Stop Mountaintop Removal

I saw those ads on Metro’s subway for some time… It is sad to see the Appalachian mountain destroyed…the ads are by stopmountaintopremoval.org. They remove mountantop to build new coal mines, new roads (like highways), and land for more projects and developments. The removal mining usually happens in West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, Virginia, and Eastern Tennessee.

The coal mine company did ask my dad if they would want to buy his land… Our backyard of the house is the mountain and beyond. But my dad did not sell to them. That land has been passing for two generations for more than 80 years. My great-grandparents lived that land, too. We have a very rich soil, that we used about 40 feet by 40 feet vegetable garden but now about 7 feet by 5 feet. That is my best estimation. It is not a big garden but it is enough to survive through the winter. With that garden (40 by 40), my parents cannot do the job alone. It takes a family to do the job. When I grow up, my brother and I helped them the job. We used to have a lot of corns and potatoes every year. We had 30 to 40 jars of green beans and pickles. We have some onions, cabbages, lettuces, carrots and different of beans. But now we probably have 40 to 60 corns, 10 to 20 jars of each. They still do them every summer and store during the winter.

Note: After a careful consideration, I realized that it is not 40 feet by 40 feet because most master bedrooms are usually between 12 to 20 feet long… and in that case, it doubles that size; I realize that is not that what we had. It is definitely more than 40 feet.  Honestly, I never am good at measurement. I thought it is best to ask my dad for accurate information. I will post when I find out.

I am glad that he did not sell it to them. The beautify of land and mountain of ours would probably end up ugly like this (maybe not big like this, but the coal mining company can do much damage):

I know that my uncle did sell his house and land to one company, so they can build a new highway to somewhere else. I am not sure where it is going. It is sad. I used to grow up that area when I was young. I never did not want to move … but my dad wants to be close to his parents and great grandparents. Oh well… I am not sure what is the update of the highway project. I will have to ask my dad about it.

I knew that Pikeville did the same thing to make a new highway and 390 acre of land for the expansion and development. It took 14 years to complete the project. It finished in 1987. It called Cut-Thru. That project is the hemisphere’s largest engineering and earth-moving achievements, second only to the Panama Canal. But it turned out not bad, not like the picture above. I mentioned that once on my blog here.

Back to mountaintop removal, I hope they will come to realize how much damage they have done to the families, neighborhoods, schools, and importantly the wildlife animals. It can create more threatening crisises, like landslides, floods, and poisoned water supplies. It has to stop because it hurts me so much. I feel for them. I grow up in the Appalachian mountains. I have a mountain soul in me.

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Should DC Expands The Mall?

The Third Century Mall organization is working on the expansion of the mall right now. I believe I have mentioned that once on my blog a long time ago. But I cannot find the permalink for that entry I mentioned. Maybe I did not. I don’t remember. It does not matter. I am mentioning it now.

Do you think DC should expand the Mall?

My answer is YES!

The City is growing. More tourists come to visit every year. We need the Mall to be “visitor-friendly.” Right now, it is not exactly ‘visitor-friendly.” The mall also needs more space for future memorials and monuments. You know it was not the first time that DC has made changes on the Mall. For last two centuries, they had expanded the Mall. The first Mall was designed by Pierre L’Enfant in 1791, including Washington Monument. The Second Mall expansion was in 1901 by Senator James McMillan. Now you see why it is called Third Century Mall now. You can read more about both plans by two men here. There is another good link on two plans here, too.

I will have W. Kent Cooper take the place telling you in his words why it is not “visitor-friendly,” but first let me tell who W. Kent Cooper is. He is an architect and corridnator of the future Mall Plan. Now he tells you three reasons why the expansion is needed:

1. Public use is discouraged by security fences,
construction and National Park Service policies that treat the Mall as
a “theme park, to be experienced by tour bus.” Cooper called for
“policies that enhance public use rather than restrict it.”

2. The Mall is not “visitor-friendly.” There are
too many barriers and fences, too few places to sit, too few places to
eat and it is too hard to get from place to place. “The Mall needs more
visitor amenities and things to do in the public open space,” Cooper
said.

3. It’s full. Despite Congress’ declaring the Mall
“substantially completed,” dozens of memorial projects are waiting for
sites on the Mall. “The Mall should expand to meet this need, as it did
a century ago,” Cooper said.

