We’ve all seen the news reports lately indicating a rise in violence in the District, with murders up year-over-year, but is it really necessary to start to setup soviet travel checkpoints inside DC? Chief Lanier says yes. In fact, she’s advocating that certain neighborhoods have cordons set up around them, with police controls on who enters and exits the neighborhood. Residents, and those wishing to enter the neighborhood, will have to display ID and a reason to be in the area, or be subject to being turned away, or arrested. Each “Neighborhood Safety Zone” will last for up to 10 days.

Wait. Really? Have we reached a point where we have to put up police checkpoints all over DC in order to feel safe? Needless to say the DC ACLU is on high alert and was seen in the corner mumbling something like “what could they possibly be thinking?”

I know that in situations like this it’s not exactly polite to mock a proposal so clearly, but do you really think that just six officers will be able to create an effective neighborhood-wide cordon?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Unless your office is deep within the bowels of a bunker, you know there’s a major weather system making a bum’s rush through the DC area. I was driving back from a PT appointment in Springfield when the deluge hit my car. I’ve been through some nasty storms on the Plains, and this one ranks right up there with those. The rain was coming down in sheets, pouring sideways into my car at 30-50mph, judging by how much the cars were rocking near us. The light at Keene Mill and 395 was a real long one, as cars were hoping it would just pass by. Traffic up 395 plodded along at 45mph, heading northward into the system. Most cars were doing the right thing and flashing their hazards as the rain drenched the approach into the District.

I pulled off 395, grateful to have missed what was the worst part of the storm to the North of the city. We had several tree limbs down in Fairlington, and they were major limbs not just little branches. The guys from the association were out in their jeepneys to move the limbs off the road and keep it all clear.

Not to be too dramatic, but there are two potential systems that could hit the city later today, so I don’t think we’re quite out of the woods. A little before 4pm, one system was halfway between Charleston, WV and the Virginia/WV border, and another on the Ohio/WV border and both are on straight-line paths for DC, if conditions hold up.

Just a quick reminder for storm behavior:

If the Light is Out, it’s a Four Way Stop. If a traffic signal is out, STOP at the intersection, THEN proceed. Don’t be a jackass and blow right through like it’s not there.

In the event of a Tornado, Seek Shelter If you can see a funnel cloud, or there is one in your area head for the basement. Barring a basement, get as low as you can, and as central as possible to the house.

Don’t be out unless you have to be. In a storm like this, get inside. Don’t be that guy driving around looking for intrigue.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Last Friday, me and the missus decided to dine in Old Town. We were craving Irish food; after our jaunt up in Maine a few weeks back and hitting several New England pubs we were feeling nostalgic for our Ireland walkabout back in 2005 and wanted to try getting back to that setting. Yes, yes, this is Virginia after all, but no harm in trying, right?

I’d read some reviews on O’Connell’s a while back and since it boasted itself as “a modern Irish restaurant in an ancient Irish setting” (from their website), we decided to give it a whirl.

We arrived right at 5 p.m., before the dinner crush on a typical spring weekend evening on King Street. After doing a quick check of the menu out front, we followed the pleasant and cheery hostess upstairs to the third floor. (As an aside, I love it when restaurants post their menus out front – saves me a heap of time of going in, scanning the menu and then bailing because I can’t find anything on it that waters my mouth.)

Seated in a corner along the long banister “corridor” connecting two of the older bars upstairs, the busboy was prompt in getting us water. So we dove into the menu and after some discussion, decided what to eat.

And then waited for our server.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

While looking at information on next week’s O’Reilly conference Graphing Social Patterns – (“this event is for both business executives and technical developers who want to learn more about the evolving environment, and how to reach online communities using new and established social networking platforms and applications”) I clicked through to see what the conference rate and media pass information.

I was pretty amused to read their section on media qualifications.

To qualify for a complimentary media pass for GSP East, the applicant must cover the industry on a regular basis by writing regular reports or publishing articles on related business or technology issues that are not solicited by an exhibiting company. Private consultants who are paid by an individual company are not eligible for a media pass, and should request a pass from the sponsoring company. Also not eligible are financial/financial research analysts, book authors, contributors to user/community group publications, [emphasis mine] or photographers unless they are on official assignment with a reporter who has already been issued media credentials.

Don’t get me wrong – I understand completely that this conference is largely targeted at those people, so giving away access isn’t a smart business move – but it still makes me chuckle to read about a social network conference that doesn’t certify ‘citizen journalists.’

Image courtesy of Luc Legay

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

For those of you donut fanatics out there, have I got a deal for you! If you sign up as a Friend of Krispy Kreme they will give you not a dozen, not a half dozen, not even three, but ONE free glazed donut. Not a chocolate donut. Not a sprinkles donut. Not a cream filled donut. Not a coconut donut. Not a donut hole. Not a glazed cinnamon donut. Not a cinnamon apple filled donut. Not a cinnamon bun. Not a powdered donut. Not a glazed blueberry donut. Not a New York cheesecake donut.

Just one Original Glazed® donut. One.

And for that, you agree to be bombarded by their marketing team with e-mails and who knows what else!

But you really must love donuts. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to stop at the Krispy Kreme in Dupont tonight for dinner!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

There’s a lot of people you don’t want to make angry. Anyone who has Guido & Nails on their staff, Jose Canseco, Bill Clinton, The Ghost of LBJ, Bruce Banner, and now, please add to the list Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who went postal all over LaSalle, who manage Union Station and have tried to declare the building as private property to enforce some peculiar security rules. This quote is via Joel Lawson and Lightbox DC:

“I’m astounded that Union Station would be declared private property, when we [Congress] issued the lease…” “…We’re going to have hearings,” Norton warned, “because it’s going to be us, the Congress, or it’s going to be the courts. Somebody is going to sue, straight out, and I can tell you that the Supreme Court precedents are as clear as water on this.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Delegate Norton for getting up yesterday with a whole sack of angry that needed to be unleashed.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

It’s a rare thing to catch a photo like this of Ms. Picciotto. An icon of DC, she has been protesting the use of nuclear arms since the 80’s, through the Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II administrations. No doubt she will be parked on the north side of the White House through the Clinton/Obama/McCain era too. While her dedication is admirable, it’s obvious that her efforts are falling on deaf ears. Regardless, God bless America, a country that gives us to right to protest in peace.

From what I’ve heard, Concepcion is rather camera shy which is what caught my eye when I saw this photo by Mai-Trang Dang. I asked Mai if she had to ask Picciotto for permission to take her photo but she evidently was in the mood to vogue that day. According to Mai:

She posed for 7-8 shots, at least. She had just put down a sign she was holding up while chanting her protest about Bush…I can’t remember exactly what it said. I work right next to Lafayette Park, so I see her quite often, usually on the way to lunch. I’ve heard the secret service guys talk about how she’s got an apartment somewhere, but I’ve never asked her about it. It seems plausible; to be blunt, she doesn’t have the odor of someone who’s actually living in Lafayette Park and she does change her clothes daily, as far as I’ve noticed.

I’ve tried to make heads or tails of this website dedicated to her story, but my eyes and brain start to hurt within a few minutes. I don’t know if Conception (aka “Connie”) is mentally capable of holding a normal conversation, but if so, it would make for an interesting interview indeed.

Has anyone else taken any good photos of her? If so, please share, and tell us what you know about her.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs