Vakkotaur

That's pretty much it right now. Made it home. Con report and such to follow. The following might not be all that immediate. There are photos to process (and to collect before that!) for ACME and such.

Now I get to start in on RCFM stuff and that's less than amonth a way. Eep!

After about a week away from home, jmaynard and I are back. We went to MFF and all that that included (okkay, not all, we couldn't be everywhere there), visited with altivo afterward, went to the EAA museum in Oshkosh, spent Thanksgiving with my folks and had a bit of Christmas early as well, and then came home.

I'll have more to post about various things, but right now I'm recovering and catching up on things. While the car is unloaded, I haven't even really started unpacking yet.

The call that was supposed to happen on Monday, actually did happen on Monday. I went up to Mankato and things were taken care of. There was a bit of bewilderment on the part of one guy who was wondering what the last guy I dealt with in person had done, but that was it. The new new tires cost a bit less than the ones I had, so a bit got refunded to the card I'd used. The only reason it's only "almost over" is that the manager asked me to call in a while to let him know how these tires are working out for me. I think I'll need a bit of time on them, and some time in weather that isn't as ideal for driving as Monday's was to be sure. They aren't as quiet as the ones they replaced, but I expected that. I feel better now.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." -- Groucho Marx

So far the facts of the I-35W bridge collapse are few. That it collapsed, the time of the collapse, and that it could have been worse are about all that is truly known with any certainty. Even for Fairmont, which is two hours away from the Twin Cities it is at least partly a local story and that is likely the case for many other places.

Naturally, people want answers, especially to the questions "Why?" and "How?" The real answers aren't likely to be known anytime soon. That will take time and study. The NTSB will be re-constructing the bridge much like it reconstructs an aircraft to find what brought it down. But people are impatient and already there is a blamestorm brewing in the political weather. A common cry is that a lack of funds brought the bridge down. This is followed by demands for increasing taxes even more, in an already high tax state.

Note that the bridge collapsed in Minnesota, not in, say, Mississippi. I choose that example as the Governor's opposition a couple years ago was accusing him of attempting to turn Minnesota into a "cold Mississippi" by not caving in to their wishes for ever increasing tax rates.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) was inspecting that bridge every year, not just every other year as legally required. While the rating was lower than would be liked, it had that same rating for several years and no need was seen for an accelerated replacement schedule. The bridge was scheduled for replacement in 2020. In fact, the last time the bridge was inspected was in May of this year, and it was decided that some additions to brace it might do more harm than good and were therefore not done. Another inspection was scheduled for the autumn.

Had MnDOT inspectors found any obvious critical problem, the bridge would have been closed or at least braced. The work on it when it collapsed was only for the roadbed. That a lack of tax revenue left the bridge vulnerable is simply not the case. Fixing a roadbed can wait, if the thing the roadbed is on is in clear danger of not being there anymore. To say that a lack of money led to the collapse is as silly as saying that the light rail project and multi-lingual signs brought the bridge down.

At the federal level, the latest (passed and signed into law) transportation bill included an increase in funds over the last such bill that the increase alone could have paid for a replacement three times over. The money was there. It wasn't used that way because no need to use it that way was seen. It wasn't even that politicians had earmarks for things. The unearmarked portions were more than adequate. It was that MnDOT engineers didn't find anything that indicated an urgent problem. The politicians simply listened to the engineers. That's the part that amazes me, but it evidently really happened.

Was something missed? Obviously. There's a saying, one of the 'laws' like Murphy's Law that sums it up: Nature sides with the hidden flaw. Something happened that wasn't accounted for. Everything is a suspect now, from spider webs that could look like hairline fractures and thus perhaps cause some real fractures to be dismissed, to pigeon droppings that made areas harder to inspect and more subject to corrosion, to idiot drivers who were not "Minnesota Nice" and subjected bridge inspectors to litter as missiles distracting them from their important work, to increased traffic. And they might all be factors - or it might be none of them. Simply: Nobody really knows. Not yet.

The replacement for the I-35W bridge will certainly be a different design. That bridge was made the way it was to keep the river as open as possible for river traffic. As can be seen by the design of the newer neighboring stone arch bridge, that wasn't as big a consideration later. The replacement will surely have more redundancy - one part failing will be alarming but the bridge should at least stay up.

The engineering forensic reports are not yet in and won't be for at least several months. Exactly what really caused the collapse is not yet known and speculation is just that: speculation. Those truly qualified to say what happened are smart enough not to make any claims until the facts are in.

Yet Minnesota will likely get an unnecessary gas tax hike, as emotions overrule logic: "Think of the children on our bridges!" It will be more than a bit surprising if that's the only tax hike that gets steamrolled over everyone as politicians rush in to misdiagnose the problem and apply the wrong remedy.

Unfortunately, the politicization of this will only get worse. Folks are already being silly and blaming Bush or Pawlenty for the collapse, even if only in a roundabout way. Now, where is the 2008 Republican convention going to be held? St. Paul. I expect even more, even more foolish, protesters than usual. I can't tell you what silly rhyme(s) or chants will be used, but I fully expect there will be such.

My roommate and host came in at 7 AM. Around 7:30 I gave up trying to get any more sleep. With Saturday night having been so late for many, Sunday morning started rather slowly. I packed things up and loaded my car, taking time for breakfast on the way back from the first trip.

After emptying the room of my things and loading the car, I went through the huckster's hallway and bought a couple books. One was for one of the authors to sign, since its title was the inspiration for his delivery. Another was The Phantom Tollbooth which I had only heard about (or maybe it was a cartoon based on the book) and now I can read it for myself.

Again I wore Orvan's badge and met folks who were had been amused by the big ox. I got another apology from the guy who got his delivery in the parking lot. Throughout the weekend I caught up with a few authors and gotten books signed. Everyone seemed amused or if not they faked it well enough.

It was later in the afternoon than expected when mzmadmike and family and I had the cars all loaded up and were ready to go. The trip back to the Indianapolis area went into the night and I wound up driving most of it. gail drove my car (as I rode along) for the first hour or so, then I drove. Eventually Mike and Gail switched, taking turns driving their kids or resting as my passenger. When awake, they were both interesting traveling companions.

Gail had to work on Monday and Mike was going to be preparing and loading the van for the trip to Pennsic. After we had the cars unloaded of their things (and mine unloaded of just what I'd need for the night) there was one more item before I slept. I bought a couple of books from Mike and had him sign them as well as one other of his I had acquired at the convention. One was signed to Jay, so he has a signed copy without a ripped cover. Another of the same was signed to signed to Orvan, and a different book was signed to me.

Monday started later than I had hoped as I finally slept a reasonable number of hours. There wasn't much beyond getting my things packed and loaded and saying goodbye. I did manage to get copies of the pictures that Gail and Mike took. I realized that I had not taken any photos at all, nor had anyone else used my camera all weekend. It might be as well, as Gail used her rather fancier and nicer camera. The drive home was long, but nicely uneventful and despite the late start I think I got home with at least some evening twilight left, though I was out of daylight. Between Eastern Time, Con Time, and caffeine (which I hadn't used for a couple months) it was after midnight when I finally got to sleep. I think I'm back on a normal schedule again and I'm working on tapering off the caffeine again. It should only take a few more days.

During the trip from Indianapolis to Chattanooga there came a point where the kids were telling knock knock jokes. This went on for a while. After the repetitious banana joke which finally ends with orange, it was getting rather tiresome. The result was the following:

<Kid> Knock knock.
<vakkotaur> Tetra-ethyl lead.
* mzmadmike bursts out laughing.

The 4 AM wakeup call wasn't the bad part. The waking up several times during the night wondering if was anywhere near 4 AM (it was midnight or 1 AM when I bothered to check once) was the bad part. Final packing and loading the car went fairly well and the drive to the airport was pretty uneventful. Then I got to drive home solo, my first time driving the RX-350. Fortunately it was also rather uneventful. It was early enough that I missed most Detroit traffic and I didn't get to the Gary-Chicago area until after their anything-but-rush hour had passed. There was a drug checkpoint around the Quad Cities but I wasn't stopped to partake in that bit of theater. I did stop at an A&W, well a Long John Silver's and A&W, in Iowa as it was near a gas station and I hadn't been to an A&W that still was an A&W in several years.

One note: Water Joe, the caffeinated water that claims to "taste just like regular water" doesn't. It has the expected bitter note of alkaloid from the caffeine. It's sort of like very dilute tonic water, I'd say. Maybe enough that some people wouldn't notice it. I did notice it. It's not nasty about it, but it is there.

Now I'm home. The car is unloaded. My luggage is unpacked or close enough. A bunch of stuff... can wait. I rather doubt I'll be waking up wondering what time it is tonight.

I'm almost all packed and ready for the trip to Penguicon. On the way there jmaynard will be driving and I'll be riding along. The trip back, I drive as he has to fly to Charlotte. I wonder if this is becoming a Penguicon tradition as a similar thing happened last year.

I'm home. Thursday started in Clarkesville, TN and ended, later than hoped, in Fairmont, MN. The rain and drizzle wasn't bad, but later the foggy night was an impediment. I did get home on Thursday. I just didn't get to making this post until it was Friday. Everything has been unloaded and brought inside, but only the critical items have been unpacked. The rest can wait until after I've had a night's rest.

I made it back a couple hours ago. The car is unloaded. Stuff is mostly unpacked. I had a very good time. Orvan was very well received. There are photos, but it will likely take me more time than I have soon (due to Thanksgiving travels) to get them in proper form to show off. More will be said when I am once again conscious.