mrCharlie

Yeah sorry, should have been a bit more specific about the Euro standards changing the design of smaller cars (and no doubt some crossovers), particular anything sold across multiple markets. Looking at (for instance, because I'm familiar with them) a 2000s Subaru vs the same model from the 2010's, you'll see a much higher, flatter, blocker hood. This is directly the result of meeting pedestrian impact standard standards, the difference in forward visibility between generations is quite noticeable, and it certainly hasn't done the styling of these cars any favors. Couldn't agree more this isn't the reason for ridiculous SUV and pickup forward visibility.

Ironically, European pedestrian safety standards have probably contributed to this problem for even for normal cars. The high/blocky hoods so common nowadays are a direct result of meeting these standards. It's a tough compromise, the cars are safer for adult pedestrians at the cost of being able to easily see children. Very glad our crossover has a front camera on the grille that works at low speeds pretty much the same way a back camera usually does, widespread adoption of these and object detection sensors would help considerably. Unnecessarily giant pickups are a different problem, it would be nice to see some sort of standards set for forward visibility. While we're at it, set some standards for how much damage such vehicles cause to smaller vehicles in an collision.

I was wondering what that was about, and why there were so many 55 MPH signs on the northbound side. I didn't even know it was legal to have the speed limit split on a two lane road in Ohio, but good luck arguing about it in mayor's court. It really stood out too. My only speeding ticket in the last 20 or so years was northbound on that section of Outville, I missed the lower limit and incorporation signs going into town (probably checking on the kid in back) and nothing about that section of road screamed 35 mph (I was doing around 50). The police chief was really odd too, acted like I was being done a big favor by "only" getting a speeding ticket (instead of what else, I don't know).

This highway proposal isn't entirely new, at least the Licking County portion. I've come across a few things about an Ohio State Route 157 proposal that was (apparently, digging through old newspapers) on and off active in various forms since at least 1966. The initial proposal would have created a 25 mile limited-access highway going from I-70, along Thornwood Drive, to just west of Mt Vernon (the only full description I found is an all-text legal notice of the route, and is rather dense to follow). The divided portions of 13 in Knox and Richland counties line up with that corridor, not doubt related given I saw a divided 13 mentioned in the same legal notice. Later articles from the 1990's-2000's show it truncated at SR 16 in Granville. This clearly got pretty far along, the land used for the Thronwood Crossing interchange was already owned by ODOT in anticipation of the 157 project. I think the proposal mostly died when the east/west 16/37/161 project happened instead, which (major concerns about sprawl aside) is probably much more useful than funneling all the traffic to I-70. A second outerbelt seems like it would mostly just drive sprawl, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something like the 1990's version of the Rt 157 proposal is revived to better serve the growth already happening along present-day Thornwood - though I'd assume more like a parkway than divided highway. Maybe that is already happening, its hard keeping up anymore... There is already a lot of truck traffic along that corridor, which I assume will grow with Intel and it's probably better trucks from point east don't all use 37 or the other various 2-lane N/S routes. Hopefully nothing more than that, but FWIW I could see a lot more value in a full N/S connector following the old 157 proposal versus another outerbelt. Not sure how useful it really is for where vehicles actually go, but I can certainly say from Granville we take the back roads if we are heading to Mansfield or Cleveland.

Good article on hydrogen for transportation, and what the Feds see happening with it. https://www.theautopian.com/hydrogen-cars-seem-like-the-big-loser-in-bidens-plan-to-curb-emissions/ Basically, they don't see it as an option for private vehicles. It however does seem to be a viable option for long-haul trucks, where the battery technology is going to be challenging for a long time (think of how large of a battery it would take for a loaded semi, how long that would take to charge, and how many cars could be made instead with the limited availability of batteries at the moment). Much easier to build out hydrogen infrastructure for trucks as well, versus private vehicles with less-planned routing and the expectation to be able to fill up whenever and wherever (which EVs will change, at least a little).

While my wife was in grad school I worked at The Athens News from 2004-2007, which was then an independently-owned twice-weekly alternative paper. I think the author of the Axios article worked for our paid daily competitor (long after I left), The Athens Messenger, which was more townie-oriented than our paper which had broader appeal. Advertising easily covered costs and the only paid home delivery was via USPS, our paper was free to encourage readership since that drove ad rates. We were far enough away from Columbus that the Dispatch only covered major stories in Athens, and local readership of the Dispatch in Athens wasn't enough to make sense for Athens advertisers. I would guess the same holds true for a lot of small businesses who were previously advertising in the ThisWeek papers, their ads would be probably be too diluted in the more-expensive Dispatch. Craigslist started really catching on a little after I left, and quickly did quite a lot of damage to all newspapers. Classifieds were then a huge source of revenue for most papers (both free and paid). While the cost was not exactly trivial for those placing classified ad and the appeal of free/cheap is obvious, it had a definite gatekeeping effect which benefited anyone answering the ads. I'm sure Facebook Marketplace and such have only furthered the damage since. Display ads weren't cheap either, but in a limited market like Athens (we considered the Yellow Pages to be one of our biggest competitors) the reach was pretty good and the value was there for most local advertisers. That was also a few years before Facebook caught on, especially with relatively cheap precision-targeted ads. Unfortunately with free/cheap and extremely targeted online advertising, it's tough to see newspapers coming back using the traditional advertising revenue model. The only way I see that happening is if the scams and flakiness that go along with free/cheap ads eventually make online advertising entirely untrustworthy and ineffective most readers, or if a critical mass of people leave Facebook and ads no longer have much reach. My hope is eventually someone with some integrity, deep pockets, and an interest in providing quality content buys up local news operations from companies like Gannett. I look at the curated Apple News app, paid for by my monthly bundled subscription, which does a decent job of compiling news stories from a variety of usually-paid sources. There is local coverage in several large cities, buying Gannett's local operations would definitely fill in a lot of geographical gaps. It would be a win for Apple, who gives customers one more reason to pay for monthly bundles and buy iPads/iPhones as a way to read news. It would also be good for readers, if it works like it does now you could read multiple publications for one price (when I last subscribed to a Gannett publication each publication was an individual subscription - too expensive to keep up with hometown news), and to never deal with Gannet pricing games or customer service again.

There are somehow three model train (or train heavy) stores around Columbus. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the KATO system, but (it's been a while) they tend to be mostly American stuff. I was all about model trains when I was a kid. Never had a "real" layout (though my uncle had a massive, hyper-realistic Appalachian HO coal mining operation in his basement), but certainly a few small attempts. Still have some of my (American) N stuff, 1980's Märklin HO and 1990's Z stuff, and a recent LGB set. Probably some of my old American HO stuff is somewhere in my parent's house. Now and then I get the itch to get back into model trains, but we don't exactly have the space for a real layout, and doing what I have in my head would cost a fortune. I know I'd probably end up wanting to make it super realistic too, but that also can take some of the fun out of it (especially for a kindergartener helping). The temptation is there for an G-scale setup in the yard, since that doesn't have to be realistic - but major $, and the "what if we move" problem. So at this point, we've gone all-in on Lego trains. We set them up on the floor now and then, reconfigure or rebuild when we get bored, and we can build (and rebuild) all of our accessories. Nothing has to have a real-world analog to look right or make sense, part of the fun is being able to improvise solutions to "problems" that don't exist in reality (how do we make a train car to transport this LEGO t-rex skeleton which is low enough to fit under our bridges?). Plus, if the kid drops a train, it's easy enough to fix. If we ever move and have a basement better set-up for trains (ours is divided up by foundation walls), I could see doing a bit more permanent LEGO layout. That said, the kid got Märklin MyWorld trains for Christmas last year, which are semi-realistic, battery powered (with remotes), but simple and durable. They run on a plastic version of Märklin HO C-Track. He's really taken to them lately, so maybe they end up being a gateway to real model railroading.

