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Rep. Delahunt (D-MA) introduces resolution supporting Middle East Envoy George Mitchell
February 4th, 2009
On February 4th, Congressman Delahunt introduced House Resolution 130 with 31 original co-sponsors from both parties praising the appointment of Senator George Mitchell as Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. The resolution currently has 65 co-sponsors.
"There's a fresh breeze blowing in Washington when it comes to American policy toward Israel and the Middle East," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street, of the resolution introduced by Rep. William Delahunt (D-Ma). "This resolution and last week's letter to Secretary of State Clinton calling for humanitarian aid for Gaza demonstrate how broadly Congress supports the new administration's effort to engage constructively in resolving the difficult conflicts facing the Middle East and earning the trust once again of all the parties to those conflicts."
J Street members - along with Brit Tzedek v'Shalom members - are calling their Representatives to encourage them to cosponsor House Resolution 130 here. You can view J Street's press release on the resolution's introduction here.


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Share your experiences with the Boxer Dash 5k and the 1Mile run/walk below Back to event details page.
The course was pretty decent and mostly flat. The event was run pretty well considering it was a first year event. I'm sure that next year will have more people and be even better.
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.

subset: commoncrawl


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Wood Oven Pizza
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I'm a lover of fancy pizza, and Nicli Antica did not disappoint. Their pizzas are fresh and covered in delicious and creative toppings. Pies run about $10 and two pizzas would feed three people. They even have a brunch pizza with toppings like eggs and potatoes.


