hohum

33 and I think I finally know WTF I am doing ;)

OK, applying packet switching to human transportation - ludicrous to the max. We could accomplish such a system at say (just to venture a guess) 1,000,000 x the US defense budget (and I say this as an engineer who was deeply involved in developing monitoring and maintenance alert systems for vast packet (and other) switching systems) Pie in the sky? Sure, its efficient (except the fact that packet switching allows for some collision of packet data - there is no "resend human"). I guess if its just talking about applying some learnings about traffic efficiency to human transportation, sure, its already being used to understand highway traffic phenomena (apparently spontaneous slowdowns, etc.). However, as a "highly superior semi-personal robotic transit system" *cough*, of little help to transit engineers today.

Software Architecture and soon to be Intellectual Property/Contractual Law

<-- main reason I browse forums on topics of interest. Overwhelming boredom when I am supposed to be doing something else. I suppose I should have chosen procrastinator

*cough* FYI, there is another location where stickers will be sold starting this Friday. So far, I've only heard that Park+Vine has sold out so until I hear otherwise they are also available at all the other shops. That said, they will also be available at Findlay Market. The stickers will be available at the Findlay Market Gift Shop (near the entrance to the public restrooms). They will likely be selling them for $1. The Gift Shop is open during the normal market hours on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Park + Vine should have some shirts very soon. When I was talking to Cory he said that this coming Saturday was the goal, so we shall see!

Sweet :) I was surprised that I didn't see you guys.. I was up by where woodburn meets madison from about 7:15 to about 9:15... I was trying to get pictures of all the folks I knew running but I was an dummy and left my memory card in the card reader at home.

Heh, I think living above Jean Ro would be bad for my health. I already have to resist stopping for french onion soup every day given that my work is directly adjacent. Then again, if I could get the $380K unit for a seriously lowball offer, well that would be enough to put me over the edge ;)

^ Er, was this meant for this thread? Regardless - Grammers lowered their prices (for example, the better drafts at Uncle Woody's are comparable in price to Grammers) Back to the delicious lofts at Fountain Square, gonna be a sweet place. I've been watching the work wondering when it was going to get done...

^ I live on Straight, about halfway down. So I walk up the hill, then back down to Ludlow... Its a chimp easy walk. Too easy really...

^True, although the seasonal flavors graeters comes out with blow B+J out of the water. Their peach is to die for. I really wish graeters would take that space, they would succeed there. Then again I walk down to ludlow for skyline if nothing else. I still think graeters would be a win there.

I'll be watchin for ya, hopefully you won't be too dead by the time you get to McMillan or Madison (I'll be at either or to cheer on my friends, just depends on where I end up on the bike by the time the runners get there) Man, I can't imagine running that route, more power to ya!

That would be sweet... but I can't imagine how they would set it up in Mt. Adams with the narrow streets... But how cool would that be!

^ Heh, ditto. I actually met with three prospective clients while responding here. Tis the beauty of conference calls. What else are you going to do during the elevator music? (And, I can do the pitch in my sleep. Even got two sales out of three, a better than average return!)

Graeters does slow whip but compare the nutritional information fat content between some comparable flavors... BJ is still a bit denser ;)

Park + Vine is sold out. The other stores still have some. I dropped off a big batch at the Findlay Market gift shop, but they will have to get them into their computer to sell them :). Can't hurt to stop by and ask though, and its a beaut of a day at the market!

^ The only advantage to the store is that you don't have to get a whole pint and feel obliged to eat it ;)

Talking to the folks on the street after the theft, someone pulled up in a pickup truck, hopped out, cut the chain with bolt cutters, and was gone in less than a few minutes. They said he was waiting on street when I locked my bike up. I'd like to think that the drive was smart enough to be scoping what was a VERY expensive bike, but probably they just saw that 4 or 5 of us used the same meters and posts and just walked the line and grabbed what they could quick.

Its more expensive, but it also a much denser ice cream. It has roughly 2x the cream solids of other brands of ice cream (which is why when you look at the nutritional info its twice as bad for you as other brands ;) ). There is a great deal of air whipped into both UDF and Graeters. B&J is a much richer ice cream, and uses MUCH better ingredients as the mixers than any of the local chains. Coming from the northeast, B&J is one of my favorites, but they will always have a hard time competing with entrenched brands (Especially if you are not used to really dense ice cream). I was not surprised at all given the market they were competing in.

Chained to a street post in front of my work. Chain was cut moments after I went in to work.

Heh, not seeing things ;) You mean the giant brick obelisk?

^ This doesn't mean we can't work toward a system that could be worked into the bus system in the future. They key is choosing a viable technology that can be rolled out in additional systems as it becomes possible. The key thing is that it has to be easy to use, and provide a solid stream of ticket revenues. I love free, but I don't think that is even faintly politically possible. Free times for certain events, sure, but overall free I just don't see happening.

IMO, the fare taking method I most prefer is the system I saw used on the public transit systems in the Czech Republic. It is similar to the system discussed by Eighth and State previously in his experience in Germany. You place fare machines at the stops, and in other places in the city. You can pay cash, or you can scan a credit card/atm card (I didn't use this feature while I was in Czech since it carried hefty fees). You get a printed ticket for whichever fare you pay. You can also buy variable number of ride printed paper cards (similar to the Charlie cards in use in Boston). When you get on the system, at each doorway there is a machine on the post where you either insert your printed ticket and it is stamped with the time you got on, or you you insert your paper magnetic card which has the number of fares, and the same thing happens (except it prints the amount of funds left and the timestamp). The system is enforced using traffic police officers who will randomly do ticket checks on the cars. It carries a hefty fine if your ticket is not validated (and cannot be validated on the spot when the officer checks (easy out if you don't quite know how the system works)). The fine was on the order of 800 Czech crowns. At the time the exchange rate was about 21 Crowns to the dollar. You have to consider though, that Czech is cheaper than here in many ways (e.g., dinner and drinks for 20 ran me 1000 crowns, about $200, and a beer went for about 22 Crowns.). So, that fine is HEFTY. Also, the same system was used throughout the buses, the electric trolleys, etc. The same could be done here. It does have the downside that it has a minor learning curve, but once you get it, you are golden. Further, folks from other countries already use this type of a system, so their learning curve should be even lower. I do believe that in some places, the date stamp on your validated ticket was good for a period of time. This would allow for the "there and back" type of lunch trips. We always ran over our time, but it would have been nice for quicker runs.

(doh, double post, blackberry based screwup!)

They do indeed still exist in lower price hill. A friend of mine works for them :)