internet frippery, and also the BW parkway

[jazzfish]

The majesty and power of law and justice: "I thought I'd share with you what kind of state Rhode Island is." (answer: an AWESOME one.)

We know tea.

Looting for Profit: "I think we've finally found the secret phase 2 of the underpants gnomes."

Via thanate, an amazing cellist (or sixteen). I recommend in particular the video of her performing "Escape Artist."

As long as I'm passing along Youtubery, I've been meaning to post a link to (Warning: lyrics are so NSFW it was censored by the FCC) Sarah Jones's Your Revolution for a month now. (While you're at it, look up Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," too.)

---

I've been lax in keeping up here this past few weeks. Some personal chaos has been eating most of my spare brain, I'm not ready to talk about it to much of the world yet, and I'm finding it difficult to push that aside to talk about other things. So, a random anecdote.

A couple of weeks ago I had a lot of fun getting not-exactly-lost in the District. I usually go around the Beltway to get to Greenbelt on Mondays, but I've recently come to the conclusion that the Beltway just isn't any fun to be on: wide, clogged, no shade, etc. So I figured I'd try taking 395 to the BW Parkway. This was, um, interesting. I started by getting off substantially too early, drove around Downtown, and accidentally found myself back on 395. I then obeyed the signs for 295N that said KEEP LEFT, kept too far left, and found myself on some sort of access road for RFK stadium. A bit of "what the heck just happened?" later, and some frenzied consultation of the ADC map that ancientsong picked up for me the last time I got lost in the District, and I found my way to 295N. Which is a gorgeous drive once you pass 50, and a lot more pleasant than the Beltway.

The neat thing about that in particular was that I never really felt lost, or frantic. I knew what I was looking for, I knew that if bad came to worse I'd eventually find my way to the Beltway, and I had plenty of time so I wasn't going to be late. It was an Adventure, and exciting, and a neat way to see some new things and learn my way around somewhere newish.

(Should you want to try this at home, it's pretty easy as long as you follow two simple rules. First, look for the signs for "295N" and follow them. These are white DC highway signs, not interstate signs. Second, look for the signs for I-295S and follow them if you can't see any signs for 295N. There's pretty much always a sign nearby telling you to keep going the same way but take a later exit or a different turn to get to 295N.)

I still haven't figured out how to do the trip in reverse without making a U-turn, though. It's like they deliberately don't want you going from 295S to 395. I've tried getting off at all points from Pennsylvania Avenue on south. Next time I guess I try East Capital, and if that doesn't work I'm stuck with 50 and its myriad traffic lights.

Comments

[rockynomad.livejournal.com]

You can't do the trip north-to-south without a u-turn. Exit 295 S at Suitland Parkway, then follow the lane it puts you in right back onto 295 N. The next exit is 395.

I usually follow the I-295 signs from 395. I wind up having to do the same u-turn to go north on 295, but it beats waiting through the lights on Pennsylvania Ave.

Oh, and you may have noticed: there is almost always a cop in a speed trap on northbound 295 just past the 395 exit.

[jazzfish]

That's really bloody annoying. I'll try Suitland next time I'm out there, maybe it'll be less annoying. (The other thing is that 66 West has just as many idiots as the Beltway but they can cause a lot more trouble because it's only two lanes, so I may just take the Beltway home in the evenings.)

I think I'd rather wait through the lights than try to make a U-turn in rush hour traffic. I dunno. Again, worth trying on Monday perhaps.

I've not seen a cop there myself, but, well, rush hour, it's not like anyone is going more than 35 anyway. It /does/ seem like a good place to catch folk.

[rockynomad.livejournal.com]

Whoops, I should clarify: it's a 180-degree change in direction, but it's not a u-turn. It's an off-ramp followed immediately by an on-ramp, and unless that one tiny little segment of Suitland is really jammed, you never have to go below 30mph.

[jazzfish]

Oh, okay. That's much more reasonable.

Well, there's this route...

[jmax315.livejournal.com]

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=greenbelt,+md&daddr=38.869785,-77.00901+to:annandale,+va&geocode=&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=13&via=1&sll=38.866845,-76.990643&sspn=0.062017,0.149345&ie=UTF8&z=13

Which is better during rush hour than trying the U-turn you mentioned.

But the turn from the Anacostia Freeway onto S. Capitol Street bridge is... non-obvious, and I haven't checked the state of repair of the bridge lately (it is sometimes in scary-bad condition).

Re: Well, there's this route...

[jazzfish]

(I'm actually in McLean, so I'd do 395S-110N-66W)

Huh. I tried South Capitol the first night I was coming back, and couldn't find a way to go north on it. "Non-obvious" indeed.

Re: Well, there's this route...

[jmax315.livejournal.com]

The route on the google map for negotiating that turn is correct. It involves about two blocks of literally neighbourhood streets, and is one of those you-just-have-to-know deals; there really isn't any adequate signage.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

One of the distinguishing characteristics of DC, in my opinion, is that it's impossible to be lost, but also extremely difficult to figure out how you got where you are, and how to get where you want to be.

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

I had to think about this for a moment, but you're right. That's a good description of navigating in DC.

[jazzfish]

I /have/ managed to get lost in DC. Of course, a) I knew literally nothing about how DC was laid out, b) I hadn't been planning on going anywhere near DC, and c) I was sixteen at the time.

In general I'm surprised by how much sense the District's street layout makes on a macro scale, and how little use that is for getting anywhere efficiently.

[jmax315.livejournal.com]

It helps to know (in the sense of understanding; it's of no use whatsoever for navigation) that DC got hurt badly by the late 50s/early 60s anti-interstate backlash. About a third of the highway net originally planned for DC actually got built.

Since the part that got built was just the first third that got funded, *not* what the planning folks would've done if they'd known in advance that they were only going to get a third of what they set out for, the local highway net is rather incoherent.

See http://www.roadstothefuture.com for a decent overview of the original plans, and what happened when they got derailed.

[jazzfish]

. . . must not lose four hours browsing old highway plans. . .

I mean, um, thanks.

[nixve.livejournal.com]

See, I can't think of that Spiderman/Stan Lee quote anymore without thinking of Ohm (http://xkcd.com/643/).

[jazzfish]

*snrk*

[nixve.livejournal.com]

oh, I just stumbled upon this handy link for people wanting to hear the original:
http://www.gilscottheron.com/revnottel.mp3