It depends on the weather, of course.

Photo of the sunset on Sept. 21, 2009 by Will Atwood Mitchell, Creative Commons Attribution License

City Paper was on the scene to interview the protesters.

That got me to wondering about other possible city ’henges. I checked with Whet Moser at the Chicago Reader, and in short order he had calculated the dates of Chicagohenge using some handy photographer software.

In theory, any city with a street grid can have its own ’henge, including D.C. Our downtown grid, like Chicago's, is a more or less a true east-west grid. So the next "DCHenge" sunset should occur a month from now on September 23, 2009, one day after the autumnal equinox:

But will it be cool? D.C. has a lower skyline than Manhattan and Chicago, and without the negative space between tall buildings, it may look like just another sunset. With that in mind, K or L streets NW seem like better candidates for DCHenge viewing than Constitution Avenue. (And depending on how closely the street runs due east and west, the 24th may be a better viewing date.)

There are other possibilities, too, if we take advantage of the diagonals:

New York Avenuehenge will occur on November 16, 2009, and Pennsylvaniahenge would appear to have been last week, on August 13th. (Do you always watch for Pennsylvaniahenge and then miss it? I always watch for Pennsylvaniahenge and then miss it.) Likewise Massachusettshenge, which was on August 1st or 2nd. The next Floridahenge will be July 17, 2010.

Does anyone have a good suggestion for making the most of the upcoming DCHenge? Or are we just doing for Manhattanhenge what Spinal Tap did for Stonehenge?

(Note: I am aware that "henge" does not mean what I am using it to mean: a suffix like ’gate from Watergate. While it would be cool to have a Watergatehenge, Virginia Avenue NW is just a bit too steeply angled.)

Photo of Manhattanhenge courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Maps made with The Photographer's Ephemeris.

The goal is to create more focused sections. You can search for restaurants under eats, movies under movies, music under music, and theater under theater.

It's an open secret that our website is in dire need of design improvements. Ever notice how this page actually has two search boxes? The one directly beneath the top navigation goes to a full site search powered by Google, while the search box under the City Desk header searches only City Desk posts. That's because we use two different content management systems (Wordpress MU for blogs and an in-house system for our print-centric content) which haven't been integrated. We don't consider this an ideal solution, and we're working on a more sensible search page.

We're always open to suggestions and criticisms of how the site looks and works. Feel free to comment here or contact me directly at wamitchell@washingtoncitypaper.com.

You can read an engaging account of his discovery and the subsequent clean-up effort at Wired, including memorable lines like

"Oh shit," he mumbled. "I just broke the Internet."

and

"The first thing I want to say to you," Vixie told Kaminsky, trying to contain the flood of feeling, "is never, ever repeat what you just told me over a cell phone."

Seriously, this is a good read. Kaminsky's talk should be of interest to internet-security types and hacker types alike.

In the video after the jump, NBC's Pat Collins heads to the one street in D.C. where "flinty Chicago toughness" flows like frozen water.

Video courtesy of NBC Washington.

I first noticed that the doors were closing quicker than usual when I tried to board a Red Line train at Dupont Circle. It was about 6:30. I'm on crutches with a broken foot, so it wasn't like I was rushing for a train from the escalator--I was queued up and waiting when the train pulled in. The line in front of me was short, but not short enough: the doors slammed in the face of the woman ahead of me, and the train left without us. I cursed and laughed, and she told me the same thing had happened to her last night.

When the next train came, a kindly fellow put his hand in front of the door to hold it open for me. We boarded, and again the doors shut immediately. He speculated that they were running the trains quickly to practice for the inauguration crowds, echoing the opinion of the woman who'd been left on the platform with me minutes before.

Fast forward to Metro Center, where I switched to the Orange Line. I had boarded the train and found a seat quickly, and people were still boarding. Suddenly, the doors snapped shut, pinning a woman in between them. She turned and twisted but couldn't move in either direction. No one inside the car made any motion remotely resembling an attempt to help her. I didn't either, at first figuring that someone else would jump up to help before I could even get up on my crutches, and then staring in shock when nobody did. I couldn't see that someone outside was involved, until the last moment when a hand came all the way through and wrenched the door back. She struggled for probably fifteen seconds while we watched.

