Monthly Archives: October 2008

The Daily Feed
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DC Government Goes After BofA


Cash Paid Out No Sale
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk

The DC Government has filed papers for a $105M lawsuit accusing Bank of America of mishandling checks as part of the check-cashing scandal that’s sent several former DC Government employees to jail.

They want $105M in recovery & damages for the involvement of Walter Jones, an assistant manager at a DC-area Bank of America. Of course, BofA only handled about $34M of checks as part of the scandal. The District argues that they’re entitled to three times the total lost funds amount, under law, plus punitive damages for the actions involved.

Well, that’s one way to get your funds back if the conspirators have already spent most of them…

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed
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Another Angry White Male for Obama


Uh okay Originally uploaded by carlweaver

I didn’t know what to say when I saw this bumper sticker. I am all for political and personal expression, especially if it means do-it-yourself bumper stickers. However, it just looks a little funny for some reason. I find it hard to take this one seriously. If this were my car I might omit the angry white male part, although I suppose the term fits.

Are you angry about anything? Share with the group.

Media, The Daily Feed
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Kiss my ass, Pearlstein

Photo courtesy of *0ne*

arrogant bastard ale, courtesy of *0ne*

I don’t know exactly when Steven Pearlstein started his transition from a good writer into some kind of pod person, but the metamorphosis of WaPo’s finance writer is apparently complete. Salon writer Glen Greenwald has written a few times about Pearlstein’s odd combination of smug “I told you so” and ever-changing positions and just today has posted a highly detailed article titled Steven Pearlstein and the strange pro-bailout justifications. (No, this is not a rerun of when I mentioned his last assault on his readers a month ago.)

When a questioner today attempted to call him out on this pattern of shifting, Pearlstein responded.

This is pretty indicative of the bloggers view of the world. They write about what other people write about. And the mainstream media writes about what’s going on in the world.

I sometimes get a little peeved at the letters to the editor in the WaPo bitching about bias in editorials and analysis, for reasons that a letter-writer expressed perfectly here. However it seems that the people who need lessons in the different kinds of writing includes some of the people writing it. Maybe Pearlstean has forgotten that he’s an analyst, not a reporter, and what he is doing is described perfectly as writing about what others write.

To his credit, he also says “And if you decide I’m not someone you want to read, then don’t read it,” Okay, if you’re that cavalier about whether or not people believe you to be a credible source of information then that’s your right. Just don’t mistake an interest in knowing whether any given statement from a person as a “bloggers view of the world.” That’s what a media-savvy view of the world, and if you’re not interested in having those people as your readers then perhaps you should consider who that leaves you with.

Travel
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We Love Travel – But Our Bags Lost Their Passports


Lost Luggage, by tymesynk (Creative Commons)

This is the second half of the two-part “Where is my luggage?” series.

So, you decided it’s time to get out the passport, dust off the large bag, and leave the country for a couple of days or weeks.  And then Murphy decided to make things interesting, and now your luggage has a different itinerary than you.  Even though it is enjoying itself sunning on a beach in the Bahamas right now, it would be nice if you could be reunited with your bags, right?

I can’t promise that you’re going to get reunited with your bag.  What I can promise is that the phone and the internet are about to become a larger part of your trip.  But here are a few tips that might help get you out of the jam.

Got your passport?  Okay, let’s see what we can do…

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Fall back on Sunday

Standing Still by RSchley

Standing Still by RSchley

Don’t forget, Daylight Savings Time begins (ends? see comments.) this Sunday at 2:00 a.m.! Which means you’ll need to set your clocks back by an hour. Don’t forget your watches, stoves, microwaves, computers and other various timed devices.

Also, the safety experts at the University of Oklahoma urge you to take the opportunity to do things like throw away expired OTC and prescription meds, check the batteries in your fire and carbon monoxide alarms, and more.

If you’re not an overacheiver, just be happy the bars will close one hour later on Saturday night. Stay safe.

The Daily Feed
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Happy Halloween, DC!

Henry Basenji as the Orange Line!

Photo courtesy Liz Martin

Happy Halloween, everyone. And because what you need from us is one more photo of a dog in costume, I wanted to share this photo of Arlington resident Liz Martin, her husband Will, and their dog Henry Basenji, collaboratively dressed as… the Orange Line!

I don’t know, Wayan… did the Petworth dog costume contest yield anything this creative and locally-appropriate?

