Explosion in Tacoma
This is probably the explosion that felt like an earthquake 30 miles away up on Tiger Mountain South.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Fire Trucks outside Redfin and Umbria Building
Fire trucks gathered outside the building housing Redfin and Umbria this morning.
Monday, December 18, 2006
What to Do Without Power?
I was wondering what grocery stores do without power.
Costco in Kirkland had a clever solution. They didn't seem to have generators, so they parked a flotilla of freezer trucks outside the store, and kept things cold that way.
Apparently a number of smaller stores were able to operate on generators.
Costco in Kirkland had a clever solution. They didn't seem to have generators, so they parked a flotilla of freezer trucks outside the store, and kept things cold that way.
Apparently a number of smaller stores were able to operate on generators.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Buses Stuck at 40th St. on SR-520
On Monday night, the ride home on Bus Route 545 got quite interesting. It seems there was some sort of accident involving one or two express buses, and then another two buses got stuck behind them.
When my 545 came to the 40th Street exit on SR520 (and I had to wait a long time to catch it downtown, even though traffic there was quite thin), it stopped, tantalizingly close to the bus stop. But, however much we pleaded, the driver refused to let us out the door, presumably because of some regulation based on fear of liability. Eventually, he figured out he could circle around the back by going to 51st street. At 51st street, some of us got further concerned, because a) he wouldn't let us out at 51st street, even though he passed a bus stop there, and b) he wasn't sure that he'd be able to get back to 51st street again from 40th street. Luckily, it all went well, and we were able to get off at 40th and then later at 51st street, but it was a bit worrisome.
I later heard that a previous bus driver had actually let passengers off at 40th street, even though it couldn't quite reach the bus stop. Good on him or her.
Here are some videos of the event:
And, some more photos:
When my 545 came to the 40th Street exit on SR520 (and I had to wait a long time to catch it downtown, even though traffic there was quite thin), it stopped, tantalizingly close to the bus stop. But, however much we pleaded, the driver refused to let us out the door, presumably because of some regulation based on fear of liability. Eventually, he figured out he could circle around the back by going to 51st street. At 51st street, some of us got further concerned, because a) he wouldn't let us out at 51st street, even though he passed a bus stop there, and b) he wasn't sure that he'd be able to get back to 51st street again from 40th street. Luckily, it all went well, and we were able to get off at 40th and then later at 51st street, but it was a bit worrisome.
I later heard that a previous bus driver had actually let passengers off at 40th street, even though it couldn't quite reach the bus stop. Good on him or her.
Here are some videos of the event:
And, some more photos:
Blawker
This post is from my regular blog. It describes the intent with the blog you are looking at right now.
I like the sound of the word "gawker," and I think it nicely captures the spirit of this idea. Unfortunately, it's already taken on the web....
Have you ever driven by a big fire or accident on the road and wondered what's going on? Many people wouldn't admit it, but pretty much 100% have a strong gawker inside them, at least the OCD-challenged among us.... ;-)
Have you ever seen a weird light in the sky that you couldn't explain?
Did you ever wonder why a particular traffic route was congested at a certain time?
Well, it happens to me quite frequently, and I don't want to slow down traffic even further by actually gawking, so I've sometimes searched the local media for reports. Sometimes you can get information there, such as when a gas semi knifed and ignited by the Issaquah off-ramp; but mostly, I draw a blank.
If it's a big enough event, it may appear in the media. For example, my wife and I saw an amazing light in the Utah desert a few years ago, and could only guess what it could be, but we couldn't explain it. It started out looking like maybe it was a helicopter pointing its lights at us, but it quickly grew too bright, and was clearly too far away. Then, it started trailing away toward the horizon, almost like a contrail, but much brighter and faster. It was quite a sight. Later that week, we saw a photo of it in the newspaper. It was some test missile or other, shot into the Pacific.
(It's funny how this can even act in reverse. I was in Honolulu, just a few hundred yards from mud slides that were declared a national emergency on the news, but noticed nothing but a little rain.)
But, sometimes it's a much smaller event, such as the light over Kirkland on the evening of Sept. 29th, 2006, that looked like a helicopter crashing or something, that wouldn't have been seen by more than maybe a few thousand people, at most, and of them, there are probably only a handful people who would use a community news service like I'm proposing, as authors.
It should be really easy for locals to upload such information, and for other locals to search it. Yet, I haven't found such a service on the web. Local media is too selective (who's going to care about some little mud slide on Issaquah-Hobart in a few days—OK, bad example—that one was in the news for weeks, but...), and blogging is too scattered. Technically, an open-for-all locality-based blog and/or Wiki would do it, but I haven't been able to find such a beast.
For it to work, it would need to be well-known enough that people would actually go there and post questions and answers.
I'll do some more searching, but if I don't find one, I think I'll start a blawker for the greater Seattle area soon.
I like the sound of the word "gawker," and I think it nicely captures the spirit of this idea. Unfortunately, it's already taken on the web....
Have you ever driven by a big fire or accident on the road and wondered what's going on? Many people wouldn't admit it, but pretty much 100% have a strong gawker inside them, at least the OCD-challenged among us.... ;-)
Have you ever seen a weird light in the sky that you couldn't explain?
Did you ever wonder why a particular traffic route was congested at a certain time?
Well, it happens to me quite frequently, and I don't want to slow down traffic even further by actually gawking, so I've sometimes searched the local media for reports. Sometimes you can get information there, such as when a gas semi knifed and ignited by the Issaquah off-ramp; but mostly, I draw a blank.
If it's a big enough event, it may appear in the media. For example, my wife and I saw an amazing light in the Utah desert a few years ago, and could only guess what it could be, but we couldn't explain it. It started out looking like maybe it was a helicopter pointing its lights at us, but it quickly grew too bright, and was clearly too far away. Then, it started trailing away toward the horizon, almost like a contrail, but much brighter and faster. It was quite a sight. Later that week, we saw a photo of it in the newspaper. It was some test missile or other, shot into the Pacific.
(It's funny how this can even act in reverse. I was in Honolulu, just a few hundred yards from mud slides that were declared a national emergency on the news, but noticed nothing but a little rain.)
But, sometimes it's a much smaller event, such as the light over Kirkland on the evening of Sept. 29th, 2006, that looked like a helicopter crashing or something, that wouldn't have been seen by more than maybe a few thousand people, at most, and of them, there are probably only a handful people who would use a community news service like I'm proposing, as authors.
It should be really easy for locals to upload such information, and for other locals to search it. Yet, I haven't found such a service on the web. Local media is too selective (who's going to care about some little mud slide on Issaquah-Hobart in a few days—OK, bad example—that one was in the news for weeks, but...), and blogging is too scattered. Technically, an open-for-all locality-based blog and/or Wiki would do it, but I haven't been able to find such a beast.
For it to work, it would need to be well-known enough that people would actually go there and post questions and answers.
I'll do some more searching, but if I don't find one, I think I'll start a blawker for the greater Seattle area soon.
Technorati Tags: project
