The electricity is back in D.C. after a huge outage that left the downtown area in the dark during the height of the morning rush hours Friday.

It left traffic lights out, Metro commuters hoofing it up steep staircases and thousands of employees on the streets waiting for the electricity to come back on.

"It's blacked out a fairly good sized area of downtown, north to U street, south to F Street, over to Dupont and east to 3rd," Pepco spokesman Bob Dobkin tells WTOP.

The outages included a lot of office buildings and federal buildings, he says.

During the outage, people milled about the streets, waiting for the electricity and air conditioning in their offices to come back on.

The morning of Friday the 13th was not a good time to be an operations guy in downtown Washington, DC.

All of the facilities I'm responsible for had no power. Server rooms were silent and dark. Hallways were filled with the sounds beeping UPSs.

Fun fun fun. This was the second power outage I've had to deal with this week...

Electricity restored after massive D.C. outage

Two Georgia legislators introduced a bill to adjust the Georgia-Tennessee state line to bring it within a portion of the Tennessee River in Marion County.

The legislation is planned by Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) and Rep. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell), the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

There has long been a contention that the surveyor who drew the line between the two states made an error. It is contended the line should have been a mile to the north, which would allow parched Georgia access to the river.

Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, said, "Gov. Bredesen needs to stand up to this latest attempt by Georgia to take our resources. Tennessee's southern border was established in 1818. Tennessee residents living at the southern edge of Marion County should not wake up one day to find themselves declared to be Georgia residents, and Tennessee's water is being diverted to Atlanta."

No way. Georgia will have to take it by force! I'll come down to help defend the border if necessary...

Georgia Legislators Want State Line Moved North To The Tennessee River - Chattanoogan.com

Every downtown area has it's local color. DC is no exception. In the area where I work, there is this guy who dances in circles down the middle of 14th Street every day hooting, hollering, and rocking out to his headphones. And by middle of the street, I mean directly in the middle of the street. He tends to stop in the middle of intersections and dance as the traffic goes around him. The police in the area pay him no mind.. The scene tends to invoke statements from bystanders along the lines of "is that guy crazy?"

Yesterday when I was walking back from getting a coffee, he was over toward the side of the road, so I asked him how long he has been doing this. The answer: 1984.

This guy should be a tourist attraction..

New Jersey became the first Northern state to apologize for slavery, as legislators approved a resolution Monday expressing "profound regret" for the state's role in the practice.

Well, there you have it. "Oops! My bad.."

My Way News - New Jersey Apologizes for Slavery

via timball:

CAP's '07 holiday party rocked the park at fourteenth. The club/restaurant wasn't yet open to the public so it was an intimate evening amongst friends, colleagues, significant others and general do-gooders.

Excellent vittles and fine spirits were enjoyed by all. Happy Holidays!

I don't think anyone left even remotely sober. The after-party-party at Local 16 was also quite enjoyable.

CAP x-mas '07

A symbol of the first Thanksgiving, the wild turkey is making a giant comeback in New Jersey, where the tall brown birds are found everywhere, even strutting their stuff in suburban yards.

Beginning with 23 birds released in the state's forested northwest tip, wild turkeys now number 22,000 in New Jersey and have spread to every part of the state.

In South Jersey, suburban dwellers are beginning to notice.

"They are not big, but they are good and really tasty. They are better than the store-bought turkeys," Cass McCarthy said.

Yummy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wild turkeys thrive in New Jersey suburbia

The following imagery was taken on October 26th.

San Diego 2007 Wildfires

The Station Inn is open Seven nights a week with a cover charge Monday - Saturday. Doors open at 7 p.m. each night with live music starting at 9 p.m., unless otherwise noted. You must be age 21 and older or be accompanied by a parent or guardian to enter. For high profile performances, please plan on arriving early.

Every Sunday the Station Inn there's a bluegrass jam session. It's the most real deal music left in all of Nashville, and it doesn't even have a cover charge! Last weekend, I attended this with timball. The number of players peeked around 13 at once, out of about 16 musicians who were there playing. Truly amazing. I lack the words to convey how good it sounded and how much I was enjoying myself. If you go to this and you do not enjoy it, you must not like music.

The Station Inn

The oldest distillery in America is Scobeyville, New Jersey's Laird & Co., a producer of applejack. Known as "Jersey Lightning", applejack's long history in New Jersey includes once being used as currency to pay road construction crews during the colonial period.

Curse you, foul demon!

I love it!

Applejack. Yes, it's New Jersey. Just say Thank You.

Two mayors and two state legislators are among 11 public officials arrested in New Jersey as part of a corruption investigation, the U.S. attorney's office in Trenton announced Thursday.

"The defendants allegedly demanded and accepted payments ranging from $1,500 to $17,500 at any one time," the release from the U.S. attorney's office alleges. "In most cases, the defendants sought to establish and perpetuate a corrupt relationship with the cooperating witnesses to continue receiving bribes."

Corrupt public officials in Jersey? Say it ain't so!! Heh..

This is really great to see. Maybe there is some hope of making the NJ state government effective in the next century or so..

Mayors, legislators arrested in New Jersey corruption probe - CNN.com