Perhaps the author of the article did not realize that they are based on the west coast, and while many people believe this to be true, the world does not revolve around Eastern Time
More than likely it never crossed the author's mind. Remember, we're used to the phone company being local.
In the United States (or maybe this is just NJ), any phone line needs to be able to dial 911, whether you pay for the service or not. Also, as we saw with the large blackout in the summer, cell networks can fail during power outages. Of course the widespread area of that outage obviously contributed to the collapse.
Here is the house about 5 minutes from mine which is by far the most decorated house in the area. It is actually some Elvis impersonator, so his display always has an Elvis theme and usually has Elvis music playing. The display requires the police for traffic control, and it's been said that the gentleman has worked out a special agreement with O&R (or maybe PSEG), the local energy company. I haven't been to the house in about 5 years. They say he adds more lights every year, so I have no idea if it still looks like the pictures.
My point still stands. What are they going to do, reduce taxes.001%? When you have a signifciant savings built up, then yes, cut taxes. But there's no reason to be calling for tax cuts for this type of savings.
I'm sure, had Slashdot been around back in days of Steampunk, there would have been many articles cursing the disappearance of steam-engine related jobs, complaining that these days, steam trains were only used overseas, etc, etc. Meanwhile, the invention of the aeroplane would receive only a passing mention, everyone would think it was cool, then they would go back to complain about the decline in the use of steam technology.
Your analogy is wholly broken. The steam engine was obsolete, and that is why workers were no longer needed for them, not because the jobs supporting steam engines were being moved overseas. I doubt you mean to say that computers are obsolete, too? And what is the modern version of the airplane from your analogy?
And for a good reason. How much do you think the City of Austin spends on Microsoft Office? How many people live in Austin? Does every taxpayer really need the $.005 back? (or whatever the figure is. even if its $10, it's not worth the effort) I would imagine also that the City of Austin, like almost every other large government in the country, is in debt.
Hi. Please see my other reply: here. Also, even if it's a 'closed' system, the mass has to go somewhere. It must be accounted for. It is not simply disappearing. If it's the water, then he would have ~32 ft^3 of water to deal with from the evaporation. If that's going to air, then it's not a closed system! The device appears quite small from the pictures and would not hold more than 10 gallons of water.
Yes, water weighs 8.34 lb/gal. That means ~240 gallons of water would be in the two tons of trash. 240 gallons of water is ~32 ft^3. While I do believe I overlooked the water loss, I don't believe it could be all water.
One thing I did not see in the comments on the original Tornado in a Can story is this:
A garbage-processing plant in Pennsylvania will go online with its Windhexe next month; the machine can turn two tons of trash into one ton of sterile powder.
Guess what. That other ton of material isn't getting destroyed. That doesn't happen. It's probably going into the air as (very tiny) solid particles. Now, since these particles are created from the very beginning of the process, are they also sterile? I would think not. I'm not saying this process is environmentally bad. I'm only saying that waste disposal never has a simple, clean solution.
Actually, holding up traffic in a manner you describe would also be illegal in New Jersey. There are a few people that post on local message boards who claim to do such maneuvers. While they may slow a few people down, they are a clear minority of drivers.
I have lived in north NJ my whole life. However, almost all of my extended family is from the Philly area. Your observations are right on.
They moved the Exit 1 toll plaza because the real estate simply wasn't available at the old location to put in new express EZ-Pass lanes. Also, the construction staging and traffic would have been maddening. Constructing the new plaza 1/2 mi. off the bridge, like they did with Exit 6, should prove to be beneficial.
Also, PennDOT does prefer concrete in many more applications than NJDOT. Concrete does not need to be paved as often, but is more expensive to install, and can create much more noise. If you've ever heard that high-pitched whine for hours on the highway, you know what I mean. However, there are new concrete paving systems - Ultra Thin Whitetopping - which are said to reduce this noise greatly. Concrete paving also takes longer, because you generally demolish down to the ground, regrade, put in new subbase, and then lay the concrete. With asphalt, they can layer it on top of old asphalt (they do mill off 2-4" usually), and only have to completely strip it down every few paving cycles.
PA drivers and the left lane... I'm not even going to go there.
In terms of why this disparity occurs, it's almost all in your first reason: density. Another very large, and commonly overlooked, reason is that many of the main roads in NJ are interstates or federal routes. It is much easier to get federal funding for federal roads than it is for state roads.
Yes. At least in peak-period travel times. There are simply too many cars for a police car to merge onto the road, catch up with you, and then safely pull you over to the side of the road. In NJ, very few cars use the VASCAR system which allows a police officer to record your speed relative to their speed. Therefore, the officers sit on the side of the highway and use RADAR or laser to monitor your speed. In the 30 seconds that it takes the officer to shift the car into drive, put their seat belt on, and actually pull onto the highway, you're over a half mile down the road. There's simply no way they could catch up with you. Also, police officers are needed during the peak-period to handle accidents and other problems.
If you have had your unit for several years, you should look into getting a new one. The batteries only last for ~5 years, and there was a batch of them whose batteries crapped out after 1-3 years, iirc.
EZ-Pass is not fully passive. It does have a very small battery which requires replacement of the unit every ~5 years. However, iirc, it still does get some of its transmitting power from a passive system.
Just because you have different feelings about trademarks than the law does, doesn't mean the law doesn't apply anymore. The law and the courts say differently than you do.
The EZ-Pass transponder comes with an anti-static bag which blocks transmission of signals to the device, in case you may wish to pay the toll by other means. The EZ-Pass instructions implore you to keep the bag in your glove compartment at all times.
EZ-Pass commissions have always operated under the promise that this would not be done. If it were ever to be enacted, you would see a lot of people dumping EZ-Pass, since many of the roadways in EZ-Pass areas have average traffic speeds over the speed limits, and the cost of even a small speeding ticket is ridiculous with the current insurance regulations and policies.
Other posters mention voter registration cards. In New Jersey, they cannot ask for a DL at polling stations. At the same time, the voter registration card specifically says on it "Not to be used for identification purposes."
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so everyone would answer with "what number is this?" or "where are you calling from?"
I absolutely hate people that do this. Caller ID is great, but let's lay off the psuedo-stalking.
Perhaps the author of the article did not realize that they are based on the west coast, and while many people believe this to be true, the world does not revolve around Eastern Time
More than likely it never crossed the author's mind. Remember, we're used to the phone company being local.
In the United States (or maybe this is just NJ), any phone line needs to be able to dial 911, whether you pay for the service or not. Also, as we saw with the large blackout in the summer, cell networks can fail during power outages. Of course the widespread area of that outage obviously contributed to the collapse.
Then they don't need to click on this story, and add comments to every thread that says "MY iPod works, so nyah, Apple rules!"
Here is the house about 5 minutes from mine which is by far the most decorated house in the area. It is actually some Elvis impersonator, so his display always has an Elvis theme and usually has Elvis music playing. The display requires the police for traffic control, and it's been said that the gentleman has worked out a special agreement with O&R (or maybe PSEG), the local energy company. I haven't been to the house in about 5 years. They say he adds more lights every year, so I have no idea if it still looks like the pictures.
PPPS. Anecdotal evidence doesn't help the people whose batteries HAVE failed.
My point still stands. What are they going to do, reduce taxes .001%? When you have a signifciant savings built up, then yes, cut taxes. But there's no reason to be calling for tax cuts for this type of savings.
I'm sure, had Slashdot been around back in days of Steampunk, there would have been many articles cursing the disappearance of steam-engine related jobs, complaining that these days, steam trains were only used overseas, etc, etc. Meanwhile, the invention of the aeroplane would receive only a passing mention, everyone would think it was cool, then they would go back to complain about the decline in the use of steam technology.
Your analogy is wholly broken. The steam engine was obsolete, and that is why workers were no longer needed for them, not because the jobs supporting steam engines were being moved overseas. I doubt you mean to say that computers are obsolete, too? And what is the modern version of the airplane from your analogy?
And for a good reason. How much do you think the City of Austin spends on Microsoft Office? How many people live in Austin? Does every taxpayer really need the $.005 back? (or whatever the figure is. even if its $10, it's not worth the effort) I would imagine also that the City of Austin, like almost every other large government in the country, is in debt.
Hi. Politicians are still citizens. They still have the rights we have. Sorry.
Hi. If you're serious, please see this thread.
