iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Keith @benlk.com · 29/09/2026

Has anyone seen a version of these pedestrian crash fatality statistics that uses 25/35/45 mph buckets?

$Photo of a flyer which uses 20, 30, and 40 mph as reference points for what fraction of pedestrians survive when hit: 9/10 at 20, 5/10 at 30, 1/10 at 40.$

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 25/09/2026

The new paint and flex-posts are installed. Here's a quick review of how I saw drivers behaving last week at Tompkins. Note that most steer around the flex-posts to go straight despite signs and paint saying to go left:

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 25/09/2026

For the curious: This is a Leyland Steam Lawnmower. merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/onli...

Screenshot of portion of linked page, titled "Steam Lawnmower", with a photograph of the contraption and the following text:

This is a Leyland Steam Lawnmower which was designed by James Sumner (1860-1924) from Leyland Lancashire in 1893. It was manufactured by the Lancashire Steam Motor Company in offically formed in 1896. James Sumner also developed various other vehicles, including two steam wagons (1886 & 1894) and tricycle with an oil-fired boiler (1891). James was fined in 1891 for speeding in his tricycle.

This lawnmower appears to be the earliest of its kind; another similar device was produced from 1901, the ‘Coldwell Steam Lawnmower’. The Coldwells were built in Newburgh, New York.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 23/09/2026

I think I'm confused by how you're using "democratic" in this article. Is this passage merely supposed to mean government ownership of the employment contracts of the subject-matter experts who run the grid, or is it meant that every voter will have a vote on the operation of each power plant?

Screenshotted quote: "This is not a metaphor: to remain operative, electricity must cycle through the system at a frequency of exactly 60 Hz; if generation and use diverge, this frequency falls, and without intervention, the whole system collapses. The need for democratic governance of the grid arises not just from free-standing political principles, but from the physical nature of the thing itself."

Highlighted: "democratic governance of the grid"

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 22/09/2026

V-Pac's sending out flyers saying that @amyactonoh.bsky.social endorses the @mayor.nyc.gov agenda. Mamdani polls well across the board. They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel, huh?

Cropped photo of a campaign mailer from "V-PAC: Victors, Not Victims", reading in part: "Amy Acton is a proud supporter of socialist Zohran Mamdani and backs his agenda. Acton even said that illegals who took jobs from American workers have a RIGHT TO BE HERE."

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 17/09/2026

Thanks to a public records request, I now have a screenshot of the announcement webpage.

Website redesign notice: The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is excited to announce reconstruction of its new website is complete! You are now free to travel the digital highway. If you're a longtime user of ODOT's website, you'll notice some content was moved, meaning most bookmarks from the previous site have broken. Please familiarize yourself with the new site and update your bookmarks. Shifts in content and structure were informed by years of data analytics and user experience research. We're hopeful that these updates will result in easier navigation, better search results, and a smoother ride - or should we say user experience.

(the site condensed its previous menu hierarchy to three items: About Us, Doing Business, and Travel & Projects)

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 15/09/2026

Meanwhile, back at cota.com:

Screenshot of a banner on cota.com. Hair-thin white text on a blaze-orange background reads: "We're making updates to improve your experience on COTA.com. Some features may be temporarily unavailable. For the latest updates, please follow COTA on our social media channels. Thank you for your patience."

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 14/09/2026

Engineering paint markings are now visible on Summit at Tompkins and Maynard, for future installation of green paint and other lines.

Photo from the west side of the bike lane at Summit and Maynard, showing that the intersection has been marked up with paint. The dashed portion of the bike lane has "G" letters where green paint will go. On the east side of the intersection, there are markings indicating a curved line to push drivers to turn south on Summit, with install points marked for bollards or flex posts.

Artist's low-effort interpretation of the markings described in the previous image.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 11/09/2026

The three properties in question (outlined in red in this map) are currently zoned RRR gis.columbus.gov/zoning/ The property on Indianola has a variance allowing it to be used as an artist's studio. columbus.legistar.com/LegislationD...

Screenshot of Columbus' current zoning map in the vicinity of the intersection of the Walhalla Ravine and Indianola Avenue. Most properties are in yellow, indicating a residential use, and are zoned RRR. Some blocks of properties facing Indianola are tinted orange and are zoned AR-1. The three properties in question have been marked with red: one on the southwest corner of the intersection of Walhalla and Indianola, one on the northwest corner, and one on Walhalla Road on the northwest side of the intersection. The corner property on the northeast side of the intersection is hashed with pink, indicating that a council variance has been applied. The three properties in question are bracketed by AR-1 properties along Indianola Avenue.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 02/09/2026

Map of where the City of Columbus' proposed zoning code revisions would permit data centers, which are not currently named under Columbus' existing zoning code: www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/c...

A blacked-out map of Central Ohio, with land in the City of Columbus in dark grey, and select parcels in purple or light blue.

The purple parcels would be zoned Industrial Heavy, and are concentrated along rail lines in Hilltop, the South Side, and near the airport, with additional areas along the Scioto River where there are currently quarries, and at the Anheuser-Busch facility near 270 on the north side of town.

The light blue parcels are designated Campus, where data centers would be allowed as an accessory use. Examples include all OSU property, the Ohio State Fairgrounds, the Columbus Developmental Center, the ODOT offices, the Central Ohio Behavioral Healthcare Hospital, the Doctors Hospital of Columbus, Nationwide Children's Hospital, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus, University Hospital East, Ohio Dominican College, Rosement Center Schoool, KIPP Columbus school, Chase Mortgage offices, Abbott Labs near Easton, the Ohio State School for the Blind, The Ohio State School for the Deaf, Riverside Methodist Hospital, Pontifical College Josephinium, the JP Morgan Chase offices in Polaris, Worthington Christian School, Dwell Community Church's main campus near Cleveland Avenue and 270, Mount Carmel East Hospital, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, the Heinzerling Community area on Clime Road, and Friendship Village of Dublin.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 21/08/2026

Some friend-shaped creatures seen on the Olentangy bike path last night, after the waters had somewhat receded.

A snapping turtle, with a shell about 10 inches from back to front, and then 4 inches of head and neck sticking out. It's sitting comfortably on the asphalt about a quarter way across the trail.

Where water on the not-river side of the path swells across the asphalt, a family of mallard ducks float in the water.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 17/08/2026

Haven't seen it elsewhere on Bluesky, so here's Ohio Department of Transportation's video of wind flipping a car last Tuesday morning.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 12/08/2026

This storm was more than meets the eye. www.dispatch.com/story/news/d...

Screenshot of the news article, reading:

Anheuser-Busch Park was hit by a transformer, leading to live power on the ground. It is closed the rest of the week, according to Reese.

"hit by a transformer" is highlighted.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 06/08/2026

The article has been updated with the location and some more details. The details make it sound like a driver hit a kid in a clearly-marked crosswalk, in a school zone, when the speed limit was 20mph.

2023 Google Maps screenshot shows northbound Walkup Road: a 3-lane 40mph road with separate pedestrian path. Trees are pruned away from the road on the right, where Dvorak Drive comes to a T intersection. A "School Speed Limit: 20mph on school days when children present" sign is visible, upstream of a crosswalk with diagonal ladders, signs, and blinking lights. Any child approaching the crosswalk from either side of the road would be visible to a northbound driver.

Screenshot of linked article:

The Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department said the crash happened around 1 p.m. Wednesday at Walkup Road and Dvorak Drive, right in front of Prairie Ridge High School.

They said the 15-year-old boy on an e-bike was going west near Dvorak while a66-year-old woman in a Ford C-Max was going north on Walkup.

Police said that for reasons they do not know, the teen failed to yield to the Ford while crossing the street and was struck.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 31/07/2026

Another advantage of trains: You don't have to look at whatever this image is. Corporate branding? A third-party advertisement? In-flight entertainment?

On the long split wingtip of a Boeing plane, there's a cartoonish illustration of a smiling dark-skinned person with smooth hair and a cream polo shirt, on a dark cyan background with small pollen-yellow sprinkled spots. Possibly some sort of Disney character.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 24/07/2026

Ohio has 88 counties, and therefore 88 county flags. Ohio's statehouse website has the capability to show you 96. www.ohiostatehouse.org/museum/count...

Website screenshot:

Ohio's 88 County Flags

The state of Ohio is comprised of 88 counties as diverse as the state itself. The Ohio counties are named after a variety of people and things. Some are named after Ohio Governors and politicians, and many have Native American names. [ Read More ]

Sort: a drop-down select currently showing "A-Z"
Show: a drop-down select currently showing 96

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 13/07/2026

I don't drive much, but this is the second time I've received traffic alerts in Columbus via the Wireless Emergency Alerts system.

Screenshot of the Wireless Emergency Alerts system, a message from now: I-70 is closed in the Westbound direction from MM 109 (-270) to MM 101 (1-71) due to a crash. This closure could last several hours.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 10/07/2026

The weird transition zone has been completely repainted, and plastic bollards installed!

Where before there was a gradually-narrowing parking lane on the right that became too narrow to park in, leading drivers to park in the gradually-widening bike lane, now there is a constant-width parking lane separated from the constant-width bike lane by a constant-width buffer with plastic bollards at 10' intervals. At the intersection with Iuka, the parking lane goes away and the bike lane steps to the left to allow a curb left-turn lane.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 06/07/2026

He's just as bad as the ISB!

In S1E4 of Andor, Dedra Meero stands next to a hip-high stack of datapads.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 02/07/2026

With the exception of this one weird transition zone at Iuka, last night there were no cars parked in the 4th Street bike lane lane from 17th to Hudson.

The bike lane is wider than a parking lane in the foreground, at about 12 feet wide, with a 3-foot painted buffer, and a 5-foot parking lane. Up ahead, the lane markings change to have the parking/turn lane next to the curb, with no door-zone buffer, a 5-foot bike lane, a 3- or 4-foot buffer, and then the street-side parking lane tapers down to nothing as it approaches Iuka Avenue.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 23/06/2026

Forward that response and your confusion to bikeways@columbus.gov, because whomever responded to that ticket clearly didn't get the memo about the new traffic pattern.

Photo of the new bidirectional bike boulevard markings on Summit Street north of Hudson. The road is otherwise one-way.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 23/06/2026

Here's what the new North 4th Street bike lane looked like yesterday, from 17th to Tompkins, in a 5x speed timelapse.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 21/06/2026

You can watch progress on @columbusdps.bsky.social ' new parking-protected bike lane in real time using traffic cameras. For example, at www.ohgo.com/columbus?lt=... , there are currently 5 cars parked in the new bike lane.

A City of Columbus camera named "Chittenden Av at Fourth St". On 2026/06/21 at 10:46:48, the camera shows sunny conditions. Fourth Street is a northbound one-way arterial road with, from left to right: a wide one-way bike lane, a painted buffer, a parking lane that is as wide as the bike lane, two travel lanes, and another parking lane, all northbound. On the right-hand parking lane, there are a number of cars parked legally. On the left-hand parking lane, there are no cars parked. In the left-hand bike lane, there are 5 cars parked.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 20/06/2026

Arnold has been decked out.

The Arnold Schwarzenegger statue at the Columbus Convention Center wears a black tee shirt with a rainbow on the chest, and has a crepe-paper skirt in pansexual flag colors.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 20/06/2026

The first float in Stonewall Columbus' Pride parade is Columbus Police Department's "Commercial Enforcement" truck, acting as a pace car.

Truck 659, a Ford pickup with an XL cab, bed delete, and cargo storage lockers on the back, rolls past High and Spruce, flanked by bike police.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 06/06/2026

That right turn needs to accommodate 40' buses, but it's already been closed in a bit with paint and flex-posts, so apart from moving the curb (and the storm drain), what else could they do? - concrete island at the head of the turn lane - bump-out on east side - lane-keeping paint

Current (2023) aerial imagery of the intersection

Modified intersection design: Crosswalks are now painted with parallel-bar markings. Bike lane has green paint and the bike-lane stop bar has been moved closer to the crosswalk. The current painted curb extension on the west and east sides of the intersection are filled in with concrete curb extensions. Lane-keeping paint for traffic headed south or turning south onto Summit has been added.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 06/06/2026

Dear Driver, The parking lane is entirely empty. Why did you choose to park your SUV in the bike lane? Sincerely, Confused in Columbus

A recent-model Range Rover is parked in the bidirectional bike lane on Summit Street at Hudson Street.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 05/06/2026

Those are some really weird lots. The sidewalk might cross an area that's functionally equivalent to their back yard?

