You’d think that this would be front-page news rather than buried inside, but the Washington Post has broken the story that there’s a previously unknown 10th justice on the Supreme Court!

And in Preston v. Ferrer, justices ruled 9 to 1 against Alex Ferrer, a former Florida trial court judge who appears as “Judge Alex” on a Fox television program.

You weren’t kidding, Tom – they were SO prejudiced against Judge Alex that they brought some random dude in off the street to vote against him!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

DC mom Meredith Massey got rather a shock when she noticed that the photos she had marked “Private” in Flickr had actually been viewed thousands of times. The photos in question were of her children skinny-dipping, and had been marked as Private so as to restrict them to family members.

….Okay, now that we’ve all had time to get past the thought of some skeevy person randomly typing in letters and numbers in hopes of seeing god-knows-what in people’s private photo collections, now seems like a good time to remind everyone of what I once learned the hard way- you might mark it Private, but it’s STILL the Internet, and if you don’t want people to see it, maybe you shouldn’t upload it.

Please use good data security practices when dealing with your nekkid photos, okay?

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Another chilly February morning in DC! What little snow we got was rather resistant this morning to attempts to dislodge it from my car, and it sounds like we’re about to get a few more inches. 1-3″ tonight, before sleet and freezing rain become the dominant form of precip for this particular storm that will last well into Friday. Bummer, yeah?

MPD Claims Cameras Decrease Crime

Violent crime went down 19% within 250 feet of the Districts new Crime Cameras. Of course, since crime was up 1% citywide last year, it’s likely that criminals figured out where the cameras were and plied their trade elsewhere in the city. Marc Fisher brings the math to bear, pointing out that only 130 times were the cameras used in court, meaning each event ran to $30k apiece.

Cause of Death Can’t Be Determined in Jacks Case

The DC Medical Examiner’s office has said that no cause of death can be determined in the case of the four young girls found badly decomposed in a rowhouse in southeast. One was identified by dental records, the other three by DNA. Sorry if I turned your stomach so early this morning, I know I’m fighting the gag reflex right about now, too.

Sure Hope You Got To See The Show

I know I peeked out my window despite the cold to see the lunar eclipse last night (our last til 2010!) and enjoyed the scene. Flickr user (usr?) aak got some really awesome shots from the eclipse, so be sure to check those out. So, did you take our advice? Where’d you watch?

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My cheeks are chilled, I’m half-blinded, and more than a little moon-mad (no more than usual, anyway!), but I managed to stay outside and watch some of the lunar eclipse tonight.

Bundled up on my back porch, the light dusting of snow from our earlier non-weather event making everything, well, twinkle – it was almost ridiculously pretty in the pulsating moonlight. Even in the middle of the city, off the alley, all was quiet and still for the cosmic dance.

Even the rats seemed to stop their rustling around and watch. I hope you did too.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Check out the Express today for a photo-log of digging up the Awakening and packing it for movement to Prince George’s. I hate to see it go to a lower profile location, but such is the whim of commerce.

We’ll miss you, old man.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

My representation of the total snow output resulting from this snow advisory.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

…it’s eclipse time tonight.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

February is rearing her ugly side again, and may leave an inch of snow on us today, starting in about an hour or so. So, because DC can’t handle more than a single flake without some sort of traffic casuality, get ready for a crappy evening rush.

DC Loses $250,000 in Emergency Radios

Apparently, the DC Government can only account for 73 of its 151 emergency radios, and given that some of the radios have turned up for sale in DC, it’s probably not a bad assumption that the other 78 (valued at over $3,000 apiece) are pretty much gone. So, next time there’s an emergency, look out for those other 78 people fucking with the EMT and Police crowd. That’ll just be awesome.

Goodbye Awakening

The Awakening is leaving DC today, being dug up from its home at Hains Point and moved to the National Harbor project (Warning, Annoying Music) in Prince George’s County. We’ve known this was coming, but it’s still jarring to think that it’s finally going. Thanks much to Christopher Dale for the use of his amazing long-exposure shot.

No More French in 9th Grade in DC

I know in my educational path, foreign language was an option as young as 7th grade. Apparently not in DC, where it’s not until 10th grade that you can take a foreign language. I’m no pedagogue, but I’m fairly sure that kinda screws over the students, no?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

There are few sweeter words than “Pitchers and Catchers Report Today.” As Andy Ihnatko said the other day, seeing the team’s gear come off the plane in Florida is like the joy of a three year old espoused by a big, bright floating red ballon. This is the Lent of baseball. We wait in patient hope for the return of the game that brings us summertime joy and no shortage of rollercoaster moments.