I'd be thrilled if I-71 in Pickaway and Madison counties simply gets paved properly at some point, it's had "speedbumps' since at least 2011 when we moved back to Ohio. I'm surprised to see any of this section getting three lanes, and the gaps are definitely weird. At least on the weekends when I visit my parents, two lanes for this section seem mostly adequate. I realize it might be a lot busier on weekdays. If Ohio had (and enforced) some kind of "stay right except to pass" law that would make a big difference through here, particularly if it applied to trucks. Side note, until a few weeks ago I hadn't really noticed just how far apart the exits are on that section of I-71. Over 10 miles between 62 and 56, almost 10 miles between 56 and 38. A VERY long ten miles when the kid drops a toy on the floor just south of 62, with promises we'll stop at the next exit to get it for him.

Excellent news! The Ohio Supreme Court upheld 6-1 previous decisions to allow Ohio History Connection to reclaim the Octagon Earthworks in Newark by eminent domain. My understanding is the site being used for a private golf course was the main thing holding it back from World Heritage status. Moundbuilders Country Club says they will file another case, but all rulings to this point have been pretty decisive. I have little sympathy - while they have taken good care of the grounds and prevented it from become housing or anything else, notihing was stopping them from allowing more than four public access days every year (sometimes not even on weekends). https://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/2022/12/07/ohio-supreme-court-rules-against-moundbuilders-country-club-newark-earthworks-case/69708138007/

Lots of little things happening around Granville lately, with some new places opening and a few others moving around. • The old Donato’s/Brew’s building has been sold to Chase Bank, who will be moving into that space from down the block. Definitely some local disappointment about that, but in reality it's just not a great space for a restaurant in a town the size of Granville (9600 sq ft over three floors). I’m just happy to see that a pretty prominent building in town will once again be occupied, and this tenant should be around long-term and have no problems with the amount of space. It also opens up the takeout-friendly 1300 sq ft space Chase currently occupies. • Next door to current Chase location, The Pretzel Shop is now open. They don’t exactly seem to have fixed hours yet and seem to be easing into things, but they are certainly open often enough that we’ve made entirely too many stops while walking around town. Auntie Anne’s-esque, but better and the owners are super nice. • Around the corner on Prospect, a new barcade serving hot dogs and burgers called The Lot opened a few weeks back, in the old Three Tiger space. Haven’t made it there yet because it’s always packed, but can’t wait to take the kid for Skeeball and pinball. • Also on Prospect, it looks like First Federal conditionally has permission to demolish the house at 209 E College they bought 20 years ago. They bought it to make a parking lot, but the owner of the house next door objected and its been vacant and rotting since. Granville has no ordnances specific to demolition by neglect, so it’s become quite the eyesore. The neighbor who objected died at age 96 earlier this year, so First Federal bought her property so nobody would complain. Fortunately it sounds like they have agreed to sell the still-decent house after the lot is complete, and add a reasonable buffer. Great in-depth story here - https://www.thereportingproject.org/after-2-decades-first-federal-gets-ok-to-demolish-granville-house-under-certain-conditions/ • It looks like we are getting closer to Harvest Pizza opening, lots of progress on the building from what I can see outside. They’ve been doing pop-up outdoor pizza oven events across the street at Station pretty regularly over the last few weeks, usually Thurs-Sat. • Finally, not Granville but not too far. Indian & Nepali Kitchen (https://nepalinindiankitchen.com) will be opening soon in the Kroger plaza in Pataskala. We usually drive to Aangan in Worthington (which is amazing), but that's a bit of a haul - so if this is even decent, we will be thrilled. Per local discussion, they were previously serving food from Buster’s carryout right down the road, and it’s really good.

