Yearly Archives: 2009

Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Win a Ticket to the DC RollerGirls Championship!

Photo courtesy of
‘Cherry Blossom Bombshell Victory. Washington, DC. April 2009.’
courtesy of ‘stuzehner’

Beloved WLDC readers, it is your lucky day! We have 2 tickets to give away to the upcoming Championship bout of roller derby. The match-up pits the DC DemonCats against the Cherry Blossom Bombshells on Saturday, May 9th, at the Armory. Doors open at 4, match begins at 5 p.m. 

How do you score yourself a sweet ticket to this madness? Answer below, in the comments, if you were a DC RollerGirl, what would your roller derby name be? An explanation of why it suits you afterward would be added fun.  For those unfamiliar with the sport might want to check out the league rosters for example names. Fun fact: there’s a national database of registered player aliases, and no two names and numbers can be the same. 

The top 2 names — as selected by the judicious WLDC staff — will win a ticket. We’ll announce the winners at the end of the week. Get crackin’!

The Daily Feed
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Government car-sharing gets an upgrade

Photo courtesy of
‘Stuck’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

WTOP has an interesting article on how the DC government is using ZipCar’s auto management technology to increase efficiency in their auto pool. I’m all in favor of the government reducing its number of cars on the road and it’s hard to argue with a projected $1M+ a year savings, but the article somewhat glosses a significant fact. The vehicles continue to be owned and maintained by the DC government, meaning that sharing vehicles in the auto pool isn’t something they couldn’t have already been doing on their own – this is just a licensed, managed solution they’re utilizing, and at an ongoing cost.

WTOP states that the fleet has been reduced by 17%, 360 cars. That works out to an original pool size of 2,117 vehicles, which reduced by 360 means 1,757 now. The article cites a monthly price of $65 to $90 per vehicle, so averaged that’s $77.50/vehicle/month, or $136,167/month for the whole fleet, $1,634,010 per year.

Ongoing.

It would be interesting to what it would have cost to get a solution custom-built and run by a local firm.

News, The Daily Feed
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Five Members of the House Arrested

Photo courtesy of
‘PHOTO Tradewinds 2009 090306-M-7404B-011CB’
courtesy of ‘Exercise Tradewinds 2009’

At the Darfur protest outside of the Sudanese embassy, Rep Ellison (D-MN) and Rep Donna Edwards (D-MD) were both arrested after crossing a police line. No word on charges at this point aside from violating a police order.

Update: It’s now being reported that five members of the house have been arrested. The afore-listed Reps Ellison and Edwards, as well as Rep John Lewis (D-GA), Rep Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Rep James McGovern (D-MA).

For those of you scoring at home, that’s 1% of the House of Representatives currently under arrest.

Update 2: Huffington Post now has the video from the arrests. Let’s be clear: of all the reasons to get arrested, protesting genocide in a civil fashion is probably just about the best of them. This wasn’t an arrest for a violent mob getting out of control, just an arrest to make a point. And, let’s be honest, no one can be for the Sudan at this point. Expelling 14 aid agencies is just plain ridiculous when your country’s in that kind of shape.

The Daily Feed, The District
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Keep’in It Cool

Taking a water break, Originally uploaded by philliefan99

With temperatures in the 80s and even 90s for the past few days, I’ve been DYING to jump into a pool, run through a sprinkler, or catapult myself down a slip-n-slide. But no. DC public pools aren’t open until after Memorial Day, and I’m without a lawn/yard for a sprinkler or Crocodile Mile, so I guess I’ll have to settle for misting myself with a spray bottle. What are you doing to keep cool during this April Heat Wave?

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Banner Arrest

Photo courtesy of
‘ANSWER Protest Signs’ courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’

Just noticed on WTOP’s Twitter that DCPD have arrested seven Greenpeace activists for the traffic-inducing banner-unfurling at a construction site near the State Department this morning.

The banner, consisting of a giant image of the Earth, read “Too big to fail. Stop global warming, rescue the planet.” A Greenpeace spokeswoman said if governments can bail out big banks, “they can find the resources to bail out the Earth.”

The sign’s been taken down and the activists arrested for unlawful entry.

News, Sports Fix, The District, WTF?!
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DC Sweeps New York

Victory.jpg
‘Victory’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

How’s that for some sweet victory?

The Nats beat the Mets, 8-1 on the stellar pitching performance by rookie Jordan Zimmerman (now 2-0), and off the bats of Jesus Flores and Austin Kearns. The usually virile bats of the Mets were struck dumb by Zimmerman for almost 6 innings, and then kept quiet by Hinckley, Mock and Wells for the rest of the game. The Nats are still not that great at 4-13, but we’ll talk more about that tomorrow on Sports Fix.

The Caps forced game 7 against the Rangers today, which will be played on Tuesday at the Phone Booth. The Caps have won two straight against the Rangers, both routs, and they looked as good as you’d hope going into a final winner-take-all matchup. Simeon Varlamov had 29 saves, and is at 90% plus for Save Pct. Not bad for a guy who didn’t start much at all this season.

DC United edged the Red Bulls 3-2, in a real nail-biter. DC United lead 1-0 at the Half, but the Red Bulls scored two goals in the middle of the second half, and the situation looked very dire for the boys in black. It wasn’t all lost, though, as Luciano Emilio scored in the final minute of the game to tie the match at 2. I was content to think we’d pull out a tie and save the point, but Chris Pontius had other ideas, and put a right-foot shot into the upper corner of the goal with just seconds on the clock to capture the win for United.

What’s that, New York? Is that the sound of crying I hear? Perhaps gnashing of teeth for ruining your weekend? Excellent. Just what were going for.

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Dear IMF/World Bank Protestors

Photo courtesy of
‘Old MPD Cruiser: Anyone Know What Year??’
courtesy of ‘marciadc’

Two things for the jerks who decided that breaking windows and spray-painting cars was a good idea:

1. PNC Bank isn’t the problem. Seriously guys. PNC is a medium-sized local-ish bank that avoided the risky investments that have caused the credit crunch.

2. Breaking windows and vandalizing people’s stuff is about as likely to make your message popular with the people as hitting them in the face. Seriously, nobody likes a jackass. I’m down with free speech, but that’s not a freedom to break other people’s stuff, mmkay?

Oh, and by the way, if you want to stop the delegates from leaving your hotel, that means you have to be there before they leave, okay? So maybe tomorrow don’t stop for Starbucks, and don’t sleep past 9. Or, maybe let the adults go to work, and you kids can stay home? That’d be just fine with us, too.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed, The District
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DC Versus New York Tomorrow!

Photo courtesy of
‘Capitol – In Pre-Dawn Light – 3-9-09’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

Tomorrow pits the best of DC sports against the best of New York sports:

  • Nationals at Mets at 1:10pm (on MASN)
  • Capitals at Rangers at 2:00pm (on NBC4)
  • DC United at Red Bulls at 3:00pm (on WTOP 1050AM & Telefutura)

So, who’s for taking down those feckless thugs in New York? Bring the spirit DC! See you at the sports bars!

The Daily Feed
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Spacey In Town to Study Abramoff

Photo courtesy of
‘kevin spacey’ courtesy of ‘pinguino’

Famed stage and film actor Kevin Spacey just twittered about it being a “lovely day in DC,” and he’s right: today’s going to be mid-80s and sunny, almost summery. But Spacey’s not here to see the sights; via MediaBistro’s FishbowlDC we have Nikki Finke’s report that Spacey visited Cumberland Federal Prison to study imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whom he will be playing in “Casino Jack,” a stage production described as “a modern day GoodFellas” about the Bush administration.

The Daily Feed
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Bicycles and Love Poems

Photo courtesy of
‘Tennessee Tandem Rally 2008’
courtesy of ‘tandemracer’
Love and zipping along on a bicycle–the two concepts are easy to connect on beautiful days like this.

Poet Nikki Giovanni had a slightly different idea in mind with her latest collection, Bicycles: Love Poems, titled so “because love requires trust and balance.” She’ll be discussing her works next Thursday, April 30, at 6:30 p.m. at the Busboys and Poets at 5th and K.

