Good Morning, RVA: Root, root, root for the home team

Today’s a great day to support your local sports teams!

May 27, 2015; 6:58 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: dtiet

Good morning, RVA! It’s already 71 °F, and today’s high will again approach 90 °F. This afternoon, keep your eyes open for a chance of isolated thunderstorms, and stay hydrated if you’re spending some time outside in the heat.

Water cooler

Yesterday, Council and School Board (and some folks from the mayor’s office) held an ultra rare combined meeting. How rare? It’s the first such meeting in over a decade, and despite the rarity of the meeting three members of the School Board were absent. School facilities and maintenance was the topic of the hour.

Style Weekly has released their 2015 Best of Richmond list. There a zillion categories with three winners each, which makes, by my math, a whole lot of reading to do over your lunch break. Congratulations to all the winners, including “Not Dwight Jones” who took second place in the “Best Candidate for Mayor of Richmond in 2016” category.

Also in this week’s Style, RVA Coffee Stain has a cute list of Richmond-inspired emojis.

The Air Force has certified SpaceX to launch national security payloads on their Falcon 9 rockets. For a while it seemed like we were done with space, but I’m glad to see some folks are out there still boldly going.

RVANews Live returns for its third iteration! Have we talked about this yet? Each quarter we tackle Big Stories in a live, panel-based format. You get to hear from the people behind and involved in those very stories and ask them thoughtful questions. This go-around’s topics are the Big Bike Race™ and our city’s infrastructure. Tickets are just $15 and on sale now.

Sports!

• Squirrels picked up another win against Harrisburg last night in the Diamond, 6-3. They’ll continue tonight at 6:35 PM (get your tickets). Suddenly Richmond finds itself tied for third place in the division with…Harrisburg.
• Kickers continue their run in the U.S. Open Cup tonight against the Jacksonville Armada FC at 7:00 PM. Get those tickets!
• Nats clubbed by the Cubs, 2-3. Final game of the series starts today at 8:05 PM.

What to expect

Today our people bring you wondrous things!

• Valerie Catrow gives us five things to do this weekend with our families
• She also lets us in on a way to win a bunch of college tuition money
• Richard Hayes and Co. preview the third round of the U.S. Open Cup
• Kelly Gerow tells us how we can be the best hosts possible for all the folks coming in for the Big Bike Race™

This morning’s longread

The Untold Story of Silk Road

Silk Road went live in mid-January 2011. A few days later came the first sale. Then more. Ross eventually sold all 10 pounds of his mushrooms, but other vendors started joining. He was handling all the transactions by hand, which was time-consuming but exhilarating. It wasn’t long before enough vendors and users made it a functioning, growing marketplace.

Just before the launch, facing a new year and a blank slate, Ross had resolved to change his life. “In 2011,” he wrote to himself, “I am creating a year of prosperity and power beyond what I have ever experienced before. Silk Road is going to become a phenomenon and at least one person will tell me about it, unknowing that I was its creator.”

This tale of the rise and fall of the internet’s biggest anonymous drug marketplace (like eBay, but for illegal drugs) is soooooo good. Be warned: It’s also sooooo long–but totally worth splitting up over a couple days.

This morning’s Instagram

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May 27, 2015 6:58 AM 0