Government option

In Washtucna, I discovered the motel was gone, but the city park was still there. I took the "government option" of camping in the municipal park. The "private" motel was not an option even though I haven't had a shower in days. The park had camping and was free. Nice willow tree pictured above.

Coming into town, someone directed me to the park. When I said, "I guess the motel is gone" he said, "ya, we burned it down."

Turns out the former owner hadn't kept it up very well and it was full of bugs, spiders, whatever. Then they tried to remodel, add a restaurant or something, but ended up with the building collapsing as they must have removed the wrong supports. Eventually, the debris pile was burned.

Now, the land has a new owner and I hear plans are to (maybe) build a new motel. Who knows when.

So, it was nice to find government option, the town park.

Much of that day, my radio was filled with health care debate as I biked along. I'm in favor of a government option there also.

The burden of shopping

I am not tempted to shop while on my bike trips. Where I'm I to put it all? Pass a lot of promotions on the road. This one by Pullman, WA. Evergreen area.

Now headed west into the country of the great Spokane Flood during ice ages. As the ice melted, a dam burst draining much of western Montana to a torrent over what is now part of Washington. Carved out the Channeled Scab Lands. Now it's a barren landscape of rock outcrops and sagebrush. Last night, I camped at Washtuckna, WA. which used to have The Wagon Wheel Cafe. It's now abandoned. Next major stop, the Tri Cities, home of a supermarket chain called Atomic Foods.

Lentil Festival in Pullman, WA.

Now in Pullman visiting my sisters where I grew up. Got here in time for the Lentil Parade down Main street. Not by plan, but co-incidence, I am here in time for the parade. They grow a lot of lentils in this area along with wheat, peas and so forth.

Lentils; just one more thing to have a parade about. Gilroy, CA. has the garlic festival. Well, in Pullman it's lentils.

Never heard of lentils? I've had them in salads and soups. Had a lentil salad in Palouse, just before getting to Pullman.

First time I heard of the festival was on the radio coming down from Spokane. Then someone at our table watching the parade remarked that she didn't know bicycles came with a radio; like some cars come with factory installed radio. It wasn't there when I bought the bicycle, but I add a lot of things with bungy cords as I tour.


Aprox. 1 minute.

Lush trees and grass at a park in Palouse

That was a few days ago as I biked through Palouse, WA.

Art under the bridge in Spokane, WA.

I should turn off my computer and head to bed so I can ride in the cool part of today. Bike trip continues to bring me new perspectives on everyday things.

Gardner Cave

Gardner Cave up in northeast Washington was quite a tour. My family took a trip there in 1966, or so. Still impressive today as I biked there in 2009.

Few people even know of its splendor.

I also visited Boundary Dam, not far from the cave. Could "knock them both off" within just a few miles.

Next day, the ride to Spokane. 96 miles. I didn't expect to have that long a day, but road construction took me to a different route so I missed the motels in north Spokane. Ended up downtown in good time anyway. Might as well stay downtown. Feel good and enjoy walking around this city. Lots of historic buildings.

My motel is built around a gay bar (Dempsey's Brass Rail). I could go, but I look road worn.

One more night in Spokane and then head for the Palouse area.

Radio telescope near Penticton, BC

Another sight on my bicycle trip. Being into astronomy, I am surprised I didn't know this observatory existed until now. Big radio telescopes in the Okanogan country, not far from Penticton, BC.

Some friends of mine, from Bellingham, were camping near Penticton as I passed through the area. Before they left Bellingham, they told me which campsite to find them at. I found their site and we connected. They took me, by car, to these radio telescopes. Here I am pictured by the large dish. There were several types of antennas at this observatory. Mapping various things in the universe.

CBC Radio talking about Kepler planet hunting mission while I bicycle contemplatively along Kettle Valley Trail in Okanogan Country of BC.


Aprox 3 minutes.

Long hill up west side into Manning Provincial Park

But beautiful. Now I am at a WIFI spot in Princeton, BC. My 2009 bicycle tour continues.

Time for summer bicycle travel again

Takes a long time to climb all the way to Artist's Point at end of Mount Baker Highway on a bicycle, but what a good excuse to spend more time in that great scenery. I had to drink in this beauty for over 5 hours since it took that long just to get to the top from Glacier, WA.

Then the best fish tacos I've ever had at Graham's in Glacier. This two day trip was a great precursor to more cycling planned before autumn. Stay tuned.

