Saturday, October 04, 2014
Afternoon Thread
As H pointed out in comments, now would be a good time to have the Senate approve a Surgeon General.
Dead Man Walking
The porn email scandal is much less of a scandal than "shittiest governor" scandal, but in any case Corbett will be out the door soon.
First Cuppa Thread
Two of my favorite things: The first sip of coffee in the morning and the first sip of cold beer in the evening.
Friday, October 03, 2014
Good Works
Michelangelo was an early friend of the blog (and me). We used to plot and scheme a bit back in the day. Good that he's getting some recognition. Queer in America started me on the path to not being such an idiot about queer issues.
Apocalypse Soon
I don't think one can overstate how screwed Northern New Jersey commuters will be if one of the Hudson tunnels is shut. Amtrak owns them. NJT would probably just be told to piss off. If I'm counting correctly, 6 commuter lines run through that tunnel. Everyone would have to be dumped onto PATH trains and I doubt the capacity is there.
Thursday, October 02, 2014
Great Moments In Horrible Governing
Do not know how a lifelong New Yorker can be so clueless about the importance of these tunnels.
400,000 people per day go through those tunnels. Cuomo's precious Tappan Zee bridge? 135,000 cars.
Today, at an unrelated event, a reporter asked Governor Andrew Cuomo if he had any intention of helping fund another tunnel under the Hudson River so that Amtrak could take the existing tubes out of service and properly repair them.
"The, uh, I haven't seen the Amtrak report so I can’t really comment on it," said the governor.
400,000 people per day go through those tunnels. Cuomo's precious Tappan Zee bridge? 135,000 cars.
*Only Applies To Blah People
Don't they know that's in the law, even if it's written in invisible ink?
Rose Petals Must Be Scattered In Front Of Them As They Walk
It would be quite awesome if the world finally tells the IOC to fuck off.
Their brand sponsorship monopoly requirements were so absurd that in 2012, London was shutting down restaurants with "Olympic" in the name and preventing pubs from doing so much as advertising "come watch the Olympics here!"
Their brand sponsorship monopoly requirements were so absurd that in 2012, London was shutting down restaurants with "Olympic" in the name and preventing pubs from doing so much as advertising "come watch the Olympics here!"
And It All Falls Down
The amazing thing about Christie cancelling the tunnel project is that it was much more of a gift to NJ than NYC. Sure NYC needs those tunnels, too, but it's commuters from NJ who are really going to be screwed.
I know transit nerds who didn't like the ARC project for various valid reasons, but right now the alternative is... nothing.
I know transit nerds who didn't like the ARC project for various valid reasons, but right now the alternative is... nothing.
Effed
Oh crap.
They're going to have to fix the Hudson tunnels, too, and then things will really be fucked. Thanks Christie.
Amtrak officials said on Wednesday that they will have to sharply curtail use of the century-old rail tunnels leading to New York City for at least a year to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, a move that would affect train service for tens of thousands of commuters.
One of the four tubes that carry trains under the East River between Manhattan and Long Island would be the first to close, possibly in late 2015. The work on that tube would take a full year and would affect service on the two railroads that also use the tunnel, the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit, which uses a rail yard in Queens to park its trains.
They're going to have to fix the Hudson tunnels, too, and then things will really be fucked. Thanks Christie.
Good Enough For The Ladies
This is some bullshit.
“Two months ago, attorneys for a coalition of leading players informed officials from the Canadian Soccer Association [CSA] and FIFA that forcing the 2015 women’s World Cup to take place on artificial turf rather than grass was not only wrong but also constituted illegal sex discrimination,” Hampton Dellinger, attorney for the players’ coalition, said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Men’s World Cup tournament matches are played on natural grass while CSA and FIFA are relegating female players to artificial turf. The difference matters: plastic pitches alter how the game is played, pose unique safety risks and are considered inferior for international competition.
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
Evening Thread
3 advil and repeated applications of a hot compress to the back of the neck and the headache has subsided for now.
I'm not that sensitive to pain and discomfort, which is why I didn't have any damn drugs in the house, but cross a certain threshold...
I'm not that sensitive to pain and discomfort, which is why I didn't have any damn drugs in the house, but cross a certain threshold...
Lunch Thread
Flu has been replaced with terrible headache. Might need to not stare at the screen for a bit.
Send Many Buckets
I suppose we aren't going to do anything about Syrian refugees, but perhaps we can help some Walrus-Americans.
Gun Nuttery
Open carry ammosexuals are quite certain that it's obvious that they are the good guys with guns, and that it's also obvious who the bad guys with guns are. They either haven't figured out what that means in practice, or don't care.
Morning
Here's some good news from Spocko. When Corporate Sponsors Leave ALEC and Rush, What We Learn.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
You Fucked Up, You Trusted Us!
I am shocked.
Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for 100,000 Scots to sign a petition urging Westminster to keep promises on devolution.
...
The outgoing SNP leader and first minister said Mr Brown was "calling for guarantees on the delivery of something which he himself said during the referendum campaign was already a done deal".
Free Labor Concussion Game
I don't know if there's anything that can be done to reduce the number of life altering injuries in football, but at least even the lowest paid players in the NFL are compensated pretty well. College football is really just a criminal enterprise, with people getting rich off of gladiator games by unpaid participants who are often completely abused.
You Only Have To Slow To 39 MPH?
Unfamiliar with that particular exit ramp, but I'm pretty sure that it isn't too hard to slow down from "highway speed" to 39mph.
Though if that many people are speeding they should change the road design. In other words, if safety rather than revenue collection is the goal then better road design can "cause" people to slow down. That is to say, it can be a valid speed trap but still be a speed trap!
(via)
Though if that many people are speeding they should change the road design. In other words, if safety rather than revenue collection is the goal then better road design can "cause" people to slow down. That is to say, it can be a valid speed trap but still be a speed trap!
(via)
I Remember When Norm Mineta Made Transportation Spending Bipartisan
Those glibertarians, always wanting to put Republicans in charge.
Takers
I have no idea what President Romney would do in practice, but I'd be pretty damn scared of Dictator Romney. I really think he meant the 47% remark, even if he regrets saying it.
It Was Great When It All Began
Good puncturing of one of the myth that Los Angeles was the first "car city." It wasn't. It was really the first major trolley city.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Flu Begone
Think I'm basically better. Went from not being able to eat, to being able to eat, to actually thinking food sounded pretty good. Usually blessed that my bugs, when I get them, are of the 24-48 hour variety.
Just making excuses for my sucky blogging, of course.
Just making excuses for my sucky blogging, of course.
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Well, not quite, but all you lovely people who are generous enough to click on the various amazon links that appear here (anything directly linked in a post, search box down to the left, banner ads down to the right) before buying your gifts contribute to my Christmas bonus and also, too, take money from Jeff Bezos.
Not endorsing Amazon. Don't like them, don't shop there! But if you do choose to shop there...
Not endorsing Amazon. Don't like them, don't shop there! But if you do choose to shop there...
Miserable Failure
American Dream will never open, or if it does it'll be bankrupt in 2-5 years, depending on how much taxpayer money Christie shovels at it.
Obviously Revel closing doesn't help the local Atlantic City job market, and a giant ugly empty building in East Rutherford isn't helping, but the idea that "those projects" would somehow turn around the economy is nuts.
But they're what he bet on, nonetheless. Double 0.
American Dream, the vacant East Rutherford megamall that Christie once called “the ugliest damn building in New Jersey, and maybe America,” hasn’t signed investors almost a year after his administration agreed to public financing and a $390 million tax break, the biggest of its kind in state history.
The Republican governor had planned for the $3.8 billion mall to open in 2013. Instead, it will be at least two years before the first of an expected 35,000 employees clock in. The jobs will come too late to offset this year’s loss of as many as 10,000 positions in a wave of Atlantic City casino closings, including Revel, which closed this month. Without those projects, the state’s recovery continues to trail the nation’s.
Obviously Revel closing doesn't help the local Atlantic City job market, and a giant ugly empty building in East Rutherford isn't helping, but the idea that "those projects" would somehow turn around the economy is nuts.
But they're what he bet on, nonetheless. Double 0.
Taking Both Sides In A Civil War (Which Has Many More Sides)
I suppose this Diehl column is valuable for what it doesn't express - compassion for the victims in the region. Yes, sure, it has the obligatory charge that Assad "appears to be stepping up its own bombing raids against the nonextremist opposition" but even that is just part of the chess game. It isn't that Assad is hurting people, it's that he's hurting the opposition.
The true hole in Obama's Syrian policy, if we actually give a shit about anything except our endless futile attempt to rig the risk board, is failing to take in refugees or even spend the money so other countries can. That's the true hole in the souls of all of the pundits who claim to care about the poor civilian populations (which, to his credit in some sense, Diehl barely does).
We will help with our love bombs. And when that doesn't work, we'll love bomb some more.
The true hole in Obama's Syrian policy, if we actually give a shit about anything except our endless futile attempt to rig the risk board, is failing to take in refugees or even spend the money so other countries can. That's the true hole in the souls of all of the pundits who claim to care about the poor civilian populations (which, to his credit in some sense, Diehl barely does).
We will help with our love bombs. And when that doesn't work, we'll love bomb some more.
Run Mittens Run
Republicans didn't like him the first time he won the nomination and they won't like him if he wins it again, and yet...
I can't quite explain how I think it's actually possible, aside from the rest of them being horrible, and yet...
I can't quite explain how I think it's actually possible, aside from the rest of them being horrible, and yet...
Good Guys And Bad Guys
If I ran a restaurant I'm pretty sure the thing which would signal "bad guy" and make me reach for the alarm button or call 911 would be, you know, a gun. But, hey, it's their world and I just live in it.
And what happens when a "good guy with a gun" decides he spots a "bad guy with a gun."
I blame lead.
"I just need to see a weapon. I need you to be carrying a gun," says Bergeron's owner Kevin Cox.
That's right. The restaurant began offering a 10% discount a couple of weeks ago, for bringing in both your appetite and your gun.
"As long as everybody has a gun we're all the same size," says Cox.
And what happens when a "good guy with a gun" decides he spots a "bad guy with a gun."
I blame lead.
Morning Thread
Long, but interesting look at how the Koch Brothers made their fortune.
Since Koch Industries aggressively expanded into high finance, the net worth of each brother has also exploded – from roughly $4 billion in 2002 to more than $40 billion today.That money came from someplace.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Not One Person Raised Their Hand And Said, "Uh...Maybe We Should Rethink This?"
Do not understand people.
The panel for that discussion will include the following people: Chris Berman, Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Adam Schefter, Tom Jackson, Keyshawn Johnson, Jon Gruden, Mike Tirico, Stuart Scott, Steve Young and Ray Lewis.
Up to 11 men, all between the ages of 39 and 74 will sit at the table for a domestic violence discussion on ESPN. Zero women. Victims of domestic violence in America are most likely to be women aged 20-24.
Speed
What I found interesting is just how fast we go through the "who are the scariest Hitlers of them all" cycle. It's like down to 3 days now.
Lunch Thread
Fortunately the flu didn't turn out to be the plague so I should recover in a reasonable amount of time, but probably best if I mostly spend the day on the couch watching crappy teevee.
.92
I'm no Denver expect, but they still have a ways to go..
Cars take up a lot of space, and parking drives up the cost of construction a lot.
Holland Residential is building Platform at Union Station, a 287-unit project touching the nexus of rail, light rail and bus lines. It will provide only 263 parking spaces, which works out to a ratio of 0.92.
Cars take up a lot of space, and parking drives up the cost of construction a lot.
Liberal Lies
It's amazing how many people are taken in by the climate scientist con.
The newlyweds forged a compromise. They would search for a home in Norfolk to be near Josh's office. But it could not be in a flood plain, susceptible to rising seas, storm surge and escalating flood insurance prices.
Their decision is one glimpse into the changing dynamics of coastal real estate. A growing awareness of sea level rise and flooding, coupled with rising flood insurance premiums as the federal government phases out subsidies, has the potential to reshape segments of the Hampton Roads market.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)