Maybe it’ll put you in the mood to make a date with a special someone and your two-wheeled friends for a weekend spin or Bike to Work Day, coming up on Friday, May 15th. Just try not to swoon all over the road, okay?

The Daily Feed, The District
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Retrofitting Strip Malls on the Kojo Nnamdi Show

Photo courtesy of
‘Tivoli Square Streetscape’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

For every active, vibrant public space in DC, there’s another lifeless, auto-oriented public space right down the street.   Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown is an urban designer’s dream, while a few miles north on Wisconsin Avenue there are parking lots and gas stations lining the streets.  New York Avenue north of Chinatown is a developing hub, while New York Avenue on the eastern edge of the city is a car-oriented paradise of fast food and motels.  The reason is simple: the closer-in areas developed when walking or streetcars were the primary mode of transportation (so everything is close to the street, compact, and walkable), while the outer areas developed in the car era (with plenty of room for parking and a focus on convenience).  Now we know that, for the most part, strip malls don’t provide the public space and active streets that we urban planners love. Continue reading →

The Features
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A Musical for Women, Menopausal or Not

The ladies of Menopause the Musical, courtesy of Bethesda Theatre

If you were wondering where all the baby boomer ladies were on Wednesday night, the 39-65 female demographic, I found them. They were all enjoying the shameless and entertaining “Menopause the Musical” at Bethesda Theatre, and–to my surprise–I was as well. 

Going into the play, I was curious but skeptical, as I noted in my preview piece when the performance opened last week.  Based on descriptions of the play (it changes the words to BeeGees songs to deal with hot flashes?? uhhh..), I expected hokey mom-jokes and a first-wave feminist “embrace your inner woman” sensibility. On those counts, I was absolutely wrong. In fact, after the show, I got to thinking that from a feminist perspective, this play is substantive and important. It frankly discusses issues women discussed only privately over coffee with girlfriends, injecting humor into situations that are sadly unfunny at the time they are happening. While subjects such as birth control, birth in general and abortion have come to the forefront of our cultural consciousness, menopause was something that was still relatively taboo before this show and even now. 

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Get Ready for Protests

Photo courtesy of
‘e52’
courtesy of ‘Fire Horse Leo’

That’s right, folks, it’s World Bank Protest Weekend, which means that people from all over are descending on DC to make nuisances of themselves in front of the World Bank and IMF and in front of various hotels housing various officials that are coming for this weekend’s meeting. Apparently, it’s possible that the teabaggers and the WB/IMF crowds may join forces in the best case of “most unlikely bedfellows” since Youppi and Slapshot got it on to create the Nats’ mascot Screech.

So, if at all possible, avoid the area around WB and IMF this weekend, it’s likely going to be a giant charlie foxtrot within several blocks of there. And hopefully, no one’s going to go throwing bricks in georgetown like they did a few years ago. No one would be that stupid, right? Right?

Oh right, London was a nightmare during the G-20. Get your asshat-resistance gear on, people.

DC Victory Gardens, The Features
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DC Victory Gardens: Planting Time!

3123029944_f90df6c70f.jpg
Seedlings by dsb_nola

If you haven’t planted your seedlings yet, this weekend’s just about the perfect time. This could also be the best time for you to call in loggers from treeserviceremoval.com and cut that branch leaning precariously over the power lines. The weather today’s going to be up in the 70s, and we’re looking at 70s and 80s for the next five days, which means good soil temperatures, excellent conditions for planting. Why does soil temp matter? The higher the soil temperature, the quicker the germination for seeds, and the quicker your existing seedlings adapt to their new environment. With days and days of sun ahead, the only think you’ve really got to worry about is keeping things from drying out. Get out your planting gear and get ready to get hands deep in some loam.

