BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

oh ya here's a public google map that i made so people can post them: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=218323415459856146568.0004a5ccebd90764ba8dc&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14

Ha - I just saw one of those tonight, on the bridge steps from Ellsworth up to Highland Ave. Can't remember the number.

I see that one is already accounted for (#87)

bah! i don't have time for protractors. i'm too busy with goniometers.

I've been seeing these for months. I would mention them to people, and no one knew what I was talking about. I'd love to know what this project is is about.

Oouuu glad to see this! When my friend was visiting we spent three minutes trying to see if it actually was a protractor or not.

Doesn't look to be on that list. Down on 43rd street in lville, across from the NREC. I'll have to go snap a pic...

The "word" in the tagging "scene" is that this guy is just a nutjob, and they don't mean anything.

I LOVE NUTJOBS. i don't really expect them to mean anything, in my youth i cataloged KIDS for a long time, it was a different time then though! kids is dead, protractor man has replaced him in my head, but not my heart.

i bet the meaning of these "tags" will lead to quite a protracted discussion.

hmm. i hadn't looked at it from that angle.

well stop being so obtuse.

There have been some protracted discussions on the board before but nothing of this degree.

pun threads are for squares

Sure, they go off on tangents, but eventually circle around to the origin point. I think we're all in a chord on that.

these jokes are so bad they have me scalene the walls to escape.

Let's not descend to hyperbolic excess.

One of my all-time favorite jokes from The Simpsons --

Lisa: I'm studying for the math fair. If I win, I'll get a brand new protractor.

Homer: Too bad we don't live on a farm.

You guys are so punny. Stop making me laugh.

Don't laugh so hard you end up in acute care...

D plane! D plane!

I think maybe I saw one on euclid ave.

protractors are just nerd rainbows

"OH! MY! GAWD!!! A DOUBLE PROTRACTOR ! ! ! !"

Nevermind.

Saw one on a light pole at Friendship and Carroll, I'll have to get the number on the way home this evening.

nice!

Mick, you made me laugh so hard I scared the dog.

@ejwme I scared the dog.

Now you have to teach him trigonometry.

It's only fair.

Oh, that wouldn't bode well for the poor pup, any progress would be purely imaginary.

Imaginary? Just rotate the dog 90 degrees then.

That would be completely irrational though.

Someone must encompass what's missing from this protracted thread.

@Salty -- there are two there. #86 and #87, saw them on our way for lunch on Sat.

There is one on the 16th street bridge glued to the bridge structure on the outbound (from the strip) side sidewalk. I'm pretty sure you would only see it if you were walking inbound though. I didn't record the number or take a photo, sorry

hmm... I could rotate her 90, or hope it's just a phase she's going through...

@ejwme I could rotate her 90

That's right!

My friend K. found #230 today, on the switchback ramps connecting the Washington's Landing bridge to the North Side trail.

I found 229 on the beached / sideways boat across the allegheny river from the cork factory, before you hit Washington's Landing.

there is one on friendship inbound where is splits around friendship park. i didn't have time to take a picture this morning. maybe i will go home that way and get it.

hmmmmmmmmmm.... now that is interesting because i am in both of those places at least once a week and they were definitely not there last friday... they are multiplying!

#16 is on the rail on mccandless ave, just up from stanton

These are way more interesting to me than spray painted tag handles e.g. Jesse or Mook.

how are they attached? glue? tape?

Maybe if you map them it's a connect the dots puzzle!

in my dreams!

Saw #183 at the intersection of Negley and the back entrance to the Giant Eagle garage.

I'm inclined to go on a tangent & ask what is up with the red spray painted particle board hearts I've seen tacked to telephone poles throughout the east end.

Like the Tag-o-Rama tag on Gold Way last week?

In other news, I've been up and down Federal and Perrysville a bunch of times the last week or so, and have been looking for protractors, without success. Have any been found on the North Side?

There was another heart on ToR last year, under the Bloomfield Bridge. Used to be one on Chislett between Hays & Baywood. There may be one on Aiken in Garfield.

Keeping an eye out for protractors ... they're hard to detect at gallop speed though.

... they're hard to detect at gallop speed though.

hahhaha... that got me good

on federal street on the north side. i take federal from my office through north avenue then around allegheny center toward la cock. this one is between north avenue and north commons. i think someone JUST put it up. i didn't notice it yesterday after work, but then again, i am usually focused on bad drivers and peds in that area.

It was definitely not there last night. I came through there around 7p and was explicitly looking for them.

So we have blue ones now, too! Does that say #259? I think that's the highest number I've seen so far.

yep. unsure how to add it to the map. it is on the base of the lamp pole that is visible on google about a hundred feet or so before the intersection with north commons

anyone can add to the map by going to the map, pressing edit (a button above the title), and placing the marker (click the blue google lookin marker and then click where you want it). i have been insanely out of time lately but some rainy day that work gets cancelled i'll put up all i can find! try to put them as close to the point that they are as possible with the satelite view so other people can find them if they want.

254 - white - S. aspect of Tripoli walkway over 279 N, and less then 25 meters east,

263 - blue - Tripoli and East, NW aspect of signal changing box

Adhesive is less then 24 hrs. old, and more then 3 hrs. set.

I'm fairly certain these were not there five hours ago.

Whomever is putting these up is reading this board.

On a whim went out on my bike to track this protractor perpetrator. Went where I'd go were I riding from Lawrenceville/The Plateau.

243 - white - S. end of Charles J. Lieberth bridge near the Sarah Heinz Center. On the west face of a lamppost, two meters from ground.

244 - white - middle of Lieberth bridge, west face of lamppost directly in front of Heinz plant.

245 - white - North end of Lieberth bridge, on the south face of a switching box catty corner from the Penn Brewery.

252 - white - Corner of East and Peralta on the north face of a mail drop box.

Adhesive appears to be urethane. I'm guessing the perpetrator of protactorage is roughly six foot and riding a mid eighties road bike. But what do I know, I was only on their trail an hour and a half, and it was moonless?

Please note, the pattern on the bridge suggests they are being laid out in sequence.

Each protractor was precisely where I expected it to be. I would have adhered one to that broken down barge.

Hunting protractors is way easier then hunting wild mushrooms from a pedalcycle. Protractors are where they should be, and I haven't been hit by a tree, yet...

I challenge the protractor perpetrator to find Boletus edulis within a 100 km of Pgh. That's difficult.

Only "fungus" I must hunt by night (thus far) is Fuligo septica, and it has the bonus of evasion. Just like "The Blob", it "crawls". A delicacy in Mexico where it's pursued and captured under the full moon in clear glass jars. Once exposed to daylight it changes from clear to yellow and is no longer a desirable edible. There was recently a fruiting.

But this was fun. Thanks, protractor-person. I guess now I'll have to find the remainder tomorrow when there's light?

p.s. I think I know where this is going. Be Observant.

p.p.s. (Way OT, sorry) Spoke with some folk who'd been fishing the Allegheny and they had caught Trout along with the usual catfish. Trout are delicate: the River is healing.

I am so EXCITED there is a thread about this. Even more so, that there are other people out there as curious as I am. So many thoughts and questions. I have a couple pictures on my phone, but most have already been posted.

FUNGICYCLIST

Did you see the 'protractor perp' putting up protractors? I'd probably chase them down. I want to know whats up with them? Is there really 200some of them? Where do you get that many protractors?

SOOO excited about this. not usually a message board fan, but when i found this I had to sign up so i could talk with some other protractor enthusiasts.

board is officially renamed the BIKE (around) PITTSBURGH (to find protractors) message board!

also fungi... i found a whole slew of Monotropa uniflora with pinky flowers yesterday, first time i had seen pink ones. not a fungi but fun nonetheless!

RG: Did not see protractor erector. Even if I do, and I'm likely to, I will respect the value of keeping that person anonymous and the mystery alive. It's more fun for everyone that way, don't you think?

mark: Fun indeed, though not fungi. Of the blueberry family and generally indicative of habitat friendly to fungi, so the Indian Pipe is a welcome sight to me too. Pink Pipes are rather odd though. Did you take pictures? That it isn't mycological is of little matter; I delight in finding hillsides of pink ladyslippers marking the end to morel season. It's really all connected. One needs know an elm to find Morchella, and spruce to find the King.

i didn't take a pic but it was almost identical to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Indian_Pipe_-_Flowering_Part_Macro.jpg

maybe the slightest pink hints on the outside and stem but inside the flower was a nice pink color.

I didn't take a picture or note the number but as of Thursday night there is a protractor glued to the bench in Arsenal Park on 39th St by the hockey court where we play polo. It was not there on Tuesday.

ya i think people like to take these because they look fun... eventually we'll probably be able to figure out which one that is

261 - blue - Sandusky St inbound, on structure under the railroad overpass.

I like to imagine that it's actually Mark and Fungicyclist running around putting these up together, but I really have no idea.

This is awesome.

Does anyone know about toynbee idea tiles, or the little robot/skeleton guys, that you can find tagged into the surface of roads? They look like they're made of the thermoplastic road markings that you use for (good) bike lanes.