The houses with the long sidewalks over deep yards appear to be situated on an island between two roads. The houses line up in the middle of the island, with driveways and garages on one side. On the other side, the sidewalks stretch across what would be a generous backyard to reach the other road.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 05/06/2026

The City of Columbus' Smart Columbus website at smart\.columbus\.gov appears to have been hacked; it's serving content-farm slop now.

A screenshot of a website claiming to be "Smart Columbus Insights News", with headlines like "Smart Insights: Visa Denied At The Border? Here's What To Do", "Urban Vision: Top IIFlow Meter Suppliers in Bahrain", "Ipseisportingse Hill Elementary: A Closer Look in Focus", "Philippe De Villiers on CNews: Replay And Key Insights", "Key Insight: IFPGA Image Processing: Projects & Applications", and "IOSCP E-Pesto: Your Guide to TIN, NSDL Refund Status".

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 28/05/2026

Interesting new twist: back in 2021, there was a "LEFT TURN ONLY" sign on the same post as the stop sign.

Google Street View screenshot at 418 East Tompkins St, Columbus, Ohio, from September 2021, looking west on Tompkins. Facing drivers headed west, there are two sign posts. The one on the left of the roadway has a "LEFT TURN ONLY" sign twisted away from the road. The one on the right has a STOP sign, a "ONE WAY (Left) EXCEPT BIKE LANE" sign, and a graffitied "LEFT TURN ONLY" sign.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 28/05/2026

Another day, another driver disobeying the "LEFT TURN ONLY" signs on Tompkins at Summit.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 22/05/2026

This is a cat checkpoint; relinquish your most recent cat picture on your phone. 🐈 A pair I saw while out yesterday on a walk.

Two tabby cats sit on the bottom step of a stoop. The bigger one is black and grey with a hint of brown at breast and nose; the smaller one is black and tan. They're sitting oriented the same direction, both looking at the camera.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 20/05/2026

New Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon crosswalk lights on Hudson Street!

A wet grey day, but at the intersection of Hudson Street and Audubon Road, there are two new poles with crosswalk signs and beg-button-triggered flashing lights to help pedestrians cross Hudson's three lanes.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 17/05/2026

The newest Murderbot is very relatable.

Book excerpt: "... and then I made the mistake of getting optimistic. Then we got to a border and found the only option was to rent a ground vehicle and drive across ywo unaffiliated zones because both had zero mass transport. Zero. Mass. Transport. This is supposed to be a civilized space station, in space, why the fuck am I driving a ground vehicle to get to a fucking port on a fucking—
(Emotion check: I am absolutely fine.)"

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 15/05/2026

The gas station on Hudson Street just east of I-71 is charging $46.9 and 9/10 for a gallon of gas, according to this side of their sign.

Regular gas, from Amoco: four six point nine and nine-tenths. Why the sign can even display a decimal point there, I don't know.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 14/05/2026

Sometimes your GoPro mount breaks. Fortunately, thanks to 3d printers, it's easy to print off another one.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 13/05/2026

Then there was Hiawatha Park Drive, which seems to be prepping for repaving, but was navigable.

Seen from Velma Drive, the northbound segment of Hiawatha Park Drive is closed off with cones, three "Road Closed" barricades, one "Do Not Enter" barricade, and one dumptruck-load of gravel. The sidewalk on the other side of the road is open, though!

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 13/05/2026

How to get to John Glenn Port Columbus International Airport by bicycle, according to Google Maps: 1. Take the Alum Creek Trail to Johnstown Road 2. Ride to the intersection of Stelzer and International Gateway 3. ¿¿¿ teleport to the terminal building ??? 4. Arrive!

Google Maps screenshot of bicycle routings from Hudson Street to Port Columbus. Three options are shown. One takes Mock Road to the Alum Creek Trail, then Johnstown Road to 17th Avenue to Stelzer road. The second route takes Joyce Avenue south to 12th Avenue, Woodward Avenue, and 5th Avenue, before taking the Johnstown route. A third route takes Joyce avenue north to Agler Road to Stelzer Road. All three routes stop at the intersection of Stelzer and International Gateway, where a dotted line leaps across the map to the terminal building. No route actually suggests riding on International Gateway.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 12/05/2026

Join me on a ride from Linden Community Center at 8 a.m. to the free bagels and coffee at Front and Gay! Meet up with @columbusdps.bsky.social , @visionzerocbus.bsky.social , @transitcolumbus.org , and maybe even some City Council folks!

Google Maps route screenshot: From the Linden Community center, south to Hudson, west on Hudson to Hiawatha Park Place, south to Velma Drive, through the Fairgrounds to 17th Avenue, west on 17th to Summit Street, south on Summit to 1st Avenue, west on 1st to Park Drive, south on Park becoming Front Street to Front and Gay. Estimated trip time 30 minutes.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 09/05/2026

If the Boring Company were serious, their system would look a lot more like this.

The tunnels beneath Washington Dulles International Airport, where the CrystalMover Automated Leople Mover rubber-tired train runs with third-rail power and guidance. This shows a long straightaway with a switch going off to the right, and at the previous station on the line, another train which looks disturbingly like a heavy truck coming down the tunnel.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 05/05/2026

A good morning to bike to the polling place. 7 minutes each way, 5 minutes to park, cast, chat with folks, and return.

On a green shirt, a round white sticker with the outline of the state of Ohio, inside which is written "Ohio Voted". The I and VOTED are in red, which presumably is meant to be read something like "I voted", but which actually looks like "I Ohio Voted" or "Ohio I Voted". Maybe "I Voted Ohio".

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 28/04/2026

Columbus really needs to investigate bringing back traffic-light ticket cameras.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 27/04/2026

That driver does misbehave elsewhere! Here you see the same Mercedes EQE-350 with the same Ohio license plate #KSF7984 just minutes earlier, parked in the bike lane at Summit and Hudson:

A silver Mercedes-Benz EQE-350 is seen parked diagonally across the parking lane at Summit and Hudson, with its nose in the bike lane. It has no front license plate, thanks to Ohio's removal of that requirement. A middle-aged man is seen opening the driver's door, carrying a paper bag. He is a rotund man with light skin, a close-cropped dense black beard, and thinning close-cropped black hair, wearing a black t-shirt, black pants, and black shoes. This image is a photograph of a computer screen, showing that a video with the filename GHO32291.MP4 has been opened in VLC.

The rear of a silver Mercedes-Benz EQE-350 is shown. It is parked diagonally in the no-parking zone at the head of the Summit Street bike lane. A diagonal bar paint line is clearly visible underneath the car's rear doors. The car's license plate is Ohio KSF-7984, with a tinted license plate cover.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 27/04/2026

You might wonder: does this driver only misbehave at intersections?

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 26/04/2026

To prevent the bolt -down bollards from getting damaged, the state fairgrounds have erected some traffic cones. This seems like a lack of faith in the bollards' ability to control drivers.

In the middle of an unmarked 30' asphalt roadway, a 1' wide concrete island supports two 4" square poles bolted into the concrete. Each pole is paired with two 3" round bollards, bolted into the concrete just a scant few inches from the poles that those bollards allegedly protect. And then a foot upstream and downstream of the island, there are the skinny 4' traffic cones, which have more reflectorized surface than the bollards.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 25/04/2026

Yep, just the two blades.

Against a cloudy sky, a helicopter with just two blades.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 23/04/2026

1. The funeral train took quite the tour: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_f... 2. This map's filename is "Trajectory of Abraham Lincoln's funeral train" as if that thing were a projectile. Yeeting the hearse outta DC. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tr...

A hand-drawn digital-art map of the route Lincoln's funeral train took, with stops at:

DC
Baltimore
Harrisburg
Philadelphia
NYC
Albany
Buffalo
Cleveland
Columbus
Indianapolis
Michigan City
Chicago
Springfield

The proportions of many states are notably distorted; particularly West Virginia and Virginia.

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Ben Keith @benlk.com · 23/04/2026

How about the SWXe-25 compact railcar mover? shuttlewagon.com/swxe-compact... mlheavyconstructionequipment.com/shuttlewagon...

This is a very compact vehicle, shorter along the tracks than it is wide. The deck is maybe a foot off the fround, supporting a waist-height mechanical box, and a small one-seat cab which is oriented perpendicular to the direction of movement along the rails. The cab is light grey, with a windshield that on first glance appears curbed but on further inspection is flat with a curved frame. The rest of the vehicle is safety orange, with the exception of a drawbar, which is brick red. Behind this vehicle is a grain hopper, which looms over the pusher like a dump truck parked next to a Mini Cooper.

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