Home for Random Thoughts

[Big RR]

(or "circle" as we call them here)

I have also heard them called rotaries, but I think that might be from people who originally lived a bit west of NJ.

[BoSoxGal]

(or "circle" as we call them here)

I have also heard them called rotaries, but I think that might be from people who originally lived a bit west of NJ.

We call them rotaries in eastern Massachusetts.

[Bicycle Bill]

They're called 'roundabouts' (when they aren't being called 'damned nuisances' or worse by people who are still stuck in horse-and-buggy mode) in Wisconsin, and I'm seeing more and more of them.  My hometown has even installed three or four of them on city-owned side streets in residential neighborhoods as traffic-calming devices, since vehicle DO have to slow down for them rather than just ignoring the eight-sided red stop signs and blowing through the intersections.

-"BB"-

[Sue U]

They're called 'roundabouts' (when they aren't being called 'damned nuisances' or worse by people who are still stuck in horse-and-buggy mode) in Wisconsin, and I'm seeing more and more of them.

Here in NJ the state has been getting rid of them. The four major traffic circles between the Delaware River and the Pine Barrens have all been re-configured as signal-controlled intersections with ramps and overpasses. A former circle near my house was apparently the first one ever built in the U.S., and was also the site of the first drive-in movie theater, all of which have also gone the way of the traffic circle.

[Big RR]

Sue--that sounds like one of the circles that should have been gotten rid of a while ago--lots of traffic and ramps. Is still think circles work best on less traveled roads ad save the need for traffic lights; in light-medium traffic, they are easier to navigate than stop sign crossing a main road. But if they get rid of them and install signals, I will not mourn their passing. I can think of a number I still come across fairly regularly, bu not as many as in the past.

[Crackpot]

DC is small enough that you can get pretty much anywhere you need to go by walking and/or Metro.

If only we picked a better hotel

[BoSoxGal]

The information released by NTSB thus far indicates that by a failure of imagination, the cops who closed the bridge to traffic didn’t take the workers with them when they left the scene of pot hole filling to shut traffic down to the bridge.

I guess neither the cops nor the workers (if they even told them) felt they needed to get off the bridge ASAP when a ship the size of the Empire State Building maydays that it is likely about to strike the bridge?

Failure of imagination is definitely a design flaw in the human animal.

[Big RR]

Imagination? Sounds more like common sense to me.

[Econoline]

Why were there cops at "the scene of pot hole filling"???

[datsunaholic]

Why were there cops at "the scene of pot hole filling"???

Around here we often have State Patrol at the scene of nighttime lane closures, particularly ones that didn't have days of advance notice. Seems that it's the only way to get people to slow down in construction zones.

[BoSoxGal]

Yes, exactly - there is rarely a road construction project on any major road in eastern Massachusetts that doesn't have cops on duty to direct traffic and/or just to have their lights flashing to slow down the road traffic. People won't slow down otherwise, and road construction crews get killed. https://www.workzonebarriers.com/work-z ... facts.html

[Big RR]

I've seen the same thing; it is safer and the bonus is that the fines are a good way to pay for the road maintenance.

[Burning Petard]

I like the Marriott hotel in DC that may not actually be in DC. It is located near the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetary. Actually used for overflow meetings at the Pentagon. It has direct access to a metro stop under the hotel. with an underground shopping center Crystal City metro stop

snailgate

[Crackpot]

Why were there cops at "the scene of pot hole filling"???

They might not have been initially as the cops came to close the bridge and may not have been initially aware and thinking of road construction/maintenance crews.

[BoSoxGal]

Why were there cops at "the scene of pot hole filling"???

They might not have been initially as the cops came to close the bridge and may not have been initially aware and thinking of road construction/maintenance crews.

The NTSB released information yesterday that the police who closed the bridge were able to do so as rapidly as they did because they were already present on the bridge as detail to the road crew that was working on the bridge. Which makes sense because the timing was so tight between the mayday call and the stopping of traffic and the collapse, it wouldn't likely have occurred if police had not been on the worksite.

Around 01:27:25 a.m.: The pilot issued a radio call over the VHF radio, reporting that the vessel had lost all power and was approaching the bridge. Around this time, the transit authority duty officer radioed two of its units — one on each side of the bridge — that were already on scene and ordered them to close traffic on the bridge. All lanes were then shut down.

They obviously just failed to grasp the immediate danger that the road construction crew was in by remaining on the bridge. It doesn't sound like they made any attempt to communicate with that road crew concurrent with efforts to close bridge traffic. Of course I'm presuming that road crews have radios and are able to communicate with transit police attached to the bridge.

It remains unclear whether either of the transit police vehicles was ON the bridge in close proximity to the road crew, as would be the case for any road construction on a heavily trafficked roadway here - perhaps they were just stationed at each end with lights flashing in attempt to slow the traffic entering the bridge from either direction.

[Crackpot]

Time is also an issue. The first priority was to shut down the bridge. The workers should have been second but it isn’t unbelievable to see how they were missed in the chaos of the moment.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Fallen 'Crypto King' Sam Bankman-Fried gets for 25 years for fraud

BBC

Now, I just cannot for the life of me imagine handing over any money to the financial schemes of a person named "BANKMAN-FRIED". Sorry. It just doesn't make sense. Might as well go into business with Fred Wallet-Snatcher

[BoSoxGal]

Fallen 'Crypto King' Sam Bankman-Fried gets for 25 years for fraud

BBC

Now, I just cannot for the life of me imagine handing over any money to the financial schemes of a person named "BANKMAN-FRIED". Sorry. It just doesn't make sense. Might as well go into business with Fred Wallet-Snatcher

His parents are (were) both esteemed law professors at Stanford, with the father being a taxation professor who wrote textbooks on the subject. They both have very impressive resumes prior to getting involved with their son’s company, so it doesn’t surprise me that many people would be taken in - and certainly not dissuaded by a hyphenated last name bestowed by two such parents.

I’m assuming there is no evidence they were aware of the fraud or they would have been prosecuted- but they are being sued by the former company to recoup funds.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Poor parents. They tried to warn the world with that absurd hyphenated name. But did anyone listen?

[BoSoxGal]

Poor parents. They tried to warn the world with that absurd hyphenated name. But did anyone listen?

What exactly is absurd about the name, Meade? That it is hyphenated? A very common practice in these enlightened times. Or is it that it is two Jewish names hyphenated?

Or is this one of those occasions when we are supposed to write off your sophomoric humor as just harmless middle school fun?