2011-03-31
Vae Viator13
*****************************************************************I have worked in Japan and have many friends there. I would like
to express my sympathy to all the residents of Japan for loses
which they have suffered during and as a result of the
earthquake, tsunami and nuclear problems.
Also, I wish the very best of luck and hope for a rapid,
positive conclusion to this sad period.
I know that the Japanese spirit is like bamboo, which bends
in the strong wind but doesn't break.
s/LAmetroMole
***********************************************************
The LACMTA is doing what it does second best, i.e., reducing service so that it can do what it does best –spending money. The Press-Telegram reported (Orlov) that bus service would “reduce bus service by 4 percent.” The short piece also had this telling passively voiced phrase “… buses … must [Mole’s emphasis] be better coordinated in order to serve more people.”
The end of the article we find one of the things on which they will spend the “savings”, “… 700 zero-emission buses.”
Your Mole asserts that the LACMTA lacks the requisite intellectual legerity necessary to deal with issues such as coordination and scheduling, which quickly, to them, become insurmountable obstacles.
God only knows what the LACMTA means by “coordinated”. What su Topo means, is scheduled at a time to adequately service demand while reducing passenger waiting time to a minimum, offering easy connections AND deterministic travel times.
Over time, I have shown any number of examples of their deficiencies. This month’s posting is no exception.
As a service to the aforementioned agency I am passing on to them, with thanks to University of Colorado at Boulder, a list of basic discrete mathematics texts which should give a start to their “coordination” project. (Please see: http://www.colorado.edu/education/DMP/biblio.html )
Higher fares, fewer buses, less for more all equals “Taxation without Transportation”.
Signage, smineage♪
A proper sign would say, “Exit to the East Side of Hawthorne Bl (Board Northbound Buses)”. Another sign placed above the passage leading to the west side of Hawthorne Bl (the passage is to the right and in the background of this picture) should read, “Exit to the West Side of Hawthorne Bl (Board Southbound Buses)”.
L'encens noircit l'idole en fumant pour sa gloire.
Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1740~1812)
[The incense blackens the idol as it smokes for its glory. Mole]
Source : Citations de Louis-Sébastien Mercier - Dicocitations ™ - citation
The Commerce Comet is bilingües and this issue has two nice sized ads for the LACMTA. The one on page 5 of this, March 10, 2011 paper has a facebook link for more information. Facebook is not for this Mole, I believe it’s like Twitter, more for pre-teen girls (sorry). Never-the-less, I followed the link in the article and below is a photo of what I saw.
It is the LACMTA after all, what did I expect? I was eminently fair; I even tried it with the dash, which appeared in the link which appeared was printed in the ad –still no go! Here is what that link, when resolved, presented.
To su Topo this is the electronic method of not making your vote count. Just as holding the “feedback meetings” at 17:00 in Beverly Hills is a way of ensuring that people with a real stake in Los Angeles public transportation, i.e., those who actually use it, will not be able to attend.
These broken links shown above ensure that only those who are most literate will be able to find the target site. So I tried a direct search on metro.net. Guess what?? Failed again, see what I mean about letting the “work” speak for itself? (Please see below.)
Then I looked at the half-page ad on the lower half of page 12 of the Commerce Comet, it had the lead phrase of “BETTER TRANSIT IN THE WORKS”. I followed the link provided at the top, upper right and was presented with the image below.
The link to the [Gold Line] foothill extension did work. As did the link to the regional connector, the least necessary, biggest boondoggle one could ever imagine, second only to the Expo Line.
So, two out of six ain’t bad, I mean for the LACMTA, is it?
Then I read “Help us plan more transit in the South Bay (PLEASE RECYCLE THIS MATERIAL, 11-1034EB © 2011 LACMTA). The map showed that the LACMTA is attempting to crystallize their “thinking” regarding the Crenshaw/LAX [sic] Transit Corridor and/or a Green Line Extension. The former belongs under the same rubric, i.e., redundant and otiose, as the “Expo Line”.
While the Green Line Extension may have merit in that it offers a possibility of tourists shopping at BOTH the South Bay Center and Del Amo Fashion Center.
Of course Metro would be deprived of a large portion of the fares paid since one cannot easily travel from the hotels surrounding LAX to Aviation Station on the Green Line via a Metro bus.
How they can attach LAX to the “Crenshaw Transit Corridor” when at its closest approach LAX is over 3 miles away! Ever more false promises constructed by the LACMTA’s dissembling.
A Los Angeles Times piece dated 5 days earlier(Allen) covers the planned reduction in bus service covered above in Orlov. The main difference is that the Allan story says, [the cuts would result in a] “… slash of overall bus service by 12% and increase the number of passengers on individual buses.” For that ROFLOL experience you can read an unattributed “… Metro Officials say [that] the restrictions forced them to offer an artificially high level of service that they can no longer afford.”
A point of interest here, is that while Allen describes a 12% cut Orlov reports only a 4% reduction.
Demonstrating the greatness of the “good old days”, a Los Angeles Times team produced an excellent report(Finnegan, Holland) on the poor project management and worse construction practices employed in building Los Angeles Valley College's Health and Science Center.
It is truly great reporting, rich in detail and containing quotes like that of a professor at the College who, in speaking about the builders, said: “I wouldn’t let them build an outhouse for me”.
This six-part series is a great read for anyone who wants to do or read investigative reporting. They follow the money and expose the many flaws of this project, human and matériel.
Not only that, the illustrations, and here we must credit Raoul Rañoa of the Los Angeles Times for using sources and putting together a beautiful picture of both the right and wrong way of doing things.
La Taupe’s first thought upon reading part one of the series was that this is Pulitzer level work! Su Topo’s second thought: Turn this team loose on the LACMTA.
Then the Times can tell it like it is and stop printing that Leahy was once a bus driver. As if that experience imparts any special qualities or in some ways gives him an edge as CEO.
The OCTA was virtually out of money and canceling routes when Leahy left them. Please see su Topo's posting of 2009-04-28, in which Mr. Leahy's back story is discussed.
In any event the LACMTA is long overdue for some in-depth investigative reporting. My headline for the series? Well, since “Billions To Spend” has already been used, how about “Taxation Without Transportation”?
Bravo to all Times employees connected with the series!
Then I picked up the LACMTA brochure (Proposed Changes) and tried to understand how discussion about these changes might play out in the very limited time available in the poorly timed public meetings.
Your Mole has only attended one such meeting and that proved to be an extremely unsatisfactory experience. First of all this brochure doesn’t tell much of a story, there is no supporting material and only the briefest description of the changes. Based upon the off-target speeches this Mole had to endure at the meeting he attended he can only say that these meetings, like their timing is simply a tactic to allow the LACMTA to “do whatever it wants”.
Here we will only review a single change, the cancellation of the 439 line. The handwriting was on the wall several cycles ago when mid-day connections between the LAXCBC and Aviation Station on the Green Line were severed. Then the LAX-Aviation Station and LAXCBC-CCTC links were completely cut. As each link in the chain was removed the usefulness of the line decreased and there was a corresponding decline in ridership. Now they can say, as a result of the self-fulfilling preparation, there is insufficient ridership to continue the line in operation.
Now FlyAway, at $7 each way to LAC, has a clear field, without even minimal competition. Phase 2, your Mole predicts that FlyAway will increase fares between LAX and Union Station to $10 each way! This is service that the LACMTA could and should provide at much less cost even with direct service and a more frequent schedule.
To make a rational analysis of the LACMTA's proposals, what was really needed is the availability of a detailed report with all the attachments supporting the changes and provision for an on-line dialogue over several months, so that opposing viewpoints could be adequately developed.
Big brother or someone is watching you on the Internet. The Wall Street Journal(Angwin, Valentino-Devries) produced an excellent primer in the form of a “Wall Street Journal Investigation”. Please read the article which covers how the following data, amalgamated, can identify your computer: the time your system clock varies from a standard; the size of the screen; the installed printer fonts; the browser plugins installed on your machine; the user agent which is made up of browser and Operating System information and more “There are literally hundreds of things you can measure.” The amalgam of this data is used to construct a “Device Token” which is basically an identifier for your machine.
The way things presently stand legally, a Device Token for your machine can be constructed without your approval and certainly without your knowledge as you “surf” the Internet. Of course your machine can be traced back from the IP (Internet Protocol) address which is assigned to you when you logon to your ISP’s (Internet Service Provider) system. That association may only last until you logout or drop the connection but because of the logs maintained by your ISP, one can review you Internet activity to a greater or lesser degree depending on the level of detail maintained in the ISP logs.
Let’s take a music break! Something quiet? Something Japanese by someone very famous from several generations ago, Misora Hibari. It’s a video too, well, kind of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63mZal2YNO0&feature=related
Those who have even a passing acquaintance with string theory know the name Yau. It is usually associated with Calabi, separated by a hyphen as in, Calabi-Yau. Yau is famous for, at the age of 29, mathematically proving the “… Calabi conjecture which posits that six-dimensional space lie hidden beneath the [familiar four dimensions, three of space and time -Mole] reality we perceive.”(Weintraub) This idea of ten dimensional space is central to string theory.
The article is three and a half pages in length in Question-Answer format. It is not for everyone. Here is an Internet link to it, if you are interested: http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/27-discover-interview-math-behind-physics-behind-universe
The Mole Rides Again, so that you need not wear ear protection against all the shaking and rattling of loose bus parts.
(All times are expressed in the 24 hour system.)
2011-03-06, about 14:30: Bus number 3146 roars by my stop showing the dreaded “Discharge Only” headsign. My first thought is that MV Transit is up to the old First Transit tricks. Probably it is the same set of employees. I hope that passing bus stops is NOT what the LACMTA means by “better coordinated”. My second thought is “Taxation without Transportation!” I wait. The bus that is scheduled to be at Sepulveda and Rosecrans at 15:07 is about a half an hour late. This is just like the way in which First Transit used to operate.
2011-03-07 @15:50: The 780 Line bus on which I am a passenger is taking way too long to make a driver change at Central and Los Filiz in Glendale. After lengthy chatter between the two drivers there is a period of noisy beeping as the incoming driver enters his data. I am trying t read Foreign Policy magazine but the guy immediately behind me is sharing his cell call. “Hmmm. Yeah, she doesn’t want to do anything … she doesn’t go out of her way to do things … Ahh, well … Ahhh … Go see <Movie Name> (sorry no product placements here) ... I went with Ryan and it was not for kids, all adults. It’s crazy and trippy … and ahhh it’s the Chinatown plot.”
2011-03-08: A 125 Line bus was due at my stop at 14:49, at 14:55 a “Not in Service” 125 Line bus zips past me. At 15:06 bus 11007 shows up and I ride it only to miss my next connection.
2011-03-15 @ 15:00: A 232 Line bus number 11048 – block 3 (the number shown on the device located in the front windscreen on the curb side), driven by number 71220 tries three times to start his bus before he has it running.
2011-03-16 @ 15:30: Onboard a westbound Green Line train. A young man wearing a Bulls cap spits on the floor of the car.
2011-03-(could be any weekday) @ 8:30: I ride a 42 Line bus from the LAXCBC at 8:38. 11 minutes later, at 8:49, I debus at La Tierra and Slauson. I wait 19 minutes for the 439 Line bus. It arrives 7 minutes late, at 9:08. I board it and it winds its way through the back streets of the area. It arrives at the WLATC at 9:30. I have spent 52 minutes and I am not yet at my destination. Using the “old” 439 Line Route I would have already been in Downtown Los Angeles!
2011-03-23: This packed 40 Line bus crawls along Hawthorne BL in the rain. It is full because, like me, the other passengers have been bypassed by the 740 Line(s) which usually have lots of space available.
I transfer to a 117 Line bus at Century BL, the rain is slowing us too. Just West of Inglewood BL, I notice that the bus shelter on the northwest corner has become someone’s abode. There is a clearly identifiable CVS shipping cart partially full of recyclables and covered with a sleeping bag. Although the bus stop is equipped with a trash can, the ground around the shelter is FILTHY! We start to move again in the heavy evening traffic.
2011-03-25: I don’t know which is worse preaching drivers or preaching passengers. Likely they are equivalent. The preacher on this pus is a passenger who is passing out flyers and blessing all of us. He explains that it is God’s plan for all of us to be together.
Unfortunately, my plan called for me to think about the end of the Carolingian Empire in 843, I hope to debus soon.
2011-03-26 @ 16:14. I watch as a bus turns right onto Mariposa from Sepulveda and immediately stops to drop off a passenger. This is the second time I have seen a 232 Line bus stop and drop off passengers in this very unsafe location. The real bus stop is perhaps three bus lengths further east on Mariposa.
The offending bus eventually picks me up and I note that it is bus number 11012 driven by # 70963. Oh, and the passenger who was allowed to get off in such an unsafe location seemed physically fit.
2011-03-27 @ 14:05: I am aboard a 125 Line bus, number 11049. The driver number 77507 is very rough and we are bounced around quite a lot.
Dedicated to the Dulcinea of my dreams
‘"In saying I cursed my fortune thou saidst wrong," said Don Quixote; "for rather do I bless it and shall bless it all the days of my life for having made me worthy of aspiring to love so lofty a lady as Dulcinea del Toboso."
"And so lofty she is," said Sancho, "that she overtops me by more than a hand's-breadth."
"What! Sancho," said Don Quixote, "didst thou measure with her?"
"I measured in this way," said Sancho; "going to help her to put a sack of wheat on the back of an ass, we came so close together that I could see she stood more than a good palm over me."
"Well!" said Don Quixote, "and doth she not of a truth accompany and adorn this greatness with a thousand million charms of mind! But one thing thou wilt not deny, Sancho; when thou camest close to her didst thou not perceive a Sabaean odour, an aromatic fragrance, a, I know not what, delicious, that I cannot find a name for; I mean a redolence, an exhalation, as if thou wert in the shop of some dainty glover?"
"All I can say is," said Sancho, "that I did perceive a little odour, something goaty; it must have been that she was all in a sweat with hard work."
"It could not be that," said Don Quixote, "but thou must have been suffering from cold in the head, or must have smelt thyself; for I know well what would be the scent of that rose among thorns, that lily of the field, that dissolved amber."
"Maybe so," replied Sancho; "there often comes from myself that same odour which then seemed to me to come from her grace the lady Dulcinea; but that's no wonder, for one devil is like another."
"Well then," continued Don Quixote, "now she has done sifting the corn and sent it to the mill; what did she do when she read the letter?"
"As for the letter," said Sancho, "she did not read it, for she said she could neither read nor write; instead of that she tore it up into small pieces, saying that she did not want to let anyone read it lest her secrets should become known in the village, and that what I had told her by word of mouth about the love your worship bore her, and the extraordinary penance you were doing for her sake, was enough; and, to make an end of it, she told me to tell your worship that she kissed your hands, and that she had a greater desire to see you than to write to you;
"And so lofty she is," said Sancho, "that she overtops me by more than a hand's-breadth."
"What! Sancho," said Don Quixote, "didst thou measure with her?"
"I measured in this way," said Sancho; "going to help her to put a sack of wheat on the back of an ass, we came so close together that I could see she stood more than a good palm over me."
"Well!" said Don Quixote, "and doth she not of a truth accompany and adorn this greatness with a thousand million charms of mind! But one thing thou wilt not deny, Sancho; when thou camest close to her didst thou not perceive a Sabaean odour, an aromatic fragrance, a, I know not what, delicious, that I cannot find a name for; I mean a redolence, an exhalation, as if thou wert in the shop of some dainty glover?"
"All I can say is," said Sancho, "that I did perceive a little odour, something goaty; it must have been that she was all in a sweat with hard work."
"It could not be that," said Don Quixote, "but thou must have been suffering from cold in the head, or must have smelt thyself; for I know well what would be the scent of that rose among thorns, that lily of the field, that dissolved amber."
"Maybe so," replied Sancho; "there often comes from myself that same odour which then seemed to me to come from her grace the lady Dulcinea; but that's no wonder, for one devil is like another."
"Well then," continued Don Quixote, "now she has done sifting the corn and sent it to the mill; what did she do when she read the letter?"
"As for the letter," said Sancho, "she did not read it, for she said she could neither read nor write; instead of that she tore it up into small pieces, saying that she did not want to let anyone read it lest her secrets should become known in the village, and that what I had told her by word of mouth about the love your worship bore her, and the extraordinary penance you were doing for her sake, was enough; and, to make an end of it, she told me to tell your worship that she kissed your hands, and that she had a greater desire to see you than to write to you;
and that therefore she entreated and commanded you, on sight of this present, to come out of these thickets, and to have done with carrying on absurdities, and to set out at once for El Toboso, unless something else of greater importance should happen, for she had a great desire to see your worship. She laughed greatly when I told her how your worship was called The Knight of the Rueful Countenance; I asked her if that Biscayan
the other day had been there; and she told me he had, and that he was an honest fellow; I asked her too about the galley slaves, but she said she had not seen any as yet."
"So far all goes well," said Don Quixote; "but tell me what jewel was it that she gave thee on taking thy leave, in return for thy tidings of me? For it is a usual and ancient custom with knights and ladies errant to give the squires, damsels, or dwarfs who bring tidings of their ladies to the knights, or of their knights to the ladies, some rich jewel as a guerdon for good news,' and acknowledgment of the message."
"That is very likely," said Sancho, "and a good custom it was, to my mind; but that must have been in days gone by, for now it would seem to be the custom only to give a piece of bread and cheese; because that was what my lady Dulcinea gave me over the top of the yard-wall when I took leave of her; and more by token it was sheep's-milk cheese."
"She is generous in the extreme," said Don Quixote, "and if she did not give thee a jewel of gold, no doubt it must have been because she had not one to hand there to give thee; but sleeves are good after Easter; I shall see her and all shall be made right. But knowest thou what amazes me, Sancho? It seems to me thou must have gone and come through the air, for thou hast taken but little more than three days to go to El Toboso and return, though it is more than thirty leagues from here to here.
From which I am inclined to think that the sage magician who is my friend, and watches over my interests (for of necessity there is and must be one, or else I should not be a right knight-errant), that this same, I say, must have helped thee to travel without thy knowledge; for some of these sages will catch up a knight-errant sleeping in his bed, and without his knowing how or in what way it happened, he wakes up the next day more than a thousand leagues away from the place where he went to sleep. And if it were not for this, knights-errant would not be able to give aid to one another in peril, as they do at every turn. For a knight, maybe, is fighting in the mountains of Armenia with some dragon, or fierce serpent, or another knight, and gets the worst of the battle, and is at the point of death; but when he least looks for it, there appears over against him on a cloud, or chariot of fire, another knight, a friend of his, who just before had been in England, and who takes his part, and delivers him from death; and at night he finds himself in his own quarters supping very much to his satisfaction; and yet from one place to the other will have been two or three thousand leagues. And all this is done by the craft and skill of the sage enchanters who take care of those valiant knights; so that, friend Sancho, I find no difficulty in believing that thou mayest have gone from this place to El Toboso and returned in such a short time, since, as I have said, some friendly sage must have carried thee through the air without thee perceiving it."
"That must have been it," said Sancho, "for indeed Rocinante went like a gipsy's ass with quicksilver in his ears."
"Quicksilver!" said Don Quixote, "aye and what is more, a legion of devils, folk that can travel and make others travel without being weary, exactly as the whim seizes them. But putting this aside, what thinkest thou I ought to do about my lady's command to go and see her? For though I feel that I am bound to obey her mandate, I feel too that I am debarred by the boon I have accorded to the princess that accompanies us, and the law of chivalry compels me to have regard for my word in preference to my inclination; on the one hand the desire to see my lady pursues and harasses me, on the other my solemn promise and the glory I shall win in this enterprise urge and call me; but what I think I shall do is to travel with all speed and reach quickly the place where this giant is, and on my arrival I shall cut off his head, and establish the princess peacefully in her realm, and forthwith I shall return to behold the light that lightens my senses, to whom I shall make such excuses that she will be led to approve of my delay, for she will see that it entirely ends to increase her glory and fame; for all that I have won, am winning, or shall win by arms in this life, comes to me of the favour she extends to me, and because I am hers."
"Ah! what a sad state your worship's brains are in!" said Sancho. "Tell me, senor, do you mean to travel all that way for nothing, and to let slip and lose so rich and great a match as this where they give as a portion a kingdom that in sober truth I have heard say is more than twenty thousand leagues round about, and abounds with all things necessary to support human life, and is bigger than Portugal and Castile put together? Peace, for the love of God! Blush for what you have said, and take my advice, and forgive me, and marry at once in the first village where there is a curate; if not, here is our licentiate who will do the business beautifully; remember, I am old enough to give advice, and this I am giving comes pat to the purpose; for a sparrow in the hand is better than a vulture on the wing, and he who has the good to his hand and chooses the bad, that the good he complains of may not come to him." "Look here, Sancho," said Don Quixote. "If thou art advising me to marry, in order that immediately on slaying the giant I may become king, and be able to confer favours on thee, and give thee what I have promised, let me tell thee I shall be able very easily to satisfy thy desires without marrying; for before going into battle I will make it a stipulation that, if I come out of it victorious, even I do not marry, they shall give me a portion portion of the kingdom, that I may bestow it upon whomsoever I choose, and when they give it to me upon whom wouldst thou have me bestow it but upon thee?"
"That is plain speaking," said Sancho; "but let your worship take care to choose it on the seacoast, so that if I don't like the life, I may be able to ship off my black vassals and deal with them as I have said; don't mind going to see my lady Dulcinea now, but go and kill this giant and let us finish off this business; for by God it strikes me it will be one of great honour and great profit."
"I hold thou art in the right of it, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and I will take thy advice as to accompanying the princess before going to see Dulcinea; but I counsel thee not to say anything to any one, or to those who are with us, about what we have considered and discussed, for as Dulcinea is so decorous that she does not wish her thoughts to be known it is not right that I or anyone for me should disclose them."
"Well then, if that be so," said Sancho, "how is it that your worship makes all those you overcome by your arm go to present themselves before my lady Dulcinea, this being the same thing as signing your name to it that you love her and are her lover? And as those who go must perforce kneel before her and say they come from your worship to submit themselves to her, how can the thoughts of both of you be hid?"
"O, how silly and simple thou art!" said Don Quixote; "seest thou not, Sancho, that this tends to her greater exaltation? For thou must know that according to our way of thinking in chivalry, it is a high honour to a lady to have many knights-errant in her service, whose thoughts never go beyond serving her for her own sake, and who look for no other reward for their great and true devotion than that she should be willing to accept them as her knights."
"It is with that kind of love," said Sancho, "I have heard preachers say we ought to love our Lord, for himself alone, without being moved by the hope of glory or the fear of punishment; though for my part, I would rather love and serve him for what he could do."
"The devil take thee for a clown!" said Don Quixote, "and what shrewd things thou sayest at times! One would think thou hadst studied."
"In faith, then, I cannot even read."
Master Nicholas here called out to them to wait a while, as they wanted to halt and drink at a little spring there was there. Don Quixote drew up, not a little to the satisfaction of Sancho, for he was by this time weary of telling so many lies, and in dread of his master catching him tripping, for though he knew that Dulcinea was a peasant girl of El Toboso, he had never seen her in all his life. Cardenio had now put on the clothes which Dorothea was wearing when they found her, and though they were not very good, they were far better than those he put off. They dismounted together by the side of the spring, and with what the curate had provided himself with at the inn they appeased, though not very well, the keen appetite they all of them brought with them.’
"That must have been it," said Sancho, "for indeed Rocinante went like a gipsy's ass with quicksilver in his ears."
"Quicksilver!" said Don Quixote, "aye and what is more, a legion of devils, folk that can travel and make others travel without being weary, exactly as the whim seizes them. But putting this aside, what thinkest thou I ought to do about my lady's command to go and see her? For though I feel that I am bound to obey her mandate, I feel too that I am debarred by the boon I have accorded to the princess that accompanies us, and the law of chivalry compels me to have regard for my word in preference to my inclination; on the one hand the desire to see my lady pursues and harasses me, on the other my solemn promise and the glory I shall win in this enterprise urge and call me; but what I think I shall do is to travel with all speed and reach quickly the place where this giant is, and on my arrival I shall cut off his head, and establish the princess peacefully in her realm, and forthwith I shall return to behold the light that lightens my senses, to whom I shall make such excuses that she will be led to approve of my delay, for she will see that it entirely ends to increase her glory and fame; for all that I have won, am winning, or shall win by arms in this life, comes to me of the favour she extends to me, and because I am hers."
"Ah! what a sad state your worship's brains are in!" said Sancho. "Tell me, senor, do you mean to travel all that way for nothing, and to let slip and lose so rich and great a match as this where they give as a portion a kingdom that in sober truth I have heard say is more than twenty thousand leagues round about, and abounds with all things necessary to support human life, and is bigger than Portugal and Castile put together? Peace, for the love of God! Blush for what you have said, and take my advice, and forgive me, and marry at once in the first village where there is a curate; if not, here is our licentiate who will do the business beautifully; remember, I am old enough to give advice, and this I am giving comes pat to the purpose; for a sparrow in the hand is better than a vulture on the wing, and he who has the good to his hand and chooses the bad, that the good he complains of may not come to him." "Look here, Sancho," said Don Quixote. "If thou art advising me to marry, in order that immediately on slaying the giant I may become king, and be able to confer favours on thee, and give thee what I have promised, let me tell thee I shall be able very easily to satisfy thy desires without marrying; for before going into battle I will make it a stipulation that, if I come out of it victorious, even I do not marry, they shall give me a portion portion of the kingdom, that I may bestow it upon whomsoever I choose, and when they give it to me upon whom wouldst thou have me bestow it but upon thee?"
"That is plain speaking," said Sancho; "but let your worship take care to choose it on the seacoast, so that if I don't like the life, I may be able to ship off my black vassals and deal with them as I have said; don't mind going to see my lady Dulcinea now, but go and kill this giant and let us finish off this business; for by God it strikes me it will be one of great honour and great profit."
