I have maybe half a dozen other topics I need/what to write about. Either sad, informative, blissful, encouraging, amusing... AHHHHHHHHH! All I have is animosity for Baltimore's Metro system tonight.
ONE metro line.
FOURTEEN stops.
MILLIONS of problems.
I went to Target at Mondawmin Mall to buy a water kettle and on the way back, the metro line had stopped dead in the tracks. No announcement, no indication of repair. I went up and asked when would it be running and the nasty woman told me it wasn't, and that I just have to pay attention to the train direction b/c they're only running on one track. After 30minutes, a train finally meanders by. The entire way to Lexington stop (I think 4 stops) this miserable conductor kept slamming on the brakes and stopping for only God knows what.
I swear to Heaven, Earth, and all that there is that Baltimore is completely incompetent with the issues in front of them. On a daily basis, at least 3 escalators are malfunctioning. Trains break-down or don't show for extended periods of time. The gates for tickets are in a constant state of disrepair and display a "Touch and Go" system that I recently found out was supposed to be turned on three years ago. THREE YEARS!
I know this is ranting, but as a person lacking a vehicle, Baltimore is really turning out to be a pithole. I came in really wanting to love this tiny city... "Charm City". But everyday I walk down the alternating, sometimes broken, escalators. Then its a lottery as to whether I'll pick the functional gate or not and push in my ticket which can only be paid for with cash. And then I wait for a train which may or may not be working and watch as the conductor ducks his head out the side of the train to "check and make sure e'rytings awe-right."
Good morning Bmore! Cities around the globe have intensely more difficult systems to contend with and manage them well... Paris, Madrid, NYC, Chicago, Seoul. They have less than half the problems throughout their entire grid. Bmore... can't handle one single ridiculous metro line.
There is nothing beautiful about it. Esthetically stale, mechanically disabled, actively declining. Unfortunately, I feel the same way about this city.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Little Mommy Cuddle 'N Coo Blabs too much
Fisher Price has come out with Little Mommy Cuddle 'N Coo, a baby doll that makes random sounds to imitate a cooing newborn baby. However, there's a problem... the idea was for the baby to say sounds similar to the word light while making noises as a newborn would. Instead, about half of the dolls say a string of words that sincerely sounds like "Islam is the Light".
Obviously, Americans have been really freaking out about it and I wasn't even able to find the doll on the Fisher Price website. Companies are taking them from their shelves and costumers are returning their by the troves.
Power of suggestion? You be the judge and listen to it yourself, on the sound byte or the video. Remember this is only happening in about half the dolls. Engineers and product manufactures say that this was not intentional and that the compression of the sound files and processor are the cause.
Overreaction by the public? Again, you judge. I personally think that religion is a sensitive topic (especially in present times) and the fact that procedural product research didn't pick up this fluke seems ridiculous. Lead paint, religious baby dolls... what's next from Fisher Price? Razor blade candy apples? I used to associate them with Good 'Ol American Toys. Now I can only recall public debacles and poor quality products.
Sound clip
Toys-R-Us site
Obviously, Americans have been really freaking out about it and I wasn't even able to find the doll on the Fisher Price website. Companies are taking them from their shelves and costumers are returning their by the troves.
Power of suggestion? You be the judge and listen to it yourself, on the sound byte or the video. Remember this is only happening in about half the dolls. Engineers and product manufactures say that this was not intentional and that the compression of the sound files and processor are the cause.
Overreaction by the public? Again, you judge. I personally think that religion is a sensitive topic (especially in present times) and the fact that procedural product research didn't pick up this fluke seems ridiculous. Lead paint, religious baby dolls... what's next from Fisher Price? Razor blade candy apples? I used to associate them with Good 'Ol American Toys. Now I can only recall public debacles and poor quality products.
Sound clip
Toys-R-Us site
Friday, December 19, 2008
Printemps is blowing up their prices!
I'm just copying and pasting a report that I think covers all the news. Basically, security found five sticks of dynamite in a bathroom in the world-famous Printemps Mall in Paris (right next to Lafayette Galleries).
Everybody was cleared out but dispite terrorist efforts... the French really didn't seem to care that much. WAY TO GO! I could imagine the scenario.
"There is a bomb? Well then take it out."
"We took it out."
"Is there another?"
"No."
"Then lets go back in, I'm finished with this cigarette anyway."
Check out Printemps: http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/
And live video from the rooftop... so beautiful on a clear day: http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/news/index.aspx?ArticleID=17780
And, the original article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/16/paris-explosives-department-store
Police find dynamite in Paris department store
Police in Paris today found five sticks of dynamite hidden in one of the city's best-known department stores, apparently planted there by a previously unknown group demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan.
The Printemps-Haussmann à Paris store, in the ninth arrondissement (district), was evacuated this morning and part of the street sealed off following a warning that explosives had been planted in the building. A police sniffer dog found five sticks of dynamite on the third floor of the men's section of the shop, the AFP news agency reported. Later, the French interior ministry said the explosives had no detonators and were therefore not primed to explode.
"As far as we know, these were not explosives intended to detonate," the interior minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie said. "We are still pursuing our inquiries."
The store, which had been packed with Christmas shoppers, was cleared after AFP received a letter from a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front in this morning's post. The letter warned that several bombs had been left at the store. The letter claimed one device had been timed to explode in a third floor toilet tomorrow, and that the explosives would go off "if you do not send someone to intervene" before then. The group was demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan. "Send the message to your president that he must withdraw his troops from our country before the end of February 2009, or else we will take action in your capitalist department stores and this time without warning," the letter said.
AFP said it had received an anonymous phone call last Wednesday warning that a bomb had been left in an unspecified Printemps store. The chain's three Paris outlets were evacuated by police as a precaution. Today's discovery at the 45,000 square metre shop on Boulevard Haussmann, one of the best-known shopping streets in the French capital, caused relatively little disruption.
The store was cleared without panic and had reopened by midday.
Staff described how, between 11.30am and 12pm, they were told to evacuate the building. "I just left my vacuum cleaner and ran. I didn't have time to get my handbag or belongings, I was just thinking of survival," a cleaner working on the fifth floor said.
"I've never seen anything like it in over 20 years at the store. They didn't say what was going on. But the first thing you think of is a bomb. Of course you can't tell the customers that or people will panic."
A 19-year-old who gave her name as Noémie was working on a make-up counter on the ground floor. "The store was packed. People on the ground floor filed out quickly and quietly. But it was when security had to set off the alarm to clear the second floor and above that shoppers got agitated," she said. "When we heard the alarm, the stress kicked in and I started to feel scared. I know the security guards and they told me there were five bombs in there. You just try to keep calm."
The men's department, where the devices were found, is linked to the main store by a walkway and a small courtyard in which traders have Christmas stalls set up. "Just after 11am, I saw a big van pull up and police and dogs get out," Lea Keuvedjian, who runs a shoe stall, said. "We thought it was a joke initially, then we were told to evacuate and we left our stalls and ran."
Despite the confusion, Marie Mantoux, a Parisian midwife, waited at the front of the police cordon to be allowed into the store. "I've got a Printemps advantage card so I don't want to go anywhere else," she said. "And you can't give in to fear, or you wouldn't go anywhere and the city would shut down. France hasn't done enough to help the civilians of Afghanistan. Maybe that's what this is about."
The discovery of the dynamite is, however, a major concern for the French security services. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is a strong supporter of western involvement in Afghanistan, and this year sent an extra 700 troops to the country, increasing the French contingent to 2,600.
Public support for French involvement dropped sharply in August when the country's forces lost 10 men in a Taliban ambush, described as the worst French military setback in 25 years.
Everybody was cleared out but dispite terrorist efforts... the French really didn't seem to care that much. WAY TO GO! I could imagine the scenario.
"There is a bomb? Well then take it out."
"We took it out."
"Is there another?"
"No."
"Then lets go back in, I'm finished with this cigarette anyway."
Check out Printemps: http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/
And live video from the rooftop... so beautiful on a clear day: http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/news/index.aspx?ArticleID=17780
And, the original article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/16/paris-explosives-department-store
Police find dynamite in Paris department store
Police in Paris today found five sticks of dynamite hidden in one of the city's best-known department stores, apparently planted there by a previously unknown group demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan.
The Printemps-Haussmann à Paris store, in the ninth arrondissement (district), was evacuated this morning and part of the street sealed off following a warning that explosives had been planted in the building. A police sniffer dog found five sticks of dynamite on the third floor of the men's section of the shop, the AFP news agency reported. Later, the French interior ministry said the explosives had no detonators and were therefore not primed to explode.
