I took my Toyota Camry in for an oil change today, in Seattle’s SODO district. It’s always fun to check out the new cars at the Toyota garage, even though I’m not in the market for one.
Monday/ custom Toyota truck
Sunday/ biosphere progress
There is an artificial turf lawn on the outside. I could also see misters and lights on the inside of the sphere, but there is still work to be done to bring furnishing for humans into the spheres!
Saturday/ the weather’s fine but there may be a meteor shower
Coming to you every hour on the hour
Here is the news
The weather’s fine but there may be a meteor shower’
Songwriter: Jeff Lynne
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra, Album: Time (1981)
___________
One of the downsides of living in the city is that the night sky is not dark enough to see faint stars and meteors. Saturday and Sunday nights were good ones for the Delta Aquarid meteor shower, and one viewer here sent in a nice ‘shooting star’ video clip to the local TV news station. The Perseids are starting to appear as well, and should peak August 11, 12 and 13. These are known as the best summer meteor shower, with 50 or more meteors per hour.
Friday/ ‘minimal use of finger’
A new distracted driving law is now in force in Washington State, and it’s all a little complicated, with a distinction between primary and secondary offenses. Basically, manual cell phone use is banned, but eating or drinking (water, not beer!) in a safe manner is still OK. I found this set of Q&A’s from the Seattle Times helpful.
Q. What is banned?
The law forbids handheld uses of devices. Not just phone calls, but composing or reading any kind of message, social media post, photograph or data.
Drivers may not use handheld devices while at a stop sign or red-light signal.
All video watching is illegal, even in a dashboard or dash-mounted device.
Q. What’s legal?
Common built-in electronics, including hands-free phones, satellite music and maps, are legal.
Drivers may even turn on a smartphone that’s mounted in a dashboard cradle, for limited purposes such as navigation apps, a voice-activated call, or music streaming. The new law allows the “minimal use of a finger.”
Handheld phone calls to 911 or other emergency services are legal, as are urgent calls between transit employees and dispatchers. Amateur radio equipment and citizens-band radio remain legal.
To legally use a handheld device for non-emergencies, the driver must pull away from traffic lanes, to where the vehicle “can safely remain stationary.”
Q. What does “minimal use of a finger” mean?
Police will use their judgment. State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson, a spokesman based in Bellevue, sees it this way: “The idea is for you to activate your phone with one touch, so you don’t have to look away from your windshield to dial 10 numbers, to make a phone call.” Typing a map address while in traffic, now common behavior, will be treated by many troopers as a violation, he said.
Q. Is driving under the influence of electronics (DUI-E) a primary offense?
Yes. A police officer can pull someone over, merely based on seeing a motorist use a handheld device, type, or watch video.
Q. How much does a ticket cost?
The fine is $136 for the first offense. For additional violations within five years, the fine increases to $234 per citation.
Q. Will a ticket raise my insurance rates?
Probably, if you‘ve been found guilty of other traffic violations.
Distracted-driving citations will be reported in state driving records, unlike the previous law. Insurance companies will track them.
Q. What about other distractions?
Miscellaneous distractions such as grooming or eating are a secondary offense, meaning a ticket may be issued if a law-enforcement officer pulls you over for some other offense, such as speeding or a dangerous lane change.
The standard fine is $99 — which is more than the $30 mentioned in the legislation, and past news reports. The higher total, like the electronic-distraction penalty, includes fees for state government and trauma care.
“Embracing another while driving” has been illegal since 1927. If a cop sees your arm around someone so both hands can’t reach the wheel, that’s a reckless-driving offense.
Q. I raise my cellphone near my hearing aid. Is that OK?
This was legal under an exemption in the 2007 distraction law — which the new law has eliminated. Bluetooth devices have been developed for hearing-impaired people, while the Washington Traffic Safety Commission sought fewer exceptions, so police can effectively apply DUI-E rules. “There is no right to use a phone while driving,” said Shelly Baldwin, WTSC government liaison.
Q. Is the law really enforceable?
Washington state is home to 5.7 million licensed drivers and 165 million miles of travel miles daily. Roadway observations find 10 percent of drivers on the road are handling a phone. There’s no way for police to watch everyone.
Early this year, as few as a half-dozen State Patrol troopers covered some shifts in the entire Eastside detachment, from the floating bridges to Snoqualmie Pass. Statewide there were 89 vacancies of 671 trooper positions, though that should improve with two academy classes and pay raises this year.
Seattle’s traffic division of 58 officers already can’t meet public demand to clear gridlocked intersections and bus lanes, or enforce 20-mph school zones, or maintain bikeways or sidewalks.
So cultural change is required, plus technology to replaceor block hazardous behavior. Sponsors point to Washington’s 95 percent seat-belt use rate as hope smartphone laws can take root.
Thursday/ Republicans: Go home! (and don’t come back)
The latest incarnation of the poisonous Senate healthcare bill, courtesy of Mitch McConnell, was called the Healthcare Freedom Act (frees one up to die with no healthcare). Slapped together in a day or two, all of eight pages. Published only on Thursday. Not a single hearing. Per the Congressional Budget Office it would force 16 million people off health insurance coverage, increase premiums 20% for people with insurance. Yet Mitch McConnell has the nerve to bring it up in the dead of night, with VP Mike Pence on hand, to cast a potential tie-breaking vote, if the Senate had voted 50-50.
In a scene of high drama, after impassioned pleas from Democrats to vote ‘No’, the roll-call vote finally comes. 49 of 52 Republican senators vote ‘Yes’ (just not John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins). The bill fails by the narrowest of margins: 49-51.
So: the Senate Republicans demonstrated vividly how careless, how rotten to the core they are, as policymakers and as legislators. Go home, and never come back!
Wednesday/ President Trump : stop tweeting ‘policy’
Two of Trump’s morning tweets on Wednesday morning about a new administration ‘policy’ (really? the President of the United States now tweets policy? no news conference, no nothing?) about transgender people no longer ‘accepted’ in the military set off a firestorm of criticism.
Check out the reactions from Stephen Colbert, and from George Takei. I guess you fight fire with fire, and disrespect with disrespect.
Tuesday/ 38 dry days (so far)
It’s been a great summer so far here in Seattle, with temperatures in the 70’s to low 80’s (20 to 28°C). It’s been drier than usual though, with the blue skies now closing in on a record stretch of days with no measurable rain.
Another ugly Monday in US politics
Six months in, there is no let up in the insanity in the White House and Republican politics. John McCain (80) is returning to Capitol Hill prematurely from his operation (he has brain cancer) to vote on Mitch McConnell’s health care bill. No one knows what the final content will end up to be (what? is that any way to legislate?) – but rest assured, it will take away affordable health care and rescind taxes on very wealthy people. Trump staged a news conference aimed at the Republican Senator hold-outs. Does not care. Just wants a ‘win’.
Later in the day, Trump’s speech to tens of thousands of Boy Scouts kids at their Jamboree included his usual boast about his win in 2016 (pathetic), and have them boo a living American President (disgraceful). Trump continues to tweet out disparaging statements about the Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, ostensibly to get him to quit.
Finally: Jared Kushner read a lawyer-written statement, with the White House as the backdrop, that stretched credibility to the breaking point (beyond it, for me: ‘did not collude with Russia’, ‘no improper contacts’, ‘no prior knowledge of the contents of the June 2016 meeting with the Russians’).
Sunday/ disasters that start with M
King 5 (local TV station here in Seattle) is running a campaign to make residents aware of the need to be prepared for a disaster. It could be .. a Meteor | a Missile from North Korea | a Magnitude 9.0 earthquake & tsunami. I think the quake is most likely, given that we are way overdue, now 317 years into an estimated 243-year cycle (gulp) for the region’s recorded 9.0 earthquakes over the last 10,000 years. (The last 9.0 quake was in 1700 and there should have been another one by 1943!).
Below is King 5’s suggested check list. I highlighted the main topics in bold for myself. It’s very important for the supply kit to contain critical medicines, some bills of money, some food, and identification! Presumably it would be difficult or impossible to use one’s car to drive somewhere (traffic jams, road blocks). Some people would say what about needing guns or knives for self-defense? Oh my. That kind of thinking is very survivalist/ apocalyptic, not so? I don’t have a gun in the house. Maybe grab a sharp kitchen knife on the way out?
Saturday/ Seattle Skyline
Here’s the Seattle skyline as seen from the Bainbridge ferry on Friday afternoon. I stitched together three photos, and marked it up with some of the tallest and most iconic buildings.
Friday/ Point No Point
We stopped by Point No Point in Hansville on Friday morning, before catching the Bainbridge ferry back to Seattle. Point No Point was named as such by Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition of Puget Sound in 1841. (It does not appear to stick out from the surrounding land mass from a distance).
Thursday/ Port Townsend
We took a leisurely drive up to Port Townsend on Thursday, with stops at Nordland and Fort Flagler Historical State Park.
Wednesday/ osprey and Seahawk
Bryan and went out to Hansville on the Kitsap Peninsula on Wednesday (to our friend Paul). Instead of taking the ferry, we drove around the Sound. The time is about the same as with taking the ferry provided there is no rush-hour traffic to deal with.
Out in Hansville, I picked up an osprey* feather. I found a handy feather atlas online that says it is a wing feather.
*Two side notes on the osprey:
1. Ospreys are sometimes called sea hawks but that is not really its correct name. 2. The Seattle Seahawks’ “Seahawk” is not actually a sea hawk. The 10-year-old bird that the football team’s name is lent from, is an augur hawk. Let’s just say then, that ‘Seahawk’ is short for Seattle hawk!
Tuesday/ career milestone
My long sabbatical from work had came to an end by last week, and it was finally time to decide: to go back to full-time work, or not. I decided not to.
So 8½ years with my firm, and its many adventures in the world of SAP* projects, have come to an end. I am still working on what the future holds.
*Enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations.
Monday/ on Northern Lights watch
There were reports on Sunday night that Seattleites may see the Northern Lights*, and indeed, it was visible from here. (For the record: I did make an effort to get a clear look at the northern skies look at around 11, but did not see anything!).
*The Northern Lights (‘aurora borealis’) are generated during geomagnetic storms in Earth’s atmosphere. During solar flares, clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms are expelled through the corona of the sun into space. When these clouds of particles reach Earth a day or two later, they interact with gas molecules in the atmosphere, resulting in the greenish color displays.
Sunday/ number 8!
I hope in a London that had recently suffered a spate of terrorist attacks, and the terrible Grenfell fire, the tennis brought some sense of normalcy back. I sorely appreciate Roger’s grace – in his speech on the court, and in his tour of the lounge afterwards.
Friday/ the X1 Carbon has landed
My new notebook computer landed on my doorstep on Friday, and my first impressions are very favorable. It’s light, and very similar to my Lenovo notebooks from work that I had used for 8, 10 hours a day for a very long time. I did consider a MacBook and others, but my fingers are so, so used to the Lenovo keyboard. A new notebook with a different keyboard layout and feel can bring a lot of frustration, and be hard to get used to again (sort of like a rental car with the levers for the wipers and turn signal switched from one’s own car).
It did take a little patience to get the machine set up. There was a massive 4 Gigabyte Windows 10 update needed to what was already loaded on the machine.
Then, when I downloaded and attempted to install Google Chrome (as browser instead of Microsoft’s Edge), the infamous blue screen of death came up. Aargh. Microsoft calls it a ‘stop screen’ – and these days the blue screen is not a dead stop requiring a hard reboot. Electing to re-install the very large OS update did the trick.
Thursday/ take a treasure, leave a treasure
Here’s a basket with a ‘Take a treasure, leave a treasure sign’, that I saw on the steps to a house during my neighborhood walk last night. I wanted to contribute something, but had nothing in my pockets (other than my house key and phone). I love the idea behind the basket: that small and serendipitous items can be very interesting.
Wednesday/ my elements collection (so far)
Check out my elements collection, mostly metals. The little cylinder of pure Tungsten (W), and the mini-ingot of Zinc (Zn) are new additions. I’m trying not to buy everything all at once from the wonderful website for Metallium Inc. based in Watertown, Massachusetts!
Admittedly, my collection has a long way to go. I don’t even have pieces of iron or chrome in there, for example. The hunt for those is on!
Tuesday/ the Master Charge| Interbank Card
Here’s a ‘Master Charge’ card from up in the rafters in my home’s garage here in Seattle, found during a clean-up effort. This is the forerunner to what later became the ubiquitous Mastercard.
The original Interbank/ Master Charge card was created by several California banks as a competitor to the BankAmericard issued by Bank of America (later to became the Visa credit card issued by Visa Inc.).
So how many Mastercards are in peoples’ wallets all around the world? It’s actually very hard to pin the number down. Banks issue and manage their individually branded cards while using the MasterCard company only as a “switch” to process transactions. Also : depending on the country, MasterCard might not ‘see’ any transactions on a MasterCard branded card. Quite a few countries require that national credit card network (not MasterCard) process domestic transactions, leaving only international transactions to be processed by MasterCard.