To the lady whose husband used his SUV to cut off the #9 bus this morning so she could catch it, I have this to say: I'm happy you had a good laugh about your ingenious way of catching your bus, but next time you are late for your bus do what everyone else does. Miss the bus and wait for the next one. That time of the morning the bus runs every 10 minutes or less. Is it really worth risking your own personal safety as well as the safety of everyone else on the bus so you won't be 10 minutes late for work? What if the bus driver hadn't seen your husband in time and had hit his SUV? That would have ruined not only your commute, but that of the other 30 commuters on the bus.
This video shows one of the most hilarious and frightening machines ever invented by man.
via Boing Boing
I've been thinking a lot about leaving a legacy. Alan posted yesterday about Bush's legacy of discrimination. This morning Megan, my fiance, talked about not wanting to leave a working interpreting system to be her legacy at her job. On the West Wing all the characters seem to talk about is President Bartlet's legacy.
So it got me to thinking, if we were all like politicians we would spend a lot of time thinking about 2 things, reelection and legacy. So what would my legacy be? Is this something I should even care about in my mid-20s? Maybe we should all think about what our legacy will be? How do you want to be remembered?
Funniest thing in a long time. Some staffer at the City of Portland Department of Manegment and Finance posted a test page to the City of Portland website with the following text:
"janet super jackson meow meow meow meow meow supermeow supermeow supermeow supermeow"
They thought no one would notice, but thanks to the website's notification feature and a overzealous subscriber we all got to see the test text. The page is gone now, but b!x saved a copy for all to see.
I was able to leave work early yesterday and stop by the second of TriMet's Open Houses for the Transit Mall Revitilization. The open house was held in the board room at the Port of Portland Building next to the Chinese Gardens. Inside the boardroom was about 7-10 displays showing various aspects of the proposed revitilization. There was also a small theater area were a TriMet employee showed the virtual "fly-throughs" of two of the three proposed MAX alignments. In the center of the room was a large table covered with a map showing the entire run of the transit mall along with the proposed MAX stations. Those attending the open house were encouraged to leave there comments on this map, fill out a comment card, or simply talk to one of the many city and TriMet employees circulating throught the area.
I personally talked to a couple of the TriMet/City employees. In the area focusing on the amenities on the Transit Mall (i.e. Trees, benches, shelters, etc.) I expressed my concern about the lack of wind shelters on some of the newer shelters (such as those near PSU). I also mentioned my wish to not replace some of the older larger trees with new smaller trees and also to increase the total number of trees in the south side of the transit mall.
Later near the large map in the center of the room I talked to a city employee about the lack of any mention of bicycle traffic in the plans I had seen. He basically said, that since the Transit Mall did not contain a bike lane they hadn't integrated bikes into their plan. I feel like this is really short sighted since I see a ton of bicyclist use the Transit Mall, and this will be much more dangerous once the MAX is on 5th and 6th. I suggest that they improve the bike lanes on 4th and Broadway and find ways to encourage bicycle traffic on those streets.
I also asked this employee what would happen to the transit mall during construction. He said that while this was still yet to be decided, there were three ideas. The first would have the busses use 4th and Broadway instead of 5th and 6th during construction. The second would make 5th a two way, bus-only street while 6th was under construction and then reverse this while 5th was under construction. Finally, there might be a highbrid of the two ideas.
One of the most interesting parts of the open house was the large showing by members of The Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates (AORTA). There was one gentleman who was passing out a AORTA flier and many members of AORTA milling about the open house. AORTA advocates creating a subway-style underground lightrail line throught downtown portland that would stretch from Lloyd Center to Goose Hollow and include stops at the Rose Quarter, Union Station, Burnside, Pioneer Courthouse, and Portland State. They feel that this would provide long term savings and better service throught downtown. I am happy that the group was a the open house, but I felt that they were a bit to loud and more than a little obnoxious. During the showing of the virtual "flythrough" it was difficult for many members of the audience to hear the TriMet employee over the loud discussion between advocates of the subway.
As I mentioned before there are three different proposals for the alignment of the MAX tracks along the Transit Mall. The first, called the Left Side Stop, whould have the buses on the right side of the rode, the MAX in the center and car traffic on the left except were there was a MAX stop. In these areas the sidewalk would extend out over the left lane and provide an area for the MAX stop. The second, called the Island Stop, whould have the busses on the right side of the rode, the Max in the center and a continous car lane on the left. At MAX stops the bus lane would swerve farther to right leaving an island MAX stop to the right of the MAX track. The final, called the Right Side Stop, would have the buses on the right, the MAXin the center and a continous car lane on the left. At stops the MAX track would swerve into the buslane and the MAX station would be on the right side.
