Category Archives: The Daily Feed

History, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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Smithsonian Snapshot: Skyhooking

Skyhook container; photo courtesy National Postal Museum

In the 1930s, U.S. postal officials tried different ways of moving the mail. One technique was called “skyhooking,” which brought the mail to rural towns that had no adequate railway or highway mail routes. Unfortunately, the towns which needed this type of service usually did not have adequate landing fields for planes.

Although a low-flying airplane could simply drop a sack of mail onto the ground, the tricky part was getting ground mail into the moving plane. The Railway Mail Service’s successful on-the-fly mail exchange system provided the inspiration for an aviation experiment. Mail would be “caught” by a plane flying overhead and reeled up into the plane. Of course, catching the mail was not going to be easy. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Photo Op: Scaling the Washington Monument

Photo courtesy of
‘Washington Monument closed indefinitely after rare earthquake’
courtesy of ‘Glyn Lowe Photos’

While the Washington Monument is closed indefinitely due to damage from the Earthquake, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some awesome photo ops this week as a “Difficult Access” team rappels down the side of the 555-foot tall obelisk to inspect the damage. That will mean the group will climb out the little windows at the top, climb up to the tip of the monument, and then slowly rappel down the side to check for cracks and damage. It’s estimated that the inspection will take the team five days to do the inspection, so once they’re spotted, you should have time to rent some long glass and head down to the Mall!

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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As the season wanes, Nationals continue strong, beat Braves 4-1

 

Photo courtesy of
‘win’
courtesy of ‘oddlittlebird.’

When this season started, I thought the Nationals might well win about 72 games this year. An improvement over last year’s tally of 69, but hardly a big step forward. With four games remaining, the Nationals are 77-80, still in reach of .500 ball. The Nationals are 14-9 in September, their best span of the second half, and have been playing meaningful baseball in September for the first time since 2005. While winning out isn’t a given, with Atlanta playing for their lives, and the dominance of the Marlins over the Nats, it’s still a distinct possibility that this team could finish at 81-80.

Today’s victory over the Braves can largely be placed in the hands of the battery, with Chien Ming Wang throwing 6 strong innings and limiting the Braves to a single run, and Pudge Rodriguez’s eighth inning rally-killing theft-prevention throwout of Michael Bourn. The veteran catcher’s final home start of the year (and possibly in a Nationals uniform) was certainly one of his more memorable ones, calling a phenomenal game against the very tough Braves offense, and nabbing two runners on the basepaths, as well going 1-2 with a walk.

After the game, manager Davey Johnson was very complimentary of both. Of Wang, he said, “[he had] a remarkable season, got better every time out… If I’m here [next year] he can have my salary. If you’d seen him throw in December, and where he is right now, my hat goes off to him.” Regarding his catcher, Johnson was praising of his training routine (5 hours a day, 7 days a week), and gave no thought to pulling Pudge early for a standing ovation.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Friday Happy Hour: Maple Derby at Black Jack

After what seemed like an extended “coming soon” period, followed by a week or so of soft-opening, 14th Street’s new Pearl Dive Oyster Bar is officially open, as is the upstairs bar, Black Jack.

Black Jack is designed to be a fun, casual spot – complete with that buzzed-about indoor bocce pitch. They have a nice selection of whiskeys behind the bar and a short list of signature cocktails, two of which come out of a slushie machine. There are colorful lights strung from the ceiling to give a suggestion of being outdoors on a cool patio.

If you are getting the impression that they just crammed every bar trend into one place, you might be on to something. However, the staff are nice, the crowd seemed fine and surprisingly, not-crowded – and based on what I have sampled, the drinks are tasty.
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Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Veggies Take Over at This Saturday’s DC VegFest

On September 24, from 11am to 6pm, DC VegFest will showcase ease, fun, and advantages of a plant-based lifestyle at GWU’s University Yard. This annual event, now in its third year, has grown significantly in size – it is the area’s largest vegetarian event with thousands of attendees expected.

Those attendees will have the opportunity to purchase foods from nineteen local restaurants and food trucks, shop from animal-friendly vendors, and take in talks from speakers like chef and cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Wayne Pacelle of The Humane Society. There will be free food to sample from national brands and Sticky Fingers Sweets & Eats has organized a cupcake-eating contest.
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Mid City Caffe to Close

Photo courtesy of
‘Strut’
courtesy of ‘lorigoldberg’

Charming Logan Circle coffee spot Mid City Caffé is set to close for business effective October 1st.

While a victim in part of its location – on a second floor and away from the kind of office-based foot traffic that supports a bustling coffee shop five of seven days a week – the owner and management still made the difficult decision to close rather than relocate when faced with a lease expiring and ambiguous future for the building they occupy (a situation which, unfortunately, may also impact the street-level tenant, vintage shop Miss Pixie’s in the coming months.)

