2012-12-30

 
Vae Viator34


I send my deepest sympathies to all those who have lost loved ones in the tragic events at Newtown, Connecticut

Sadness Throughout our Country is Shared by the World
The drawing to which I have linked below originated with the Boston Globe but ran in Libération in France. http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2012/12/17/agir-maintenant-sur-les-armes-ou-nous-le-ferons-jamais_868199
I am not sure about the process, but based on the unselfish actions of Sandy Hook teachers like Victoria Soto and others, they should be considered for an award.  Based upon this description, ‘For more 40 years, the Presidential Citizens Medal has recognized Americans who have "performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens." Starting today, the President is inviting you, the American public, to nominate everyday heroes for one of our nation’s highest civilian honors.’, the Citizens Medal may be the one which is used to honour the Sandy Hook teachers.
Ms Soto hid and saved the lives of all of her students and lost her own life other teachers and staff also lost their lives protecting their students.




BBB Maxella Trash Fix??

The photograph above documents the “fix” applied at the Maxella AV and Lincoln BL stop on their number 3 Line.  It is the sort of “work” one would expect from the LACMTA.  The taped or caused to be taped shut the aperture in the plastic pipes associated with power poles.  These pipes were used as improvised trash cans. BBB N.B. The stop still needs a trash can!

Su Topo will lead every post with the above until BBB corrects the problem.

Los paradas no es limpias.

Now the LACMTA pays someone to maintain bus stops.  The photos below show that the ball is being dropped far and wide.


Sepulveda & Manchster SW♪

 Of course, it is not only the contractor who is failing, the ridership whose main means of disposal is gravity don’t help either.  It iactally a lot worse at thei stop than is shown above! I have written about this stop several years ago and for a while it was relatively clean.  But we know the LACMTA, take a coffee break and they will require retraining.


Huntington Drive Arcadia♪

Wherever one travels he is surrounded by litter.  Here at the intersection of Huntington Drive and Sunset BL in Arcadia the same lack of cleanliness is evident by the overflowing trash container.

No surprising to la Taupe, however, because he has watched cleaners drive away from bus stops leaving trash on the shelter roof.

Then we have the situation at the LAXCBC.  Not only does it have fewer baños than El Monte Station, none instead of the two provided at El Monte Station.
LAXCBC is also cluttered with pedestrian impediments.  Bicycle racks dot the concrete island which is surrounded by bus bays.  Anachronistic “pillars and posts” dot the landscape requiring the sighted to be on the alert and the visually challenged to exercise extreme caution.  Where are the proponents of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) when they are needed. 
Certainly no one at the LACMTA seems to care about improving conditions at the LAXCBC and likely elsewhere as well.
Impedements♪
Here you can see a pillar which used to advertise the 715 Line bus which was cancelled what?, about two years ago.  Which pillar now serves only a a barrier to those with less than perfect sight.

Bike Racks and etc.♪
In the picture above, taken on a dark and rainy day, we can see another disused pillar along with two (2) bike racks planted randomly in the center of the area in a manner to do the most bad.
 
Bird starved to death after being trapped in a net♪
Years after su Topo initiated his campaign to have the LACMTA repair holes in the nets, whose function in not quite clear, one can still look up and see pitiful sights like the one pictured above.

White Line Incursion Series 

This posting is the first issue in which su Topo uses video to highlight a problem.  In the videos below one can see exactly what happens when the policing agencies fail to enforce traffic laws.

The series of videos linked below document that, and this is important, a never ending stream of airport rent-a-car shuttle buses, taxis and civilian vehicles fail to use the lane as required by law.  Here is my first series, please remember I am not using a steadicam J. 

Neither are the policing agencies when it comes to protecting us by bringing these obvious and frequent traffic law violations to an immediate halt.  The LACMTA is derelict as well, in that they fail to use the near hourly proof of the violations captured by the on board cameras, mentioned here and discussed at length in the posting of 2012-05-31. 

This Mole sees Mr. Art Leahy, who is the top of the “non-political” LACMTA structure in the sense that he is hired, not elected, as the man who, all other things being equal, could pick up his phone and talk to Sheriff Baca and ask him to lead a task force to bring some law enforcement to “the wild west” of 96th Street and likely other areas of the County as well.  It is what your Mole would do if he were seated on his big fat, umm … chair, in the Taj Mahal. 

