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What he said was a joke to make a point.

It wasn't just a joke, it was a full monologue. Lots of profanity, lots of "negative love" applied to the victims. The only point he was making is that he gets paid huge sums to rant about people who have valid medical problems.

Usually human trafficking means getting people (usually men) to perform what is practically slave labor ...

Usually, human trafficking means getting people of any sex to perform what is slave labor. Women and girls are included in that.

However, claims of coercion never seem to be backed up with facts.

You want facts? Okay. How about Ron Wyden, beloved by all progressive human beings for his widly held positions on freedom and government? "Now we have concrete proof that sex trafficking is not just going on in the dark corners of Asia," he said. "Sex trafficking is going on in our community." "The study showed that the average age of victims was 15.5 years when they were first referred to DHS and the Sexual Assault Resource Center. The youngest of them was 8 years old."

Why yes, anonymous coward, making prostitution legal will certainly prevent gangs from putting 8 year old girls out onto the street to turn tricks. Sure.

One more. You know how long it took to find these links? About 640,000 results (0.25 seconds)

Well, in fairness, the Big Dig is not a good example considering that 2/3 of the money probably ended up in the hands of criminal syndicates of one sort or another. Also, it was built underground below the water table, and required a tunnel six or eight lanes wide - probably an order of magnitude or two more difficult and expensive than a train-size tunnel.

By comparison the City of Portland, Oregon recently completed the 'Big Pipe' projects, digging about 10 miles of tunnel up to 160 feet underground (and under a river) to handle storm runoff. They used 14-foot diameter boring machines and did the whole project for $1.5 billion, which is about $150 million per mile. That cost included all the pumping stations and other costs, not just boring the hole. (See also West Side CSO Tunnel.)

So the cost of drilling a train tunnel, which would fit nicely in a 14 foot diameter tunnel, should be of the same order. Adding maglev or whatnot to make trains actually go would be additional, of course. At $150 million per mile, the 400 miles from SF to LA could be drilled for $60 billion. But you actually need three tunnels - one each way plus a service tunnel (like the Chunnel between UK and France), so call it $180 billion.

Being naked in public in Portland is legal if it falls within the guidelines of ORS 163.465, which are included below. Or. Rev. Stat. 163.465. Public indecency (1) A person commits the crime of public indecency if while in, or in view of, a public place the person performs: (a) An act of sexual intercourse; (b) An act of deviate sexual intercourse; or (c) An act of exposing the genitals of the person with the intent of arousing the sexual desire of the person or another person. (2) (a) Public indecency is a Class A misdemeanor. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, public indecency is a Class C felony if the person has a prior conviction for public indecency or a crime described in ORS 163.355 to 163.445 or for a crime in another jurisdiction that, if committed in this state, would constitute public indecency or a crime described in ORS 163.355 to 163.445.

Apparenty they found a computer model that infuses people with a desire to walk and bike

You haven't been downtown here, have you? Walking and biking is about the only way you're going to get anywhere during a typical weekday... especially after Mssr. Adams decided to go slightly crazy about the bike lanes, which left less room for cars.

...and this was after the Max tracks ate quite a bit of asphalt on their own (though this isn't really as bad, considering that the rail is actually a good deal, and actually useful)

But if they use modeling to fix traffic woes, then more people will be emboldened to drive, filling the streets back up again.

Apparenty they found a computer model that infuses people with a desire to walk and bike

You haven't been downtown here, have you? Walking and biking is about the only way you're going to get anywhere during a typical weekday... especially after Mssr. Adams decided to go slightly crazy about the bike lanes, which left less room for cars.

...and this was after the Max tracks ate quite a bit of asphalt on their own (though this isn't really as bad, considering that the rail is actually a good deal, and actually useful)

Actually -- based on feedback from another commenter in this thread, I'm thinking of proposing to Austin (via the bicycle program manager, who knows the rest of the folks involved) that we consider adopting Portland's open source smartphone apps for problem-reporting. Haven't looked into what the server side needs to implement yet, but I'd be surprised if it'd be too ridiculous.

Portland, Oregon actually has implemented something similar to this. They created iPhone and Android applications for reporting potholes, broken glass in the street, graffiti, clogged storm drains, etc. Each report is tagged with GPS coordinates (which the user can precisely choose on a map, to show where exactly the problem is), and can include photos, videos, and text descriptions of the problem. The app then shows all the reports you have submitted, and whether they have been dealt with yet. It's pretty nifty, but it would be even better if non-smartphone users like myself could also submit reports via MMS.

