Losing Our Relegion?

I was just reading this great commentary by Leonard Pitts on the decline of religious affiliation in America. I think he has a very interesting and relevant point of view:

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Losing our faith
Religion seems to be driving Americans away from God
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Where are the Maglev Elevators?

Magnetic Lift Elevators.

The potential of the technology is Fantastic! It means that even very tall buildings could function with only two elevator shafts - one for up and one for down - and an elevator cab could be waiting at every level ready to take on passengers. No more long lines waiting for the only elevator cab to come back down the same shaft. More like a train, one elevator cab starts up and the next one comes along a few seconds later and follows the first.

Unfortunately - I havn't been able to find any updates since the following story appeared in the associated press on January 17, 2006:

Magnetic Elevators To Debut In 2008
Floating In Midair, Similar To Maglev High Speed Trains

(AP) The world's first elevators controlled by magnetic levitation will debut as early as 2008, a Tokyo-based company said Tuesday.

Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. will employ so-called maglev technology — capable of suspending objects in midair through the combination of magnetic attraction and repulsion to control the lifts, it said in a statement.

The maglev elevators will be quieter and more comfortable and will travel 984 feet per minute — not as fast as the company's conventional lifts that can move up to 3,314 feet a minute, Toshiba said.

Maglev technology has already been used to develop high-speed trains. The only passenger-carrying maglev train in the world links Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, to the city center at speeds of 267 miles per hour.

A maglev shuttle in Birmingham, England, was abandoned in 1995 after 11 years in operation because of technical glitches.

I am hoping they don't go the way of the flying cars we were promised in the 1950's - they were supposed to arrive by 1984!

"Mill Valley - by Rita Abrams

Wow - YouTube really does have everything.. this is a video of the song "Mill Valley."

In 1969-1970, Rita Abrams, my kindergarten teacher at Strawberry Point School, wrote this song for the class to sing with her.

Eventually, the song was recorded by Rita and the then-third grade class of Strawberry Point School. It became a nationwide hit.

During the Mill Valley 4th of July celebration that year, Miss Abrams and the class performed, and a camera crew from Warner Bros. captured the event. The film was directed by, then unknown, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

Star Trek is back in the news:

Shatner Opens Star Trek: The Tour

Leslie Peek's Team In Training Page

My cousin Leslie has joined Team in Training to train for the Nike Women's Marathon in October.

Did you know that leukemia is the number one disease-killer of children under 15 and lymphoma is the leading killer of men and women under 35?

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is the world's largest voluntary health
organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education, and
patient services. The Society's mission: cure leukemia, lymphoma, and
myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Please help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. Visit Leslie's website and make a small donation:

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/tntgsfLPeek

Legal Glossary

I have started playing around with putting together a web site of
interesting legal articles and comments about the practice of law. I did one page for a class project a while ago, it is here:

http://www.islandoflosttoys.com/LawPracticeTechnology.htm

Now that law school is over I'm in the process of expanding that one page into an entire site. Actually the whole site will be a continuing work in progress, however the first version is now online. At this time it only contains a Construction Law Glossary of Terms and a bunch of space for more articles that I will add when I can.

http://www.islandoflosttoys.com/law/glossary/

Maserati 3500 GT

One of the little pleasures of living in San Francisco is seeing some really great cars on the road. This morning on my way to work I was passed by a beautiful 1961 Maserati 3500 GT, like the one in the picture below:


I was thinking that so many of the cars produced today look basically the same as most of the other cars produced today. There seems to be very little creativity and originality in the body styles dreamed up by today's car designers. The 3500 GT is over 40 years old and looks stylish and new! This is brilliant design ahead of it's time.

Perhaps the auto industry could take a lesson from the film industry and start revisiting the old classics to come up with a better variety.

Tip to GM & Ford - if you don't want to go bankrupt, why don't you start producing beautiful cars that folks actually want.

The Long Wait Begins

Yesterday, I finished the third and final day of the California Bar Exam. Now begins the long wait until results are posted November 16.

It's been a long summer of studying and I am looking forward actually reading for pleasure again. First - some sleep - and then - the new Harry Potter book.

Hopefully, within a week or two I'll be feeling back to normal.