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All this hand-wringing to avoid raising fairs to $3.45 and solve the whole problem? They're short on money, but at the same time they have politicians advocating decriminalizing turnstile jumping because it turns out that certain races are more likely to offend than others. This obsession with giving criminals free rides (literally in this case) is bankrupting the fundamental infrastructure that made our century of economic wonder possible. I suspect it's intentional sabotage.

Those problems are nothing, some of them were playing a creepy Mr. Softee jingle, after they cut off web browsing on the built in tablet after people started watching porn and masturbating on them.

Those problems are nothing, some of them were playing a creepy Mr. Softee jingle, after they cut off web browsing on the built in tablet after people started watching porn and masturbating on them.

This guy gets it. Unless you've been to NYC lately AND understand a bit about the building practices here vs the rest of the US then the potential for savings might not be so obvious. I would also add that the reliance on PTAC units is also a huge issue (basically, think of a hotels through-wall ac & heating unit). The extensive use of PTACs in new construction is because of labor costs to run ducting and to a lesser degree because of permitting costs: http://amp.gothamist.com/amp/a...

Have you heard the term kapo?

He wouldn't be the only one, like this jewish doctor.

Or how about uncle tom?

Being a jew who promotes anti-semitism just means your jewish identity has been subordinated to whatever bullshit you are selling.

They're doing exactly what they said they feared Trump supporters would do if he lost

They're doing nothing at all like what Trump[supporters] did before the results were even known. First of all, Trump himself claimed the election was rigged before any evidence at all surfaced. Then, his supporters claimed there has already been mass election fraud without any evidence. This was well beyond what any candidate or party has done before. No surprise the results of this were a lot of voter intimidation (funny). Note this is the first election since the Voting Rights Act has been curtailed.

My point is that one side has already gone well, well beyond the norm when it comes to claiming an election is rigged. I'm quite positive they would've done more than mostly peaceful rallies if they had lost. Now, the dems have this study, and are simply asking for more investigation. So tone down the outrage.

Please cite your long list of examples of these toys being used in such a dangerous way

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-drone-near-miss-lax-20160318-story.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcneal/2014/07/08/two-drones-nearly-collide-with-nypd-helicopter-operators-arrested/#1294615f1db8
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/09/travel/unmanned-drone-danger/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/dec/23/champion-skier-marcel-hirscher-has-near-miss-as-drone-falls-out-of-sky
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30369701
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/europe/uk-drone-near-miss/index.html
http://www.wsj.com/articles/faa-reports-more-aircraft-drone-near-misses-1417025519
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/29/ny-bound-pilot-swerves-to-avoid-collission-with-drone.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3251543/Drone-owners-forced-register-devices-tracking-database-four-near-misses-aircraft-past-month-alone.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12180261/Number-of-near-misses-involving-drones-and-aircraft-quadruples-in-one-year.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-37042796
http://gothamist.com/2016/09/20/man_maybe_arrested_drone_crash.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/white-house-drone.html?_r=0
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/05/25/drone-crashes-hits-2-people-during-marblehead-parade/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/22/world/drug-drone-crashes-us-mexico-border/index.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/drone-crashes-stands-u-s-open-article-1.2348324
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/07/02/drone-crashes-in-brighton-mans-backyard/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/07/drone-crashes-into-yellowstone-hot-spring/13721055/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/drone-crash-university-kentucky-football-game-could-land-student-hot-water/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/drone-crashes-empire-state-building-man-arrested/story?id=36729221

Many cities that have already installed LED street lights are getting complaints and are removing them. Kind of funny that LED bulbs which are supposed to save money and waste have had the opposite effect. Early adoption of new technology always has issues, there is no reason these problems can't be fixed in street lights as well as any other application involving an engineered light source.

NYC is infamous for things like cops running out into the street and attacking cyclists, or parking their cruisers in bike lanes and then ticketing cyclists for not riding in the bike lane.

Despite the public outcry and idiocy of that, were up to the same thing the next year.

And then the year after that...

I've had it with these motherfucking eels on this motherfucking hovercraft!

I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking F train. http://gothamist.com/2015/06/2...

Seriously, have we degenerated as a culture to the point where we need scientists telling people to stay inside during a thunderstorm?

