Back to the Future, by train

I'm really excited that the long-abandoned Tower Automotive site on 27th and Capitol will be used for manufacturing trains. The area is so Detroit-style creepy right now. This repurposing makes perfect sense. Of course, it's sad that so many train tracks in Milwaukee and elsewhere have been not only abandoned, but removed- relatively recently, even. Now we (as a society) are realizing that, dang, trains are awesome! What were we thinking?

There's a great textbook that's been in my family for awhile, ¿Habla Español? An Introductory Course. (Lately, I've been poring over the por y para chapter.) It's dated 1976 and as such, a lot of the dialogs deal with subjects like, ¿Deseas conservar energia? Si! So I'm excited that the Ingeteam folks are coming here with wind turbines too. Anyway, el diccionario at the back of the book actually has an entry for el Talgo: "deluxe Spanish train." How cool is that? Maybe I should stop skipping past all the second-person-plural verb forms.

I love the Fair!

Kind of spur-of-the moment, I decided to join the rest of the sun-baked crowd today at the State Fair to get my Wisconsin on. Again. I love the fair. The weather was fantastic.

You can get anything you want on a stick at the Fair. Deep fried mac & cheese, for instance, or solar energy, or what have you. (Isn't energy the same thing as calories, anyway? Meta!)

There it is. On a stick.

These critters were just so cute, posing like this. Many, many city folk were taking their picture. They didn't seem to mind a bit. They are somewhat denuded here- their fleece was for sale, for human use in the harsh Wisconsin winter. Way to go, sheep and camelids! Thanks!

One of my favorite things at the Fair is the craft section. I loved this piece- it is just so meta: fourth-place ribbons proudly framed for display, and it earned a fourth place. I hope the entrant does not base his or her self-esteem on ribbons won. The judging is harsh. Man, I know!

And, cow poop. Hooray for the digital "macro" setting!

"Change."

This pin cost me 50 cents at a rummage we stopped at on our vacation. I'll have to figure out a way not to get stabbed when I wear it. It'll look nice next to my Nader/LaDuke pin, right?

Was change a theme of the 1976 Jimmy Carter presidential campaign? I don't really remember. If so, some things never do change, right? It was one of Obama's themes last year, too.

I do remember the 1980 election, though. I was six years old and I really wanted Carter to win. The day after election day was like Christmas. I ran downstairs to get the Sentinel and cried when I saw Reagan's name. Who was this Reagan guy? He didn't seem nice. He wasn't going to invite me over to play on the White House lawn with Amy on what I imagined was a lavish Presidential swing set. I still like Carter. He is a good man: a humanitarian, a peacekeeper, a writer, a proponent of alternative energy. I deeply respect him. Below is a photo from 2009. These are wind machines near Fond du Lac now, in 2009, when finally we are realizing that Carter had the right idea after all.

Clean hydro power, revisited

Here is a portion of the original permit for the Estabrook Dam from 1937. I have seen this misquoted elsewhere (in fact Mr Helm misquoted it as a comment on this blog), so I thought I would set the record straight. The permit has no exact definition of what the hydro capabilities would be, but note that it is indeed noted to be more than 50 theoretical horse power for 50% of the time.

The dam would have been capable of creating clean hydro power from the get-go, but would have been subject to additional regulations, as in the Wisconsin statute below:

"31.09 Proposals to accompany applications. Each applicant for a permit to construct, operate and maintain a dam for the purpose of developing power or for the purpose of aiding in the development of power by other dams through the creation of reservoirs or otherwise, and each applicant for a permit to construct, operate and maintain a dam for any other purpose whatsoever, which is capable of developing 50 theoretical horsepower or more available for 50% of the time throughout the year, shall file with an application for a permit, in addition to the requirements of s. 31.05 or s. 31.07, as the case may be, the following proposals..."

Clean energy from wind AND water?

Photo taken by me in southwestern Wisconsin, 2007, from a moving car. I was not driving at the time.
In 2006, renewable energy equirements were increased for Wisconsin utilities. The mandate for renewable energy is no less than 6 percent by 2010, and 10 percent by 2015 of total retail energy delivered on a statewide basis (source).
President Obama stressed the need to expand solar and wind power during his inaugural address- one of the things I really like about him (and Jimmy Carter, but that is a discussion for another day). The Obama administration supports a national mandate for 10% of the country's electricity to come from renewable power by 2012 and 25% by 2025 (source).

To this end, some people have wondered whether the Estabrook Dam can be used for hydroelectric power. Here is a video showing how strong the flow can be on the Milwaukee River- taken approximately March 8th, 2009.