What the Robot Saw in Doughboy Square um Triangle

11/25/12 28M

A surprisingly nice day, a bit better than the forecast or it's possible that I just get a lot more positive once I've been riding for a while.

Started at the Bastille at 1100 so that the planet would have some time to warm up. Often on Sundays S. and I will ride to places that present too much automobile traffic on other days to take mural photos, but today was not a day for stopping, lollygagging and skylarking; rather, today was a day for pedaling and keeping warm, harumphh harumphh.

We rode out to Millvale, crossed the Allegheny River using the 40th Street Bridge, then stopped to take another look at the new Doughboy Square mural under said bridge, adjacent to the National Robotics Engineering Center. (That juxtaposition is kind of essential to grokking this mural.)

This is how Doughboy Square (which is shaped like a triangle, nevermind) in Lawrenceville looked to me, this morning when I took this photo:


When I look at the soldier I see the gas mask, the leggings, and the bayonet, and I think about mustard gas, trench warfare, and mass-produced slaughter and now it's 100 years later and what have we learned? Ah well.

The mural was designed by Ben Grocholsky and Elise Gatti of the National Robotics Engineering Center, and was painted by Richard Washek. The next photo (below) is the designer's concept of the mural, projected onto a photo of the bridge. It's what a robot would see when it enters Lawrenceville's Doughboy Square and scans the environment. In other words, it's a robot's perception of Doughboy Square.



How cool is that? This was a photo of the work in progress:


And this is the final work:

I'm not sure how perfectly the intent is conveyed, and probably the persistence of the kayak rack is aesthetically suboptimal. But if the role of art is to present routine, known things in a new perspective, and if the essence of Lawrenceville is a historic community shifting into cutting-edge technologies, then this is a completely appropriate piece of art for this place and time (in case you were wondering).

Came across this in the Strip District, I believe it's a formation flight delivering Guinness:

Also in the strip, the mural at Kelly O's Diner is coming closer to completion:

Rode to Point State Park, the Jail Trail, Hot Metal Bridge. Stopped at Big Dog Coffee and it seemed like the sun came out; rode down to Keystone Metals, the Station Square Trail, and back to the cars which were still there. 28 miles on a pleasantly surprising day. (6417+28=6445 ytd)

Bastille - Bakery Square - South Shore Riverfront

9/27/11 #235 30miles

I saw my most excellent orthopaedic surgeon today and he told me the left knee is good to go. I've been taking Voltaren (Diclofenac) to reduce inflammation. The MRI indicates no tear or flap in the meniscus. So I'm good to go, and I'm going to be more disciplined about stretching before rides and taking Ibuprofen prophylactically.

I think that during my interruption of riding I've lost my mojo, I've broken the habit of daily riding and food discipline, so over the next few weeks I need to get back on track.

Rode 30 miles in 2h25m in Pittsburgh, half trails and half in traffic. Started at the Bastille, which was in today's news. Rode along the trails and crossed the 31st Street Bridge, left turn on Penn and left turn on Butler Street. Took this photo of the Lawrenceville Doughboy, which I've passed by a few times and never took the time to appreciate:



My takeaway was the bag over his chest for his gas mask, the leggings for the mire and sewage in the trenches, and the raincoat over his arm for the rain. WW1 was a cruel and terrible war, and for all of our improved techniques I don't know that anything about war has gotten any better. It's a great statue in that in preserves the memory of the viciousness.

Intended/Hoped to find a coffeehouse called Perk Me Up (4407 Butler St. Pittsburgh, PA 15201 412.682.1520) but I missed it, probably due to street construction. I hope to stop there my next time through.

Joined Route 8 South, Washington Blvd, Fifth, Penn to Bakery Square, and lunch at Coffee Roasters. Had an excellent vegetarian sandwich (eggplant, hummus, red peppers) and a chai tea latte and enjoyed the outside seating for a while. The day kept getting prettier as time advanced.

I must say that Pittsburgh drivers in these neighborhoods were extremely courteous, which may be due to the increased presence of bikes around here.

Out of Bakery Square it was Beechwood Blvd, Forbes, South Braddock, Hutchinson, Frick Park's 9 Mile Run Trail, the Duck Hollow Trail, and Second Avenue to join the Jail Trail. Although the tempting frisson of using the still-closed Bates Street Bridge was a siren's call, I took the Hot Metal Bridge and checked out the all-but-finished South Shore Riverfront Park, at SouthSideWorks below HofBrauHaus.

There are five ingots of steel which had been left on the site when the mill came down, and left again when the brownfield was reclaimed. Some people say that when a steel worker fell into the cauldron of hot metal - leaving no body for the family - they'd pour out an ingot in case the family wanted an artifact.



Having looked at these ingots up close now, there's no way any family was going to bring one of these things home.

I was also able to take a look at the 12.5M "South Shore Riverfront Park"; I guess part of the Gentrification NüSpeak is that it's supposed to be the South Shore, rather than SouthSide. (good luck with that). On reflection, if you build bike facilities like this, you can name them whatever you desire, really.

This is a photo of what the site looked like in March (via):


This is a photo of what it looks like today: