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The newspaper I was working for when I predicted this is still available at its vestigal domain name here where I helped set it up.

At the end of a meeting to review a very expensive (>100K$) demographic survey in 1992, I spoke my mind. I told him a number of things, including that the toxic ink on dead tree business model wouldn't last forever, that communities were more important that forums, that the Internet wouldn't be male dominated forever and that user generated content was more important than expert generated content. He thought I was a flake. It cost me my job to tell him what I really thought, and I was right. It cost him >100K to hear what the demographer thought he wanted to hear.

I don't regret it at all. He was an idiot too and he deserved to miss out on the .boom billions he could have had.

One of the more reassuring things about St Helens blowing is that it has already done so. It has a nice crater to keep things fairly contained and no glaciers. Mt Rainier is another story, however. It is also a volcano, has the most permanent glaciers on it of any mountain in the continental US and if it blows, the true danger is what happens to those glaciers at eruption. It's known as a lahar.

I read something similar to this once: To get an idea of a lahar, imagine a 30 ft wall of mud, boiling in temperature with the consistency of wet cement traveling at speeds up to 60 mph or so. If you go driving through the river valleys of Washington State (Carbon Rv, Puyallup Rv) that are fed by the Rainier glaciers, you'll see Lahar evacuation route signs everywhere. Not only that, but I believe recent evacuation simulations have been abysmal. Scary stuff.

Ahh, may have found the article that I read.

Yeah, I could hardly believe the "bare-assed antics" either (especially when you realize the result is that Naota pops wood).

Neither could this woman (she obviously doesn't understand the concept of "Adult" Swim).

See that last sentence in the story? Who made the mistake? Paul Allen, or the Times's writer?

Sci-Fi Today, the Seattle PI, and The Seattle Times all got it right.

Only the Times and The Tacoma News Tribune have it wrong.

The Tacoma paper deserves special recognition for combining the Times story and AP wire reports, then getting the error into their lead sentence.

(a) 100 million / mile. Not that bad. Gives us MORE reason to want to pay our state for doing things. Tribnet

(b)Hmmm whats all this stuff in between... You make it sound like they're too close together for a link to matter. Ooo Pictures

(c)Now I cant even BELIEVE you're using this as an arguement. 80% of the ridership comes from busses. EVEN if that happens thats a decrease in the overall usage of busses which means they can support more routes and take busses off the roads which is just one more thing out of your way and not causing traffic. Not only that but the 20% that dont come from busses get off the roads, and the 80% that do, get where they need to go. :)

(d) Check (a)

(e) Check (b)

AND sorry but a combination of systems is more often then not more effective. A monorail connecting all those areas doesnt sound cost effective. A light rail system connecting all those areas, doesnt *appear* to be a big enough impact on actual traffic. [In my opinion anyway]

(f) This, I dont know. Its the one thing on your list that doesnt make as much sense to me. Finally, I'd like to say if Seattle tries nothing, it therefore, ends up doing nothing. Would you rather make an attempt to alleviate traffic problems, or have too many people sit around whining, who dont want to pay taxes [refer to (a)] ??? I preferably would like to be able to get places without bumper to bumper traffic nearly everyday.

Modders, forgive my attitude. The Puget sound traffic can do that to us. We just want our problems fixed... thats all.