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Archive for the 'walking' Category
Equity, Opportunity and Good Health
A free public lecture from SFU Continuing Studies and The City Program
How Transportation Affects the Essential Qualities of Life In Metro Vancouver
Thursday, 30 April 2015 7:30 PM at SFU Segal School of Business
Transportation connects us to our community, our place of work and our friends and family. The way transportation infrastructure is designed and the modes of transportation that we have access to impact our lifestyle and our health.
The lecture reviewed some of the evidence from other jurisdictions, but focused primarily on the findings from the My Health My Community project that surveyed 28,000 Metro Vancouver residents in 2013/14.
While there are clear dividends in health for active transportation users, current transit infrastructure does not equally benefit all communities in Metro Vancouver. Access to transportation widens opportunity and is a significant equity issue in Metro Vancouver.
This lecture was in collaboration with the 2015 ITE QUAD Conference, May 1-2 at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver.
It is fortunate that the text and illustrations that were used for this lecture are all available on line. I noticed that several people were trying to photograph the illustrations used, but that turns out to unnecessary too.
The talk was preceded by a presentation by Dale Bracewell, the Manager of Active Transportation at the City of Vancouver. He started by stating that Vancouver now designs its active transportation projects to meet the needs of all ages and abilities. The overarching goals are set by Transportation 2040 but that includes the interim goal of 50% of trips by walk, cycle and transit by 2020. The City has set itself objectives in the fields of Economy, People and Environment. The active transportation program fits within the People category and the Healthy City Strategy, which has a four year Action Plan. Walking and cycling are now the fastest growing transportation mode which reflects Vancouver's high Walk Score. A panel survey is conducted annually with the City's Health Partners.
Walking has increased by 19% while the collision rate has fallen by 20%. The collision data also needs to be seen within the context of the City's Vision Zero. Cycling has increased by 41% while collisions have fallen by 17%. It is clear that the safety in numbers effect is working. Vancouver has installed a series of automated bike counters. He had a set of graphics which I have yet to find but the data is available as a large pdf spreadsheet.
This is the counter at Science World which now has the biggest count – even greater than the Burrard Bridge
The counters show cycle use growing between 7 and 15% over the last year. The Lion's Gate Bridge now equals Hornby and Dunsmuir, even before the new safety measures for cyclists have been introduced.
Hornby Street still moves as many vehicle now as it did before, simply because the two way separated bike lane replaced on street parking. There are still 14,000 cars a day, but cycle traffic has increased 50% to 2,700 per day. At the same time there are 5,000 people on the sidewalk, with pedestrians showing a clear preference for the side with the cyclists rather than the parked cars. The street is now moving more people overall.
He also added a plug for an upcoming conference in Vancouver next year pro walk pro bike pro place September 12 – 15, 2016
Dr. Jat Sandhu is the regional director of the public health surveillance unit at the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. He stressed that his remarks are his own personal views.
He started by contrasting the experience of driving a car in congested traffic on the Sea to Sky Highway with that of riding a bike on a path next to the North Arm of the Fraser River – the stress of the former versus the relaxation of the latter. He grew up in Hong Kong and described his boyhood commute to school from Stanley to Kowloon: and one and half hour combination of buses and ferry to cover the same distance as the Canada Line from Richmond Brighouse to Waterfront.
He cited the work of Larry Frank at UBC who has published the all embracing literature review on health and transportation, looking at physical activity, air quality, mental health, injuries and equity. "Urban Sprawl and Public Health". He also pointed to USC study of the Los Angeles to Culver City Exposition LRT which reduced daily vehicle travel by households of between 10 to 12 miles a day which a 30% reduction of CO2 emissions.
It is known that daily physical activity helps maintain a healthy weight, reduces the risk of chronic disease and grants a 40% reduction in the risk of premature mortality. Yet only 40% of the population meet the recommended activity levels. Obesity is now overtaking smoking in the mortality race. Physical inactivity is a large part of the problem as shown by a study of commute time against obesity in Atlanta GA (Am J Prev Med 2004). He also pointed to the lack of transit equity citing the Next Stop Health study in Toronto.
The My Health My Community survey covers the entire area covered by Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health. What makes Canadians sick? 50% of the time "your life".
The study asked respondents 90 questions about their socio-economic status, health, lifestyle, healthcare access, built environment and community.
The transportation report on Metro Vancouver released last week is the first of a series of reports from this data, intended to inform the discussion of the transportation plebiscite in this region. It draws from the survey responses from residents of the region – which is a subset of the survey mostly conducted on line, but with supplementary paper surveys to ensure adequate coverage of ethnic minorities. It covers only those over 18 years of age. Its target was a 2% sample which may seem small but is much better than the 0.5% sample of the typical transportation survey. Census data to neighborhood level was used to ensure a representative sample. It was a one year process, and results have been weighted to correct for age, gender, education and geography. Of 34,000 respondents, 28,000 live in Metro Vancouver: 80% of those make daily trips for work or education.
55% car driver or passenger
29% transit
10% walk
4% bike
2% other
Only Vancouver, New Westminster, Burnaby and the City of North Vancouver have over the Metro Vancouver average for active transportation modes.
I think the two maps are perhaps the most useful representations I have seen especially since they also map the Mayors' Council's proposals. What I think would be immensely more useful is a map of the non-active modes with the road projects that have been built in this region in the last ten years or so. While Dr Sandhu points to the goodness of fit of the proposals to correct some of the grosser transit inequities of this region, I think a map of "motordom" showing how the widening of Highway #1 (ongoing) the increase of traffic speeds on the Sea to SkyHighway, the impact of the South Fraser Perimeter road and the increase of capacity along Highway #10 through South Surrey, as well as all the various interchange improvements financed by development (200 St and Highway #1 for instance) as well as the Golden Ears Bridge and the new bridge over the CP yards in Port Coquitlam vastly overshadow anything that might happen as a result of the Mayor's plan. I do not have the technical competence to produce such a map overlay myself, but I do hope one of you does.
By the way, the originals of these maps are huge: click on them to enlarge and see the details.
Among some of the other results he quoted:
The median commute time is 30 minutes: for car users it is 25 minutes and for transit 45 minutes. He said that reducing travel time for transit users should be a target, though absent the data on distance I am not sure that actually tells us much. To some extent, people choose how long they are willing to travel – and for some, such as West Coast Express users – the travel time will be viewed in a positive light. However, as a selling point for the Yes side in the plebiscite "Less time in your car, more time in your community" works well.
The determinants of transit use include age: the two biggest groups are 18 to 29 and those over 70. In both cases there is often a financial incentive for transit use (UPass, concession fares). 14% of transit users have a chronic health condition which he said points to the need for more HandyDART, which is included in the plan. There is a 50% higher transit usage by ethnic minorities – except for South Asians – with the highest usage among recent immigrants – who of course are not eligible to vote. Neither, come to that is Dr Sandhu. Only 75% of respondents are Canadian citizens. Transit use decreases with increases in income.
He also produced a graph showing municipalities by commute mode and the incidence of obesity. He said the correlation coefficient (r²) was 0.99 [which as far as I am concerned is unheard of].
He also showed the WalkScore map of the region – which I wish I could find on line. The web page I link to is not exactly what I was looking for!
The current transit infrastructure does not equitably benefit all communities. This is a social justice issue as it impacts access to education and employment. The proposed investments will be positive in this regard. The greatest health legacy of the Olympic Games was [not the creation of his position] the Canada Line. Metro Vancouver is 4th in transit use in North America, only behind the very much larger populations of New York, Montreal and Toronto. We have a relatively small population of 2.5 million and thus "do not have the same tax base".
1. A question about the aboriginal use of transit which seemed to be explained by lower income and the availability
2. Some people use different modes for the same trip on different days: walking or cycling in good weather for instance. Or more than one mode during one trip. The reply was that the choice of mode had been "collapsed down" and respondents were asked to pick their primary mode
3. A technical discussion of the sample compared to household survey which replaced the long form censu s
4. A question about income which produced the response that the City of Vancouver saw similar levels of active transportation across the city, but immigrants were more economically active than the population in general – a reflection of federal immigration policies.
5. Do people realize how walkable their neighborhood really is? Don't we need more education?
The study helps the Health Authorities feed information into the OCP and community partners, as well as their interactions with nonprofits and school boards
6. "I have not heard the word Translink used. Is there going to be more bus service?"
7. Eric Doherty pointed out that just increasing bus service shows diminishing returns without a greater commitment to bus priority. He also mentioned feelings of superiority when he rode on a bus to the ferry and passed all those car users stuck in congestion.
I responded that bus priority measures are one of the most cost effective ways of improving the attractiveness of transit, but requires a level of enforcement not so far seen here.
Gordon Price was really impressed by the cycling data. There's nothing like a few good figures to destroy some long held misbeliefs.
The health study simply confirms what we have long known, but seem reluctant to act on. My own views on this were set out in a post in published earlier this year. I want to acknowledge the recent promotion of that post on Twitter by Brent Toderian which has had a very significant impact on my WordPress statistics.
The talk was in a larger room than usual, and was linked to the ITE Quad conference, but was poorly attended. The discussion was really rather muted.
Granville Bridge
It's huge. Eight lanes wide, it was the only bridge in the region which was never associated with congestion. Until the even wider Port Mann opened. There have recently been some proposals to dedicate the centre lanes of the bridge to a linear park.
These pictures are of course all from my flickr stream where they form an album or set. I have the feeling that people there no longer read the set description – if they ever did. So I make no apology for repeating that here. By the way the set is called "Vancouver's High Line?"
There is much talk in urban circles of finding similar linear structures to the High Line capable of being converted into public space. In Vancouver, that has centered around the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts. Which in my view should simply be removed altogether to create a new development opportunity.
On the Granville Bridge people have been suggesting a new pedestrian area in the centre lanes. This seems to me to be even sillier than the viaduct idea. If I am going to walk over a bridge, I want to see what I am crossing over not three lanes of traffic on either side. And no doubt a pair of solid, unclimbable safety barriers too.
This set is of the views from the Fir Street off ramp, where there is a sidewalk on the west side, overlooking Kits and Granville Island. An elevator directly down to the Island would be good too.
In the foreground the CP railway (Arbutus Line) crossing and then the other Granville Bridge off ramp to 4th Ave. That's West Van in the distance.
The High Line in New York is actually midblock – it threads itself in between buildings, which used to be the factories and warehouses it serves. So neither this bridge nor the viaducts will work in quite the same way. But they do provide a view down the streets – sorry Avenues in our case – they cross. Much quieter than the streets of Lower Manhattan.
Just as the High Line there are good views off to the distance. And I happen to think the Burrard Inlet is a lot more picturesque than the Hudson River, but your view may be different.
The playground is a very happy addition to this corner site.
The CP Arbutus tracks are off to the right, hidden by the trees
Count them – six lanes – on West 4th Avenue. That makes it a stroad: a major arterial road and a shopping street. I would suggest that it is a candidate for traffic calming – or maybe bus lanes for the #4, #7, #44 and #84 – but of course that would set off the same outrage we had to weather from the Point Grey Road changes. Which of course have not actually lead to the decline of Western civilization as we know it.
At one time the CP track along Lamey's Mill Road went through here, crossed the road at an oblique angle and then swung right up towards Burrard. But then Starbucks was built which in some people's mind ended the possibility of reopening the Arbutus Line for trams, which would connect with the now abandoned Olympic Line. But the old Sockeye Special did not come through here. That line crossed False Creek at an angle on a long gone trestle. Anyway there's a better alternative: I will get to that in a bit.
The Fir Street ramp leaves the main bridge around here. Granville Island is immediately below. One of the features of Granville Island is the large amount of space devoted to car parking. On a sunny weekend, the line-up of cars trying to get on to the Island backs up to the 2nd Avenue intersection and sometimes beyond. Traffic on Granville Island of course moves very slowly because of all the pedestrians, the service vehicles and all those people either hunting for a parking space or trying to get in or out of one. I think a pair of elevators either side of Granville Bridge with their own bus stops would be ideal to improve transit accessibility. I am not a great fan of the #50.
This shot down the length of the railway track next to 6th Avenue West illustrates my other great idea. The Fir Street Ramp could be taken away from cars altogether and repurposed for light rail/tram/streetcar – chose your own favourite term. As you can see the trains/interurbans had to climb from here to get up to Arbutus. The alignment could be used for a level rail structure that would connect onto Granville Bridge. That also allows for grade separation of the crossing of Burrard Street. On Granville Bridge the line would use those two centre lanes with a straight shot off the Bridge to the Granville Mall (does anyone still call it that) for transfers to the Canada Line, Expo Line, SeaBus and West Coast Express. The old CP Arbutus right of way could be turned back into an interurban as a cheaper alternative than expanding the stations on the Canada Line. It could also connect to a future conversion of the little used CP tracks to New Westminster and Coquitlam, via Marine Drive Station and the new riverside developments.
Study: 'It's hard to beat gasoline' on Air Quality
I saw this on Planetizen and couldn't resist the video
Now, we don't have much ethanol around here, and the electricity we use is mostly from existing hydro. So some of these results from the US don't exactly translate here. So if you can afford a Tesla, go right ahead and don't worry about those "electric cars are not so green" articles. The only time we use dirty, coal fired electricity is when our generating capacity is stretched at peak periods. Charge up your car overnight with a clear conscience.
The ethanol they refer to is E85 (85% of the fuel is ethanol): the most we use is 5 to 10%. At one time this was only true of so called premium fuels. Now it is not unusual to see ethanol in regular fuel and you may have to buy premium to avoid it. Most cars, of course, do not need premium fuel.
While hybrid cars do cut fuel consumption, this gets negated pretty quickly if you drive with a lead foot, or use a vehicle much bigger than you need. A smart car is going to use less gas than a giant SUV or truck, even if they are hybrids. And simple precautions like checking your tire pressures and not hauling a load of junk in your trunk will also cut your fuel consumption. Walking, cycling and transit (even if it is a diesel bus) are all better for the environment – and your own health.
Life cycle air quality impacts of conventional and alternative light-duty transportation in the United States
Authors: Christopher W. Tessum, Jason D. Hill, and Julian D. Marshall
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.
Full text is openly available at: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1406853111
Election Impact on Transportation
I got a call this morning from Global BC, inviting my opinions for their live cable news show which only goes to Shaw customers. So if you have some other way of getting tv, this will help fill the gap. Gordon Price was in the same coat closet sized "studio" ready to follow me, for another show and the same subject. While he was talking to me I heard the feed from Burnaby in my earpiece, where Keith Baldrey was playing down the likelihood of a Broadway Subway. He said that Christy Clark has no interest at all in funding a project for a constituency that had rejected her but would probably be very willing to help Surrey get LRT. Oddly, Gordon was pointing out almost simultaneously that former Mayor Diane Watts would be able to do some of the heavy lifting for the same project in Ottawa. So no wonder Linda Hepner seems so confident that she can deliver an LRT for Surrey by 2018.
What I had to say was that she seems to be implementing Plan B – what do we do if the referendum fails? – before Plan A had even been tried. Plan A requires agreement on the question – still to be decided – on how to fund the project list decided by the Mayors before the election. In order for any package to be acceptable there has to be something for everyone. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that if one project was seen to take precedence, that would be the death knell for any funding proposal that did not deliver for the rest of the region. The Mayors, under the guidance Greg Moore, re-elected Mayor of Port Coquitlam, have been acting very collegially up to now. Translink is not just a transit agency, so there would be some road projects for the parts of the region where transit cannot be a significant contributor for some time. And no-one was being allowed to play the "me first" card.
Actually, given the political
cynicism realism I was hearing from Baldrey and Price, perhaps this explains why Kirk LaPointe was so confident that he could deliver transit for Broadway better than Gregor Robertson. Peter Armstrong – who paid for much of the NPA campaign – must have given him some reason for believing that he would be favoured by the federal Conservatives (who featured so prominently in the revived NPA organization apparently) – and maybe even the province too.
It is very sad indeed that we cannot talk about how will build a sustainable region and meet the challenges of a world that will be sending us more people – whether we have plans to accommodate them or not. How we move to higher densities without upsetting existing residents, how more people can give up using their cars for every trip as things become more accessible and walkable, how transit becomes one of several better options than driving a single occupant car that is owned – not shared. How we have a region wide conversation on what needs to be done, and how we pay for that, in a way that satisfies a whole range of wants and needs across communities.
Worse, that is seems to be really easy to get funding for a major upgrade to a freeway interchange in North Vancouver when there seems to be no possibility of relieving overcrowding on the #99 B-Line. No doubt the new highway bridge between Richmond and Delta will still get precedence in provincial priorities. Once the Evergreen Line is finished there will be the usual protracted process before the next transit project starts moving and, as we saw with the Canada Line, perhaps expecting more than one major project at a time is over optimistic. The province also has to find a great deal of money for BC Ferries, since it seemed very easy to make a decision on the Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo route really quickly – without any clear source of additional financing for the identified structural upgrades its continuation demands.
If the fix is really in for Surrey, who is going to find the local contribution? Assume that the feds and province pick up a third each, can Surrey cover the rest alone? Is it likely that the other Mayors will vote for a package that gives the major capital spending preference to Surrey? And if not, and Surrey does find a way to that – a P3 is always a possibility – do Surrey transit riders and taxpayers pick up that tab? Who operates Surrey LRT and will it have the same fare system – or do the rest of us have to pay more for that?
No I couldn't cover all of that in the time allotted to me. I spent longer getting down there and back than I did talking. But these ideas and the questions they raise seem worth discussion below.
This is the third, and final, instalment on my trip to Italy. And, as is common to blogs, it's backwards, in that Rome is where our trip began.
On the way from the gate where we got off the plane, to the baggage carousel, there were all kinds of the usual retail opportunities that airports offer, and, indeed, depend upon. One of them was for the mobile phone company TIM, that internet research had shown to offer the best value for what I wanted. I bought a SIM card for my smart phone. It cost me 30€ ($46.87) of which about half was prepaid for calls, and the rest for 2G of high speed data (and unlimited low speed thereafter) and unlimited texts for the month. I think. The clerk's English was barely adequate and all the documentation is, of course, is Italian. I was given documents to sign, and I though I was saying I did NOT want adverts by text. But it was the reverse. I got a daily barrage of incomprehensible offers by text from TIM the whole month. But now I was not dependent on wifi, and could access the internet anywhere. My phone also has Word Lens that is supposed to translate signs and stuff, and was almost entirely useless. I needed something to translate the translations. More than once I was glad of the data link to access Google Maps and sort out not just where we were but what direction we ought to head off in. It also meant that when I booked our trip to Venice, all I had to do was show the conductor on the trains the automated text message the FS system had sent me.
We were picked up from the airport by prior arrangement, and the journey into Rome was one of the scariest experiences I have had in a motor vehicle short of actually being in a collision. Afterwards we solemnly abandoned any thought of renting a car in Italy.
This is on the street where we rented an apartment. This car is not pulling out of a side street. It is parked. It is not unusual to see cars parked on the corner. They more usually park at an angle. The corner is usually the only place where there is a space to park. As pedestrians, we found that we were always taking what in a Canadian context would be very risky activity. If you wait at the curb, cars do not stop. You have to step into the traffic to show you are serious about crossing. Even then, motorcycles and scooters will simply weave around you as you cross. Fortunately many roads are narrow and often parked up on both sides. Most urban areas have one way streets, which result in much faster speeds.
Testaccio used to be part of the ancient Roman port facilities. It was redeveloped at the end of the 19th century as an industrial area with workers' housing, and hosted the city's slaughterhouse.
The river was prone to flooding, and the embankment process greatly reduced access to the waterside. Look at the height of the embankment and imagine that imposed on the Richmond dykes: or the waterfronts of Vancouver. Rome had to face floods every spring as it is surrounded by mountains – as we are. The rich lived on the hills: the ghetto regularly got flooded. That changed at the end of the nineteenth century for them. I suspect that it will have to change for us too, and in much shorter order than we are currently contemplating.
Trastevere, on the other side of the Tiber, has this two way cycle and pedestrian trail. I was lucky to be able to catch a cyclist actually using it. The Lonely Planet Guide has this to say about cycling "The centre of Rome doesn't lend itself to cycling: there are steep hills, treacherous cobbled roads and the traffic is terrible."
We saw several of these stations, but never any bikes. The only information I can find on line is entirely negative. There were no bikes in 2011 either. Lonely Planet does not mention bikesharing.
Ancient Rome is still in the centre of the City and most is unrestored ruins. This is the Forum – a view taken from Il Vittoriano. What is very noticeable about this view of the Eternal City is the amount of tree canopy, and the absence of modern high rise buildings.
There is a connected network of these streets across the Centro Storico.
I would like to see greater use of these barriers to car use in more cities. Robson St might be a suitable candidate, with trolleybus activation of barriers/signals.
Our neighbourhood had seen some traffic calming with this protected bike lane, and bumpouts for pedestrian crossings. Though you will note the pedestrian taking the more direct, diagonal route across the intersection. I did not actually see anyone use the bike lane, but I admire the vertical stanchions along the curb to prevent any danger of dooring.
There are many famous public spaces in Rome. Below is Piazza Navona – which was at that time the subject of some dispute between the authorities and the artists who rely on the tourists for their living.
Others are very impressive spaces, but seem to serve very little actual purpose. Or perhaps had one once that has now been lost.
This is Piazza del Popolo, once the site of public executions. At least they managed to keep it clear of traffic unlike the similar Place de la Concorde in Paris.
We did use the two line underground Metro. There is a third line now under construction, but progress is slow possibly due to the huge haul of archaeological material uncovered whenever you dig anywhere in Rome. It was reliable in some of the worst traffic disruptions, but not actually pleasant to use due to the crowding and the persistent presence of piano accordion players – some very young children. Begging – and demanding money with menaces at railway stations – is a real problem. We prefer surface travel, but one trip on Tram Number 3 from Piramide (near our apartment) to the Modern Art Gallery at the other end of the line took all morning! Trams do have some exclusive rights of way – but they often have to share them with buses and taxis and seem to have no ability to affect traffic signals.
There are two "albums" on flickr of public transport in general and trams in particular. Rome used to have an extensive tram network, but unlike other cities never abandoned it completely and has upgraded some lines in recent years with modern low floor articulated cars and reserved rights of way. Route 8 through Trastevere is one the better efforts. Our local service, route 3B along Marmorata, was curtailed during our stay due to track maintenance. We did best by choosing some of the designated express bus routes, which simply stop less often than regular services, rather like the B Line. Bus stops in Rome have very detailed information on them about services – but rarely have real time information. And the sale of bus maps is a commercial activity, not a public service. In the event of service disruptions, having a smart phone was no help as no information was available in English.
We did a lot of walking in Rome. There are lots of parks – Villa Borghese for instance, which is no longer an actual villa just its gardens. And we were next to one of the nicer neighbourhoods, Aventino, sort of a Roman Shaughnessy. So we saw a lot of a relatively small area, and not very much of the rest of the city, apart from one trip out of town to Ostia Antica (fantastic) – and on a our return an overnight stay in Fiumicino, which is not really worth visiting if it were not for the airport. The biggest issue was the tourists. Many more people are travelling these days, especially those from Eastern Europe who were once forbidden to travel but can now afford to do so. They all want to go to the same places, so the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and Mouth of Truth are beseiged all day. Rome of course still attracts pilgrims. If you are not one of those avoid the Vatican on Thursday mornings when the Pope addresses the faithful in St Peter's Square and the Colosseum on Mondays when it is one of the few sites that is open. And if you have the guide book and it promises you "secrets" you can bet your life every other tourist has the same guidebook in their own language and is headed the same way. How else to explain the line up to peek through the keyhole of a locked door on a monastery – to get as glimpse of the dome of St Peters, more easily seen from a park a few metres away?
Choosing the happy city
There is a storify based on the #happycity hashtag,which now features many more pictures thanks to the recent Twitter upgrade
At SFU Woodward's on Wednesday March 26, 2014 the third in the Translink series.
Choosing the Happy City
Charles Montgomery
There were many empty seats even though SFU had "oversold". If you reserve a seat at one of these events and then find you cannot attend, please remove your reservation as soon as you can. There were people who would have liked to be there. But at least there was also a live stream and the event will be added to the Youtube site in due course.
The introduction was made by one of Fraser Health's public health officers. Happiness is fundamental to health. We need a system that promotes physical activity. Urban form and transportation determine how people choose to move around, and also affordability of housing and access to green space. People who live in the suburbs of Vancouver walk more than other places. We must improve and maintain choices especially for non urban places. She made the point that some policies which seek to deter car use can adversely affect the mobility of people who live in places where there is no other choice but to drive for many trip purposes. There is an inequity in adopting such deterrents before there are adequate choices fro everyone.
Charles Montgomery started his presentation with two "exercises" – the first to identify Translink staff "the institution we love to hate". He invited audience members to hug a member of Translink staff if they were near them. The second related to two images of dorms at Harvard University. One was a traditional building, the other a somewhat forbidding modern block. Most people indicated they preferred the traditional building, as did newly arrived students. But a study showed that there was no difference in the happiness of the students after three years. Many factors determine happiness not just the design of the buildings but social environment within them is important.
The idea of idea of increasing happiness is not new. Early economists called it maximizing utility. However often "we get it wrong.I think pursuit of happiness is a good thing. We can measure it. … More pleasure than pain, healthy, in control, meaning, security but strong social connection underlies all of these. Both the GDP and creativity in a city depends on opportunities for social interaction. He showed a three dimensional graph of space time prisms, which showed the people who are more dispersed find it harder to connect. They spend much less time in the spaces and times when they can meet others. The edge of the urban agglomerations are the least likely to be socially active. If you live in the exurbs you do not have the time, energy or willingness to join things or even vote.
The shortness of the the commute time is the best indicator of satisfaction. "How we move is how we feel", and even only five minutes of walking or cycling improves mood and regularly moving under our own power also improves health. Equally driving a nice car on an open road also improves our mood. The trouble is that open roads are rare – and impossible to find at commute times. Driving even a nice car in a congested city is like piloting a fighter jet in terms of the stress experienced. People rate the experience of using transit lowest of all mostly due to the loss of control and that the trips on transit tend to be the longest.
In Greater Vancouver 40% of all trips could be done in 20 minute bike ride. In cities the design of the built environment determines both our behaviour and our bodies. If we build infrastructure for cycling – making it safer – more people will cycle. People will walk 800m to shop in a good urban environment but less than 200m in the typical suburban big box centre. The huge parking lots are a deterrent to walking even short distances.
He cited Larry Frank's work in Atlanta showing maps of destinations available within a 10 minute walk of home. While there are many in the traditional city centre in the suburbs there are none. It is not surprising then that people who live in the suburbs on average have 10 pounds more in weight
Status interventions
– Equity
Having low social status is bad for health. When transit viewed as a "hand out for the undeserving" – he used the notorious ads in the Georgia Strait some years ago for a GM car dealer which had a bus with the words "creeps & weirdos" as the destination sign – it is unsurprising that it is difficult to persuade people to change modes. Enrique Penalosa redesigned the city of Bogota and it was all about equity. He cancelled a new freeway but built the Transmilenio BRT based on the Curitiba example.
– Freedom
This is represented by our having mastery of our movement. In one experiment they used skin conductance cuffs on people in a mockup of a subway car. Even though this was staged at a party, as the space available to the group in the car became more restricted so their stress levels rose. He showed a picture of the Navigo card in Paris which is much more than a transit ticket. It also gives access to Velib bike sharing – and (he claimed) car sharing (which if so is a change since I was in Paris). "It also gets you cookies" But mostly it gives people the freedom to live with less stuff. they do not need to own a car or a bike [and can get around without worrying about either being stolen]
He then showed picture of the land the province has recently put up for sale in Coquitlam. This "swathe of Burke Mountain will not be well connected". But families can save $10k a year by not owning a car. He cited Daniel Kahneman's Book "Thinking, Fast and Slow" We are rightly fearful of house fires and build new suburbs to allow access to big fire trucks, with wide roads and sweeping curves – like a race track. Streets aren't safe enough for kids to play on – but we somehow think that we have made them "safer" and the areas they serve. There was a notorious experiment on children with Oreos. They could take one immediately or wait awhile and then get two. He says that the problems we require that we slow down and consider their complexity.
The challenge is the cost of congestion, but we attempt to solve it by designing disconnection. He illustrated this with a picture of the new Port Mann Bridge construction and remarked that we only realized that the new bridge was not needed until after it opened. All the traffic and people that now use it could have been accommodated if the old bridge had been tolled and a rapid bus service along Highway #1 introduced. [This was actually something that the Livable Region Coalition pointed out at the time, by the way. No-one believed us.]
"We did it before" He showed a slide of the Livable Region plan from the 1970s. And he also showed the "Leap Ahead" transit plan which its authors (Nathan Pachel and Paul Hillsdon) estimated would cost $6.5 bn but could be paid for with a $0.05 sales tax.
Referendum = fast brain disaster
"The best thing to do is cancel the referendum." However since that is unlikely we can save ourselves by adopting the recommendations that Roger Sherman used to win the second Denver referendum. Their program was called "Fast tracks" It was a clear plan and fully costed designed to appeal to the core values of the voters. Most of them drive so it has to show how improving transit improves life for drivers
It is not enough to present a clear picture – it has to have a champion, preferably a celebrity and since Brad Pitt is unlikely to be available he suggested Diane Watts
Bring it back to happiness
Working together is good for us build more resilient community
The first question pointed out that the Leap Ahead plan did not seem to have much for the North Shore
"Now is not the time" to determine the details – though it does have a fast bus, and I suggested adding another SeaBus
The second noted that he used an illustration of Disneyland. Expectation of good time in built form
Tests in Disneyland show that architecture that speaks to us is good for well being
Technology in design of transportation
Vehicle sharing systems, driverless cars, use of Car2Go in East Vancouver shows that is a bedroom community. there are plenty of cars there overnight but none during the day. We have to have more activity in our residential areas – this is not a technology problem.
Eric Doherty pointed out that he had not mentioned climate change
"While it feels good to do the right thing but not everybody agrees on what that is. Trying to convince people to think like us does not work". Gateway sucks did not work – it did nothing to convince people who had to drive that there was any concern over their needs.
How do we overcome this mindset of entitlement?
Golden (referring to the first presentation in this series) got all the players in the room and respecting others point of view. sophisticated comm??
Q from twitter on codes
Self reports on happiness higher in small towns
Rural areas
Everybody can benefit from a village
Codes for rural community Gordon Price commented "The City is not shaped by market forces"
Nathan Woods (Unifor) said: We need $3m and Brad Pitt. How do we get that?
Developers stand to benefit – they have the resources. The Surrey BoT strongly supports transit
Can you supply examples of success of postwar planning
Lewis Mumford
False Creek
New Urbanists
Seaside FL
Lean urbanism
Forest Hills Gardens NY (GP again)
Is a dense urban environment enough?
Towers are as bad for lack of trust as exurbs
Just pushing us together is not enough
"Lazy tower style in Vancouver"
Town houses, courtyards, green space
Example of Copenhagen – can we transfer that here?
The answer would be Long and complex. But in one word- Experiment – just line Janette Sadik Kahn did with bike lanes in New York
Gordon Price pointed out how really emotional the fight over bike lanes here had become
Change is very difficult. Regarded as intrusive
One action for individuals?
Started out as a journalist feeling I had no right. We can all change a bit of the city. Those of us who live here have the right to change where we live
What has surprised you in the reactions since the book came out
Jarret Walker told me that on these examples its not the planners who are the problem. "We know that. You have to convince the politicians … and the people."
Try not to scare people
Someone from modo talked about Share Vancouver and its implication for resilience, during disasters for instance
Life changed in New York with Sandy. How can we create that sense of urgency?
Experiment Granville St what are we learning?
The questioner felt that all the changes we have seen have been controlled by the business community
Times Sq occurred with support from the BIA – who have benefitted as rents are now going up. The police closure of Granville St at weekends was a response to violence. It gave more space for people to move around and thus reduced conflicts
Councillor Susan Chappelle from Squamish said that they were trying to get a regional transportation dialogue going – they are outside the Translink area with a small transit system provide by BC Transit. They remain "disengaged". The immense changes he talked about are not translated into budget of small town. In the current situation "Words are used, with no change happening." Squamish is left disconnected
The measures are the same for reducing GHG and increasing happiness. Should we encourage commuting [between Squmish and Vancouver]? The industrial zoning is out of date.
Can design offset crime? Social justice?
Some people assert "None of this is going to work until we overthrow the 1%" But his work shows that the way we design cities has an immediate impact. It's an equity issue. Many people complain that they can't afford to live here but then they oppose the density increase essential [to get reduced housing/transportation combination cost reduced]
Some who was arranging a summit of cultural planners pointed out how hard it was to get a large meeting to places which did not have good connections. Change the way transit works to support the summit
BC Transit should take cue from TransLink interagency approach We can crowd source all kinds of stuff
btw People actually talk on the #20 bus
Big issue is transit funding. A city has found solution?
Richmond is the only place where car ownership has fallen – obviously a response to the Canada Line
See the example of the Los Angeles referendum which was not just about transit – it paid for everything with something for everyone
This was by far the best presentation in the series so far, in large part because it was not read from a script. He was speaking to the slides he was showing but clearly enjoyed interacting with the audience. It was indeed a performance – and a good one at that. On the other hand there did not seem to be a great deal that was new or remarkable in the content. Working in this field for forty years means that I have actually witnessed exactly the same set of prescriptions proffered for a what at the time seemed like different problems – congestion, growth, inequity, sustainability, bad air quality, global warming. And now happiness – or its absence.
I have got into a lot of trouble for stating unequivocally "transit sucks" to transit management. They of course would rather boast of their accomplishments, how well they do under difficult circumstances, and how resistant politicians are to pleas for more money. But the fact remains that despite increasing expenditures, the overall transit mode share is very difficult to change. We know what the solutions are – we always have done – but we seem reluctant to embrace the changes necessary. And he is probably right that we have an elite stuck in fast brain mode whenever they deal with these situations. He actually cited Kevin Falcon – more than once – and it seems to me he is right. The Jordon Batemans of course simply play to that preference. It is a lot easier than actually thinking clearly (slowly) and then acting.
Pointless fence
Vancouver is not going to the the Greenest City while nonsense like this is allowed to continue. The seawall around False Creek is something to be proud of. But the walking route is blocked – on the north side underneath Granville Bridge by the parking lot of the Vancouver Yacht Club. Now this might make some sense if the parking lot was fenced all round, with a locked gate. But that is not the case. The lot is open to the west and north – for vehicular access, and thus easy to use by pedestrians too. Just not this way. For a city with a transportation policy that says pedestrians come first this is utterly incomprehensible. It must date back to the bad old days of cars first and the interests of the privileged few trump those of the general public.
Via Flickr:


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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:54 am
Post subject: Smoking out - MY FIRST DAY GOSH ... lol
My smoking ends today. I had my last cig last night at 9.30 !!
I have been smoking for 7 years and have never tried to quit before.... never had a reason to quit but now I do.....
Scared or what !! I really am hopeing I can do it with out having a breakdown !! lol.
Wish me luck..... x
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:09 pm
Post subject:
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:56 am
Post subject:
Keep it up hun. I've tried loads of times and "failed" but this time round I've managed to stick to it.
Like the others say, don't beat youself up about a slight hic-up.. just get back on track and you'll be fine!
The first 2 weeks are very hard but if you try your best to pre-occupy yourself you should get through it. Unfortunately for me I did pre-occupy myself by eating initially but I'm past that now.
Also if you're that type of person, get yourself a ticker which counts how many cigs you haven't smoked, how much money you've saved and how many extra days/weeks/months of your own life you have saved - sound funny but it's been a help to me.
Never Give Up Giving Up
Good Luck
Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:25 am
Post subject:
i gave up new years day and havent had one yet..
i do crave still but nothing sucking a mint cant cure .
i agree with the first two weeks being the hardest
but also you have to focus day by day try not to
look too far ahead. good luck x x
Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:51 pm
Post subject:
good luck ive been stopped for 4weeks and 2days it dose get harder as the days go on but it well worth it we have loads more money to as oh has stopped with me x x


text:
The day before their 1965 UK tour began in Glasgow, The Beatles and their equipment were driven to Berwick-upon-Tweed on England's border with Scotland.
As they travelled up the M1 motorway, a passing lorry signalled to The Beatles' chauffeur Alf Bicknell to pull over.
I went back to this great big articulated vehicle and the driver said to me, 'I think you've dropped a banjo back down the road.' I couldn't believe it. So I went back to my car and Neil [Aspinall] and I just stood there looking, we both couldn't believe it. We just stood there, staring at the back of my car, noticing that the straps were broken. There were two guitars there, but now there was only one. I remember thinking, 'I can get a lift home,' I thought that was it. I said to Neil, 'You'd better tell them.' He said, 'No, you tell 'em.' So I went round to the car and said, 'I think we've lost a guitar.' In the darkness, a voice comes out, 'Well if you can find it, you'll get a bonus.' This was John. I was always frightened of John more than anyone else, so I said to him, 'Well, what's the bonus then?' He replied, 'You can have your job back!'
So anyway, we got back in the car and we got to the end of this 12-mile stretch of motorway to turn round to come back. We are coming back on the other side in the fast lane, and I'm going along as slow as I can, and if anyone came, I had to move over to let them pass, and then go back out into the fast lane. But I couldn't see a thing, nothing. It was raining and it was dark. I told them, 'I want to go home now.' We got right to the other end where we started from and we started to come back, but there was nothing. The roads were clear as anything. Then, we started finding little bits of wood, and then a guitar string. We ended up with a little piece of the guitar each. Anyway, there was no more said about it, and I was quite pleased. But I was very sorry it happened, believe me.
The guitar was a Gretsch Country Gentleman belonging to George Harrison. He later recalled the incident in a slightly different way.
Fourteen of our guitars were strapped to the roof of our Austin Princess and the only one lost was my Gretsch. It fell onto the road and into the path of the oncoming traffic. About thirteen lorries went over it before our chauffeur could get near it. Then, one of the lorries stopped and the driver came up with the dangling remains of it and said, 'Oi, is this banjo anything to do with you?' Some people would say I shouldn't worry because I could buy as many replacement guitars as I wanted, but you know how it is, I kind of got attached to it.


text:
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Please do not send supplemental materials or letters of recommendations. We will learn everything we need to know about you through the Writing Section of the application, so it is not necessary for you to submit any other supporting documents.
Letters of Recommendation?
We will not consider letters of recommendation or other supplemental materials such as drawings, CDs, DVDs, books, or other materials.


text:
About 500 people are being forced out of their apartments to make way for a new mixed-use development at Texas A&M.
The A&M University System Board of Regents approved an agreement Friday to negotiate a lease with Midway Companies to develop a mixed use property where the University Apartments are located on University Drive. The university says that the University Apartments are old and have outlived their usefulness.
The residents disagree.
"The most important reason that we like living here is because of what this community has to offer," says Desmond Jacob, a resident of University Apartments. He's also part of the Community Council.
Over 40 countries are represented. Those students and their families are being told they have to leave. Leave the safety of their international community.
"Have they to move away somewhere else, they won't have this chance to interact with somebody else of their own age group, from their own culture and they're own language," explains Jacob.
"Apart from safety, it's the sense of community that we have built over 40 or 50 years or so."
But construction surrounds them. The Plaza hotel leveled on one side. The old Albertson's on the other. Progress, it seems, is unstoppable.
"Progress is fine," admits Jacob. "They want to redevelop this area. They want to have big, new buildings for whatever use, all that is okay, to a point. But then there has to be some concern, some consideration and respect toward the people you want to move out of here for you to attain that progress."
Regents at Texas A&M have already given the approval. So, the clock is running.
"It's a timely situation for us," says Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin.
"We began this process in 2005. It was delayed in 2008 because of the economic downturn that occurred then. The company involved with this has come back to us and said it's about time to get back into this. So today's action allows the chancellor and I to begin working negotiations with that company."
The university's decision is causing strong emotion with residents.
"Very disappointed, for one, because they didn't a university that cares so much about the Aggie family to just not care about us anymore," says Jacob.
Not cared for, and told they to leave.
Jacob and other residents have emailed Dr. Loftin with their concerns. So far, they say, they have not heard back from him or his office.
The only deadline they've been given to be out is mid-May of next year.


text:
Black Friday: How Much They Spent Convincing You to Spend
Shoppers weren't the only ones opening their wallets for Black Friday.
In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, a group of 11 top retailers poured more than a quarter billion dollars into television advertising hoping to get people to come in for marked down televisions and cheap toys, according to ad tracking firm Kantar Media.
Some had better luck than others.
Wal-Mart Stores spent $57 million on TV advertising spending, the most of any of the retailers, but it translated into the least amount spent per visitor over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, according to Kantar. In contrast, Sears Holdings, which shelled out $26 million on advertising, spent the most per visitor to its stores.
To come up with the data, Kantar worked with Placed, a firm that tracks the smartphone locations of shoppers who have agreed to sign up. With spending on TV commercials between Nov. 3 and 27, Kantar calculated how much a retailer spent to get people to come into their stores. The data only reflects the number of people that visited stores, not how much money they spent.
Wal-Mart outspent smaller rival Target Corp. on TV commercials by two to one, and ended up with 34% of retail traffic for the weekend, compared to 12% of retail visitors going to Target, according to Kantar.
For every 1% of visitors, Wal-Mart spent $1.7 million in televised marketing, compared to $2.4 million for Target and $2.9 million for Home Depot. Sears placed last by that measure, spending $13.7 million to attract 1% of shoppers, more than eight times more than Wal-Mart and nearly twice as much as J.C. Penney. Sears grabbed 1.9% of retail visitors over the weekend.
Part of the difference in their results is related to the type and number of stores a retailer has. National chains like Wal-Mart and Target have many more locations than full-line department or home improvement stores, so are able to attract more shoppers, said Jon Swallen, Kantar Media's chief research officer.
And Wal-Mart's success may not be as big a lift as it seems. Wal-Mart, which kicked off its Black Friday deals a week early, only attracted 11% more shoppers during Black Friday weekend from the week before, according to the data. J.C. Penney, meanwhile, saw an 80% boost in traffic over the weekend, Macy's clocked a 75% gain and Sears saw a 54% increase.
Retailers fought to win over shoppers during Thanksgiving weekend, which had a heightened sense of urgency due to six fewer shopping days until Christmas. Despite dangling deep discounts and opening earlier on Thanksgiving, spending fell 2.7% to $57.4 billion over the weekend, the first drop in at least seven years.
Kantar cautions that just because a retailer's advertising may not have been a huge success in attracting more visitors, it doesn't mean that cutting back is the best remedy.
"If you don't advertise, you're not conceding defeat, you're assuring defeat," said Mr. Swallen. "The far greater risk is not advertising at all or advertising insufficiently."
Here are the full numbers from Kantar and Placed:


text:
Beginning this Friday, Florida drivers aged 80 and over will have to take an eye test to renew their drivers license.
So far, there is NO rush by seniors to beat the new law. But more than a half million Florida motorists 80 or older who will be required to take and pass vision tests each time they renew their licenses.
Currently, drivers - no matter their age - can go as long as 18 years without a vision test by renewing their licenses through the mail. Licenses are renewed every six years for those considered "safe drivers," meaning that they've avoided convictions for traffic infractions and crashes. All others face renewals every four years.
State records show that more than half of all license applicants go to driver's license offices for renewals, and thus automatically undergo eye exams. But officials say renewal by mail, telephone and Internet is growing popular, partly by people seeking to avoid the eye test.


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Category:Scores from Statens Musikbibliotek
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Smoothing Plane Tips and Techniques
Get Sharp Fast
Finishing Technique for Greene and Greene Furniture
Capture More Dust from Your Router Table
The Simple Art of Spoon Carving
Installing a Vise
Veneering Unplugged
Drawbore Your Mortise-and-Tenon Joinery
Workbench Tool Storage Solutions
The Coolest Cutting Board Ever?
Simple Cabinetry with Pocket Hole Joinery
Customize Your Router for Centered Mortises
The Essential Tool Chest
Speed Up Handplane Honing with Your Ruler
Simple Tape Trick for Tight Fitting Through-Mortises
A Woodworker's Guide to Grain Direction
Unstuck From Super Glue
Hinge Mortises on the Tablesaw
How to Sharpen Hollow Chisel Mortising Bits
How to Sharpen a Spokeshave
Fixing a gummed-up frogcomments (0) February 14th, 2012 in blogs
I'm planning to build a few projects for which I'll need to flatten and straighten some very long, wide boards by hand. I hadn't used it yet, but was counting a vintage jointer plane I bought last year to do a good chunk of that work. I ordered a new blade in preparation for the work, but when I set out to make a few test passes with it I realized that years of built-up grime, dirt and gunk had made it impossible to adjust the plane. The adjustment knob was so tight that I need a pair of pliers to move it.
That just wasn't going to work. For advice on fixing it, I turned to my colleague, associate art director Kelly Dunton, who gave me a few quick tricks for getting the plane up and running fast.
The first step was to remove the frog by loosening the frog screws and the frog adjusting screw. They were caked grime and would need to be cleaned along with the frog. He wrapped them in a rag, and sprayed them down with penetrating oil. After letting it sit for a few minutes, he simply wiped off the surfaces to remove the dirt and grime. He also sprayed down the adjustment nut and the adjusting bolt.
Since we had to remove the frog anyway, Dunton lapped it on a diamond plate to flatten the surface of the frog, a good trick for making the blade seat better against the frog's surface. He also cleaned up the rough edges of the castings with a file. Then it was just a matter of reinstalling the frog and spraying the screws and adjustment knob with lubricant, in this case, Boeshield T-9.
That's all it took. Now the adjustment knob spins easily and the blade sits snugly. I took a few quick passes on a scrap piece of walnut to test it out. The shiavings were thin and wide. Not bad for a 10-minute tune-up.
If your older plane is need of a little more TLC, check out Rollie Johnson's piece from FWW for a more in-depth tutorial on tuning up an old plane.
posted in: blogs, workshop, handplane, plane
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B, a management consulting firm, has announced its newest speaker
event for Seattle business leaders, "Catching
the Mobile Wave." The interactive discussion will be held on January
31st at 5:30 p.m., and will feature Point B Technology and
Communication experts Shelley
Holm and hristopher
Hill and BECU's Vice President of Virtual Banking Howie
Wu. The team will provide insights that take an organization beyond
the tactical "adding an app" mobile approach to having a holistic view
of how to truly connect with an engaged, always-on mobile customer base.
Participants will hear real-world examples of the distinct strengths,
risks and common pitfalls of a mobile offering, including how BECU
developed and delivered its latest mobile banking transformation.
To learn more and register for the event, visit http://www.pointb.com/events/seattle-speaker-series-catching-the-mobile-wave.
the Mobile Wave" is part of the ongoing "In the K(now)" speaker
series from Point B that focuses on key Puget Sound business challenges.
To learn more about the series and to sign up for the next event, please
visit http://www.pointb.com/about-us/events.
About Point B
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- Report: #1048078
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: W B Sign Studio
W B Sign Studio84 Ball Road Syracuse, New York USA
W B Sign Studio I ordered a house sign paid $100,00 down in December 2012 still don't have my sign i have left phone message still no return call Syracuse New York
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I ordered A out doorsign to sided . put $100.00 down a Balance of $152 .81 due. I have left a couple messeges and get no answer . i then go on line and type in the business name and it comes up that its a scam I ordered this Dec 1st 2012 in Kalamazoo Michigan @ wing stadium craft show i am trying to figure out who is in charge of this craft show so i can report this I hope this person gets caught up with before to manty people get ripped off Sherry Allegan Michigan
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/02/2013 07:02 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/W-B-Sign-Studio/Syracuse-New-York-13215/W-B-Sign-Studio-I-ordered-a-house-sign-paid-10000-down-in-December-2012-still-dont-ha-1048078. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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This Date In Flyers History: December 2
Sunday, 12.2.2012 / 12:00 AM ET / News
By This Date in Flyers History
Dave Brown's goal at 5:26 of the third period, followed by Propp's fourth goal of the game at 5:33 of the third period, set a new team record for fastest two goals in a game (seven seconds).
This mark would be tied two years later when Moe Mantha and Ron Sutter scored goals seven second apart in a game against the Washington Capitals on December 27, 1988.
- The Flyers own an all-time record of 6-4-3-2
- Born on 'This Date' are Flyers Alumni: Paul Holmgren (1976-84), Jiri Dopita (2001-02), Daryl Stanley (1981-87), Rich Sutter (1983-86), Ron Sutter (1983-91).


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Census statistics released Thursday reveal a portrait of a rapidly maturing Bay Area, where the proportion of children is declining and the median age is rising faster than it is statewide.
Driving the change is the baby boomer generation, which is graying the same area it transformed into a capital of youth culture in the 1960s and 1970s. California grew by 10 percent in the past decade, but there was a 60 percent growth among people in their early 60s, the fastest-growing group. The median age rose to nearly 39 in Contra Costa County, 37 in Alameda County and 45 in Marin County.
"This is the whole reason policymakers are concerned with Social Security and, to some extent, with Medicare and pensions," said demographer Hans Johnson of the Public Policy Institute of California. "We're just now getting the leading edge of the baby boomers hitting 65. In some senses, the big changes are still to come. They're occurring right now."
The shift was most dramatic in suburban hamlets such as Clayton, at the foot of Mount Diablo, where the median age rose to 45 from 40 a decade earlier.
"If you look around at the concerts, you see a fair amount of gray hair, and you see the little ones, but most of their parents are in their early 30s," said Clayton Councilwoman Julie Pierce, who moved to the Golden State from the Midwest in the early 1970s and settled in Clayton in the 1980s.
The 61-year-old is a little bit older than average in a town where about 36 percent of residents are in their 40s and 50s. People in their 40s also dominated the suburbs of Pleasanton, Danville, San Ramon and Cupertino.
The aging population is a national trend, and California is not unique.
"California seems to be aging less than some other places, which is consistent with our having a somewhat higher birthrate," said demographer Walter Schwarm, who works for the state Department of Finance. But in the Bay Area, he added, a slower growth rate and fewer children are causing the population to age more rapidly.
Demographers say the recession contributed to the aging population as the youngest adults -- many of them the children of the baby boomers -- held back on having children. Immigration slowed, and the immigrants who arrived were more likely to be older, Johnson said.
"In California, the places where you see the youngest populations are places like Imperial County and Merced County that have a lot of Latinos and a lot of young, recent arrivals," Johnson said. In the Bay Area, however, he said, "there's a larger Asian component. Asian immigrants tend to be a little older than Latino immigrants, and tend to have smaller families."
Golden Crane Senior Center, a 3-year-old nonprofit that serves mostly Chinese-American seniors living in the San Ramon Valley, offers tai chi, yoga, line-dancing and other programs to residents ages 50 to 90 at the Alamo Women's Club.
"The first year we had about 100, and then 120, and we carried that for about two years -- and then this year, all of a sudden, the population has grown from 150 last year to over 200," said board secretary Butterfly Lin. "The demand is there."
As the population of the Bay Area gets older, the changing demographics are reflected in the structure of the average family's household: In many parts of the region, fewer homes have children in them and more homes are occupied by seniors.
"When I moved into the neighborhood we had probably 300 kids just in my neighborhood, which wasn't a big subdivision. It was the young people's era of 1966," said Pinole Mayor Roy Swearingen, whose city in western Contra Costa also saw one of the highest increases in median age. The most prevalent age group in town are people in their early 50s.
The 71-year-old mayor said the culture of the town changed over the decades, and, anticipating a demographic shift, he helped drive the city to build a senior center in 1991. The building today attracts a few hundred people daily, and as the baby boomer generation prepares for seniorhood, Swearingen hopes the city can expand the site and tailor it to a more technologically savvy older population.
"A lot of those people who moved there from 1960 to 1970 are still there," he said. "We don't have a big turnaround of home sales. It stays pretty steady. There's not a lot of people moving out, not a lot of people moving in, so it gradually gets older."
The Bay Area's bigger cities, especially Oakland and San Jose, also experienced a rise in the median age at a level higher than the statewide change. San Francisco kept relatively young with its large number of late-20-somethings, but fewer people appear to be growing up there: The city was with Clayton near the bottom of the list for proportion of residents who are babies or toddlers.
And just over 3 percent of San Franciscans are between the ages of 10 and 14, compared with nearly 10 percent of the residents of suburban Diablo, Brentwood, Piedmont and Tracy.
Most of the places that aged the fastest shared a common denominator: High real estate prices and an already-settled population made it hard for younger families to move in.
"The prices rose and rose and rose and the young people couldn't afford to move there," Swearingen said. "People still can't afford to move to Pinole, unless they get a repossessed house or a foreclosure. Our high school is basically kids from out of town."
Pierce said most Clayton residents are also staying put.
"A lot of people who moved here a long time ago don't want to go anywhere else. They are staying in the homes and they love the community," she said.
In order to afford a home in the suburbs, an increasing number of families lived under the same roof as multiple relatives.
Taiwanese immigrant Yueh Tao Ju Huang, 77, was one of them. Huang said she usually enjoys the company of her adult daughter, son-in-law and four young grandchildren in a sprawling Alamo house, but she would prefer the privacy of her own home. But as a noncitizen who does not qualify for Social Security, she can't afford to live independently, she said, and so must share a home with younger generations.
Such households -- those shared with relatives other than spouses and young children -- were on the rise in many parts of the Bay Area, according to the newly released census figures. And those with young children were on the decline.
Pierce doesn't know what the future of Clayton will bring, but expects the town will age before it gets younger.
"I expect it will level off somewhat," she said. "I think there will be more younger families as the baby boomers age out and then there will be smaller booms."


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I recently had the pleasure of meeting /working with a young filmmaker with a lot of talent, that filmmaker is Gandja Monteiro. Sit back, relax and enjoy this trailer for her latest film "Quase Todo Dia" shot on location in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
6&B Films presents a short film written & directed by Gandja Monteiro. Starring Polly Marinho and Agatha Marinho. World premiere at 2009 Tribeca Film Festival on April 24.


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I have done this on other forums, so maybe it will work here too.
One's first look at a Diplomacy set often leaves one thinking of games such as Risk or (worse yet) Axis and Allies. Fortunately the likeness ends with appearance. Diplomacy is a game about social interaction, not a game about carefully moving hundreds of pieces across an impossibly crowded map.
Diplomacy's similarities with chess are many. Both games have no luck at all. Both games emphasize thinking ahead as a primary skill, and both games can be enjoyed at all skill levels.
The human aspects of Diplomacy are much like those of poker. Poker and Diplomacy are both games that reward skillful bluffing, deceit, and out right lying. Some players find Diplomacy difficult at first because they are uncomfortable with lying to their friends. To those people I offer this (unoriginal) analogy: It's wrong to hit people, but within the rules of boxing it is okay to hit people. Similarly, it's wrong to lie to people, but within the rules of Diplomacy it's okay to lie to people.
This is a link to a copy of the rules:
I can answer any other questions people may have. Anyone interested?


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If you have been following my progress building a Bede BD-4C airplane for awhile, you might have been wondering where I have been and why I have not posted anything for several months. Frankly, I hit a terribly frustrating phase and have been too discouraged to write about it. I finally got past it, though, so here is the story.
Back in July, I got a lot of help from my friends and we installed the wings for the first time.
The large hole in the end of the wing is the spar, a tube with a 6.5 inch inside diameter which runs the whole length of the wing. It slides onto the center section of the spar, attached to the fuselage, which has a 6.5 inch outside diameter. Here is a close-up so you can see a little better. (You can click on any of these photos to see them larger.)
This would have been well and good if the spar in the wing and the center section of the spar in the fuselage were perfectly round. They are not. Nothing in life is perfect. Each is slightly oval.
This would even have been OK if the ovals were close to lined up. They are not. By sheer bad luck, the narrow part of the oval tube in the wing was lined up with the wide part of the oval tube in the fuselage. This was the case for both wings.
Installing the wings should have gone pretty easily. It turned out to be a royal PITA. It was a huge struggle to get them onto the center section of the spar. Once on, they were thoroughly stuck. It took a lot of muscle and "persuasion" to get them off again.
The solution, I was told, was to hone out the spars in the wings, enlarging them slightly so that they would slide onto and off of the center section. What do you use to hone the inside of a 6.5 inch aluminum tube? A 6.5 inch Flex-Hone, of course.
Here is a picture of me using a smaller version.
A friend was amazingly kind and lent me his 180 grit, well used Flex-Hone. I crammed that into the spar on the left wing and honed and honed and honed until I literally burned up my DeWalt 1/2 inch drill. We're talkin' smoke pouring out of the machine and it didn't turn any more. It takes a lot o' power to turn a big Flex-Hone. I bought a cheap 9 amp drill from Harbor Freight and it survived the abuse I gave it.
What made this so discouraging was that I could only work on the wings when I could get a couple of other people to help and when the weather was nice and I had several hours to get the plane out of the garage. It takes three people to wrestle the wings off of the sawhorses (see above) and put them onto the plane or into a position where I could hone them. So every once in a while, I would muster the troops and work on the wings. I would hone and hone and hone and then try to install the wings and find that they were still too tight and then get help wrestling them off the fuselage and putting them away. It only takes a few lines to write it but it was a several hour job every time.
Finally, I purchased a new 120 grit Flex-Hone. Between being new and having coarser grit, this one did the job. After a couple more honing sessions, the wings finally slide on and off the center section of the spar very easily.
Once I could install and remove the wings, I was able to set the aileron controls and install the flap controls. The ailerons work right. The flaps need a little more tweaking. I will have photos of those soon.


