Random Stuff (2026)

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/07/16/lettuce-supplier-is-potential-source-cyclosporiasis-outbreak-investigators-say/

Taylor Farms shredded iceberg lettuce reportedly is the common link among the cyclosporiasis cases.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that they have identified a likely link among cyclosporiasis cases in four states — Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky — marking the agency’s clearest public indication yet that many of the illnesses are connected to a common source. A top official from the Food and Drug Administration said earlier this week that its investigation involves multiple produce items, including lettuce.

“The signal we have gotten is that there is a very high percentage of people who got sick at Taco Bell, and when investigators asked what their menu items were in common, lettuce came up frequently,” said one of the individuals. When the FDA asked the company where they sourced the lettuce from, it was Taylor Farms, not just for the Taco Bell stores in Michigan but also for restaurants in the three other states, the person said.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://www.taylorfarms.com/recall/

VA and MD listed among the states covered by the recall. Product  codes in the link.

I feel a bit stupid because I had some shredded iceberg on a Jersey Mike's sub Friday. so far, nothing too unusual in my digestion.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Poor facility design at the dca airport: they put the only dunkin in terminal 2 down by the gates with the Alaska flight to Seattle, and put the Starbucks by the gates with the flights to new England and NY

[Natsinpwc]

Poor facility design at the dca airport: they put the only dunkin in terminal 2 down by the gates with the Alaska flight to Seattle, and put the Starbucks by the gates with the flights to new England and NY

 

There used to be a Dunkin near the jet blue gates but it's gone.  Donuts were always stale anyway.

[1995hoo]

Unlike in past years, though, at least you can go to any of the restaurants anywhere in the new terminal at DCA once you've cleared security. Recall how it used to be configured that each of the three piers where the gates are had its own security checkpoint, so once you went through security you were pretty much confined unless you wanted to deal with it a second time. The new configuration eliminates that hassle, though the downside is that if you go the airport to meet someone you can't go to one of the restaurant to wait (and you can't have lunch at one of them with someone who's departing) because all the restaurants are now airside.

[1995hoo]

Speaking of airports, while I think most people probably favor some sort of fundamental rework of how Dulles Airport functions, I can't say I like the new structure behind the main terminal that's shown in the renderings released yesterday. The main terminal is an iconic landmark and this thing would swallow it up. (The roofline reminds me a bit of the paddock building at the Silverstone F1 circuit in England.)

[Natsinpwc]

Yes that’s a major improvement. If I arrive early it’s also fun to just walk up and down between the gate areas and get my steps in.

Also for the record the Legal Sea Foods is near the JetBlue gates.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

There used to be a Dunkin near the jet blue gates but it's gone.  Donuts were always stale anyway.

donuts always are stale at most dunkins. They make them at a central plant in each area. When they aren't making donuts, they make civil war hardtack.

Dunkin is a.coffee and place that sells coffee and stuff you eat with coffee.  They are branching out to flavors you can put in coffee or ice drinks.

[varoadking]

Yes that’s a major improvement. If I arrive early it’s also fun to just walk up and down between the gate areas and get my steps in.

Also for the record the Legal Sea Foods is near the JetBlue gates.

Legal Seafood used to be one of our favorites, but post-Covid, they just never got their crap together in DC...

[imref]

Speaking of airports, while I think most people probably favor some sort of fundamental rework of how Dulles Airport functions, I can't say I like the new structure behind the main terminal that's shown in the renderings released yesterday. The main terminal is an iconic landmark and this thing would swallow it up. (The roofline reminds me a bit of the paddock building at the Silverstone F1 circuit in England.)

can't say i'm a fan of the parking garage in front of the main terminal either. This would fundamentally change Eero's design / vision.  However, as someone who flies out of terminal C/D about 2x a month, i'm all for doing anything to finally replace the "temporary" midfield terminals and the people movers.

I'm assuming there will be an effort to rename Dulles as well.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Yes that’s a major improvement. If I arrive early it’s also fun to just walk up and down between the gate areas and get my steps in.

Also for the record the Legal Sea Foods is near the JetBlue gates.

I like to walk, too, and I am through security early enough that I usually do a lap now. That said, it does seem weird to not have as many stands at the end of each piece. Now they have a central restaurant like in the commuter jet pier. Bus Boys & Poets are in D.

As for Dulles, that monster wing thing has no respect for the original design. My old dorm was designed by Saarinen, so I have a bias here.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

The new roofline sort of looks like Thanos's ship as it hovered over the ship with the refugees from Asgaard

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Terminal E is supposed to open this year to replace those horrible 80s malls masquerading as airline terminals. 

can't say i'm a fan of the parking garage in front of the main terminal either. This would fundamentally change Eero's design / vision.  However, as someone who flies out of terminal C/D about 2x a month, i'm all for doing anything to finally replace the "temporary" midfield terminals and the people movers.

