Category: Local DC area

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Presidential Inauguration

The Presidential Inauguration of Barak Obama on January 20th is expected to be a huge event, eclipsing the previous largest ever turnout since Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 inauguration with 1.2 million people. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty says up to 4 million people could converge on downtown Washington for the inauguration, although the Secret Service says that it expects 2 million people.

Screenings

Every one of the 240,000 people attending the actual swearing-in ceremony will be screened by walk-through or hand-held metal detectors. Beyond the obvious weapons not allowed, you also will not be allowed to bring:

  • Sticks or poles
  • Pockets or hand tools, such as “Leatherman”
  • Packages
  • Backpacks
  • Large bags
  • Duffel bags
  • Suitcases
  • Thermoses
  • Coolers
  • Strollers
  • Umbrellas
  • Tripods and camera bags
  • Laser pointers
  • Signs
  • Posters
  • Animals (other than service animals)
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Other items as determined by and at the discretion of the security screener

So while you might have thought it would be funny to point a laser pointer at the presidential motorcade, it will not be allowed.

It is likely to be so crowded that you won’t want to bring much with you besides your cellphone and camera.

Cellphones

Cellular carriers are adding capacity with temporary towers along the parade route. Still, with an unknown number of visitors, there is concern that the network will be overloaded.

One suggestion is to use text messages if your calls are not going through. These take up very little bandwidth and should work more easily.

Emergency responders and 911 calls will be given priority so those calls should be able to get through.

Getting to the event

All N. Va bridges will be closed to cars. You can walk or bike the bridges.

D.C. will be mostly shut down to traffic.

News

The Washington Post has an Inauguration Central website that includes:

  • A live webcam that is focused on the U.S. Capitol to show the construction of the Inaugural stage.
  • An FAQs section that gives users valuable information about ticket availability, transportation, ceremony timing and parade information, providing a sense of what to expect during in the weeks leading up to the Inauguration.
  • A downloadable map of the parade route with the most updated road closures in the area.
  • A calendar of Inaugural parties and events happening during Inauguration Week.
  • Quizzes, polls and discussion threads which give users a chance to test their inaugural knowledge.
  • A visitors guide which includes an interactive map of attractions on The Mall, suggestions on planning a trip to D.C. and advice on where to get lunch post-inauguration.
  • A section that features inauguration history, including a slideshow that provides a look at past inaugurations.

Inauguration Pop-up

One of favorite items to commemorate the inauguration is a pop-up picture of the event that you can print out and make yourself. This low-tech print out might not be like attending the real thing, but it will certainly be more comfortable.

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Delay to Digital TV Transition?

The incoming Obama team has written Congress asking for a delay of the planned February 17th turn off of analog over-the-air TV signals. While most people won’t notice this eventual transition, there are some hurdles.

Most People Aren’t Affected

The loss of analog over-the-air signals will not affect most people who use one of 1) cable, 2) Satellite (Dish or DirecTV), 3) digital over-the-air (still using an antenna), or 4) fiber (FIOS TV service). Most people in the D.C. area will not be affected. TVs made in the last couple of years should have digital tuners, known as ATSC tuners.

Expected Problems

In my experience setting up home theaters and TVs in the DC metro area, I have found some problems that will likely come with this transition:

  1. Analog signals travel better. While the term “digital” seems like it should mean “better”, it has a big downside. Analog tuners deal with missing data (the result of a poor signal) much better. Digital signals that do not have enough data quickly turn to jaggies and then a blank screen. This is sometimes referred to as a digital cliff effect. The same concept applies to HD Radio. Digital therefore does not travel as far as analog and it does not work as well through walls. Even in Arlington, Virginia, not far from the TV towers, a good signal usually requires an antenna to be placed in a window, on the roof, or in a high attic. People farther away will have more problems. Residents in rural Virginia might now be too far to get any over-the-air signal.
  2. Old homes in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland can not be easily wired for cable. The house walls might be made of concrete, brick, or stone that is difficult to wire through. This has caused some local residents to opt for analog over-the-air TV instead of cable or FIOS. Other people have decided to only wire their living room, and still use analog over-the-air in other rooms. The old construction can also cause problems running an antenna to a window, roof, or attic.

Possible Delay

The Obama team has requested a delay because the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is to provide education and $40 vouchers for people to buy digital TV converter boxes, ran out of money on January 4. There is also concern that many people, especially poorer and more rural areas, have not yet heard that they will need a converter and a larger antenna.

Web Resources

To find out what kind of signal you can expect and what kind of antenna you need to get digital programs, see AntennaWeb site and click Choose an antenna. Another useful site is HDTV Hub, which lists many users experiences for their particular locations. You can find out through these sites what kind of over-the-air HDTV experience that you can expect.

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Problems Opening an Apple Store In D.C.

According to the Georgetown Current, Apple has been trying to open a new store in Georgetown since 2007 but has been having problems getting its designs through local review.

Apple Inc. claims design geeks as well as computer snobs among its fans, and the company’s storefronts are hallowed ground for those who worship form as much as function.

