The annual spring "Panty Raid" by the Notre Dame boys was symbolized by the raising of a bike up the flagpole. The University of Michigan created this college prank in 1952...
You did NOT see that coming!
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
I am about to unleash on you, a piece of bicycle trivia, that probably none of you have EVER heard of
Standing ovation for Stacy Batiste of Lafayette, Louisiana, a Marine Corps veteran and a mentor to younger drivers is the winner of this year’s Pilot truck stop Road Warrior contest, earning a custom KW W900 and a cash prize
Skip the first 14 minutes, to the story, or 19 minutes to the reveal
there is a traffic light in Japan, that only turns green one day a year
Himakajima doesn’t really need any stoplights because the tiny island sees very little foot or car traffic. However, the children who grow up on the island may not live there forever and many will grow up to attend schools or find jobs on the mainland, so it’s important that they know how to cross a street with a traffic light.
In 1994, at the request of the local traffic safety association, stoplights were installed on the east side of the island so the town’s children could practice crossing the street like they would in a big city.
The annual children’s crossing has become so popular that people planning to visit the island often hunt online to catch wind of when the stoplight will be fully operational.
I was looking through the news, and was astonished to see back to back articles contradict each other on the topic of bicycle safety in intersections
should cyclists be required to follow the same traffic rules as motorists, or should we recognize that these rules do not always reflect the reality of cycling in a city?
the risks associated with different modes of transport are incommensurate.
A car that runs a red light can cause serious or even fatal injuries.
A cyclist, on the other hand, is unlikely to cause the same degree of damage.
Treating two such different modes of transport the same way, therefore, amounts to implicitly favoring cars, something akin to imposing the same speed limit on pedestrians and trucks.
Since 1982, cyclists in Idaho have been able to treat a stop sign as a yield sign and a red light as a stop sign. Several American states (such as Arkansas, Colorado, and Oregon) and countries, such as France and Belgium, have adopted similar regulations.
Drivers zooming on and off the Williamsburg Bridge in Lower Manhattan are running red lights and creating a harrowing situation for pedestrians and cyclists trying to use the busy intersection — but cops are not only turning a blind eye, but directing their focus towards cyclists instead.
The cops are able to take advantage of the poor design and issue tickets to every cyclist that approaches the intersection.
the NYPD has set up a checkpoint to issue criminal summonses to cyclists as part of Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch's criminal crackdown on biking that started in April.
The checkpoints ticketing cyclists on Delancey as part of the criminal crackdown has been documented on Reddit and observed by Streetsblog, most recently on Oct. 3.
Most drivers who put New Yorkers’ lives at risk with their anti-social behavior will face no consequences for their actions — indeed in 2024, the NYPD averaged fewer than two speeding tickets per precinct per day, according to the agency's own stats.
And the red-light-ticket-writing-rate at the Seventh Precinct — where the notorious intersection is located — is even worse: Just 1.5 red light tickets were written per day in that entire precinct.
“This is the city we live in: Pointless enforcement of bikes, no enforcement of cars"
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/11/drivers-run-reds-but-cops-ticket-cyclists-at-dangerous-delancey-intersection
Most drivers who put New Yorkers’ lives at risk with their anti-social behavior will face no consequences for their actions — indeed in 2024, the NYPD averaged fewer than two speeding tickets per precinct per day, according to the agency's own stats.
And the red-light-ticket-writing-rate at the Seventh Precinct — where the notorious intersection is located — is even worse: Just 1.5 red light tickets were written per day in that entire precinct.
“This is the city we live in: Pointless enforcement of bikes, no enforcement of cars"
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/11/drivers-run-reds-but-cops-ticket-cyclists-at-dangerous-delancey-intersection
Hugo Mathis of Switzerland is the owner and one of the pilots of the Classic Formation Team, which features a 1943 DC-3 and three Beech 18s, circa 1952 - and now, a B 25
and Ron Kaplan, owner of Warbird Aviation Art, painted the Doolittle Raider crests on it, and the name
and the story really takes off from their - Ron is also the founder and executive director of the Ohio Air & Space Hall of Fame (OASHF) and Learning Center
Ron’s father was a B-25 instructor pilot during WWII and kept flying after the war.
“We flew out of Ohio State [University]’s Don Scott Field [KOSU],” Kaplan said of his father, who had been the fencing coach at OSU and later, as a professor, was also able to rent the school’s aviation department aircraft.
[Former] Governor [Jim] Rhodes kept ‘Buckeye One,’ the state of Ohio’s C-53, there.
(Since I've never heard of a C -53, I had to look it up)
Douglas C-53, A military transport aircraft during World War II, a variant of the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner, specialized for carrying troops with bucket seats and a single entry door, lacking the large cargo door and reinforced floor of the more versatile C-47 Skytrain.Ron attended OSU for graphic design, started a lucrative T-Shirt career, and transitioned to full-time aviation art and writing, which led to him being recruited onto the staff of the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) in 1998.
He spent 19 years at the NAHF, making connections in the aviation world, especially in the warbird community, then founded the OASHF while simultaneously creating a business around aviation artwork, such as nose art painted on metal or stoneware coasters with images of WWII aircraft.
At the 1981 Doolittle Raider Association reunion in Columbus, Ohio Ron was introduced to General [Jimmy] Doolittle and the attending Raiders, and in 1992 he painted an A-2 flight jacket with the Raiders’ crest and an illustration of Doolittle’s B-25 and gifted it to them at their 50th reunion in Columbia, South Carolina.
His occupation and talent resulted in opportunities to know and work with many such legends and icons of aviation such as Joe Foss, Paul Tibbets, Robin Olds, Bob Hoover, Tex Hill, and dozens more.
The Ohio State University played an integral part in advancing the aeronautics field, while evolving into one of the nation’s premier aviation programs.
Less than 14 years after the first flight, World War I created the need for qualified military pilots. In spring and summer 1917, the War Department established Schools of Military Aeronautics at eight universities, including The Ohio State University.
The School of Aeronautics opened to teach cadets aircraft construction and maintenance on May 21, 1917, when the first "squadron" or group of 16 cadets reported. As the story goes, the cadets built the aircraft in the aeronautics building, the planes would then be rolled down the hill to the field just east of the Olentangy River, where flight tests and training would ensue.
The School of Aeronautics opened to teach cadets aircraft construction and maintenance on May 21, 1917, when the first "squadron" or group of 16 cadets reported. As the story goes, the cadets built the aircraft in the aeronautics building, the planes would then be rolled down the hill to the field just east of the Olentangy River, where flight tests and training would ensue.
The university built a second airport on East Broad Street “near the country club,” while also using other local airports such as Sullivant Field on Neil Avenue.
In 1939, Ohio State was one of a number of universities that took part in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, sponsored by the Civil Aeronautics Administration, for the purpose of fostering private flying
The first plane to utilize the new airport landed at the field on November 5, 1942. The airport's first two buildings in the spring of 1943, and two 2,200 feet, hard-surfaced runways, taxiways, and aprons in early 1944. Ohio State began offering flight instruction in 1945.
Four Columbus women pilots formed a chapter of the Ninety-Nines organization in 1946. Helen Linn was the assistant coordinator of pilot training at KOSU in 1946.
Ruth Gouthey was Ohio State's first female flight instructor, and helped form the first Columbus chapter of the 99s.
In the 1970s, the University used Douglas DC-3s at the airport to transport university sports teams, faculty, and administration to and from Columbus.
It's now the 5th largest airport in the state of Ohio, and ranks fourth in Ohio in the number of take-offs and landings and within the top 100 general aviation airports nationally.