"As far as we know, these were not explosives intended to detonate," the interior minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie said. "We are still pursuing our inquiries."
The store, which had been packed with Christmas shoppers, was cleared after AFP received a letter from a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front in this morning's post. The letter warned that several bombs had been left at the store. The letter claimed one device had been timed to explode in a third floor toilet tomorrow, and that the explosives would go off "if you do not send someone to intervene" before then. The group was demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan. "Send the message to your president that he must withdraw his troops from our country before the end of February 2009, or else we will take action in your capitalist department stores and this time without warning," the letter said.
AFP said it had received an anonymous phone call last Wednesday warning that a bomb had been left in an unspecified Printemps store. The chain's three Paris outlets were evacuated by police as a precaution. Today's discovery at the 45,000 square metre shop on Boulevard Haussmann, one of the best-known shopping streets in the French capital, caused relatively little disruption.
The store was cleared without panic and had reopened by midday.
Staff described how, between 11.30am and 12pm, they were told to evacuate the building. "I just left my vacuum cleaner and ran. I didn't have time to get my handbag or belongings, I was just thinking of survival," a cleaner working on the fifth floor said.
"I've never seen anything like it in over 20 years at the store. They didn't say what was going on. But the first thing you think of is a bomb. Of course you can't tell the customers that or people will panic."
A 19-year-old who gave her name as Noémie was working on a make-up counter on the ground floor. "The store was packed. People on the ground floor filed out quickly and quietly. But it was when security had to set off the alarm to clear the second floor and above that shoppers got agitated," she said. "When we heard the alarm, the stress kicked in and I started to feel scared. I know the security guards and they told me there were five bombs in there. You just try to keep calm."
The men's department, where the devices were found, is linked to the main store by a walkway and a small courtyard in which traders have Christmas stalls set up. "Just after 11am, I saw a big van pull up and police and dogs get out," Lea Keuvedjian, who runs a shoe stall, said. "We thought it was a joke initially, then we were told to evacuate and we left our stalls and ran."
Despite the confusion, Marie Mantoux, a Parisian midwife, waited at the front of the police cordon to be allowed into the store. "I've got a Printemps advantage card so I don't want to go anywhere else," she said. "And you can't give in to fear, or you wouldn't go anywhere and the city would shut down. France hasn't done enough to help the civilians of Afghanistan. Maybe that's what this is about."
The discovery of the dynamite is, however, a major concern for the French security services. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is a strong supporter of western involvement in Afghanistan, and this year sent an extra 700 troops to the country, increasing the French contingent to 2,600.
Public support for French involvement dropped sharply in August when the country's forces lost 10 men in a Taliban ambush, described as the worst French military setback in 25 years.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
I guess the Whopper wins!
This was an interesting taste testing experiment. It had a good thought that taste testing in America is nearly impossible because of the saturation of advertising. For example, if I wanted to have you taste two pieces of candy you may have "No preference" simply because you know that candy is bad from ads.
Anyway, this was a fun video. It was nice to see people that didn't know what the Golden Arches are ;o)
Anyway, this was a fun video. It was nice to see people that didn't know what the Golden Arches are ;o)
Friday, December 5, 2008
Trampled Walmart Employee
I don't really want, or think I need, to add any new text to this story. Its terrible and I hope that people who read this simply become aware and cautious of both their morals and the morals of those surrounding. We are better than this.
CNN Story: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/28/black.friday.violence/
CNN Follow-up: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/03/walmart.lawsuits/
Nice Blog that also sums it up well: http://z-nano.com/2008/12/04/walmart-employee-trampled-to-death-on-black-friday/
CNN Story: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/28/black.friday.violence/
CNN Follow-up: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/03/walmart.lawsuits/
Nice Blog that also sums it up well: http://z-nano.com/2008/12/04/walmart-employee-trampled-to-death-on-black-friday/
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Countdown to Korea
I just wanted to mention to family and friends that I'm going to Korea to visit with Yeajin on Dec 23rd and I'll be staying for just over 2 weeks.
The last time I saw Yeajin was June 4th when I left for my job interviews in the States... I'm slowly counting the days.
The last time I saw Yeajin was June 4th when I left for my job interviews in the States... I'm slowly counting the days.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Dealing with the Economic Situation
Academia is its own little world, which means we have our own rules. I found this easy to follow flowchart on how we're dealing with the economic crisis in America. Enjoy this and everything else PhD Comics has to offer.
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