On or around Aug. 30, Sound Transit should have new light rail stations at Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood. So far, I haven’t once been to either the Roosevelt or Northgate stations. I haven’t been to the Angle Lake Station. Is there really an Angle Lake Station? I wouldn’t know. It could be a hoax.
Though I haven’t been to those places and probably never will, I like the idea that I could.
The reason I haven’t taken the light rail to Northgate is that the last time I took a bus there, I couldn’t find any stores I wanted to see. I’ve heard that since then the mall has eaten itself. There are basketballs somewhere, but I can’t eat basketballs.
I can’t remember ever having walked anywhere inside Mountlake Terrace. I probably drove through it in my cab-driving days in the 1980s, but I have no recollection of it. All I remember is one minute being in Bothell and then at Highway 99. Tukwila stands out better, probably because of that one speeding ticket.
I worked at Shoreline Community College for one year, so I recall that, but the only memory I have of Lynnwood apart from the college is a duck pond and a lot of real estate that looks like Rainier Valley — especially all the nail shops. Except Rainier Valley is closer.
Meanwhile, in a story I first suspected of being an April Fool’s Day joke, the “dean of world politics” at Moscow State U has said Russia can go ahead and capture the state of Hawai‘i, because NATO wouldn’t do anything. Hawai‘i is not covered by NATO’s protection. It’s too far from the Atlantic.
Well, so is Alaska, I’d think. And neither one of them were states when NATO was formed, right? I’m guessing. I’m not a dean of world politics.
There’s something quaint about the idea of the Russians sending off ships to invade and steal Hawai‘i from us, given the outcome of World War II and all. Because without our NATO allies backing us up, what could we do?
The guy in question, Andret Sidorov, sounds every bit as bright as Trump, who wanted Denmark to sell Greenland to us and removed his eye protection for that 2017 eclipse. Of course if Trump wins the 2024 election, Hawai‘i may not need to be invaded by Russia; Trump might let his buddy Putin have it in return for claiming Obama as a favorite son.
In space news, the White House Office of Technology and Policy, which I never before heard of, has asked NASA to come up with Lunar Coordinated Time (LTC) to correspond to Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) like we have on Earth. Note that the correspondence includes switching the C and T on account of LTC being named in a non-English language, like its Earthly counterpart.
I’m hoping the moon gets four time zones: one for each phase.
The project will supposedly depend on strewing atomic clocks around the surface. They’ll be linked by an internet grid on the moon and synced with lunar satellites, and it will all happen before China gets a chance to put men on the moon and botch the plans with its own system.
The article I read came from NBC News and said that LTC will be faster than UTC by over 58 microseconds per earth day. But I don’t trust NBC News to do general relativistic math, so I’m suspending faith in that assessment. I’ll wait until I see the formulas.
I can’t wait until I can tell people what time it “really” is on the moon. That’s nerd heaven. “Well, actually, *sniff,* it’s LTC 3.97, because, you know, LTC is decimal. It’s LTC 0.03 before full. Don’t thank me all at once.”
Eventually NASA will be charged with setting up standard times everywhere in the solar system, because who else would do it? Mars will get time zones and an MTC.
Online, I like to show off that I know what time zones are all about, because I studied math at one time in college. It scares me how many people are in awe of that. Did you know you can’t really go back in time by flying west? It’s true. “Superman” and “Star Trek” are wrong.
Dr. Wes is the Real Change Circulation Specialist, but, in addition to his skills with a spreadsheet, he writes this weekly column about whatever recent going-ons caught his attention. Dr. Wes has contributed to the paper since 1994. Curious about his process or have a response to one of his columns? Connect with him at [email protected].
Read more of the April 10–16, 2024 issue.