I found the earliest idea of the mall expansion in 2005 by two suggestions by three different people (one of them is W. Kent Cooper):

But it keeps changing… I believe it has not confirmed the plan for the future mall… However, I found one that has been suggested recently (you will need to enlarge it by clicking the image):

The image above may be difficult to read, but if you want a larger image, you can open the link into Adobe Reader. It is a PDF link. If you don’t have Adobe Reader, you will need to download here. You can read more about the Third Century Mall here.

There is another thing I want to mention too. It is not related to the mall. We know by now that we will have a new baseball stadium! Once the baseball stadium, it will attract more PEOPLE. It should be completed in 2008. Right now, it is in construction. That is the reason why I think there should be the expansion of the Mall for residents/visitors. Like I said earlier that the city is growing, the city needs renovation and improvment. It will make the city look good.  The Mall expansion, baseball stadium, and SW Waterfront renovation. That makes great connection.

Southwest Waterfront will over the 1960′s, Washington Post said. I think it is a good thing to move on and start renew with new changes in 2008 and beyond. PN Hoffman ands others are selected as developers for the future SW Waterfront. You can read what they plan to do in SW Waterfront. There is a short article in Washington Post mentioning PN Hoffman and their plan.

I have found a few artistic images of the stadium and the sorrounding area, ie: Federal Center, what it will possibly look like… it looks very nice. Maybe it is a bit crowd? I don’t know.

The Stadium area:

This was once shown on the newspaper not long ago…

Close up of above image:

This is Federal Center below:

This is Waterfront Mall below:

Wow! DC is really GROWING. I have been here for more than ten years… and it was slowing growing, but all sudden with new changes and new building over 5 years now. It is fast. I am looking forward to the new City next year. I will able to go to Southwest/Southeast. Fo the last ten years, I only went there to party at the Tracks then Velvet Nations. In daytime, it was basically nothing. It was busier in the night. However, I am very sad to see that those nightlife clubs had been swept away. But it is the best for the future. We still will always have the nightlife clubs somewhere else. With new changes in SE/SW, I wonder if we will have gay business or bars in that area. We already have gay bar(s) in Logan Circle, Dupont Circle, and one in NW (9th Street). I hope it will grow, and more options to go for a change.

Oh, I forgot to mention about the parking lots for the stadium, they found 9,000 parking spaces in the area… you can see the image here. But Washington Post just wrote about it, saying that the stadium garages prosopal is rejected. With a new stadium, we need more parking spaces… otherwise it will be crowded! The parking garage is a big key for our future stadium and the city. We don’t want to be stressed and stuck with no parking avaiable like Dupont Circle. In Dupont Circle, to find parking can take you up to two hours. It is no FUN! Oftentimes when I am in someone’s car and looking for parking, I am already sickened in my stomach by driving in the circles trying find a good parking! It got me really dizzy! I hope they will resolve the situation!

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Cool Fire Station!

You know most Fire Stations usually have brick buildings with big garages. Typical, right? Boring.

Well, the Netherlands has outdoned it. There it goes an amazing Fire Station below. It is different and cool! I like it! I am very impressed. No more Traditional building! This one is in Houten, Netherlands.

To be honest with you, every time I see a design of things outside the US, I envy of them. I wish we had great designers like them here. I might have been blinded. I am sure we have great designers… but often, I see the designs has been done other countries… For example, in my recent entry on subway and spa… I dont see such beautiful designs here… Well I may speak too soon because I don’t travel well enough… but I have kept an open eye across Internet. I am a very heavy Internet user. I explore and surf on Internet every day. I don’t see greatness in design here here. Sure, there are very few great designs here, like Apple Store in New York. It is different and unique. But remember, Apple is filled with creativity. That is what they are good at.

via [thecoolhunter]

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H2PIA

You know we already have hybrid cars and buses out. Hybrid is getting popular. It runs on a clean energy. It save a lot of money on gas. Gas is getting ridiculous. It will save from the disaster, such as a threat of global warming and pollution hazards.

What if we are out of oil or gas? How can we rely on transportation and living without gas or oil? We have to think of an alternative. Hybrid is a great idea. I support it completely. You know I have ridden a hybrid. Yeah, it is a bus by WMATA (Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority. It is very nice. The hybrid bus is much faster and smooth. And I do smell a fresh air.

Would you like to live in a city where it depends on hybrid (such as hydrogen and oxygen)?

Well, I would. I want to live in a clean city, where it is free of pollution. They generate the power from wind and sun to make hydrogen. Also, I believe they use water and oxygen tp produce energy, too… They will use solars and wind powers.

Well, we will have the World's first hydrogen city, located in Denmark. It is called H2PIA The construction starts next year. I don't mind living there. I am very curious how they go once they create a hydrogen city!

They have different ways to run hydrogen… such as .. plugged and unplugged. I know you would think what it does mean? Plugged means houses or apartments are connecting to the central energy supply to receive energy and heat. Unplugged means they are not attached to central energy grid but will use such as solars and satelites (probably), and from their hybrid cars to run them. Not only plugged and unplugged, but they will also have shared and public. You can read the rest at http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/. It is a lot of information. I dont want to run a "mouth" here. I only want to let you know about this. Also, it has a site all about H2PIA, feel free to check it out.

More H2PIA images below:

What do you think ? I think it is wonderful. It looks so clean and full of fresh air…

via [http://inhabitat.com]

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15 Top and Best Skylines in the World

It finds me relaxing to watch skylines from the top of the building. I think skylines are beautiful. It builts in different designs. Some are odd, some are cool, some are WOW…some that I would not ever thought of it…

I was stumbling upon one site that tells you which city have best skylines… A few cities really amaze me… Wow. One city surely looks like an outer space, but really it is on our land, Earth! Wow, I will let you view those skylines all over the world in a bit.

Can you guess which city is that?

Please allow me list 15 best and top skylines in the world…

1. Hong Kong, China
2. Chicago, USA
3. Shanghai, China
4. New York City, USA
5. Tokyo, Japan
6. Singapore
7. Toronto, Canada
8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
9. Shenzhen, China
10. Seoul, South Korea
11. Sao Paolo, Brazil
12. Sydney, Australia
13. Frankfurt, Germany
14. Dubai, United Arab Emirate
15. Seattle, USA

Wait, there are more… but they are Honorable Mentions…

16. Pittsburgh, USA
17. Guangzhou, China
18. Dallas, USA

Now you can go to that site and enjoy the view…

Hat tip to diserio.com

Would You Want a Car Loft?

Have you have watched Minority Report? If you ever watch it, you would remember the scene where Chief John Anderton's (played by Tom Cruise) car was lifted up to his apartment as shown below.

Well, it is here now, but not much futuristic like this one above… but it does lift the car to the the condo…

If you live in high-rise condo, then it might have occurred to you many-a-times, what if you could park your car in your balcony! Then, let your imaginations flow! A company called CarLoft is building a new residential project in Berlin that will provide its residents the luxury of CarLift that will enable them to park their cars on the balcony of their floors! The truly innovative concept will enable you to either zoom off or back in your home again within just two minutes. CarLoft will provide its residents their own garden and car-parking space “Car Loggia”. The floor space including the aerial gardens and CarLoggias will range in size from 2,411 sq.ft. to 5,802 sq.ft. in penthouse. The prices of the luxury flats start at 450,600 euros. The penthouse, fifthe floor and ground-floor are already sold.

I thought it is a wonderful idea. I know, I know. It is very expensive to live in with a car loft. But something you don't have to worry about the vandalism, stolen, or muggings/kidnappings. You would be safe once you are in a "car elevator" to your place. You would probalby sleep better in the night time, knowing that your car would be always safe.

Lets look how wonderful it would be if we had one here in America…

To learn more about the CarLoft, go to http://www.carloft.de. FYI, the site is a German version, which means it is typed in German. You have to go all the way bottom, on your left; you will see the link says: English Version. Click that, then you can able to understand better, or you can read them in German if you are fluent in that.

Hat tip to bornrich.org

You Would Not Believe That!

Target Corporation apparently did buy the property in Columbia Heights, DC in 2004. Target will have its first retail store in DC. Walmart tried to buy the property in Rhode Island a few years ago, but it failed for some reasons…

Anyway I like Target better that Walmart. Target will open in late 2007.

Links: Target DC Store (It was in US Today in 2004)

However, I don’t find a promising plan for Target in DC yet. I will keep looking and then update here on my blog.