The Evil Eyebrow

Month: March 2007

  • Horrible Website

    It’s 2007. People should know better than to do things like this with the mouse pointer.

    Never never never never never…

  • New (for me) Websites

    Poking around last night, I found Dogpile, a compliation compilation search engine that has a cool logo.

    And, for all those US Weekly fans, here’s its internet equivalent.

  • Expert System labeled Fraud

    A computer program has been abjured from practicing law in California.

    The software did, indeed, go far beyond providing clerical services. It determined where (particularly, in which schedule) to place information provided by the debtor, selected exemptions for the debtor and supplied relevant legal citations. Providing such personalized guidance has been held to constitute the practice of law.

  • This Week in Traffic: 6 March 2007

    Privatizing Existing Roadways

    Other than getting the maintenance headache off of the gov’t’s shoulders, I haven’t bought into the economic feasibility of selling roads to private consortiums. Robert Puentes agrees with me.

    Live Reporter Whoops

    Apparently someone wrote a bit of nasty copy for a traffic reporter to read, Live. I haven’t watched this yet, so you’ll have to let me know if it’s worth it.

    PP&M

    Here is a list of songs by Peter Paul & Mary containing transportation themes. Because, what else do you have to do today?

    Bus Envy?

    A jacket designed for sleeping on Public Transportation.

  • I Hate Me

    According to this quiz.

    I guess it will have to be alcohol, unless “drug accident” includes some odd combination of over the counter medication and coffee.

    You’ll die from a Drug or Alcohol accident.
    Let’s face it – when you get drunk/high you lose all control and do stupid stuff. Unfortunately in your case those propaganda anti-escapism commercials prove true.
    ‘How will you die?’ at QuizGalaxy.com

  • Good Science Fiction Story Sentences

    From SFSignal, the top 10 sentences from third rate scifi stories.

    This one is the best:

    As one, the Spacemarines stood up, raised their spacerifles in salute, then marched out the spacedoors to the spacedock, where their spaceship was waiting to boldly take them where they’d all been before: Space!

  • This Week in Traffic: 3 March 2007

    Undergrounds

    Mentioned by Justen Stepka, here is a list of Top 11 underground transportation systems with images and video.

    Highway Protest

    University of California Santa Barabara students protest the Iraq war by occupying a strip of highway. I guess they didn’t read the “PEDESTRIANS BICYCLES MOTOR-DRIVEN CYCLES PROHIBITED” sign on the entrance ramp.

    Google Traffic

    Google Maps offers Traffic conditions in ITS-capable cities around the U.S. Interestingly, the google traffic map seems to be providing information on a portion of the Atlanta highway system that our local ITS system (www.georgia-navigator.com) does not have available. That makes me wonder what the difference is between these two systems, and where they are gathering their data.

  • Modern Marvels' Marveliscioustasticness

    I watch the History Channel. It soothes my occasional need for something interesting to look at while my mind zones on other things. Modern Marvels is a particular favorite because they manage to explore (superficially) a lot of different subjects that we don’t run into on a day to day basis. For example, last night I was watching Railroads* which was cool because I learned about Bailey Yard (Google Maps Link), the largest railroad switching yard in the world. See the wikipedia link for more info, although the acreage and track numbers listed in wikipedia don’t match what was on Modern Marvels last night.

    Coincidentally, the Modern Marvels episode prior to this one was about “The Strongest” stuff, including Tugboats, and I slowly draw near to why I’m writing this post. The tugboat in question, made by the Foss Company in Oregon, is powered by two 4000 hp railroad engines.

    Now, if you watch Modern Marvels, you are familiar with the little bit of trivia they sling at you just before every commercial break and the deep intonations of massive importance and wondrous awe. Usually, the tidbits are interesting, but sometimes they manage to state something that might be considered…obvious. For example: [paraphrasing, approximately]

    The tugboat is powered by two 4000 hp railroad engines, [deep ominous voice] each capable of pulling a fully loaded passenger train.

    Duh?

    *I think it was called Railroads. I went to the Modern Marvels website and the most recent episode they had in their “archive” was February 9th.

  • More Suspicious Devices in Boston

    Another scurrilous bomb plot is foiled in Boston. This suspicious device was detonated by the Boston Police Department.
    A Traffic Counter is mistaken for a Bomb

    Here is the original story.

    Here is a video of it being detonated.

    Looks like I’m out of a job! Either that or we’ll have to navigate through new layers of bureacratic oversight before placing traffic counters. At the moment, there are none, generally, and traffic counting firms can place counters wherever they want. This leads to quick turnaround times for needed information, which is good! Now, I forsee three-month waiting periods and police escorts for the people placing the counters.

    Woo hoo. I love living in a post 9-11 world.