Category Archives: WTF?!

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Burying the lead disappointment

Photo courtesy of
‘NO SMARTRIP -6480’
courtesy of ‘Joe Tresh’

WMATA’s press release about SmartBenefits talks a little about how some changes will be made to the SmarTrip behavior to comply with new IRS rules but leaves the really interesting thing for last. A sizable percentage of people in the area might get transit subsidies from their employers but here’s the real news for all SmarTrip users: no passes or online refilling of cards till Fall 2010.

WMATA blames this delay on the complexity of implementing these changes to meet IRA rules, but it’s hard to give this much credence given how horribly overdue they are in implementing this feature. IRS transit mandates might be why they couldn’t fit it into 2009, but what’s the reason they didn’t have it in 2004 or 2005?

Fun & Games, News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Redskins have a Case of the Mondays

Photo courtesy of
‘Colt Brennan and Marcus Mason’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

What a night for the hometown team. The Redskins lost to the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 27-17 in an absolutely miserable performance.  You may be thinking “10 points isn’t that bad,” but, I’ll remind you that half of the Eagles team is injured and that they lost to the Oakland Raiders, last week.  It’s bad.  Where to start with this?  The offense, while making a few clutch plays (hence the 17 points), had 3 turn-overs, one of which resulted in a touchdown for the Eagles. The line allowed Campbell to be sacked 6 times, oh, and Chris Cooley broke his ankle.  Things are not looking good.  On the defensive side, no one seemed to be able to stop Desean Jackson, who scored two touchdowns, one on a huge run and the other on a huge reception.  All in all, the Skins looked par for the course for this season.  The front office’s decision to mute Jim Zorn obviously had no positive effect on the play calling and the Redskins show no sign of improvement.  Honestly, get used to losing.

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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No Money? Let’s Tax Per Mile!

Photo courtesy of
‘idiot’
courtesy of ‘Kasabian/’

I hate waking up to stupid moronic ideas.

This morning, WUSA reports on a brilliant idea by Washington’s Council of Governments to fund a study of what kind of pay-per-mile plan would be accepted in the area.

The reasoning by these smart people COG is that with gas taxes remaining static and “the transportation system collapsing all around us” they want to find new sources of revenue to pay for roadwork and mass transit. (Edited: I actually agree with this premise; originally when I posted, I was incensed about the cost of the study, which IMNSHO is a waste of money because no one wants yet another tax.)

“One of the sources that’s been talked a lot about in academic circles is pricing highway use by miles. Now, we don’t know if that is something that makes a lot of sense to do…” remarks David Snyder of the Council’s Transportation Planning Board (emphasis mine).

You know, we Washingtonians can save you guys the $400K to conduct the study so that money can be put to better use: It’s a lame-ass stupid idea and I guarantee the public will tell you exactly where to stick your plans and models – right up a personal tunnel where the sun never shines.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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DC Wants You To Be Nicer To Animals

Photo courtesy of
‘Raccoon’
courtesy of ‘Riverbanksoutdoorstore’

Generally, I’m of the opinion that we should gently displace wildlife that we develop around, treating them generally with respect. Of course, I tend to think that’s deer, and not raccoons and opossums, which are pests and potential rabies vectors. Apparently, Councilwoman Cheh disagrees and wants to protect their little rodent hides from the exterminators. Included are making sure that little rodent families are preserved if they have to be relocated, and the banning of odious glue traps. In addition, all exterminators would need to be licensed by the District.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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WTOP: Ride Metro at Your Own Risk

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

Mark Segraves and Adam Tuss over at WTOP.com filed a report this morning covering the fact that since 2004, Metro bus and train operators have been cited over 4,000 times for endangering the lives of their passengers. Most of the incidents involve illegal behavior including speeding in residential neighborhoods, running red lights and hitting cars, people, bicycles and wheelchairs. (Update: WTOP has informed me that this will be a week-long series with reports from both Mark and Adam through Thursday.)

Shocking? To most of us, probably not. Metro downplays the numbers, citing that on an average day, 1,200 buses cover 1,500 square miles and provide 20 hours of service. I can forgive the bad eggs that happen along; it’s a sad fact of life that no service or system is perfect. It’s hardly surprising to anyone that one of the more common complaints in the report is rude and discourteous behavior by Metro employees to customers, including profanity and grabbing people.

What is incredible about the report is some of the infractions that operators have been cited for. Slewing the bus around corners hard enough to tip wheelchairs over? Leaving passengers in bus lots or trains after closing? Urinating inside the bus?

Seriously, WMATA, WTF?

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Disaster Game Stops in DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Smithsonian park bench’
courtesy of ‘Slippy Slappy’

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve seen a promo for 2012 by now. It’s disaster porn of the highest order. But, you might’ve missed that there’s a transmedia project associated with the game, including twitter accounts and a YouTube channel. If you’ve got some time this afternoon, bolt on over to the comic book store by 3pm at 50 Mass Ave NE and pass them the codeword “2012”, you’ll find yourself with a package of some import to the game.

