Belfield, a city (per the legal definition) in southwest North Dakota just a brief drive from one of the state’s biggest attractions, has seemingly bucked the trend of similarly sized communities throughout the Great Plains. Specifically, it isn’t dwindling to nothing. Instead of experiencing dramatic population loss, Belfield has largely hovered around 1,000 persons for
Fifteen years ago, when I first started writing articles for this blog, those little yellow or red “doormats” at crosswalks—you know, the ones with the evenly dispersed raised bumps—were still a relative novelty. They were just beginning to become prevalent at sidewalk ramps leading to crosswalks. In 2025, I think most Americans have a vague
About eighteen months ago, when I first noticed Fillmore Street in Arlington County, Virginia, I thought it was an odd but clever striping for diverting traffic away from a busy and confusing intersection. I couldn’t recall any other example where a road switched from two-way to one-way in the middle of a block, or, what
Almost three weeks have come and gone since the tragic crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 with a Blackhawk UH-60 near Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport (DCA), right above the Potomac River, sending the two aircraft and their 67 passengers plunging into the icy water. I visited the George Washington Memorial Parkway, about as close
I strive to research my critiques of confusing public infrastructure as much as possible, so that these articles don’t assume the tone and tenor of a rant. Everyone at some point has encountered a situation in an unfamiliar city (whether big or small) that confuses and probably irritates him or her. It’s understandable to sound
Several months ago, I stumbled into a restaurant cluster called The Block in Annandale, a somewhat distinctive suburban district in the overwhelmingly suburban Fairfax County, Virginia, just south of Washington DC. The unassuming exterior (which I’ll review shortly) betrayed a lively, hip interior that managed to generate at least medium buzz after 9pm in this
Sure, there’s a big canvas tarpaulin-like thing covering the kiosk here on the sidewalk, so it may not be entirely clear what’s underneath. But an assessment of the surrounding area should make it obvious: it’s a parking meter, and this town uses seasonal meters. And it’s late September. The town in question is Rehoboth Beach,
I’m not exactly making bold a proposition when I assert that, if a community experiences an overall decline in its income levels (and a growth in poverty rate), the economic health of its primary retail nodes is likely to deteriorate concurrently. Such a statement isn’t exactly going out on a limb. Any significant change, in
I don’t want to belabor a point, which is why I rarely avoid two articles on the same subject in rapid succession. And besides, my May writeup on shopping cart security breaches didn’t generate a whole lot of buzz, perhaps because most readers are one step ahead: I was pointing out a feature that was
This article represents an interesting first. Frankly, I’m surprised it’s taken this long—15 years of blogging!—for someone to approach me about this while I was out snapping pics for my blog. Given that I have over 20,000 photos consisting primarily of mailboxes, parking meters, cracked curbs, lonely utility poles, labelscars, and miscellany that would only
Belfield, a city (per the legal definition) in southwest North Dakota just a brief drive from one of the state’s biggest attractions, has seemingly bucked the trend of similarly sized communities throughout the
Fifteen years ago, when I first started writing articles for this blog, those little yellow or red “doormats” at crosswalks—you know, the ones with the evenly dispersed raised bumps—were still a relative novelty.
About eighteen months ago, when I first noticed Fillmore Street in Arlington County, Virginia, I thought it was an odd but clever striping for diverting traffic away from a busy and confusing intersection.
Almost three weeks have come and gone since the tragic crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 with a Blackhawk UH-60 near Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport (DCA), right above the Potomac River, sending
I strive to research my critiques of confusing public infrastructure as much as possible, so that these articles don’t assume the tone and tenor of a rant. Everyone at some point has encountered
Several months ago, I stumbled into a restaurant cluster called The Block in Annandale, a somewhat distinctive suburban district in the overwhelmingly suburban Fairfax County, Virginia, just south of Washington DC. The unassuming
Sure, there’s a big canvas tarpaulin-like thing covering the kiosk here on the sidewalk, so it may not be entirely clear what’s underneath. But an assessment of the surrounding area should make it
I’m not exactly making bold a proposition when I assert that, if a community experiences an overall decline in its income levels (and a growth in poverty rate), the economic health of its
I don’t want to belabor a point, which is why I rarely avoid two articles on the same subject in rapid succession. And besides, my May writeup on shopping cart security breaches didn’t
This article represents an interesting first. Frankly, I’m surprised it’s taken this long—15 years of blogging!—for someone to approach me about this while I was out snapping pics for my blog. Given that