Please Remain Terrified: Those warnings about an anniversary bombing yesterday, as the nation marked ten years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, turned out to be a false alarm, as no attack materialized. But that doesn't mean vigilance can come to an end; authorities say they'll keep on high alert, apparently just in case the terrorists had the wrong date circled in their calendars. The hyper-awareness of security that's brought on by seeing cops with automatic rifles patrolling public spaces may be a good deterrent, but it's also quite reminiscent of those sad, scary days of early fall a decade ago. We prefer being afraid of things like earthquakes and hurricanes, if we've got a choice. -2

A Dedication Deferred: Peak hurricane season ends in late October. Which means the new dedication date for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Oct. 16, isn't entirely out of danger—but it's not likely to be rained out again by tropical weather. The original ceremony, of course, was scheduled for the weekend when Hurricane Irene brought tropical storm-force winds and downpours to the District. President Barack Obama will still speak. No need to wait until then to go visit, though; the memorial is already open. +2

Marylandasaurus Rex: If the University of Maryland ever gets tired of being the Terrapins, they could always upgrade to an older type of reptile. A fossilized dinosaur hatchling discovered in College Park 14 years ago gets some press in the latest issue of Journal of Paleontology as the youngest fossilized dinosaur ever found. The hatchling is a nodosaur, a type of dinosaur rarely found in the United States. No word on what its parents did for dinosaur day care, the pressing concern for all new parents in the D.C. area. +1

Rexy Actually Is Kind Of Sexy: Like just about everyone in town whose last name isn't "Grossman," we were skeptical of the idea of sending the Washington Redskins into the NFL season with Rex Grossman as their quarterback. Evidently, we were wrong. Grossman and the Redskins beat the New York Giants 28-14 yesterday at FedEx Field, starting the season off 1-0. This means the team is now undefeated since owner Dan Snyder dropped his lawsuit against Washington City Paper and staff writer Dave McKenna over "The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder." We'll see you all in Indianapolis in the official City Paper luxury box. +4

Friday's Needle rating: 55 Today's score: +5 Today's Needle rating: 60

A Tufts University study finds that while the District and 20 states do discuss the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in their high school social studies curricula, they don't have much context or detail. Fourteen states don't mention the attacks at all in texts that have been updated since 2001.

While the researchers don't want states that exclude 9/11 from their texts to be considered "negligent," they praise the states that include the attacks, writing:

We do, however, recognize the power of these standards in guiding what is taught in high school social studies classrooms and as a form of "official knowledge" that becomes part of the historical narrative.

District of Columbia Public Schools' high schoolers study 9/11 in the 11th grade, and are asked to "describe America’s response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, including the intervention in Afghanistan and invasion of Iraq."

The DCPS choice of curriculum makes sense. Take the wide variety of opinion pieces posted in local and national media over the weekend. Unlike Pearl Harbor, to which the researchers compared 9/11, the lessons of the day are anything but settled. America is still examining and re-examining its feelings about the attacks and their aftermath. For the time being, standardizing those feelings into "official knowledge" seems like something that should be held off.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Ten Years Later: It was deja vu all over again this morning, as the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks approaches. Vague, unspecified warnings of terrorist strikes on either New York or D.C., urgings of "vigilance" from authorities, and wall-to-wall freakout coverage on cable news. Will the whole world be blown up this weekend? We suspect probably not. But the warning brought an unwelcome edge to all the retrospectives in the air anyway; we're very much looking forward to Sept. 12, 2011. -2

Scofflaws Unite: Amnesty really works. Or at least, that's the lesson from the first month of the District's forgiveness program for parking tickets: The city took in $976,341 in fees it otherwise wouldn't have gotten (since the people paying them had, so far, successfully dodged collection attempts). Maryland drivers paid the most, $475,360; District drivers paid $282,021, and Virginians paid $155,438. Which is to say, yes, go ahead and key that car with Free State plates. +2

Plants Or Petroleum?: The story keeps changing for what, exactly, the oil slick-looking mess on the Anacostia River was this summer. At first, it wasn't an oil slick. Then it was maybe an oil slick. Then it was silt. Now, the official word from the Environmental Protection Agency, is that it was algae. Rain, which we've apparently had a little bit of recently, helped kill it off. +1

Happy Birthday, Washington!: Our fair city celebrates a milestone today—it was 220 years ago that the nation's capital was named after George Washington and Christopher Columbus. Originally, the District was known as the "Territory of Columbia," and the federal portion was the "City of Washington." No word on whether city workers qualify, by proxy, for birthday drink specials. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 51 Today's score: +2 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 55

Federal authorities say a man from Virginia was attempting to help al-Qaeda operatives in a plot to bomb Metro stations. But from early indications, it doesn't look like the alleged bomber got very far into his plans before law enforcement tracked him down, and the only plotting he did was in response to instructions from federal agents he thought were accomplices.