If Sherlock Holmes were on this case, he would “review the film” and quickly come to a solution!  Elementary, my dear Leahy.


Scoff Law Video 1: http://youtu.be/TDXsVLvSg6o


Scoff Law Video 2: 


Scoff Law Video 3:  

<< La femme a une puissance singulière qui se compose de la réalité de la force et de l’apparence de la faiblesse.>>

   Extrait du Post-scriptum de ma vie.

Victor Hugo: (1802-02-26~1885-05-22)
[A woman has a singular power which consists of the reality of strength and the appearance of weakness.]  Extracted from A Post Script to my life. 


The Mole reads the papers and other things, obviating the necessity of your doing so.

 Under the rubric of “Your Tax Dollars at Work, we find that the Department of Homeland Security is funding a program to record the conversations of bus passengers.

‘Transportation agencies who have opted for the DHS funding so far include: Concord, N.C.; Durham, North Carolina and Baltimore Maryland.  

“Plans to implement the technology are under way in cities from San Francisco to Hartford, Conn., and Eugene, Ore., to Columbus, Ohio,”’
Nothing is said about our own LACMTA, which does not necessarially mean that they don't plan to do it.

[Material enclosed in single quotes above was attributed to the Daily by the Daily Caller.]  Checking The Daily’s web site confirms that, if was the source, one finds this notice: “The Daily has ceased publishing its tablet app. Thanks for visiting!”

 The New York Times reports (Barron) that the [New York City] MTA has placed some vintage buses back in service; but only for a short period at the end od December 2012. 

The piece reports that one of the vintage buses was given the same number, 2969, as the bus driven by Jackie Gleason when he starred in “The Honeymooners” during the early days of television.

See a photo of Gleason and his bus here. http://www.tvacres.com/buses_honeymooners.htm

Here is the schedule and map for Line 42M http://www.mta.info/nyct/bus/schedule/manh/m042cur.pdf

Please take a look at it.

Then, let’s take a ride on bus number 2969! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_9LejXBx-I 

Thank you youtube.com and thanks to Nabinut for the upload!

Here you can see a short sample of “The Honeymooners”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgxqWTL27-Y

The lovely Ms Christina Salvo and her co-anchor at KABC-TV, Channel 7, reported this morning (2012-12-22) that Metro has no fewer than four (4) plans to bring passengers directly to LAX to a “people mover” that will take them to their terminal at LAX.  Now isn’t that nice, yet more plans to NOT accomplish the task!  Talk about impoverished creativity, if only there were a Nobel Prize for it.  I cannot (fortunately) imagine developing four (4) ways to not get it done and not get it done by 2020!!  But then la Taupe (fortunately) doesn’t have the intellectual capacity of the LACMTA.

 Well, it appears that your Mole’s constant reminders to the LACMTA that the Green Line doesn’t really reach LAX, must be penetrating through to the “management”.

Never-the-less, su Topo has included yet another reminder to the LACMTA that many systems in our country and around the world do reach their airports (Vide infra).

¿Musica?

 We lost her this month, La Diva de la banda, and what a sad loss it was.  From many possibilities I selected just one song by Jenni Rivera: http://grooveshark.com/s/El+Nopal/44PQE2?src=5

Thank you to our friends at Grooveshark.com!

You will find a nice video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOHwhSV9ZCw

Thank you youtube.com! 

And of course, for sharing this with us, ¡Muchas Gracias! to the copyright and license holders of this video - © 2012 Jenni Rivera Enterprises, Inc., Exclusively licensed in the United States to Fonovisa Records.

Ear (and Eye) to the Rail 

Cautionary Note: Those employed by the LACMTA should NOT view the following videos.  The speed of the trains in the videos, because they are truly rapid transit, their quietness, the clarity and sound level of the onboard announcements will likely make you dizzy, nauseous and frighten you.  Additionally, the concept of having a DIRECT LINK to the airport should place you in a state of “cognitive dissonance”, which occurs when two cognitions complete.  Cognitive dissonance results in the case where Cognition 1, “It is impossible to directly link a city to its airport” and cognition 2, “many cities are directly linked to their airports”.

 One can learn more about cognitive dissonance here.  But again, I must caution LACMTA management and staff that they should not try this sort of psychological study at home and definitely not without the involvement and guidance of a trained professional.


 The former Washington National Airport, now Ronald Reagan Airport is Washington, DC has a great rail connection to it from the city.

 We can take a ride on the above mentioned train here.


Youtube.com, thank you so much for complementing my words with pictures!

 Thank you too, jdgator95, for the download!

Here is a link to a Google Map of the area.  Click on the “+” sign and your will see the proximity of the rail station and the terminal(s). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bVs9Eo-PAw


Cosmology

Here is an interesting article along with a great diagram which helps us visualize the history of our universe.


The Mole rides again, so you don’t have to spend your time watching buses who are of no use to you pass you by.
(All times are expressed in the 24 hour system.)

 The “shakeup occurred on Sunday, December 16th, BUT the New schedules BUT, as usual, few buses had them on board!  When I asked a driver why he didn’t have schedules onboard, his reply was, “People keep taking them.” It is the usual can’t do LACMTA attitude.

Aboard a 267 Line bus bound for El Monte Station.  The new El Monte Station is somewhat larger than the LAXCBC but it has two (2) restrooms on the lower level, as contrasted with the LAXCBC which has NONE.  I did not make the full trip but in answer to my question the driver explained the restroom situation to me.  It seems that some of us, perhaps most of us, are being treated unequally vis-à-vis los baños, anyway.

 To balance things out, apparently, those restrooms are not marked on the station layout as shown in an unidentified brochure called, simply, “El Monte Station”.  You are surprised? 

Bypassed!

Your Mole waits for a 40 Line bus and while waiting is treated to the sight pictured above.  A lightly loaded 740 Line bus bypassing him!  This is obviously depriving a class, i.e., those of us who don’t want to walk a half mile to the nearest “rapid” stop, of equal transportation opportunities. Selective provision of service?  La Taupe thinks so!  Where are those who claim to represent Metro passengers when you need them?


Lennox Library Under Construction

While riding the 40 Line bus, we pass the new Los Angeles County Library being built in Lennox.   It is one county agency who is really doing its job!  I miss the helpful staff from the old branchand look forward to the opening of the new one.  Although they are preserving much of the ld structure and expanding it.  Good job LACL!


Fare Box Score Box and related Lists of Shame

I.D. Numbers of buses with Outs of Order Fare Boxes: xxxxx, xxxxx;

Note: No or few entries above do not necessarily mean all fare boxes are in operation. 

I.D.Numbers of Distracted Drivers: xxxxx (i);

None included here, but observations of a minor nature may be included in the main posting;

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: xxxx;

~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: xxxx; xxx/xx     ;

Format is Bus number followed by Headsign number/Tailsign number.

ID numbers of Buses without Braille signs: XXXX;



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 frames.  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.  

xxxxx F[Y] C[Y]; xxxxx F[Y], C[Y]; xxxxx F[Y], C[Y]; xxxxx F[Y], C[Y];  N.B. distances are in metres, think yards.

nnnnn* = Contract Driver

I.D. numbers of drivers who are almost guaranteed to give you a Rough and Jerky (R & J) ride.  xxxxx;

I.D. numbers of drivers who will give you a potentially life-threatening ride.  XXXXX(-); XXXXX(-);

Codes: S = not wearing seat belts; J = bad judgment (unsafe driving practices).


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 didnt signal (ring) in time.  They dont 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 $1.50)

GMBL = Gardena Municipal Bus lines

LAXCBC = the LAX City Bus Center.

OCTA = Orange County Transportation Authority.

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).

R & J = Rough and Jerky [ride].

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 someday 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 (sometimes successive clicks will further enlarge the photo). *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

Barron, James. “Bus No. 2969 Takes Riders Back in Time”. New York Times. Dec. 22, 2012:A19. Print. (WEB version. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/for-the-holidays-a-nostalgia-trip-on-a-bus-like-ralph-kramdens/)

McLeod, S. A. (2008). Cognitive Dissonance Theory.Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html



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The above is  ### 30 ###  in Braille

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