Hi. Please see my other reply: here. Also, even if it's a 'closed' system, the mass has to go somewhere. It must be accounted for. It is not simply disappearing. If it's the water, then he would have ~32 ft^3 of water to deal with from the evaporation. If that's going to air, then it's not a closed system! The device appears quite small from the pictures and would not hold more than 10 gallons of water.
Yes, water weighs 8.34 lb/gal. That means ~240 gallons of water would be in the two tons of trash. 240 gallons of water is ~32 ft^3. While I do believe I overlooked the water loss, I don't believe it could be all water.
One thing I did not see in the comments on the original Tornado in a Can story is this:
A garbage-processing plant in Pennsylvania will go online with its Windhexe next month; the machine can turn two tons of trash into one ton of sterile powder.
Guess what. That other ton of material isn't getting destroyed. That doesn't happen. It's probably going into the air as (very tiny) solid particles. Now, since these particles are created from the very beginning of the process, are they also sterile? I would think not. I'm not saying this process is environmentally bad. I'm only saying that waste disposal never has a simple, clean solution.
Actually, holding up traffic in a manner you describe would also be illegal in New Jersey. There are a few people that post on local message boards who claim to do such maneuvers. While they may slow a few people down, they are a clear minority of drivers.
I have lived in north NJ my whole life. However, almost all of my extended family is from the Philly area. Your observations are right on.
They moved the Exit 1 toll plaza because the real estate simply wasn't available at the old location to put in new express EZ-Pass lanes. Also, the construction staging and traffic would have been maddening. Constructing the new plaza 1/2 mi. off the bridge, like they did with Exit 6, should prove to be beneficial.
Also, PennDOT does prefer concrete in many more applications than NJDOT. Concrete does not need to be paved as often, but is more expensive to install, and can create much more noise. If you've ever heard that high-pitched whine for hours on the highway, you know what I mean. However, there are new concrete paving systems - Ultra Thin Whitetopping - which are said to reduce this noise greatly. Concrete paving also takes longer, because you generally demolish down to the ground, regrade, put in new subbase, and then lay the concrete. With asphalt, they can layer it on top of old asphalt (they do mill off 2-4" usually), and only have to completely strip it down every few paving cycles.
PA drivers and the left lane... I'm not even going to go there.
In terms of why this disparity occurs, it's almost all in your first reason: density. Another very large, and commonly overlooked, reason is that many of the main roads in NJ are interstates or federal routes. It is much easier to get federal funding for federal roads than it is for state roads.
Yes. At least in peak-period travel times. There are simply too many cars for a police car to merge onto the road, catch up with you, and then safely pull you over to the side of the road. In NJ, very few cars use the VASCAR system which allows a police officer to record your speed relative to their speed. Therefore, the officers sit on the side of the highway and use RADAR or laser to monitor your speed. In the 30 seconds that it takes the officer to shift the car into drive, put their seat belt on, and actually pull onto the highway, you're over a half mile down the road. There's simply no way they could catch up with you. Also, police officers are needed during the peak-period to handle accidents and other problems.
If you have had your unit for several years, you should look into getting a new one. The batteries only last for ~5 years, and there was a batch of them whose batteries crapped out after 1-3 years, iirc.
EZ-Pass is not fully passive. It does have a very small battery which requires replacement of the unit every ~5 years. However, iirc, it still does get some of its transmitting power from a passive system.
Just because you have different feelings about trademarks than the law does, doesn't mean the law doesn't apply anymore. The law and the courts say differently than you do.
The EZ-Pass transponder comes with an anti-static bag which blocks transmission of signals to the device, in case you may wish to pay the toll by other means. The EZ-Pass instructions implore you to keep the bag in your glove compartment at all times.
EZ-Pass commissions have always operated under the promise that this would not be done. If it were ever to be enacted, you would see a lot of people dumping EZ-Pass, since many of the roadways in EZ-Pass areas have average traffic speeds over the speed limits, and the cost of even a small speeding ticket is ridiculous with the current insurance regulations and policies.
I guess you don't talk to people in the NYC area, where the population density is quite high. Noise pollution is an issue here.
Other posters mention voter registration cards. In New Jersey, they cannot ask for a DL at polling stations. At the same time, the voter registration card specifically says on it "Not to be used for identification purposes."
This is true, however dynamic braking is not 100% efficient, and there will still be some energy loss from stopping and restarting the train.