March 12, 2021

Ultra Light Rail Claims Lower Risk and Lower Cost than Traditional Light Rail

Ultra Light Rail Claims Lower Risk and Lower Cost than Traditional Light Rail
ULRT uses electric buses on rails, with a few tweaks, that give it the potential to disrupt the way transit is built.

Steve Ostrowski


The greatest advancements in technology happen when great inventions collide. The wheel gets paired with an axle. The computer with a cell phone. And now, in the case of public transit, quick charge electric buses, with on-off-rail technology. It's called Ultra Light Rail Transit (ULRT) and it's being presented as a lower risk, lower cost alternative to light-rail transit (LRTs). Simply put, ULRT uses electric buses on rails, with a few tweaks, that give it the potential to disrupt the way transit is built.

But how can this be? New technology can be wrought with risk,, expensive, packed with more computers, more autonomy, more software and more cost. So, it seems unreasonable that new technology can be lower risk.

But ULRT claims are extraordinary: fast construction, low cost, BRT reliability, LRT performance and the smallest carbon footprint. The upside of these claims could change how people move in the 21st Century, so it is time to revisit how public transit assesses risk.

The simplest definition of risk is 'the possibility of loss' and by that definition, one can make a compelling case for ULRT to be lower risk than LRT. ULRT proponents reason the degree of risk, reduced by lower cost and shorter construction time, exceeds the degree of risk assumed by it being a new approach to transit design and construction. ................(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/article/21213369/ultra-light-rail-claims-lower-risk-and-lower-cost-than-traditional-light-rail

March 12, 2021

What Chris Wray didn't say: Unpacking the FBI chief's wobbly Capitol riot testimony

What Chris Wray didn't say: Unpacking the FBI chief's wobbly Capitol riot testimony
FBI director left many questions unanswered and spun multiple stories — but at least he didn't indulge the wackos

By IVETA CHERNEVA
MARCH 12, 2021 11:00AM


(Salon) Why didn't the FBI arrest anyone at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6? And why wasn't the National Guard sent in, until many hours later, to stop the attack? Those were the main questions that still remain unanswered after FBI Director Chris Wray's grilling before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

I myself was highly skeptical on Jan. 6 about what law enforcement and the FBI would do to address the violence: The inaction was blatant and glaring as the world wondered, "Why are they allowing this?"

The Senate hearing on March 2 was a chance — two months later, after the dust had settled — to dispel and address many of the mysteries surrounding the Capitol attack and the grossly inadequate response, which so many of us found incomprehensible as we sat glued to our TV sets at home. At the Wray hearing, I expected to get answers. I basically didn't.

....(snip)....

Wray also tried to blame other people at the FBI for the Senate stonewalling — any fault the FBI may have did not lie with its leaders. It must have been someone else. Wray seemed willing to personally promise Whitehouse that they would always be cool. That only pissed off Whitehouse further; he pointed out that Wray is in fact the FBI director. An issue as serious as stonewalling the Senate Judiciary Democrats is not terribly likely to be an issue on which unnamed "others" have decided.

....(snip)....

On all these points, the FBI director was forced to be crystal-clear because, under Biden, there can no longer be so much beating about the bush. The FBI can't afford to shield or cover up the most fringe right-wing creations and narratives. Wray clearly drew a line between "the new reasonable" and "the new criminal" under a new Biden administration. I am confident his answers would have been very different had the hearing taken place under Trump. .......(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/12/what-chris-wray-didnt-say-unpacking-the-fbi-chiefs-wobbly-capitol-riot-testimony/

March 12, 2021

After four years of not being able to stomach a single presidential address......

...... you kind of forget the power of a president to inspire.

March 9, 2021

Marsha Blackburn, mondo asshole

Fox News host Eric Shawn on Sunday challenged Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., after she claimed that the COVID-19 relief bill was delayed because Democrats "wanted people to suffer."

