A Growing Buzz Surrounds the Increasing Number of Capital Beekeepers

Washington Post

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Something unusual is happening on Washington rooftops, a new addition to the satellite dishes, HVAC units and snipers that are the usual fixtures atop the city's buildings.

Urban beekeepers, who prowl their rooftops in full beekeeper regalia, are becoming chic in the nation's capital, and their semi-secret society is less so, given the growing popularity of their peculiar and ancient hobby.

The White House recently added a hive to the South Lawn, and the Fairmont Hotel in the West End started two hives on its rooftop, where the chefs-turned-beekeepers tend their hives and wax poetic about the District honey they will drizzle on cheese and incorporate into their white chocolate mousse dish.

There are several dozen known beekeepers in the city. For years, they have tried to stay beneath the radar, uncertain about whether their neighbors would be pleased knowing several thousand stinging insects are next door.

"You know, there are lots of people in this community who think I'm crazy for talking to you," said Toni Burnham, 45, who is in her fifth summer of beekeeping and has emerged as one of the city's most prominent and vocal beekeepers.

Burnham keeps two hives atop her Washington townhouse. She tends to them on weekdays, when her neighbors are at work, slowly climbing the spiral staircase to her roof in her "bee costume," looking left and right to make sure no one is out gardening or sunbathing when she pries open the hive to check on her "girls."

She wants to keep the location of her home a secret, though she isn't breaking any laws.

Nothing specifically prohibits beekeeping in the District. But that was also the case in New York City, where a city health code banning animals that are "wild, ferocious, fierce, dangerous or naturally inclined to do harm" was applied to beekeepers.

Some apiarists are romantics who enrolled in beekeeping classes after reading "The Secret Life of Bees" and fantasizing about amber jars of honey. ...read article here... ...see movie here... �@

When it comes to healthy living, Washington, D.C., is seldom mentioned in the same breath as cities like San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Seattle, all of which are known for their active, health-conscious residents.

But according to a new report, the city of pomp and politics is the healthiest in the nation. In the second annual American Fitness Index (AFI), a publication released by the American College of Sports Medicine, Washington, D.C., edged out Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., Denver, Boston and San Francisco.

Go to Forbes.com to see where your city ranks

Time to give my analysis of the Reality TV shows I watch. First, Celebrity Apprentice. Annie Dukes should have won. Annie played the best game throughout the show and raised more money for her charity than anyone else, including the winner Joan Rivers. And this includes the $500,000 Joan won on the last task, which was changed so she would stand a chance to win. Donald with the "sympathy" win for the loud-mouthed Joan Rivers and her daughter.

Next was The Amazing Race. For the first time I did not have a clear favorite to win it. All three finalist couples had their good and bad moments. The winners, Tammy and Victor, had a huge advantage in China where a lot of the race took place but everything was even when they left China for the U.S. so can't say it helped them win.

Survivor. Each "season" I say I am not going to watch but end up doing so, because nothing better to watch on TV. JT definitely was the best player and derved the win. Wasn't anyone else even close, including Steven, his "shared brain" with JT. I would like to have seen the "most popular" (and $100,000) go to Taj, or someone other than the $1,000,000 winner, JT.

Dancing With the Stars. Best season. Ever. Anyone of the three could have won without an argument from me. Melissa overcome a last-minute start as a repacement. Gilles danced to perfection. Shawn was a competitor and Inproved the most during the season of the three finalists, so she would be my pick as the winner, so I am glad Shawn won.

American Idol. My favorite of the Reality TV shows. Watch every episode every season. Alos probally the best Top 10 and Fian 4 ever. I was a big Danny Gokey from the beginning an I predicted a Danny and Adam final, after the first couple of weeks of the season. But, Danny ran out of steam, and Chris Allen kept charging the last few weeks and made it to the final two with Adam Lambert. Adam was the most consistent throughout the season and is definitely the most marketable of this season's cast. Adam should win tonight, but don't count Chris out of it. Both are deserving of the title. Both will have singing careers, as will Danny. �@

From The USAToday

Verizon and Apple are discussing the possible development of an iPhone for Verizon, with the goal of introducing it next year, people familiar with the situation say.

It would mark the first time Apple has produced a version of the iPhone for a CDMA wireless network, which is different from AT&T's GSM technology. Vodafone, co-owner of Verizon Wireless, already sells the iPhone in Europe.

The New York-based telecom entered into "high-level" discussions with Apple management a few months ago, when CEO Steve Jobs was overseeing day-to-day business, these sources say. They declined to be named because they aren't authorized to speak publicly.

Jobs is on medical leave until June, but the conversations are continuing, they say. Apple declined to comment on the specific question of whether it is talking to Verizon. The company provided USA TODAY with a prepared statement, culled from comments to investors by COO Tim Cook last week: "We're very happy with the relationship that we have (with AT&T) and do not have a plan to change it." Cook added that "CDMA doesn't really have a life to it after a point in time."

Verizon is in the process of upgrading its network to a fourth-generation wireless technology known as "LTE." It is possible to build phones that work on both CDMA and LTE networks.

The Washington Nationals are off to a terrible start. They have only won one game out of the first 11. They just benched one o their best players because he was 5 minutes late. And he was doing charity work for the Nationals(helping kids) that made him late.