Then the stern, scolding voice of the metro car warned us to Step Back! and the doors finally opened and attempted to close. They didn't close, because the left-hand door was now jammed open. "Smooth move," grumbled the man sitting across from me, as he thumbed his blackberry.

A moment passed. Step Back! the metro car said again, and this time the door loosened and closed, and we began to roll.

Now I know, this story comes straight from an episode of Righteous Indignation and The City, but here's the real question: What should you do if this happens to you? Leaving aside the ubiquitous unheeded warnings and the consensus of the others that you brought it on yourself. Now that you're stuck, what are you supposed to do? Fifteen seconds is a long time when you're pinned between the doors of a fucking train. Are you supposed to just wait, or ask for help, or are you meant to struggle?

Photograph by F.S.M., Creative Commons Attribution License

From the Post homepage: "Richardson Nixes Cabinet Bid"

Is this a pun, or am I seeing something that's not there?

"At least a dozen people said they voted for me," Delaney GChatted, "[and] not a single person said they wouldn't vote for me."

Is Delaney headed for a blowout? Contacted seconds later, also by chat, the candidate said that much of his support is probably due to the single-beer plank of his political platform.

"Sometimes you just want ONE!" Delaney said. "The slogan resonates with everybody."

Delaney says he plans to spend the afternoon addressing voters' hunger and desire for change. "I'm home for a snack and to put on my jeans, which are finally dry."

Judge for yourself, below the jump.

"Ben's chili is the food of the gods. Sadly, I no longer live anywhere near Ben's, and so I want to try to make it myself. Although I'll probably be adding beans, to make it more meal-like (since I most likely won't be pouring it on hot dogs and french fries). And I want to make it in a crockpot.

"I know the recipe is 'top-secret,' but I bet I'm not the first person to ever attempt it at home."

Does anyone out there know the secret? If so, hop on over to AskMeFi and hope somebody out. I think the recipe actually calls for pouring it on hot dogs and french fries, though. Let's be reasonable.

At this point, all signs appear to point to some combination of hoax, scam, or publicity stunt. And a transparent one at that, according to Wired: "Casting further doubt on the pair's announcement is analysis by several bloggers showing that their photograph bears an uncanny resemblance to a commercially available Bigfoot costume."

Isn't that always the way? Well, at least there's a consolation prize, in the form of the Most Topical Bigfoot Description Ever:

"According to the team, the Bigfoot creature is 7-feet 7-inches tall, weighs over 500 pounds and has feet that are over 16 inches long, or about size 24. By comparison, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps is 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 165 pounds and has size 14 feet. Phelps is also nearly hairless, while Bigfoot appears to be covered in fur."

For more on the Georgia Bigfoot press conference, see the Wired article. For more on Dranginis's closer-to-home Bigfoot quest, see City Paper's story "Hot For Creature." For more on Michael Phelps, wait about ten minutes and someone near you will start talking about him.

"I would like to compare the images in a ticket I received versus other vehicles. If you have a Camera ticket FROM DC I would appreciate you sharing the Citation Number and Pin Number.

To show how dumb the DMV is, they sent me a ticket for someone riding a scooter because their tag match a vanity tag that I USED TO own, FOR MY CAR, and had turned in.

Oh, ya, if you've seen this scooter, that would be great to know too."

Helpful photos show the salient details:

Will anyone step up to put this case of mistaken identity to rest? Are you out there, BILL? Are you willing to let another man take the fall for your crime?

The avatars are not currently enabled, since we're still figuring out how to handle user profiles across our blogs. This is something we want to do, but we're working incrementally to get the infrastructure in place. The present upgrade was intended to close a few security holes in our Wordpress software and get the publishing interface up to date. Some snazzy new front-end stuff will follow, but there are no major changes in that area today.

Questions? Comments? Gripes? All are welcome.