The 20 - DC

[the20washington-blog]

"The city water in D.C. is notoriously bad and in deference to our guests' health we don't want to offer "Chateau Potomac". If people insist, we will of course oblige them with tap water, but we feel that bottomless sparkling or still bottled water for .29C is more than fair."

That’s Justine Kraemer, Elisir’s General Manager/Sommelier on the restaurant’s 29-cent surcharge on water. Elisir, a fine dining establishment, features two signature menus: a seven-course $75 menu and a 10-course $95 menu. So if you opted to pay that much for a meal, a 29-cent surcharge probably doesn’t rank that high on your list of daily gripes. However, many wonder why an upscale restaurant would want to pass that cost onto the customer? The DCist’s Jamie R. Liu explores.

- CT

[DCist, Aaron Morrissey]

[the20washington-blog]

Just look at Black Friday. It’s the best argument for Cyber Monday that exists. “Want to save money but avoid the very real threat of being stampeded by large hordes of wild bargain-hunters?”Cyber Monday asks. Who doesn’t?

That’s the ComPost’s Alexandra Petri breaking down what you really need to know about Cyber Monday: there’s no pepper spray involved. In fact, you don’t even need to put pants on for the biggest online shopping day of the year. But if you find yourself at work today, chances are pants are indeed necessary. It’s also likely that you’re the one down low in your cubicle hiding behind a fake Excel spreadsheet. Yeah … you’re not fooling anyone there, secret shopper.

- CT

[ComPost, GeekSugar]

[the20washington-blog]

Rebecca Black’s “Friday” is the “Who Let the Dogs Out?” of the YouTube era. You mocked her, you ridiculed her, and you wished Rebecca Black and her viral “Friday” song would just disappear. Apparently, you didn’t try hard enough because, yeah, she’s still very much around. After a cameo in a Katy Perry music video, the YouTube sensation recently released a new single (that’s right, more Rebecca Black musical stylings), and Kohl’s has just turned her inescapable “Friday” song into a Black Friday commercial. The 20’s Patrick Pho tweets: “Gotta go to Kohl’s? Not if you have this song playing in the background.”

- CT

[Patrick Pho, Huffington Post]

[the20washington-blog]

Once upon a time, the University of Maryland-College Park was considered one of the best schools in the country for a student-athlete. Now, as a result of some brazen miscalculations and overreaches by the athletic department, the school plans to cut 8 of the school's 27 varsity programs to save money. And although playing college sports is obviously a privilege, it's still sad to see teams forced to disband due to errors they didn't make.

That's The WaPo's Clinton Yates lamenting recent plans to cut athletic programs at Maryland. Remember all those expensive seats and suites that were added to Byrd Stadium a few years ago? Turns out if you build it, they won’t necessarily actually come. And when your revenue-generating football team is 2-9 and alumni stop writing big fat checks -- athletic programs must go. Among the sports Maryland plans to cut are men’s tennis, all three men’s track teams (indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, cross-country); men’s and women’s swimming and diving; women’s water polo; and aerobics and tumbling (competitive cheer).

- CT

[Clinton Yates, Lunchline]

[the20washington-blog]

Troubled Thoughts. With an ever-changing QB lineup, The Washington Redskins are morphing into the '00 Destiny’s Child of football. (Of course, without the talent.) Unlike DC, which went on to pop/R&B greatness, the future is looking much murkier for Mike Shanahan’s bumbling squad. Yesterday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, the fifth in a row, has some questioning if the team was better before Shanahan hit town. Really, it has come to this?

- CT

[NBC Washington, WTOP]

(Photo: Getty Images)

[dives-and-divas]

[the20washington-blog]

cheatsheet:

dives-and-divas:

RIP - Bil Keane, creator of comic strip Family Circus, dies at 89

I grew up reading this every Sunday.

RIP Joe Frazier, Heavy D, and Bil Keane ... sad week for pop culture.

[Patrick Pho, Cheatsheet]

[the20washington-blog]

Ah, to Be the 1 Percent. If you have $1.3 million just lying around and a fascination with old architecture, then you’re in store for a deal (we think.) As Prince of Petworth notes, a historic condo located in the mansion originally built by Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. is currently on the market. So you and your moneybags may want to take a looksie here.

