Did you ever wonder about the history of our Interstate Highway System?

By David McClelland

The first National Road in the United States was built for horses & buggies in 1815 and ran from Maryland to St. Louis. It facilitated immigration to the central United States. Unfortunately, the Road eventually fell into disrepair.

If you are over 60, you may remember the construction of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950's. Do you also remember its history and why is was constructed at that time?

Most of us know that President Eisenhower was our President when the project began, but probably not many know that the idea began to form when he was a young Army officer in the summer of 1919, just after WWI. Young "Ike" was attached to a truck convoy of 81 vehicles, primarily trucks, that made its way from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, California to conduct a road test to see how difficult it would be to move an entire army across the North American continent. The convoy arrived at its destination 62 days and 3,251 miles later. They had traveled only 53 miles each day. That trip made a lasting impression in the young officer and motivated him to try to find a way to build better and longer lasting roads in this country.

The Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal Highway Act of 1956 while Dwight Eisenhower was our 34th president and was signed at his urging. The Act provided that the highway would be limited access, have a minimum of two lanes, 12 feet in width in each direction, a 10-foot wide, right paved shoulder and design speeds of 50 – 70 miles per hour.

The first link of the Interstate opened on November 14, 1956 and was an eight-mile stretch in Topeka, Kansas. The last link was completed in Los Angeles in 1993.

The entire Interstate Highway system cost $129 billion ($425 billion in 2006 dollars) and was a cooperative federal-state construction project that took 37 years to complete. It now comprises 46,876 miles (75,440 km) of limited access, divided highway which allows us to make trips in less time whether they are to the job and back home or for a family vacation. Federal funds are provided annually and each state maintains its own miles of the Interstate System. Michigan has 1,241 miles of the Interstate Highways.

The actual name of the entire System is "The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways." The red, white and blue Interstate Highway Shield was designed by Richard Oliver of Texas and was approved by the American Association of State Highway Officials in 1957. It is trademarked. The system has now been extended to include Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

Only five state capitals are not served by the System. They are Juneau, Alaska; Dover, Delaware; Jefferson City, Missouri; Carson City, Nevada; and Pierre, South Dakota. It is just a matter of time before these capitals are connected. The completion of I-580 will connect Carson City, Nevada to the System very soon. It is a legend, but not true that one mile of the Interstate out of every five must be straight enough so that a plane can land on it. The highest elevation in the system is on I-70 in the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado at 11,192 feet above sea level. The lowest point is on I-8 in El Centro, California, which is 52 feet below sea level. The Interstate system travels over a dozen suspension bridges, including where I-75 runs over the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan and where I-80 runs over the Golden Gate Bridge in California.

Today, we pretty much take our Interstate Highway System for granted. We make great use of it whenever we need or desire to travel. Now, you know how it came into existence and who was behind its initial construction.

Did you ever wonder how you would send a minor on an airline?

 

            By David McClelland

 

            Our daughter, Julie, agreed to provide a temporary home for a 14 year-old French exchange student for three weeks this summer. Julie went all out to make sure that Juliette had a great time during her stay. Julie is the Director of Early Education at Oakland Christian School and the French teacher at OCS arranged to accept several French exchange students for this period. Julie and her family took Juliette camping with them the first weekend. We took her to Mackinac Island the next weekend and we brought her with us on our Hilton Head family vacation this week.

 

            All went well until my daughter took Juliette to the Savannah, GA Airport so she could fly back to Detroit where she was to be met by the French teacher and stay with her until her flight to France departed later in the day. When they got to the Delta counter, the attendant said that Juliette could not fly alone.  She is under 15 and, per the Delta policy, can not fly unaccompanied.  She went on to explain that Amber Alert has caused all of the airlines to tighten their policies in this way. Also, this prevents runaways from grabbing money to just fly away.

 

            My daughter told the agent that Juliette needed to get to Detroit for her connecting flight and didn't understand why Delta sold her the ticket in the first place. The agent said that the ticket was purchased through a travel agent who didn't bother to check Delta's policy. Julie next asked what the agent suggested they do. The agent had the answer.

 

For an additional $100, Delta would allow Juliette to fly to Detroit under the watchful eye of the Delta attendants.  It required that paperwork be filled out, that Julie take Juliette to the gate and stay with her until the flight was in the air and that the French teacher meet her at the gate in Detroit.  When sending a minor on the plane, Delta does allow adults from their party to escort them to and from the gate. They also changed Juliette's seat assignment so that she would be close to the flight attendant during her flight.  Juliette wore a wristband so that everyone would know that she was a minor flying alone.  Her paperwork highlighted in yellow that she spoke French. The system seemed full proof to assure Juliette's (and other minor's) safety, but as with most things, the assurance came with a price. 

