The Royce Files

I was surprised to find this on my bike trip last summer. This actually was the men's bathroom mirror at the Hawk Museum campground. That spread of cold cuts and fixins certainly looked delicious after a hard day of pedaling and slogging through the rain. Canadian Ace was produced by the Manhattan Brewing Company of Chicago . So its not really Canadian beer. So I doubt Cal Clutterbuck or Sidney Crosby will be drinking it. There was also a lawsuit contending the misuse of name Canadian but I am not sure of the outcome. As it so happens Manhattan Brewering had connections to organized crime, specifically associates of Al Capone. Trying to shake their mobster owned image, Manhattan became Canadian Ace Brewing Company in 1947 ( although elsewhere I found the name changed in 1933.) They closed in 1968. I am unsure of the date of the mirror, but I guess it was somewhere between the 1940s and the 1960s. I have yet to find one of these online to compare. Most Canadian Ace collecti...

These images just keep coming although they've leveled off recently or being re-run into oblivion. But I'll  keep you abreast on new developments in the use of ugly, weird, and off the wall. Anything to get a click through. Here we have a somewhat reformed caveman. Not sure why they teased his hair into a fro. Certainly a weird one and one done for a more notable customer- Trans Union. Still there the bank you'll likely find in your local mall next to the restrooms. The one that sounds so - unbanklike. In fact it sort of sound like a new gender free word for a marriage- "Hi, we're getting Transunioned." Next, this one is keeping bald guys who look like Chris Elliot in employment. I guess this is as normal as it gets with these ads if its not a female being employed for eye candy. Perhaps this guy is the weird teeth safety glasses guy. Anyways don't want to get your identity stolen by him. He's got a bit of creepy. Must be the beard. Finally, we ...

Way back in July 2010 the Man of 3 Names and I set out from Grand Forks, ND on bicycles to sojourn to the Center of North America (Rugby.) I continue this story as we head west towards our destination and spend the night amongst old things. It was a bit chilly the morning of July 5th. Dew had settled upon our tents. The bathrooms were still closed. We ate a bit then torn down camp. We stopped at the local watering hole to use the facilities before heading out. By then the sun had come up and it was getting a bit warm.  What we failed to realize was Munich was the birthplace of Quentin Burdick, former Senator of North Dakota. No plaque enlightened us to this fact. We headed south a bit then west along a rail road which happened to hold a lot of rolling stock. Not sure why these cars were stored here but we encountered quite a few spots along the tracks where there were a mile of cars.  We passed Calio which just looked like one big farm. We stopped at Egeland to have a rest. ...

 The Red River had crested in Fargo at somewhere around 39 feet a week and half ago. The levees and dikes held back the angry waters of the Red for yet another year. However, there was at least one causality. A man sandbagging his home died of a heart attack. It wasn't in town. Someplace north of town. Oakport to be exact. That same weekend my room-mate and I were driving north out of town on I-29. We were heading to Grand Forks. However we were slightly impeded when the road just north of town became a flood-way. Nearly 6 inches of water covered I-29 north of Fargo to a little bit past Argusville. It was a scary drive. We could not see pavement for miles and miles. Plus it was raining and it appeared a current was pushing the water over the road. It took almost an hour to traverse 6 miles of flooded interstate. It was scary. I didn't have any ID with me nor my camera. I just prayed. We made it to Grand Forks. The road eventually closed a few hours after. The above picture wa...

Another flood continues to descend upon the region. A bit later than previous but that gave us more time. Sandbag dikes are going up this week. I think the crest of around 40' is forecasted for April 10th. The photo at the right is from almost a month ago. The snow was nearly gone but then-wham! Another snow storm and then another and another. Not sure how much snow we got this winter. Someone told me something close to 7'. In the long term, flood mitigation plans seem to be gaining opponents. The current plan on the table- the diversion with water retention- has critics north, south and west coming together to stop this idea. Changes have been made to address "downstream" communities but apparently it is not enough. The whole process appears to be heading into a Garrison Diversion -like conflict in which there is a possibility that not one drop of the Red River will be stopped from overwhelming the Valley during a flood. We are a hardy people and would accept it ...