‘2010:57’
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’
Friday night I had the opportunity to attend The Art of the Blog at District in Adams Morgan. Hosted by Ready Set DC, The Art of the Blog is a new, monthly get together for bloggers across the nation’s capital. With a focus on ‘neighborhood blogs’ this month, the special guest speakers – Dan Silverman of Prince of Petworth & David Garber of And Now, Anacostia – both shared candid interpretations of what it’s like to be a DC blogger. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘Echo #13’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’
My wife and I are in the process of handling a number of niggling little tasks related to our impending move into the District, and this short post is a series of lessons that we’ve learned as part of this process. Trust us when we say: learn from our mistakes. There are some key details that you need to know as part of any move, and as G.I. Joe taught all of us Gen-Xers, “Knowing is Half the Battle.”
By Don
‘Ø£Ù�ا Ù�Ù�سÙ�Ù�Ù� – I`am Muslim’
courtesy of ‘عÙ�Ù�Ù� ~ Ali’
It only garnered a few paragraphs in the WaPo’s Local Digest but The Daily Beast has a longer writeup about a sit-in held at the local Islamic Center on the 20th. At the core of the debate is the mandate by some mosques that women pray in a separate area, sometimes behind an opaque screen or curtain. When a group of women who disagree with this policy came in and attempted to pray alongside the men, the mosque officials called D.C. police to have the women removed or charged with trespassing.
It’s an interesting situation, and the gender divide isn’t following the usual progression of less permissive to more permissive; the article cites a CAIR survey stating that 50% of mosques enforced separate prayer areas 15 years ago. 10 years ago 66% did.
‘U Street’
courtesy of ‘Rolenz’
Cultural Tourism DC opened a new Visitor Center on U Street last week to introduce a new audio tour of the historic neighborhood. Local residents and tourists are encouraged to stop by the new center and take the audio tour to learn more about the rich cultural history the neighborhood has to offer.
Stops on the tour include the restored Lincoln Theater, Jazz hot-spot Bohemian Caverns, The Whitelaw Hotel, and The Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage.
For more information, email Trail@CulturalTourismDC.org or call 202-661-7581.
By Tom Bridge
‘Up in the rafters’
courtesy of ‘afagen’
Whew. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but today I am an emotional mess. That overtime gold medal hockey game yesterday was a heart-wrencher, a true rollercoaster run. But, that means the Olympics are now done, and we can return to cheering for the Caps and Wizards, and to start thinking about the Baseball season.
Capitals
Record: 41-13-8 (90pts)
Last Two Weeks: None
Place: 1st in the East
The Caps have begun to reassemble, skating yesterday and today at Kettler, and getting ready to head up to Buffalo for Wednesday night’s first game back against Ryan Miller and the Sabres. The Caps then come back to the Phone Booth to face off with Tampa Thursday night, and then the Rangers on Saturday. Hopefully the Caps will be able to move past their three-loss streak heading into the Olympic break, and clinch their title quickly. The Caps have a 13-point lead on their nearest conference foe, and 27 on their nearest division rival. It’s been a pretty amazing run for the Caps, let’s hope it’s an easy and injury-free road to the Playoffs.
‘Nationals vs Mets – Field of Dreams – 9-29-09’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’
Looking for another excuse to make it to the ball park this summer? There’s more to the game than sitting back and watching the players at work. The Washington Nationals resumed their behind-the-scenes tours of Nationals Park this weekend.
The one-hour-and-fifteen minute tours include the opportunity to step inside the Nationals Dugout, see where the guys hang their hats in the Clubhouse, step on the mound and throw a pitch in the home team bullpen, access to the Lexus Presidents Club and PNC Diamond Club, a chance to feel like a big-league reporter from inside The Shirley Povich Media Center, and visits to the Nationals batting cages to hit a couple balls.
Tickets are available online or at the Nationals Park Box Office and are $15 for adults and $12 for children under 12. Seniors and military will receive a $3 discount with a valid I.D.
Additionally, proceeds from the tours benefit the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation. So get outside, see the park, and support a good cause this season!
Tours will run until November 13.
By shannon
‘NO SMARTRIP -6480’
courtesy of ‘Joe Tresh’
If you use a SmarTrip card, you probably didn’t even notice it on your commute this morning, but your trip was just a bit more expensive than it was last week. As of yesterday, fares on Metrorail and Metrobus jumped 10 cents to help cover a huge budget gap. Just a friendly reminder to bring along some extra change for your commute starting this week, and if you get transit benefits through your employer it might be time to increase your monthly benefits.
‘Nyjer Morgan makes a great catch’
courtesy of ‘afagen’
Now that the Olympics are over we can all breathe a collective “sigh” and get back to our regularly scheduled programming. With that said, guess what the end of the Olympics means? Time for beer, hots dogs, and the 7th inning stretch!
ESPN.com Senior Baseball writer Jayson Stark puts it best (via Twitter), “Here’s a thought that ought to warm you up out there. This was the last Sunday without a baseball game to watch until Nov. 7. Play ball!”
Riggleman is forced to split the squad for the Nationals TWO (yes, two) first games of the season since the Florida Grapefruit League doesn’t start playing until Thursday. One half of the team will be facing the Astros in Kissimmee and the other half face the Marlins in Jupiter. For now, the team is scheduled for three more days of full-squad workouts.
‘Neither rain nor sleet nor snow..’
courtesy of ‘Diacritical’
NBC Washington reports that our U.S. Postal workers are thinking about changing things up a bit.
The U.S. Postal Service is asking Congress for permission to shorten its week by cutting Saturday mail delivery and amending their health benefits for retirees.
Worker’s demands aren’t the sole reason for the request. U.S.P.S. claims it lost $297 million in the first fiscal quarter due a 9% drop in mail volume.
As of right now, the plan would mean continuing express mail and processing of “remittance mail” (payments from costumers to businesses and checks to and from banks). However, the request – if granted – would not be implemented until mid-2011 at the very earliest.
By Tom Bridge
News is out this morning at the DC Social Media Club Breakfast that iStrategy Labs and Shinyheart Ventures are putting on a 10-day festival called Digital Capital Week. Details are still coming together, but they’ve put up the first 2,000 tickets up for free. It’ll be summer in the Capital, and there will be parties, says Frank Gruber from Shinyheart Ventures, and a focus on a Capital City that is alive with the digital.
‘snow melter’
courtesy of ‘ann gav’
The Snow Melter has been spotted. It exists! About time, right? Of course the orange wonder makes its grand appearance just as the temperature starts to rise and the snow starts to melt on its own. Go figure. On the positive side, Saturday was a picture perfect day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. That mixed with non-freezing temperatures and a serious lack of Thunder Snow is exactly what DC needed to wake up and get out after too many weekends spent hibernating. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘Happy Birthday, America’
courtesy of ‘afagen’
Today is DC’s 209th Birthday! While the city of Washington was founded in July of 1790, the Organic Act of 1801 passed on February 27th, 1801, which created the District of Columbia, which contained the counties of Alexandria (west of the river Potomac, including the islands) and Washington (east of the river Potomac). The free cities of Georgetown and Alexandria were not to be affected by the creation of the District, their own laws and codes were to remain intact.
If you’d like, you can read the act (starts at the bottom of the first linked page) thanks to the Library of Congress.
Happy Birthday, DC!
By Tom Bridge
‘DSCF5844’
courtesy of ‘joelogon’
It’s hard to believe that winter’s nearly over. Monday marks the calendar switch to March, and there’s just three more weeks of foul nastiness before we turn the corner on Spring, which will be a fantastically wonderful sight for all of us who’ve spent the last four weeks staring at ever-present snowbanks. It’s enough to dream of blooming cherry trees, days spent at the park over a grill, surely, but what about getting some celebrating done?
Enter ShamrockFest at RFK on March 13. It’s your standard outdoor arena concert that runs all day, features about a dozen national and regional acts, and is generally a good excuse to get out of the house for a day. This year’s lineup features area darlings Carbon Leaf and Scythian, as well as Canada’s Enter the Haggis (whom I have on good authority from a friend in upstate New York kick more ass than Chuck Norris in a room full of midgets), as well as national touring acts The Roots and Train.
So here’s the deal, we have a pair of VIP passes to give away, so leave a comment below (remembering to use a good email address, as that’s how we’ll reach you) and we’ll pick a winner by the end of next week. One important thing to remember: VIP passes come with all the beer you can drink (provided you do so responsibly.) so you must be 21 to win, and Shamrockfest will be checking your ID.
Regular tickets can also be purchased for $24.99 right now, and VIP passes can be bought for $69.99. So, drop off a comment here, and enter to win! We’ll see you there.
By Tom Bridge
‘US Airways Jets at DCA’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’
Two planes collided this morning on the ground at National Airport, causing significant damage to the departing plane. No injuries are reported at this time. It’s not clear how the collision occurred, but one of the planes had to cancel their flight due to the damage. More as details come.
By Don
‘Field trip’
courtesy of ‘clio1789’
DC Public Schools has announced the updated calendar for the remainder of the school year and several teacher professional development days – what were called teacher workdays where I went to school – have turned into regular attendance days. Great news if you were trying to figure out what to do with the kiddies on March 19th and May 17th, less awesome if you’re a teacher now forced to do your mundane tasks in your off time.
Kids will be even less thrilled to have their half day on June 18th turn into a full-length day… which will be followed by two added days, the 21st and 22nd.
‘Tune It!’
courtesy of ‘Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’
Think your band has what it takes to land one of 10 spots available at the Six Flags location just south of Baltimore? The Six Flags team just announced that 10 bands will be selected to perform each day for the first week and a half of the park’s 2010 season.
The bands selected will be featured as part of the park’s “Live & Local” series, a popular event for the past several years.
