28thavenue.net

Hippie.

Count me among the crowd that thinks the gusset plate explanation is complete hooey. I don’t argue that the gusset plates weren’t strong enough — obviously SOMETHING wasn’t strong enough because the bridge fell into the river. Some part of it failed. Duh. Turns out it was gusset plates. They weren’t thick enough.

I am compelled to say that the fateful day was not a normal day in the life of this bridge. It was under heavy construction. The deck had been sliced and diced as part of the redecking project, and there also happened to be tons and tons of construction material on the south end of the bridge.

Engineers call this a static load, because it’s not moving. That’s opposed to a dynamic load — the traffic moving across the bridge. The two act on the structure in different ways.

I won’t get too far into it, but the fact is that the bridge was the way it was. When conducting a construction project, the planners (working for MN/DOT and the construction company) should do a thorough evaluation of the state of the bridge — how it is, not how it should be, before they begin construction.

The gusset plates didn’t get thinner without us noticing. They were that way since day one, and MN/DOT should have been on top of it.

Put it this way: If the gusset plates had been thicker, the bridge would have stayed up. Fine. If the hundreds of tons of construction material hadn’t been sitting on the bridge, the bridge would have stayed up.

Which did we have the power to control?

Mike Huckabee.

[Update: 1/15] His charm no longer has me pacified, but still I’m not worried about him (in a different way now). I’m savoring a Republican field with no clear front-runner. That coalition is worn out, and I think it’s a good thing.

7 independent polls conducted in the 3 days leading to Tuesday showed Obama winning.

I work for an embedded computing company… Right now, if you watch the news, all of the doubt is directed toward the validity of the independent polls. I think some doubt should be directed toward the polling machines too. That’s all.

[Update 2:11 pm] Lower your weapons… this is somewhat reassuring.

See the video here, washingtonpost.com.

And for once it’s moving in the right direction.

There’s a war on, the economy has been swirling and is about to make that churgle sound that completes the trip down the toilet, and Congress is, wait for it, interrogating baseball players.

Have we completely forgotten what government is for? What’s the damn point? I don’t want to pay taxes so some baby boomer can grandstand across a room from Roger Clemens.

Chuck Knoblauch still sucks though.

I liked what Ron Paul did for the Republican side of the equation leading up to this first caucus, but, ultimately, I don’t think I’d be happier than with an Obama/Huckabee matchup.

If Huckabee is as decent through the campaign as he was on TV tonight, and if he gets the Republican nomination, then I think something’s really changed for the better in the country.

And Obama was just larger than life.

The Club for Growth can go stick it. I want me some bridges!