"The Democrats did not want timely relief prior to the election," Blackburn told Shawn in an interview on Fox News. "They wanted people to suffer and Nancy Pelosi told us why. She said because they felt like it would help them win the election." .........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/08/fox-news-host-pushes-back-on-marsha-blackburns-blue-state-bailout-lie-your-state-gets-6-billion_partner/

March 8, 2021

Florida man accused of jumping naked on neighbor's trampoline before breaking into home

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — A Florida man is accused of jumping on a neighbor’s trampoline while naked and later breaking into her home while still unclothed, authorities said.

Adrian Lee Gonzalez-Bradway, 21, was arrested Wednesday and charged with burglary and criminal mischief with property damage of more than $200, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office’s online booking records.

No bail has been set.

According to the sheriff’s office, Gonzalez-Bradway showed up naked at his neighbor’s home in Lehigh Acres on Tuesday afternoon and began tapping on her door, WBBH reported.

The resident asked Gonzalez-Bradway if he needed assistance, but he did not respond, the television station reported. Thirty minutes later, the woman said she saw Gonzalez-Bradway jumping on her family’s trampoline while still naked. ..........(more)

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending/florida-man-accused-jumping-naked-neighbors-trampoline-before-breaking-into-home/ZT5KE3QDK5FBZNNEJWXFJVFKIA/

March 8, 2021

Why you don't own the right to recline in your airplane seat

I'll admit that I don't typically ask before I recline the seat, but I don't ever recline it very far back, so I've never ended up in a WWE match with a fellow passenger.


Why you don't own the right to recline in your airplane seat
Who "owns" the space behind your airplane seat? The airlines don't want you to know

By MICHAEL HELLER - JAMES SALZMAN
MARCH 8, 2021 12:30AM


(Salon) Who owns the space behind your airplane seat: you reclining or the squished laptop user behind? And who owns your online life: you clicking around or Facebook selling your most intimate data?

Turns out, these puzzles are both the same puzzle and they share a single answer: you lose. The prize goes to those who know how the simple rules of ownership really work.

James Beach is a large guy, over six feet tall. On a United Airlines flight from Newark to Denver, the businessman lowered his tray table and attached his Knee Defender. The Knee Defender is a simple plastic clamp available for $21.95 that locks the seat in front. Its website claims the clamp will "stop reclining seats on airplanes so your knees won't have to." Assured of his workspace, Beach opened his laptop.

The Knee Defender claims are real. When the passenger sitting in front of Beach tried to recline, her seat didn't budge. Outraged, she slammed her seat back, popping out the Knee Defender and jolting Beach's laptop. He quickly jammed her seat back up and reattached the clamp. She turned around and threw her drink at Beach. The pilot changed course to Chicago for an emergency landing and both passengers were removed from the plane.

This conflict keeps erupting—most recently on video. On an American Airlines flight from New Orleans to North Carolina, Wendi Williams reclined her seat. The man behind was in the last row, so he could not recline. Instead, he tapped the back of Williams's seat repeatedly, like an irritating metronome. Her video of this high-altitude fracas quickly went viral. ..........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/07/why-you-dont-own-the-right-to-recline-in-your-airplane-seat/

March 8, 2021

'We're making our way': how Virginia became the most progressive of the US's southern states

(Guardian UK) Having lived in Virginia most of his life, Larry Sabato can remember racially segregated schools and systematic efforts to stop Black people voting. Now 68, he observes a state that has diversified, embraced liberal values and shifted from symbol of the old south to symbol of the new.

“I have to admit, as a young man I would never have believed it was possible for Virginia to move in such a strong progressive direction,” said Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “I worked for candidates back then who were progressive. I used to joke, ‘If I work for you, you’re going to lose, you have to understand that’. And they always did.

“Virginia has taught the country and the world that America can change, and sometimes can change rapidly, and in a very progressive direction.”

