FSP 1.1

Waiting at EWR trainstation, Newark, NJ

Note the good lighting, sheltered waiting area, stairs and escalators
for accessing the platform, and the multiple tracks to allow overtaking
express trains to pass through at speed.

And kudos for the well-oriented train arrival information screens
visible from the platform, and inside the lounge.

Photo taken from the EWR AirTrain concourse.

Truth in marketing: Subaru diagnostic guide

A vocabulary for describing your Subaru. Refreshing candor from
corporate publications.

Does your vehicle produce any of these sounds?
Noise Description
Boom Thunder, drum
Buzz Low-pitched, like a bee
Chatter Rapidly repeating metallic sound
Chirp High-pitched, birdlike
Clang Loud single metallic sound, not repetitive
Click Ballpoint pen; depressing the keys on a computer keyboard
Grind Abrasive; metal on metal
Growl Low-pitched rumble
Hiss Air escaping
Hum Hummingbird; various pitches
Knock Repetitive heavy sound; knocking on a door
Ping High-pitched knock
Rattle Marbles in a can
Roar Deep, prolonged, like timpani
Rumble Rolling thunder
Squeak High-pitched; hinge that needs oil
Squeal High-pitched, continuous
Tap Light repetitive sound, similar to a click
Whine High-speed electric motor
Whistle Shrill, sharp tea kettle

Does your vehicle produce any of these odors?
Odor Description
Antifreeze/coolant Sweet odor
Electrical short Acrid
Emissions Sulfur, rotten eggs
Gasoline Gasoline vapors
Oil Heavy odor, usually accompanied by smoke
Overheated friction material Burnt smell (brakes/clutch)
Overheating Sweet smell accompanied by steam

Does your vehicle produce any of these movements?
Feeling Description
Brake fades Feeling of losing stopping ability
Drifts Slight, continuous movement to the side
Grabs Sudden engagement of brakes when applied
Hesitation Lack of response to gas pedal pressure
Low pedal Unusual pedal travel before brakes engage
Play Looseness, lack of response to steering wheel
Pulls Moves sharply to the side
Shimmy Rapid side to side
Spongy Soft, unresponsive
Surge Speeding up and slowing down with no gas pedal movement
Sway Soft side-to-side movement
Vibration Quick shaking feeling in seat or steering wheel

Does your vehicle produce any of these visible signs?
Observation Description
Axle grease leak Heavy, dark stain/puddle
Antifreeze/coolant leak Sweet smelling, greenish stain/puddle
Engine oil Brown stain/puddle
Power steering fluid leak Red oil stain/puddle
Smoke Black, white, etc.
Check engine light Steady, intermittent
Unusual gauge reading Outside of “normal” range

Same Sex Mar(r)iage

If law were designed by information architects:

Offer marriage to heterogender couples as usual.

New idea:
Offer mariage to homogender[*] couples.

Key:
Two 'r', two genders.
One 'r'', one gender.

Simple.

[*] 'heterogender' because heterosexual refers to orientaton.
So if a lesbian married a gay man, they would form a
heterogender homosexual couple.

Amtrak ticket machine doesn't run MS Windows

Ticket machine at Penn Station NYC, Amtrak's busiest station
tries to run MS windows, and fails.

Technical note: the extended handle of my Tumi rollaboard functions
as a great adjustable camerarest for non-flash indoor photography.

[click on thumbnail for popup-fullsize image]

Previously: MS Windows seen at Oakland Airport (OAK)

Dynamic Three Layer map of NYC

Dynamap of Manhattan uses three interlaced images to display three different
maps of Manhattan -- a street map, a subway map, and one showing landmarks
and neighborhoods -- all onto the same surface. Tilt it to one side and you see the
street map, tilt it another way and you see the subway map. Easily determine
the exact street intersections of subway stops.

Buy your own for $17 from Dynamap.

Caltrain changes-to-Schedule FAQ

Caltrain's changes-to-schedule FAQ is unusually frank and human-readable.

This FAQ presents actual data and actual reasons for schedule changes and
decisions, in place of the typical bureaucratic marketingese,
'With our world class best of breed enhancements...' nonsense or
self-congratulatory 'why we are so good' dreck of a psueduo-FAQ.

Well done Caltrain.

Actual questions answered honestly:
* Why is my station getting reduced service?
* After the "faster schedule" hype, why is my travel time longer?
* Can't you improve Limited (stops at most stations) and
Local (stops at all stations) transfer possibilities?
* Why are trains scheduled in bunches?
* If I need to use an adjacent station, can I find parking?

google is sixth brand

Periodically I search for search using google.

When google moved out of Stanford, google was about the
20th result for search. When google struck a deal with
yahoo, google was about the 12th result.

For the last two years, google has been the number one
answer for search. But today, even as google is proclaimed
a top brand, google's own ranking of itself has slipped
down to the sixth place for search.

(click on image to enlarge)

More posts about Google.

Yeti racing

A new winter sport: snow show racing.
aka Yeti racing in Vancouver, BC.

Coppertone Samples, presidential skin cancer

How many U. S. presidents get skin cancer ?

Ronald Reagan: yes.
George H. W. Bush: yes.
William J . Clinton: yes. ('nose lesion removed').
George W. Bush: yes (' pre-cancerous sun-induced skin lesions')

Time to find my Tilley Brian Fellows' style hat, or get the new ventilated model.

. .

The Tilley webstore is so more satisfying than the broken Coppertone Samples brochureware.

Tilley has a nice fulti-faceted (by name, by use, by sizes, etc) hat chart:

Selling drugs, psychopharma

For mental illnes, how to treat becomes a what to buy decision.
The industry drives education right now. Across the board,
there has been a shifting of education toward psychopharma.

Dr. Peter J. Weiden, professor of psychiatry at the State University of
New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, said in an interview last
month that he believes the new drugs have benefits over the older ones.
But he continues to worry, he said, that the industry controls too much
of what doctors learn in psychiatry. For example, Dr. Weiden said,
industry-sponsored educational events focus on medications, while
subjects like how to talk to patients to motivate them to get better
fall through the cracks.

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