Category Archives: The Daily Feed

The Daily Feed
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Reality Star Needs a DC Tour Guide!

Right now, CBS is filming Around the World for Free here in DC. The show is an online/broadcast reality series based on whether a person can circle the globe without any money, relying on the kindness of strangers.

Currently, Jeff Schroeder of Big Brother and Amazing Race reality fame, is in DC looking for a tour guide and for direction on where to go next. (At last check, he was near the Monument, taking a photo with a visiting Boy Scout troop.) If you want to help him out either in showing him around the city or furthering his quest to circle the globe, get over to the CBS website and volunteer your services or log in to leave some encouragement. Then let us know what happened!

The Daily Feed
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Beer Lovers Rejoice!

Photo courtesy of
‘the cask’
courtesy of ‘volcanojw’

Great news for those who love a good beer: a second Rustico is opening in the area soon, and this one will be Metro-accessible!  DC Metrocentric reports that the restaurant is slated to open at the end of August in Ballston at 4075 Wilson Blvd near Ballston Common Mall.  ARLnow reports that this Rustico will feature 400 bottled beers, 40 beers on tap, and two cask-conditioned ales, along with the great pizzas and hearty food that Rustico is known for.  Now here’s hoping Rustico’s excellent Oktoberfest and Festivus celebrations will take advantage of this convenient new location.

The Daily Feed
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The Best Photo of Last’s Nights Nats/Braves Crowd You’ll See


Photo by Christopher Skillman, reprinted with permission

For the first time in what felt like weeks, it wasn’t brutally hot come dusk, making it an absolutely perfect night for baseball. Even though a packed house had to deal with “How the Grinch Stole Strasmas” after Stephen Strasburg was scratched from his start, many stayed around to catch an impressive home performance from the Nationals. Take a look at this picture (bigger size after the jump, and full size here; I highly recommend clicking through to see the detail Christopher caught). It’s a near poster-esque view of last night’s crowd from Nationals Park, and a reminder that baseball is a beautiful thing. Continue reading →

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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Flash, Oh-Ooooh!

Photo courtesy of
‘20100202 Boychuk and Fleischmann’
courtesy of ‘Dan4th’

Late last evening, the Caps announced they have re-signed forward Tomas Fleischmann for the 2010-11 season. The one year contract is worth $2.6 million. The signing removes one more Cap from arbitration and firms up the team’s offense. “Flash” set all sorts of career highs last season, netting the most goals (23), assists (28), points (51), and plus/minus (+9) in his five-year NHL career.

Acquired by the Caps in 2004 in a trade with Detroit, Flash has clocked 260 games with the Caps and racked up 128 points, improving his offensive numbers every year. Last season, 10 of his 23 goals came in the first period and he was one of the standout forwards to step up during the ten games Alex Ovechkin was absent from the lineup. He also represented the Czech Republic in the most recent Olympics and was a key player in the Hershey Bears’ 2006 Calder Cup championship.

The Daily Feed
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No Strasburg, No Problem


Miguel Batista in April, Photo by Ian Koski/Nationals Daily News

If you woke up Tuesday morning in anticipation of a Stephen Strasburg-Jason Heyward match-up at Nationals Park later that evening, the odds of the last place Nationals coming away with a shutout win against the first place Atlanta Braves might not have seemed too far-fetched.

The Nationals did go on to shutout the Braves 3-0 but Strasburg didn’t pitch, Heyward didn’t get a hit, and Miguel Batista got the win. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Strasburg Scratched From Start After Warmups

Photo courtesy of
‘The Smoking Gun(ner)’
courtesy of ‘Mylar Bono’

Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo received word from pitching coach Steve McCatty relayed from the team’s trainer during Stephen Strasburg’s bullpen warmup before Tuesday night’s proposed tenth start against the Atlanta Braves that Strasburg was having trouble getting loose.

According to Rizzo, Strasburg showed no signs of pain or symptoms during the week and had played catch yesterday. “There’s no shooting pain or anything like that in his shoulder or elbow,” Rizzo said. “He was just struggling to get loose.” Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Shh…Secret Supper Club…Pass It On

Photo courtesy of
‘Archives – Top Secret’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’
In a town where security clearances seem to grow on trees, it’s always nice to be the first on your block to find something new. This may not exactly be the lost Watergate tapes, but the D.C. Supper Club put on by Artisa Kitchen is shrouded in just as much mystery.

Held monthly, the dinners do not follow the usual supper club template. Instead of a revolving door of chefs, the meal is held at a different Washington-area art gallery each time. Only after you book your meal are you informed of the top secret location. No matter the site, chef Bryon Brown (of molecular gastronomy powerhouse Jaleo) prepares a 12-course farmers market-sourced tasting menu accompanied by six wine pairings ($90).

