December 30, 2003
JFK-AirTrain Part 2 - LIRR Access Information
The entrance to Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) from JFK AirTrain Jamaica --
this station ingress enjoys a number of well executed features.
Wayfinding:
In addition to the colour coded signs, the lighting and geometry
of the antechamber, the large logo and collection of monitors and
ticket vending machine all combine to focus attention on this corner
which leads to the LIRR tracks.
Ergonomic:
The monitors are placed overhead so passengers simply look up
rather than queue to choose a train, and to see the specifics of their
train. These monitors are tilted down to maximize readability and
reduce glare.
Task Oriented:
By positioning the monitors and the ticket vending machine together,
passengers can make an informed decision about where and
when to buy tickets, and whether to rush or dawdle to the train
platform.
If a passenger has a few minutes to spare, he can buy more
tickets. If he's about to miss his train, he can rush ahead and
buy a ticket on the train (for a service fee).
The overhead monitors list the next train to DESTINATION at
TIME on TRACK, sorted by direction
(one monitor for westbound, one for eastbound).
Each monitor is then sorted by time of departure, and the various
destinations are represented by a consistent colouring scheme.
eg Huntington is always dark blue.
The monitors also show the correct local time, so there's no asking,
I see there is an 8:44 PM train to huntington, and it's on time;
has it left yet ? Is 8:44 before of after now ?
Eastbound (aka 'Outbound') train info:
(different destinations are represented by different colors)
Note that these colors are consistent with the line/branch colours
used on the system maps.
Westbound (going into the NY City) info:
Previously: JFK AirTrain Opens Part 1: dream vs reality
December 29, 2003
No Streetcar Name Desired
A moment in Silicon Valley transit history:
One of the great triumphs of San Jose Mercury News headline writing came
when Santa Clara County supervisors attempted in 1987 to name the
light-rail system SC(s2)AT (for Santa Clara County Area Transit).
Overlooking that "scat" is a word for animal droppings, the supes were
greeted with an inspired headline by copy editor Willys Peck:
"Dung! Dung! Dung! Goes the Trolley."
A postscript: When the supervisors decided that they didn't want
SC(s2)AT as a name after all, copy editor Peck came back with an even
better headline than his first: "No Streetcar Name Desired."
December 21, 2003
JFK AirTrain opens (Part 1 of ?) -- dream vs reality
The JFK-Jamaica AirTrain, New York City's first transit link
to a city airport opened in December 2003. Here's a comparison
of some architectural drawings to what passengers actually experience.
JFK AirTrain Jamaica station: the dream from kennedyairport.com.
1. The foyer.
1. The Dream:
1. The Reality:
Analysis: It's spaceous, but not as cavernous or illuminated as hoped for.
2. The atrium:
2. Dream:
2. Reality:
Analysis: Again, not as ambiently illuminated as promised, but succeeds
as a directional beakon. If you can see the glowing globe above, you
should probably be walking towards it.
Continued: Part 2: JFK-AirTrain - LIRR Access Information.
December 20, 2003
At long last, they seem to grasp
At long last, [they] seem to grasp is used to endorse the viewpoint
being explained.
Now, at long last, regulators seem to grasp the centrality of the board's
role. The S.E.C. forced the stock exchange (and Grasso) to seriously beef up
standards for directors. Matters like the C.E.O.'s compensation and nominations for
the board will be decided entirely by independent directors. Also, the independent
directors will have to meet regularly without anyone from management to review
the C.E.O.'s performance. This change reflects an important truism of boardroom
culture: directors speak more freely in confidence. Charles Elson, who teaches
corporate governance at the University of Delaware, calls the reforms ''farsighted.''
It is an oddity of Grasso's career, of course, that he did not reform his own
institution. He was forced to resign not so much because the board overpaid him
but because the directors who did so were those he regulated.
December 16, 2003
Canadian Bankers
Allowing that the Bankers should be inside the government, Canada's
new Prime Minister, The Honourable the Prime Minister Paul Martin explains:
"I don't believe in right-wing dogmatism," he told the Liberal Party convention
that elected him their leader last month. "I don't believe that trickle-down
economics works or that rising levels of inequality speak to a healthy society. I
don't believe in left-wing dogmatism. I don't believe you can run a government with
bankers pounding at the door."
NYT.
December 15, 2003
Extended entries whilst blogging
MT, which FSP uses, and other blogware have an extended entry
mode which segments a post into a main and an extended portion
(aka extension).
My advice:
If the post really works as one message, put it all together
in the main body and skip the extension feature.
But if the post works as
* a long essay and an executive summary of said essay,
put the essay in the extension and the summary in the main post.
* as a short post with an appendix,
put the short post in the main and the appendix in the extension.
I tend to use the extended posts' extension sections as appendices
to show that the short quotes in the main section were representatative
and in context.
For copyright reasons I may someday separate out the extensions into
a private date reserve while keeping all the main blog entries
completely public.
(Extended like this. Jane Galt somewhat disagrees.)
December 14, 2003
EZ pass vs privacy
There should be a 'donate my date' pledge,
like an organ donor pledge. Upon your death,
your data could then be used, for example, to
investigate our death.
E-ZPass Card an Investigative Tool
Being used in probe of slaying of Baltimore prosecutor in Pa.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 12, 2003
Baltimore - When Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Luna's sedan cruised through
a toll booth the night he was killed, his E-ZPass card automatically billed him.
More importantly, it left an electronic record of his travels for police investigating
the crime.
Millions of drivers now use electronic toll systems to pay for tolls without digging
out cash, and investigators are increasingly using the electronic record they
create as a possible crime fighting tool.
The New York Thruway System has received 128 subpoenas from investigators
since 1998, and has turned over records in response to 61 of them, said Terry
O'Brien, a spokesman for the thruway system.
The thruway system has issued electronic cards for use in 5.1 million vehicles,
so the number of records subpoenaed is a small percentage. But experts predict
the records will increasingly find their way into both criminal and civil cases.
In Illinois, a man reviewed his wife's electronic toll records during a custody
dispute, and divorce attorneys say they see potential for such records in the
future.
"Whereabouts can be very important, especially in a custody case where
somebody says, 'I'm always around. I can take care of this child,'" said Barbara
Ellen Handschu, a New York divorce attorney.
New York City officials last month transferred 30 detectives out of the narcotics
bureau for allegedly claiming false overtime. They were discovered passing
through E-ZPass lanes miles from where they were supposed to be working.
The key to the E-ZPass system - which operates from Massachusetts to West
Virginia and is expanding to Maine and New Hampshire - is the distinct radio
signal emitted by each card. Toll receivers detect the signal and bill the
corresponding account.
Similar regional systems are in use around the country.
In the Luna case, electronic toll records show the 38-year-old took a roundabout
route from Maryland to the spot in Lancaster County, Pa., where his body was
found last week, investigators said. Authorities fanned out across the region,
interviewing gas station attendants and hotel clerks.
An FBI spokesman in Baltimore would not comment on the bureau's use of
E-ZPass records in general, citing the ongoing investigation of the Luna case.
Investigators subpoenaed toll records from the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Commission, the commission said.
While that request was specific, investigators in Massachusetts have occasionally
asked highway authorities for general data. For instance: Did any blue Ford
pickup trucks pass through Exit 35 Friday night? Doug Hanchett, a spokesman
for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, said officials have fought to quash
subpoenas it feels are inappropriate. Even with a slight increase this year,
however, he said the agency only received about six subpoenas in 2002.
"We take it pretty seriously," Hanchett said.
Other uses beyond crime fighting have been found for electronic toll systems.
New York E-ZPass subscribers can instantly pay for parking at JFK and
LaGuardia airports and for food in the drive-through lanes of two McDonald's
restaurants in Suffolk County.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.
December 11, 2003
Audi CPO
Audi Certified Pre-Owned
has a multifaced browsing ability.
Browse
* by model
* by model year
* brows by price
Sure beats going to AutoTrader and requesting a list of 1995 Audi TT from
$40,000 to $55,000 and returning null.
After you find an Audi model/year, you can immediately else what else is
in that price range. Compared to a two year old A6, how old an A8 would I
get in the same price range ? Is a 4 year old A6 wrth more or less than a
two year old A4 ? Answer that with zero clicks right here, right now.
Great use of context customize the showing of truly related information.
Zoom in on the TT or see the whole fleet.
There are some nice cursor tracking and zooming in on what the cursor's over
settings in this Flash, too.
Widgetopia would glean the utility of this pricing matrix.
Dean Speaks
Howard Dean offers his stark, candid appraisal of presidential politics:
No one is going to change America for you.
in Common Sense for a New Century.
Progress. Today, technologies exist that can form the foundation of our
economy for the next century. We should invest aggressively in them.
Dean again, as a Henry Blodget with less exuberance.
But still, I rate Dean a better than most for not basing his campaign
on a ridiculous list of unfulfillable promises.
[x] Howard Dean
[ ] A whore who doesn't put out.
Also noted: Economists For Dean has some good reading.
December 10, 2003
bad map: 511.org strikes again.
This inane map of the worthy ACERail system from transit.511.org
labels cities, but
* does not indicate which cities have train stations
(According to this map, does Union City have a stop ? Does Newark ?) ; and
* does not indicate how many train stations are in each city [*]; and
* does not indicate where the stations are; and
* does not indicate which roads this rail line is near.
(Yes, those faint red lines are major highways.)
[*] Santa Clara City has two stations: Great America Santa Clara and Santa Clara.
Much better is the official ACERail map:
Compare to the ACERider collection of ACE maps.
Previously on FSP: 511.org botch map of San Francisco transit service.
December 07, 2003
Charles M. Vest retires from MIT
Charles M. Vest, 62, retires retires as president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
after serving from 1990 to 2003.
He was visionary on the fundamental changes that were happening in academia,
he was tactical in terms of what M.I.T. needed, and yet he was extremely sensitive
in dealing with many of the issues of student life. It's not hard to find someone
who's good in one of those areas. To find someone who excelled in all three is quite
rare and precious.
-- Denis A. Bovin, vice chairman of Bear, Stearns and an M.I.T. trustee.
Chuck's success is that he is very much of the world of the newest of ideas
and high technology, and yet his nature is very low-key and like somebody you'd
meet on a street corner and get engaged in an interesting conversation with.
He made senators and others feel very comfortable because he didn't seem
surprised when they knew technical terms. That's very important.
-- Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia.
There is no issue in science where people don't look to him for very wise counsel.
-- Shirley M. Tilghman, the president of Princeton.
Source: NYT.
December 05, 2003
EWR, waiting
New York/ Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
Though 14 miles southwest of NYC, EWR offers a midtown Manhattan to airport security
gate trek in less than 30 minutes by train. That's better situated than actual NYC airports
JFK (Idlewild) and La Guardia.
Picture: EWR, waiting at gate c-80.
See previously: Morning sky at EWR.