Grinding the streets first inch or two off. When they stop it's probably because of a man hole, storm drain or something they are trying to not damage and have to go around or do the hand work around it.

Street looks dark right after they grind because the asphalt underneath has sections that aren't bleached from the sun and what not.

Then they smooth it to pick up the bits left, the street gets white looking because of all the scratching to the layer they leave, or because there is concrete underneath. They do bridges like this...two or more layers of asphalt to take all the wear and tear and water damage. Then replace it every so often so the concrete lasts longer.

Curb sides take the longest because they don't want to break the sidewalks, and the machines can only get so close without putting too much pressure on them.

Then they spray tar down to help the new layer of asphalt stick to the existing and help seal out water. If they don't spray tar down on old surfaces, asphalt tends to stick to itself and will hump up and become uneven when the guys roll it to compact it and smooth it out. You still have to slow gradually to stop this from happening. It's why when you drive down the road on a new street and you feel little bumps, often times you can't even see them. But it's because the rollers are stopping and the asphalt is developing little humps where they are pushing the material ahead of them as they compact like a little wave. And if they don't seal out the water well, if it ever gets between the layers and freezes, the top layer will just buck up and crumble...and you have a pot hole. Why they are along the edges the most, because the water gets in between the sidewalk and asphalt and runs underneath the new layer. Or sometimes it can get between the seams of the new asphalt, where one strip meets another if they don't match them well.

Parking lots, and country roads would let this crew do many more times repavement than a street like this. Because of the sidewalks, man holes, constricted lane of movement, and having to maintain the height of the road to maintain the flow of water.

Country road they'd just put another layer of asphalt down and then put approaches (basically a gradual ramp) on the other roads and driveways so cars can get onto it. No grinding, no sidewalks and stuff to worry about. Or if the road is really bad. They'd put one layer to fill in all the holes, then another on top of that.

Is the other driver really a jerk for parking perfectly centered inside the lines? Or is everyone else supposed to bend over and take it when some dipshit decides he's more important than everyone else?

In the case of an intentionally bad parker with complete disregard for everyone else, yes, parking properly will help show him that he has to play by the same rules as everyone else.

The other driver would have been a jerk if he came in early the next day and parked across two spaces.

To protect his precious car, all that ass has to do is park closer to the curb, leaving a huge gap on the side of the adjacent space.

Does this mean we shouldn't park our cars by the curb on garbage day?

It's all good. Just trying to help and if you ever have any questions regarding the sift about anything dont be afraid to ask. I'm happy to help if i can The learning curb is a long one here on the sift.

The free market is controlled by the gov't. This guy thinks we need more gov't to control the gov't that controls everything.

Also, I thought these academicians were all about 'nuance'. He makes blanket statements that feed into liberal paranoia and are specious to begin with.
If you want to curb the power of the military, just defund it by defunding gov't.

Insanity-If that were my black car in the front and I saw this hellion I would simply reach into her window and grab her keys and insist that she watch from the curb, while I parked her car down the street illegally.

Are some of you really that blind? Rehabilitation don't work criminals are hard coded? Then why does it work on other countries then? Supporting death penalty? Who the hell gives you right to take a life, just like the murderer did to their victims?

Sentences are way too harsh in the USA, there are countless studies proving that longer and harsher penalties does nothing to curb crime. There are nations that hand out death penalties for petty crimes and still there are people who commit those crimes every year. If death penalty would work, there would be no murders. Countries with shorter sentences have fewer repeating offenders, how is that possible in your world where criminals are animals who can not change their ways.

I guess those who want death penalty and ridiculously long sentences have something sadistic in their personality. YOU MUST SUFFER SO I FEEL GOOD. Same goes for inequality supporters, same principle, other must suffer to make me feel good.

How many shootouts with cops could we avoid when there is still hope in the criminals mind that the mistake they made won't cost them their lives.

On the story, this is more and more common, specially in the States but happens all over the world. Victims are on secondary focus, they aren't as interesting as perpetrators: Why? Victims have their story told before the news, it happened already, they are weak = prey. The assailants, their story has just begun, they are strong = predator.

@coolhand, What you suggested is being done around Beijing. They started before the '08 Olympics, and have plans to put in even more trees to combat the terrible air quality.

