2026.7.31. American 250 at MOHAI

7/31, Friday. Attended this event in conjunction of the exhibition of Freedom Plane national tour at MOHAI, the final stop.

• Original Engraving of the Declaration of Independence, 1823: One of only ~50 known engraved copies of the Declaration of Independence.
• Articles of Association, 1774: Signed by all 53 delegates. The Continental Congress’s first major unified act of resistance against Britain.
• George Washington’s, Alexander Hamilton’s, and Aaron Burr’s Oaths of Allegiance, 1778.
• Treaty of Paris, 1783: Signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay. This Treaty with Great Britain formally recognized the United States as an independent nation.
• Secret Printing of the Constitution in Draft Form, 1787: A rare copy of the U.S. Constitution in draft form, with the delegate’s handwritten notes made during the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
• Tally of Votes Approving the Constitution, 1787.
• Senate Markup of the Bill of Rights, 1789.

The talk/discussion started at 7pm. I didn't quite like it. The exhibition was open for viewing before the talk, which I enjoyed. It's rare to see these original documents, and learn about the US history of independance.

2025.11.15. Tree Tour + Bulger Party

11/15, Saturday. 2:30-4pm. Volunteer Park Trust hosts a tree tour by the local tree expert Arthur Lee Jacobson. I arrived ~5 minutes late, sweating profusing (walked ~50 min, uphill). Surprised to find ~30 people gathered around the black sun sculpture, and Arthur speaking, in the rain. I made a note of these:

• a tall Himalaya Cedar near the black sun.
• a Western Red Cedar cultivar Zebrina (zebra cedar, not a true cedar).
• a Jeffery Pine,
• a very large poplar with unusually gnarly trunk west (below) the tennis court,
• The world's tallest hawthorn (supposed to be a shrub), behind the amphitheatre. I tasted its tiny red seed: no taste. Later, we walked by a hybrid: Carriere Hawthorn: larger berry, and thick leaf.
• picked up a black walnut under the tree, and it was slimy. The outer layer was disintegrating. Arthur said that it's more flavorful than a regular walnut. But the nut is very hard to crack.
• an English Yew, supposed to have sweet fruit (bigger than our native yew).

I was invited to the Bulger party this year by one of the 3 finishers this year. I arrived around 6pm, already a lot of people, and quite some food containers empty. Since I took the bus, brought a party-size Kettle chips and some roasted delicata squash (cold). Saw a whole box of donuts (untouched). Who brought that?! I only know 4 other people here. Apparently the 3 new Bulger finishers don't know each other, nor other bulgers. Many old geezers knew each other.

The presentation started around 7pm. The recount of the Bulger pioneers. Apparently Bulger came from a misheard bludger (an Aussie term for a loafer, who live off other people's work). What to these folks do after they finished the 100: more lists. Example this top 200 just added a few more. A few people were mentioned, including Patty, who's here. She's 83, and still climbs! One started swimming all backcountry lakes. 2 started flying. Some set-backs. The accident this May. They mentioned Tim, who had climbed 99. One 2024 finisher died this year climbing.

Then the 3 newly minted bulger-finishers each gave a speech. Each signed a helmet. Each gets a t-shirt with their number and order of finish. Most of them gave thanks. Mr #103 had this funny slide of his bulger journey. He actually filled the whole slide with punctured remarks.

At the end, all the bulger-finishers present took the stage and had photo taken. Of course, many didn't come. Many who came are like me, not even working on bulger list, including a baby crawling under chairs back and forth: has potential.

2025.10.20, 23, 24. One Ocean week

One Ocean Week in Seattle. I went to 3 events.

10/20, Sound Check at Seattle Aquarium

I first heard of Quiet Sound was a talk at last November's Marine Expo. Was very impressed. It's a voluntary program, encourages and facilitates captains to lower their speed (hence noise) when entering puget sound during winter. It's a small team of 3, and made an impact. This Monday is its annual update, see this PDF.

