First of all, note that the syringa is the Idaho state flower. So if you Google "syringa idaho", the first image you get is this, from State Symbols, USA. As far as I know, this particular flower has never been to the town of Syringa in its life.
Somewhere lower on the list, you get an armed man. But this isn't some lonely gun nut. In fact, this is Terry Jackson (who hails from Syringa), showing off the rifle that he pawned at age 8 in order to buy his grandmother a washing machine. Through a series of coincidences, the rifle recently came back into his possession. You can read the story at the Two Brothers Weblog.
Finally, you have this picture, of a road going into Syringa. I found it at NoiseOff, the coalition against noise pollution. It is on their page about Jake Brakes. For those of you not in the know, "Jake Brake" is slang for an engine compression brake, which slows a diesel engine by changing the compression in the cylinders. The damn things are apparently noisy as hell. You can read the story at The Straight Dope, although this answer isn't by Cecil, but by one of his minions, so it's not that funny. I read this story years ago, and remembered not much about it, other than the fact that "Jake Brake" is really a misnomer. It is named after the Jacobs Manufacturing Company, which does make compression brakes. But they also make other stuff, and other companies make compression brakes. So it is more appropriate for this sign to say, "Compression brakes prohibited by city ordinance." The Jacobs company is fighting to get these signs changed. But the word hasn't gotten to Syringa, or hadn't gotten there when this photo was taken.
[Note that you can also get a good look at my cool new tights in this shot!]
As I mentioned, I did run yesterday, 5.3 miles, and another 5.3 today. I hope to get to the gym tomorrow and run some other distance. 5.2, 5.4. Anything but another 5.3!
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