Until the recent arrival of Peregrine Espresso’s second location only about one block away, Mid City was the only serious coffee shop in the Logan Circle/14th/U St region and, in addition to serving great coffee, it served as a valuable daytime spot to work or socialize in a neighborhood more focused on nightlife. Regulars seeking a spot to open the laptop and drink a tasty beverage will now most likely have to head over to Filter in Dupont.

Mid City’s current general manager and head barista, Jeffrey Lamoureux (previously with Chinatown Coffee Co), brought in to run the struggling shop just a few months ago, will be moving on to open a new espresso bar concept within the renovated AKA White House hotel. That cafe is expected to open later this autumn.

The Daily Feed
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Latin Rhythms Infuse Food and Wine at Vintage Crystal

photo: Moses

It was easy to take a virtual voyage to Latin locales when I was invited by the festival organizers to attend last Sunday’s “Vintage Crystal: A Taste of Wine and Jazz” in Crystal City. Tasty bites from neighborhood purveyors were pleasantly paired with over thirty wines of Spain, Chile, and Argentina provided by Jaleo.

Local businesses promoted their services with friendly staff and colorful brochures, while Latin jazz from Trio Caliente set a soulful soundtrack for friends to deliberate the merits of Malbec, Carmenere, Verdejo, and Tempranillo. It was impossible to stand still, so it’s a good thing Arlington’s Latin lounge The Salsa Room was on hand to orchestrate rumba, salsa, and cha-cha lessons. Fortunately, overcast skies didn’t detract crowds; in fact, the soft glow and slight chill made for a refreshing climate to hit the dance floors.
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The Daily Feed
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Recharge your SmarTrip online!

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Well, thank heavens for small favors.

Metro announced this afternoon that anyone with a SmarTrip card that’s registered through their website will now be able recharge their transit card with a credit card. From the Metro website:

Because SmarTrip fare value is stored on the card, rather than in a central computer, customers must complete their transaction by touching their card to a target, such as a Metrorail faregate, vending machine or bus farebox. Customers should allow up to one business day for value to be transferred to their card when touching a rail faregate or vending machine and up to three business days at a bus farebox.

Well, it’s not perfect. But it’s a good start.

The Daily Feed
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DC Fire Department: Social Media maybe isn’t just for Parties

Photo courtesy of
‘Party Animals on First Street, SE’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

One of the very first government twitter feeds I started following belonged to the DC Fire & EMS department, who tweeted short notices about a fire’s location, seriousness of the incident, and often provided updates. They were a quick way to a corroborate a problem across town, to give you a heads up about something that might be happening.

You’ll notice that @dcfireems has been pretty quiet. Yesterday it was revealed that the department brass wasn’t happy with the job that PIO Pete Piringer was doing with the account and they were taking measures to protect themselves.

The outpouring of frustration was pretty voluminous. Thankfully, the Department is listening, and today Tim Craig from the Post has good news for DC Tweeters: “Breaking Twitter News @dcfireems will resume today. Fire PIO Piringer will be tweeter, as had been case. He will also have backup. No filter”

Whew. Maybe social media isn’t just for partying?

The Daily Feed
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DC passes tax increase on those earning more than $350,000/yr

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Residents Federal Tax Dollars Paid: $2,849,954,367.04’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The debate was loud, and it found some odd bedfellows, but the DC Council yesterday passed an income tax increase on those residents earning more than $350,000 per year, increasing the taxation rate on dollars earned after the 350,000th to 8.95% from 8.5%. The move is expected to increase revenues by about $100M over four years.

The increase, initially partnered with a removal of the controversial bond tax but later separated from it, represents a pretty significant defeat for Council Chair Kwame Brown, who was seeking to repeal the bond tax and prevent an income tax increase. Yesterday also marked an odd political alliance between Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) who found themselves both opposing a tax increase. Evans because he didn’t want to see wealthy residents squeezed, and Barry because he doesn’t believe in paying taxes at all.

The good news, though, is that there’s a four-year sunset provision added to the tax, courtesy of Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) who fought hard to make sure this is a temporary measure that will need addition council battles in the future to extend, for more information you can check with chartered accountants ireland

How contentious was the debate? The Washington Post felt it was appropriate to include the swearing that happened related to the increase in their coverage. There are now three people, according to columnist Mike DeBonis, who have been granted the right to say fuck or shit on those august pages, and they are Jack Evans, Phil Mendelson, and Dick Cheney.

When will swearing privileges be extended to minorities and women, I ask you, Mr. Ombudsman?

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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First Look: TruOrleans

graffiato 001

TruOrleans Restaurant & Gallery sits on the early part of H St NE, before all the hustle and bustle you’ll find closer to Sticky Rice, Toki Underground and Granville Moore’s. If you stand across from it (by Ethiopic), TruOrleans really seems to command the entire block.

It is 2 floors with an open deck. The space is great, and the staff is friendly. Every time I make my way around the place, I’m greeted by the hostess, a waiter and a bartender. This friendliness is a saving grace.

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