• Rachel Aronson showed the summation of last 3 years' adoptation, map.
• Sara Adams talked about her master thesis on motivating container ship participation in the Quiet Sound Slowdown.
• Gonzalo Banda-Cruz talked about orca spotting and alert system, from an app for everyone, and the backend, and broadcast.
• Capt. Will Kelly also spoke briefly.

Afterwards, I talked to an employee by the octopus tank. He showed me an octopus beak. I learned that all the arms of a female has sucsion cups, while the male has one arm free to mount the girls.

Then, I walked to the new Ocean Pavilion to see the "habitat". It's quite lovely. Wooden benches in front of the huge tank for you to slow down and enjoy. There're also a few very small windows on the side to showcase certain species.

10/23. Working Waterfront Day

Part 1 - ports and cities authority

• Dan Strauss, Councilmember, City of Seattle
• Marit Warncke, Mayor of Bergen, Norway
• Fred Felleman, Commissioner, Port of Seattle
• Ryan Calkins, Commissioner, Port of Seattle
• Michael Forland, Director, Port of Bergen
• Koji Shirahase, Deputy Director, Port of Kobe
• Kristin Ang, Commissioner, Port of Tacoma

My notes of no particular order

• Seattle
  • Career path for young people. The first maritime highschool's first graduation last year. Maritime certification.
  • City of Seattle funds school district. All other WA cities get funding from the state.
  • Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma plan together, instead of competing. The only competitor is BC, Canada (Vancouver and Prince Rupert, Vancouver has a bridge that prevent largest vessel from entering.)
  • 20% cargo used locally, the rest go to midwest. Some of midwest's cargo also came in through Canada.
  • Shore power, 3 sites. In 2027 only plugged curise ships are allowed into Seattle.
• Tacoma
  • deepen the waterway.
  • Maritime Skills Center, parnered with Tacoma Public Schools.
  • Zero-Emission trucking/cargo handling equipment.
  • US-Korea Green Shipping Corridors Project
  • Partnership with local tribes.
• Bergen
  • 300k population. 1M tourists. 40K studetns. 6k researchers.
  • 60% cruise use shore power (9M kWh), 2026 all cruise ships must use shore power.
  • Mostly passenger (cruise, ferry), some service and cargo. Otherwise, 1500 Liter desel per day per ship.
  • 2018 visible pollution igniteed city council decision: limit of 4 ships and 8000 pax per day, build shore power.
  • Buying land outside of the city, which caused some object of those communities.
• Kobe: filled land in the ocean (Not filling more land.) They are creating some bridge-like crane to access cargo ships. Space to grow kelp in the ports. 2040 vision of the integrated port.

I have trouble understanding the director of Port of Kobe (during the panel discussion, there was a translator). Bergen's port director made an interesting comment: we are picking the cruise industry because they are most visible, which only counts for about 5% traffic. Most are cargo ships and overland lorries (cheaper), which the public is not paying attention to.

Part 2 - >Green Manufacturing and Diversified Workforce

• Kirk Desler, Site Director at Bellingham, Corvus Energy (battery)
• Dan Tucker, Executive Director, Whatcom Working Waterfront Coalition (need more industrial land)
• Jamila Gordan, Principal, Maritime High School (in Des Moines, 120 students -> growing to 400, no grades, no credit. Competency check.) More hispanic, less Asian less girls than KC demographic. Multiple pathway (construction, ocean science, ...)
• Erica Spiritos- Mass Timber Accelerator
• Kyle Rowe- Electric Era
• Daniel Lokic- Sound Industrial Alliance
• Tuuli Snow- Snow and Company Boat Building (100% medical insurance)
• Dr. Alex Parker- Astraeus Ocean Systems
• Savannah Smith- Sea Potential

Part 3 - Argosy Tour of Seattle Waterfront
More people joined the cruise. We walked from Pier 66, and the sailed south along the shore to Harbor Island, and then into Duwamish River. Various short speeches about cargo operations, tribal fishery, community benefit program.
My notes:

• Puget Sound has deep waterway, can host very large container ship (up to 18k TEU. To accommodate THE largest (24K TEU), need to extend the piers further out.
• Port of Seattle's biggest container content is hay, second is potato.
• Our biggest trading partner is import from China, export to Japan (followed by Korea)
• Harbor Island is man-made, over 100 year old.
• Canadian ports don't charge Harbor Maintenance Tax (0.125%), making Prince Rupert the upcoming competitor.
• Many barges and smaller container ships along Duamish waterway. Many from Alaska.
• Port of Seattle/Tacoma is much smaller than LA/Long Beach.
• I was getting sicker and sicker on the cruise. I'm only good on solid ground.
• Native people are allowed to fish in Duamish River.

10/24 Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl

Statsraad Lehmkuhl is on its Seattle visit (10/22-26) during a year-long One Ocean Expedition. The ship is also open for public access on tomorrow (10/23).

This Friday afternoon The Vast and Deep Ocean hosts many talks and demonstration tables and UW student posters, and many short presentations in the dinning room below deck.

It was pouring cats and dogs when I walked to Pier 66. I missed the welcome by the capital, University of Bergen Rector, and some UW officials, as well as the research being done onboard the ship.

• ​2:00 Deep Sea Science
  • ​Maja Jæger, Department of Earth Science, UiB: “Uncovering the mysteries beneath the Arctic Ocean”
  • ​Håvard Stubseid, Researcher, Department of Earth Science, UiB: “Hidden deep-sea landscapes in the Arctic”
  • ​Sissel H Eriksen, Senior Geologist, Norwegian Offshore Directorate: “collaboration between Science and Resource Management”
  • ​Mariela White, OOI and Regional Cabled Array, UW: “Wiring the Ocean: NSF's Ocean Observatories Initiative Regional Cabled Array”
• ​3:00 Ocean Biogeochemistry & Biology
  • ​Jodi Young, Associate Professor, UW School of Oceanography: “Studying the role of microalgae in polar regions”
  • ​Jan Newton, Principal Oceanographer and Professor, UW Applied Physics Lab and Washington Ocean Acidification Center: “Ocean Acidification: A global condition with local effects”
  • ​Anuscheh Nawaz, Principal Research Scientist/Engineer, UW Applied Physics Lab: “Innovation for Scalable Oceanography”

During the breaks, I visited some of the demo tables: air pockets in ice, deep-sea mud. These are set on the deck, under a canvas canopy (raining). Thankfully the rain tapered off gradually. Of course, I walked around the ship. It's a good looking ship. Very tall masks, with fuzy protection on the cord where the sail may strike. It's bowel is composed of 2 sections. The lecture room on one end, and you have to get upstairs, over some (engine?) and down a different set of stairs to the dining area. Big tubes of air vent here and there.

2025.8.16. Fort Nisqually + Westpoint waste water treatment

8/16, Saturday, overcast.

Waited at the Dupont City Hall parking lot for the Seattle History Field Trip meetup, as instructed 10 minutes before the Fort Nisqually tour by Dupont Historical Society at 10am. Another Seattle couple arrived. We all waited until 10am, still no sign of the Seattle group.

Walked on Sequalitchew Creek Trail for a few minutes across Center Drive to the 1843 Fort Nisqually site. There, a table covered by white cloth, laid with archeology magazines, stickers, surrounded by a few people. Carol Estep from Dupont Historical Society is leading the tour. Once a year the Dupont Historical Society opens the original Ft. Nisqually site here for a free guided tour.

What's disappointing is that there's no structure left at all. Just the site. It was moved here 10 years after Hudson's Bay Company builds Fort Nisqually in spring 1833, the first non-native settlement in Puget Sound area. There's a replica of the site with a couple of original buildings in Point Defiance Park. The photo to the right are the tombs found in the site and moved here.

It was Carol's historical photos and stories that made the place alive. She also told us something about the Dupond Company that owns all the surrounding land here. It started as a gun powder making enterprise, and any statics could be a disaster. So nothing metal was allowed, not even your belt.

