Sephy’s Platzish

In my travels, I have spotted the sign here a couple of times. Now, I don’t disagree that it’s a good reminder to motorists that it is state law to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, but there should be something said about placing these signs. For example, in the town where I photographed this particular sign, they have three of them. None of which are actually in a crosswalk. That’s probably because they wanted to ensure that the crosswalk was clear of snow; naturally these signs have appeared right when the snow has finally started to come to this area, so all three of them have little islands of snow on either side of them.

I wonder if it would be possible to ticket municipal governments for doing downright silly things like this……

Oh, and apologies for it being a bit blurry - it’s hard to take photos when the sun goes down at 5 pm

It’s nothing really life-changing or earth shattering, but I like watching the odd bit of trash TV. I remember a line an old friend of mine made about certain shows - “You watch Maury to feel good about yourself; you watch Springer to feel like an angel.”

Well, it is usually quite strange, dare say, a bit funny to watch the story of some woman who can’t tell who, of however many men, is the real father of her child. That or the teens who are completely out of control - I always wonder where the parents are in those cases.

There is another bit of “trashy” TV that I’ve been watching quite a bit lately - Cheaters. Basically, it’s a show where if you’re suspecting that your current partner is not quite being honest with you and you think that they’re sleeping around, they will go ahead and investigate them. Of course, it always turns out that there is infidelity going on. Then we have to tell the unsuspecting partner what they found and visit the guilty party/ies for the confrontation. I think this video will help explain things a bit

Be sure to click over to there and watch the other cheaters videos…

So I had mentioned that I was in search of the power cord for my scanner (a search that did turn out in the end to yield said cord). I figured that I may as well use it to scan a photo and share it

This was taken (as the datestamp notes) in May of 1998. This is in the southeastern part of Tennessee, near the Great Smokey Mountains. The focal point of the photo is the runaway truck ramp that goes off to the left. So, without further adieù, here it is -

And, as a parting thought, a quite long (26 minutes) video of a trip that didn’t go quite as planned..or did it? From BBC’s Top Gear…

So Google’s great plan to take photographs of Sydney didn’t quite go off as planned, thanks to the fact that there were planes that *didn’t* have Photoshopped logos on them taking off towards the City, pretty much into the planned flightpath of the Google flight.

The only downside is that people who decided to take a punt on getting themselves publicity or to repair a broken marriage may or may not have been photographed to possibly (depending on the outcome of the pictures) be included in Google Earth or Google Maps (where you can now actually find Aussie street addresses, but still not get directions).

Just a thought for the bloke who thought he’d have been able to save his marriage - first, it would have taken 4 to 6 weeks to get the photos online. Also, you’d have to make sure that she actually *saw* the photo. Then again, being mentioned in two stories in a variety of papers probably would help your case…good luck!

That’s pretty much where (at the best) Formula 1 is in the USA. Of course, the major motorsport here is Nascar. The split between Indycar CART and Indycar the IRL has all but decimated the domestic open wheel competition. The only other major open wheel series, for all intents and purposes, is F1. The story of the series in this country is an interesting one, and one to which, over the last 25 years or so, stability is something that has been fleeting.

Consider that between 1980 and 1991 (the last race until it moved to Indianapolis in 2000), the series raced in the following locations - Long Beach CA, Watkins Glen NY, Detroit, Dallas, Las Vegas and finally Phoenix. Add to that the fact that TV coverage had gone from the occasional race on a regular network to all races being on cable, and you have a recipe for near-disaster.

However, Indianapolis’ plan to get the cars there has worked somehow. It has been reported that this race sees some of the largest paid attendances in the series. If it weren’t for the mishap in 2005, the likelihood would be that the track would have a long term deal alredy.

The head of F1, Bernie Ecclestone, recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated, in which he says that part of the problem with getting F1 to succeed here is not having it airing on regular TV. He is right, and I think his people did something quite smart when renegotiating into the rights contract a proviso that says that some races will be shown on Free-to-air TV. Fortunately, unlike the last deal that led to races being shown on regular TV, two of the races selected for this are the ones from Montréal and Indy.

Bernie says that he thinks part of our problem stems in the fact that the whole series isn’t aired on FTA TV. I think that this time, they’re doing the FTA thing right (i.e. using the announcers from Speed, who actually know something about the sport they cover instead of the CBS-all rounder they used last year). It’s likely that there will be more than the 4 races on Fox next year, but right now I think that if the shows acually rate, it will be considered a success.

So, here’s to having a good year of being in third place again, but maybe closing the gap to drag racing.

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