Washington DC
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Photos of train tracks and airplane runways melting in the heat
Last weekend’s heat played havoc with transportation in the D.C. area, but at least we got some cool photos out of the chaos. The heat-buckled highway was just a heat-buckled highway — they’ve been all over the country this summer — but check out this plane sinking four inches into the tarmac at Reagan National […]
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Museum’s indoor mini-golf course lets you putt your way through a miniature city
The National Building Museum may not be D.C.’s star attraction, but even if you don’t love it, it loves you. You can tell, because the museum is giving sweltering District residents a nice, cool place to play indoor mini-golf this summer. And because it’s the National Building Museum, this is no plaster-clown-head putt-putt course — […]
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The best subway map tattoos
There are people who like public transportation, and then there are people who want to rub public transportation all over their body parts — or at least get it permanently inked on them. Here are some of our favorite transit-map tattoos from the internet. Here’s a nice-looking Chicago El map, done large enough that you […]
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If Watson can win Jeopardy, can IBM make cities smarter?
Photo: Rodrigo SennaIBM has generated a lot of buzz lately for Watson, its game-show-playing supercomputer that recently bested a couple of skin jobs on “Jeopardy.” Less high profile is the expansion of Big Blue’s computer and software systems designed to monitor and control municipal water, energy, and transportation systems. Developed under the umbrella of IBM’s […]
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Commuting in sprawl is hellish, so let's … encourage more sprawl?
Last night's epic fail of a commute in snow-crippled D.C. pointed up the perils of sprawl. But some Virginia legislators want more of it.
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California solar firms head to the not-so-sunny East Coast
California's biggest solar installers want homeowners in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to shovel off their roofs and install photovoltaic panels.
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What does it mean to ride a bicycle responsibly?
There has never been a unified code of behavior for bicycling, so people have been left to hash it out on the street. With more people riding all the time, that's becoming an issue. So who is really responsible?
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D.C. mayor axes healthier school food
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, attempting to close a $188 million gap in the city's budget, has halted payment of some $4.6 million that was to pay an extra dime or nickel for healthier meals in D.C. public schools.
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Older urban preservationists risk becoming urban fossils
For young urban advocates in Washington, D.C., change is good. Their elders, traumatized by the 20th century, have trouble looking forward.