I think I've mentioned it here before, but something like a nationwide version of Amtrak's AutoTrain aimed at EV owners would probably make a difference. Include charging infrastructure on-board, arrive at your destination with your own vehicle fully charged. We got our first hybrid (Toyota Venza) last summer. Great car at everything, easily hits the 37 mpg EPA combined average with tanks into the mid 40's. I regret not going with a hybrid sooner, but until the last few years most hybrids were on the weird side or made some pretty big performance/comfort sacrifices in the name of efficiency. Now, most very-normal Toyota models (as well as many other brands) have a reasonable hybrid option which works pretty much like the ICE-only version, often even being the quicker drivetrain. The point being, hybrids are probably becoming a lot more popular now that they are moving past the early-adopter/enthusiast stage. I could easily see my in-laws getting a hybrid for their next vehicle, because there are plenty of normal-car options that don't take any more thought or effort than what they are used to. I'm not sure how to win that group over on a full EV without some big technological leaps in charging times (solid state?). But even with existing battery technology, more "normal" PHEVs - something like a RAV4 Prime - could be a good stopgap way to normalize the idea of plugging a car in, while providing a safety net for most people.

Good riddance to the Rock & Roll car wash (the blue building where Sheets is going), their equipment left some very noticeable swirl marks on my wife's car. Maybe the new one going in will hit that balance between not destroying the paint, and actually getting the car clean (something MooMoo falls short on).

Directly and in a single election, yes - but over time, gerrymandering almost certainly has some effects on statewide races. First, I'd speculate part of the reason we have so many weak D statewide candidates in Ohio is they have limited opportunity to gain district-level (statehouse, congressional) office experience thanks to gerrymandering. With packed districts, those that do win aren't running very tough races, and never gain that experience either. It's also pretty discouraging for people like myself (mostly blue voters in highly gerrymandered red districts) realizing there is basically no point in voting in any district-level races. A fair number of these are unopposed races to being with, because why bother running when you have zero chance of winning? Does that get voters to stay home? Hard to say, but it certainly doesn't make voting feel very important. Then you get stuff like statewide issues, which can very often drive voters of one party or the other to the polls, either being put forward or suppressed by a very gerrymandered state legislature.

What amazes me is how many people in Ohio still think Democrats are to blame for everything they don't like about state government, and continue electing the people who got us where we are today.

I came to this conclusion while posting over in the Twitter thread about deleting my account - as much as I hate Facebook as a company and service on multiple levels, I feel like I'd actually be missing out if I deleted my account. Which really annoys me. I have plenty of friends and family from around the country that post various things now and then, as I do maybe a few times a year. I’ll occasional find out things about people I’d rather not know, but thorough Facebook I can at least feel like I’m staying somewhat in touch with extended family I would otherwise see at the holidays. Facebook is also great for organizing events and sending out invites among friends and family. Facebook has also achieved "critical mass" locally, probably in the way Nextdoor thought it would but never did (here anyway). There are some very active Groups here in town that are pretty much the only place for local online discussion, covering pretty much every topic and the occasional gossip. I’ve had some great discussions (which never would have happened otherwise) with other members of the community on everything from local politics to home improvement. These are mostly discussions that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. That said, I do have mixed feelings of Facebook Groups overall. The low barrier for entry encourages participation by more users, but it’s killed a lot of forums which are better for certain discussions. Groups is good for the local discussion that tends to be more in-the-moment, but awful for any topics that benefit from archives. I joined both a Facebook group and forum for the car I bought last year. The forum is much better for actually finding info and viewing past discussions, but the Facebook group is WAY more active. The end result is a lot of new users asking the same basic questions over and over, since Facebook makes that easier than searching, and previous discussions are lost in the noise anyway.