Toynbee tiles are delightfully insane and have a whole documentary about them. There are two around Mellon Square downtown, on Stanwix.

The skeleton guys, I haven't been able to find any info about. But I've found a few in Pittsburgh:

-Forbes & Schenley Dr Ext

-Bedford Sq & 12th St

also in Baltimore: Key Highway and Battery Ave.

A Toynbee tile made its way into the tag-o-rama thread not too long ago. I've seen one or two downtown.

skeleton guy is everywhere in DC and NYC... pretty into it

there's 3 tiles on smithfield st.

also, I've only seen one protractor in person. I'm too lazy lately to go looking for things.

#29: bench in front of Leslie Park, facing Butler St

#155: 25th & Penn... I wrote it on my hand and I forget what it was on now, a mailbox?

edit: RF is right, I always get smithfield and stanwix mixed up...

Long day, and no time. On way home in pouring rain went one block out of my way to test a hypothesis. The result:

255 - white - SE corner of Tripoli and James, N face of postal drop box.

Now, if you don't mind, I'll sit here and drip.

we need a connect the dots ride.

What we really need is a smoke-filled, dimly lit room with a huge map on the wall, pushpins at each protractor's location, and strings connecting certain, seemingly random, pins.

Over a period of months, we'll clip excerpts from newspaper stories and stitch them back together on an adjacent wall to "find the code." Different colours of wax pencil will circle numbers of the protractors as they appear in stories, and insane notes will be scribbled in the margins. "29 children attend event = 29 at leslie park = leslie nielson / 29 + 17 = 46th st!!!"

so fungi... what's your hypothesis.

Somone ripped the one off the boat by the heinz plant

This will certainly be a protracted search

This will certainly be a protracted search

One might even say it'll be drawn out...

We don't yet know what degree of effort will be involved.

But, if we spend enough time figuring out all the angles...

i found 5 today, 4 on the northside (5, 6 , 7, and i forget the last one), one in the strip (149)... YIPES... also the trib is doing a story on these this weekend... totally interested and scared.

Mark, where are these new finds of yours?

I entertain no overarching unified theories. My hypothesis was "there should be a white one between 254 and stefb's blue find, 259." The modest theory was that they were laid out in a sequence on the northside. Of course I have yet to discover those between Stu's blue Sandusky St 261 and the blue 263 on East at Tripoli.

Whoever stuck up Stu's is at least 6'3 or had a ladder?

three on the ped bridge between heinz lofts and penn brewery, 149 in the strip on mulberry just after 31st street, one at the corner of voskamp and whatever penn brewery is on. if the last one is 4 than i'm guessing 3,2,1 are on voskamp going up the hill, or maybe the stairs going to the waterpark on troy hill, and there are lots in the strip in the alleys (probably 10 more)

Mark: Thanks. The three on the ped/bike bridge (The Charles J. Lieberth bridge) are 243, 244, and 245, as I documented in a previous post, though one (245) is opposite the junction of Vinial St. and Troy Hill Rd., and opposite Penn Brewery.

I can't find a Voskamp St. or Rd.

Where did you find numbers 5,6, and 7?

Edit: Whoops, had not googled Voskamp "Street" as I'd thought. Hmm, great, now I'll have to go out and check the intersection of Voskamp and Vinial. Thank you so very much. That one is new. I just rode past there six hours ago and must have missed it? (It was dark at 10 pm.) Let's see, that should be number....246?

The one on the east facing Stop sign on the corner of Voskamp and Vinial is white and number 247, which was nothing but troublesome to my mind.

Ranged back and forth between 245 and 247 weaving and hopping onto the sidewalk and circling mid street. Then I hear a loudspeaker voice behind me "Pull Over, (Looks like we have another drunk on a bike)" "Not drunk", I say as the cruiser pulls alongside and I straddle the top tube, "Looking for protractors." Bending over and looking in his passenger side window I recognize young Officer "M", to whom I'd preached Penalosa 5 hours earlier. He'd thought the "protected" bike lanes and speed bumps/rumble strips quite clever. His sister, who never learned to ride a bike, called him yesterday and told him she'd taken it up because of NYC's new strategy. (She lives there.) This officer thinks biking in Pgh too dangerous for himself and his wife, but if protected bike lanes and rumble strips were implemented, just might start riding.

I told him the abbreviated version of the protracted tale so far. He watched my bike while I went up those endless stairs off Vinial up to I think it was heaven. They go up and up and up. Nothing. He cruised around and so did I and we couldn't find vexing 246. Officer "M" gave up, and I took a final spin around 247, then postulated it might be meant to be seen coming down Vinial, so rode up, admittedly the wrong way. Went all the way to the end of Vinial and on the way back spotted:

246 - white - on west face of mail drop box, across from the intersection of Vinial and Basin.

5,6,7 are all within 3 feet of each other right here:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=218323415459856146568.0004a5ccebd90764ba8dc&msa=0&ll=40.456144,-79.991147&spn=0.001314,0.00284

Correction:

246 - white - across from the intersection of Voskamp and Basin, (not Vinial and Basin).

so basically you had a conversation about graffiti with a police officer and he was like... oh cool i'll look too?

@fungicyclist Spoke with some folk who'd been fishing the Allegheny and they had caught Trout along with the usual catfish.

TV public service announcement :

[Picture of a trout leaping in sparkling mountain stream]

Voiceover: This is your trout.

***

[Picture of a trout leaping with Downtown Pittsburgh in background]

Voiceover: This is your trout on drugs.

***

[Black screen. Ominous pause.]

***

Voiceover: Any questions?

Haha.

Heading inbound on Penn, I saw a white protractor right before the intersection of Penn and Milvale. Didn't get the number and I'm not sure what it's stuck to, either. But it's there.

Art project phase 2...they start moving around. Muhahahaha.

242 just popped up on my street

@Mark: Do you live between the Lieberth bike/ped bridge and the 31st St. Bridge?

@Mick: The "Pgh trout" should have the arms of an infant where its pectorals should be?

nope, polish hill melwood ave

#131 at Friendship & Gross headed toward the parklet

On the way up to the fashionable Plateau, spotted 27 and 39, which according to the Master list, have already been documented. However,

37 & 38 - green - on gray door with much graffiti opposite 39 on the north side of Spring Way between 32nd and 33rd.

Baum and liberty on the corner where the old car dealership was. Did someone mention this one before? The handwriting on this one is different than the one I found on the north side.

I saw my first one!!! On the mailbox next to Lili/Copacetic on Po'Hill. Maybe someone already reported it.

Kudos Pseuda!

Now you will be seeing them everywhere.

Record the number and check it against the (hopefully soon to be updated) Master List at The Ongoing History of Pittsburgh to determine if it's been recorded.

so that 187 up there seems to have a different ahndwriting... any others that people are talking about have the more digital handwriting?

can anyone identify the bloomfield building that the very first post in this thread is? i found that picture on the internet but have no idea where it actually is?

Mark: Left a comment at "The Ongoing History of Pittsburgh" about the difference in numbering styles a few days ago, perhaps on his entry on the northside finds? Your low numbered ones have the "block" style of numbering, while the higher ones have a more cursive style.

99 baum and morewood mailbox green

i'm updating the map right now for a while

just found 203-207 139-141 238-242... and one other one i cant remember... all on bloomfield bridge/bigelow

111 and 109 in the hollow

196 is found!

There are (2) light purple ones on a box on the NE corner of Friendship and Coral but I didn't catch the numbers. If someone doesn't get them I'll try to see if I can get them.

sweeeeeet. they aren't on my map but after you check the numbers you can check the master list here: http://ericlidji.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/the-protractor-map-bloomfield-bridge/

Was there an article in the local paper? If so, anyone have a link?

i think it's supposed to come out wednesday? or maybe this weekend.

http://photos.triblive.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=36639126&event=1280262&CategoryID=61265

story tomorrow i think! we may get roasted... eek!

Hers's today's Trib article.

Sad that the police plan to waste their time pursuing this.

I will no longer be reporting any protractors discovered to this thread, any public board, nor to "The Ongoing History of Pgh" blog.

+1 Steven. I also didn't notice the two in panther hollow. I hope they aren't getting removed by authorities. Should we not post them here? Are the police using this thread to take them down after locating them?

Bummer. I hope the protractor poster catches wind of this before it's too late. I haven't seen too many of them other than through the photos posted here. I love the colors and compositions.

while its unfortunate that this is what its come to, the person doing this knows and has known it's illegal the whole time, I wouldn't be surprised if they are tagging other things along the way (who knows though). I don't really think that this will deter them, or change anything. there is a chance that some of them get taken down as a result of the article but with all the writing on the walls I doubt this will take a priority. who knows though... authority hates creativity, maybe they'll all be down by the end of the week.

I set my map to private and killed the link... i don't know what eric will do but I'm going to keep on lookin.

So, the police are concerned about some protractors stuck to things as "defacing public property", and yet the County is considering selling advertising rights on bridges to raise revenue? Awesome. Fking awesome.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11180/1157189-100.stm?cmpid=latest.xml

Whos idea was it to do an article on it anyways? and why get the police involved in the article?

I hope they dont start getting removed. i have seen a couple 'ghost' protractors in the past couple days. I dont want to see more forgotten protractors.

it was the tribs idea, i think they thought it was a genius marketing scheme by some local business, i guess they were kind of right.

ha. i guess. not too many business do too much marketing without pushing their name on everything. The only thing i think when i see one is...WTF?

My 311 for the day:

I read three things today about city government and police activity (or the lack of it). One - another cyclist was attacked on East Liberty Blvd. This common occurence could be eliminated by a few evening runs on East Liberty Blvd by an undercover policeman on a bicycle. The second is that there was a Tribune-Review article where Pittsburgh police detective Alphonso Sloan indicated that the police would take take to investigate and possibly arrest the person who is doing the wonderful protractor art that is being placed around the city. Why is any police time being wasted on that?

In the meantime, there are people who would like to place unwanted, unsightly advertising on Pittsburgh bridges. Money going to prevent that would be well-spent.

This is a beautiful, creative city. Let's keep it that way.

+1, Mick!

This represents so much that is wrong with PGH's priorities as Mick points out. (Mick, btw wins the internets for the 311.)

There should be a slogan, suitable for stickers, T-shirts and hash tagging not twitter.

All I have is "Prosecute Crimes, not Protractors."

sounds like the Trib were the ones to rat them out to the cops. boo.

MATH IS ART.

@ejwe: That does it. Easily tweet-able. For Example.

incidentally, i didn't get the impression from that article that the cops are all over this like flies on doo-doo. it seemed more to me that they were being asked about an illegal activity and said "i guess we'll be looking into it." what else could they do?

Take the protrctors downtown for questioning

protracted questioning. i wonder what angle the investigation will take.

for some reason, every time I read this thread or see a protractor, I hear Edith Bunker's voice in my head screaming "AAAAAAARCHIIIIIEEE?!?!"

I took the Gerst Way bridge over I-279 to Howard Street this morning. All kinds of places to put protractors. Not a one. I don't know if they're getting pulled down or there never were any along there in the first place.

I too wonder why this should get one second of police time when cyclists are getting run off the streets. Chances are excellent that the protractors would disappear as quickly and mysteriously as they went up.

In other words, bridge and mailbox and traffic signal owners, chill the eff out. Let us have our giggle.

How'd this get to be a bike thing, anyway?

As I am reading this thread, I see that kdka is having a story on this in the next half hour

the kdka story was pretty rad

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/07/07/protractors-mysteriously-placed-around-city-neighborhoods/?like=1

Pretty rad indeed.

annnd this story made Boing Boing with a reference to this thread and a photo credit to "Mark Bossanova". Oh, and fittingly enough, the first comment is a geography pun.

Haha! I was about to comment that I saw this story of the protractor on Boing Boing too! NEAT!

well that helps explains our web traffic jump yesterday.

lol... that is my favorite nickname

One on the vacant lot power meter on cypress. Found when i was looking to see if thieves ditched my bike.

Well the 2 I saw in Friendship have been removed. Too bad.

289 (I think) near the jail trail. If you are coming down the hill toward's 2nd Ave its on a telephone/power poll right at eye level for a cyclist.

it's funny how well-suited cycling is to finding things like this. yet another thing i love about it.

woah 289... that's the highest one! methinks that means they are still going up!

Yeah, seems appropriate if they were to stop at 360.....

that was my initial prediction too...

I saw #289 and #291 by the Swinburne underpass and attached to a bench at the entrance to the Eliza Furnace Trail (Swinburne parking lot) just this week!

P.S. - Mr. Policeman, we love these things. Please leave them alone and go fight some violent crime

i also saw those! they're still commin

i also found one attached to the road!

I found #179 today, on the side of a garbage can at the intersection of Elmer and Ivy in Shadyside.

#292 on the Hot Metal Bridge, not sure if this has been reported. It's my first sighting - can't believe I haven't seen others!

I can't believe I haven't noticed this! There is one on the new allegheny trail from the cork factory to the point. I believe it is right near the 16th St bridge. I have several pics of others I posted on Facebook that I will have to share here sometime.

Just found this one this morning. #301 on bike trail in Millvale park.

woah, first over 300!

I know this thread is kind of old, but I stumbled upon No. 306 (I think) today and it reminded me of it. Any new developments in the backstory?

I found 2 right next to each other on (I think) spring way.