Agree that some interim signage is extremely necessary to avoid confusion, especially since that end is a bit awkward in the network. The "interim" MBT as signed uses Van Buren under the tracks to Sandy Spring, and the future MBT is, I believe, going to go west from Blair at Whittier to 4th.

That intersection really would benefit from one of those "the MBT is *this* way" signs, at least until they add bike lanes to Florida NW/the rest of NE...

And I should clarify/correct the above - while the website listed Van Buren but the design plan shows Whittier as the connection to the new segment along Blair.

For the last DC segment - the project page has the 100% design plans, which has a two-way cycletrack on 4th NW/Van Buren with a few off-street trail segments connecting the quiet streets of Chestnut and Spring to Piney Branch. mbt-pineybranch-blair-dcgis.hub.arcgis.com

I've been doing the opposite per the signed interim route - going east on Van Buren or Aspen from 3rd to Sandy Spring/Maple and then going west on Carroll to the Metro and up to Eastern Ave there.

And DC still needs to build the last segment between Aspen and Piney Branch to pick up the long-standing trail segment in MD. So great progress, but not quite done yet.

(But this new stretch is amazing!)

And only another year or two before the connection to MD is complete!

I find the purchase much more questionable from Wonder's perspective. For Sweetgreen, salads and rice bowls are on the easier end of the spectrum to automate - have a bunch of hoppers with the items in them, send a bowl down a conveyor belt, and dump out x portions. Wonder is way more complicated.

At the time (2021) it was also meant to make the company more attractive for a potential IPO. But the two locations where they've deployed the technology are reported to have higher profit margins.

(I fell down a rabbit hole last week when the sale was announced.)

For #1 - they bought it from some MIT grads back in 2021 (who had two "robot" restaurants in Boston). The purchase was meant to automate the backend to reduce service time and, of course, reduce the need for people (at least of the "tedious" work of scooping ingredients into a bowl).

They've busy avoiding other things.

The gall of Johnson to try to say today they'll have lots of long days ahead because of how far behind they are due to the long break - nothing (legitimate) prevented the House from continuing to work.

At least, from what I've seen, this CR doesn't repeat the same mistake. So yay?

Yep - despite the President being in favor of it, Johnson never bothered.

I think WUSA reported in September that through some creative accounting and taking advantage of the 6% increase allowed by language in the 2009 appropriations act, DC managed to bring the gap down to ~$100m.

To make you feel grateful for insurance (see how much it's saving you!) and therefore discourage you from wanting to overthrow the entire system?

With a much younger delegate in Congress...this was just her 8th year!

If only you had waited another minute! (The chatbot has spoken. Definitely sounds fueled by Grok in this one...)

Of course I meant to type #bikeDC but, typos. What can you do?