AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[the Genral]

https://www.mysanantonio.com/lifesty...n-18185577.php

I just found out that we have a Museum of Illusions at the Domain. Here's an article I found regarding it. I'm probably going to check it out, but if anyone else has beat me to it, I would like to know if it's worth it. I've already been burned by the Austin Aquarium when it was new.

[atxsnail]

Originally Posted by the Genral

https://www.mysanantonio.com/lifesty...n-18185577.php

I just found out that we have a Museum of Illusions at the Domain. Here's an article I found regarding it. I'm probably going to check it out, but if anyone else has beat me to it, I would like to know if it's worth it. I've already been burned by the Austin Aquarium when it was new.

It's a somewhat expensive way to kill an hour in an air conditioned space. Most people have probably seen the various optical illusions before. But the one where you walk through a "spinning" tunnel is honestly pretty cool. I probably walked through that one a dozen times with the kids.

[drummer]

As a parent with young kids, I'm too cheap for something like that. Sounds super fun to take the kids to, but I can't justify $20/each on it.

[SproutingTowers]

Museum of Illusions was fun. I had to quickly step off the spinning tunnel where I was getting dizzy. They do sell the official 'exact' green colored "I Love You So Much" t-shirt.

[WestAustinite]

This is one of the best summaries of the top 20 largest cities and metropolitan areas I have seen.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ran...by-population/

[drummer]

Originally Posted by WestAustinite

This is one of the best summaries of the top 20 largest cities and metropolitan areas I have seen.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ran...by-population/

This is a great summary of a frustratingly difficult topic given the different definitions in different countries. To be clear, the administrative definition is also tough in China specifically - I lived there for many years and opened a business there. I had to deal with the various administrative districts as a part of the process.

Chongqing is a prime example. While its "administrative district" is the size of Austria, so they say, that is because the district is essentially on par with the provinces. The same is true for Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and a few others, I believe. In a typical city (i.e., not one of these mega mega-cities), let's use the example of the tiny village of Nanjing (pop. ~8 million or ~11 million depending on who you believe). Nanjing is in a province (省) - specifically Jiangsu - but it is a prefecture (市). That prefecture includes several counties (县) and development zones/districts (区), which are usually, essentially, at the same level as county, and within those you may have various villages/townships (乡), etc. I always considered the development zones/districts as suburbs to the downtown core given that most of these were fairly developed as well. Counties often included a swath of rural areas.

One of the cities we lived in for many years had a prefecture level population of 1.3 million (small town by China standards), but that included four counties and a special district (five unique zones). The main urban area of what we would call a city was probably around 600K-700K at the time - likely larger now because they were experiencing some significant growth and were getting HSR and major highway connectivity.

That said, if we were to consider metropolitan areas in the U.S., often made up of several cities and counties, that might be a fair comparison. Any way you shake it, Chinese cities will win by population nearly every time. But the definitions make it uber complicated.

In that chart, the Urban Area and Metropolitan lists seem more reasonable to me...but of course, that's just, like, my opinion, man.

[Airwave Dynamics]

Lake Travis is low!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxOmfpWAeLg

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Airwave Dynamics

Lake Travis is low!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxOmfpWAeLg

I'm sorry...but, you're just now noticing? Even if you have not ventured out here recently - local media have been talking about that fact for quite a while now.

The current level of the lake is the 5th lowest on record (just under 634' AMSL). The last time the lake was full (681' AMSL) was in June 2019.

[SproutingTowers]

Originally Posted by Airwave Dynamics

Lake Travis is low!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxOmfpWAeLg

When the lake is this low LCRA needs to take advantage by removing land islands showing above the water line. This would help make the lake hold a bit more water and make boating safer once it refills.

[Nickelplate]

Ah the sometimes islands. Sometimes it rains, once in awhile it snows, but most of the time this weather blo** is not conducive to growing a nice yard.
"I love desert. I love heat."
"Are you just looking at things and saying you love them?"
"I love scorched earth."
"Do you really love scorched earth or are you just saying it because you saw it?"
"I love scorched earth. I love scorched earth!"

