“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” -Martin Luther King, Jr

Sunday, September 11, 2011

This is too good for words


Would You Like Some Music with Your Streetcar Trip?

Then you want to be out riding the system next Monday, September 19th from 7pm to 9pm for the Streetcar Mobile Music Fest! Every vehicle on the system (all six) will have performers to make your experience delightful. Check out all the details.
Posted by Chris Smith at 12:09 AM

Okay, I've gotta ride the streetcar next Monday. That's hilarious!

Well here's one end of the light rail argument

Developers get goodies
And
Light Rail attracts development.
So light rail must really be the best. Screw those buses. ALL HAIL LIGHT RAIL!

DIRTY BUSES GOT YOU DOWN?


People are tired of the lack of response from TRIMET and ATU757 regarding the lack of cleaning of the TRIMET fleet.
See some potential health risks on your bus, report it here:
Send pictures, documents, or any other information to this email  
dirtybus@atu757.info


Or text over your pictures and/or complaint to 
503-893-9329 
http://rantingsofatrimetbusdriver.blogspot.com/2011/09/dirty-buses-got-you-down.html

People sure like Portland out there


But most of that is in French...I only speak Spanish and English....anybody speak french and can translate what that thing says? I want to know.

Where Amyricka has come today

http://rantingsofatrimetbusdriver.blogspot.com/2011/09/camping-at-troutdale-truckstop.html
Sad, huh?

Uh oh. This can't be good for TriMet in the Sandi Day case...


Just like drivers of personal vehicles, city buses have a duty to use reasonable care in avoiding pedestrians. Under New York law, pedestrians generally have the right of way on public streets (especially in crosswalks), and vehicular traffic must yield. As such, a person hit by a car or bus may be eligible to seek compensation for injuries caused by a driver's failure to use reasonable care or to obey traffic laws. According to testimony given at trial, Ms. Kusz responded to the pedestrian walk signal and crossed into the intersection before the bus struck her.

MTA MUST PAY $20,000,000 IN PEDESTRIAN DEATH

ANOTHER good reason to be a transit rider.


Bus commuters 'walk 11 marathons'

Commuters who catch buses to work walk nearly 300 miles a year, a report has revealed.
Passengers walk an average of 0.8 miles each day to and from bus stops between their homes and offices, according to a study of more than 400 journeys across Britain.
Dr David Lewis, who carried out the research, said: "Someone who travels by bus daily will walk almost 460km (286 miles) per year - that's equivalent to walking 11 marathons.
"This would be of substantial benefit to the two thirds of British adults who, according to the 2010 Health Survey, do not achieve the recommended levels of exercise.
"This study clearly demonstrates that using the bus instead of the car could enhance both personal and national wellbeing."
His research was commissioned by Greener Journeys, a body representing Britain's biggest bus companies.
The group will on Monday present a report to MPs helping to shape Government transport policy.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iX28tXCY24TFF36yo0okGxOerKbg?docId=N0319181315753138153A

Shoved Bus Rider Intoxicated: Report




The woman who videotaped a driver shoving a rider from a Metrobus spoke to the agency about the incident.
According to Metro, the woman said the ejected man had been intoxicated with either drugs or alcohol, and had twice fallen over onto other riders, one of them a two-year-old child.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Shoved-Bus-Rider-Intoxicated-Report-129588063.html

It's 9/11. Do You Know Where Your Government Is?


I don't have words for this

It's just strange.

Even on vacation, you can’t escape the foibles of transit


First, some summer-travel observations: Rapid transit rides in Sydney and Melbourne, in Australia, cost 2 1/2 times more than the T fare; Sydney has a great ferry system, but the trains I rode were even more trash- and food-strewn than the T’s. The Barcelona Metro charges a comparable fare to the T, but the system is much cleaner, and the countdown signs on the platforms are remarkably accurate.
Barcelona also had the first left-handed entry turnstiles I’ve seen, reminding me of the day I shadowed a customer service agent at South Station and watched lefty tourist after lefty tourist swipe their CharlieCards on the wrong side and walk into a closed gate. But the special turnstiles seemed to be interspersed randomly with the right-handed gates, diminishing their utility. Another strike against the Barcelona Metro: It has few escalators and elevators, forcing riders with disabilities to confront stairs.
Read the rest HERE!

Busted!


Portland Police officer arrested for DUII


Plus, this stuff is good to know...


The person that originally sent this information is a computer tech. He spends a lot of time clearing the junk off computers for people and listens to complaints about speed. All forwards are not bad, just some. Be sure you read the very last paragraph.

_________________________________________
He wrote:
By now, I suspect everyone is familiar with snopes.com and/or truthorfiction.com for determining whether information received via email is just that: true/false or fact/fiction. Both are excellent sites.

Advice from snopes.com VERY IMPORTANT!!
1) Any time you see an email that says "forward this on to '10' (or however many) of your friends", "sign this petition", or "you'll get bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it" or whatever --- it almost always has an email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' email addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to other spammers. Even when you get emails that demand you send the email on if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus --- that is email tracking, and they are playing on our conscience. These people don't care how they get your email addresses - just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease "how would you feel if that was your child" --- email tracking. Ignore them and don't participate!

2) Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers and spammers -- to validate active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.

You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them. You will be providing a service to your friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam emails in the future!

Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listing regardless how inviting they might sound! Or make you feel guilty if you don't! It's all about getting email addresses and nothing more.

You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!
Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later and very possibly a virus attached! Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich! Let's not make it easy for them!
ALSO: Email petitions are NOT acceptable to Congress of any other organization - i.e. social security, etc. To be acceptable, petitions must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing the petition, so this is a waste of time and you are just helping the email trackers.




Tips for Handling Telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work!!
(1)The three little words are: 'Hold On, Please...'
Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.
Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.
These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting..
(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?
This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.
This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home.
What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call, and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!!!
(3) Junk Mail Help:
When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.
When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.
Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 44 cents postage, 'IF' and when they receive them back.
It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.
One of Andy Rooney 's (60 minutes) ideas.
Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back! If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them..
You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 44 cents.
The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!
Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!
If enough people follow these tips, it will work. I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.

And this funny stuff!


"Stewardesses"
is the longest word typed with only the left hand
And "lollipop"
is the longest word typed with your right hand.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".


= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Our eyes are always the same size from birth,
but our nose and ears never stop growing.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
uses every letter of the alphabet.


= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The words 'racecar,'
'kayak' , and 'level'
are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

= = = == = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
A snail can sleep for three years.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
(I know some people like that also)
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The cruise liner, QE 2

moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
(Good thing he did that.)
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
There are more chickens than people in the world.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Winston Churchill

was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Bonus!! All the ants in Africa weigh more than ALL the Elephants!!

And after that comes this weird thing

about the Koch Brother (s?)

A whole lot of random stuff

beginning with this youtube video!

The Sketchiest Transit Stop in PDX?


TriMet Union Station/NW 6th & Hoyt MAX Station


PORTLAND AFOOT


Man dies after fallling from interstate overpass

http://northeastportland.katu.com/news/transportation/442900-man-dies-after-fallling-interstate-overpass

@KATUNews

Police say a man fell from an overpass onto I-5 in Portland and died. 

10 Years After 9/11: Era of Endless Wars?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFUU-NU7uyE

9/11 10th anniversary memorial at Ground Zero, NYC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlIY2pvvtUw

September 11

We all know the day. We don't need the reminders. We don't need the all-day news coverage with the devastating video replays of the news coverage that day showing those towers falling. We don't need the replays of the terror of that day, people fled for their lives. Yet we still see them and we still remember. We'll always remember.
September 11, 2001 was a terrible day for thousands of Americans in our country. Towers fell and over a thousand innocent lives were lost in the tragedy. Some say that September 11 was the day our country changed forever. And things have changed. Things have changed  for the worst. We're still at war, a war we started as a result of 9/11, and we're still having so many American soldiers killed every day in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Was that really necessary? Has that helped anybody? Has it redeemed our wounded country? No.

Those next few nights following the attack, those that lost their loved ones, those that lost the once great county that they loved, wept. They wept for the victims, they wept for the terror they saw, the terror they felt, the terror they experienced.
After 9/11, we were out for blood--we wanted revenge against the people who hurt our country deeply. We went to war. An endless, devastating war. The suffering never ended. It was like we didn't want it to. We still haven't ended this war. It's not out our hands yet to end these attacks, yet we don't. The war is solving nothing. All the war has accomplished is killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and too many of our own. Why are we even still at war today? What are we fighting for? 
We didn't think about what we were doing when we launched those wars and now that we have seen, it will take years, if not decades, to fully recover, if ever. 9/11 was the day our country fell for good and we still don't fully know the truth of what really happened that dreadful morning of September 11th, 2001.

9/11/11


Today is the 10th anniversary of the darkest day of our lifetime. It is not as if we need much of a reminder. The mass murders wounded us seriously. We sat up all night, and looked at the photos of the dead. We looked at our children. And we wept.
We remember. No video replays are necessary. Send the marching band home.
Where were we when we heard the news? The same place everybody was -- enjoying the last few minutes of a different country.
Has anything positive come out of 9/11? It would be lovely if there was something we could point to and say, "It was all for the greater good." We took care of the victims' families, maybe. Compared to the blood that has been shed, and the liberties lost, that's not much. Shining beams of light into the sky, building a fountain, converging on the murder scenes in a media frenzy, a million flags -- what's the point? "Here," we seem to say to the murderers. "Here's where you killed our innocent loved ones, out of the blue."
Yes, they did. Then we retaliated. We're still retaliating. The bad guys are still coming after us. And our government looks less like the good guys than it ever did.
We grieve today for the dead, and remember the courage of the police, firefighters, and others who knowingly climbed to their deaths saving others. As for the videos and photos of the carnage? Thanks, but you can put those away.
Perhaps the saddest part of 9/11 is that so many people sense that the government may not have told the public the entire truth about the tragic events. In particular, the collapse of World Trade Center 7 looks far more like a controlled implosion than a building that fell because it was on fire, or hit by debris hours earlier. Some of us would rather believe our eyes about that than trust what the powers that be tell us. You can make up your own story line from there, and alas, given the credibility of American government over the past decade, many people have.

Jack Bogdanski's Blog

Remembering the day of 9/11

What do you guys remember about the day of September 11th, 2001?

Obligatory & Reluctant 9/11 post

http://cyclotram.blogspot.com/2006/09/obligatory-reluctant-911-post.html

America the Beautiful


Photo by mbeard.


Jack Bogdanski

9/11 video timeline: How the day unfolded

http://news.yahoo.com/9-11-video-timeline-how-the-day-unfolded.html