There’s only room for 28 diners, and they are completely booked for the July and August events. Next up is the September 30th date, followed by a vegan supper on October 7th. It’s a great option for those who like their dinner with a little intrigue…but you didn’t hear it from me.

The Daily Feed
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Man Gets 90 Days For Stealing Library’s Pet Tarantula

Photo courtesy of
‘Meet Mozart’
courtesy of ‘GollyGforce’

The DC area has its share of zany criminals. There’s the infamous Georgetown Cuddler and the relatively new eco-terrorist. But did anyone know that we also have a Spider-Man in our midst? Randy Humple, 27, of Westiminster, MD has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for stealing the resident tarantula of Westminster Library. Chili Rose, a Chilean Rose tarantula, was discovered missing from his (her?) home at the library’s information desk on May 19. Humple was later apprehended after he was not only seen with the spider, but heard bragging about his crime. Apparently, there’s a very fine line between zany and incredibly stupid. The 90 day sentence is in addition to the four year sentence Humple also received for violating his probation in a 2007 assault case.

Now, onto the next mystery: why a library would keep a tarantula as its pet.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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2011 Winter Classic Logos Debut

While it’s been confirmed since May, the reality of the 2011 NHL Winter Classic finally began to set in today. The league’s press conference today didn’t reveal much information beyond the logos and some remarks by various officials (mostly from Pittsburgh), but it did serve as a nice bit of hockey news in the heated wastland of summer.

The Caps had a few officials in attendance, including Team President Dick Patrick and Caps players Dave Steckel and Mike Knuble. Most of the press questions revolved around the recent history between the Penguins and Capitals and the hyper focus on the Crosby/Ovechkin matchup. “It takes a team effort to win the game,” said Steckel during one brief interview. “There are outstanding performances by them [Crosby and Ovechkin], but ultimately it comes down to all the guys on the team to succeed.” Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Old School DC License Plate Nerdery

Seriously old school DC plate

I saw this car yesterday and traffic, and immediately noticed that the plate said “HOYAS.” But then I noticed that it’s a black-and-white DC plate, embossed with a die in an older style, and got curious. A vanity plate like “HOYAS” is kind of like getting your first name as a Gmail username- it’s got early-adopter cred like crazy, and you do whatever you have to to to renew it and make sure you keep it, dammit. So over dinner last night, Tom and I got curious and wondered exactly how old this plate was.

DCPlates.net gave us the answer: This particular style of black and white baseplate, with the “Nation’s Capital” slogan on top and “Washington, D.C.” on the bottom, came into use starting in 1968. It was issued numerically until February 1974, when it was replaced with the first red, white, and blue design, but was still the standard plate for vanity plates until 1978. Which means this plate is older than I am. Awesome. That’s some dedication, right there.

And speaking of dedication, I’ve got to credit DCPlates for being pretty much the most thorough example of niche DC nerdery I’ve ever seen. Kudos to you guys.

The Daily Feed
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Squash Blossom Festival Returns To Oyamel

Photo courtesy of
‘squash blossoms’
courtesy of ‘willsfca’

Cherry blossoms are so last season. Right now, it’s all about the squash. Yesterday marked the first day of Oyamel’s third annual Squash Blossom Festival, which will take place through August 8th at the downtown Mexican restaurant. The event celebrates the summertime harvest of squash’s delicate edible flower, a defining ingredient of Mexican cooking. Six new dishes and one specialty cocktail will be available throughout the two-week period, each incorporating squash blossoms into its mélange of flavors and textures.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Rookie Phenoms Strasburg and Heyward Face-Off

Photo courtesy of
‘Stephen Strasburg’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

The National League East has been a hot-bed of competition in 2010. The Mets resurrected themselves from dismal play due to injury in recent seasons past, the Marlins can boast what with Josh Johnson on the hump, the Phillies are one of the best all-around playing teams in the big leagues, the Braves are doing their best to extend legendary Manager Bobby Cox’s final season in the game to October, and then there’s the Nationals who are the only team currently under .500 in the standings at .424 and 15.5 games back.

Tonight’s match-up of the first place Braves and the last place Nationals has the potential to be a jaw-dropping site of a show. The elusive and long-awaited face-off of phenom rookies is scheduled to finally take place (pending any last minute changes or injury). Stephen Strasburg meet Jason Heyward. Continue reading →

Downtown, Fun & Games, News, The Daily Feed, The Mall, WTF?!
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Meteors over Screen on the Green?