Speaking of moneybags, it turns out area residents are rolling in them. Maryland is home to the most millionaires per capita, and DC and Virginia also make the list.

- CT

[Prince of Petworth, NBC Washington]

[the20washington-blog]

Varsity Blues. According to a recent study, Asian American teenagers suffer the most bullying from their classmates more than any other racial group. Somewhere Steve Urkel disagrees.

- CT

[DCentric, Elahe Izadi]

[the20washington-blog]

Best Scam Ever? It was shocking Hollywood news when Kim Kardashian filed for divorce after just six months of dating, a lavish $10 million wedding and 72 days of marriage to Kris Humphries. Instead of just deducing two months is the new eternity for celebs and moving on, the short-lived marriage became the watercooler discussion filled with witty cracks and outrage that the entire marriage was a constructed-for-TV scam. In the video above, The Washington Post’s Clinton Yates weighs in on the buzz, and suggests the marriage can only be a scam if one actually believed it to be anything other than a business proposition.

As for the Kardashian business, The Fab Empire’s Joi-Marie McKenzie believes that proposition (and its resulting divorce) could actually still prove to be a gain. “The brand won’t be tarnished. Kim is probably going to make even more money,” McKenzie says. “It’s a real-life Young & the Restless; people want answers to why she broke it off instead of trying to work through it, if she’ll return the ring, what went wrong and so on and so on. The marriage is being featured heavily on her reality TV shows, so people will watch and she will win.”

- CT

[Clinton Yates, Joi-Marie McKenzie]

[the20washington-blog]

Another Day, Another Metro Woe. While it may not seem surprising to the daily Metro riders that take to Twitter to voice their complaints (you know who you are), the transit agency expects to see a drop in ridership next year. The Examiner’s Kytja Weir reports that the loss of federal transit benefits for commuters and high unemployment numbers are among the reasons for the predicted drop.

As for Metrobus riders, they’re busy complaining to the tune of 1,368 complaints per month – a five percent increase from 2010. Perhaps this may help: Montgomery County bus riders can now track their Ride On bus arrivals with a real-time system.

- CT

[Examiner, Kytja Weir, Greater Greater Washington]

(Photo: Greater Greater Washington)

[the20washington-blog]

D.C., Worldwide. Washington D.C. rapper Wale’s sophomore album "Ambition" dropped today, and the single “DC or Nothing” became a worldwide trending topic. In “DC or Nothing,” Wale addresses Washington politics, gentrification, the city’s AIDS rate and more. Think of it as your intro to D.C. Watercooler talking points (minus the Metro rants).

You can listen to “DC or Nothing” here (warning: the song contains profanity.) DCentric’s Elahe Izadi asks: Do you think the song portray D.C. accurately?

- CT

[DCentric, Elahe Izadi, Wale]

[the20washington-blog]

What’s hurting millenials the most, day to day, is not CEO bonuses, nor is it an unfair tax structure. We don’t have to pay for that each month. What’s keeping us down is the thousands of dollars of debt we incurred because they told us we had to. You Absolutely Must Have a Degree, society said.

That’s ComPost’s Alexandra Petri giving you something to ponder while putting your graduate degree to work at the Gap. Last week the College Board revealed that Americans owe more in student loans than in credit card debt, and that amounts to a whopping $1 trillion. College tuition has doubled since 1988, but income … not so much. Petri argues that if you take out the student loan factor, there wouldn't be much of an Occupy Wall Street movement.

- CT

[ComPost, Alexandra Petri]

[the20washington-blog]

If you’re trying to marry up, clearly whites are it. If you’re trying to avoid marrying down, it would still look like blacks might be the least preferred.

That’s demographer Roderick J. Harrison on the changing face of interracial marriage. According to a recent survey, interracial marriage is on the rise, making up 7.4 percent of all American marriages. However, the pairing between black women and white men, in addition to white women and black men is the least likely pairing.

Within D.C., the 2010 census shows that 17,316 individuals identify themselves as multiracial. DCentric’s Elahe Izadi ponders if interracial marriage is more acceptable in D.C. compared to other locales.

- CT

[DCentric, Elahe Izadi]

[the20washington-blog]

Georgia Avenue NW is one of the main cultural arteries of the city. If you start at Florida Avenue and make your way all the way north to the Maryland state line, you'll see shops and neighborhoods of all types on the way-- some good, some not so great, but it's come a long way since the 80s.

That’s the Washington Post’s Clinton Yates on the sprucing up of Georgia Avenue. And if you think parts of the thoroughfare are still a little shady, trust it’s definitely a huge step up from the Ave's liquor store mecca/outdoor heroin market heyday. Now, a taskforce is going the extra mile to upgrade Georgia Avenue's neighborhood's with “window art” exhibits and more.

- CT

[Clinton Yates, WaPo]

[the20washington-blog]

War! What Is It Good For? Absolutely squashing any chance you have of a Busboys and Poets moving into your neighborhood. City Paper’s Lydia DePillis reports that owner Andy Shallal had been looking into moving the franchise into Silver Spring and possibly other Montgomery County hotspots. Keyword being "had", as MoCo residents pay about $2.4 billion in taxes for defense spending, which proves to be a deal breaker for Busboy and Poets. The eatery is currently encouraging customers to “Imagine a world without war, ” something that may be a hard task for Montgomery County when considering that Lockheed Martin employs a substantial amount of workers in the county, all of whom pay income taxes.

- CT

[City Paper, Llydia DePillis]

[the20washington-blog]

I'll admit, I watched the first part of the Kardashian wedding event last night. It was absolutely ridiculous. The Kardashian clan is the quintessential modern American show business family, but this whole deal could be their undoing. It's a bit much.

That’s Washington Post’s Clinton Yates on the only thing that seems potent enough to bring down the Kardashian empire: the Kardashians themselves. Kim and Kris Humpries got married on Aug. 20, but it appears the universe refuses to let us forget. If the Kardashians are not co-hosting the Today show, they’re two-stepping on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ selling clothes at your local Sears, or hyping up the -- not one, but two-part -- Wedding special on E!

So have we officially been KO’d, Kardashian-ed out? Maybe you’ve had enough, maybe you want more, and just maybe you’re still stuck on the question: “What is it exactly the Kardashians do … that makes them celebrities?” Well, it's somewhat inexplicable, but whatever it is -- it's *cough, cough* kinda working.

- CT

[The Root, Clinton Yates]

(Photo: People)

[the20washington-blog]

iSad. When visionary Steve Jobs passed away yesterday at 56 of pancreatic cancer, the Internet instantly took to mourning him via text, email, status updates and tweets. Call him a brilliant innovator, cult hero, showman or any substitute phrase you can swap for “simply genius” -- Steve Jobs had immense passion for what he did and he did it remarkably well. As a result, reaction to his death has been overwhelming; so much so that social media monitoring firm SR7 estimates Twitter received about 10,000 tweets per second. Below are a few local tweets:

@dcfab RIP Steve Jobs. You converted me to a MAC user, iPod carrier and iPhone user. #apple

@jwmoss Steve Jobs was born out of wedlock, put up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college, then changed the world. What's your excuse?

@MedievalMadness #thankyousteve You made everyday amazing! Your innovation & dedication left an unforgettable apple shaped mark on this world. RIP

@Janine_Clay Reflecting upon a life of love, work and perserverance: "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish." RIP #thankyousteve

@acarvin "RIP Steve Jobs" is trending worldwide on Twitter. In truth, he's been trending for over 30 years. #RIPstevejobs

@tariqwest You lived as you designed: audaciously and with an eye for magic. Your life's work is truly an inspiration. Thank you Steve. #RIPstevejobs

@therealmarta Wow logging into iTunes to an in memoriam to Steve Jobs. Very sad - the nation has lost a business savvy visionary. #ripstevejobs

@RyanLizza I learned BASIC on IIe, made fake IDs on a Centris, sold Macs in college, wrote 1st article on PowerBook, typing this on iPhone. #RIPSteve

- CT

[NBC Washington, AdWeek]