Category Archives: The Daily Feed

Featured Photo, The Daily Feed
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The star is aligned for you

Photo courtesy of mosley.brian

Washington Monument – West View – 7-15-08, courtesy of mosley.brian

Shooter Brian, talking about the photo above, proves himself to be his own worst critic when he says “This could have turned out better, but that setting sun was really strong. ” I think it’s a great shot, but if one of the things he’d like to change about the photo is the alignment of the sun along the reflecting pool, this is the time to do it. Capitol Weather points out that during the weeks surrounding the equinoxes (ie, now) the eastern sun is aligned with the reflecting pool.

So if you or Brian want to get out and get some shots on the Mall from the Lincoln, you could line the sun up nicely with the Washington Momument. Or Brian could re-create his shot with a morning over the Capital building, though they don’t open till 9am.

added for clarity – it’s the Washington Monument, from which the above photo was shot, that doesn’t open till 9am. Whether or not the Capital is being used is a slightly less consistent schedule…

The Daily Feed
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Dulles Diamond Lanes: Diluted!

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

I am disappointed to report that the Diamond Lanes at Dulles Airport are now diluted by the very people it was designed to exclude.

Before, it was the providence of frequent flyers who know how to transverse the TSA security theatre. Now it is the overflow for the regular security lines.

On a busy Monday that translates into clueless tourists holding everyone up with change in pockets and liquids in luggage.

The Daily Feed
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Presidential Debate Drinking Game

Every four years, our nation faces a great choice: which is better for the Presidential Debate Drinking Game? Beer or Liquor. This year, I think we might need both, and so in the spirit of bi-partisanship, I’ve created the DebateDrink.com Presidential Debate Drinking Game to find out just how  much we’ll have to drink to stomach John McCain referring to us as “his friends.”

Tonight is the first of the presidential debates. If you think you can’t handle the anger and frustration of watching politicans speak for a couple hours, we’ve got definitive drinking game for the festivities, and the corresponding website DebateDrink.com (currently offline, thanks to Pepco not getting power back on in Ben’s Friendship Heights basement where he keeps his servers.)

The game has rules for Sipping beer, taking shots, and chugging those drinks, but feel free to add your own rules to make it even more fun. Download the rules below:

Presidential Debate Drinking Game (PDF)

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed, The District
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DC Rollergirls Take On Charm City All-Stars

rollergirls.png

Since it looks like rain tomorrow, you might want to eschew the various outdoor Oktoberfests and head instead to Sterling to check out the DC Rollergirls as they take on the Charm City All-stars in a pre-season match. DC-based matches at the DC Armory start up on the 4th of October.

Good luck Rollergirls, give those Bal’mer girls something to say “hon” about.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Chocolate-Orange Port at MyLHBS

Oranges and Chocolate

My friend Derek at MyLHBS in Falls Church informed me that he still had some kits left to make the chocolate-orange port that has become so popular in recent years. I am told that the wine ends up tasting like those dark chocolate-orange candies that are so tasty. Except with alcohol. I just picked up two kits yesterday – enough to make approximately 30 bottles. These are going fast, so be sure to go soon.

What? You don’t know from making wine? Don’t fret because Derek can help you with that as well. He knows a lot, so go pick his brain and buy your first wine kit. It’s a great hobby and very cost effective if you end up drinking wine. Wine makes great gifts as well, especially for me. You know – in case you wanted to get me the perfect gift.

Oranges and Chocolate by VROG in Bristol

The Daily Feed
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Lace ’em Up!


Ovechkin Takes the Ice
Originally uploaded by clydeorama

Hockey is right around the corner. Caps hockey drops the puck on the 2008-2009 season in two weeks against the Thrashers. So get ready for some more Ovie-worship around town, even from those who can’t tell the blue line from the red. (That’s ok, we still love you people.)

Look for WeLoveDC’s take on the upcoming season next Monday!

Talkin' Transit, Technology, The Daily Feed, The District, WMATA
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Four Line Announcements


Four Line Announcements
Originally uploaded by brownpau

Paulo captured this shot of the new Metro sign format for announcements. The old side-scrolling versions are thankfully history as they were nearly impossible to read. Thankfully, Metro’s embracing some good IA these days and going for something that’s a bit more passenger friendly than the crawl, which tended to cause crowds of gawkers while the waited for the message to finish displaying.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Well, At Least Our 100th Loss Won’t Be Here


Rained out
Originally uploaded by afagen

Last night’s game at Nationals Park was rained out, saving the Nationals Fans from having to see the Nats’ 100th loss in person. That honor will fall to the Philadelphia Fans, most likely. Could I think of a better group of hooligans to punish the Nats like they deserve?

Nope. Stock up on batteries, guys, and make sure the aim’s true.

The Daily Feed
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A Better Mousetrap

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

In the eternal battle between mouse and man there are many proxies for the squeamish set. Cats and mousetraps being two favorites, the latter mine. Then I got a dog.

At first, Taxi promised to be a great hunter, she knew mice were present before me and sought to eat them with kitchen wrecking passion. Yet over time her success proved irratiic and unreliable. Quite unlike the Victor Mousetrap.

Again, I have to recommend it. Victory over mice can be yours with this better mousetrap.

The Daily Feed
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Are You Alert DC Overloaded?

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

Back when I signed up for Alert DC, I found it a great way to know of bad events in DC. From major road closures to water and electrical outages, Alert DC was first to alert.

Now it seems its the first to annoy.

Alert DC went from a few important messages a week, each one sent as a concise text message, to the Twitter for all of DC government, with multiple random text alerts per day, many going over the 128 character limit.

So thanks for over communicating DC, but stop doing it with what should be a high-priority only, short text only service. If you wanna do more, use Twitter, like WeLoveDC does.

