Category Archives: The Daily Feed

The Daily Feed
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New Lost Dog Café Opens in S. Arlington

A New Lost Dog
As a big fan of Lost Dog Café, which has drawn crowds in Westover for years, I was thrilled to see a “now open” sign at its new location this weekend, across from the Arlington Cinema ‘n’ Drafthouse.

Like the original, this one has a menu with scores of specialty pizzas, 50-odd sandwiches, and more beers than I could easily count. My man and I checked it out last night, and to our yummy dinner added a Bad Dog a la Mode brownie sundae to celebrate the opening.

This area of Columbia Pike is being redeveloped, and Lost Dog is one of the first new businesses to open there, in the retail area under the first new condos. So more Lost Dog, less waiting. Oh, happy day!

News, People, The Daily Feed
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Real Housewives of DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Bianca Gascoigne ( THE SAME HIGH HEELS and NAILS’s COLOR )’
courtesy of ‘Andre Portfolio’

This just in from EW and Just Jared – Bravo has announced the development of a Real Housewives of DC. (Because Blonde Charity Mafia was not enough, as Belle from Capitol Hill Style says.)

“We’re tapping personalities who are among Washington D.C.’s influential players, cultural connoisseurs, fashion sophisticates and philanthropic leaders – the people who rub elbows with the most prominent people in the country and easily move in the city’s diverse political and social circles,” said Frances Berwick, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Bravo Media.

“These leading members of D.C. society will be attending important cultural events, political galas, gallery openings and fundraisers in Washington society.”  Sigh. Really? I’ll bet you one million dollars they all live in Georgetown and lunch at the Four Seasons.

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed
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Our City is Fitter than Your City


‘Dedication’
courtesy of ‘N.S.’

Good news: according to the American Fitness Index, D.C. is the fittest metro area in the United States. Our combination of general good health, admirable dietary habits and frequent physical activity placed us at the top of the study released by the America College of Sports Medicine this week. The news wasn’t all good, though. Our fair city lags behind in the number of park acres per 1000 residents (surprising to me), as well as playgrounds and dog parks. Even so, D.C. was well above the mean in most categories and we beat the competition handily. You can see the full read out on D.C. here.

Essential DC, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors
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The Graceful Edge

Photo courtesy of
‘marathoners’
courtesy of ‘Joe in DC’

Maybe I’m late to the party (wouldn’t be the first time) but I just discovered via The DC Concierge this really lovely Daily-Candy-but-for-exercise email newsletter. It’s all about new or unique exercise opportunities in the DC area for women, and it is called The Graceful Edge.

You know me, and how much I like lists and round-ups, so this is perfection. Broken into types of exercise like yoga, running, triathlons, biking and more, this is a great way to get your morning inspiration for a workout while keeping up on local trends.

Check out what today’s DC items are and if you like what you see, you can sign up on the site. I’m picky about what comes into my email box, but this one made the cut.

The Daily Feed, The District, The Great Outdoors, WTF?!
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Just a Reminder: Don’t Drive Through Standing Water

Photo courtesy of
‘Pipeline burst’
courtesy of ‘ECU Digital Collections’

The rain this morning has been significant so far, with a flash flood warning in place until 11:30 this morning. Several cars got stuck this morning after driving through standing water and shorting their engine. Folks, if the spark plugs can’t make the gas in the cylinders explode, your car will rapidly lose locomotion and you’re not going to be able to restart the vehicle. So, really, don’t drive through standing water. Unless you want to get stuck in the rain on Rhode Island Ave waiting for a tow truck driver who will probably laugh at you, like several folks did this morning.

National Airport’s weather station is reporting an inch and a half of rain in the last twenty-four hours, but I’ve been hearing totals as high as 2-3″ of precip, so this is a pretty soaking event, and we’re due showers all day. So, drive careful DC.

Technology, The Daily Feed
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Military Robots Author to Speak

Photo courtesy of
‘i bought the little grey guy on the right’
courtesy of ‘hsingy’

On Tuesday, June 2 at 7:30PM HacDC will host best-selling author Peter W. Singer  for a talk on military robotics and his new New York Times best selling book Wired for War.

Peter Warren Singer is Senior Fellow and Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and he is the youngest scholar named Senior Fellow in the 90-year history of Brookings. His new book looks at the implications of military robotics on war, politics, ethics, and law in the 21st century. Described as “an exhaustively researched book, enlivened by examples from popular culture” by the Associated Press and “awesome” by Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, Wired for War made the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list in its first week of release. It has already been featured in the video game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot, and Singer has given presentations on the book to a diverse array of military and civilian audiences.

