driving in to the game. With gas over three bucks a gallon and parking sure to be a nightmare – there’s 41,000 seats and about 5,000 parking spaces that will cost up to $35 – Metro will for sure be a cheaper method.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Brought to us by the one and only Jonny Goldstein. Jonny and fellow DC Media Maker Erik Lang were walking near the White House when they found Roman Legionnaires leading Jesus to be crucified on Capitol Hill. Just like in the Bible. Click here to see the video.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

A few days back we wrote about the eviction of Murky Coffee’s Capitol Hill shop. Now, it seems that they weren’t paying more than just their rent. There’s a $427,000 tax bill waiting for them at the DC Office of Tax & Revenue for 18 months of unpaid sales taxes and franchise taxes.

It’s pretty much a guarantee that Murky Coffee in DC is gone for good. Murky in Arlington is under a separate corporation, but the Post reports that they owe $20,000 to the Virginia Commissioner of the Revenue.

You can read Nick Cho’s explanation for the events, as well.

I hope that they’re able to keep their other shop open, settle their debts with the DC OTR and get a new shop open in DC. The Staff of Murky Coffee has always been excellent, both in service and in personality, and their coffee is the best I’ve had, and Murky in Arlington has been my “third place” for years. Here’s hoping they can get all of it worked out. Good luck, Nick & the Gang.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

DCAFAM DEKKA is a new concept for U Street shopping. The boutique will be a co-op, bringing together work from local clothing and accessory designers, visual artists, and musicians. They also intend to be a space to host events for the art, music, and fashion communities.

A grand opening party on April 5th should give a good first look to see how well this all comes together. The party will go from 12 to 7, with shopping, cocktails, and music, and an official ribbon-cutting at 4:00.

DEKKA 1338 U Street, NW, 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20009

My thanks to hoogrrl for the tip.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

When I was down in Florida last week, I caught John Patterson’s second to last outing in a Nationals uniform. He pitched three scoreless, but not pristine, innings against the Braves. They were the innings of a journeyman, and not that of the staff’s ace, but they were scoreless innings nonetheless. But, as it turns out, they were some of his last as a National. After his start over the weekend against the Orioles, the Nationals today gave Patterson his unconditional release.

I just can’t believe they didn’t find someone willing to trade even just a couple of prospects for him.

Yow. Losing Patterson is a real blow to the fans that have been around for a long time. He was always part of the organization’s heart and soul, and to see him told to clean out his locker and head for the exit is a bit rough. Seeing a player sign with another club is hard. Seeing a beloved player traded is hard. But seeing an outright release? Ouch, man. Ouch. It cuts down to the core.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Wow. They want you to take metro to Nationals Park. I get that. But wacky peeps as the protagonists? And really, really awful wooden voice acting?

I can’t believe we all just spent money on this.

Think about that. Your fare money, and your transportation money, just went to a couple college kids with a Mini DV camera.

I think I’m going to go throw up now.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I get mail from the Washington Capitals on occassion soliciting me to buy tickets, which is unsurprising given what I’ve heard about how attendance has been of late. If they want to know why they’re having some issues then perhaps they should look at their recent mail to me, inviting me to put down a deposit on the 08-09 season and be eligible for playoff tickets, should the chance arise. Not a bad idea… till you get to the end.

Option 2: Sign up for one (1) $100 deposit per seat for the 2008-09 season and have the ability to take advantage and save with partial plan holder playoff prices (number of seats corresponds directly to the number of deposits) – 100% payment in full for all four rounds is required at time of purchase (total price based on number of seats and location) – in cases where a balance is remaining on the account, all credit is non-refundable and can be applied to tickets and packages for the 2008-09 season

Emphasis mine.

Seriously? You’re aiming to squeak into the playoffs and you want me to commit a non-refundable up-front purchase of seats for all four rounds? Them’s some nice loan terms you’re looking to negotiate, Ted. Pull my other leg – this one’s long enough already.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you missed the protests yesterday (okay, no one missed them, but you might not have seen them) you can watch sweet time-lapse traffic camera video of people milling about in McPherson Square and blocking the various sidewalks in the area:

Thanks much to Brownpau for the video.

Update: Sadly, our new format doesn’t support the embedding video in a blog post (you’d think this was 2008 here at Metblogs, feels more like 2002 right now.) So, click the pretty screenshot to see the timelapse video!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Damn, I can’t even remember the last time somebody forgot to check their instruments and GPS and somehow flew into the No-Fly Zone around the DC area. Two F-16s diverted the Cessna to the Leesburg airport at 1pm this afternoon after they flew just a little bit into the NFZ that surrounds the area. Apparently, though, there were 346 violations in 2007, which is waaaaay more than I thought there were.

I have a feeling that shooting just one little plane out of the sky would go a long way to making that number a lot closer to zero.

Probably illegal though.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The day after the Washington Post reports that the Amsterdam Falafel Shop in Adams Morgan will accept Euros for payment there’s a story linked in BoingBoing about how money changers in Amsterdam will not accept dollars.

Happily you can still exchange your dollars for the delicious food at the Amsterdam Falafel Shop. Yum.

Homemade Falafel & Pita Bread, courtesy of mac_vegetarian

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs