Spam attack; comments moderated

May 14, 2014

My apologies.

Please, no spam. No offense to Spam, I hope.

Please, no spam. No offense to Spam, I hope.

Today the site has been hit with major spam attacks from a couple of different directions.  WordPress’s wonderful Akismet software captures a lot of the stuff, but someone has figured a way around it (temporarily, I trust), and I’ve been swatting spam down for most of the day.

To keep the comments clean, I’ve put a control that disallows comments except from known and relatively trusted accounts. If you’re new here, be patient.  It may take two or three hours tonight before I can approve a first comment.

Please don’t let that stop you from commenting.  Legitimate comments should all appear, shortly.

Thanks for visiting.

Leave a Comment » | Administrivia | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Signs of life: GPS not advised

May 14, 2014

From space, from the satellites, the route may look shorter.

But on the ground, it may not work.

State Highway Signage, US 11 and VA 56; near Steele's Tavern, Virginia.

State Highway Signage, US 11 and VA 56; near Steele’s Tavern, Virginia. “GPS Routing Not Advised” Photo by Linda Walcroft

At the View from Squirrel Ridge, comments suggest that Virginia has several places like this, where the GPS favoring the shortest route may include inclines and turns that trucks cannot make.  It’s hell to back up a big truck for several miles of twisty, narrow roads.

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2 Comments | Signs, Technology, Travel | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

“Go fly a kite!” Um, but not here.

May 14, 2014

I do not believe I have ever seen such a sign before:

Odd sign, until you realize it's difficult to fly a kite in a canyon and avoid the power lines. Photo from Poky Tom's Flickr files, Thousand Springs, Idaho.

Odd sign, until you realize it’s difficult to fly a kite in a canyon and avoid the power lines. Photo from Poky Tom’s Flickr files, Thousand Springs, Idaho.

About 1982 I bought a couple of kites and string and kept them in my office on Capitol Hill.  I hoped someone would some day tell me to “go fly a kite,” whereupon I would announce that’s exactly the thing to do, grab the kites and rush to the Washington Mall to fly them. (Do they allow that stuff, there, anymore?)

Alas, none of our pitched battles over policy and press release phrasing got to that point.  The kites got lost in the move from Maryland.

I came up on this photo, and the explanation tickled.  You may see why.  Poky Tom wrote:

Grounded at Thousand Springs! 

Today, the first day of World Wide Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) Week 2011, I was excited to finally end my 3-year jinx of getting skunked during WWKW. The weather was good with reasonable wind. We knew the Thousand Springs area would be great for photography. We pulled into the parking lot, which is shared by the Thousand Springs State Park and the Idaho Power hydro power facility. I got out of the car and was immediately confronted by this sign. Curses! Move on.

 

I’ve never heard of kite aerial photography as something almost organized.  Poky Tom has some wonderful shots from a kite, though.  He also uses a 30 foot pole to get great results.

But, no, you can’t fly a kite there.

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5 Comments | Signs, Travel | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell