A worthy tribute to Slayer was given today by Fairfax County, who are widening a 6.6 mile stretch of the yet unfinished Fairfax County Parkway to six lanes. Though the funds haven’t been allocated for the project yet, it would be fitting to see the Slayer Foundation give up $66.6 million of the projected $110 million for the deal.

All Hail Slayer!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Say you’re in a rush for your flight, you’re smart enough to be leaving out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), and you took Metrorail there.

Exiting the train, you’re gonna get a sign. A big, broad, hard-to-miss sign telling you where to go. A sign I only wish other airport metro stations would give. At Boston Logan, the exact change sign is an exact annoyance.

The sign you’ll see, like the one below, is why I know WMATA ♥ National, and you should too.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

That’s right, it’s 6 June 2006, or, as I’m sure pretty much every superstitious person is warning the world, 06/06/06!!! The sign of the devil! Panic! Run!

Or, you could buy the crazy psycho‘s new book.

But really, if we’re going to start celebrating 6/6/6 properly, we need a National Day of Slayer, taking our boomboxes out on the Mall, or Dupont Circle or Farragut West, slapping in some Slayer and moshing in the middle of the park.

Of course, if you’re not down with the heavy guitar riffs of Slayer, but you’re still violently inclined, perhaps it’s time for National Emo Kid Beatdown Day, where you are allowed to assault emo kids with impunity for their butchery of the english language online, and for moping constantly, and having bad hair.

How are you celebrating this 6/6/6?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

There I was, driving home from Bethesda through lovely DC, when I spotted the sign: “Maxim Condominiums” it read. That’s odd. Really? Named after the quasi-girlie mag? For real? Can I get my own unit with Jenny McCarthy or something like that?

Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be connected at all, instead it’s a product of Clemens Construction and McWilliams|Ballard. Wouldn’t it be fun if DC got its very own supermodel-swank pad? Complete with all the rad tunes and slick gadgetry that Maxim hocks each month to its drooling subscribers? In our very own Tenleytown, no less!

Or is that just me that wants to believe that’s a business model that’s just waiting to be filled…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The first in an occasional series of stuff that’s sort of, but not totally, DC area news.

The president of Freewebs.com, Shervin Pishevar, called out Yahoo! recently for cooperating with the Chinese government. Will it get Freewebs some free publicity? You’re reading this, aren’t you? But nonetheless, good on Pishevar for taking a principled stand- I know those guys would love to have access to the Chinese market. Level of relation to DC: Freewebs is based in Silver Spring, Md.

My beloved Pittsburgh Steelers visited the White House last week. I wonder if they invited Antwaan Randle El, who signed with the Washington Redskins for next season? By the way, when Randle El threw out the first pitch at that Nats game a few weeks ago, I was the one screaming “SELLOUT!” amongst all the cheers. Level of relation to DC: Antwaan Randle El and the White House are both here.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Big Head Rob is reporting that over the weekend DCist fired Colleen Egan. That’s not news. What’s news is why they fired her. They fired her for blogging at the Post Express’ Free Ride Blog and writing freelance material for the Express.

What I can’t figure out is why you fire someone for writing for another publication. Especially when blogging is volunteer in this day and age, why would DCist fire someone for writing for another blog, when it just enhances their reputation for having great bloggers?

This smacks of Jake Dobkin, and doesn’t look good for either Martin or Ryan. I’ve worked with Ryan and Martin behind the scenes, and I can say that they’re standup guys, I just can’t understand why they’d do this to one of their better contributors.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The Nats have had a really rough season. At 25-32, there are only a few teams with worse records, and their god awful 10-13 home record is eclipsed only by the Marlins. There have been injuries (Patterson, Eischen, Guillen), and there have been heartbreaking losses (including some late game winners and extra inning games gone bad), but now it seems that the Nats are getting up on their feet and winning some balgames, including a weekend sweep of the Brewers, including two homers last night to bring his season total up to 21.

