By Don
backyard gambling, courtesy of hrlndspnks
The WTOP item about the arrest of a Fairfax County tax office worker implies but doesn’t say that she was making book out of the office where she was an administrative assistant, but it does mention that police executed search warrants both at her home and her office.
By Tom Bridge
Oh Baby it's Cold: 17F
Yeah, it’s not warm out there. With wind chill around -5°F this morning, winter has broken down the gates and established its cruel authority over the DC area. As Jenn pointed out below, though, the days are getting longer here in DC, and the march toward 70 and sunny at the Tidal Basin has begun. I know that’s not much comfort when the mercury’s well below the water-freezing point, but just think, today’s sunlight duration was 2 seconds longer than yesterday. And tomorrow’s will be 6 seconds longer than today’s.
Bundle up, this is something to endure.
By Jenn Larsen
"Untitled" by Theremina, on Flickr
Man, people are depressed these days – hard times economically and almost everyone seems to have the blues, or at least a sinus infection.
But I have some good news for you. Today is the Winter Solstice. Last night was the longest night of the year, and today the shortest day. That means it’s only uphill from now on – an extra minute of sunlight each day will eventually bring us to Spring.
So shake off those blues, mull some wine tonight and sigh in relief. Watch the webcast of the solstice at Newgrange. Everything’s going to be all right. The sun is coming back…
By Don
Crowded Subway
courtesy of nantekoto
Tom seems to think it’s a new announcement; I’m not sure. However WMATA’s inauguration website does indicate that in addition to running rush hour schedules all day they’ll be charging peak rates all day. Parking will be $4 at all locations.
It’s tough to know what the right thing is for WMATA to do. If they’re running the rush hour schedules does that immediately mean they should charge rush rates? Are they charging those rates to reflect their costs or in an effort to encourage people who can to walk? If the latter, is it right for public transport to try – even in a limited way – to discourage the public from using it?
As someone who has in the past wondered if public transport should all be completely free I’m not sure how I feel about WMATA basing price on scarcity and demand. On the other hand it’s clear there’s a limit to how many people they can accommodate, so perhaps this is the most effective – if not the most fair – way to try to limit demand.
Share your thoughts in the comments.
By Tom Bridge
Light-up Reindeer
I’ve been in the market for a new camera for about 3 months. I’m a Canon guy (sorry Ben Rome, I know your love of Nikon is holy and chaste), and I’d been vacillating between an XSi and a 40D or a 50D. That is, until I came to hold a 5D Mark II. See, this isn’t just a camera, it’s an extension of God’s own eyes. Anyhow, enough hyperbole.
The problem with new cameras is that, chances are, for everyone who’s come to a decision about one, there are a dozen more who are rabidly awaiting the new body like some people wait for Christmas, or concert tickets or the second coming of Christ. When I’d made up my mind, I was behind each and every one of them. When I called Penn Camera to ask about availability, the guy did his very best not to laugh at me. He also failed. He told me it would be February or March before they’d have one for me. While chortling, just a little.
Fortunately, though, I found Dominion Camera in Falls Church. They had one last 5D that was unclaimed, as the person who’d asked for it hadn’t ever showed, and hadn’t left a deposit. After a quick drive over, their staff was amazing. They were actually busy, with several people in the shop asking all kinds of camera questions, from inexpensive point-and-shoot to expensive-DSLR, they were very knowledgeable. So, thanks Dominion, both for not laughing, and also for selling me my sweet new camera. Click on that photo above, then click Original resolution and you can see just how sweet this is going to be.
By Ben H. Rome
Bay Bridge, courtesy of FreaksAnon
According to WTOP, the young woman who caused the fatal wreck on the Bay Bridge this past summer will not be facing charges. Candy Baldwin, 19, received three traffic citations but won’t be prosecuted for the wreck that sent a truck plunging off the bridge into the Chesapeake, killing John Short Sr, the driver.
Baldwin claims she fell asleep at the wheel; the county prosecutor stated her Blood Alcohol Concentration was .03, well under the .07 legal limit for impairment. She was instead cited for a license restriction, failing to drive right of center and negligent driving.
Let’s convienently forget she’s underage and was drinking.
Stars, Originally uploaded by Julie LG
If you read WLDC in your RSS reader, you don’t see the handy division between our features (the long stuff we post 2-3 times a day) vs. our Daily Feed stuff (the drive-by, short form insta-blogging) that we post whenever we darn well feel like it. Some of you have mentioned that you find it confusing and overwhelming to have it all in one feed.
Well! Did you know that we have all manner of feeds for your DC-loving enjoyment? Oh yes. We’ve got one for just the Daily Feed. We’ve got another one that captures just our features. Each category and author has their own feed as well. It’s a bounty for the picky and the information-overloaded.
By Tom Bridge
Yo-Yo Ma – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2008
Originally uploaded by World Economic Forum
From the order of worship Inauguration program:
Musical Selection, John Williams, composer/arranger
Itzhak Perlman, Violin
Yo-Yo Ma, Cello
Gabriela Montero, Piano
Anthony McGill, Clarinet
I don’t think it gets better than that, folks. Well, it could, but it would involve resurrecting John Philips Sousa. And no one wants zombies at the inaugural.
By brownpau
Here’s a video I took Tuesday night on the Metro of an electrical locker swinging open and shut as the train moved. Looks like someone didn’t close the doors properly, and I was wondering just how dangerous it was to have all these sensitive electronics and switches and leads exposed. This was on Blue Line train #3262AC. I’ve read enough about WMATA rolling stock to know that this is one of the Alstom-rehabilitated Breda cars, but I need a WMATA engineer or some other DC transit railfan to tell me what kind of systems are in this locker, specifically. Anyone know?
(And should I have hit the emergency call button? I don’t know if it was safe, but no one was touching it, and I was already at my stop and didn’t want to put the train out of service and cause cascading delays up and down the Blue and Orange Lines.)
By Don
I don’t think this is what Giant had in mind when they started offering these post-it boards, but perhaps I’m wrong. At least this ad is an actual ad and not just a phone number.
By jasmine
music at jammin' java, by flickr user cafemama
If you missed the Ten out of Tenn Christmas show last weekend but are still in the mood for some live holiday tunes, head out to Jammin Java tonight and catch The Lucky Day Christmas Show. They’ve got kind of a catchy, 90’s rock sound, which is hard for me to pass up.
They’ll be there with the super sweet Ellen Cherry and guy-with-guitar Joel Stein. $10, 7:30 pm.
By brownpau
Metro’s Red Line is delayed this morning in the direction of Shady Grove, with trains on that side terminating at Twinbrook station due to an “emergency situation at Shady Grove.” Delay announcements were followed by notices to station managers to “not call Central unless your station is also having an emergency.”
Current Metro alert says Disruption at Shady Grove in both directions. Expect delays in both directions due to the report of a person struck by a train. NBC Washington says the person was struck on the inbound rails at Shady Grove at 9:50AM. WJLA reports the man was pinned under the train but survived and was taken to a local hospital.
WTOP reports the man has died of his injuries; witnesses saw him jump.
By Don
image courtesy of the Suspicious Cheese Lords
Nathan took a minute to mention this over on Tom’s post about the metro singer and it seemed worth a shout-out.
Your interest in music suggests you might enjoy the Suspicious Cheese Lords – a local, all-male a cappella ensemble specializing in early music. Next concert is December 17, 7:30 pm at St. Paul’s Lutheran.
http://www.cheeselords.org for more information.
When he says “early music” he’s not talking about wake-up music on the morning drive; The SCL do a range of music but specialize in music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. If that doesn’t immediately bring something to mind, head over to the Suspicious Cheese Lords MySpace page which has several full track recordings. It’s lovely stuff, and it’s hard to imagine music that would get you in a more spiritual holiday mood.
As far as the odd name? You’ll have to read their own description. Ah, latin humor! Sic transit gloria fossor.
By brownpau
As of December 15th and till today, two out of three street-level escalators at Foggy Bottom Metro station are closed. Only one narrow escalator serves double duty as up/down stairs for rush hour crowds. It’s an outrage and an unmitigated catastrophe in progress, but still nothing new to this beleaguered Metro station. This means more lines, more crowding, more walking down broken steps. Avoid it if you can: use this handy map to find alternative Metro station entrances. More on this from Dr. Gridlock.
Update: As of about 7PM, the middle escalator has been opened, but only as stairs, with escalator #3 going up. There was no backup or bottleneck; how was it for you?
By Wayan
Down at the White House, the inauguration preparations are in full effect. The stands on either side of Pennsylvania Avenue are coming along nicely. In fact you should go see them now. This will be your only chance to get this close to them. Inauguration week, the whole block will be a mad house.
By Don
Happy debate day!
courtesy of erin m
The Washington Port ran an interesting article on Sunday about the various locals or locally-raised individuals who are going to be a part of the Obama administration. It’s worth a look, and nice to see government officials saying some nice things about the area.
By Tom Bridge
Washington Nationals Executive Offices
Originally uploaded by afagen
It’s cold and rainy in DC, and there’s still 90 days between the fans and the closest pre-season game, but Jim Bowden is doing a chat at the Nationals Website (Sorry for the browser hijack by opening a new window, their chat app changes the window size! how rude.) I’m assuming he’ll be talking it up about Mark Teixeira and the Nats’ chances to sign him, as well as our new Rule 5 draft picks, and maybe he’ll be hinting at some new pickups for the Nats this winter.
If he says anything really groundbreaking, I’ll update this story! Otherwise, tune in to the chat.
By Tom Bridge
You probably heard about this over the weekend, as our friends at DCist had this as part of their weekend coverage, with the original story coming from Greater Greater Washington. Late yesterday, Metro put up their side of the story which basically says, “Well, they wanted us to invest time and effort into doing it, and we can’t be assed to make the trains run on time to begin with, what makes you think we’d help someone else make money?”
But wait, there’s more.
Continue reading
By Don
Dumb poodle
courtesy of oh snap
My writeup on West Side Story is scheduled for later in the week, but for the moment I want to quickly provide a little help for those of you who have the same deficiencies as a dozen or so people who were at tonight’s performance.
When a musical number reaches a crescendo and comes to an end and the stage lights go down, it’s not intermission if the house lights don’t come up. What it is, instead, is the end of the next-to-last number before intermission, which means the last scene is about to start and you’re now all standing up and/or in the aisle because Grod forbid you not be first in line to get yourself a Pepsi.
Those of you who were (rightly) embarrassed – or perhaps just desperate for that Pepsi – who went ahead and (distractingly) walked out thusly managed to miss the pivotal emotional moment of the show. In the future, use this simple guide: if the lights are down, stay in your seat and keep quiet.
By Don
RFD going downhill, courtesy of Me
We went to RFD recently to meet up with some people who my darling fiancée went to high school with, and when I was finished renting my beer I was horrified to discover that they’d repainted the bathrooms. Where there’d once been walls covered with amusing beer quotes there was now just a blah flat brown. The tin beer signs over the urinals were an improvement over obnoxious ads, but only barely.
I’m disappointed, RFD. Your old decor reflected your enthusiasm for beer. There’s nothing wrong with it as it is now, but those quotes were part of your character.
By 