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[Bact PhD]

This article popped up in my Pocket. Although it's from a couple of years ago, it's far from "dated".

One hundred years ago, the United States had a public transportation system that was the envy of the world. Today, outside a few major urban centers, it is barely on life support. Even in New York City, subway ridership is well below its 1946 peak. Annual per capita transit trips in the U.S. plummeted from 115.8 in 1950 to 36.1 in 1970, where they have roughly remained since, even as population has grown.

This has not happened in much of the rest of the world. While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not. At the turn of the 20th century, when transit companies’ only competition were the legs of a person or a horse, they worked reasonably well, even if they faced challenges. Once cars arrived, nearly every U.S. transit agency slashed service to cut costs, instead of improving service to stay competitive. This drove even more riders away, producing a vicious cycle that led to the point where today, few Americans with a viable alternative ride buses or trains.

It goes on to give the history of transit-versus-automobile and where things broke down. I was reminded of a couple of things. One, I vividly remember when the MetroRail in DC opened in the mid-'70s and all of the excitement surrounding it. Two, the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", where the evil "toon" was working on behalf of the freeway builders...I may want to dig that out & watch it soon.

[andydp]

Mar 12, 2022 19:23:11 GMT Bact PhD said:

This article popped up in my Pocket. Although it's from a couple of years ago, it's far from "dated".

One hundred years ago, the United States had a public transportation system that was the envy of the world. Today, outside a few major urban centers, it is barely on life support. Even in New York City, subway ridership is well below its 1946 peak. Annual per capita transit trips in the U.S. plummeted from 115.8 in 1950 to 36.1 in 1970, where they have roughly remained since, even as population has grown.

This has not happened in much of the rest of the world. While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not. At the turn of the 20th century, when transit companies’ only competition were the legs of a person or a horse, they worked reasonably well, even if they faced challenges. Once cars arrived, nearly every U.S. transit agency slashed service to cut costs, instead of improving service to stay competitive. This drove even more riders away, producing a vicious cycle that led to the point where today, few Americans with a viable alternative ride buses or trains.

It goes on to give the history of transit-versus-automobile and where things broke down. I was reminded of a couple of things. One, I vividly remember when the MetroRail in DC opened in the mid-'70s and all of the excitement surrounding it. Two, the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", where the evil "toon" was working on behalf of the freeway builders...I may want to dig that out & watch it soon.

The company name on the side of the cartoon trolleys was a fictional name representing the various trolley companies that were obliterated by several somewhat interesting coincidences.  This is from Wikipedia.

General Motors streetcar conspiracy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Great American streetcar scandal)


The General Motors streetcar conspiracy refers to convictions of General Motors (GM) and other companies that were involved in monopolizing the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines (NCL) and its subsidiaries, and to allegations that the defendants conspired to own or control transit systems, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The suit created lingering suspicions that the defendants had in fact plotted to dismantle streetcar systems in many cities in the United States as an attempt to monopolize surface transportation.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

[LFC]

A blast from my past.

A brief tour of the PDP-11, the most influential minicomputer of all time
It helped popularize the interactive computing paradigm we take for granted today.

The history of computing could arguably be divided into three eras: that of mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers. Minicomputers provided an important bridge between the first mainframes and the ubiquitous micros of today. This is the story of the PDP-11, the most influential and successful minicomputer ever.

In their moment, minicomputers were used in a variety of applications. They served as communications controllers, instrument controllers, large system pre-processors, desk calculators, and real-time data acquisition handlers. But they also laid the foundation for significant hardware architecture advances and contributed greatly to modern operating systems, programming languages, and interactive computing as we know them today.

In today’s world of computing, in which every computer runs some variant of Windows, Mac, or Linux, it’s hard to distinguish between the CPUs underneath the operating system. But there was a time when differences in CPU architecture were a big deal. The PDP-11 helps explain why that was the case.

The PDP-11 was introduced in 1970, a time when most computing was done on expensive GE, CDC, and IBM mainframes that few people had access to. There were no laptops, desktops, or personal computers. Programming was done by only a few companies, mostly in assembly, COBOL, and FORTRAN. Input was done on punched cards, and programs ran in non-interactive batch runs.

Although the first PDP-11 was modest, it laid the groundwork for an invasion of minicomputers that would make a new generation of computers more readily available, essentially creating a revolution in computing. The PDP-11 helped birth the UNIX operating system and the C programming language. It would also greatly influence the next generation of computer architectures. During the 22-year lifespan of the PDP-11—a tenure unheard of by today’s standards—more than 600,000 PDP-11s were sold.

[andydp]

From the world of PDP-11, (our first PC ran an 8088 processor) to reality is a stinker:

As you may know, we had a 6-8 inch snowfall Friday into Saturday.  The storm ended about 1800 Saturday so we went out to clean up our driveway.  I was finished, when my wife suggested we do the driveway of person across from us who is out of town and asked us to keep an eye on the place.  They're in FL watching their son play Baseball for Wheaton College in MA.

THEN my eagle eyed wife says, looks like the people next door aren't in. So... that one got done.  She also noted we should help the people directly across the street because their machine is not working right.

End result; FOUR driveways done.  Lesson learned: our snowblower can do four driveways + on one tank of gas.  

Today's weather: we hit 50

I'm having my reward right now: A bourbon Old Fashioned using I.W. Harper Bourbon.  I wasn't feeling well over the weekend.  That's why I'm drinking now.

[goldenvalley]

Maybe it's time for a resolution not to snow blow 4 driveways when you know 3 of the owners aren't home and the weather forecast is to warm up drastically in the next 3 days.   

[Bact PhD]

Mar 14, 2022 20:37:41 GMT andydp said:

From the world of PDP-11, (our first PC ran an 8088 processor) to reality is a stinker:

As you may know, we had a 6-8 inch snowfall Friday into Saturday.  The storm ended about 1800 Saturday so we went out to clean up our driveway.  I was finished, when my wife suggested we do the driveway of person across from us who is out of town and asked us to keep an eye on the place.  They're in FL watching their son play Baseball for Wheaton College in MA.

‘Tis the season for Spring Break college baseball tournaments in sunny Flori-DUH. One of Dear Son’s former teammates is playing at Wilkes (PA), and they’re in a tournament this week as well. Wonder if it’s the same one?

EDIT: Nope, I got the dates wrong—their trip just concluded.

[LFC]

Interesting info on blind spots in larger vehicles leading to more pedestrians being hit. I know that in my Outback (and my last one also) the front pillar creates a bit of a passenger side blind spot, particularly when turning or on a sharp bend. I'm hardly considering my car a larger vehicle but it's definitely noticeable compared to other vehicles I've owned.

It's a dangerous time to be on American roads, and that's especially true if you're on foot.

Pedestrian deaths on our roads went up by more than 50 percent in a decade, and it looks like last year may have been even worse than 2020. The problem is complex, as road design, poor standards of driving training, and inadequate enforcement of existing traffic laws all contribute to the death toll.

But a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has figured out why drivers of some types of vehicles are disproportionately more likely to hit pedestrians. Previous research has shown that cars are much safer for pedestrians than light truck vehicles, a catch-all category that includes SUVs, pickups, and vans (mini- or otherwise). And there has been speculation that the high fronts of these vehicles are more likely to mangle a pedestrian.

The IIHS study identifies another factor. IIHS Senior Transportation Engineer Wen Hu and IIHS Vice President of Research Jessica Cicchino looked at crash data from North Carolina (from 2010 to 2018) and data from the national Fatality Analysis Reporting System, or FARS, (from 2014 to 2018) to try to understand the problem.

IIHS identifies a potential culprit—ever larger and thicker A-pillars (the posts that frame the windshield and support the front of the roof). "It's possible that the size, shape, or location of the A-pillars that support the roof on either side of the windshield could make it harder for drivers of these larger vehicles to see crossing pedestrians when they are turning," said Hu.

Ironically, the problem may be partly of IIHS' making. When Ars visited IIHS's crash-testing center in 2019, the organization was proud of the fact that the auto industry had responded to its tougher rollover test. In order to protect occupants during a rollover, OEMs had to strengthen their A-pillars in order to pass. That resulted in safer cars for their occupants, but at the cost of worse visibility—and perhaps more dead pedestrians.

[AnBr]

During World War II, fighter planes would come back from battle with bullet holes. The Allies found the areas that were most commonly hit by enemy fire. They sought to strengthen the most commonly damaged parts of the planes to reduce the number that was shot down.

A mathematician, Abraham Wald, pointed out that perhaps there was another way to look at the data. Perhaps the reason certain areas of the planes weren't covered in bullet holes was that planes that were shot in those areas did not return. This insight led to the armor being re-enforced on the parts of the plane where there were no bullet holes.

The story behind the data is arguably more important than the data itself. Or more precisely, the reason behind why we are missing certain pieces of data may be more meaningful than the data we have. Don’t only listen to what is being said. Listen more to what is not being said.

[LFC]

Male birth control pills might be available in the near future.

Scientists are still racing to create the first male contraceptive that isn’t a condom or surgery. In new preliminary research, a team says they’ve developed a non-hormonal form of male birth control, one that kept lab mice sterile for four to six weeks with seemingly no side effects. Early human trials of the pill are expected to begin by the end of the year.

[andydp]

Mar 24, 2022 16:20:48 GMT LFC said:

Male birth control pills might be available in the near future.

Scientists are still racing to create the first male contraceptive that isn’t a condom or surgery. In new preliminary research, a team says they’ve developed a non-hormonal form of male birth control, one that kept lab mice sterile for four to six weeks with seemingly no side effects. Early human trials of the pill are expected to begin by the end of the year.

This is all well and good.  However, men have learned one thing: If the bra and panties match, you're not the one who decided to have sex.

[goldenvalley]

Mar 24, 2022 16:20:48 GMT LFC said:

Male birth control pills might be available in the near future.

Scientists are still racing to create the first male contraceptive that isn’t a condom or surgery. In new preliminary research, a team says they’ve developed a non-hormonal form of male birth control, one that kept lab mice sterile for four to six weeks with seemingly no side effects. Early human trials of the pill are expected to begin by the end of the year.

Yeah racing.  The female pill was approved in the 1960s.  Is male hormone and chemistry so complicated that it's taken 60+ years to develop a male pill?  I doubt it.  

[pnwguy]

Mar 24, 2022 18:30:33 GMT goldenvalley said:

Mar 24, 2022 16:20:48 GMT LFC said:

Male birth control pills might be available in the near future.

Yeah racing.  The female pill was approved in the 1960s.  Is male hormone and chemistry so complicated that it's taken 60+ years to develop a male pill?  I doubt it.  

Well, there is quite an order of magnitude difference in neutralizing ONE ovum (usually) versus 200 MILLION spermatozoa in the average ejaculate.  

[LFC]

Photographer’s 3,200 Undeveloped Film Rolls Hold History of Rock ‘n’ Roll

[andydp]

After several years of a Wi-Fi desert scarcity, I have finally obtained an Xfinity Wi-Fi password from my brother in law.  I no longer have to depend on a limited gig hot spot.  I can log on to my heart's content.

Questions remain:  wandering through the Augean Stable-like cubby of my Father in law, I came across an unopened bottle of Macadamia Nut Liqueur from Costa Rica.  Looking for recipes, found some on line and got a few suggestions from my frat brothers, one of them a sort of "martini".  There is also a bottle of actual Jamaican Rum, which is coming to my house.  Anyone have any recipes for the Macadamia Nut liqueur ?

Did some shopping yesterday.  As I was perusing the Sunday Inquirer, I came across an ad from Total Wine for 1.75L Svedka Vodka on sale.  Of course, we didn't want to make a trip for only one item, so we got 1.75L bottles of Gin and Vodka, a mixed 12 pack of Cigar City Beer and a bottle of Old Fashioned mix for use when we get home.  We also went shopping for sundries and some groceries.  While MrsAndy was shopping,  I got a haircut.  Everybody wins !! 

If you haven't heard, the Northeast is in the grip of a Polar Vortex.  Temps this AM in Philly were 27 without the wind chill. Supposed to warm up on Wednesday just in time for the rain.  Our gym experiences are continuing.  

[indy]

Mar 28, 2022 19:25:22 GMT andydp said:

If you haven't heard, the Northeast is in the grip of a Polar Vortex.  Temps this AM in Philly were 27 without the wind chill. Supposed to warm up on Wednesday just in time for the rain.  Our gym experiences are continuing.  

I saw video of 20-30? car/truck pile up on I-81. Yikes.

ETA: Saw the video here: www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-interstate-81-pileup-mass-casualty-incident-20220328-3ugmnzjmnvalxn26iezuadge2i-story.html

One guy was so lucky I don't even know what to say. He stood right next to the interstate for no reason I could discern.

[goldenvalley]

Mar 28, 2022 19:25:22 GMT andydp said:

Questions remain:  Anyone have any recipes for the Macadamia Nut liqueur ?

Never heard of it...I visited Costa Rico a couple of years ago and didn't see anything like that on any cocktail menus.  I would have ordered it if I saw it.  Let us know what you think of it.

LFC has been in Costa Rico.  He might have a recipe.

[pnwguy]

Mar 28, 2022 22:09:29 GMT goldenvalley said:

Mar 28, 2022 19:25:22 GMT andydp said:

Questions remain:  Anyone have any recipes for the Macadamia Nut liqueur ?

Never heard of it...I visited Costa Rico a couple of years ago and didn't see anything like that on any cocktail menus.  I would have ordered it if I saw it.  Let us know what you think of it.

LFC has been in Costa Rico.  He might have a recipe.

I was just there for 13 days two weeks ago and traveled around quite a bit. But I never saw that on any bar menu.

[LFC]

Mar 28, 2022 22:09:29 GMT goldenvalley said:

LFC has been in Costa Rico.  He might have a recipe.

We were there for about 10 days and I never saw it. That would be right up my wife's ally too.

[andydp]

Mar 29, 2022 13:04:21 GMT LFC said:

Mar 28, 2022 22:09:29 GMT goldenvalley said:

LFC has been in Costa Rico.  He might have a recipe.

We were there for about 10 days and I never saw it. That would be right up my wife's alley too.

Never one to shirk from a good research project, I found a multitude of Macadamia Nut Liqueur recipes.  Some are food centric,  others are for drinks, including some with Bailey's Irish Creme.  


www.bing.com/search?q=macadamia%20nut%20liqueur%20drink%20recipes&qs=n&form=QBRE&=%25eManage%20Your%20Search%20History%25E&sp=-1&pq=macadamia%20nut%20liqueur%20drink%20recipes&sc=1-35&sk=&cvid=0ECF9AFA1E5D4973A7CE7D75E9E44CE9

[LFC]

A fungus appears to be killing off invasive Crazy Ants in the south. Estero Llano is an amazing site filled with wildlife in Texas that I've birded before the Crazy Ants appeared. It would be sad to see the abundance and diversity get permanently destroyed there.

Several years ago, staffers at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco, Texas, noticed a new type of invasive ant species. Tawny crazy ants were so aggressive that they were driving birds out of their nests and occasionally swarming over visitors who paused to sit on a trail. Populations of other native species—like scorpions, snakes, tarantulas, and lizards—sharply declined, while rabbits were blinded by the ants' venom.

That's when University of Texas at Austin biologist Ed LeBrun got involved. The park "had a crazy ant infestation, and it was apocalyptic—rivers of ants going up and down every tree," he said. Crazy ants have since spread rapidly through every state on the Gulf Coast, with over 27 Texas counties reporting significant infestations. The usual ant-bait traps and over-the-counter pesticides have proven ineffective, so the EPA has approved the temporary (but restricted) use of an anti-termite agent called fipronil. But a more targeted and less toxic control strategy would be better.

LeBrun has worked extensively on fire ants, another invasive species that has plagued the region. He has spent the last few years investigating potential sustainable control strategies based on crazy ants' natural enemies in the wild. LeBrun and his colleagues have now discovered that a specific type of fungus can effectively wipe out crazy ant colonies while leaving other native species alone, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Originally hailing from South America, tawny crazy ants (Nylanderia fulva) get their name because of their unpredictable movements. (They are also sometimes known as Rasberry crazy ants after exterminator Tom Rasberry.) The ants are unusual because they don't build central mounds or nests. Instead, colonies make their homes under stones, in rotting logs, or in any kind of pre-existing hole in the ground. Crazy ant colonies also have multiple queens, which contributes to their hardiness.

For some reason, crazy ants are attracted to electrical equipment. They can even chew through insulation and wiring and short out electrical equipment. A swarm of crazy ants can asphyxiate a chicken, and swarms have been known to attack larger animals, like cattle, around the eyes, nostrils, and hooves. Some homeowners in the Lone Star State were sweeping up dustpans full of dead crazy ants on a daily basis at the height of infestation.

Crazy ants don't have the painful bite of fire ants, but they do excrete formic acid they can use as a venom—hence the blinded rabbits in Estero Llano Grande State Park. In 2014, scientists discovered that crazy ants could survive exposure to fire ant venom 98 percent of the time by using their own formic acid to detoxify the venom. When their gland ducts were blocked, crazy ants had only a 48 percent survival rate.

[andydp]

Mar 29, 2022 13:54:44 GMT andydp said:

Mar 29, 2022 13:04:21 GMT LFC said:

We were there for about 10 days and I never saw it. That would be right up my wife's alley too.

Never one to shirk from a good research project, I found a multitude of Macadamia Nut Liqueur recipes.  Some are food centric,  others are for drinks, including some with Bailey's Irish Creme.  


www.bing.com/search?q=macadamia%20nut%20liqueur%20drink%20recipes&qs=n&form=QBRE&=%25eManage%20Your%20Search%20History%25E&sp=-1&pq=macadamia%20nut%20liqueur%20drink%20recipes&sc=1-35&sk=&cvid=0ECF9AFA1E5D4973A7CE7D75E9E44CE9

I knew if I asked my friends there would come some recipes.  Here's a couple:  (That smoothie sounds perfect for the summer)

3 parts Bourbon, 1 part Mac liqueur, too off with club soda and ice! Also, just pour some in coffee or put it in a blender with vanilla ice cream and ice for a kicked up smoothie! Enjoy!


Another simple one a Mac martini, using vanilla vodka and the macadamia liqueur!

[LFC]

Motorola still makes cellphones?

LG Electronics quit the Android world last July, and while the company never produced a flagship smartphone capable of hanging with the best in the market, LG was a prominent source of cheap smartphones, especially in the US. Thanks to a new report from Counterpoint Research, we're now getting a look at what a US market without LG looks like, and the big winner is apparently Lenovo's phone division, Motorola.

Counterpoint Research shows Motorola capturing the number three spot in the US smartphone market, with 10 percent market share. Apple takes the top spot with 58 percent, and Samsung grabs a 22 percent share. It looks like LG supply cratered around September 2021.

[indy]

What a silly article. 'Big winner' and 'capturing the number three spot'? That's some fast and loose phrasing. Not that you can really draw many conclusions from the significant volatility, but they appeared to have 'captured' what, about a third of the 15% of the market that LG abandoned? Looks like Apple captured the other 2/3rds so wouldn't they be the big winners?

I worked for Motorola for about 5 minutes after they bought out the tiny company I worked for. In the first meeting with the new boss, he told me I was being paid too much for a person of my experience and that there would have to be an adjustment. He had a table that laid out education and years of experience with titles (staff engineer I, staff engineer II, etc.) and salary ranges which he earnestly showed me to prove his point. A peek into my sad little future with Motorola as it were. In the end he was right though, there was an adjustment, just not the one he was proposing. I liked that tiny company. It was a great place to work and they ruined it.

[andydp]

SETON HALL LADY PIRATES ADVANCE TO THE NIT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Seton Hall beat out Western Tenn in a hard fought game (after blowing a 22 point lead) by one point.

They advance to the NIT Championship game against South Dakota State.

The game will be on CBS Sports Network (NOT CBS) Saturday April 2 at 1500 Eastern.

Historical note: Seton Hall Men's team won the 1953 NIT when the NIT was THE tournament.  It would be nice to have a second NIT banner in the gym.

GO PIRATES !!!!

In case you're wondering why I keep harping on Seton Hall:  my wife and I are both Alumni.  In addition, my wife was on the first ever (Pre Title IX) women's BB team.  This is also the furthest the women's team has come in Post Season.  

[andydp]

After Action Review:  Sadly, the Lady Pirates were defeated by the South Dakota State Univ  Lady Jackrabbits in the NIT Final.  This was the furthest the Lady Pirates got in the post season.  To paraphrase Derek Jeter: "You don't accidentally land in the championship game"

Thank you for your support in spirit.  

In other news: There seems to be a break in the matrix:  UConn is NOT the Women's NCAA BB Champion. That title goes to the South Carolina Gamecocks.  They were exceptional and kept UConn behind through the whole game.  

Next on the agenda:  University of North Carolina plays Kansas State tonight (April 4) at 2120 Eastern on TBS.  Since this is the LAST NCAA Game for the year on Tuesday (if we were home) I would regain control of the TV. Since we're at Nana's this will be postponed until our return home.