Now, it’s a tourist adventure. It was built during World War 2 to get military supplies to northern bases in the event Japan invaded the U.S. or Canada. It was a huge project; building it required “174 steam shovels, 374 blade graders, 904 tractors and 5,000 trucks” and “16,0[...]
Archive for February, 2022
February 13th, 2022 - 2:47 am § in Misc.
The Superbowl stadium is a garish sport temple
It’s unlike any other stadium. Because it’s under the Los Angeles Airport flight path, it’s mostly underground, and fans climb down to their seats. The end zones are open to ocean breezes. The roof is a giant TV screen. It has a lake. But more than anything, it proves there’s[...]
February 13th, 2022 - 12:54 am § in Misc.
Olympics: Doing the Biellmann spin (video)
This may be the only thing I post about the 2022 Winter Olympics. Many skaters attempt the Biellmann spin (details here), but hardly any do it well, because they lack the flexibility needed to get the leg straight up, and it doesn’t look as good when they don’t. I would rate it as the mo[...]
February 12th, 2022 - 10:18 pm § in Misc.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tibetan yak race
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February 12th, 2022 - 9:54 pm § in Russia
Putin’s yacht
As of 2018, Putin’s government salary was about $300,000 a year (details here), so either he has other sources of income (e.g., corruption), or he paid for this 270-foot, $100 million, luxuriously appointed (e.g. pool, marble bathrooms) motor yacht (details here) with a no-payments loan. Retur[...]
February 12th, 2022 - 12:27 pm § in Politics
Election officials under siege by snipe hunters
You know what a “snipe hunt” is, right? If not, Wikipedia is there to help (here): “A snipe hunt is a type of practical joke or fool’s errand … in which an unsuspecting newcomer is duped into trying to catch a nonexistent animal called a snipe ... a snipe hunt is[...]
February 12th, 2022 - 12:22 am § in Misc.
Railfans (video)
For several American generations, steam trains were a common, everyday experience. I’m barely old enough to remember them; the transition to diesels occurred during my early childhood, and they were gone before I left grade school. A few “legacy” steamers still run as excursion tra[...]
February 11th, 2022 - 11:50 pm § in Law and Courts
What will happen to blockading truckers who defy injunction?
A Canadian judge issued an injunction against the trucker blockade of the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Windsor, Canada, on Friday afternoon, February 11, 2022. Hours later, “little had changed” at the border. “Dozens of people were still on site well after 9 p.m.,” when the[...]
Should Rep. Cawthorn be banned from re-election for “aiding insurrection”?
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is controversial, to say the least; see his profile here. And while he’s not popular everywhere, he’s certainly popular in his district; in 2020, he easily defeated a retired Air Force colonel and former Guantanamo prosecutor, 54%-42% (details here). Some of [...]
February 11th, 2022 - 10:04 pm § in Politics
Move to Texas, lose your vote
Washington has 100% mail voting, which is not only convenient for voters, but saves taxpayers the huge expense of polling places. There’s no evidence mail voting is less secure or leads to more voting fraud (see, e.g., story here). But if you move to Texas, only voters “65 or older, vot[...]