Monthly Archives: February 2020

Is it an Embankment, a Dam, a Levee, a Ditch or Dike?

Is it an Embankment, a Dam, a Levee, a Ditch or Dike?
If you check your favorite dictionary, you’ll find a tremendous overlap in the terminology, so here we’ll define the different aspects for the sake of this discussion. A DAM is a length of the canal where one side is constructed to contain the water over a low level area.  You could call it an embankment or…
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The Embankment Dam Phreatic Line – Where the water goes.

The Embankment Dam Phreatic Line – Where the water goes.
Earthen Embankment Dams are made to hold back water.. but only to a point. It's a well known fact that ALL earthen dams leak to some extent. There is a well defined line of saturated earth that runs from inside the dam at the edge of the water to the outside of the dam, at…
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A Chinese Boat project on the NY Erie Canal

A Chinese Boat project on the NY Erie Canal
After a 'bucket list' vacation to China, where my wife and I enjoyed a 'river raft' excursion down the Li river near Guilin, I decided to build a raft to use on the Erie Canal. Here is a video using local slave labor (neighbor's children) located at The Oxbow in Fairport. https://youtu.be/e9Qv3Pe63Vs [embed]https://youtu.be/KHfcdJundZY[/embed] It was…
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Trees… Is it Global Warming – or Global Warning?

Trees… Is it Global Warming – or Global Warning?
While everyone likes trees, it appears we have a huge problem with them, as they have been proven to be a major contributor to melting the permafrost. If we lose our permafrost, that releases all the carbon stored underground, and there is so much it is many times greater than all the oil, coal and…
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