By Carl Weaver
Thanks, Double D, for protecting this plant, which is such a necessary part of our ecosystem. Its decorative fronds are clearly loved and cared for and the green foliage fits in well among all the pink and orange. The tension barriers add a nice touch as well.
Found at Dunkin Donuts on Lee Hwy.
By Tom Bridge
The Communists were never fans of tricks or treats
Originally uploaded by billypalooza
Apparently, if you’re Joe McCain, it’s still 1954. Senator McCarthy is still hard at work with the House Unamerican Activities Committee and it’s still totally cool to hate on the Communists. Joe McCain, brother to Senator John McCain, had a slip of the tongue at an event this weekend and referred to Arlington and Alexandria as “Commie Country”.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess I could understand. Except that the County Council lowered property tax rates last year, which is something those darned reds would never have done. Maybe if they’d forbidden private enterprise within the country limits. Or religion. Or free speech.
But this? Just silly.
By brownpau
Today (Sat 4 Oct 2008) marks the 100th anniversary of DC’s Union Station, and also the 20th year since its reopening as a mixed retail and transport hub. Union Station and Amtrak will be celebrating with exhibits, memorabilia, and tours of historic train cars and locomotives.
More from Post’s Get There blog, DCist, and USA Today. Via Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space we get a link to Now Arriving Washington: Union Station and Life in the Nation’s Capital, an extensive dissertation in progress, with a wonderfully voluminous history section.
So be there. Bring cameras.
By Tom Bridge
…one need only look at this awesome video of Chris Cillizza preparing for last night’s VP Debate:
That’s right. If you think politics is like sports for some people, you are absolutely 100% correct.
By Wayan
Mine are still red - yours?
While this cold snap may make you think its winter already, I’m still enjoying the fruits of summer. Specifically, my amazing tomato garden. The green orbs of spring are still cranking out red globs of love apples ready for my enjoyment. And that’s even after Don raided my garden last Saturday.
So let’s hear it DC – you still in the red, ripe, and delicious too? Or did my Mexican sunflowers shade my tomatoes from the summer heat, giving me an extended harvest, perfect timing as I spent August in Africa.
By Tom Bridge
Fenty and Puck
Originally uploaded by M.V. Jantzen
I’ve never met the mayor of a large city.
Sure, I’ve run bodily into Newt Gingrich on I St, but I’ve never met the mayor. So, imagine my surprise when I looked up from my coffee this morning and there was Mayor Fenty on the sidewalk in front of Peregrine Espresso on the Hill. In a dashing suit and a hat much like the on in the photo above (it was more of a stylish grey-green tweed, I think) there he was, right in front. I waved, he waved back and nodded.
So, I really haven’t met the Mayor, but having not really gotten the chance to introduce myself. But there he was, big as life, out and about in the city.
I was hoping to see the sweet little Smart Car that he drives, but at the end of it, he got into the driver’s seat of a black Lincoln Navigator and drove off. What happened to the sweet little ride, Mr. Mayor?
By Wayan
No matter which bar you were in tonight, or who you were rooting for, there is only one result that matters:
Did you win at Palin Bingo?
Sadly, being the only Washingtonian in San Francisco did not help me. Hopefully, in a room of political junkies, you did better.
By Don
dumb ass, courtesy of bionicteaching
We’re not the flavor of blog that would normally link to someone like Glenn Greenwald, but he does a nice job of excerpting some of the most obnoxious bits from yesterday’s Steven Pearlstein chat on WashingtonPost.com. I can’t think of a time where I’ve seen a writer be as rude to his readers as Pearlstein is here.
Greenwald’s extensive rebuttal to Pearlstein’s contention that only the ignorant oppose the bailout is more full of supplementary information and quality links than I care to construct, so you should just read it directly. However I’ll point out two things if you can’t stomach going to Salon or want the executive summary. Continue reading
By Wayan
Caution - that's a speed trap!
This is the view southbound on Sherman Avenue NW as you approach Florida Avenue NW – that parked police car is there specifically to give you a speeding ticket. I know not because I got one, but because after noticing it there for a few days in a row, I stopped and asked the officer what they were doing.
On the front dashboard of the police cruiser was a super-fancy speed camera that was photographing speeders as they zoomed down Sherman Avenue NW pretty much all day – from the morning rush hour to past dusk. And that police car has been there since at least early July.
So be aware. You’ve been warned of the Sherman Avenue speed trap.
By Tom Bridge
Olde Bourbon bottles by brent nashville
Personally, I find myself reaching for the bourbon bottle every time I see Gov. Palin on television spouting a sentence that even Slate’s crack team can’t diagram according to rules of English grammar. However, I understand there are reasons for one to feel the same way about Sen. Biden. Perhaps most recently when he asked the State Senator from Missouri to stand up. Despite being in a wheelchair.
The whole thing has me thinking that drunk as a skunk is the only way to turn on the television tonight. So. Here’s a couple ways to play along with your favorite liquor.
My friends Dori & Tom have whipped up a sweet Palin Bingo card for tonight’s debate. And, We Love DC author Ben Stanfield has whipped up another set of rules for tonight’s debate that will get you utterly soused.
By Jonathan
If you’re used to parking your car in the lot outside of Murky Coffee all day, it’s time to find a new parking spot.
Arlington has been replacing parking meters with “Pay and Display” meters. These new boxes take the old coins (which was my last refuge for all my spare change) and also accept dollar bills and credit cards. So running out of change is no longer a good excuse.
After a successful test run in other locations (outside the shops at Clarendon was one) they are expanding the program to other areas. Yesterday, they modified the large parking lot that runs from St. Charles Church to Murky Coffee.
