Where the Rail Would Run
Austin Downtown (convention center) to Austin Airport – 8 miles (10 minutes max?)
Austin Airport to San Antonio Airport – 76 miles (54 minutes)
San Antonio Airport to Downtown – 10 miles (maybe 12 minutes?)
(San Marcos would undoubtedly lobby for a stop midway, which should probably be anticipated for potential addition)

The Value This Would Bring
Let’s just think about the value of those three legs. Visitors to Austin and San Antonio, both of which have a thriving convention and event tourism trade, would be able to make the trip from airport to downtown and back in 10-12 minutes without a taxi (almost nonexistent in either city) or renting a car. That alone would make this rail extremely interesting to both cities. The huge benefit though is from connecting the airports. 54 minutes between airports essentially allows AUS/SAT to ACT AS A SINGLE HUB AIRPORT. Who hasn’t spent 45 minutes trying to get from one gate to a distant other in DFW or JFK or any other large airport? Now both airports offer a much stronger case for flight and routes. For tourism, now visitors get a Texas Two-Pack combining the attractions of both cities. Have business in the other city? Hop on the train and get dropped off downtown, or at the airport where you can easily hop into a rental car. Both cities also help reinforce the value for businesses of being in downtown in each city. Finally, the state benefits from reduced traffic along the perennially busy I35 corridor. Yes, given the size of investment, it undoubtedly takes a 10 to 20 year view to envision payback, but if done reasonably well, would there be any doubt to the ultimate value?

So how do we find the space for the rail?
Now, I know nothing about the actual options for high-speed rail. But, I know that between places like Europe and Japan, there are many advanced options available. In the case of this rail route, pretty much all of it would be along major highways or roads. So why not plan a raised rail that runs above the highway? You wouldn’t have to worry about right of way issues. And you get free marketing to boot everytime the train zips above your head at 100 mph as you sit in stop and go traffic on 35.

First Step for the Texas Triangle
Finally, I think an Austin-San Antonio high-speed rail is the most logical first step, and easiest testing step for what I think we should eventually build — a high-speed train triangle connecting San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Houston. Think about it, a rail system that runs up 35 connecting SA, Austin and Dallas, stopping at each airport and downtown (in Dallas I would probably stop downtown first) would be incredibly valuable. Add in Houston by running down 45 from Dallas and across I10 to San Antonio and you have instantly connected 4 of the top 15 largest cities and economies in the US. Boom. We increase the connection in our city economies, we make Texas more of a cohesive set of cities despite the large distances between cities, and we reduce the massive traffic on our grossly under-built highway system.

So let’s do it Austin and San Antonio. Let’s show the world the beauty, brains and brawn of South Texas!

One of my favorite parts of traveling is making my trip reading list. A little geeky I know, but I love to search out the exact books I want to read and learn from while on my trip. I will literally (no pun intended) spend hours on Amazon and wandering through the aisles at Barnes and Noble to find just the right books for the trip and time. For Holly and my 10 day trip to Alaska, here are the book I chose:

The Post American World by Fareed Zakaria – Looks to be a well-reasoned and centered piece written by Zakaria, a correspondent for Newsweek, on the rise of the developing world and how the US should react. Seems like an important thing to read right now, and I am always interested in international economic development topics.

The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel – The role of journalism has been a growing pet interest of mine for a couple of years now. The news industry is obviously in upheaval these days, but I believe we will see a return to fundamentals as the entire industry reforms itself. I was oddly giddy to find this book.

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future by Cory Doctorow – Obviously founding MindBites has caused me to think a lot about the past, present and future of content. (I for one think we can learn more from looking at the past than reading the futuristic linear extrapolations popular with the tech press) This series of short essays and talks from Cory promises to provide some interesting thoughts across a range of issues.

Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge by Gerald Edelman – Another book I was absolutely ecstatic to discover. Cognitive psychology has also been a pet interest of mine for a while, and also something I think about with MindBites. This book, written by a Nobel Laureate, looks to be thought provoking, visionary, and, a key characteristic for vacation books, relatively short (157p). Can’t wait to dig into that one.

Artic Dreams by Barry Lopez – While my vacation reading materials usually almost exclusively focus on the region I am visiting, for this trip Artic Dreams is my sole non-fiction book about Alaska. It is billed as a National Book Award winner and a classic description of the wilderness across the Artic, which to me is what defines the regions more than anything.

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld – Probably the strangest vacation pick I must admit, but this classic has been recommended addition to my “to read” list for some time. As we redesign the MindBites site as well as start on some, as yet announced, new endeavors, it seemed like a great time to dig into a technology classic. Besides, it has a polar bear on the front.

A Deeper Sleep and A Taint in the Blood by Dana Stabenow – Every vacation needs some good easy “beach reads” as well, but even here I like to choose something interesting. In this case, I used Amazon to find the leading detective writer in Alaska, Dana Stanenow, and chose a couple of her mysteries centered in different parts of Alaska.

Usually my vacation reading lists tend to focus more on the history, economics, writing, and religion of the specific region. In this case however, this vacation is in part to enjoy Alaska, but also in part for my own recovery, revitalization and inspiration. Thus, the weighting toward general reading in areas I’m more broadly interested in.

So will I actually read 8 books in 10 days? No, probably not even close. I’ll read a couple of these all the way through, pieces of others, skim others, and probably won’t crack open one or two. But, for me, having the right books from which to choose and contemplate, makes all the difference in the world.

So that’s my reading list for the next week and a half. I will let you know how it goes.

So this always gets me thinking as to what achievements do truly have lasting impact.  Books arguably are read for much longer than movies are watched.  While there are certainly classic non-fiction books, they invariably get dated to the time of authorship.  Classic fiction however, truly can transcend.  Millions of people still read John Steinbeck, William Shakespeare, and Kurt Vonnegut.  So maybe there’s a vote for classic fiction.

I have recently begun to think, however, that musicians and music may have the most cumulative and lasting impact on humanity.  Whoa, big statement right (and depressing from someone who has no musical ability whatsoever).  Music has the ability to move people every time they hear it.  Who hasn’t had the experience of being in a certain situation and suddenly connecting with a song that they had heard hundreds of times before.  Whether its the soulful voice of Tracey Chapman, the sad ballads of George Jones, or the inspiring symphonies of Beethoven, their works continue to impact me on a weekly basis.  Music also has the advantage of being compact impactful content, so we can hear a wide range of it during a day.  (Interesting that poetry, and short stories, the short form equivalent of fiction, haven’t ever caught on as much as their long-form counterparts).  So if you could add up all of the impact of inspirational music, I think it would show that they lead the pack in terms of human impact.

What makes this depressing though, is that the current state of the music industry does not reward musicians for creating inspirational music.  Artists get paid almost nothing for actually creating the music, and many argue that they should give it away for free and just make money off of concerts.  This is just wrong to me.  Tracy Chapman has moved me with her songs countless times, and even though I do enjoy seeing her in concert when I have the opportunity, it is just wrong not to reward her for creating the music that rewards me.

So what is the answer?  Oh hell, I don’t know.  For one, authors should get a larger percentage of their music.  Two, there should be a system where I pay based on how much I listen.  If I listen to an album once, it shouldn’t cost me the same as one of favorite albums that I play over and over (although it should incrementally go down over time).  Third, there should be some sort of voluntary pay mechanism on top of it.  Maybe it’s to pay to share the music with someone else, maybe its money to a charitable cause selected by the artist, maybe its just a direct payment to the artist?  But when Tracy moves me, I am more than willing to pay, I want to pay her back for what she’s done for me.  Please music industry, save the musicians.

Respond to the conversation, keep it real and raw, and don’t take yourself too seriously. One of the best uses of YouTube marketing I’ve seen. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to hire Tiger Woods to make your viral video. Now if only Smith and Wesson would make an ad starring Leeroy Jenkins, then we’d have an innovative web video ad campaign.

Other than soaking up a bunch of mud, dirt and god knows what else, is there an actual reason as to why it makes any sense that car trunks are carpeted? I mean this is the cargo area of your vehicle, and carpeting it makes as much sense to my pea brain as it does to carpet my garage. Functionally speaking, plastic or rubber would be more useful in my opinion — less wear and tear, easier to clean, better surface for moving stuff.

I was thinking about this as I was trying to load something into my Prius the other day. Now, I did buy a plastic cargo liner from WeatherTech but still the backside of the rear seats are carpeted so when you lay them down a third of your cargo area is carpeted. Now as someone who regularly has their dog riding around in the cargo area, it is highly annoying to have carpet where it is not necessary and actually a hindrance instead of beneficial.

The most ridiculous part is that most SUVs actually have carpeted cargo areas. Um, isn’t the U supposed to stand for “utility?” And for that matter, why are floor mats carpeted? Another inane functional choice that I again have to rectify with after-market products. Now I actually don’t terribly mind modifying my vehicle to my own tastes, and indeed I believe we are in the early stages of a Mod movement of modifying products and open design in general. But c’mon, some things are just plain dumb design, and imho carpeted trunks are a prime example.

The problem is where else to turn?  Unfortuantely, every major tv news source has succumbed to this cotton candy approach to tv journalism.  Finally, I am trying out MSNBC.  While they are not perfect (they do mention OJ as news) they actually seem to cover reasonably important events as well.

So MSNBC, here’s your shot.  You are my last current hope for television news.  Please help me.

So welcome to my world.  It will actually scare me beyond belief if anyone actually starts reading this, but here we go.