Along South Bay bike trail

I'm just getting from point A to Point B. On my bike, there is time to notice stuff like this.




Painted on the side of a building along Bellingham's South Bay Trail route. Near where the alley becomes the trail. I ride a different kind of bike however.

Update. This artwork is still along the trail, but on the side of a large apartment building. The art was preserved and given a new home almost where it was before. It's on the side of a new building.

The two most important things to remember for health care reform

Here are the two big things.

Promoting healthy lifestyles to lower overall cost.

And

Creating a sliding scale system of premiums to tax higher income people and subsidize insurance premiums for lower income people. The "income transfer" component.

A healthier population can mean less burden, cost wise for the entire system, be it public or private. Promote healthier lifestyles in social planning. Bike-able neighborhoods, less smoking and better diets for instance. This will make it easier to extend coverage to more people without bankrupting society.

The other thing to remember is to create a sliding scale system so lower income people can still afford the coverage. This most likely means (no matter how we wallpaper it) income transfer.

Yes, the gap between upper income and lower income people has gotten so wide that universal coverage is no longer possible (or at least no longer probable) unless there is some sort of tax on the wealthy to subsidize the sliding scale for lower income. The tax would probably also hit upper middle class, but it's essential for universal coverage to be a reality.

We already have this "income transfer" to some extent. For instance, hospitals "cost shift" by charging folks with insurance, or the ability to pay, more than the true cost of the procedure. This margin helps to make up for the loss caused by providing uncompensated care to those who can't afford to pay, or don't have insurance.

Since cost shifting is already happening, it could be done more rationally. Low income people often are made to get their care from the emergency room which is an expensive part of the health care delivery system.

If we don't have some kind of income transfer / cost shift, low income people are likely to just be turned away from health care. We could head into an environment of euthanasia for lower income people. At least those who have both low income and high medical expense.

Other aspects of reform can wring savings out of the system, I'm sure.

Things like tort reform, but the two main things, in my opinion, are healthier lifestyles and some kind of sliding scale for premiums.

Dancer crossing

Sign seen near a dance studio. Dancing can be good exercise.

One small step moon walk co-incidence for Sound Transit light rail in Seattle

On the 40Th anniversary of the moonwalk, Sound Transit light rail starts regular operation in Seattle.

40 years after first moonwalk, large telescope will open

Hand it to the Mexicans, Spanish, Europeans, University of Florida and other partners. I think Gran Telescopio Canarias is going to be the largest optical telescope in the world. Inauguration on July 24 2009, just days past the 40Th anniversary of Apollo 11's first moonwalk. Space exploration is still making strides. Continued below.

I kept front page of Spokane Chronicle from the day after "that day" in July 1969. Chronicle has not been published for years, long before the current Internet shakeup of newspapers.

There was some science aboard that moon mission, but nothing as sophisticated as the science pouring in from today's satellites and observatories. Far from turning our backs on space, the news keeps getting more exciting, at least for those of us who follow it.

I remember newscasters talking about 3 experiments that astronauts set up on the moon that day. Maybe there were more, but I remember 3.

Mirrors were placed near the lander to reflect lasers beamed up from McDonald Observatory in Austin, TX. It was to measure distance between the Earth and moon within inches.

Interesting to measure something that far in mere inches. Quite a feat for those days. Since then, the lasers have been improved for more accurate measurement. Maybe those mirrors are still in use, I'm not sure. They were employed for years after 1969.

Astronauts also set up a seismograph on the moon, from what I remember. Or maybe that was later missions? A seismograph to measure moon quakes. Starting to probe the moon's interior.

Then there was that sail thing. Not the American flag. It was another "sail thing." Something like tinfoil which was rolled out to catch solar wind; a mystical stream of particles coming out of the sun.

Quite exciting for science in those days, but still kind of small compared to discovering planets around other stars in our galaxy; for instance.

The science of astronomy keeps getting better as instruments become more precise and "high tech." Amazing discoveries are now being made from telescopes that never even leave the ground. Other observatories are way out in space.

Apollo 11 was a great achievement, an engineering feat and a media event. A giant leap and there are still giant leaps being taken today.

Yes, it was a great step forward and I was riveted to the television, that day, along with the estimated 300 million (pretty impressive percentage as world population was less in 1969) viewers.

It was the summer before my freshman year in high school.

Maybe I was riveted too much to the television as just before Niel Armstrong took his steps down that ladder, our TV went dark. It was a flash and then the screen was dead. No sound either.

A vacuum tube burned out.

I had our TV on all day watching the coverage. The tube just chose that moment to burn out.

Remember vacuum tubes?

If your cellphone used vacuum tubes today, it would probably have to be as large as the Saturn 5 rocket which carried those astronauts to the moon.

With our set down for the count, the family piled into our Rambler Station waggon and headed to the Stevenson's house and another television.

We arrived after the first steps, but still got to see countless reruns.

On an interesting note, Stevenson Dorm complex at WSU in Pullman was named for Mrs. Stevenson's husband who had passed away earlier.


Looking out over Stevenson Complex from an old postcard.

My letter to President Carter's speech writer, 1979

Not long out of college, in spring of 79, I was following energy speeches by then President Jimmy Carter. Thinking that the word "sacrifice" was too negative, I suggested it be replaced by the word "change."

Put a more positive spin on the transition our culture needs to make. So I wrote to Carter's speech writer.

Now it's the 30Th anniversary of Carter's famous malaise speech; the one that never even used that word malaise. It was the speech that pundits gave that label to after the fact.

When I wrote, I suggested putting a more positive spin on the transition we need to go through to save energy. Sacrifice doesn't sound positive enough. Change was my suggestion.

Today, the word transition is used. There's "transition," "transformation," "evolution," "a new world dawning." All that "new age" talk. Bicycle for you're figure and all that fun stuff.

Speaking of a more optimistic future, we've really experienced a technology revolution since those days. Putting a futuristic spin on low energy living.

No more going back to the cave. Ipods (which they didn't have back in 79) are lower impact than automobiles.

Carter's chief speech writer wrote back a nice letter. He said my ideas were good and thought the President would agree also.

This was before the famous malaise speech of July 15 79 that historians are remembering today.

I'm not sure my ideas got through to the President as I think sacrifice was still the dominant theme.

Still I got letters from both James Fallows and Hendrick Hertzberg.

I wrote to Fallows thinking he was the speech writer. This was before Internet days so it was the most recent address I could find at the public library. Some reference book on the US Government, no doubt.

Fallows forwarded the letter so nice reply's came back from both men.

It was spring 1979 before Carter's now famous speech.

Did my letter have an influence on that speech?

Hard to say. Maybe not. The speech was of a type to still inspire the word "malaise" for a label.

Now I wish I'd kept the envelope as the return address simply said;

"The White House."

Planned Parenthood T-Shirt

Someone gave me a free t-shirt from Planned Parenthood to walk with a group of organizations in Bellingham's GLBTA pride parade. A bright pink shirt.

It made a good connection between issues for me. Population, the environment, economics, alternative lifestyles, change, gay rights. So many of these issues and solutions all fit together in my book. Or maybe I should say in my blog.

Is property value in Washington chasing Boeing out of the state?

Local radio talk shows have been buzzing since Boeing purchased South Carolina based Vought Aircraft. Vought is a Boeing supplier and the purchase is said to streamline some production bottlenecks between the two companies.

Purchase also fans the flames of speculation that Boeing may be looking to other areas for development of a new production line.

Boeing slowly leaving the state?

Dori Monson, at KIRO was pointing fingers at state government a few days ago. Taxes, regulations; the normal litany of complaint. Dori has libertarian leanings.

I have a different twist.

Property values.

Yes, Washington State, especially central Puget Sound, is expensive.

If Washington remains economically successful (in the traditional definition of success), we may have to brace ourselves for over a million new residents moving to Puget Sound area in the next decade or so.

Not the fault of government. It's just the price of our kind of civilization. Maybe we've just been too popular.

A friend of mine just moved back to South Carolina where she grew up. In S.C. she could buy a house for under $50,000. Out here in Washington State, it was a struggle to make enough money for house, or even rent payments in her case. She worked at Boeing for a while, but it was a long commute from where she could begin to afford to live. The commute became too wearing.

Anyway, it's fitting together better for her in SC. Job, housing, logistics. She says traffic is getting worse there, however. I don't think I would want to live there, from what people describe.

I'm lucky living in Washington in an affordable niche. The little room I live in is reasonable, but it's not the way most people live.

As for Boeing, who knows what their future plans are. So far it's just clearing up bottlenecks with suppliers, from what I read; aside from the ranting and raving of talk show hosts.