Monumental
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Monumental: Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther, photo by Tiffany Bridge

Happy Reformation Day, all.  What? You didn’t know that October 31, 1517 was the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenburg Church door? If you were paying any attention at all in your high school European History class, you know that the resulting excommunications, politically motivated breaks with the Catholic Church disguised as religious conversions, and wars broke the political power of the Vatican, and eventually gave us the Europe we see on the map today. As a result, generations of history students get to inscribe little notes in the margins of their textbooks about the axiomatic truths of European History: “Remember, France Hates Germany. And Britain Hates Everyone.”  Not to mention giving rise to the theological debates I regularly had until 3 AM in college. (What? You didn’t stay up all night debating theology in college?)

There’s a statue of ol’ Marty right in downtown DC. It belongs to the Luther Place Memorial Church on Thomas Circle. It’s less fussy than most of the other outdoor statuary in town, befitting a guy of Luther’s tastes. The base of the statue is a simple, three-tiered pillar with “MARTIN LUTHER” inscribed in block lettering. No famous quotes, no ornamentation.  It was dedicated in 1884, in commemoration of his 400th birthday.  According to the New York Times archive from 1883, the bronze statue cost $4,500, and another $2,500 for the base, shipping, and “incidentals.”

I took several photos of the statue this week, but of course it was cloudy and my little point-and-shoot was having trouble with the light. Better photos are available from some of our Flickr pool contributors:

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Arlingtonians Beware – voting line is long!



Originally uploaded by erin m

I just got word from my roommate, who is in line up at Court House right now that the line is 2 hours long for voting in Arlington. If you’re planning on voting today, be sure to get there ASAP or else you won’t make it before polls close at 7 p.m.

May the force be with you, and all that. Think of it like this – it’s your one huge civic duty, it’s worth 2 hours of your time.

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Fritz Scholder at NMAI

Red No. 5
Red No. 5 by tbridge

When Fritz Scholder came to New Mexico in the 1960s, he sword he’d never paint the Indian. When he got there, and saw the condition of the state of Indian art, he changed his mind. A quarter Luiseño, he was invited to join the Rockefeller Southwest Indian Art Project, and would eventually join the faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Scholder’s work would cross all manner of boundaries.

The exhibit at NMAI that opens on Friday is nothing short incredible. The color palette alone should get you out there. Scholder’s palette ranges from day-glo pink to earthen brown and meets in the middle with some incredible combinations. “Red No. 5” pictured above is one of his later pieces, part of his second Indian phase. His works seek to show the reality of the Indian life in the US, from alcoholism to a distorted self-image, Scholder hasn’t found a taboo that he won’t delve into.

Continue reading →

Downtown, Food and Drink, Night Life, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Science Club

DSC_1679

This past Monday, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with fellow WeLoveDCers at the Science Club, discussing operational matters and enjoying the quiet, comfortable environment of the Dupont bar.

The front entrance is impressive, the glass and wood doors looked quite old-school; I half-expected to enter some 19th century Academy of Sciences after passing through their small patio. But alas, not the case. Despite it being a Monday, there was a smattering of people occupying the front “one on one” tables (as the Club calls them) and more further back in the dining area.

Of course, we weren’t here to eat. Just to meet and relax. And the Club certainly caters to that.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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A reading with bite


dog_vampire
Originally uploaded by carlsoje

If you’re looking to get into the Halloween spirit a day early you could hie yourself over to the Georgetown Barnes & Noble tonight at 7:30pm. Eric Nuzum, Petworth resident and author of the enjoyable The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula will be doing a reading. The book is an entertaining survey of the obsession so many people have with vampires and it has no shortage of amusing bits that Nuzum might read from.

My personal favorite part of the book covers his tour jaunt to Transylvania where he discovers that, to paraphrase Dennis Miller, the worst thing about vampire tourism is the people you go on the tour with.

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed
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Obama Made Me Cry Last Night


Photo by kcivey

Yeah, last night he did. This jaded Washingtonian, who tries to live in DC totally separate from politicians and the whole “The Hill” establishment, who hasn’t voted in years (my dirty secret, now exposed) actually wept after watching Obama’s infomerical.

Beyond who you are voting for, or even this election, this is the type of political ad we should be seeing from our politicians. Ones that offer hope and guidelines of what they promise to do. Not more sniping and backstabbing.

