Entries from March 2007 ↓

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I earlier had linked to this post by a fellow PCAer Michael Bates over in Tulsa.

The story involves a college student who during games wears a mascot costume was struck and killed by a car along one of those busy multilane roads which also feature bustling hotels, restaurants and gas stations. He was probably walking to buy something to eat; since the team had arrived by bus, no one had a car.

As Michael says:

Even though a narrow strip of trees separates the hotel parking lot from a two lane city street (Jones Road), there is no access between that street and the hotel. The only pedestrian or vehicular access to the hotel property is via the westbound lanes of Highway 4. Even If he had made it to Jones Road, he’d have had to walk at least half a mile to find a place for a Coke and something cheap to eat.

There was no place to walk, except along the busy highway. Thus was Michael’s post titled, “Death by bad urban design.”

Here is the comment I left at Michael’s blog:

The big problem is that these kinds of roads are trying to be two opposing things at once: A business district and a thoroughfare.

This could be an example of interstate-itis: Since traffic there is so heavy, pedestrians would only get in the way of the flow. So traffic engineers simply design pedestrians out of the equation, for the same reason pedestrians are barred from interstate highways.

But too many people, myself included, still believe that if you can see a building, you should be able to walk to it. Traffic engineers must realize and try to anticipate pedestrian traffic.

Fort Wayne is similar in many areas. I’ll have to post on that, though, another day.

So, what was all the excitement about?

This afternoon, Mary and the kids noticed there were a couple of police cars in front of our house. Pretty soon, there were seven police cars and two cars from neighborhood code enforcement.

After lots of going back and forth and bustling about, the police brought out one scraggly man, and then another. Here’s the first one, sitting on the ground behind the car:

The second had a broken nose, which was awarded him by a police officer when he wouldn’t cooperate.

Other officers also poked around the house a bit.

A neighbor knew one of the vice squad officers, so through her we found out it was only a drug bust. The reporter and photographer from The News-Sentinel were visibly disappointed.

• Apple iTunes offers ‘Complete My Album’
  “It now gives a full credit of 99 cents for every track the user previously purchased and applies it toward the purchase of the complete album.”
  (tags: apple music itunes)
• Death by bad urban design
  “When an area is designed with only car travel in mind, it puts the pedestrian at a severe disadvantage. Sometimes that disadvantage is fatal.”
  (tags: urbanism design cities)
• How the new Seattle Central Library really stacks up
  “This library, incredibly, is an uncomfortable place to read.”
  (tags: architecture library seattle)

Follow along with me and see how, despite my technological savvy, I signed up Caleb for the wrong fencing class:

• Go to the Fort Wayne Parks web page.
• Click “Fun Times/On-line Registration.”
• Click “Youth Activities.”
• Click “Kids Stuff.”
• Click “Activities.”
• Scroll down until you find “Fencing” and click on “Fencing Fun for Everyone – Continuing.”
• Mistakenly sign up your 14-year-old son for an adult class because all of the adult classes are listed along with the youth ones. (The youth one was actually called “En Garde: Fencing.”)
• Hear from coach that you have to call the parks department and change your registration.
• Call and hear very friendly lady say, “I can understand how you made a mistake.”
• Do not agree with nice lady. You did not make a mistake. But don’t be mean; she really is nice.

Today’s lesson: If the technology is poorly designed and leads you to the wrong link, it is not your fault. Do not feel stupid!

worm1.JPG, originally uploaded by swerens.

The call came upstairs: “Boys! There’s a worm on the table!”

The girls weren’t kidding.

Click the photo to see two more photos!

Regular readers of this blog maybe wondering,”How well did Jon do during the pledge drive on the local public radio station?”

During my hour, we received two calls. One was from my sister.

I coulda done better.

Wednesday was Caleb’s last day of his fencing lessons. And last week, the students held a fencing tournament. Above, Caleb holds his foil, ready to begin his bout. And below, that’s Caleb on the right.

Caleb had such a great time learning about fencing. He was exhausted after each class, because so much of the training involves learning about footwork.

We’ve already signed him up for ten more classes at the next level, and now he’ll have to have his own equipment: foil, jacket, glove and mask.