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
the Halfway House Cafe roadside diner in the Santa Clarita Valley began as a trading post in 1906, then became a cafe in 1931, but has been a location for Hollywood movies and commercials for decades
it's the location for the memorable Cindy Crawford commercial where the supermodel pulled up to a roadside cafe and hopping out of her Lambo to enjoy a can of Pepsi from a vending machine,
plus it's the diner that Tom Cruise stumbled into after his fighter jet crash in Top Gun: Maverick
and Heartbreak Ridge, Space Cowboys, The A-Team, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Knight Rider, Pick of Destiny, Monk, and more.
They even have a wall of celeb photos, including Dolly Parton, Ron Perlman, Carmen Electra, David Boreanaz, Toby Keith, and Eddie Murphy are easy to pick out
an 8-mile bike path planned along the Los Angeles River a decade ago would close a crucial gap between existing paths lining LA’s concrete channelized waterway, and was supposed to be completed in time for the Olympics... then - politics happened
The bike path was initially touted as part of LA Metro’s Twenty-Eight by ’28 initiative, a list of 28 priority transportation projects the transit agency aims to complete before the 2028 Olympics come to Los Angeles. But the project has since been quietly removed from the list and replaced with other projects,
Approximately 76,000 people live within a half-mile walk of the Los Angeles River along the project corridor, and 1 million people live within biking distance of the project.
A key factor in the delay is bureaucratic wrangling over who will be in charge of operating and maintaining the path after it’s built. While LA Metro is handling the design and construction tasks related to the project, the agency doesn’t plan on being in charge afterward, and instead wants one of the agencies that holds a larger share of the project’s right-of-way (such as the city or county) to take charge.
A pilot is fighting to recover his 1946 Stinson following an emergency landing over Red Lake Nation tribal territory in northern Minnesota, on Minnesota Highway 1, because the Red Lake Tribal Police impounded the aircraft, citing a violation of the tribe’s 1978 Resolution No. 59-78.
What's that all about? in the late 70s, amid opposition to proposed low-altitude military training routes, the tribe passed a resolution to prohibit “the flying of any airplanes over lands of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians at an altitude of less than 20,000 feet.” of high speed aircraft.
A 1948 Stinson is neither military, nor high speed. And I doubt the treaty ever mentioned aircraft, or airspace.
So, since they could seize the airplane because it landed where they could seize it, they did, and possibly only to serve notice that their laws will not be ignored...
in the once a century unique opportunity to stand their ground, and make the news. Maybe even get the jurisdiction law of airspace vis a vis tribal sovereignty examined in a new light... it sure as hell has seen a lot of changes since the 70s, just see Oklahoma.
Well... now the issue of who sets the laws above a reservation will hit a court, or maybe a couple, as tribal jurisdiction over airspace has possibly never come up before. The FAA is the only authority on airspace over the USA, unless, maybe, over military airspace. I dunno about that.
Federal law, under Title 49 U.S. Code §40103, grants the U.S. government “exclusive sovereignty of airspace of the United States” and recognizes a public right of transit through navigable airspace.
Current VFR sectional charts show a published T-route above the reservation, but no other special use airspace or advisories are depicted. T-routes are typically confined between 1,200 feet above ground and 18,000 feet mean sea level.
Red Lake Nation said it welcomes "engagement with the FAA and governmental peers to clarify Tribal protocols for emergency landings and Tribal laws and resolutions governing overflight, so that future incidents may be handled with greater transparency, cooperation, and mutual respect."
This oughta be interesting to see how it turns out... I doubt airspace jurisdiction has been brought up in courts more than once or twice since WW2
A people carrier (also known as a mobile lounge) hit a dock at Washington Dulles International Airport, also causing damage to the terminal.
The lounge had been transporting passengers from Concourse D, and struck a dock at an angle as it was pulling up to the terminal,
Dulles maintains of fleet of 19 mobile lounges, with each able to transport 102 people.
According to NBC Washington, mobile lounges were involved in 16 accidents during a 10-year period between 2007-2017, including one fatal crash.
Freeway builders had their sights set on building freeways along Lady Bird Lake in Austin, through Georgetown in Washington, along the beach in Santa Monica, through the French Quarter in New Orleans, and bisecting Cambridge between Harvard and MIT.