By Katie
News alert! News alert! What’s that you say? Cheap coffee???! Better yet, cheap Dunkin’ Donuts coffee!?
From today until Nov. 11, coffee from your local Dunkin’ Donuts will cost 4 times less than your morning ‘Bucks or ‘Bou run! From 2-5 p.m. small hot and iced lattes will only cost you 99 cents! Now that’s something to get you through that 3 p.m. work day drag! I’ve always thought the slogan “America runs on Dunkin'” is pretty gross (conjuring up images of myself going for a jog after downing a few glazed makes me nauseous) so through Nov. 11th I propose a change to “Caffeine-crazed America runs TO Dunkin’!”
To locate cheap coffee near you, click on over to the Dunkin’ Donuts store finder.
By Tom Bridge
Lincoln Memorial – Lincoln & His Right Hand – 9-30-08
by brian.mosley
Better known as the Bailout. That’s right, folks, it’s really just a Senate Amendment to HR 1424, whose purpose is: “To amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act, section 9812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require equity in the provision of mental health and substance-related disorder benefits under group health plans, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment, and for other purposes.”
Get all that?
Yeah, me neither
But really, it’s the bailout bill.
Or something.
By Tom Bridge
This can be a cruel town. Politics. Religion. Money & Taxes. These are our day-to-day discussions! Poor Emily Post would just keel over dead with the inappropriateness of it all. But, it doesn’t always have to be that way. Enter Cruel DC, the second time that Cruel 2 B Kind will be played in our fair city.
What’s the game about? Well, the idea is, you win by complimenting people. Crazy, I know! The boundaries for the game are 7th & Constitution to 12th & Independence, right in the heart of the tourist district. You get a set of “lethal” attacks, like compliments to someone’s shoes, which when they’re used on appropriate targets, will result in you winning the confrontation. Confused? Me too. But it’s fun! Check out the rules in their entirety.
Best of all? It’s free to play. Sign up and have a bit of fun! Game’s not til the 18th, but you’ll need to sign up by the 17th.
By Wayan
That's no where near downtown DC
Are you watching CNN’s coverage of the “grenade like device” that DC police are responding to at 16th and Kennedy Street NW? If so, do you note the many errors in their report?
If you want the facts, try Fox News (did I just write that?). They have the park police reporting a suspicious package in the north playing field of Morrow Drive at Carter Barron.
By Katie
Aren’t fall afternoons lovely? I spent a relaxing afternoon meandering Penn Quarter/Chinatown recently, and my boyfriend and I wound up in the National Portrait Gallery. After visiting the Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keefe exhibit we wandered upstairs.
Needing a break, we stumbled upon the Portico Cafe on the second floor. The Portico Cafe is a second-floor oasis overlooking F street and the International Spy Museum. Sunny, warm and surrounded those ever-so-cliche DC columns, it’s the perfect place to take a breather and watch the city go by.
Visit the National Portrait Gallery (free) at 8th & F Sts NW, close to the Chinatown Metro Station and Metro Center Metro station. The Gallery is open from 11:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Photos taken by Flickr user needlessspaces.
By Max
George Gordon Meade by NCinDC
Last week, for the first time in my life, I was summoned for jury duty. Imagine the horrified look on my face when I received notice in the mail that sure enough, my time had come, the time to sit all day in a waiting room full of complete strangers and hope that I didn’t get picked as a juror. My friends had all told me how terrible it was and provided me with many excuses to get out of being picked. “Tell them that your uncle is a cop. Tell them that you could never judge another person for what they may or may not have done. Tell them that you’re a racist pig. Tell them you have an uncontrollable bladder.” But somehow, deep down inside, I had a morbid curiosity of seeing our legal system in action and actually did want to be picked. I wanted to be on a jury of peers, to listen to a case, hear the judge bang on his desk with a gavel, hear an attorney yell, “Objection!”, deliberate for hours, and finally deliver a verdict which would decide the fate of the defendant. I wanted Law & Order, only this wasn’t TV.
By Tom Bridge
Oh Olsson’s. I remember a couple cool book signings in your Courthouse location before it up and turned into a corner bakery. Your stores were homey before homey was the new chic in bookstores, and that’s why you’ll be missed. They filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy this morning and all locations in DC are currently closed.
From their Press Release:
Olsson’s was established in 1972 and grew to as many as nine retail stores in the Washington, D.C. metro area with sales over $16 million a year and as many as 200 employees. Currently there are five retail stores: Reagan National Airport, Old Town Alexandria, Arlington Courthouse, Crystal City, and one in Northwest Washington at Dupont Circle
By Wayan
A for sale sign does not bother me. A foreclosure sign insight some worry. But its the tall grass of household abandonment that generates concern for my neighbourhood.
In this market where people are talking about 10% of borrowers behind or in default, I expect some pain all around, yet when pain becomes neglect the impact goes from citizen to community.
What is yours doing to mitigate the mortgage mess? In Petworth, I am going to cut the grass.
By Don
Capitol Dawn, courtesy of andertho
I’m not going to spend time looking up which districts are in our immediate area and then find their representatives, but it’s easy to paste in the names of all the VA and MD reps and how they voted on the bailout bill. I’m not weighing in on my opinion – I’m not even sure I’m of one mind on which way I would have liked it to go – but almost everyone else seems to have an opinion, and here you can tell how your rep weighed in.
If you don’t know who your rep is you can use Who Is My Representative, though I’d question your right to be pissed off if you hadn’t bothered to be aware of their identity before now…
From Virginia:
From Maryland:
