I believe it is my duty to warn people about two speed traps in south St. Louis County. They're fairly widely known, but not as widely known as I thought.

Both are tiny little suburbs along Interstate 55.

Former mayor Vincent "Mel Carnahan's just a redneck from Rolla" Schoemel's eminent domain crusade against an auto mechanic's garage is over.

58-year-old Jim Day gets to keep his business.

The St. Louis Post-Disgrace ran a nice article on basements, ironically, on April 15.

I doubt anyone's tax refund will build anything quite like these.

The article described themed St. Louis-area basements: a medieval ballroom, a malt shop, and a Lionel train layout.

Eminent domain is supposed to be used for the greater good, such as when a building is falling down and endangering people but the owner refuses to take care of the problem, or when a road is needed and there's no choice but to take out buildings that stand in the way.

It's not supposed to be used to bulldoze an auto repair business to make room for an art gallery.

So, not wanting to celebrate the Anheuser-Busch-mandated holiday of New Year's Eve but not wanting to sit around at home on a Friday night either, a good idea came up: Go to the City Museum.

It claims to be unlike any other museum you've ever seen. While that may be debatable, it does have something for everyone.

I've written many times before about my never-ending search for BBQ in St. Louis. It's a lot easier to find now than it was 10 years ago. And, although it's still not up to Kansas City standards, I do have to say it's getting better.

This weekend's adventure took me to Smokin' Al's, which is on Hampton, just north of I-44 and south of U.S. 40, within earshot of Forest Park. It's in the city, so be sure to pack your concealed weapons.

I'm kidding. That part of St. Louis is safe, and Smokin' Al's seems to be popular with the police anyway. But what's it like?

I just spent some time over at Wikipedia attempting to demolish the myths that the ice cream cone, hot dog, and hamburger were invented in St. Louis at the 1904 World's Fair. Hey, one does lots of things when there's a big pile of stuff needing to be done that one would rather neglect.

I guess one thing I like about St. Louis is that it isn't completely cookie-cutter yet--I can still go to a place called MacArthur's for a better doughnut than a Krispy Kreme and a much better sandwich than Subway, or to The Concord Grill for a much better hamburger than Applebee's or TGI Friday's, or to Fortel's for the best pizza, period--but St. Louisans themselves have some delightful quirks to make fun of.

Hey, I never said anything about not posting new content here, right? Friday night, Gatermann and I went out to the east side to do some shooting. It was overcast, so we didn't snap many pictures--I think three between the two of us. We passed some half-demolished buildings with for sale signs in front of them. We passed an apartment complex that advertised cheap rent, and from the looks of the buildings, windows must have cost extra because the buildings sure didn't have very many. The frightening thing was, there were signs of life in the complex.

The last few days have been nuts. I've been wrestling with tape drives, trying to get them to work on a brain-dead operating system from a company in Redmond whose project is headed up by a potty-mouthed ex-DEC employee. Its initials are N and T.