THE NATIONAL MALL has become a neighborhood of futuristic houses, at least for this weekend. It's playing host to the Solar Decathlon, in which 20 university teams from around the world bring solar-powered houses to the Mall to be judged.
Teams spend two years designing and building their structures. The Department of Energy gives research grants to the top 20 teams, which then compete (this weekend concludes the judging) in 10 categories including architecture, market viability, energy use and comfort level.
Real inventions and innovations come out of the contest. This year, Team Ontario is patenting an aluminum frame that holds up three layers of glass that conduct sunlight. Team California uses bamboo to make I-beam support posts for its house.
Continue Reading "The Mall Lets the Light In: Solar Decathlon" »
SPRING FINALLY SEEMS to have sprung in the D.C. area. But if your space is in need of a cleaning, you might want to hold off.
We're upping the ante on Express' Messiest Home Contest. The grand prize has been increased to $1,000 and the deadline for entries has been extended to Tuesday, April 28. (It's a change so recent, our ads don't even reflect it yet).
How to enter: Submit a video that showcases your place and makes a compelling case for why you should win $1,000 and a house cleaning from Maid Brigade.
Need ideas? Click here to see one of the entries we've already received, plus a preview video created by Express staffers.
So, get out those video cameras! A spring cleaning awaits one lucky winner who won't have to lift a finger — except to spend that cash.
» FOR CONTEST RULES AND SPECIFICS, go to ExpressNightOut.com/mess.
THE WASHINGTON POST EXPRESS and ExpressNightOut.com are pleased to present the very first Messiest Home Contest, sponsored by Maid Brigade!
How does it work?
Starting on April 13, go to ExpressNightOut.com to find out how to upload a home-made video showing us your dirty apartment. Feel free to narrate the video and tell us why you need Maid Brigade to come in and clean it! Viewers can watch videos daily as they are uploaded onto the site.
During the week of May 4, Express will narrow the videos down to the Top 5 and give readers the chance to vote online for their favorites. The grand-prize winner will receive $1,000 plus a free cleaning by Maid Brigade. The runner-up will receive a $200 gift basket from Maid Brigade.
Contest details and rules will be available on ExpressNightOut.com starting April 13. Also, make sure to read Express during the month of April to find out more about the Messiest Home Contest!
George Clinton found fame in the '70s and '80s by creating the sound known as "P-Funk," stemming from the success and eventual merging of his previous soul/funk bands, Parliament and Funkadelic. While preparing to release his new album, "George Clinton and Some Gangsters of Love," the mastermind is stopping by the 9:30 Club with Parliament Funkadelic for some old-school grooves.
Up for grabs: Free tickets to...
» What: George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic
» When: Friday, Feb. 27, 8 p.m.
» Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; 202-265-0930. (U St.-Cardozo)
WANT TO ENTER for a chance to win these tickets? Sign up for our ExpressNightOut.com newsletter, which is e-mailed out on Wednesday mornings.
To purchase tickets to see George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, please click here.
This show is presented by the 9:30 Club.
BEFORE THE FAMILY TIME and fatty food we're all in for this holiday season, learn how to properly relax with tea. Great Falls Tea Garden hosts a seminar: "Japanese Green Teas vs. Chinese Green Teas." This introductory class will let you discover the variations of green stuff and, for $20, participants will score a take-home tea sampler.
» Cathy's Corner in Great Falls Village Centre, 766-C Walker Road, Great Falls; Nov. 25, 10-11 a.m.; 703-757-6209.
Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans
SORRY TO KEEP YOU ALL on pins and needles. For our D.C. trivia challenge, we received around 100 correct responses and many more incorrect answers. Good work to all those who managed to pick through our clues and find the correct response. But there's only one free trip to London, and that will go to Express reader Mary Gunn, who will be flying off to London on MAXJet Airlines and staying at the Hyatt Regency London.
So how did we get to 1402 as the final answer? Go on to the jump to find out ...
Contest sponsored by:
IF YOU HAVEN'T YET figured out the final answer to our D.C. trivia challenge, you have 'til midnight to send in your response.
All of the contest questions can be found here. Essentially, you have to take the numerical answers derived from the five questions asked last week and then add up those individual answers to get the final answer. Use the entry form on our Contests page to send in your answer.
Tomorrow, Express' supercomputer will randomly select one entry from the pool of correct. Soon enough, you could be headed off for a free trip to London, courtesy MAXJet Airlines and Hyatt Regency London.
Thanks to all who've participated. The response has been great.
Contest sponsored by:
TODAY, we bring you the final installment of our D.C.-trivia contest in which there's a free trip to London up for grabs -- that's if you got our four previous days' questions right and can figure out the combined solution. If you need all of this week's questions, they're located here. And the specific rules of the contest are here.
Below you'll find the question for Friday. But be sure to read on, because there's one more step involved.
Friday's Question
First, using readexpress.com's Metro Links feature, find the number of Metrorail stations that have an exit on M Street in the District. Then, find the number of times that number appears in the phone number of the closest cafe to the Brookland Metrorail station listed in Metro Links. Add those two numbers together.
Then, multiply that sum by the number of people at the Glenmont Metro station who said they would not follow Katie Couric to "CBS Evening News." (You can find out how many people that is by using readexpress.com's Poll Center.) That'll give you Friday's numeric answer.
OK, what's next? To officially enter this contest, you must take all of the numeric answers from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and today. Add them up. That will be your answer. Go to our Contests page and, using the submission form, send us your answer and your info. You have until midnight on Tuesday, June 13 to submit your final answer. At that point, the Express supercomputer will randomly select one of the correct responses.
Got it? Get to work.
Contest sponsored by:
ON TO THE PART FOUR of our D.C. trivia challenge. To see the previous three questions, click here.
Thursday's question:
There's a museum near Metro Center that's a little off the beaten track for many tourists. But if you look around for it on readexpress.com's Metro Links, you should be able to find it between two numbered streets that add up to 27. The museum in question -- actually, it's technically a cultural center -- is currently hosting an exhibit featuring the arts of a country whose capital shares a name with D.C.'s oldest neighborhood. The last four digits of the 10-digit phone number that Metro Links lists for the museum is your numeric answer for Thursday.
Save this answer until Friday, when we'll ask you to put the answers from each day this week together for a final result. You'll be one step closer to a seat on a MAXJet Airlines jet to London where you'll be staying at the Hyatt Regency London.
For those who like the fine print, complete contest rules are here. Good luck.
Contest sponsored by:
WE'RE APPROACHING the halfway point of our D.C. trivia challenge and we've been having fun with it. We hope you have been too. There'll be questions on Thursday and Friday as well, then we'll tell you how to send us your final answer for a chance to win a trip to London. To see all the week's questions so far, click here.
Wednesday's question:
The answer to today's question can be found in items on readexpress.com's Window Shopper blog posted on Monday, June 5, and Tuesday, June 6. Take the number of cents a cigarette cost one guy at the Brickskeller, subtract the number of bedrooms available in a Pentagon City apartment listed by a guy with "acceptable social skills," and then add the number of dollars it'd cost you to buy a broken lawnmower in Rockville. The result is the numeric answer for Wednesday.
You should know the rules by now. Save this answer until Friday, when we'll ask you to put answers from each day this week together for a final result. You'll be one step closer to a seat on a MAXJet Airlines jet to London where you'll be staying at the Hyatt Regency London.
For those who like the fine print, complete contest rules are here. Good luck.
Contest sponsored by:
Addison Road