Two dramatic examples came last month when the state general assembly voted to abolish the death penalty – an extraordinary reversal for a state that has executed more people than any other – and to make Virginia the first southern state to legalise marijuana for adult recreational use.

These followed a flurry of measures that put the commonwealth, as it is known, in the vanguard on racial, social and economic issues in the American south. Last year it passed some of the strictest gun laws, loosest abortion restrictions and strongest protections for LGBTQ+ people in the region, as well as its highest minimum wage. .........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/07/us-virginia-progressive-southern-state

March 7, 2021

Plans announced for first tribal eagle aviary in Michigan

An idea from nearly a decade ago is taking shape in Emmet County with the recent announcement by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and Wings of Wonder of the new Migizi Aviary and Rehabilitation Center.

The center is estimated to cost approximately $600,000 and will include rehabilitation enclosures, an office/lab/clinic building and an eagle aviary where non-releasable eagles can be housed.

Doug Craven, director of natural resources for the Little Traverse Bay Bands, said the plan is to locate the Migizi Center on the tribe’s existing small scale hatchery property near Drier and Reed roads.

Since around 2005, Craven said, the natural resources department has been conducting a number of eagle-related research projects, from monitoring nests for reproduction success, to tracking flight movement, to examining blood work for contaminant levels. ...........(more)

https://www.petoskeynews.com/featured-pnr/plans-announced-for-first-tribal-eagle-aviary-in-michigan/article_a5798d9d-0ca0-5140-9f9a-e21210704d5b.html

March 7, 2021

Shirkey lies about COVID-19 science, defends Texas' decision to fully reopen

(Detroit Metro Times) Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey on Thursday falsely claimed there’s no evidence that COVID-19 restrictions are effective and defended Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to allow businesses to fully open and lift the state's face mask mandate.

In a radio interview on WKHM, the Clarklake Republican said if he were the governor of Michigan, he’d embrace “something similar, not exactly the same, to what Gov. Abbott has done in Texas.”

The radio host pushed back, saying, “You’re not hitching your wagon to Texas are you? Come on, Mike.”

Health experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have cautioned states against lifting restrictions prematurely because of new virus variants and the continuing spread of COVID-19. They also strongly recommend people wear masks, pointing to studies that have repeatedly shown face coverings are effective. ............(more)

https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2021/03/05/sen-shirkey-lies-about-covid-19-science-defends-texas-decision-to-fully-reopen

March 6, 2021

Canada commits funding to help transit systems transition to electric power

The government of Canada has committed C$2.75 billion (US$2.17 billion) over the next five years toward helping transportation providers transition to electric power. The funding is part of the C$14.9 billion (US$11.73 billion) in dedicated transit investment announced in February.

“Better public transit, cleaner air, quieter streets and a planet safe for our kids–that’s the goal of our investment in zero-emission buses across Canada,” said Canada Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Catherine McKenna. “By making this investment, we’re tackling climate change while creating good jobs and supporting manufacturing right now, here at home. Canada’s infrastructure plan invests in thousands of projects, creates jobs across the country and builds cleaner, more inclusive communities.”

The federal funding is in addition to the C$1.5 billion (US$1.18 billion) the Canada Infrastructure Bank has committed to zero-emission buses and associated infrastructure as part of its three-year Growth Plan. The newly announced funding will start in 2021 and, according to the Canadian government, “support municipalities, transit authorities and school boards with transition planning, increase ambition on the electrification of transit systems and deliver on the government’s commitment to help purchase 5,000 zero-emission buses over the next five years.”

The government explains Canada’s transportation sector accounts for 25 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The country’s existing programs have supported the purchase of 300 zero-emission buses, including 15 new battery-electric buses for TransLink in Vancouver, British Columbia, which was funded in part from the federal Gas Tax Fund and 65 electric buses in Guelph, Ontario, which was funded in part through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. ..............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/vehicles/hybrid-hydrogen-electric-vehicles/article/21213032/canada-commits-funding-to-help-transit-systems-transition-to-electric-power