Stunning Image of Washington, DC Area from Space

Image of capital region at night was taken from the International Space Station.

NASA is known for supplying some of the most engaging images of planets, asteroids, galaxies, stars and other celestial bodies. Now, Canada’s space agency is enthralling us with images of our planet. Chris Hadfield, who later this month is to become the first Canadian to take command of the International Space Station, released a stunning image Feb. 25 via Twitter of the Washington area from a height of 230 miles.  In the image, you can clearly make out the convergence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, as well as some details of the infamous street layout of the city. The image is among the latest in a series of Earth-focused images from space. In November, 2012, NASA released a book, “Earth as Art,” a series of 75 images that feature …

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Is Washington, DC, Capital of Cheating?

Dating website says the District is the least faithful city in U.S.

  Washington, DC, tops the list of the “least faithful cities in America,” according to a blog post on the dating site AshleyMadison.com. AshleyMadison.com touts itself as “the most successful website for finding an affair and cheating partners,” and bases its ratings on the number of sign-ups to its site per capita in a given region. In 2012, 34,157 individuals in the District of Columbia enrolled on the website, earning the top spot on AshleyMadison’s top 10 list. Two Texas cities, Austin and Houston, round out the top three slots. No West Coast city appears on the list; East coast and Midwest cities complete the top 10: The website’s founder and CEO, Noel Biderman, attributes DC’s ranking to some very public events, saying, “With …

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Danna Walker

11:56 am on Monday, February 18, 2013

:)   more ›

Survivor Stories Not Told Via Hologram at DC Holocaust Museum

Shoah Foundation clears confusion over project.

Last week, Patch reported that the New Dimensions in Testimony hologram project in development by the Shoah Foundation, which records the story of Holocaust survivors in a 3D format, could appear at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, within five years. According to an email received by Patch from Andrew Hollinger, director of communications for the museum, “There are no plans to introduce holograms into the museum experience," and he clarified that "the Museum is not involved in creating holograms of Holocaust survivors." A number of news outlets, including The Washington Post, Yahoo and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, reported the same information that originated from an Associated Press story.  When asked about the …

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Three Hours to Take a 30 Minute Trip on D.C. Roads?

New report ranks D.C. as No. 1 on its "Planning Time Index."

  Planning to attend an important event at 7 p.m. in the District? You'd better leave at 4 p.m., according to a report released by Texas A&M's Transportation Institute. While many people know that the Washington, DC, area ranks at or near the top of the list for traffic congestion, a new Urban Mobility Report paints an even more dire portrait of the challenges of getting around in the nation's capital. Researchers from Texas A&M have devised a method to determine the amount of extra time needed to arrive on time for "higher priority events" such as social commitments, flight departures, medical appointments and more. The Planning Time Index (PTI) takes into account an area's traffic congestion, and quantifies the increasing …

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The Return of Streetcars to the District Delayed Yet Again

District Department of Transportation pushes launch date to 2014.

On Jan. 28, 1962, car number 366 entered the Navy yard Car Barn, marking the last time a streetcar traversed the streets of Washington, DC. In August of 2011, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced a plan to bring the nostalgic cars back to the nation's capital no later than mid-2013. Now, NBC 4 is reporting that the launch date has been pushed back to 2014 at the earliest. The report quotes DDOT spokesperson John Lisle as saying "the streetcars system has been planned for a lot of years, and obviously there have been a lot of details to work out and a lot of things to fine tune." The plan calls for the first cars to begin traveling H Street in Northeast Washington, an area that has recently seen an influx of new …

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DC Ranks No. 1 in Inbound Migration for 7th Straight Year

Maryland and Virginia are "balanced," according to a new study.

Since 1993, Atlas Van Lines has compiled and released data on interstate moves from the previous calendar year. In 2012, Washington, DC, saw the highest percentage of inbound migration for the seventh consecutive year, according to a recent Business Insider article. The study found that 63 percent of Washington, DC, moves were inbound, just ahead of North Dakota at 61 percent and North Carolina at 60 percent. In fact, Washington, DC, has seen the most inbound moves over the last 10 years—68 percent, well ahead of Alaska, which was 61 percent and New Mexico at 58 percent. Conversely, Wyoming and Nebraska saw 59 percent outbound migration in 2012, with New York third at 58 percent. Over the past decade, New York and New Jersey saw a 59 …

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Metrobus Schedule: No More App for That

The popular bus arrival time app has gone dark.

  NextBusDC, a smartphone app that had been tracking the arrival times of Metro buses for users since 2009, has quit working, according to a Washington Post story. The app, which is the end product of a partnership between NextBus—a company that tracks transit system data, and AppTight, which makes the data user-friendly in an app format, stopped working on Dec. 20, according to the In The Capital website. In The Capital reported that a contractual relationship between the two companies “ceased,” with NextBus receiving only three days’ notice and AppTight no notice at all. AppTight’s Kelly Beener remarked that only the data feed to the DC app has stopped, and the San Francisco version continues to function. NextBus’ Ken Schmier told The …

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Washington, DC, Ranks in Top Five 'Richest Metros in America'

The top two areas may surprise you.

  The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released a report naming the Top 20 “Richest Metros in America” based on personal income data from 2011, according to an article on The Atlantic’s website. The Washington, DC, metro area ranked No. 5 in the list, with a per capita income of just under $60,000, trailing San Jose and San Francisco, CA, at just over $60,000. The top two metropolitan areas on the list? Bridgeport, CT, and Midland, TX. The article’s author, Derek Thompson, delves deeper into Bridgeport, describing the dichotomy of the “struggling industrial city,” Bridgeport and Greenwich “home for hedge fund billionaires." Thompson believes that using a median figure would give a more accurate representation of the area at a “typical …

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Readers' Gallery: Share Your Fall Family Fun Photos

What are your favorite things to do with family in the fall?

  Whether it's apple picking, hay rides or even going to a frightfest— the arrival of fall offers a ton of opportunities for family fun. Since today marks the first day of autumn, we were hoping you'd share some photos of what your family likes to do this season. Add your photos by clicking the "Upload Photos and Video" button above this article. Leave suggestions of great family events or activities in the DC Metro region in our comments section below!

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Montgomery Mojo

Moco Mojo: Pepco Smackdown, Gaithersburg 1-Rockville 0, City Council Clowns, Cops Cat Around

A tad more than 500 words on the 500 square miles of that miracle called Montgomery County. Did you know your cops were funny?

  There may be bigger news fish to fry but when what's hot and battered is a Twinkie or a funnel cake, we must start this week's column with a tribute to the one, the only, Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, which continues through Saturday, Aug. 18. Where else can you celebrate the fact that a third of the land in Montgomery County is designated for farming by participating in a toilet-decorating contest? In addition to fried food, there are carnival rides, live music, monster trucks, a children's theater and, of course, live animals, including racing pigs. More than 200,000 people are expected to pay the $10 entrance fee to attend. Speaking of farming, it's the new cutting edge career in these parts. Montgomery County Executive Isiah …

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