RoadsideOnline

"There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read."

Can't one be both?

That's the question I'd have for G. K. Chesterton, whom I'm quoting here. I'm always eager to read any book I can get my hands on. My home is overflowing with books that neither my wife Jan nor I can bear to get rid of. Many have yet to be read by either of us, and still a week doesn't go by that the collection doesn't grow by at least a book or two.

With heavy hearts, we heave, uh, bestow the latest Lou-Roc Award to the owners of Clyde's Bistro in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. In some ways, this was just too easy. Some newbie gets his hands on two fully restored diners -- at great cost, mind you -- and just tears into them with all the sensitivity of Jack the Ripper performing an appendectomy.

On the other hand, the proprietors, listed on the Clyde's website as Vivian, Lillian, Bryan, and Clyde, make the case that they took over a project that failed on a massive scale, three times. In their defense, they have posed that oft-heard rhetorical question: "Would you rather see them torn down?" Good question. Would I rather people remember me as I looked when I was vital and healthy, or after I was ravaged by a flesh eating disease?

Above, you see the end result of the Clyde Clan after wielding their sledgehammer, but just before it was fully furnished. To us, this looks like a perfect place to wake Liberace. Below, you see what was then known as the Sweet City Diner, a Mountain View hauled in from Atlantic City and restored by Steve Harwin, pictured with his back to the camera, standing with Steve Presser. Here we only see the Mountain View just before it opened in 2002. The O'Mahony of this pair fared only slightly better.

In our own defense to those who say the Lou-Roc unfairly picks on people who have every right to do what they want to their own property, I agree with you. In this country, if you own it, you should be able to paint it purple and rivet used CDs to it if you are so inclined. Right?

I removed a chunk out of the middle of this article from the Wall Street Journal to get to the meat of the matter. Frankly, I find it refreshing to see a little turnabout here. The airline industry has received billions and billions of "hidden" subsidy from the Feds in the last 80 years, most thank to indirect investment by way of defense contracts. And who could forget the $9 billion "loan" the airlines received after 9/11? (Thanks to Dave Lee for the tip)

LaHood to Airlines: Get Onboard the High-Speed Train

The airline industry was left fuming last year when some $8 billion on federal stimulus money was appropriated for high-speed rail while air-traffic control modernization got no new funds.

[snip]

Mr. LaHood gave a politician’s answer about how important the NextGen air-traffic control modernization effort is to the Administration. Then he paused and went off-script.

“Let me give you a little bit of political advice: Don’t be against high-speed rail,’’ Sec. LaHood said. “It’s coming to America. This is the president’s vision, this is the vice president’s vision, this is America’s vision…. We’re going to get into the high-speed rail business.’’

In two or three decades, Mr. LaHood said, U.S. cities will be connected by high-speed rail – whether airlines like it or not.

“People want alternatives,’’ he said pointedly. “People are still going to fly, but we need alternatives. So get with the program.’’

Full article here

Here's a nice little ray of California sunshine for our readers that comes by way of the Los Angeles Times.

California's main squeeze

Orange-shaped juice stands recall state's simpler days.

By Martha Groves

As they motored through the scorching Central Valley in the family station wagon, Mel Haynes' nine children watched for the juice-and-fruit stands shaped like immense oranges that dotted California 99, symbolically proclaiming the Golden State's eminence as the king of citrus.

"Those guys could spot those orange stands from five miles off," said Haynes, 78, "and we had to stop at most of them."

Inspired by those family memories, Haynes satisfied his own thirst 11 years ago by buying one of the giant orange stands at the southern edge of the Northern California farming town of Williams from an owner who sold it as part of a package with the motel next door.

Haynes thus finds himself the proprietor of one of California's six known remaining "oranges," 20th century relics that a national preservation group has named to its list of the nation's 10 most endangered roadside places.

Squeeze out the rest of the story here...