All of this. The medical expenses and "startup costs" of having a kid are brutal, and any unpaid time off work right after makes sure those expenses will be full felt. Then there is the cost of childcare once you go back to work, assuming you can even find it right now. This year when our son switched from daycare (~$200/week) to Kindergarten ($400/month for full day - at a public school) it felt like getting a huge raise. And we'll get to pay for daycare again this summer, which I'm not looking forward to. My wife and I waited until our mid-late 30's before we felt like we were in a position to have a kid, and we are fortunate enough that we both have good, stable jobs and bought a house before the market took off. Interestingly, my company (in a pretty conservative industry none the less) just started offering 12 weeks fully-paid maternity AND paternity leave to all employees late last year. If that had been in place years ago, we might have even moved our timeline up a few years. Will be interesting to see if we suddenly have an in-house baby boom. It's very understandable that so many Millennials, under-employed with tons of student debt and little chance of home ownership anytime soon, would have little interest in having any children right now. Maybe we start offering full student loan forgiveness in exchange for having a kid :)

I suspect that is correct. Could have been previously scheduled, but when I rode through on the trail there were a lot of fresh survey markers and machinery clearing out trees and brush right where the road is going. This photo is pointed right at the curve on Reddington. It definitely didn't look like this last time I rode through here.

I risked poison ivy to take these Urban Ohio exclusive photos of the closed bridge. These are taken from the Newark end. Also, really eerie the usually very busy intersection was completely deserted, I feel for any businesses along that stretch that rely on visibility or convenient access. I couldn't get to the left (south/west) side, too much heavy brush in the way. First, here are how things looked from up top. I (think) the roadway is actually built on an earthen berm on top the stone/concrete arch structure, and from the pavement repairs that looks to have been slipping on the right (north/east) side for some time. If the issue that closed the bridge is related to slippage, I'm guessing maybe the curve in the guardrail could be indicating that problem. And here are some images from the creek, on the north/east side of the bridge. The relatively modern concrete facing is looking bad, but it's looked bad since the first time I checked this out circa-2015. This does seem to be showing a good bit of slippage and maybe a good chunk of concrete missing on the right side of the middle arch. The bulging stone on the right arch sort of stood out, but I don't have a good comparison. The other photo I have it from a slightly different camera, and being from 2015 it's a few phones ago - but that area looks less than perfect even then. Since I really love this bridge and hope to see it preserved or even restored, I'm hoping the issue is roadway slippage and not the structural integrity of the bridge.

The circa-1833 Showman Arch Bridge (Cherry Valley Road crossing Raccoon Creek, between Newark and Granville) "will be closed indefinitely due to safety concerns with the integrity of the bridge". I know there was a 20-ton weight limit imposed last year, but local gossip says there was basically no enforcement and the surprising amount of truck traffic was the same as it always has been. The official detour is 16 > 79 > W Main, which of course anyone who knows the area (and probably many of the trucks) will ignore in favor of 37/James or River Rd in Granville, Church/30th - roads that aren't well equipped for a big increase in traffic. My understanding is this is particularly painful for Park Trails residents, since this is how they usually get to the highway. Several of the Granville school buses had to shift pickup/dropoff times by as much as 20 minutes to compensate. Sounds like a real chance there will just not be a crossing in that area until the new Thornwood bridge gets built next to it, currently scheduled for 2024-2025. Maybe that will get bumped up now that it's kind of urgent. I'm wondering if the closure will have any impact, or push back the timelines on any of the new Granville-district residential developments proposed for down that way? Poor highway access, detouring via busy country roads, being cutoff from where the kids school activities are, and the prospect of a VERY long bus ride until the new bridge is in place are not strong selling points to prospective buyers. Here is some previous discussion about the bridge, its replacement, and photos from last year. I'm going to try riding my bike down at lunch today to see if there is anything interesting I can see.

Wow! My kindergartener is going to insist we take the back way whenever we go visit grandma, assuming we can't just see them from here in Granville.

