I recently had an interesting visit to the Allegheny Observatory, initiated by a request from Pitt Professor David Turnshek for some advice from the School of Engineering regarding mechanical problems with one of the observatory’s large rotating domes. After reviewing the resumes of a number of engineering professors in the department, he concluded that Professor John Sebastian was his best bet for a contact. Professor Sebastian referred the request to me, with the comment “Looks like it’s right up your alley!” And, he was right, or at least would have been fifty years ago when I was heavily involved with…

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My dear friend Don Toney died on the Fourth of July, another sad reduction of the remnants of the fabled Class of ’49 at Bridgeville High School. His daughter Diana invited me to join the family and Don’s large network of friends at a Celebration of his Life, at Cefalo’s Restaurant in Carnegie, following the funeral. She also suggested I say “a few words”, as his “Best Friend”. My memories of Don date back to third or fourth grade, when I remember him, Ray Fagan, and John (Yunner) Rosa as being a local version of the Dead End Kids. To…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society ended its 2022-2023 program season with an interesting, entertaining presentation by retired Pittsburgh Press Drama Critic Ed Blank, entitled “The Greatest Movies and the Best/Worst Celebrities”. Mr. Blank is a Pittsburgh native who served as an officer in the Signal Corps in Vietnam following graduation from Duquesne and then initiated a career spanning thirty-nine years as an entertainment critic with the Pittsburgh Press and the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Mr. Blank came across as a down-to-earth person who was fortunate to spend most of his life performing his dream job, a drama critic focusing primarily on…

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Last month my daughter Elizabeth and my grand-daughter Rachael had the opportunity to spend a few weeks in Japan. Elizabeth was there as sponsor for nine Pitt students on a Study Abroad project. One of the highlights of their trip was a visit to the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, near Kobe. Completed in 1998, this bridge provides a vehicular link between Honshu, Japan’s main island, and the southern island of Shikoku, via an intermediate island, Awagi. Currently it is used by about 30,000 vehicles per day. When it was built, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Last year the “1915…

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My daughter Elizabeth and I took advantage of a lovely June afternoon to take in “Bridgeville Day on the Avenue” this year, and were very impressed with the event. In some respects this is the direct descendant of the “firemen’s’” street fairs I remember from my youth. I think they were sponsored as fund-raisers for the volunteer fire department and combined with travelling carnivals. I remember them as the one time that gambling was not considered a sin, with the pitchman encouraging gullible kids to put a quarter on a number and watch the big wheel spin. The twenty-first century…

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We Pittsburghers are proud of the fact that our fair city has successfully made the transition from its iron and steel reputation a century ago to a “Tech-Med-Ed” economy focused on leading edge technology in robotics, artificial intelligence, and whatever glamorous buzz word shows up next. We are proudly leading the rest of the country into a “Brave New World” with prosperity for all. In 2015 three young CMU entrepreneurs launched a new business that they called “RoBotany”. Their mission statement was “We believe that solving the world’s most pressing problems requires bold vision and thoughtful action.” Difficult to quarrel…

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Regular readers of this column are aware of my obsession for reading and occasionally ask me “What are you reading these days?” This column is dedicated to them. My reading habits often are dominated by diversions, one book requiring me to do supplemental reading on a subject that intrigues me. I recently came across three 1847 vintage letters home from a volunteer soldier, Frederick Burkle, during the Mexican War. These are part of a series of sixteen letters that have been in our family’s possession for 175 years.  Skimming over these letters re-kindled my interest in the Mexican War, so I…

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My recent trip to the West got me thinking about the significance of water to society and the blessings we in this area have in that regard. News about the drought in the Colorado River basin and the recent agreement between California, Arizona, and Nevada to reduce their removal of water from the Colorado River highlights this significance. I can recall my surprise when I first learned that the western states and Mexico actually harvested every drop of water from the Colorado, and that the river no longer reached the ocean in the Gulf of California. A 1944 treaty committed…

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I have just returned from a week in Fort Collins, Colorado, visiting Sara’s family and sharing in their celebration of Nora’s graduation from Rocky Mountain High School and Ian’s official introduction into adulthood. The coincidence of the McCance children all attending Rocky Mountain High School and John Denver’s classic song, “Rocky Mountain High” is too great to be ignored. I have been a Denver fan for many years, and this song has always typified Colorado for me. “I have seen it raining fire from the sky” and “climbed cathedral mountains” make it a natural to be the state’s official song. Turns…

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Public Art Bridgeville has done it again! This year’s outdoor sculpture exhibit has popped up all over the community, bigger and better than ever. Let’s take a self-guided auto tour and check out all ten pieces. We will begin entering Washington Avenue from Kirwan Heights. As soon as we cross the bridge we encounter, on the left, “Open Doors”, a masterpiece of red-orange folded steel plates that we instantly recognize as a Dan Droz signature piece. A well-known Pittsburgh artist, he was featured in last year’s exhibit as well. His work relies on folding and cutting plates to enhance reflection…

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