Good morning, D.C.

It’s been a very wet and soggy commute this morning.

If you drive in Virginia, please please PLEASE turn your headlights on if the rain is enough to keep your wipers on. “Daytime Running Lights” (those headlamps that are on when your car is in motion) isn’t the same thing - you need to have your parking lights on as well. Otherwise, you can’t SEE YOUR CAR in the gloom and gray. I sure don’t want someone to pancake my own nice sedan (hey, it’s my wife’s car!) and I would really like to not bump yours, either.

And if you don’t believe me, here’s what the VA Vehicular Code has to say:

§ 46.2-1030. When lights to be lighted; number of lights to be lighted at any time; use of warning lights.

A. Every vehicle in operation on a highway in the Commonwealth shall display lighted headlights and illuminating devices as required by this article (i) from sunset to sunrise, (ii) during any other time when, because of rain, smoke, fog, snow, sleet, insufficient light, or other unfavorable atmospheric conditions, visibility is reduced to a degree whereby persons or vehicles on the highway are not clearly discernible at a distance of 500 feet, and (iii) whenever windshield wipers are in use as a result of fog, rain, sleet, or snow. The provisions of this subsection, however, shall not apply to instances when windshield wipers are used intermittently in misting rain, sleet, or snow.

[...]

D. The failure to display lighted headlights and illuminating devices under the conditions set forth in clause (iii) of subsection A of this section shall not constitute negligence per se, nor shall violation of clause (iii) of subsection A of this section constitute a defense to any claim for personal injury or recovery of medical expenses for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident.

E. No demerit points shall be assessed for failure to display lighted headlights and illuminating devices during periods of fog, rain, sleet, or snow in violation of clause (iii) of subsection A of this section.

F. No citation for a violation of clause (iii) of subsection A of this section shall be issued unless the officer issuing such citation has cause to stop or arrest the driver of such motor vehicle for the violation of some other provision of this Code or local ordinance relating to the operation, ownership, or maintenance of a motor vehicle or any criminal statute.

(Much thanks to Vivian Paige’s blog for the info.)

So no, you won’t get pulled over for not having them on. But if a cop pulls you over for another violation, you’ll get it added as a citation, like failure to have your seatbelt on. So save yourself the aggrevation from safe drivers like myself - I reserve dirty looks for you people; do you really want that on your conscience? - and a possible accident in the future. Who needs higher insurance premiums when we’ve got these gas prices?

Gloom Returns, courtesy of Erik Charlton

Starting just after midnight, and still smoldering now, a Five Alarm Fire in Mount Pleasant forced over 200 people from their homes. The blaze has closed 16th St in Mount Pleasant, roiling the morning commute, as buses moved to 14th street, and traffic was diverted to 14th Street and Georgia Avenue. It’s likely that the road will reopen today, but I certainly wouldn’t want to count on using 16th Street as a route home today.

It’s terrible to see a whole apartment complex go up in smoke, putting families out in the street. What’s worse is that the Post is reporting that the building had multiple code violations, and that tenants had been fighting with management to get them fixed for some time.

Kudos to the DC Fire Department for helping everyone escape the blaze. There were no injuries reported in the fire, and a lot of credit should go to the DCFD for making sure that everyone got out unharmed.

— Originally uploaded by m.j.b.

I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pizza. You know, the one that packs as much cheese as possible into every crevice of the pizza pie? Wait - are there crevices on a pizza? That’s a little disgusting. Anyway, about once a year I find myself in the mood for some of this cheesy goodness and immediately reach for the phone to have one delivered pronto. My annual craving reared its greasy little head last week so I set off on what I thought would be an easy mission: find my local Pizza Hut.
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image courtesy of PropaneTaxi.com

I recently had to fill two different propane tanks and thought I’d share my experience.

The first I took to Home Depot for a swap. Rather than make an explicit trip out of it I tossed the empty in my trunk and drove around with it for a few days or maybe weeks. In the end I didn’t end up going by any HDs and ended up taking a detour on my way home one day. Lacking one of the new snazzy-dazzy self-serve gadgets out front that I’ve seen in a few locations, I had to go inside, pay a cashier, then go outside and flag down an employee who was milling about.

