Category: Transportation

I Was In the Zone This Afternoon

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I was working on a design at work today, and lost track of time.

I came up with a sweet design though. (If I told you, I have to kill you).

As a result of this, was a little bit distracted on the way home, and I took the turnoff to I-70, instead of I-695, and was almost half the way to Fredrick before I realized what the f%$# I was doing.

It appears that the zone I was in was The Twilight Zone.

My wife was a bit concerned, because I got in kind of late.

I hope that this isn’t early onset dementia.

I’ve Had it With These Motherf%$#ing Republicans on This Motherf%$#ing Plane!M

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Alligator 0, Snake 0, Let’s call it a tie.

The latest regulation that the Republicans are objecting to and trying to repeal, is one that literally forbids snakes on a plane.

I’m not kidding here. They are literally trying to roll back regulations on the transportation of snakes on airplanes:

Democrats and Republicans all agree that the nation needs to move on a jobs agenda. And Republicans have a new plan: unleash the reins of snake commerce.

GOP members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today called attention to a proposed regulation that would restrict the transportation and importation of nine types of snakes, including the Burmese Python.

In a new report entitled “Broken Government: How the Administrative State has Broken President Obama’s Promise of Regulatory Reform,” GOP members cited the proposed snake ban as one of seven examples of red tape choking off job growth in an already ailing economy.

One witness invited to testify, snake breeder David Barke, told lawmakers that the rules “threatens as many as a million law-abiding American citizens and their families with the penalty of a felony conviction for pursuing their livelihoods, for pursuing their hobby, or for simply moving with their pet to new state.”

Politico reports that Florida officials, led by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), are pushing for the new rules because the Everglades are under attack by 100,000 gigantic Burmese pythons who have been accidentally introduced by negligent pet owners. The outside invaders have been on a rampage, devouring native birds and other creatures. One python grew so big that it managed to devour a six-foot alligator before exploding. No really. This actually happened. There’s a photo.

No, this is not The Onion, and I wish that I didn’t live in a world where I cannot tell the difference between reality and satire.

Interesting Point

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Harold Feld (Full disclosure, he’s a friend, we were at his son’s Bar Mitzvah reception) explains why BART shutting down its cellular service in its stations to prevent a flash protest is more than a 1st amendment issue, but that it is a flagrant violation of the law:

I suppose I am really a telecom lawyer at heart. My reaction to the news that the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police shut down cellphone networks in a number of stations on August 11 had nothing to do with democracy, the First Amendment, Tahrir Square, etc. With all deference to the importance of these concerns, my reaction was WHAT DO YOU MEAN THESE IDIOTS MESSED WITH THE PHONE SYSTEM? From my perspective, and the perspective of traditional telecom law, BART could just as well have turned off the local central office and all this chatter about whether or not BART is a public forum is just a distraction.

Obviously, however, no one at BART thinks of cell phones as the phone system. In BART’s open letter explaining what they did and why it was cool, BART focuses on the First Amendment /public forum issue and completely skips the fact that they shut off a phone system. Mind you, I suppose I can’t blame them – much. A number of folks are asking if there is a right to cell phone service as if this were a novel question rather than something settled by decades of telecom law.

………

In California, where this took place, the governing case is People v. Brophy, 120 P.2d 946 (Cal. App. 1942). In Brophy, the California Court of Appeals held that yes, residents of California have a right to phone service. The federally protected right to access the phone network derives from the duty of common carriage imposed by Sections 201 and 202 of the Act. The California Court of Appeals further found that Earl Warren, then the California Attorney General, could not order the phone company to discontinue service to a person the Attorney General suspected of running a gambling operation by use of the telephone. The court explicitly found that only the California Railroad Commission (predecessor to the California Public Utilities Commission) can give an order in California to suspend phone service.

