Tag Archives: Baltimore

Number One Is In The Back Yard

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Or is it the front yard?

From the WSJ:

“Fewer than 10 bridges in the U.S. have the clearance of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the 1,200-foot span that collapsed after a supersize containership slammed into one of its vertical supports. All of them have a vulnerability where the failure of even a single steel component in tension along the span could cause a collapse. 

The National Transportation Safety Board flagged this condition in the Key Bridge after it fell early Tuesday morning—but the hit that destroyed the Key wasn’t a blow to one of those crucial steel components. Rather, it was the devastating strike taking out one of the bridge’s concrete vertical supports, known as a pier, that caused the massive structure to cascade into the water below. 

Any span of that size suffering a comparable loss could tumble, according to engineers, making bridges that can accommodate giant ships particularly at risk.”

Friday Assorted Links

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1A. The new “Coolest City on the East Coast“.

1B. Some of the best television in history.

2. Better to buy or rent? The American Dream is a Financial Nightmare.

Spoiler.

“Housing has always had a terrible track record as an investment – from 1890 to 2012, the inflation-adjusted return (i.e. taking inflation out) on residential real estate was 0.17 percent. That means a house purchased for $5,000 in 1890 would be worth $6,150 in 2012.

Over the same time period the stock market returned an inflation-adjusted 6.27 percent. That means a $5,000 investment in the market would be worth over $8 million.”

3A. First-generation students are finding personal and professional fulfillment in the humanities and social sciences. The Unexpected Value of the Liberal Arts.

3B. A “Seismic Change” at Cal State.

4. A friend of mine, a former high school principal extraordinaire, says school leaders need at least five years to implement meaningful reforms. The D.C. public schools have not got the message. One in four D.C. public schools have had at least three principals since 2012.

5. About 50,000 people live in Olympia, WA and in Venice, Italy. Approximately 20,000,000 visit Venice annually. That’s approximately 55,000 people every day of the year. If that many people visited Olympia each year, I would do what young Venetians have already done. Leave.

6. Venezuela is collapsing.

7. Hypothetical. Say at some point in the future I’m out mowing the lawn and decide to take a “nature break” behind a big tree on our rural property. Will mountain goats later appear? One other thing, what kind of person whizzes where those mountain goats are licking in the lead picture?