It's not Washington State government, necessarily that prices industry out of our area.

Still, government is kind of a reflection of our society. Washington State is a popular destination. Prices go up. When things get expensive, government gets expensive also. Think how much it costs to buy land for building a new road.

Then we have regulation. With the crush of new people always moving into this state, we have our raft of regulations that are sprung from concerns. We have growth management, storm water runoff, watershed preservation, farmland preservation rules and so forth.

You get the drift. We could "de-regulate," but would we want to?

Then there's the whole union and right to work state issues, but I'll leave that for other bloggers to talk about.

Sure, some regulation is stupid, but there is also a cost to success and a cost to popularity. It's our society, not just our government.

Bike lane also helps protect water resource

This part of North Shore Drive near Lake Whatcom is an innovative road that was recently repaved. Now that it's finished, I decided to ride out there.

It's in our drinking watershed because houses and development have been grandfathered in around the lake for years. Actually over a century.

Idealistically, no one should live in the watershed, but you know. How can they do that?

Next step might be to try and make road surfaces pervious, rather than impervious.

Pervious means rainwater can percolate through. Impervious means water just washes off.

Around the lake, pervious means cleaner runoff. If water can soak through surfaces gradually, it can be filtered. On the other hand, when water runs off a hard surface too quickly it brings more crud to the lake.

Why can't they make the whole road pervious?

Well, I don't know, but my guess is it wouldn't hold up to the pounding of cars and trucks.

Cars and trucks can be awful heavy.

That's where the shoulder (also a bike lane) can come to the rescue. It doesn't need to be so hard since it doesn't normally get as much pounding as the car lanes.

Make the shoulder softer so it can serve as a buffer between the car lane and the surrounding environment.

Another good excuse for a bike lane.

Even the sidewalk can be that new "pervious" stuff.

Another great innovation in planning.

I also rode up onto Stewart Mountain which resides along the north shore of Lake Whatcom. Much of that route is under these ominous looking power lines.

Big inter-tie between power grids of BC Hydro and BPA. Another link between US and Canada.

Lake Whatcom below. Bellingham Bay in distance.

One really hears the hum and crackle; especially from one set of lines.

Power for millions of people passing through our area like Interstate 5. The interstate for electricity?

Happy Fourth Of July. Humming, crackling, booming and sparking. Hopefully not arcing power lines through me.

Ka-blam. I plan to watch fireworks from the top level of a parking garage in downtown Bellingham.

Preparing for jobs of the future

Seems like many of these jobs will be low pay and will not require that much advanced technical training. Educators often miss the mark thinking future jobs will all be high tech.

Preparing for many of the future jobs will require learning to live well on low income. This needs to be taught more.

For instance learning how to get around without a car, staying healthy and avoiding medical bills, maintaining self esteem and finding friends without having money be the prerequisite. How to use second hand shops. Using the Internet as an inexpensive and powerful tool for social and political action.

Retail dead zone? The automobile did it

Where GI Joe's and Good Guys were. Also, not pictured Circuit City empty.

Two empty box stores across one parking area have created what amounts to a retail dead zone in Bellingham. These were parts of chains that went under so maybe it doesn't say anything about local conditions, but these type of chains tend to locate in similar areas. Car oriented development. Also, of course, just more retailing than the economy can sustain.

Meridian Street near Bellis Fair Mall has created a wall of traffic that isn't pleasant to be in. Also not real easy to get across. Yes there are traffic lights, but the intersectionms are large. Not that friendly for bikes or pedestrians, of course, but those type of areas become less drivable also as traffic increases.

So it seems like some areas near Meridian (the main drag) could end up being in a "shadow of the traffic." Areas that are hard for people to cut across traffic streams to get to.

Car oriented retailing spreads out toward the periphery of the area while allowing the center to soften. It can be advantagous to locate right where the traffic first comes into the area. I've heard the term gateway before. Catch them as they are just coming off the freeway, or coming into town. Toward the center of car oriented development, the advantage softens.

With all the stores out there, people are tapped out before they get through the traffic into the center.

This is kind of what happened to downtown Bellingham many years ago when Bellis Fair Mall and other developments along I-5 really got going. Downtown became less accessible, sort of like a dead zone in the center. Back then, Meridian offered more space (for parking) and easier access for people coming into town from a large region.

