Brewfest time again! They’ve moved the fall event in a little closer than Summer’s Leesburg, though not a lot: This Saturday and Sunday the event will be going on at Broad Run Park in Centerville, otherwise known as “way the hell out there by Dulles Airport.” I’m interested in going, but unfortunately the options for safe transport stink.

OnTap has an event bus running Saturday, but they’ve already sold out. Vintage 51 will run 6 buses on Saturday as well, but that only helps if you’re in South Riding. No bus options are listed for Sunday at all. Want to stay in a Comfort Suites just to be safe? There’s a $69 deal for Brewfest attendees, provided you can get yourself the 8 miles from the event to the Manassas hotel.

Your only option is to take a designated driver, who will get a $5 discount on the $25 admission fee.

I’m interested in going, but I’m a little underwhelmed by their transport & safety solutions.

‘Woman in cell, playing solitaire’
courtesy of ‘George Eastman House’

The DOJ announced that Gregory William Fair of Falls Church has been sentenced to 41 months in prison and three years of supervised release. It would seem that peddling “counterfeit” computer software is pretty profitable. Fair has to pay just shy of $750,000 in restitution after already forfeiting $144,000 in cash as well as a whole mess of cars: a BMW 5 series, a Hummer H2, Mercedes CL600 and a 69 GTO.

The repeated use of the word counterfeit is interesting, and a funny reflection on the way software is sold and intellectual property in general. No doubt what Fair’s eBay buyers got was in every way the actual, functional software they were looking for, and it did what the buyers expected. We think of “counterfeit” as being different than the actual thing, but in a case like this the only difference is likely the permission of the rights holder. Sometimes that’s the case with knockoff clothing and accessories too – sometimes that purse you buy on the corner in Georgetown is made in the same factory as the real designer’s products, made on the sly and sold out the back door to knockoff vendors.

Also interesting is just how little Fair might have sold. The press release says he sold about a million bucks in Adobe products, retail. With a vanilla copy of Photoshop at $700 and some of the suites selling for $1,800 it probably didn’t take long to hit that $1M.

‘All quiet on the western front…’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

I ran across an interesting piece in the Post today about Adam Lewis. You’ve never heard of him, but he’s the guardian of the Wikipedia entry on Washington, DC. It seems that under Lewis’ careful eye, the DC entry has gone from a shoddy, decaying entry to a thoroughly sourced, well-researched, and informative article that has actually been featured as a shining example of Wikipedia at it’s best.

Maybe for his next project, Lewis could take over WMATA?

’21.’
courtesy of ‘dharmabumx’

You know you’ve reached a level of terrible horribility when The Onion absolutely nails your press experience. It’s pretty hysterical. And, in fact, the Redskins do only hold their domain through June of next year, which I figure has to be some sort of cruel joke in the face of SEO advice everywhere, not to mention discount domain registration policies that Dan Snyder I’m sure must be aware of…

The Skins face Philly on Monday night. It doesn’t look good.

Armored Car
Originally uploaded by tbridge

As part of the promo for the movie Armored, due out in December, you might spot a beautifully painted Armored car, complete with security guard and redone interior, in the DC area this weekend. I caught it in front of Ben’s Chili Bowl this afternoon, where it will be part of this afternoon. Then tomorrow it’s headed up to the McDonald’s near Howard University, and then on Saturday, it will be part of the Howard Homecoming Parade complete with star of Armored Columbus Short riding along.

The art on the car is not to be missed, it’s a gorgeous graffiti-style artwork, and covers the entire armored car, inside & out. Very, very spiff.

‘DSC_0119’
courtesy of ‘Don Whiteside’

Charley Cooper, Georgetown sophomore, has a problem. He’s just so… busy. Classes, part-time job, lifestyle maintenance, it’s all too much. So he’s advertising for a personal assistant. The successful candidate will do Charley’s laundry, schedule his haircuts, drive him to and from his part time job, gas up his car, etc. For $10-$12/hour.

I’m pretty sure that the whole point of college was to learn to manage your life alongside your other responsibilities without your mom around. Paying someone to be your mom seems like cheating. But maybe I’m just old school like that. What do you all think? A triumph of capitalism? A spoiled brat?

‘The US Coast Guard – protecting I-95 from ________.’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’

Just to avoid the bad press and frustration, the Coast Guard has announced they’re going to hold an exercise on the Potomac this morning. Just so a CNN staffer doesn’t make up actual gunfire out of the calm words, “bang bang bang” on the radio again. All the details, courtesy of Arlington Alert:

US Coast Guard – Washington will conduct a boat tactics and maneuvering drill/training in the Georgetown Channel (between Arlington Memorial and 14th Street bridges) today Thursday 22 October, at approximately 1000-1200 local time using two boats with mounted automatic weapons: one the aggressor the other defending the security zone. No live fire or blanks will be used.