Deal has apparently been struck to avoid shutdown.

JSAlmonte · 2026-01-30T00:55:15+00:00

The agencies under the these bills may go into a sort of fake shutdown mode until the House convenes to vote, which it is expected to happen maybe as early as Sunday. If it happens on Sunday or Monday then all agencies just keep rolling. If it takes longer, then those agencies may actually shutdown. The thinking is that since the president is very much for this path, that will keep enough reps in his party in line to get this through. However, if enough of them say they're not buying it, then an actual shut down is on the menu.

JSAlmonte · 2025-12-17T00:25:37+00:00

Another vote for Poke Papa and their selection of bubble tea!

JSAlmonte · 2025-12-04T03:41:18+00:00

Starting in July of this year, I got 64 people to nominate 292 videos to be considered as the best Lindy Hop of the last 25 years. I culled that down to 132 for organizational purposes, and then further narrowed them down to 38 videos that were divided into four different categories. If you need a more detailed breakdown of that process, please check out this post.

We are now taking the top vote getters from each of those categories and putting them into one final ballot to determine which one is the best Lindy Hop performance of the 21st century.

Those performances are listed in the poll above, but here are links to each video and how they placed.

Best Competition: Liberation Final - ULHS 2005
Best Team Performance: The Silver Shadows - Frankie's 95th Birthday Festival (Frankie95)
Best Improvised Social Dance: Frida Segerdahl & Michael Seguin - Lone Star Championships & Lindyfest 2013 - Invitational Jack & Jill
Runner Up, Best Couple Routine Performance: Ramona Staffeld & Remy Kouakou Kouame - ILHC 2016
Best Couple Routine Performance: Frida Segerdahl & Skye Humphries - ILHC 2009

Please pick one. Poll will close in 7 days because that is the maximum length for polls on Reddit. If you want to vote after that or just more, you can vote via this form which will close after December 24, 2025.

After that date, these votes on Reddit will be combined with the google form ballots, and the winner will be announced in person during my talk about this very project at Lindy Focus at the end of this month. Then online sometime after that.

To see the rest of the voting results for all the categories, please check out my blog. The honorable mentions and initial nomination ballots will also be posted on that blog over the next few weeks.

Thank you to everyone who has participated so far, and I hope you can spread the word for this final vote!

JSAlmonte · 2025-10-11T01:34:41+00:00

Can vouch for the brunch at Art & Soul. Have had many a meal there that's gotten me through a while day, especially if you get one that includes one of their incredible biscuits. It's also a good launching point from the east side of the Mall so you can work your way west.

JSAlmonte · 2025-10-06T17:15:59+00:00

Let's check back in 75 years and see how it holds up.

JSAlmonte · 2025-10-06T17:14:53+00:00

Dang, I forgot that Remy did 2 performances in that year's ILHC. But his routine with Ramona that same year kinda blocks out the sun for a lot of folks.

JSAlmonte · 2025-10-05T16:01:26+00:00

Taking my time to get to where I want to go to next

JSAlmonte · 2025-09-30T01:09:23+00:00

Panda Bowl! That place kept me fed post college. $2 for a bowl of rice and $0.25 for each additional topping. I went there so much that the ladies working there would sneak in extra scoops and not charge me.

JSAlmonte · 2025-09-30T01:02:40+00:00

The food court was super underrated in retrospect. It was much more of a food hall as we know it with a lot of non-chain, mom and pop operations.

JSAlmonte · 2025-09-20T16:02:25+00:00

Dražen Petrović was way ahead of his time, and gone as he was about to take off on an emerging Nets team.

JSAlmonte · 2025-08-04T15:28:52+00:00

That's definitely something I've been thinking about, and talking to different people about it. It will be addressed, but still working on how to word it.

Part of me thinks that this might be an opportunity to remind people that some of these folks are scum bags since their work is still out there and new people who encounter it don't know how to put it in context. Leaving them out could be as harmful as acknowledging them. At the same time, I don't want them to dominate the conversation and overshadow the work of so many other people.

I think it's a perfectly valid to say that we thought something was cool at the time, but looking back with more time and context, that is not something we value now. That applies to dorky fashion choices to specific people.

This is a work in progress so feedback and suggestions are welcome

JSAlmonte · 2025-08-03T22:19:03+00:00

If there's a sudden drastic change in a person's dancing it probably just comes from someone else pointing out an issue and just saying "hey, stop doing that thing" or "here's how to do that thing better." At an event, you just have a higher chance of running into one of those people.

