NC Media Watch

It was the best yet!

Russ Steele

Three years ago we started a family tradition, the summer camping vacation at Lake Tahoe. All four of our daughters had many fond memories of family camping trips when they were growing up, and want to create some memories with their own families.   

Ellen and I went on our first family camping trip when our first born Jessica was only 9 months old. When we moved from Maine to California in 1964, we spent 30 days camping across the country.  Ellen and I had built a camper into a commercial Dodge van, and a set of plywood camp boxes at the Loring AFB hobby shop. We found the camp box plans in a Sunset Camping Guide, that Ellen still uses today to organize our camping trips.

We had to sell the van when, Rachael was born with asthma in Merced California, the Central Valley crud the Air Force doctor called it.  We kept the camp boxes, but sold the van and turned to day tripping in our Volvo.  The asthma went away when we arrived at Carswell AFB in Texas. After Heather, our third was born we rented a tent trailer and camped at local lakes, and even went to Colorado to visit the cliff dwellings with our rented tent trailer.  Each of the two oldest girls had camp jobs, mostly helping set up the tent trailer. On the way back from Colorado, Jessica pointed to a travel trailer pulled by a Suburban going in the opposite direction. “We need one of those, our is just nothing but work, work, work.”

Before we left Texas for Pease AFB in New Hampshire, we bought a used International Travelall and a new Starcraft Trailer, with four built in bunks in the back.  As the Air Force moved us from assignment to assignment, we took every opportunity to visit state parks, historical monuments, battle grounds and beaches.  In Nebraska, at Offut AFB, we filled the fourth bunk in the Starcraft when Caitlin was born. 

For reasons I do not remember, we sold the Starcraft and started tent camping before we left Nebraska for California. We traded the Travelall for a VW Bus and a small Rat Pack trailer to haul a big Coleman family tent and camp boxes.  We camped across the county, but soon ditched the big family tent for individual pop up tents and replaced the VW with a Jeep station wagon.  We camped in the coastal Redwoods when three older girls were in college, once in the rain with future husbands and my mother. On a return trip from Idaho’s Redfish Lake, we had some vacation days left and stopped at Sugarpine Point.  It was a great finish to a two week camping trip to Idaho with Ellen's sister Anne Hanna. It created memories that all the girls wanted to revisit, so three years ago we started a new family tradition by camping at Sugarpine Point every summer.  But, Ellen and I have given up tent camping. About six years ago after sharing a tent site with some very active bears for three night in Yellowstone National Park, we bought a “rolling bear box” travel trailer.

This was our third year with all four girls, three husbands, and four grand children at Sugarpine Point. Having  two three four year olds and and two six seven year olds in camp keeps things very lively.  Caitlin came from Boston again, this year with her fiancee Travis Williams.  His future uncle skills were tested multiple times, and he passed with flying colors.  I will post some pictures once they are processed and on line. One of the highlights was a team dance competition organized by the six year olds, with grandma and grampa as judges.  For me,  the best part of every camping trip is sitting around the camp fire after a great dinner, sharing family stories under the stars. 

The Union is missing the story

Russ Steele

Bloggers: A portrait of the internet’s new storytellers
The Pew Internet & American Life Project, July 19, 2006

Eight percent of internet users, or about 12 million American adults, keep a blog. Thirty-nine percent of internet users, or about 57 million American adults, read blogs – a significant increase since the fall of 2005.

If thirty nine pecent of the Union's 24,000 registered Website Readers were to log on to the Union Blogs, here is what they would find:

Click to enlarge

Not one of the designated Union Blogger has made a post in thirty days. 

It turns out most bloggers and blog readers are under thirty, the very demographic the Union hopes to capture to expand it’s readership base.  Yet, they make little effort to meet the needs and expectations of this target cohort. Why?

The Union Bloggers start strong in the first fews weeks posting regularly, and then dribbling in a few post, then just stop posting? Why?  According to Pat Butler, they are just over worked.  Might be true, but is all this over work capturing the audience they need to survive over the generation of readers?

If you would like to read the whole Pew Blogger Report, you can down load a pdf here.

There was no mention of reliable WiFi

Russ Steele

The California Sate Parks Web page indicated they had teamed with AT&T to bring WiFi to the State Park Camp Grounds. But, it did not say anything about reliable WiFi.  First the Sugar Pine Point Camp Ground WiFi is not in the camp ground, it is cross the highway in the Carriage House of the Ehrman Mansion.   We tried to use it twice, the first time sitting on a big granite rock out side the carriage house. After going through the AT&T sign up hassle, we discovered it was $8.00 a day. The ranger claimed it was all over the park. Wrong, it was only available within a few hundred feet of the Carriage house. We checked other places in the Ehrman part of the park, no signal.

Today we tried again, from a picnic table insite of the Carriage House.  The signal was strong, four bars on the Mac WiFi monitor, but then the signal went away half way through sign up. It kept coming back and then disappearing, coming back and disappearing, like someone was flipping a light switch on and off.  Ranger fun and games? After 15 minutes of this we gave up, Ellen went swimming and I drove to Tahoe City to the cyber cafe to check my mail and send this post.

At Sugar Pine Point the WiFi seems to be for the Rangers, not for customers. With no place to sit, no and no easy to reach reliable signal, please do not depend on WiFi at Sugar Pine Point Campground.  I will be checking out other Sate Parks in the coming year, and we will see if the other parks are more reliable and convenient.

Regular posting begins on Monday morning.

Family Camping Trip

Russ Steele

It’s July and time for the annual family camping trip,  when the east and west coasters gather at Sugarpine Point on the shores of Lake Tahoe .  We get adjoining campsites, set up our trailer and tents and have good time around the camp fire. When the grandkids run out of clean cloths we come home, clean them up, and start planning next years camping trip.   

This year the California State Parks have installed WiFi wireless access points, but it is not clear if we can get connected from our campsite, so we may have limited posting for a few says. By Monday, we should be back on Comcast and posting on a regular basis.

I am taking Chris Anderson's new economics book, The Long Tail, for reading on the beach.  Should have a review on my return.

We did not make the Creativity Up and Coming List

Russ Steele

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting story on July 22nd about the The Most Inventive Towns in America

The tinkerers who helped build America haven't disappeared -- they're right next door. Our search for small-town patent hubs found surprising innovations from coast to coast.

Western Nevada County did not make the list. Have we passed our peak of creativity? Are we sliding down hill to become a retirement community? A year or so ago, when I was writing a story for Comstock's we had 32 design labs in the County.  These are very creative places, producing some really neat stuff.

I suspect, that the patents representing Nevada County’s creativity are filed by the parent company, many of which are in the Silicon Valley, or one of the other cities that made the top twenty list, like Austin TX, Boise ID, Portland OR, or Seattle WA.

Here is a link to the story, but a subscription is required.

Telecommuting made the news

Russ Steele

I have been promoting work from home, telecommuting and shopping from home as traffic mitigation measures for some time. It also works for helping to clear the air.

Dave Moller writes Nevada County Breathers work to clean up county air,Resolution targetes (sic) Sacramento, Bay Area drift pollution, July 24, 2006

Kane's ideas spurred Nevada County Transportation Commission board member Russ Steele to introduce a telecommuting resolution to the panel. Telecommuting means working at home by computer.

The board recently passed the resolution and sent it to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments and the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission. It asks the metropolitan areas to encourage telecommuting to cut the emissions that drift to Nevada County and cause high levels of ozone pollution, or smog.

"Telecommuting works better than anything else," said Steele, who has asthma and can feel bad ozone days. "In Sacramento, if 1 percent of the work force worked from home, that's 11,000 cars off the freeway."

Steele took his statistics from the U.S. Census and said the resolution was a "positive thing" for change as compared to a lawsuit. A lawsuit from here to limit Northern California metropolitan driving would only harm the economy and local tourism, Steele said.

You can download a pdf version of the letter sent to SACOG here: telecomute_sacog_ltr.pdf .

George's views on Global Warming

Russ Steele

George Rebane who often posts here has a very thoughful essay on Anthropogenic Global Warming at the SES Foundation blog. He takes a very systematic view, well worth your time to review. While you are at the SESF blog, look around George has several interesting posts, with more to come.

Myth busting for fun and profit

Russ Steele

I just finished reading John Stossel’s Myths, Lies and Down Right Stupidity. Actually a more accurate descriptions would be I have finished perusing this interesting book, a compilation of myth busting stories that John produced for ABC’s 20/20.  It is easier to pick your subject, then read the myths that surround it rather than read cover to cover. Stossel’s format is to present the Myth, then offer his version of  the Truth for the reader to consider, backed up with direct quotes and a chapter of end notes.

