#NATIONAL Your name can go to Mars; Google hired a camel for desert streetview; skip the jack-o-lantern, make a keg; you have a carefully engineered craving for bacon; yes, your dog heard and understood that; Whole Foods vs. Cracker Barrel – Senate elections edition; Is brunch for jerks? Discuss; Maureen …

Photographer Navin Sarma submitted this photo of gorgeous evening light on the Capitol, saying almost in a whisper (if emails could communicate whispers), “Fall is coming.”

Have $342,552? Want a kid? [D.C. is your place to be] American History is about to get a little more [LGBT] Pharrell’s hat (yes that one) is about to get a little more [Newseum] Sign of the Virginia Whale [spotted in a river] DC’s Pokémon world championships [in photos] Uber …

#NATIONAL #DarthVader2016; 100 days until the election, can you make it?; Summer Vortex > Polar Vortex; Yelp trends: Chicken or the egg?; Nope nope nope nope; Could a Sharknado actually happen?; Type /ponystream into your gchat, just do it; Don’t just adopt a pet, adopt a best friend; there’s an out-of-control satellite …

And now, for your end of day viewing pleasure, today’s White House fainting intern. h/t Jeremy Art A White House pool report released later said the woman was working the first day of her internship and was attending the briefing with other interns. It was a tough first day. Information …

We like this Time Magazine political memoir title generator, including its refresh button which reads “We can do better.” Here are some working titles for our next political book. There are hard choices and then there are hard choices—like what to call your political memoir. As with politics, the genre …

#NATIONAL D-Day in photos; This 93 year old man is parachuting into Normandy again in full dress; And just one more D-Day story for you; Don’t make Kevin Spacey go all Frank Underwood on your ass; Will Obama wrestle a bear next?; Those curls are intimidating the world; And yet, …

This is a cool tilt-shift video of a D.C. It makes ours a little, teeny, tiny, itty, bitty, little, tiny city.

Good weather, a GI film festival, free DJ set, patriotic concerts, Summerfests & community markets. This weekend is awesome-bound.

It’s graduation season again and NPR has published a compendium of the best commencement speeches dating back to 1774. You can sort by terms like “YOLO,” or by year and speaker. If it’s got a YouTube video, it’s there for you to watch. This is a good tool to bookmark …

Streetcar delays in D.C. [and in more surprising news, the tooth fairy was your mom] No big deal but Josh Kraushaar rocked it on [Morning Joe today] The McMillan Reservoir Sand Filtration Site [spooky and in your back yard] Arlington can’t forget [what made it the Arlington it is today] …

The ice caps are melting, Solange is lashing out, and government is as inefficient as ever. It’s time to blow the horn, Mr. President. Should Obama Blow The Silver Horn The Founding Fathers Left In Case The Country Ever Needed Them?

Look up at your calendar, folks. It’s May — which means spring in the District is finally upon us. Put away your snow boots, stock up on the deodorant and prep yourselves for #DCspring2014. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered on where to go from here. Wait, is it REALLY here? Ways you know: There’s always  a line out the door of every salad place downtown. Swimsuit season folks. Parking: Ha. Good one. That special dead-of-August feeling is looming. Weather forecasters predict 80 degree weather, not exceeding 90. That’s a mild spring day in the District. Your Google Cal has no availability. You may wait for the bus forever. No, really. As in, it will never arrive. Tourists are taking pictures of everything. Corner of random building? Picture. Group of flowers. Picture. Beer? Picture. You feel your inner athlete resurface, only to one day twist your ankle on a sunrise monument run. Your inner athlete will retreat back to your living room for the remaining warm weather. “IT’S NOT THE HEAT. IT’S THE HUMIDITY!” is always being yelled now. Cherry blo- well, they’re gone now. No Instagram for you. There are too many activities to pick from. All in the same night: your friend’s party, an acquaintance’s party, a spring happy hour, three concerts you want to see. Brunches are getting a lot more aggressive. People are finding really creative places to lay out when the sun’s shining. Prep to Sweat: Throw out that old pair of flip flops you’ve had for 2 years and get some real summer footwear. Air out your seersucker apparel if Derby Weekend didn’t make you do that already. Buy excess sunscreen, bug spray and perfume. Get all koozies in a prominent place in your home for easy access. Familiarize yourself with reading weather radar. You’re gonna need it. Ready your 1 liter reusable water bottle, preferably one that effectively hides booze. Get a few sessions of hot yoga in to simulate the insane heat, humidity and close proximity of strangers you are about to experience. Plot a map of all rooftop bars to consult at a moment’s notice. Plot a map of well air-conditioned, commercial building lobbies to duck into at a moment’s notice. Fluff your couch cushions because everyone you know wants to visit “when it gets warmer.” Major mistake, friends, relatives & obscure college classmates. Find your damned sunglasses. Steel yourself against the crushing loneliness that will inevitably surface when your friends have plans to get out of town, oh, every single weekend. Know that you can always make it that one more block to the bar, no matter how close to collapse you feel. Remind yourself of the best angle at which you can stand to feel the feeble air conditioning drifting out of the columns on underground Metro platforms. Pro-Tips Congress is on recess. PARTY! An umbrella makes an excellent walking stick and tourist tripping device. Ladies: You can wear your hair up 5 days in a row and no one will judge you. The National Mall gets its own zip code when it fills up. You will go to unreasonable lengths to get a ride to a summer festival (aka a $150 Uber ride). Many people in DC have winter climate pups. No one likes a sweat stain, not even the Hollywood for Ugly People. Jazz in the Garden exists. Google it. It’s awesome. It’s also BYOB. Biking in traffic is a lot harder than Capital Bikeshare promotional photos make it out to be. DC “natives” come up with quite creative excuses to partake in a 3-day weekend vacation. Do with this knowledge what you will. The amount you sweat outside will never equal the amount of beer you’re taking in. Sangria: it’s a lifesaver.

They’re sure as hell gonna try. h/t DCist L Street NW – We're rolling…trying to catch them #parkingdirty. Again: Please, please don't park in our bike lanes. pic.twitter.com/hHzRMasaEe — DDOT DC (@DDOTDC) May 5, 2014

Game on: The lineup for Members vs. Press (aka the 2014 Congressional Women’s Softball Game) has just been announced. Full roster below. Get your tickets for the Wednesday, June 18, 2014 game at 7PM. It’s always a blast, and ticket money goes to a good cause: benefiting the Young Survival …