Want to enter? All you need to submit is an electronic press kit (including links to any websites you may have) to the Six Flags Entertainment Department at twiesemann@sftp.com or mail a hard copy to P.O. Box 4210, Largo, MD 20775, attn: Six Flags America Entertainment.
The submission deadline is March 15.
By Don
‘The First Amendment does not cover burping.’
courtesy of ‘wfyurasko’
After news of Meg’s firing started to make the round yesterday I dropped an email to Kevin Goldberg of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth of Arlington. FH&H is a local law firm specializing in communications law – things like FCC filings or regulations, fines, copyright issues and so on. They’ve also got a blog about communications issues that several of their attorneys write for, including Goldberg. Sometimes it’s a little rarefied, but you can find items there about things like licensing fees on podcasts too.
Goldberg’s role there is more in line with some of Meg’s problems – he’s focused on freedom of speech issues, including in online publishing. I came to know him as a student in his Media Law class at George Mason University, which I’d highly recommend if you’re concerned about your vulnerability as a writer. He was nice enough to take a few minutes to talk with me and the best criminal lawyers in Melbourne on the phone about some of the issues raised by this situation and some of the local laws in play.
We started by discussing employment issues and free speech in general, where the news is pretty good… if you’re an employer.
When it comes to your bosses, Goldberg says, “There are varying degrees of control they can exert over you. If you say things that are disparaging to the firm – even if it’s done on your own time – that could be a punishable or fire-able offense.” We chatted a bit about a recent NPR story that discussed the fact that, for most of us, we have and keep our jobs at the whim of our employer. If they don’t like the way you slurp your coffee they’re pretty much free to can you.
Goldberg’s more relaxed about this than a lot of us, which you could write off as optimism about people or perhaps as a result of his professional consultations with employers looking to write policies. “It takes a lot of – let’s just say it nicely – chutzpah to” fire people for saying things you dislike, Goldberg says, and “put yourself … in the position of really painting yourself not only as a bad boss, but a censor.”
We spent a lot more time on the defamation issue, and what he had to say was a lot more reassuring to anyone concerned about getting sued by someone who doesn’t like the things written about them… mostly.
By Rebecca
‘Down to the Oubliette’
courtesy of ‘Karon’
According to an Obama administration official, Desiree Rogers will be leaving her post as the White House social secretary. Rogers was a much hyped hire for the Obama Administration, and was even featured in the February 2009 issue of Vogue.
However, recently Rogers had faced a wealth of criticism for the handling of the Salahi-Dinnergate kerfuffle that took place during a November 24 state dinner for the Prime Minister of Indian. Whether or not this debacle factors into her departure is unknown.
By Don
‘Gay Marriage Legalized in DC; Oral Roberts Drops Dead’
courtesy of ‘Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’
The Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs has put out a release about the imminent availability of marriage licenses for same-sex couples. The date they’ll be available continues to be projected as March 3, subject to congress’ being in session. Most of it is delightfully unsurprising: want to get married? Show up with proper identification and pay the $35. Just. Like. Everyone. Else.
For those couples who desire to boost their sexual relations, you definitely have to try with the best enhancement pills, this will take things to whole different level.
*sniff* I’m misting up a little here.
The items that are different and noteworthy is that you don’t have to pay that $35 if you’re already a registered domestic partnership in the District. You’ll still have to pay the $10 for a certified copy of the certificate if you want one, but the application fee is waved. You should also look into any requirements if you’d registered a partnership in another state – the Office of GLBT says “the other state’s law may require you to dissolve it prior to marrying in the District of Columbia.” Odd and curious – anyone know specific examples of this kind of issue?
It is now only fitting that the National Cathedral follow suit. We enthusiastically affirm each person as a beloved child of God—and doing so means including the full participation of gays and lesbians in the life of this spiritual home for the nation.
Consistent with the canons of the Episcopal Church, the Cathedral will begin celebrating same-sex marriage ceremonies using a rite adapted from an existing blessing ceremony approved in August 2012 by the Church at its General Convention. That approval allowed for the bishops who oversee each diocese within the Church to decide whether or not to allow the rite’s use or to allow celebration of same-sex marriage. In light of the legality of civil marriage for same-sex couples in the District of Columbia and Maryland, Bishop Mariann Budde announced last month that the diocese would now allow this expansion of the sacrament, which then led to my decision for the Cathedral’s adaptation of the same-sex rite.
By John Athayde
‘Real Estate For Sale Signs’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’
DC’s property assessments for 2011 are coming in way down from 2010. Residential is down an average of 3.7 percent and commercial property is down 10.6 percent. While this is good for the taxpayer in general (lower value means lower tax amount) about 22,000 residents will be paying higher taxes (by an average of $345) due to new legislation. While those looking to sell may not be happy about this, we’re doing far better than some other metropolitan areas that are seeing drops of up to 25%. For once, we are definitely not California Dreamin’.
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