Farooque Ahmed, 34, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Pakistan, was arrested Wednesday. On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Alexandria had indicted the Ashburn man, charging him with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility, and attempting to provide material support to help carry out multiple bombings to cause mass casualties at D.C.-area Metrorail stations.

Authorities say the public was never in danger because their agents had been monitoring the man's activities throughout the conception and planning of the attacks.

Ahmed was discovered by agents to be seeking to obtain unspecified materials (presumably bomb-related). As a part of a sting operation that lasted from April through early this week, federal authorities posing as al-Qaeda operatives asked Ahmed to collect video and photographic surveillance footage  and draw diagrams of Metrorail stations. According to the indictment, Ahmed carried out all of those tasks and handed over the information to people he thought were affiliated with al-Qaeda. They were, in fact, undercover agents.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison.

Read the indictment here:

Photo by AgnosticPreachersKid via WikiMedia Commons/Creative Commons license

It's a low credibility threat. (And besides, Metro doesn't need terrorists to injure or kill you; it's pretty good at crashing subways or letting you get caught up in a 70-person brawl.) So remember: Keep calm and carry on!

Photo by Flickr user acrib via Attribution-No Derivs Creative Commons License

WJLA-TV is reporting an "escalated response" to today's suspicious package at 19th and F Streets NW, which had authorities tied up for five hours, sealing off several square blocks surrounding the World Bank and parts of the George Washington University campus.

Some witnesses may have even heard a "small explosion," according the local ABC affiliate's Jennifer Donelan, who describes the overall level of police response as "much greater than normal, especially since the city sees as many as four suspicious-object calls a day."

Police Chief Cathy Lanier is reportedly on the scene, along with U.S. Secret Service. 

The television news report somewhat differs from a more down-played account in the college press. The GW Hatchet quotes MPD spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump describing the package as "not hazardous," adding, however, "They are still in the process of examining it."

UPDATE, 1:20 p.m.-D.C. Fire and EMS confirms via Twitter "no hazard" and "no injuries." MPD is investigating.

UPDATE, 1:40p.m.-Bomb squad units have "'disrupted' the object," WJLA reports, which authorities now describe as harmless:

George Washington University students, who had a clear view of the object, described it as a pipe wrapped in black tape, apparently to simulate the appearance of a pipe bomb.

The FBI has taken over the investigation of the incident, setting up a tent on 19th Street.

UPDATE, 2:14 p.m.-CNN reports that a "terrorism task force" will now study today's incident as a sort of object lesson in suspicious objects: "The focus of police attention appeared to be a hoax device that looked like a long microphone with tape on it, a law enforcement source said. It also could have looked like a pipe, the source said."

UPDATE, 2:18 p.m.-"19th Street mostly reopen," WaPo's Dr. Gridlock reports, "Authorities report the item was in a suitcase and a portion of the street will remain closed for about another 30 minutes."

UPDATE, 2:20 p.m.-The FBI tells WaPo the suspicious package at 19th and F streets NW contained "what looked like a pipe bomb, but it was not a bomb."

UPDATE, 3 p.m.-Not to be outdone, WTOP now reports on another suspicious package across town in Columbia Heights, where the local Metro station is closed on account of the curious object: "D.C. Police say the package is a silver and black briefcase at the corner of 14th and Irving streets in Northwest. Part of 14th Street is also closed in the area."

UPDATE, 3:31 p.m.- WaPo's Rick Rojas reports from the scene that the suspicious package turns out to be "a suitcase full of tools," screwdrivers and such. It looked like "old-school luggage," Rojas notes. The Columbia Heights Metro station is now back open.

UPDATE, 3:58 p.m.-"Fans gather around 'suspicious package' outside Nationals Park," according to a Mediabistro report. Turns out to be the name of a rock band performing at the 49th annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game.

I occasionally think it might be a good idea to create a kit and come up with a plan since we live in a place terrorists most likely dream about bombing, burning, crashing into, or … well, I think you get the picture. And, now with Swine Flu poised for a comeback, there seems even more reason to stockpile the canned food and water, though I don’t know where one is supposed to put all those rations in the average D.C. apartment. You’d need a separate storage unit. And, wouldn't that defeat the purpose? But some provisions seem appropriate.

Anyone know where I can get one of those face masks?

Fox 5 News has announced that it's working on a story about this. Via Twitter.