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Aerial photo of Devil’s Slide Project


Today, I visited the south construction zone for the Devil’s Slide Tunnel by-pass project. It was a dog and pony show with many local politicians showing up to state their support and claim credit for their contributions. It wasn’t nearly as offensive as it could have been, some of the speakers even managed a little self-deprecating humor. The most important thing is, the digging is now under way after 2 years of preparatory work on site, and 11 years after voters approved the project in 1996.

The two tunnels when complete will be 4,200 feet (1,280m) in length each from the portal on the south side (Half Moon Bay) to the Shamrock Ranch portal. The tunnels will be exacavated using the New Austrian Tunneling Method which uses lithostatic force from the surrounding rock mass to stabilize the tunnel structure. From the north side, the tunnels will exit onto twin 1,000 foot (305m) long bridges across a deep valley. Work on the bridges should be complete by the summer of 2008, work on the tunnels should be complete by winter 2010, and all the clean-up and associated projects should be completed by 2011. The existing Route 1 over Devil’s Slide will become a recreation area.

I snapped some photos while at the event, they’re embedded below with a little commentary with each picture. Click any image to get the large version (2048×1536.)


The crowd gathers for the ceremony



CalTrans Director Will Kempton speaks



Congressman Tom Lantos speaks



State Senator Leland Yee speaks



San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon speaks



Preparing to dig



Digging!



Close up of “first dirt” post digging



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via videosift.com

This is a model of a B-29 bomber, the same type of plane that delivered the atomic bomb to Japan in 1945. It looks as though two people with multi-channel controllers to fly this beast.

Overhead polar view of Arctic Passage, now navigable


Via Yahoo News:

LONDON (Reuters) – The Arctic’s Northwest Passage has opened up fully because of melting sea ice, clearing a long-sought but historically impassable route between Europe and Asia, the European Space Agency said.

Sea ice has shrunk in the Arctic to its lowest level since satellite measurements began 30 years ago, ESA said, showing images of the now “fully navigable” route between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

A shipping route through the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic has been touted as a possible cheaper option to the Panama Canal for many shippers.

“We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around 3 million square km,” said Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National Space Centre, describing the drop in the Arctic sea ice as “extreme.”

The figure was about 1 million sq km (386,870 sq miles) less than previous lows in 2005 and 2006, Pedersen added.
Read more…

Guess there had to be some silver lining to Global Warming…

Here’s the update from this weekend’s college football action.

OSU Opponent Watch

• Youngstown State (2-1) – Played Stony Brook at home, won 42-6. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Akron (1-2) – Played Indiana on the road, lost 24-41. Conclusion: Expected Loss
• Washington (2-1) – See game recap, lost to Ohio State at home, 14-33. Conclusion: Expected Loss
• Northwestern (2-1) – Played Duke at home, lost 14-20. Conclusion: Unexpected Loss
• Minnesota (1-2) – Played Florida Atlantic on the road, lost 39-42. Conclusion: Unexpected Loss
• Purdue (3-0) – Played Central Michigan at home, won 45-22. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Kent State (2-1) – Played Delaware State at home, won 38-7. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Michigan State (3-0) – Played Pittsburgh at home, won 17-13. Conclusion: Quality Win
• Penn State (3-0) – Played Buffalo at home, won 45-24. Conclusion: Expected Win
• Wisconsin (3-0) – Played The Citadel at home, won 45-31. Conclusion: More difficult than expected Win.
• Illinois (2-1) – Played Syracuse on the road, won 41-20. Conclusion: Expected Win.
• Michigan (1-2) – Played Notre Dame at home, won 38-0. Conclusion: Someone had to Win.

Buckeye opponent’s records after the second week, 21-11. Going into Big 10 play next week, the favorites to win the conference are Penn State and Ohio State. Wisconsin is fading with a questionable defense. Michigan State is playing themselves into consideration. Iowa lost to a bad Iowa State team today on a last second field goal… Michigan looked like Michigan should today with a thorough dismantling of Notre Dame. There seems to be some trouble brewing in South Bend….

Quick Hits from Around College Football

Teams that look like MNC contenders from week 3: LSU, Oklahoma, and USC.

The jury is out on these teams who are technically still in the running, but their play to-date leaves room for doubt: Florida, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Rutgers, Oregon, Texas, and Penn State.

These teams stand virtually no chance of contending for the MNC, but still looked good in week three: Cincinnati, Clemson, Kansas, Boston College, Texas Tech, Purdue, Arizona State, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Arizona St, and Hawaii.

Game of the week, Mississippi State beat Auburn at home 19-14.

Mismatch of the week, Utah hammered UCLA at home, 44-6.

My Special Top 12 rankings: (Why Top 12? That’s where you need to be to get into BCS contention.)

1. LSU – The defense is nasty, the offense is better than expected.
2. USC – A quality win over a good opponent gives them the 2 spot.
3. Oklahoma – Has looked amazing against less than stellar competition.
4. Florida – Starting at the 4 spot, the teams have visible warts…Florida has an explosive offense.
5. California – An explosive offense and had a stinker of a game against Colorado State.
6. West Virginia – An explosive offense and suspect defense.
7. Ohio State – A big play defense and suspect offense.
8. Texas – All the talent in the world, but is not executing well as yet.
9. Oregon – Will beat Cal or USC this year.
10. Penn State – A great defense, played only cupcakes so far.
11. Rutgers – Speaking of cupcakes…wake me when they play someone.
12. Wisconsin – Two weeks, two stinkers. Giving up 31 points to The Citadel?

My Special Bottom 5 rankings: (Why bottom 5? If you finish there you should be relegated to I-AA)

1. Notre Dame – “Offensive genius.” Perhaps when they said that they meant “Charlie is a genius at being offensive?”
2. Syracuse – Is it possible for a team to get worse each year as it rebuilds? Yes.
3. Marshall – Another IAA victim. Another team getting worse.
4. Temple – Whenever you lose to Buffalo, you know you have a problem…
5. UCLA – 44-6 loss to an 0-2 team? The Bruins have played themselves into the 5 spot.

In the coming week I’ll post an Northwestern/OSU preview, a game review of Northwestern/OSU, and a Weekend Update Sports edition.

In my preview, I predicted the Buckeyes would prevail 27-10. In fact, they won 33-14, though 6 and 7 points respectively were scored in garbage time in the 4th quarter. Jake Locker is a player, in time, he’s going to win UDub many games. He needs some experience, some more supporting players, and defensive support to bring his game to the next level.

The Good

• The much maligned offensive line came to play: 220 yards passing, 263 yards rushing, and 0 sacks.
• The defense bent, but didn’t really break giving up 348 yards, but forcing 4 turnovers.
• Beanie amassed 134 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown.
• Hartline and Robiskie showed up.
• Zero turnovers (2 dropped ints by UDub.)
• Despite trailing at halftime, they came out swinging ratcheting up the intensity level.

The Bad

• Todd Boeckman in the first half, he had two throws that should have been picked.
• The kicking game, 1 missed and 1 blocked field goal – multiple bad snaps.
• Penalties and mental mistakes, in particular false starts and late hits.
• Giving up the late touchdown in the 4th quarter – the D took that series “off.”
• Surrendering 256 all purpose yards to Jake Locker

The Ugly

• Officiating was lousy, Ohio State should have had a roughing the passer, 15 yard face mask, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown called against them. The false start penalty on the 4th down call was phantom on OSU. The spots were uniformly bad. And Washington wasn’t called once for holding despite tackling Buckeye defensive linemen all afternoon.
• ESPN’s presentation of the game. The announcers missed calls, the network cut away from the action for meaningless updates on other teams. Too much extraneous activity and “dancing cheese” – I much prefer the fledgling Big 10 Network as they keep it about the game you’re watching.

This was a quality win over a much improved Washington Huskies team on the road in a hostile environment. A strong performance with many teaching opportunities as the Buckeyes roll into Big 10 play next week against Northwestern. GO BUCKS!