iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 26/09/2026

Delorean and drawing on a city snowplow at Alexandria's tons of trucks.

Interior of a delorean made to look like the one from back to the future

Large black snowplow on a truck with drawings and writing on it

Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 18/09/2026

I definitely also was told that story, or similar, while taking German. I somewhat assumed it was an urban-ish legend. There's www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... which retells the story and describes it as "if probably apocryphal". And found this AP(?) story from 1948, unrelated to the war.

Sun Herald·Biloxi, MS 30 Jan 1948. A 'GIFT' IS POISON TO A GERMAN Berlin (AP) A Berliner named Kornfeld got a scare recently when he received parcel from relatives in New York which bore the stamp "gift parcel." He afraid to open it. So he called in a neighbor, who looked at the parcel and immediately offered congratulations. "Congratulations!" Kornfeld exclaimed, "What for? Nice relatives I who sent me 'gift.' I must destroy it quickly." Fortunately, the neighbor knew English- least enough to explain to Kornfeld that though "gift" means poison in Germany it means "present" in English.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 11/09/2026

I don't really understand this since we have lots of half addresses. But this makes me think both sides are kind of wrong? Like taking over an existing address seems like a really bad faith/aggressive suggestion?

Staff did not adopt what the applicants proposed. The Tillinghasts asked that 3600½ simply become 3600, with the neighbor taking any even number between 3512 and 3598 — they suggested 3520, 3590 or 3598. Instead, staff assigned new numbers to both houses.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 28/08/2026

She also painted a mural on the south side, which faces Witter Field and you can see it from Telegraph over the train tracks as well.

Floral mural on a building that is under construction

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 26/08/2026

Two recent AI food posters in restaurant windows that make me less likely to frequent them. At least the Chinese food one isn't too yellow-tinged.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 24/07/2026

Also the sliders are on a different scale? The sliders are at the same spot but Humble gets $4 more than the provider or the charity, since they have that secret gray area? That sort of dark pattern is enough to make me never want to buy any thing from them again, sadly. @humblebundle.com

slider widgets at the same position left-to-right but showing the bottom Humble one with more money

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 24/07/2026

I'm not sure I have any receipts of how Humble Bundles used to do it, but this feels very, very low to the charity and the actual source of what they're selling than when they started... very sad.

Screenshot of radio buttons titled "Adjust Donation" with the options:

Default Donation

$11.61 to Macmillan Publishers
$1.05 to World Central Kitchen
$8.44 to Humble

Extra to Charity

$10.03 to Macmillan Publishers
$3.16 to World Central Kitchen
$7.92 to Humble

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 14/07/2026

Not claiming this is the best screenshot of it but for whatever reason I thought of this great tweet from the 2010s tonight.

sand ghost @moutheaters

Me: Is the natural state of the soul quiet or chaos?
Taco Bell cashier: Look buddy, it’s transient, shifting like water

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 06/07/2026

In case you haven't seen it, this is a a bit west, I think, of Wolf Trap. Going from 2019 before the upgrade started and the most recent street view when only one half was done. The other side is now walled in as well.

Google street view showing a rural two lane divided highway.

Google street view showing a rural highway that has been widedned with a large wall on one side.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 27/06/2026

Start of the Pride Ride at Alexandria Pride!

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 23/06/2026

Two things it seems like the Dominion outage map has given up/broken? Also it seems like ALXnow is doing weird summaries, what does "will have power restored by either 1 a.m. or 3 a.m" mean.

Screenshot of a power companies outage map just showing vague number of outages in a locality by color instead of polygons of the outages.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 21/06/2026

Since I bothered Disney+ until they added 4:3 Simpsons. Which they did very interesting technical work (totally unneeded in our modern age) to make it efficient to stream both the original 4:3 and cropped 16:9 versions and they never used it for another show ever.

"Simpsons" screenshot showing Duff, Duff Lite, and Duff Dry bins not showing the all came from the same source.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 08/06/2026

And yet much to my daughter's dismay, there's a whole other section forbidding keeping swines.... (although that fine is low enough one could almost do if one really wanted to ;).

Screenshot of laws:

Sec. 5-7-1 - Swine prohibited.

(a)

It shall be unlawful for any person to keep or allow to be kept any swine within the city.

(b)

Violations of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than $5 and not more than $10. Each day a violation exists or continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. (Code 1963, Sec. 4-1)

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 07/06/2026

Just a very old drug free school zone sign nowhere near any current school.

An old yellow sign saying "drug free school zone" with some graffiti on it

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 03/06/2026

I got a picture of them looking along Wheeler a bit earlier in the evening.

Mostly sunset blue to golden sky with two planets near the center. The bottom of the picture had trees and a roadway.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 23/05/2026

We're playing Life and this is the third time I've landed on this spot. Three yachts! I would never.

Close of the game of life board showing two cars. An orange one is in the "buy a yacht! Pay $80,000."

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 19/05/2026

This isn't the best picture but Venus and the Moon look great while they're still up for a few more minutes Alex area.

Venus on the left and a small crescent moon on the right.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 17/05/2026

Go home Spring, you're drunk etc.

Screen shot of a series of days' weather forecasts with the high temperatures being: 96, 97, 94, and 66.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 11/05/2026

I still own an unopened bottle of Dewshine so ... Fine.

