Friday, March 28, 2008

Steampunk Solar Invasion



Last week, a slew of these school speed limit signs went up in the neighborhood. I like them. It looks like they took old poles from god-knows-what and slapped solar panels and LED flashing lights on them. They activate when the kids are going to school or coming home. The LED lights really get your attention, and seems to really slow the cars down. And they are built to last - well into the post-apocalyptical nuclear winter.

There is something very soviet about them, with a lot of steampunk overtones. It would be cool if they had big steam whistles on them that would randomly toot. Maybe that will be in the next version.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Decepticon alert!




Took the liberty of taking this off a light pole on the South Hill. Mysterious. If you want to know more about the life of Camrytron click here.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Latah Creek says it's spring...




Well, I don't know if I believe Latah Creek... yet. It was beautiful on Sunday though.

The muddy churning creek empties into the Spokane River, and for a while flows in its own separate space in the river. Two rivers flowing side by side reigned in by a pair of snowy banks. After a while, gray Latah gives up and gets absorbed by clear Spokane.

And on Sunday, Lots of families with little kids intermingled with the usual denizens of this confluence. You can make your own analogy.

Again this is one of the many payoffs of walking Spokane. Out and about on foot - it's easy to make very poignant detours - visit places you will never see in a car. And even the places you can "see" in a car, you really never "see" until you are on foot or on a bicycle.

Having walked or ridden my bicycle all through the winter, I think I am really going to appreciate doing both in the spring. Luckily, on Sunday, I took my walk with my best friend.