Every Tuesday and Thursday, we run down what’s going on in local Internet discussion groups.

WardOneDC
A post that links to the Office of Campaign Finance’s candidate list, on which a Michael Brown is listed as a mayoral candidate, gets one resident a little nervous. “Somebody please tell that this isn’t the same fema Michael brown,” he writes. “seriously.” “Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this one is the son of former Clinton cabinet member Ron Brown,” replies another. “Not the same as the FEMA Michael Brown.” A second resident confirms it, sort of: “Yes he is,” he writes. “Ron Brown was Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton Administration until 2003. Unfortunately Mr. Brown die in a plane crashed that year.”

TakomaDC
One resident posts a frequently e-mailed piece of trivia: “An interesting little fact…On Wednesday of this week (April 5th, 2006) at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be…01:02:03 04/05/06. This will never happen again.” Uh, not so fast, Einstein. “Actually, it happens for most of the rest of the world next month, on 4 May 06,” writes one man. Another chimes in that, “It will also happen again (US style dates) shortly after 1 am on April 5, 2106; shortly after 1 am on April 5, 2206; shortly after 1 am on April 5, 2306; and so on: infinitely many times.” The original poster decides to change the subject. “Very interesting view,” she writes. “I’ve started using the day/month/year format. With the month spelled out there is no confusion for anyone and it makes me feel as if I’m joining the rest of the world. Since most of the email discussion lists I’m on are international, it is less likely to announce I’m American, we do things differently.”

BikeWashingtonDC
Washington area bicyclists wonder if it’s possible to cut through Alexandria’s Fort Belvoir to avoid traffic. “I entered at the Beulah St. / Telegraph Rd. gate (where they checked my ID and did a quick wand scan) and exited at Mount Vernon Memorial Highway,” writes a man who rode on the base last month. “I actually would have appreciated getting stopped so I could have asked directions.” But someone planning to lead a group of bikers from West Virginia to Virginia Beach this summer was told by the base that groups aren’t allowed in unless for official business—and he doesn’t want to risk lying to base guards. “I could just see my group getting a free ride to Guantanamo Bay, shackled up in front of Georgie Boy in Jackboots, for an attitude adjustment.” The guards aren’t that bad, writes another. Just watch out for pasty women with aquiline noses. “They’ll just turn you around (except for the blond woman who had this ice princess thing going on, kind of a Tilda Swinton in Narnia thing, she was evil, but they seemed to have found her someplace else to go).”