If you’re like me and many other DC residents, you love the idea of having a plethora of amazing museums within walking or Metro distance from your house, but you just never seem to find time to go or you end up doing something else instead. Many of us only make it to museums when we have visitors in town because “that’s what you do” when people visit DC.

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

On such a beautiful Sunday, why is Wonderland’s beer garden empty?

Might folks not know its beautiful outside today? Are taxes that compelling? Is over hyped Loriel Plaza full? Reef packed?

No matter the excuse, its just that, an excuse. Why are you not enjoying a Leffe right about now?

DC’s best patio is calling.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Studio Theater

The last two Lipsynka shows are today at 5pm and 7pm and I strongly encourage you, if you have no other existing plans, to go. I caught the show Friday night and it was a lot of fun. Epperson and Malony do an amazing job of choreographing their action to the recorded material, which itself is an entertaining pastiche of clips from Crawford interviews and appearances. It’s neat to see what additional layers of amusement and meaning they can add with their physical choices while remaining perfectly in line with the pre-recorded action.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

What are you doing this weekend? Might you want to expand your mind and tweak your senses? Then I would suggest the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Check out this phone booth. Or what could be a phone booth in an alternate universe. Flattened, twisted, its not much of its former Bell Atlantic self.

Looking at it closely, I couldn’t tell if the artist made the phone booth from scratch or somehow melted and twisted a normal one to this odd angle.

Do me, do yourself a favor. Go to the Hirshhorn and check it out yourself.

You’ll be glad you did,

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Are you hungry? Are you really hungry? Then I suggest you head over to the Godiva Chocolates at the Pentagon City Mall.

There you’ll find hand-dipped chocolate strawberries awaiting your taste buds. Tasty, decadent, intense flavors that make love to your mouth.

Just be sure to have a bank account as thick as the chocolate – those strawberries are $10 a pop.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Last night was the opening of the DCist Exposed Photography Show and let me just say that it was a huge success in many different ways:

Many thanks to everyone who attended (and to my friends who came out to support me) and to DCist for taking an idea and turning it into reality! The photos will be hanging at the Warehouse Theater until March 16th, so if you didn’t get a chance to stop by last night, be sure to go check out the exhibit soon.

Photo by andertho

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

As a postscript to my earlier posting regarding the overturning of the DC Gun Ban by the DC Appeals Court, Mayor Fenty has immediately released a statement condemning the verdict saying that “District residents deserve every protection afforded to them under District law.” Personally, I’m surprised that that is the language that he would use to offer his condemnation, as I think that District residents ought to deserve every protection afforded to them, well, under the Constitution of the United States of America, the Laws of these United States, as well as those granted to them under District law. But, that might just be me.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Be sure to check out DCist’s awesome DCist Exposed exhibit that runs at the Warehouse Art Gallery on 7th St. NW all this weekend and next week. It features 38 local photographers, including our very own Max Cook. You can check out their entry pool on flickr, as well as Max Cook’s photos on Flickr. The exhibit runs every night through the 16th at the Warehouse, and tonight’s big reception kicks off at 6:30 and goes til 9:30. I am super jealous of all those that get to go tonight and experience the event with a crowded house and the artists themselves, I will be stuck in a meeting, but I guarantee you, this is the best art show all Spring, so please go out and support our local photographers.

Congratulations, Max! Congratulations to all whose photos are shown!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

According to the DC Appeals Court, the District’s gun ban is Unconstitutional [PDF] and the Post has a long article covering the verdict. By a 2-1 verdict, the court ruled that the District’s ban on handguns is unconstitutional. The fight’s far from over, as this will likely spend some quality time being reviewed, then appealed eventually to the United States Supreme Court. The brief itself is available online, and is actually fairly readable, something that definitely surprised me. Here are some of the highlights:

Essentially, the appellants claim a right to possess what they describe as “functional firearms,” by which they mean ones that could be “readily accessible to be used effectively when necessary” for self-defense in the home. They are not asserting a right to carry such weapons outside their homes. Nor are they challenging the District’s authority per se to require the registration of firearms.

The six parties who filed suit don’t object to registering their guns, or keeping them confined to their domicile for self-defense in the home, they just object to being told which kinds of weapons are appropriate for defense in the home.

According to appellants, the Amendment’s language flat out guarantees an individual right “to keep and bear Arms.” Appellants concede that the prefatory clause expresses a civic purpose, but argue that this purpose, while it may inform the meaning of an ambiguous term like “Arms,” does not qualify the right guaranteed by the operative portion of the Amendment.