Container Gardeners

Time to hit up a Garden Store, or a garden section of a bigger store, for some planting mix. If you’ve got containers and soil left over from last year, that’ll work, too, but think about topping that off with a little mulch or mixing in some compost as part of your process. It’s easy to do this in a bucket: dump in last year’s soil, dump in some compost, and mix thoroughly, and then re-pot. Don’t forget to make sure that your containers need drainage. That’s what allows your soil to avoid getting over-watered, and it’s what help carries away some of the plant waste, as well. If yours are clogged, a good wash in the sink is good, and don’t be afraid to put a few extra holes in place. Putting your garden in a good state means you are putting your family’s sake in good too, visiting gardenfurnitureoutlet.co.uk might give you more ideas about gardens and how you could make your garden more relaxing to see for you and you family.

Find a good place in the sun for this weekend to maximize time in the light, if at all possible. Make sure to check every day that the soil isn’t drying out and caking in these warm temperatures. We’re still in the low-humidity portion of our Spring, which means that ambient moisture isn’t going to play a role in what you’re doing. Get a decent watering can, and maybe use the last of the growth accelerant that came in with your seed pod kit. Definitely won’t go amiss once your new preciouses are in the ground. Don’t forget to set up a climbing structure for those vine and creeper based crops like peas, beans and squash. Direct their growth up and off the ground where at all possible, to avoid spots for rotting.

Read on for Back Yard Gardeners and the Farm Laboratory work.

Continue reading →

Comedy in DC, Night Life, Technology, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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When Text Messages Go Bad

Photo courtesy of
‘SLVR’
courtesy of ‘Max Klingensmith’

Oh, text messaging. Sure, some people think texting is the end of society. Some others think that it’s just a gateway to ratings (Um, how many stories does Fox 5 need to do on Sexting? Is their 10pm news editor just a perv?), but really, what texting is, is comedy. Enter Texts From Last Night. Better yet, they’ve got them segregated by area code, so you can read DC’s finest hilarious texts including my favorite:

(202): And then I said “flip over. I want to show you something i learned in Afghanistan.”

Of course, there 703, 240, 301, but oddly, no 571. What, does no one text funny things from Virginia?

The Daily Feed
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“Dear Emily Dickinson…”

Photo courtesy of
‘letter’
courtesy of ‘One Good Bumblebee’

Today the Library of Congress announced the winners of the Letters About Literature Reading-Promotion Program, a program which kids from the ages of 9-18 write a letter to an author (living or dead) who impacted their lives. A fitting announcement for today, Shakespeare’s 445th birthday. Of 55,000 entrants, 2 national winners were chosen from each of three age groups. National winners get to designate their favorite library for a $10,000 grant and get a $500 gift card to Target. 

The winners wrote to widely varying authors, from Rudyard Kipling (regarding his poem “If”)  Blake E.S. Taylor (“ADHD & Me”). A list of all the winners and their letters can be seen at the Library of Congress Center for the Book website.

Essential DC, Talkin' Transit, The Features, WMATA
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Talkin’ Transit: SmarTrip Getting Smarter!

Photo courtesy of
‘Metro SmarTrip Card’ courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting for the day when I’d be able to reload my SmarTrip card somewhere other than a Metro station.  For those of us who ride buses regularly, it’s really frustrating to have to go to a Metro station to add value to a card when you’re just trying to take the bus somewhere.  But there’s great news coming from Metro: later this year, we’ll be able to add value to SmarTrip cards online!

In an effort to improve customer service, Metro will create a self-service SmarTrip website, which will allow us to load value onto our SmarTrip cards electronically.  There will also be a fantastic ‘autoload’ feature that will automatically reload the card when the balance drops below a designated amount. The new website will include a way to see recent transaction data for your SmarTrip card (currently only available through a formal Public Access to Record Policy request, or by stealing a glance at the screen when the station manager scans your card in the kiosk).

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Give the Dog a Bone

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Spodie Odie’

Fido is so good to you — and he doesn’t mind if you just chill out in your apartment alone and watch re-runs of The City, does he? Well, maybe it would be good for you and Fido both, if you check out the BowWowPowWow this Sunday, April 26. The BowWowPowWow is a day of fun — contests, doggie friends, exhibition booths — brought to you by the Adams Morgan Main Street Group. The event will take place 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  at Marie Reed School Plaza. It may be a little bit leaning towards a stuffwhitepeoplelike entry, but it’s not as bad as Doga.