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Earlier this week I learned about a bizarre proposal to build an amusement park next to Tulsa’s urban wilderness area at Turkey Mountain. The public reaction has been swift and negative.
In the interest of equal time here’s a development idea for the Arkansas River in Tulsa that’s actually not bad.
Everyone agrees that Riverside Drive is one of Tulsa’s most unique and beautifual assets.
Why then are so many people dead set on screwing it up? Over the years I have heard some of the silliest ideas pitched as “river development” along the Arkansas. Skyscrapers on a sand bar, a miniature Branson next to a refinery, sailboats beside the Pedestrian Bridge, a shopping center with no shopping… oh, wait, that one actually happened.
photo courtesy Hammerhead Bicycles
Then today I came across a new kooky idea: build an amusement park on Turkey Mountain! Yeah, the lovely urban wilderness where people love to run and ride bicycles would become (drum roll, please): Tulsa Harbour.
It must be classy because they put a U in harbor. And this isn’t just some Photoshop ha-ha. Here’s a rather disturbing post I found on the Turkey Mountain events calendar- Avid Hiker writes:
Just a note to all of you that enjoy Turkey Mtn – this small bit of “urban wilderness” that we are so blessed with in Tulsa: I ran into a group of developers in the parking lot today. They are wanting to develop the lower SE corner of Turkey Mtn. from 71st to the south end of the trails into an amusement park similar to Frontier City with hotels. It would take up 140 acres. It would be called Tulsa Harbour. You can verify this with Jeannie Cue, District 2 City Councilor, and Nick Lombardi, Stan Frisbie Real Estate.
This isn’t just a bad idea. It’s a terrible idea. I’m all for development and better utilizing our riverfront’s natural resources- but screwing it up to do so seems a little short-sighted.
Any Tulsan worth their Quittin’ Time knows Urbana at 61st used to be a runway.
Courtesy Abandoned & Little Known Airfields
The air field was called Tulsa Commercial. But did you know that runway is not the only remnant of this airport?
East 58th Place is built on top of the crosswind runway. The original concrete is still intact and markings are visible in certain places. Presumably the developers of the Holiday Hills subdivision didn’t feel the need to break up all that nice concrete.
Another nifty fact: what used to be the office/restaurant is a private home today. It has a huge kitchen and two bathrooms side by side!
More info and historic photos are available here…
Tulsa Commercial Airport from Abandoned & Little Known Air Fields
Well, almost free.
It takes a sheet of heavy paper, some aluminum foil and a few minutes of your time. So let’s just say insanely cheap.
Our wi-fi router is centrally located within our office. But the conference room, where the wi-fi is most often required, is separated from the router by multiple walls and lots of fluorescent light fixtures. A signal is obtainable- but the strength is meager at best.
Repositioning the router wasn’t really feasible so I started investigating wi-fi signal boosters and such. There are several options available ranging from add-on antennas to signal relays that attempt to extend the signal- supposedly up to 1 mile.
Then I came across this idea from Free Antennas.com. Using a simple cardboard parabola covered with foil it promised a 9 dBi gain. For free!
It took about 10 minutes to cut out a copy and place it on one of the antennas of our D-Link router. Just adding the one increased my signal in the conference room from Poor to Fair and 11 meg to 36 meg of bandwidth. I haven’t even got around to making one for the second antenna!
Of course I had to tweak their design just a smidge- see what you think…
Click the image to view the full-size version. Print it in heavy stock or acetate. You can even scale it up to increase the gain!
All you do is cut it out, cover the rectangle with foil then do the insert tab A into slots B. A little tape on the back side helps keep it all together. Poke holes through the X and slide it over your wi-fi antenna. For more details and specs check the page on Free Antennas.com.
Sometimes nothing can be a very real something.
Patagonia is a well known maker of outdoor gear and clothing. They’re also renowned for their commitment to making products from sustainable materials and keeping the cast-offs out of landfills. To further the latter goal company executives recently launched a new section of their website devoted to used clothing. The storefront is connected to eBay auctions and displays Patgonia items posted by individual sellers.
Used gear is displayed alongside their own online store. Yet they derive no revenue from customers who opt for a pre-owned hoodie instead of a new one.
So what’s in it for Patagonia?
Not a thing. Well, not money anyway.
The program is part of Common Threads- a campaign that encourages customers to respect their Patagonia products, repair them if possible and recycle the old ones instead of just tossing them out. Conventional wisdom would dictate such antics would cannibalize sales. For Patagonia the effort is an exercise in building brand loyalty.
So far it appears to be working. In the first 3 months after rolling out the eBay portal for used clothing over 25,000 visitors had signed up for the Common Threads campaign.
Used Patgonia Gear powered by eBay