That there should be civic purpose for the guns kept is a fascinating argument, and I think it would be a great thought exercise here to discuss what constitutes a civic purpose? Neighborhood Watch? Volunteer Policing (a la Fire department)? This isn’t a blanket excuse to give people for owning a gun.

Tellingly, we think, the District did not suggest what sort of law, if any, would violate the Second Amendment today–in fact, at oral argument, appellees’ counsel asserted that it would be constitutional for the District to ban all firearms outright. In short, we take the District’s position to be that the Second Amendment is a dead letter.

Shockingly, an outright ban would pass the test, but the singularity of the DC ban, focusing on handguns alone, is what runs them afoul of the DC District. There’s more here, but this is getting long, so I’m headed behind a cut…

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

For years, I’ve gone to Companions, a pet store on U Street NW. Today I went there to get aquatic plants for my fish.

I am no longer a guppy dad, but I still need to replenish my tank with greenery. And today I went home empty handed.

Companions is now closed. Gone. A storefront completely empty. I didn’t even see a “going out of business sale”, though I am not surprised.

Their service was slow, selection poor, and their fish died often. Still, they were local and I tried to support them. Now, there is no need.

There is still a need for pet supplies in DC. My fish have a naked tank. Any suggestions for Metro-accessible alternatives?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Doesn’t this scare you? The idea of spraying a man-made chemical on your body that is so strong it changes the color of your skin.

I do not know who would patronize this tanning salon in Arlington, I know I would not.

While I love me a deep tan, I prefer obtaining one the natural way: poolside, drink in hand.

Yes, I know, skin cancer, but that is why they invented lasers. Who knows what you will need if you fake and spray your way through DC life.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

On Sunday, March 10th from 11-2 Arlington County will sponsor “Fit Arlington,” a joint effort by Arlington County Board Member Walter Tejada and School Board Member Ed Fendley to develop a culture of health and fitness in the county. The location will be Gunston Park, which is at 1401 28th St. South.

From their site:

Get Fit! Have Fun! All Ages and Abilities!

* Soccer clinics
* Tennis fun and games
* Moon bounce and kids carnival
* Interactive activities to enhance your knowledge and skills!

I don’t know – sounds like a whole lot of work. Maybe I will just head back over to O’Sullivan’s and do some pint-beer curling. That gut isn’t going to develop itself, after all.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

It’s official, the Horticulturalist’s Office puts the peak bloom of the cherry trees the first week of April, giving us about two weeks or so of peace and quiet before the lovely folks from all over the country descend on DC like a pack of ravening wolves. Begin to steel yourselves for the lines of tourbuses along Constitution & Independence Avenues, as well as up and down 15th & 17th streets near the Mall. Beware the Smithsonian Metro stop, as the folks there over the next few months are likely not from around here, and will not understand the stand/walk rules that are observed throughout the rest of town.

But yes, it means a time of beautiful photos and even more lovely weather is coming to DC, and that the doldrums and pain of winter are on their way out. Bring on the tourists, so long as they bring the warm weather with them.

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Yes, I am asking you if you’ve adopted a block in DC. Did your company agree to keep it clean? To water the trees & make it nice? I hope so.

The Adams Morgan Business Improvement District has adopted at least one block, the 1700 block of Columbia Road.

Now do not expect a sidewalk so clean that you can eat off it. Nor an oasis of urban beauty. It looks just like any other, and that should be the point.

Every block should be adopted. Should be cleaned by those who care. Best yet, a fastidious neighbor like you.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you were ever interested in putting C-SPAN video on your blog, or using it in another non-commercial medium, you can now do so with impunity, as the group that runs C-SPAN has decided to let you post clips from the floor, or hearings, or any other event that it covers with regard to the government, provided you attribute them back to C-SPAN. Also, the network is going to expand its internet video side, including many streaming feeds of Hill Hearings in the coming weeks. Get excited, political junkies! You don’t have to shlep to the Hill anymore, just to watch!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Because I have no idea what I’m looking at…and I like it!

Is this some sort of reflection? An angle of the Capitol that I’ve never seen before? Some sort of Photoshop voodoo? My brain would like to know, but my eyes are telling my brain to just shut up and enjoy the view. Quite a complicated situation going on around my upper extremities.