The Nationals face an uphill battle this season, but with their off-season moves to pick up some additional power in the outfield, and starting pitcher Odalis Perez has just now accepted the Nats minor-league offer and will join the club for spring training shortly. In addition, Hill and Patterson look good on the mound according to early reports from Viera, Florida where the Nats make their springtime home. Nick Johnson’s back from that nearly-career-ending leg break in 2006, and put on a batting display for press down at Space Coast Stadium the other day. There are reasons to be please with the Nats right now, and hopeful in the long-term.

So, the big questions:

Are Hill and Patterson really healthy? If so, they’ve got three fifths of a decent starting rotation, but no real ace to guarantee a win once every five days. Who’ll start opening day? No telling.

Who’s On First? Dmitri Young or Nick Johnson? Both have incredible power and good average, but neither has the speed or the reflexes to play elsewhere in the infield. The outfield is pretty full, as well, with Lastings Milledge (Thank you, NY Mets!) and Elijah Dukes (Thank you, Free Agency!) and Austin Kearns and Wily Mo Pena splitting three positions across four bodies. In addition, they’ve got a solid fifth outfielder and late replacement in Rob Mackowiak. So, what happens to Young and Johnson? Do they select one and trade the other? Platoon? Pray for a transfer to the AL so Young can be DH?

Who’s behind the plate? The Nats picked up both Johnny Estrada and Paul Lo Duca this off-season, which bumps Jesus Flores back to the #3 spot on the depth chart. I was really looking forward to see more of Flores this season, but I expect that Lo Duca and Estrada will split time behind the plate and we won’t see much of Flores unless either is injured, or, in Lo Duca’s case suspended for buying HGH a few years back.

Can we best .500 this year? Vegas says no. Vegas says we’ll win just 72 games, losing the other 90. But I take the bull position on this one and say the Nats will turn the tables on Vegas, and will come out 85-77 and finish in the middle of the pack in the NL East. The new park will be a significant improvement for the club, and while it’ll be new for everyone, I suspect home field advantage will be quickly conferred to the Nationals.

Position Players report to Viera tomorrow, and games for the Nats start in 8 days. The Lent of Baseball is here. Embrace it.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you’re jonesin’ for some live music tonight, check out Jeremy Fisher (Warning. Plays Music. Loudly.) at DC9. Doors are at 7. Make sure to bring a little extra emo with you, as the pictures on his website indicate that you may wish to cut yourself after the show because no one understands you, man! It’s cool, though, his acoustic sounds are generally poppy and uplifting, so it seems to be that Jeremy’s going for more of a “misunderstood in the vein of Bob Dylan, on he can hold a tune in a bucket and doesn’t sound like he needs sinus surgery.”

Oh, and thanks to the generosity of Cornerstone Promotion, we have two spots open on the guest list! Email tom at metroblogging dot com if you’d like to see Jeremy rock out with his bad self tonight at DC9. First to email me gets those two slots. Second gets to cry in their beer. Third? Well, you get the satisfaction of knowing how to hit Send.

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Yesterday was phenomenal, at least the first half. I hope you all had a delightful President’s Day. We took the day off here, we’re sorry if you had to work and we left you with nothing to read. Such is the way. We’ll try to make up for it today.

Thousands of Gallons of Diesel into the Potomac

Way to go, fuel truck driver guy. You backed into a dumpster and busted your tank, causing thousands of gallons of diesel to head straight for the river. Nice work, jackass. As if those guys at Mirant didn’t have enough problems with the locals, you have to go be a moron and make their lives worse. Well played.

DC to crack down on meter feeders

If you park downtown and feed your meter every two hours, the police are coming for you because you’re fucking up parking near retailers downtown. Now, frankly, I’ve not had a problem lately getting a space on the street in the middle of downtown, but I welcome anything that’ll make it easier. This, along with the enforcement of Logan Circle parking is wonderful.

Shoot a Kid, Get Six Months Paid Vacation

Two DC Police Officers involved in the September shooting of DeOnte Rawlings are still on paid leave five months after the shooting. Five months vacation? Really? is that necessary? That seems gratuitous to me, or at least put them at a desk, or something.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

So according to an article in today’s WaPo, the District is looking to stop ‘meter feeders’ who plague our fair capital’s streets. With ‘mobile camera eyes’ that frankly, to me look more like a Terminator’s pre-proto prototype. (And yes, I just watched T3 the other day. I’ve got advanced AI on the brain, along with three different game designs at the moment.)

Ok, so I’ll admit it. I was one of the ‘scofflaws’ they’re trying to bust. But only occasionally! As in, “only when I worked a half-day” did I even attempt navigating the parking lot known as I-395N to park in town. With garage fees at a near-insane level of $15-20 for weekday parking, feeding a meter for six hours (to the tune of $6) was a no-brainer. Especially if I landed a spot right in front of my building, which cut down on the “I need to feed the meter” interruptions during my daily work routine. So yeah, I admit I’m a scofflaw – though I never pulled the old “meter broken” trick. I always paid.

But I don’t do that anymore – since I work in Vienna. Where parking is free.

Still, I have to wonder – what about tourists who come to town and street-park. They feed meters, too. Especially along Smithsonian Row. Will the Parking Police patrol there with their mobile camera masters? Or will they train their future conquerors (I’m sorry, I’m still stuck in sci-fi mode) to discern between VA/MD/DC plates and the rest of the country? If they enforce this, are they going to be uniform across the city in doing so, or will they only focus on certain areas? And is that really ‘fair’?

I don’t know. I want to say “all right!” to this program, simply because it makes sense, especially for those residents and shop owners downtown. I know *I’d* be ecstatic about it if I had a shop in DC and consistently saw obvious commuter parking taking up valuable customer real estate. But on the flip-side, it just seems…an excessive waste in the approach? I remember back in my college days at NIU, the parking militia there used chalk sticks to mark car tires to see if the car had moved from a ‘timed’ spot (such as a “one hour max” zone). Is that really so hard here? For a city that looks to have some serious budgetary issues at times, I dunno, it just makes better fiscal sense to me. Chalk vs. expensive mobile scanning platforms…. Tough choice.

Maybe I’m just terrified these Mobile Parking Cameras are going to go sentient and blow up the world somehow….

We’re sorry, we’ve temporarily removed the author to a Starbucks location nearby, where he’ll receive the proper caffeine hydration and get these silly sci-fi notions out of his head. *As if* robots are going to someday war with humanity….

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Well, probably not anyway. Tickets are sold out and they claim your odds of getting one of a few spare slots at the door are poor. All is not lost, however, as the Mortified website has a fair amount of free material for you to sample and determine if you want to join their mailing list. I was convinced by the video of Will Seymour writing about his miserable high school drama experience… which included being insulted by the local paper.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo credit: sexyfitsum, from the Metroblogging DC pool

“Grime! In DC!”

Shortly before midnight Sunday night, that was the Twitter my boyfriend posted. About two hours later, as we were getting ready to leave Jimmy Valentines Lonely Hearts Club, he posted again.

“My hair is full of ceiling debris shaken loose by bass.” High praise, indeed.

While grime actually comprised only a small portion of the set performed by SF/UK based dj BreakBeatBuddha (I will forgive the silly, silly name only this once) – which also included plenty of dubstep, and noisy, distorted, sometimes glitchy, party music – it was still a bit of a surprise to hear the British sub-genre played in a DC club

The Dive and Lie Wrecked night – presented as the final event in a weekend-long “mini-festival” called Forward – actually followed through on the claim that the generally enthusiastic audience would get a variety of styles, unlike many a DC club night where one can generally expect to hear 90% drum and bass, even at nights like Modern’s which puts dubstep right on the flyer.

In addition to BreakBeatBuddha, the popular Baltimore dj Joe Nice was on the bill, and was really the name that drew us up to the club in the first place. While we have never actually seen him live, he is most cited as one of the first American djs to become keen on the developments in the English scene in recent years, and bringing those styles more to the mainstream.

Credit is certainly due to the 88 DC promotion group for throwing the event. They have earned some success for their recurring and one-off events around town, and hopefully will keep putting on nights like this one.

Having been to their monthly X at BeBar initially only because a friend was performing (the whole “art happening” thing was off-putting to me, I will admit), I found myself pleasantly surprised and have gone back. It is less of a dance-oriented event, to be sure, but that is alright – and it certainly seems to be just fine with the slightly-older crowd it seems to attract, who are as interested in seeing interesting things on the walls and chatting with friends as they are in the music.

Jimmy Valentines is a delightful place in itself. No sign on the door, and on a quiet block, so it gives off just a whiff of exclusivity, even if it really is no speakeasy at all. The smallish, long room is painted and lit all in rosy red, making the faces of the patrons glow attractively.

