xkcd Rocks. I love this thrice-weekly comic. Today’s is particularly apropos for me…
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This Week in Traffic: 25 April 2007
Always Contest a Speeding Ticket
One of the first things I learned when I became a traffic engineer was how easy it is to beat a speeding ticket. In Texas, a speed limit is not legal unless it is placed using a few, very narrow, procedures. If the speed limit was placed otherwise, no ticket. Also in Texas, a speed limit sign is accurate to within +/- 5 feet, so if you can show that the sign was placed incorrectly (in your favor of course), no ticket. Here is a website listing other legal means for defending yourself in traffic court.
But is it Warranted?
Webster Groves, near St. Louis is having a public perception issue with a temporary traffic signal. The signal is being installed to handle diverted traffic due to construction. The article talks about public perceptions and pedestrian access and safety, but I’m curious if an engineering study has been conducted to determine if this signal is warranted or not. Unwarranted signals slow traffic, reduce capacity, increase delay, and can be more dangerous than other types of control.
Child in Traffic Not Struck
Video of a close call in Russia.
Brazillian Mid-Air Collision News
More developments from the Sept. 29, 2006 mid-air collision that killed all aboard the Boeing 737 and injured none on the other.
Traffic Calming in Maryland
Maryland is embracing traffic calming. Now we (engineers) need to train journalists to say “roundabout” and “modern roundabout” rather than “traffic circle” as they are very different animals.
World Trade Center Transportation Annex
The design for the transportation hub of the new World Trade Center in NY looks like an excellent place to play frisbee or roller hockey.
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Good Writing
Absotively the best, most fantabulous writing ever is described here, on The Darkness that Comes After.
You must go read it.
Do it.
Especially you, Steph.
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According to American Idol
It does not pay to strive to be a good teacher. You just need to be hott, with two ‘t’s.
This is why Sanjaya survived as long as he did on American Idol.
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Biblioholic's Manifesto
This is my to-be-read pile.
It is large. There are 18* books of one type or another in it. One is three books in one (“Confusion” by Neal Stephenson), two are compilations of short stories (Best of Lovecraft and Collected Stories of Arthur Clarke), one is self-help (“7 Habits of Highly Effective People”)one is an autobioagraphy (Ben Franklin’s) and one is a manifesto (“Common Sense”). The rest are novels.
Most every confirmed bibliophile has one of these stack. It doesn’t seem like much until you run around the dwelling and collect all unread books into a pile. Then it seems a bit daunting.
Here is my Manifesto to go with this stack:
“I will not buy more than 18 books before finishing this stack.”
This works out to 1 book from the stack per 1 purchased book. Note that books I check out of the library do not count against this. I can read as many of those as I want. I’m just not allowed to buy any more books than I read in this stack.
Now, if I stick to plan, I’ll read at least a few of these before I make my next run to Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com. Unfortunately, a few of these are pretty cumbersome. “Common Sense,” “The Confusion,” and the Autobiography of Ben Franklin may take me a while. However, I’ve also been know to ready three or more books at once…
*Alert readers will note only 17 books in the image. I found one more afterward.
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What Accent Do You Have?
This figures. I’ve spent significant adult years in these areas…
What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net
Southern. Love it or hate it, your accent says you’re probably from somewhere south of the Ohio River.
Take this quiz now – it’s easy!Thanks to pianorayk for the gak
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Down with Klausner!
I was alerted to the Infamous Harriet Klausner by SFSignal.com last fall. I posted once or twice about her.
Now there’s developments. Check out the SFSignal post for details
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Tour de Georgia
The last stage of the 2007 Tour de Georgia was today, in downtown Atlanta and points east. This leg was nine laps of a 7.4 mile loop (map here). Jenn and I drove down to watch and sat at the corner of Highland and Sampson Streets. This is a re-building part of Atlanta with lots of apartments, townhomes, and refurbished houses, not too far from Little Five Points. There were lots of pretty people walking around, which we both appreciated.The race was cool. I’ve never been to a professional cycling event before, and I was impressed by the speed of the cyclers going by. Thankfully, I got to watch them go by nine times, so I didn’t drive 45 minutes for [whoosh], “Ok honey, time to go home.”
Lots of pictures available at my flickr set. Some special notes: We watched an Atlanta police officer have a seizure on the sidewalk. Not good. Of course, he’s a cop, so the ambulance and a gazillion other responders were there in milliseconds; There were dogs everywhere; There were also people on bikes everywhere. It is apparently the thing to ride a long way to watch one of these races. One set of people next to us had ridden in 40 miles and were tanking up on beer before heading back.
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I'm Invited!
Ivanka Trump wants to teach me her secrets of success.
If you can’t read that tiny text above Ivanka’s head, here’s a closeup.
Whoopee! I can learn her self-made millionaire secrets, which probably boil down to, “I’m really good at picking my parents.”
But the wrapper on this piece of candy was the first sentence of the accompanying brochure.
“4”? I have no response to that.
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This Week in Traffic: 20 April 2007
Stamford Times Can’t Format an Article
This article from the Stamford Times demonstrates two things: They shouldn’t let their IT folks set up the online newspaper because, really, who uses center formatting for a newspaper article and, oh yeah, there’s some traffic calming information in there.
16 Students Killed in Egypt
Two days after the Viriginia Tech shootings, 16 teenage students were killed, and 8 injured in a head-on collision in Egypt. Why didn’t this make the national news?
Keokuk, Iowa is REMOVING Traffic Signals
If you know anything about small towns, you know that their traffic signals are sources of community pride. However, when it goes overboard, traffic delays skyrocket, maintenance costs soar, and people start to realize that signals are not a fix-all. Keokuk is experimenting with a more rational approach to their signalization, and getting rid of their ancient unwarranted electromechanical signal controllers in the process.
If you See a Girl, Alone on the Highway…
The Evil Eyebrow
There is no knowing the Evil Eyebrow
Twenty Twenty-Five
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