A wild goose-chase, perhaps? Perhaps. But a fun diversion that makes you feel a bit like a spook, definitely. I remember a campaign in DC in 2003 that had me running all over DC with a group of people answering payphones as a part of a puzzle, and another that involved playing poker in Congressional Cemetery, so it’s nice to see another fun game stopping in DC along the way. If you’re looking for more in this vein, check out Unfiction, the largest online community devoted to these kinds of experiences.

Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metrobus to Do Things By The Book?

Photo courtesy of
‘Panned Metrobus’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

I know this makes me nerdy, but I love that scene in Wrath of Khan where Saavik and Spock start talking about doing things By The Book, and the post this morning from Unsuck DC Metro is reminiscent of that this morning. One of their readers announced a few changes on his 52 bus last night, suggesting that folks may need to allow for additional time due to drivers following regulations to the letter in order to better reduce casualties in the bus system. It’s not clear if this is an organized union-endorsed behavior, or if this could be considered like a work stoppage.

So, did your bus seems slower than usual this morning? Or, was it business as usual?

And yeah, you can totally call me a nerd for referencing Star Trek in a post about Metrobuses. Because I deserve it.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro $22M Short

Photo courtesy of
‘Moving Momentarily’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

No surprise in that headline. Last night’s finance committee meeting had Carol Kissal, WMATA’s CFO, telling the board that if there is no upswing in ridership by the end of the year, that $22.4 million budget gap could get bigger. Her estimate so far is based on July and August ridership levels.

Interestingly, Kissal blamed ridership decline on higher unemployment, lower gas prices and the June Red Line crash. Maybe so, but those are “dodge” excuses, really. What about abysmal customer service, long rail delays on OTHER lines, a creepily-high incidental death rate, non-explanatory e-alerts, bus drivers hitting people and a really, REALLY bad PR image at the moment?

And more unsurprisingly, GM John Catoe “has a plan.” Of course he does. He’s John-freaking-Catoe. What the man says, goes. Even if he doesn’t tell everyone else!

Seriously though, looks like Metro’s threatening fare hikes next year, unless we all suck it up and ride.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Protestors in the Intersection at 14th & I

14th&I.jpg

There are approximately 150-200 Anti-War Protestors in the intersection at 14th & I St NW, blocking traffic and obstructing free movement near the intersection. There are approximately 30 of DC’s Finest hanging out with them as well. No word yet how quickly they’ll be dispersed, but a several-block traffic jam is occurring at this time.

[Update by Ben H. Rome] I managed to get caught in the protest by the “Students for Democratic Society.” Supposedly it was against the war in Afghanistan, but I overheard several different reasons as to what it was about, depending on which student was being interviewed. The war, education reform, health care, “party rights” (WTF?), reefer legalization… All I could really figure out was that a bunch of students decided to make some signs, go marching down some erratic route with a police escort (that got larger as they progressed) and finally stop in the middle of Eye St. NW between 14th and 15th, blast some dance music from a portable jury-rigged setup and dance. Stupidly. In the middle of the rush hour.

Oh, and dressed as a farm animal, in one case.

Needless to say, several motorists let the kids know what they thought about their “protest.” In words I’d rather not repeat.

Check out the photos I took of this peculiar “non-event.”

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Michelle Rhee Talks

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcwashington.com/video.

The last few mornings in Chinatown have been interrupted just before noon with the sounds of a student protest walking by the coffee shop, with numerous students carrying signs and wearing their school’s colors. The loss of 400 staff members from DCPS is the issue, and the result of a $40M budget shortfall, as announced by Chancellor Michelle Rhee. The shortfall itself is the subject of controversy, with Councilmember Barry coming out to suggest that the Chancellor is lying about the shortfall.

Chancellor Rhee is trying to clear the record up, and appeared this morning in a 6 minute segment on NBC 4 displayed above. A few of the myths and legends associated with the situation are the subject of the interview. To be clear, one of the unaddressed questions appear to be: Did DCPS focus the reductions in force on teachers with some amount of seniority, or were these across the board cuts?

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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WMATA alerts by text message? No.

ScreenShot145

One of our loyal readers sent us a note about WMATA’s eAlerts system and the inability to sign up to get them via text messages rather than email. In fairness to WMATA, the main screen only says “you can receive alerts via email notifying you of Metro service disruptions.” However when you click on the subscribe button you get a popup that says “Receive alerts through email or text message” and the box to enter your contact info says “Enter Your email or SMS address.”

Unfortunately it’s a trap; the box refuses to accept any entry that isn’t a x@y.z format email address. You’ll have to stick with whatever email to SMS gateway your cell provider offers if you want to get the alerts sent to you via text. TechRecipies has the format for all the major carriers here if you don’t know yours.