Apparently so. And again, and again and again.

The killswitches seem to have a much wider effects than realised by these insightful articles.
Murder rate at the same time in San Francisco
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/ar...
and New York
http://gothamist.com/2015/01/0...
seem to have also decined!

Nah You'll be fine.. At least in NYC you almost certainly won't be given a traffic ticket, let alone be charged with a crime.

http://gothamist.com/2012/02/15/heres_why_drivers_get_away_with_mur.php

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2012/05/michael-mckean-hit-by-car-nyc-no-criminality-suspected.html

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2012/04/invention-jaywalking/1837/

An introduction, for the lazy:

http://www.newyorker.com/magaz...
Under civil forfeiture, Americans who haven't been charged with wrongdoing can be stripped of their cash, cars, and even homes.

http://gothamist.com/2014/01/1...
How The NYPD's Use Of Civil Forfeiture Robs Innocent New Yorkers
Any arrest in New York City can trigger a civil forfeiture case if money or property is found on or near a defendant, regardless of the reasons surrounding the arrest or its final disposition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10...
“Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?”
The federal government does.
Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes.

Any missing footage should result in someone being fired.

Agreed.

There is one plus side to ubiquitous cameras operated by the police: It will be harder for the police to justify denying us the ability to record our interactions with them. Some police departments haven't gotten the memo yet...

People aren't upset at the car/van/bus-pooling per se.

They're upset about the gentrification of neighborhoods, as tech millionaires "ruin" old neighborhoods by living in them.

As an example, look how "awful" Brooklyn is now. Damned hipsters and their mayonnaise store.

You bet, you will get a free "Google Privacy protector" at any local shopping store for free. simply place on your head and cut holes for your eyes. The stores call them "grocery bags" but that is because they don't understand the Google nomenclature.

Yeah, that sounds great, except the trend is now to make it illegal to wear something that covers your face in public...

http://www.wtvq.com/content/localnews/story/Lexington-Adult-Masks-Illegal-To-Wear-In-Public/kduA8xtDwE6DV1LdXH5D5w.cspx

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/01/outrageous-critics-angered-by-new-law-making-it-illegal-to-wear-a-mask-at-unlawful-protests/

http://gothamist.com/2011/09/19/nypd_uses_law_from_1845_to_arrest_m.php#photo-1

Sadly, ani-mask laws will promptly stop this. I don't have too much time to dig up the laws but here are some articles:

Small Wikipedia article on the subject. Doesn't explain much but does have a few citation links. Canada along with the USA have such laws.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-mask_laws

The NYPD then used it against Occupy protesters:
http://gothamist.com/2011/09/19/nypd_uses_law_from_1845_to_arrest_m.php#photo-1

France also has similar laws:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ban_on_face_covering

I would imagine other countries might have similar laws.

This article sums up my views [1] essentially, city planning is shite for bikers a lot of times, and salmoning is the workaround. The article has some great map-based arguments.

"Bikers who ride the wrong way up a one-way street or bike-lane are called salmon.

There are certain places in the city, particularly in neighborhoods with a lot of one-way streets, like DUMBO, that are difficult to bike around in without salmoning. To get from Point A to Point B legally, you'll need to bike up a hill, around a park, through a tunnel, and generally out of the way at least 5 blocks. Or, you can salmon: ride that tempting one or two blocks the wrong way, carefully pedaling slowly to avoid putting anyone in danger, giving reassuring smiles to the parents pushing strollers giving you the finger and the truck drivers honking at you to get out of the way."

[1] http://gothamist.com/2013/06/21/in_defense_of_salmoning_on_a_bike.php

The article doesn't even say that... it quotes the FBI as saying it was the Nassau and Suffolk County Police, but according to this article at the gothamist, Nassau Police aren't aware of it.

Meanwhile, confusion reigns at the press offices for Nassau County and Suffolk County police. A press liaison for the Nassau County Police Department told us his phone's been ringing nonstop with inquiries. "I am trying to find out what's going on with this," he told me. "I was told that Nassau County police had absolutely no involvement in this whatsoever. I called the FBI field office in Melville and they knew nothing, the Joint Terrorism Task Force said they knew nothing. But a press rep for the FBI in NYC said Nassau County was involved, so I have to go up the chain to bigger people."

20 minutes later, another spokesperson for the Nassau County police department told me, "We contacted all our commands within the Nassau County Police Department. We did not visit this woman, and we do not know what police agency did visit her." The Suffolk County police department spokesperson said she was still trying to determine whether they were involved. The FBI press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Besides that, it was only speculation on the woman's part that her search results were related, due to the crock pot comment. I'm open to all the government criticism and even the rare conspiracy theory, but seriously this story has an odor... no corroboration, no evidence of cause or intent (even if we assume the visit happened)... it's a bit much to swallow.

If I eat crow later, that's fine, but I'd like more coverage.

A gun is a device that is pretty much guaranteed to maim or kill--with a single use--a selected target, at a distance and almost instantly.

Really? Care to duel? Since you seem to be under the impression that absolutely no skill is required to guide a round to its intended target, it should be a fair battle, regardless of the fact that I'm proven marksman and you are likely not.

This works really well for cancelling out advantages of size/weight/strength such as otherwise might be of concern to... I dunno... say, a skinny 16-year-old kid who's got a very big grudge against a high school teachers' lounge full of adults half again as big as he is.

Or, you know, my 5'8", 130 lb wife fending off a 6'3" 240 lb rapist.... or a 10-year-old child scaring off home invaders

Ah, but such things don't really happen except in our paranoid imaginations.

Your example, yea. I provided a citation.

How anyone in his right mind can imply that such a device is qualitatively no different than, say, a baseball bat or a straight razor is simply beyond me.

As is cogent, rational thought free of emotional bias, apparently.

Your wish is New York's command: http://gothamist.com/2012/11/16/upstate_da_admits_that_yeah_he_was.php

Three,four or six months is not a lengthy jail sentence.

You're right, more gun laws would just turn America into a police state.

YOU are the one who is repeating dumb shit. Here is an example of what happens when your wonderful advice is followed. Nope, nothing dangerous about a 168ft, 700 ton ship floating around uncontrolled. Not dangerous at all. Nobody could have possibly been hurt by that.

So you don't think that a ship which has broken from it's moorings in a storm is a hazard to anyone? Really? I am sure that this posed no threat to anyone.

ou can't get speeding/school zone speeding/stop sign/red light tickets on a bike

Might want to reconsider that part.

You most certainly CAN get tickets on a bicycle. I had a friend in school who was proud of his bicycle speeding ticket(30 in a 25).

Sadly, I don't bike anymore because the highway IS very much direct to my current work, and there's a lack of non-highway roads. IE it'd be dangerous to try to ride.

http://gothamist.com/2012/10/09/man_dies_after_winning_cockroach-ea.php

Now... Fugu me!

Speaking of which, watch out for packaged food in the supermarkets these days - a lot of it says 'Made in China' and it's just a matter of time before a major ingredients scandal hits.

Too late: Study: Most Honey Is Just Fake, Pollenless Goo

But I wouldn't blame the Chinese only. Our own Federal government is the one to blame. As long as the fake cheaper substitutes do not kill us, our own government won't intervene.

Vote with your feet people. Learn which stores carry fake honey. You never know what else they might be carrying that's fake. My local Safeway for instance still carries fake honey (even after the news came out), but my local Trader Joes' doesn't (it apparently never did).

I've heard that Bloomberg commutes via subway, and in the course of fact-checking a reply, I learned that the validity of that claim is somewhat fuzzy:

http://gothamist.com/2007/08/01/mayor_bloomberg_29.php
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/nyregion/01bloomberg.html

How about chasing an unarmed person into their own house and shooting them dead for flushing the joint they were smoking?

And so what? That trafic signal is there only because a car is a danger for everything around it. There is no need to control the bike (and the ciclist will even control hinself if he wishes to live - what's not granted).

That's incorrect; bicyclists tend to believe it, but there are a lot of pedestrians getting run down by bicyclists. Here's an article on a fatality in San Francisco last year, resulting in vehicular manslaughter charges:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/03/12/bicyclist-sentenced-to-probation-in-fatal-sf-embarcadero-crash/

And here's a study About pedestrian-cyclist accidents from 2007-2010 in New York state. Basically bicycles send ~1000 pedestrians a year to the hospital in New York alone. Also, it's mostly kids and teens being run over.

http://gothamist.com/2011/09/19/pedestrians_are_hit_by_more_bicycli.php

-- Terry

"I haven't seen reports of rapes at Tea Party rallies, unlike the shitfests spawned by left-wing OWSers."