This is great news! I haven't been over there in a while, I take it the building that burned is finally down? Though I was always glad to finally see something happening with the site, I have to confess I was a little concerned the proposal was maybe a bit optimistic when it was announced. Which is a little ironic - when we lived in Rhode Island a decade or so ago, we lived in a giant, five story brick and timber factory (mill building in the local vernacular) that had sat semi-abandoned for years before being turned into 100+ high-end loft apartments. It was in gritty Pawtucket, several blocks from downtown but convenient to I-95, surrounded by older dense SF/Duplex/Triplex housing where workers lived back in the day. In other words, a LOT like this site and neighborhood in Newark. New Englanders had much of the same "why would you want to live there?" reaction to Pawtucket that I've often heard about Newark, but those of use coming from out of town without preconceived notions could to take things at face value -and see it as a cool apartment, in an interesting neighborhood, convenient to everything. These sorts of developments were very common and successful in that region, sometimes offering a mix of repurposed mill and new construction depending on the site. I haven't been up that way in a while, but I suspect Pawtucket is on the mend probably thanks in part to multiple projects like this - they are even restoring commuter rail to Boston/Providence this year! New England has a pretty steady supply of young professional transplants (as we then were) not yet ready to settle down, but wanting to live somewhere that's actually cool and interesting instead of a generic modern suburban apartment or condo complex. I didn't have the impression there was a lot of that demographic (at least enough would be willing to live this far from Columbus) when this project was first announced - thus, some skepticism. With Intel coming, demand for this kind of development will be unending!

I actually like seeing ads for candidates I dislike on streaming platforms, since whatever they spend showing it to me they can't spend showing it to someone who mind they might actually change. I've managed to avoid any Ryan/Vance ads since YouTube seems to think our AppleTV lives in Pennsylvania - so instead we get nonstop Oz/Fetterman ads. One of those two runs unskippable 15-second versions of the typical doom and gloom B&W scare ads usually seen during the local news. The other makes a quick point in 5 seconds, often with a bit of snark. Seems that Oz's social media people don't understand YouTube either. I feel like one of those campaigns has a slightly better understanding of the online audience...

I'm not a "the polls are wrong" person, but I'd love to know how much phone-based polls rely on calling random phone numbers. After years of endless robocalls and spam - how many people answer a call from a number they don't recognize in the first place? And then are willing to provide the caller with anything resembling personal information? Doesn't seem like an especially sophisticated group who would be willing to actually talk with the pollsters, so I have to wonder how good of a cross section they are really getting of overall voters (or if that is somehow being compensated for). Perhaps an established panel they check in with? Maybe someone on here better versed in this process has some insight.

Unfortunately it's only going to get worse as small-town newspapers continue to decline or disappear. There is very little neutral coverage about the day-to-day happenings in most small town governments. Even being proactive and attending council meetings doesn't really give the average citizen a good overview of the whole picture. The metro area newspapers and TV stations might finally cover a situation once charges are filed, or something on the level of a recall or dissolution hits the ballot (possibly after the vote). The only time you hear about local government in the news is after things go very wrong. In my experience the online (Facebook) chatter which fills some of the news vacuum is suspect gossip at best, and only ever negative. Particularly for small towns where (stereotyping a bit) a large portion of the population defaults to an anti-government stance. Requests for additional revenue or news of a budget shortfall from any level of local government are met with claims of "mismanagement" and "follow the money". Those making the most noise typically have no idea how local government actually works, and a fair number of that group doesn't even realize they live in the surrounding township. I have no idea the specifics of the current fiasco in Johnstown. I've had little luck finding any real information about the situation, just coverage of the recall. Hopefully the reasoning is good - previously-disinterested voters realizing they need a competent local government - but I have my doubts. None of this gives me confidence the surrounding communities are really prepared for the upcoming growth pressures and other demands that will be placed on them very soon.

Nobody is better than Russia at getting conservatives riled up about nothing, and Russia is an oil state... (Just a hunch based on no research - even the automakers are finally starting to get on board.)