In February the team let their General Manager, Jim Bowden "resign" because there was so much controvery over the age of one of the Dominican prospects that was signed a few years ago. Seems the kid was a few years older than the Nationals thought. And there was talk of "money skimming". Haven't heard anymore about this since he resigned.

Then the "Acting GM", Mike Rizzo is afraid to make any moves because he is not given the job but is being "tested" first. This leads to an Opening Day roster that has too many outfielders and not enough quality pitchers. Then the team lets a good pitcher go, because they don't want to pay him an amount which is in the lowest 2% of baseball salaries.

Then our club's President, Stan Kasten, invites all of Philadelhia down to Washington just so the team can have a better attendance for the games. Dosen't matter how "rowdy and rude" the Phillie fans are.

Our manager, Manny Acta, seems not to care what is happening on the field and some of the players seem to follow suit. Some of the game decisions lately have seemed questionable to a lot of fans.

This city deserves better. For too long it went without a baseball team and now we have one. I don't expect a Wrold Series or even Divison championship, but I do expect a good brand of baseball and a win now and then. Come on Nats, let's get it together!!!

No more Zeppelin. No more Skynyrd or Tom Petty or Rolling Stones. And not a whole lot more Don Cerphe Colwell, either.

Classic rock and the DJ who brought that music to local radio audiences long before the rock was considered "classic" are both fading from the airwaves. Beginning Monday, Colwell's station, WTGB (94.7 FM, "The Globe"), will switch to playing contemporary pop tunes. With the demise of the region's only classic rock outlet, the music that helped transform FM radio into a cultural force in the 1970s will become just another baby boomer memory.

Colwell -- who has always gone by his middle name, pronounced "surf," on the air -- is arguably the voice of Washington's rock generation. As an undergraduate at American University in the early 1970s, he began working part time at a little FM station in Bethesda called WHFS, where he explored records by such artists as Jimi Hendrix and interviewed such up-and-coming talents as Bruce Springsteen.

Over the decades, Colwell, 57, never left the local airwaves, and never strayed far from rock. He joined WHFS full time in 1973 as it grew from hippie outpost to tastemaking mainstream force. He outlasted changing musical styles and the radio industry's periodic convulsions and eruptions. For years, he was the knowledgeable and smooth-voiced "rock guy" at such stations as DC101, WJFK and the Arrow 94.7, the predecessor of the Globe

Colwell said he didn't ask to become part of the new station, and probably wouldn't have fit in anyway. "Could I do it? Yeah," he said. "I really love radio, and I really love Washington. But I'm really not a Kelly Clarkson kind of guy. I'm more of a Springsteen, U2, Coldplay guy."

From The Washington Post

"...This time, it's for real. Classic rock will disappear from FM radio in Washington next Monday, to be replaced by a soft pop format designed to win listeners in one of the few places where broadcast radio remains strong--at the office.

The new 94.7 Fresh FM will feature music by the likes of Jason Mraz, Third Eye Blind, Leona Lewis, Coldplay, Gwen Stefani and John Mayer--a mix intended to compete with 97.1 WASH-FM's soft rock sound, capturing a somewhat younger audience than that station by excluding what Fresh's promotional materials call "washed-up old slow songs."

Two years ago, CBS Radio rebranded its classic rock station at 94.7 FM from The Arrow to The Globe. promising an alternative rock sound reminiscent of the legendary 1980s rocker, WHFS. But in short order, 94.7 returned to its classic rock roots, playing the big rock hits of the 60s and 70s with a mix of more recent music of the same ilk. Now, that music will be relegated to a channel on HD radio, the sub-channels that are available only to the very few consumers who have bothered to go out and buy special radios that receive the extra channels hidden on the FM band.

The demise of Classic Rock 94.7 means the end of the FM road for voices that have accompanied Washingtonians to and from work for decades, such as Cerphe Colwell, who has been a mainstay of D.C. radio since he started on the old WHFS in 1972..."

Join us March 18-22, 2009 for the 15th Annual Virginia Festival of the Book! These five days of mostly free literary events are open to the public as we honor book culture and promote reading and literacy.

The Virginia Festival of the Book is in Charlottesville, Virginia. ...read more here...

It was once the workhorse of the Vietnam War, a helicopter with a distinct thwap, thwap, thwap that for some came to symbolize that conflict.

The Huey, reliable and solid, is being phased out -- though some say it's premature to write its obituary because it is still in use by some units. But the event held yesterday by the D.C. National Guard amounted to a retirement ceremony for its fleet of Hueys, which are being replaced by a more modern and nimble chopper known as the UH-72A Lakota.

Pilots stood around a parking lot near RFK Stadium that served as a temporary landing zone, admiring the old helicopters as if having a hard time saying goodbye. They talked about how the aircraft, some of which date to the late 1960s and early 1970s, were over the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and responded to Hurricanes Katrina and Ike.

For the Vietnam generation, the Huey is an "icon," said Lt. Col. Maureen Bellamy, who has been flying the helicopter for 25 years. And when she goes to aviation shows, Vietnam veterans "come up with tears in their eyes" and recall how, when wounded, the sight of a Huey on the horizon meant safety.

"The Huey is a legend," said Tim Smith, the aircraft maintenance officer for the Army Aviation Museum in Fort Rucker, Ala. "It's been the standard of Army aviation for many, many years." ...read more here...