[Citation please]

Crawl out from under your rock:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/sexual-assaults-occupy-wall-street-camps/story?id=14873014#.T2oJvOweRos

http://gothamist.com/2011/11/05/occupy_wall_street_erects_women-onl.php

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/nyc-reporter-stays-night-at-occupy-wall-st-scary-place-where-rape-threat-is-very-real/

It absolutely needs to be pointed out now while its still possible to do something about, that does not require firearms.

At least, in the US, you do have the rights to bear firearms. However, in all the other countries down whose throat you shove WIPO, ACTA et al., there is no second amendment. Why do we have to mirror the US for the MAFIAA protection laws, but not for the second amendment? I too want to be able to welcome the MAFIAA goons with a shotgun in my hand!

are you a fucking moron? have you seen the videos?

tell me which one of these sounds like violent protest. The one where a cop throws a flashbang at a kid whose skull they fractured, or the one where they arrest a press reporter? Were they riding motorcycles? Did they insult the police? no. Did they crap in the streets and commit vandalism? no.

There is a constitutional right to free speech. Maybe you've never heard of it, or only know how to look at trash and think "by golly, I'm an armchair retard posting on the internet about a video I saw!" Included in that is also yelling whatever they want, at any time. That's called, you know, freedom of speech. Calling a cop a pig, screaming police brutality, given the videos above are you surprised? They're stating facts.

Yes, some have done bad things, yes they've done dirty and/or bad shit. All of them? No, not unless you're straight up ignorant.

"It makes me wonder: if that employee's GPS told them to drive over a bridge, but they saw no actual bridge there, would they try it anyway because that is what the computer says?"

There are plenty of morons who would do just that. (and have!)

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/gps-unit-drives-british-man-off-cliff-20090327/

http://gothamist.com/2011/05/22/gps_drives_jersey_man_off_road_and.php

It's predicted to be a category 1 or 2 when it hits NJ and could still be a hurricane when it hits NYC. Although it could be *just* a tropical storm which only causes heavy rainfall and moderate to sever flooding.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl?large#contents And NYC is already developing an evacuation plan in case the storm does come close.

http://gothamist.com/2011/08/25/hurricane_irene_is_coming_heres_a_m.php#photo-1

... today is North Anna, Virginia

Let's say that I'm completely clueless as to how schools operate. Let's say all schools are like those dumb movies where the heroic teacher comes in and whips a bunch of hoodlums into shape while "Stand By Me" plays on the music track.

So a kid refuses to leave the class. You call the police, have him hauled away, expel him, and issue a trespass notice.

How many kids out of the entire school's population are going to refuse to leave the classroom? Let's be generous and say 25. You expel 25 kids, and you've taken care of the problem.

Meanwhile, if instead you decide to get the cops in the school handling your discipline for you, you end up with kids being arrested for doodling on their desk ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/05/desk-doodling-arrest-alex_n_450859.html ), and kids getting arrested for farting and turning off computers ( http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/nov/21/report-martin-county-student-arrested-passing-gas-/ ), and 3rd graders getting arrested for fistfights ( http://gothamist.com/2011/04/02/third_grader_who_was_arrested_by_po.php )

In short, you're going to end up with a lot of stupid arrests, a lot of lawsuits ( why yes, I will sue anyone who arrests my kid for farting, and no I'm not overly litigious ) and a lot of anger directed at schools and cops, and all because the district was too damn stupid to expel the real serial troublemakers while dealing normal discipline to kids doing normal kid misbehavior.

That's no joke. They recently announced their new season will feature such gems like Jersey Shore Shark Attack and Snowmageddon . Add that to the wresting, and this new cooking show they just added, and yes, it's not too hard to see their death around the corner,. . . Combine that with the fact that most of Sci-Fi's (excuse me, SyFy's) demographic is in the process of ditching cable in favor of internet distribution, and Dr. McCoy will soon be saying, "It's Dead, Jim." Even if they did manage to have live footage of Snooki being devoured by a Great White, that still wouldn't be enough to save the network.