"I hold thou art in the right of it, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and I will take thy advice as to accompanying the princess before going to see Dulcinea; but I counsel thee not to say anything to any one, or to those who are with us, about what we have considered and discussed, for as Dulcinea is so decorous that she does not wish her thoughts to be known it is not right that I or anyone for me should disclose them."
"Well then, if that be so," said Sancho, "how is it that your worship makes all those you overcome by your arm go to present themselves before my lady Dulcinea, this being the same thing as signing your name to it that you love her and are her lover? And as those who go must perforce kneel before her and say they come from your worship to submit themselves to her, how can the thoughts of both of you be hid?"
"O, how silly and simple thou art!" said Don Quixote; "seest thou not, Sancho, that this tends to her greater exaltation? For thou must know that according to our way of thinking in chivalry, it is a high honour to a lady to have many knights-errant in her service, whose thoughts never go beyond serving her for her own sake, and who look for no other reward for their great and true devotion than that she should be willing to accept them as her knights."
"It is with that kind of love," said Sancho, "I have heard preachers say we ought to love our Lord, for himself alone, without being moved by the hope of glory or the fear of punishment; though for my part, I would rather love and serve him for what he could do."
"The devil take thee for a clown!" said Don Quixote, "and what shrewd things thou sayest at times! One would think thou hadst studied."
"In faith, then, I cannot even read."
Master Nicholas here called out to them to wait a while, as they wanted to halt and drink at a little spring there was there. Don Quixote drew up, not a little to the satisfaction of Sancho, for he was by this time weary of telling so many lies, and in dread of his master catching him tripping, for though he knew that Dulcinea was a peasant girl of El Toboso, he had never seen her in all his life. Cardenio had now put on the clothes which Dorothea was wearing when they found her, and though they were not very good, they were far better than those he put off. They dismounted together by the side of the spring, and with what the curate had provided himself with at the inn they appeased, though not very well, the keen appetite they all of them brought with them.’
Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616) Don Quixote (1605), excerpted from Chapter XXXI
http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/cervantes/don-quixote/1/
Fare Box Score Box and related Lists of Shame
I.D. Numbers of buses with Out of Order Fare Boxes: 8314;
Note: No or few entries above do not necessarily mean all fare boxes are in operation.
I.D.Numbers of Distracted Drivers: 25203(i); 23343(i);
Codes: (i) Extended conversation(s) with passenger(s) or (ii) cell phone call(s). Frequently, details can be found in the text above, (ii*) cell phone call(s) which are aggravated by some other action, (iii) Self-distracted. Codes (ii*) and (iii) will ALWAYS be explained in the posting.
I.D. Numbers of Buses Defaced by WhoIs stickers: ;
~UR or +UR = (+UR) whois sticker and the ugly residue left after passengers partly remove the sticker. (~UR) = Only the ugly residue left after passengers almost completely remove the sticker. +L = an old (legacy) sticker black letters on a plain white background –these are the original form of defacement.
* Another reason for displaying the operator's ID on the internal display and the headsign.
ID numbers of Buses whose Head and Tailsigns disagree: 6481 -/210;
Format is Bus number followed by Headsign number/Tailsign number.
ID numbers of Buses without Braille signs: 8426;
METRO drivers Basic Technical Skills Report
The format is Driver number F[{Y/-n/+n} C[{Y/N}]. Meaning of F if Y the driver stopped with the Bus stop “flag pole” somewhere between the bus front door frame. A negative number, e.g., -3 is the approximate distance in metres (think yards dear readers) between the nearest bus door vertical frame member and the flag pole signifying that the bus stopped short of the flag. A positive number, e.g., +3 (metres) is the approximate distance between the nearest bus door vertical frame member and the flag pole signifying that the bus stopped past the flag. The value for C[{Y/N}], “Y” tells us that the driver stopped within an easy step from the curb to the bus, “N” means it was NOT an easy step from the curb to the bus. It is this Mole's belief that an average experienced good driver should be able to control his bus so as to position in near the curb and with the flag pole slightly to the front of the bus.
70622 F[+8], [Y]; 78117 F[Y], C[N]; 70622 F[+4], C[N];
La Taupe's Abréviations
ADADO = Automatic Destination Announcement (on) Door Opening. This feature is installed on many buses and operates on extremely few. Another “money down the toilet” LACMTA investment. La Taupe that this is intended for the visually impaired because people who can see can read the “head signs”.
