Robert Pence

Excellent set of photos! Now, if they'd just remove those view-obstructing tall barriers on the sides of the upper deck ...

Poor drunk whites, driving hoopties.

For the most part, in urban cycling I worry about cars the least; I avoid arterial streets, and on the residential streets where traffic usually is light and more subdued, I can hear them coming. On paths heedless pedestrians can be a nuisance, especially when it's a whole family out for an evening stroll. The spread across the entire path as if the whole world is their private back yard, and when they're walking dogs on those looooong retractible leashes ... Often I can't hear other cyclists coming from behind and they pass too close and too fast without audible warning. As for the jocks who move at a training-ride pace on paths and intimidate pedestrians and slower cyclists, someone ought to shove a stick through their spokes. How about skaters? They get that side-to-side motion going and eat up the entire width of a path. That's one of the things I like about unpaved trails; no skaters.

Beautiful photos of a beautiful day. In past years I've taken quite a few bike rides in that area and along the path that follows the Rocky River. Lake Erie has come a long way from its much-maligned days, and is a gorgeous asset. Huntington Beach has a charming old-school atmosphere.

If you click on the white finish image, you can see the pre-drilled bosses on the fork and rear dropouts (They can be used for fenders as well, and with long enough screws they can support a rack and fenders). Most likely if it has the ones on the fork and dropouts, it has the ones on the seat stays as well.

Not a prank, but that story reminded me of an anecdote from a place where I used to work. I worked in a magnet-wire mill where there were numerous colorful characters among the long-time employees, both in the factory and in the office. Perhaps the eye-watering, nose-burning concentration of organic solvent vapors that permeated the building contributed to that. One of the clerks was a spinster who always groomed and dressed herself impeccably but in the fashion of the 1940s. She was of severely isolated demeanor and austere bearing and conduct, and lived with an alternative perception of her surroundings. There were many curious tales, all true, about Betty. I happened to witness this occurrence. This was before desktop computers, when office machines consisted of typewriters and large, heavy, noisy, slow Friden mechanical calculators capable of automatic division. Only the high-muckety-mucks' admin assitants had electric typewriters; all lower-ranking clerks had Royal manuals. All that stuff was used heavily, and more prone to breakdown than today's computers are. Our wire mill was part of a much larger complex that built motors and transformers, and there were three full-time technicians on site to keep all the office machines working. All three were well-acquainted with Betty. One day she put in a problem call for her manual typewriter. She claimed that every time she struck an "E" it types an "A." The tech went through the motions of inspecting, poking, prodding, cleaning, and lubricating, tested it, and pronounced it fixed. About half an hour later, she called him back, saying, "It's doing the same thing again." Again he went through the motions, and said, "Well, Betty, I can't find a problem. What do you think is wrong with it?" Her response, without hesitation and in all seriousness: "Why, it's quite obvious; it's possessed." The tech never missed a beat: "Betty, that's beyond what I've been trained to deal with. All I can do is take it back to the shop and give you a different one." That's what he did, and Betty had no problems with the replacement typewriter. Oh. And a missed opportunity; when I worked in tech support on PCs, we moved a large data-entry office where about three fourths of the employees were women, and reinstalled about 150 desktop systems. As we were wrapping up, I found a key cap on the floor. It was the one with the "." character. I thought about holding it up and calling out, "Is anyone missing a period?" My boss didn't think it would be a good idea.

Consider, too, that when new expressways/interstates are built, the old, local roads usually don't go away because they provide necessary access to farms, homes, and businesses. I'll use Indiana for an example, because I know about it. I think it's a safe assumption that other states have similar statutes. Indiana has a statutory cap on the number of lane-miles the state can maintain, and the state is maxed out under that statute. The state bears the responsibility for maintenance of interstate highways within its boundaries. When a new interstate or expressway is built, the state has to relinquish maintenance responsibility for an equivalent number of lane-miles of former state highways to local county governmental agencies. Say a 30-mile stretch of four-lane interstate bypass is built. That means that 120 lane-miles, or sixty miles of two-lane state highways become the permanent, ongoing responsibility of counties, most likely the ones served by the new road. Not only are the counties saddled with the cost of maintaining the roads given up by the state, but they have lost the property tax revenue formerly generated by the land taken for right-of-way for the new expressway and its interchanges. It's a double whammy, and the prospects of property tax revenue recovery face another paradox. Maximizing the number of interchanges with existing local roads opens up more land for development, but more interchanges mean more congestion, more traffic hazards, and more environmental degradation that must be dealt with by the local communities, either up front or in the future with mitigation efforts.

