Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter and local resident Tim Weiner won the National Book Award’s nonfiction category for Legacy of Ashes: The History of the C.I.A., a sweeping 600-page critical history of the agency with a particular emphasis on the intelligence failures that have occurred during the agency’s relatively short period of existence. “Legacy of Ashes,” writes Weiner, “is the record of the first sixty years of the Central Intelligence Agency. It describes how…

Just a few days ago there was a flurry of sarcasm over the launch of DipNote, the comically named, poorly designed and dubiously intentioned new official State Department blog. It’s fair to say that its arrival was met in the larger blogosphere with a resounding thud, though whether there might be anything worthwhile content-wise in its existence seems worth going back to check at least a few times. Now there’s another new government blog being…

So who do you turn to if you’re an embattled administration facing an unpopular war, bitter criticism both at home and abroad, an exodus of senior staff, and the barrel of a long year’s worth of lame ducked-ness? A retired general? Nope. A political mastermind? Nah, that would be too easy. Perhaps a captain of industry? They’re too busy starting and running multi-billion dollar foundations. Well, then how about someone who made his name by…

>> Bobby Boswell sounds off with a strongly worded criticism against ESPN’s refusal to acknowlege a fantastic game of soccer in favor of nonstop coverage from the “Beckham Cam.” [D.C. Sports Bog] >> Fare thee well, Rock Creek Rambler. >> Late Wednesday afternoon, a portion of the ceiling on the underside of the outdoor overhang in the “lower plaza” area of the State Department’s Columbia Plaza complex fell down, damaging several cars parked underneath….

When you find yourself cupping the balls of a bull, you know your life has taken a turn for the weird. At least, that’s what Stephanie Garibaldi found after spending time in a Mayan village, just after deciding Ivy League College was not for her. Garibaldi’s is one of four stories involving faith and self-discovery showcased in Chocolate Jesus. The work is performed by regulars from SpeakeasyDC, a monthly storytelling night featuring seasoned regulars and…

The Associated Press has discovered the one thing State Department employees are more frightened of than a backlog of passport applications: wasps! Cicada-killer wasps to be precise, which have infested areas around the State Department’s headquarters at the Harry S. Truman building on C Street NW. A memo obtained by the AP tries to calm the fears of Stateys regarding the menacing looking wasps by pointing out that they are “generally not aggressive and do…

Dear Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney: feel free to do embarrassing things in public today. D.C.’s celebrity (and we use that term loosely) photogs are probably following around real celebs — well, at least Angelina Jolie. Yesterday the Examiner gave us the heads-up on a litany of famous-outside-the-Beltway folks traipsing around town this week. So if you’re a little tired of running into Nicolas Cage filming National Treasure 2, keep your eyes peeled for these…

The Examiner has a good news/bad news story today, reporting that while more D.C. students are taking Advanced Placement exams, they’re failing in numbers much higher than the national average. Twenty-two per cent more students took AP exams in 2006 compared to the year before — quite a jump — but only 10% are passing. Our neighbors in Maryland and Virginia not only have near the highest participation in the country, but their students pass…

When architects, developers, and laborers set about transforming the former Columbia Hospital for Women into the massive Columbia Residences complex at the intersection of 25th Street, L Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, they placed the area within a protective cocoon of chain-link fences. Inside the fences, just across L Street from the back door of Marcel’s restaurant, went a little-known monument commemorating a joint international agreement to reduce military forces patrolling the Great Lakes. With…

Though we usually feature our Flickr photogs here, this one was too good to pass up. This morning at National Geographic downtown, folks from their Kids magazine went for broke — setting the Guinness World Record for number of stuffed animals gathered in one place. Two-thousand, three hundred and four, to be exact. Preciousness rose to new highs in the room lined on every wall with teddy bears and smiling gorillas, as the record verification…