Good morning, City Desk readers!  Remember those lovely events and people we tried to forget about in the past few years, among them press secretaries, judicial nominations, and transit accidents?  They're all back to rear their ugly heads this morning, so let's commence with the news rundown.

• Yesterday afternoon, City Desk posted the latest WaPo article about the Metro crash, which basically announced that circuits on four of the five lines have failed to detect the presence of trains.  The 6 pm newscasts featured commentary from a variety of concerned commuters and so to quell their concerns, Metro GM John Catoe and Councilman Jim Graham held a press conference announcing that the Post got the story wrong.  The system is safe, says Catoe, and the article is a gross misstatement of facts.  Watch WUSA's interview with Catoe - he could be a dreidel with the way he's spinning this new information.

Swine flu, social networks, and the Secret Service after the jump.  Plus, a new alternative to saving the Nats! Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Just When We Forgot Edition" »

For the barely current issue of City Paper, I wrote about the Georgetown Hoyas' new t-shirt shooter, called the T-Shirt Gatling Gun.

Who cares that the team is slumping? The few seconds it takes for the multi-chambered air rifle to fire a couple dozen shirts into the stratosphere are worth a trip to the Verizon Center.

Before encountering the Hoyas' toy, I don't think I'd heard the phrase "Gatling Gun" since high school history class. (I'm a product of Fairfax County schools, where civil war minutiae gets treated like breaking local news. )

But, as any military buff would be aware but I hadn't a clue, the Gatling Gun never went away as an implement of destruction.

And now, in fact, it's really in vogue.

Apparently, Barack Obama's escorts carry a Gatling Gun with them, just in case.

Here's footage of the presidential firepower in action.

Prepare to be scared. No, really.

The following item is part of a series in which we corner people at the 2009 Hawaii State Society Inaugural Ball and ask them, "So, what's your connection with the president?"

It's now past 11 pm on Inauguration Night, at which point this series dramatically lowers its requirements for profile subjects.

First person to come in over the lower bar is one Leonard Wong. Now, just for context, previous profile subjects in this series have exchanged locally coded glances with the future president, have shed new light on his quality as a person, or had the future president's father attend one of his memorable life events.

As for Leonard Wong, well, he only wishes he had such a strong nexus.

Here's what he's actually got. Leonard Wong has a friend who lives in Hawaii. When Obama went to vacation in Hawaii over the holidays, Leonard Wong's friend ventured out to catch a glimpse of the prez-elect and Michelle. The friend of Leonard Wong staked out a position by a fitness club named Semper Fit, right by the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay.

Now for Leonard Wong's connection to Obama: While this friend was waiting to see the soon-to-be first couple, he stood in a pose in which he crossed his arms in front of him. At that point, a Secret Service agent came and told the friend of Leonard Wong that he couldn't stand there with his arms crossed. The friend called Leonard Wong and told him about the incident.

Reporting by Amanda Hess, writing by Erik Wemple

Just a few minutes ago, I talked with Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice, about the inauguration, security, and, and the Secret Service. She says that trained legal observers will be out and about for Tuesday's big events just in case the police start forgetting about your civil liberties. We advised you to seek them out if you have a problem on Tuesday.

"They'll be out around the route," Verheyden-Hilliard says of the legal observers. "They'll be out there monitoring the police action and the Secret Service action." She couldn't say how many observers will be volunteering for the inauguration detail. The plans are still be worked out.

But she's already noticed a little something about the inauguration windup. It isn't all hope. "I think it's very distressing that the Secret Service is making Washington so inhospitable for people." By people she means us and the out-of-towners who are coming because the event means so much to them. Instead, they get road closures, and bridge closings, and fortified security zones. We get gridlock.

"At the same time, the Secret Service seems to be bending over backwards to help the corporate law firms and lobbyists that have all the office buildings that line Pennsylvania Avenue to make sure their caterers and Hors d'œuvres get in," the lawyer notes.

Read More "Legal Observers To Monitor Inaugural Activities" »

Not that you didn't already know this, but: If you're within an area code of D.C. on the 19th or 20th, don't even think of getting in your car. The Secret Service just released traffic warnings for inauguration, and it's every bit as thoroughgoing as you'd expect. Traffic will be cut off from the federal core from 3 pm on Monday the 19th all the way through 7 am on Wednesday the 21st.

Here's the gpa01-09inaugsecplans1, plus map.