Robert Pence

More of the amazingness that is Pittsburgh! Fabulous tour!

Thanks for posting those. I have some fond memories associated with some of those places and views.

Again, excellent photos. Corbo's Bakery = Yumm! For the entire set ... :clap:

Good stuff! One of the best things visually about downtown is the way fairly dense massing of big commercial buildings alternates with green space, and you really caught that in this set.

Very good photos; seeing some Ohio City beyond the West Side Market and W 25th Street that's most often photographed is a good thing.

These are both wonderful and sad -- grand houses with lots of potential, and a standing testimonial Youngstown's lost industrial wealth that hasn't been replaced by any alternate economic engine. Thanks for showing these.

Excellent photo, seicer. The 20mm with the FX sensor gives great depth of field, and the camera apparently is superb for exposure latitude, too.

Wonderful to see the fountains back in action! That must make a huge change in the character of Mellon Square; without them it was pretty drab, and I can remember what a neat spot it was back in '85. Even in the hard times of 1985 I was very impressed with Pittsburgh's beautiful natural setting and the hospitality of its people. It's a great city that keeps getting more beautiful.

In New York City, the Farley Post office was sited the same way. For years discussions have started and stopped and arguments have raged over converting the Farley structure into a new station to give arriving and departing passengers something more suited to a great city than the glorified subway station that is all that remains of McKim, Mead, and White's 1910 Pennsylvania Station, possibly the grandest structure ever erected in North America. Now the debate over the size and routing of a new passenger-train tunnel will probably complicate that process even more.

Good stuff! Philadelphia is a wonderfully photogenic city, and no matter how many forumers post photos of it, everyone finds a viewpoint that presents different aspects. 30th Street Station is an impressive structure. It was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, successor firm to D.H. Burnham & Co and opened in 1933. I think they must have been one of the most productive architectural firms in North America for major projects in their era; among other buildings familiar to forumers, Cleveland's Terminal Tower and Chicago's Union Station are their creations. If I remember correctly, 30th Street Station sits about 30 feet above natural grade level, on girders resting on trunnions that allow for expansion and contraction. The tracks and platforms are located in the space beneath the building. The adjacent post office, even more massive, is a companion piece and is built the same way; in that era, most US Mail traveled by train, and the placement of post offices adjacent to railroad stations allowed mail cars to be switched in and out of passenger trains easily. There are places where you can see the space from street level:

Funnel Cakes & Ice Cream! Yum! Looks like the ultimate in retro kitsch, with an abundance of traditional amusement-park food. What fun! The murals and signage are fabulous.

It's primary efflorescence, something that occurs as the mortar cures. Ingredients in the mixture of water, mortar and sand that aren't part of the cured mortar come to the surface. It has no structural significance. A good brushing with a wire brush and subsequent hosing down usually gets rid of it, and sometimes the contractors use a dilute muriatic acid solution and wash it away. Vinegar works in some cases, too. The same thing happens with plain concrete or cinderblock too, but in that case the underlying surface is the same color as the efflorescence, so it's not noticeable. That generic Starbucks could be anywhere; it's a standalone design they use adjacent to the strip centers that grow up across the road from Super Wal-Marts on the fringes of the small towns.

Yes. Baltimore in the seventies. I think it worked well. I enjoyed the tour around the neighborhood. It looks like a comfortable place to live.

Nice! A lot of preserved history there, and the replacement for the burned building looks impressive.

Looks lively, colorful and fun, and interestingly seedy in spots.

Beautiful photos of a beautiful place. The beach looks like my idea of heaven!

Park Strip

Hmmm. The only thing I have left to suggest is an exorcism. Sounds like it may be possessed :evil:

Gorgeous Pittsburgh Riverfront - one of the best in the US. Excellent photo!

Just guessing here, because that's a new one on me. Does the bolt pull up tight, or is it possible the threads are stripped? Have you taken out the handlebar stem? Loosen the bolt and tap it down to release it, and then lift the stem out of the fork assembly head tube. I'm wondering if there's a lot of powdery rust down there that's keeping it from getting a grip on solid metal. Or maybe there's oil or grease in the tube. Maybe somebody tried to oil the headset bearings with something really slippery like silcone or lithium or graphite grease or sprayed a big dose of WD-40 in there, and got some in the tube. If it's rust, a good scrubbing with a round wire brush and a blowing out with compressed air or just pulling a twisted-up rag through should get rid of it. If it's oily, some solvent on a twisted-up rag ought to do it. The only problems I've ever encountered there have been just the opposite, everything seized up with rust and won't come apart when I want to adjust it. Another thought; I've never seen this, but if the expansion bolt is out of threads and bottomed in the beveled nut so that the nut can't come up any higher, that would make it feel tight when it's not fully expanded. In that case you might be able to find a die with the same thread pitch and cut it a little higher, or a couple of washers under the bold head might give you enough. Or replace the bolt, if it's the wrong one for that stem.

Mounting a tire without pinching the tube is tricky without tire levers. Even with them, you have to pay close attention. If you're using a flat-bladed screwdriver or something similar, a pinch is almost guaranteed. Like I mentioned before, if you have access to it, water with dish soap makes everything slip into place easier. It's a good idea to inflate the tire to moderate pressure before mounting the wheel on the bike. Bounce it on the ground a few times in various spots and check visually to see if the tire is seating uniformly all the way around. A pump with a fat barrel will make it very hard to attain high pressures, and slim-barreled pumps do it fairly easily. I'm still using a lot of previous-generation gear, so I don't know much about the newer compact pumps, but I know you can get devices that use CO-2 cartridges for quick, almost effortless inflation.

Yes, and you are so in luck. The UO Gay Brotherhood has openings and is actively seeking new members to fill them. After you submit an application you'll be scheduled for an interview and aptitude test, and if all goes well and you then pass your initiation, you'll be eligible for all the benefits of membership, including in-house specialized training. Among our faculty members, MayDay teaches Divas 101, Popular Culture and Skin Care, and MTS teaches Interior Design. I teach Tractor Maintenance, Concrete Replacement and Residential Demolition and Reconstruction. The latter course is a prerequisite for the interior design course taught by MTS. In case you're wondering, the Tractor Maintenance is an accomodation for farm lads. We are nothing if not equal-opportunity.

Neat airplane shot. I always enjoyed air shows, and I haven't been to one in a while. I always loved Stearman biplanes. I think they were used by the Army Air Force as trainers, pre-WWII. They used to turn up pretty regularly at air shows, and they have an entirely different sound from later piston-engine aircraft. I used to be able to identify one before I even looked to see what it was. I'd love to ride in one with a pilot I could trust to not try to make me lose my lunch. I used to work with an old-timer instructor pilot who offered to take me up, but he had a reputation for stunt-flying without the consent of his passenger. At a show in Iowa about ten years ago I paid $30 for a 15 or 20 minute ride in a 1921 Stinson Tri-motor. I think it had capacity for about a dozen passengers. It was an interesting experience; unlike the corrugated metal fuselage of the Ford Trimotor, the Stinson looked like it had a canvas-over-wood-frame construction. It was a little noisy, but not a bad ride.

Excellent video! Every rider should be prepared for a flat. I live along the Rivergreenway. Every now and then I see a walker with a flat, and I try to help when I can, either fixing them up with a tube (that includes a free hands-on lesson) or occasionally giving someone a ride home.

I took this photo at the Whitley County (Indiana) 4-H Fair. If you like such things, come on over to my site and click the thumbnail with this photo on it. 135 photos.