………

Like the Attorney General in Brophy, the BART is an instrumentality of the State of California. As in Brophy, the mere allegation that someone (or some group of someones) may use their phone for illegal purposes most emphatically does not confer authority to unilaterally shut off access to the phone network – even if that phone network is physically located within the BART. Why? Because the BART is an instrumentality of the state of California and is geographically in California. There is no BARTistahn, and the Directors do not get to decide this on their own.

………

We will savor the irony that the most eloquent annunciation of the right of individuals to access phone service without interference from law enforcement (absent due process) takes us from Earl Warren to Eugene “Bull” Connor.

(emphasis original)

And yes, part of the case law here does involve “Bull” Connor, and BART is taking his side in this.

It’s a good read, and clear and informative to the layman.

Think of it as Evolution in Action

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In Onondaga, NY, a man died after falling from his motorcycle while not wearing a helmet.

He was protesting against helmet laws at the time of his accident:

Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike’s handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.

The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Onondaga, in central New York near Syracuse.

State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.

Troopers say Contos hit his brakes and the motorcycle fishtailed. The bike spun out of control, and Contos toppled over the handlebars. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Troopers say Contos would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet.

(emphasis mine)

On a meta note, I have decided to add an “irony” tag. This story inspired me.

Christie Blinks

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After claiming that there was no need to reimburse the state for taking a state helicopter to watch his son play baseball (see earlier post), because the pilots need the hours to maintain their current rating, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has agreed to reimburse the state for the cost of the flight:

Reversing course, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reimbursed the state for personal and political travel on a state police helicopter, including a trip to meet with Republicans urging him to consider a presidential run.
Christie, a Republican, personally paid the state treasury $2,151.50 for his use of the chopper on two occasions in the last week to attend his son’s games in a state baseball tournament.

I don’t think that Christie, and his fans amongst the press and the Washington, DC crowd, realize just damaging this will be for him.

First, of course, is the whole “tight with a dollar, unless it applies to him” bit, but the second, and possibly more important, thing is that this lets the air out of his political personae as a “tough guy”, and reveals him to be a just another bully who has no guts when push comes to shove.

If the voters of New Jersey did not get that before, perhaps they do so now.

What is it With ‘Phants Governors and Helos?

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Click for full size

Not Just a Helo, but a Big MoFo Helo

First, it was Jane Swift, and now everyone’s Republican asshole “it” girl Chris Christie, who took a state police medevac helicopter to his son’s baseball game, so that he could get back in time to talk with some wealthy Iowa donors:

A brand-new State Police helicopter was Gov. Chris Christie’s ride of choice yesterday as he traveled to and from his son’s baseball game in Bergen County.

His office won’t say where he came from or where he went afterward. But about an hour and 10 minutes after leaving the game, Christie arrived, by car, at the governor’s mansion in Princeton to meet with a group of Iowa businessmen trying to recruit him for a presidential run.

The use of state helicopters has opened New Jersey governors to criticism for decades, especially when it did not involve official state business.

“It is a means of transportation that is occasionally used as the schedule demands. This has historically been the case in prior administrations as well, and we continue to be judicious in limiting its use,” said Christie’s spokesman Michael Drewniak in an e-mail. He declined to answer additional questions.

(emphasis mine)

Yeah, right, “Judiciious in limiting its use.”

It gets better though, that fat f%$# couldn’t even be bothered to walk from where he landed to the ball park:

As the game at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale was about to begin, a noise from above distracted the spectators who watched the 55-foot-long helicopter buzz over the trees in left field, circle the outfield and land in an adjacent football field. Christie left the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about 100 yards to the baseball field. The governor watched from the bleachers as his eldest son, Andrew, played starting catcher for Delbarton School. Christie played the position of catcher in high school as well.

He’s governor after all, you cannot let his foot touch the ground.

The thing here is that Christie has a long history of this sort of crap, 4 star hotels, buying off people that he’s run down going the wrong way on a one way street, etc.

Of course, while he was running for governor, the press ignored this, so one wonders whether he’s going to finally lose the undeserved man crush that they have on him.

Because it Pisses off Democrats. That’s why.

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Medicare fraudster, and Florida governor, Rick Scott has decided to cancel a high speed rail project between Orlando and Tampa Florida:

Florida’s congressional delegation, state officials and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer are pushing back against Gov. Rick Scott’s decision Wednesday to reject $2.4 billion in federal stimulus money to build a high-speed train between Orlando and Tampa.

“This is a century-type decision that needs to be vetted,” Dyer said. “I don’t think it was given a fair hearing.”

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood intends to meet either in person or by phone Friday with Florida elected officials, likely including Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Reps. John Mica, R-Winter Park, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, to discuss ways of keeping the project alive even as California, New York and Washington state offered to take some of the money.

And some officials were bitterly critical of Scott for pulling the plug even before bids had gone out to build the 84-mile system. Eight consortia of companies from 11 countries had indicated they would be willing to put up some or all of the state’s $280 million share of the project, while the bid terms would have required them to absorb cost overruns and any operating losses for 20 years.

So, let’s look at this, it would:

  • Cost the state little or no money.
  • Losses and cost overruns are someone else’s problem.
  • Disney wanted it for their Disney World Theme park.
  • It would have created 23,000 construction jobs.

So, why did he cancel it?  Because in so doing, he’s pissing off Democrats and liberals.

When looking at Republican policy making, one needs to realize that there is an imperative, pissing off Democrats, that frequently subordinates good policy, and sometimes even good politics.

Basically, Republicans are dicks.

No, they aren’t dicks, a dick has a head.

Finally, Someone In the Obama Administration With Guts

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Unfortunately, it’s just Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood:

The Obama administration is urging Wisconsin’s incoming Republican governor, Scott Walker, to reconsider his opposition to high-speed rail in his state and threatened to rescind $810 million in federal stimulus grants for the project if the venture is killed.

In a letter (pdf) to Walker yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood discussed what he called a “difference of opinion about the value of a Midwest high-speed rail network” between the Obama administration and the incoming governor, emphasizing economic benefits that high-speed rail could bring to the region.

Walker, who is currently the county executive of Milwaukee County, campaigned heavily against a proposed high-speed line to link Milwaukee and Madison that would eventually be part of a Midwest network. Decrying the project as a waste of tax dollars, he has called for the cash to be redistributed to highway and bridge repairs in his state.

But LaHood said the stimulus grants must be spent on rail projects.

Additionally, LaHood is demanding $271 million back from New Jersey Transit for Governor Christie’s cancellation of the rail tunnel under the Hudson, and there are indications that the Feds will be demanding money back from Ohio when the new Republican governor there cancels their rail program.

Even more amusing is that Illinois is already applying for the money that the ‘Phant governors don’t want.

Good for Secretary LaHood, but I expect Obama to overrule him and give the money to Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Jersey anyway, because he wants these loony tunes to like him.

It is interesting that the only one in Obama’s administration to do the right thing because it is the right thing is a Republican.

A Welcome Change in City Planning

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In Boston, in a new development, officials are pressuring developers to reduce the number of parking spaces at the complexes that they are building:

……

When Boston development officials recently handed permits to the developers of Waterside Place, they did so despite neighborhood concerns that the developers wanted to build far more apartments than parking spots. On A Street, the Boston Redevelopment Authority is close to green-lighting a 21-story residential tower. The tower’s developer had originally planned to build one parking spot for every two residential units, an abnormally low supply; BRA officials are pushing the developer to push that ratio even lower by replacing a whole floor of parking with innovative workforce housing units.

These permitting decisions are not happening in a vacuum. Government-imposed floors on the number of parking spots required at new developments are falling across the city, and beyond. Somerville, for instance, is increasing zoning density and lowering parking requirements along the route of the planned Green Line extension, with an eye toward spurring new transit-oriented development. But the change is especially pronounced in the Seaport, where developers are working with as close to a blank canvas as you’ll find in any major American city.