ASAS = Automatic Stop Announcement System the GPS (Global Positioning System) driven mechanism for generating audio for the upcoming stops. N.B. Because of the low power (read weak) processors used in the on-board stops may be too close to identify stops separately. This is known as a granularity problem. Then too, if the driver operates the bus at speed above the speed limit you will find the system “back announcing” stops which you have already passed. I find that this will NOT keep some drivers from complaining “that you didn’t signal (ring) in time. They don’t understand their relationship to the system and how, by driving faster than the GPS computer, they can bias it.
BBB = Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus
CC or CCMBL = Culver City (Municipal) Bus (Lines)
CCTC = Culver City Transportation Center this is the place formerly known as FHMTC = the Fox Hills Mall Transportation Center (Sepulveda & Slauson)
FFE = Full Fare Equivalent (presently $1.60)
LAXCBC = the LAX City Bus Center.
Rapid Transit = does not compete for right of way, that is, it will not run at grade unless it has EXCLUSIVE DEDICATED USE of the right of way).
TT = Torrance Transit.
T1 = the normal type of driver/staff.
T2 = is the non-stop talker type of driver/staff, on the phone or to passengers,
T3 = the uncommunicative type of driver/staff, sometimes surly.
WLATC = the West Los Angeles Transportation Center (Fairfax & Apple)
Su Topo’s Disclaimer and apologia
Your Mole always attempts to write an easy-on-the-eyes page using text input. Blogger.com however, has other ideas and will often not stay with a single font type or point size, produces extraneous spacing and etc. I wish I had time to debug the HTML which they produce, it is NOT the straight text which I pasted into the form, but I don’t. Therefore, I apologize on behalf of Blogger.com for the changes which they make, of which I do not approve. Sometimes, what I see, thankfully you don’t, is 24 point type –it is giant and other times they swallow my text, although it still seems to be there. In fairness to them, things seem better, although this is partly because I do understand which of their “features” do the most damage to me and consequently do not use them. Communicating these problems to them, for me, is something like having teeth extracted without the benefit of anesthetic, actually it is less fun than that. By their design, there is no simple e-mailing them with "Please look at my say, posting of 2009-06-28, it is weird!” I am hoping that one of their developers will some day read this, copy my code and improve their text to HTML engine. Until then, lo siento.
Mole’s Copyright Statement
All photographs and original written materials are copyrighted © 2007~2009 by LAmetroMole. ♪Clicking a photo will often* present you with an enlargement. *This feature is dependent upon the Internet browser which you use and possibly other factors.
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains or provides links to copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, sustainable development, environmental, community and worker health, public disclosure, corporate accountability, and etc. We have often included relatively brief quotes from articles and etc., sometimes in addition to a simple link, because we have found that links frequently go "bad" or change over time. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without fee or payment of any kind to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes and to those who access the site via any and all other channels. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Music or other recorded material on this site, or referred to by this site are copyrighted by their respective artists and are made available here for evaluation purposes only. Please support the artists you like by buying their commercial CDs, MP3s and downloads.
Your Mole’s Conflict of Interest Statement
This is to certify that I, the blogger who is known as the LAmetroMole, with respect to this blog, except as described below, am not now nor at any time during the past year have been, nor it my current intention to ever be:
1) A participant, directly or indirectly, in any arrangement, agreement, investment, or other activity with any vendor, supplier, or other party doing business with any of the entities about which I have written, which has resulted or could result in personal benefit to me.
2) A recipient, directly or indirectly, of any salary payments or loans or gifts of any kind or any free service or discounts or other fees from or on behalf of any person or organization engaged in any transaction with any of the entities about which I have written.
Any exceptions to 1 or 2 above are stated below with a full description of the transactions and of the interest, whether direct or indirect, which I have (or have had during the past year) in the persons or organizations having transactions with any of the entities about which I have written.
There are no exceptions.
Date: 2009-06-24 S/ LametroMole
Works Cited
Allen, Sam. “L.A.’s bus service faces major cuts”. Los Angeles Times. 20 Mar. 2011:A31. Print.Angwin, Julia and Valentino-Devries, Jennifer. “New online
tracking Frontier: …”. Wall Street Journal. 1 Dec. 2011:A1.
Print.
Finnegan, Michael, Holland Gale. “Billions To Spend”. Los Angeles Times. 1 Mar. 2011:A1. Print.
Orlov, Rick. “MTA plans to reduce bus service”. Press-Telegraph.
25 Mar. 2011:A5. Print.
Weintraub, Pamela. “The Discover Interview: Shing-Tung Yau”. Discover. Jun. 2010:66. Print.
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