A nunused highway ramp sits abandoned in Seattle (Seattle Times)
WHERE ARE SEATTLE KIDS GOING TO FIND A 38-FOOT HIGH DIVING PLATFORM WHEN THE “RAMPS TO NOWHERE” ARE TORN DOWN?
Ramps connected to the Route 520 highway have been abandoned for 40 or more years when plans to make various connections to the road were dropped after citizen protests. One of these will ruin a popular swimming hole by removal of a platform from which one could dive from a ramp into 10 feet of water below. Sure, an arboretum to replace some of the space taken up by a ramp will be nice but, again, where’s a kid going to find a place for a thrilling dive to impress his girl friend?
(Seattle Times)
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THE LABOUR PARTY IN BRITAIN IS OF VERY LITTLE USE TO WORKERS IN THEIR STRUGGLE TO IMPROVE THEIR WORKING CONDITIONS.
The whole emphasis of political culture in the country is to place obstacles in the way of operations of unions, which are seen as “un-democratic,” and unrepresentative of the will or the interests of the majority of workers. While these are false perceptions, the media persists in perpetuating them, and the country’s courts place numerous obstacles in the way of strikes or other forms of collective bargaining action. Although the Labour Party was created and is sustained by the money and the votes of working people, it has consistently compromised that support by siding with the anti-union actions of the coalition governments in which the party has been given a marginal seat at the table of parliamentary governance. Despair about the vitality of the union movement is easily come by, but historical examples of small numbers of relatively unorganized workers forcing changes for their benefit give some hope to the future of union activism.
(Counterpunch)
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MISSISSIPPI SET TO PASS LEGISLATION CREATING LARGE INCREASE IN CHARTER SCHOOLS IN THE STATE.
The Republican-controlled legislature is about to pass and the Republican Governor sign a law that will institute publicly-funded charter schools in “failing” districts and even in some “successful” ones. A few Democratic legislators take stalling action and there must yet be a reconciliation of House and Senate measures, but the deed seems largely to be done.
(Memphis Commercial-Appeal)
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GETTING MORE POWER FROM WIND TURBINES, NOT BY BUILDING MORE OF THEM BUT BY BUILDING THEM HIGHER.
Wind power developers in Minnesota and other states are increasing power output by moving from 80 to 100 foot towers. This yields a power output increase of more than 20%, since wind speeds are higher at the 20 feet of extra vertical extension.
(Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
ALL BOARD FLORIDA! MORMON CHURCH SAYS NO!
The Coral Gable company All Aboard Florida is attempting to build a railway from Miami to the Orlando airport, but is stymied by the reluctance of the Church of the Latter Day Saints to allow use of land it owned but had donated for public use with stipulations that did not include construction of a railroad. This includes some of the 300,000 acres of Deseret Ranch owned by the Church. Negotiations with All Aboard continue, but the going is difficult.
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
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Quote of the day…
This gives us more people to work with, but they would have to be able to do the physical stuff that men do. They have to be able to pull their own weight.
Army infantry Sergeant Jeremy Gray, on news that women will be given combat military duty alongside males.
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