Charlie Hamilton

"For four decades, an English professor at San Jose State University has run a fiction contest for a single opening sentence to "the worst of all possible novels." He has decided to retire the contest."
chas.us/blog/still-d...

"The Earth is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space. We do not realize what we have on Earth until we leave it. Earth is a spaceship. We must learn to manage the resources of this world with new imagination."
Jim Lovell, 1929-2025
We've lost another of the few people with that perspective.

Join us next Saturday, August 9, at noon!

All Aboard Washington will be having our annual picnic in Lacey!

We need to get an accurate count, so please register online for the event at www.aawa.us/events/aawa-... no later than Monday, August 4, at 9 pm PT.

Trump Policies Will Cost The U.S. Up To $29 Billion In Tourism Halfway through 2025, the U.S. stands out as the world’s biggest loser in an otherwise thriving global tourism economy.

Trump Policies Will Cost The U.S. Up To $29 Billion In Tourism

ht: @comstockb.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/suzann...

Despite the news from DC this week, our work in the Greater Northwest continues. We had great crowds at our Train Trek presentations in South Dakota allaboardnw.org/blog/south-d... and good discussions about restoring SEA-CHI service aawa.us/news/posts/b...

Despite the news from DC this week, our work in the Greater Northwest continues. We had great crowds at our Train Trek presentations in South Dakota allaboardnw.org/blog/south-d... and good discussions about restoring SEA-CHI service aawa.us/news/posts/b...

“Fund the 15!” Building Out a True National Network The American passenger rail renaissance is well-under way! Sold out trains, highly successful new services, and (justifiable) frustration about high ticket prices because of it: This is only the begin...

“Fund the 15!” Building Out a True National Network
www.railwayage.com/passenger/in...

Prices like this might make a slight dent in car dependence. But manufacture of other modes, from airplanes to trains to bikes to buses, is just as international. Horses, anyone?

Still booting after all these years: The people stuck using ancient Windows computers As technology marches on, some people get trapped using decades-old software and devices. Here's a look inside the strange, stubborn world of obsolete Windows machines.

"The trains in San Francisco's Muni Metro light railway…won't start up in the morning until someone sticks a floppy disk into the computer that loads DOS software on the railway's Automatic Train Control System." www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Opinion | As Europe Speeds By on Rail, America Is Stuck in Traffic (Gift Article) As Europe embraces the night train, the United States seems to be sleepwalking into a transport dead end.

"The United States seems to be sleepwalking into a transport dead end, slashing funding for public infrastructure and firing transit workers…. America may be heading inexorably toward a binary choice: fast, exclusive and environmentally ruinous or slow, tortuous and run-down." arr.as/stuck

Car Harms Monday: 'Car Brain' is the Demon Spawn of Car Dependency - Streetsblog New York City Our policies, our budgets and our cultural narratives assume everyone can and does drive. That's car brain.

"Between light rail and the bus, you can pretty much get anywhere in the city and the surrounding suburbs..And yet driving is still so much faster, so much more convenient, that it’s very rare for families with kids who can afford a car not to drive where they need to go for transportation."

Several conferences relocate north of the border as Canadians refuse to travel to the U.S. | CBC News CBC News has identified several North American-based organizations that have relocated upcoming conferences, either partially or fully, from the U.S. to Canada. Conference organizers said travel conce...

Meanwhile, international business conferences are being canceled because Canadians won't come to the US. www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

@nyc5265.bsky.social Great to see your quote.

So, does the new pope like Chicago pizza or Italian pizza?

Trump admin plans to shutter money-saving Energy Star program | TechCrunch According to reports, the Trump administration plans to shutter money-saving Energy Star program.

Recognize that yellow label? Sometime during the Carter administration, I did the paperwork for creating those when I worked for US DOE. techcrunch.com/2025/05/07/t...

Is U.S. Transportation Policy Ready For The 'Silver Tsunami'? — Streetsblog USA America's car-dependent communities aren't prepared for the rising proportion of seniors who can't safely drive.

Is U.S. Transportation Policy Ready For The ‘Silver Tsunami’? usa.streetsblog.org/2025/05/07/i...

Return of the Barnes Dance Cities across the U.S. are once again installing a formerly-common intersection treatment: the “Barnes Dance” or pedestrian scramble, which allows pedestrian movements in all directions simultaneously...

Whee! Redmond is getting a Barnes dance! www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/... A what?
ssti.us/2017/06/05/r...

YouTube video by Shelly Brisbin Cheryl Wheeler: Spring and Cinco de Mayo in Mingo Ohio

Thank you, cousin Cheryl! www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ICC...

AAWA board members at table.

The AAWA board met over the weekend to plan upcoming advocacy and social events. Stay tuned for more! And thanks, Harvey, for hosting us.

200 WA attorneys retake oath to uphold the Constitution In a powerful display of solidarity, more than 200 local attorneys raised their right hands and repeated the oath they took years or decades ago.

"More than 200 local attorneys raised their right hands Thursday at the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle and repeated in unison the oath they took years or decades ago when they first joined the Washington State Bar Association." www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Oregon legislature passes bill seeking to strengthen regional rail planning - Trains SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s legislature has passed a bill seeking to expand the state’s collaboration with Washington state and other entities to improve passenger and freight rail operations in the Cascad...

Oregon legislature passes bill seeking to strengthen regional rail planning
www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...

No matter what we hear sometimes, this country is still filled with good and caring people. Happy Easter.

NOAA scientists are cleaning bathrooms in Seattle Conditions are deteriorating at Montlake, where contracts for hazardous waste disposal, janitorial services, IT and building maintenance were all halted.

"Scientists responsible for monitoring the health of West Coast fisheries are cleaning office bathrooms and reconsidering critical experiments after the Dept of Commerce failed to renew their lab’s contracts for hazardous waste disposal, janitorial services, IT and building maintenance." arr.as/noaa

‘America the Beautiful’ A Reason To Smile

"Ray Charles’ rendition of the ballad is iconic, and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his recording, a new video was released that truly captures both the grandeur and the humility of America." steady.substack.com/p/america-th...

Am I the only one who finds these images, that seem to be all over LinkedIn, off-putting and downright creepy? I don't know the person pictured, and I'm not even going to try to do an alt text.

I represented AANW with this testimony. They ran out of time, so you won't see me on the recording.

@meryl.bsky.social

Washington State Library loses $3.9 million in federal funding, impacting several libraries statewide The federal funding cut represented about one-third of the state library's annual budget of $12 million.

My first tech job was at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library, building assistive technology even before the web. It completely changed the direction of my career. How do you put a value on that, both for me and for the library clients with disabilities that I served? (arr.as/wtbbl)

Billionaires are turning on Trump | CNN Business Wealthy business leaders are turning on US President Donald Trump over his plan to impose a colossal set of tariffs on America’s trading partners as losses mount on stock markets around the world.

"Wealthy business leaders are turning on US President Donald Trump over his plan to impose a colossal set of tariffs on America’s trading partners, as losses mount on stock markets around the world." www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/b...

Bluesky’s Quest to Build Nontoxic Social Media X and Facebook are governed by the policies of mercurial billionaires. Bluesky’s C.E.O., Jay Graber, says that she wants to give power back to the user.

Bluesky’s Quest to Build Nontoxic Social Media
X and Facebook are governed by the policies of mercurial billionaires. Bluesky’s C.E.O., Jay Graber, says that she wants to give power back to the user. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...