All in all it wasn’t too long a process since there was none of the oh-wait-wheres-the-key kind of thing I’ve suffered through in the past. Total cost: $19.

When the other tank went dry just a week later I thought I’d look into the Propane Taxi service that I’d seen ads for and which we’ve speculated on here in the past. I went to their website and punched in my zip code to discover that the delivery date would happen to be the very next day. Just good luck, that, but the longest I could have ended up waiting would have been if I’d ordered the following day - a Tuesday - which would have put the delivery 4 days out, on Saturday.

The site makes you go through a fairly quick registration process but it’s not onerous. Name, address, phone, credit card. You can have a different billing address for your credit card than where they’ll deliver the tank as well. Once I did that I was able to order my $21.99 tank with a $1.00 off coupon, making what would have been a $23.09 order $22.04.

I couldn’t tell you exactly when the delivery happened - the old tank was off to the left of my house when I left for work in the morning and the new one was in the exact same spot when I got home that night. They sent me a confirmation email to let me know it had been done as well.

All told I think that’s enough added convenience to justify $3, even for a cheapskate like me. If I’d had to drive out and back to Home Depot the closest one is a 10 mile round-trip, almost half a $3 gallon of gas - not to mention my beyond-value precious time. It might be a deal-breaker delay if I hadn’t come into a spare tank but if you can wait a maximum of 4 days for a refill I think this is a winner.

After we hit Rocklands on Saturday night with our friends, it was back to their place for a watching of The Godfather on A&E. Our friend Steph had never seen it, and it was well past time that she did. We sat through all the commercials, but learned some valuable things. Jon was quick to point out that he’d seen messages from his TiVo that indicated he’d gotten a bunch of new channels added to his lineup by Comcast. Indeed, there they were: Sci-Fi HD (mmm, BSG in HD!), Food Network (mmmm, Giada in HD!) and USA HD and TBS HD (mmmm more Jack McCoy in HD!) and a few other channels! How exciting!

When I headed home, we fired up the TiVo HD that I jumped through so many hoops to get showed all of the brand new channels! Hooray! Unfortunately, nothing but grey screen. I confirmed this with Jon, and sure enough, he was in grey screen land as well. My friend Jeff didn’t even see them in his lineup, but got “Channel Not Available” messages when he tuned to them with his Comcast DVR.

Oddly, though, they’re part of Comcast’s Programming Lineup page, and yet, they’re dark for all subscribers in the region. (Feel free to use either Arlington’s 22201 or a DC zip code to check if you have to.) When I talked to a technician this afternoon, he said they had yet to launch, but gave no indication as to why they were in the system. When Jeff talked to a technician this afternoon, he said they weren’t supposed to be in any lineup published anywhere. And yet, there they are.

When I reached out to Comcast’s Press Office, I was told by Lisa Altman that Comcast would launch the new networks “sometime in the first quarter of 2008.” Odd. Seems like they’re advertising a service that they’re not delivering. Generally, that’s frowned upon by various federal regulators when it comes to a service like cable television. I’ve put the new HD Lineup in the Extended Entry, copied directly from the Comcast website. What are you seeing on your cable box?
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Tired of seeing fares go up and up? Want to strip down to your skivvies to protest? Well, this Saturday might be just your chance. You could join the 204 confirmed Facebook attendees for a Pantsless Metro Ride. So, DCist blew the “cover” (it’s not a cover if it’s public on Facebook, dudes. It’s like Twittering about it. It’s not even remotely private.), and the Express talked to the Metro people about it, who threatened to get people arrested for disorderly conduct or indecent exposure.

Courtesy of DCist commenter keb points out the regulations for DC:

DC Statute § 22-1312. Lewd, indecent, or obscene acts.
(a) It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to make any obscene or indecent exposure of his or her person, or to make any lewd, obscene, or indecent sexual proposal in the District of Columbia under penalty of not more than $300 fine, or imprisonment of not more than 90 days, or both, for each and every such offense.

§ 22-1321. Disorderly conduct.
Whoever, with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, or under circumstances such that a breach of the peace may be occasioned thereby: (1) acts in such a manner as to annoy, disturb, interfere with, obstruct, or be offensive to others; (2) congregates with others on a public street and refuses to move on when ordered by the police; (3) shouts or makes a noise either outside or inside a building during the nighttime to the annoyance or disturbance of any considerable number of persons; (4) interferes with any person in any place by jostling against such person or unnecessarily crowding such person or by placing a hand in the proximity of such person’s pocketbook, or handbag; or (5) causes a disturbance in any streetcar, railroad car, omnibus, or other public conveyance, by running through it, climbing through windows or upon the seats, or otherwise annoying passengers or employees, shall be fined not more than $250 or imprisoned not more than 90 days, or both.

Even still, if you end up getting booked for it, don’t worry, you probably won’t end up on the sex offender registry in the District. MD and VA are probably also safe, provided, again, you’re not being a jackass.

Sounds like you’re pretty well safe in DC, SO LONG AS YOU WEAR UNDERWEAR. Don’t let your hoo-ha or schlong hang out and you should be just fine, so long as you aren’t being provocative or a jackass. So ride in silence, you brave souls, and you should be fine. Please be reminded I am not now, nor ever have I been, a lawyer. If you want to read the regs for MD or VA, they’re contained in the extended entry.
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There’s nothing quite like strolling into your office, logging in to your computer, and discovering an email from the facilities manager that the cafe on the ground floor of your building has been closed for a week due to flagrant violations of the health code:

Cafe Express
1100 15th St. NW

Closed Oct. 23 for failure to minimize the presence of vermin and operating without a license, in circumstances that may endanger public health, in gross unsanitary conditions, including using toxic or poisonous materials, and with incorrect holding temperatures for potentially hazardous foods. Reopened last Thursday.

Awesome. What a way to start the day. Makes me glad I’ve never bought anything there but bottles of soda- it always smells funny and I’ve never wanted to eat anything made there.

image courtesy of Signature Theater

It’s hard for me to believe it’s only been a year since I went to the ACLU’s 2006 member conference kickoff, but sure enough, Oct 16 2006 says my byline. At the time I said that the highlight of the evening was Steve Connell and Sekou (tha misfit), much to my surprise. I put up some clips that failed to meet WebJedi’s standards and I’m happy to say there’s several better ones to eyeball and a number of audio clips too.

If you’d rather enjoy the energy they bring to a live performance, you could hie yourself over to Signature Theater and see the production of The Word Begins. $40 might be a little more than you’re used to paying for spoken word, but maybe there’s a discount code out there somewhere, hmm?

Or, for the low price of free (well, not free but paid for indirectly) you could go see them at the Arlington Central library during the monthly FROM PAGE TO STAGE event done in partnership with Signature. It’s from 7 to 8pm tonight and no reservations are required. Just show up, and say hi if you spot me - I’m not going to miss a chance to see them again.

Arlington Central Library
1015 North Quincy Street
Arlington, VA 22201

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse at the corner of Upshur Street and New Hampshire Avenue. That the Petworth Eyesore at 4143 New Hampshire Avenue NW couldn’t take it to that next level of ugly, it has.

Petworth Eyesore Photos

Look at the Petworth Eyesore now. Notice anything missing? Like say a front porch?

Granted, the original porch wasn’t much to look at, but at least it was a porch so it matched the neighbourhood. Now the house, porchless, looks naked.

Here, take another look at the household degradation of a once majestic edifice. At this point, I only wish the contractor would go bankrupt and sell the house to a developer that would bulldoze and start new.

The house is well beyond saving now. And I’m not just talking about the porch, which was my last straw. Just look at the half-assed chimney. Now doesn’t that say “fire hazard” to you? It says melted vinyl siding and a housing code violation to me.

And maybe to the DCRA too. The Petworth eyesore trash is full of fresh PVC piping torn out to put a shower box in. Seems that the unlicensed plumber’s work wasn’t up to standards either.

Anybody got a sledgehammer, or better yet, a wrecking ball? I wanna set my own standards now.

Wonkette alerts us to a bloody-handed protester attempting to smear Condi Rice with fake blood just before a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing today, only to be dragged off by security.

This immediately got me wondering whether the protester in question, named Desiree Farooz, is local. A quick search shows that she isn’t, as she was previously interviewed on SHALOMSALAAMPEACE as being bused in by Code Pink from Texas. Now we know what she was on that bus for.

This is where I nod my head to Wayan’s beat.