Warning to travelers and sending a message

Message I recently sent to Whitehouse.gov
I'm hoping the State Department can put out some kind of warning about the situation in Russia regarding gay people and folks who support gay rights. Russia should be put on some kind of advisory or warning list alerting travelers to the danger. That would also send an important human rights message. Russia isn't safe for gay travelers or anyone else who might advocate gay rights, or be accused of doing so.

Pictures from my 2013 bicycle trip across Washington State are on line

Mount Rainier from Chinook Pass. The sun was out for a change.

Rode to Pullman from Bellingham in 6 days for my 40th high school reunion. Then came back in around 8 days visiting Chinook Pass among other things. Also took bike trail to Troy, Idaho and visited my sisters in Pullman, WA. Took a tour of Northwest Public Radio studios in Pullman.

Another bike tour

Across Washington State again. My 2013 tour is complete and I will start digesting photos for posting. My friends on Facebook have already seen some previews.

Snoqualmie Tunnel

My 2013 summer bike trip has begun. So far, from Bellingham to my 40th high school reunion in Pullman. Cross Washington State in about 6 days. One highlight, the John Wayne / Iron Horse Trail. Used to be Milwaukee Railroad with it's 2 mile long tunnel under Snoqualmie Pass. Now part of the bike trail. Stay tuned for more images as I gradually put a few up.

I'm surviving the hot real estate market so far

The housing recovery could mean another real estate bubble in the making, especially here in Bellingham where property values are starting to soar again. The house where I was living just sold for approaching $400,000. Luckily, by coincidence, someone moved out of a nice apartment in a business building that is owned by my employer. I have a good place to move to so I moved. Rent is not bad given the size. They want stable tenants there.

At my old place, I hear the new rent for the rooms may be nearly as high as what I am now paying for an entire apartment at my new place. Will they get that much? Who knows. They are planning to remodel at my old place. The local market is starting to take off again, but there is a lot more money in the ownership market than there is in the local job and wage market. Property values tend to be far ahead of local wages; especially in bubble times.

After living, since 1987, in a room with small bathroom I've documented that life and my non fossil fueled move of one block to my new place. See images on Flickr.

Rainbow flags were flown at Bellingham City Hall

Rainbow flags were raised at city hall after a 7 to 0 vote by Bellingham City Council to fly the rainbow flag and proclaim the weekend of July 11-14 for gay pride. First time the rainbow flags were flown at city hall. A historic step. See my photo essay on Flickr of Bellingham's 2013 pride parade and festival.

I'm often a little airborne while dancing

The camera captured me airborne while dancing at the kickoff for Bellingham's Gay Pride weekend. I jumped a lot and watched the flash hoping it would capture at least once in the middle of being airborne. It did. Photo by John Phillip. Marian Beddill in background.

Tour De Peace

At Food Not Bombs, someone was giving out T-shirts for Tour De Peace. I'll have to look it up and see what it's about. The bicycle with peace symbol wheels. Looks like a good cause. I'm posing at the Village Green in Fairhaven District. Food Not Bombs takes place every Friday in another part of town. Around 4:30 PM near old Federal Building at Cornwall and Holly.

Some murals in the woods

The local artist who painted a mural on the back of the Alamo Apartments has some other murals in the area. Small world. A few years ago, I remember chatting with this person when he was working as a clerk at the Grocery Outlet. His work is now starting to appear around the area. Artist name Shawn Cass.


Underpass where trail to beach goes under railroad at Larabee State Park.


Below at Sehome Hill Park in Bellingham. Above at Larabee State Park.

At an abandoned reservoir on Sehome Hill.

How about lowering corporate tax rate by raising taxes on wealthy people?

Uncle Sam balloon promo at car sales lot.

Some folks, especially on the left, lump corporations and the wealthy together. Corporations and wealthy individuals are different entities when it comes to how the economy works. Taxes paid by corporations tend to be just passed through the corporation and come out as higher prices for the corporation's products and services. They can also come out as disincentives for the corporation to invest in assets and employees within the taxing jurisdiction. The corporation isn't really a person, contrary to popular belief. It's just a go between. Corporations are a go between among various people in society such as consumers, shareholders and employees.

Some economists call for lowering corporate taxes in USA because this country is said to have a high corporate tax rate. A high tax rate creates disincentives for corporations to do their business in America leading to outsourcing of a lot of corporate assets and jobs. Of course corporations do get out of a lot of taxes by taking advantage of loopholes, but there are quite a few economists who believe that lowering corporate taxes would help the American economy. It would help by allowing vast amounts of the money that US corporations hold overseas to be brought back home. Some of this money would be paid in taxes during a windfall period as the money comes back home providing a temporary boost to the treasury. More importantly however, a lower corporate tax rate could create a greater incentive for companies to do business in America. More domestic jobs as business activity comes home.

Seems like most of the proposals to lower corporate tax rates are just more tax cuts so I say, how about accomplishing this goal in a more revenue neutral way? Lower corporate taxes while increasing taxes on wealthy individuals. Unlike the official corporate tax rate (aside from the loopholes) wealthy individuals are getting away with real low taxes in USA compared to other industrialized countries. Taxing wealthy individuals more and business less would create an incentive for the money to be invested in businesses, rather than just being hoarded. It could encourage wealthy people to invest their money in American business so that money could work in the economy. The money could go to creating jobs and business facilities in the US rather than just lining the pockets and overseas bank accounts of wealthy individuals. Let's have the economy spend more money on producing goods and services for the public rather than just buying things like luxury yachts and summer homes for the wealthy.

Problem is, so many of the wealthy and their pundits want it all. The seem to want nothing but tax cuts rather than accepting some tradeoffs.

Two bicyclists sporting just married sign in Vancouver gay parade, 2003

Hurray for this historic day when the US Supreme Court made two significant rulings in favor of marriage equality. Overturning California's anti gay marriage Prop 8 and also overturning the national DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). Significant cultural progress is being made.

Pictured above are two bicyclists sporting "just" and "married" signs on their bicycles. Image taken in 2003 at the gay pride parade in Vancouver, BC Canada. Canada has been a few steps ahead of USA as gay marriage has been legal for several years in Canada. Hopefully USA will be catching up.

In recent years, USA is at what some futurists would call a "tipping point" about the issue of gay rights. A tipping point is when change starts to happen in a certain area quite rapidly. Change happens slowly, but occasionally there are tipping points when things are ready for change to happen rapidly on certain issues. Society evolving into the future.

While I don't think I'm the marrying type, myself, I am a strong supporter of marriage equality. This is a historic day.

Remembering the 9 volt battery before there were that many smoke detectors

In the olden days, we used to use these type of batteries to power our transistor radios and other portable electronic devices. Now days, these batteries are often used for smoke detectors. The 9 volt battery.

I'd make a clickable band switch for AM, FM and Internet Radio

If I was to invent a style of radio today, I'd try to bring back the concept of the slide rule dial. Possibly using LCD technology. I'd also use the concept of bands. "AM," "FM" and "Internet Radio." Yes, Internet radio would be a "band" also. It would be selectable from a click able band switch.

AM and FM would work and could be used in areas without WIFI or internet access, or if people are trying to save on things like cellphone minutes.

The internet radio dial could look like a regular radio dial with stations strung along a set of numbers, but it would have to be handled differently than a regular radio dial since there are so many stations. Possibly there would be two dial systems for the internet band. One would be a search engine concept for choosing stations for the presets and the other could be the slide rule dial for tuning the stations after the presets had been developed by the radio user.

A fourth band for HD Radio could be included also, but it seems like HD radio isn't really taking off as a technology that well. If HD was seamlessly included in more radios, it might gain more acceptance among the public.

That's what we need for radio. A seamless radio experience that uses bands for tuning AM, FM, Internet and possibly HD as well.

Pictured above. 1960s, or 70s style portable, tabletop, transistor radio with slide rule dial.

My gallery for our 2013 WNBR clothing optional ride in Bellingham is posted on Flickr

Follow link to my Gallery on Flickr. Photos rated "G" will show and Flickr members can turn off safety filters to see photos rated more "R."

The ride was a great success with an estimate of around 120 participants. It was "low carbon footprint" fun. Protesting the shells that hide us in more ways than one. The automobile being one of those shells.

Above photo taken on Holly Street soon after police tried to politely ask riders to cover up certain parts. During the last few years, ride has been allowed until, supposedly, the first citizen complaint is called in. As culture evolves, quite a few cities, such as Seattle, are starting to make room for this event. The solstice parade, in Seattle's Fremont Neighborhood is becoming a major tourist draw.

In our society, eroticism is used to sell beer, cars and then weight loss diets. Why not use some of that energy to advocate healthy and low carbon footprint lifestyles?

Unwanted privacy

After enjoying Bellingham's clothing optional ride where exposure is cherished, I found a troubling message on my answering machine. It was from one of my sisters who lives in another part of the state. The message went:

"I haven't seen you on Facebook recently." "The last post was May 31." "Just wondering if you were okay."

I returned the call to assure her that I was still alive. My Facebook wall had gone dark to everyone except me. Turns out I had accidentally hit the wrong button and set the default on my posts to private. Privacy settings are close to the log out button so it's easy to get into that screen by accident. Everything I had wanted to share, since May 31, was met with deathly silence.

My sister realized that she may have overreacted. Wondered if I had mysteriously disappeared, taken ill or had an accident on my bike. She did mention that she had found a few more recent posts on Google Plus so she was less worried after that. She comments that she enjoys my posts.

I reset my privacy option to "public" and then re posted the things I'd wanted to share all along. So much for helping to promote the naked bike ride on my wall.

It might have not made that big a difference anyway as most of my local friends already knew about the ride from other means. Lots of folks were networking it all around town on their various social media tools, including Facebook. This was also a year that major media, such as Bellingham Herald, Cascadia Weekly, KISM and KBAI Radio spread the word. The ride was a great success.

Privacy isn't always a good thing, if one wants to have engagement with the community, promote a business or share one's opinion. As for the economy and business, this was the first year that Bellingham's naked ride got contributions from local businesses. Raffle prizes, ice cream and other things that promoted the businesses and helped with expenses. The ride is getting more established as a new part of our culture; like the naked painted bike ride in Seattle's Fremont District.

See below.

Art I recently found on Facebook.

I have nothing against privacy, however. It's just that I haven't been that worried about it while the rest of our nation broils in controversy about the NSA data mining. I've been more worried about not having a voice. One can say, "if the government is listening, I've got some opinions."

When my Facebook wall went dark, I wondered why people suddenly stopped liking and commenting on my posts.

Bellingham's naked and clothing optional bike ride 2013 was a great success

Over 100 people participated. The biggest turnout, so far, since the rides started in Bellingham. Rides in other parts of the world can be huge.

Lots of painted cyclists, signs and costumes. Fun dancing at the end of the ride also. I plan to share more as I sort images and ideas. Meanwhile here's a great sign that was part of the ride.

Yes, maybe we could cut "other" things; like those uneeded military tanks

Oklahoma Senator Coburn wants any disaster relief bill to be offset by cuts in other government spending. He even includes disaster relief that could come to his own state of Oklahoma. At least he's consistent, but I know one place they can cut which many in Congress aren't likely to support. Congress seems to be pushing a bunch of tanks on our military when even the military planners say they aren't needed. Republicans, from Ohio and other states and even a few Democrats are anxious to keep the tank factory in business even when the military admits it has enough tanks. Ohio is a swing state.

I-5 Skagit River Bridge needed wider shoulders

This is just my speculation, so far, but maybe the I-5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed because it didn't have enough room for bicycles.


Allowed on I-5's wide shoulders in that region, bicycles must exit at George Hopper Road just before narrow I-5 Skagit River crossing.

Quite a few posts on social media have been comparing the I-5 collapse to the famous I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, MN. which prompted national debate about our nation's aging infrastructure. Republicans and low tax advocates have come under fire for our crumbling infrastructure, but they'll come back with a defense.

"It was an errant truck, rather than poor infrastructure that's to blame for the I-5 bridge collapse."

Even though investigation is just starting, it looks like an over sized load hit one of the bridge trusses causing the bridge to fail.

Maybe I should say errant trucking company, rather than errant truck. The route must have not been researched properly as the load was prepared for shipping. This is what I can gather from media coverage so far.

So, does an over sized load let our infrastructure off the hook?

According to an article in Bellingham Herald, bridge was listed as "structurally sound, but functionally obsolete" including narrow shoulders. My speculation is that the truck didn't clear the top girders where they are rounded down toward the narrow sides. If there had been wider shoulders, the fit wouldn't have been so tight.

