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Is anyone really surprised?

I'd be all for automated camera enforcement.

Unfortunately, the people who run the cameras are corrupt as all hell. The problem is that once you privatize or commercialize automobile, yhey realize that after analysis that they can alter the settings just a little bit, and.....

Profit!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...

http://www.thegazette.com/subj...

http://www.moremonmouthmusings...

One of the biggest tricks aside form massaging speed numbers is shortening the Yellow light times to the point where if you see yellow, you better stomp the brakes. We had a lot of discussions here about this, and my reaction is that if we get redlight camers in my city, teh instant I see a yellow light, I am locking the sprags. If it's a choice of getting a redlight ticket, or getting rear ended, I'll take the latter. Lo and behold: https://www.motorists.org/issu...

> now he's doing a god damn victory tour, who does that?

Hitler. Literally. The last time someone held post-election political rallies was 1930 germany.

Fortunately, Trump's rallies seem be kind of anemic. Like the one in Fayetteville, NC Or the one in Iowa where he got less than 5,000 people and had to use the smaller Hy-vee convention hall instead of the adjoining wells-fargo arena.

You are completely right Half-Pint HAL.

Here's from a typical major american city

Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP)

The Neighborhood Traffic Management Program is overseen by Senior Staff Analyst Gary Drabek at 611 Walker. NTMP address traffic related problems in residential neighborhoods, including excessive vehicular speed and cut-through traffic. The Neighborhood Traffic Management Program implements "traffic calming" measures, such as speed cushions, traffic circles, median islands, curb extensions, diversion techniques, etc. aimed at enhancing safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Applications for NTMP intervention may be made by one or more residents/ property owners and are reviewed by the Department to determine eligibility. Final plans require City Council approval. There's a long list of NTMP applications; we will contact you as soon as we are able to begin working on your application.

Population 192,294 (2013)
http://grcity.us/enterprise-se...
Program Overview

Traffic calming, as defined by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, is the combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behavior and improve conditions for non-motorized street users.
Traffic Calming Goals include:

        increasing the quality of life;
        incorporating the preferences and requirements of the residents;
        creating safer and more attractive streets;
        reducing the negative impacts of motor vehicles; and
        promoting alternative transportation modes.

Traffic Calming Objectives include:

        achieving slower speeds for motor vehicles in residential areas;
        increasing safety for non-motorized users of the street system;
        enhancing the street environment;
        increasing access for all modes of transportation, and
        reducing/elminating cut-through motor vehicle traffic.

Here's an article typical of tiny american cities (population 128,429 in 2013)
http://www.thegazette.com/subj...

At the same time, council members Monica Vernon, Pat Shey and Scott Olson said the council has talked extensively about converting some one-way streets to two-ways. Shey said street conversions are designed for âoetraffic calming,â and said most residential neighborhoods such as those in Wellington Heights have two-way streets, not one-ways.

Summary- it is standard practice for cities with 100,000 or more residents (and possibly much lower) to have traffic calming targeted at reducing or eliminating cut thru motor vehicle traffic.

Iowa agribusiness has been cultivating more land than ever due to high commodity prices. Between 2001 and 2011 Iowa went from under 1700 million bushels of corn to over to almost 2400 million, while soybean is nearly the same during that interval.

We did not become 40% more efficient at growing corn since 2000. That growth represents more land use; land that was considered marginal when commodity prices were low is now viable. Marginal means flood plain, land with poor drainage or limited access to water. What's actually happened here is that since the marginal land is now in the rotation, farmers incur higher risk of big losses during outlier years.

Two bad years after apparently 10 good years (at least) is not Climate. It's weather. And "Weather Is Not Climate." Or so I'm told whenever we get a cold spell.

In 2011, more corn was used in ethanol production than for livestock feed for the first time ever. Ethanol accounted for 5.05 billion bushels which at 56 pounds per bushel (shelled) comes to 141.4 million tons. Worldwide corn production in 2011 was 867.5 million tons. That's over 16% of the global corn crop used for ethanol production.

Citation please?

5 seconds of googling later...

I'm a UX researcher at a university -- that's right, one of those government workers who don't produce anything and blow taxpayer dollars. I make a decent living, but it's still 20% less than I'd make in the private sector. I stay because 1) the benefits are decent (not great compared to many companies, but better than if I were consulting full time and working for myself); and 2) I like that my work is helping students learn instead of convincing shoppers to buy more.

I work with dozens of people not unlike myself -- people who can make a lot more and choose not to in order to (hopefully) make the world a better place.

As a conservative, I realize that it's easy to paint government workers with one brush; certainly I'm not impressed with most teachers, cops, or politicians -- hell, even some of my coworkers should be shown the door. But without many of us willing to work for less than we're worth, things would crumble.

We currently have bastard red light/speeding cameras in our area. The registered owner, local or not, gets the ticket. It is not a criminal ticket. The only negative is that they throw it to a collection agency. No big deal for me as I don't borrow any money anyway.
http://thegazette.com/cameras and you can peruse the database to see all the out of state tickets. It has been a gigantic moneymaker for the City, and for the company that does the cameras.