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors
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When Sparrows Attack

Photo courtesy of

‘#3000: sparrows in a row’ courtesy of ‘philliefan99’ 

Given the glorious weather DC has been experiencing, everyone seems to be out enjoying the crisp, cool and (dare I say it) non-humid climate. The city really seems to have bloomed in the last few weeks. And you know what else has gone into overdrive? You guessed it–the mating activities of the House Sparrow.

On my jaunts around the city, I’ve witnessed male sparrows going nuts over female sparrows. This aggressive harassment involves 5-6 male sparrows dancing, chirping, pecking, etc. one poor female sparrow, who IS NOT (judging on her fleeing) into this behavior. In fact, it often looks like she’s the one bearing the brunt of her male suitors competitive rage.  In the spirit of female unity, I often want to jump to her rescue, but have thought better of it and decided instead to investigate these strange, foreign, avian behaviors. Continue reading →

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The Mall
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National Museum of American History opens new Maritime Exhibit

Lifeboat.jpg

The National Museum of American History has a beautiful new exhibit ready just in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. “On The Water” is an exhibit surrounding the American Maritime culture, dating back to the first explorations of the Americas, through to modern day. We’ll have a big feature on the exhibit this weekend, but the festivities start up tomorrow first thing. They’ll be opening at 11, and going til 4, with special music from the Washington Revels, as well as an opportunity to sail a small boat near the Smithsonian.

Get on out, see the cool museum, or wait until tomorrow and the whole big photo gallery will make it clear why!

The Daily Feed
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Jazz in the Sculpture Garden is Back

 Photo courtesy of
‘mr cube cubes’
courtesy of ‘dret’

Start flexing your booze-disguising muscles and port-a-picnic over to the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden tonight for Free Jazz nights. Starting tonight, from 5-8:30 p.m. you can enjoy live jazz music and the company of far too many strangers. Put this on your weekly calendar, but maybe contemplate sneaking out of work 15 minutes early and getting there as soon as possible. After 6 p.m. there is nary a green patch to put your bum on, honest. If you do get there early, you can also pop in line for a delicious pitcher of sangria before everyone and their mother joins you.

The Daily Feed
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Night- and Money- at the Museum

Photo courtesy of
‘Time Lapse: Crowds of Tourists at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History’
courtesy of ‘brownpau’

The Post has an interesting article today covering something I had been wondering about. How will “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” actually benefit our beloved Smithsonian? In several different ways, it turns out.

The first “Night at the Museum” turned into a 20% increase in attendance for the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and that movie only used exterior shots of that museum. So the Smithsonian has a bump in attendance to look forward to, and it has already been paid licensing fees for the use of its name not only in the movie, but on the merchandising tie-ins to promote it. There were location fees for the four days of local filming, it gets a cut of movie-related merchandise sales in museum stores, and if the movie does well and hits certain box-office targets, there will be additional payments to the Smithsonian.

The first movie, while not exactly Oscar-grade material, was a fun romp that I caught on cable. So I’ll go see this one in theaters- maybe even at the Smithsonian’s IMAX- and enjoy picking apart the geographic accuracy of the movie. But affectionately, this time.

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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To Dream the Impossible Dream: Parking in Adams Morgan

Photo courtesy of
‘Adams Morgan’
courtesy of ‘N.S.’
Ah, Adams Morgan: quaint, bustling, and completely impossible to park in. The lack of a metro stop and the narrow streets has long been the bane of DC drivers out for a night on the town.  Apparently, this problem doesn’t extend only to non-residents.  The popularity of Adams Morgan is making it difficult for locals to find parking near their homes. WUSA reports that Councilman Jim Graham is proposing a solution: Enhanced Residential Parking. He plans to introduce legislation that would designate one side of each street for residential parking only. While this may be a welcome development for people that live in Adams Morgan, it is going to make the area much less accessible to outsiders. Hopefully the draw of the nightlife will be enough to induce people to walk long distances for it.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Rashomon at the White House

Photo courtesy of
‘Crying baby’
courtesy of ‘_Nezemnaya_’

There’s a story going round this morning about the Evil Evil White House and the Evil Evil Steelers that ran off a kindergarten class from a White House Tour because they were 15 minutes late. Interestingly enough, all of the media mentions from one family, the Stines.

More interesting was the second half of that same story that says they weren’t just 15 minutes late, they were an hour late, and the White House told them their window would end at 30 minutes.