Had to leave around 11:30 for the afternoon tour at Westpoint Waste Water Treatment Plant at Discovery Park. The closing down of I-5 north in downtown was causing havoc. By the time we arrived, it was almost 1:30! Thankfully the group was still in the classroom. 2 instructors and about 10 random people.

Everyone donned a hard hat, a reflective vest, and safty glasses, then we left the "education center". After going through the "intake" building, which smells quite bad, we went to the control center with many monitoring screens, matricis with historical data. 1 employee on duty. This guy in gray shirt is some kind of supervisor. He answered our questions.

Then we visited the pumps, the sediment tanks (half of those are being clean and reconstructed). Aeration ponds (with ducks), the solid waste room (not inside, only looking through dirty windows).

Last, the new room with battery banks, for emergency. Saw the 3 odor mitigation towers from the parking lot. The solid waste is actually packaged up for fertilizer. They have partnered with some agency to distribute this human waster fertilizer, but not widely available (not for retail).

It is a good tour. It's offered quite a few times every year. Highly recommend it. The main take away is that we can only put 4P (pee, poop, pewk, toilet paper) down to the toilet, nothing else.

2025.7.31. US Navy ship tour

For 4 days (Thur-Sun), public was invited to the ship tour during the fleet-week, at US Coast Guard base at Pier 46. I walked from Bainbridge Island ferry south between 2 fences. It was about a mile south of Bainbridge Ferry. Even after I saw Pier 46 sign, the entrance was still farther south. A very large area.

The coast guard let us sit inside its helicopter. This one is based in North Bend (Coos Bay), OR. Many booths, encourage you to enlist, trying out rifles, ... Not a bad turnout. The tour of each ship needs to wait. They process us by batches. Photos are allowed only on deck.

USS Jack H Lucas, named after Jack H. Lucas, who served in the U.S. Marines at Iwo Jima and survived after jumping on to a grenade. The ship was built in Mississippi, and was commissioned in 2023. Based in San Diego. The ship is 509 feet in length and has a crew of 359 enlisted Sailors, 27 Chief Petty Officers and 41 officers. The USS Jack H. Lucas is the Navy’s first Flight 3 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer.

USS Somerset (Wikipedia), named for Somerset County, in honor of the 40 passengers and crew who gave their lives on United Airlines Flight 93 at 911, whose names are engraved on the ship. The ship is 684 feet in length and has a crew of 699 Sailors. It is an San_Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. 2 helicopters on deck, one is manned by 4 guys, one by 2 (one lady). Many trucks in its bowel, a canon too.

Overall, it was interesting. While I was touring USS Somerset, Blue Angles were performing or practicing. Very loud. We all stopped to watch when they flew over.

2025.7.17. Sea You At the Waterfront

7/17, Thursday. Seattle Aquarium hosts a booth at Pier 62 for Sea You At The Waterfront, quite a few days this summer. I stopped by this Thursday to check out what is it about. 2-3 (very) young employees, showing anyone who's interested to pop in. 2 bottles with different mesh in the water to fetch sample. Squeeze a few drop of that water on a plate to view plankton at a nice compact microscope. Saw many chains of diatons. One jelly fish like little bubble, who moves around. All displayed on the flat screen monitor, which is nice and easy to see, but too dim to show up on my photo. One unexpected obstacle is wind, which blows the water away from the focus area.

This same evening, Glazier's had an open house for the Analog Week. This lady proudly showed up her collection of miniature cameras. One (top left) can take 4 sequential shots. I was surprised to see a large turn out: so many people are still taking film photos.

2025.6.6. Project Day at Seattle University

6/6, Friday afternoon. Annual Project Day of college of science and engineering at Seattle Univ.

2 floors, about 6 classrooms, presentations every hour (3 groups of 15 minute each, with 10 minute break), simutaneously. Maybe 40 presentations. It showcased what the student did in the school year. Some projects are continuation of last year's students. Each project has a poster table staffed by one of the team members, some with models, some with prototypes.

I missed the first hour. Listened to ~9 presentations, talked to a few more: soil quality, ramp design, stock pick app, many AI projects, Amazon Rover, excersise machine... Each project has a sponsor, who has a topic for a team of kids to do. Some sponsors are state government agencies, NGOs, or individuals. A good idea for donations that make direct impact. All quite interesting. The kids are a lot more capable than when I was at that age.

2025.1.23. Arlington Microgrid

1/23, Thursday. Sierra Club organized this tour of the microgrid in Arlington operated and owned by Snohomish PUD. I got a ride from David at Lynnwood lightrail station. Coincidentally, he and wife are going to Jeju in a month, which I visited just 2 months ago.

3 PUD employees, 2 worked at PUD for 17-18 years, 1 a recent hire for this project. This is a small solar installation, no wonder these are called micro-grid. No solar panel on the roof of the visitor center, even though its roof is angled towards the south. Few things I learned:

• recycling aged lithium-ion battery is in the planning, but doesn't yet have good solution.
• more micro-grids like this are being installed.
• currently, electricity price is the same 24/7 for the final user, but cost is different due to usage spikes throughout the day.
• diesel is used for the backup.
• battery tower generates a lot of heat: I saw water dripping constantly from the roof.
• multiple step-downs from the power line to household 120V.

2025.1.22. US-China relation panel at Rainier Club

1/22. Wednesday 5:30pm, Washington State China Relations Council organized this panel of experts:

• David Bachman, Associate Director at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.
• Nelson Dong, Of Counsel in the Seattle office of the Dorsey & Whitney law firm and co-heads its National Security Law Group.
• Tong ZhuChief Commercial & Strategy Officer at the Northwest Seaport Alliance.
• moderator: Kristi Heim

I very much enjoyed the candidness of their discussion. West Coast US relies on China and other east Asia trading partners. One of the risks predicted by Dong during the Q&am;A is the possibility of the current bird flu causing another COVID-like pandemic. Trump's leadership team is not prepared to handle. A disaster could ensuite.
This is my first time in Rainier Club. It has some art deco elements, nicely decorated, but not as oppulent as I expected. Much busier than I expected. A few events going on tonight.

2025.1.11. "How Not To Die" at REI

1/11, Saturday afternoon, Kula Cloth organized this interactive event in partnership with REI, King County Explorer Search and Rescue (KCESAR), Washington Trails Association (WTA), Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC).

We were to choose one of the 3 destinations. We were to study the trail, fill out a Hiker Itinerary Form, pick the gears we'd need. Then, we were told of an accident happened to one of our party. We were separated into 3 different rooms, each with a volunteer from KCESAR, debriefing the real incident happened on these 3 places. Discussion on what we should do, what we shall bring, both for the hikers and the rescuers. Then, we switch to a different destination, and a different real incident.

A girl from NWAC gave a brief talk on avalanche.

Last, REI employees did a "fashion walk". One dressed in proper outdoor clothes, the other dressed in fashionable but wrong materials. 3 sets of the outfit pairs: base layer, mid layer, and outer shell.

There's a give-away in the end, using the hiker itinerary forms we filled. I got a shoe bag from Hoka.

Takeaways:

• bring extra warm clothing + food, prepare for 6+ hours for rescuer to arrive
• always tell someone where you are going
• synthetic puffy is better than down when wet

Kula Cloth had a table printing your own with your image.

2024.11.21. Pacific Marine Expo + Founder's Live

The Pacific Marine Expo is a 2.5 day affair 11/20-22. I only went on Thursday, not very early. My first time ever. Location: the event center of Lumen Field. Is it the same as WaMu Theatre? It's a very large 2 story hall. Lots of vendors, from mechanic tools to digital monitoring system, fishing industry, recreational vessels, government agencies, environment NGOs. There's one company that only showcases their chicken egg (in powder), but they don't sell it there.

I attended a few educational talks, and talked to a few vendors (including the egg seller, yes, it does taste like egg). I liked these.

• Linde's plasma cutting machine, and it cut a steel fish for anyone who wants one.
• Rachel Aronson from Maritime Blue talked about its Quite Sound voluntary program. About 70% vessels going through Puget Sound voluntarily lower their speed during winter season, to reduce underwater sound pollution, when Orcas are around.

