The Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn)

We are staying in Brooklyn at 5th Avenue and 4th street, not far from the Old Stone House.  In August of 1776, during the battle of Long Island, a group to 200 Marylanders, led by Mordecai Gist.  Only 9 survivors, including Mordecai.  However, the ferocity of their attack   helped delay the British and Hessian soldiers long enough for Washington to escape across the east river in a pouring rain.  Gist had served with Washington during the French and Indian war, and survived the war.

There are some historical plaques in Prospect Park, the center of a lot of the fighting.
The Dunbar Oak, felled by American Troops and used for cover as they defended the Battle Pass.  But then the British army came in from behind as the colonials were routed, and an army of 2000 colonials was annihilated by a British army of 5000.

DunBar Oak plaque

Battle Pass Plaque

A Bicycle Path in Syracuse
We stopped at Syracuse Bicycle to see what we could get to facilitate getting my wife's new bike, to fit onto a bike rack on our car better.  They had a bar that we attach to the bike so that it will hang on the bike rack similar to the mans style bike.

The Beginning

Then we went to the Bear Trap Creek Bike path.  Parking at the head of the trail is on Seventh North Street.   We went North, along Route 81, 1.6 miles to the backside of Mattydale Plaza.  The path is paved and in good shape.  Beware some speed bumps along the way, however.

Cars on the left, nature on the right

Along the way north, we went over a bridge over the thruway.  The Bear Trap Creek trail was built during improvements to Route 81 in the 1980's.  We had seen the beginning of the path over the years, as it is just before the turn onto Route 81 from 7th North.  But assumed it just ended in a nearby neighborhood.   It was a pleasant surprise.

Along the Way

Bear Trap Creek with Duck

Paperless Office

I have spent the last 30 years working in a consulting engineers office. We have always used a lot of paper to prepare working drawings and project manuals for bid for construction of buildings. I do not believe the volume of paper for those purposes has changed.
Some portions of our work have paperless. I am able to access code books and design books online. My ASPE membership gives me access to the ASPE data books all of which are on line. These books cover the whole range of plumbing design. I have access to the current New York State codes for fire protection, for plumbing, for general building construction. They are all posted online for free. Thru my NFPA membership I have access to the NFPA family of codes which includes the national fuel code, national electric code, all of the fire codes. At work we have a paid subscription to the International Building codes online.  I also accumulate pdf files of miscellaneous codes.
I am able to research online for information.
Another paperless benefit is the electronic transfer of drawings and other documents between different offices and locations, allowing for bettr coordination of projects. A sidebar to this is teleconferencing and videoconferencing, allowing people from multiple locations to join in real time collaboration.
The advent of BIM programs like REVIT will require looking at a building model on a computer. Though for the time being, we will continue to generate contract documents for bid on paper.