As to why WMATA’s form is misleading? Unclear. Our tipster asked customer service why it wasn’t working and got a resounding “dunno.” Perhaps WMATA will be expanding to offer this functionality down the road and their text got ahead of their capabilities. Or maybe it’s already in and a coder simply forgot to update the validation check.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Sex Club Death in DC

Photo courtesy of
‘All that remained from our block of hell’
courtesy of ‘tomeppy’

Borderstan was on top of things this weekend when a body was found inside a building that moonlights as a gay and bi-sexual male sex club at 14th and Corcoran near Logan Circle. One of the commenters on the entry suggests that the death may have been the result of an accidental fall on one of the staircases inside the building. Another is requesting anyone with information about the fall (which took place around 5am on Sunday morning) get in touch with Detective Patterson at 202-645-7065.

This isn’t the first incident at the club, a fire broke out in 2005. I had no idea that Sex Clubs were totally a thing in DC, but judging by this gridskipper map, I’m totally wrong. Huh. Who’d’ve thunk?

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Two Guys Jump Off Key Bridge, Try to Erase All Trace Of It

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Nicole Aguirre’

We’re late to the party on this one, and a lot of the supporting material for this post has been consigned to the Google Cache, but a video was posted to YouTube, and then removed, of two local guys, possibly students at Georgetown, jumping off the Key Bridge. The original video has been pulled, and a couple posts have been scrubbed from their original locations, at the request of third parties possibly related to the original jumpers. The conflict appears to be related to some negative attention due to the now-absent video, and the move to cover up a stunt that was caught on video.

That’s some serious height there, and you’ve got to think that someone willing to jump off is a little bit crazy, or a lot stupid. Either way, why the cover up?

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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WUSA Says Graham is Target of FBI Investigation

Photo courtesy of
‘Jim Graham Sign’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Just when you thought the Ted Loza thing was weird enough, now it appears that Jim Graham may be a part of the investigation as well. Apparently the FBI has both Graham and Loza on tape with an FBI informant during the investigation. WUSA9 is quoting “sources close to the FBI investigation,” which may or may not be accurate, and we certainly hope that Councilman Graham is as clean and clear as he says he is. Related, in the story, the FBI source is said to have related that an $150,000 bribe was offered to the taxi commission as part of this situation, but was turned down and turned over to the police for investigation.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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No, Really. They (Apparently) Did.

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

Still awaiting confirmation on the story, but NBC Washington is reporting that several people were locked in the Van Dorn Metro station last night. Apparently the station manager had locked up the facility before the last train had arrived; it took the people 45 minutes to get someone to let them out.

If true, it’s just yet another great PR story for Metro. What a way to celebrate the renewal of Catoe’s contract!

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metrobus Driver Involved in Injury Crash is Fired

Photo courtesy of
‘Outside, Looking In’
courtesy of ‘Bogotron’

It really does boggle the mind that it took Metro almost a month to fire the driver who hit a pedestrian in DC. But, here we are, and Metro did the right thing 3 weeks after Carla Proctor struck Amanda Mahnke with her empty Metrobus. Why’d it take so long?

No idea. But, in the meantime, GM John Catoe got a 3-year contract extension worth over $1M.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Photo courtesy of
‘TaylorFire1-8-17-09-MikeChaveas’
courtesy of ‘Coconino National Forest’

This is what it looks like when planes drop fire retardant. Load after load into the forests of the Western US when there’s a forest fire burning not far away. The difficult conditions of fighting fires in the west, where forests can be millions of acres, have lead to airplane tankers, smokejumpers who parachute in to fight the fire, and all manner of difficult and expensive techniques to prevent rampaging forest fires. However, the US Forestry Service has shunted $3M from wildland fire management to creating green jobs in DC.

While I am certainly thankful for jobs in the District, wouldn’t it make more sense not to steal them from areas that need the funding to make sure their houses don’t burn to the ground?

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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I Don’t Mean To Start Something, But…

Photo courtesy of
‘weenie beenie hdr’
courtesy of ‘christaki’

I almost feel like I have to. This morning as I left my client’s office in Anacostia and drove (yes, I know, Car-Free Day, blah blah blah) back to my roost in Fairlington, I felt the urge to try something new for lunch. I’d heard tell of the Weenie Beenie being home to one of the DC area’s best half-smokes, but I always wrote it off. That little place, across from the Day Labor center? How could that place be any good? It’s a walk-up, for cry-eye.

Oh, how I was wrong.

This statement is controversial, and I feel it may need more basis in evidence, but I have come away thinking that this might just be the best half-smoke in town. I almost feel like there needs to be a side-by-side taste-test with Ben’s to prove it, but I’m thinking that the Weenie Beenie may yet rule the roost.

Who’s with me?