"The municipal government has announced that over the next three years it will plant 160, 000 acres of trees around the suburbs, a space which is 90 times larger than the Beijing Olympic Forest Park."

Lewis Black - always funny.

Don't punish gun owners. Punish wrong doers.

Since our current laws are soft of gun crimes make them still as hell to curb the current out of control senseless gun killing.

The Sandy hook and such are not the norm. Its the day in day out gang killing that is the bigger/ true problem. Stiffen such use that if you use a gun in a crime, as the attacker then make the penalty death in 60 days of conviction. ( of course the evidence has support ones guilt)

Also if a gang uses a gun in drive by or such then let all parties in the car get the same 60 day death sentence. Sure there will be a few innocent but the the rate of senseless gun killing will drop like a rock,

Then we could sensibly address the Sandy Hooks

dude!~!!! I googled, "JERRY SEINFELD WEARS A PINKY RING" and found your comment and am just blown away right now watching Curb.....I think he's wearing a Freemason ring?! I cannot tell but WHY THE HELL ELSE would he wear a pinky ring?!?! EW! It like goes against everything he represented to me. GROSS.

Australia has had great success in curbing gun violence. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/1224/Could-the-US-learn-from-Australia-s-gun-control-laws

Also, a new study has found that the stand your ground laws are linked to increased homicide and have done nothing to deter criminal activity. http://www.npr.org/2013/01/02/167984117/-stand-your-ground-linked-to-increase-in-homicide

I don't believe anyone, any council, or any government, has the right to watch me, for any reason, whether I'm doing anything wrong, picking my nose, scratching myself inappropriately or whatever.

Those people watching me are people the same as me, with no greater purpose or rights. I am against public surveillance in any form.

I don't care about arguments regarding money, catching criminals or loiterers, or what ever trumped up reasons authority or the people can come up with.

It's NONE of their dam business what I do as I walk down the street, sit on the curb or lean against a post. I don't need someone in an office somewhere going through my existence with a fine tooth comb monitoring me. I don't want to end up on surveillance tapes somewhere, archived and forgotten about just so one day they can be discovered and used for some other purpose.

If someday, I'm arrested for spitting my gum on the ground, (not that I chew gum or would spit it on the ground), but I don't want every facet of my life being dissected just so they can piece together and use past footage to create some trumped up footage that portrays me as less than I am.

This is a complete invasion of my personal rights as a human being and an individual. I truly believe this is an overstep of authority by a hierarchy that has been put in place to serve ME and the people who pay the taxes to fund levels of government.

I miss the fascination that puddles held.

That and jumping off a curb for 15 minutes straight.

I don't know about this... Think about the best American comic right now, Louis CK. His on-stage (and on-screen) persona almost exactly fits what Fry describes as the British archetype. And he's not alone: think about Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, George Costanza in Seinfeld, Homer Simpson, even Lucille Ball.

On the flip side, British comedians like Russell Brand, Jimmy Carr and Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder (except for the first season) are more like Fry's description of American comedy. It seems to me that what Fry has done here is come up with a nice neat story about differing national character based on broad stereotypes rather than acute observation, turned that into a theory of comedy, and then cherry-picked examples that fit his theory without mentioning exceptions. It all sounds very impressive given his amazing facility with language and rhetoric, but it's not very good analysis.

I only read about half way down the comments and then got frustrated.

It may not be noticeable when one child is getting "on the bus" as to why this LAW exists but the law is there for a certifiable reason.

When the Bus stops, it's main priority is to child safely. The but puts up the sign to signal, in essence, that school zones and crosswalks are in effect until all kids either get on the bus safely or make it to their destination curb.

The bus may be just picking up one child, but as you rush by, you will not see that second child, late, and running for the bus. They are kids, their only concern is making it to the bus before it leaves without them. The same goes for drop offs, as the kids go out the door and cross in front of the bus to cross the street, (this is the legal and correct way for kids to leave a bus and are instructed to do so) the sign is raised as a portable crosswalk so all kids can make it to their curb without cars mowing them down.

Just stop. Not killing children is not only good for the children, It stops you from having to live the rest of your life knowing you killed one or a bunch of school kids because you were in too much of a hurry to pick up your coffee on your way to work.

That is all.