Obvious Warnings aren't new

We tend to think that obvious warnings (like this one) are a product of our modern litigious society, and that those lawsuits can be traced all the way back to Judge Wapner's People's Court with Doug Llewelyn's admission of "Don't take the law into your own hands; you take them to court."

But silly warning have been around for much longer, as this sign (ostensibly for children) from a 1910 Seattle Cable Car indicates:

Not much has changed in 90 years

My Mother and I visited the Museum of History and Industry last week, and it is a fascinating look back at Seattle through the years.  They currently have an exhibit called Now and Then, which showcases historical photos of Seattle next to the an image shot from essentially the same location today.

They showed classic images of the opening of the first floating bridge across Lake Washington.  Years later, it would become part of I-90.




What struck me most was the placard next to it.





The first line reads:

After 20 years of debate about whether to build it, and where and how, the first bridge across Lake Washington took 18 months to complete.

Twenty years.

Twenty years to make that simple decision.

The most frustrating thing about Seattle and probably what will keep Seattle from ever achieving its potential is its inability to make a decision and do anything in a timely manner. The Seattle characteristic that drove the city to discuss this bridge for 20 years in the past is the same reason why we don't have a significant rail system today. It's why we have 3 yes votes before having a no vote and scrapping the monorail.  It's why we're still arguing about how to get light rail to the east side and why we're still arguing about replacing our crumbling viaduct that was severely damaged in an earthquake 10 years ago.  The contracts are signed and we still may have another vote on it.

I guess it's reassuring to know that this is not a new phenomenon.  Seattle has never been able to make up it's mind about infrastructure in anything resembling a sensible time frame.

I guess this also means it's never going to get any better.

Technology to Change the World

We have more than enough energy to satisfy our greatest needs and desires.  It's out there in the environment -- in the sun on our faces, the wind on our back, the vibration of the freeway, the rattling of trains, the surf eroding the shore, the atoms we split, the garbage we rot, and the coal we burn.  The only problem is that it's not where we want it, when we want it.  Our goal for the 21st century should be to fix that problem

Mobile technology, computing technology, communications technology and related items have really changed the world over the last 20 years.  What's the next step?

Batteries.

If we can develop dramatically more efficient, less expensive, and (ideally) more eco-friendly battery technology, we can change the world again in the next 20 years.

Improved battery technology can drive electricity costs down. Imagine being able to charge your home's batteries at night when powerplants are underutiltized.  Power can be cheaper in the off hours, and we can eliminate a lot of the Brown-Out and rolling Black-Out problems parts of the country face on hot summer days.

Electric vehicles, like the Nissan Leaf and Tesla family of cars are giving us a viable alternative to gasoline, but they still are limited in range to about 100 miles for the Leaf and under 300 miles for the Tesla. Imagine battery technology that's good for 1000 miles.

Combine those vehicles with off hours charging and household batteries and we get world changing benefits.  Even charging cars with electricity from coal powerplants produces less greenhouse gas  than driving on gasoline.

These two battery solution gives us even more benefits, though.  Storing power locally gives us better disaster preparedness.  When powerlines go down due to wind, rain, or hurricane, household batteries can keep the lights bright and the refrigerator cold.

Alternative energy solutions at the local level, whether those solutions are roof top solar panels or home sized windmills become much more viable with the right battery technology.

Large scale alternative energy solutions, again, whether they are hydro-electric, geothermal, solar, wind, or wave action are all more viable when we can efficiently store they energy.

And back down to the small scale, as we migrate more and more to cloud computing, keeping those laptops and smart phones charged is critical.

I'm not sure if it's just a question of more efficiently scaling our current technology -- of making refinements to what we already have -- or if we need massive conceptual shift in areas of chemical and electrical engineering that I know nothing about.

The company that can master battery technology -- the country that can master battery technology -- will own the economy of the future.

Battery technology isn't sexy.  It's not exciting.  It rarely makes headlines.  But it should.  

Our nation's infrastructure and ecnomy depend on it and demand advances in battery technology.

The question is, how do we capitalize on it?

Tokyo Travels Part 09: Tokyo Tower

Every tourist city worth a visit has a tall skinny structure that tourists can ride to the top of.  Seattle has the Space Needle.  Vegas has the Stratosphere.  Toronto has the CN Tower.  DC has the Washington Monument.  NYC has the Empire State Building.

And Tokyo has the Tokyo Tower.

At 333 meters tall, it is 80% taller than the Space Needle. It opened in 1958 and helped symbolize Japan's recovery from WWII. And it was destroyed in nearly every Godzilla movie.  When not under attack by giant lizards, it handles radio and TV transmissions (among other things) that beam silly game shows and news into Japanese homes throughout the area.

It has two observation decks.  Our tour grow went to the lower one because it has a bigger elevator.  Even though we were at just 150 meters, the view was incredible.

I like the shape of this tapered brown building.

Right below the tower is a crowded cemetery.  I thought the contrast between the manufactured nature of the tower, and the nature of the cemetery was quite interesting.

The Tower even looks out across the bay to the Fuji TV building on Odaiba.

It's one thing to look out from the tower.  It's another thing to look down.  The observation deck has windows in the floor so you can do just that.

Here are those same buses from on the ground.

Like any good tourist tower, the Tokyo Tower has it's share of tacky gift shops with souvenirs related to the Tower and to Japan in general.  Prices ranged from cheap to "Are you kidding me?!" And as with much stuff in the industrialized world, much of it appeared to be made in China. Except the Tokyo Banana snacks, which seemed to be local.  And surprisingly tasty. You can also get them at the airport on your way out of the country, too.

Shops and snackbars are not enough for the Tokyo Tower, though. Many for the visitors weren't even there to ride the elevator.  They were there for the Michael Jackson museum in the base of it.

This is one of those things that makes both perfect sense and none at all -- both at the same time.

We had only a short time there before jumping back on the tour bus so we skipped the Thriller nostalgia.

The Tower is also rapidly becoming obsolete.  As Tokyo expanded and grew over the last 50 years, Skyscapers began blocking and interfering with the signal.  The symbol of a new Tokyo can no longer support that new Tokyo.

Fortunately, the replacement is already under construction.  When the Tokyo Sky Tree is finished in 2012, it will be nearly twice the height of Tokyo Tower at 634 meters -- nearly 2,000 feet, and well over a quarter mile tall.  It will have observation decks at 350 meters and 450 meters.

I guess we'll have to go back.

You can find more of my Tokyo posts here.

Spend money on infrastructure now

Seattle is getting ready to start work on the replacement for the SR99 viaduct through Seattle.  We're still not sure if it's going to be a bridge, a tunnel, a boulevard, or a wormhole.  As soon as a plan is locked someone decides we need to talk about it some more.  Come on people.  I don't care if it's not the best solution, as long as it's good enough.  Just shut up and dig!

But that's a rant for another day.  Today I want to highlight some good news from the Seattle Times last week.  It concerns the first phase of the construction.

The low bid for the Sodo section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement came in Wednesday morning nearly $40 million lower than the state's estimate.

Skanska USA, of Riverside, Calif., was the apparent low bidder at $114.6 million. The project, from South Holgate Street to South King Street, features a large interchange that connects the two sports stadiums to the planned tunnel, as well as tourist and shipping destinations on Elliott Bay.

The project will create about 600 construction jobs, the state says.

There were six bidders for the work, all of whom were below the state engineers' estimate of $153 million, a reflection of the recession making construction companies hungry for business.

...More

I continue to see calls from various activists to reign in government spending because of the recession.  That is exactly the wrong thing to do.  I made a similar point just over a year ago.

We should spend money on durable infrastructure NOW.  Why now when budgets are strained and people are out of work?

• Interest rates are low so financing is cheap.
• Steel and construction materials are less expensive now than in a booming economy.
• Construction companies want more work are willing to build for less.
• Labor is readily available.
• Land acquisition is cheaper.

That's why it's cheaper to build now, and that means better long term savings for the tax payers.  We can get a bargain on stuff that will last us decades.  That's what we see in the first phase of the SR99 replacement and in a few other construction bids that have gone out.

Why else should we do it? 

Well, it's a great way to get people working -- to get money into the economy for the benefit of all of us without increasing the welfare roles.  When construction workers make money, they spend money so those dollars don't just stop at the city/state spending it.  Additionally, we also have to remember that we get a chunk of that pay and construction costs back in tax revenue.

Why shouldn't we just wait until the economy improves and "we can afford it?"

First of all, we'll need the infrastructure once employment and commerce are back to their roaring pace.  If we don't start building until then, the projects will all come on line just in time for the next recession.

Second, it's bad for big business.  When the economy is strong and big business is building its own infrastructure, it makes less sense for government to compete with business for materials and labor.  Trying to do major public infrastructure and major private infrastructure at the same time just drives up the costs for everyone.

Building major public infrastructure in the recession and at the tail end of a recession is good for the city/state, it's good for the unemployed, and it's good for big business.

The economy is improving.  The window on this recession opportunity it closing.

Start digging now.

Splitting the city in two

Fights over infrastructure in Seattle are not new.  This article takes a brief look back at the creation off I5 and how it split the city in half.  That simple strip on concrete has become a sharp dividing line in the city, separating one neighborhood from another and really setting the bar for the cultural distinction between Downtown and First Hill/Capitol Hill.

Few Seattle construction projects have caused more headaches these last few years than the vital but weak Alaskan Way Viaduct. But go back a few decades, and we suffered the weight of a much larger concrete beast -- one that tore up neighborhoods and split the city -- quite literally -- in two.

...More

Light Rail and SeaTac

Finally.  We now have rail to the airport in Seattle.

Early holiday arrival: light rail to airport

With duffel bags, wheeled luggage and children in tow, a steady stream of travelers tried Sound Transit's new SeaTac/Airport Station on its opening day Saturday.

The trains, coming about 10 minutes apart, typically carried some 75 riders each into the towering station with the spine-like truss roof, located between the airport parking garage and Highway 99.

It opened two weeks early, just in time for the airport's busy Christmas travel period.

...More

The system is far from finished and should have been built years ago.  but bickering over infrastructure has delayed it since the 1960s.

The question remains of how useful the system will be. 

The biggest airport users will likely be airport/airline employees.  Travellers will use it, too, but I'm curious about the volume.

It costs $2.50 to ride to the airport.  If I were to drive, that would mean 15 miles of travel.  Plus I pay $12-14 a day fro parking.  If I use the airport garage that price jumps to about $26/day.  If I take a cab, it's about $45 each way.

So it's definitely cheaper to take the train.  The problem?  Luggage.

The nearest station is 8-12 blocks from my building.  And that's down hill.  Leaving in the morning with my computers and suitcase wouldn't be too much hassle, but I'm not sure I want to deal with hauling all my stuff back 8-10 blocks, uphill, at night, after a day of activity and flying. It just sounds tremendously unpleasant. 

For short trips, maybe it makes sense to use as a traveler.  For longer ones, I'm a bit skeptical.

Now if they actually build the streetcar in my neighborhood, we may be on to something.  Here's to hoping for the Boren route.

Stimulus spending in Seattle

The Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported on Tuesday that King County Metro Transit is using $46 million in federal stimulus money to purchase new hybrid electric busse to replacing aging diesel busses.

It sounds like sensible purchase for Metro. Metro will spend less on fuel and maintainence, and these new busses will be replacing busses that are already at the end of their service life.

Previously, I advocated stimulus spending on infrastructure, and mass transit is a great place to spend it. We have a unique opportunity to improve our infrastructure at a discount while we keep people working.

After the stimulus spending, people will have had more work and cities will have improved infrasrtucture that will last for years to come. These are all good things.

But these busses will not be built in King County. They are made by Daimler Chrysler, so I imagine they are being built somewhere in the US. At least I hope they are.

I would rather Metro spend stimulus money not on replacement busses, but on other infrastructure to keep people working in King County. That may inlcude construction work to speed up Sound Transit's Light Rail, enhanced Park and Ride facilities, improved HOV access for transit, or other items.

Buying additional busses to expand service on exisiting routes would also be a good use of stimulus money.

It looks like the stimulus money is going to meploy people in the US. And ultimately that does benefit us all. I would just prefer the King County Metro stimulus money be spent to employ folks in King County.

New times

Today the European Union standards agency announced a new initiative, as part of the ongoing G20 summit. Building on the nearly world-wide success of the metric system for weights and measures, they are ready to take the metric system to the next level.

The system will be phased in over the next several years. By 2016-04-01, all member states will need to complete the switch over to metric time. “The current calendar is a relic of Pope Gregory and the medieval Catholic Church. It builds on the Roman calendar developed by Julius Caesar. And just as we no longer use Roman Numerals to count, and we no longer use Feet and Hogsheads to measure distance, it’s time to get away from the chaotic math of the current clock,” said the chairman of the Greenwich Mean Time committee.

The new system will make it easier to tell and calculate time.

The base unit of the system will still be the day. The new day will be 10 hours long. During the transition, the metric day will be called an “mDay” in English. Once the transition is complete, the “m” prefix and archaic name will be replaced permanently with the new metric name. To make the conversion, 1 hour will equal .416667 mHours.

The term “hour” will be replaced with the “deciday.” There will be 100 minutes in an hour (or 100 Millidays).

The new week, the mWeek (after 2016, the Decaday) will equal 10 mDays. Each mMonth (or Hectoday) will equal 10m weeks (or 10 Decadays), or 100 mDays.

The mYear (or Kiloyear) will equal 10 mMonths (or 100 Decidays), or 1,000 mDays.

This chart may help:

New Term	Definition	Obsolete Term
1 Milliday	.001 Days	Minute
I Deciday	.1 Days	Hour
1 Day	1 Day	Day
1 Decaday	10 Days	Week
1 Hectoday	100 Days	Month
1 Kiloday	1,000 Days	Year

The problem here is obvious, and was discussed extensively in committee. The current year is 365.25 days. The new Kiloyear is equal to almost 3 current years (which total 1,095.75 current days). Naturally age restrictions in laws, licensing, retirement, and other documents will need to be adjusted.

It also means each year will have three summers and three winters. We will need more Holidays to adjust for the annual events.

The dates for each season and equinox will have to float. Protesters argued this is unnatural. “Comment peuvent-ils indiquer la Terre quand incliner?” shouted protesters in Paris. The committee chairman shrugged it off. “The dates on the calendar have always been arbitrary. Some years we adjust the year by as much as 15 seconds because of the inconvenient nature of the Earth’s slightly irregular orbit. This is the same thing.”

“We can’t let the arbitrary holidays interfere with the science of measurement,” he continued.

Nineteen of the 20 member of the G20 issued a joint statement praising the shift:

Not only will this change simplify time, it will provide a significant aid to the world economy. Manufacturing and scientific organizations will have a cleaner and more efficient measurement system. And it will be a significant boon to the watch and clock makers around the world during these troubled times.

President Obama declined to join in the statement. The President released his own statement later.

While we are pleased to see our European partners working so closely together to come up with new solutions to old problems, we don’t plan to impose this change on the American people. The American people have no trouble with the 60s and 7s that make up our calendar. Further, we don’t need to mandate this program.

The American people have always worked with partners around the world to build a world class economy and to help people from all walks of life achieve their true potential. The American people are thrilled to buy their soda in 2 liter bottles and their milk by the gallon. The power of American business is that it works with and respects the traditional culture of America, while still working with the rest of the world in the different measures they use. The people will use the units they prefer as we move into the next global age of economic revitalization.

Some European editorialist scoffed at Obama’s suggestion that this won’t be a problem for the US. “Didn’t the Americans lose a space ship because they don’t understand metric?” suggested the editor of the London Financial Times.

The Director of the US Bureau of Weights and Measures stated the US would work with others on the new calendar, but beyond providing conversion tables, would take few initiatives. “We still plan to keep our speed limit signs at 65 MPH. We don’t plan to change them to 249.6 KMpdD (kilometers per deciday).”

After the press conference, was overheard talking to a colleague about the issue. Apparently he didn’t realize his microphone was still open. “Not this crap again. What is this? 1977? I’m getting too old for this.”

The second will remain at 9,192,631,770 Cesium atom vibrations for now. The seconds in a Milliday will be defined by conversion tables. The standards body will discuss alternative definitions for the “second” over the next year.

There is still a great deal of debate over what to do with the yet to be implemented Decimilliday.

Tax cuts are a bad idea

A stimulus package should encourage spending. In that respect, it's ironic to rely on this tool, since an orgy of debt heavy consumer spending on credit cards and silly mortgages is what got us here in the first place. A mild, several year long recession would likely be good for the economy in the long-term.

What it needs is a controlled burn in the forest to clear out the dead wood. That's what a mild recession would do for us, and we probably should have had one a couple years ago. But we didn't, and that controlled burn has now turned into a massive conflagration set to level a major metropolis. It's too severe to just let it burn. Thus, I am resigned to a massive stimulus package.

That package should focus on infrastructure -- transit systems, roads, new power transmission lines, enhanced nationwide broadband access, new energy technology, new materials, bridges, space exploration, and other items of that ilk. Some of these projects may be pork, but that's okay. The point is to put people to work -- get those private construction companies moving again. Make sure their employees spend money in their communities and employ even more people.

At the end of the stimulus period, either the economy will be moving again, or it won't. If it is, that's great. If not, well, at least we will have all this new infrastructure which we desperately need. And people had work. The money will not be wasted.

An additional benefit of the massive infrastructure spending is that not only will we get this cool new stuff, we'll get it cheap. People will work for less money. Steel, oil, and other raw materials are cheaper than they have been for years.

Plus, if we make these investments only when "we can afford it" in a strong economy we are also stealing labor and resources from the private sector's own growth initiatives. Let's get the infrastructure done now when we don't have to compete with the private sector. The country will be stronger for it and already have the key blocks in place when the next boom begins.

Of course this is all money the government is borrowing and we have to pay back, but that is also cheaper than it has been for years.

If you have the capacity to borrow and spend money this is now the best, cheapest possible time to do it.

There was a lot of stuff like that in the House version of the bill.

My concern is the tax cuts. The $800 billion package include more than $200 billion in tax cuts and rebates. The latest details are a bit challenging to nail down.

The problem with tax cuts and government stimulus checks in a bad economy is that they don't encourage spending. Responsible people will not spend that money on new stuff. Instead, it will go to pay down bills. Or it will go into savings for the hard times ahead.

And that's exactly what people should do with those savings. That demonstrates great personal responsibility.

But it won't stimulate the economy. It won't get other people employed. It won't bring more manufacturing on line. It won't drive increased investment by technology companies.

In short, it won't move things forward.

But I don't see anyone opposing middle class tax cuts anytime soon. As much as I hate to say it, the best compromise will be to leave the tax rates alone. Don't send out a "stimulus" check. Instead, provide tax credits for purchases.

I normally don't like tax credits and deductions. They make completing tax forms more complicated than they should be and are one of the reasons our tax code is such a mess.

But the point of the tax reductions in the bill isn't to save people money. It's to stimulate the economy.

So let's replace those tax cuts with rebates for buying things. For education. Or for buying a new, energy efficient car. Or for making substantial home improvements (spend $10K on your kitchen? Get a $5K tax credit). Or for paying for child care. Or for moving to a part of the country that needs a specific set of skills.

By putting those tax reductions in the form of tax credits, we take the money out of the savings accounts and put it to working creating jobs for people. The people in those jobs can now, in turn, make their own purchase.

Saving money doesn't move the economy forward. Spending does. Whether that spending is private or tax payer funded doesn't matter. Nothing happens until someone buys something. And that's what a stimulus package needs to encourage.

Tax credits for buying stuff will do that. Tax rate cuts and generic stimulus checks will not.

Bond issues and the economy

In Seattle, as in most parts of the country, there are bond issues on Tuesday's ballot. In our case, they are for expanding the regional public transit/light rail system and for refurbishing Pike Place Market.

In other parts of the country, they may be for parks, roads, court houses, firehouses, bus routes, etc.

States and municipalities put these things on the ballot before the recent Wall Street melt down. Now, polls are showing less support among the electorate. There is a sense that with declining tax revenues and a weaker economy, the governments should not spend money on infrastructure. They should conserve funds as much as possible.

Nonsense.

Now is exactly the time cities and states should spend this money. If these projects made sense 6 or 12 months ago, they make even more sense now.

1. In a strong economy, building materials and labor costs go up. Everyone is building and competing for the same resources which drives prices higher. Municipalities that build now will find that costs are lower.
2. In a similar vein, building in a strong economy means that municipalities compete with private industry for limited resources. This drives up costs for both parties. In a really strong economy, that can mean industry can't do some projects because resources are absorbed by the municipalities.
3. Putting people to work in a down economy is a good thing -- especially when they are working on real projects and not just "make work" projects. It blunts the impacts of private industry layoffs.
4. Municipalities normally pay for these projects with long term bonds. In other words, much of the cost for these programs won't hit the citizens in the year they are built, but over the course of several years -- in weak and strong economies.
   
5. Putting off projects until the economy is stronger will make them more expensive. Besides the fact that they will be competing with industry, those costs will also be higher due to regular inflation.

If the projects makes sense in a strong economy, they makes even more sense now. They are cheaper to build in a down economy and have the added benefit of putting people to work. And putting people to work -- real work -- is a key ingredient in bringing an area out of a recession.

Attack on the S.L.U.T

Last week, the new South Lake Union Trolley Streetcar began serving commuters, shoppers, and tourists along it $52 million, 1.3 mile route.

It was paid for by both business along the route and with tax money. It may not be terribly useful, yet, but it's a start. And Seattle may expand the line someday.

But it has its foes. The anti-tax people think it's a waste of money. The anti-Microsoft/Vulcan people oppose it because it helps Paul Allen. The environmentalists and transit activists oppose it because they want more buses instead. Drivers oppose it because it takes some parking spots and they fear it may make traffic worse. Bicyclists oppose it because someone riding along the track might slip, get their wheel stuck, and fall.

Which brings us to the events of last Thursday.

From the Seattle PI:

Police investigate streetcar sabotage attempt

King County sheriff's deputies were investigating a prank in which a golf-ball sized metal bearing was placed on the track of the city's new South Lake Union streetcar, possibly in an attempt to damage it during its inaugural run.

...More

This is just pathetic. I don't know what's worst.

• The best Seattle's radicals/protesters/terrorists (choose whichever one you want) could come up with was to lay a ball bearing on the track.
• The viscous attack could actually have worked.
• The Sheriff's Department now has to spend time and money investigating this assault.

This is why we can't have nice things, like infrastructure.

Can we now look forward to a nasty spit ball fight once light rail starts running?

Airport Codes

Generally, when I abbreviate a city name, I just use the airport code. When I write someone that I'm going to Chicago or Miami, I write it out as ORD or MIA. It's habbit other frequent flyers have as well.

While SEA (Seattle) and BOS (Boston) may seem to be obvious codes, have you ever wondered where there others came from?

This article goes into excruciating detail about how airports get their codes. It's fascinating reading.

When the Wright brothers first took to the air in 1903, there was no need for coding airports since an airport was literally any convenient field with a strong wind. However, the National Weather Service did tabulate data from cities around the country using a two-letter identification system. Early airlines simply copied this system, but as airline service exploded in the 1930's, towns without weather station codes needed identification. Some bureaucrat had a brainstorm and the three-letter system was born, giving a seemingly endless 17,576 different combinations. To ease the transition, existing airports placed an X after the weather station code. The Los Angeles tag became LAX, Portland became PDX, Phoenix became PHX and so on. Incidentally at the historic sand dune in Kitty Hawk where the first flight occurred the U.S. National Parks Service maintains a tiny airstrip called FFA—First Flight Airport.

...More

Seattle Embarrased Again

Seattle has a history of embarrassing itself with transportation matters. After all this:

• the Kalackala refurb mess


• the monorail nightmare (if you hold 5 elections and the monorail wins 4 of the 5, then the monorail loses)


• the other monorail nightmare (crash and fire)


• the ongoing Viaduct disaster


• the pending political disaster of SR520

... you would think they could at least get something simple right. How hard can it be to name a trolley line? For Seattle planners, it's pretty challenging.

From the Seattle PI:

SLUT -- Streetcar's unfortunate acronym seems here to stay

By KERY MURAKAMI
P-I REPORTER

There's a story going around South Lake Union, but a spokeswoman for Vulcan, Paul Allen's development company, says it's just an urban legend.

That aside, the story that the neighborhood's streetcar line now under construction was called the South Lake Union Trolley until the powers that be realized the unfortunate acronym -- SLUT -- seems here to stay.

Officially, it's now the South Lake Union Streetcar. But the trolley name already has caught on, and in the old Cascade neighborhood in South Lake Union, they're waiting for the SLUT.

... More

MSFT Expanding in Seattle

One reason I like to get first class upgrades when I fly is that I work up there. I usually can't type on my notebook when I'm in coach. There's simply no room. Then I am left to reading a book or watching a movie.

That seems like a good deal because I get some extra leisure time on the plane in coach. But the problem is, I still need to do the work, and may have to stay up late to get everything done once I reach my destination.

In other words, if I can work on the plane for 3 hours, I can go to bed 3 hours earlier that night.

It seems Microsoft understands this concept. They made two major announcements in Seattle today. They are expanding in the city of Seattle (as opposed to Redmond), and they are introducing their own bus service for employees.

I find this interesting. Microsoft is expanding in the downtown Seattle area. They will have 1400 jobs to the area over the next few months.

In addition to the new jobs, they are adding space to accommodate Redmond workers who find themselves on this side of the lake.

One goal is to better accommodate Microsoft employees who live in Seattle, Liddell said. In addition to the traditional office space, the company is creating 150 "touch down" spaces in the Westlake/Terry building -- small spots where employees who work in Redmond can sit down, plug in a laptop and work in Seattle for a couple of hours when they have a meeting in the city or want to avoid rush hour.

"The spaces are temporary -- they won't be second offices," Liddell explained. "But they will help relieve some of the pressures and unnecessary back-and-forths currently taking place."

Since much work these days requires simply a notebook computer and an internet connection, workers can have more flexibility.

The main campus is several miles east of Seattle, but it can take anywhere from 25 to 105 minutes to get there depending on traffic. And with Seattle's inability to make any decisions on infrastructure, I don't see that changing.

And MSFT doesn't want employees squandering hours sitting in a stopped car on the SR520 floating bridge. So they are also starting their own bus service.

The 14-bus Microsoft "Connector" system, to debut later this month, was announced as the company unveiled plans to open new offices in Seattle's South Lake Union and Pioneer Square neighborhoods.

At launch, the bus system will handle no more than 1,000 employees a day. That's only a slice of Microsoft's more than 35,000 employees in the region.

But the fact that Microsoft would find it necessary to take such a step added new fuel to the debate over comprehensive regional transportation reform.
...

The pilot program will include 14 buses, including seven large coaches with bike storage, and electrical outlets at each seat, in addition to Wi-Fi. Seven midsize coaches will be used for neighborhood pickups. There will be multiple runs in the morning and afternoon, Smith said.

...
Besides reducing traffic congestion and minimizing air pollution, keeping employees out of bumper-to-bumper traffic also keeps them happy.

And with those amenities on the bus, it looks like transit time can more effectively be used as work time. And maybe someone can get to bed an hour or two earlier

For more information about the downtown expansion, click here.

For more information about the new bus service, click here.

Freeway Signs

There is a quiet revolution going on all over the country. Gradually, old freeway direction, information, exit, and other signs are being replaced with signs featuring a new typeface.

Clearview is a replacement for Highway Gothic. Tests have shown it improves readability of signs at night by as much as 40%.

What I saw, Pietrucha knew, was what we all may see soon enough as we rush along America’s 46,871 miles of Interstate highways. What I saw was Clearview, the typeface that is poised to replace Highway Gothic, the standard that has been used on signs across the country for more than a half-century. Looking at a sign in Clearview after reading one in Highway Gothic is like putting on a new pair of reading glasses: there’s a sudden lightness, a noticeable crispness to the letters.

It's a fascinating and geeky story. You can learn more about 10-year development process in this NY Times article.

Seattle Trys Infrastructure -- Again

Now that we've been through the political debacles of the third Seatac runway, the monorail, and the viaduct, it's time to dive into the quagmire of the HWY 520 floating bridge.

It has exceeded its expected lifespan and needs to be replaced. It crosses a sensitive environmental area and university on one side, and one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the state on the other. And it carries huge volume of traffic.

This should go well.

The Washington State Department of Transportation is trying to get out in front of the dispute and remind people that doing nothing (which is all Seattle ever wants to do) is not an option. So they put out two videos projecting the destruction of the bridge.

They're actually pretty cool.

The Epitome of Seattle Infrastructure Politics

From the PI:

The Seattle City Council took a significant step toward deciding on a "preferred alternative" to replace the Evergreen Point Bridge.

They didn't make a decisions. The took a step to deciding. Deciding what they want? No, deciding what they think they probably want.

Alton Brown on Contaminated Food

Alton Brown is a well known host on the Food Network. His main show, Good Eats, mixes science, history, and cooking tips to demystify cooking. He also rates high on the geek meter.

Here is his take on the e. Coli outbreak from last fall.

...
In short, a lot of people are sick and one person has died in Wisconsin. This is a bad thing. And yet, it was going to happen. It was bound to happen

I don’t want to sound like some crazy, anti-establishment bio-terrorist but maybe, just maybe this is a wakeup call. Truth is our food system has major flaws which point to one reoccurring theme: too much of our food is produced by centralized, industrial concerns. At this hour the continued suspicion is that the spinach, which may have been infected by irrigation water in a field, incorrectly composted manure used as fertilizer on organic crops, or by water used in processing. It may be quite a while before we know.

...

Had the big chain grocers and restaurant suppliers purchased locally grown produce, this wouldn’t have happened. But don’t blame them. Nope. Blame us. By demanding fresh spinach year round (or anything else for that matter) we create the monster.

...

And to make matters worse, our ever-wise government has told us to eat no fresh spinach at all. They could have advised us to eat only locally grown spinach but Noooooooo. Let’s shoot every poor farmer in America that’s doing his or her job in the foot.

...more

Internet Out

My cable Internet connection went out for some reason. I've done the basic rebooting everything step, and that did not fix it.



So now I'm accessing the net through my Sprint EVDO card.



Comcast as a nice feature on their website -- it will tell you if there are service outages in your area. This is a great trouble shooting tool.



Of course, when I click on the link to check for outages, I got this:

I guess that answers my question.