Well now it seems like some of the central areas in the Meridian vicinity are starting to implode, like the downtown did in years past. Car oriented retailing needs lots of space, of course, but it also seems to seek "gateway" space. Be at the periphery where people are first coming into the area.

Sometimes I hear of threats by box stores to move out of town if they don't get favorable regulatory conditions in city limits. That political drama makes news, but there is also just the tendency to strive for being on the edge; the gateway.

Meanwhile, downtown Bellingham seems to be making quite a comeback. That's partially because there is more to it than just the type of retailing where easy parking is thought of as a prerequisite. Downtown is getting more residences. People don't need to drive here and park, they already live here.

Also some of the vibrancy I notice is people out doing things, not necessarily just shopping. A broader definition of vibrancy. It may not necessarily mean more dollars in the coffers.

In the last few years, I've noticed more residencies coming into the Meridian area as well, but you don't see a lot of people outside of their cars yet. Maybe that will come eventually if more trails and plazas get built.

Bellingham's nearly naked ride 2009

It couldn't be totally naked, but the ride was good. Fun with lots of smiles.

Maybe in future years, one step at a time, but this was a big step along what some people might call "that slippery slope."

There was also dancing. I say, dance your errands, ride a bike and have a good time.

Many thanks to Zack (pictured above) and others for smiling energy and organizational skills.

See more of my pictures from the local rides on Flickr.

Sunlit days and biking around

Early evening sun has unusual orange cast. Might be dust from Alaskan volcano? I ride up through the woods of Sehome Hill.

Like a Sunday drive with no gas consumption guilt. Instead, burning calories.

On another trip, I head to Ferndale and then back on the Nooksack River dike path. Highland Games is just winding down in Hovander Park. I climb tower and look down as vendors are starting to pack up. No cover charge arriving this late. Heard the last of the music. Stumbled upon this happening.

Below posted April 2009.

Barn at Hovander Park.

Litter in a wetland along South Bay Trail. Not what most environmentalists envision.

Saturday saw me bicycling from Bellingham to Mount Vernon. I wasn't even thinking I would make it as far as Mount Vernon or the Skagit Valley's "traffic clogged" tulip fields. I got a late start.

Went as far as north part of Mount Vernon. Through Burlington on sidewalk of "busy" Highway 99. Then turned around and headed back to Bellingham.

Things seen along the way, like flowering trees in people's yards, were the goal. I've been to the tulip fields other years.

Roads between here and Skagit County were quiet, but I could tell as soon as I got to the race track called Skagit Speedway that's along 99. Cars got more noisy. Vroom, vroom; mostly coming up from the south.

Coming back north, quiet returned as soon as I passed the race track entrance.

North of Burlington, I noticed a nice, new bike path along 99 for a ways. Just south of Chuckanut Drive crossing.

Happy for Hubble

Glad the shuttle is safely back on the ground even though it had to come to California, instead of Florida. A Florida landing would be cheaper turnaround, but weather had other ideas.

I'm looking forward to pondering more universal questions with the newly refurbished Hubble Telescope.

To get the shuttle back to Florida, they place it on top of a large aircraft and fly it across the nation.

Back when I was in college, they put the shuttle on top of a plane to test it for aerodynamics. This was sometime in the late 1970s. At the time, I was living in a sloppy rooming house full of college students. One of the students ask;

"Why are they flying two planes on top of each other?" "What a waste of energy."

I tried to explain, but her response was sort of like "don't confuse me with the facts." She didn't get it.

"What a waste, two planes on top of each other," she kept saying.

My own lifestyle is austere compared to many Americans, but I still value the ability to contemplate cosmic questions. One nice thing about outer space, we don't all have to go there to learn from it. We can send up a few public telescopes rather than each having to buy our own scope.

More chances to talk at the Bellingham Peace Walk

Last Saturday, there was a peace walk from downtown Bellingham to Fairhaven district; about 2 1/2 miles. Walking is a good way to talk to someone. I got a chance to visit with folks I often see around town. Folks I see at the Purple Church Dance, the Co-op and other places. When walking, there is more opportunity for conversation. In the end, there was dancing.

Some of the guys are cute and a lot of them dance with their shirts off. Who are these people? One might never know if there is no conversation. One might never know if people never took the time for walking.

Even if a peace walk doesn't "change the world" it's a friendlier way of life to walk. Walking means less dependency on Persian Gulf oil. I walked my bike in the walk and then biked home.

