Two of the quirkiest businesses I've found in Tucson reside on East Colombia Street. First, there's Creative Machines, a Willy Wonka-esque factory that churns out interactive public art and museum exhibits.

Then, there's Vintage Appliances. I passed by and couldn't help, but pause, park, and take an Instagram photo of what I thought was some sort of appliance graveyard. However, Rich Allen, soon set me straight and gave me an imprompteu tour.

• Mariana Dale and her trusty iPhone.
• Top, This was the scene that initially caused me to stop. Most of these units are used for parts to repair other appliances. Bottom Left: One of the retro style stoves in the show room. Bottom Right, A vintage Frigedaire is almost done being restored and would be shipped to England.

Allen's shop restores and repairs worn but classic appliances, mainly fridges and stoves. When I stopped by, they were working on an adorable Frigedaire that would be shipped to a doctor in England.

But they also sell lines of new-made-to-look old appliances that come in a a rainbow of colors from candy apple red to sunshine-y yellow.

If you're ready to redecorate or just a fridge fanatic, Vintage Appliances makes for an interesting stop.

If you haven't had a chance to participate in Wingspan's Tucson Latin@ LGBTQ Pride 2012 this week, you better go to the final event tonight — Electro Cumbia at Plush, 340 E. 6th St., 8 to closing. The evening, produced by MEOWMeow Productions, includes performances by Jaime J, Lola Torch and DJ Dirty Verbs. $3 at the door.

Seriously. Look at this box image.

• Photo from Nick Underhill, masslive.com

That look on his face is how I’ll imagine him going through life from this moment forward.

Touchdown reception? That face. A beer bong with old teammates when he visits Tucson? That face. Holidays in Aruba? That face. All with his hands down at his side, awaiting an enormous spoonful of sweetened corn flakes.

It will never not be funny.

And, of course, proceeds from the cereal will benefit the "Gronk Nation Youth Foundation," and I hope the rhyming name was intentional.

But really, that's the kind of face that launches a thousand Photoshop challenges. Great show, Gronk.

• Chris Hinkle

Remember all the times local politicians talked about trying to obtain a "Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community" designation? Well platinum is yesterday's news. Now it's all about Diamonds.

Crashes caused by the streetcar tracks have prompted the city to put up these temporary signs alerting cyclists to the dangers of the tracks.

Mountain bike legend Gary Fisher is returning to Tucson this fall. Find out when and if you'll be able to ride with him.

If you were concerned about whether or not you'd be able to drink the beer that you've been oh-so-carefully storing away in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, worry no longer: the federal goverment answered this question 57 years ago, during a series of tests they called "Operation Teapot."

Their conclusions? That, aside from unusual tastes that might make the beer a bit difficult to resell commercially, it's fine! (If you overlook any potential radiation issues, of course.)

From Restricted Data:

They took a number of different types of bottles and cans, filled with different liquids, and put them in various positions relative to Ground Zero for two nuclear tests (“Shot I” and “Shot II” in the report, probably “Apple I” and “Apple II” of Teapot). The closest ones were less than a quarter mile away from the first test — a mere 1056 feet. The furthest ones out were about 2 miles away.

The results were somewhat interesting. Even the bottles pretty near the test had a fairly high survival rate — if they didn’t fall off the shelves, or have something else smash into them (a “missile” problem), or get totally crushed by whatever they were being housed in, they had a good chance of not breaking. Not super surprising, in a way: bottles are small, and there’s a lot of stuff in between them and the shockwave to dissipate it. (Bottles seem more fragile than human beings, but in certain respects they are probably easier to keep safe. Also, human beings are rarely in refrigerators, Indiana Jones notwithstanding.)

As for radiation, only the bottles closest to Ground Zero had much radioactivity, and even that was “well within the permissible limits for emergency use,” which is to say, it won’t hurt you in the short term. The liquid itself was somewhat shielded by the bottles of the containers which picked up some of the radioactivity.

But there were, of course, still pressing questions to be resolved… how did it taste?

Examination made immediately upon recovery showed no observable gross changes in the appearance of the beverages. Immediate taste tests indicated that the beverages, both beer and soft drinks, were still of commercial quality, although there was evidence of a slight flavor change in some of the products exposed at 1270 ft from GZ [Ground Zero]. Those farther away showed no change.

So, to sum, your beer will taste absolutely fine, if it's more than a quarter-mile away from ground zero.

Unless it's any of that "light beer" swill, of course. That should just be tossed into the blast crater.

For more on how bombs can affect beer, and other interesting facts from nuclear testing, check out Restricted Data.

• J.M. Smith
• Yes, it is. Please call off the dogs in your second term, Mr. President.

A medical marijuana rally called hastily by Americans for Safe Access drew a lot of honks from passers-by Thursday afternoon, but not a lot of protesters.

About a dozen folks marched around the intersection of Speedway and Swan for about an hour during rush hour, sparking a bunch of honks of support and a few shouts of "Get a Job!" Interestingly, being there was my job, so Mr. Smith would offer a heartfelt "Go Fuck Yourself" to those folks. The rally was to protest President Obama's administration busts of more than 200 medical marijuana facilities in the past few years.

• J.M. Smith
• About a dozen people waved signs Thursday at the intersection of Swan and Speedway to protest federal raids on MMJ dispensaries.

Tucsonan director Evan Grae Davis hosts a free screening of his film It's a Girl tonight at 6 p.m., at the UA Gallagher Theater. The film is presented by the UA Department of Gender and Women's Studies and Shadowline Films, and marks the launch of the film's international tour. Davis will host a Q&A after the screening.

From a press release:

A powerful and thought-provoking documentary film, It’s a Girl brings attention to the gendercide happening every day in India, as well as China and other parts of Southeast Asia. The United Nations estimates that there are as many as 200 million girls missing around the world today because of gendercide. This war against girls is told through the stories of the victims, families, global experts and grassroots activists. Shot on location in India and China, It’s a Girl asks why this is happening and why so little is being done to save girls and women.

For more information, visit www.itsagirlmovie.com.

Today is the Sept. 21 deadline set by U.S. District Court Judge David C. Bury in the Tucson Unified School District desegregation case first proposed by court-approved deseg special master Willis Hawley. In our Aug. 2 issue ("Deseg Extention"), Weekly World Central first reported Bury's July order. A Sept. 10 deadline was set for Hawley to provide all the deseg parties with a plan to begin negotiations. A confidentiality provision prevented all parties involved from discussing an initial plan proposed by Hawley and all negotiations.

That confidentiality provision is supposed to be lifted to day, beginning a public-comment period. Any unresolved objections from all parties has to be filed with Bury by Oct. 12 and any changes to the plan by Oct. 22.

However, court documents filed on Sept. 19 show that all parties involved recently asked Bury for a seven-week extension. You can read the document here:

new_scheduling_order_request.pdf

new_scheduling_order_request2.pdf

Observers paying close attention to the case have told the Range any actual plan won't be made public until Sept. 27, because it must be translated into Spanish. They also shared that the fact that Bury hasn't respond to the extension request speaks volumes — he won't be providing any extension. Which could be the wrong move. If the language presented in one request for an extension is accurate, perhaps there's a bit of hope in the current deseg process that has not only lasted 30 years, but has had ongoing difficulties in getting all the parties to agree on what a new plan should look like and how the district will keep its promises:

The Parties, after meeting on September 9 and 10, 2012, now believe that there are substantial areas of agreement that could lead to a consent decree with respect to some or all aspects of the proposed Unitary Status Plan. It is the intent of the Parties and the Special Master that a substantially revised Unitary Status Plan will be prepared by the Special Master on or before September 28, 2012.

• P.K. Weis/Southwest Photo Bank

At around 11:15 today, space shuttle Endeavour took its last flight on its way to its new resting grounds at Edwards Air Force Base; on hand to see it off were Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly, the commander for Endeavour's final mission.

• Talking Points Memo POLLTRACKER

Dennis Welch, political editor for 3TV in Phoenix, has new poll numbers in U.S. Senate showdown between Democrat Richard Carmona and Republican Jeff Flake:

The results of a surprising new poll in the U.S. Senate race were released Wednesday showing Democrat Richard Carmona beating his Republican rival.

The survey, which was conducted by a GOP-friendly firm, shows Carmona holding a 5-point edge over Jeff Flake.

Heading into the race, Flake was considered the heavy favorite to win in a state where Republicans hold a comfortable registration advantage over Democrats.

We don't know much about the poll (Welch doesn't identify who did it because the source is top-secret), so there's every reason to be skeptical about it—or at least consider it an outlier.

But as I wrote in this TW's print edition, surveys have shown a tightening race and the campaigns are trading blows.

Flake is now up on TV with this ad: