Combination locks of love

If you ever find yourself on a “locks of love” bridge, look closely. For every 99 pad locks whose key was presumably tossed in the river below to symbolize a bond that cannot be undone, there’s usually one combination lock.

A combination lock of love might lack romantic ardor, but maybe not everyone wants ardor. Maybe some people find realism and practicality romantic.

Or maybe they were on vacation and all they had was a luggage lock.

Marko-Feingold-Steg, a “locks of love” bridge crossing the Salzach River in Salzburg, Austria.

How I’d Fix Atlanta

An essay I wrote about Atlanta last year:

How I’d Fix Atlanta: More Atlanta
Andisheh Nouraee

Twelve years ago, Atlanta Magazine asked me to write some pithy advice to then-incoming ATL Mayor Kasim Reed. If I’d known then what I know now, I could’ve offered suggestions such as “never tweet,” or perhaps “send regular ‘don’t do crimes’ reminders to everyone in your office.”

Instead, I suggested Reed come out and say that the BeltLine would never be the transit project its inventor Ryan Gravel intended. Indeed, the one its civic boosters said it would be. That it was instead destined to be a great linear park, and nothing more.

Twelve years later, the only mass transit on the BeltLine is people violating the “one rider at a time” rule on rental scooters. I was right. But I also think I missed the point entirely.

Read the rest at Austin L. Ray and, more importantly, subscribe to his free newsletter for great essays from great Atlanta writers and thinkers like King Williams, Sonam Vashi, Jewel Wicker, Thomas Wheatley, Darin Givens, Muriel Vega, Sarah Lawrence, Gray Chapman and of course, Austin L. Ray.

Location is everything

One of the most important decisions business owners can make is choosing the right location for their business. For example, it’s easier to find customers when you locate your business near a complementary business.

NYC 2022: Weed store adjacent to a cookie store.
Malawi 2016: Driving school adjacent to coffin workshop

Big Dugnutt Energy

I visited Ashley Furniture today and noticed the names they give to their couches, chairs and tables sound like they came from the people who named the players in the video game Fighting Baseball – very similar to real names, but joyously just short of the mark.

Compare.

Fighting Baseball:

Here’s Ashley Furniture, which I compiled into a video.

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Categorized as Words