By Tom Bridge
Rained out
Originally uploaded by afagen
Last night’s game at Nationals Park was rained out, saving the Nationals Fans from having to see the Nats’ 100th loss in person. That honor will fall to the Philadelphia Fans, most likely. Could I think of a better group of hooligans to punish the Nats like they deserve?
Nope. Stock up on batteries, guys, and make sure the aim’s true.
By Wayan
In the eternal battle between mouse and man there are many proxies for the squeamish set. Cats and mousetraps being two favorites, the latter mine. Then I got a dog.
At first, Taxi promised to be a great hunter, she knew mice were present before me and sought to eat them with kitchen wrecking passion. Yet over time her success proved irratiic and unreliable. Quite unlike the Victor Mousetrap.
Again, I have to recommend it. Victory over mice can be yours with this better mousetrap.
By Wayan
Back when I signed up for Alert DC, I found it a great way to know of bad events in DC. From major road closures to water and electrical outages, Alert DC was first to alert.
Now it seems its the first to annoy.
Alert DC went from a few important messages a week, each one sent as a concise text message, to the Twitter for all of DC government, with multiple random text alerts per day, many going over the 128 character limit.
So thanks for over communicating DC, but stop doing it with what should be a high-priority only, short text only service. If you wanna do more, use Twitter, like WeLoveDC does.
By Don
Immigration March III, courtesy of maxedaperture
If you don’t make it past the first few pages of the Metro section you’d miss it – WaPo reported today that the D.C. Board of Elections still hasn’t managed to certify the primary election results. To some extent it doesn’t matter – we’re assured the announced results won’t change and this is just a legal formality. However the fact that it’s two weeks on and they still haven’t managed to complete this task certainly raises certain questions about how well they’re going to handle the upcoming Presidental election.
DCBE’s own statistics show this primary had a turnout of less that 13% of the registred voters. The 2004 certified results [pdf] listed a 59% turnout – more than four times as many ballots cast. That doesn’t even address the higher interest in this election or the 12,000 additional voters on the rolls now – a 4% increase with another week and a half left for D.C. residents to register to vote.
Here’s hoping they get their act together by November.
The block of Vermont Ave outside the McPherson Square metro is closed, and there are swirling lights and sirens from multiple fire trucks and ambulances milling about.
According to various Internet news sources- it’s alternately “a suspcious package in the area of the White House” or an “anthrax letter at the Veterans Affairs office next to the White House,” etc.
We’ll update this post when we have some kind of clarification.
UPDATE: According to the Washington Post (whose story I’m inclined to trust most simply due to their sheer physical proximity to the incident), it was a suspicious letter opened in the basement mailroom of the Veterans Affairs building. And according to NBC4, the letter wasn’t delivered by the USPS, so it didn’t go through the normal irradiation process government mail goes through. Both stories emphasize that anthrax testing is a precaution and so far no one has gotten sick. Note that the Vermont Ave. entrance to the McPherson Square metro is closed, but the station is still operational and you can enter from 14th and I Streets.
By Ben H. Rome
courtesy of Ben
So Tom points me to an announcement on Cold Stone Creamery’s website, regarding their promotion of two new flavors and their partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation during the month of September. And apparently, tonight is also the 7th Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social at all CSC locations from 5-8 p.m, where they’re giving out free ice cream. (Icecreampocalypse, anyone?)
I totally don’t have anything against M-A-W; my sister was a recipient of theirs a year before she passed away. I do, however, continue my lingering grumpiness with the Alexandria CSC location. (They’ve still not sent coupons or called to apologize!) If I could have a wish resolved from M-A-W, it’d be “I wish this CSC would have a faster line!“
By Jenn Larsen
I freely admit that I know next to nothing about beer. Oh, except that 12 ounces of Guinness is actually less calories than 12 ounces of Budweiser or Heineken (a fun fact to casually toss out when someone says, “I can’t drink stout, it’s too fattening!” Watch their world shatter). So for me, if I’m going to a bar that primarily serves beer, I want to be able to put myself in someone else’s capable hands. In my ‘hood, those hands belong to The Saloon at 12th & U.
Long before the Belgian beer craze hit DC (noticing a trend about trends in this town?), before lines at Marvin, Granville Moore’s, or bibles of beer at Brasserie Beck, there was The Saloon. Billed as having the “most unique selection of beer on tap”, it’s a completely unpretentious spot that will never get ruined, because there’s nothing the least bit trendy about it – it’s a true neighborhood tavern, dependable, honest, with comfortable bare bones and even a social conscience.
For years I’ve only gone to The Saloon for dinner, sitting at one of the plain wooden tables, always getting the classic bacon cheeseburger and fries. I’m convinced that The Saloon has the best fries in town, but that’s another story. Continue reading
By brownpau
Capital Weather forecast: a stormy end to the week. It’s been a lovely week for being out in the sunny, balmy outdoors, but that lovely weather ends today, with rain and wind starting from later this morning or afternoon, and going clear through till Saturday and possibly even Sunday. Temperatures today will reach highs in the upper 60s, and umbrellas are recommended.
NWS has DC under a couple of warnings at the moment: a Hazardous Weather Outlook and a Coastal Flood Advisory.
(Satellite image courtesy GOES of Goddard, right out in Greenbelt. Goddard is in Greenbelt, I mean. The GOES satellites are in space.)
By Wayan
Skateboarders beware: Pershing Park is seriously strict about your stick.
Like the sign says, not only will you be fined you will also loose your wheels. Interestingly, the same confiscation policy does not apply to rollerbladers.
Is the Park Police worried about kids walking home in sock feet?
By Tom Bridge
Want to get your stuff on display at the Smithsonian? Okay, without having to become all Andy-Warhol-famous? Compete for the Chance instead. This week’s challenge (one of six, I suspect) is called “The Con Artist’s Replica” and exhorts some creativity from the players:
Create a replica of something you desire but know you cannot have.
An ordinary con man might substitute such a replica for its model, but your replica will be more real than the original object of desire; we invite you to be a con artist.
Very slick. Get creative, win a cool spot in a curated exhibit!
Sarah Palin Vlog #8: LIBRARY!
When I was talking with Aparna Nancherla about She-Ha for the last Comedy in DC feature, we got onto the subject of women in politics, and whether or not this year of prominent female candidates would affect the careers of women in comedy. She pointed out the Sarah Palin Vlogs YouTube series, masterminded by Sara Benincasa and DC’s own Diana Saez, who plays the candidate’s fictional hair stylist/assistant/La Leche League liaison/campaign manager Dina Heath-Barr.
While the appointment of Gov. Palin to the Republican ticket has certainly been a bonanza of material for Tina Fey, Palin’s distinctive hair, glasses, and accent make her an impression-worthy candidate for all manner of female comedians. Saez and Benincasa’s twist on the usual candidate humor, putting her in front of a webcam rather than a lectern and teleprompter, is a unique reflection of our current politics of personality- while it’s debatable whether American presidential elections have ever been about issues and policies rather than personal appeal, an campaign defined by text messages, Facebook fan pages, and other forms of hyper-personal expression is a particularly fine target for parodying with a portrayal of a candidate as the typical narcissistic camgirl. Thanks, Sara and Diana, for shattering the glass ceiling for YouTube bunnies everywhere.
In the interests of equal time and bipartisan mockery, We Love DC is happy to feature a good example of Democratic presidential ticket parody. Send your suggestions to tiffany -at- we love dc dot com.
By Tom Bridge
Wow, what a morning. I spent the morning walking through the new Sant Ocean Hall at the National Museum of Natural History on the Mall. We got an introduction from the direct of the museum, and a great tour through the 23,000 square-foot space. We’ll have a full review up on Friday as part of our Tourism column.
However, there was one bit that was way too cool to wait for Friday to share: Science on a Sphere®. The Smithsonian’s new exhibit features this cool technology from NOAA which involves multiple projectors and a suspended gray sphere. It’s based on four desktop computers running Linux and some multiple projectors. It’s just amazing. Click on for the full size video.
By Jonathan
I’m a big fan of travelling. And thanks to this I have tried zipline Oahu, surfing in california and many other things around the world. When I go on vacation, or just away for work, I usually end up traveling out of Dulles airport. That’s because I live in Arlington, so the two closest airports to me are Dulles and National. And although I take National any time I can, Dulles still ends up being the most often used.
But, with airfare prices (and FEES, don’t get me started) going up all over the place, being flexible on travel times can save me and my company a lot of cash. But some times that means flying out at 6:00 am. Or some equally absurd time in the morning.
Now, do the math. If you have to be at the airport for a 6:00 am flight, you need to be there an hour early, unless you’re boarding a private charter from Jettly.com. That’s 5:00 am. Earlier, if you want to check luggage for that great Hawaii vacation. For anyone who lives near DC, in DC, or anywhere other than Reston, that means at least a 30 minute trip. Fortunately the roads are pretty clear at 4:30 am, and the toll road helps. Now, if I’ve done my math correctly, that means getting up at 3:30 am to get ready to leave. At that point, why even go to sleep?
I, for one, don’t want to wake up at 3:30 am for a flight. So is there a better solution?
By Ben H. Rome
this is why i am a spy, courtesy of handwrite
The world today is as volatile a place as we’ve ever known. So how does the U.S. maintain its intelligence assets against the faceless enemy of terrorism and extremists? In his latest book Why Spy?, Frederick P. Hitz, former inspector general of the CIA, draws on his extensive experience to suggest how the U.S. can rise to the challenge. Hear from this insider’s perspective on the safety of America and why it depends on how well—and why—we spy. In this lunchtime conversation, he’ll discuss the pitfalls of the past and share suggestions for successful U.S. intelligence in the future.
Meet and greet the author at the International Spy Museum on Friday, 9/26 from noon – 1 p.m. This “debreifing” session is free and open to the public.
By Tom Bridge
When I saw this morning on Google Maps that New York City’s Subway system was finally part of Google Transit, I got mighty curious: What’s Metro doing to work on this? So, I asked WMATA’s Lisa Farbstein what was going on. Metro’s response, via Lisa, was “We have been working with Google, however a formal agreement has yet to be finalized.”
It would be so delightful if I could point people at Google Maps to do the routing, as anyone who’s ever used the Metro Public Transit Mapping Tool would know. C’mon Metro, if New York can do it, we can too, yeah?
By Jenn Larsen
Drew Eshelman as the Nurse. Photo by Scott Suchman.
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s “Romeo & Juliet” is a perfectly acceptable production, with the usual beautiful sets and exquisite costumes one expects from them. But it’s a workhorse production, with nothing new to say or add to the performance history. That in itself isn’t really a problem – traditional mountings of plays allow one to reconnect on a basic level with text and character, and this would be a good introductory piece for say, a high school audience to view. But I expect more from STC.
I expected even more than usual, given the press materials’ quoting of director David Muse’s hope that an all-male cast would give a “fresh and dangerous and transgressive” approach to the production. But in this era, just doing an all-male cast is not going to give you transgressive. It isn’t even innovative anymore – companies such as the Globe and Propeller have been doing it for the last decade – a fact pointed out without irony by STC’s own materials (I kept waiting for the punchline in that article – “and now, DC finally catches on to the trend!”). There has to be something more to set it apart. So why do an all-male cast and leave almost everything else derivative and traditional? Oddly, this was the least testosterone-fueled production I’ve ever seen, the opening brawls lacking any sense of the explosive danger of the feud between Capulets and Montagues.
Matters aren’t helped by a Romeo and Juliet with absolutely no chemistry together. Continue reading
By Wayan
Have you been to the new DC USA shopping mall in Columbia Heights? While it is an orgy of suburban big box stores, I have to admit that I am a frequent patron.
From the Target that wants to serve booze to the Staples for all my home office needs, I shop there often. But even though I also often drive there, I refuse to park in the DC USA parking lot.
Hard to enter and exit, and without a grace period for store patrons, I would rather street park or use the Bling Bling Giant and grab needed foodstuffs for a free two hour park.
What do you do?
By brownpau
The Union Station driveway by 1st St NE (directly above the Metro station) has been fenced off and is ready to be dug up for the upcoming Union Station Bicycle Center, a futuristic-looking glass-and-steel dome beside the Metro with secure bike racks, changing rooms, and storage lockers for DC bicyclists. DDOT expects to have the Center finished by next spring. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the Wisconsin Book Festival by talatu-carmen
Our heartiest congratulations to the DC area’s only MacArthur Genius this year, Chimamanda Adichie! Adichie is a novelist living in Columbia MD, writing about her native Nigeria. Her latest, Half of a Yellow Sun, is set against the backdrop of the late 1960s Civil War in Nigeria, when the Igbo people seceded and formed Biafra. The MacArthur Genius grants are a $500,000 award, with no strings whatsoever, given annually to the people determined by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The are but three criteria for the grant: “exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.”
Congratulations Chimamanda!
There were also two Baltimore-based winners this year, both at Johns Hopkins: Peter Pronovost, critical care physician, and Adam Riess, astronomer and cosmographer.
By Max
Nation’s Triathlon by Noah Devereaux
Last week our fine city hosted the annual Nation’s Triathlon where competitors are challenged to swim 1.5K through the murky Potomac, bike 40K, and run 10K. It’s a feat so easy that even our very own Mayor Fenty can do it. I’m kidding of course. The only way I could compete in this race is if it were a 51.5K bike ride.
This amazing shot by Noah Devereaux takes the sweaty, strenuous, and sometimes painful event and strips away the grit, replacing it with grace and beauty. The perfect lane lines and tree-lined street capture your eye and lead it toward the majestic Capitol at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue. The warm morning sun glimmers off the newly paved road and creates a shadow for the runner to compete against. It takes months of dedicated preparation to compete in a race like this, but this photo makes it look like a mere jog through the park.
By 