 

 

Did you ever wonder if there is anything new on Mackinac Island?

By David McClelland

The Richard & Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum opened on July 14,2010 after years of planning, construction and preservation. The Museum opened in the 1838 Indian Dormitory structure which is located on the east edge of Marquette Park, directly below Fort Mackinac. The Manoogian's Foundation reportedly donated $850,000 to make the museum possible. The Indian Dormitory was completely renovated and modernized inside while retaining the original exterior look.
Our tour of the Museum last weekend was well worth the $5 admission fee and brought many surprises. Contained within its three floors are Native American baskets and present-day paintings of the island by its residents. Many historic treasures of the Mackinac State Historic Parks' collection are on display, some nearly two centuries old.
There is also magnificent art from The Manoogian Collection.
On the third level, across from the elevator, is a very large aerial photo of the south central portion of the Island, including the Grand Hotel and its golf course, the central waterfront and the Governor's summer residence. The photo also captures much more of the island, including the state park airport to the north. It is a spectacular view.
One surprise was a fragment of decorated prehistoric pottery recently excavated from the actual site of the museum. By contrast, a very modern video display allows visitors to see the entire Island, one photo at a time, and enlargements at the viewer's discretion. Then, on the lowest level of the structure, children, under supervision, were at play drawing pictures on mini Buddha Boards with water applied with paint brushes. As the children "painted" with water, their creations appeared and there were smiles and laughter all around.
The Art Museum is the newest attraction on Mackinac Island and is a delight for young and old alike. The Museum is a "must see" on your next visit to the island.

    Did you ever wonder whether Global Warming is fact or fiction?

 

            By David McClelland

 

            Let's see what we know for sure and what is speculation. First, what do we know?  Global Warming is defined as the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans over time and its projected continuation.

 

            According to the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global surface temperature increased 0.74 degrees centigrade, + or – 0.18 degrees, during the last 100 years. Another source claimed a 1.4 degree increase in temperatures has taken place since 1880. Either way, the increase in global temperatures has been very small. Why then is there so much concern?

It appears to be just that we know that the increase was caused by the increase in greenhouse gases which result from human activity like the burning of fossil fuel and deforestation. The increases in global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and change the amount and pattern of precipitation. Warming is expected to be greatest at the Artic and would cause the continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea life. Even a one degree increase is seen by many as a big deal especially when the temperatures are expected to continue to increase.

Contributing factors include a world population of 6,824,455,499 (June 1, 2010) and motor vehicles totaling 850,000,000 world-wide. About 75% of the annual increase in carbon dioxide is due to the burning of fossil fuels. It is not likely that the increases of either the population or of the number of vehicles will slow, let alone reverse themselves.

Although Global Warming appears to be increasing at a very slow rate, it does appear to be a fact. Activists on this issue warn that we should take the necessary actions to deal with this issue while there is time to do so. Where do you stand on this issue?

Did you ever wonder how much bottled water Americans consume annually?

 

By David McClelland

 

            Before we discuss the answer to this question, we need to understand just how much water, from any source, we humans need. Just with our normal daily activities, the average person loses about 3 – 4 liters of water a day, which is about 10 – 15 cups. The water that is lost must be replaced or we become dehydrated which could cause us to become ill. How do you know if you are dehydrated? An abnormally dry mouth is the best indicator. The color of urine is another. Clear (OK), yellow (partially dehydrated) and orange (dehydrated).

 

Now, let's address the original question. Sales of bottled water last year were over $15 billion and are expected to top $16 billion this year in America alone. That is more than 30 billion bottles per year. About 200 billion bottles are consumed globally each year. Americans drink about 21 gallons of bottled water, per capita, per year. The largest bottling plant in the United States is in Hollis, Maine where Poland Spring water is bottled. You may have seen Poland's ads as they advertise frequently on the weekly TV show, "The Office," and elsewhere. There is no question about it, we Americans are a thirsty bunch and the tap water that we older folks grew up on just isn't good enough for many any longer. It may be the convenience of carrying a 12 to 18 fluid ounce plastic bottle with us wherever we go that has us hooked. Many moms send their kids to school and to after-school activities armed with bottles of water. It has become a way of life. Who would have believed it even 20 years ago?

 

You may also wonder where this love affair with bottled water began. The truth is that we have had bottled water available to us for many decades. Remember Perrier water from France in the green bottles that restaurants offered, seemingly forever? Then, there is Pellegrino water? Pellegrino is from the town of San Pellegrino Terme, Italy and there, they have a spigot running all of the time providing San Pellegrino water free to all of the citizens. However, the free water has no bubbles. They add the bubbles when the water is bottled for export. Today, there are dozens of other brands of bottled water including Aquafino, Dasani, Evian, Highland Fling, Ice Mountain, Fiji, etc. About 50% of all brands are bottled in Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles.

 

The major criticism of bottled water concerns the PET bottles which now make up 1/3 of 1% of all waste in the USA to add to our landfills. And, since there is no deposit on the bottles, we are not inclined to stoop over and pick them up wherever we see them, and we see them everywhere.

 

The bottled water industry is huge. Just transporting the bottles from the bottling plants to the stores where we buy it is massive. The weekly convoy is equivalent to 37,800 18-wheelers delivering the water. Water weighs about 8 pounds a gallon. Remember when we learned as kids, "a pint is a pound the world around." Water is so heavy that you can't fill an 18-wheeler with bottled water. You have to leave empty space in each truck or the tires wouldn't be able to carry the full load. One could conclude that the same is true for all bottled beverages.

 

In answer to our question of how much bottled water Americans consume annually, we have learned that annual sales in our county will be about $16 billion this year, that we consume about 30 billion bottles of water a year and that the average American consumes about 21 gallons of bottled water per year.  Love bottled water or hate it, there is little question that it is here (and everywhere) to stay. Are you a bottled water consumer?

 

 

 

 

 

Did you ever wonder about the history of The Golden Gate Bridge?

 

            By David McClelland

 

            I've done the research and here's the scoop. The real "Golden Gate" is the strait that the Bridge spans. The strait was named by Captain John C. Fremont in 1846. 

 

            The Golden Gate Bridge, which spans the strait and connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco peninsula to Marin County, was first proposed in 1919 and several engineers and experienced bridge builders were invited to submit proposals for the construction of such a bridge. One was Joseph Strauss, who had a company in Chicago for building relatively short-span drawbridges. His company had completed construction of 400 such bridges, but he had never designed or worked on a long-span bridge. Nevertheless, his proposal was adjudged to be the best of those submitted and he was appointed Chief Engineer for the Bridge that same year. The name of the Bridge became official in 1923 with the passage of The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act. It took 14 years to get the project off the ground and to raise the money for construction, which began in 1933. The Bridge was completed in four years in 1937 at a cost of $35 million and $1.3 million under budget. In today's dollars, that cost would be $539,872,500. The Bridge is painted orange vermillion and the color is officially called International Orange.

 

            As we now know, the Bridge design was of a steel, two tower, suspension bridge. The weight of the roadway (U.S. Route 101 and California Route 1) is hung from two cables that pass through the two towers, each 746 feet high, and are fixed in concrete on each shore. Each cable has 25,572 strands of wire. There are 80,000 miles of wire in the two cables. The bottom of the Bridge is 220 feet above the water to permit ships to pass under it. Its length is 1.7 miles and it weighs 887,000 tons. By the year 2000, 41 million vehicles a year (118,000 commuters a day) were traveling across the Golden Gate Bridge where the speed limit is 45 miles per hour.

 

            During the four years of Bridge construction, eleven workers were killed even though Strauss had attached a net below the Bridge that is credited with saving the lives of 19 others who also fell. More than 1,200 people have committed suicide since 1937 by jumping from the Bridge's roadway, which is 245 feet above the water. Even now, an average of one person jumps to his or her death from the Bridge every two weeks or about 52 persons each year. The Golden Gate Bridge has the highest suicide rate of any bridge in the world.

 

Why do so many seek to end their lives from the Bridge? One reason is that it is so inviting to those who are suicidal. The rail along the pedestrian walkway is only 4 feet high. There have been many attempts since to change the height of the railing, but each has failed when arguments about aesthetics, bridge structure and money came into play. Nevertheless, it is obvious that a suicide barrier is badly needed and should of the highest priority!

 

            As of the turn of the century, 18 iron workers and 40 painters were working full-time to maintain the Bridge. The last time that I crossed the Bridge, I could see some of the painters doing their job to assure that the Bridge remains in top condition and looks nearly new. It is most enjoyable to cross the Bridge and to see its splendor and the beautiful view of the Bay. If you get the chance to see and cross The Golden Gate Bridge, I think that you will agree that it is a splendid achievement. I hope that you will also agree that they have to do whatever it takes to prevent more suicides from the Bridge.

 

            

Did you ever wonder how the blind learn to read and write?

 

            By David McClelland

 

            We all know that blind people may learn to read using the Braille alphabet. But, did you know that Louis Braille, a blind 15 year-old boy, invented this type of printing in 1829. He devised a form of language using raised dots on paper. The dots were arranged in domino-like combinations to form characters to correspond to the letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks and short common words.

 

            Braille uses a "touch-read" alphabet that one reads by running the tips of one or two fingers over embossed text. More than 100 years after this language was first published, it was adopted as the standard language for the blind in 1932 in the English speaking world. It has since been improved upon by adding frequently used short words or letter combinations such as "ing", "ment" and "ow", making it easier to read and write.

 

            You may ask how the Braille paper is produced such that a blind person can use it to write too. An excellant question. It can be hand written using a stylus to press out the dot characters onto a sheet of paper clamped into a metal frame. The writer works on the back of the sheet going from right to left so that when the paper is turned over, the dots are raised and read from left to right in the normal way.

 

            Today, computers are commonly used to print out Braille on special printers on special paper such that the dots on each side do not conflict. Braille, it appears, is more easily learned by those who are born blind or who become blind at an early age. It may be more difficult for those who become blind as adults to learn Braille. Many who become blind as Adults rely more upon recorded books.

 

I can identify with that as I have tried just to distinguish between one Braille letter or number and another on the wall beside the elevators of hospitals (when I already know what they say) and find that my fingers are just not sensitive enough for me to do so. Have you tried to read Braille? If not, you should make the attempt just to learn how difficult it is to accomplish.

 

Music can also be transcribed into Braille by the use of computers.            Not being musically talented, I can't even imagine the difficulty for a blind person to learn to read and play music transcribed into Braille. We should thank God every day for our sight, remember that we are down to our last pair of eyes and always strive to protect them.

I am now even more likely to be supportive of organizations that assist the blind.

Did you ever wonder about the history of the Eiffel Tower?

By David McClelland

We visited Paris in May as part of a two-week European vacation. We spent two days in Paris and visited the Eiffel Tower. We took an elevator to the second level. Even from that height (115 meters or 374 feet), we had a great view of Paris and surroundings.

How did the tower come to be built and when? It was created for the 1889 Centennial Exposition in Paris. The organizers held a competition for the central tower and there were three winners. Gustave Eiffel, a 53 year-old, French, civil engineer, was one winner and he was selected to build his design. The other two winners were commissioned to build other major buildings of the Exposition. The tower was actually designed by two of Eiffel's employees, Emile Nouguier and Maruice Koechlin, but Eiffel bought them out and enlisted the aid of architect, Stephen Sauvestre, to improve the visual effect of his design.

The tower was built amid a chorus of controversy and was intended to be a temporary exhibit. At 984 feet, it was the tallest building in the world for over 40 years until it was topped by the Chrysler building in New York in 1930 at 1,046 ft and 77 stories.

The Eiffel Tower was constructed of mass-produced, prefabricated iron parts and its total weight is 10,000 tons. The dimension at its base is 125 meters square or 406 square feet. There are 1,665 steps from the ground to the top, but the steps above the second level are closed to the public. The Tower was built in just over two years at a cost of 8 million francs, which was about $1.5 million US dollars in 1889. That would be about $34 million today. It took only 300 workers to complete construction. Due to the many safety precautions taken, there was but one fatality. The contractor used what was then a recent technology by installing an elevator (invented in 1853 by Elisha Otis as a freight elevator) which allowed visitors to ride up in a glass cage to see the magnificent view of Paris and about 42miles in every direction on a clear day. The Tower is repainted every 6-7 years with 10 tons of primer and 50 tons of paint. It has to be completely cleaned first. The painting is still done by hand by 25 painters with brushers and rollers. Paint guns are not allowed.

Today, the Eiffel Tower is a world icon and is a "must see" when one visits Paris. Try to visit it at least once at night where, every hour on the hour, diamond sparkling lights are displayed for five minutes from dusk until 2 a.m. It resembles a humongous fireworks display and is magnificent. The five minute display is brief, but very much worth the evening visit. I hope that I have wetted your appetite for the Eiffel Tower.