Folks, if you don’t plan ahead for traffic in the DC area, there’s not a whole lot you can expect in the way of sympathy. While it’s definitely a huge bummer for the kids, and they’re certainly not responsible for the lateness, they do get to pay the price because their parents, and the bus company they hired, couldn’t plan ahead. Actions have consequences. Turn this into a teachable moment about the responsibility of being on time, not an excuse for entitled whining.

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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And the Winner Is…

Photo courtesy of
‘The result of a Maryland driver’ courtesy of ‘terabithia4’

The results of the National Driver’s Test for 2009 have been released and guess what? We have proof once again that Maryland drivers are indeed worse than Virginians. But worst of all are those who live in the District.

The test measures basic knowledge of driving laws and how much we know about safe driving. And the fact is, we all suck. (Just that some states suck worse than others.) GMAC stated in their press release that they “found that 20.1 percent of licensed Americans – roughly 41 million drivers – would not pass a written driver’s exam if taken today.” Sobering thought.

The District is the 8th worst on the list, followed by Maryland at 11th and Virginia at 31st. The worst? No surprise there: New York.

The Daily Feed
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The meddling begins

Photo courtesy of
‘Jerk City’
courtesy of ‘Smath.’

Politico reports that a bunch of congresscritters have decided to meddle in DC’s choices and are attempting to officially define marriage as exclusive to one man and one woman.

If you’d like to call and tell them what you think, the delightful gentlemens’ names and numbers follow.

Rep. Tom Price. (202) 225-4501
Rep. Jim Jordan (202) 225-2676
Rep. Dan Boren (202) 225-2701
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (202) 225-5629

thanks to DCist for alerting us to this one.

Crime & Punishment, Technology, The Daily Feed
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Missing: Hard Drive with Presidential Info

Photo courtesy of
‘Lady of the Archives’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

The Washington Post reports that in the wake this weekend’s “Post Hunt 2,” the National Archives is getting in on some scavenger hunt action of its own.  Just, instead of innocuous puzzles, NARA employees are attempting to solve the disappearance of a hard drive containing, among other things, Secret Service operating procedures and the social security numbers of Al Gore’s daughters. The prize for the person who finds it: the possibility of not serving a lengthy jail sentence.
 
The hard drive contains around a terabyte of information from the Clinton presidency and was a part of a project to digitize the National Archives’ collection. The FBI has opened a criminal investigation but has no firm leads, as of yet.  So, if you see an important looking hard drive lying around, the NARA would appreciate it if you would return it to them without looking at the contents.

The Daily Feed
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All the Steelers Are In DC Today… Except One

Photo courtesy of
‘Little champion’
courtesy of ‘Stoichiometry’

So the World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers (I know it’s been 6 times, but saying that still never gets old) are in town today, having been invited to the White House to meet the President, as is traditional. 

But one of them is missing. 2008 Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison, whose 100-yard return was the longest Superbowl play in history, is staying in Pittsburgh. Why?

He’s afraid of flying. This huge guy who throws himself at OTHER huge guys for a living can’t stand to fly. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Food and Drink, News, Night Life, The Daily Feed
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DC’s Beer Week!

Photo courtesy of
‘Polish Embassy Beer’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Young & Hungry’s beer aficionado’s the Lagerheads rounded up a glorious schedule of beer events surrounding Savor, the beer and food event at the National Building Museum on May 30. Apparently, with all those beer crafters in town, other events (that you don’t need tickets for) have sprung up.

The highlights, in my mind, at least? Thursday, May 28th: Flying Dog “Meet the Brewers” at RFD and Bourbon, H Street Beer Bar Tour beginning at The Red and the Black and Palace of Wonders, Dogfish Head Cooking Class at CulinAeri. Friday, May 29th: Magic Hat Tasting at Dixie Liquors, Meet the Brewers Roundtable at Birreria Paradiso. Tuesday, June 2nd: Beer and Chocolate Collaboration at Brasserie Beck.

Check the whole schedule to see if I missed something you would love.

The Daily Feed
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Broken Water Main Installed Against Thing Most Likely To Break It

Photo courtesy of
‘bigger blue water pipes 04.17.09 [107]’
courtesy of ‘timlewisnm’

So, remember that huge, motorist-stranding flood caused by the water main break on River Rd. last December? The one where they had to rescue people from their cars with helicopters?

Turns out it was caused because when the pipe was first installed in 1965, the contract0r installed it AGAINST A BIG JAGGED BOULDER. Okay, look, I Am Not A Plumber, but I’m pretty sure installing a 66-inch water pipe against something that could TEAR A HOLE IN IT is a bad idea. I mean, what could go wrong? Oh right…

Maybe that contractor is related to the architect who screwed over Capital City Diner?