In 1972, I was halfway home with a flat tire and walked into a bike shop that was just closing. Sheldon stayed late to fix it. That's how I first met him.

There were 46 bicycles in or around his house "with a few shared wheels", by his recent count, mostly in his basement. He didn't buy bicycles off the shelf -- as a challenge to his mechanical ingenuity, and a way to spend less money and spend more time doing what he liked to do, he cobbled up customized bicycles from parts he acquired mostly through special deals, barter or secondhand, to suit himself or someone in his family. He often came up with a something unique, clever and useful. You may read about his bicycles on his Web site. He had an eye for style, but also, one or two rusty clunkers hung out by the back door getting rustier, for the quick ride to the convenience store, and several old hulks of bikes lived under the front porch.

A.M. Costa Rica/José Pablo Ramírez Vindas

Michael Rivera Guillen had his head stuck out the window and was moving it back and forth, back and forth, like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. This was the 5-year-old's first time on a train.

"I wanted to share the experience with my grandchildren," said Rivera's grandmother, Xinia Durán Meza, who said it was her first time on the train as well. "It's enchanting," she said, "everything is so beautiful."

The Tren a la Tica is one of the oldest in Central America, opening to the public in 1903. It ran for the first time as an electric train in 1930 and is the second oldest of its kind in Latin America, according to train officials. At the height of the era, the train institute employed over 3,000 people. The train was shut down in 1995 under President Jose María Figures Olsen but finally reopened in 2001 with the help of a tourist organization called American Travel.

August 2007

The occupants returned to find smoke coming from their home.

Car vs. Car at the Bass River Bridge Two cars collided on the Bass River Bridge Friday morning.WEST DENNIS - Dennis Fire received a call shortly before 11 a.m.

Witnesses Describe Shooting Scene

HOPEFULLY PEOPLE WILL LISTEN TO THEIR CHILDREN OR THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM BECAUSE IT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED THAT WAY. HIS FRIENDS ARE ALSO WRONG FOR TAKING HIM AS A JOKE NOTHING LIKE THIS IS EVER A JOKE. WAKE UP PEOPLE
Posted by: Von Maur Employee Location: Wichita on Dec 7, 2007 at 11:41 AM As a current employee of Von Maur in Wichita, KS, this all hits to close to home. In my department we are like family and to think of losing them is just to much to handle. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims, no one can ever believe something like this could happen to them or at the place they work. It gives me a tremendous sence of vunerablity to just think about going back to work even though it did not happen here in Wichita. How are you suppose to go on like nothing happened.

Clinton, Obama agree on changing trade pact

Could I just point out that, in the last several debates, I seem to get the first question all the time?" Clinton said. "And I don't mind. You know, I'll be happy to field them, but I do find it curious. And if anybody saw 'Saturday Night Live', you know, maybe we should ask Barack if he's comfortable and needs another pillow.

"I just find it kind of curious that I keep getting the first question on all of these issues, but I'm happy to answer it."

Later, she returned to the historic nature of her candidacy: "Obviously I am thrilled to be running to be the first woman president, which I think would be a sea change in our country and around the world, and would give . . . enormous hope and, you know, a real challenge to the way things have been done, and who gets to do them, and what the rules are."

Obama came into the debate needing to not make an error that could reinvigorate Clinton's campaign.

England ‘has become poor relation’ in health care

As 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of the NHS, Michael Summers, vice-chairman of the Patients Association, a UK-wide charity aimed at helping people share their experiences of healthcare, said: "We should follow best practice ... which they have discovered in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.