Category Archives: WTF?!

Crime & Punishment, The District, The Features, WTF?!
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Learning About St. Elizabeth’s Hospital

Photo courtesy of


‘St Elisabeth’s Hospital – Autopsy is also a spectator sport’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

While poking around through the We Love DC Flickr pool this morning, I ran across spiggycat’s set of photos from a recent tour of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Anacostia. Since that was the second time in the space of a week someone mentioned touring St. Elizabeth’s, and since I know pretty much nothing about it, AND since my day job is into its 2nd straight day of technical issues that are preventing me from accomplishing anything, it seemed like a good time for self-education-by-Google.

St. Elizabeth’s was founded in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane, headed by Dorthea Dix, and intended to care for patients from the Army, Navy, and District of Columbia. But the Civil War soldiers in treatment there didn’t like telling people they were in a hospital for the insane, so they referred to it by the old colonial name of the land the hospital sat on, St. Elizabeth’s. It wasn’t until 1916 that Congress got with the program and renamed the hospital officially.

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News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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10 Years Later & People Are Still Talking About “The Blair Witch Project” — Really? Really!

Photo courtesy of
‘Blair Witch Project’
courtesy of ‘Catchpenny’

The appeal behind The Blair Witch Project never made any sense to me. In fact, I’m jealous that someone thought of such a simple idea and made a decent profit off of it.

With that said, Burkittsville, MD officials announced today that the small western Maryland town will be replacing the four “Welcome to Burkittsville” signs stolen throughout the area over the past decade due to Blair Witch fans.

“You really can’t imagine how crazy it was during the whole Blair Witch saga,” Mayor Debby Burgoyne said.

The black on white “older-style”  signs will be replaced by blue ones with white letters and red stars, according to  Burgoyne.

Officials are saying that a local history society has obtained one of the old signs. The rest are set to be auctioned a later date.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Washington Blade Closes

Photo courtesy of
‘guilty pleasures’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

This morning at 11:20, the Washington Blade tweeted, “Washington Blade, like all Window Media publications, is closing today. Thank you for your support. (Keep following us for developments.)” The Blade was owned by Window Media, which also owned Southern Voice, which was in turn bought by Avalon Equity Fund, which is now in receivership and closing publications. Today’s move was part of four GLBTQ outlets closing, the Blade, which just turned 40, Atlanta’s Southern Voice paper and David magazine and the South Florida Blade.

In addition to shuttering the paper property, the digital archives at Wash Blade is now reporting down (Update, 12:10p: the servers are alternating between down, up, and the Site Down page, probably under heavy load). The Blade has been a DC institution for 40 years, and its loss will be very hard on the DC area in specific. Started in 1969 with humble beginnings as a mimeographed paper, the Blade has a long and storied history that I can’t believe will just be destroyed like this. I recently heard a great segment with their editor on the Kojo Nnamdi show celebrating their great history.

Washington is a poorer place without the Blade.

UPDATE, 12:55p: Via Politico, the Blade’s staff is working on a new venture already, with the first meeting being tomorrow, under the helm of Private Citizen and former Blade editor Kevin Naff. Anything we can do to help Mr. Naff and his fine staff, he need but ask. I’m very, very glad to see Mr. Naff crafting his own Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and I hope it’s up and running very soon.

Food and Drink, Fun & Games, News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Leesburg Under Attack by Overly Agressive Turkey

Photo courtesy of
‘I’m no one’s Thanksgiving dinner!’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Leesburg, VA is under siege by an aggressive,  car hating turkey. According to Fox, the bird, affectionately, albeit uncreatively named “Tom,” has been patrolling the streets, chasing passing vehicles.  Animal control officers managed to lure Tom to a flock of turkeys on a near by farm, which they hope will keep him out of traffic.  If not, the impending holiday should provide an easy and delicious solution to this problem.

