I’m away on vacation for the next week or so and I won’t be connected until I return. In the meantime, enjoy these scenes I never got around to posting.

As seen from the Silver Spring Metro platform.

A tweet from WJLA reports that slots will come to be in Maryland.

Downtown Silver Spring, as viewed from the Metro platform.

The Washington Post conducted an unscientific experiment where it mailed over 200 envelopes from various locations throughout every ZIP code in the city. Approximately 10% arrived bearing a Washington, DC postmark. The rest were stamped either with “Suburban Maryland” or “Southern Maryland.”

Washington’s postmark began fading into disuse after the anthrax-by-mail attacks in 2001, just weeks after the terrorist attacks on September 11. Two postal workers at DC’s Brentwood postal facility died as a result, and mail sent from DC was processed at facilities in nearby Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. At the Montgomery County facility in Gaithersburg, eight machines are set up to postmark mail; three of them use the Washington mark while the others use Suburban Maryland.

If you’re bent on getting your mail stamped with a Washington, DC postmark, you’re best bet is to take it to a post office yourself and ask to have it hand canceled.

And an interesting note I almost forgot, DC’s Capital Pride events have had at least two postmarks, the first in 2000 and the second in 2005.

Maryland’s Court of Appeals ruled today that denying marriage rights to same-sex couples is indeed constitutional.

Equality Maryland (EqMd), the state’s GLBT civil rights group, filed the case in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The case was first filed in 2004; argued in front of a Baltimore City judge in 2005, who ruled in early 2006 that barring same-sex couples from marriage was unconstitutional; and then it was argued in front of the Maryland Court of Appeals in December, following an appeal by the state.

The Court of Appeals’ decision is final, and EqMd and the ACLU will now fight for marriage rights in the Maryland legislature.

So far, two rallies against the ruling are being organized in Maryland, one in Baltimore and the other in Glenn Dale. Both begin at 6:30 p.m. and more info is available from EqMd’s home page.

Further Reading:
Equality Maryland Press Release: ACLU and Equality Maryland Denounce 4 to 3 Decision by Maryland High Court Denying Marriage Protections for Same-Sex Couples

The people who write DC’s emergency alerts need to learn to consider their audience. Yesterday, they sent an email alert that said:

PEPCO reports a 5% Voltage Reduction has been implemented across the PJM area. In addition customers are requested to curtail consumption. 5% voltage reduction will not result in interruption of power supply but rather a reduction in the supply voltage to customers.

PJM area? Zuh?!

Turns out I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what PJM meant. A few people chimed in on a local police department listserv to find out the same thing.

Turns out PJM stands for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The electric companies use PJM to refer to the power grids within and between them; Delaware and DC are included within the PJM area.

It reminds me of a bit from “Are You Being Served,” where Captain Peacock reads a memo about tea breaks laden with acronyms to the floor staff. No one can figure out what he’s saying until he explains what the acronyms mean.

The same thing’s happening here. PJM is an insider term; virtually no one would know what it means unless they run in electric company circles. The police commander on the listserv didn’t even know.

These are my links for 22 Jun through 25 Jun:

• pee and poo plush dolls * kiss & bajs | scandinavian details - The pee & poo set makes a fun, light-hearted tool for introducing your child to potty training (SSSH. It even makes a great gift for hard-to-please adults.)
• A Long Line for a Shorter Wait at the Supermarket (New York Times) - A relative newcomer to Manhattan is trying to teach the locals a new rule of living: the longer the line, the shorter the wait.
• Metroblogging DC: Maybe photography IS a crime - Wayan, Carl, myself and the rest of the DC Metblogs crew invite you out for a photo outing on what seems like the best day to do this: July 4th.
• Uncovering America: Fighting for Acceptance - Special Reports from CNN.com - From the basic desires for understanding to the complex issues of adoption and marriage, the LGBT community faces an array of challenges.
• If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers - Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion.
• Second Life Without Sex Would Be a Sad Life, Indeed - There’s nothing virtual about the anxiety felt by Second Life residents these days.
• How Dumb Can a “Wizard” Get? - How can setting up a cell phone get that complicated?
• Machinist: Tech Blog, Tech News, Technology Articles - Salon - “No drop of milk oozes from the Apple teat without a crowd of journalists gathering to swallow it up,” writes Jack Shafer, Slate’s ever-clever media critic, in a piece launching his pre-iPhone “Apple Suck-Up Watch.” Shafer is the sort who reaches for his

In the span of about half an hour, I received three updates from Equality Maryland about a Baltimore judge ruling that a law against gay marriage “cannot withstand a constitutional challenge.”

This is truly an historic moment for the State of Maryland. Same-sex couples across the state just came a giant step closer to the day when they won’t have to worry that life partners will be ignored in discussions about emergency medical care, or about the hurt and confusion their children feel when forced to explain why their parents can’t marry.

– Dan Furmansky, Executive Director of Equality Maryland

This is certainly, to me, an interesting turn of events in the state.

Traveling home from band practice on the Metro a couple of weeks ago, I happened upon some rather large ads with a cow silhouette and bovineunite.com printed on them. At first, I thought it was those wack-a-doos from PETA again, trying to get people to stop eating meat. (Me not eat meat? NEVER!)

Turns out, it was an ad campaign for the Maryland Lottery.

Let’s moove ahead (sorry, couldn’t resist) to New York, where, apparently, the cows are coming tomorrow. Speculation is alive and well on this one. Guesses on what it’s about include a new coffee creamer, a Chik-Fil-A promotion, or the New York Lottery following Maryland’s lead.