The sauna as a social outlet

Some people claim it removes toxins from the body due to excessive sweating.

I don't know if that's the case or not.

I know it can be a good social outlet as people are often friendly and talkative in the sauna. It's a nontoxic social environment, so at least it's less apt to be putting toxins into the body than, say, going to a bar, which is what many folks do for social contact.

Face to face contact, but not in a bar. Less toxic than many people's families, relationships, or the bar setting. Less likely to be around alcohol.

Pre cycle. Taking in less toxics in the first place.

As for getting rid of toxins, I don't know. Does mean more water going through body if one remains hydrated. It's too easy to get dehydrated, though.

Throughput.

Exercise is a good way to remove toxins from the body. Getting one's circulation up means improved blood flow to the many nooks and crannies of the body. That's probably the main thing, in my opinion. Getting the blood flowing through all the nooks and crannies. Nothing like moving, bicycling, walking, dancing for that.

Sauna may not be necessary for this, but it's a fun thing to do.

Just my opinion.

Waterboarding

Traditional liberals and conservatives debating. Radio talk shows humming. Maybe it's "water already under the bridge."

Imagine all the people bicycling to work

Like that John Lennon song. Sign at downtown Bellingham celebration station, Railroad and Holly. 2009 Bike to Work and School Day. Nothing wrong with a little idealism.

Looking up for good news

This is a pretty good period for astronomy and space exploration. US news has been covering the upgrade and repair mission for Hubble Space Telescope. Glad that mission is going well.

Not as well known, here in the states, is the European Space Agency's successful launch of both the Herschel and Planck telescopes from one Ariane Rocket. Launched May 14.

Planck will analyse microwave background radiation from the big bank and ponder questions about the birth of this universe.

Herschel will look at far inferred and a portion of the microwave, sub millimeter spectrum to see dusty areas, forming proto stars and so forth. Herschel has the largest mirror ever sent into space.

Hurray for the success of both missions launched from one rocket.

Then there is the Kepler, launched by NASA a few weeks back. It has just passed it's calibration reviews (this week). Now in the main "science" part of the mission.

This morning at around 6:30 AM PSD, I happened to be up for a while. I found a live video feed on the web from European Space Agency. It was covering the launch of Herschel and Planck.

Reminded me of following Apollo on television during my childhood.

Remember ads for "Gulf Oil?"

Helped bring us TV coverage of Apollo. Nice memories.

The Europeans seemed a bit different. More reserved than Americans. Also spoke with accents. It was kind of mystical to watch things live from a German version of "mission control;" especially that early in the morning (our time). The sun was just rising. Also good memories, like my childhood, only this time it's May 14, 2009 and I'm watching on the "magic screen" we call Internet.

Looking forward to new discoveries.

Will HD Radio ever amount to much?

Update October 2017.

Below article written 2009.

Last year, I wandered into a Radio Shack store to look at HD radios.

The clerk said, "An HD what?"

So I explained.

He might have thought I was dreaming, or making up this odd fantasy; like I was a street person wandering into the store.

When I said it was in the Radio Shack catalog, he looked it up and said, "Oh my god." "Learn a new thing every day."

HD radios weren't in the local store, but could be found in the catalog.

What is HD radio?

Thanks to "new technology," some stations can send out a highly compressed "digital signal" along with their regular signal. People with these special HD radios can get it; like decoding the secret message.

HD signals allow some options not available to standard radios. Higher fidelity, for instance. Also other programs besides the main program.

A good example is KUOW in Seattle. Regular radios just get KUOW FM on 94.9.

HD radios can get two more programming feeds. Basically one can get "KUOW1," "KUOW2" and even "KUOW3."

Wow. That's a lot more variety.

KUOW1 is the same "KUOW" that regular radios get, only higher fidelity.

KUOW2 is actually another station; KXOT from Tacoma. It offers a different mix of programs. Similar programs to KUOW's, but just added variety.

KUOW3 rebroadcasts the BBC from London.

That's 3 stations in the same place on the dial where regular radios only get one.

More variety.

Still, I don't know if that many stations are using the HD signal. Also those special radios seem fairly expensive and hard to come by.

Maybe Internet Radio will eclipse HD Radio?

Who knows.

HD could end up on the trash heap of technologies that never took off while Internet Radio becomes the new radio.

Why would this happen?

New bandwidth is becoming available for wireless Internet. This is especially true now that TV broadcasting is making it's switch to newer "more compressed" frequencies, thus freeing up spectrum for various signals.