They’ve won four of the last five series, taking sets from Baltimore, Houston, the Dodges and most recently the Brewers, the Nats are on a bit of a roll, and just in time to face Atlanta. They’re sending Livan to the mound tonight and Hernandez has three wins in his last three starts, so there’s a good shot there, and Ortiz goes to the mound on Wednesday, also with three straight victories notched on his belt. The middle pitcher of the series is a bit of a wild card, Shawn Hill has but one start this season and while it was a solid seven inning effort against the Dodgers, it’s a bit tough to say how hell do against the Braves.

As usual, Chris Needham from Capitol Punishment has a great week’s roundup including stats and awards for our beloved Nationals. Don’t forget, the Nats come back to RFK in time for a weekend series against the Phillies, so make sure to walk up and get some of the cheap tickets, then move down to the good seats in the fifth inning when the ushers are all on their second beer. Go Nats!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

…somebody hits the nail so directly on the head, it’s as if they’ve been born to do it. Rusty from whyihatedc is today’s amazing nail-striker taking on the exclusive DC LateNightShots for its bizarro membership policies:

Invitation only? EFF THAT.

Since I have yet to be invited to this august organization, I have no way of seeing what was written about me. My very fragile ego can’t handle that suspense. I am just going to assume disrespect.

Anyways, the welcome page is filled with some hilarious pictures. You can find them yourself if you click on that link and press the refresh button. Now, let’s have some fun at other people’s expense!

What follows is a hilarious take on local exclusive organization, complete with lambasting of photos from their welcome page. Nicely done, Rusty.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

That’s exactly what two inmates from the DC jail did yesterday, breaking a glass window in the warden’s office, sliding down a canopy and running off for the Stadium/Armory metro station. There, they boarded a free shuttle to Southeast DC which was running because of this weekend’s track maintenance at Stadium/Armory. Of course, they weren’t the only ones getting the heck out of DC, an arsonist in Church Hill, Maryland also flew the coop from his pre-release center.

DC Police are of course very upset about this, but I think the most telling quote comes from City Councilman Phil Mendelson in the Post today:

“This is very, very troubling,” said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the D.C. police and jail. “Nobody should be able to get out of the jail. That’s the whole point. This sounds like it was too easy.”

Yes, Phil, the point of jail is to keep people locked up in side, but they had to get new prison jumpsuits, get out of their cells, assault the warden’s office, break his window, slide down a canopy and escape a pursuing guard patrol. If that sounds easy to you, I think I should buy you a beer to get you to fess up to your own Indiana Jones past.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

On the front page of the Washington Post Website today there’s a killer headline that I’m sure someone over at WPNI is incredibly proud of. It’s not the kind of headline I’d like to see about DC though: “D.C. Drinking Water Meets EPA Standards”

It refers, of course, to this article on DC Drinking Water that says we’re finally free and clear of all the lead problems that the city had back in 2002.

Thanks, Washington Post, for reminding the people who live outside DC that we’re really just a third world city in some regards. That really helps that whole “tourist image.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The summertime in Washington is unfriendly for many temperature-related reasons, but the reason I find least comfortable is Mosquitos. For some reason, I am just incredibly tasty to the bugs, as is my fiancée, and it’s a real tough place to be. I get bitten when I go outside even just to water the garden, which is even more aggravating. Then BoingBoing steps in and show me this wondrous monstrosity. Give it legs and a good battery, and you would have the ideal robot. All for just $200!

Say, we’re getting married next month…perhaps we ought to register for it?

Also, my tomatoes have another bug problem: aphids. Can anyone tell me where I can get ladybugs in this town? I’ve asked a few places, but no one seems to have any…help?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

and so it begins

I am off on a 24 day odyssey around the Pacific Rim and this is how today’s 18 hours of flights starts.

Say ‘hi’ to the class of Random Junior High, California, who just spent a week in DC.

I have five hours with these hooligans. Wait, make that six. We’ve just been told all flights out of IAD are grounded due to weather.

