Dave Hogan?

There are a lot of Dave Hogan's on the plant. It happens, I have a common Irish name. Shhh, it happens. I've even had accounts hacked over it. I was once sued over my name. 37 Dave's. Oh well.

At my last job I ran into a Dan Hogan who works for Galaxy Hotel Systems. I never actually met or talked to him, but with dhogan as an email address people thought I knew him well.

Nope.

I do find this fascinating.

I also don't know the Dave Hogan who raises the dead, I'm not a 44 year old photographer (yet), I'm not CIO of the Nation Retail Federation, I'm not Dave Hogan Music, I'm not an airport guy (in that way), etc.

I'm just Dave Hogan.

Interstate 505 (Portland, Oregon)

I-505 was never built in Portland, but it still effected large parts of NW Portland in ways that can still easily be seen in the form of ghost ramps and other remnants. Many condos and other such properties have been built on land that was sat on for a while in anticipation of the freeway.


All pictures taken by me, 2009.

Fortunately, Portland came to it's senses before it was built, and instead routed the route along NW Yeon/US-30 instead of NW St Helens via NW Thurman/Vaughn as had been planned. The 1966 Comprehensive Plan shows it extending along this path, for example. This link has more information about Portland's planning past.



The Interstate Mileage was returned to the national system, and US-30 got a reasonable path that doesn't destroy any neighborhoods and still serves regional needs. The US-30 approach ramps to I-405/the Fremont Bridge are the most obvious legacy portions of the roadway other than the ramp stubs on the way to NW Vaughn/Yeon.



Good thing Portland thought things out, or else we'd probably not have this city we have now. I'll take a streetcar over a freeway through what's now my apartment any day.

Amazon.com Trebuchet

I love a good product warning, but the ones on this page on Amazon for a trebuchet kit are some of the best ever.

Product Features

* Lay Siege To The Doghouse! Right after you build your own working medieval trebuchet.

* All you'll need is glue, scissors, a steady hand, and a small bag of marbles or rocks as a counterweight to construct this wooden, Canadian-made siege engine kit.

* The finished trebuchet will be 26" long x 18" wide x 24" tall and will propel stuff (meatballs?) 20 feet or more, depending upon the stuff. Includes detailed instructions.

* Note: Please don't propel small mammals, and please don't put anyone's eye out.

It's about time someone worries about the small mammals. I bet this thing couldn't even launch a groundhog five feet.

New Coke

New Coke first was released 14 years ago today. One of most famous corporate failures of recent past. Some thought it was going to mark the end of the Great Cola Wars, but it just kept going with Harrier Jumpjets and other great moments of failure.

Go Bills and Sabres and Blazers; oh my!

So, I was raised with the Bills and the Sabres. Don't fuck with them, they're good mammals, just not championship mammals.

Now, I hope to hope for the Blazers. They're trying hard, and may not be my team yet, but I want to like them.

Nope, I don't know basketball, but at least I'm not qualified to play for them.

High Speed Rail, Baby!

President Obama unveiled his administration's blueprint for a new national network of high-speed passenger rail lines Thursday, saying such an investment is necessary to reduce traffic congestion, cut dependence on foreign oil and improve the environment.

The president's plan identified 10 potential high-speed intercity corridors for federal funding, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England.

Here's the plan:



Go Pac NW (aka NW Corridor), Go!

Oh, and the California route makes a lot of sense. And the NE one. And the SE one. Well, all of them...