Morning Notes

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by ARLnow.com August 24, 2011 at 8:54 am 2,700 27 Comments

Post-Earthquake Safety Tips — Arlington County is advising residents to call a structural engineer if they find cracks in their brick facades or chimneys following yesterday’s earthquake. [Arlington County]

Favola/Areizaga-Soto Primary By the Numbers — Just over 10,000 people voted in yesterday’s 31st District state Senate primary between Barbara Favola and Jaime Areizaga-Soto, out of 133,577 active registered voters in the district. More than $538,500 had been spent on the race as of Aug. 10. In other words, candidates ended up spending more than $53 for every resident who bothered to cast a vote in the race.

Arlington Confusion — In case you were wondering, there are 21 different localities in the United States called ‘Arlington,’ in states like Texas, Massachusetts, South Dakota, Vermont and New York. [Falls Church News-Press]

Hotel Hosts ‘Top Dog’ Contest — The new Residence Inn Arlington Capital View in Crystal City is holding a contest to find a “doggie mascot” for the hotel. The winner of the contest will be selected at an event on Oct. 6 by a panel of judges including “Arlington County K-9 division, veterinarians, doggie trainers and… Fox 5 Anchor Steve Chenevey.” Entrants need to include a photo of their pooch, his or her name, age, breed and best trick, and a $25 donation to the Washington Humane Society. [Marketwire, Residence Inn]

Flickr pool photo by Divaknevil

Ali

Anyone ever find out why a helicopter was hovering over Crystal City for 20+ minutes last night?
- Too Literal
  
  A helicopter has two pairs of propellers – the larger ones at the front, above the cabin and a smaller one at the tail. The larger ones help in flying while the smaller ones stop the helicopter from spinning round when the big blades are turning.
  
  As the propeller blades of a helicopter slice through the air, it creates a strong wind. The wind moves downward pushing the helicopter. The air beneath the blades thus, has greater pressure than the air above them. The blades are then twisted slightly so that air is forced downward. This creates a lift.
  
  Flaps under the wings of an airplane create a lift in the same way. In fact, the rotor blades of the helicopter are really moving wings. The difference is that the whole airplane has to move forward in order to get lift, whereas the helicopter needs the propeller to fly in the air.
  
  This is what enables a helicopter to go straight up or down or hover over one spot. In front of the pilot, is a ‘cyclic stick’. He moves it in the direction he wants to go and the helicopter flies that way. The cyclic stick works by changing the pitch of one blade at a time as it passes the side of the helicopter.
  - Ben
    
    We have a comedian on our hands…. ha!
  - Josh S
    
    Well, I give the joke 2 stars. Being a literal guy myself, it doesn’t make as much sense since the question was “why”, not “how.”
- SaveDaveMcKenna
  
  What was the low flying bomber looking plane I saw about 2:30 pm yesterday?
  - ARLnow.com
    
    It was a scheduled Arlington National Cemetery flyover.
- EyeOOOta
  
  Justin Trawick was flying it.
  - I’m confused
    
    This is the 3rd or 4th reference to Justin T and I’m confused why… anyone want to let me in on the joke?
    - Tabby
      
      I don’t know either. Seems someone has a beef with him.
      
      He has a lot of Facebook friends and always comes up as “someone you may know” but I don’t know much beyond that.
      - I’m confused
        
        I guess I want in on the joke. Haha… I mean I actually of him, I’ve seen him play once or twice because for a while a friend of mine played with him. I’m sort of indifferent on his music, though I do think I’m a FB fan, who knows. So I’m not even “mad” about the jokes or on a fight to defend it, really just curious because I’ve seen it a lot lately.
      - Labradorian
        
        Justin plays at Iota quite often. The jokester is “EyeOOOta.” Not sure if he’s dissing the musician or the club’s promotion of him. Either way, not really that amusing.
    - Ali
      
      I don’t know about the references but he’s a local musician. Used to spam me on Myspace when people still had them in 2003.
Steve85

Maybe they were inspecting the buildings?
- Ali
  
  I doubt they could see much a few hundred feet up with no lights at 9PM.
  - Aaron
    
    They were probably there to deter looters. It obviously worked because there was no looting.
    - Richard Cranium
      
      Specifically, they were there to deter looting by Somali Pirates. As you point out, the operation was an unqualified success!
AH

Calling your own structural engineer might be prudent if you suspect damage, but do not buy into anyone who comes to your door claiming to provide structural services. It is a common scam after an earthquake.
Steve

They use choppers to inspect buildings visually.. Was that quake damage I saw in that parking garage by Courthouse Metro? You know the one between clarendon and I believe veitch that lots of people cross through to get to the metro? I noticed tape up blocking some spots, and some pipes piled on the floor, like they were doing replacement work. Or just a coincidence?
JimPB

MONEY IN POLITICS:
— $535,000 for the campaigns for the nomination to run in November for a state Senate seat

Who gave? With what expectation(s)?

What did the money go for? Effectiveness?

Did the campaign conrributions do more than promote name familiarity, i.e., inform voters about the background, thinkin and goals of the candidates?

(About goals. How would candidates propose to obtain them?)

Can an effective campaign be conducted with little money?
_____

Kudos to ARLNow.Com for making e-space available for candidate statements.
- ARLnow.com
  
  Thanks. About $230,000 or so was from Jaime’s personal funds.
  - J
    
    That’s about $100 in personal funds per vote. Yikes.
    - CW
      
      Should have just bet it all on red at the roulette table.
SaveDaveMcKenna

Are the precinct results up anywhere yet?
- (another) Greg
  
  Yup. They were up last night on the county’s site:
  https://www.voterinfo.sbe.virginia.gov/election/DATA/2011/7269D271-CAE4-4EBA-8C12-DD99B60DDA88/Unofficial/00_013_s.shtml
  
  http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/voterregistration/VoterRegistrationElectionReturns.aspx
MC

Agree about the many faux-Arlingtons. Arlington TX is the worst: claims to be big, but a complete “non-place” from what I’ve seen of it.
TJ

Every so often @ArlingtonDaily on twitter will follow me, hoping I’ll follow back. It’s start to get annoying.

http://twitter.com/#!/ArlingtonDaily

Clearly, that’s Arlington TX, but the Iwo Jima image in the profile pic caused me to double-take.
- TJ
  
  You’ll also note that they follow Arlignton County Fair, Go Remy, ArlingtonAlert…among others
  
  Stupid twitter bots….

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