Oh stewardess, I’ll have a vodka gimlet, please!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Not content to let people comment just on weblogs, the Washington Post will soon be accepting comments on WaPo Articles. Of course, the Post has a real issue, though, as trolls tend to flock to open forums like ants tend to flock on tasty picnic baskets. To this the Post says:

As most of you know, our charge into this interactive world has not been trouble free, and we’ve had to deal with blog commenters who are more interested in personal attacks and/or taunting than in making persuasive arguments and conducting civil conversations. So, we’d like to ask those of you who also find that level of discourse to be an annoyance for help in moderating the new comment threads. If you find a comment to be out of bounds, please report it by clicking the “Request Removal” link that will appear next to every comment.

To be clear, the Request Removal option is not there to allow readers to flag comments that espouse opinions they don’t agree with. Only posts that violate our interactivity policy will be removed. We’ll remove comments that contain profanity, personal attacks or spam, and reserve the right to also remove comments that have nothing to do with the associated article.

Good luck, WaPo, I have a feeling you’re going to have to be sifting out bad comments for some time to come. That should be…a thrilling experience only rivaled by reading the telephone book and tracking obscure bits of legislative agenda. Should be perfect for an intern!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This is the first of a new occasional series here on Metroblogging DC called “Essential DC” which will focus on experiences that are unique to DC, be they restaurants, places, events, or people. If you have a suggestion for an Essential DC experience, please suggest it to us! or if you’d like to guest-write an entry on an Essential DC experience, please send email to tom at metroblogging dot com and we’ll be glad to review it for publication!

I was sitting in class last night, wondering why it was that Amazon.com had so thoroughly shunned my attempts to purchase Stephen Hicks’ Explaining Postmodernism, when I realized that while I had checked all the county and city libraries within the beltway for the book, I had not checked the mother of them all, The Library of Congress. The Library of Congress has pretty much every book put out by an American Publisher in the last few centuries, so I figured it might be worth a venture. I began to seek entry into the Library itself, finding out that it is a closed Library, available to only those supplicants who present themselves to the Library in pursuit of Reason, Truth and Knowledge (or a reasonable facsimile thereof.)

Commissioned in 1800 and encompassed by the Capitol, its books were used for kindling by the invading British when they burned DC in the war of 1812. Rebuilt upon Thomas Jefferson’s personal collection at Monticello, the Library of Congress was reborn with 6,500 volumes after the war. The Library then began to grow prodigiously in size as the Copyright Law of 1870 required that two copies of any book submitted for copyright protection be submitted to the Library of Congress. The Jefferson Building was built in 1897, the Adams Building in 1939, and the most recent, the Madison Building was finished in 1980.

Its Main Reading Room on Pennsylvania Avenue is accessible only to those who apply for a Reader and Research card. Essentially, it is the Ultimate Library Card, and the key to knowledge arcane and obscure, poetic and philosophic, prose and biography.

The main reading room is the high temple to Knowledge universalis, and an architectural wonder. In its cupola dome are inscribed the gifts of Knowledge and who brought them to the forefront; from Greece and her Philosophy to America and her Science to Spain and her Discovery and Islam and her Physics, the contributions of the world are inscribed in the very firmament of the place. Below the dome stand the Disciplines: Science, Law, Poetry, Philosophy, Art, History, Commerce and Religion, accompanied by paired statues of the giants of those spheres. Newton and Henry representing Science, Solon and Kent representing Law, Moses and St. Paul representing Religion. Watched over by these sentinels, the readers sit in concentric circles of wooden desks, numbered so that your books may be delivered unto you by the acolytes of Knowledge.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

Take a wild-assed guess which bar the June Esquire picks as Washington DC’s best inebriation institution in the “Best Bars in America” article.

I’ll give you a hint: its not on the DC Metblogs Definitive Patio Bar List.

Of all the cool bars, dive or not in DC, Esquire picked The Tune Inn. The Tune Inn. Huh… And what the hell is that? I’ve never even heard of the Tune Inn. Have you? Have you actually been there? Are you willing to admit to it in the comments section? Would you ever go back?