Arlington, Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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The Phallic Deli

Photo courtesy of
‘Every Food Fits – Well, Hot Dog!’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

Do you like a little innuendo in your local deli?  Maybe some masculine flair?  Well, look no further than Ballston’s Market Place & Deli. Jeff, one of our readers, sent us a picture of Market Place’s hilarious and unintentionally(?) sexual logo.  This may be old news to Ballston locals, but most people aren’t in on the sausage fest yet, so I thought I’d give you all a laugh.  I took the liberty of posting the logo on Failblog, so get over there and vote for it. Penis.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Shooting at H St & 14th St NE

14thHstNE.png

Voice of the Hill is reporting a shooting at the Metrobus stop at 14th and H St NE, in which a victim was shot multiple times. Kyle Sheldon also reports 12 police cruisers and a Police Van at the intersection, which is closed down to car traffic at this time.

WUSA9 has a bit more detail: A man was shot and fatally injured as he stepped on board a Metrobus in Northeast Washington Wednesday. The shooting occurred shortly before noon at 14th and H Streets N.E.

Police officials say it appears there were no other passengers on board the bus, and immediately after the shooting, the bus driver took off and drove another block or so to 13th and H. The bus driver was not injured. Police were said to be looking for multiple suspects.

Talkin' Transit, The Features, WMATA, WTF?!
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Talkin’ Transit: Same Old, Same Old

Photo courtesy of
‘Service Advisory’
courtesy of ‘MattHurst’

WMATA quietly announced last night it has lifted a long-standing ban on allowing independent safety monitors access to Metro tracks. Metro board Chairman Jim Graham met with WMATA higher-ups yesterday and it had some result, supposedly. Late Tuesday, WMATA officials said that the Tri-State Oversight Committee (TSOC TOC) does have the authority to carry out safety inspections and ensuring employees are complying with safety rules and regulations.

But once again, Metro fails to communicate. Eric Madison, chairman of the oversight committee, told the Washington Post that as of last night, no one from Metro had contacted him about removing the ban; he considers the ban still in place. The Metro press release appears contradictory to what the TSOC TOC has heard previously and didn’t contain any new information, so until WMATA provides the committee with a formal written agreement, they consider the ban still in effect. Madison told WaPo “[w]e want to get something in writing that lays out the specifics of how we access the right of way and that sort of thing. This has gone on long enough.”

We feel your pain, Mr. Madison. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Marion Barry Gets His Own Reality Show

Photo courtesy of
‘Harrison, NY Train Wreck’
courtesy of ‘George Eastman House’

If there’s one trend in entertainment in the last decade that I have come to absolutely, positively, with no exception loathe, hate, despise and deplore, it’s the rise of reality television. The “unscripted” nature of these programs, along with a willing supply of fame-whores looking for an easy break, makes it cheap to produce them en masse with little or no preparation. One need only look at this list of the 15 worst Reality TV shows ever made to recognize the scourge that they are.

Now, DC has played host to a few of the Reality shows, with this summer’s Real World taking place up in Dupont, and Bravo’s Real Housewives of DC filming now (seriously, this is the show concept that has me thinking that fiery demise is far too good for the people who come up with the premise for these shows.), so why shouldn’t it surprise me that Marion Barry is filming a pilot for his own reality show? DCist confirmed it with his Chief of Staff. If you really felt the need to watch this kind of train wreck, could you let us know? I really want to figure out who likes these things.

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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It’s December Holiday Season Already?

Snowman and Santas at CVS

Snowman and Santas at CVS

What is up with all the Christmas/Hanukkah decorations?!! It was like I blinked my eyes on Halloween, and the holiday elves  turned everything from orange/black to red/white, and moved all orange and black candy and creepy motion activated cackling wall mounts into the $.05 bin.

I’m not an Ebenezer Scrooge, but seriously, give us consumers some more transition time! This whole speed of light switch-a-roo is just way too jarring.

Besides, it’s not like there aren’t other holidays that come between Halloween and Christmas.  What about Veterans Day?!! Shouldn’t CVS be covered head to toe in American flags?!! Think July 4th decorations, but in November.  What about Thanksgiving! Tons of fake cornucopias, stuffed turkeys or pilgrim hats?!!

Until I celebreate these two important and historical holidays that come before the yuletide, I’m saying “BAH HUMBUG!”

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Oh DNC, That’s Just Dumb

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

Sure, DNC, we know you think you’ve got it all made, what with your 60 votes in the Senate and control of both houses of Congress and the White House, but could you please pay closer attention to your automated email?

I mean, we know that Congresswoman Norton is vote-less in the House, which is something that pains us on a regular basis, and that you have taken no concrete steps toward fixing through Constitutional Amendment. And we recognize the importance of the Health Care Reform Acts currently in front of the body, but do you have to remind us via email that residents of the District are voiceless in these matters?

Fail. Fail. Fail.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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WMATA Changes Mind – AGAIN

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

So it’s looking like Metro GM Catoe is backing off the planned SmartBenefits changes that WMATA originally announced last month. Apparently WMATA’s had a lot of questions tossed at them about the changes and how highly screwed up it is. During his noontime chat today, the following question and answer popped up:

Arlington, VA: Good afternoon – I have a question regarding the upcoming changes to SmartBenefits. Do we know yet what will happen to the current balances on our SmarTrip cards? For instance, if I have a $100 balance on the card beginning Jan 1, what “purse” will that money go into? Thank you!

Reply: Hi Arlington. I see a few questions about SmartBenefits here in the queue. Over the past couple of weeks, we have heard a lot of comments from customers about this change in SmartBenefits. I’ve decided that we need to rethink the changes that we are making. At this point I do not have any new details to share. I hope to be able to provide more detail about the program in the coming weeks that will be able to clarify these sorts of questions. Rest assured, I have heard what people have to say and your comments will be taken into account as we develop the plan moving forward. (emphasis mine)

Last I knew, WMATA, employers need to have employee commitments for SmartBenefits by December 10 at the latest in order to apply the changes for January’s deductions. Some contacts I have in the Golden Triangle have indicated they’ll be dropping the program due to the inability of Metro to answer their questions regarding the “sendback” funds. So Mr. Catoe, WHEN are you going to make this decision?

In this instance, time really is money.

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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OMG WTF BHO?

Via FuckYeahDC comes this beautiful piece of wackiness. It’s a mashup of a Japanese エロゲ (eroge) called My girlfriend is the PRESIDENT, and modern day politics. I mean, who doesn’t get all hot and bothered talking about Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin? Okay, so that’s everyone. But this video is worth it for the sheer and absolute “What the %^&*ing %^&* did I just watch?!” factor, and the understanding that someone, somewhere, really thinks that Vlad Putin and Kim Jong Il are secretly in bed together.

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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$14M Power Distribution Unit Replacement?

Photo courtesy of
‘wheat pennies bw’
courtesy of ‘christaki’

The root cause of yesterday’s Metro failure was the death of a 27-year old Power Distribution Unit (be sure to click through for the pictures of what was left… (read yesterday’s interview with Chuck Goolsbee to get more detail as to what these do), and while there’s an interim solution in place, full replacement is necessary. Metro is estimating that this will cost approximately $14M to do correctly, including upgrades and replacements of HVAC gear, and a new generator. This is the sort of capital improvement that happens maybe once a quarter-century, so it’s likely that they’ll get it, however, when I asked Chuck about the cost, this is what he said: “I could build an entire new datacenter facility for 14mil!”

Yikes. That’s a bunch of money…

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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WMATA Backpedals on SmartBenefits Changes

Photo courtesy of
‘Newspapers Newspapers Newspapers’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

With the change in SmartBenefits (ie, MetroChecks) looming large, and confusion running rampant concerning the potential changes, Greater Greater Washington reports that some employers are going to have the option to stay as it stands after January 1st. The difficulty appears to be in the concept of pretax deductions. If you’re taking money out pre-tax for Metro fare, and fail to use it by the end of the month, the money has to revert to the employer, and thus, the employee. Unfortunately, that paperwork is not straightforward, so there’s a delay here.

Fun & Games, News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Snyder Apologizes for 2-5 Record, Fails to Realize He is Still a Jackass

Photo courtesy of
‘Post-game’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

Yesterday, Dan Snyder apologized for the Redskins abysmal record. He appeared at a press conference after a charity event and stated that the Skins have “let everyone down” this season and that the organization is sorry. Unfortunately, he failed to address his crackdown on “offensive” signs and his pathological need for adulation from fans and the media. My guess is that he figured what Washingtonians are really upset about is the Skins’ losing record, and not that he meddles in the team’s coaching or that his skin is so thin that he can’t handle seeing a “Fire Snyder” t-shirt in his stadium. Dan, if you want people to stop hating you, let the coaches coach and quit being a jackass. Mostly the latter. It’s really that simple.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Fries! At Hellburger!

hellburgerfries
Hellburger Fries photo courtesy Samer Farha

I love Ray’s Hellburger, guys. It’s to the point where I don’t even bother ordering the burger at most other restaurants because it will just disappoint me. But every time I take someone there who hasn’t been before, they wrinkle up their nose in annoyance. “What, no fries? Who serves a burger without fries?” Someone who is spending all his efforts on making the best damn burger I’ve ever had, that’s who. I don’t even notice the lack of fries, that burger is so tasty.

It seems that Michael Landrum has heard the pleas of the masses- according to WLDC reader Samer Farha, french fries are now on the menu at Ray’s Hellburger (edited to add: Samer tells me the small order of fries is priced in the $2-$3 range). But I’m looking at this photo, and they look like your general foodservice, frozen-in-an-enormous-sack, shoestring-cut fries. I could be wrong, I have not eaten them myself, and I welcome correction from anyone in the know.

But look. I once walked into Hellburger and saw Michael Landrum standing next to a side of beef and a meat grinder with a cleaver in his hand. That burger was recently steak. Steak that was aged by the Ray’s staff. Frozen food service fries do not deserve to be on the same table as that burger. But for all of you who just can’t fathom eating even the finest burger without a basket of mass-produced, thawed-out french fries… here you go.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro Scares Adults, Small Children

Photo courtesy of
‘Ghost Train’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Metro will be scaring the crap out of kids and adults alike tomorrow. Well, more than they usually do. And not by hurting or potentially hurting anyone, for once. They’re going to be out with their Boo Bus at Anacostia Metro tomorrow between 12p and 2p to provide a safe and fun scare (wait, are those things consistent?) for those who want to see a Halloween-decked-out Metrobus.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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WMATA silently edits news release

Photo courtesy of
‘Pravda’
courtesy of ‘aquateamhungryfort’

Earlier I linked to a WMATA news release on the changes to how SmarTrip SmartBenefits would be handled and disbursed. When reader Nate commented that he disagreed with me about the significant part of the story I went back to look at the release again… and was surprised that I had misremembered there being a section about how unused benefit deposits were refunded

When I checked another window, however, I discovered I hadn’t misremembered – WMATA had just edited the release and made no note of the change. Both releases state they were issued at 11:52am today. The original section that explains what Nate is talking about was the last bit of the second paragraph and reads as follows:

Any unused benefits will be credited back to the employer at the end of each month. Employees who currently contribute a portion of their pre-taxed salary to through the SmartBenefits® program should contact their employers to determine how that employer will handle any unused portion of their pre-tax contribution.

The new edited release makes some mention of “pre-tax benefits” but excises the word “contribution” entirely. Kinda sleazy.

The other changed sections are after the jump.

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All Politics is Local, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Dan Snyder and the Gestapo

Photo courtesy of
‘Under the lights’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

Not to keep rubbing salt into the “Redskins are the worst” wound, but Dan Snyder seems more and more like a fascist dictator every day.  There have been several accounts, including two from last night alone, of people being kicked out of FedEx Field for expressing their true feelings for Mr. Snyder.  Apparently, he sicked a couple of security guards on critical fans, confiscating a banner and kicking them out of the stadium.  Nice.  Glad to hear he’s so confident in himself.  Let this be a lesson to the rest of you.  If you’re going to tell Mr. Musolli… I mean, “Mr. Snyder” that he sucks, don’t do it in his stadium.  He really doesn’t like it. But seriously, Dan, you do suck.

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