Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report

The 27 Hobbies

2011-12-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

Once in awhile somebody asks me what I’m doing to keep busyas a retired person. My stock answer isthat I have 27 hobbies. If they ask meto what they are I can’t list them extemporarily. For this report I’m going to try to list 27hobbies that keep me busy. Since it’s myreport I reserve the right to show sub categories as separate hobbies.

Here goes (in no particular order so I’m using bulletsinstead of numbers):

· Writinga blog – When I began Christine had just announced we were having a drought soI began the Lake Boren Drought Report. The first day I posted she announced the drought was over. Shortly after that I changed to a RapidTransit Report because Newcastle will be among the last places to get rapidtransit.

· Usingbig words – long ago in High School pals of mine introduced me to“pusillanimous prevaricators” as a way to sound naughty without getting sent tothe principal’s office. What a concept. Lots of big words do that.

· Sincethe regular news is somewhat suspect I like to convert it to fit my ownideas. Thus “making stuff up as I goalong” is another hobby. I have afiction book started and at some point I’ll write “Al Explains Science.”

· Watchingprogress on the library in Newcastle: Thestructure is nearly complete and soon they will cover it with glass and wallboard. It’s supposed to open next fall. I wonder if they’ll have my books.

· Digitalphotography: When I was a photographerin the Army and they had darkroom staff to develop my pictures. I don’t do darkroom. It’s dark and smelly. Getting a good print is way too hard. Then somebody invented digital photographyand gave us Photoshop (and other digital editing programs). It was like a dream come true. I can do this.

· Manipulatingpixels to fit my own vision: I canrender my photos (in Photoshop) into many artistic formats. I create paintings out of my own photos.

· Personalcomputing: one prerequisite to becoming a reasonable photo editor is tounderstand the machine. I’m not sayingI’m any kind of expert but I know enough to get the software working. That includes the editing, rendering, cataloging,and printing functions.

· 3DPhotography: one of the biggest benefits of digital to me is that you can taketwo side by side photos (simulating two eyes) and align the images to produce 3D. It’s fantastic. Best of all is that the software that does thatis FREE!!

· Keepingthe leaves out of the yar:. This one isinvoluntary. I’m required to exercise inorder to keep some of my health issues at bay. We have this Big Leaf Maple tree behind the house and I get lots ofexercise each fall raking up the leaves. We also have uncounted shrubs that require some kind of care and I get plentyof exercise doing that all year.

· Walkingaround Lake Boren: It turns out that a brisk two mile walk around Lake Boren givesme my daily quota of exercise. It’s anice break from yard maintenance. Italso provides an update of the changing Newcastle landscape.

· Birdwatching: We have about 924 species in North America but I haven’t seen themall yet. It’s a challenge because someof them occur in very small areas. Forexample the cave swallow can only be found in south Texas. Texas! Rick Perry lives there.

· Cowwatching: Cows are easier than birds in that they tend to remain somewhatstationary. If you see a black and whitecow it’s probably a mix unless there’s a sign on the fence announcing “PurebredHolsteins” or something. So it’s easy todo but hard to get a Life List.

· Antiquetractors: Long ago farmers used horses and oxen (cows). The advantage was they helped fertilize thefields. The problem was you had to feedand water them whether they worked or not. That included keeping them alive during harsh winters when nothing wasgrowing. Along came people like Holt,Deere, and Oliver building tractors. Youcould park them in the barn for winter and in spring change the oil and addfuel and off you go. Boy is that an oversimplification.

· Antiquetrucks: When I was a boy in Kansas the highway ran right through town. Many big rigs had the Diamond-T badge andforever after I refer to a big rig as a “Diamond-T.” I still visit truck stops across the countryand just wander along the rows of Diamond-Ts.

· ClassicCars: America has a fantastic history of car design. My first car was an Oldsmobile. They don’t make those anymore but I’ll alwaysremember that 1948 Olds and its connection to the originals.

· Museumsthat honor classic ancient mechanical designs: Cars, trucks, tractors, airplanes,and other metal objects are in museums. There’s Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska; Auburn Cord DuesenbergMuseum in Auburn, Indiana; Central Washington Agriculture Museum in Union Gap,Washington; and Museum of Flight in Seattle. These are favorites; there are hundreds of others.

· ScientificAmerican: A monthly magazine whose title makes you think they know aboutscience. OK, they try, but they oftenget it wrong. For example they saynothing can go faster than light. Didyou see Star Wars? They make a lot ofmistakes about things on the ground too.

· Genealogy:Looking up old ancestors. I’ve beendoing this for years and it’s even better now. I think the most important lesson is that names and dates are just partof it. You need to study peoples’ history. Were your ancestors participants in one ofthe big migrations? If so it tells you alot about how they lived, why they moved, and what was on TV in 1567.

· Volunteering:For some reason us retired folks need to get out and participate. I was at the National Archives in Seattle fora couple years. I enjoyed helping folksfind their ancestors. Now help the AgMuseum in Union Gap. See how some ofthese hobbies relate?

· Constructionprojects: Right now I’m watching condos and the library in Newcastle. I also follow the “progress” on several otherprojects such as the Alaska Way Viaduct, light rail to Bellevue, and the SR 520Floating Bridge.

· Makingfake Good-To-Go passes. These won’t workand if you get caught it can cost you a bundle. But the good news is I’ve yet to sell one, so don’t worry.

· Maintenanceof the machine: As I get older I find it takes more time and effort just tostay even. I take pills, exercise, andrub stuff on my skin. A sub-category isdealing with insurance which is a big waste of time.

· Takingcare of the house work: As a retired person with a working wife it’s my job toclean. That includes KP after meals. I like to eat out.

· Keepingup with the 21^st Century: I have a facebook page and a smartphone. Both have me baffled.

· Visitingthe woods: We have an old cabin in the mountains that we visit several times duringthe warm months. No phone orinternet. Three days is about all I canstand.

· Readingother blogs such as the Schoonover Farm and Wonkette. One keeps me up to date on the kid and theother teaches me new phrases. Veryentertaining.

· Watchingfootball: I don’t have a fantasy team and I don’t go to games. Too expensive. But I watch these overpaid prima donnas beateach other up on TV.

There: 27! See why Ican’t just list them on the spur of the moment? You would probably combine some of these into single hobbies and mydefinition of “hobby” is pretty loose, but you get the picture.

Boring Report - Let's Dig a Tunnel

2011-12-13T09:59:00.001-08:00

One important activity in Seattle right now iscomplaining. It’s one of many sitesacross the nation where people wander around complaining. It’s like a national sport without trophies.

Digging tunnels is another activity in Seattle. We have new sewage tunnels, light railtunnels, and tunnels where they store wine until its ready.

The State DOT (WashDOT) is replacing a part of Highway 99 inSeattle called the Alaska Way Viaduct. The replacement will be a tunnel. The old viaduct sustained damage in an earthquake and WashDOT realizedit might collapse when we have the next big one. Tunnels don’t have so far to fall.

The other big reason to replace the viaduct is that it annoyssome of the nearby property owners. Regularpeople want to live close to the city where the busses are free and so are someof the street people. That means a gooduse for many of the old buildings is conversion to condos. It’s hard to sell a condo if the view is justa noisy six lane highway. That’s lowrent stuff and not very attractive. Condos also get much higher property tax for the state.

Hundreds of thousands of cars use that corridor every monthso we can’t just tear it down and pass out good luck charms. If those cars went over to I-5 it would behorrible. We experience that from timeto time because they shut down the viaduct for inspections and damage repair.

I-5 runs under the convention center in downtown Seattle andnobody can figure out how to make the highway wider and still have conventions. I have an idea but nobody listens to me. It involves dynamite.

Back to Alaska Way. Many years before I was born, more than 10,000 years ago, Seattle wascovered in ice. I read someplace they thinkit was 3,000 feet thick here. That icecarried huge boulders, sand and gravel, dirt, and maple leaves from Canada andleft much of it in Seattle. The debrisincluded chunks of ice caught beneath the other stuff. When the surface ice melted this stuff wasleft behind. The buried chunks of icealso eventually melted and left voids. Some of those voids are still there.

Most of the lakes around the area were formed by ice gougingout depressions. The Seattle areaterrain was largely formed when the glaciers melted away. This is important when you want to dig atunnel. It’s also a nuisance when youwant to plant a flower.

Seattle has about 40 miles of tunnels. They first ones were dug over 120 yearsago. We like to dig tunnels. To dig an adequate tunnel years ago you neededa good sturdy shovel. They use powerful TunnelBoring Machines now. These are custombuilt to the diameter of the expected tunnel. They have carbide tipped teeth that are supposed to chew throughanything.

The conglomerate leftby the glaciers makes it a particular challenge. What if you crunch through a granite boulderright into one of those voids? What ifit’s still full of water? There are otherrisks as well. What if you punch intoone of the existing tunnels or an old abandoned well? What if the Governor shows up with her giantbulldozer? These are all questions theplanning team has to answer. Certainlynot me, I can hardly plan cereal for breakfast.

Tunnels in Seattle carry trains, cars and busses, water, gas,electricity, beer, and sewage. If theboring machine hits any of those it could delay the project for decades. Thus planning and testing are important. Already around town we’ve seen rigs pokingholes in the proposed path of the new tunnel to verify what might be downthere.

During the actual tunnel operation that Verizon guy will beyelling “Can you hear me now?” If anyonein the bus tunnel hears him then they have to back up and try again. Maybe they could get an iPhone and just askit. We at the Lake Boren Rapid TransitReport have many suggestions (actually Glen, the Lake Boren Carp) for how toavoid hitting existing tunnels. Iimagine WashDOT has its own suggestions. Theirs is probably “Don’t punch a hole in another tunnel.”

Another key tosuccessful tunneling is to make sure the TBM doesn’t get stuck. That’s what happened in the Brightwaterdischarge tunnel. The plant sits over inWoodinville and they want to run clean former sewage through the tunnel toPuget Sound. The plant has plenty ofcleaning processes so the waste water should be OK for the fish. Anyway, during the digging a machine gotstuck. They couldn’t move it anydirection now matter how hard they cussed. Finally a world class tunnel rat worked it out. Whew! Lucky for us that fiasco was hidden underground or we might have hadOccupy Brightwater.

One of the other characteristics of boring a big tunnel isthey need a huge staging area. They needto dig a big hole and assemble the boring machine down there. They need a place to pile up the tunnellining modules before hauling them into the tunnel. They need room for the muck they pull outbehind the TBM. That muck has to betrucked to Maple Valley. That means theyalso need room for big trucks to turn around, load up, and head out. There will be several construction trailers,big orange machines, and hundreds of feet of rented fence. That fence is to keep me out becauseotherwise I’d be right there watching.

The plan is to open the new tunnel in about 2006. We don’t think they’ll make it. But if we keep our fingers crossed they mightget started before summer. They’vealready torn down about a mile of the viaduct to make room for the huge stagingarea. The rented fence is everywhere. Everyone grab a shovel and come on out toSeattle and help out. It’s better than justpitching a tent and complaining about everything.

2011 Stumbling to a Close

2011-12-03T09:59:00.001-08:00

As a public service I’m going to provide a list of New Year’sResolutions. Later. As a preview: get a riding mower (unless youalready have one) and join a racing team.

First let’s review the year. Local municipal construction took abreak. They finally broke loose andbegan the Newcastle Library and the Lake Boren Condos.

Everyone in Bellevue fought the light rail plans. Some are against it because it gets too closeto their house. Some are against itbecause it’s too far from their house. Some don’t like it because they think cars are a much better way to getbig spenders into Bellevue Square. Others are against it because they just don’t like Bellevue. And everyone thinks it costs too much. So last month the plan was unanimouslyapproved. Pretty logical.

The Brightwater SewageTreatment project is wrapping up. Exceptthey now think there is too much capacity. Kind of a funny thing to say. Anyway, the point of the new plant was to provide sewage service to theurban expansion in the north King and south Snohomish county interior. Most of the Greater Newcastle Metropolitanarea near water has a pipe that takes care of stuff. Unlike Costa Rica where you can’t flushtoilet paper because it makes the sewer back up. Thus the project to take care of the hugefuture sewage problem is in question because the future has not yet arrived. More logic.

Lake Boren Park requires all pets to be on a leash. It’s part of the Newcastle leash law. The City Council has been discussing alocation for an official off-leash area for a long time. They (my understanding anyway) chose asection of the new sports park down by May Creek. It’s a big undeveloped area where they intendto build several ball fields and an ice rink or something. However, many pet owners use Lake Boren Parkto toss tennis balls to their unleashed pets. Many. Every time I go there I seedogs chasing tennis balls or squirrels. It’s not a priority for enforcement. What I don’t get is why the Council spends so much time talking about itwhen the citizens have already made their choice. More logic.

The Alaska Way Viaduct is scheduled to be replaced by atunnel. The tunnel will connect theexisting SR 99 near the stadiums and the existing tunnel up north. One expects the project to bore into the softunderbelly of Seattle and make a smoother commute. However, it seems that digging a tunnelrequires lots of closures of the existing viaduct. It’s above ground and normally tunnels gounderground. Oh, it turns out they needa huge space for the construction stuff. (Not the same “stuff” that goes to Brightwater.) So in order to get the big staging area theyneed to remove the southern mile of the existing viaduct and make abypass. Just a few weeksdisruption. But it trains drivers forwhat to expect when the viaduct finally closes for good. Clear?

On another front the SR 520 Floating Bridge is gettingtolls. They need to replace the bridgesince they think this one will sink in the next earthquake or an 80 MPHwind. Apparently it’s fragile. To afford the new one they need to collectmoney from people who use it. Starting lastspring. Except the company they hired toput the tolling system in place was suddenly swamped with contracts fromseveral other projects around the country. They had to rapidly expand in order to handle all the work and the newbieswere not up to speed. They think it’sall ready to go now and tolling will start before the end of the year. So here’s the plan: make people using thefragile old bridge pay a toll to sink it. One imagines that if you happen to be on the bridge when it sinks you’llget a refund. It’s the logic I like.

The Museum of Flight near Boeing Field is building a largehanger for the Space Shuttle full fuselage trainer. NASA has decided to give away the currentfleet to museums around the country. Seattle gets the trainer. It’sthe same size as a regular shuttle except it doesn’t have wings and it neverflew into space. Regular shuttles canfly on the back of a 747. NASA is takingit apart and hopes to ship it to Seattle in the “Super Guppy” cargo plane. That means NASA is shipping plywood fromTexas to Seattle where one of the main industries is lumber.

New Year’s Resolutions:

· Don’tsell your car yet because it’ll be another decade before Bellevue gets lightrail.

· Goahead and flush because we have enough sewage treatment capacity to handle itfor years to come. We might even takesome of Costa Rica’s.

· Throwtennis balls to Fido as much as you want. He’ll enjoy it.

· Keepaway from SR 99 and SR 520 for the next 15 years.

· Visitthe Museum of Flight often because it’s so big you won’t be able to see it allin one visit. Resolution for next year:visit again and see the full fuselage trainer.

· And,of course, get a riding mower and soup it up for racing. Replace the blade with a discus because whenyou flip it over you don’t want to hurt anyone.

Prediction:When the new SR 520 Floating Bridge opens they’ll have a parade of ridingmowers first over. You’ll be right therewith your 420 HP racer.

Lake Boren Upscale

2011-11-28T10:54:00.001-08:00

We here at the Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report are always onthe lookout for ways to keep you informed. The primary purpose is to remind everyone that we’re still on thejob. The secondary goal is to help youunderstand what’s going on with the grand plan for a Rapid Transit Center onthe shores of Lake Boren. Last ourpurpose is to make stuff up because the real news is just annoying.

Sound Transit and the Bellevue City Council have been arguingover the light rail route in Bellevue for years. In a stunning development the City Councilvoted unanimously to approve the Sound Transit plan. The main point of the agreement was thatnobody is happy. In other words thereason for the agreement is that everyone lost something.

We don’t need to get all in depth over it but the Evelyn Woodversion is that the route on Bellevue Way and 112^th annoys thelowest number of people. And those thatwould be most annoyed will have their houses purchased so they can move toNewcastle.

In Newcastle we’ll have a new library branch sometime nextfall. The steel frame is going up thatwill hold up the weed covered roof. Wewatched as they installed the cistern that will be used to water theweeds. Apparently the point is that alayer of dirt and live vegetation will provide adequate insulation for the mainpart of the library.

On the corner leading into the Safeway strip mall parkingarea and the street the library is on they erected stop lights. Just like a big city we’ll have a crosswalkand left turn arrow. For some reasoneverything is installed but the lights have not been activated.

Down the street some there’s a new condo growing out of theground that will have a commanding view of Lake Boren. During construction lulls one can look overthe trees and see another project on the far hillside. As a retired person I get to spend timewatching the projects slowly come to life. Nobody pays me so I don’t care if I waste time.

Meanwhile over in Bellevue we have this light rail agreementall approved and ready for the construction crews. Except for the legal issue about running thetracks on I-90. Several cities acrossthe country have installed these light rail systems and they run them alongsome of the streets taking up lanes where cars used to go. Here in the Greater Newcastle Metro Area wehave a street that was completely rebuilt to add transit down the middle andstill have two lanes going in each direction.

We don’t know for sure if any of those projects actually usean Interstate but I would bet some do. Idon’t go everywhere so I just don’t know. Maybe that’s a good project for me; go everywhere and inspect light railsystems. Would somebody pay me for that?

I like to ride the rail once in awhile and watch how thelocals behave. That part of town whereit goes down the street has a large population of people who don’t speakEnglish. Most of them speak these Asiandialects. Several are a little miffedthat the bus route they used to take to work has been discontinued and replacedby the light rail. You can see signsalong the way expressing miffness.

Bellevue has a completely different kind of neighborhood thatwill have a rail line running down the street. Most of those people don’t speak anything but English. And they speak it very loudly when youmention the light rail plan. Their signsare bigger, too.

To make their point these anti rail people have joined toform a protest group and their plan is to occupy Lake Boren. That’s right; they will pull up their hipboots and wade into the lake with signs in all languages. Glen will be furious.

One result (we hope) is that they will raise the water leveland make it drain faster into Boren Creek. When they are eventually evicted the lake will go way down and we cansee all the debris that’s been under water for years.

In the mean time architectural drawings of the palatial LakeBoren Rapid Transit Center are progressing. Plans call for a performing arts center, world class art museum, and adunk tank. At some point way out in thefuture we’ll have trains from all over Puget Sound running right throughNewcastle. By that time we’ll probablyhave a bullet train to Portland going. It’ll be amazing. The NewcastleCity Council will probably do something to mess up the plans but until then wecan dream of how wonderful it’ll be when it’s all finished in 2182.

A Veteran's Road Trip

2011-11-11T17:09:00.001-08:00

Long ago, before most of us were born, there were purportedto be massive sheets of ice covering most of Canada and some of the northerntier of the US, and Texas. There isample evidence to support this purportation.

The Pleistocene has lasted for about 2.5 million years,although many think it’s time has passed. Anyway one of the features of this epoch (yes, I used that work right)are the Ice Ages. Perhaps you’ve seenthe movie? There are those who wonder ifmaybe we’re just experiencing a lull between glaciations. These and other mysteries of the planet willbe resolved in my upcoming best seller: Al Explains Science!

Ice has an interesting tendency to melt and when it’s over3,000 feet thick it can produce a lot of water. Another thing the ice managed was to dam up valleys which in turn resultedin lakes. One such lake is calledGlacial Lake Missoula. There were many othersbut this one was a biggy.

J. Harlan Bretz long ago sometime last century suggested thata large portion of Eastern Washington had been visited by enormous floods. He pointed to thousands of artifacts thathave turned out to be evidence of such floods. At first he was concerned about mentioning this theory because he didn’tknow where the water came from. Hereasoned that glaciers were the source of the water but he also realized thatthe runoff would not have produced the kinds of forces he thought were requiredto do that much damage.

Later other scientists found water lines high on the hillsaround Missoula and realized that there was a lake there. That had to be the source of the greatflood. Evidence has also been foundwhich suggests it happened numerous times.

At this point you may wish to check this story foryourselves. I’ll wait. Take your time. Tumm Tee Tum Tum… See? Told ya.

And getting around to what this report is about; this week leadingup to Veteran’s Day we took off to visit the coulees of EasternWashington. Coulee is the name give todrainage channels and it is applied to many features in the area. The ice berg topped water from Montana roareddown across the basalt lava fields and cut channels. Some of the channels are quite deep. One is called Grand Coulee. It’s near the Grand Coulee Dam. That’s what runs my toaster.

We visited the Grand Coulee, Dry Falls, Lake Lenore Caves,and Banks Lake. These are even moreinteresting when you have some idea how they were formed. At the lower end of the Grand Coulee, nearQuincy, you can see a lot of basalt debris that was washed out of the couleesduring the floods. This is part ofHarlan’s evidence.

Quincy also has large Internet server installations. That’s because being near the Grand Coulee Damelectricity is cheap (actually they got cheap electricity because they boughtthe contracts from an old aluminum plants, but that’s yet another story for mybook). The other ample commodity iswater. Water is used to keep thecomputers cool. The dam has scads ofwater and eastern Washington farmers use it to raise billions of dollars incrops. It’s delivered in irrigationcanals and one runs right by Quincy. It’s an ideal spot for companies that need electricity and water inlarge amounts.

But that’s not the end of the trip.

We also visited Fairchild Air Force Base. Our intent was to see the B-52 that’sallegedly parked there and open to the public. Well, apparently the public is no longer welcome there. Since I’m part of the public I didn’t getpast the front gate. ApparentlyAmericans are a threat to America’s armed forces.

So we wandered down to a wildlife refuge. We saw one magpie. There were no deer or antelope, no ducks, nomoose, no bear, or anything else. Oh,there was a bus load of kids from a local school. Maybe there’s a connection.

We saw plenty of wildlife just about everywhere else. Deer seem to be gathering in groups of 8 or10. We also saw big horn sheep and aplastic owl. Lots of hawks, too.

We visited Spokane where we saw something called the Bowl andPitcher. I think I figured out thepitcher but not the bowl. Oh, well. What they are is great giant rocks in theSpokane River. They remind some peopleof the old bowl and pitcher that you find in museums depicting “pre-bathroom”bedrooms. When you first woke up youcould pour some water into the bowl for a shave. I guess, how would I know, I’m not a“pre-bathroom” person?

We drove up as far as we could on Mount Spokane. They ski there when the snow gets deepenough. It’s nice to visit snow and thenturn around and get away from it. Livingwith it all over the streets at home is not fun.

After the Spokane leg of the trip we returned westerly usinga route farther south in the state. Wesaw several of the lesser coulees and flood features. It’s very interesting when you know whatyou’re looking at. There are hawkseverywhere (except in the preserves). They’re after rodents that live near the irrigated agriculture. Good for the hawks.

The only wheat we saw was either already harvested or newlyplanted winter wheat. Seems like thereare more sheep and llamas than there used to be. And more deer. I can tell them apart mostly because deerhave bigger ears.

We arrived at a place in the Yakima Canyon called the CanyonRiver Ranch. You can see pictures if youcheck Google Images. They are in winterrates so it was inexpensive. We saw bighorn sheep and more deer.

Here’s a really boring tidbit: we stayed in three differentplaces. All three were arranged so thatthe bathroom was not next to the bedroom. One was downstairs and the other two were diagonally across the mainroom. OK, we stayed in “suites” whichare becoming more common among the motel set. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that even though it was a hike tothe bathroom there were no “bowl and pitchers” in the bedrooms.

On Veteran’s Day morning we checked the weather and theyexpected 8 to 10 inches of snow in the passes. So we packed up and came home. Onthe way home we stopped off at Applebee’s for a free Veteran’s Day meal. Red Robin is doing that too. Kind of nice of them.

One of the requirements to prove veteranship is a photo inuniform. I have a couple of those but Iwouldn’t want to let them out. I usedthe one of me crossing an un-named creek in South Viet Nam. It worked. There were lots of old persons there in VFW and Legion clothes and a fewactual military people in uniform. Verycrowded and yet a lot of fun. It was areally good burger, too.

Lake Boren Flood Report

2011-11-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Lake Boren is a nice little lake in glittering Newcastle, Washington. Over the years Glen, the Lake Boren carp, has worked hard to keep the lake level under control. Tirelessly, one might say. In 1996 Newcastle incorporated and as part of that they announced that the “city” was now responsible for control of the lake level.

That was easy to say since nobody at that time realized it might take a little effort. Water flows into the lake from the east and west. Water from the west is more of a trickle since storm drains take care of most of it. That’s because the contours of the land don’t result in a natural creek channel to the lake.

The east, however, has a natural contour that acts as a drain for a large portion of the hillside. It spills right into Lake Boren. That’s why Lake Boren Creek exits the south end of the lake and deposits the water into May Creek. Check Google Earth.

One of the benefits is Lake Boren is pretty clean most of the time. Until recently, that is. Now it turns brown and goopy during heavy winter rains. Apparently it also gets into yards where it never did before.

The problem is the hillside to the east has been extensively developed and more water finds its way into the drainage contour than before. The old forest used to soak up a lot of water. Now with houses, streets, and driveways more water runs down the hill. Add sprinkler systems and the occasional water balloon fight and it becomes a torrent. The golf course is also uphill from the lake and you know how much water that can produce.

Glen, the Lake Boren carp, has grown tired (remember tirelessly?) of doing work the city says it’s responsible for. He’s taken to traveling all over the world via the natural waterways to visit various pals, such as the Loch Ness Monster. This neglect has resulted in Lake Boren Creek becoming clogged with fallen trees and other stuff such as rocks and possibly silts. (Don’t ask me, Microsoft thinks silt should have an “s” on the end.)

Anyway, folks living on the shore have noticed that the water comes up more than it used to. Newcastle thinks King County used to dredge the creek to keep it open before it became the city’s problem. They didn’t see any reason to do that during all the Coal Creek Parkway construction. And now they’ve let the creek get clogged.

So far not too funny. Here’s where it gets fun. The city has hired an engineering consultant firm to tell them how to deal with the water. I didn’t know they were asking or I would have told them for nothing.

This high dollar consultant will do a topographic survey, hydraulic analysis, and wetlands delineation. Then prepare topographic, profile, and cross-section maps. It’ll cost about a year’s salary. That’s before any work gets done. We’ll see them hiking all over Newcastle with tons of high priced gadgets and tape measures. We’ll know who they are by the hip waders and water wings. It could take dozens of minutes or even an hour to figure out which way the water runs. Hint; it’s downhill.

The result will be a couple of big trees worth of paper. Everyone in Newcastle will get something in the mail, probably. The city council will get the final report and recommendation for extensive work. There will be culverts, retaining walls, weirs, wetlands mitigation, jailhouse windows, and plenty of truckloads of dirt going to and from Maple Valley.

Don’t ask me what some of those things are. Can you put a weir near a jailhouse window? These are technical questions we need the consultants to answer.

At strategic points along the process we’ll get the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife all involved. Yeah, right, the Newcastle News says they might be able to finish the whole project by next summer. With the corps and the fish people are involved it’ll add a year each.

The eventual alleged work could cost well over $100,000. Newcastle doesn’t have that kind of money. Or they could apologize to Glen and he’ll clean out the creek for nothing. Well maybe a few hundred pounds of fresh oysters.

Meanwhile over in Bellevue (motto: we can’t possibly get any bigger, can we? YES!). They’re looking at building a basketball arena for an NBA team. The Seattle area still holds the rights to the “Sonics” name so all we need is an arena and a team. Bellevue has plenty of areas where that can happen.

Bellevue also has kind of a confluence of freeways, except we’re going to get tolls on them at some point. Anyway, fans can get to the new arena. We also have bus service, Rapid Ride, and someday maybe light rail. In fact this kind of facility fits right into the grand plan for development in the Overlake area.

A large basketball arena would be the focal point for eats and shops. If they do it right people going to and from games would spend lots of money nearby.

Another kind of sport that can share the same arena is hockey. All you need to do is put refrigeration coils under the basketball floor and then flood it and freeze it. I hear there’s plenty of water available in Lake Boren.

A confederation of sports fans is proposing that we get the legislature to look at some kind of public funding package for the arena. Maybe they could hire those water consultants to draft a hydraulic analysis that includes using Lake Boren water for the ice. They would get rich. None of us could afford a ticket to a basketball game but we’d sure be proud of our fancy new arena. “Bellevue Sonics” has no charm or romance. Can you think of a better name? Submit your suggestions and win a free dinner at Gold Creek.

Al

Stamping Out the Postal Service

2011-10-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

Once in awhile we find ourselves in that situation where we need to send somebody a check or a birthday card or something. Wow! Another 44 cents out of the old bean money jar. And yet the post office says its going broke. Why is that?

Let’s look at a little history: In 1775 the Second Continental Congress decided that a Postmaster General should be appointed. Ben Franklin got the job. The task was to establish rates and deliver the mail. Simple enough. If people wanted to communicate farther than they could shout they sent a letter. The only other option was to get on the horse.

One of the main contributions of the post office in the US was transportation. At first they just carried mail around in saddle bags. Often these were attached to horses. Then the stagecoach, steamboat, railroad, automobile, bicycle, and airplane were used. These overlapped with each other and things like balloons and pneumatic tubes. Getting a mail contract financed transportation upgrades for many companies.

The railroads improved the pickup and delivery process because of their speed and reliability. A train could travel in weather that stopped other forms of transportation. They picked up a bag of mail at a little town and dropped off a bag. The new mail was sorted as the train went to the next town. The postage paid for it.

Along the way people figured out ways to scam the mail contracts. In 1914 the Post Office got permission to establish its own fleet of mail vehicles to reduce fraud and abuse by contract carriers. Many of those original jeeps are still dropping off mail at households across the country. Except in rural areas where the letter carrier uses the family Prius.

The Post Office has raised First Class Mail to 44 cents and it will probably go higher. Here’s the problem: First Class is the main source of revenue at the PO. All those catalogs, bills, and magazines just ride along when they deliver your first class mail. Notice anything in the last ten years or so? Along with all that other stuff you rarely get an actual full price letter. You can’t tell how much the other items cost but they aren’t 44 cents.

Sometime after the Nixon administration we got email. Now we can annoy hundreds of friends, relatives, and complete strangers whenever we want without paying any postage at all. Several email services are free. At least you think they’re free. You have to pay for access to the internet. That’s not free. It costs a lot more than stamps.

The Post Office should have seen the trend long ago when Al Gore invented the internet. Look what happened to package forwarding. The Post Office used to insist that all packages be wrapped in paper and tied with string. Remember that? Then suddenly along came some private package companies and they didn’t need the string. Just tape ‘er up and let ‘er go. The PO decided that was OK because they saw their business eroding.

The package companies provided several improvements that the PO later adopted or ignored depending on what short sighted nimrod was in charge. Things were dicey for awhile until the PO found they could save by providing slower service. Oh, and not as reliable. That’s when they changed their name to “Postal Service.”

But they still refused to see how the new process of communication among individuals could possibly be of interest to them. USPS was losing its main source of revenue to email. They were propped up by congress but the law says they have to pay their way.

FedEx and UPS are doing the bulk of package hauling and the internet is doing the bulk of individual letters. The trend now is electronic bill paying. I don’t write checks any more. I get an email that says I owe my bookie some money (dang Colts are costing me a bundle) and I log on to my bank and tell them to pay the slime. The money is transferred electronically.

For those who don’t understand how money can be transferred electronically think of your toaster. When you stick a slice of bread in and punch the lever down the Grand Coulee Dam sends electricity to the toaster. At some point the bread pops up and it turns out to be toast. See the banks do the same thing: your bank stuffs your money into a thing that looks like a toaster and it pops up at the bookie’s bank as toast. Feel free to use this analogy to explain the internet to your friends. Send a thank you email to the Grand Coulee Dam.

The result is the Postal Service is losing money. They can’t continue delivering junk mail to every mailbox in America six days a week. We just load it into our recycle cans. They take it to the paper mill where it’s made into new paper. Then someone prints more junk on it and the postman/woman puts it back in your mailbox. What could be simpler?

That’s what I’m here for: tell you what could be simpler. Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, suggested the PO just hand over the whole thing to the garbage companies. They show up once a week to empty your cans and fill up your mailbox. After all they go around to every home just like the letter carrier. Just not as often.

Another suggestion is to turn it all over to the private package forwarding people. We each choose our preferred company such as; UPS, FedEx, DHL, whatever, and then we choose our frequency. Maybe I want FedEx to bring my mail twice a week. I pay a monthly fee (electronically) and they do all the work. Seems simple enough. The big companies would take over the Post Office sorting and distribution centers. They might contract the Postal Service to do that part. What could possibly go wrong?

Another tactic would be to simply reduce the number of deliveries from six per week to two or three. But that still doesn’t address the real issue. We need to stop the junk mail, recycle, and back to junk mail cycle. We should be able to opt out. Some places are doing that with phone books. You get on the web and choose which ones you want or don’t want. You should also be able to choose only those ads that pertain to places you shop. And you can tell political parties ONE flyer per candidate or issue, not 17. Every day I get something in the mail telling me to vote for someone after I’ve already sent in my ballot. Just stop it.

Next you need to get an iPad or Kindle Fire or one of the lesser brands and get your magazines on it. You don’t really need paper magazines with all those cards falling out. Since your toaster is already connected to Grand Coulee Dam you just plug in your Kindle at night and in the morning you have a new magazine to read. Poof the PO problem is solved.

Once again the Post Office improves transportation: reduce the number of little jeeps delivering mail, reduce the number of big trucks picking up your recycle bin, and save you the trouble of running to the super market to get the latest Enquirer issue.

You’re welcome!

Al

Decisions to be Made Later

2011-10-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

The Alaska Way Viaduct is partly coming down. That roadway that’s been in danger of falling into Elliott Bay during an earthquake since sometime last century is finally getting some attention. The mayor of Seattle, Miker the biker, has been advocating we replace the viaduct with… nothing.

That’s right; a 6 lane state highway just goes away. We can handle the traffic on city streets if everyone rides bikes to work. To help get the point across the parking fees have been rising like Godzilla from the bay and fines have gone bonkers as well.

The main theme is to prevent cars from entering the city of Seattle. Get rid of roads and substantially increase parking costs. Don’t replace the SR 520 Bridge either. Now if we can get that sweet $4.00 gas back we’d have the perfect storm to ban cars from Seattle.

Here’s how it’s really going: The south mile of the viaduct is being removed (Christine’s big orange machine) to make way for the tunnel construction. That means they have to close the whole thing until they finish the new on-ramps that will be out of the way of the tunnel construction. WashDOT is doing that to help Seattle voters get a feel for how nice it would be if there was no replacement for the viaduct.

The tunnel project is also a seawall project. Long ago, back when Seattle was wealthy from the Alaska Gold Rush bucks they decided the place was a little too hilly. So they got some steam shovels and big water cannons and leveled it out some. It’s still hilly but not so much. We call it the “Denny Regrade” area but most people (like Mayor Mike) probably don’t remember why we call it that. Denny was one of the Seattle pioneers along with a fellow named Boren, among others.

Anyway, the result of that old leveling project is that most of the soil on the waterfront is not as stable as it should be. They also built a seawall to keep Elliot Bay from reclaiming its old shoreline. That seawall can’t possibly hold the salt water out and the fill dirt in once the tunnel is dug. That’s why the tunnel project includes a seawall.

The tunnel boring machine has finally been extracted from the Bright Water Sewage Treatment tunnel so it’s time to start digging the new road. You’d think somebody would get the idea that we need more than one tunnel boring machine. Do I have to think of everything?

During this nine day closure Seattle traffic is really backing up. I know people who left for work Monday morning and haven’t been seen since. The backups extend to Portland.

There are different issues in Bellevue. Sound Transit has gotten approval to extend light rail over Lake Washington into Bellevue. The plan says they replace the I-90 reversible HOV lanes with light rail. As mitigation they intend to add another lane each way to the general purpose decks so car pools and busses can squeak by. That might actually be an improvement since right now the reverse commute direction gets backed up.

In order to get light rail into downtown they need to build the tracks somewhere. This is the issue. Nobody wants the trains near them. One plan was to use the old BNSF corridor that parallels I-405. But the folks who live in condos along the route are very much opposed to that plan and it adds distance. The other route is to head up Bellevue Way and then 112th to Main Street. That puts it in several dozen back yards. And a bunch of front yards.

Neither of these routes is acceptable. A third alternative was to cross diagonally over the Bellefields Wetland area. That won’t even get off the ground. Don’t mess with the muskrats and their pals.

Then to further confuse the issue somebody suggested that Sound Transit just buy a whole bunch of homes and use that as their route into downtown. The suggestion included elevating the track so that it reaches Main Street at the hilltop and would not require a tunnel. It would just run up 108th to the Transit Center. That opened a whole nother can of worms because everyone had already agreed that a surface route in downtown Bellevue just won’t work. I love these brilliant people!

What the Bellevue City Council wants is time. They can’t agree with each other or with Sound Transit. They hired a consulting firm to study the routes and explain the best choice. That was to be delivered long after Sound Transit decided a route and began design work. Whoa, give us more time to muddy the waters and find even worse proposals.

Then along comes the big shopping center owner who doesn’t want light rail in Bellevue at all. We don’t know why this dude is so set against the prospect of rapid transit but he’s got plenty of doubletalk to go with it.

At one point he filed a suit claiming Sound Transit can’t use the I-90 HOV lanes for light rail since it was built with gas tax money. Gas tax can only be used to build roadways so this hair is being split as well. The courts have made rulings but nobody understands what they said. So it’s still in the courts somewhere but we lost track of it. I think some judge in Moses Lake has it right now and its huntin’ season so no action.

Along comes short sighted Tim who puts out an initiative to fog up the tolling plans WashDOT has worked so hard on. This is about the SR 520 Floating Bridge that’s in serious danger of sinking in an earthquake. They want to help finance a replacement with tolls. It’ll all be automated so drivers won’t have to stop at a toll booth. They started tolling last spring, no last summer, no maybe September, no maybe Christmas. We don’t know.

The point Tim is trying to make is that you can’t have “unelected” officials setting tolls. He wants the legislature to set tolls. Right, they can’t tie their own shoes. And just to get the shopping center guy on board the initiative includes a provision that would deny Sound Transit use of the I-90 Bridge. Are we confused yet? Does this lead anywhere? Well guess what? The Bellevue City Council had a hearing on the tolling initiative and took a vote. The decision was to study it longer because they can’t make a decision. Hire another consultant and make sure the due date is after the election. Oh, and you can’t add tolling to the I-90 Bridge either. Everyone is worried that if we ever get SR 520 tolls going that drivers will use I-90 which is “free.” So we just toll I-90 and that will even out the traffic flow on the only two routes over Lake Washington.

Here’s my solution: elect somebody else. City councils that can’t make decisions are not what we need. I just looked at my ballot for November. Sheesh! Guess who gets my write in vote for king of all Puget Sound transportation? Glen, the Lake Boren Carp!

Al

Hotel Basements with Light Rail

2011-05-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

Light Rail will eventually come to Bellevue. We just don’t know where yet. But it keeps getting narrowed down.

The great and powerful of Bellevue’s business leaders (OK mostly just the one guy) filed a suit to try and stop the light rail from using the I-90 Express Lanes. That failed. When they built the highway they had that as part of a contingency plan. Using that plan Sound Transit purchased the express lanes from WSDOT during the Truman administration. So when the judge woke up during final arguments there was a great yawn. The ruling handed down went something like this: “Sound Transit already owns those lanes so there’s no issue.”

We here at Lake Boren Rapid Transit HQ applaud this ruling. But why couldn’t we get it months ago instead of going through all the motions? By the way, we applaud the ruling because it keeps the entertainment going.

Also months ago (it’s like watching a glacier) the Bellevue City Council hired a consultant to evaluate alternate routes. They don’t agree with the route Sound Transit has chosen but they’re confused about the costs and benefits of the alternatives. So “spend more money” is standard answer.

Several other powerful business leaders sent a letter to the Bellevue City Council telling them to get over their bickering and work with Sound Transit. Their point is it’s important to get the project going and all these delays just add cost and put off eventual benefits.

Sound Transit wants to hang a left off I-90 and head into Bellevue via Bellevue Way and 112th to Main Street. At Main they dive underground. Well it’s not really a dive so much as digging into the hillside. Bellevue agrees with the tunnel part, although there’s no boring money.

The problem is Bellevue doesn’t like giving up street space. The neighbors are complaining about the noise. They want to use the old BNSF corridor and somehow cut across Mercer Slough Nature Park. You need to get Google Maps to show this. MSNP (I can do it too) is a wetland full of peat and other waterlogged ground. It’s against the rules of nature to build railroads in places like this. BNSF is between 118th and I-405.

No matter which alternative gets chosen some folks will be evicted. Others will have commuter rail close to home. They assume neighbors will naturally use the light rail if it’s in the front yard. That allows them to claim 45,000 riders a day. I never learned this kind of math in school. These people must have gone to some management school where facts are what you say they are.

Ouch, that seemed a little grouchy. Let me see, where is this leading? Oh, yeah, once they’ve torn down a bunch of peoples’ houses and crossed over a protected wetland they get near Main Street. If the line is running up 112th Avenue NE they make a sharp turn and go underground right there at Main Street. However, if it’s meandering around in the Mercer Slough Nature Park there are a few things in the way before it gets there. Things like the Red Lion and Sheraton Hotels. These are large outfits.

My vision is that they just run the trains through the lobbies. There’s your riders right there. Travelers would put on a nice pin striped hotel terry robe and grab toast and coffee in the lobby café and then step on the train for a ride to the business meeting. No need for all that formal stuff, like getting dressed and waiting outside for the limo.

The study shows the numbers are not too different if you just use percentage. A little more cost here, a few more displaced citizens there, about the same to build in the peat bog as on a busy street. The main issue is the folks at Red Lion and Sheraton might get annoyed. But that’s what consultants are for. We’ll just add a footnote that says something about hotels more than 20 years old are pretty much ready for destruction anyway. Who knows, they’re the experts? Why should I solve all the problems?

Speaking of solving problems, I think the best way to deal with it is to just stay on the freeways. It’s already noisy there. Looking at the map again you can see that the line on I-90 gets right close to I-405. Just make the turn and head north on I-405. That eliminates all the noise issues along Bellevue Way and the condos along 118th which is the other noise sensitive area.

There’s a section of I-405 where the north and south lanes get separated. Use that as the tunnel entrance. Dive underground and head toward Main Street and just connect to the unfunded downtown tunnel. The only thing above ground would be parking garages.

You could have “hotel” stations where visitors in the Sheraton and Red Lion could just hop an elevator and drop down to the light rail. That would make Bellevue seem more like a big city. Fancy underground hotel stations, each with its own Starbuck's. But the point is we get this noisy thing below ground and that makes everyone happy. Let’s see, is there anyone out there that might get upset over this? Yeah, only those 45,000 daily riders and maybe a few taxpayers when they find out they have to pay for it. I don’t see a down side.

Al

Washing Up in the Sink

2011-05-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well I’ve been suffering from writer’s cramp. Basically all my subjects are in stagnation. SR 520 Floating Bridge: tolling delayed but nothing else going on; Alaska Way Viaduct: Stupid mayor still trying to obstruct but neither side actually doing anything; Light Rail in Bellevue: City Council still squabbling and nobody has changed sides; Newcastle Library: still digging the foundation, nothing above ground yet.

And that’s about how most everything is going right now. One thing that’s changed is the price of gas: that $4 gas is about the best running stuff yet; I can’t wait to get below a quarter tank again so I can get me some more of that sweet, smooth runnin’ gas.

Therefore the Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report will attempt to give advice. The benefit of giving advice in a blog is that you don’t have to listen to anyone who doesn’t want advice.

Here’s my advice: get a riding mower – those things are so cool. You don’t need a lawn, just go drive it around the local park. Wait, no, that’s not it. The advice is “get a new bathroom sink.” But you need to follow these steps to maximize the fun:

First order a sink on the internet. Its best if the sink is not the right one for your bathroom. Find a cheap sink and order it.

Second get a really expensive faucet set since the current set is not compatible with your cheap new sink. This is a crucial step. If you don’t do these first two the rest is not much of an adventure.

Third take out the old sink and make sure it leaves the premises – recycle, Goodwill, dump, whatever. Just make sure you can’t use it again.

Forth you discover the random sink you bought on the internet won’t fit the hole where the old sink was. Act annoyed for several hours.

These next steps may not have to be in any particular order since you’ve already made it past the point of no return.

Contemplate the idea of rebuilding the bathroom countertop to fit the new sink. This is because the expensive faucet set you bought has passed the 30 day return period so now you really have to use it.

Discard the idea of rebuilding the countertop. This is just wise.

Sleep on it and use the other bathroom. You do have more than one, right? If not why did you mess up your one bathroom? Call a professional.

OK, now you’ve slept on it and the result is that precious faucet set is your biggest investment in the sink project and it’s pretty critical that you use it. So how do we do that with the lowest cost? That’s now the pacing item, as we used to say at work.

Brilliant idea at 3:00 am! Buy a new cheap sink that fits both the existing countertop hole and the new platinum faucet set. What a great idea! The key here is that a new sink is still a fraction the cost of that faucet set so this plan is the lowest cost alternative. And it achieves the original goal of getting a new bathroom sink.

The next steps involve a lot of labor and cussing. We’ve all done this so I won’t bore you. The result is a great new sink with a really snazzy faucet set and the same old countertop that really looks cool with the new sink. What a great job. It only cost double the original plan not counting that expensive faucet set (that we won’t mention the cost of).

Well, another job well done. Until somebody reminds me there’s a perfectly good new sink sitting in the guest bedroom closet. Oh, right, now we have an extra sink. How does one deal with that?

Here’s an idea: we have a summer place (rich people have these too, but we’re only “acting” rich; it’s not really ours). Wow this saga is not over. What great news. I’m still under 700 words and I’m aiming for 1000.

A long time ago the actual summer place owners added a bathroom. As a gesture of goodwill (that word again) we contributed a sink. Completely different type. It has legs and a way to hook it to the wall so it didn’t need a countertop. Well, before it got to the summer place somebody dropped it and it broke. No problem, that’s what they invented epoxy for. By the time I saw the sink again it was ready to be installed but had some really ugly epoxy seems. Imagine my surprise!

Well, amazingly it still holds water and the installation went according to the form book, as Bertie Wooster used to say. So we’ve had a broken bathroom sink in that summer place for a quarter century. Brilliant idea: since we now have an extra sink at home why not replace the epoxy laden sink?

But it requires a countertop. It’s not the kind you hook to a wall and support on a couple of legs. No problem! I just get a chunk of laminate and a little plywood and build a countertop. I can do that standing on my head, as Bertie Wooster also used to say. Bertie had a lot of cool sayings.

All I need to do is visit the local Ace and pick up a few things and poof we have a new sink in the summer place. How hard can that be?

Well, it turns out that here in the glittering Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Area you can’t get a small sink top size laminate (some of us call it Formica). It comes eight feet long. What am I going to do with the other six feet of For, (sorry) laminate? Maybe I can… no that makes a small project into a major project probably consuming my whole summer. I’m a busy man; I’m retired so I don’t have a lot of free time like when I was working.

In addition we have a heater under the sink because there’s no central heating. We need to make sure the countertop is fireproof. This means I can’t just slap a laminate on plywood. More complication and costs.

After discovering all this and before actually buying any materials I decided to see if there was a faucet set that could fit somebody’s budget that would also match the wrong sink I bought several months ago. Here’s the show stopper – nothing that fits that sink can be had for less than the cost of a brick of gold. Wait, that’s how we got into this fix.

Here’s our decision: (This is why everyone respects us from coast to coast and border to border.) We decided that the whole project would benefit from abandonment. Give the damn sink to the Goodwill and quit trying to fit that cheap-ass sink into places that cost an arm and a leg! The sink was cheap. Getting it installed is the cost generator. So that’s the advice from the Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report: If at first you run into a roadblock don’t defy the Revenuers just quit the moonshine business and do something more fun.

Al

Sound Transit Off Leash

2011-02-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Lake Boren Park and Rapid Transit (Do Not Enter)

Here in lala land, better known as the Newcastle/Bellevue area, we have a strict policy against dogs without leashes. Nominally the leash is also attached to a person. This is optional.

In order to alleviate this tethered person/dog scenario some of our parks have what’re known as “off leash” areas. Have you seen one of these? It’s interesting to see how some of these person/dog relationships are still in the stage where leadership is in question.

Newcastle has this wonderful grass covered area on the shore of Lake Boren called Lake Boren Park. Many people visit the park with a dog and a tennis ball throwing stick. The dogs are unleashed and spend quality time training their owners to throw tennis balls. There are little parking meter like stands where a person can get a little plastic bag. Dog owners know what to do with the little plastic bag.

The city council has this dream of installing an actual official “off leash” area in a Newcastle park. They finally made a decision about which park will get it. The newspaper claims they gave a “green light” to a dog park. How did they get “green light” when we’re talking about dogs and leashes? Oh, sorry, they just meant the council finally made a decision. Well I guess if you really need to save ink “green light” has fewer letters than “finally made a decision.”

There is also a group of Newcastle citizens called “Folks Loving (Etcetera) the Canine Heart” or something like that. Their nickname is F.L.E.T.C.H. They’re local vocal advocates for the off leash area. Apparently it costs about $25,000 to set up an “off leash” area. The Fletchers say they have no intention of contributing any funds to the project. Their only purpose is to make it clear they want an area where they can chase Fido with a little plastic bag without being arrested for a leash violation. For free.

Now the City Council is looking for funding. The approved (green light) plan is to put it in the undeveloped sports park down on Southeast 95th Way. Checking a map we discover its south of the May Creek Bridge. That’s right next to Renton. Renton has its own off leash area. It’s called “Renton.” So it should fit right in.

Meanwhile people in Newcastle will continue to use Lake Boren Park pretty much without concern since the police department is busy. Too much real crime, such as “failure to use a little plastic bag” to watch Fletchers learn how to throw tennis balls to loose dogs.

Meanwhile Bellevue Fletcher groups have been visiting the Bellevue City Council with a never ending stream of route proposals for light rail. The latest one involves placing the tracks in residential front yards along the west side of the street. In order to do that they would have to buy the properties. The people have stated they want to sell out. They want to live in Newcastle where light rail is at least 100 years away. And the off leash area is in Renton.

The process for advancing proposals to cities is to form some kind of Fletcher group that has a fun but official sounding name. The group has a number of meetings to formulate the proposal. I assume the membership changes rapidly until they agree on something. The key person who came up with the idea remains leader of the group and becomes the spokesperson at the council meeting. The others are the cheering squad.

The west side front yard proposal came from a Fletcher who has an interest in the businesses along the east side of the street. Across the street in those residential front yards is a much better placement. They apparently went door to door getting each owner to agree that they’d like to sell out and move. That must have been interesting. I wonder if it involved little plastic bags.

I’m going to form a group of Fletchers and propose the Bellevue route be relocated to Renton. They just split off Martin Luther King Jr. Way at the I-5 overpass on and head over the hill into Renton. Then run up from Renton along the old BNSF line to I-90. (Refer to your map to see how smart this is.) From there it’s up to which group of Fletchers Sound Transit and Bellevue decide has the best route through Bellevue. Have you seen the benefit of my idea? No need to mess with I-90.

Did you know that if you stand on the west end of I-90 in Seattle and close your eyes you can almost see all the way to Boston? That’s because standing on I-90 with your eyes closed is pretty much the last thing you’ll ever do. Some Fletcher will run over you.

Al

Sound Transit Testing Link Train in Lake Boren

The Future of High Speed Travel

2011-02-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

Most of us earth bound humans travel someplace during our lives. There are many ways to do that. Most of us have some kind of personal vehicle or a bus pass for nearby destinations. If it’s a long way off we generally fly. There are also boats, trains, cannons (if you belong to the circus), motorcycles, bicycles, Segways, and Areocars, to name a few.

Now let’s look into the future. Time Magazine (Feb 21, 2011) has a story about a group of people who developed a theory they call “Singularity.” The definition is “the moment when technological change becomes so rapid and profound; it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history.” Basically the time when computers are smarter than us.

I think its Moore’s Law that says the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on a circuit board doubles every two years. As we develop faster and faster processors and smaller memory chips the pace of change is also getting faster.

What the singularity guys are saying is that at some point not too far away (they mention 2045) computing power will surpass that of all human brains. At my house that was around 1994. OK, my wife is still much smarter than computers, but not me.

Another near magical development in the fabric of development (see, I told you I wasn’t very smart) is telecommuting. Sort of a high tech way to phone it in. This also is evolving. As internet speeds increase and more data can travel over the networks we can get more and more realistic as a fake presence. Right now we can sit in front of a computer in any location (with fast broadband) and talk to another person as if you’re in the same room. That person’s image is on your screen and your image is on their screen. You both speak in normal tones and you may forget you’re 3000 miles apart.

Companies are making portable robots whose function is to go to meetings for you. One is from a company called vgo Communications. It has a camera and a monitor on top and wheels, battery, and other works on the floor. It can move around. If you and another person each have one of those you just sit in front of it and have a discussion. Try to comb that mop before you make the connection.

Since it wheels around it can attend meetings almost like a person. Better, actually, because it’ll be on time. It can roll down the hall to another room, ride the elevator, take a lunch break, or several can gather in the broom closet and plot against the humans.

The name for this modern meeting attendance is “telepresence.” The robot carries on in meetings just as if you are there in person. For added fun you can make a video of yourself looking interested and then just play it in a loop so the folks in the meeting can’t see you making funny faces. If the people in the meeting don’t want the person 3000 miles away to see a stupid pie chart they just throw a towel over the robot.

Telepresence technology is a substitute to travel. As I said there are several companies making telepresence devices. They’re working very hard to simulate actually being there. They have conference rooms that are duplicated in all the locations with people who work together. The room has a round table that’s actually only half a table. The other half is a segmented video screen. When the meeting is going on people at the tables in many locations have the visual illusion they are all at the same table.

OK, now combine this telepresence technology and its evolution with the idea if Singularity and what have you got? That’s right! Nobody goes anywhere. We all have a camera mounted on a harness that hovers a few feet in front of our faces and someplace below that we have a screen. Since everyone has this we can virtually visit anyone at any time. There may be a few issues with the concept. If computers are so smart let them work out the issues. Why should I waste energy thinking when pretty soon that can be done for me?

The next step is even more illogical: humans become robots. The theory is that as artificial intelligence and computing power reach that Singularity thing we humans won’t be any smarter or better looking than we are today. In fact some of us may even look a little older. But if you want to continue living beyond the capability of your human body you just merge with a robot. Your body is no longer the vessel that carries you around. That Segway you bought becomes obsolete because your new robot body is even cooler.

Besides robots don’t eat anything, don’t need air or water, and would have a programmable sleep mode. All kinds of benefits. Here’s one to think about: space travel. First you get a bunch of people who have major curiosity about space. You convince them it would be a good idea to merge with robots and abandon those bodies that take so much maintenance. Load the robot/humans on a space ship and tell them to have a good rest. A few hundred light years away they arrive at a different planet that’s still inhabited by dinosaurs.

Or maybe we’ve been visited by robot beings from another planet and don’t even know it. Maybe they reached the Singularity point millions of years ago and their whole population eventually merged with robots until there weren’t any live beings left. Then their super brains figured out that their planet was on its last legs and they lit out in all directions to find new places to live. Sound familiar? Anyone have Kryptonite?

They wouldn’t need to carry food, water, air, or anything else but an propulsion energy source. Maybe some of those robots landed here. Think about it. Maybe you have a better explanation for the pyramids. (Hint; they weren’t built by Hebrew slaves)

One of the more timely benefits of the evolving computing power and telepresence is a reduction in our need to make arduous journeys. Lots of us still want to go on vacations and visit relatives and have fun. That’s just fine, go and have a good time. But who wants to fly overnight to Chicago for a 7 AM business meeting and fly back to the office for a 1 PM meeting with some dweeb who doesn’t show up because he’s flying to Dallas for a meeting that you should also attend? Everyone gets a good night’s sleep and then connects via telepresence and takes care of business.

Who needs high speed rail when we can have light speed virtual images? Just think, in 1910 cities had a spider web of streetcar tracks. 100 years later we’re spending billions to replace those tracks that we spent so much tearing up. I think 100 years from now we’ll again be without rails in our cities. Write this in your calendar and check on it in 100 years. Your robot will be amazed that I was right.

Oh, and just in case: keep your electrical outlets covered.

Al

How do You Make Water Bright?

2011-02-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

Are you like me? Do you like sewage? Neither do I. Well our close personal friends over at King County (Motto: “Send us your money, please”) are helping to fix the problem. Apparently the problem they want to fix is too many of us flushing in the North King and South Snohomish county area. Please wait until 2012.

The fix is to construct a giant sewage treatment plant. Somebody decided “Brightwater” is a good name for it. “Brownwater” got fewer votes, along with “Dirtywater,” “Lifelesswater,” and “Smellywater.” The suggestions were many and the voting was lively. http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/North/Brightwater.aspx

Check the link if you think I’m kidding about the project. I have no idea how they really chose that name. Maybe they think once the water’s cleaned it’ll brighten up Puget Sound. Who knows?

Anyway, the project will be complete long before either the SR 520 Bridge replacement or the Alaska Way Viaduct replacement. That’s because this is a King County project and nobody messes with the King. Those other two are urgent and critical but then what’s more urgent than finally getting to flush?

Here’s the plan in a nutshell in case you don’t have time to read all the double talk on the web page. They take 114 acres that used to be auto wrecking yards and build a giant sewage treatment plant – a long way from Puget Sound. The actual plant only takes about 43 acres and the rest is PC area. Wetlands, habitats, trails, woods, etc. In other words don’t offend anyone. But it used to be auto wrecking yards so how much mitigation do we need?

Another large part of the project is what we call “tunnels.” People don’t normally like their sewage in open canals and they don’t even like big pipes on the surface. So put that stuff underground in very secure pipes.

They hired this tunnel boring machine and hollowed out several miles of dirt. These are lined with concrete to keep dirt from falling back into the tunnel. See in this area we had glaciers many years ago that left large quantities of gravel and loose rock and only a little actual dirt. So don’t look for the material being removed from these tunnels to go into your gardens. Maybe somebody in Maple Valley will wash the rocks and sell them for landscaping. Hang on a sec, I want to make a quick phone call.

OK, I’m back now. No, I can’t make a fortune washing rocks in Maple Valley.

Inside the tunnels they’re building pipelines that will bring the bad water into the plant and then send the bright water out to Puget Sound. Two way tunnels, what a great idea. Basically what they do is de-color the water so the fish won’t be offended. Maybe there’s more to it than that. It’s not my job to understand what goes on in those places. I just don’t know.

What I do understand is that running these pipes inside concrete lined tunnels provides good access. That way if they ever get a leak or somebody wants to add a connection they won’t have to spend all kinds of money digging up the pipes. They just walk into the tunnel, turn a few valves, and take care of the issue. Maybe a couple of hours tops.

Now we have these tunnels done. The boring machine has been hauled out and it’s just sitting there by I-405 not doing anything. What could we do with it? I know! We can move it to Bellevue and dig tunnels for the light rail. Start somewhere on Mercer Island and just keep going down in a general east and north direction. Add a few surface stations along the way so people can lower themselves to the trains. As long as it gets under all the utilities and waterways we should be OK.

Next make sure it gets under downtown Bellevue so that any foundation cracks in those high rise towers can be blamed on Sound Transit. The rest is simple. This eliminates the argument about where to lay the tracks from I-90 to downtown Bellevue.

Even better: Maybe we could start the tunnel over in Seattle. We could have waterproof tubes running about 100 feet below the surface of Lake Washington. The salmon would love it.

That would remove the issue about using the I-90 express lanes too. I don’t know how much I’ll get for this brilliant idea, but it should be a fortune. Don’t worry, I’ll share.

Wait, I got off the subject back there somewhere. Let me see…….. Oh, yeah!

We currently have two other sewage treatment plants operating in King County. One is on the shore of Puget Sound not too far north of downtown Seattle. That gives it direct access to send the “bright” water way out into the sound. The other one is located in Renton. That’s right, Renton. No surprise there. It dumps into the Green River which becomes the Duwamish right about the same place. What a coincidence.

The Duwamish River meanders through mostly industrial area on its way to Elliott Bay and then into Puget Sound. It gets mixed with the salt water.

Once Brightwater is on line it’ll also be releasing into Puget Sound. We have pods of killer whales out there and if the water isn’t bright enough they’ll be annoyed. They’re not called “killer whales” because of their cheerful smiles. The state runs ferry boats full of tasty people back and forth across Puget Sound. We don’t want the killer whales annoyed so rest assured these three plants will only let clean bright water out there. What could possibly go wrong? I wonder if we could get a cable stay bridge out if this somehow.

Al

Link Light Rail not on Eastside

2011-02-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

We have grand plans to run the LINK Light Rail on the express lanes of I-90 from Seattle to Bellevue via Mercer Island. Once in Bellevue it’s supposed to turn left and head downtown to a fancy tunnel under the main office towers. Riders will have a space age underground station with elevators and everything. To save money they might opt for rope ladders but that’s still in negotiation.

Please refer to a map of Seattle/Bellevue in your handy Rand McNally. Upon leaving the downtown Bellevue tunnel the track will meander across I-405 somehow and follow a fun path through the Bell-Red area eventually to Redmond. Microsoft awaits. In about 2100 people will be able to ride a light rail all the way from Sea Tac International Airport to Redmond. How wonderful. We’ll have flying cars by then so the trains will be empty.

Here’s where we are today. Some important folks in Mercer Island and Bellevue have filed a suit to prevent the use of I-90 for light rail. The point they make is that we paid for the I-90 corridor with gas tax money and Washington State Law says you can’t use gas tax money for anything but roads.

The other side is interpreting the law to mean general transportation not specifically limited to rubber tire vehicles. This is being decided by the Washington State Supreme Court. Those guys. Anything that annoys the most people is pretty much what guides their decisions. The biggest trouble is figuring out what would annoy the most people in this case.

Lake Washington is a big gouge in the earth made during the last Ice Age. It’s very wide and very deep. We only have two bridge routes over the lake. Both are floating bridges because of the challenges. One is SR 520 and the other is I-90. The alternatives are going north or south around the lake. What a choice: you either face Bothell or Renton. Might as well stay home and telecommute.

It’s fairly certain we’ll have mandatory tolling on the SR 520 (Evergreen Point) Bridge very soon. We don’t know how many drivers will switch to I-90. Maybe lots. That means I-90 will get even more crowded. WashDOT says they expect drivers to sort out which route they can stand in a few weeks. If I-90 gets too bad they’ll try to figure out what to do next. Probably make people pay tolls on I-90 too. Again, might as well stay home.

Construction of a light rail will naturally take away at least one general purpose lane in addition to the express lanes on I-90. Construction crews need lots of room and they can’t share. So instead of five lanes into Seattle in the morning and five lanes out in the evening we’ll have two during construction. They promised us they would add a lane each way on the existing bridges. Budget cuts will prevent that as well.

Mercer Island is in the way. Once the glacier melted the original Americans found it hard to get across the lake so they began a project to dump lots of dirt and rocks so they could get over the lake without going via Renton or Bothell. It’s a landfill. Now people actually live there for reasons I have not yet determined. But I-90 uses it. Thus the light rail corridor would also use it.

The result of all this is nobody knows if we’ll get the tracks will get across the lake.

The other problem is Bellevue. There’s a heated debate over the route from I-90 into downtown. One plan has it run along, or possibly on, Bellevue Way. Currently that’s one of the main road connections from I-90 to downtown. Not during construction.

The other proposed route is to use the former railroad bed along I-405. In order to accommodate that route a brand new parking facility is proposed on the edge of I-90. There would be a station there. This route has been roundly criticized as going too far from where potential riders live. And that’s the point – the “potential riders” don’t want light rail anywhere near their homes. Thus they insist that the Bellevue Way proposal is bad.

Bellevue has a city council that makes decisions in the “best interests of its residents.” I have no idea if those decisions are based on logic or facts but at least they make decisions. So they decided to launch a three phase study on the route proposals to determine which one is. The first phase is costing $670,000 which is coming from the light rail budget. One has to assume that if the other two phases cost this much it will remove over $2 million from the budget. Light rail is already underfunded.

Oh yeah, that’s another issue: there’s not enough money to do this anyway. So what are we talking about here? There’s an underfunded plan to that’s in a political dispute, still being “studied,” and is challenged in the Supreme Court. Boy I’m looking forward to riding that sucker.

Meanwhile the Newcastle Library Branch is finally under construction. They’ve broken ground and are now actively digging a big hole in the ground. Trucks are running to Maple Valley and back with old dirt and new dirt. It’s a sight to see. I just hope the hole they are digging doesn’t run into the Brightwater Treatment Plant outfall tunnel. Nobody really knows where that thing runs.

Al

Disclaimer

2010-12-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

By the way, those who may ave thought I had a lousy time in Central America just remember - the Lake Boren Report is all in fun. We world famous comedy writers empahsize the minor insignificant stuff because it's hard to fill a 2000 word piece with "Oh, wow, that was really cool!" Too much syrup can make the pancakes hard to eat. So if you're planning a trip go ahead and go and have a good time. See the world and enjoy it.

Al

That little monkey was really cool!

Visit a Banana Republic

2010-12-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

Pacific Ocean During a Rare Sun Break

Everyone should make the effort to visit a banana republic. Why? Well it’ll help you appreciate America more.

I recently visited Costa Rica where their money is made out of old beer cans and Kleenex. Here are a few travel tips you may not see in the guide books:

• The cash value of an American $20 bill is 10000 Colones. A colon is flexible in value depending on what you’re trying to buy. If you want a $2 ticket to get into a park it’s around 7500 Colones, for example. Don’t try to pay with American money because you’ll get change in hundreds of colones. Seems like a lot but it ain’t. It’s not a rich country so one easy way to make money is a confusing exchange rate.

• Don’t try to get around in a rental car. The roads are terrible. The drivers are terrible. They have millions of busses, shuttles, and taxis. Just get a pocket full of colones and be ready to hand over a handful whenever you see a bus driver. Even if he won’t pick you up just give him some money anyway. We Americans like to have control and freedom to move about on our own. I got a rental and a 35 mile trip can take over 4 hours unless you encounter traffic – then it’s longer.

• GPS – if you want to know where you are take a GPS. It’s essential in a rental car but it can be handy without one. GPS Saga appears below.

• Bathrooms are important – bring your own. The toilets in CR don’t work because Americans can’t deal with the requirement NOT to flush toilet paper. See, the sewer systems are so delicate they can’t handle TP. So if you flush TP don’t expect what you’ve always expected at home – sooner or later the toilet will rebel.

• It rains in Central America. Bananas need a lot of water and so do dense jungles. That’s why a lot of them are located in Central America. You’ll need lots of clothes if you go there because all your stuff will get wet. Especially if you put your suitcase on the bathroom floor.

Our room entrance at La Posada Jungle

• Best places to stay don’t mean the most expensive. In fact it’s just the opposite. If you’d like a nice room try to find a small place where the owner takes personal charge of most of the services. You can get a load of laundry done in a couple hours. Those big fancy smancy resort destinations will take 24 hours and there’s a charge to wash each and every item. Then they deliver it to the wrong room anyway.

• Telephones are a challenge. First of all don’t believe it when your trusted cell phone carrier promises you’ll have coverage. It’s a lie. If you really need a phone you have to rent one there and there’s a charge for each minute in addition to the rent. Plus, if other people are on the trip with you they won’t know your rented cell phone number unless you call them and tell them. That costs money. But their phone won’t work either so don’t even try it. There has to be a secret that I didn’t fathom. My rented phone had “No Service” but our guide on a jungle hike was getting calls. He knows the secret. I decided that I didn’t want to know the secret.

• Heaters in rooms don’t exist. Normally in a tropical jungle you might think heat wouldn’t be needed. But if you’re 6000 feet above sea level it can get chilly at night. But no heat. No fans or AC either. Just vent windows. That way you can hear every word from the people down the hall wondering whose laundry came to their door (it’s yours).

He had a nearby room but didn't bother us much.

• International Driver’s Permit – scam. Don’t bother. A valid American license is all you need to drive there. Plus more money. Your passport is all the identification you’ll need.

• Passports are required. You won’t get there without one. Airports and customs places have scanners and they swipe your passport photo page. That gives them everything they need to know. Just make sure you apply for a passport in plenty of time because “rush” jobs cost extra and you can’t get one at the airport.

• Be prepared for lines. I don’t know how many lines we stood during the trip. Mostly the lines are in the airports, but some are at the parks. I can’t imagine what it’s like in season.

GPS Saga: I got a Garmin last year when Amazon had a big price cut to help move inventory. Nice outfit for trips. (The one in my POV is built in.) I thought it would be good to take to Costa Rica since I would be renting a car. Actually you should take one even if you plan to use the busses.

Garmin doesn’t normally include Central America in their pre-loaded maps. But you can download them from the web. So I did. The instructions for transferring CR maps to my unit didn’t make sense. It wanted me to use something called Map Source. I remembered I had used that a few years ago so I hunted around and found the old CD. I loaded it on my PC and it actually worked (apparently). The message said something like “Congratulations you have successfully loaded Costa Rica on your device!” It required a 25 character password.

OK, so how do I verify that? I know! I’ll have it find a city that I know only exists in Costa Rica. Well, it couldn’t find it. Hours went by and still no success. OK, the message says the map was loaded successfully so I’ll just have to trust it. Besides I have a magic cell phone with GPS as a backup. What could possibly go wrong?

We arrived in Costa Rica and holed up in a motel at the airport the first night. Seemed easier to deal with the rental car first thing the next morning. Why pay rent until we actually need it, right? The following morning I went to the rental car office to pick up my 4WD heap. By that time I had accepted the fact that my cell phone that “would work just fine” would not work. The car rental office also had cell phones for rent. Cool.

As I rode over in the rental car company van I turned on my GPS to see how it displayed things. Well, by the time we arrived at the rental office it had not acquired satellites. There was another person in front of me so I stood by a big window to offer my GPS a clear view of the sky.

The person in front of me was not happy. The discussion was in Spanish but there’s a universal worldwide language called “Jerkola” and this person was fluent. He insisted on arguing with the one clerk for an hour. Even though I don’t speak the language I can understand when somebody is saying the same thing over and over again. It’s classic Jerkola.

During the extremely boring exchange I kept checking the GPS and it found itself after about 45 minutes. Great, at least that issue seems resolved. Now to hustle the jerk out of the way. I finally got my 4WD car rented and arranged for the cell phone to be delivered to the motel near the airport. Everything’s coming together.

When I started up the car I thought it would probably quit at some remote location because it sounded really bad. Then I realized it was diesel. Once it was out in the street it sounded a lot better.

The GPS turned out to be a real help. For one thing you can’t go places in a straight line. They have mountains and lakes and you have to go around everything; even cattle. The other problem is the horrible roads. In November they had 4 ½ feet of rain which means some of the hillsides were still covering some of the roads. Other roads have gargantuan potholes and most were just not wide enough, even where the pavement was good. So it was a challenge. Unless you are an absolute hard nose about having your own vehicle just take the busses. They crash rarely and the drivers know how to get around obstacles.

Anyway, the GPS saved us several times. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place where I was so confused about which way to go so often. When we left Monte Verde heading for Arenal Volcano I was positive we were going the wrong way. But eventually we found a town that was on the way and the landmarks kept coming up right. The GPS got us there. I was sure it was wrong. Lucky for me I decided to rely on it since I knew it was a small country and the worst we could do was still not too bad.

Here’s another tidbit for anyone who wants to visit one of these insect infested banana republics: go ahead and pay extra for a guide on jungle walks. We had a couple of really good guides and they helped a lot. Miguel at Manuel Antonio was the best. He pointed out varmints nobody else saw. The only problem was he was not interested in birds. The guide at Monte Verde Cloud Forest was interested in birds but couldn’t find any. At least we got some interesting information. You know they have bugs as big as small raccoons there?

Oh, and the rains of November weren’t really over. It rained a lot. Sometimes it rained so hard it woke us up at night. We live in the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan area where it seems to rain a lot, but it’s more of a persistent mist. Down there it really rains. People use umbrellas because raincoats get just as wet inside as outside. The only exception is in the high cloud forest where the wind blows constantly. Then you just get wet.

What about rapid transit? Nope! They have a four lane highway that runs thru San Jose and it’s regularly at a dead stop because some Jerkola in a rented car did something really stupid in front of a large truck. Crunch! Once that happens the local law comes out and chases everyone off the four lane. Bus and van drivers are good at avoiding those scenes. Luckily we didn’t spend much time in that mess.

They also have a toll road that’s four lane at random sections and sometimes not. The speed limit is in meters or something. It works out to about 50 mph. I was going 60 and cars went by us way faster than that. The biggest problem with the toll road is you need to pay cash and it’s hundreds of colones. Makes a guy nervous. “How much did we give that guy?”

You know what I didn’t see? Railroads. Given the condition of the highways (washed out dirt tracks in some places) I can’t imagine how they would keep two parallel rails from getting all jumbled up. My guess is Costa Rica won’t see rapid rail transit very soon.

Conclusion: Don’t go. If you do go take plenty of cash and dry clothing. Learn Spanish. It won’t do any good but it’ll give you the illusion you’re preparing for the trip. Oh, and say hello to Mike at La Posada Jungle.

Pool at La Posada on the Edge of Manuel Antonio NP

Web Sites:

http://www.laposadajungle.com/ Where we stayed at Manuel Antonio. Very quaint.

http://www.manuelantoniopark.com/mapk/english/photogallery.html The park and lots of photos.

For birds search Google images “Costa Rica Birds” and see hundreds of photos of birds. We even saw a few. Elin saw a pair of resplendent quetzals.

http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/ Cloud Forest. We stayed at Hotel El Establo – didn’t really care for it.

http://www.arenal.net/photo-gallery.htm Volcano area.

http://www.arenal.net/observatory-lodge/ Where we stayed at the volcano. It’s within the potential blast zone for the next overdue eruption!

Here's the Jungle Near Arenal Volcano

Elwha River Restoration

2010-09-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Elwha River drains a portion of Olympic National Park near a place called Port Angeles. This is one of those city names that indicate it’s on the water. In fact Port Angeles is an actual port where ships dock. On a clear day you can see Canada.

There are two dams on the Elwha and they produce about enough electricity to power a couple of cell phones. That’s because in they were built before cell phones were invented. The Elwha Dam was built in 1913 and the Glines Canyon Dam was built in 1927. That was before Port Angeles had ever heard of the Grand Coulee Dam. People who lived there thought the world ended at the Hood Canal. Some people call it “Hood’s Canal” for some unknown reason.

In any case the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State used to be kind of a world of its own. The National Park was established in 1938 while everyone back east was distracted by issues such as the Dust Bowl and the Depression. They wanted a nice big park with big green trees and plenty of water.

Well, these two dams are really suffering from the ravages of time. They leak and they also block the salmon that we treasure so much. So the all powerful high potentates (me and the guvment) in 1992 decided to tear down the dams and restore the river so salmon could spawn.

Well, guess what? Work has begun. Bulldozers are clearing out the delta above the lake in order to… something something. Who knows why?

The complaint is that the trees that colonized the delta, which sits on the opposite end of the lake behind the Glines Canyon Dam, are bad. We need to remove those so we can restore that delta. That way in 30 years the salmon will be able to spawn there.

The real reason to remove the dams is they aren’t making that clean solid color electricity required to charge modern computers and iPods. They make plaid and paisley electricity only when they feel like it. Sometimes it has an Art Deco motif which interferes with the internet in some way. Port Angeles and the rest of the northern Olympic Peninsula need red, blue, yellow and sometimes green electricity. If you don’t believe me just cut a hole in your wall and look at the wires. See?

Another cool aspect of removing these two dams is that the demolition team will recycle the cement. True. They’ll haul it off to some grinding facility and turn it into gravel and dust. Then they can mix it with fresh cement and some of that newly released water to make biscuits or roads or something. Who knows what you make with recycled concrete?

Once they empty the lakes in an orderly fashion and complete the dam removal the old Elwha River will spend a few years washing lake sediment into the Samish Sea. It’s also supposed to help bolster something called Ediz Hook. That’s a sand spit that acts as a breakwater for Port Angeles. So besides lots of new cement biscuits and salmon the port gets more spit. Oh joy.

There are some other reasons to remove the dams. For one thing the upper lake, called Lake Mills Reservoir, is within the Olympic National Park. The rangers are against having that kind of municipal hydro facility in their park. They don’t like the plaid and paisley electricity running through their trees.

A fairly large reason is safety. See, back when the dams were built it was a different century. The problem is some people are a little concerned one or the other might lose its motivation and stop being so dam obstructionist. The resulting flood would be a disaster. So you can see this is right up there with the SR 520 floating bridge and Alaska Way Viaduct in urgency. Something we have to take care of immediately.

Which brings us to yet another interesting twist. Removal of these two dams was approved by congress in 1992. Official removal begins in 2012. Get out the calculator. If yours doesn’t have a decimal point don’t worry, the answer is in even numbers.

Don’t look for protest marches and enigmatic speeches by Seattle’s mayor. This deal looks like it’s actually going to happen. The river will be free flowing long before the final route decisions on light rail in Bellevue. Count on it.

Salmon have been hovering off the northern coast of Washington for 18 years waiting to spawn in Olympic National Park. They’ll soon qualify for the Golden Age Pass. It’ll all work out.

Al

Floating A Supreme Court

2010-09-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

Here’s what’s going’s on in Bellevue.

Kemper’s law suit has been submitted to the State Supreme Court on Olympia. Sounds all “Temple of the Gods” right? Anyway, that’s where the state government hangs out.

The main gist of the suit is that laying tracks on Interstate 90 is unconstitutional. That’s the favorite position when people don’t want something – claim it’s unconstitutional.

Let me outline the situation because I like to do outlines and this one is kind of fun. Streetcars came to Seattle over 100 years ago when the city was growing and people worked farther from home. It became difficult to ride the family mule to work every day. Roads were horrid and nobody could afford a car yet. So modern thinkers laid rails and put streetcars on them. People could hike down to the streetcar stop and ride to work.

Over the years the system was modernized and upgraded. Streets were improved and the public transportation system was reliable and kept getting faster. The whole experience was not that bad. They had newsboys at the stops so you could get the morning paper to read on the way to work. No TV so that’s how they got the news.

Things were changing, however. After WWII Americans could actually get cars that were reliable enough to drive every day. You had to be a part time mechanic to keep the older ones going. In addition many streets and roads had been paved. Cities had long since banned mules and horses from streets and had instituted such conveniences as signs and lights at intersections. People could drive to work, even in the big city.

Seattle was much larger after WWII because of a big wartime manufacturing establishment. A great many of the workers imported from rural America remained in the city where they could work and own a house and a car. Result: riding the streetcar got to be a bother. Ridership dropped and the city found other uses for the space taken up by the tracks. Eventually all city rail transit was removed. They still had busses that used those same paved roads as the cars.

OK, as time went on we got the Interstate Highway System. The great thinkers decided it was a good idea to run I-5 right through Seattle. Cool. They also added I-405 as a bypass on the east side of that big lake. I-90 came from Boston and finally banged right into I-5. Ribbons were cut and bands played.

Then came something that only a few people had foreseen; the oil crisis. “Gosh, what if we can’t get to work,” people began to say. So we passed some transportation proposals and we got stuff like Metro and Sound Transit.

Then came the big one: light rail. This was supposed to relieve traffic in every direction as far as the eye could see. Some people pointed out that we had a rail transit system in the past and we tore it up. Well this is better, it’s “light” rail so you won’t gain weight. Clever.

They drew big maps of where all the tracks would go and said it would take millions of cars off the roads. Great, everyone thought, I’ll have the roads to myself. So we voted YES and built the first line from the center of Seattle to the airport.

Now we’ve also started work on a line to the University north of the city and to Bellevue east of the city. The grand plan is to have a spider web of light rail eliminating the need for automobiles. Hooray, no more oil crisis.

But, wait, how do we get tracks across that big lake. It’s not a river that can be crossed by ordinary bridges. It’s very wide. It’s also very deep so you can’t build a causeway by dumping dirt into it. That’s how we got Mercer Island and as you can plainly see it didn’t work. The most feasible way to get over the lake is a floating bridge. It’s made up of a number of cement pontoons that are anchored to the bottom and hooked together with super glue.

That way you can have one pontoon that moves to let a big boat through, if you want to. Or you can just say “No big boats” and let it go at that.

But the point is we have this floating bridge with 6 general purpose lanes and 2 HOV lanes over the lake. Nobody wants to add another floating span next to it for light rail. So the plan is to use the HOV lanes for the light rail into Bellevue. Then add an extra lane to each direction and make it the HOV lane.

I-90 Floating Bridge with Link Light Rail and HOV Lanes

Kemper, who has come out against the light rail plan from the beginning, says the State Constitution won’t allow the rails on the roadway. He says the bridge was built with gas tax money and the constitution says you can’t use gas tax money for anything but roads. So it’s gone to the Supreme Court for a decision.

That should be an interesting decision. Based on some of the past decisions from this group we could be looking at almost anything. They could say yes you can build tracks on the bridge but you have to remove them every night.

Al

Getting Older and Losing Parts

2010-09-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Once you reach a certain age, mine, it begins to dawn on you that the old machine needs more maintenance than seems reasonable. There are lots of pills and lots of “you shouldn’t be doing that anymore” advice.

One of the biggies is people seem to want to cut you. They say stuff like, “that has to be removed.” You wonder why and they say well if you let it go it will only get worse. Worse than what? Worse than spending an afternoon completely unconscious? Seems like a decent trade.

What usually follows is a thing called a “Pre-Op” visit with the doc. This is where they explain everything they plan to do and then tell you all the things that can go wrong. If it’s a lady doctor (a lot of them are) you don’t want to get caught whimpering as the “things that could go wrong” list grows.

Of course your first question is, “Is this going to hurt?” My doc said, “Well once I stuck myself with the needle but usually I don’t get hurt at all, thanks for asking.” Ha ha, old doc joke.

Next you visit the pharmacy to pick up a bag of post-op pain pills. These are controlled substances so (depending on what state you live in) have to sign something indicating you understand it’s illegal to share. Dang. But wait, I thought as soon as the bad thingy was removed I’d be fine. Why do I need 40 pounds of pain pills???

Recovery period! OK, let’s do it. That recovery period sounds kind of fun. Lay around day and night watching TV and popping illegal pills. Just how long do I get to do that?

Anyway, it’s over until the next time my doc needs a new car.

Speaking of medical insurance: the program I got shuffled into when I turned 65 is not as much fun as before. It’s now a “supplemental” program. What does that mean? It doubles the number of papers I get in the mail after each medical care event. But don’t even try to understand what they say. Just pay the $2.01 beside the big red “PAY THIS AMOUNT” line.

Oh, and I don’t write checks anymore. It’s cool. A few years ago I jumped on this online banking service. I just log on and fill in amounts beside the names of billers and the bank electronically transfers the money under my account number. It’s safe and a lot cheaper than buying stamps. You probably do that too.

However some of the places where I have accounts have instituted their own online payment systems. They email me a bill and want me to log onto their web site and pay it there. I won’t do that. Because the next step is “Well, Al, since you pay online why don’t you set an automatic withdrawal so we can just snatch money from your bank without bothering you?”

I silently say “Why don’t you forget it?” and then hit the “No thanks” key. I don’t know how everyone else does it. I know a lot of people still write checks and buy stamps. Some people even put outgoing payments in their mailboxes on the street. Not a good idea.

One thing I need to say: I know I’m not the only one ever to have stuff removed. Everyone gets to do that as a reward for living. I got excellent care and now I have plenty of popcorn left over (I used it for ice bags). I expect to be back walking and biking shortly. Except the rain has started again. There must be a surgery for that. Oh, yeah, I could wear a raincoat.

Anyway, to everyone who endures the indignity of having stuff chopped out of the body my hat is off. Whoops, my doc says I have to keep my hat on or she’ll cut me for a completely different reason. They just don’t let it go do they?

Al

High Speed Rail in America

2010-07-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

I’ve been off meeting with my Bilderberg Group for a couple weeks. I’m back now. We finally decided where LeBron should play. At least now we know Miami won’t win the NBA title next year because you can’t have too many over paid prima donnas in one building. Their egos will collide.

Now for the main subject:

The French have a bunch of trains called TGV. Train Goes Vast or something like that in French. There are several things that make the TGV worth looking at for America. They’ve designed the power pickup to run on different voltages and either AC or DC. Heavy.

Oh, did I mention it’s electric? Electric trains. We had those when I was a kid. Anyway, the point is they don’t pollute so much. France has nuclear power plants that are much cleaner than coal.

The newest TGV track allows speeds up to 200 mph. That means people in France can go places without wasting a lot of time waiting for luggage that went to LA with all their guns. That allows them more time to waste watching soccer games.

The TGV runs very often. If you need to go someplace you just get down to the nearest station and catch the next train (if it stops). The availability rate is over 90 percent. That means only one out of ten is out of sorts at any given time. Not stopped on the tracks, just in the shop for a tuneup. The running reliability is even better. They rarely have service stoppage. They also have diesels spotted along the route for towing if it’s ever needed.

Here’s something a lot of us don’t realize: one key to people moving is that everyone has different purposes and time requirements. Some people want to leave early and get someplace for an appointment. Others are in no hurry and leaving any old time works just fine. Most people don’t want to mess around trying to figure out what time they have to be at the station. For example the NYC subways just come by one right after another. If you miss one you catch the next one.

If your system runs a rare mission, like three times a week, you have to build an elaborate reservation system that assigns seats and loses luggage. If you run 48 times a day you can ignore that nonsense. An example of poor service is the Washington State Ferry System. Capacity is way below demand because we can’t figure out how to buy new boats. Thus arriving at the dock “on time” does you no good – you won’t get on that boat anyway. Now they’ve installed a reservation system. No idea how that works, but the result is people sit on the dock for hours waiting for the next boat. Don’t promise to meet anyone on the other side at a specific time.

There are a few other lessons for America’s high speed rail planning. What France is finding is many passengers on their trains are French. It’s a bother but they seem to be coping. In America we hopefully won’t have to share the trains with too many French.

One of the big cost savers is that the train runs high speed out in the rural unwashed boonies and then takes slower existing tracks into the city. That means you don’t have to spend the National Budget building high speed tracks in the suburbs. They can run at 200 mph through the cow pastures and then slow down to deliver the shrieking passengers into Newcastle. They’re shrieking because somebody forgot to build fences to keep the cows off the tracks.

Trains going 200 mph with steel wheels on steel track take 2 miles or more to stop. Places where cars or pedestrians could get on the tracks have to be controlled. Americans are pretty stupid (OK maybe not all of us, just Republicans). People drive around the crossing barricades. The point is high speed train planning has to include ways to prevent the “I don’t care about no stinkin’ law” people from getting on the tracks. That automatically disqualifies California from ever having high speed rail.

Our President, Hopey, has announced that we need to immediately begin a program to install high speed broadband internet everywhere. See, it’s a theme. Everything has to be “high speed” these days. Remember how you used to get in line at the Foodarama behind people writing checks? You’d be behind a shopper with 50 items in the “8 items or less” line who waits until the clerk tells her the total price before she begins to dig her checkbook out of the carryon luggage she uses for a purse. Then during the check writing process we discover she failed third grade arithmetic. And the pen the clerk helpfully lends her won’t work. More and more of us use cards and it’s a lot quicker (high speed). Carryon luggage purse lady can’t remember her PIN so it wouldn’t help. And I lost track of what I was saying.

Oh, yeah: high speed is the key these days. You need to buy a car that can go 120 mph even though no state allows you to drive that fast (willingly). You need to get a phone with the highest “G” number in order to enjoy all the benefits of the “high speed” network they promised to install before your next birthday. And certainly your next computer has to be capable of high speed HD TeeVee and the latest high speed gaming. Does anyone know a real human being that actually plays these kill everything games online? Neither do I.

We were talking about high speed travel. Going on trips under 200 miles is easier on the train. As the trains go faster the mileage goes up. Now it’s easier to take the train for a trip of 400 miles. Basically it’s the amount of time we can go without strapping on the old feed bag. Have lunch in Memphis and dinner in New Orleans.

We’re looking at several routes here in America that could benefit from these high speed city to city links. People in Houston might want to zip over to Dallas for the rodeo. They’d probably stay home or drive rather than fly. That’s what the French are finding on their routes. Airline travel where TGV trains run has dropped as much as 25%. Many other people are going places they never went before just because it’s so easy.

We have a speedy Talgo train here that goes between Vancouver BC and Portland, OR. The main speed limitation is that it shares the tracks with freight trains. The track itself limits the speed. Door to door train ride from Seattle to Portland is already faster than flying. If they could speed up to 200 mph we’d all be shopping in sales tax free Portland. Umm, maybe Christine should consider that.

OK, what’s the plan for America? We don’t have one. The all powerful high potentates have decreed that we will move forward with high speed rail in several key locations around the country. Examples would be LA to San Fran (California is disqualified), Denver to Cheyenne, Cleveland to Miami… OK, I don’t know but then I’m not on the team making this stuff up.

I’m pretty sure whatever they come up with will work like our Ferry System. They’ll have tracks, overhead wires, and fancy logos with stars and stripes to help us remember which taxpayers are paying for it. I bet they won’t run often enough to attract riders and bring down per-passenger costs. They’ll defer buying adequate trainsets claiming “budget constraints” which will prevent them from reaching the efficiencies that could return the investment.

Maybe by 2100 when the whole country is one big city.

Al

Boring Alaska Way Viaduct

2010-06-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, in 2008, Christine promised she would personally destroy the Alaska Way Viaduct in 2012. She even bought a giant bulldozer. Well, we need to keep that dozer greased up because the viaduct is staying in place until the tunnel is ready.

Well, almost ready anyway. The issue is we won’t have a tunnel until 2016 or later (depending on a few factors, such as high tides and blue moons, etc.). Everyone realized that losing a six lane north-south corridor through downtown Seattle would cause traffic backups all the way to Olympia. That’s where Christine lives (until the next election).

No hurry; if you still want to drive the viaduct and look out over the waterfront it’ll be there a few more years. Unless the big one hits and the whole thing lands in Elliott Bay. See, they decided the risk of losing the viaduct in an earthquake was less than the risk of Seattle traffic jams in Olympia. It’s risk management.

The transportation people are seeking bids from boring contractors to dig a tunnel. Wait; that may not have come out right. How about contractors to dig the boring tunnel. Oh well.

It turns out one of the prime potential bidders (the paper used the word “poised” but I don’t use words like that so you won’t see “poised” in this blog. I’m too poised to use those kinds of words.) is in a legal dispute in Vancouver BC.

Vancouver was doing some tunnel work and this German company was the prime contractor. Their poised, sophisticated safety expert got all emotional over some loose rock in the tunnel and halted the boring project temporarily. The city was poised for completion of the project but the contractor wasn’t poised to finish. They got fired. “You can’t fire me, I QUIT!” was the response. “Oh yeah?” cried the city and large teams of poised lawyers filed suits.

OK, maybe I’m not too proud to use a word like “poised.” Is that such a bad thing?

In any case this German company, along with some pals from Nebraska, are among the potential bidders on the Alaska Way Viaduct Tunnel project. We need a new name for this thing. First of all the new tunnel won’t follow Alaska Way. It heads toward Redmond and swings back to Lake Union via Poulsbo. Well, maybe. Anyway, we can’t name it after our current and/or recent past Mayors due to their annoying opposition. Reference to state level politicians doesn’t seem right either, given the glacial rate at which they’ve moved on this “urgent emergency.”

Which leaves only one option: The Lake Boren Tunnel. Maybe it’s not actually located at Lake Boren but once you’re underground how do you know where you are? Besides it has a nice ring to it.

Speaking of nice rings a member of the Puyallup Tribe wants to rename Mt Rainier "Ti'Swaq." In fact he wants to rename a lot of places around here to their old Indian spiritual names before the casinos made them all rich. The goal, apparently, is to make the whole area unpronounceable. Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, Patty, one of our Washington delegation, wants to help the city of Bellevue with the Bel-Red Corridor proposal. Again, this is a place that could use a new name. In case you haven’t worked it out the term “Bel-Red” refers to the area’s location between Bellevue and Redmond. But it’s actually within Bellevue. They call it Bel-Red because nobody famous ever had anything to do with it. Maybe the Puyallup Tribe would like a crack at it.

The proposal for Bel-Red is very much like that “Urban Village” concept where you can live, work, and shop all within one block. That is if you only shop in a soap store and work in an espresso stand. The light rail train will go by every seven minutes.

Back to German contractors and the Viaduct project. I’ve been watching the local highways for a long time and there’s one thing they seem to have in common. Nothing ever happens quickly or cheaply. If you want a project to come in on time and under budget you need to double the time and triple the budget. Then you might hit it.

On the other hand the Great Slide on SR 410 actually closed the road and they built a bypass in record time. Really, it was fast. So I guess the way to get things moving is for the land to start the moving first. We’d like to skip that step on the Viaduct project. That could hurt people and we really don’t need any of that.

This emergency Alaska Way Viaduct project hasn’t even been bid yet and they expect to be able to remove the old structure in 2016. We’ll have flying cars by that time. But, assuming there’s no earthquake in the meantime, it’ll be pretty entertaining. I’m poised.

Al

Sumpter Valley Dredge, Sumpter Oregon

2010-05-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Sumpter Valley Dredge - From Oregon State Parks and Recreation Pamphlet

Long ago when the west was new a lot of our ancestors crisscrossed the mountains looking for gold. A few found it. Each time somebody found gold they’d whoop and holler so loud it was heard back east. The result was even more people tramping around looking for gold.

In school we learned about the California Gold Rush of 1849. That started a big migration west. There were more strikes over the years and each time it caused a new migration toward the alleged find. Some people never learn.

Holmes Stereo Card - Uses Stereopticon Viewer

The best way to make money during a gold rush was to sell stuff to the rushers. Washington State had a building boom around 1910 – 1911. Many of the rail lines, banks, and municipal buildings were built in that era. Why? Because somebody who couldn’t keep his mouth shut discovered gold in Alaska.

The Alaskans didn’t want thousands of bodies frozen in the snow so they made rules that anyone going to look for gold had to come with supplies. Tons of supplies. People in Washington, Oregon, and California sold tons of supplies to these gold seekers and financed a building boom.

In Oregon gold was being panned in mountain streams. The gold seeker washed creek gravel in a pan and got a little smidgen of gold dust. Lots of backbreaking work for a little bag of glitter. Some thought there had to be a better way. “Why not use some of them new fangled machines they got?” For example the telephone. Or the automobile? Something.

Drag Line Bucket

Some of the ideas were a little closer to addressing the problem. One idea focused on the steam shovel. They brought in drag line type shovels. A few of those buckets are still there. Very heavy to haul off.

But that still left the problem of finding a dude big enough to swirl the giant pan. “Hmm,” said several old timey gold seekers, “What we need is a machine that can scoop up the creek bottom and do all the panning too”

See, the issue is stream beds are full of large roundish rocks that are very hard to pan by hand. At least for those wimps. I can toss those things around like tiddly winks. But several people studied the problem. “There must be a way” they said to their donkeys as they sat by the stream panning.

Dredge Bucket Line

In New Zealand somebody invented a thing called a paddock dredge. Look at the photos. The short story is this: It’s a boat hull with a gold extraction factory sitting on top. It’s also called a Yuba Style dredge. The front end drags up buckets full of rocks, gravel, and gold. They sluice the gold and dump the rocks and gravel out the back. It makes its own moving pond and floats forward as it works.

Dredge Hull Near Bourne in Its Pond

The dredge in Sumpter is actually the third one. They two earlier ones. One built in 1913 and another in 1915. These two quit in the mid 1920s. Some of the hardware was removed and used to make a new one. On one end there’s a bucket ladder. It can reach down 13 feet. The buckets on the Sumpter Dredge could scoop up 9 cubic feet each at 25 buckets per minute. A lot faster than a pan. Plus a lot deeper.

The Sumpter Dredge could process 100 acres a year. Your assignment: Go to Google Earth and find Sumpter, Oregon. Zoom in close enough to see the little photo icons. Click on these and see photos. Then follow highway 410 southeast to highway 7. Continue to follow highway 7. See the odd looking grey land? Zoom in close and you’ll see the side to side deposits. These are the tailings from the dredges that worked the valley.

The paddock dredge on display in Sumpter is the last of three (or four) that worked the valley. It’s an amazing contraption that has to be visited to appreciate. The people of Sumpter and Baker City, as well as several others, got the dredge fit for visitors. Sumpter itself is made up to look like it did 100 years ago. They also have a railroad station in town. A narrow gage train carries tourists to McEwen and back during the warm months. I’m impressed that they made their town into a tourist destination to keep it alive. You can eat, camp, and wander around the state park. Train rides are also fun. Visit the dredge, it’s worth the trip.

Dredge Buckets in Water Showing How They Scooped Up Rocks

The Sumpter Valley Dredge was left in its pond when the dredging stopped in 1954. Another hull is up the road toward Bourne. A third is near the McEwen station. Those two are just rotting hulls and all the machinery has been removed.

In addition to the dredge and the railroad there are several old mining and logging artifacts on display. The map shows ghost towns in the area. Bourne is a ghost town. If you like having roads all to yourself eastern Oregon is the place to go.

Al

Bellevue Battles Nature

2010-05-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

PROBABLY NOT BELLEVUE

Long ago in internet terms Coal Creek Park belonged to King County. That was before King County was named after MLK. It used to be named after the Vice-President in the Franklin Pierce Administration to curry favor with DC. Pierce County was named after Hawkeye, ironically.

Then in a wave of political correctness they renamed the county after Martin Luther King. Maps could remain the same but all the stationary and business cards had to be changed to subsidize Office Depot or somebody.

Here's a Trail in Coal Creek Park

It all seemed quite reasonable and everyone was happy. Coal Creek Park has several hiking trails and millions of old deciduous trees that are falling to the ground due to natural processes. The longer lived evergreen trees could be seen growing up between all this downed wood. In 100 years it will be an evergreen park.

It turns out there was another problem with Coal Creek. The name is a big hint. A few years ago the county was sued over the coal residue that was still seeping out of the ground and allegedly polluting the creek. King County didn’t have the resources to clean up the creek because it was spending all its money on new stationary.

Creek

The county whined to the judge and here’s the resolution that cracks me up: The judge awarded custody of the park to Bellevue and then ordered Bellevue to clean up the pollution! Is the American legal system great or what?

Bellevue thought it was getting a new park and paid no attention to the cleanup requirement. The judge could have given it to Newcastle, except the judge probably lives there. Newcastle celebrated with all-night fireworks because it dodged that pile of warts.

See, the thing is, Coal Creek runs between Bellevue and Newcastle. It could have gone either way. For one thing part of the seepage probably comes from the fact that a construction landfill and golf course sit above many of the old coal mines. And they’re in Newcastle.

A few years have gone by. Here we are living in Martin Luther King County and Bellevue has been aging gracefully and learning to live with its new park. They just can’t figure out how to get light rail into downtown.

This week Bellevue announced that it is nearing completion of the Coal Creek cleanup project. The purpose of the project is to “reduce erosion and sedimentation, reduce flooding, improve water quality, and enhance fish habitat.” Pretty much my creed.

The last step to be done this summer is to build a sediment pond. Now I have to get in there and do some hikes to see what they did.

And in another park related convolution Bellevue has hired four separate contractors to study various aspects of the light rail route from I-90 into the south end of downtown. That means dealing with Bellefields.

Bellefields is a large natural area of wetlands that used to be under water until 100 or so years ago. When Lake Washington was lowered by the Ship Canal project this area of lake bottom emerged. Mercer Slough runs through it now. It collects runoff and drains into Lake Washington.

That area is also called the Mercer Slough Nature Park. The light rail project is called East Link. Everything has to have a name. Surrey Downs is the name of a neighborhood right south of the downtown business district in Bellevue. They have raised Mt. St. Helens over the idea of running light rail next to their neighborhood.

Plants in Spring

Surrey Downs residents have been practicing for many years. It’s a collection of nice single family homes and the city would love to bulldoze the whole place and allow big tax paying office buildings. So Surrey Downs folks have a lot of experience fighting City Hall so to speak.

In this battle they have the attention of everyone involved. Thus an alternative route was proposed that would run the light rail on the other side of the Bellefields Mercer Slough Nature Park area. This seemed like a decent way to avoid a Surrey Downs melt down. Well, guess what? The folks on the other side of Bellefields don’t want it either.

Small Classic Car Collection

Then somebody got the bright idea to run elevated diagonally across Bellefields to avoid both neighborhoods. But wait! It’s a wetland. You can’t do that. The Audubon Society had a cow. The result is there are three unacceptable alternatives to get light rail from I-90 into downtown Bellevue.

So Bellevue hired four consultants to figure out the best way. Why not five? That way you could have a tie breaker. Oh, why not one? Me. For a few hundred thousand I would be more than happy to solve the whole thing. These guys need some innovative thinking for once. I like cable stay bridges.

Just remember when all the dust settles and Mercer Slough Nature Park is in its pristine Coal Creek Park like natural state and a world class cable stay bridge is carrying commuter trains high above Surrey Downs into Bellevue THAT WAS MY IDEA.

The Wet Season in Coal Creek Park

Newcastle Finally Getting a Library

2010-05-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Newcastle News reported that the developer that was going to build condos along side the new Newcastle Branch Library is no longer on the project. The agreement was that they had to find financing by June and it won’t happen. That means a library all by itself. Kind of like the old plan years ago before all the “what if we add a… waterpark?” diversions that delayed everything.

The KCLS person made a “management doublespeak” remark about the area that won’t be used for condos. Something like “realize that asset” meaning more parking for library patrons. But since the current approved site plan doesn’t designate that area as anything he can’t say “more parking” he has to make it sound as if some huge management effort has to happen, thus assuring another day on the job.

Wow, did I reveal my disdain for obtuse management verbalizations? I hope so.

The plan is to have it done by fall of 2011. Another fun construction project that will disrupt traffic in the main intersection in Newcastle.

The new library will have seven times the amount of space of items put on hold. That means you can log on to the library from home and put a book on hold. When it arrives they send an email and you go pick it up. They also keep track of the books you checked out so you don’t keep getting the same ones over and over. It also keeps the library from overcrowding.

They will have 20 fixed computer stations and cyber bars where you can connect your own computer. How cool is that?

They’ll have a 10,000 gallon water retention tank but I have no idea why. Maybe it’s to flood the tunnel to the rapid transit station in case of overwhelming numbers of commuters. They need to explain that tank.

Outside there will be parking for 44 cars. This doesn’t count paving over the realized asset at some future point. And just because the car wash was removed from the so called “multiuse” plan there will be a rain garden along one side. Maybe this is what the 10,000 gallon water tank is for. On sunny days (we get 3 per year) they will simulate rain out there.

This is one more step in the grand plan. King County Library System is already huge. Oddly people still read books in large numbers. The Kindle and iPad (OK Sony has one as well plus some others too) have not eliminated the old time physical book. The Seattle Public Library is on the list for hostile takeover.

I think at some future point KCLS will mount a charge and storm the gates of the Seattle libraries. Then a meeting between their doubletalking managers will take place at a plush Hawaiian resort for a couple of weeks. Once that’s over and some incomprehensible agreement is announced the real workers will take over and arrange a merger. Should be easy.

Then KCLS will begin to eye neighboring counties. They’ll take over the Pierce and Snohomish County Libraries. KCLS will have about the same territory as Sound Transit. They won’t stop there. At some point in the future, possibly before the new SR 520 Bridge is built, KCLS will control all the libraries in Washington state. They’ll change the name to “THE LIBRARY” and if you want a book you have to have an enhanced rfid Washington State Driver’s License. You heard it here first.

Al

Those new Signs Have to Go

2010-05-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

New Lake Boren Park Sign all Green

The Newcastle City Council voted to go back to the old sign motif. Motif is a high dollar word meaning design scheme. Use one word in place of two saves gas. Explaining it wastes electricity. Being confused proves it’s really me writing this.

The new signs, which came from an investment of $191,000, kind of annoyed a lot of people. Basically the lime green background and white letters did not have the kind of contrast one looks to read at 40 mph.

The huge sign at the south entrance to Newcastle was removed by a disgruntled mob, I think. It was right there where Coal Creek Parkway turns into Duvall Avenue and Newcastle turns into Renton. One council member said it was “tacky-looking.” He should know, I remember his campaign sings.

Old Lake Boren Park Sign

The council moved on to more details including deciding which of the new signs to replace with the old motif immediately and which ones to leave until they evaporate on their own. The shipment of new signs that have not yet been installed sat in the back of City Hall. Those were declared “surplus” so I suppose if you want one you can find it on eBay. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll Google (Topeka) “surplus Newcastle signs” and see what happens.

New Logo

They also voted to return to the original logo that was designed way back in 1994 by an actual Newcastle resident. The new artsy logo was done by a high priced consultant. Reverting also requires a revision back to the old motif (that word again) on business cards and letterheads. Apparently it’s also cheaper but I don’t know why.

The lesson here is that we don’t want to get carried away with the “green” movement. The new signs in lime (they call it chartreuse for some reason) green background with invading leaf images was supposed to show how Newcastle was embracing the earth friendly movement. These signs have cost $191,000 and are hard to read. In addition they are made of sheet metal which has some sharp corners and can probably be badly bent in a wind storm. The whole thing was environmentally un-friendly due to several factors. So hooray for Newcastle having the nerve to cut its losses and return to readable signs reasonable costs.

Old Logo

Now if I could only find out where those signs are being sold. Probably melting them down to make new busses.

Al's iPod

The Cables are Rotting

2010-04-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Our Floating Bridges are tied to the bottom of Lake Washington by steel cables. Why do we use steel? Ropes are susceptible to damage from water borne hazards such as motor boats.

Steel also has a characteristic that causes it to deteriorate in water. It gets wet.

So WashDOT likes to replace several cables regularly so that they are all fresh and no older than their useful life. In the case of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge they will replace 15 of 58 cables this year.

These cables get attached to anchor blocks securely stuck on the bottom of the lake. The other end is snaked into the pontoons and cinched up to 65 tons tension. That provides a stable and motion free bridge. It won’t bounce up and down in heavy waves like those second rate floating bridges.

The process requires replacing one cable at a time. First they detach the old cable and haul it off to the scrap yard where it will be returned to the steel mill. Then it gets made into consumer goods such as toasters. Now I know why my toast is always soggy.

The high paid divers paddle down in 200 feet of water dodging rainbow trout and giant octopi to reach the bottom anchor. Using a Swiss Army knife they snip off the old cable. This is only done on the first one. The rest will have their 65 tons of tension released before being snipped off in 200 feet of water.

The upper anchor is inside a pontoon. It takes several days studying engineering drawings to figure out how to get into one of those things. Then they release the tension and slip the cable out so the divers can snip the lower ends.

Once the old cable has been pulled from the water and loaded on the scrap barge they get to work installing the new one. The process takes one day per cable. After the initial week or so fumbling with the first one, that is.

You probably think it’s a waste of time replacing cables on the SR 520 bridge since it’s due to be replaced very soon. By the year 2000 I think is the goal. Well those WashDOT folks are realists. They know this bridge replacement process could take years. They don’t want the cables rusting out and allowing the old bridge to break loose and float up to Kirkland.

Besides they need to keep the old bridge in use for most of the construction period to maximize the toll revenue. It wouldn’t do any good to stick a toll on it and then close it right away.

So my suggestion is that if you like that bridge then you need to go drive on it right now before they get the tolling installed and before they close it off for 12 years.

The Seattle mayor, Mike, wants to delay the replacement and revise the plans to add tracks for future light rail and make the HOV lanes for transit only – no car pools. He says allowing a lot more cars into Seattle from the north Bellevue area will cause a shortage in parking places in Seattle.

Actually Seattle parking shortages are self correcting. They just increase the cost to park in Seattle until the number of cars equals the number of spaces. So reducing the current number of cars on those bridges would just be a matter of raising the parking rates. Simple solutions for simple minds. Just before they close it for the replacement they could raise parking fees in Seattle to $100 a day and $120 in Bellevue. Everyone would switch to transit on I-90.

Please don’t share this with any elected officials because they might think it’s a good idea.

Another thing the steel mills make with the old cables is steel for transit vehicles. So get ready to ride a bus made out of old floating bridge cables. Don’t you just hate the damp seats?

Al

Fun with the ORCA Card

2010-04-19T10:13:00.001-07:00

Driving downtown and parking in Seattle are getting pretty bad. You need to haul a pile of cash or perhaps a credit card. They have these little stands that spit out a card you tape in your passenger side window.

The other alternative is to find a parking garage. There are two kinds. One kind you get to park your own heap. The other kind you hand your keys over to some kind of freaky looking dude who allegedly parks it for you. When you get it back half the gas is gone. Don’t touch the tires because they’ll be real hot.

There’s another way. Park free in one of the palatial Park and Ride lots in suburbia. They have a little more room between cars so you don’t have to climb out through the sunroof like you do in a downtown lot.

The next thing you do is get on a bus. That’s an adventure you have to enjoy. You might as well enjoy it because all those parking lot valets ride the bus too. It’s real cozy.

I use the ORCA pass. It’s one of those rfid enabled devices. Works a lot like the GoodToGo Pass (or EZPass for you easterners). You get on the bus and just pass the card in front of the reader. Don’t even have to “swipe” it like a credit card. The LCD shows you have much you paid. Lots less than parking downtown.

Now I have two rfid cards. My driver’s license is rfid. I can go to Canada. I still have to get out of my vehicle and sit in Canadian Customs for an hour but at least I can come back to America.

On a recent errand I decided to see if Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, needed anything from the big city. He said that place gives him the willies. Ever seen a giant carp with the willies? That’s give me the willies.

He said last time he went to Pike Place Market they tossed him around and he ended up on a pile of fresh produce from Snohomish County.

He gave me a check to turn in at the King County Court House. He was paying off a ticket from a non-motorized citation. After reading it over we both decided it would not be in our best interest to appeal. He said he had a headache. Here’s what it said:

START OF CITATION

Dear Mr. Carp;

Please remit $20 fine to King County Superior Court for the following offence:

Subject, named in citation, has been known to frequent establishments where certain activities heretofore have been banned in alternative venues however notwithstanding are unacceptable given a specific set of guidelines not generally practiced by the general population in general based on the prevailing meteorological currents and vectors owing to unmentioned established parameters not excluding those previously delineated frequently in as yet unwritten tenets not defined at the present time insofar as it has been previously documented in various prognostications not yet uttered in these domains based on the preponderance of evidence insomuch as could conceivably be anticipated by a fictitiously reasonable practitioner of such prognostications and random pusillanimous prevaricators.

Thanks you for your attention to this notice:

Signed; Super Prosecutor, King County, Washington, USA, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy. (Unreadable signature goes here)

END OF CITATION

Speaking of ORCA cards you can ride five bus lines, three ferry systems, any Sound Transit train, and more. Glen is a little leery of a card that’s named for something that would eat him. So don’t look for Glen on the bus.

Oh, how did my errand go? Well I got to the courthouse and paid the $20 for Glen. The clerk stared at me like I was from outer space. Oops, he used a carp check. Those things don’t translate to human money. So I quickly handed over a Jackson and got quick smile.

Then I forgot the other reason I was downtown so I just wandered around admiring all the big buildings. Seattle can be both interesting and intimidating at the same time. At one point I spotted the parking enforcement officer and decided to have a little fun.

I read about this in an email a few months ago. I walked up as the ticket was being written. I began to rant about how unfair it was for Seattle to victimize senior citizens with these outrageous parking fees. I called the officer a Fascist and that earned a second ticket under the wiper. At that point I began calling attention to the fact that the officer was on the verge of popping uniform buttons and something about how it’s amazing they could find a hat big enough for such a fat head. The car got a third ticket.

I thanked the officer for our nice little chat and walked away.

Then I remembered the original errand I went to town for. I need an iPad. OK, I don’t really need one but what’s the difference? It was about then I also remembered the current models don’t have 3G. So I need to wait.

Back to the bus tunnel for the ORCA ride to Bellevue. It only took me an hour to find my heap in the Park and Ride lot. Made it home in time for Dancing. Another glorious day in retirement land.

Al

Light Rail East Link Route Revision and on

2010-04-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Sound Transit insists on going ahead with the new East Link light rail route. We just don’t know where it’s going yet.

Bellevue City Council sent in a proposed preferred route and now the Sound Transit Capital Committee has another proposed route. It’s called B2M. These routes have code names. Not real sure what they stand for. It’s alphabet soup.

B2M is slightly different from B3M because it stays on 112th rather than looping around the Bellevue Club. Hence you can subtract the Bellevue Club and end up with a 2 instead of a 3. New Math. That one little number is expected to save $50 to $100 million. Wow, that’s some little difference.

Part of the savings comes from not having to run the line through the Red Lion. Dang, that would have been something to see. Get a room at the Red Lion and your USA Today would be delivered outside your door by light rail. These people take the fun out of staying at a motel.

There are other numbers as well. C9T includes a tunnel under 110th Ave which is what the Bellevue City Council wants. Then there’s the C11A alternative that runs on the surface of 108th Ave. I like my R7Al proposal that requires a cable stay bridge over I-405 at the I-90 interchange. We need a soaring bridge icon to distract people from the demolition of the ancient Bellevue Trestle.

In the mean time I-90 is getting some changes in preparation for light rail. They recently added an HOV left lane from Bellevue to the middle of Mercer Island. This is to ease the sting of the eventual loss of the express lanes. Next they’ll add an HOV lane east bound from Mercer Island to Bellevue.

They expect this to wrap up in 2012 and people will have to get used to it. In 2014 they begin the light rail line installation on the Express lanes. Unless the lawsuit puts a stop to it. I haven’t heard much about that one lately. Was it thrown out? Don’t know. If you recall the suit claimed you can’t put light rail on a highway that was built with gas tax funds because the law says those funds can only be used for roads.

The next step in this long march to 2050 is to install those HOT lanes everywhere. That’s where you get a Good-To-Go pass and you can pay a toll to drive alone on the HOV lanes. Unless you’re hauling a car load of illegals then you don’t have to pay.

The Good-To-Go pass will work on any toll facility that’s part of the same network. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge and soon the SR 520 Bridge will be in that network. But I don’t know how far it extends. Can I use my pass in Chicago?

Chicago has the I-Pass and the EZPass. EZPass is mostly on the Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Mass, etc toll roads (some are called turnpikes or Thruways). There are also numerous bridges and toll roads from Maine to Virginia. Check it out: https://ezpassmaineturnpike.com/EZPass/info/facilities.jsp Will the Good-To-Go pass work on their system? Will EZPass work here? These are examples of questions.

Will my fake pass work anywhere? Now that the world is controlled by photo surveillance I imagine any cheating like that would result in a costly fine. This makes my fake pass a collectors’ item. Now I can charge more. Hooray!

Well we still don’t know what route light rail will take in downtown Bellevue. After they finally realize they can’t use I-90 and switch all the effort to SR 520 we’re looking at a line being built in about 40 years. By that time everyone will be driving electric cars and they’ll be controlled digitally. After you leave your house and pick up the carpool you pull out on the ramp and let go of the steering wheel. You take control again when you reach the off ramp distribution point at your destination. Drop off your carpool riders and deflate the car and fold it into your briefcase.

Who needs public transit? Why waste all that steel making old fashion rails? Get those smelly old busses into museums and give us our inflatable electric cars.

Al

Antiques and How to Tell

2010-04-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

Covered wagons at the Oregon Trail Museum in Baker City, Oregon

Americans live in an old country. It’s true! How many governments do you know of that are older than ours? If you guessed England you got it.

Drive down any country road in America and sooner or later you’ll pass an antique store. Or if my sister’s in the car you’ll stop.

1938 Packard Club Sedan, Sixteen Series, Maine Coast RR Museum

That’s because we like old stuff. It reminds us of simpler times, like that time the cocktail waitress … No, no, no wait! OTHER simpler times. Like this:

When many of us were younger a car would stop along the road and the driver would get out and open the hood. The proper posture was to scratch ones head while staring at the engine. Somebody would stop and after a little discussion and “that looks loose” type comments they’d get it running again. Today if there’s a car stopped along the road it’s because the driver has a phone call. Nobody stops anyway because most of us have no clue how cars work since about 1980.

That’s not the point. The point is old mechanical stuff is interesting to millions of us. Because of this interest there are thousands of organizations dedicated to “historical” preservation and restoration.

There are clubs dedicated to most makes of cars and some even specialize in certain decades. For example there’s probably a club for 1950’s Nash Rambler. There are also clubs that focus on tractors, trucks, motorcycles, streetcars, and riding lawnmowers.

1907 Stanley Steamer in Wells Auto Museum, Maine

Look in your AAA guidebooks. Most states have railroad museums. Shore line states have boat museums. Tractor museums are scattered all over. In Auburn Indiana there’s the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum. (Highly recommended, by the way)

Most of the museums have a membership arrangement. You send some money every year and they send you a card for your wallet. In many cases you get a magazine or newsletter. If you like the museum enough to send money then you’ll like the magazine because it includes pictures.

Third Avenue Railway B in Seaside Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine

Maine, another place where “Portland” is a city, has a Seashore Trolley Museum. It’s near Kennebunkport. Coastal people like to include “port” in the names of their towns. You won’t see “Mystic Seaport, Montana.”

The Seaside Trolley Museum has a collection of public transit vehicles from the last millennium. There are busses and streetcars from many cities across America and some international locales. It’s very interesting. You can ride an old trolley with lots of clatter and rattle just like back when people rode to work on those things.

Your assignment is to find a museum or society that preserves your favorite old mechanical vehicles and join up. That’s all there is to it.

Conductor on Trolley Ride, Seaside Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine

How do you tell if it’s a true antique? One way is how long ago the last time you saw one of those was. When you are in an antique store and they have an exhibit of the appliances in your kitchen it’s time to re-think. Either you need new appliances or you’re not in a real antique store.

Worse yet is remembering much of the contents of a museum as stuff that was in your parents home when you were growing up. And how odd it looks. Ever see an old radio that you recognize as one you wanted but couldn’t afford? It’s in the museum because nobody could afford it back then and it was still in unused condition when it was found in a warehouse.

Try your antique 3D movie glasses on these photos.

Al

Al's Handwritten Blog

2010-04-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

Rusting Tractor in Kansas Field

For a few years now I’ve been trying to chronicle the buildup of unstoppable forces bringing a world class transit facility to the shores of Lake Boren in Newcastle, WA. Writing about local events is a part time hobby. Nobody asks me to and nobody pays me.

The process is I write the story and then send it out as email to selected friends, acquaintances, and relatives. Provides evidence that I’m still alive while giving me with a therapeutic vent. A lot of it is based on real events with my added slant.

Then I upload that same story to my Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report blog. Sometimes I add photos and change the title. I’m a definite rooky formatting a blog and/or web page. I can get photos uploaded and I figured out how to re-open a post to fix a minor error.

One thing I can’t figure out how to get a background design working. I’ve had some help and found some hints but I still don’t know how to cause that “code” to actually get into the internet and make a background. You’d think I could do it. Everyone says it’s simple. I’m kind of simple too. It may be simple but you have to know what to do to make it happen.

A real event came along and kind of made my blog premise moot. Newcastle and Sound Transit spent a lot of last year installing a “Transit Center” at the main crossroads in Newcastle. Essentially it’s a bus stop. Paint on the street says “BUS ONLY” and some tiny rain shelters were added. The intersection got new pavement and new poles for traffic lights. Newcastle is very proud. However it’s not the palatial edifice envisioned in the Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report. I call it the “interim transit center” providing service until the real one is built in the future.

In the mean time there are many other interesting things going on. I’m a man of leisure these days and I like to follow what’s happening. Lbrtr sometimes branched out to discuss other public and transit related construction projects. Some of these are getting stale. Maybe it’s me getting stale.

The Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report will add a cousin. Transit rants will still be sent to the lbrtr email distribution list. The Lake Boren Rapid Transit blog will continue with random updates. Light Rail on the eastside and various other local road and transit projects will continue to be found in email and in the blog. The new cousin will not have an email component.

My working title for the new cousin blog is “Al’s Handwritten Blog.” By not including the email I’ll have more flexibility to include photos referenced in the words and links to pertinent web sites. The blog building tools (although I don’t understand a lot of it) seem to be getting better allowing more items and hopefully more interesting visuals.

For now I'll be including these posts in my current blog rather than open a new one. I expect you’ll be able to tell the difference. Especially if you read both the email and blog versions – you won’t see the “Handwritten” posts in email. If you are particularly interested in reading what I write but only use email maybe this will encourage you to get the RSS feed. It’s easier than email and you’ll see all the photos, links, and confused logic.

On the other hand if you like reading what I write you need to visit a library. It’s full of stuff written by people who are actually good at it. Some of them use the correct words and form sentences way gooder then I ever done.

Downtown Bus leaving bushes at the Seaside Trolley Museum in Maine

Transit is still one of my prime interests. The evolution of transit vehicles has been amazing. Probably a subject for the Handwritten blog. What was that bus doing in the bushes? I like history and the history of transportation is particularly fascinating. The “Handwritten” reference means these new posts will be even more along the lines of what I’m up to and where I’ve been. "Handwritten" in the sense that I do all the labor rather than gleen stuff from other sources. I took that photo. If you recall I’ve written about birding, photography, and maritime museums in the past. These are examples of subjects that will fall under “Handwritten” in the future. Pretty clever, eh?

Therefore, if you have questions, suggestions, a sense of wonder, or you’re just annoyed please feel free to let me know via the comments button below. I don’t know how it works, but I think all you need is a Google account – it’s free. It’s part of planet Google. When you send a comment I’ll read it (unless the “subject” has been flagged as spam in my gmail account).

I’m still not comfortable publicly ranting about national politics or the entertainment industry so you won’t see that stuff. Sports and “news” don’t hold my interest much either. Also my three rules will apply to the Handwritten posts: Accuracy – optional; Plagiarism – I’m not above it; Frequency – whenever.

The second one was from my college days. Several of us were putting our heads together on some project that was due very soon. One of the guys was a paragon of virtue, a well spoken stiff collar type who expended extra effort to obey all the rules. He spoke in complete sentences and used adverbs correctly at all times. Another guy suggested we could speed up the project if we were to copy a small section from a library book. Someone pointed out that copying was plagiarism. Mr. Straight Guy in his usual precise speaking voice immediately said, “I’m not above it.”

Just in case you’re curious, I still intend to maintain my own point of view. “What were they thinking?” Or “Could they possibly have made it any harder???” However, Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, will most likely stay with the Rapid Transit Report.

My other intention is that photos in these posts will mostly be my own. In the past I’ve borrowed web photos as a way to punch up stories. I’m not above it. That will probably continue in the transit posts. But the Handwritten posts should be more about the interesting stuff I find on my own. You’ll see some 3D photos. Dig around and find the red/cyan 3D movie glasses. You’ll need them. Again, if you have any comments please feel free.

Al

Portland Shows the Way

2010-04-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

Down south of Newcastle in a state called ‘Oregon’ they have a city called Portland. It’s the main city in Oregon. Haha, get it? ‘Maine’ city? Try and keep up.

Portland also claims to be a west coast port city (hence the name) serving hundreds of thousands of cargo ships between America and Asia. I suppose. Who really knows?

Portland knows how to run a city. Look on Topeka (formerly Google April 1, 2010) and you find the city of Portland has its own web site. Hell, I have one, so it’s no big deal. I just don’t have a clue what good it is for me to have a website.

Anyway, right on the home page of the Portland Oregon website they give you a chance to “pay online.” How cool is that? Pay what? It doesn’t matter – just send some money and see what happens. Maybe you’ll get better water in your house.

If you navigate to Transit Options there are 15. Walking is the first one. Skates and skateboarding is the last one. Somewhere near the middle is Mass Transit.

The recent Trains Magazine says Portland is a Transit Friendly City. They should name it that to avoid the confusion with Portland, Maine. “Visit Transit Friendly City, Oregon and be sure to bring your umbrella” might be their slogan.

Portland operates a light rail system that’s been in place for years. It’s called “MAX” for some reason. Oh, it stands for Metropolitan Area Express. Express has been revised to start with X since MAE would sound a little wimpy.

Right now MAX has four lines. They are the Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow lines. That’s pretty good. Most painters can get along with these four colors because you can mix them and get most of the other colors.

Portland has a big advantage over Seattle. First of all Renton is about 200 miles north of Portland but its right next to Seattle. Second the body of water that splits the city is only a river. They can build bridges over the river. None of them are floating bridges. Thus very few have sunk over the years.

MAX is getting a new cable stay bridge over the river in Portland. It will be for the light rail, buses, bikes, and pedestrians. No cars. Fords and Chevys have to use the old bridges.

This is progressive and innovative. It won’t happen in Seattle. Lake Washington is no river. It’s 40 miles wide more or less and current neighbors say they can’t build a bridge unless it floats. Actually they don’t want any bridge at all. Thus our only Lake Washington bridges are floating. At least at the time of this writing they still are. That keeps them under the “view” that everyone is so worried about.

Portland is showing the way. Their light rail system, MAX, will be the primary user of the new cable stay bridge. It will not allow cars. Why is that significant? Cost. Cars require multiple lanes and shoulders where the police can pull you over for talking on a cell phone. That means a big wide bridge. Transit bridges are narrow. One lane each way. Pedestrians and bikes are much lighter than a big Diamond T.

The new cable stay bridge design is one people seem to like. It needs to soar way up over the river to allow ships to pass underneath. Cable stay is picturesque in keeping with the ambiance of shimmering Portland.

We want one of those. Lake Boren could use a picturesque cable stay bridge. It could link the library to the transit center. Pedestrians and bikes only. Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, will not allow any bridge that carries vehicles.

Al

Literate Commuters in Newcastle

2010-03-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

The City of Newcastle will someday boast a World Class Transit Center on the shores of Lake Boren. Someday.

One of the components of Transit Center World Classdom has to be a Library located nearby. Weary commuters arriving back from work can take an escalator underground. From there they board the moving walkway that ambles through damp and dark tunnels to the sub basement of the library.

Then all they need to do is swipe their library card and enter a password (********* is what I use) and a book plummets down a chute. They slip the book into their rolling computer bag and head for home.

Without a library the transit center would just be a bus stop. For example right now in ‘downtown’ Newcastle that’s what it is – a bus stop.

Back in the old days when teachers were allowed to teach kids how to read a lot of us actually learned. We can still read stuff like books and blogs. That’s why we need libraries. There’s a correlation between folks who work and folks who read. This is why commuters want access to the library on their way home. It all fits together.

Newcastle embarked on a quest to get a branch library and in the King County Library System many years ago. Today there are almost 50 locations in the KCLS system. It’s a large outfit. Recently the Renton Library decided to join up. KCLS has survived the blow well and even managed to show a fake smile.

Renton is kind of a funny town. It’s part of the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Area but has exercised some kind of independence for most of its existence. For example the street numbering system that’s worked for Seattle and most of the rest of King County was not acceptable to Renton. They changed it around 40 years ago and it makes finding addresses in Renton difficult. Fortunately very few of us want to find anything in Renton so it’s just a minor annoyance.

The GPS tong has gotten most of the Renton streets programmed in. Here’s a warning: if you’ve never been to Renton be sure to bring your GPS so you don’t get lost.

Anyway, they also put up their own “public library” in downtown Renton. It is a unique structure in that it spans the Cedar River. The floor of the library is essentially a bridge. Not a floating bridge like I-90, but in very wet weather it seems to be near floating.

Having a special library in Renton was awkward because most of us think its all part of the King County Library. Now it is.

Seattle has a separate library with branches and lots of books. They also have an agreement with KCLS to return books that belong to each other. If a person checks out a book from the Seattle library and drops it off with KCLS it gets returned to the correct Seattle branch. And vice versa.

The problem with that exchange is that many years ago when it was first dreamed up the Seattle library was much larger. They only had to send a few occasional books to KCLS. Now the King County Library System is very much larger and the cost of returning books is substantially higher for poor old Seattle. Boohoo.

Back to the Newcastle Library. During the planning stage the city wondered if they could also include a City Hall in the same structure. Right now the City Hall is located in the front of a factory. The KCLS folks thought that was OK and agreed. Mainly because that meant they could share cost of construction. Gotta have a goal. This caused a rework of the plan.

The KCLS Branch in Burien occupies the same structure as the Burien City Hall. It’s not unheard of. Take a look. It’s on the web. Try www.dumb.idea... Or something.

Well that wasn’t enough for Newcastle. Next they wanted some low income housing units in there as well. Maybe 80 or 90. Along with a carwash, vitamin store, and local airport. Why not?

Then they removed the City Hall from the plan. I think they decided sharing a factory building would be better than sharing low income housing.

Anyway, all this required a lot of plan revisions and working with several other entities to reach agreements on what it should look like. This is not a fast process. The world circled the sun a number of times before they even had a sketch ready.

Then things came unglued and revised again. Economic realities forced cutbacks on what could be included and what should be left out. The airport was the first to fly out of the plan. Observers saw things going that way and suggested maybe the original library plan should once again be an option. The City Council quietly approved a zoning change that would allow the library to go it alone.

People over at the King County Library System can read. It’s a skill many of them have. They can also add. Maybe half have that skill. The upshot is that the library will now be built as a single use structure. Over a parking garage. As part of the agreement the folks who want to build the 80 unit low income housing are now free to make their own plans and construction schedule. Except that if they fail to begin by an undisclosed date the library will then be free to select a new partner for the remaining area.

Here’s my thought: it’s only one acre! Once you have a library and a few shrubs there’s not much room left for anything else. So don’t look for more junk on that lot. Besides, the city council has several more meetings before construction begins so who knows what they’ll come up with?

Wanta Lease A Floating Bridge?

2010-03-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

A while back we talked about far away places buying some American highways and stuff. The Indiana Toll Road was leased for $3.8 billion. The Chicago Skyway was leased in 2005 for $1.8 billion for 99 years. And Mayor Daley leased 36,000 parking meters in Chicago for 75 years.

The benefit is local and state govs get lots of cash right away. The down side is other folks collect the income (tolls and parking fees). The thinking was that the investors would get steady cash income over long periods. Imagine how much the Skyway could make in tolls for 99 years. Or 36,000 parking meters.

However, apparently the people who lease these things also have to maintain them. That’s the point. The theory is a private investment group can be more efficient with managing the continuous repair and upgrading these items require.

The people who pay for these big leasing agreements are actually investment groups. If you have lots of cash (Republicans) and you want stable return you hand it over to some slick dude who promises huge returns. Most of these guys are in jail now so you need to look elsewhere.

Anyway, you invest you “hard earned” with one of these investment groups and they lease, oh, I don’t know, let’s say a floating bridge. Now they charge a toll to drive across that bridge. Out of that income they do three things: pay dividends to investors, maintain the bridge, and finance the replacement when it finally stops floating. Unless the lease agreement includes some forward tax dollars to help with maintenance. Who knows?

The big dollar lease payment they gave the “owners” is not repaid. As long as the investors (you rich folks) don’t pull your money out of the scheme the leasing company hums along fat, dumb, and happy. And you make a few bucks along the way. See, the original investment stays as is and the investment company manages the cash flow.

The point of all this is that I’m forming an investment group to lease the SR 520 Floating Bridge. I’m planning a toll for everyone. Big bucks to use my bridge, man.

Here’s my plan: Double deck with transit and car pools on the lower deck and general purpose on the upper. Transit will include light rail. Everyone will get the transponder and when they use our new bridge we’ll make money. I need six lanes on each deck to maximize tolls.

We’ll have busses and car pools on the lower deck along with all commercial passenger vehicles regardless of riders. Taxis and shuttle busses with only a driver will be required to use car pool lanes anyway. We’ll have iron clad rules and massive fines. Porches will be allowed to drive anywhere they want.

Diamond Ts will be restricted to upper deck. See I call big trucks Diamond T. That’s because when I was a little kid, before the internet, TV, and video games, I’d go to the city park in Manhattan, Kansas and watch the big rigs on Poyntz. I didn’t know all the different brands so I thought they were all Diamond T. Now when I see a big truck my head says “Diamond T.” Sometimes my mouth says it too.

This is one of those things where a brand name morphs into a generic name such as Kleenex or Coke. Another generic word I often use is “hooter.” I use that whenever I encounter an object but I can’t quickly recall the right noun. That hooter you fill with water and put flowers in, you know… a vase! Or that hooter that squirts gasoline into the cylinders of your runaway Toyota.

Well it turns out that there are some people who have appropriated the word “hooter” as a designation for their very own personal anatomical parts. And they get annoyed if I use their word. Well here’s my reply: people don’t own words. OK, maybe somebody owns Kleenex or Coke, but generally speaking you can’t personally own a word. I’ve used the word “hooter” as long as I can remember. So my message is “Don’t get your naganeters in a bunch just because I say ‘hooter.’”

Dang, now I have to go back and see what I was talking about. I don’t read this stuff very often some hang on a minute… dum de dum dum.

Oh yeah! Leasing infrastructure. Apparently that was all the rage a few years ago but now it’s lost its luster. The Port Elizabeth NJ shipping terminal was leased to Deutsche Bank in 2007. They wanted to sell their interest in the $2.1 billion investment for profit. But then world wide shipping sank and they took a $205 million charge after shifting the terminals to their corporate division. In other words it didn’t work out so well.

My plan is better. Since I don’t have a big bank I can’t pay $205 million even if I had to. So your money is safe with me. Just send it in and when I get enough I’ll lease the Lake Washington crossing now occupied but the SR520 Bridge and we’re off to the races. I’ll sink the old bridge and install my new 12 lane money maker and charge enormous tolls. What could possibly go wrong?

Al

Cell Phones Cause Cooties

2010-03-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

A Maine legislator, Andrea, is proposing a bill that would require cell phones to carry radiation hazard warnings. All cell phones sold in Maine would fall under this bill. She says there’s scientific proof that cell phones cause cooties.

Well I know the girls in my first grade class had cooties and that was way before cell phones were invented. In fact I remember the day the teacher came in and told us some guy named Alex had invented the telephone. The girls squealed happily because they knew someday the cell phone would be invented. All they could talk about was how great it will be one day when they could hear their own special ring tones and before they could find the phone in the bottom of the purse it would quit.

Anyway, according to Time Magazine, the cell phone emits about a billionth of the radiation of a typical X-ray. So a visit to the dentist is the equivalent of a billion phone calls. Or a typical senior year in High School. Which is why we need the radiation hazard warning. It’ll be in the “Warning” section of the instruction manual with all the others.

Right up there with not taking the phone into the bath tub, disconnect the battery before and after every use, never chew gum while talking to your mom, keep your shoes tied, use a handkerchief, and never wax the primer coat. All very relevant to the safe and proper use of a cell phone.

In our state (to be renamed “Salish”) the legislature is upping the use of a cell phone while driving to a primary offense. That means if the radar spots a car going below the speed limit it alerts the officer to possible cell phone use. That can get you a ticket. Here’s a way to go broke: drive 15 mph under the speed limit alone in the HOT lane while eating a sandwich, putting on makeup, texting, using a cell phone, and ignoring the seatbelt.

Talking on a cell phone was a secondary offense before which meant you could only get a ticket if they caught you doing something else bad while yakking away. Now that’s all they need to nail you. “Hang on a minute while I see what this cop wants.” Or, “Officer, wait a sec. Can’t you see I’m on the phone?!”

The good news is you can talk all you want on our public transportation system. Just try it. Make sure you use the cell phone camera to capture the looks from your fellow passengers. Whoever you’re talking to will get a kick out of it.

Al

HOT Lanes on I-405 Coming Soon

2010-02-27T16:37:00.000-08:00

In the buildup to the entertaining specter of trains and bikes butting heads for space on the BNSF corridor between Renton and Snohomish we have a distraction. WashDOT will be installing HOT lanes on I-405. OK, the title gave it away.

A HOT lane is a restricted High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane that charges a toll for non-HOV users. If you and all your passengers add up to less than 3 people you can’t use the HOT lane unless you have a Good To Go! Pass (or one of my cunning fakes).

But that’s not all: you can only enter the HOT lane at certain places along the route so the overhead antenna can read your Good To Go! Pass. They use a double white line with bumps to divide the traffic and boy do I hope you have a lot of money if you get caught driving across those lines.

The State Patrol is gearing up for this. They’ll have unmarked radar cars on overpasses and each violator they spot will be run down and ticketed. Read the signs. They will clearly point out what’s illegal and what’s OK.

The overpass spy car will be looking for the highly visible Good To Go! Pass (my fake will work) or enough bodies to qualify as a car pool. That means if you and the spouse head off to the submarine races in Snohomish you’ll need to pick up that panhandler at the on-ramp to make three. Take an air freshener.

In other distractions, Mayor Mike (Seattle) is taking a stab at delaying the SR-520 bridge replacement by about ten years. Microsoft took out an ad in the Seattle Times (it’s still in business) that exhorted everyone to please get on with building the new bridge right away please! It’s been in work for about 14 years and was declared a dire emergency in 2000. But not one brick has been cast.

Everyone this side of the Pecos has chimed in with opinions and suggestions. After a very long and arduous process the design is done and funding is arranged. The existing bridge will sink in the next moderate earthquake or bad windstorm.

But Mayor Mike thinks we need to go back and design it over again. He wants light rail tracks on it even though there are no plans for connecting light rail at either end. He says in 20 to 25 years when it’s finally built there could be.

In response to the Microsoft ad Mayor Mike accused THEM of “delaying” the project. Now I know why I don’t run for political office – I actually think about things.

Where was I? Oh yeah bikes and trains on the HOT Lanes. Or something like that.

We have HOT Lanes now on the Valley Freeway. Which kind of cuts into the meaning of “Freeway.” There are reader boards at each legal entry point that tell you how much it will cost to use that lane. Once the overhead antenna reads your Good To Go! Pass you will get a bill.

Actually it’s a little simpler after a complex startup. First you have to buy the thing. Really, they don’t give them away. Maybe that’s because it costs so much to paint all those bumpy double white lines. Mine will cost you more but in the long run you save money on tolls.

Second you have to prepay your account. You can give them a credit card number (I suggest someone you don’t like), debit card, or an auto-draft account. That means each time your prepaid account drops below $8 they go in and slurp more money out of your bank.

Third you can have up to six vehicles draining the same prepaid account. Give transponders as party favors and then draw straws to see which guests have to feed the prepaid accounts. Tell them odds of getting a free pass are six to one in their favor. Invite gullible guests.

Once you have the little goody in your hand you’ll need to peel the backing and stick it to your windshield. You’ll also need a shield (costs extra) if you occasionally carry a load such as the night you’re the designated driver.

Finally; once you’ve made all those decisions, paid good money for the pass and the prepaid account, and stuck it on your windshield its easy from there on. That is unless your prepaid account runs dry.

Or you can just order one of my custom fake passes and scotch tape it to the windshield and it’ll fool those overpass people counters. Or maybe the State Patrol reads blogs. Then I might be in trouble.

Al

Rails to Trails to Rails and Back

2010-02-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

The 42 mile BNSF rail corridor from Renton to Snohomish is currently owned by the Port of Seattle. BNSF sold it. I’ve always speculated that the reason BNSF didn’t want the route was the very busy street crossings. To make these crossings safe would cost untold millions which BNSF would not recover running one small train a day. Even the fees paid by the old Dinner Train would never cover the cost.

Well some folks insist that the corridor would be good for light rail. If you don’t put much thought into it then it seems logical. Commuters run north and south on the Eastside by the thousands and many might be happier to ride the train or so they say.

I’m having trouble imagining NE 8th Street in Bellevue blocked off for a commuter train every 15 minutes. There are several other main streets that would be in the same boat. Sure, these crossings would be ripe for red light cameras so why not? And that might seem like good news to some cities. But running that light might get you more than a photo at police HQ.

Secondly it’s a single track line except for a few minor sidings. To make it a reasonable commuter rail you’d have to double track it. The advocates point out that there are 52 points along the route where property would have to be acquired to widen it. People who live there might not be too happy to sell a sixty foot strip just to get a train right outside their bedroom window. I’m just guessing.

The other big push is coming from the folks to want to turn the route into an urban bike and pedestrian trail. This was the original scheme for the corridor when BNSF first explored selling. Ron, the King County Exec, had the vision of hundreds of bikers and walkers meandering 42 miles a day rain or shine. He had a dream. Now he’s with HUD in Washington (the other one). Some dream!

It was a reasonable scheme. All over the country former rail routes have been turned into trails. It’s a nationwide activity. One of the reasons for doing it that way is that according to some obscure agreement railroads retain the right to buy those corridors back and use them for trains again someday if there’s an important reason. It’s called “Federal Rail Banking.” If you have a former railroad near you check it out. I’ll wait… See? I told ‘ya.

The program means that if anyone were to build a structure, like the Newcastle Library, and block off the roadbed it could get dicey to try and run trains on it. That’s why lots of places use the old roadbeds for trails.

However, laying tracks and running a commuter rail on the old roadbed might be OK. Seems logical. What could possibly go wrong?

The problem here is everyone has a point of view. When I say “problem” I don’t mean trying to decide between fries or rice pilaf. First we have enough governments involved to last several lifetimes. Probably around 20 if you count agencies as governments. Maybe more. Puget Sound Energy and Cascade Water Alliance are two I’m surprised to see on the list. But I’m surprised about lots of stuff.

There are many others not so surprising. Let’s have a meeting and figure out how many. Or a meeting to develop an agenda for the meeting to figure out how many agencies will be involved. Let’s just have a meeting to see who buys the beer at the preliminary pre-meeting.

The Port of Seattle (current owner) was looking at trading the corridor to King County for the airport. That’s Boeing Field King County International. Its name would have to be changed to something else but everyone would still call it Boeing Field.

Here’s something I don’t understand: Boeing Field is an airport where a lot of big and little planes land and take off. Qwest Field is where Mariners play baseball but they don’t fish or sail. There’s no way these two “fields” could trade roles. Also you can’t graze cattle on either one. Some say they don’t play much baseball either. Why are both named “Field?” Let me know, please.

Anyway, due to some nonsense about dump trucks and dirt hauling cost overruns at Sea-Tac’s third runway project the Port of Seattle is not in a trading position last I heard. Must have something to do with the value of the two properties and a requirement to get approval for the deal etc. Or maybe they just forgot. That was some time ago. I’ll have to see if I can find the current status. Naw, I’m too lazy.

We also have inputs from local bike clubs as well as another group called the Eastside Trail Advocates. And I’m sure the Audubon people will want to help.

The fancy Port of Seattle paver has been underutilized lately. Due to completion of the third Sea-Tac runway and reductions in the number of container ships stopping at Seattle they haven’t needed it much recently. It was advertised as being capable of paving 10 mph, but we think that’s an exaggeration. Probably more like five. That would mean it could take a couple days to pave a 42 mile bike trail. Use your calculator; don’t try this in your head. It hurts.

Well not so fast. If they decide to go ahead with the light rail plan there won’t be any room for a bike trial. On the other hand it they slap down a bike trail it would throw the light rail plans into a tizzy. Neither faction wants to come along and try to add their development after the other project is in place.

Therefore these people are proposing that everyone get together and do both. Make a nice quiet bike trail with a pedestrian path and lots of low maintenance native plants with a double track high capacity light rail line sharing a 20 foot wide corridor for 42 miles. Bird watchers rejoice. Never mind the 106 grade crossings with flashing red light cameras.

I have to say of all the fun stuff going on around the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Area I think this one might be the most fun. If you think getting all these agencies, departments, and councils around a table with highly motivated recreation clubs to reach a reasonable agreement that costs less than a freeway to Mars will be easy you might need to reevaluate. If you like run-on sentences you’ll love reading the meeting minutes.

So my next mission is to get into these meetings. They could last 40 years or more. I’d be over 100. Wait, do I really want that? Let’s have a meeting and decide.

Al

Bad Signs in Newcastle

2010-02-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

We’ve visited the new sign motif in glittering Newcastle. Kind of a green on green with white lettering.

Well it turns out some people don’t like it. The base green is a lime hue and the white lettering is hard to see. The big park signs are essentially bent sheet metal which presents sharp corners. Some of the large park signs have been removed because they interfered with driver sight lines. People are saying it’s just not very cool.

Well, the backlash has arrived. The city person responsible for the “new sign” project has been fired. They didn’t specifically say it was the signs but the signs were mentioned prominently in reporting the personnel adjustment.

Two other directors resigned within days of the firing. Apparently the Parks Commissioner and Public Works Director were not thrilled over the firing and decided to pursue other opportunities.

The newly elected mayor, John, has created two new committees in Newcastle. One is the Library Development Committee. The purpose is to facilitate and ensure the groundbreaking of Newcastle’s library. The ground is already broken. Maybe the committee will fix it in time for the official ceremony in July.

This is the library that has bounced between a standalone library which is part of the massive King County Library System and a multi function behemoth. The lot size is one acre. At one point the plan called for a combination City Hall, Post Office, Library, 80 unit low income housing, car wash, and circus tent. With no parking.

The Postal Service repeatedly refuses to provide Newcastle with its own zip code so we won’t get a Post Office. The last appeal says that since sales tax revenues are distributed to communities based on the buyers’ zip codes Newcastle is losing money because it shares a zip with Renton. The Postal Service says that’s not the purpose of a zip code which means it’s a local problem and not their responsibility. So no new zip code and no Post Office. Maybe Newcastle can form a committee to sneak up on Renton and steal some sales tax revenue. Which brings up the other new committee:

The other new committee is called the Community, Communications and Outreach Committee. First agenda item: Pick a new name. The intent is to improve interaction with residents for decisions like the sign motif but the official purpose is a lot of committee doubletalk. The ground is already broken on this one too.

If you want to be part of the Renton Raid just drop a line to the Newcastle City Council and mention Glen the Lake Boren Carp sent you. I bet that gets you a seat on the committee right away. Or at least a place to sit.

Al

Light Rail in Bellevue - TBD

2010-02-14T09:38:00.000-08:00

The Bellevue City Council met with the Sound Transit Board to express views on the downtown part of the Bellevue route. There are several opposing viewpoints.

One says they need to go underground and build a cave station right under the center of the business core. Then people can ride the coal gondolas into Bellevue and take an elevator up to street level. They will be issued one of those coal miner hard hats with the light on it. It’ll be easy; just get off and check the canary (if it’s flat on its back in the bottom of the cage don’t breath) and head for the surface.

Another says they should keep the rails above ground. Run them along streets and add several fancy stations with some of that odd “artwork” we see along Martin Luther King Way in Seattle. However opponents are fearful it will get in the way of traffic. Or something like that.

Then we have the folks who think they should avoid downtown Bellevue. A tunnel is too expensive, street rail is too disruptive, and we don’t want any Seattle people having easy access to our ritzy shopping center. By the way that last one is why I always try to look shabby when I go shopping. “Always annoy snobs” is my motto.

Never mind. It’ll never be allowed to get that far. First we have the law suit claiming it must be illegal to use I-90 for rail since it was allegedly built with gas tax funds. In our state you can’t use gas tax funds for anything but roads.

Also, there’s the big hassle over the segment from I-90 to the south edge of downtown. Surrey Downs and condo residents don’t want the rail near their homes. So an alternative plan says they shoot a diagonal line across the Bellefields Wetland. Wow, talk about waking up a dozen or so sleeping dragons. There is some doubt that will ever get approved due to all the environmental agencies and organizations.

This also means it would be hard to plan either a tunnel or a street route because they don’t yet know where the connecting line would end up. We also have only conceptual artsy schemes for what happens once the line heads east toward Redmond. The Overlake area has been designated as more or less “Urban Village” type of development. I hope they get around to telling the folks who already occupy that area.

The Urban Village concept (in simple terms) calls for residential, retail, and professional office all packed into low rise buildings. One main feature is to discourage cars. They want people to walk or use transit. The dream is the people who work there also live nearby and shop across the street. The problem is that to survive retail businesses need a lot more customers than just the people who live upstairs. That’s why they want some light rail stations in the midst of it. Get all those carless Seattle people shopping in the wilds of Bellevue.

OK, at this point we don’t know if the rail will be allowed to use the I-90 bridge across Lake Washington. We don’t know if there will be an acceptable route from I-90 to downtown Bellevue. We don’t know the mode or route through downtown Bellevue. We don’t know how it will leave the core and cross I-405 into the Urban Village dreamscape. So I’d say the plans are coming along just fine and dandy.

Construction begins in 2011. In Renton, probably.

Al

Floating Bridge and History

2010-01-30T18:35:00.000-08:00

The Bellevue City Council has approved the eastern part of the SR 520 Floating Bridge replacement. We call it the Evergreen Point Bridge and sometimes the sinking pontoon bridge.

The Bellevue approved side has six lanes and lots of room. We talked about it last time. Car pools will be able to go from Medina to Redmond.

Seattle has been looking at the other end. The western end of the bridge connects to Montlake. Seattle is concerned. The new mayor has noticed.

The three proposals (see http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520Bridge ) are A, K, and L. You can watch simulations with the annoying new age music.

All three options include six lanes. Two general purpose and one HOV lane in each direction. Plus shoulders and a bike/pedestrian path. They also include a lid over I-5 and a couple more lids. That means covered roadways with parks on top for all you country folk who are not used to big cities.

The main differences are: Option A has an interchange at Montlake Blvd. with a new drawbridge parallel to the existing one. It’s called a “bascule” or something. It’s a drawbridge. Odd words don’t improve the concept. Option K moves that whole interchange east and uses a tunnel under the Montlake cut. Option L avoids the tunnel but adds a new bascule (drawbridge) over the Montlake cut.

All three options will require quite a bit of work on the north side of the Montlake cut. That’s because there’s a university there with under a dozen sports venues. Everyone has to get to class and/or ball games at certain times so it takes lots of roadway.

In case you don’t know what a Montlake cut is here’s how it came about.

Way back in the old days when Newcastle was a coal mining area Lake Washington ran out at Renton into the Black River, Duwamish, and then into Elliott Bay. Lake Union was inaccessible to ships at the time. Both lakes are remnants of the ice ages and quite deep. However their drainage was not deep enough for commercial navigation even way back then. I remember it well.

Seattle had two major industries back then. One was timber and the other was coal. Both required large capacity shipping to reach lucrative markets such as California. Imagine: California bought our stuff for lots of money. Now they’re broke.

The shipping docks were in Seattle on Elliott Bay. That’s still a major shipping port and one of our challenges even today is moving the goods close enough to the port to load on ships. But that’s another story.

Transporting timber from the hills and coal from the mines to Elliott Bay was a costly proposition. Coal from Newcastle came down to Lake Washington via trams. It was loaded onto barges for the slow trip to Montlake. At Montlake it was again loaded onto trams for the trip to Lake Union. After the barge ride across Lake Union it was loaded onto rail cars for the short trip to Elliott Bay. Then it was loaded onto cargo ships to be distributed to places like San Francisco. All that loading and unloading seemed excessive as well as expensive. At Elliott Bay the cost of a ton of coal had already increased 50%. By 1880 The Washington Standard estimated that more than 500,000 tons of coal had been exported from Seattle in the previous nine years. That’s a lot of loading and unloading.

Traveling out of Lake Washington via the Black River to get to Elliott Bay was a bad option and unreliable. The south end of the lake was shallow and swampy. Kind of set the stage for the Renton we know so well today.

Thomas Mercer proposed a navigable passage between Lake Washington and Puget Sound in 1854. His proposal is the route eventually chosen via Montlake to Shilshole Bay. He even suggested the lake in between be called “Union” as it would be a key link in the proposed waterway. As punishment they named Mercer Island after him.

Around 1860 Harvey Pike dug a ditch through Montlake to permit passage of logs. The Pike Place Market, Pike Place, and Pike Street are named after him. Pike was into logging and naming stuff.

After a many years of back and forth the Ship Canal project was finally approved in 1910. Seattle’s mayors randomly opposed and supported the project somewhat as they do today with major transportation projects. History repeats itself all over again.

The Corps of Engineers built the Ship Canal linking the two lakes to a dam and lock near Shilshole in 1916. It was named after the General in charge, Hiram Ship Canal. No, no, no, the structure was named the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. Some of us call it the Ballard Locks because frankly Hiram’s name is kind of long.

After construction a temporary dam holding back Lake Washington was breached lowering the water level nine feet. The Black River in Renton nearly dried up.

The Cedar River was changed to empty into Lake Washington and the Green/Duwamish flow was greatly reduced since that water was now going through the Ship Canal. Very few people remember these things but today in Renton the area near the sewage treatment plant is still called the “Black River.” Some people think it’s because of the sewage plant. It’s not. Sometimes history plays its own little jokes.

The big impact was the disruption of salmon runs. That’s another story. Today we’d never be allowed to build anything that would have a major impact on salmon.

OK, so now we have a nice deep shipping channel that allows some fairly large ocean going boats and ships to reach Lakes Union and Washington. In 1963 the highway department builds a floating bridge across Lake Washington south of the Montlake cut. The University of Washington is north of the cut. To get to a Husky game you need to use the Montlake Drawbridge. See the issue? When a big boat requires the bridge to open the football traffic gets backed up to Bellevue.

Now in 2010 we have Option K for replacement of the floating bridge with its UW tunnel that goes under the cut. It comes up near the sports venues. No more backups when the old Montlake bridge opens. The new backups will be because the new light rail station has taken over the parking lot.

Oh, wait. Very few large boats use the cut any more. Mostly its private sailboats with tall masts that require a bridge to open. It takes a lot of moxie for one lone dude to just slide up and require the drawbridge to open and back up traffic for miles in every direction. But tunnels cost more money.

We’re not done. Seattle wants to make the HOV lanes dedicated to transit only. They’re also saying it should include light rail tracks in preparation for future expansion. The point is apparently to discourage more vehicles coming into Seattle. If more people need to get to Seattle they should take transit, is how the argument goes.

Too many cars and too few parking spaces in Seattle. Take the bus. Ride the rails. Bike to work. Free Willy. All slogans trying to get us to leave our personal heaps in our own home parking areas.

OK, done. I got my ORCA pass and downloaded the bus schedule to my iPod so now I should be Good-To-Go. I just don’t have any idea why I’d want to go into downtown Seattle.

Today’s edition took a lot of research and time. Some of the historical stuff came from serious people who actually try to get their facts straight. So I want some appreciation. If you read this you might have learned something you didn’t know. That’s my bonus to you.

Al

Two Cities - No Waiting

2010-01-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

Bellevue is a big city with lots of updating going on. They have finally agreed on the Bellevue part of the SR 520 Floating Bridge. The plan includes two general purpose lanes in each direction, one HOV lane in each direction, space for disabled cars, a bike/pedestrian path, and it’ll be raised above the water. The height part is to prevent waves splashing over the roadway in storms.

The approaches to the bridge are also being revised with park like lids and direct HOV access ramps. The existing bridge will be towed to Kirkland where it will reside on the waterfront with flower shops and microbreweries on top.

One minor goal is to provide HOV from Medina to SR202. No idea why people in Medina would want to go to SR202.

The new bridge will have tolls but we don’t know yet if they will be variable or fixed price. However we do know there won’t be any toll booth. Everyone who uses the bridge will need a Good-To-Go transponder. It’s like the EZ-Pass in other places. The same company will be administering the system. You just zip under the detector and the state deducts the toll from the real owner’s account.

This is a new opportunity for you to buy my genuine fake Good-To-Go transponder. I’ll even customize it for you. Just send me $39.95 and a couple hundred for shipping and handling and you’ll get an exact replica of an actual pass except it won’t do anything. It just makes the patrol think you have a real pass. I promise that you’ll save lots of money with it. Unless you have to pay fines for having a fake pass. That’s why I’ll customize it – keeps me out of trouble.

And you I-90 bridge users may not be off the hook. WashDOT says if too many people stop using SR520 and go to the free I-90 bridge they’ll add tolls to it too. Just saying – you need my fake transponder.

On the light rail front Bellevue is considering yet another revised route. We have this neighborhood called “Surrey Downs” just south of the business core that wants nothing to do with living in a big city. That’s why people move there – close to Bellevue yet not close to Bellevue. Anyway, they don’t want a light rail near their neighborhood. They have managed to raise a huge protest and now Sound Transit and Bellevue are actually paying attention.

Hear that Renton? If you raise enough dust maybe Sound Transit might remember your existence and plan a light rail to Renton. Just a thought.

Bellevue has also gotten word that mankind is no longer with us. In an oddly worded headline the Bellevue Reporter says: “Investigation continues into the death of Man.” As the line in the Monty Python movie goes, “I’m not dead yet!”

Bellevue has several red light cameras to catch folks scooting through after the yellow is long gone. Some places in Bellevue you can sit at the intersection and see four or five bright flashes on each light change. I got in the habit of stopping for yellow years ago. When I got my first license the booklet said the yellow light meant it was about to go red so you should stop. So I do. In Bellevue people have actually swerved around me just so they could run the red light before the cross traffic got going.

Now they’re adding more red light cameras. Next time you’re in Bellevue and see flashes at intersections its Bellevue cashing in. It’ll be years before everyone is trained that yellow means stop.

Newcastle is a much smaller city and what’s going on is much less dramatic, but just as important to Newcastle folks.

Newcastle News has a headline that says “Council Green Lights Sports Park Plan.” No red light cameras in Newcastle. The new sports park is just south of May Creek. People will have another reason to go over the new May Creek Bridge besides the Renton Wal-Mart.

The new sports park will have softball and Little League fields and two play areas. The final phases will include synthetic soccer fields. Not enough room for a real soccer field? How does one play synthetic soccer? Is it like fantasy football?

Newcastle is also replacing some of the new park signs they’re so proud of. The park signs were too big and people couldn’t see around them to check for traffic before leaving the park.

Newcastle has this new color scheme for signs that’s kind of a green on green motif. The big N in Newcastle is formed by a dark green square and two light green artsy leaves. Very high class.

Slowly street signs and other city installed signs will be converted to the green on green motif. Good places to hide red light cameras.

Wait! I just realized why my fake Good-To-Go pass won’t work – if you drive under the detector and it doesn’t detect a valid pass you’ll get photographed. Boy will that ticket be expensive. So heck, there goes that opportunity. Just send me the $39.95 and don’t worry about shipping and handling fee because I won’t be sending you anything.

Reminds me of an old Dragnet show – Sgt Friday was investigating a scam in which a guy ran an ad in the Los Angeles newspaper (remember newspaper ads?) that said last chance to send $5 to a post office box. No mention of why. The box was overflowing. In those days it was considered illegal – now just its politics as usual.

The green on green showing a coating of blue

Omen for the Decade

2010-01-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

Snow Geese on Skagit Flats

On the first day of 2010 we saw an omen. We were cruising along I-405 on a hardware store errand. Traffic was very light since most of you were home watching the Rose Parade.

As the designated driver I was keeping a sharp eye out for hazards. In the road ahead I spotted what might be road kill. But it looked different. It seemed taller than your normal pancake possum.

As I calmly approached I saw that the lump was actually two varmints. One was a furry and the other was a red tail hawk holding it down. He was in my lane. The hawk looked me right in the eye. Hawks have very good eye sight so I know he recognized me.

I’m a pal. I feed ‘em. I watch ‘em. I don’t hurt ‘em on purpose. He looked at me and held on to his varmint. I passed about two feet away at 65 mph and when I checked my mirror he was still there.

But I don’t know what the omen portends.

Which brings us to the annual eagle trip. Every year we try to visit the eagles on the Skagit River because eagles are majestic. They sometimes put on a show. On this trip it was particularly rainy and foggy.

On the way back we decided to try the Barlow Pass route. It had been closed for several years due to sliding into the Sauk River. The Sauk has eagles but not as many as the Skagit.

The road to Barlow Pass from Darrington turns into gravel and is only one lane wide in many places. On this day it also had snow and ice as well as rocks in a couple places. It’s steep too. Remembering the hawk I held on.

We made it to the pass and down to Granite Falls just fine. No worries.

If you’re not familiar with the eagles on the Skagit you should Google images of “Skagit River Eagles.” Plenty of good photos. We haven’t done the raft trip version yet. At some point that might be interesting. I don’t know how they keep warm in the raft. It just looks like a cold wet place to be.

Back in Newcastle they announced the ground will break for the new library this year. Actually it’s already broken. The construction company doing the street for the interim transit center has parked a lot of orange machines along the edge. Inevitably somebody managed to break the library ground.

Before the road work for bus transit we had a right turn lane going into the Safeway strip mall parking lot. We lost that lane. So I was right about the plan posted on the internet that I thought did nothing to make the roadway wider. It didn’t. After the busses finally begin to use the new bus stop we’ll have to find a different way to get into the parking area from Newcastle Way. I wonder if anyone thought about that.

Watch for more omens in the coming months.

Al

Transportation in 2010 and Beyond – Part Twain?

2009-12-30T10:54:00.000-08:00

Today in America a very large number of us live in big cities. These cities are located in some pretty annoying places but that’s because those places seemed logical when the cities were founded.

Seattle occupies a large section of the Salish Sea Waterfront. When I say “Seattle” I’m talking the Greater Newcastle Area. It stretches from way up north around the Tulalip Casino and way down south to the McNeil Island Penitentiary. It includes the populated parts of five counties. Population is around 3.5 million give or take.

That waterfront could be put to better purposes. But that’s not the subject of this post.

The challenge is that we have very little land to build new cart paths on. But everyone has a several cars. Most of us are not capable of driving more than one car at a time. I can do it, but you already knew I have super powers didn’t you?

The problem is every car has what we in the mainstream media like to call a “footprint.” A parked car takes about 100 square feet. I can park 12 cars in my garage but I have to stack them. Not easy.

What that means is kind of an intellectual pole vault: multiply the number of people by the average number of cars per person and then times 100 square feet and you have the amount of parking capacity required in the Greater Newcastle Area.

Many people understand this even if they never did the math. These people are called “Parking Lot Owners.” They tend to congregate around city centers where people want to park all day long. Many city governments are also in this business.

OK, parking is an issue but when these cars are moving along a highway the footprint is much bigger. At least it should be. If it’s not the footprints sometimes overlap which causes a lot of people to spend time parked on the highway. And that’s free as long as it wasn’t your footprint that was overlapped.

In any case highway designers and parking lot owners are pretty much concerned with footprint capacity. Add in trucks and other large vehicles and you see the problem – we don’t have any room to add more capacity here.

And that’s why we really need rapid transit. Opponents claim the cost per mile is too high compared to building more roads. They do math but they don’t do logic. Here’s my point: You can carry a lot more people on transit than individually one-each in cars over the same time frame.

In New York and a few others many people don’t own a car or use the DMV. They never get a ticket for expired Driver’s License. They take the subway or other transit. Many people who work in New York City actually live in other states. I know one who lives in Iowa. Whoa! There’s a whole nother subject – telecommuting.

Back to the math; building roads and adding lanes is not really cost effective. Running a 16 lane freeway from Canada to Mexico via Seattle would be beyond the talents of most DOT prestupnics.

In my last post I mentioned the shuttle system. Once the transit systems reach the place where people can begin to ignore the “Toyotathon” commercials and reduce the number of household cars the benefits will multiply.

Today a person can take the Link Light Rail from downtown Seattle to the airport and fly out of town. That’s usually good no matter how you got to the airport. Flying is fun and there are hundreds of interesting places to see and people to visit. It’s the stuff in between arriving at the airport and taking off that are insufferable.

Did I get off track? Maybe, I’m not reading this so I don’t really know.

One of the main things transit opponents whine about is the cost of building the systems. And it’s pretty big. They really need to design and build them well. That costs money. We have earthquakes. The infrastructure needs to survive earthquakes.

Building highway lanes is cheaper per mile. But it ignores all the other costs. A car can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $103,000 and maybe more. I usually don’t spend over $3,000 so I don’t know how far up it goes. In Washington and many other states we have to carry insurance. We have to pay an annual registration fee. We have to feed it gas, oil, and wiper fluid (in Seattle that’s a big issue). Then there are the hidden costs of providing footprint space at home and interest on the car loan. Cost of owning each car is 17% of a household budget.

Or, if you have a car like mine it’s more like 30% because I have to have it fixed once a month. About time to consider that $6,000 model. Transit costs include the vehicles and maintenance. The only thing riders have to pay directly is the fare. The tax costs of transit are shared by everyone so it’s reasonable. That’s probably where most people will want to argue. I won’t argue. I think transit benefits us all, even those who don’t ride it so the cost should be shared. Period. Thus the cost of building road is not directly analogous to the cost of building transit.

Wrapping it all up; the cost of driving a car in a major metropolis is substantial when you combine the cost of the car with the cost of the road capacity. Riding the transit system eliminates the gas, parking fees, and toll costs. Staying at home eliminates more costs. Reducing the number of cars you own can be an enormous saving.

So my New Year’s Resolution is this: Get rid of 6 or 7 cars. What do I need with all those cars anyway? What was I thinking? Did I really need to buy all the cars in that one showroom? They were nice and shiny, sure, but it took two days to get them all home and stacked in my garage. And don’t ask about the insurance cost! Do you know how much State Farm charges when the cars are already bent up? It’s outrageous! Should have called that lizard.

Al

Evolution Revolution of Transportation

2009-12-24T09:39:00.000-08:00

It’s pretty clear that the human is a mobile organism. If you were to sit down and write a history of the human on Earth only in terms of travel it would encompass practically all aspects of human history.

We know from DNA studies (of course augmented with language analysis and artifacts) that nobody lives where their original ancestors lived. In fact when 2000 rolled around almost everyone on the planet (humanity) could point to multiple ancestral origins over the last 150,000 years. Let’s not argue that point. I don’t have time for it.

What I’m going to talk about is how all this probably occurred. I spelled occurred right the first time and WORD didn’t have to auto correct it. I’ve come a long way.

Way, way back in olden times about the only kinds of folks around were nomads. They had to be simply because being human they managed to mess up the motel room and the manager said they had to leave.

They used simple methods to carry their stuff. “Woman! Take this! Carry it!” But women began insisting that guys share the load.

Resourceful guys could always find a way to avoid any real work. When women got all stubborn and refused to carry stuff guys were forced to invent new ways to do it. It was not that hard – they asked a woman how and then pretended they invented it themselves. Thus the birth of the cart.

The next crucial step toward true independence had to do with the argument about who should pull the cart. The motel manager said “Git!” but that was hard to do when nobody would pull the cart. That led to the invention of powered transportation.

The new source of power was the animal. The horse, oxen, cat, mule, camel, sled dog, reindeer, bear, dino, and hamster were all enlisted to haul those ancient carts. A few of these experiments ended badly but we kept on trying.

The point is everyone wanted to move to a new place. Humans could load up the cart and go until they found another motel that still had a room. We call this the “No Vacancy Epoch” in human history. It lasted for thousands of years.

During this period humans also invented the wind powered vehicle that usually traveled on water. Adding a sail to a cart was rarely successful. Boats made it possible to visit new places. Each “new” place where a boatload of humans arrived was claimed in the name of their king. It didn’t seem to matter that there were already people living there. We managed to invent wars.

Wars are another way of overcoming the “No Vacancy” issue. At least sometimes. Depended entirely on the motel manager and how many nasty people the invaders had to deal with. Next time you read a history book you’ll see how this works out. It’s all about who came to visit and who was already there and how they settled the issue.

During the recent 200 or so years we have been replacing animals as vehicle power with various kinds of motors. They all have one thing in common – horsepower. That’s because we still revere the horse as our favorite cart puller. The Amish are among the last holdouts using actual horses. Amish women are particularly happy there are horses.

Another development during this changeover was that with all this horsepower (not involving actual horses) we could move large numbers of people at the same time. We call these ships, busses, trains, planes, and SUVs.

Humans have one other trait that is probably important. We like to organize everything. Airplanes are required to behave according to rules. You can’t pilot one unless the FAA says you can. It has to land and take off in certain places, usually called airports. Some can use water but they still have lots of rules. And before you ride on an airplane you have to show somebody your shoes.

Vehicles that stay on the ground are close behind, although nobody is interested in your shoes. Trains run on tracks, busses run on roads, and ships navigate the waterways. All these things require organization and maintenance.

Way back in the days when women pulled carts by hand there were no taxpayer built roads. A road was just a pathway where other women had pulled other carts and you just happened to be going the same way.

Now that’s all changed. In order for me to drive on a nice smooth string of potholes in palatial Newcastle I need to pay taxes. People who like to organize everything use that money to build roads for me. Well, some of it anyway. Most of it goes to fancy smancy signs saying “Welcome to Newcastle.”

Now on the eve of 2010 the world is organized around non-animal powered transportation. We can go anywhere our passports allow as long as we can stand being aboard an airplane that long. Especially if you left your shoes with the TSA.

That brings us to the next stage of the transportation evolution. Right now most of us have a personal vehicle to get us around. There are plenty of busses and trains but actually not enough. Besides, if you need to haul “stuff” it’s really hard to drag it onto a city bus. Ever try to get 15 of those plastic bags full of groceries on a bus? Then you have to carry it all from the bus stop 20 blocks to your house.

The new thing in transportation will be the local shuttle. The concept is that bus and rail transit will run fast from hub to hub. An example of a hub will be the multibillion dollar Lake Boren Transit Center to be built in Newcastle in some unknown future century.

People who need to go places will have small shuttles come right to their house and take them to the hub. Once they get to the hub near their destination another shuttle will deliver them that last mile of so. They’ll have to share the shuttles and that means they may take indirect routes. But the overall cost per household will be less than owning a car. I imagine there will be some provisions for carrying their stuff. Right now those cramped bus seats don’t have any extra room but it seems like transportation organizers will finally begin to realize people have stuff.

For example, maybe everyone will have a little hand cart for their stuff and the bus will have extra room at each seat for the little (standard sized) carts. Then as we buy groceries or whatever we cram it all into our little carts and take the local shuttle to the transportation hub. Then we get on the bus/train back toward home. And finally the shuttle takes us to our house.

The only problem is where do we get the women to drag those little carts on and off the busses?

Al

Technology Barely Keeping UP or Are We Falling Behind?

2009-12-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

You need to know about a couple of things. First, you can never have enough technology. Get everyone on your list something technical for the generic year-end non-partisan holiday. You know; the one with the tree and the plastic nativity scene.

Obviously I’m not going to get involved in any controversies. Sing Christmas Carols, if you want, I won’t judge.

But everyone needs more technology. We here at the Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report Galactic Headquarters have lots. No clue how most of it works. Examples:

There’s a machine that can stream real time TV on a 3.5 inch HD screen via the high speed cell phone system. To change channels you just swipe your finger up or down on the screen. You need that. Saves the effort of actually going into the room where the TV is and finding the remote.

Speaking of finding the remote: You also need a dozen of those little beeper finder things. They’re intended for the key ring but why not use them for everything? Just attach the beeper to whatever you lost, let’s say the cat, and then instead of hunting for the cat you hunt for the sender. If you find the sender and press the button you’ll never see the cat again. So it’s a win-win. Do you see a problem here? If not you shouldn’t have any trouble deciding.

Another handy item is the Botanicalls DIY Plant Twitter Kit. After some basic soldering and assembly (the DIY part) you just cram it into the dirt under your house plant and then connect it to your household network. You have a household network, right?

Then you just subscribe to the plant’s Twitter feed. The plant sends Tweets about how it’s doing on water. Plants don’t really care about much except water. Just check Twitter and presto you see if your plant is too wet or too dry.

And you need the LED faucet light. It connects to the faucet where the water comes out. Water below 89 degrees (what your plant wants) is blue. If it gets hotter it changes to red. You need that. Your plant wants that. Check Twitter.

Right now your computer is spilling crucial information on your desk from the unused USB ports. Did you know those things can leak data? You need to get stuff for everyone on your list to plug those up. Like a USB flexible speaker. Or a 3.5 inch digital photo frame. Or a Swiss Flash USB knife. Thumb drives disguised as Lego blocks, AA batteries, lighters, and spilled coffee. As data leaks out the coffee puddle gets bigger. Then you need a USB paper towel.

You also need a laptop computer desk for your steering wheel. I ordered mine. Makes it a lot safer than just holding it in your hands. You can read email in traffic and even get real time traffic info on the back-up your accident caused.

Another hot gadget is a set of Star Wars light saber chopsticks. They’ll make your Oriental food taste better. It’s all in how you hold your thumb. Never be intimidated by Szechwan cuisine again.

And a final note: Newcastle is getting a library. The groundbreaking will take place in July 2010. Everyone has agreed to allow the project to go forward even though we still don’t know for sure if it will include apartments.

The City Council approved changing the requirements to eliminate a lot of extra stuff in the structure which paved the way (so to speak) for the library to be built by itself. However, now, for some reason, the Newcastle News thinks apartments are still part of the plan.

I hope to watch and possibly make rude comments as construction goes on. It’s my job now. That’s what we old guys do. In a week I’ll be even older.

Oh, earlier I said something about a final note. You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet. Here’s another.

The person employed to “blog” about Newcastle has quit. Not “fired,” he quit. He said the reason he quit was that nobody should get paid for doing that. What a guy. Anyway, I’m still waiting for someone to offer to pay me. Although I’d probably have to register as a political lobbyist and pay some kind of fee. So what’s the point? Exercising my freedom of speech for free is just about as much fun as I’ve ever had. And I don’t have to get it approved by anyone!

Al

Traffic Barrel Storage

2009-12-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

The interim temporary Newcastle Transit Center is just about done. It’s been that way for a month. Problem appears to be an abundance of those orange traffic barrels. They’re everywhere. There must be hundreds and since there’s no place else to store them the contractor has decided to leave them on the street.

Right now the “landscaping” is being planted and bus stop shelters erected. These take place on the sidewalk. Landscaping is defined as “native plants that have a 50/50 chance of surviving.”

The bus shelters are places where people can wait for the bus while it’s raining. We have a lot of rain here. Every month the weather person announces that the previous month set a new record for rainfall. Apparently their “records” only cover the current year. “This has been the rainiest November on record since last summer.”

Sound Transit spent most of the budget on paving. They took up the old dilapidated asphalt that was well over two years old and looked it. Then they put down some cement pads where the bus is supposed to stop as well as cement paving in the intersection itself. Very high tech stuff.

While doing all this they brought in truck loads of orange barrels and never took any away. Maybe they can move them into the empty Library property and open the street. Maybe. Maybe they could pile them up and make a library.

Meantime the King County Executive has proposed a plan for the closed BNSF rail corridor. There’s a lot of non-specific and apple pie type of dialog relative to this “plan.” Such as “enhance our quality of life,” etc.

Here’s something that may be a surprise to some of us: one of the reasons many of the old abandoned rail corridors have been made available for trails and bike paths is that the railroads retain the right to buy them back if they need to. In other words it would be hard to sell off parcels for shopping centers and apartment buildings now only to have BNSF exercise its buyback right in 2020. So they need to remain in the hands of the public (parks, trails, etc).

Anyway, King County plans to enhance the quality of our lives by doing something. But what? Here are some of the outfits involved with King County in this: Port of Seattle, City of Redmond, Sound Transit, Puget Sound Energy, and Glen the Lake Boren Carp. A lot of people are not aware of that last one but we all know there has to be at least one voice of logic and reason in a group like this.

OK, what has this to do with hundreds of orange barrels in Newcastle? Well instead of hauling all those barrels back to Maple Valley lets use them on the BNSF corridor. Saves several trips back and forth.

Maybe they could line them up on the old I-90 railroad overpass. Right now it’s covered with graffiti but nobody notices. I bet very few of us even realize there’s a railroad bridge over I-90 in South Bellevue. It’s just part of the background.

The one that’s not part of the background is the historic trestle in the Wilburton neighborhood. The old wood structure harkens back to an era when steam locomotives pulled boxcars around. Can you imagine the old steam trains chomping across NE 8th Street back when it was a two lane dirt road? Neither can I.

In other news (only remotely related) the final leg of the Link Light Rail will open on December 19. They picked that date in honor of my birthday. I’m humbled. That leg will extend the line from Tukwila to SeaTac International Airport.

After it opens people will be able to take it from the airport to downtown Seattle. If they have an Orca Card it’ll be almost like free. I’ll have to make another inspection trip in a month or so. I have an Orca Card.

So, to wrap up: Orange barrels in Newcastle have to be dealt with. Will they use them to build the new library or to make the BNSF rail corridor improvements? Can we expect the quality of our lives to be enhanced as a result? How much does a traffic barrel cost anyway? Can you believe I used a word like “harkens?” And why is my shower still ice cold?

Al

Sinning Applicances

2009-11-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here at the palatial Toad Hall Estate in Glittering Bellevue (by the shores of Gitche Gumee, by the Salish Sea Water) we often have challenges similar to what ordinary folks endure. For example when a household appliance goes TU.

Often at my house it’s the danged dish washer. I think we’ve had at least 8 over the last 35 years. Is that average? Who knows? Maybe I’m more sensitive than most but once a dishwasher pees on the kitchen floor I fire it and get a new one. I have a low tolerance for appliances that wet the bed.

OK, the latest appliance disaster is the water heater. The unpardonable sin of peeing on the floor spelled its doom. It is now fired.

Do you know what that means? First you have to do a quick web review of water heater ratings. They’re pretty much all alike. The big difference is the length of warrantee. You can get 6, 9, or 12 years. One has to assume that is also the useful life of the unit. If you get one with a 6 year warrantee you need to plan on replacing it in 6 years.

Here are the steps to take in replacing a water heater:

Charge up the iPod – You’ll need some soothing music while you work.

Order the new water heater – Use a credit card because you can later claim an energy credit on your income tax. I have no idea if this is true, but it’s worth a try.

Check the wine supply because you’ll need plenty of that.

Try to contain the flood using that wet/dry ShopVac you bought 23 years ago.

Get a new ShopVac.

Decide how you’ll drain the old water heater.

If you don’t drain it you can’t move it. The recycle people won’t take it either. It has to be empty. Use a garden hose to run the water outside the house not into the garage. If you just open the drain spigot it’ll flood the place and you’ll lose what’s left of your paper machete livestock collection. Oh, and turn off the circuit breaker to the water heater. It’s the one marked “garage lights” on the label. And make sure the cold water input line is shut off. You probably knew that. Open a hot water faucet upstairs to give it a source of air. Do we have to tell you everything?

If you ordered the water heater they probably want you to pick it up at a store. Don’t take the Yugo because it won’t fit. Take the Subaru. Take plenty of yarn because you’ll need to tie it to the roof rack.

I ordered mine from Sears. Yes, it’s true, Sears is still out there.

When I arrived at the merchandise pickup I found an empty room. There is a little airline checkin type gadget that talks. It wants you to touch places on the screen. They bought it at Sears.

I touched the big icon called “Pick Up Merchandise” since I was trying to do that. It asked me to swipe the credit card I used for the order. I didn’t have it. I pushed the “Don’t Have It” button. It wanted my name, house number, and zip code – just a few characters of each, not all of it.
Then it wanted me to swipe the credit card I used for the order. I pushed the “Don’t Have It” button and got the sinking feeling I was stuck at Sears pushing the “Don’t Have It” button for several days. However, it believed me this time and said a dude would be with me soon. My name appeared on a TV above the door with the number of minutes I had been there. I watched the minutes count up.

A guy came out and badly mispronounced my name. He called me Wallace. I corrected him and he said “Oh, right, you’re the water heater.” Minutes later he came back with a water heater and I very carefully checked to make sure it was the right one. Amazingly it was.

He loaded it for me and said “Thank you, Mr. Wallace, have a nice day.” I hope Mr. Wallace checks his credit card statement.

If you manage to get the new unit home get a couple of neighbors to help you move it into the house. Here’s why: at your age you don’t need all this manual labor. They do.

Oh, and while they’re in the basement maybe they could haul the old unit up to the curb for the recycle folks. Have a couple of beers ready for when they get done. It’s the least you can do. Really; don’t exceed the “least” you can do.

You haven’t gotten to the hard part yet.

Once the old unit is out of the way the new unit is sitting in its place you will need to make the connections. If it’s a gas water heater you should have called a professional. Gas is dangerous. Don’t even pretend you can do it yourself. You can’t. Neither can I so don’t call me.

If it’s electric you’re home free. Electricity is easy. Always remember these simple rules: black to black, green to green, white to white, ground all wires. Then call an electrician.

See, it’s easy.

Always get new flexible water line connections. The economy needs you. Spend money at every chance.

One of the hardest parts of home maintenance is you always find something the dufous before you did wrong. You think it’s easy to take out an old appliance and put a new one right back in the same spot, right? I always find a surprise. Something ain’t right. It’s always hidden so you find it right when you’re out of time to deal with it. For example: What kind of idiot puts the clausternoder on the framinstuzel when there’s a perfectly good brundisturper right on the end of the prestaimerwankle??? You need to fix that. Spend more money.

See if the old earthquake safety straps will fit the new unit. They won’t. But check anyway. You need to strap the unit to the studs because you want to make sure it tips over if your house is heavily damaged in the next quake. You’ll be watching the Alaska Way Viaduct collapse on YouTube anyway.

Once the hot and cold water lines are connected backward and the electrician has hooked up the power (or the gas technician) you should try it out. Take a shower. See, you didn’t wait for the 66 gallons of water to heat so the shower is ice cold. Ha ha, joke’s on you. Beside, since the water lines are backward you’ll have to change them anyway. In a few hours you’ll finally be able to take that shower you’ve been waiting for.

It only cost about double what it would to have a professional do the whole job. But you’re contributing to the economic recovery so pat yourself on the back. That is once your sore muscles allow you to move again.

Al

The Future is Behind Us

2009-11-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

I know all y’all have an iPhone. Everyone does. But did you know what you can do with them besides call your BFF and ask if he/she knows where you are? Here’s a lesson in what’s already here from the “Future.”

Most of us find ourselves in a strange and mysterious place from time to time. Happens to me pretty much every day. Memory loss can be a benefit. Problem is we want something but don’t know where it is. Well there’re apps for the iPhone that can tell you.

After you download one of these apps from somewhere in the future (when we are way more evolved) the rest is simple. Turn on the built in camera and point it. The GPS knows where you are within a yard or two. The apps grabs a reading from the built-in compass so it knows which direction you’re pointed. It adds that to the GPS location and the image on the screen. It then connects with a gigantic server located in a secret orbiting starbase. Using these three items it tells you what’s in the picture.

For example if you’re in New York City you may point the camera at the Empire State Bldg. it will suddenly display a little label claiming “That’s the Empire State Building you simple minded tourist.” OK, maybe it’s not rude.

But here’s the alleged benefit. Suppose you’re looking for a subway station or a Subway sandwich shop. One of the many labels on the screen may actually use the word “Subway” in the view on your iPhone. One problem is the subway you’re looking for might be on the other side of the building in front of you but its not clever enough to let you know that.

But that’s not the point. The point is we’re getting to a place in the space/time continuum in which we will be tied to these little screens in ways that interfere with what we actually see in front of us.

The old TomTom navigation device that I USED TO HAVE!!! It would show two parallel lines and a car icon when I was on the freeway! I could look out the window and get more information than that. But I still looked at it. It was a brain dead useless device so we’ll speak no more of it. I have a Garmin now. Life is good.

Only now that I have a GPS that actually has pertinent information about where I am, where I’m headed, and what road I’m on, how far above sea level I am, my blood pressure, etc, I rely on it a lot. In the old days I’d use maps to get near a destination and then make 42 wrong turns within a block of the target. Now I just glance at the dashboard and see that it would be dumb to turn left here because the GPS says turn right. So I turn right. I obey well.

Another magical device we all know is the cell phone. It’s one of the things your iPhone can do – hence the name. Did you know that?

The cell phone has a long list of negative synonyms because very few of us really like having everyone able to reach us any time no matter what we’re doing. You have to balance this with the idea that we can bother anyone we know at any time day or night.

A while back I got a call from a cousin on my cell phone. It was during a party. I could hear everyone having a good time. Apparently the cell phone decided to make the call all on its own because nobody responded when I said “hello” 50 times. I clicked off but since I didn’t originate the call it continued to tie up my cell phone. Finally I powered it off. These are some of the many benefits we’ll appreciate in the future.

I like the cell phone and the fact that I don’t have to sit by a home phone waiting for a call or look for a pay phone when I need to make a call. When it starts its Sarah Palin impression it’s very very bad. (That refers to watching the “news” on TV but get nothing worth seeing because everyone is obsessed with Caribou Barbie, the TomTom of politicians)

So here’s my advice: Get the newest iPhone. Don’t resist, don’t try to delay the inevitable. We are already in the future. Oh, and get one of those new iPod Nanos. Those things are so cool; it has a video camera so you can record videos of stuff you do all day and then play them back on your home TV to prove to your skeptical spouse that your day was a drag. It’s way better than just whining all the time.

Also, get a riding mower. Makes no difference how relevant it is to your life and/or yard, just get one, they’re just fun. Get one with an iPhone adaptor.

Al

Newcastle Light Rail by 2100

2009-11-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

The Bellevue Reporter recently unveiled yet another routing proposal for Sound Transit’s Eastside Link. The plan is to use the former BNSF corridor from I-90 and then to SE 8th Street. This takes it over that new holding pond. It’s called the “Vision Line.”

The rails will run along the west side of I-405 and then fly over the freeway to the east just south of NE 8th Street. Two elements are that it avoids Surrey Downs (really loud protesters) and avoids a tunnel. The headline says it avoids the downtown core. The Vision Line is about avoidance.

Curious folks can try to check Bellevuereporter.com or try this link: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/bel/news/70249167.html
Couple of interesting pictures out there.

They don’t plan to begin construction until 2014 and finish around 2020. The implications for Newcastle are obvious: more delay. Instead of turning south at the I-90 and I-405 junction all the plans show it turning north.

This is probably why Sound Transit elected to install a temporary “Transit Center” in downtown Newcastle. They know everyone there will be retired before they ever make plans to run a line to Lake Boren. The new transit center will allow everyone to take busses to work for the next 30 to 50 years.

And this brings up an interesting point. 30 to 50 years from now public transportation will have to be a majority component of local travel. Much as we hate the thought of leaving the familiar heap behind we’ll just have to get used to it. I’m ahead of the curve because I’ve already retired. Just the concept of 30 to 50 years of work makes me want to go take a nap.

Us futurists (very few can see into the future as well as I can, so pay attention) can see a time when cars will be more like electric roller skates. I’d rather take the bus. As time goes on everyone the world over will continue to mandate higher gas mileage requirements. Materials will get lighter and comfort will be eliminated. So make sure you keep your current vehicle well maintained so it’ll be around for the next “Cash for Clunkers” trade down.

Another feature of the future will be charges for miles driven rather than gas tax. Never mind that the massive dump trucks rumbling to and from Maple Valley are the real road killers, regular drivers will be paying for repairs. And every lane will have a price displayed overhead. If you don’t have a transponder in your car that’s directly linked to your bank you’ll have to pay the maximum. Kind of like losing your parking stub at the airport parking garage. Not pretty.

OK, this is interesting but here’s the problem: if we fail to install a robust public transit system we’ll have demand way over capacity. When hundreds of thousands of suburban job holders want to get to work and WANT to leave the electric shopping cart behind there won’t be enough seats unless plans are made now.

Wait, here’s another cog in that malfunctioning gearbox: working from home. This gets better every day. High speed internet and cell phone networks combined with enormously capable hardware make it possible to avoid the office all the time. I certainly had days when I would have preferred to avoid the office.

Some people don’t even have a desk at work; they only go in for face to face meetings and to catch up on office gossip. Some people don’t even live in the same state as their business location.

Managers are sometimes not real pleased with the prospect of having most of their employees keeping track of their own time and productivity. So here’s my question: if you’re so worried that I won’t be productive when I’m at home why do you insist on wasting so much of my time when I’m at work? Answer me that you pointy haired nimrod!

Umm, we were talking about the light rail route through Bellevue weren’t we? Well in another prediction of the future I think it’ll take years to reach a resolution of this deal. We don’t even know for sure if the rails will ever be allowed on I-90. Also, the video showing a proposal for the new SR 520 Bridge clearly depicts pontoons that could be adapted to carry rails. I don’t know if that was intended but that’s the way I saw it.

Given the posturing and proposing that’s going on I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually decide to build a light rail line from the Kent Valley to Woodinville on the east side of Lake Washington with no connection to Seattle. I think that’s about what the “Use the BNSF corridor” people were saying. Maybe they were right after all.

Al

Magic of the Internet

2009-11-16T09:43:00.000-08:00

A commenter (named Anonymous) suggested I look at STOIK Imagic 5.0 that has a funtion to split MPO files. Hurray! It works. Now I can use all the Fuji 3D functions and get the stereo pair images I want. No more issues with 2D Advanced (meaning no two D same) modes. Just one extra step to load them on the PC and split them.

Here's a test photo stereo pair made from the MPO file!

Andrew says their 3D Vsoin photo viewer software will recognize MPO files soon. That means there are even more to choose from in the future.

I think it's good to avoid the $6.99 per print and/or $400 viewer costs to share photos. But everyone will need to have the plastic viewer or red/cyan 3D movie viewer to see them.

Thanks everyone!

Al

Smooth Sailing on the Salish Sea

2009-11-15T10:44:00.001-08:00

We had an election here in the Greater Newcastle area. We elected a new Seattle Mayor; guy named “Mike.” Probably takes over for Greg next year. We also got a new King County Executive; guy named “Dow.” Should be interesting.

But here’s the real news: our local leg of the Pacific Ocean has a new name. We used to call some parts “Puget Sound,” or “Strait of Juan De Fuca,” or “That Disgusting Quagmire.” Now it all has an overall name. The old names are retained because the Ferry Boat captains can’t be retrained in a hurry. The new name is “Salish Sea.”

Here’s a map:

Really.

According to the map it includes all the rivers and lakes that supply water to the sea.
That means Lake Boren is now part of the Salish Sea. Newcastle is very proud. Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, has mixed feelings.

Glen likes to get out and visit as much as he can while still making sure the lake level is always maintained.

Thanks to the new culverts and stream restoration in conjunction with the Coal Creek Parkway project it’s fairly easy for him to get in and out of the lake.

The name comes from some studies of Native American peoples of the region who have a common language. There are various groups and tribes and studies show that for the most part they’re pretty much all related. They’re collectively called the Coast Salish and their heritage dates back to 8000 B.C.E.

Most of Glen’s pals around the world, for example Nessy from Loch Ness, are accustomed to hearing tall tales about Puget Sound. They can’t read and usually don’t watch much TeeVee. That means if Glen was to use the new name in conversation they wouldn’t know where he meant. Otherwise Glen really doesn’t care one way or the other.

There is one local character that cares a lot. His name is “Cressy” and he lives in Lake Crescent. Cressy is a distant relative of Nessy and he’s upset because he was just beginning to get noticed. He has no publicist like Nessy so few people are aware of his existence. Now that Lake Crescent is part of the Salish Sea, Cressy is afraid somebody will name him after the sea. “Sally” seems inappropriate for a prehistoric fire breathing monster.

A couple weeks ago I was at Lake Crescent and attempted to get photos of Cressy. Since he can’t read and has no TeeVee he didn’t realize what I was doing. He’s kind of shy.

So here’s the message: if you happen to see Cressy please reassure him that we aren’t going to change his name just because of the Salish Sea name. He may not surface again for awhile but keep an eye out when you’re up there.

This is Lake Crescent - what's that thing in the water? Cressy's parascope?

Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D W1

2009-11-14T10:05:00.001-08:00

The cow is done using wide-tele 2D Advanced mode - see below.

This is a little departure from transportation and road themes. One of my passions as a retired person (actually it started long before that) is 3D photography. It’s almost as old as photography itself, and almost as old as me.

Here’s the main concept: in real life we humans use two eyes. Most of us. Some don’t and there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just the way it is. Anyway we take in two images approximately 2 ½ inches offset. This allows us to see in 3D. So in order to make a 3D photograph you also need two images – one for the right eye and the other for the left.

There are several ways to differentiate the right and left images and we don’t need to review them all. Two popular methods are red/cyan filters and side-by-side stereo. There are other methods, such as polarized lenses, but let’s focus on these two for this report.

These usually require viewers. Red/cyan 3D glasses or stereo glasses. The glasses are cheap and sometimes free. Another way to view side-by-side is called “cross eyed.” Cross eye means the left eye looks at the right image and vice versa. That way you don’t need a viewer but it makes people tired so most of us print them the right way.

In 3D most of the still photo people work with side-by-side stereo images. This is about 160 years of history. For many years companies produced stereo cards that people viewed using a “stereopticon.” You can often see these cards for sale in antique shops.

Some of us remember seeing these photos and the viewers in our older relatives’ homes. I sat for hours looking at 3D photos of exotic foreign lands. It mesmerized me in those days and I always wanted to be able to make those 3D photos.

I’ve used several film cameras built for 3D and then twin digital cameras. These were controlled by a device that attempted to sync the shutters for simultaneous photos. The name of the overlord in my setup is “Pokescope.”

After hearing about this Fuji digital 3D camera a couple years ago I wanted one. I checked the standard sources such as Amazon and Adorama but they say “not found” when I search on it. I got my camera directly from Fuji.

Here’s a web site with information. http://www.finepixreal3dw1.com/
Or try: http://www.japangadgetshop.com/products/Fujifilm-FinePix-REAL-3D-W1.html
OK, the Fuji camera uses a more modern viewing method called lenticular. It was developed a few decades ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimslo .

The viewer on the back of the camera uses the lenticular method. Inside the camera each 3D picture is processed into a lenticular image and displays them on the rear screen. So when you focus in 3D mode you see the scene in 3D on the camera back. When you take the photo and then review it looks 3D.

However, no reviewer I have read gives this KEY point (unless I failed to understand what they said): it stores one jpeg image and one proprietary 3D image. The 3D image combines the two images inside the camera. It does NOT store both images in jpeg. That means when you bring the images down to a PC (or Mac for you smart guys) you only get one flat jpeg image.

This was a surprise. I would have expected that having two lenses and two actual cameras in the same unit that I would be able to access both jpeg images.

Turns out in order to do that you need to use 2D “Advanced” modes. That’s the way to get the camera to store two jpg images for download (upload?). One 2D mode is two colors. You get B&W in one and standard color in the other. Or “Chrome” and B&W. Or Chrome and standard color. But you don’t get both sides the using the same color treatment.

Another 2D Advanced mode is ISO. One side always uses ISO 100. The other one varies according to lighting. That means outside you might get both using ISO 100. But if there are clouds or shadows one side may automatically (no user override) go up to ISO 400 or 800. Inside the other one goes to ISO 1600. And flash is not available in this mode.

Another 2D Advanced mode is wide-tele. And it’s also automatic with no user override. That means the images are different zoom levels so there is no way they can be made into a 3D print.

In order to get two jpeg images I’ve been using two of the 2D Advanced modes. The Chrome-Standard Color and the ISO modes. Each has drawbacks. Chrome has more vivid blues so the two jpg images have different color casts. However I’m finding that is not noticeable when viewing the 3D print. The ISO mode often produces one dark and one light image. Also not too bad on a print, particularly if you adjust the lighting in Photoshop. But the focus in ISO mode can be different because of the different f-stops.

The flash works in the two color mode so it’s better for inside. Outside in good bright light the ISO mode is better.

I think Fuji should have made it possible to get two jpeg images (left and right) with the same color, ISO, focus, zoom, and available flash. It seems so simple. Maybe the W2.

Besides that it’s a very good camera. I know a lot of people will check it out and get all thrilled about being able to see a 3D image right on the back of the camera. They might buy it only to find out later that you need to spend another $400 to get a special picture frame viewer to display the 3D pictures. I don’t need that. I process the twin images into 3D photos that I can print or share on the web.

There seems to be a PR problem. I don’t see advertising and we still don’t see the camera for sale on the mainstream websites. It may be partially because you can’t show the 3D images in an advertisement. Amazon was confused about it and the only thing you get there is a charger.

This is in the blog version only so I can include several images. A couple are cross eye so you can see 3D without a viewer. A couple use red/cyan if you have old 3D movie glasses. Then the regular side-by-side stereo cards to use with a stereo viewer.

I’m slowly getting used to the camera. I have two 3D software packages that I use for making the printable images. They have similar features but very different interfaces. Let me know if you want to hear about the software. Sometimes I adjust the images in Photoshop.

Now here are the pictures:

This is the Jefferson County Courthouse in red/cyan movie 3D.

This is a tree scene near Lake Boren in red/cyan 3D.

These are inside the Pacific County Museum. I used the 2D Advanced ISO setting. The above pair are standard stereo and the lower pair are "cross eye." Notice how one side is much darker than the other one. But viewing in 3D it is not that annoying.

These are done with the 2D Advanced 2 color mode. One side has a bluer color cast. Again it does not seem to interfere with 3D viewing. In 2D Advanced ISO mode these might have been the same since the sun is shining.

This is the Starrett House in Port Townsend, Washington. There are a number of Victorian homes and everyone is encouraged to keep them in good shape. Recent ferry system problems, gas prices, and Bush economy legacy have really hit Port Townsend hard. We spent money there.

Any questions be sure to let me know.

Newcastle Library and Bridges

2009-10-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Water quality in Lake Boren has been stable over the past decade, according to the Newcastle News. Yea! Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, has been doing an excellent job.
A few neighbors are complaining that the city is using the lake as a catch basin. OK, how is the city supposed to keep water from running downhill? This will be interesting.

The issue is that sometimes in winter rains the lake turns brown. Glen says a nice mud bath once in awhile is good for the skin. Nobody is interested in testing the lake during winter rains. The tests are only done when the water is clean and clear in summer.

Meanwhile the City Council, ignoring the whiney Lake Boren Neighbors, has quietly updated the zoning code to allow a new stand-alone King County Library branch to be built.

Previously the requirements were that the building includes a city hall, car wash, deli, scrap yard, and 80 low income apartments. And no parking because we want people to use the strange new “Transit Center” being built right in front of the site.

On an inspection tour last Sunday I was trying to see how Sound Transit was going to get busses out of the traffic lanes to pick up passengers. From the plans on the internet (Newcastle web page link) and visual inspection I don’t think the street is any wider. The sidewalks and planting strips are wider but the street looks about the same.

This interim temporary Transit Center could take up the slack until they get around to building the new 21st Century multi mode Transportation Station on the shores of Lake Boren. Apparently one of the holdups is the question of water quality in the lake. Just call it “Lake Mocha Mucho Grande” on those rare occasions when it turns brown.

But it shouldn’t matter because commuters can walk to the new library and get a good book. Maybe a book on hydraulic engineering. Or city planning.

The SR 520 Floating Bridge is in very real danger of sinking sometime before the year 2000. We really need to replace it. It’s urgent. 2030 seems about right.

However, the State Highway Tong (WAHSDOT) may have to build it in Tacoma. That’s because nobody on either side of Lake Washington can agree on anything relative to the new configuration. Some want six lanes, some only four, many want no bridge at all, and some want a double deck tunnel with entry and exit ports at special locations, such as Husky Stadium.

One of the candidates for King County Executive has said that the East Link Light Rail should be built into the SR 520 plan. Her point is that designing the bridge with light rail and roadway and then constructing it that way would be much better than reconfiguration of the existing I-90 floating bridge. The current plan is to run the light rail on the Reversible HOV lanes of the I-90 Bridge.

There are lots of arguments from lots of folks about this. Commuters need to be able to get to work. The favorite mode right now is to get in the Prius and drive by yourself. Transit planners think that’s kind of annoying. They prefer you stand in the rain and wait for a bus.

WASHDOT is also annoyed because Prius drivers pay a lot less gas tax. That’s a primary source of road construction money. We’re going to get tolls everywhere. That’s another subject, so we’ll drop that for today.

Another issue is that millions of people living in Seattle actually work in Bellevue and Redmond. People living in these two cities work in Seattle. So there’s a lot of waving as these two masses of commuters very slowly cross over the floating bridges.

A characteristic of the area is that we live on one city and work in another. So all our freeways are crowded in both directions. Then guess what happens? Management announces that the whole organization is moving to yet another city on the other side of another body of water and thousands of folks have to teach their Prius a new route. What’s the plural of Prius?

The rail transit planning solution is to eliminate the I-90 Reversible HOV lanes by installing light rail on them. And this causes a lot of angst. As we know from the past it takes a massive road closure to make any changes to existing roads. People are worried that construction of the rails will block a lot more than the HOV lanes. And even if they don’t use the bridge right now the manager could make that announcement at any time.

From that point of view construction of a simple library in Newcastle seems like it should be pretty easy. But that might require demolition of the brand new wider sidewalk and closures on Newcastle Way. And more truck loads of dirt to and from Maple Valley.

By the way: a message to the blog police – this is not a political lobbying blog. So don’t taze me bro!

Al

Slides and Tunnels

2009-10-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

On the east side of our local mountains there is a nice polite river that has many names. At the top it’s the American River, joined by Morse and Mesatchee Creeks. A little further the Bumping River joins in and then the Little Naches. From there to the Yakima River it’s called the Naches River.

This valley shows many remnants of the last Ice Age when massive torrents of water from melting glaciers tore out a lot of basalt. The walls of the canyon are basalt but the floor is all worn rocks of many kinds. Experts can tell you which ones were shaped by river tumbling and which ones were shaped by glaciers.

Now you have some idea of the geology of the Naches River Valley. Pretty interesting. Also very scenic. There are pine, larch, fir, and cottonwood trees.
Last week a part of this scenic wonder subsided and cut off the highway and dammed up the Naches River. The location is an area called “Nile.” I don’t know why it’s called that.

There’s another tributary called Rattlesnake Creek. I know why on that one. It’s almost as big as the Naches and a lot of water goes through there.

Since the “slide” put a massive amount of rock and dirt in the river it decided to find an alternate route. See, rivers have a job to do, such as the Green River above the Howard Hanson Dam. Their job is filling up the oceans. They won’t stand for any halfhearted efforts to keep them from doing that.

Here’s a link to photos on WASHDOT http://www.flickr.com/photos/wastatednr/sets/72157622570021278/
You can go to WASHDOT home and click on Travel Alerts. Then NEWS and then stories about SR 410 and then select flickr in the list at the right to get to these photos. It’s amazing.

There should be a way to combine the Howard Hanson Dam issue and the Naches slide into a win-win. Nope; the tunnel boring machine is getting oiled up to dig a replacement for the Alaska Way Viaduct.

The TBM, as it’s called, will be put to work under Seattle. It might miss the bus tunnel already under there. We hope so.

Part of that project will be to replace or repair the seawall along the waterfront. This is important because the tunnel will go below sea level. Or the new tunnel could turn into a very long car wash – not really a good idea.

Most tunnels these days get a liner installed right behind the TBM. I saw that on the Discovery Channel. You should watch “Build it Bigger” with Danny. He’s a kick. But the hope is the tunnel liner will keep the water out even if the seawall doesn’t. But still a good seawall would keep downtown Seattle from getting its feet wet.

Anyway, Seattle (suburb of Newcastle) has some major projects coming up in transportation news. The Alaska Way Viaduct demolition, the 520 Bridge relocation to Tacoma, the East Link Light Rail connection to Bellevue, Redmond, and Enumclaw via Renton, plus the high water in the Auburn/Kent Valley this winter. All very interesting but has to wait until the election to see what kinds of nuts will be filling key positions.

Both the Mayor of Seattle and the King County Executive will be new. They could either help get this stuff going or tie it up for the next four years. Newcastle will get a library.

Al

Howard Hanson - Dam

2009-10-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here in Western Washington we live with something called hills. People also call them mountains. Cougar Mountain, Tiger Mountain, and Rattlesnake Mountain are examples of names we use to scare people.

We also have Grass, Huckleberry, and Blue Mountains in case you don’t like scary ones.

A benefit of mountainous areas is that people can store water behind dams for later use. We have hundreds of dams in the state. We have the Grand Coulee Dam.

“What’s a coulee and what’s so grand about it?” Well way back in pre-history the whole eastern part of the state was flooded with lava that cooled into basalt. That’s a kind of rock. Then during the last Ice Age Glacial Lake Missoula was formed because of a huge ice dam. Nature also builds dams.

When the ice broke or floated up the old Lake Missoula came pouring out all over the old basalt. It was in all the papers. Science people think this may have happened many times. One result was the basalt was scoured out in several channels and we call these channels “coulees.” The Grand Coulee is the biggest of these.

On our side of the mountains it rains a lot. We call it “normal” and we learn to live with it. However a lot of folks in the Green River Valley got tired of the river flooding their pastures and the Corps of Engineers decided to build a dam to help moderate the flow.

They named the dam after a Seattle attorney and state legislator. He died in 1957 after campaigning long and hard for the dam project. It changed the valley from periodically flooded farmland to a sea of warehouses, industrial plants, condominiums, and shopping centers.

Last January we had some unusually heavy rains in the west slopes of the Cascades and that resulted in some torrents of water and debris in many places. One result was the Howard Hanson Dam sustained damage. It reminded old timers of the Lake Missoula Floods. Very old timers. Not too many remember the Ice Age any more.

So far we’re not sure where this is going. Hang on, there’s more.

Earlier this fall the folks over at the dam site decided they were worried that heavy rains this winter might breach the dam. This would allow flooding once again in the Green River Valley. They decided it would be a good idea to warn people who live, work, and own property to get flood insurance.

Part of the flooding could also cause interruptions to water supplies, electricity, and access to Wal-Mart. That last item raised a panic. Insurance companies nearly had a land rush as people lined up to buy insurance. But wait! Can you legally buy insurance a week before and inevitable event? How does that work? Well, for one thing they might have fine print that says “Does not cover flooding resulting from failure of a man made structure; for example, the Howard Hanson Dam.”

Mayors of the many towns in the valley along with most of the owners of properties began to evaluate what the flood might do. We have a correction facility (jail) in Kent that would have to be evacuated. The prisoners would have to fill sand bags 24 hours a day. Many car dealers are located in the valley. Their lots are full of traded in clunkers. The list is way too long for my little report. The point is the hue and cry reached deafening proportions. (You can quote that)

Finally the BBMFIC of the Corps of Engineers came out and said allowing the dam to fail and flood the valley is not an option. But here are some of the things being said on local news programs:

"The best advice for those who live in the green river valley:
Get flood insurance now. Make an emergency plan for your family. Put together an emergency kit and get a radio and fresh batteries."

OK, we know how the insurance thing will (won’t) work. What’s an emergency plan? “Drive to California” might work. What about duct tape? How do you tell if batteries are fresh? Do they smell ripe? What’s a radio? We need answers, man!

The key element here is that the cities and big businesses are making a lot of noise and the people who live and work in the area are worried by all the reporting.

Contractors and water damage cleanup companies are lining up. Everyone is in frenzy. Some cities are telling citizens that if they have a flood alert they should follow the volcano evacuation routes.

Obviously we might hear more about this in the coming weeks. The Corps is saying that they will have the dam ready for anything by November 1. I’m not saying there won’t be flooding because I have no way of knowing the future. What I’m saying is that they need to handle the alerts better. Telling people to buy flood insurance is pretty much the same thing as saying it’s going to flood. Scary stuff. Poor old Howard Hanson would be very annoyed.

I just hope we don’t have a flood. It would be an amazing amount of damage due to all the development since the dam was built.

Al

Three Topics; No Time

2009-10-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

I have three things to write about. I’ll start with a transit related item and then move on to the other two in subsequent posts. It’s bonus week!

When one returns from a different planet, for example New Hampshire, one finds things are not very different from when one left. Or two. The number of travelers isn’t crucial.

Sound Transit has been approved by voters to extend the Link Light Rail over Lake Washington to Bellevue. The plan is to eventually connect to Redmond. The route over the I-90 Floating Bridge carpool lanes is being challenged. That should slow the whole thing down by years.

The route in Bellevue is also still open to some decisions. Committees are forming as we speak. You might be on one. You better check because the meetings have started and you don’t want to be late.

Bellevue feels that if Sound Transit goes along streets on the “surface” it will conflict with cars and cause disruptions to normal traffic flow. Have you been to Bellevue? Nothing is normal. I’ve seen as many as six cars run the light after it changes to red.

Anyway, one Bellevue solution is to bore a tunnel under the central business district. There are three main questions: where does it start, where does it end, and who has to do the digging? I’m not going to do it. They have a Tunnel Boring Machine that can take care of it but its being oiled up for the Alaska Way Viaduct project right now.

The Sound Transit “Fact Sheet” shows various routes. Protests are already beginning. Maybe you’re on one of those groups, too.

We here in the Greater Newcastle Puget Sound Metropolitan Area (GNPSMA) have been fighting transportation issues for over 100 years. We have the four longest floating bridges in the world. Two have sunk and been rebuilt and another is ready to sink. We also have the largest ferry fleet (number of boats) in the world.

One of the most vexing problems is that there is no place for a new multi-lane highway. We have to fit more capacity into the ones we have. And they too are nearly at the edges of their right-of-ways. That’s the primary argument for increased mass transit.

There’s a Puget Sound Regional Council consisting of 67 members… Wow that’s a recipe for wasting time right there. Each “member” is from an agency that has its own responsibilities and goals. The problem is these are naturally in conflict. The light rail on I-90 is just one example of a conflict. We apparently have a law in Washington that says you can’t use a road built with gas tax dollars for anything but a road. That’s how we built the I-90 Bridge so it has to be used for a road. Maybe. The courts will have to decide.

Another planet heard from is Kemper, the Bellevue Square guy. He says rail transportation can only work in very dense cities, such as New York. He’s got a point; in order to make a transportation system efficient it needs to collect riders near their starting points, run so often that missing one is no impact, and deliver riders close to their destinations. The GNPSMA bus/rail/ferry/trolley systems require riders to travel some distance from origins and at the end of the ride travel again to their destinations.

But the vision for the future is that we’ll reach a sweet spot where that hub and spoke concept will work. Here’s one part of that concept: more cars on the road these days use less gas which means they don’t pay as much in gas tax. Thus fewer dollars for roads. More riders on public transportation also mean fewer dollars from gas tax. Smart people are working on electric cars and bikes that use no gas at all. So traditional funding for roads is shrinking. What they want to do is add a pay as you go system. Everyone will be tracked and get a monthly bill for miles.

What that will do is make people realize what it costs to drive. Right now it’s hidden in the gas and other tax. If they see the specific costs they will change their habits. This will usher in a new form of small neighborhood collection vehicles. These will run around picking up commuters and dropping them off at the transit centers where they catch a bus or train. At the end of the trip another local delivery system will shuttle them to destinations. This isn’t my idea or even my solution. I don’t see it. But some heavy thinkers are saying it might look like this out in the future.

Right now the two biggest issues with the East Link Light Rail are the I-90 Express Lane usage and the route of the downtown Bellevue segment. Do either of these even mention Newcastle? No. So why do I care? Because once the dust settles I bet the whole thing will move to Newcastle. We’ll have the world class transit station much sooner than we expected.

There’s no punch line to this one, so watch Letterman tonight.

Al

Scientific American Fumbles Again

2009-10-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Scientific American (my bible) talks about how some of the things in space we think are “black holes” are actually black stars. Theory.

Here’s my view of the way it works. First of all there was no “Big Bang” forming the so called Universe. We humans have decided that nothing exists except what we can see. And our observations have told us that the farthest objects in deep space are moving away from each other. Thus they must have been all packed in tight at one time.

No, that’s not true. See our little corner of the Milky Way has a strange view. We think it’s all expanding because of some esoteric math mumbo jumbo. No, it’s not expanding. If you believe stuff just because somebody has a math equation for it then you need to get a grip. That stuff is always moving since there’s no way to tie it down.

Right now we don’t know of a fuel that can propel an object, such as Flash Gordon, anywhere close to the speed of light. The Millennium Falcon is fiction. Thus we have no perspective of outer space. Stars and galaxies we see are actually only their light arriving from millions and billions of years ago. So we don’t really know where most of those things are right now. It all just flows around in space over all of time itself.

Anyway, it’s funny to read these long winded articles about big bangs, black holes, and lots of other interesting theories. This particular item about how there might be black stars is also based on math. For some reason they think that there may be a kind of star that does not reach the point where it gives off light.

On the other hand I’ve seen some of the new TV shows and I’d have to say some of those stars don’t glow much either. So maybe there’s something to it.

Did I mention that I didn’t do that well in science classes in college? That’s because I didn’t realize how theoretical it all is. I thought they were trying to convince me about facts and stuff that’s real. It’s mostly guesswork.

People said for years that there is no other life besides what’s on Earth. Then a guy on TV in the 70s, Carl, says that that can’t possibly be true because of the odds. Given that life exists on Earth and there are uncounted billions of other planets it must be true that life exists elsewhere. That’s been accepted to the point where we actually spend money listening for some kind of organized waves from space. What humans produce (except for Rap) can be distinguished from “noise” because of frequencies and other parameters. We’re listening for some kind of waves that might indicate they originated from a fabricated source rather than just background radiation across the spectrum.

They said the moon was a dry barren rock but now they think there might be frozen water on the moon. At some point many years ago some bonehead said something like the water on Earth has not increased or decreased by a single molecule – it evaporates and then condenses into rain or snow and falls to the ground again endlessly. Well in High School we separated water into hydrogen and oxygen so we proved that nonsense wasn’t true. We also make water every time we drive a gasoline powered car. Plus there’s evidence that many of the chunks of debris falling from space contain water. So the moon obviously has some water because space debris hits it too.

So what’s the point of all this? Newcastle needs a world class transit center. Everything else is just theoretical math.

Al

Sound Transit Makes Noise

2009-10-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

Way back when we had steam locomotives and unreliable airbrakes trains were interesting. You’d hear the whistle and open the window to watch the train go by.
In 2009 the light rail is having an opposite effect. People hear the train and it is nothing more than noise. They close their windows.

Trains run of steel tracks and in order to keep them on the rails the wheels have flanges. These flanges rub on the sides of the rails when the train goes around a corner. Big freight trains use much more shallow curves and mostly we don’t live very close to the tracks. The Link line is elevated in Tukwila. There are sharp turns and in places it goes close to homes. Thus the squealing flanges bother neighbors.

Also the brakes seem to make noise. This may be just something to complain about because modern brakes should have ways to keep quiet.

Then there are the electronic beeps that are supposed to warn of an approaching train. They don’t use the big air horns or car type horns. They use a sort of loud computer error beep.

Lastly there is some noise from the train as it goes by on straight flat track. A little more than one would expect from an electric powered thingy.

Well, guess what? The noise exceeds Federal standards and Sound Transit is trying to correct the problem. We thought they would just tell us to get over it. But, no, they are going to address it.

One suggestion was to build walls to separate the tracks from the homes. That won’t happen. It would be similar to building a tunnel through the air. Not even the home owners would want that.

Another one has to do with some kind of lubrication on the flanges. Hoho just what the driver needs running steel wheels on steel tracks is a glob of grease. It would eliminate all those bothersome station stops.

I bet they can find a better warning tone than the “Windows Fatal Error” beep they use now. There must be hundreds of Verizon ringtones to choose from. How about the theme from South Park? Or the 1812 Overture?

We don’t know (at least I don’t know) what kinds of things they might do to fix the noises. But we’re expecting some fixes pretty soon. In December they’re planning to open the last leg from the Tukwila station to Sea-Tac. We don’t need more noise at the airport.

One of the neighborhoods in Bellevue is protesting every route choice from I-90 into the business district. They began this before the noise issue came up. Now they have noise to add to their list of horrid and evil things light rail will do to their area.

All in all there’s a lot of interesting things to watch. How can Bellevue get its light rail connection from Seattle without using the I-90 Bridge? The new 520 bridge? How can the neighbors south of Bellevue’s downtown prevent the noise and other evils of light rail near them? The new 520 bridge? How can we turn up the heat on the critical issue of a major transit center on the shores of Lake Boren? The new 520 bridge? I’m starting to see it come together. Double deck floating bridge with general purpose lanes on top and bus/carpool/ transit lanes below replaces the old 520 bridge. And we make the railing on the new bridge into a giant antenna that can listen for signals from outer space. Feel free to claim you thought of it first.

Al

Navigating New England

2009-09-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

We went to New Hampshire to see a bike race in Portsmouth. It’s called the “Portsmouth Criterium” and there was a huge crowd.

We really didn’t expect a bike race but when you go places there’s always a surprise. Those guys went around the streets of Portsmouth faster than any car could ever. It was amazing to watch 50 speeding bicycles hit poorly seated manhole covers and launch into the air.

In New England lots of people run. Almost any road had joggers along the edge. Since the Colonial planners didn’t imagine such things when they randomly laid out these roads they didn’t leave any room for runners. Thus traffic is substantially slowed waiting for a chance to get around a runner. People also ride bikes a lot. Same issue. Oddly this seems to meter traffic so nobody is going fast enough to have a wreck.

That means a lot of drivers who want to go any distance find the big roads. The interstates and big state highways with 65 mph speed limits. They have random tolls. You can be driving along 70 mph not bothering anyone and around the next bend a big sign says you need to stop and pay a toll. That is if you don’t have one of those EZPass things. Luckily I took one of my fake Good-To-Go transponders and attached it to the rental car.

Speaking of cops; they’re a scary looking bunch. They drive big fast Chrysler type vehicles, such as the 300 or the Dodge Charger. A lot faster than a rental car, anyway. They have snappy uniforms and Smoky Bear hats. They carry big guns and have serious looks.

Air travel these days is also kind of fun. When you get to a big city airport they have an airline employee near the ticket counter area whose job is to yell at people and get them into lines. We Americans apparently know nothing about lining up.
For some reason our airline had a large crowd of people wanting to fly somewhere and some of the other airlines had nobody. Too bad we can’t just change our minds and go to an airline with no line.

Anyway, the airline employee trys to get us into various categories of lines. One is for people without boarding passes who need to check luggage. One for people who don’t want to check luggage but need a boarding pass. One is for those who printed a boarding pass at home but still need a real boarding pass that only the airline ticket agent can issue. One for bags that have no passenger but do have a boarding pass. And a special line for rednecks. That line is actually a big circle that goes around some giant airport “art” sculpture. Once in awhile one or two rednecks realize they passed the same points three or four times and slip out to join a real line.

Once you get that all sorted out and hand over two weeks’ worth of clothing in your finest Piggly Wiggly luggage you head for the Security line. I got my bag checked and turned to see how the redneck line was doing. As I negotiated my way out of the crowd I said aloud “OK now where’s Security?” and bumped into three heavily armed policemen. “Wow,” I said, “Now that’s what I call service!” The biggest one said, “That’s what we’re here for.” So I now have proof that at least one cop has a sense of humor. Just don’t expect a rental car to outrun a New Hampshire State Trooper and then make a joke of it.

While in New England I visited several boat related sites. They build boats there and they are very proud of it. One place I visited in Bath, Maine, was located on the actual site where old sailing ships were built. They still had the contours on the bank where they built the ship and then slid it into the water. They have a big steel sculpture of the bow and stern in the exact position where a boat was built so you can see how it was all done.

Another interesting aspect is that whenever I was taking 3D photos at the various sites people would come up to me and comment about my 3D rig. They all recognized that I was taking 3D pictures. I’ve been to a lot of places and most people who talk to me just ask why I’m using two cameras. In New England they seem to understand it’s for 3D.

Of course whenever you travel to an unfamiliar location you need to figure out how to get places. It’s always a challenge, especially if you want to avoid the toll gates.

I’ve grown fond of using GPS as a navigation aid. Mostly I study the map and decide where I am and where I’m going. Then I use the GPS to determine how badly off course I am.

But for this trip I decided to give it a new twist. My smart phone has GPS capability so instead of toting a Garmin on the trip or paying the rental company for one I decided to try the phone version.

It worked. I’d enter the address of the place I wanted to go and the phone told me where to turn. Even warned me to get in the left or right lane to be ready to turn. So that’s why they call it a smart phone. The picture on the tiny screen was not much help so I didn’t look at it much. Safer that way.

The smart phone GPS is particularly helpful in these coastal New England locals because the streets and back roads twist and turn so much. Just heading out in search of a specific place will get you lost. On the other hand when my phone tells me to turn here and five minutes later I actually arrive at t he place I’m looking for it’s like a minor miracle.

Something I found in New Hampshire that we don’t have in Washington: New Castle Public Library. That’s right; they have a library in their New Castle. And a zip code. So maybe the mistake here was to make Newcastle all one word. Seems like a clue.

The phone GPS has a couple of oddities, though. There’s a way to display a map showing where you are. I parked a few times and tried to access the map but only got it by luck and patience. I still don’t know if I could go right to the map feature. Another one is the propensity to use the Interstate system. It wanted me on I-95 and “NO NONSENSE, MISTER!” even to go from one part of a town to another. But unlike the clinically stupid TOMTOM GPS it was able to recalculate the route and eventually succeed in getting me there even if I refused to use I-95, with its random toll gates.

Getting back to the world was only a little hairy. Apparently when you take off your shoes at the security gate you can’t put them in a plastic bin. I don’t know why they want your shoes loose in the x-ray machine. Oh, and while the TSA guy is giving you hell about that point he throws your carry-on bag to the floor and then apologizes. Great! My iPod gets shock tested just because I put my shoes in a plastic bin. I don’t recall when I became a suspected terrorist, but I think it’s time for me to reform.

And, if you like adventure; make a connecting flight through Chicago. I expect some of the other big hubs are just as crazy but Chicago’s terminals seem to be the most congested. The walkways are narrow and then they allow all kinds of vendors to set up shop right out there where we’re trying to sprint to our next flight.

So my advice is this: Get a GPS and use it. Get rich and fly in private jets. And get a riding lawn mower. Everything else is just icing on the cake. One more thing, don’t annoy the New Hampshire State Police.

Al

Radio Ranch

2009-09-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

One of the things regular readers may have noticed (both of you) is that the frequency of these reports has declined in recent months. Here’s my excuse: hair loss. No, wait, that’s the reason I wasn’t chosen as “Miss Lake Boren” once again this year. The reason I’ve been having writers’ block is National Politics – I don’t like writing about those people. But holy moly, they sure do some funny stuff. I just don’t think I want to be discussing National Politics along with a hundred million other National Politics Opinionated Nimrods. It’s covered; my voice won’t add anything.

And, if you remember any of my past musings you might have some inkling of my favorite subjects: construction, transit, transit construction, and news. One of my least favorite forms of “””NEWS””” is talk radio. This is where somebody with a bad case of the “mouth” gets paid to suffer his/her illness.

Obviously people who do this have a point of view. That’s fine. Each of us is entitled to a point of view. Just don’t try to convince me that yours is right and everyone else is wrong. That’s my point of view!

Here’s the way local radio is able to stay on the air: commercials. Companies get to say stuff on the radio and their fees pay others on the same station to say other stuff. For example a Cadillac dealer will buy a 60 second spot at 8:15 AM to remind commuters that for just $799 a month they could be stuck on I-5 in a really nice car. Right after that the talk radio person may spend six minutes screaming about how this country is being ruined by over priced gas guzzlers… “And now a traffic report from Sky King”

But the key to how much it costs for that commercial spot is the number of ears actually tuned in to that radio station. The price is based on “audience share.” If your station has a listening area that includes a million people there’s your problem.

Only about 10% of any region will even listen to a radio in this day of modern entertainment. The rest have CDs, iPods, teenagers, XM, and DVDs. This doesn’t include the ones on cell phones. That’s because being on a cell phone requires a second activity. If you’re sending text messages to 1,000 close personal friends you also need to be applying makeup. Hey, I don’t make the rules, Twitter does.

In the Seattle Radio market (probably the last in America) they’ve switched from the diary method of judging audience share to an electronic eavesdropping type method. Once you agree to allow one of these thingys to be surgically attached to you there is no way you can fake what you listen to.

And that’s the reason. Lots of radio folks complained that the diary method was subject to skewing due to natural bias. For example a person could mark in their diary that they listen to Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody every day at 4:00. Never mind that it was a TV show in the 1950s not a radio show in … what year is it? What century is it?

The new gadget gives a more accurate reading. So I hook mine up to a radio that’s attached to a raccoon that comes to my house every night for cookies. He’s tuned to the 24 hour Landover Baptist station. It’s just my way of skewing the results.

OK, why do I care? Well, the radio station I listen to most often has traffic reports every 10 minutes 24 hours a day. The stuff in between is weather and some version of the news. Traffic reports in the Greater Newcastle Area are important because, like all of America, it’s still under construction. But the reason I care about commercials and market share is that A) my radio station has some of the most obnoxious commercials anywhere and B) if they don’t get enough revenue they may quit traffic reporting.

Here’s an example: this bean brain talks to a person named “Heather” who spouts management babble as if it’s actual information. Then he thanks her and tells me I have to buy something. I have grown to hate “Heather” or whatever her real name is.

Another one tells me I need to call a phone number right away and end my debt forever. Then they repeat the phone number 12 times. My estimation is that you take 100 as a “standard IQ” and divide it by the number of times they repeat the phone number – that’s the IQ of their target listener. In this case 8.5 (bet you didn’t think I could do the math).

Radio stations are in some of the same bind as print newspapers: too much other stuff competing for attention. Radio stations need to deliver what people want to hear. I want a traffic report when I embark on a journey across town. That’s all. I have my own entertainment and opinions.

Here’s a problem with that: radio isn’t the only source of traffic reports. Some people now get traffic reports on GPS. For a fee the GPS will tell them where the cell phone related traffic jam is and even make an effort to guide them around it. I don’t want to pay the fee. Besides, for only $799 a month I can sit in those backups in real comfort.

The point is radio stations are going the way of print newspapers. Sure we have a lot still on the air. More stations than we can sort out. Most modern car radios have presets for 20 stations (5 AM and 15 FM) plus tuners that find strong signals at the touch of a button. It’s hard to find a quiet place on the dial. But have you heard what passes for “commercials” lately. They keep sinking lower and lower.

Heather is only an example of the ones that burn me up. My problem is I have to listen or I’ll miss the next traffic report. So my head is filled with these stupid messages and endlessly repeated phone numbers that I have to call in order to receive my free sample of a “proven memory supplement” that I’ve already forgotten.

So I spend my time counting how many times they repeat the phone number to see what IQ they’re aiming at and hoping Heather learns a new management buzz word some day.

Then if I get my traffic report I return to the iPod. It’s way better than anything on the air these days. Oh, and my raccoon even figured out how to tune in another station because he said he just couldn’t take Pastor Deacon Fred’s 60 second sermons.
Al

Computers That Think

2009-08-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

I like to read Smithsonian magazine. They have historical stuff and science stuff as well as some choice current event related stuff. The issue I focused on is about evolution. This is another of my favorite topics.

From where I sit human evolution is based on transportation. We need to get around. People who stay at home don’t evolve pretty much. That’s why most historical events seem to involve things like “migration,” “invasion,” and “conquest.” Everyone goes someplace and annoys the heck out of the people already there. Some of us call it “vacation.”

That’s why we read things that purport to talk about “rapid transit.”

Our species wants to go places. We’re now talking about going to Mars. I have a list of folks to send on the first trip, if you want it.

Well, it turns out the people already at our destinations came from someplace else. Our alleged “Native Americans” seem to have come from Asia back before they invented arrow heads. The two events might be related. Nobody’s living where their ancient ancestors evolved.

Anyway, the Smithsonian blurb says that evolution is random and without purpose. Many people believe things happen for a reason. A show on the Discovery Channel will say something like, “the bluebird developed a tough bill in order to pulverize the mealworms it eats.” Well, that’s backwards. Mealworms have plenty of good taste and nutrition if you’re a bluebird so the genes that randomly mutated to improve the bluebird bill were beneficial, therefore stuck around. It could have gone the other way for example the flimsy billed “maroonbird” went extinct. See the difference? The genes that cause blue feathers probably have nothing to do with worms. But that’s harder to say when you’re making a TeeVee show. By the way, ask someone else about the good taste of mealworms because I don’t like ‘em.

Then along comes a bunch of computer and artificial intelligence experts and they have a big meeting. The report from the meeting will come out “later this year.” In the mean time reporters are asking them what they did. Reporters can’t wait for the meeting report because it would require reading and they don’t have time for that.

Computer people are a fun bunch. So they tell the reporters that we need to be scared because computers will soon be smarter than us. Ever wait in line at the market because the scanner can’t read the barcode on spaghetti? This stuff about computers being smarter than us is a long way off.

But let’s explore it anyway. Why not?

The particular item I was reading pointed out that this one robotic computer had the ability to find an electrical outlet and plug itself in when its batteries got low. Is that really an example of intelligence? When I’m hungry I eat. It’s not that smart.

Then they suggested that computer research and development should be regulated in such a way that prevents going down the path toward independent thought. Pass a law that prevents a computer from making decisions. Make it illegal for a robot to imagine things. Imprison science fiction authors who write about machines that think.

My point here is that computers are probably already smarter than that reporter.

OK, maybe that’s not my point.

Here’s my point: it’s all about intention. Motivation. Goals. End Results. Consequences. Why on earth would a computer (robot) want to be in charge of a human? If there were no free range humans around then robots would soon run out of electricity. All you’d need to do is put a plastic cap on the electric outlet.

And what’re the robots’ goals of commanding the human species other than electricity? Do robots really have ambitions? Do they think running things means they can have all the Sweet Baby Ray’s barbeque sauce they want? That’s why I’d want to be in charge. But now you can get it at Costco so all I need is a Debit Card – I don’t need to be in charge.

Human evolution is a random and very slow process. Our DNA mutates in little insignificant steps over a fairly long timeframe. People in the time of Caesar were pretty much the same as we are now except they had completely different imaginary fears.

Now think of the concept of humans evolving the capability to worry about robots that can plan takeovers of various levels of government. What we should be afraid of are reporters that don’t know when they’re being fooled.

For extra credit tell me what I’m REALLY talking about.

Al

Controversial Opinions on Tranist and Stuff

2009-08-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

Our local pals, Sound Transit, are committed to setting down the “East Link” segment of the light rail project on the I-90 Bridge reversible high occupancy lanes (HOV). In the morning busses and car pools now use it west bound and in the evening it’s the other way. Also those alleged residents of Mercer Island can use it even if it’s only one person. Maybe I should get a Mercer Island address. I wouldn’t actually live on that land fill, but the address would get me out of tickets, maybe.

Here’s the thing: The HOV lanes are just the right size for a rail line from Seattle to Bellevue (and on to Redmond…). In the Sound Transit scheme they don’t share the road with cars like the South Lake Union Streetcar (SLUT). This is because the planned train frequency and speed don’t make for polite sharing. Thus when the tracks go in we won’t be able to drive the HOV lanes anymore. Worse, during construction they’ll probably close a couple of regular lanes due to “safety” issues.

But this is probably a good thing in the long run. By the time we get wise and understand the true situation relative to gas, pollution, congestion, and other economic realities we won’t be driving as much. Having a commuter train every seven minutes might be better than hiking across the bridge.

Oh, and don’t plan to push that grocery cart all the way home. Bellevue will charge you $117. And if they find a Safeway cart on the street they’ll charge Safeway $100. So here’s what we’ll see pretty soon – rental carts. You go to the store and slip a $20 into a machine and rent a shopping cart. Once you’re done and turn it back in you get your $20 back. If Safeway finds its making more than the amount it spends on fines each month they may lower that fee. Or they may start low at 50 cents and raise it until they find a balance. Either way the city makes potentially $217 each time you get caught.

Grocery carts aren’t allowed on HOV lanes so I guess that was off subject.
A group of Eastsiders has decided to file a suit to stop Sound Transit from using the I-90 HOV lanes. It’s a big issue to some folks. Earlier this summer we got a preview when the HOV lanes were closed to replace the expansion joints. That put all the busses and car pools into the General Purpose lanes. What a nightmare. It took almost 5 extra minutes to get to work. The biggest issue was confusion.

In July they closed the General Purpose lanes so they could replace those expansion joints. Now that actually had an impact. But boy are those new joints spiffy.
The law suit over use of the HOV lanes is based on the idea that the highway was paid for with gas tax money and we have a law that says you can’t use gas tax money for anything but roads. This might exclude railroads. Also crossroads, inroads, Hampton Roads, and Pike Place Market. Obviously.

The main point of the lawsuit may have nothing to do with gas tax in that the people who are filing it have always opposed transit. So there you go. But another group might file a counter suit claiming delay of the East Link might economically depress Redmond. And what about a group that thinks the SR 520 Bridge is a much better alternative for transit since it’s about to be replaced anyway. It would make sense to build a complete bridge that does both rather than retool an existing bridge.

Here’s a design proposal. Double deck. The top deck would be a four lane General Purpose highway. The lower deck would have two light rail lanes and two HOV lanes equaling the width of the upper deck. Maybe make both decks six lanes. Maybe the lower deck would be under water so the light rail passengers could admire the fishes. Then four or five other groups would sue for various reasons.

Transportation improvements depend on who has the best lawyers. Since most of the people who make laws are lawyers we can see how things got like this. Next time you vote keep this in mind. And Tim Eyman would probably find a way to file an initiative and make more money.

Another controversial issue is that people reading internet stuff are too easily influenced. My report is obviously off in some kind of wilderness. Right at the top it states accuracy is optional. My point is we should view all forwarded emails in the same light. We’ve seen the ones about health care, birth certificates, enemies lists, and so on. None of them are true. They’re jokes. Here’s an important clue: if it says you should forward it - ITS A JOKE! So have a good laugh and forget it. Or, if you don’t like the subject matter just delete it. But whatever you do don’t embarrass yourself in public by quoting an internet email joke as if you actually believe it.

Advice from Lake Boren is free – you’re welcome.

Al

Space and Posts

2009-07-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

OK, as a novice (really?) I don't know how all this space got into the post below. However, from now on I won't put photos on the left or right of the text. I think that's what's doing it. Since I don't know how to edit HTML there's no way I can get rid of the space. So keep scrolling.

Guess what? I think I figured it out to some extent. When I uploaded the photos the draft post had photos beside text. After it was published the photos were above and below, leaving the space also above and below, as if there was something there, only backwards. Since it should be squished rather than expanded that doesn't seem right. You dig? Neither do I.

Al

Coal Creek Parkway Open

2009-07-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

Recently Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, was celebrating the completion of the Coal Creek Parkway project. He was giving water ski rides to the squirrels. A Squirrel doesn’t require a lot of speed to water ski.

The greys were lined up to get a turn on the water and the little Douglas finally began joining in as well. Regular news media didn’t report this because they were down at the May Creek Bridge for the ribbon cutting. If there was a person involved they would have reported it.

The south end of the project is Duvall Avenue in Renton. It’s fairly open now except for a few random lane closures. This is a very classy retaining wall that Renton should be proud of.

Around the corner from the classy wall is the one I predict won’t last. As you can see (assuming your puter can see these photos) there are trees growing out of it. It’s doomed. I just hope nobody gets hurt. For example a retired bald guy getting too close to take a photo.

Continuing north along the new road we come to the new May Creek Bridge. Looking over the railing you can see it’s a very long way down. I never did that before because the old bridge didn’t have enough room for cars and certainly not some random pedestrian. It’s a very long drop if one had to leap over the rail to escape being squished. The new bridge has nice walks on both sides.

The swooping décor is unique on the east side of Lake Washington. I had fun with it.

Then, just for comparison, here’s an old bridge in Indiana. Spring in Indiana this year was very wet.

My boat was floating well above the standard level of the river. As you can see the yellow numbers are expertly applied and professional looking. You can also see why I want to have the boat painted.

OK, back to Coal Creek Parkway. King County took the construction opportunity to build a large pond for rain water. The in thing these days is to hold runoff in ponds to let the debris settle out before releasing it into the streams. This pond is above May Creek.

Up the hill north from May Creek is Wall 104. It’s anchored into the hillside by long bolts and backed up by tons of rock. This stairway goes up to a hiking trail. Us eastsiders have lots of trails where we can wander to and fro hardly knowing where we are. It’s one of the benefits of living in the Bellevue/Newcastle area.

As you can see there’s a handrail on top of the retaining wall. The sidewalk goes up and over the wall while the roadway stays below it. Probably safer that way.

Next up are the Newcastle Oxen. These beasts can haul huge wagon loads of facts and figures about the new roadway construction. If you like facts and figures you’ll just have to wait until these guys bring them to you. My report is all hearsay and rumor.

These next two are the entry and exit portals of the Boren Creek culvert. The crew completely revamped the culvert to make it big enough for Glen to swim in and out of the lake. They’ll deny it had anything to do with the Lake Boren Carp, but we know the truth. It’s hard to see in these photos because I declined to climb down the bank but the culvert is at least six feet around.

Next up is retaining Wall 106. This one is anchored quite far into the hillside in order to make sure the houses on top never come down. There’s a secondary wall topped with a fence and the sidewalk is at street level in this case. This is another retaining wall built for the long haul. I think a number of Volkswagons are stuffed in there to help ballast the wall against any chance of a problem.

Right now you’re probably wondering if there really are 106 retaining walls on Coal Creek Parkway. No. I don’t have a clue why they chose to use those numbers. I don’t do facts and figures. Wait for the oxen.

Al

July Project Updates

2009-07-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Coal Creek Parkway Update:

Renton has completed the four lane project on Duvall Avenue. It’s done. One of the fanciest retaining walls I’ve ever seen holds back tons of dirt. Renton must be very proud.

King County Metro is now able to run the 240 bus line back on the regular route except they might need special permission. When the street was closed last year the bus drivers had to get “route deviation” to use Nile Ave NE. The planned opening of Duvall Ave was July 20 but since it opened early the route deviation might still be in effect. I’ll have to check.

Newcastle, on the other hand, has opened all lanes of the new May Creek Bridge. They’re very proud. The Newcastle News headline reads; “City celebrates completion of parkway expansion project.” It’s all about the new bridge. Parts of the Phase 2 section are still being completed. The paver has been working overtime.

My goal now is to walk (or ride my bike) along the route and inspect the quality of the work. It’s my mission. I don’t plan to get near the scary development retaining wall around the corner on SE 95th Way because with all the shrubbery growing out of it I expect it to collapse any second. That wall was not included in the street project but if it falls it could block traffic.

Check out the web site: http://www.coalcreekparkway.com/ and click on the Project Updates button for some photos. They really are proud of the new bridge. The old bridge is the picture you see first.

I-90 Expansion Joints:

At the same time the State DOT (Washdot) has closed the main west bound lanes of I-90 across Lake Washington to replace expansion joints. These joints apparently have cracks. That’s just a term meaning the x-ray machine can see into the metal.

Here’s something I don’t get. In the rest of America (except California) it gets cold in winter and hot in summer. Road materials expand and contract several feet over these temperature variations. Too technical? Think about chewing gum and ice cream.

Western Washington is about 40 degrees all year long. Why are our expansion joints such a big deal? Remember the world class traffic stopping saga of the expansion joints on the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge? Do other states have these issues?

Link Light Rail to Open:

This is July and it’s the month the Link Light Rail will begin revenue service between the downtown bus tunnel and Tukwila. We already have a problem. Sound Transit has been running the trains on intense schedules 20 hours a day to get people used to having them around and to train the drivers. They’re noisy.

Yes, it’s true; these silent electric trains are getting noise complaints. The wheels are made of steel and the track is made of steel. When the trains go around corners the flanges on the steel wheels tend to squeal like an Alaskan Governor resigning from office. Neighbors say it keeps them awake at night.

One neighbor offered to spray the tracks with WD-40. That should do it. If they had routed the line through Renton instead there would be no complaints. People in Renton are also up 20 hours a day trying to figure out how to get out of town. OK, maybe not the same 20 hours that the trains run.

In any case, on July 20 we’ll be able to take our Orca Pass into Seattle’s bus tunnel and catch the Link for a ride to Tukwila. The Orca Pass won’t work, of course, but it’ll be fun to try it and raise a big stink. Once we figure out how to get change for a $20 and try again we’ll be treated to a joyous ride toward the Beacon Hill Tunnel.

At that point we disappear under ground and emerge in a whole different world on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd… Did you know King County was named before him? Then after the trek down MLK we rise up and over I-5 and sail into Tukwila where we’ll be greeted by hundreds of sleepy people carrying protest signs.

At some point along I-5 we should expect to see giant trucks with expansion joints wending their way to various Washdot projects in every direction. I’m looking forward to it.

Al