Pilot here. While there have been all manner of things dispensed from aircraft for research, military, and meteorological reasons, to paraphrase Freud, sometimes a contrail is just a contrail.
Forum: Fairfax County General

THE VIRGINIA MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATION IS REACHING OUT FOR UV-C ENGINEERING EXPERTISE The Virginia Manufacturing Association, which represents all kinds of companies that make things in Virginia (including the brewers and distillers!), are looking into ways to make factories safer and cleaner right now. They put out a call for specific engineering expertise in things like ultraviolet-C light
Forum: Fairfax County General

Pan Am is serviceable and they will feed you until you can't fit through the door way. There used to be an Aegean Taverna somewhere but I'm not sure it's still around. Haven't tried Plaka Grill yet.
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Cameo Coins in Vienna or Gaithersburg Coin Exchange (which is not just in G'burg) are the only two I've seen who seem to do much real business. I'm not sure you'll pay a lower premium anywhere locally than you would via mail order.
Forum: Fairfax County General

I am continually amazed that people think there is some fundamental difference between the issue here and what every productive human being already knows. You can't spend money you don't have... for long. If one is up against it, you have three choices, don't spend so much, get a better source of income, or borrow. If you're already overextended, then borrowing is off of the table. The histri
Forum: Off-Topic

Danielson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Beware the ides of "Marach!" Is that like Moloch?
Forum: Fairfax County General

Please let's not talk about speed limiters. My car has an electronic governor to keep it from performing too well, while the European market versions apparently don't. It's ridiculous. The nannies are fast on their way to dumbing down the entire world. (None of this should be construed to indicate that I think impaired drivers shouldn't be keelhauled.)
Forum: Fairfax County General

Former Internet engineer here. Mofo pretty much hit the nail on the head. If you can get FIOS, do consider it. I have had about 4 different kinds of connections to ISPs over the years, and Cox was the lesser of the evils unless I wanted to pay $400/month. I waited for FIOS like a little kid waits for the ice cream truck, and for the most part I have not been disappointed. Cox used to have regul
Forum: Fairfax County General

It's not exactly a nuke, but if you think this is a good idea, I urge you to check out a series of books called "American Apocalypse" by Nova. They started out as short stories about the aftermath of an economic collapse in postings on the Calculated Risk blog,but sort of took on a life of their own. The cool part is that much of this takes place in the D.C. area, and Fairfax County in particul
Forum: Fairfax County General

>You are full of shit. There is no such law about "violation of underage kids > privacy" You made that one up. Perhaps not, but there is a law called FERPA that is actually surprisingly rigorous about the protection of information about students in education institutions. The other posters are correct that aggrieved parents could well have grounds for a substantial suit, in addition to pe
Forum: Fairfax County General

Cary, I just sent you an email. I've been doing the Internet security thing for about as long as there has been a commercial Internet and know some people and resources you might find helpful. Would be happy to make introductions if you need some.
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The ROI on higher education is becoming more questionable with every passing day. Not that the academy is without its value, but let's not kid ourselves. There's a reason Peter Thiel is offering college students $200K to drop out and start new ventures when they have good ideas. The incentives are so skewed, and often additionally muddled through federal funding that the desire to please the c
Forum: Fairfax County General

You might look into FreedomPop. It was started by one of the Skype founders (Zennstrom, I think) under the premise that connectivity is a "human right." Basically, they will rent you a hotspot device for $100 (one time), and you get 500MB/month of clear's WiMAX service for free. If you get friends to join, or do other little quests like answering surveys or joining Netflix, they give you blobs
Forum: Fairfax County General

Oh god, Florence.... When I was younger I went with my mom and two of her work friends on a road trip from hell because Florence was apparently renowned as the Mecca of dental work, especially dentures. You instantly knew the reputation was somewhat deserved because the hotels on the way into town had signs saying "welcome dental patients." As a kid, I found it fascinating that there seemed to
Forum: Fairfax County General

