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Oh jeez there's a name I haven't heard since my days at the Caravan...

That's one of those names that even if you ask people that played hockey with him and his brother or knew them back inthe late 60's to the mid 70's you get that exact same reaction. Last time I mentioned his name to my oldest brother a couple of years ago he said "Is he dead yet?"

I just remember reading about the issues he had there in late 00's and just wondered if there was still some leftover bad mojo from his business there.

'The Postal Service is putting an early step in its network modernization plan on hold, after a bipartisan group of senators told the agency to slow down implementation.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) in a letter last week that USPS will pause the movement of mail processing operations at facilities across the country.'

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2024/05/dejoy-agrees-to-pause-some-usps-facility-changes-until-2025/

https://fortune.com/2024/04/10/usps-dejoy-price-hikes-customer-dissatisfaction/

That's been a problem with businesses in the USA for quite a while.  My dad always blamed the Harvard Business School.  I have no proof either way.

Well - to be fair, there's a little bit of nuance here.

Individual public utilities DO plan for the future. They all file 10-year Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) that lay out their estimates for electricity demand in their area and how they plan to supply it (fuel mix) as well as their maintenance plans, expansion plans, etc.

What they are talking about here are high voltage long-range transmission lines that interconnect between individual utilities within a given grid (e.g. PJM or SPP) or how the grids interconnect.

There is less long-term planning on those because it's a lot more complicated, in terms who is footing the bill for it since it may have asymmetrical benefits to individual utilities.

So this new initiative is a good thing because the ability to quickly import and export power from utility to utility or grid to grid is going to be more and more important as more renewables are added and also behind-the-meter solar, which will change grid loads substantially over the next 10-15 years.

There are better high-voltage line replacement options too.  This allows improvements upwards of 40% without impacting the existing towers and easements.  There are better use monitoring devices available now that also allow for increased throughput.  FERC recently recognized those items as well.

So, how are Burn Co, Andolini's, Melting Pot, and Los Cabos doing amidst the issues with Le Belle and GolfSuites? Were they there when the Muscogee and OneFire took ownership?

Maybe it's a Steve Kitchell curse. 

Oh jeez there's a name I haven't heard since my days at the Caravan...

A big reason for the slow pace of grid expansion is that operators rarely plan for the long term, the commission said.

That's been a problem with businesses in the USA for quite a while.  My dad always blamed the Harvard Business School.  I have no proof either way.

Maximize the 5 year plan (think USSR?) and don't worry if there is no business in 5-1/2 years.  Take the money and run.....

A new rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate electricity transmission, is the most significant attempt in years to upgrade and expand the country’s creaking electricity network. Experts have warned that there aren’t nearly enough high-voltage power lines being built today, putting the country at greater risk of blackouts from extreme weather while making it harder to shift to renewable sources of energy and cope with rising electricity demand.

A big reason for the slow pace of grid expansion is that operators rarely plan for the long term, the commission said.
A 2011 attempt by the commission to encourage transmission planning largely faltered, in part because many utilities were opposed to new long-distance lines that might undercut their monopolies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/climate/electric-grid-overhaul-ferc.html


The Federal Power Act authorizes the Secretary of Energy to designate any geographic area as a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) if the Secretary finds that consumers are harmed by a lack of transmission in the area and that the development of new transmission would advance important national interests in that area, such as increased reliability and reduced consumer costs.




Based on preliminary findings, transmission development in potential Delta-Plains NIETC could…
Maintain and improve reliability and resilience. Potential electricity shortfalls leave the regions vulnerable during extreme weather.
Alleviate congestion. Congestion in the area prevents cost-effective generation from being delivered to where it is needed, when it is needed.
Meet future generation and demand growth. There is a significant need for additional transfer capacity between the Delta and Plains regions to meet various future power sector scenarios. Analysis finds a 414% increase is needed by 2035 under moderate load and high clean energy growth scenarios.
Increase clean energy integration. Increased access to more diverse, clean energy generation is necessary to lower power sector greenhouse gas emissions.
https://www.energy.gov/gdo/national-interest-electric-transmission-corridor-designation-process

The echo is from the concrete benches. They’re leaving these in place. Not tocuhcing them, not putting anything between them and the center of the circle. Intuitively, it should not change the echo if you don’t put anything between you and the echo. Empirically, sound engineers said it will work.
I don’t know what else to tell you. It is falling apart. They have to fix it. The plan is sound. (Hehe)

Empirically, introducing an absorptive or reflective surface, like the "Signature Shade Structure" could have the effect of unbalancing the noise-canceling phenomena.  Think common-mode cancellation where a signal of equal amplitude but opposite phase is used to flatten a waveform, and then change one of the parameters and it breaks down.  Im really hoping a sound engineer took that into account, because the bridge does need repair and doing nothing could b just as bad if not worse.

Im not concerned about the needed repair, its the addition of cosmetic frills that worries me.

Same. It's like it sounds a little funky, but I can't really explain it, and it certainly wasn't what is always described in articles. Always felt more like an urban legend based on my experiences.

From Atlas Obscura:

As the legend goes, a foghorn could be going off in the center of the circle and those on the outside wouldn’t hear it. This may be an exaggeration, but your voice does sound extremely distorted when heard from outside the circle. It’s an incredible effect.

Like the Lake George Mystery Spot—another acoustical vortex that seems to defy the laws of physics—the effect is thought to be caused by the sound reflecting off a circular wall, in this case a nearby planter. Still, though many people have studied the cause of the odd anomaly there’s no clear consensus. Whatever the causes of this natural sonic distortion may be, it is truly an amazing place.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-center-of-the-universe-tulsa-oklahoma

I had to look it up because I couldn't remember when this came a thing. It was after the bridge was repaired from a fire that it became "center of the universe" as the point between North Tulsa and South Tulsa, and then the cloud was around the time they moved Mayfest to that area.

I'm jealous that you guys are able to hear anything spooky at all. I've never felt like it has been anything that special acoustically. I've tried it like 5 times and I always just feel like somebody is playing a trick on me.

Same. It's like it sounds a little funky, but I can't really explain it, and it certainly wasn't what is always described in articles. Always felt more like an urban legend based on my experiences.