Etc.

I don't hear hoofbeats

You're riding along listening to the strains of Rossini's "William Tell Overture," yet the radio in your car isn't on and you left your iPod at home. Ah, then you must be on Avenue G in Lancaster, Calif. Huh? Well, by now work probably is finished on cutting grooves into the pavement (between 30th Street West and 40th) that, when driven over at the posted speed limit, produce the music perhaps best known as the theme of "The Lone Ranger" radio-TV series. Avenue G was chosen because residents who live on Avenue K no longer wanted to hear the music every time someone sped by, especially at night when they wanted to sleep. See, American Honda Inc., the automaker, had paid for the original grooves last month so a new-concept TV commercial for its popular Civic model could be recorded there. Two weeks later, though, a highway department crew was repaving Avenue K to fill in the grooves. But by then they'd attracted the curious (and potential new customers for Lancaster businesses) from far and wide, and the city wasn't ready to give up on the idea of a musical street. "It will be a tourist attraction," Mayor Rex Parris (R) argued. "It will pull people off the freeway." What's more, Avenue G is in an industrial zone close to Edwards Air Force Base, so in theory fewer people would be inclined to complain. It also has a median strip, making it easier for drivers to do U-turns so they can go back and enjoy an encore. Lancaster's is believed to be the first such street in the US, although there are some in the Netherlands, Japan, and South Korea.