The City of Berkeley once again faces parking-meter vandals, surly Reinos, and cascading lost revenue, all due to its technological approach to parking enforcement.
Although this doesn't immediately fall under the rubric of "transit," the concept of spending $3.3MM to maintain $1.9MM in revenue seems ridiculous. Could the money be better applied towards incentives for the use of public transit, and towards more effective bus and BART schedules?
Trying to algorithmically determine when "yesterday" was.
Published in Planet Online comes this tit-bit:
"It would have been more likely that the two blond-haired, blue-eyed
surfers who got off a plane in Sana, the capital of Yemen, about eight
months ago had their flight to Bali rerouted. But Californians Charlie
Smith and Jay Winters, both in their mid-20s, were actually in Yemen to
catch some waves. Far from a surf destination, Yemen is on the U.S. State
Department list of terrorist nations and is fraught with warring tribes
and radical Islamic fundamentalism. So Smith and Winters, both with
degrees in Middle Eastern studies and fluent in Arabic, were either
diplomats on surfboards or just out of their minds. Traveling with a
bodyguard, a photographer, loaded guns, food, medical supplies, and
surfboards, they spent two months tracing the coast of the Indian Ocean.
Sometimes an entire village formed on the shores or cliffs to watch the
first surfers ever seen. Out of the water, they explored a culture whose
architecture, dress and cuisine blend Indian, African and Indonesian
influences.
"They encountered people who spoke openly about American policy without
disdaining Americans. Trouble at frequent armed checkpoints and
machine-gun toting tribesmen . there are more guns per capita in Yemen
than anywhere else in the world . were often quelled by the Americans'
ability to speak Arabic. Whatever metaphors on diplomacy and peace can be
drawn from their surfing, Smith and Winters did trigger a dialogue in
Yemen and now back at home on how misunderstood cultures can communicate
with one another. This month, the pair is surfing the winter swells in
Southern Lebanon with Hezbollah, considered by the US to be one of the
most dangerous anti-Israeli terrorist groups. "It's about taking one more
off-limits or unknown place and making it real and available," says
Winters. "Danger is only a matter of perception." "
Sitting on the 8.37 train: a row of four young men, three listening to iPods, three working diligently on 15" PowerBooks, three with goatees and shaved-bald heads. Behind us are full racks of bicycles, including four fixed-gear (two back-to-front with pursuit bars) and one single-speed.
Do I notice because these are my traits and I'm amused that others share them?
So exquisitely grand.
Listening to Palace{Brothers, Music}. Last week Sara(h) was playing The Fall at the Edinburgh Castle, this week she was listening to Bonny Prince Billy.
This morning stopped for the usual at Coopers, where Jeremy was working solo. He knew my favourite mug already (!!) but asked whether I like the espresso "short" or "medium." I paused; I've never confronted that question, as the cheery baristas behind the counter have always pulled the coffee just right. "Medium?" I hazarded, remembering that the mug looks right when it's about 2/3 full of foamy espresso.
And indeed medium was the ticket.
Missed the 8.07, so I lingered in the chilly air and read the newspaper (singular: the Chronicle hasn't been appearing regularly on my doorstep the past week.
I arrived at the Caltrain station just as the 8.07 was pulling out -- fifteen minutes late?! and sat on a bench to read the Examiner, the funny pages of which become shorter each week (at least they still carry Luann). Alas for the two-newspaper town!
An elderly woman on the bench next to me was ringing someone, trying to find a phone number. The voice on the other end started dispensing the digits, but the woman scrambled for a pen and paper. Handy with the Sharpie, I handed her the pen and the newspaper, and she shakily wrote down the numbers. She said into the phone: "If I miss the train, there's a nice young man with a bicycle who will give me a ride." (She got off in Palo Alto.)
The Chronicle reports that several suitors are in line to acquire Laughing Sal, a twin to the manic mannekin who welcomes visitors to the Musée Mecanique and, once upon a time, to Playland.