It’s time to take a serious look at esports gaming

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How a Falls Church Jeweler Made Northern Virginia a High-End Jewelry Destination

Mohammad Barimany and Jairo Rojas didn’t open Dominion Jewelers in 1985 with the goal of selling 25 to 35 pieces of jewelry — 80 percent of them made in-house — a week. But that’s exactly what the brothers-in-law are doing.

Barimany, a gemologist, handles the diamonds and precious gems, while Rojas, a Rhode Island School of Design–trained craftsman, manages design and manufacturing.

See more at northernvirginiamag.com

NoVA Chainsaw Artist Turns Tree Stumps into Whimsical Art Sculptures

At Fairfax City’s Ratcliffe Park, children run in circles around Andrew Mallon’s sculpture. Some grab it for leverage as they make sharp turns. Others try to climb it. No one tells them to stop.

Whereas most works of art come with stern warnings for admirers to keep their hands off, Mallon’s sculpture, Whimsical Treehouse, is not most works of art. Mallon is a chainsaw artist whose medium is tree stumps.

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Where to Take a Self-Defense Class

On a sunny March morning, Damon Gabriel and Kirk Wachenheimer are looking on as four people struggle to break free of choke holds.

They don’t intervene, per se, but they do offer tips to those trying to rebuff their assailants: Grab at the wrist, not the elbow, for leverage to pull the attacker’s hand down. Twist toward the offender to break away and run.

See more at arlingtonmagazine.com

AI-powered career recommendation engine delivers more job options

A new cloud-based, online tool called MD Job Genie uses artificial intelligence to match employment seekers in Maryland with best-fit openings and training.

Launched last month, MD Job Genie builds on the state’s existing workforce services portal, the Maryland Workforce Exchange. To access the new tool, users can click its icon on the MWE webpage and enter information about themselves, including work and education history. Job seekers will get results that show openings in fields they have experience in—and some jobs they might not have considered but which the tool determined might be a good fit based on data about successful job switches others have made.

See more at gcn.com

Meet the Host of DC101’s ‘Elliot in the Morning’ Show

“How cold was your tushy?” Elliot Segal asks a woman calling in to his radio show on a January morning just days after she gave birth on her freezing driveway. “So you showed your bagoon to the whole neighborhood!” he declares with jocular bemusement, seemingly coining a new euphemism for female anatomy.

With that crass remark, Segal’s co-host of 23 years, Diane Stupar Hughes, demands that he apologize to the caller. But he doesn’t. It’s likely no one really expects him to.

See more at arlingtonmagazine.com

How Iain Armitage’s Arlington Roots Led Him to Hollywood’s Biggest Stage

Iain Armitage hates wearing socks while walking on carpet. So when a scene in Young Sheldon, the hit CBS show on which the 14-year-old Arlingtonian plays the title character, called for him to rub his socked feet on carpet before touching an anti-static chair, Armitage hedged.

“I try to be as not-annoying as I can on set in terms of asking for things,” Armitage says, “but I actually said, ‘Could I put plastic bags over my feet and then put them in the socks so I can’t feel the material?’ Our sock lady, Ms. Monica, gave me this look like, ‘What?’ but we did it, and I was able to get through the scene with my life.”

See more at northernvirginiamag.com