But Apple’s design credentials seem to hold little sway in Georgetown. Although the company has owned a Georgetown location at 1229 Wisconsin Ave. for more than a year and has approval to demolish the existing structure there, D.C. has yet to get its first Apple store. Moreover, recent delays suggest the wait is far from over.

At its Dec. 2 meeting, the Georgetown advisory neighborhood commission rejected the third consecutive proposal from the California-based store, and the Old Georgetown Board did the same at its meeting two days later.

Planners had hoped the third time would be the charm: “Steve saw this design and really loves it,” said project manager Carrie Johnson, referring to Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Commissioners disagreed with Jobs and claimed the design – a glass first story with a solid-stone upper facade punctuated by a large window shaped like Apple’s logo – would not fit into Georgetown.

Old Georgetown Board members agreed, said board spokesperson Tom Luebke. “The board felt that the design turned the building into a billboard,” he said.

Other board criticisms have been constants since September 2007, when Apple presented its first design, a glass lower story and an upper story that featured punched windows.

“That first time, like every time after, it was a question of scale,” said Luebke. The board wanted something to break up the unrelieved expanse of glass, but Apple returned in the summer of 2008 with an all-glass facade.

“The board wanted something less autonomous, something that supports the historic district,” said Luebke. And again, there was the question of scale.

Although the complaint that the most recent iteration was “too modern” did surface at the neighborhood commission meeting, the moreauthoritative Old Georgetown Board told Apple that a “modern treatment is possible,” according to Luebke.

“They’re not against modern design,” he said of the board.

Another worry has been the one-story approach to the building, formerly the site of a French Connection UK store.

“It didn’t seem that one-story occupancy is an enlightened idea for smart growth in Georgetown,” said Luebke.

Apple Inc. did not return calls for comment.

The brand has had success placing stores in historic and culturally important spots other than Georgetown. A brief survey of existing storefronts, however, shows that Apple’s proposals for the D.C. site more closely echo newer, suburban Apple stores than, for example, the company’s stores on Regent Street in London or in SoHo in New York City.

Those latter stores’ facades, however, were historically protected and therefore retained, while the Wisconsin Avenue site will be demolished.

But Apple will somehow have to adjust its design to its surroundings if it wants to proceed, said Luebke. “So far,” he said, “there has been very little context of the historic district.”

While we wait for the first Washington D.C. store to open, there are many other Apple stores in the D.C. metro area in nearby Virginia (two stores in Arlington, one in Fairfax, and one in McLean, VA) and Maryland (two stores in Bethesda and one in Columbia, MD).

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Online Charity Resources

Over the holidays, it’s good to consider the less fortunate. Now it’s easier than ever to make donations or find a volunteer opportunity from your computer.

NPR has a story called:
How To Use Technology To Donate To Charities

It covers how charities are using technology, from the Salvation Army accepting donations by text messages to giving charity gift cards that allow the recipient to choose their favorite charity.

Although there’s the impression that it can be less personal to give online, Gallaga says he found the opposite to be true when he gave money to DonorsChoose.org, a company that connects students and teachers to people who would like to donate. Gallaga says he got an e-mail from a teacher thanking him and telling him that the money was being used to buy AV equipment at a low-income school in Wisconsin.

“It made me feel more connected to that charity, and it made me feel like I had helped some people,” he says.

The Washington Post covers D.C. area charity issues in their article:
A Season For Giving

Washington area nonprofits, which provide a safety net for those suffering the most, are reeling from the recession. A recent survey found that four in 10 area nonprofits expect to close down programs or reduce staff in 2009. Four in five philanthropic entities reported a drop in assets from 2007 to 2008. (Regional nonprofits may also have lost as much as $1 billion to Bernard L. Madoff’s alleged fraud.) Meanwhile, 44 percent of area nonprofits anticipate an increase in demand for their services in the coming year. In other words, demand for charitable services is greater than ever, while resources are increasingly hard to come by.

Individuals who are interested in giving, but who are not sure where to start, should look through “The Catalogue for Philanthropy: A Guide to Giving, Greater Washington.” The catalogue highlights some of the smaller but more effective nonprofits in the region. Donors who want to help charities that provide essential services, including food and shelter, should consider giving to the Community Foundation’s Neighbors in Need Fund, established in response to the economic crisis. Those who want to volunteer can find ample opportunities through Greater D.C. Cares organization.

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Make Palm-sized Paper Booklets

Many D.C. area organizations do not allow people to bring in cell phones, PDAs, laptops, or any other electronic devices for security reasons. A great solution is to make a paper booklet for your information. There are two Flash-based websites that do a great job at this for free:

PocketMod

PocketMod includes lots of built-in templates: calendars, organizers, lists, references, games, RSS fees, and more. You can edit several of these to include your information. Creating a booklet is as simple as dragging the pages you want into your booklet and clicking Print PocketMod!

BookletCreator

BookletCreator prints any PDF (Adobe Acrobat file) file in a booklet form. If you have a long list of contacts that you want to print out, this works well. First you will need to turn your content into a PDF, as we explained how to do earlier.