Photo courtesy of
‘Strisciata stellare ad Est’
courtesy of ‘gerlos’

Did anyone else see the large meteors that fell over DC, last night? I was at Screen on the Green last night watching 12 Angry Men (always awesome) and I saw two flaming chunks of rock fall over the Capitol.  And I’m not talking about dainty shooting stars. These were large enough and close enough to be seen despite the city’s light pollution and definitely caught the attention of most of the movie goers. You could even see the rocks beginning to break up and shed chunks of debris.  They kind of looked like fireworks right before the explode.  Did anyone else see them, or am I crazy?

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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NTSB to release findings today in 2009 Metro crash

Photo courtesy of
‘metro’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

Today’s the big day for WMATA and the NTSB. This morning at 9:30am, NTSB will release their initial findings in the 2009 crash that claimed 9 lives as two trains collided outside the Fort Totten metro station. The preliminary documents will be released at the conclusion of the hearing, which will be livecast on the NTSB website.

If I had to make some predictions, I would imagine that fault will be placed on the system’s Automated Train Operation (ATO) system and the WEE-Z bond sensors (which Don explained last year) as well as on the not-at-all crashworthy 1000-series cars. I would also expect to see serious complaints about the leadership under John Catoe, as well as difficulties in the mid-level ranks at Metro to be blamed for the crash. Metro has said that they are working on an improvement to the ATO system, which has been disabled since the crash, but refused to answer any questions. In addition, Metro’s board has started the process for replacing the 1000-series cars, which will take several years to complete.

WMATA has been hiding behind this investigation, and its findings, since shortly after the crash, and has used the lack of a final report to mask their actions in the field from the press and the public. We can finally start to expect answers to questions like “What are you doing to fix the ATO system?” and “How is that real-time backup going?” Metro has had over a year to defer answers for most of their safety-related concerns until such time as the NTSB findings were released. Today will be some rough knocks for WMATA and their leadership, but it’s also the start of the real fix to the system. Today is when WMATA gets their final marching orders to fix ATO and return the system to scheduled operation, and that’s something I think we can all get behind.

We’ll have details as soon as they’re available.

Food and Drink, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks
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Beer and Food Pairing at Little Miss Whiskey’s

Photo courtesy of
‘Hopeful Light’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

As a beer lover there’s something so interesting that pairings do to the way you experience beer.  You still think about the malt characteristics and the quality of the yeast as you drink, but you get the added element of how your beer is cutting or complimenting your food.  You experience whole new flavors and elements of the brew that the food enhances.  You’re continually surprised by how reality contradicts your intellectual supposition of how a certain beer with pair with a particular food. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Bollywood crash course in August

Photo courtesy of
‘Dhoonya’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

For those of you who have been looking for ways to get your Bolly on but who are allergic to crossing the river, Dhoonya Dance is offering a 4 week crash course in the basics of Bollywood dance Wednesdays starting August 4. The class will be held at the DC Jewish Community Center. It’s $60 if you’re not a JCC member, and $48 if you are, so if the nasty heat wave we’ve been suffering from is discouraging you from outdoor exercise, it might be time to spend some time on indoor physical activity.

Adventures, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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30th Street Bridge Finished, TJ Street Bridge Construction Begins

Photo courtesy of
‘blurry reflection’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

Time moves at the speed of light when you’re busy living life, so it will surprise you all that’s in been almost a year since the DDOT embarked on Operation: Remove, Restore and Replace Georgetown’s C&O Canal Bridges.

Since I last reported on the epic project from the construction companies dublin, the 30th Street Bridge had been closed to traffic, but as of the last few days the new bridge has reopened in spectacular form and on schedule to boot! Not word on budget status. A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle, such as a body of water, valley, or road, without closing the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross.

Suspension bridges are strong because the force on the bridge gets spread out. The weight of the cars or trains or horses, whatever’s traveling across it, pulls on the cables, creating tension, to hire the best contractors to make a quality job, visit http://brownbuildingcontractors.com and hire them now. Those cables then pull down on the towers and also pull on the anchors on either end of the bridge, to hold up the deck.

When bridges requiring piers are built over a body of water, foundations are made by sinking caissons into the riverbed and filling them with concrete. In the case of suspension bridges, towers are built atop the caissons. The first suspension-bridge towers were stone, but now they are either steel or concrete. If you need some materials for your project you might want to buy from skirting boards Perth.

Next up is the renovation of the much beloved Thomas Jefferson Street Bridge scheduled to kick off on July 28th and last approximately one year. While two-way traffic will still be permitted between M Street and Thomas Jefferson Street Bridge and between K Street and Thomas Jefferson Bridge, what about crossing the canal to get coffee and cupcakes at Baked & Wired?!!!  I’m very concerned that my afternoon sugar rush will be sorely impeded and inconvenienced. On the up side, some extra walking will help make up for these sweet indiscretions.