Flickrite noamgalai has impressed me with this one by doing what turns an overdone scene into a great photograph. One of the keys to taking a great photo (but not always necessary) is to show your subject doing something out of the ordinary. It’s one thing to take a photo of a bird for instance, but a photo of a bird eating a cigarette – priceless.

Aside from thoroughly confusing me (which is a good thing in this case), the composition and post processing are great on this shot and can be an inspiration to all photographers in our nation’s capital.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If I was going to spend the kind of coin it took to get a commercial onto prime time during “24” I think I’d run it past the proofreader. Maybe that’s just me.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) apparently objects to having to smoke outside. He told CPAC (the annual gathering of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy where Ann Coulter called John Edwards a fag) that he objects:

I live in a place run by what I refer to as the lifestyle Nazis here in Washington, D.C., that don’t let you do things like smoke in public places, for God’s sake.

Of course, he doesn’t mind the nanny state when it suits his interests involving the FCC (increasing fines for broadcasting “indecent” material) and Gambling (eliminating online poker), but when it comes to his beloved cigars…it’s Lifestyle Nazism. Who’s the bigger nazi here, one that curtails me from seeing the Sopranos on broadcast TV, one that eliminates online poker, or one that eliminates smoking from public places? Not a clear decision? Okay, let’s put this one up then. Tancredo was one of those few asshats who voted against renewing the Voting Rights Act.

Yeah. I thought so.

So, Rep. Tancredo wants a little individual freedom, eh? I can think of one freedom he ought to exercise: the one to leave town. Preferably on a rail.

Major hat tip to DCist for the original story.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I told my father the other day that I am still holding a grudge over when he commented to me about how unattractive he found all the cell towers that crop up everywhere. Cell towers? I asked. He pointed one out to me… and now I ALWAYS notice them. Thanks, Dad.

That’s not to say there isn’t sometimes an effort to disguise them, or put them in odd locations. The pictured one is on Fairfax County Parkway and pretty effective about half the year, when it’s surrounded by trees with actual needles. I bet the people who put it up thought they were damned brilliant in June. In January… a little less so.

What’s really amusing is that just 1/4 mile farther south the trees are evergreens and don’t lose their needles, so this disguise, which is obviously green year-round, would blend in well there.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The Metropolitan Police Department is interested in what you have to say about their performance. Check out their 2007 Survey, which is completable as a PDF or as an HTML form done via Survey Monkey. Their Purpose statement reads: “The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) of the District of Columbia, under the new leadership of Acting Chief of Police Cathy Lanier, is committed to reducing crime and the fear of crime by establishing “customized community policing” strategies to address individual neighborhood problems. As part of this, the Department is conducting a citywide survey to identify ways to improve services to all community members.”

Personally, I’d hope the police department’s goal would actually be to eliminate crime, but I can understand that they’d rather work in real terms, and that since people are often animals, there’s always going to be some crime. You’ve got a week to fill out the survey, which affects ONLY the MPD, not the Capitol Police, the Park Police, or any other Special Police force.

It’s your basic “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree” survey in section 1, with such attributes as:

• Overall, I am satisfied with police services.
• Police officers are visible in my neighborhood.
• The police are respectful and courteous.
• The police keep their vehicles clean.

Section 2 is more yes/no/don’t know, with questions about citizen perception and participation in police activities, including community involvement, and includes such questions as: I am aware that MPD sponsors community online Listservs. Except, that I can’t find such a listserv on the MPD webpage. It strikes me that they might want to consider some information architecture techniques for use on their general god-awful website.

Section 3 is all about crime priorities, allowing the surveyor to assign a priority of “Big Problem”, “Some Problem” or “No Problem” to any crime they list (though they list Robberies on the streets twice. And while I think that’s pretty cool, there’s no reason for a citizen to think that any of the categories they list as NOT a Big Problem. All the crimes they list are fairly serious, from burglaries to shootings and drug dealing. We have a categorization in law for this and they’re called felony offenses, which all of these are. Chosing degrees of felony isn’t up to the citizens, nor should we be forced to make the prioritization between someone getting shot and someone getting stabbed or someone getting held up at an ATM.

There’s one last thing I’d like to note, SurveyMonkey has no way of dealing with multiple surveys from single IP addresses and no way of verifying address data against known IP locations, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a lot of junk data input here, making the results of the survey done via web or fax into something that can’t be verified. Still, voice your opinions if you’d like. Just be prepared for them to be outshouted by Chinese Gold Farmers.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs