The kind of infrastructure I support building 🌉

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There is a lot of talk about infrastructure. Usually it involves building big highway bridges, wider roads, new electrical lines, or when they want to throw a bone to the greenies, maybe a stark-itect project like five miles of high speed rail or battery electric buses. Stuff that is great for ribbon cutting by the politicians but not really needed.

That’s all fine and dandy but I think the evidence is American infrastructure as it is pretty good today, we don’t need dramatic upgrades. Maybe some hardening to address climate change or integrate more renewable energy into the grid but there is already existing funding mechanisms to address that. Let individual agencies that have their own revenue sources and know best address these concerns – power companies, Department of Transportation and water authorities – not Washington politicians.

What I do think needs more investing in is the truly public infrastructure – things that can be utilized and enjoyed by all in a largely non consumptive fashion – for no charge or fee.

For example:

  • Supporting free, open source development projects. People should have access to quality, professional and free software that allows them to do advanced data processing and all other tasks to expand knowledge, grow their business and improve their quality of life.
  • Online learning – public colleges should put their lectures and teaching materials completely online. Video steaming, web storage are inexpensive these days and while there are costs associated with both generating and hosting such material – the public benefits of greater knowledge and credentialing exceed any taxpayer costs.
  • Public wilderness and forest areas that are largely primative except maybe for necessary roads, parking and primative campsites. Many of these improvements could be funded via timber and mineral extraction fees
  • Public libraries and free Wi-Fi so anybody can access the internet when they are in the public commons.
  • Public data repositories where government data collected in ordinary duties should be easy to obtain, download and process for all purposes public and private without copyright limitations or fees. If the government can help businesses grow by providing free data to them then they should be providing that data rather than collecting licensing fees.

I don’t believe government should be funding for profit or fee based institutions. Roads have the gas tax, power and water utilities have ratepayers fees. Many developed parks have user fees – if you pay to get in then the government shouldn’t be in the business of subsidizing them.

Let fee institutions decide what they should invest in not Washington Bureaucrats. Keep public funds for public purposes.

Waterford Flight of Locks

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The 5 locks that comprise the Waterford Flight of Locks raise watercraft 165 feet in just over a mile. It is said to be the greatest lift in the shortest distance on any canal system in the world.

The first snowy Sunday of winter 2024! ☃

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Winter has arrived though it’s not the dire emergency the weather pundets made it sound yesterday. A few inches of fresh snow, landlord hasn’t plowed the driveway yet but it’s not deep. Even the library is expected to open later on, though with an hour delay due to the snow.

Good morning! Happy Snowy Sunday. Snow is falling and 30 degrees at the in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a north breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. There are 4 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 10 am. 🌡️

While I was up I stayed in bed 🛏 until nearly seven this morning 🍳 when I started my day frying an onion and ultimately spinach and eggs. I’m planning a quiet day at home to do some reading 📖 and studying.

Today will snow, mainly before 5pm. 🌨 High of 30 degrees at 9am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical North wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 1915. 7.2 inches of snow fell back in 1994.❄

Went to the laundromat 👕 and the grocery store yesterday 🛒 after the snow started 🌨 but the laundromat was still surprisingly crowded and Hannaford was so picked over and no bananas. 🍌 It’s kind of frustrating 😤 as I really like bananas. Also no whole wheat flour 🌾 and the coffee ☕ they had was really pricey.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 25° from the due south horizon (-45.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:53 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:38 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 5:09 pm, which is one minute later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:45 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 29 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 8 seconds over yesterday.

Thinking it’s a cold day and would be good for soup. 🥘 It would be good to use up the rest fresh spinach I have in the soup before it wilts and it’s a great way to warm myself up. Also thinking about using some of the corn meal I bought to make corn porridge for lunch. I still have some bread 🍞 but I should think about kneading some dough up for baking tomorrow morning. We’ll see.

I think there is too much snow for biking 🚳 and my skis ⛷️ are broke but I might go for a walk later 🚶 and maybe go down to the library. 📚 Also want to clean the bathroom 🚽 and kitchen. 🧼 And just have a quiet day, maybe work on the blog code.

Tonight will have isolated snow showers before 10pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 24 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 8th. Maximum wind chill around 14 at 4am; Northwest wind 5 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1878.

Looking ahead, there are next week is the Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 when the sun will be setting at 4:55 pm with dusk at 5:24 pm. On that day in 2023, we had snow showers, cloudy and temperatures between 33 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2006.

Hoping to get out of town for Martin Luther King Day Weekend ⛺ but I’m not how good the weather will be. ☔ It’s actually looking like rain for next Saturday then seasonably cold.

Pitch Pine Outline