That's my speculation, so maybe one can say, "if there had been shoulder room for bikes, the bridge would have had better clearance?" Bicycles are allowed on many sections of I-5 where there are wide shoulders; especially in more rural areas including most of Skagit County; except the Skagit River crossing, last I knew.

The only picture I can contribute to the blog / social media buzz about this event in our region is the "bikes must exit here" sign at George Hopper Exit in Burlington. This is last exit headed south just before the shoulders got too narrow on that I-5 crossing.

Most of the time, I use other roads besides I-5 through Whatcom and Skagit Counties anyway.

Bicycles must exit and use the Highway 99 "Riveside Drive" crossing. Now it looks like cars and trucks must exit and use Highway 99 as well.

Highway 99, has a nice new bridge even though it's not designed for all I-5 and 99 traffic. Another interesting tidbit of history. Steel trusses from old Highway 99 bridge (torn down before the new 99 bridge was built) have been used to construct Depot Market Square, where the Bellingham Farmer's Market is held.

Also, though not an afterthought, I'm glad no one was killed. Reminds me of the airplane that crash landed, a few years back, on the Hudson River, in New York, but all the passengers survived. A happy end to that story.

Naked and / or bare as you dare bike ride planned for Bellingham June 7 2013

Screen shot for top of page.

I've been helping Zack to create a web page with ride details.

Gathering to start around 1:30 near West Holly and I streets, follow signs. Ride, itself begins at 4 and hopefully ends with a dance.

A Republican style argument for immigration

I listened to a part of the Larry Cudlow radio show. He tends to lean Republican and conservative, but some Republicans are changing their stereotype image on immigration reform. Larry sees immigration as a growth issue. People come to America and start businesses, work hard and that's growth. He's pro growth.

I'm kind of for growth also, but I think we also have to think about the limited natural environment. I'm not against immigration, but I think we need to learn to live with less carbon footprint. Like, come to America if you agree not to drive fossil fuel burning vehicles.

Larry pretty much dismisses much of the worry about our growing carbon footprint. He's a grow the economy person. I think we have to find ways to grow the economy without harming the environment and also find ways to curb world population growth; that is until we're ready to start colonizing outer space.

Cutting Pepsi with unsweetened ice tea reduces sugar

A simple way to reduce the soda pop sugar problem. If the soda fountain at a restaurant has unsweetened ice tea, I get that instead of the sugary drink. Then I top it off with a little of the Pepsi or Coke. Just enough to cut the somewhat bitter flavor of unsweetened ice tea. It's sort of like Pepsi lite. Less carbonation and sugar.

If the soda fountain isn't self serve, I get the restaurant staff to mix the drinks for me, or quite often, I just have water. Water is healthy, but it's kind of boring. The unsweetened ice tea with a touch of soda pop is more interesting.

Austerity doesn't really work without deflation

In our economy, I don't think austerity would work without deflation. "Deflation" meaning the lowering of things like property values, salaries and so forth. This started to happen during the crash of 2008, but it didn't get as far as it could have. Also deflation brings lots of "adjustment problems" like people being upside down in their homes. In reality, deflation hasn't really taken hold that much. Housing prices are starting to climb again and rents have never really dropped that much. Health care costs, executive pay and many other "costs" in our society continue to climb.

One might think that austerity could work under the philosophy of "starving the beast." Just cut the flow of money and things come down. One might say that austerity could trim everything from people's unrealistic expectations about life to fat union contracts as things adjust to an environment of less money. Well, it hasn't really worked, or at least it hasn't work very evenly. Also, not that many people work under fat union contracts anymore. Instead, austerity has led to vast unemployment. This actually adds the costs to society that are associated with long term unemployment.

In spite of attempts at austerity, the cost of living, that most people face, continues to grow. Health care costs, for instance, have kept growing. Maybe slowing a bit, but not slowing enough. Many of these costs are driven by the continuing and relentless rise in salaries of corporate executives; for instance, I'm remembering the recent Time Magazine article discussing hospital costs and hospital administrator salaries.

Austerity doesn't really work unless there's true deflation and true deflation may not be desirable. One might say, "be careful what you ask for cause you might get it."

