Peter’s Blog

Oops! Federal IT admins deleted ca.gav last night when trying to fix a hacked system. The state is back on the web now.

The Chron has a good piece on the origins of Silicon Valley, and specifically the role of radio.

Former SecDef DonRum has been invited to take a position at the Hoover Institute, everyone’s favorite center of quality Russian research and neocon fantasties. Unsurprisingly, many on the Farm aren’t happy.

A few stories and things I’ve noticed recently. First, I was going up the coast from Santa Cruz to San Gregorio. A few miles north of Santa Cruz I come to one of those many points on 1 where you go steeply down and then up all in the span of about 30 seconds. As the top of the hill was a burger place (Whale City Diner, I think) and a shop or two. Coming down the road on the ocean side were two surfer bums. I don’t know if they were surfers, or bums, but there definitely is a certain type, from Arcata to San Diego. You know: weathered, tanned skin and brown hair bleached blond by the sun, rough clothes hanging loose whose purpose is more to satisfy social mores than protect from the non-existent inclement weather. Both the man and the woman were kind of stumbling down the road, and she had a 40 in her left hand. And then I realize, she’s not wearing anything above the waist. Not the greatest idea on a grey, foggy day, but then again, she probably had enough anti-freeze in her. And then she was gone in the blink of an eye. The whole scene was very funny.

Another: I was driving south down El Camino at 6:30 pm and the rush hour traffic was still heavy. I’m waiting at the Page Mill Road intersection when I notice the corner which used to have a flower shop. The lot’s now some high density (for Silicon Valley) retirement development and a VTA Park-and-Ride spot. The Park-and-Ride has a bus stop for buses going north on El Camino and a parking lot for maybe 40-50 cars. There were 2. That Park-and-Ride has to be the dumbest thing ever (the bus stop itself is fine). Why do Park-and-Rides exist? Normally, so people can leave their cars for an easier and/or cheaper mode of transportation. But let’s say I drive my car to this Park-and-Ride? Why should I get out and take the bus? Because the bus is cheaper? Assuming 20 mpg and $3.50 per gallon of gas for our hypothetical driver, it costs them $3.50 to go anywhere within 20 miles of the Park-and-Ride. A single VTA fare is $1.75 ($3.50 for an express bus). Now, according to Google Maps it’s 16.9 miles to downtown San Jose and 35.7 miles to downtown San Francisco (VTA doesn’t go that far, though SamTrans does). So, it is slightly cheaper to take the bus to San Jose (it would cost $2.96 in gas to drive) and 4 or 5 dollars cheaper to take the bus to San Francisco. But let me promise you, you will get where you’re going a lot faster if you drive, whether you’re only going a few stops (since in your car you won’t have to stop at the intervening ones) or all the way to either city (since you can take the freeway). So tell me, why would anyone who owns a working car use that Park-and-Ride?

Finally: The Almanac reported that residents near to Dumbarton rail line are worried about the proposed Dumbarton rail link, due in a few years. They claim their concerns about noise and such are not being heard and stress they are not NIMBYs. Maybe not, but with the nearest house 40 ft from the track, I have more experience than them: in Chicago I lived right next to the Metra line in Hyde Park. Now granted, I wasn’t as close as the apartment on 57th St that was at rail height whose wall literally almost touches the train, but all that seperated me was maybe 30 feet, tops (the distance being the slope of the embankment and the building’s tiny parking lot). The Metra trains are the same as the ones Caltrain runs, so my experience is comparable. Let me tell you, those commuter trains are very quiet and I would only hear them if I had my single-paned windows open. Even then, it wasn’t a particularly unpleasant noise and only lasted 10 seconds. On the other hand, the fucking freight trains that ran at 2am were really loud and slow and shook the whole building! Luckily for the Menlo Park residents in question, Union Pacific has no plans at this time to use the new rain connection. If that changes, the residents should fight for mitigation from the freight trains. The current plans are fine and should be supported. There’s no need for anyone to buy them double-paned windows or build a sound wall.