What the Helen of Troy is This

“Wondering if anyone in the community has insight as to what this machinery is and/or what the project is?”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

The last several nights- there are two mysterious trucks with what looks like giant vacuums on them next to the train tracks above 2nd and K St NE. They seem to start late evening and run non-stop until about midnight and are so loud! I’m a block away and Indoors, a decibel app messures 45dB and if I open the window of my apartment it reads ~80dB. Loud enough to be super annoying at night. Wondering if anyone in the community has insight as to what this machinery is and/or what the project is?”

“It’s not massively exciting, but it’s puzzling me”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

It’s not massively exciting, but it’s puzzling me:

Can anyone explain the random old school loud speaker on the front of this Capitol Hill row house? Doesn’t look like part of an official emergency alert system and I’ve not seen similar elsewhere. Is it just an odd home burglary thing, or a way to yell at the neighbor kids?”

Ed. Note: Isn’t this part of the old school fire alarms?

“A few uniforms said anti-terrorism, others TSA.” Random Bag Checks Resumed at the Columbia Heights Metro Last Night

By Prince Of Petworth

I got tons of messages yesterday starting around 5:30pm like this one:

“I just saw 10+ uniformed police at Columbia Heights metro, complete with a table set up for bag searches and a scanning device of some sort. A few uniforms said anti-terrorism, others TSA. I heard them telling people they stopped that checks were random. Do you have any context on this?”

Metro Transit Police have been doing random searches since at least 2008. We also spoke about random inspections in 2010.

Explanation from 2010: (more…)

“We are landing in mostly darkness at DCA. Ninja style!”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by The DC Pope

Last night around 6pm I started getting messages like this from the rural juror:

“Stuck at ATL. They just said that we might have to wait for 45 min or they might divert us from Reagan DCA to Dulles IAD”

DCA Flight Delays reported: “Due to OTHER/EQUIPMENT traffic mgmt prgrm causing ground stop for some arriving flights.”

Then The DC Pope sent us the crazy photo above and this even crazier video of his plane landing in the dark: (more…)

“an arrest has been made in the spate of egging incidents around Capitol Hill”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user ny273

From MPD:

“I am happy to announce an arrest has been made in the spate of egging incidents around Capitol Hill over the past couple weeks. Today at approximately 4:15, two residents separately called 911 to report seeing the egging suspect around Tennessee Avenue NE. Responding patrol officers quickly located a suspect and he was arrested for several counts of Defacing Property. (more…)

Mark It – Cupid’s Undie Run in Washington, DC is Feb. 8

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Victoria Pickering

From an email:

“On February 8 – hundreds of Washingtonians will brave the cold in just their undies during Cupid’s Undie Run, the nation’s largest pantless party and mileish run for charity.

The event raises awareness of neurofibromatosis (NF), a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body, and fundraises for NF research through the Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF).”

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