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Nickelplate

Ah the sometimes islands. Sometimes it rains, once in awhile it snows, but most of the time this weather blo** is not conducive to growing a nice yard.
"I love desert. I love heat."
"Are you just looking at things and saying you love them?"
"I love scorched earth."
"Do you really love scorched earth or are you just saying it because you saw it?"
"I love scorched earth. I love scorched earth!"

“I’m Brick Tamland. People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks. Years later, a doctor will tell me that I have an I.Q. of 48 and am what some people call mentally retarded.”

[Nickelplate]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

“I’m Brick Tamland. People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks. Years later, a doctor will tell me that I have an I.Q. of 48 and am what some people call mentally retarded.”

Thumbs up sir

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by SproutingTowers

When the lake is this low LCRA needs to take advantage by removing land islands showing above the water line. This would help make the lake hold a bit more water and make boating safer once it refills.

Removing those islands is not gonna help anything since it's only gonna lower the water level overall, lol.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by Sigaven

Removing those islands is not gonna help anything since it's only gonna lower the water level overall, lol.

True. However, without them, the overall (volume) capacity will increase.

[Armybrat]

The LCRA is not going to spend tens of millions to excavate the islands.
That would involve jackhammers & hauling off millions of tons of limestone.
And it would barely increase the capacity volume of Travis.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

The LCRA is not going to spend tens of millions to excavate the islands.
That would involve jackhammers & hauling off millions of tons of limestone.
And it would barely increase the capacity volume of Travis.

I don't think anyone was sincere about such a project. I took the original post on the subject as a half-joke - and not a serious suggestion.

Of course the LCRA would never do this.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by SproutingTowers

When the lake is this low LCRA needs to take advantage by removing land islands showing above the water line. This would help make the lake hold a bit more water and make boating safer once it refills.

The extra load that this additional water would exert on a dam designed for specific conditions could cause the dam to fail.

A better grand idea is to expand on the premise of the Chinese North to South Water Transfer Project stateside and rehydrate vast swaths of our interior land via desalination plants along the coasts. Let’s build major water pipelines under every rural interstate carrying water everywhere it needs to be for any purpose whatsoever. There are so many potential add ons for policy, too:

• muni water supply (potable and non-potable uses, such as planting and maintaining an extensive and dense urban canopy in every city and town);
• agriculture;
• forest and rural land management;
• flood control and flow stabilization, including new reservoirs that don’t interfere with preexisting rivers’ flows;
• global warming deceleration due to greenhouse emissions capture (greener America = more capture);
• global warming effects mitigator (lowers sea level rise, stores water in system, local water tables, new reservoirs, and held by new agricultural areas and reinvigorated public forests and preserves);

[drummer]

I see any potential project like that as having dire consequences that folks aren't necessarily considering...one only needs to look to the Aral Sea as a prime example. China doesn't have a great track record with a lot of their regional projects like that either from an environmental or humanitarian standpoint, albeit they've done better than the USSR did. Time will tell, of course.

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

The extra load that this additional water would exert on a dam designed for specific conditions could cause the dam to fail.

A better grand idea is to expand on the premise of the Chinese North to South Water Transfer Project stateside and rehydrate vast swaths of our interior land via desalination plants along the coasts. Let’s build major water pipelines under every rural interstate carrying water everywhere it needs to be for any purpose whatsoever. There are so many potential add ons for policy, too:

• muni water supply (potable and non-potable uses, such as planting and maintaining an extensive and dense urban canopy in every city and town);
• agriculture;
• forest and rural land management;
• flood control and flow stabilization, including new reservoirs that don’t interfere with preexisting rivers’ flows;
• global warming deceleration due to greenhouse emissions capture (greener America = more capture);
• global warming effects mitigator (lowers sea level rise, stores water in system, local water tables, new reservoirs, and held by new agricultural areas and reinvigorated public forests and preserves);

I've wanted desalination plants in Texas for a long time. Was just talking about that with friends yesterday, actually.

[SproutingTowers]

I found a nautical map for Lake Travis and can move it around to see the depths of the other lakes too. I did not realize how shallow Lady Bird Lake is.

https://usa.fishermap.org/depth-map/lake-travis/