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shoppers recently viewed this!
Petit Collage
Fruits & Veggies Nesting Blocks
- Color:
- fruit
Qty: 1
- 1
- 2
Description: A great introduction to modern art. Ten durable nesting and stacking blocks combine bright graphics with a classic developmental toy. Learn colors, numbers, and counting!
- Each set contains 10 cubes printed on 5 sides
- Made with 80% recycled content and vegetable based inks
- Conforms to CPSIA and ASTM standards
- Measures close to 3 feet tall when fully assembled
- For ages 2 years and up
Material: Recycled Content
Brand: Petit Collage
Origin: United States


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wed 21 dec 2011 16:41:20 witte de withstraat
leaving friday for 10 days
this friday 23 dec i'm taking a trip to porto, portugal, and will return on 02 january. staying at hotel pestana, on the praça da rebeira (next to the river). it's a little scary, going alone to a place i've never been and can't speak the language. but i wanted to see the place, and i really wanted to try being absent from amsterdam during the street-fireworks time.
last thursday night i was in a great mood, partly because several people said good things to me. also on saturday night i was at chico's bar and i saw djox and joana and sasja, and joana taught me a few things to say in portugués. since then i've been feeling kinda sad.
i think today is the celestially gloomiest day of the year (solstice).
lately i did some sketchup work visualizing a redo of the front room at mr tong's, which they're considering turning into a cocktail lounge after kitchen hours.
pretty soon i'll be buying a clothes washer for this place.


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The super-cardioid MD 431 II is a vocal microphone built for live performances. It uses a custom-tailored polar frequency response pattern to achieve added transparency, offering high gain before feedback.
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The housing consists of a steel-mesh grille to cut pops and wind, a shock-suspended capsule to reduce handling noises, and a hum-bucking coil to help eliminate noise from interference. An additional pop filter allows vocalists to sing directly into the microphone without having to be mindful of their breath. The magnetic reed on/off switch is recessed in the handle, and is built to be noiseless when toggled.
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Microsoft working on "post-Windows" OS
Windows will eventually give way to Midori, claims reports based on Microsoft documents
Microsoft is working on a web-based operating system called Midori, as it looks to life beyond Windows.
Midori is expected to be a cloud-computing service, and so not as dependent on hardware as current generations of Windows.
The operating system is also expected to run with a virtualisation layer between the hardware and the OS, and is expected to be a commercial offshoot of the Singularity research project which Microsoft has been working on since 2003. Previously the company had denied that the project was intended for commercial release.
"Singularity is not the next Windows," said Microsoft's senior vice president of research, Rich Rashid, earlier this year when details of Singularity emerged.
Microsoft is keeping tight-lipped about specific features, although SDTimes claims to have seen internal Microsoft documents that detail possible directions for the OS.
The leaked documents claim that Midori will run directly on x86, x64 and ARM hardware, and that applications will be developed to co-exist and interact with existing Windows apps.
Microsoft is said to be planning several ways to ease the changeover from Windows to Midori, all of which will retain compatibility with existing devices and applications. One way would involve having Midori run under Windows as a subsystem, with the OS acting as a device driver. Another approach involves running Windows alongside Midori, and the last alternative would be a standalone Midori implementation that could run traditional Windows applications.
Microsoft is refusing to comment on the new OS. "Midori is one of many incubation projects underway at Microsoft. It's simply a matter of being too early in the incubation to talk about it," replied the company to questions from the BBC.
Top five stories on PC Pro today:
1. Lenovo enters netbook arena
2. Nvidia denies chipset market exit
4. Sam shines a light on BT's traffic shaping


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Movie theater planned for Jackson
City council approves development project
For the first time in almost 15 years, the capital city could be getting a movie theater.
The theater would be located off Frontage Road and Eastover Drive in north Jackson.
"I think it's wonderful. We've been waiting for this for a very long time," said Burnadette Lawson.
"It's a project long in the making. It's incredible. The streets of Jackson are buzzing with news the city may soon get a movie theater. It's part of this Frontage Road development from Duckworth Realty called, The District at Eastover," said Ben Allen, with Downtown Jackson Partners.
The City Council this week approved $7 million in bonds for the project. The groundbreaking is set for this summer.
Copyright 2013 by WAPT.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Play Zodiac Supernova for FreeGame Help
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PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- Residents of Navy and Marine Corps public-private venture (PPV) housing in Hawaii will soon be asked to take the next step toward energy conservation when the Department of the Navy introduces its Resident Energy Conservation Program (RECP) in September.
The Department of the Navy will launch RECP as a pilot program at two privatized locations, here in Hawaii and at Beaufort/Parris Island in South Carolina. Forest City Military Communities is the Navy and Marine Corps PPV partner in Hawaii.
The emphasis on energy conservation is not a new concept. In 1998, the Office of the Secretary of Defense established the policy for the payment of utilities in PPV housing in order to encourage energy efficiency in privatized units.
Although public-private ventures have made considerable progress in eliminating inadequate Navy family housing, statistics show that PPV residents consume more energy than their military and civilian counterparts who live in the civilian community.
The RECP program aligns with Department of Defense and Department of the Navy energy conservation initiatives to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil.
"It's the right thing to do," said Rear Adm. Dixon Smith, commander, Navy Region Hawaii and commander, Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific. "Conserving energy helps our fragile ecosystem by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, in general, and foreign oil, in particular. Careful conservation of valuable resources through decreased energy consumption contributes to our nation's security and readiness and enables us to better support Sailors and their families, here in Hawaii and nationwide."
"The Forest City Military Communities and Navy Region Hawaii privatized housing partnership is the first Navy location to implement the RECP," said Will Boudra, vice president of development for Forest City. "Ten months of time and effort has been invested by both the Forest City and Navy Region teams to build upon the programs previously implemented at other services' privatized housing projects."
The benefits of saving energy will directly affect PPV residents. Saving energy costs will translate into capital that will be re-invested back into the PPV community, resulting in improvements and community amenities.
Another benefit will enable families whose consumption of electricity is less than a 'normal usage band' to earn rebates.
"Conserving energy is a win-win for everyone," said Smith. "Not only will dollars saved be put back into family housing for community services, programs and amenities, but families who reduce their electric consumption below the 'normal usage band' will receive rebate checks."
Under the RECP, each month a utility allowance will be established for groups of similar size and type homes.
A buffer will be added above and below the baseline (average)to create a 'normal usage band' that accounts for variances. The RECP requires residents who exceed the usage band to pay for the excess usage and provides a credit or rebate to residents who use electricity at a level lower than the usage band.
Beginning in September, housing residents will start receiving a 'mock bill.' The mock billing will continue through December.
The 'mock bill' will let residents know if they would have owed no money, received a credit or rebate, or would have owed a payment for excess consumption if it were an actual bill under the RECP.
"I feel like this is a totally error proof program," said Lauren Rabb, resident advisory board president of the Moanalua Terrace RAB. "You can't go wrong if you just do the right thing."
Actual billing will begin Jan. 1, 2011 and residents will become responsible for their own electricity usage. The live billing phase of the pilot program will continue for one year.
In January 2012, there will be an evaluation of the pilot program, and strategies will be determined for implementing the program across all PPV locations.
"We are all responsible for the betterment of the world we live in and this is a great opportunity to show the world that military families are conscientious of future resources on multiple levels," said Renee Midgett, president of the Maloelap RAB.
For more information about the RECP program and frequently asked questions, visit http://www.greatlifehawaii.com/recp/ or http://www.fcnavyhawaii.com.
For more news from Commander, Navy Region Hawaii, visit www.navy.mil/local/cnrh/.