City planners are in the middle of an extensive re-thinking of Boston’s zoning codes. As they work, neighborhood by neighborhood, to update the code, they’re flipping the conventional thinking about parking on its head: Instead of mandating that minimum levels of parking accompany new developments, they’re pushing to establish maximum parking caps.

……

If you want a walkable and transit friendly cities, parking spaces are the enemy, because it creates sprawl.

IIRC, there is more ground taken up by parking spaces than is taken up by people in Montgomery County, which is why it is strip mall heck. (and Louden County, where I currently reside 3-4 nights a week, is strip mall hell)

If you make enough parking for people to drive in from the ‘burbs, then you create unacceptable levels of sprawl.

Economics Update

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The lede here is that capital goods orders fell and contracts existing home sales rose in August.

Note that the home purchase data is still well below what it was a year ago, and that capital goods orders ex-airliners was up.

On a slightly more concrete level, bankruptcies have hit the highest level since the congress sold out to the banksters with bankruptcy “reform” in 2005.

Finally, it looks like the invisible bond vigilantes remain in hiding, as, the yield on Treasuries 2-year fell to a record low, 0.37% (!).

Economics Update

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Consumers are continuing to deleverage, (Thrift, Paradox of) with outstanding consumer debt falling for the 5th straight month, so people are still not spending.

On the brighter side, rail traffic increased in July YoY, though business productivity fell for the first time in 1½ years in the 2nd quarter. Additionally, this report shows that household income fell.….Not good.

It’s not surprising that the National Federation of Independent Business’s optimism index fell for the 2nd straight month.

Meanwhile, the June Job Openings and Labor Turnover (Jolts) report showed hiring slowing in June.

Finally, despite record breaking low rates, mortgage were flat this week.

Economics Update

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If you believe that small business will be important in any recovery, then the fact that the fact that the NFIB’s index of small business optimism fell.

In employment, job turnover fell in May, indicating that this already jobless recovery might become even more jobless.

There are also signs of weakness in transportation, with the Association of American Railroads Rail Time Indicators falling.

Real estate is grim as well, with non-residential construction forecast to fall 10% in 2010, and home mortgage purchase applications fell to a 13 year low, even with rates being at historical lows.

Finally, in what makes up over 70% or so of the US economy, retail sales fell in June (see pic).

I Wish I Knew the Back Story

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No picture, but we were on I-695, just east of I-83, driving through an area of construction, and in the median strip, surrounded by Jersey barriers, was a guy firing up, or at least setting up, a gas barbecue grill.

So, he was setting out to grill Italian sausage, or maybe, they were workers heat treating something on site, I don’t know, but I will always wonder.

I was driving, so I could not take any pics, sorry.

The GCV Looks Like the Troubled Child of FCS

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Click for full size

Yes, I know that this is a 1/24 plastic model

When the Future Combat System was canceled, it was done for cost growth, schedule slips, and concerns about a number of the technologies.

The army still feels that it needs a vehicle to succeed its Bradley, and so we now have the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV).

Well, the military has begun the source selection process.

Here’s the kicker, they are expecting it to weigh 50 tons, as versus the 30-35T of the current Bradley.

There are some improvements, most notably the ability to carry a full 9 person infantry squad, but you could do that with the Bradley if you were to retrofit a remotely operated turret, as the current turret takes up about 1/3 of the usable internal space, you could fid a full squad.

With weight comes cost, fuel consumption, and, in the long run, fewer vehicles.

What’s more, it appears that the 50 ton IFV is actually a 70 ton IFV:

Two days before industry proposals were due, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army, provided new details about the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program, saying the new vehicle could weigh up to 70 tons, but only if the threat environment required it.

“We’re looking at a vehicle that ranges in weight between 50 and 70 tons,” Chiarelli said May 19 at the Army’s armor conference.

What he is suggesting is that in a high threat environment, and we know now that this means IEDs, not enemy tanks, you would bolt on armor to improve the survivability of the platform.

This is complete and utter bullsh%$.

If you add 20 tons to a 50 ton vehicle, it means that you have to size the propulsion, transmission, fuel stowage, etc. to accommodate that weight, which means that your 50T vehicle is going to get even heaver.

Otherwise, the vehicle at 70T will have the mobility of a motorized wheel chair.

Just go and fit the Bradley with the CTI 40mm remotely operated turret, and use advantages in non-metallic armor to improve the survivability.

You will probably end up at around 40T, so there would need to be a bit of an upgrade to the engine and suspension, but you will still save at least half the cost.

Once again, the US Army is well into a development death spiral.

Napoleon Bonaparte is Smiling

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The French will be taking control of the port of Dover.

Well, it’s not really the French, it’s the Nord-pas-de-Calais regional council, which will be assuming control as a part of a privatization scheme:

A plan to privatise the government-owned Port of Dover has provoked “outrage”, not least because the French are front-runners to take control of the facility.

According to the Daily Mail, the port needs money to fund an expansion plan, and selling it off could net £350m for our cash-strapped government. The harbour board expects to receive the go-ahead for the “voluntary privatisation”, which will likely see Nord-pas-de-Calais regional council, which also owns Calais, adding Dover to its roster of ports.

Chief exec Bob Goldfield explained: “The time is right for the voluntary privatisation of Dover. We want to invest around £400m on a second terminal and need to invest in the existing terminal, but are unable to because of public sector borrowing constraints. We want to throw off the shackles.”

I generally oppose privatization, even if it isn’t the French taking over Dover, and the justification, about avoiding “public sector borrowing constraints,” sounds to me like a recipe for a future bankruptcy and taxpayer bailout.

“Throwing off shackles,” in a finance context generally means, “Engaging in dodgy behavior.”

But still the short Frenchman is up there, or down there, having a good chuckle.

Son of FCS-MGV* Looks Like a Repeat Fail

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With the cancellation of the US Army’s FCS-MGV system, the 20 ton class (30 ton+ in operational use), the army has been cast about for a vehicle to fill the role, and they have found it in their ground combat vehicle (GCV) program, which is supposed to have, the “urban mobility of a Stryker, with the off-road capability of a Bradley and the survivability of an MRAP,” while being C-130 transportable. (see also here)

Truth be told, a slightly improved Bradley, particularly one that has the manned turret replaced with an external remotely operated one, which would allow for a single vehicle to carry a full 9 man squad, but the way that it is all phrased does seem to be an invitation to mission and cost creep juxtaposed with schedule slippage.

By “urban mobility,” they mean “road speed”, though I noted about 3 months ago that they were calling for the “sustainability of a Stryker”.

With improved tracks and propulsion, the road mobility can be achieved, though it would still be more maintenance intensive, and less fuel efficient than a wheeled vehicle.

In any case, the Army is looking to spend about a billion bucks on developing the GCV, and they have already delayed the review, though they are claiming, with some justification, I might add, that this was a result of the snowpocalypse.

My inclination would be to look toward improving existing systems, or purchasing and making minor modifications to foreign systems.

*Full disclosure, I worked on the Future Recovery and Maintenance Vehicle, FRMV, “wrecker” variant of the FCS-MGV† from 2003-2006 at United Defense (later BAE Systems after the Carlyle Group sold me to buy Dunkin Donuts).
†Future Combat Systems-Manned Ground Vehicle. These are the ones that are the tanks and APCs. As opposed to the various unnmanned vehicles, networking technologies, etc. that form the full FCS along with the MGVs.‡
‡Yes, I have worked everywhere. Maybe I can’t hold down a job, but more likely this has been my role as “technical hit man”, where you are parachuted in to take care of a specific need.