https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_phase-out#Types_of_fossil_fuels
Thursday, November 30, 2023
2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
I-405 Sepulveda Pass Express Lanes
https://www.metro.net/projects/i-405-expresslanes-project/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepulveda_Transit_Corridor
https://www.metro.net/projects/sepulvedacorridor/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepulveda_Pass
https://www.stantec.com/en/projects/united-states-projects/i/cs-interstate-405-sepulveda-pass
Monday, November 27, 2023
Is Adelaide Really The Most Crime Ridden City in Australia?
https://www.facebook.com/100044356302916/videos/1085289932651551?__so__=permalink
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-16/is-there-crime-wave-in-adelaides-cbd/102728024
Crime_in_South_Australia, it all depends on when and where you are.
https://adelaidecitytour.com.au/blog/is-adelaide-a-safe-city/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_South_Australia#Notable_crimes
Ship Canal Bridge in Seattle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Canal_Bridge
An impressive 12 lane bridge, but there was never a rail component in the design.
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/prioritize-fixing-i-5s-ailing-ship-canal-bridge/
Aurora Bridge in Seattle
Unfortunately, the Aurora_Bridge was built too narrow by today's standards.
https://www.got99problems.org/blog/aurora-bridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Bridge#Accidents_and_incidents
https://www.theurbanist.org/2015/09/30/seattles-aurora-bridge-needs-a-safety-redesign/
https://www.historylink.org/File/5418
Did SUVs ruined it for everyone?
https://electrek.co/2023/11/27/carbon-emissions-could-have-dropped-by-30/
A lot of people still want big & powerful vehicles. Of course more hybrid versions could be a nice compromise.
Big vehicles can certainly bc more efficient.
https://www.ecowatch.com/suvs-climate-impact-iea.html
Unfortunately, if the world is eventually forced into a carbon credit score system, one might have to ask for permission to go anywhere or do anything. Especially if it's all run by AI.
That Mysterious AI Breakthrough Known As Q
https://tech.co/news/what-is-openai-project-q-star-agi-superintelligence
https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-artificial-general-intelligence-agi-explained (AGI)
https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/artificial-general-intelligence-agi
Project Q* has been creating ripples in the AI community. Here’s why there are so many apprehensions about this new powerful AI model. https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/project-q-star-explained-openai-sam-altman-9041746
The Broadway Subway might be reaching UBC, some day
Of course tunneling all the way to UBC would be more cost effective, but apparently, it's better to stop less than half way there. Then start it all up again long after the days when you could still buy a dozen eggs & 2L carton of milk with a $10 bill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyTrain_(Vancouver)#University_of_British_Columbia_extension
The BC part of Canada seems to perpetually strive to be inept or inadequate with its approach to infrastructure planning & development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Line#University_of_British_Columbia_extension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=accrf6-vLJU From 2018
Fortunately, these other cities are nowhere as slow as Vancouver is in getting things done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_station_(Toronto) 1954 Of course Toronto would be the first city in Canada to have such a U station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berri-UQAM_station 1966
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_station_(Calgary) 1987
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University-de-Montreal_station 1988
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_station_(Edmonton) 1992
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_State_University_Transit_Center 2005
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSU_South_stations 2012
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Washington_station 2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_University_station 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_District_station 2021
The Pattullo Bridge saga in BC
The old Pattullo_Bridge was built with a narrow sidewalk on only one side & a road deck that can barely hold 4 narrow lanes. It's all part of the narrow mindedness of the BC mentality.
https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca/about/projectoverview/
https://604now.com/new-pattullo-bridge-completion-updated-photos-renderings/
"The new Pattullo Bridge is on track for completion in 2024, but business leaders in Surrey are calling for six lanes to be open to vehicle traffic on day one, instead of four as currently planned." https://globalnews.ca/news/9489375/pattullo-replacement-six-lanes-debate
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-surrey-board-of-trade
https://604now.com/like-cross-pattullo-bridge-1937 Why build a wide bride that also has 2 wide sidewalks when the bare minimum can be done instead? Then try to build an inadequate replacement bridge with only 4 lanes, no bus & HOV lanes & no emergency lanes. That's the BC way in the 1930s & the 2020s. At least it will have a couple of bike lanes.
https://www.delta-optimist.com/local-news/delta-says-new-pattullo-wont-ease-traffic-woes-3088329 Of course just like the old bridge, there won't be any provision for a lower rail & express bus deck.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/45379817@N08/9660269876 Just the idea that there could be 1 waggon road each way was amazing for BC back then. Somehow, the narrow bridge had just enough width to eventually have 4 waggon roads.
Wide+bridges, twinning or duplication can allow for express bus lanes and more HOV_lanes in general.
http://archives.newwestcity.ca/Results.aspx?AC=NEXT_RECORD&XC=/Results.aspx&BU=http%3A%2F%2Farchives.newwestcity.ca%2Fsearch.aspx&GI=&TN=internet&SN=AUTO26198&SE=1232&RN=51&MR=100&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&XP=&RF=WebRelevance&EF=&DF=WebFull&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=GENERICENGWPMSG.INI&DT=&ST=0&IR=4333&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS= Of course there was no provision to have a lower deck for trucks & trains.
http://archives.newwestcity.ca/Results.aspx?AC=NEXT_RECORD&XC=/Results.aspx&BU=http%3A%2F%2Farchives.newwestcity.ca%2Fsearch.aspx&GI=&TN=internet&SN=AUTO26198&SE=1232&RN=49&MR=100&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&XP=&RF=WebRelevance&EF=&DF=WebFull&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=GENERICENGWPMSG.INI&DT=&ST=0&IR=4333&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS= While a narrow bridge can easily become inadequate, the provision for a lower deck can make all the difference.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/driving-and-transportation/reports-and-reference/reports-and-studies/frontier_to_freeway.pdf It was quite a thing for BC to have waggon roads & then eventually some were doubel width. Unfortunately, even today, there is a mentality to just have 1 or 2 lanes each way. Yet, such thoroughfares will be marked as a major route when it's not much wider than a country road.
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Multimodal+Bridges+and+Tunnels
https://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.com/search?q=Urban+Bus+and+Bike+Lanes+and+Bridges
Saturday, November 25, 2023
Friday, November 24, 2023
The new Panamera E-Hybrid nearly doubles its electric-only range
https://electrek.co/2023/11/24/new-panamera-e-hybrid-has-a-battery-bigger-than-a-gen-1-nissan-leaf/
Hybrid vehicles should have already been commonplace a few decades ago. While there are people that just want to go back to a horse & waggon era of existence, a lot of people want fast & reliable vehicles.
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
One High Line project in New York City
https://www.dezeen.com/2023/11/22/big-photos-one-high-line-skyscrapers-new-york
One_High_Line NYC, seems like a smaller version of One_Market_Plaza in SF. However, the Steuart_Tower_and_Spear_Tower don't have a twist to them & are office towers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_High_Line#Architecture_and_design
Monday, November 20, 2023
Sound Transit Moving Forward on Purchase of 10 More Link Cars
https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/11/20/sound-transit-moving-forward-on-purchase-of-10-more-link-cars
Any rapid rail system has to have enough vehicles and frequency headways to meet demand.
"Fundamentally, Sound Transit is failing riders by not delivering on promised headways and consistent four-car trains." https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/11/07/op-ed-sound-transit-must-deliver-the-link-frequencies-it-promised
Seattle
Friday, November 17, 2023
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Fremont Bridge (Portland, Oregon)
The 8 lane Fremont_Bridge opened in 1973.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont_Bridge_(Portland,_Oregon)
Designers modeled the bridge after the original 1964 Port Mann Bridge in (Greater) Vancouver, British Columbia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont_Bridge_(Portland,_Oregon)#Design_and_construction
Because the Fremont_Bridge was designed to have 2 decks, it was a far cry from being a 4 lane joke, like the old Port_Mann_Bridge was.
Winnipeg's Transit Master Plan proceeding slowly
The Winnipeg_RT starting with bus lines is a good first step. However, there will eventually have to be something like the Edmonton_Light_Rail_Transit or the CTrain in Calgary, for Winnipeg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_RT#Southwest_Transitway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_RT#Eastern_Transitway
Especially, a Semi-metro in the downtown area.
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
The very narrow The Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Gate_Bridge
"The 1933 bylaw authorizing construction included a provision mandating that "no Asiatic person shall be employed in or upon any part of the undertaking or other works". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Gate_Bridge#History
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221026/dq221026b-eng.htm While Canada has allowed for more diversity over the decades, Canada has nowhere near even 1% of the world's' population. It's been a struggle just for Canada to accommodate half of 1% of the human population.
Unfortunately for most of the 20th century, Vancouver was to remain as just a provincial backwater for as long as possible. For had the city been allowed to flourish onto the scale of the likes of Sydney, San_Francisco or even Seattle, that would mean there would be a lot more people. Which means more non-white people and that was just too uncomfortable a notion for the White colonial mindset.
Of course the colonial mindset could be seen all over the world, but so many other cities weren't thwarted like Vancouver and Victoria. You will never find any official BC mandate revealing that it was to remain as a provincial backwater for as long as possible.
Thus, the local power structure continually tried to hold things back for most of the cities history. A multigenerational stunted growth policy is a clever way to slow a city and province down. Calgary and Seattle became big business cities, because they aren't under any BC type restrictions.
One only look at what Alberta and Washington_(state) have been able to do, because they aren't in BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta#Transportation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_(state)#Transportation
The 12 lane Ship_Canal_Bridge in Seattle is the closest big & wide bridge to V-BC. Although the Port_Mann_Bridge is much closer, it only has 10 lanes. Unfortunately, both bridges don't have any existing rail component.
Fortunately, Vancouver, WA wasn't forced to indefinitely endure a 3 lane bottleneck like V-BC has.
The planners of the Sydney_Harbour_Bridge didn't have a backwater BC mindset. However, after several decades, the SHB was augmented by the Sydney_Harbour_Tunnel. Unfortunately, there was no provision for a 3rd lane each way to allow for express buses.
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/current-projects/western-harbour-tunnel-and-warringah-freeway-upgrade How is this possible? Of course NSW isn't under any backwater BC type restrictions.
https://caportal.com.au/rms/wht
The Western_Harbour_Tunnel should have had an extra section for future express busses or even another train line.
While something like the Sydney_Metro should have already gone under the harbour decades ago, at least it's not as late to the party like Vancouver is.
"Stage 1 (Metro North West) operates with 6-car trains running on 4-minute headways. After the addition of the Stage 2 extension to Bankstown, the stations’ platforms will be configured to allow for future use of 8-car trains and the signalling system designed to allow for 2-minute headways, both of which are planned to be introduced once sufficient patronage demands it. Eight-car trains have a design capacity of 1,539 customers and increasing the running frequency to ultimately 30 trains per hour (2-minute headway) would provide a maximum capacity of 46,170 passengers per hour per direction." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Metro#Capacity
"In the event that extensions to 8 cars happens if sufficient demand warrants the contract, two infill carriages will be added between cars 05 and 06." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Metro_Metropolis_Stock#Service_formation This allowace for such expansion just isn't part of the BC mentality, but for NSW, it's not a problem.
With the Lions_Gate_Bridge being so narrow, it's impossible to have proper HOV & express bus lanes. Yet for decades, the city refuses to build a bus & HOV tunnel.
Although Portland is a stunted city when compared to Seattle, Portland still has a much better set of bridges than Vancouver, BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_metropolitan_area,_Oregon
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=bridges
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
The very narrow 1st Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940) Just a 2 lane blunder.
Of course a stronger & wider bridge should have been designed in the first place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940)#Collapse
It was such a narrow & inadequate bridge that it rivaled the very narrow Lions_Gate_Bridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940)#Cause_of_the_collapse
Eventually, a bigger & better bridge was built.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1950)
Then eventually twinned, something that's almost unheard of in BC.
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
The creepiest urban legend from every state
https://www.insider.com/urban-legends-us-2018-1
Usually, they are easily dismissed, but sometimes things remain unresolved.
https://www.rd.com/list/scary-urban-legends/
What are Urban Legends? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk9gQ7Wj18g , https://www.youtube.com/@MythologyUnleashed/videos
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