(Senior Correspondent Mike Causey is out today. An earlier version of this column was originally published July 9.)

If you live in the D.C. area you know that August is the best month to be here.

Or, if you are a frequent visitor, you’ve probably figured that out too.

If you have never been here, trust me, head for your nation’s capital right now.

Of course it is hot here. It’s summer! But not as hot as St. Louis, Louisville or sometimes even Chicago.

Of course it is humid here, but not as bad as New Orleans, Savannah and (again, sorry) St. Louis.

What makes Washington, D.C., such a great place in July and August is that the career politicians — the people you send us to represent you in Congress — are out of town. Instead of not working here, they are not working somewhere else. Also absent are their footmen and horseholders. Lobbyists and lawyers also disappear in July and August for extended visits to tony beaches or the Berkshires or Aspen. Those who can’t afford plush beach or lakeside resorts hole up in motels in nearby Maryland and Virginia. Wherever they are, they are not here. Which is the point.

Traffic is lighter than usual. Normally busy restaurants are more customer-friendly and people seem nicer. Maybe because so many of the “left behind” people are nice.

Thanks to Congress and the White House’s sequestration plan, traffic is even lighter than usual. Washington is chock full of feds and many of them are being furloughed, while the politicians who devised the plan continue to get paid whether working, playing or traveling.

I do not hear media of any kind talking about the impact this will have on all employees.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

Compiled by Nicole Ogrysko

Beware of those night owls. Researchers found those who stay up late are more likely to demonstrate personality traits like Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism than those who like to wake up early. Uh oh…

Source: Smithsonian magazine

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