Transportation in 2010 and Beyond – Part Twain?

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

Al

Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D W1

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.

Al

Newcastle Library and Bridges

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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