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed, The District
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The opposite of reassuring

Photo courtesy of maxedaperture

Immigration March III, courtesy of maxedaperture

If you don’t make it past the first few pages of the Metro section you’d miss it – WaPo reported today that the D.C. Board of Elections still hasn’t managed to certify the primary election results. To some extent it doesn’t matter – we’re assured the announced results won’t change and this is just a legal formality.  However the fact that it’s two weeks on and they still haven’t managed to complete this task certainly raises certain questions about how well they’re going to handle the upcoming Presidental election.

DCBE’s own statistics show this primary had a turnout of less that 13% of the registred voters. The 2004 certified results [pdf] listed a 59% turnout – more than four times as many ballots cast. That doesn’t even address the higher interest in this election or the 12,000 additional voters on the rolls now – a 4% increase with another week and a half left for D.C. residents to register to vote.

Here’s hoping they get their act together by November.

The Daily Feed
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Vermont Ave. Closed at 15th & I NW

The block of Vermont Ave outside the McPherson Square metro is closed, and there are swirling lights and sirens from multiple fire trucks and ambulances milling about.

According to various Internet news sources- it’s alternately “a suspcious package in the area of the White House” or an “anthrax letter at the Veterans Affairs office next to the White House,” etc.  

We’ll update this post when we have some kind of clarification.

UPDATE: According to the Washington Post (whose story I’m inclined to trust most simply due to their sheer physical proximity to the incident), it was a suspicious letter opened in the basement mailroom of the Veterans Affairs building. And according to NBC4, the  letter wasn’t delivered by the USPS, so it didn’t go through the normal irradiation process government mail goes through.  Both stories emphasize that anthrax testing is a precaution and so far no one has gotten sick.  Note that the Vermont Ave. entrance to the McPherson Square metro is closed, but the station is still operational and you can enter from 14th and I Streets.

Adventures, Alexandria, Business and Money, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Ice Cream (Anti) Social

DSC_0444
courtesy of Ben

So Tom points me to an announcement on Cold Stone Creamery’s website, regarding their promotion of two new flavors and their partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation during the month of September. And apparently, tonight is also the 7th Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social at all CSC locations from 5-8 p.m, where they’re giving out free ice cream. (Icecreampocalypse, anyone?)

I totally don’t have anything against M-A-W; my sister was a recipient of theirs a year before she passed away. I do, however, continue my lingering grumpiness with the Alexandria CSC location. (They’ve still not sent coupons or called to apologize!) If I could have a wish resolved from M-A-W, it’d be “I wish this CSC would have a faster line!“

The Daily Feed
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Ready For Rain?

GOES satellite image

Capital Weather forecast: a stormy end to the week. It’s been a lovely week for being out in the sunny, balmy outdoors, but that lovely weather ends today, with rain and wind starting from later this morning or afternoon, and going clear through till Saturday and possibly even Sunday. Temperatures today will reach highs in the upper 60s, and umbrellas are recommended.

NWS has DC under a couple of warnings at the moment: a Hazardous Weather Outlook and a Coastal Flood Advisory.

(Satellite image courtesy GOES of Goddard, right out in Greenbelt. Goddard is in Greenbelt, I mean. The GOES satellites are in space.)

The Daily Feed
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Pershing Park Skateboarder Punishment

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

Skateboarders beware: Pershing Park is seriously strict about your stick.

Like the sign says, not only will you be fined you will also loose your wheels. Interestingly, the same confiscation policy does not apply to rollerbladers.

Is the Park Police worried about kids walking home in sock feet?

Technology, The Daily Feed, The Mall, We Love Arts
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The Con Artist’s Replica

ghosts.png

Want to get your stuff on display at the Smithsonian? Okay, without having to become all Andy-Warhol-famous? Compete for the Chance instead. This week’s challenge (one of six, I suspect) is called “The Con Artist’s Replica” and exhorts some creativity from the players:

Create a replica of something you desire but know you cannot have.

An ordinary con man might substitute such a replica for its model, but your replica will be more real than the original object of desire; we invite you to be a con artist.

Very slick. Get creative, win a cool spot in a curated exhibit!

Adventures, Entertainment, Technology, The Daily Feed, The District, The Hill
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Sneak Peek: The Sant Ocean Hall at NMNH

Sant Ocean Hall

Wow, what a morning. I spent the morning walking through the new Sant Ocean Hall at the National Museum of Natural History on the Mall. We got an introduction from the direct of the museum, and a great tour through the 23,000 square-foot space. We’ll have a full review up on Friday as part of our Tourism column.

However, there was one bit that was way too cool to wait for Friday to share: Science on a Sphere®. The Smithsonian’s new exhibit features this cool technology from NOAA which involves multiple projectors and a suspended gray sphere. It’s based on four desktop computers running Linux and some multiple projectors. It’s just amazing. Click on for the full size video.

Continue reading →

Downtown, History, Media, Penn Quarter, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Why Spy?

Photo courtesy of handwrite
this is why i am a spy, courtesy of handwrite

The world today is as volatile a place as we’ve ever known. So how does the U.S. maintain its intelligence assets against the faceless enemy of terrorism and extremists? In his latest book Why Spy?, Frederick P. Hitz, former inspector general of the CIA, draws on his extensive experience to suggest how the U.S. can rise to the challenge. Hear from this insider’s perspective on the safety of America and why it depends on how well—and why—we spy. In this lunchtime conversation, he’ll discuss the pitfalls of the past and share suggestions for successful U.S. intelligence in the future.

Meet and greet the author at the International Spy Museum on Friday, 9/26 from noon – 1 p.m. This “debreifing” session is free and open to the public.