Of these plans I really favor the Left Side Stop for a couple of reasons. First, it keeps the current feel of the Transit Mall. It also happens to be the cheapest option because it doesn't require you to tear up all the curbs. Also, one of the features I like the most about the Transit Mall is that it doesn't have to many cars on it. The other two plans add a continous car lane to the transit mall and increase the likelyhood of a car/bus or car/MAX accident.
I suggest that anyone interested in the future of the transit mall, the future of MAX and the future of downtown Portland comment on the proposals as soon as possible. I heard time and time again from TriMet/City employees at the open house that many aspects of the plan are not yet "set in stone".
For more background on the Portland Mall Revitilization visit TriMet's page about it and read the Portland Communique's excellent story from Tuesday July 8th. I especially recomend watching the virtual "fly-throughs" available in Quicktime format at the TriMet website.
In an early blog posting I mentioned a missle silo house for sale in up-state New York. That would have been a nice house. But it would be nothing compared to this former British Aircraft Carrier for sale. At $4.5 million U.S. it is a great deal. After I make my first billion, I am definately getting one of these.
So last night Megan took me to go see "This American Life" live at the Keller Auditorium. Just in case you don't know what "This American Life" is, it is a radio show that plays on OPB, but originates out of WBEZ Chicago. It basically tells a few stories on a theme. It is a really great show, and was a really fun program to see live. The show we watched will be broadcast on OPB on Sunday June, 8th at 10 a.m. and Wednesday, June 11th at 8:00 p.m., so tune in and see if you can hear my bellowing laugh during the show.
Oh, and I think that Megan might be falling in love with Ira Glass, and that is starting to worry me. I mean, how can I compete with the best radio host in America?
Then again, Megan did buy me a flaiming squirrel patch for my messanger bag. For those who don't know the connection between squirrels on fire and This American Life, listen to Act 2 of this episode, possibly the funniest thing you will ever hear.
Phew, it turns out that the iLoo story was not a hoax. Aparently, it was a real idea thought up by MSN Britian. When the Corporate MSN folks heard about this, they decided to squash it. They felt it "wasn't the best extension of our brand." I'll say . . .
Anyway, read the whole sordid story at Wired.com.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Someone once told me that you can't believe anything you read on the internet. They were right. I read a story at News.com that detailed MSN Britian's plan to put internet terminals inside porta-pottys at concerts in England. I thought the idea inprobable, but given the source, the official press release (cached), and the number of news outlets that picked up the story, I decided to believe. Well, Microsoft admitted that the story was a fake.
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the time-traveling stock trader hoax, and now this. Are internet hoaxes getting more elaborate, or are we becoming more guilable?
Also, it looks like MSNBC has erased the original story from their website. I know it is embaressing to be duped by this kind of story, but does the press have a responsibility to not delete these stories?
Recently The One True B!x (from the Portland Communique) had some trouble getting into a Portland Police press conference because he wasn't recognized as a member of the press. This started some discussion among him, Michael Hall (from Pudding Time) and I about press credentials, independent media and access to important events. The main idea that came out of this discussion was the need for a organization to help independent journalists gain recognition and access in Portland.
Therefore, it is my pleasure to announce the formation of the Portland Association of Independent Journalists (PAIJ). I invite all those interested to join the association's mailing list and help us achieve our goals. Below is the mission statement and proposed goals of the association:
The Portland Association of Independent Journalists (PAIJ) is meant to serve local independent reporters by raising awareness of the issues and concerns they face as they exercise their right to maintain a free and open press. We seek to do this in the following ways:
A few days ago someone called me up to tell me about an amazing story a coworker had read at Yahoo! News. Aparently the SEC had arrested a man for suspected insider trading after he profited on many high risk investments over a short period of time. The amazing part was that the man claimed to be from the future.
Now when I first heard this story I remember saying, "Wow, that is almost weird enought to be believable." So I went to Yahoo! News and looked at the story. I read a couple times and then I noticed a little line above the story. It said "Weekly World News". You know the Weekly World News. Their the super cheep supermarket tabloid with the completely outragious headlines like "Alligator Boy found in Florida".
I thought this might be a limited incident, just a few people not seeing the Weekly World News credit. But apparently it is a wide spread dupe. I have seen it on Slashdot, This Modern World, and apparently a lot of other people were duped as well.
So what is it about this story that caused so many people to be duped by it. Is it a fascination with time travel, our fascination with get rich quick schemes, or was it just a slow news week.
R.I.P. Mister Rogers
Today at the age of 74, Mister Fred Rogers died of stomach cancer. This is a truely sad day for me. I remember watching Mister Rogers for years and loving his show. Mister Rogers reminded children that they were special. I don't really know anything else to say about this. You might want to listen to the This American Life episode entitled "Neighbors", in which David Rothbart recounts his childhood journey to Mr. Roger's summer house in Nantucket and his visit with Mr. Rogers as an adult to ask for advice about the conflicts in his own neighborhood.
Thanks to K10K I found this neat little weather application called GeoTracker. Using flash, it finds where you are in the world, and tells you the tempature where you are. It then allows you to travel the world (virtually, of course) and see what the temperature is at weather stations in signifigant locations. This could be perfect for finding the tempatures for the vacation I am planning with Megan in the fall. Zihuatanejo here I come!
Today is a sad day for the world, and especially the U.S. and Israel. The loss of the Shuttle Columbia is a tragedy that will have repercussions for the entire space program, and for the history of mankind. Thinking of this loss I am immediately brought back to a time in Elementary School on Jan. 28, 1986. On that day while playing at recess a classmate told me that the Challenger had exploded on liftoff. I thought that it was a sick joke. I denied that it was even a possibility. To me at that time, the Space Shuttle was invincible. At that time (and for years after) I wanted to be an astronaut. For the entire day, even after seeing the footage of the shuttle breaking apart in a fireball of fuel, I denied that it could happen. For another day, I held out hope that Christie McAuliffe and her crewmates were still alive. Eventually I was able to come to terms with the facts of the dissaster. While many of my classmates dealt with the tragedy by telling off color jokes, I was unable to laugh. I can still remember many of these jokes, but to this day I can not find them even the slightest bit funny.
So now, listening to coverage on NPR of the disaster, I realize how much I have grown and how much I am the same. I now can accept that this has happened immediately, and that the crew of the shuttle is dead. For years I have given up my dream of being an astronaut and settled down to more realistic job aspirations. But I still feel the same weight on my chest. I still feel the pain when I look at the faces of the astronauts walking toward their doomed shuttle. I still am deeply connected to the space program in a totally personal way.
As you may have seen, the Supreme Court rendered its decision (1 majority, 2 dissenting) in Eldred v. Ashcroft. The decision was 7-2 in favor of the government. This means that according to the Supreme Court, the Congress acted constitutionally in extending the terms of Copyright. Now any material that is copyrighted is protected for the life of the creator plus 70 more years. Aaaack! Can you believe this! Any way, this law (the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act or Mickey Mouse Protection Act) has the effect of stiffiling creativity. Lawrence Lessig was the lawyer who argued this case in front of the Supremes and he seems to be taking it pretty badly. I guess if I could say one thing to him it would be, "You fought the good fight. You fought fair. You did good. You still lost, but that's OK. Keep fighting the good fight. Keep fighiting fair. Keep doing good. You will win." Also, Lawrence is one of the founders of the very cool Creative Commons project.
Have I mentioned how much I like Bookcrossing.com? I know I have, but consider my faith renewed. Today I found out that the book that I left in Chico, California at Thanksgiving was picked up by a touring musician. The musician, her name is Tamaras, was just about to leave for a tour of Japan and she needed a book. What does she see? The copy of Stupid White Men that I left at Moxies Coffeehouse with a Free Book sign on the front. So she grabs it and takes it to Japan with her! Now she is going to leave it there when she is done. Wow, my first international Bookcrossing!
I was happy to hear today on Morning Edition that I was not the only one that couldn't stand the crappy ass, stupid "radio play" I'd Rather Eat Pants that they aired all last week. I think this was my favorite quote:
"How much do I have to pledge to keep you from doing anything like this ever again?"
Hmmmm . . . I am reading about these Creative Commons licenses and it sounds really cool, but maybe I am just a bit stupid today. I just don't quite get it. I even watched their friendly flash presentation (starring the White Stripes). I mean, I like the idea of not having all of my work copyrighted for eternity and a half, but I am not sure if I get how this will work. Maybe I just need to read more.
OK, I'm not sure whether I should post this, but here is one of the most unfortunately named people I have ever heard of. No offense to anybody, especially Vivek. Am I a culturally insensitive troll or just immature?
I'm New York City, the Big Apple. What US city are you? Take the quiz by Girlwithagun.
Quick Blog:
My free counter died. I am pissed.
I have to work tomorrow. That sucks.
I got paid this week. That is good.
I want a T-Mobile Sidekick. It looks great.