Interesting idea from Sheldon Brown's bicycle glossary.

In France, exposed brake cables remained popular longer than elsewhere, because French cyclists sometimes like to transport baguettes home from the boulangerie by resting them crosswise across the brake hoods. The cables help hold the loaves in position.

Classic 1997-era website

An interview with Lévy, to be fair. His writing may be a bit sensational, but he's no imposter; he has a strange, but positive relationship with America.

If by defense means attack, and BHL means Garrison Keillor, the title is accurate. It makes some fair points to balance Keillor's article, but Keillor is right that Lévy sensationalizes American kitsch.

I read some of this as it was serialized in the Atlantic, and Keillor's criticism is dead-on

if only