Secretary Clinton - Greatest American

I'm currently watching Hillary's welcome remarks at the State Department ... it makes her campaign rallies look tame. Her hair is amazing, the crowds are growing wild, and she looks absolutely stunning. Very exciting to see her passion behind everything from national security to development. Obama and Biden came to State yesterday to show their support - I'm so excited to see how things go!!

One of my fav lines: "There is nothing I welcome more than a good debate!" .... ohhh how I miss those

Ahhhhh ::swoon:

Streetcars in DC: The Solution

Via the transport politic, here, Bombardier introduced their PRIMOVE streetcar system. This system is catenary-free, meaning there are no overhead wires. There are systems currently in place - such as third rails, but that makes it impossible for them to be actual streetcars - due to dangers associated with that. Apparently Alstom, a Bombardier competitor, has a system with a buried-ish third rail that only supplies power when a train is directly overhead - which is the best technology in place for cities that don't want overhead wires.

Anyway ... to talk about PRIMOVE, it is basically a buried wire that has some kind of electromagnetic field running through it. The streetcar then has a device that converts the field into electricity which can run the car. Aka, no wires or visible third rail is necessary.

This is perfect for any city which does not want streetcars due to overhead wires, but especially good for DC. By an act of Congress (and for obvious historical reasons), overhead wires are prohibited throughout the District. Thank you Bombardier :)

The Bombardier press release is here.

Good Morning

Two quick things:

1. Metro!  Metro smashed it's previous rail ridership record, recording about 1.12 million trips on Inauguration Day.  I say about because at several station they locked faregates in the open position to allow for easier movement.  Adding in the 423,000 bus trips and 1,721 MetroAccess trips, Metro carried approximately 1.54 million people.  YAY Metro!  Press Release, here.

2. Oscar nominations are out this morning - you can view them here.  Neither the Dark Knight, nor WALL-E made it into the Best Picture category, which I found strange - but Slumdog Millionaire did.  WALL-E will definitely win Best Animated Feature Film, but still, I think its a contender for Best Picture.

My picks, for the ones which I know:

Best Actor: Sean Penn (Milk) ... maybe Brad Pitt (Benjamin Button)

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (Dark Knight)

Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Doubt)

Best Animated Feature: WALL-E

Cinematography: Slumbdog Millionaire

Directing: This category is full of tough choices, all are deserving

Music (Score): Slumdog Millionaire or WALL-E

Music (Song): Jai-Ho (Slumdog), or O Saya (Slumdog)

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire, though Milk is definitely very deserving.

Writing (Adapted): Slumdog Millionaire

Writing (Original): Milk, or maybe WALL-E

A Writer on TV

I hope all the Americans had fun at their various Balls last night.  I do have a side note though, Our Connectiquette Ave Idiot  Guest Blogger was shown on TV yesterday. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/28692985#28754940

go to 53 seconds in and you will see his handsome face, notice the beard!

Also note, Thanks to Barack Obama, with a Mix of England's Economy Dying Stated here by the Telegraph.co.uk; the pound to dollar ratio has dropped to 1 pound for every 1.38 dollars. Which is down from its 1:2 ratio earlier in the summer.

Well i will continue to drink Study Abroad, and Continue to be a Proud American. Congrats Barack Obama