Soon, I hear that wireless Internet will be available, for cheap, just about everywhere there's cellphone signal.

Wow. That means surfing the Internet in your car, only in my case, it's bicycle.

Sounds like a bad idea though. Shouldn't one be watching the road?

Well, "surfing" doesn't necessarily mean "computer screen." It can mean "Internet radio."

Yes, the car radio might soon be an Internet radio.

That would mean more choices of stations on the road. All stations on the Internet available to the car radio. This could be the ultimate "radio choice" panacea.

Variety is the name of the game, in my book. Adding more "program choices" to radio would be beneficial. A good benefit both at home and on the road.

Variety is most likely the main thing either HD, or Internet radio could offer.

To be able to pick up more interesting radio in places like eastern Oregon would be a plus. Geography can confine one to little choice beyond "Rush Limbaugh talk" or "Country and Western music."

Music?

Actually some of it might not be bad.

How about putting some interesting Seattle, or Portland stations onto the HD channel of eastern Washington and Oregon FM stations? How about even Idaho and Montana stations?

Bring the greater variety of urban radio to rural areas.

Maybe rural radio could be brought to an urban area for novelty. Listen to Montana cattle prices from your high rise condo in Seattle, or even New York.

It can be meditative.

National Public Radio has already done this, even before the advent of Internet and HD technology.

KUOW has its repeaters here in Bellingham and also one in Olympia. KUOW is on 90.3 FM in Bellingham. It's on AM in "Tumwater/Olympia."

The NPR station from Pullman, WA. (my childhood home) is extended to repeaters just about all over the state. There's even a repeater for that Pullman station here in Bellingham. The public radio network based in Pullman is called Northwest Public Radio.

Could HD work like these repeaters?

There are a lot of radio stations with the potential to offer 2 or even 3 HD signals. FM stations, that is.

From what I understand, AM stations are only allowed 1 program in their HD channel. HD gives AM "higher fidelity," but not more variety.

Maybe FM stations in the hinterlands are just sitting around wondering what to program if they were to go HD. How to fill all that extra bandwidth.

Could these various FM stations, in places like eastern Oregon, offer something more to their sagebrush territories than just country and western music?

Maybe they could pick up the feed of some totally different station and play it to the countryside. Some of those stations are pretty powerful. Larger service areas than just repeaters.

How about KUOW being available east of the Cascade Mountains? Broadcast from a Wenatchee station high on the eastern slopes of the Cascades?

How about Portland's alternative radio (known as KBOO) becoming an "HD choice" from some country and western boomer in someplace like Klamath Falls?

Variety.

When I was a kid, I remember listening to "clear channel" AM signals from all over the US. AM radio could travel great distances at night. They call that "ionospheric skip."

Nighttime AM was my variety, long before the Internet.

I remember tuning in stations like WWL from New Orleans, Louisiana. All on a regular radio in my parent's Pullman home.

Over the years, this variety of radio listening has been lost for the most part. The long distance signals have been "covered over" by more mediocre stations closer to home. Stations that are on the same frequencies as the clear channels; like FCC sanctioned radio jamming.

Many of the "local" stations are just repetitive feeds off national networks. How many places up and down the dial can one get the same "Coast To Coast" show at night?

Only thing unique to the station's local community; some jabbering ad run over and over again, or "rip and read" news via "high school student announcer intern."

Variety has been lost with the end of clear channel "across the USA" AM radio, but all is not lost.

"Variety" makes it's new entrance as those stations are now on the Internet; no doubt.

I still listen to talk shows from KGO in San Francisco via nighttime skip. It fades in and out, but works most of the time, if my neighbor doesn't turn on a lamp, or something, that makes horrible static.

Maybe a local FM station can think about carrying KGO programing as it's HD offering? That would make KGO easier to receive around local clutter.

I'd consider getting an HD radio then; if I could find one. Meanwhile, I can just listen to KGO on the Internet.

Since I wrote this in 2009 I have purchased an HD radio. The technology is still alive and probably doesn't cost that much for the stations to provide. Might as well add it to the multiple offerings available from broadcast, internet and so forth. In many cases it fill the need when cellphone isn't available or more costly. This last paragraph written 2017.

Eyes don't rot the same way

When cute guys appear, one can remember that

"Eye candy is candy which is not bad for your teeth."