I wouldn't call it NOVA exactly, but 90.1 WGTB "One nation, underground" in the basement of Georgetown University was beyond awesome. Some nights you had to get past the fact that the DJ was getting baked while doing his show, but it was the ONLY place to find music that was really different, whether it was punk or what was once called "space music" which presaged the entire electronic music scen
Forum: Fairfax County General

Read "Guns, Germs, and Steel" or watch the Cliff's Notes version on DVD. It makes a good case for much of why Africa is the way it is.
Forum: Off-Topic

fairfaxunderground is the 4chan of locality forums. There is a certain charm to that, but i have to admit that the 4channers are more creative with their racism most of the time. For plain old vitriol, they're about neck-and-neck.
Forum: Off-Topic

Actually, the George Mason Econ Department happens to be the home of several respected economists who don't live in a fantasy world. Take a look at some of the Mercatus Center reports, or the hilarious music videos on Youtube like "Fear the Boom and Bust", which is a Hayek vs. Keynes rap battle. It's epic.
Forum: Fairfax County General

You might take a look at Union Ridge in Centreville. I don't remember exactly which county it's in. They have been incrementally improving it for a while now. There are some high-end places around Clifton but they get more usurious the closer you get to DC. If you're on a budget, you might do better in Nokesville or Aldie.
Forum: Fairfax County General

Maybe another one down... from DCRTV: Whitten Off NC8? - 9/19 - We're told that Total Traffic's Jamee Whitten has recently not been doing morning traffic on Allbritton's NewsChannel 8. Recently, DCRTV told you that Total Traffic's Lisa Baden is no longer doing morning traffic on Allbritton's Channel 7/WJLA. Is Allbritton severing its connection to Total Traffic? More: Whitten was back on NC8 Wed
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I have no complaints about the work of Peter, the "Comfort Doctor." If you're at all mechanical, he'll walk you through diagnostics over the phone which might save you both on a trip charge.
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I was wondering why there was a flight restriction for Fairfax in my email inbox this morning.
Forum: Fairfax County General

It turns out you can find local flavor even on Amazon. I just discovered this: http://www.amazon.com/Every-Other-Day-Is-Halloween/dp/B0034KVTKI/ If you grew up with Captain 20, Count Gore de Vol, or any of the other personae that Dick Dyszel brought to the small screen, this one might be for you. If you're too young to know what Creature Feature was, ask someone who has lived around here for a
Forum: Fairfax County General

I have done it a fair amount around Fairfax, Merrifield, Vienna and McLean and never had any trouble. You might see the occasional "goggle eye" from people in stores, but I've never had one make a call or anything. It's really rather refreshing in contrast to many other localities, but it wasn't always this way. The feedback about knowing the law (details change regularly), using a retention h
Forum: Fairfax County General

If you're concerned about fuel economy, I would urge you to look at the ML diesels. If you are willing to go used, look for a CDI instead of a Bluetec. We don't live in California, and the Bluetecs have one more fluid (for the urea injector in the exhaust) that needs to be topped off every 10K miles or the cars won't start.
Forum: Fairfax County General

If you are in a profession where you find yourself collaborating on research projects or writing policy documents, once you're cleared somewhere there are options for transferring them to other institutions like universities or think tanks, even if they're not your primary employer. In general those shops don't do initial clearances like contractors and agencies do, at least not as often.
Forum: Fairfax County General

I think the late Salvatore Culosi's family would disagree that there aren't scandals in Fairfax County.
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I'm still trying to determine how Marion Barry does it time and again. That man clearly either has mojo or a Steve Jobsian Reality Distortion Field.
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They should be drawn and quartered for hiring outsiders to teach about recycling. If our teaching staff aren't competent enough to create a lesson plan for that, they shouldn't be in the job. This would seem to be more data point that government schools are more oriented to indoctrinating compliant citizens than teaching people critical thinking skills.
Forum: Fairfax County General

I don't know whether Bishop Ireton took the arcade games out of the Student Lounge (I'm assuming they have by now), but when I was there we had a pretty good selection.
Forum: Fairfax County General