They would’ve had their way, too, if not for the meddling protesters who foiled their schemes.
Other places that were saved were Beverly Hills, Brookline, Haight-Ashbury, Greenwich Village, Baltimore
In low-income urban neighborhoods unable to halt the freeway, properties that could have become nest eggs for generations were razed when they were worth pennies on the dollar of their current value.
In Washington DC, the construction of I-695 and I-395 resulted in the loss of nearly half a million dollars in home equity for each of the 1,400 homes that were destroyed.
In St. Paul, the home equity lost to the construction of I-94 resulted in a $160 million loss in value by 2018.
In Portland’s Lower Albina district, the construction of I-5 and other urban renewal projects wiped out an estimated $1.4 billion in home equity.
so... why did the bus topple over in Sun Metro's transit center on Feb 11th when it was on the lift?... the reason it blew up was a it's fuel tank of CNG puncturing when it hit the floor - and two died from burns - that is effing horrible. Hey OSHA, focus on this OSHA "certified" lift, and , not safety glasses!
The video shows a Sun Metro bus falling from a hydraulic lift about 1 p.m. on Feb. 11 at a maintenance garage at the Sun Metro Operations Center, in East El Paso.
It slides off center supports, and I don't see outriggers to keep it balanced on those scissor jacks... it slid off.
is this the result of getting rid of pits, and buying from the lowest bidder? Why isn't that bus on a 4 point lift under each tire, or each corner?
Turbo Rocket Fluid, unlike blinker fluid, actually was a GM product. A mixture of distilled water and methanol, sometimes with a rust inhibitor, used in the 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire to cool the intake air and prevent engine knock.
Sold in a glass bottle stored the engine compartment or a one-gallon plastic bottle with Turbo-Rocket labeling.
Rally From Paris to the Pyramids, now in English
I posted about it on Oct, 5th, before there was any info in Elglish, and I've updated that, and they just released this new preview, far more thorough and fun than what was available last month
Monday, November 10, 2025
had enough of sitting by the phone waiting for answers, one RV owner packed up his work setup—a folding table, laptop, and personal Wi-Fi—and brought it straight to Camping World. Day after day, he set up inside the dealership’s service area, determined not to be ignored.
He brought the rig in to Camping World for repairs, and didn’t hear anything back for 4 months while he waited for a simple repair
updates were scarce until October, when staff told him the delay was caused by unavailable parts—and then another setback when the replacements arrived in the wrong color.
"I decided to just come in, make my presence known and make sure that they didn’t forget that my RV had pending work and it’s about time to wrap it up.”
After his story gained attention, Camping World contacted him with an update. The dealership reinstalled the original parts, and he can go elsewhere for the correct replacements.
The experience was enough to change his mind about where he’ll take his RV in the future. “You can pull all the publicity stunts you want but unless you take care of your customers, they’re not going to be coming back,” he said. “I’m going to go to a different dealer and I’m going to drive far away even though I live in Greenville to go see someone else from here on out.”
An intact ceremonial chariot unearthed at the Pompeii archaeological site is being hailed as the first artifact of its kind ever found in Italy, a unique find - which has no parallel in Italy thus far - in an excellent state of preservation
The chariot was meticulously uncovered since its discovery on Jan. 7, 2021 inside the portico of a stable outside the walls of the main settlement.
"This new find is even more special for being an ornamental (rather than utilitarian) vehicle found not disassembled in a burial or depicted through artistic convention on a relief, but as it was on the day of the eruption," Eric Poehler, a Roman archaeologist and Pompeii specialist who wrote a book on the city's ancient traffic systems.
It's believed the chariot was likely used for celebrations and parades and may have also carried new brides to their homes. The treasure was nearly lost to looters, who had dug more than 260 feet of tunnels in and around the site. But it was discovered thanks to the thieves after police came across the illegal tunnels in 2017.
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