I'd personally rather see Syfy take a riskier approach and get out of the cable distribution arena entirely. Focus on producing good, quality science fiction, and either sell it to other networks to air, or Netflix, or put it on their own website. Without having to waste time on the cruft that the cable industry has forced them to waste time with, they would be able to get back to their original mission.

here's a fake 911 call story that will blow your mind: cops faking a 911 call, so they would be dispatched near where they knew a drunken woman was they wanted to rape:

http://gothamist.com/2009/05/03/cops_made_fake_911_call_to_return_t.php

http://gothamist.com/2011/03/16/blind_long_island_girl_nabs_second.php

At least since the winner's homeschooled he won't have to walk through the halls overhearing his classmates chatter -

- Hey, isn't that the brainiac who won some competition?
- That dude's f'd in the head. I heard he beat up a blind girl once.
- Get out!
- Well, that what I heard....

.

... they don't seem to go out of business anytime soon.

http://gothamist.com/2011/01/08/democratic_congresswoman_gabrielle.php

http://twitter.com/Rep_Giffords/status/23785624238563331

http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2010/02/something-to-brighten-your-week-bacon-beer.html

http://gothamist.com/2009/08/12/bacon_beer_will_rule_them_all.php

Smoking the malt like you would for an isle malt, except with bacon smoke, seems to be the method.

But he's also considered a villian HERE, because of his actions as shown in the documentaries.

Also because of his actions robbing our banks, presumably to pay for his war.

Sorry but speed limits are a must in 99% of the situations if the scenery is that boring they should watch some porn to keep them awake.... Then again maybe not.

I had never actually heard of this before, but man, what complete bullshit. And a single google search provides tons of examples, if not that specific case:

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2010/06/09/pay_to_play/
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100518/2341299481.shtml
http://www.woodpecker.com/writing/essays/phillips.html

At least Bruce seems to have some common sense (make sure you read the update):

http://gothamist.com/2010/02/04/the_boss_sues_midtown_pub.php

That pretty much represents the final straw on the camel's back for me. From this point forward, I will only ever pay for independent music. If your band is a member of any of those organizations, I will be performing civil disobedience against unwarranted extortion, and just pirate your shit if I want to have it. If you don't like it, leave those groups, and I'll buy it. And for the record, this is coming from someone who legally owns nearly 1000 CDs, and a good couple thousand iTunes songs (where the 99 cents was worth more than buying a full cd for one or two songs). But fuck it. I went to a lot of trouble (and expense, over the years) to do what I thought was the right thing. Apparently, I was wrong, since I was merely funding the absurdities of this kind of bullshit. My apologies to everyone else for helping promote this situation with my purchases. It won't happen again.

I know civics education in this country is complete shit, but I do seem to recall something about how we afford people the presumption of innocence until they are proven guilty in a court of law. For all we know, this woman is behind manufacturing accusations against Assange so that she can step in.

I'm not accusing her of doing so. I'm simply saying that she could just as well be using it as a tool for manipulation. The guy could be a complete jack-ass for all I know. I also know that it has no impact on the value of the service he started and the information that he has revealed through it.Dismantling him doesn't invalidate that knowledge.

It is sad that mere accusations are enough to demand that people step down from just about anything. His life is going to be forever altered for the simple fact that he was accused, even if there ends up being no basis for it. Even if it turns out that it was just the manufactured story of a ruthless reporter and a pissed off chick.

Considering the stories we hear all the time these days about how such accusations are often entirely fictional -- such as "I ditched a night out with my friends for drinks with this guy I met, so to deal with their scrutiny over me ditching them, I invented a story of rape and got a man jailed for a crime he was innocent of", I am not willing to ever assume guilt whatsoever.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206325/Woman-rape-allegation-faces-jail.html

http://gothamist.com/2010/02/24/woman_who_lied_about_rape_sentenced.php

Just because you may hate anyone who questions the United States of Amuricah, because they're freedom-hating assholes who want our heroic baby-rescuing, never-in-the-wrong troops to die . . . doesn't mean they're also guilty of rape or any crime.

But now you can't shop at A&F, go to the hospital, stop at a shelter or vacation in the Hamptons now. Give us some DDT, screw the birds.