We were pretty surprised by the quality of the system for a room of its size, which was clear and intense. It was strong enough to jostle a few chunks plaster out of the ceiling, which fell on to Craig’s head and the bar area, and for hours after leaving the club I had such a ringing in my ears that I think I may finally have lost some hearing.

Having never been there prior, I did not really know what to expect from the crowd. It was somewhat more mixed in terms of age and “style” than I might have expected, seeming to skew from collegey to late-30s, with several groups coming in suits to mingle with the heads in hood-up-hoodies and the like. I should point out, though, that Jimmy Valentines is principally a bar and was, last night at least, decidedly not all-ages. The woman working the door was clearly quite serious about ID-taking, and even scolded me for still carrying my vertical minor’s license even though I have been of age for some time (it still has a year before it expires!) because they are easier to forge.

All of the staff seemed to be girls, in fact, which was kind of intriguing, including perhaps the coolest security-type I have seen lately, with her mohawk and DC pride tattoo. She was clearly a total sweetie if you were cool, but I suspect could turn bad-ass if things got rowdy. One of the bartenders was among the prettiest I have ever seen mixing drinks, and I genuinely pitied her when some low-life in a plaid shirt was clearly putting the sleaze on her, thinking that she probably gets that a lot.

In short: I think Jimmy Valentines is now my third-favorite bar in town. Good music, super-cool space, a beer selection that, while short, still finds room for Brooklyn, Delirium, and Youngs, mixed-drinks served with bendy-straws with paper decorations, and some cool kids. Awesome.

In DC!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Further proving the theory that bad behavior caught on tape once likely indicates a hundred incidents not recorded, ABC news has managed to come up with more tape of infamous Baltimore cop Salvatore Rivieri abusing the public. Yep, he’s wearing the shirt that says BALTIMORE’S FINEST on the back in this one too.

Billy Friebele is the person being abused by Officer Rivieri in this video, and he’s identified in the video as being one of ours, though his ties with the Baltimore area are apparently strong as well. He does interesting-sounding art. I wonder if this video project that Officer Unfriendly punted ever turned into something?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

I’m a baseball apologist. There, I said it. I love the game, I love what it means to my family, I love what it means to my baseball playing friends. I’ve come to love the Nationals, our newest sports franchise, despite their abysmal record and the creaky stands and crotchety ushers out at RFK. But I will not apologize for the royal screwing that 20-game season ticket holders just got.

We re-upped our 20-game season tickets plan over the winter, and all six of us were ecstatic about sitting in the new ballpark for the opening night. Though our 20-game plan didn’t include opening night seats, season ticket holders have all been given the chance to buy opening night seats, knowing we’d be sitting somewhere other than our usual seats. We were fine with it.

However, then we found out what the Nationals’ plans were for us. We could buy two seats. Not six. Two.

Okay, tickets are constrained, I get that. But then why are full-season ticketholders allowed to buy two MORE seats than they have tickets for?

Enclosed beneath the cut is the excellent letter that my co-ticket-holder Adam wrote to Stan Kasten. We hope the Nationals choose to honor the allegiance that we have had to their franchise with the option to buy all six of our tickets for Opening Day.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

News from my alma mater last night threw me into a lot of shock and put quite the damper on an otherwise wonderful Valentine’s Day.

There are a lot of kids from my family’s friends (my family resides in Naperville) who attend NIU; I’ve not heard any bad news from that end of the story, thankfully.

So why am I writing about something that happened out in Illinois in a DC-centric blog? Well, it does affect me in a way. But more importantly – and this really sucks, honestly – NIU was able to handle the incident relatively successfully due to a new security plan put in place after the Virginia Tech tragedy last year. For that reason, I think, the tragedy was less severe than it could have been, and I am thankful for that.

Though it still bugs me that all this still happens. This is the fourth college shooting in a month – what the hell is wrong with these people?

While NIU’s plan isn’t perfect – many students never got a text from the school but several from friends – doubtless it was better than whatever the plan was before. The school was closed and locked down within about 20 minutes. Notifications went out just as fast, and I commend the school’s administration for acting quickly.

Let me posit this question, then, to our local college attendees: with all the recent violence on campuses lately, do you feel safe at your school? And are you aware of what the security plan is? Share your thoughts in the comments box.

And if you have a moment, offer up a moment of silence for the NIU victims (now seven dead, nearly 20 wounded), faculty and students during their hour of need. Hopefully this is the last college tragedy we as a nation have to deal with.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Good morning DC, I hope you’re all blissful this morning. Going to be downright pleasant for February out there, high in the low 50s before a weekend that may require an extra blanket.

Metro Considers Large Plasmas for Stations

Metro’s giving a good hard look at plasma screens for all the platforms, and if you’ve seen the plasmas at the Gallery Place station, you might have a good idea what the prototype may look like. In addition, the displays would show content from a new “Metro Channel”, designed to provide a platform for live announcements and display of system conditions.

Virginia Dumps Smoking Ban

Despite strong support from the left, the Virginia House of Delegates has killed the smoking ban for the fourth straight year. Since Virginia’s legislature holds most of the power in the State, cities and counties can’t independently ban smoking, and thus it continues unabated in many of the bars and restaurants in the state. Who was responsible? Why, look, it’s Virginia’s favorite son, David B Albo, of the egregiously stupid $1000 moving violation fines! Hooray.

Final Amount in Revenue Scam is $43M

Forty-Three Million Dollars is what several DC Department of Revenue employees stole from the city coffers as part of their years-long scam. My general hope is that they spend some serious time in a federal pen belong to the guy with the most cigarettes.

When in Doubt, Don’t Trust the Flower Guy

Some suspects were caught red handed on Thursday, but a Sheriff’s deputy dressed up like a flower delivery guy. They used a sheriff’s van made up to look like a flower delivery truck, and a deputy in a delivery guy’s uniform to put the cuffs on 12 suspects who had been dodging the police for some time.

Do you think they make fun of you extra if you got caught because you were monumentally stupid?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Let me just start with the good part. My good friend Mike got engaged to his lovely girlfriend Monica tonight at Paolo’s in Georgetown. I got to watch this week as my friend went through a lot of the same steps that I did two and a half years ago, visiting the jeweler (Boone & Sons on Connecticut for both of us), talking over settings and stones, stressing about the arrangements and all manner of logistics.

When he invited us to join them in the tap room of the City Tavern Club on M Street, we accepted. I knew that it was not a place I could show up in jeans and sneakers, but I was surprised tonight when I was asked to leave when I merely wasn’t wearing a collar. Sure I had $140 tailored slacks, and a $130 cashmere sweater from Lands End on, in addition to my black Italian-made wool great coat that was a gift from my father at Christmas two years ago. But all I was missing was a $7.50 Polo Shirt from Wal-Mart, as the Tavern Club doesn’t allow patrons without collars.

So, instead of being able to toast our friends on the day of their engagement, we had to settle for a hug and an embarrassed trip back through the club to the street like so much riff-raff.

Never mind that we were guests of a member.

Never mind that we certainly were not shabbily dressed.

But all because I hadn’t had the foresight to wear a cheap-ass polo shirt from Wal-Mart under my sweater… out on the street, riff raff!

So, we will have to take Mike and Monica to dinner some place in the near future, but all of this leaves me wondering: What the hell is the purpose of a place like that in this day and age? Sure there was a time for that, but what purpose is there for me in a club like that? If I can’t go in dressed as I normally do (my winter attire is a nice sweater and jeans or khakis) then what’s the freakin’ point? Surely if they can’t pitch themselves to members of the younger generations (and I don’t just mean Thad, Chad, Lad, Cad and Brad) then they will go the way of the dinosaur. And if they can’t figure out someone who’s dressed appropriately from someone who’s not, then I’ll vote with my feet.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Get your cameras ready, local photographers. A new exhibit, Butterflies and Plants: Partners in Evolution, will be opening tomorrow at the National Museum of Natural History. According to their website, the flippy-flappies and the greeny-weenies will be hosted in “one hall, two exhibits”. The first exhibit, Partners in Evolution, is free just like every other Smithsonian offering and is an “exploration into”…*yawn*…”how insects and other animals have co-evolved with plants”. The Butterfly Pavilion is where the real fun begins, however you will have to pay $6 if you’re an adult like I am (sometimes), $5.50 if you’re a senior like Carl, $5 for members, and $4.50 for groups of 10 or more. But wait! If you can somehow swing into the exhibit on a Tuesday, it will cost you nothing. Be prepared to be swarmed by lots of beautiful butterflies.

If you thought the National Geographic frog exhibit was cool, wait until you check this out. From a photography standpoint, I’d recommend a fast, long lens (maybe a 70-200mm f/2.8 or a macro lens if you’ve got one) and a high ISO setting. Sometimes you’re lucky to find a butterfly at a complete standstill at these types of exhibits, but usually you’ll need a fast shutter speed to get a clean shot. And please, post any and all of your shots to our Metroblogging Washington DC Flickr Pool!

Photo by Mangiwau

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs