Ron's Log

eHighway

SCAQMD is investigating the feasibility of making part of I-710 to an "eHighway." It would have overhead electric wires and a truck equipped with a pantograph could connect to it, like an electric bus, and shut off its diesel engine. The trucks equipped with pantographs would be hybrids which, the article says, would get 30% better gas mileage. Why not, as long as they're investing all this capital, make them CNG trucks with pantographs, so they can always be cleaner?

Eureka Dunes To Saline Valley

Story and photos of a solo drive from Eureka Dunes to the springs in Saline Valley via Steele Pass Road while towing a Krawler 459 teardrop trailer.

Cadiz

An L.A. Times article about the plan for Cadiz, Inc. to pump water from an aquifer under the Mojove desert and deliver it to the Colorado River Aqueduct via an underground pipeline 43 miles long.

Cadiz, Inc. Their info on the Cadiz Valley Water Project. They say it "will not exceed a long-term annual average of 50,000 acre-feet per year" in Phase I.

Cadiz, California, is along old Route 66 just east of Amboy.

California Primary - June 5

California's new primary system and newly drawn districts get their first use next month. The Presidential primary remains partisan, however. Too bad about that. The numbers of Presidential candidates for each party:

• Democrat - 1
• Republican - 6 (Ron Paul is still there, as is Fred Karger)
• American Independent - 3 (including Mad Max Riekse whose own website is empty as is his page on the Citizens Party website)
• Green - 3 (including Roseanne Barr)
• Libertarian - 9 (on the mistaken assumption that they will be able to add their vote totals together to win, the Libertarian Party is running every single one of its members as a candidate for President)
• Peace and Freedom - 3

That's a total of 25.

The new primary system kicks in when you get to the candidates for U.S. Senate - 24 of 'em, representing 5 different political parties. Here are the ones who were sufficiently motivated to put a bio in the voter information guide:

• Orly Taitz - who wants a "moratorium on taxation" of any company that repatriates to the U.S. or creates jobs in America. Not clear what she means by "moratorium," but it sounds like "no taxes" to me. "For every dollar in tax revenues on newly created jobs for the U.S. citizens, there will be a dollar in taxation credit for the companies." But I thought there was going to be a moratorium on taxation? Tax credits don't work when there's no tax. Ms. Taitz says "a judge upheld my subpoena for Barack Obama to appear at trial and provide his identification papers." That's good, because I'm not sure who that guy in the White House is, but he appears to be Presidenting While Black, so I say pull him over. Ms. Taitz wants to know why President Obama is using a "Connecticut Social Security number." As retired Social Security employee let me explain what a "Connecticut Social Security number" would be. Numbers were (I can't say for sure that it still works exactly the same way, since I've been out of the loop for 10 years) distributed geographically. If you walked into a Connecticut Social Security office to apply for your Social Security Number, your number would come from the range assigned to that office. It indicates nothing about place of birth, residency or citizenship.
• Elizabeth Emken - who wants to suspend "job killing government regulations and mandates."
• Robert Lauten - wants to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. He wants to re-establish the "Hamiltonian Credit System." His website (seemingly designed in 1995) refers to this Lyndon Larouche page for explanation. It seems that it would require the creation of a National Bank, something that most of us will remember from history was considered unconstitutional.
• Dan Hughes - rants for a bit in his bio, but doesn't offer much in the way of concrete ideas. He includes one sentence saying he will cut government spending, reform the tax code, reform government regulations, stop higher taxes, secure the border, repeal "government controlled healthcare." That last one is a bit broad, but I think if as a first step he plans to abolish Veterans Hospitals, he will not get re-elected. He also wants term limits for Congress.
• Mike Strimling - begins his bio with this short sentence: "Tax The Rich." He wants the tax rate on "the wealthy" to be restored to its levels under "Eisenhower, Kennedy and Nixon." One wonders what was different about the taxes under LBJ that makes him skip over Johnson's presidency. "Tax all stock and property worth over $3 million to pay the debt." A sort of federal property tax? Does he have any idea how many federal jobs that will create? "Revoke charters of corporations that refuse to limit political contributions." Because radically destabilizing the economy will work so much better than a Constitutional amendment reversing the Supreme Court's bonehead "corporations are people" decision.
• Dirk Allen Konopik - I can quote his entire bio! "Christian, Veteran, American, NRA, VFW, American Legion, Will stand boldly for Christ." His website is very 2012. Supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, would confirm only judges who believe that Christianity is our nation's moral and ethical compass, supports a military sufficiently powerful for global domination, supports "Biblical marriage" (that would be polygamy and the enslavement of women, I think), rebukes "LGBT lifestyles," supports federal death penalty for murder, rape, human trafficking, and child molestation (not all of those are federal crimes yet), on the economy he supports a federal Geographic Information System that will do magic for the creation of new businesses, in education he would put prayer in public schools and defund the teaching of Darwinian theory - he opposes unbiblical curricula, supports an amnesty for illegal aliens (!), believes that the Triune God of the Bible is the only god that has ever existed (this contradicts the Bible), the universe was created 6,000 years ago, evolutionary theory contradicts the Bible and is therefore false, no statement in the Bible has ever been proven false (but that Noah story is looking pretty shaky), all people are descended from Noah's family (there is no explanation of how they came to look so very different around the world with no evolution taking place), he promises to be faithful to his wife, "America's national debt must be removed" (which doesn't sound quite the same as paying it back), he wants to defund Planned Parenthood and goes all Godwin's Law when he states that abortion is legal as was the Nazi holocaust, supports national legislation to ban pornography and prostitution (he offers no definitions or how he would work these anti-business laws around the first amendment), a new constitutional amendment for more religious freedom.
• Marsha Feinland - "Let's decide democratically what we need and make the rich and their corporations pay." She doesn't say much more than that.
• Dianne Feinstein - you should already be familiar with this one. She avoids saying anything outrageously extreme in her statement. Not entertaining in the least.
• Colleen Shea Fernald - she starts out "Dear congressionally betrayed voter, It is time to end government organized crime" She is not, however, a Libertarian candidate. Wants to end the war in Afghanistan.
• Rogelio T. Gloria - Another short one: "I am an experienced U.S. Naval Officer and federal employee." And I bet he dresses nicely, too. A glance at his website, unfortunately, reveals the horror that he has not one single supporter among the vast underemployed population of English majors. His grammar and spelling give every indication that high school graduation was a challenge for him. "We are afraid of losing what little we have and hold on. The Republican have a plan." Born in Hawaii (better check that), he was a Lieutenant in the Navy from 1985 to 2003. He has two master's degrees (he doesn't say in what) and he's working on a "PHD" degree (also nonspecific). He lived and worked in the DC area for several years. He may still live there. It's not clear. "The Department of Energy is a funny agency." Finally, a little bit of humor amidst all this political sludge. He rambles on rather confusedly for several sentences and concludes "Therefore, something must be done now." And there's this patriotic sentiment: "Unlike, Florida, we are not just a warm retirement state; we are a dynamic state that stretches almost entire west coast of the United States." He falls short of endorsing legislation that would take the coastlines of Oregon and Washington and transfer them to California, restoring its god-given destiny.
• Al Ramirez - cut red tape, defend "our" religious beliefs, defend the rights of families, repeal the "government takeover of our health care system," work to address the dilemmas attributable to illegal immigration.

I find it a little bit interesting that no matter how crazy or extreme or oversimplified some of these candidates' positions are, those who express an opinion on illegal immigration are thoughtful, cautious, and acknowledge the complexities of the problem. None of them (as far as I saw) said they should all be rounded up and shipped across the border.

In the 36th Congressional District there are only two candidates (Bono Mack and Ruiz). Same story in the 56th Assembly District (Reynaga-Emett and Perez).

Palm Springs Considering Legalizing 4th MJ Dispensary

Yeah, that's the main story in this Desert Sun article. All the usual issues are trotted out. But my thoughts when I saw the photo in the article of the storefront of one dispensary were "Don't they have a sign ordinance in Palm Springs? Is there no code enforcement?" The place looks ratty as hell.

It looks better in Google Streetview, but I think that may be the benefit of more favorable lighting.

Saline Valley

This last week I went camping in Saline Valley, which is part of Death Valley National Park. It's been a year since I was last there, and the camp hosts have been busy neatening things up (which may not be a good thing in the eyes of the NPS). They've stacked low rock walls around the source springs to keep dogs and burros from getting into them. They also trimmed up a lot of the low brush among the palm trees that stand next to the Wizard and Volcano pools. This not only allows a lot more people to sit comfortably in their shade, but also means there are fewer places for snakes to hide.

We were pretty lazy most of the time. After breakfast, we would sit, nap, chat, read under the trees by the Wizard pool until the sun got too far to the west. Then we'd move over to the shade by the Volcano pool and repeat. When the shade extended clear across the pool, we would get in the water, spending a few hours. Then it was time for dinner. A high overcast came in the first few nights, but the last night was completely clear, which meant I had to pull my cap down over my face to keep the blindingly bright moon out of my eyes as I slept.

Weather was perfect, reaching a high around 100° each day (but we never checked a thermometer), and no severe winds.

The Navy provided some flyovers, but not as many as we might have liked. I tried to get some video, but it's a challenge when you're in among shady trees. The other challenge is that the flyover itself can't last more than 2 seconds. You get sometimes as much as 5 seconds warning, if you've got a clear view and see that the jet is coming at you.

Three brief videos of low flyovers at the springs in Saline Valley: one, two, three.

On Thursday afternoon, one very obliging pilot flew north over the springs at a moderately low level, then did a turn-around in full view (often they continue over to Eureka Valley where we can't see them), and came straight back at us in the Volcano pool. It was clearly intended to a be a show for our benefit. He came across very low, doing a barrel roll as he flew away.

Some photos:

Jim and Albert.

Wizard pool.

One of the source springs.

The other source spring.

The complete set of photos is here or here, if you prefer Flickr.

The National Park Service is beginning to work on a Saline Valley Warm Spring Management Plan. The Inyo County Board of Supervisors recently discussed that.

The board also decided to join a Cooperating Agency Agreement with the National Park Service as it begins working on the Saline Valley Warm Spring Management Plan and an Environmental Impact Statement that will accompany it.

"Saline Valley has a long history and there is a tremendous amount of use out there," [Fifth District Supervisor Richard] Cervantes, who's district also includes the valley, said. "A lot of people just want to go out there and run around naked. I think we should have a dialogue about that."

Inyo County Planning Director Josh Hart also said that the state Environmental Health Department has some concerns about the way the hot springs in Saline Valley are set up, and those concerns will also be addressed in the management plan.

Hart said the hot springs are a relatively small geographic area but there is a large amount of interest, as it is a heavily used recreation site.

The board unanimously agreed to participate in the cooperating agency in an effort to steer actions toward a user-friendly, environmentally-sound solution.

Saline Valley, May 2011

Saline Valley, May 2009

Saline Valley, May 2011

San Joaquin Valley Has Dirtiest Air

An article listing the 10 most polluted cities in the U.S. The populations in the article are for SMSAs or metropolitan areas. Central Valley cities are bolded:

1. Bakersfield (sits in a bowl and Fresno is upwind)
2. Hanford (old cars, plus Fresno is upwind)
3. Los Angeles
4. Visalia (irrigation pumps that burn diesel, plus Fresno is upwind)
5. Fresno (traffic, few public transit choices)
6. Pittsburgh
7. Phoenix
8. Cincinnati
9. Louisville
10. Philadelphia

It sounds like if we could just put a big dome over Fresno the rest of the valley would have a chance.