Some of the subjects covered in twelve chapters:
Clueless Media (Yes)
He and She  (Since the beginning of time)
Bashing Business (Democrats will not like this chapter)
Monster Government (And we pay for this stupidity)
Stupid Schools (This is the scariest chapter)
Consumer Cons (Help for your pocket book)
The Lawsuit Racket (It is an industry)
Experts for Everything (Professional delusion)
The Power of Belief  (Global warming?)
Our Health (Mostly under our control)
Perils of Parenting (Tough job)
The Pursuit of Happiness (Being in control works)

While the subjects can be heavy, Stossel writes with a light humorous touch.  Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity is a fun read, and you come away with a new appreciation for why we should question common wisdom. It is often wrong.

If you would like to order a copy online from Amazon, click on the image at the left.

If they will not do it on their own bribe’em

Russ Steele

This from Dixie Redfearn’s Readers' Corner yesterday.

More money pledged for 'Inconvenient Truth': Reader Claire Carsman said she was so impressed with "An Inconvenient Truth" (Al Gore's movie about the environment and climate change, in case you've been living under a rock) that she left the theater in Grass Valley with the same thought that Terry Lamphier had: "Young people must see this movie!" So Claire, also, is putting up her $100 toward tickets for any young people who want to see the film.

Only one third of Western Nevada County citizens planned to see the movie, according to the Union Survey.

Who is playing politics with Dorsey Drive?

Russ Steele

My first tour on Transportation Commission  was back in the middle of the 1990s.  An now I have been on the Commission for a little over two years, and working on my next four. In all that time, the Dorsey Drive Interchange has been a front burner issue. We have spend hundreds of  hours discussing the interchange’s long term impact on traffic congestion in Grass Valley and the Glenbrook Basin.  The NCTC staff has invested thousands of hours seeking funding, working with the Grass Valley Planning Staff, City Council, Caltrans, and the California Transportation Commission.  We have even sought funding help from Congress.

NCTC invested in a survey to determine if the citizens in the region (un-incorporated county and cities) would support a transportation sales tax to fix our failing infrastructure.  Citizens across the board supported a transportation sales tax.  So, Nevada City and Grass Valley passed resolutions to seeking a sales tax initiative on the November ballot.  Grass Valley included the Dorsey Drive as one of their projects.  With the strong leadership taken by the Grass Valley Council, the County decided not to pursue the sales tax since most of the tax generating commerce was in Grass Valley.  Now the Grass Valley City Council may withdraw their resolution to pursue a transportation sales tax?   

After all these years of hard work,  the Commission received a letter from Grass Valley City Council indicating they are getting cold feet. “Council Members and the public express concerns about this essential project to ensure that it addresses priority needs; is financial viable; integrates well with Grass Valley’s character; and is constructed to accommodate long term traffic demands.”  They claim they are committed “to construct a project that address the traffic needs in a manner that is sensitive to the needs of our area.”  Good lord, where have these people been for the last ten years. One of the louder voices was once on the Commission, and the other was a GV Planning Commissioner. They are not new to the area,  or to the issue.

Why suddenly all the questions and concerns, now that Caltrans is moving forward and the people are willing to fund the solution. Could it be the two business owners on the Council are worried about the impact an increased sales tax could have on their business?  I would hate to think they are more concerned about their individual bottom lines, rather than the good of the whole region. As elected officials, they should consider the needs of the whole community and the region.

When asked about the need for Dorsey Drive, 56% wanted to build the off/on ramps.  True, this was after widening SR-49 (60%) and fixing the East Main /Idaho Maryland Intersection (59%).  So who is this public with cold feet? The same 15 people that come to every public hearing and say the same thing over and over again, worried fixing traffic congestion leads to growth.  Yes, the people demanding congestions reduction, are now slowing the Dorsey Drive solution. What about the other 99.5 percent of the population that are represented in the survey, but never come to Council meetings? Dorsey was one of the top three solutions in the survey, and one of the keystones to a long term solution at E. Main & Idaho Maryland.

Some people in Truckee had concerns about the SR-267 Bypass. But, no longer. “They love it,” said the mayor.  It is time we think about the larger transportation and economic issues and move forward on Dorsey Drive!  Now is not the time to start playing politics. Now is time for the Council members put aside their doubts and  fears and show they can be leaders!