Post #2564. Salmon. I'll try not to go crazy this time. This is a picture of the Elwha hydroelectric dam in Washington State. We used to be famous for them, but now we are more famous for salmon and the lengths we will go to preserve them.
We are tearing down this dam in order to restore the colossal salmon run which existed before it was constructed in 1913. The estimated price for this job is $350,000,000.00 which is expected easily to double. No matter. It's about the salmon. Experts differ on just how huge the actual salmon might be, the ones which have been waiting all of these years to swim upriver and spawn. We shall soon see.
But, what about the electricity generated by that dam? No worry. We have this,
the equally magnificent
Centralia Big Hanaford Coal-fired Power Plant, recently expanded by another 1,000 Megawatts. There is enough coal near this plant to last 1,779 years.
Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.
posted by Rick at 1:32 AM
Post #2563. When it's sunny and festive. No one has any idea where all of these thousands of people spend the other 364 days of the year, but when we have that lovely, warm sunny day, usually towards the end of July, first of August, here they come. So much pent-up energy and joy. Soon enough, later that afternoon usually, it will cloud up, get a little misty and cool, and they fade away. I think this may be where a lot of Seattle's music comes from. Oh, not from these guys; they're just the inspiration.
Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.
posted by Rick at 12:39 PM
Post #2562. Number Five. That's who/what you remind me of, Googlebot.
Did you know the 10th anniversary of 9-11 is coming up? If not, where have you been, Pluto? At least in ten more years fully 80-90 million Americans will have no personal memory of that day, and maybe then the remembrances will get toned down a little bit. In the meantime, the wrenching overdoneness continues. Everybody's got a story or an angle.
I had to refill a prescription that day. This isn't so much a 9-11 story as it is a pair of pharmacy stories. The strange and shy cashier who never spoke above a whisper asked me for I.D. to support my credit card. She had probably checked me out a hundred times before, never with the slightest hint of recognition. This was evidently their thing to do that day, make sure no terrorists were about, ready to create mayhem with their stolen credit cards. Otherwise, the store was deathly silent.
Another time, in the other pharmacy (lots of old people around here, lots of pharmacies,) I approached the raised platform to perform my periodic supplication and hopefully get some pills when I noticed a heavyset man, shirtless, lying on his back on the floor. He wasn't moving. There was no Medic One rig in front of the store and no firemen about. No one was paying any attention. The man was Clearly Dead. The pharmacist handed me the pills, I paid and left. I haven't been back to that pharmacy. It's been about ten years, and hopefully someone has looked after the body by now.
Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.
posted by Rick at 10:19 PM