By austerity, I mean (for the most part) governments cutting back on spending. Government tends to prop up consumer spending, these days. With out it, we'd be spending less, but spending less needs to go hand in hand with deflation; especially for the percentage of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck and aren't living very extravagantly. For instance, people can cut down on the size of their housing, but in some areas, just a one room apartment can be costly. One might say, move to a cheaper area, but does that help our economy's efficiency's; especially considering where jobs are and the commute distances?

Without deflation, austerity just tends to add to the gap between the wealthy and the average person as the wealthy aren't willing to practice enough austerity themselves.

A relaxed time on the tea bus

I'm pictured, sitting in the background while a local musician is in foreground. We're having tea and conversation on the Tea Bus while it was parked at Farmer's Market in Bellingham. Pictured on the tea bus's blog. It was serving tea and community. I met some interesting people including the owner, Guisepi Spadafora. Tea Bus was also at Western Washington University where it made headlines in Western Front.

See about Guisepi's visit to Bellingham on his blog.



Posted earlier on April 13


Parked near the Saturday Market in Bellingham last week was a portable tea house in a van. The tea is free. It's a way to meet other folks and promote conversation. A slower pace of life. I stopped in and met a few folks. Nice idea. It doesn't have a fixed schedule. It will just come back "sometime." Makes its way around the country to various communities and events. The owner lives on less money than most people require. There's a donation jar, but it's hard to find. He is working on plans to run the vehicle with waste oil from restaurants. It was a nice place to relax and meet some other folks. Good conversations.

Interesting web site also Free Tea Party.

Summer is on it's way

And these displays have appeared in the windows of a local shoe store.

Public radio offers many choices in Bellingham

Mostly due to translators (or, should these be called "repeaters?") there are a lot of public radio choices in the air over Bellingham. I remember, back in the 1980s when there were nearly none.

We now have a translator for KOUW, Seattle's big non commercial news and talk voice. It's at 90.3; KQOW. KUOW also has "KUOW2" with similar programming. There's a lot of public radio stuff out there like "The Ideas Network" from Wisconsin Public Radio, for instance. In Bellingham, KUOW2 is on 90.7 and no need for a digital receiver here.

Then we also have 2 voices from Northwest Public Radio. That's another NPR station based out of Pullman, WA. NWPR offers classical music on 91.7 and news/talk on 104.7; KZAZ.

We also have a translator for KPLU in Tacoma. It features jazz, but I'm not much of a jazz fan so I tend to forget about that one. At least I'm not much of a KPLU jazz fan. Some jazz is more interesting, but the jazz I've heard on KPLU sounds monotonous to me.

Near downtown Bellingham, one can get KMRE at 102.3, the voice of the radio museum. Mostly old time radio music, but has a few features; like the Chuckanut Radio Hour; a locally produced drama.

I tend to forget we also have the voice of Western Washington University, KUGS at 89.3. It's mostly rock music, or maybe they don't call it rock anymore. Hip Hop, Trance, Rap, Techno, whatever. I haven't tuned in for a while.

We are close to Vancouver, BC so some of their stations reach us with ease, like CBU Radio on both AM and FM with differing flavors of the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Mostly news and talk on 88.1 or 690 AM and mostly music on other FM frequencies out of Vancouver and Victoria.

For the most part, it seems like commercial broadcast radio is dying across the USA. Especially on AM, it seems like the hedge fund managers who have bought up nearly all the stations think that all listeners care about is sports. Who needs radio for that anyway? One can go directly to the game you want on the web.

While commercial radio seems to be dying, public radio seems to get stronger. In San Francisco Bay Area, a commercial station called KGO was top rated news talk radio for years until more recently when it began slipping in the ratings. Last year it was bought by a company called Cumulus which took off most of it's talk programming and sent it even deeper in the ratings. Meanwhile, PBS's KQED is said to be top in Bay Area ratings with thoughtful shows like Forum (run by a former KGO host) which I enjoy via podcast.

PBS TV over the air in Bellingham area

After years of not bothering to have a TV, I discovered that there is a PBS station that can be picked up from the air in parts of Bellingham. Folks with a line of sight view to the top of Mount Constitution, on Orcas Island, should be able to get it. Much of Bellingham sees Orcas Island across the bay.

We get the Bellingham area booster for KBTC out of Tacoma. It's in full digital HD on channel 28-1. KBTC also brings along WLD world news at 28-2 and TVW at 28.3. These sub channels are lower resolution, but still okay. WLD even rebroadcasts Al Jazeera News as parts of it's international news schedule. TVW is a C-Span channel for Washington State originating from Olympia.

In the past, just about all the Bellingham TV antennas could get was Channel 12. Channel 12 and maybe a few Canadian stations. Well, now there's more. Channel 12 is still on and it also brings along something called "Cool TV" at 12-2; rock videos.

Canadian channels abound also as I have a line of sight view to mountains north of Vancouver from my downtown Bellingham location. There's CBC, CTV and OMNI TV. Bellingham has a shopping channel and a Spanish station as well.

My antenna works inside my apartment so the signal gets through the wood walls at least.

I don't watch much TV, but having these choices made it worth while for me to go out and buy a 14 inch cinema style HD screen. Cost not much more than $100. My "old" TV is almost small enough to fit in a pocket. It's digital also since I purchased it in 2009. That screen is so small, I decided to upgrade.

I remember when my parents bought their first color TV back in the mid 1960s. They said it was nearly $400; in 1964 dollars! Electronics is a real bargain in the modern world.

Cable may not be such a bargain, but I just use my antenna. I still don't plan to watch that much TV, I'm not really a TV kind of guy. I'm more into radio.

Making the antenna is part of the fun. I found directions on a web site for my first antenna. Made from coat hangers and chicken wire. It worked for a while, but came apart due to my lack of things like a soldering iron to weld it together.

Next I bought a more professionally made antenna of similar design from Radio Shack; Only around $35.

Then I made my own reflector with aluminum foil. I taped the foil to the antenna and then laminated it with clear packaging tape so it wouldn't tear so easily.


Home made aluminum foil reflector improves reception. It also looks better against my wall, in my opinion. Entire antenna is around 3 X 2 ft.


Behind reflector is the guts of the antenna. Cross beam style elements like in my old antenna made from chicken wire, only this holds up better. The two connectors are hooked to a small 300 ohm to 75 ohm transformer which is available at electronics stores. Coaxial cable runs to my TV.

I don't watch enough TV to justify cable. My internet comes from DSL over the phone line. Only around $54 per month broadband including telephone service.

It is nice to at least have TV. 12 channels isn't bad. More than I remember, in the Bellingham of years ago. We're living in the digital age.

North Korea gets in the way

Unfortunately, just as momentum is mounting to cut back on the US military, life gets in the way. N. Korea all but declares war on USA making cutting the military harder to sell. Still, do we need all those new 100 million dollar fighter jets they're planning to buy? I forgot the numbers, F-22's? F-35's? After while it's all just a blur.

Unofficial addition to Bellingham Art Walk

During the monthly Bellingham Art Walk, my friend Kevyn invited people on a tour of art in the halls at Mount Baker Apartments where he lives. A few of us met him at the door so he could let us in. Others lived in the building. Art from various sources displayed in the halls including some left in apartments after tenants moved out. See more images here including a view out over downtown Bellingham from the 8th floor.

Stopping at the red light can be meditative

Several nights ago, when I was biking back from a friend's house, a taxi driver called out to me from his window. He said I was the only person he had seen that actually stopped at the red light. I took it as a compliment. I assume he met the only bicyclist that stops. I hope its an exaggeration as it's pretty bad if bicyclists don't stop at red lights. I know quite a few run red lights giving bicyclists a bad name. I usually try to follow rules and I don't mind stopping for the little breaks in my travel. The pauses are meditative.

People will pay thousands of dollars to go to a meditation retreat. Not having that kind of money, I try and just make living less of a rat race by doing things like just taking the pauses for red lights.

Occasionally, tho, when I'm walking, I walk when it says don't walk. That's just because there are often more cars turning on the red than going through the intersection.

Most of the time, I don't mind stopping cause it's meditative and I'm not in a hurry; not to mention for safety also.

Weekend bicycling in Whatcom and Skagit Counties

Seed processing plant in Ferndale, WA.

And what a wonderful weekend it was, weather wise. I may have put 90 miles on the bike over the past 2 days. Saturday, to the Blanchard area of Skagit County and then Sunday to north Whatcom County.