That, and some funerals. Although usually I'd rather attend a funeral than a wedding; a funeral recognizes that one person's troubles are over, whereas all too often at a wedding two people's troubles are just beginning. My funeral is going to be big just like in the imitation of life. LOL For those like me who had not seen the imitation of life a summary of the funeral scene. Pretty much what I imagined for you MTS. "As per her last wishes, Annie is given a lavish funeral in a large church, complete with a gospel choir (and a solo by gospel star Mahalia Jackson) and a parade-like procession with a horse-drawn hearse." Hey....I'm consistent! Although I want to be cremated. I can just see it; a monument in Lake View Cemetery overshadowing Garfield's but more contemporary, designed by a prestigious architectural firm. Maybe SOM? Owners, managers, and clerks from Manhattan's finest stores will take part in the funeral procession, truly grief-stricken at the passing of the man who kept their businesses afloat through the recession of '09. :cry:

... and a widening gulf between the affluent/influential and the poor/powerless, as the stratification of wealth continues.

I don't think that most vocal activists are attempting to rock the boat just for frivolous or self-serving reasons. Rather, I see them reacting to what they (and I) perceive as a widespread unawareness, even denial in some cases, that the U.S. needs to be moving proactively toward changes in our lifestyles and infrastructure in order to adapt as smoothly as possible to the inevitable changes in our energy sources and availability. I agree with gildone that the necessary changes are best not left to markets. The behavior of markets reflects the behavior of the country's demographic, and like the great majority of Americans, our markets aren't accustomed to adapting proactively to long-term projections.

That, and some funerals. Although usually I'd rather attend a funeral than a wedding; a funeral recognizes that one person's troubles are over, whereas all too often at a wedding two people's troubles are just beginning.

I love those; some are whimsical, and some are rather profound. It looks like an excellent way to deter tagging.

Sad, indeed. The statue's right arm appears to have become detached. On the other hand, in my opinion the Dayton Art Institute is one of the city's best assets. The building is impressive, the location is commanding, and the collections and traveling exhibits are first-rate. It's one of three Dayton-area attractions I've seen, so far, where I can lose myself for an entire day and completely lose track of time. The other two are the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson, and Carriage Hill Farm Metropark.

Wonderfully dense, big-city look for a city of about 200K population, with some beautiful historic gems and attractive newer buildings. Thanks for the excellent tour; it inspires me to make the drive.

Funny how sometimes that has an effect, and sometimes they turn out just the opposite. My youngest brother fathered four children before abandoning his family. He kept in touch just enough to try to keep people upset and things stirred up. All four kids now are grown, with families of their own. All four are responsible, thoughtful, considerate, and hard-working, just the opposite of their dad, who is without exception the most malevolent, mean-spirited, selfish, scheming, thieving, lying, disreputable scum I have ever known.

I no 'zackly wut y'alls talkin' 'bout.

Peddle vs. Pedal

Neat-looking downtown, great photos!

Revisiting this item on a couple of accounts - My dad was a teenager on a farm in Northeastern Indiana when KDKA went on the air. He and his dad were fascinated with new technology, and they ordered a succession of mail-order crystal radio kits that they built at home. Crystal radios required no external power source, and used headphones instead of a speaker. Dad said that in Saturday nights some of the neighbors would come over and they'd take turns passing the headphones around. Later they built a kit that had an amplifier and loudspeaker. It used packs of series-connected D-cell flashlight batteries to power the amplifier. I had seen an old photo that showed a wire stretched overhead between the house and one of the farm buildings, and didn't know what that might have been because at the time they had no electricity or telephone. It was an antenna for the radio. My brother still has one of those crystal radios. For a captivating account of the development and implementation of Marconi's wireless radio for communication between ships and shore stations, read Erik Larson's Thunderstruck.

Looks like an interesting place to just walk around and look at stuff.

Beautiful shots! I love these nearly haze-free late summer days.

Is the Apostrophe Protection Society concerned about the equally common form of abuse, where clueless writers use apostrophes when simply expressing plural forms of nouns? No one should be allowed to letter sign's in store's without first presenting a certificate proving that they understand the proper use of apostrophe's. :x

Are you running Internet Explorer 8? If so, you need to go to compatibility mode in order for the edit function in UO to work. There's a button just to the left of the "refresh" button at the top of the IE page. Click it to get into compatibility mode, and your editing problem should go away.

I'll bet you'd never guess. :|

Some rough spots, but overall it looks comfortable. I've always been fascinated by Italianate houses with belvederes (cupolas).