I'm a lasagna boy!

Of doughnuts and the Red Cross

Ethnic Fried Food Around the World, their history and variety. Hurrah!

     American Red Cross personnel followed the invasion forces in Europe and the Pacific. Clubmobile Service operated in the European Theater of Operations. Its courageous members often carried coffee and doughnuts to soldiers for many miles over roads too rough for regular travel. Doughnuts became closely associated with the American Red Cross: the organization purchased enough flour between l939 and l946 to make 1.6 billion of them. Red Cross women served doughnuts at the rate of 400 per minute during the years l944-46.

Adios to the second dutchess

Someone stole the gold Flying Dutchman bike from my apartment last night. Goddammit. I'll give you money to get it back.

      My beloved bicycle was stolen from my apartment last night. It's a scratched-up gold Flying Dutchman frame with a worn Brooks Pro saddle, Phil Wood front and rear hubs, and a fixed-gear. It has a HEAVY sticker on the downtube and an red upper playground sticker on the seat-tube.

You can see it here:

stolen flying dutchman: http://flickr.com/photos/salim/4684590/

I am offering a generous cash reward, no questions asked, for its return.

Over the past few weeks, as I have divested myself of other and sundry bicycles (arrivederci, Ciöcc i Bianchi! bon voyage, Raleigh!) I decided to whittle the collection down to two: the custom-made courtney and the dutchess. They have awesome relaxed geometry, gorgeous details, and work well everywhere that I ride 'em. I've been loudly singing the praises of the Dutchess, an odd lilttle 80s steel frame that's has completely enchanted me. I rode its twin, the blue dutchess, for many tens of thousands of km., until the downtube snapped at the bottom bracket (wow!).
This recalls my enthusiasm for moby, the volvo I thought I would have for ten years. I bought that waggon, thinking it would serve me well, and then a tree went and fell all over it.

like a cop loves his donut

I anxiously awaited "Misery Loves Company" and "Biff Bang Pow!" editions when I was in college, and was cheered to see some of his work in a Cartoon Art Museum (or was it Yerba Buena?) retrospective in San Francisco a few years ago.

Full of beans in sun-shine like this.

Aram and I hung out at the café this morning and discussed our respective vices: coffee, wine, and fixies. Of the hundred or so bicycles that rolled past the interesection of Waller and Steiner, more than a quarter were fixies, old road-bike conversions and track frames alike. Nuts. The only cyclists who came to a complete stop were two girls riding matching yellow hybrid frames.

I'm quite excited that Caltrain has proposed to cut the number of stations it serves, and accompany this with a radical shift in the local/limited train design. From the preliminary proposal, they are responding to the ridership patterns shown and to requests from passengers ("more express trains"). Furthermore, they are taking the sensible approach of reducing service where it is least cost-effective and where it will affect the fewest riders (how many trains still stop at Paul Ave., anyway?). One note of caution: they are quietly considering elimination of weekend service in order to bring the agency out of its increasing deficit.
The community meeting will be next Thursday, 23 March, at City Hall; the public hearings will follow a week later.
Caltrain is one of the few local transit agencies to responsibly deal with its ridership: it provides great facilities for cyclists on- and off- the train, offers rapid connections during peak hours, and tries really hard to keep facilities clean and functional (no, I'm not talking about the chain sandwich shop that opened in the 4th and King Station a few weeks ago).

chicane

Through Driving in the Burgh, I discovered chicane: A series of tight turns, in opposite directions, in an otherwise straight stretch of road.

The Real Underground

The Transport for London web site has a very well done map (Flash required) showing the geographic and schematic perspectives of the tube system.

Can you use it with your friends? I say yes.

20q is an online neural net that simulates the "Twenty Questions" game. It guessed with suspicious accuracy what I was thinking of.

      You were thinking of a tabby cat.
Is it considered valuable? You said Yes, I say Doubtful.
Is it brown? You said Partly, I say No.
Is it a specific type? You said No, I say Yes.
...
Uncommon Knowledge about a tabby cat
Does it roll? I say Probably.
Does it get wet? I say No.
Is it gray? I say Yes.
Would you find it on a farm? I say Yes.
Is it spotted? I say No.
Can you use it with your friends? I say Yes.
Is it a geological product? I say Doubtful.
Is it made of metal? I say No.
Is it made of metal? I say No.
Is it made of metal? I say No.
Is it made of metal? I say No.
Is it made of metal? I say No.
Is it made of metal? I say No.
Is it made of metal? I say No.
Is it made of metal? I say No.
Is it made of metal? I say No.

Scott and Haight

Pasted at the northwest corner of Scott and Haight was this poster:

If they don't burn this whole place down

Arrived home twice within twelve hours to see otherwise sensible young men urinating, one across the street on Mario's house, and th' other on my side gate. When I approached him, he shrugged and moved out of my way. I had the mild satisfaction of chasing him, fly open, into the street while he yelled, mildly, "But there's nowhere to pee around here!"
Anna said that I should have asked him where he lived, so that I could go pee on his house.
The ever-present public urination, defecation, and eating all make up one of the facets of this city, which, eight years after I moved here, continues to enchant me. On consecutive weekend days in March, I rode my bicycle around for pleasure and for errands; I sat outside with friends in the park; ate a wonderful meal within view of the bridge, the western hills, and the docs of Oakland; and I read in the sunlight with the windows open.