August 01, 2004
Here Comes the Flood
My travels have taken me to New Jersey once again, where I rented a tuxedo with my two brothers to ensure that we are looking alike for Jason's upcoming wedding.
The interesting news of New Jersey has been the recent flooding of my dad's town. They received 13 inches of rain in a 4 hour period on July 12th.
Medford Lakes is a series of lakes all connected by roadway dams. Things were hunky-dory for a while with just the usual household flooding, some people with a foot or two of water on their first floor. The problems started up at Beach #1.
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| Background: previous lake. Foreground used to be a paved bicycle path over a conrete dam. |
That dam went, sending a deluge of additional water heading towards Lumberton by way of a normally very small brook. When the dam went and the lake drained, it dropped pressure on one of side of the next furthest up dam...
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| I used to drive on this road every day after school... |
The road above had a sewage pipeline running under it (the brown pipe on the right, which is broken). It also had a gas pipe, which somehow survived (yellow thin pipe in the middle).
Of course, that lake drained out too, dropping the pressure on the next lake up the chain in Camp Ockanickon...
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| The Ockanickon dam didn't stand a chance... |
Being primarily made of dirt, this one went pretty quickly, draining the lake that it was holding back too. The chain goes up to another lake it looks like, and there was wooden debris from possibly another dam break. But alas our bicycle tour had to be cut short.
Aside from having to observe maximum carnage to some lakes, it was a decent little trek down. I came back up early, though, hoping to go sailing today (Sunday), but there are no boat rental outfits on Onedia lake! So I may be keeping my eyes and ears open for a cheap used sunfish, as the wind on Skaneatles is no good at all...
And now, your moment of Zen.
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| Just to the West of Main Beach, this canoe shows the normal creek level and the flood level. |
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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Close to the Machine
Ellen Ullman is one of those authors that somehow avoided my radar. Until now...
Close to the Machine is less a book than a collection of loosely related personal anecdotes from Ellen's time as a very rare thing -- a successful female bisexual independent computer programming consultant.
In the course of her work and relationship life, she learns hard lessons about programming, running a business, being lonely, and loving the wrong people. I found it particularly poignant being a crypto-nerd with difficult times in relationships and a more-or-less NDA'd, secret work life.
This book is a must-read for anyone into running their own business, programming, or anyone dating a person that is a business-a-holic or programmer.
Rated 
by reid
on November 23, 2009
by reid
on November 23, 2009
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The Long Trip Home
I had the joy of dining with the author in Florida. We went to a little Brazilian BBQ where he spoke with our waitstaff in (what I can only assume was) flawless Portugese.
Brian Wyllie spent 1969-1971 living in Brazil working for the Peace Corps. His recent book outlines his trip back to the United States via Bolivia, Peru, and the Carribean chain, by way of bus, train, and sailboat. The format comes spattered with observations from the modern day, and makes me think, "this must be what John McPhee's journal looks like."
The trip sounded like a fantastic one, but I was left wanting more detail...where did the gun (being snuck through customs in a variety of places, no doubt) come from? And how did Geneve's hair smell? Alas, we'll have to wait for another book to find the answers.
Rated 
by reid
on April 16, 2009
by reid
on April 16, 2009
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
Should have listened to "Before the Flood"
http://bobdylan.com/albums/before.html
Posted by: dfc on August 4, 2004 02:20 PM