Maybe then we can have people refer to Washington DC in the positive instead of the pejorative sense. And I’d be able to fraternize with “Hill People” without that dirty feeling.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro Zamboni

Metro Man passed through Metro Center in the middle of the afternoon recently and was greeted with the infamous Metro Zamboni, which polishes platforms and pushes people aside at the most inconvenient times.

Why does Metro do maintenance like this in the middle of the day or at rush hour when there are tourists and travelers on the platform, risking people slipping or even falling (or getting pushed off the platform) onto the tracks? It’s incredibly misanthropic, more so when riders are being yelled at to get out of the way of a cleaning machine that should be doing this work after hours.

Petworth, The Daily Feed
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Petworth Dog Walk Halloween Photos

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

Last night’s Petworth Dog Walk Halloween was such great fun!

Around twenty costumed canines, and a few costumed owners, came out to Domku Restaurant to compete for prizes in three categories:

  • Best Costume
  • Best Trick
  • Best Twin

Here we have the Petworth MPD – Metro Police Dog, winner of Best Costume and over on Flickr we have more Dog Walk photos.

Proof that this really is a Petworthian neighborhood.

A special thanks to the Dog Walk sponsors and PetworthDogs for making this happen

Adventures, Getaways
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Getaways: Charlottesville, Virginia

enoteca and charlottesville mall

A month or so ago, Matt and I went on a weekend getaway to Charlottesville, Virginia. I was looking to shake DC for the weekend, and Charlottesville is about 4 hours away (round trip), a perfect weekend trip. Matt got his masters degree at UVA, and so he was thrilled to get to show me around his Alma mater.

We “named our own price” for a hotel on Priceline – something I encourage everyone to do, always. If you’re not familiar with it, you should be, you can save some SERIOUS money using it. We usually go for a four star hotel when we bid on travel, and I think we wound up getting the Holiday Inn for $60, over half off the $147 face price. If you’re willing to let go of a little control, or have a very well thought out strategy, you’re bound to wind up with at least half off the retail price wherever you go. We learned how to do Priceline through Bidding for Travel, it’s an easy way to educate yourself on good bidding strategy. It might be a little bit intar-webs ghetto, and the admin is a touch grumpy, but the site itself is a goldmine of bidding how-to and what you can expect to pay. But I digress. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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How To Resist Searches on Metro


Smith
Originally uploaded by NCinDC

Being a tin foil hat-wearing type, I am delighted to see that my fellow cranks at Flex Your Rights have compiled their Citizen’s Guide to Refusing DC Metro Searches, complete with handy half-page PDF version for printing and handing out to your friends.

It’s a good read, though mostly review for those of us who have been screaming about this for, oh, 7 years now. It boils down to, be polite, be non-confrontational, and don’t do anything that might be perceived as a threat to the officers or others. You want to exercise your constitutional rights, not provide “probable cause.”

The Daily Feed
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Whacked Out Weather!


Windy City
Originally uploaded by maxedaperture

Boy is it windy out there! And it was far windier last night at the High Heel Race. So, I must admit something… as much as I love DC…I really strongly dislike DC weather. Actually, I’m going to be really honest…I HATE the weather. Yeah, I did it. I named something on a blog called We Love DC that I actually hate about DC. This place can’t be all warm fuzzies. So… here’s my rant.

First off, what the heck is up with all this crazy wind? Nobody warned me about this. We are not Chicago, I did not sign up for this! I can barely keep my scarf on these days. Plus, gloves are useless when the wind blows straight through them.

And what is up with going from summer to winter? Where is fall? My roommate was complaining the coat she bought for crisp fall days lasted her all of a week! It fast became cold enough for our long winter coats. There’s no “fall” – it goes straight from 70 degree days to 30 degrees nights!

It could be my thin southern blood, but boy do I miss summer… How are you faring out there? Are you like my co-worker Stephen who adores the chilly weather and loves winter-wear, or are you more like me, who longs for the yesteryear of summer?

The Daily Feed
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The Voting Line in DC: 90 Minutes

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

If you are thinking of voting early in DC at One Judiciary Square, be prepared to wait.

Lines average 90 minutes at off peak times and easily surpass two hours at lunch or the evenings.

And this photo? Thats the head of line 2 of 3 which stretches down and around the hallway.