Esquire, who anointed this random crap bar the “Best in DC” over stalwarts like Fox and Hounds or newcomers like Tonic, which cures what ails ya, doesn’t sell me on the Tune Inn’s worthiness either.

Your Having: A ten dollar pitcher of Miller with a burger. The mounted deer heads on the wall make this dive interesting. The deer asses make it great. (331 1/2 Pennsylvania Avenue SE; 202-543-2725)

Amazing. I say that the only great ass is Esquire in picking the place. Oh and if you agree with me, don’t be shy, get all up in Esquire’s face – they’re taking America’s Best Bar submissions now.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Every once in a while, one of our readers will ask a question that’s worth its own posts, and one of you have done just that. Our reader writers:

While out at a bar Saturday night, my girlfriend commented that there are a lot of short men in DC. Are there a lot of short men in DC? I asked her what constituted “short”? Our consensus was that anyone under 5’10” was short. She preferred her men to be 6′ – 6’2″, though she did say that sometimes height did not factor into her decision on whether to go out with a height-challenged guy if he made her laugh and seemed smarter than the average doorknob. Are there any official stats on the average height in men who live in the DC metro area? Just today, out of 4 men in the elevator, 2 guys were definitely about my height (I’m 5’6″), one was 6’+ and the other was in between my height and the tallest guy. What do you guys think?

What is short, exactly, DC? Does DC have a preponderance of short guys? Better still, If so, do they flock to DC as part of some Napoleonic Complex to gather power to make up for their stature? Metblogs is a fairly tall crowd, with most of us coming in over the 5’10” line. Want to judge for yourself? We’ll be at Bar Pilar after work Friday, drinking mojitos, and mining for weekend blog product, and you’re welcome to scope us out for yourselves! Make sure to introduce yourself, I’ll be at the bar.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Nevermind that we still really don’t have a decent citywide plan for dealing with a major 9/11-sized crisis.

Ignore the fact that the District picks up most of the tab for security with regard to terrorist threats.

Completely gloss over the fact that the DC Metropolitan Police can’t even stop a group of hoods robbing tourists on the Mall.

Who here thinks that a 40% cut in Homeland Security Funding for DC is a good idea?

*crickets*

Thought so. Somewhere in all this, the District will have to make up another $31 million in order to keep next year’s security budget at this year’s level of funding. We can’t stop robberies by petty criminals and suddenly we’re supposed to be able to stop a terrorist attack? Seriously? Are you smoking crack? Er, no, not you Mister Mayor for Life, we know you are.

How the hell does this happy horse shit happen?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Apparently, the National Zoo is on fertility drugs. Between Baby Pandas, Baby Cheetahs, Baby Giraffes and all manner of other babies, the Zoo welcomed three new Sumatran Tiger Cubs last week. Like most DC families Zoo animals, the parents are split, with Soyono here in Washington and the father Rokan down in San Antonio. This is Soyono’s third litter of cubs, her previous four progeny are now in other zoos across the United States.

Am I the only one who wonders how all that happens? Is there some giant zookeeper poker game that happens somewhere? I can just see how that would play out…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

When all else fails in this world, people find the most bizarre ways to protest. Hunger Strikes. Clothing Strikes. Striking Strikes. Saturday, though, one of the more bizarre protests I’ve heard of is going to take place across from the Supreme Court. Faith and Action Ministries is going to unveil an illegal monument to the Ten Commandments.

Weighing in at 850 pounds, the granite copy of the ten commandments will be visible to the Supreme Court building. Of course, I can’t decide which is funnier: that this will be illegal, or that the guy could be arrested for putting a stone on his front lawn. Perhaps someone else can tell me?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

wet and wanting

…to impint your hands, your feet, or write your name. Do not create you own walk of fame.

Do not do it. No, don’t. Its concrete, its public, it will be there for years, and you will look the fool.

Then again, who would know? Its only one sidewalk panel. It would dry quickly. I would be gone, and yet…

…famous.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs