dc stuff

[fajwat]

I thought this one was one of several good dc related blog posts I've seen lately, but it also has some general psychological and political commentary.

http://joah.typepad.com/diatribes/2008/09/who-is-the-wash.html

Who is the 'Washington Elite'?

Each year, tens of thousands of young people descend upon our nation's capital.

They carry with them Ph.Ds in micro-finance and international relations, Master's degrees in business administration and public affairs, bachelor's degrees in government and Spanish and a world of ambition and hope and motivation.

They bring experiences absorbed over years of conversations with college-degree-wielding parents and older siblings, lessons from semesters spent studying abroad in places like Peru and Italy, stories collected from movies like The Constant Gardener and Fahrenheit 9/11 and told best over microbrews.

They espouse the virtues of diplomacy over military action, fair vs. free trade, sustainable development and alternative energy options. They chide the realities of lobbying, campaign politics, 527s, Republicans and any Department of Defense official not named Colin Powell. They attend Congressional receptions, happy hours that turn into AA (Apathetics Anonymous) meetings and kickball games that are more like mating rituals.

They talk about how poor they are from Sunday through Thursday (at 5pm) then drink too much at places like Local 16 and 18th Street Lounge on Fridays and Saturdays. They turn vaguely-known college classmates and Craigslist strangers into roommates to live in over-priced apartments in Dupont Circle or over-aged houses in Mount Pleasant. They are way just too busy to have one or two great friends so they spend a lot of time with eight or ten drinking buddies.

They replace the college bubble with the District bubble and dread the 30-minute Metro ride to Arlington or Bethesda. They have left the student government meetings, chemistry cram sessions and late night Taco Bell runs and replaced them with watching The Daily Show, reading DailyKos and eating Jumbo slice or falafel.

They don't have as good of taste in music as people in San Francisco. They don't bike as seriously as people in Austin. They don't care about the environment as much as people in Portland. They don't spend as much time outdoors as people in Denver. They don't dress as well as people in New York. They don't like summer as much as people in Chicago. They don't hate winter as much as people in L.A. They don't act like snobs as much as people in Boston. They aren't as liberal as people in Seattle. They aren't as conservative as people in Atlanta.

They want to be in the middle of everything. They don't want to be the best or worst at anything. They just want to be in the midst of it all.

They go to Washington, D.C., for just that reason. They immediately polarize themselves on nearly every issue. They just want you to understand what they're saying because then you'll agree with them.

They leave their hometowns and home states and try to change the status quo. They watch the years go by.

They both fail and succeed. The status quo has changed in one way or another.

They too have become the Washington elite.

They reach a point where they no longer identify with their hometowns or home states or high school classmates. They have nothing in common with Sarah Palin. They don't get why that matters.

Maybe I'm in the middle of it all too. Maybe I'm half Sarah Palin, half Washington elite.

[RottingCorpse]

Turning this into a general DC thread.

Run for your lives!!!!

This Won’t End Well for Nervous DC Residents

CBS plans to film a TV pilot on Wednesday, which will include a huge explosion near the Key Bridge.  Details below:

For the filming of a TV pilot, there will be a simulated explosion on Wednesday, March 25 between 9:30 a.m. and noon near Key Bridge in the District. The explosion will produce a 20 to 30′ fireball that will last for approximately 2 minutes.
…

Please pass along this information to others appropriate. The Department of Homeland Security and D.C. Police and Fire departments have been notified, along with the Washington Airports Authority. The Virginia State Patrol and Arlington Police Department will be contacted. If you have additional questions, contact Kathy Hollinger or Burt Warner with the DC Film Office at 202-727-6608.
…

The explosion will take place on the Potomac River just north of the Key Bridge and Jack’s Boathouse (K / Water Street, NW under the Whitehurst Freeway). In the scene to be filmed, there will be six (6) sculling boats on the Potomac River and one of them blows up.
…

CBS Paramount television is filming a pilot titled "Washington Field." This is a new television series about the elite Washington field office of the FBI and a team of agents with exceptional and diverse skills who are called together for only the most critical cases.

[Reginald McGraw]

A simulated real explosion with a simulated 20-30' fireball that is real.  No one panic!!

[Nubbins]

Wow, a real simulated fireball! 

[monkey!]

Simulated? Really?

[fajwat]

update to TFA:

http://famousdc.com/2009/03/23/this-wont-end-well-for-nervous-dc-residents/

UPDATE II: From a concerned citizen:  Hello. I just got off the phone w/the appropriate authorities as well as the film company and the first thing that was said to me is that no big explosion for filming has been approved nor would it be since 9/11.

The film crew said there would be sculls on the river but there will be only a flash of light and a puff of smoke (they’ll work on effects in studio) but no, no big fire ball lasting 2-3 minutes. I was told if I blinked I would miss the flash of light.

[Tatertots]

"Hey guys, I can't come hang out tonight since 9/11."

[RottingCorpse]

LOL!

[nacho]

Good night Vertigo...


http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/04/10/this-sucks-vertigo-books-is-closing/

Vertigo Books has just announced that it is closing. Very sad news as the bookstore had an awesome staff, offered a great selection, and produced interesting readings each month from well-known authors and should-be-well-known authors. They championed African-American literature in particular and had close ties with the DC-area community. They defined the independent bookstore. In an e-mail sent out this afternoon, the shop’s owners write:

[fajwat]

Yeah, I got the news through their mailing list.  Pickings in there sometimes felt pretty desolate if you wanted something other than their specialties.  They had a similar focus to Busboys and Poets store, and they had some really great author readings.  It's a shame they never connected better with the college population.  (They're on the south border of college park campus, right next to the nearest 7-11, wawa, and most of the watering holes.)

[Nubbins]

Gotta love The Onion.

Three Fingered On Class Trip To Washington, D.C.

April 25, 2009 | Issue 45•17

WASHINGTON—Less than 24 hours into their class trip to Washington D.C., ninth-graders from Middleton Junior High School are reporting that three of their female classmates have been fingered.

Those students whose fingerings have been confirmed include 14-year-old Lacy DeWitt, 15-year-old Jamie Cavanaugh, and freshman class president Kelly Oswald.

Rumors of a fourth fingering remain unsubstantiated, though students noted that during Friday's showing of Cosmic Collisions at the National Air and Space Museum, Brian Rupp and Laura Burkholder sat in the back of the planetarium far away from chaperones.

Burkholder was reportedly wearing a skirt at the time.

"We expect our students to be on their best behavior here in Washington," said vice principal Tom Molinaro, who is known to often fall asleep during bus rides, thus increasing the chances of a fingering taking place. "Remember, we're representing our school here."

According to students, the first fingering occurred Thursday at 8:32 a.m., when Jared Geyer, using a Middleton Football hooded sweatshirt for cover, fingered girlfriend Lacy DeWitt roughly 90 minutes into the six-hour trip to the nation's capital.

"I knew Jared was fingering her," classmate Matt Shearer told reporters. "They were laughing with each other and then they got real quiet."

Added Shearer, "Before the trip Jared said he was going to finger her."

The second fingering reportedly took place Thursday night at the hotel after chaperones failed to notice that Nick Stern had been hiding in Jamie Cavanaugh's bathroom during a 10 p.m. room check. After the two chaperones left, Stern exited the bathroom and proceeded to finger Cavanaugh from approximately 10:13 p.m. to 10:17 p.m.

Kelly Oswald, recipient of the trip's third confirmed fingering, was fingered by Greg Wandel on Friday behind the FDR Memorial.

While the official count remains at three, students speculated that as many as 20 of their classmates have been or will be fingered before the trip's end. However, ninth-grade sources have ruled out any chance of 15-year-old Emily Blankenship being fingered, felt up, or even touched, for that matter.

"I guarantee Dave Hilland will finger Jessica Swink," Geoff Schroyer told reporters, adding that Hilland fingered Swink during last summer's whale-watching trip in Boston. "If not tonight, then definitely during the bus ride back. Either way, he'll finger her."

In addition to those who could be getting fingered at this very moment, four other students have reportedly been the object of attempted fingerings, one of which was interrupted when a chaperone entered the railcar exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. According to Jason Schilling, there was no actual finger insertion, though contact with pubic hair was made.

Others who have been implicated in alleged fingerings include Allison Maida, whose whereabouts between 3:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Friday remain unknown.

"She was probably getting fingered," Joey Ross, 14, said.

When last available for comment, students said that Michael Biller and Carrie Washburn had stayed behind as their tour group left a monument—the name of which they could not recall—and that the situation would likely end with Washburn being "finger slammed."

"I think these trips are so important because they get the kids out of their little bubble back at school," said chaperone and ninth-grade history teacher Heidi DeWitt, whose daughter has been fingered twice during the excursion. "Washington, D.C. is such an amazing city. I'm sure this will be an experience these kids will never forget."

[saintangelsin]

Good night Vertigo...


http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/04/10/this-sucks-vertigo-books-is-closing/

Vertigo Books has just announced that it is closing. Very sad news as the bookstore had an awesome staff, offered a great selection, and produced interesting readings each month from well-known authors and should-be-well-known authors. They championed African-American literature in particular and had close ties with the DC-area community. They defined the independent bookstore. In an e-mail sent out this afternoon, the shop’s owners write:

I went shopping their during their last week of being opened. It was quite heartbreaking. I used to just hangout in there and look at books with my one roommate. Granted that was like 3 years ago when I lived on the lower south part of campus.

Yeah, I got the news through their mailing list.  Pickings in there sometimes felt pretty desolate if you wanted something other than their specialties.  They had a similar focus to Busboys and Poets store, and they had some really great author readings.  It's a shame they never connected better with the college population.  (They're on the south border of college park campus, right next to the nearest 7-11, wawa, and most of the watering holes.)

I agree that it's a shame. It's embarrassing that College Park doesn't have a decent bookstore now. Then again, I think if they sold textbooks or if more professors ordered books through them, they'd still be around.

One more thing, the WaWa closed in September of 2007, which totally blew. Seriously, downtown college park is miserable. 

[nacho]

Shame it'll be in such a dodgy area...

http://www.princeofpetworth.com/2009/05/a-real-historic-diner-coming-to-dc/

This is one of the freshest things I’ve heard in a while. From an email from one of the owners:

“My partner and I are moving an historic 1940’s diner from New York to Washington, DC tomorrow. We bought a Silk City Diner, manufactured by Paterson Vehicle Company in 1947, that has been in upstate New York ever since it was put into service.

The nation’s capital currently has no true diners that I’m aware of; that is, historic modular diner buildings manufactured during 1930-60. So, we’re bringing one to DC by moving it from New York.

It will arrive sometime tomorrow. Unfortunately, I cannot give a specific time of arrival yet due to the nature of highway transportation of oversized loads.

The diner will be located in the Trinidad neighborhood of DC, at the site of a former used car lot shut down by Mayor Fenty in November 2008 (1050 Bladensburg Rd NE). It will be located across the street from Jimmy Valentine’s and 2 blocks or so from the H street bars/restaurants. The initial hours (once we open) will be from 6am-10pm (we think), but we’ll be open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday evenings.”

[nacho]

I love how DC is sparing no expense to lay down streetcar tracks... But can't decide what power source to use.  Nor is a decision imminent.  So these tracks are going to sit idle for god knows how long...

Tracks are starting to show up:

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=2450


And more details:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/15/streetcars-on-track-for-return-to-dc/

The $25 million project - the first phase of the streetcar initiative - is expected to be completed in 18 months. The line will be served by three streetcars the District bought in 2005 for $10 million. They have been mothballed ever since in the Czech Republic, where they were built, because previous streetcar initiatives have failed.

And the pipedream:

http://www.sierraclub.org/dc/sprawl/dc/dc-streetcars.html

[nacho]

WMATA is launching thier "courtesy program."  The first video is below.

Yeah...