I think it's more a problem with the original poster not knowing wtf he's talking about.

1. All waste from the Portland Metro area is collected by private contractors, and delivered to Metro (the regional governmental authority). Metro then aggregates it all together, and has a contractor haul it out to Eastern Oregon for landfill deposit.

2. Metro, the Port of Portland, and the Portland Development Commission has been very big into diverting this waste to as many recycling outfits as possible, including trying to attract biomass business to take care of it right here in the area ( http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=118670251320280000 ) because they don't like hauling all that shit 200 miles east on I-84.

3. Change doesn't happen overnight. Facilities and infrastructure have to be built. Already, the environmental quality here in Portland is night and day different than what it was on the first Earth Day in 1970. You can actually touch the Willamette River without developing an instant tumor. You can see Mt. Hood when it's not raining. Once they are done with the "big pipe" project, the sewer overflow issue will be taken care of. Even as I write this, the city is changing the recycling plan to use rollaway mixed-recycling bins to make things easier, and larger capacity.

Yeah, I think that actually knowing wtf you're talking about is a good place to start.

Also informing people that what goes down the toilet goes in your drinking water.

Some peoples drinking water.. There fixed it for you.

Some people get their drinking water from ground water. Treated and untreated septic water ends up in the groundwater. Some people get their drinking water from rainwater. Some cities get their drinking water from protected mountain watersheds (no sewage). As a good example of a city with good drinking water, Portland Oregon uses the Bull Run Watershed.

Pure water doesn't need filters and heavy treatment.
http://www.portlandonline.com/water/index.cfm?c=cjhie

"This unfiltered surface water source is Portland's primary drinking water source.
The Bull Run watershed is an integral part of the region's heritage and legacy. Because of its outstanding water quality and level of protection, the Bull Run has been listed among a handful of outstanding sources of water in the United States for more than a century."

Where does your drinking water come from?

I'm very curious how the Portland wireless plan will play out. I live here, and in the last month or so I've been seeing these white cones popping up all over the streetlights and traffic lights. They will have to have some decent power to them, because they're barely every two to four blocks. I know with one wall (or more likely a building) between a computer and the AP it will not be the best signal. They'll be getting power from the traffic or street lights.

From that page linked above there's a and what they expect on the first go-around. Downtown, with the taller buildings, doesn't seem to get much power spread out. The east side however, which is the better half anyway, will get better coverage.

I'm looking forward to it.

I'm very curious how the Portland wireless plan will play out. I live here, and in the last month or so I've been seeing these white cones popping up all over the streetlights and traffic lights. They will have to have some decent power to them, because they're barely every two to four blocks. I know with one wall (or more likely a building) between a computer and the AP it will not be the best signal. They'll be getting power from the traffic or street lights.

From that page linked above there's a and what they expect on the first go-around. Downtown, with the taller buildings, doesn't seem to get much power spread out. The east side however, which is the better half anyway, will get better coverage.

I'm looking forward to it.

spelling maybe? I got the first two results for Parklane park as:

Tree at Parklane Park on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Parklane Park - Portland - Reviews of Parklane Park - TripAdvisor

Portland Parks & Recreation :: Parklane Park

And that is without any quotes or anything. Or were you looking for some other Parklane park?

whether or not it's touching the house/fence next door, it would probably still be a code violation. in portland you have rules like this:
http://www.portlandonline.com/index.cfm?&a=18198&c =38058
(see B & C, probably more).

Basically you have to be able to see from your windows and have proper natual light come through. I'm sure there are quite a few other violations. However, I'm also positive that if you wanted to pick nits you could find something wrong with every house in portland (according to the strict rules, especially if you want to talk about interior building codes and whatnot).

I suspect that environmental regulations don't allow them to simply dump raw methane (with other nasty gases) straight into the atmosphere from the waste plant, however. Considering the BIG PIPE sewer project in Portland has a pricetage of $300 million just for the West side, $1.3 million is a bargain to get some (basically) free electricity without building another damn or something.

This is sort of on-topic - since is is PGE park... More info about PGE and Portland's work to fix it, here