No food or drink provided by the expo. There are vendors who sell lunch. However, at 4pm, one company hosted a happy hour with some sliders and beer, and it soon ran out. I'm also surprised to see quite a few groups from Alaska, at least 2 from Bristol Bay.

I left for Founders Live event (6-8pm). 4 founders today:

• news publishing/subscribing database service
• a little AI robot friend
• yet another social network
• EV charging robot

The EV charging robot idea won the popular vote today.

2024.7.29-8.2 Seattle Startup Week

Many events happening during this Seattle Startup Week. I went to 6. Two are very good. The rest are mostly networking events. All provided food, not all with alcoholic drink.

7/31 Wednesday 12:00-2pm. Market Insights and Exit Strategy Preparation.
Fenwick, Moss Adams and MUFG, will lead a panel discussion on the state of the market following a period of historically high valuations and how to prepare your company for a successful acquisition or IPO.

• Gerald Pascual, Marketing Senior Specialist, Technology, Communications, and Life Sciences at Moss Adams
• Cory Brunn, CPA, Director, Transaction Services at Moss Adams
• Amanda Rose, Capital Markets & Public Companies Partner at Fenwick & West

I especially like Amanda. I took these notes (of no particular order)

• 2 years of audited financial before S1 filing, ideally showing consistent growth and path to profitability
• Quarterly buring report, revenue (substantiated with contracts/sales) for better price forecast.
• Financial advisor (investment bank?)
• Tax advisor
• Legal counsel with IP specialty. Existing IP or partnership may hinder your new agreement for exist.

8/1, Thursday 12:00-1pm. Hardware is Harder.

• John Kim, Co-founder- Hubble Network (Growth). His leadership has led to Hubble's launching of two satellites within two years of founding to successfully prove the world's first Bluetooth-to-space connection.
• Kenny Lee, CEO Aigen (Seed), co-founder of Aigen, a start-up on a mission to unlock regenerative agriculture at a planetary scale with a pesticide-free, solar-powered robotics platform.
• Yun Zhang is Co-founder and CEO of Wyze Labs. (Scale). Wyze is focused on consumer Hardware and Software innovations. Over the past 7 years since inception, Wyze builds an install base of 10 million homes and 30 million IoT devices. Wyze’s AI-powered home monitoring service is democratizing AI in physical home spaces on a scale.

I especially like the last 2 founders.

This hardware panel is held at the 17th floor Russell Investment Center at Union + 2nd, hosted by JP Morgan. The conference room is not big, they had to turn away a few people. The 17th floor has an excellent rooftop deck and a large bar area (larger than the conference room).

2024.7.11 Going home + summary

7/11, Thursday. Excellent buffet breakfast at the hotel (better than the SAS lounge). Called a taxi to the aiport using Bolt app. There's a Vy bus that runs every 30 minutes for 80 NOK. Flying British Airway this time. They are terrible, at least at Oslo airport: no one at check-in counter to take your bags 1.5 hours before flight. You wait in the crowded hallway OUTSIDE of the empty waiting room at the gate. They do give you meals and free beer on board. I wasn't able to sleep on the plane, despite of taking some melatonin. Watched many movies. It took me over 10 days to get over the jet lag.

Summary

• Cruise is maybe the only efficient way to visit Svalbard. However, I felt like a bird in cage. This is probably my last cruise until I turn 80, or accompany someone of 80.
• This is an excellent trip to go with your elderly parents: as long as you can walk 20 stairs (on the gangway between the ship and the zodiac), relaxing, good food, beautiful scenary.
• Compared with Antarctica: Svalbard (and maybe Arctic in general) has less wild animals, but more flowers, more green. The west side of Svalbard is quite warm due to ocean current from the south. More restrictive unless you carry guns due to polar bear.
• Too touristy: with no-visa requirement, anyone can visit Svalbard. The reservation system on the archipelago is good, so once you are out of the settlements, it doesn't feel touristy.
• My favorites:
  • Hornsund in Spitsbergen. Stunningly beautiful.
  • The southern tip of Bear Island is incredible with birds, sea stacks, feels like a lost world.
  • Pack ice - new for me
• It's good that we arrived 2 days before the cruise. Had time in case our luggage didn't make it.