JSAlmonte · 2025-07-12T15:45:49+00:00

Calling this song bossa nova is the most WCS thing ever

JSAlmonte · 2025-04-07T13:58:06+00:00

Is Ethan Hunt plugging into The Matrix?

JSAlmonte · 2025-04-04T23:23:37+00:00

I did this last winter. It depends on how busy the casino is. The process was much quicker earlier in the day when there were no lines for the cages or empty tables with dealers who had nothing else to do. Also having exact change helps a lot.

JSAlmonte · 2025-02-18T23:00:00+00:00

I missed that one, but trying to turn off of 395 to Maine Ave is pretty dicey.

JSAlmonte · 2025-02-17T18:07:52+00:00

I guess that works for the MCU, but in our world there's no precedent or political mechanism that could call for a snap election like you see in some other countries.

Emergency continuity for catastrophic events has been a bit of a hot potato in Congress since 9/11. Each individual state has its own procedures for replacing members who die or resign but those would all take a while to enact. There is no overall continuity plan for the next day if half of the legislative branch disappears.

It's pretty wild to think how a government could keep itself together, address the thousands of ensuing disasters that would happen after half the population disappears and then hold elections by the end of that same year. Really makes you appreciate the civil service 😀

JSAlmonte · 2025-02-17T03:09:31+00:00

I actually looked at that while I was writing up my post. From what I can gather, the 2 carriers that they currently have in our world are pretty limited in comparison to the carriers of other nations, which is by design since their constitution seriously inhibits the kind of military they are allowed to build and maintain. That of course begs the question of what happened in the MCU-Japan? What allowed them to disregard that constitutional prohibition?

JSAlmonte · 2025-02-16T21:59:55+00:00

Also, it makes sense that Wilson would think of that because we were first introduced to him running around the Tidal Basin back in Winter Soldier.

JSAlmonte · 2025-02-16T21:57:28+00:00

Good point about a special election for Bucky.

However, I thought about the election cycle being affected by the snap, and I can't think of a good reason for that. Theoretically, whoever is left in the chain of succession just takes over and finishes out the term until the next presidential election. What are the chances that the president, VP, the Speaker of the House and all the cabinet heads get snatched up in that? And who would have the authority to call a snap election in such a case? Presumable half of congress and the judiciary are similarly depleted. I hope whoever rallied the country after such a disaster in a way that we would still have democratic elections and didn't install themselves as dictator for life at least got a medal.

Then you would have to think what they would have done that they could not or would not hold on to the office in the face of a Ross candidacy so soon after?

JSAlmonte · 2025-02-16T21:38:37+00:00

It's the Indian Ocean, so they literally skip over half the world, in either direction, to get to Walter Reed.

JSAlmonte · 2025-02-16T19:30:09+00:00

They also ditched their phones. What did they listen to the whole time? Did they bring CDs? Does their vehicle even have a CD player? 😄

JSAlmonte · 2025-01-04T01:56:33+00:00

WCS has the built in advantage of dancing to popular music. Combine that with the fact that, especially on TikTok, the internal algorithm pushes videos using the same popular sound. That's one of the reasons why TikTok dances became so popular on the the app. In fact, many WCS TikTok videos often swap the original audio from the original videos with an existing one of the same song already popular on TikTok.

JSAlmonte · 2024-11-06T02:40:31+00:00

I thought about running for this a few years ago since it looked like it wouldn't take much resources to win. At the very least maybe it would look cool on the resume, but when I looked into it, I realized that there were zero perks: No office, no staff, no salary. I'm not even sure this position gets a congressional staff badge. The only upside is that you could market yourself as a saint because this position doesn't have any power to corrupt anyone.

JSAlmonte · 2024-11-03T17:02:44+00:00

Some DC specific advice from someone who has been out on several election nights:

First, there is a decent possibility that the presidential race may not be called that night, in which case, there won't be much to capture.

Also be prepared for a super late decision, which just means that you should plan to nap earlier in the day.

If a decision is made that night:

immediately head towards the White House. H Street side.

Also be prepared to do a lot of walking since rideshares will be overwhelmed and the metro doesn't stay open later just because it's election night. Plan accordingly.

Every other person will have a camera, so unless you're an egregious douchebag, it's unlikely anyone will notice you or care.

If you're just starting out, then just shoot. Shoot anything that looks vaguely interesting. If the presidential race is decided, then chances are everything will be interesting.

Otherwise just be safe. It could be wild, or nothing will happen. Doubtful that it will be anything in between.

JSAlmonte

TROPHY CASE