Joeventures

Biking from Downtown to Decatur

I rode the bike from Downtown to Decatur this morning. The route: from Underground Atlanta, took Central Ave to Edgewood. Edgewood dead ends into the Inman Park MARTA station. I used the PATH to go from there to Euclid. Euclid becomes McLendon. Up and down some hills I go. At a roundabout, I veer to the right, and that gets me to the PATH along DeKalb Ave, which becomes W Howard. Turn from W Howard onto Commerce, to Ponce for a block, then I’m at the office in the 315 building.

A few thoughts along the way:

• Central Ave goes downhill as it leads to Ga State. I speed up, the cars slow down. It’s one of the few blocks anywhere where I have a clear advantage. People slow down and drive very carefully along that one block of Central Ave.
• The bicycle lane along Edgewood is awesome, among the best in the region… if you can get to it. The lane doesn’t start until you get to Boulevard. Until then, I’m cycling uphill in the middle of the only available lane of traffic.
• Sanitation workers are just doing their job, and will block your way to get the job done.
• The PATH route that goes through Inman Park needs serious upkeep. Low tree branches and a dirty ground make for hazardous conditions.
• The one directional sign along the Inman Park section of the PATH route is awfully confusing. Go right to head toward Ponce and the Jimmy Carter Library. There’s a second split right after the sign, but it’s not entirely clear the sign is telling you to turn right at the split you just took, or the second split. In any case, the sign by itself is not helpful because there are more turns to take along the way, but no more signs.
• It would make sense to me to give DeKalb Ave a road diet. Instead of reversable lanes, extend the bicycle lanes all the way through downtown Atlanta, even as the road changes names several times (W Howard, DeKalb Ave, Decatur St, Marietta St).
• Instead of just taking Decatur St/DeKalb Ave all the way to Decatur, the officially designated PATH route took me the way I went. McLendon is much more hilly, as far as I can tell. Thanks, PATH people. At least I got that little bit of extra exercise in for the day.
• God forbid I might want to turn from W Howard onto Commerce Dr using a bike. Or that I might want to cross W Howard at Commerce for any other reason. There’s no curb cut there of any kind. Maybe that’s just a sign of what certain people think of the people who live in Wilson Terrace and Swanton Heights?

Atlanta's Population

The Census Bureau recently announced new population estimates. Among 273 cities with populations over 100,000, Atlanta ranked 13th in percentage of population growth — that’s 3.4 percent growth — from 2007 to 2008.

According to the estimate, the City of Atlanta’s population grew by 17,590 residents.

Among Atlanta’s competitors in the Southeast region, Raleigh grew at a faster pace in percentage, but a slower pace in raw numbers. Charlotte, however, grew at a slower pace in percentage, but a faster pace in raw numbers. Miami, with its recent troubles with real estate, experienced a paltry 1.6 percent growth (6,317 more residents).

The Census Bureau will not be releasing estimates for counties until August 1.

Here’s a list of the top 25:

(ht AJC)

Any Audio Experts Out There?

If I use an adapter (1/4” to 3.5mm) to plug a Wireless Mic System into a consumer-grade camcorder, would it produce a buzzing noise when recording? If so, would it be necessary to get a mixer, or some other piece of equipment to get clear audio?

Update: Got the following answer in an email:

The key here is mono and stereo.  I think the output from the Shure is mono, but the input into the Camera is Stereo… so now the best thing is to try a couple of things….

Really, the trick is to find the right adapter (radio shack, Ken Stanton, sweetwater).  You also wanted a shielded quarter inch cable to run from the mic out into the camera.

Lastly, it’s really important to make sure the Camera and the mic are plugged into the same electrical outlet. 

Try those things.  If that doesn’t work, we can try some fancy DI stuff.

Update 2: Rusty adds to the mix:

Noise like that is often caused by electrical outlets. If you have the capability to run everything from battery power, try that and see if it fixes it. If not, you might try a line conditioner or, like the commenter on your site suggested, making sure everything is plugged into the same outlet, that you have a stereo signal going into the stereo input, etc.