Actually, I did win the powerball October 31, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in After the Powerball.add a comment
But only for a big $4. So my revised ‘After The Powerball” dream will probably include a Soy Chai Latte. Large. Keep the change.
Mark the platforms on the metro October 28, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in Washington DC.add a comment
How hard would it be to put markings on the platform at metro stations saying: “Stand back until doors open and passengers have de-barked.” If the doors open at pretty much the same place each time, which they day, you could just mark out a conic section, opening away from the door. This would probably reduce the time a train has to spend in each station by, say, 30 seconds. Add that up, per station, per train, and you get some de-crowding in a systems that is running ever-so-close to capacity.
If you want to get on the metro, October 28, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in Things not to do while walking in DC.add a comment
Don’t stand square in front of the doors. People need to get off before you can get on. The more you stand back or to the side, the more quickly this can all happen.
I have a great sky-castle for sale… October 27, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in What is real?.add a comment
Currently located in my brain. Will ship.
This article describes an online game wherein people purchase game properties using real dollars. The kicker, someone bought a resort space station for $100K. I hope the buyer can charge real rent to virtual visitors so he can make back his investment.
Bus Driver Announcements October 27, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in Washington DC.add a comment
When the fare box on a bus is broken, perhaps there could be a standard phrase. Most bus drivers are able to communicate, but this morning the woman insisted on saying:
“Keep moving,” as she waved her fingers “pay on the next bus.”
My ears picked up just enough to think she wanted me to get out of her face and wait for the next bus. But, seeing others had already boarded and were seated, I got on. Turns out that’s what she wanted me to do. But one guy just took it wrong.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Keep moving,” she said, “(*&%# the next bus.”
He got upset and finally others had to convince him to get on so we could keep moving.
One bad episode October 26, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in Battlestar Galactica.add a comment
Though Battlestar Galactica really is “the best show on television”, it does have one faulty episode. When Kara gets shot down on a remote, nearly airless planet, and manages to rescue herself by fixing up a Zylon fighter. This raises too many questions:
- Why does the Zylon, which is part organic, part mechanical, have the kind of manual controls that a human can use?
- How does a jacket stuffed into a hole maintain pressure in space?
- There appears to be no navigation equipment that displays a human-readable output. (why would there be?) So how does she find the fleet?
Not that many shows could stand that level of scrutiny, but Battlestar Galactica has set a high mark for itself.
Walking backwards, out of a store October 26, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in Things not to do while walking in DC.1 comment so far
onto a crowded sidewalk, while talking on your cellphone, is just dumb. Yet it happens, over and over. Alternatively, we get the backwards conversation, sort of a ta-ta on exit, while facing into the store. People are walking both ways on the sidewalk, they barely register people coming out the door, let alone distracted idiots looking at where they came from.
You must register to read my content October 24, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in Uncategorized.add a comment
Small, medium, and some larger newspapers are trying desperately to be relevant online. Many have excellent content. But when I get my Google Alert on a topic, click a few links to open up browser windows, then scan through to see what I will actually read and link to on my blogs, I close anything that requires registration. Why read it if I can’t post a link to it?
Ayn Rand and Natural Selection October 20, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in Bad Ayn Rand.add a comment
The Ayn Rand hero is a classic re-write of the Nietzchian Uber-man, fettered by society. But, in the fashion of the time, natural selection has become the religion that validates her uber-capitalist. Her conclusion is in contrast to the real lessons of natural selection, of course. The idea that there is a pure, competitve field in which the Uber-man thrives is an edenic fantasy. Humankind rose out of its natural eco-niche primarily as a result of cooperation and society. Otherwise we’d be a bunch of big-headed tool-making snacks for the much bigger, faster predators that would continue to dominate. But we cooperate, share knowledge, protect and educate the young. Thus we’ve spread over the world and flattened landscapes. Ayn Rand’s Uber-man might resent the rest of us, but he’d get eaten by something, sooner or later, if we didn’t exist.
The Last Rehash of Milli Vanilli October 21, 2005
Posted by danjeffers in Pithy Comments to get quoted in Express.add a comment
When Cheney and Rove fall, and W has to actually do President stuff, it’ll be like Milli Vanilli doing a comeback using their own voices.