Bottle of clear liquid with a label with "Dewshine" on it.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 09/05/2026

For me? Definitely the reverse cast Othello in 1997 at the Shakespeare Theater in DC. Patrick Stewart as Othello and Ron Canada (who played a number of one-off roles in various Star Trek series) as Iago. I was lucky enough to attend a performance of it.

Photo of two men in a theater production.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 02/05/2026

Friday night light rain with petrichor in my nose super zoomed in plane post.

A dark dray background at night with a midsize plane visible with lights on near the center. But blurry.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 01/05/2026

Yay Alexandria pocket parks at night

Sign saying "48 South Early Street Park" with trees, dark sky, and very bright moon behind it.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 29/04/2026

Anyway I searched on the web and nothing obvious but newspapers.com turned up this. Apparently a member of the city council who died in 1963 as member and was elected first in '42 during a time that might be questionable to still name things after him...

Newspaper clipping saying:

John Ewald, Councilman
ALEXANDRIA (AP) — Councilman John Ewald died Thursday as a result of a fall suffered in his home on April 3. He never regained consciousness.
Ewald, oldest member of the council in time of service, would have been 53 Sept. 24.
He lived with his mother, Mrs. Goldie Ewald, and was removing a tray from her upstairs room where she had been bedridden for the last year when he suffered his fall.
He had remained in a partial coma at Alexandria Hospital.
Ewald was first elected to Council in 1942.
He is survived by his mother, three sisters and a brother.
The Virginian-Pilot, Fri, Apr 19, 1963 — Page 44

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 27/04/2026

Sadly no mezzanine, yeah. Here's one that has a blank button(!) and additional labels under some buttons and no 13th floor.

Elevator panel with buttons, including an unlabled button and then, in reverse order, B1, *1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 27/04/2026

This is, so far, my favorite elevator panel in American I've taken recently and can find.

Picture of an elevator (lift) panel showing various buttons including floors such as, in reverse order: G4, *L, G2, G2R, G1, PL, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, PH.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 25/04/2026

Got to grab a new frisbee too.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 20/04/2026

Abandoned swing set (Hull, MA).

Photo of an empty swing set frame with grass clouds and water.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 19/04/2026

Without stating your age, post your favorite film released the year you turned 18.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 12/04/2026

Checking it out again today...

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 12/04/2026

Early voting in Old Town Alexandria is steady but no lines right now. Open until 3pm today and more hours during the week! Vote Yes and Sandy.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 10/04/2026

Huh. Looking a bit more sleek now too.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 10/04/2026

Apparently it was pretty common Alexandria in the early 1900s?! (This is from 1908 also from the Post.)

Newspaper article:

Hurt by Railroad Torpedo. Alexandria enjoyed a comparatively sane Fourth of July, and as a consequence there were few casualties. The only serious Injury reported was that of Johann Coleman, 8-year-old son of Joseph Coleman, of North Columbus street, who tried to explode a railroad torpedo by pounding it between two rocks. Dr. Walter Warfield was called in to dress badly lacerated hand.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 10/04/2026

I had learned about this years ago so had a vague memory, they were various size explosive packets with straps they put on tracks that would make a loud bang when a train went over them to warn the train crew that a work crew was up ahead. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 10/04/2026

Huh, looks fun. I never played that since I didn't have an Amiga or Genesis. But looks and feels very similar to the 1993 DOS shareware game Slicks 'n' Slide, which I played a ton back then. www.mobygames.com/game/855/sli...

Screenshot of Slicks 'n' Slide showing an off road dirt course with pixel graphics and an overhead view.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 09/04/2026

I assume you already did this but when I checked at spa.xfinity.com/check_url_st... it does say it's blocked. Of course doesn't say why but probably worth requesting a reassessment after you confirmed nothing is messed up (I did a quick check looking for normal signs of exploits and saw none).

Screenshot saying: "URL Block Verification
The site is currently blocked by xFi Advanced Security." and some other text.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 08/04/2026

My only other real issue with it are houses at intersections that have tall fences/bushes as close as they possibly can to the sidewalk/road, so the visibility is really horrible, like at Ft Williams you have to drive entirely on to the crosswalk to be able to barely see enough to the west.

Google street view showing sidewalk and roadway.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 23/03/2026

I wonder why they would proactively cover up the red circle that had been on the sign originally.

A "no turn on red sign" with a visible white rectangle on part of it

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 21/03/2026

We realized we were going to be driving past Udvar-Hazy at 4 pm so decided to do a quick stop for the free parking. You can see a lot of cool stuff in 1h 15m even with three kids of various ages (in pictures for scale).

Teenager walking toward the back of the Space Shuttle Discovery and its engines.

Giant wall mural showing the actual size of the James Webb space telescope mirrors with children for scale.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 21/03/2026

Sure seems like DC-area weather really is hard to predict around now. 72 today, 84 sunday, 61 monday. And then this later next week.

screen shot of a weather forecast showing a normal forecast on the left but the right one saying "undefined*F" and "obs-icon"

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 16/03/2026

Two days late but the album of the day for me is "Everything is Wrong" by Moby, released on March 14, 1995.

Album cover showing a man in an orange short with most of his head and body underwater, the camera is also underwater.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 10/03/2026

Wards, you want wards? I'll give you wards (exactly placement of lines subject to population counts).

A map outline of a city divided into 6 areas.

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Byron Peebles @byronpeebles.com · 10/03/2026

Oh Saturday they still had their food truck and was working on the outside. So maybe using the truck? Maybe open? Hard to tell :)

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