I'm assuming there will be an effort to rename Dulles as well.

[imref]

Terminal E is supposed to open this year to replace those horrible 80s malls masquerading as airline terminals. 

E is supposed to replace D and handle the majority of United's international arrivals IIRC. The master plan released last year had them eventually expanding E to replace C. It looks like what was announced yesterday was a revision of that plan.

https://www.mwaa.com/sites/mwaa.com/files/WEBSITE%20-%20Tab%2011.1%20Recommendation%20to%20Approve%20the%20Washington%20Dulles%20International_0.pdf

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

The United clubs in C/D are the worst in the system (SFO is bad but not THAT bad)...from what I understand the current Polaris lounge at C17 will become a domestic club

E is supposed to replace D and handle the majority of United's international arrivals. The master plan released last year had them eventually expanding E to replace C. It looks like what was announced yesterday was a revision of that plan.

https://www.mwaa.com/sites/mwaa.com/files/WEBSITE%20-%20Tab%2011.1%20Recommendation%20to%20Approve%20the%20Washington%20Dulles%20International_0.pdf

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

This would be architectural debasement

As for Dulles, that monster wing thing has no respect for the original design. My old dorm was designed by Saarinen, so I have a bias here.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I'm at the South Station T station and see a great dunkin sign: "The most Boston thing since getting Storrowed.  Dunkin"

Storrow Drive is along the Charles River opposite Cambridge. It's a parkway with several underpass that have low clearance. There's plenty of warning signs, and even some overhanging bumpers on the approach so if you hit them you can get off the road. Wven with all that, every few years there's always a truck or a van that gets "Storrowed " trying to go under an underpass. We'll known term and completely Boston.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

And of course back in the day there was the annual Charles River whitefish run during the spring thaw when all of the, uh, "whitefish" thrown out on the ice from cars on Memorial Drive were freed to make their run to the sea

I'm at the South Station T station and see a great dunkin sign: "The most Boston thing since getting Storrowed.  Dunkin"

Storrow Drive is along the Charles River opposite Cambridge. It's a parkway with several underpass that have low clearance. There's plenty of warning signs, and even some overhanging bumpers on the approach so if you hit them you can get off the road. Wven with all that, every few years there's always a truck or a van that gets "Storrowed " trying to go under an underpass. We'll known term and completely Boston.

[1995hoo]

E is supposed to replace D and handle the majority of United's international arrivals IIRC. The master plan released last year had them eventually expanding E to replace C. It looks like what was announced yesterday was a revision of that plan.

https://www.mwaa.com/sites/mwaa.com/files/WEBSITE%20-%20Tab%2011.1%20Recommendation%20to%20Approve%20the%20Washington%20Dulles%20International_0.pdf

What I wonder about is whether there is any sort of plan to change how they handle international arrivals. Right now, Customs and Immigration are located in the International Arrivals Building, which is an annex to the main terminal on the baggage claim level. Passengers arriving from foreign destinations that don't have preclearance are segregated and funneled onto the people movers, which take them to the International Arrivals Building for processing. People with connections must then retrieve any checked bags, re-check them if needed, and proceed to the TSA checkpoint before heading back out to one of the midfield concourses (unless they have a rare flight from the "Z" gates in the main terminal). None of the articles about renovation plans have said anything about Customs and Immigration, and that matters because US law requires arriving passengers to clear that process at the first airport they reach (e.g., unlike most countries there is no "airside transit" where you can simply connect, say from Mexico City to Dulles to Heathrow, without clearing immigration controls). Unless they relocate international arrival processing or they come up with some new dedicated way to transport those people to the existing facility, they're still going to need the people movers, even if only for that limited purpose.

Certainly other airports have Customs and Immigration in multiple locations. JFK in New York readily comes to mind, for instance. I have no idea whether that will ever happen at Dulles. It would certainly simplify things for passengers, but it might make operations more complicated for the airlines in terms of handling checked baggage.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

And of course back in the day there was the annual Charles River whitefish run during the spring thaw when all of the, uh, "whitefish" thrown out on the ice from cars on Memorial Drive were freed to make their run to the sea

the downside of climate change and making the Charles swimmable is we lose another cultural landmark.

[imref]

I think customs and immigration is supposed to move to E for United.

[HalfSmokes]

$22 billion with no tax payer funding. The Dulles tollway is going to be $175 from. Tysons to Reston or this thing isn’t happening

[Natsinpwc]

$22 billion with no tax payer funding. The Dulles tollway is going to be $175 from. Tysons to Reston or this thing isn’t happening

Probably will end up with algae in it

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Probably will end up with algae in it

why they call it the Dulles Greenway

[tomterp]

I'm assuming there will be an effort to rename Dulles as well.

I'd be fine with that.  He was a Nazi sympathizer and likely helped them to move ill-gotten wealth into the US after WWII ended.