On Ortelius, a few posters have useful informations:
Life style choices

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Join the Buy Nothing Community
• Shop organic, loose, local, seasonal
• Eat less meat - no factory farmed meat
• Support conservation charities
• Eat safe, sustanable seafood: Marine Stewership Council, Good Fish Guide, WWF Seafood Guides
• Drive less
• Use less water
• Use less electricity
• Use biodegradable household products
• Support local clean-ups
• Educate yourself and spread awareness
• Vote for politicians who care about the environment

Documentaries to watch

• Seaspiracy
• Save Our Seas
• Chasing Ice
• A Plastic Ocean
• Game Changers
• A Life on Our Planet
• Blackfish
• The Cove
• Cowspiracy
• War on Waste
• Meat me Halfway
• Chasing Coral
• Before the Flood

Books/papers to read

• The Curious Life of Krill - Stephen Nicol
• The Seabird's Cry - Adam Nicolson
• The Two-Headed Whale - Sandy Winterbottom
• Voices in the Ocean - Susan Casey
• Spying on Whales - Nick Pyenson
• The Genius of Birds - Jennifer Ackerman
• Eye of the Albatross - Cal Safina
• The Brilliant Abyss - Helen Scales
• Eye of the Shoal - Helen Scales
• End of the Line - Charles Clover
• Terra Incognita - Sara Wheeler
• Antarctica - Gabrielle Wheeler
• Let's Save Antarctica - Catherine Barr (for children)

Citizen Science projects

• Happywhale
• iNaturalist
• Zooniverse
• observation.org
• E-bird
• NASA
• Fjord Phyto
• Walrus from Space
• ORCA (whales and dophins)
• Marine Naturalist Training

2024.5.7. Mima Mounds + Tacoma Port

5/7 Tuesday. I had booked a bus tour with Port of Tacoma a month ago. Planned to checkout Mima Mound before the tour, as it's the time for camas.

On my drive south, I first stopped at Nisqualy NWR. I've always like it here. Maybe better to come during dusk or dawn to see more birds. This spring, the water is suprisingly low. I didn't see any migrating birds. 1 heron, 1 female hooded merganzer, 2 bald eagle sitting in the mud flat. A couple of people carrying camera with large scope and tripod.

I visited Mima Mounds a few times before, now (spring) is better. The flowers were not as abundant as Glacier Heritage Preserve when we visited ~10 days ago. The mounds are more pronounced here. A lot of camas, buttercup and lomatian. Patches of penstemons. This time, I walked more south than before, less people and more flowers. Overall, very quiet on this Tuesday.

I arrived at Falbulich Center (the meeting location) for the bus tour of Port of Tacoma exactly at 1pm. It's a large office building, and I had no idea where exactly I shall be. No front desk. Had to find someone to ask where the tour is. The bus was waiting outside on a different side. It left soon after I boarded the bus. There were ~3 more empty seats. A few things I learned that I still remembered:

• the Port Authority doesn't own all the land here. There's a concrete business operating here before the port.
• you can rent space here. One of the largest tenant is car detailer. See the photo of new cars parked here, all with white roof and hood cover.
• crew of these ships stayed onboard, so they don't need to go through immigration
• there are special organization to handle onboard crew members' need (medical, grocery...)

• cranes are lined perpendicular to the ships, each (un)loading a row of containers
• each container is then loaded onto these trains (see photo) by this kind of truck
• odd shaped objects are operated by special crew, and they enjoy the challenge
• Port of Tacoma had to buy neighboring properties to avoid being developed, so avoid being sued for noise or other problems

The view from the bus is often limited. The guide is entertaining. One of the guy working at lift dock came up the bus and talked to us. He's black. Very nice and happy to chat. He said he loves his job. That's good to hear. My fellow tour participants are almost all white. We returned around 3:10pm.