stolen_tea, posts by tag: plug - LiveJournal

A collection of random things from the past bit:

Did you know that the transliterated names "Burma" and "Myanmar" are intended to be pronounced with a British Received Pronunciation accent? Like what you'd get if you pronounced "farther" much like "father". It's to represent the low tone. And also they're sort of the same word, just having taken very different paths over the last millennium.

A quote from an unnamed manufacturer of lighting fixtures, which I think wins my prize for best veiled reference to explosions: "these maintenance practices will greatly reduce the likelihood of a non-passive end of life."

There's this Thomas Jefferson quote, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." When I first ran across it, I garbled it in translation, and (of course, as is only natural) I like my version better: "We are the history of the future and the dreams of the past." I like having that sense of perspective.

And I'm driving down to Portland again this weekend. I'll probably come back with a huge quantity of Dave's Killer Bread. It's really good stuff - my favorite is the Blues Bread. It's made in a little place in the outskirts of Portland, across a street from the old Bob's Red Mill building. Last time I was there, Dave himself held the door for me as I was carting dozens of loaves away in coolers; he was quite the gentleman!

So, the environmental impact statement finally came out, and it appears that the tunnel plan will be useless - it would cost $4,000,000,000 and provide only a 2% improvement in traffic over just closing the viaduct and doing nothing. That's a waste of our money that we could spend in more efficient ways.

I was initially in favor of the idea of a tunnel. It seemed like the ideal solution, replacing the current ugly viaduct with something that was functionally identical, but that kept the traffic out of sight and allowed a greener, more pedestrian/cylist-friendly waterfront. Sure, it might be more expensive, but it seemed like a worthwhile investment.

But then we found out that we'd have to bore so deep that there wouldn't be any exits downtown. And then the state decided that Seattle would be on the hook for any cost overruns. And then we found out that there'd be a $5 toll. And finally, the environmental impact statement's analysis showed that between the lack of exits and the toll, that the actual impact on traffic would be barely better than doing nothing.

And now we have people claiming that because we thought we liked it before we found out how effective it would be, we have to continue? That's like having an argument over which clothes to buy, before looking at what's actually available and trying them on. The previous arguments had no relevance to reality. We did not have the data to make a meaningful decision. Only now can we actually decide in any real way.

And from first principles: I mean, OK, so people take the viaduct. I do, when I have a car. How many of them enter or exit downtown? Eliminate those, and we have people who only want to skip downtown and go from north of downtown to south of downtown.* They are already the less-important-to-us fraction of traffic. Then eliminate all the people who would take an alternate route to avoid a $5 toll. Who's left? Do we want to spend $4,000,000,000 to save them 17 minutes a trip? Why not just add a few more express bus routes?

There are other plans, that produce much better outcomes, at much less cost. The "Street/Transit/I-5" plan, or "ST5", seems to be the leading one. Let's do something like that!

Here's another breakdown, The Environmental Case Against the Deep-bore Tunnel, courtesy of pielology.

* Not strictly true, as some drivers would find it efficient to overshoot their destination by taking the tunnel to the first exit, and then doubling back into downtown. And the reverse, of course. But still.

Short version: Moss Alley Motors are now officially Good People, and I heartily recommend them!

Longer version: my "new" "old" car was doing quite well, until Friday night. While on the way to Ballard to deliver ripped-off couch cushions for modification at an upcoming Craft Day, it stalled and died on 85th, 2 car lengths short of Aurora. Not a good place. It fluttered and stalled, but I managed to get it to the nearby Jack-in-the-Box parking lot without too much trouble. I had a brief visit by mimerki and ironymaiden to pick up the cushion and assorted gear that should probably make it back to my house before the car, and then the tow truck guy showed up 30 minutes early. He was amazingly competent, polite, professional, and speaks 4 languages (English, Arabic, Farsi, and something I forget) and is learning another (French).

Unfortunately, there's a school across the street from my mechanic, and they were having an enormous function that night, and all the parking spots for several blocks around were taken. So he took me back home, and I managed to get it almost parked right before I lost the engine again. Fortunately, then mimerki and ironymaiden and a couple of other folk heading out dancing stopped by, and helped push it into position so quickly that spider88 didn't even have a chance to leave her place before it was done!

The next morning, I got another tow, and this time could leave it right outside, at about 11. I figured the car would be out of commission until Monday evening, but that was OK. And then at 1, I got a call from the manager at Moss Alley, who's the one I bought the car from. He said that he saw it outside, and discovered that (as suspected) it was just a fuel pump, and fixed it, and it had been running fine for an hour, and that he wouldn't charge me for it. :)

So yeah, this whole "buy from your mechanic" thing turned out quite well, and now I have some real evidence that they are Good People (as opposed to just suspecting it, which has been enough for me for the last few years). :)

From digitalemur comes this oddly catchy bit of surreality...

Last week, I attended a fundraiser for a local circus arts school, SANCA (the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts). The finale of the evening was a performance by Duo Madrona, a pair of their students who've gone on to become world-class performers.

It's hard to describe it using words alone. For instance, "Argentinian tango in three dimensions" doesn't convey the depth of the amazing physicality on display. I'll just end by saying that it was one of the most beautiful and breathtaking things that I have ever seen done with human bodies, and if you get the chance, see them.

For those of you in Seattle who weren't aware:

http://dinearoundseattle.org/

The price keeps going up every year, but once again it's the month of "30 for $30", where a number of local restaurants provide a prix fixe meal. I definitely recommend Nishino for the sushi lovers out there.

This looks AWESOME.*

http://repo-opera.com/

(yoinked from gothic_coop)

* For certain definitions of "awesome". Beauty is in a randomly selected eye of a beholder. Caveat emptor. And so forth.

There is a movie that you all must see. It is called The Fall; it's the most engaging and emotionally affecting movie I've seen in years. It does fascinating things with storytelling and viewpoint. It also, at times, conjures in me more of a feeling of dread (in the Orson Scott Card sense) than I can remember any movie doing before, although I should qualify that by saying that these things dim in my memory with time.

It may also be worth mentioning that I consider this to be a disturbing movie, whereas I thought "Pan's Labyrinth" was merely brutally honest and occasionally frightening.

The trailer:



It's currently playing in large cities, in Seattle at the Metro.

One of my favorite quotes: "Shoot, you animals! They'll pay you well for Darwin's hide!" *

* Yes, that Charles Darwin, through two spyglasses darkly.


Update:

If my warnings make you think of not seeing it, please consider reading the following minor spoiler:
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Ever want to design your own gerrymander?

Those who know fajitas have doubtless heard of this already, but for those who haven't:

The ReDistricting Game!

(For those keeping track of such things, it's made the New York Times Blog and NPR.)

I think this is an excellent way to create political change - let people see the sausage-making for themselves. :)

I recently became aware that this month was the "25 for 25" promotion, wherein 25 restaurants have $25 prix fixe dinners. And while glancing through the list, I noticed that Nishino was on there. They're the best sushi restaurant I've found in Seattle (not that I've tried them all): the fish is reliably very-good-to-excellent, making their nigiri and sashimi particularly nice. The other food is handled well too, of course. The only drawback for me is the price; there are cheaper places out there that are almost as good, which are where I tend to gravitate. (Nishino is also somewhat classy and formal, and is mostly traditional in their selection of rolls, but that's fine with me.)

Anyway, last night I had some super-white tuna (escolar) there, and it was fantastic. The promotion runs throughout March, for dinners on Sunday through Thursday, so there's plenty of time. I'll probably pay them another visit or two, myself.