Recent posts

#21

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that please y...

Last post by mgk920 - Today at 01:34:25 PM

I walked into the gym at 7 AM today and found only five people in the weight room.  Only a post-holiday weekend day can yield low numbers like that.  I had my pick off free weights and benches all morning.  People are just now coming in.

Loved my alone time on the treadmill yesterday.

And *NO* social media cameras to go along with it.  LOVE IT !   

Nike

[Fox News telling you]

#22

General Highway Talk / Re: No more 'rainbow' crosswal...

Last post by kalvado - Today at 01:32:30 PM

US SecTrans (Sean Duffy) has ordered that all 'rainbow' crosswalks in the USA be removed as being a distraction to drivers.  Thoughts?

I don't think he's competent to serve as Secretary of Transportation. He has no qualifications for the office aside from appearing on two television shows that have the word "road" in the title—which I suspect is the reason he was appointed to the office, as such a naive misunderstanding would be par for the course for the person who made the appointment.

Functionally, this memo can be ignored—the only way USDOT has to enforce compliance is by withholding federal funding. Most streets that are pedestrian-focused enough to have crosswalks are maintained by local agencies that get no federal funding anyway.

In light of that, I strongly encourage Secretary Duffy to take a long walk off a short pier, then to go jump in a lake (I understand there is a rather large one in Wisconsin's 7th district, which he represented in Congress), and when he's done with that to go piss up a rope, and I would say so to Secretary Duffy were he to ask my opinion on the matter, either directly or on a Congressionally-required public comment docket.

You described someone as qualified, if not more qualified than the previous guy.

Equating a TV show guy to a previous elected official who had responsibility for their jurisdiction's transportation program is certainly a stretch.

My neighbor is working on his driveway right now. Would that make him qualify to lead DOT from your perspective?
My biggest memory of Pete B. Is how FAA - which is part of DOT - was going through complete meltdown while big boss was on paternity leave.

To be more accurate, your biggest memory of Pete B. is Fox News telling you how FAA was going through a complete meltdown while big boss was paternity leave, which is far from the truth.

I followed that story in real time, including official documents. It was not bad, it was a horrible failure which should be dealt with in criminal court.

Wonder why others didn't follow your well-informed opinion on this, then.

What was the plane you flew last time?
(Version for non-aa public: which interstates did you drive last time you were away from home?)

#23

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by mgk920 - Today at 01:32:13 PM

It was just the date that the Powers that Be chose to send the message to George III telling him to pound sand.

Mike

#24

Off-Topic / Re: What is your Independence ...

Last post by Rothman - Today at 01:23:24 PM

I am going to the Walmart

I'd have pegged you for one of the anti-Wal-Mart crowd.

I could see Scott being more anti-Target.

Anti-Woolworth's.

#25

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that please y...

Last post by Rothman - Today at 01:23:01 PM

I walked into the gym at 7 AM today and found only five people in the weight room.  Only a post-holiday weekend day can yield low numbers like that.  I had my pick off free weights and benches all morning.  People are just now coming in.

Loved my alone time on the treadmill yesterday.

[roadgeek]

#26

General Highway Talk / Re: No more 'rainbow' crosswal...

Last post by Rothman - Today at 01:22:14 PM

But what are people's roadgeek opinions?  Are colorful, decorative, non-standard pavement markings something that should be allowed or disallowed?  Imagine a world in which the rainbow didn't have any connotations other than just the thing in the sky on a rainy day.  What then?

Maintenance of special paint is a b$%^&.

[Fox News telling you]

#27

General Highway Talk / Re: No more 'rainbow' crosswal...

Last post by Rothman - Today at 01:21:28 PM

US SecTrans (Sean Duffy) has ordered that all 'rainbow' crosswalks in the USA be removed as being a distraction to drivers.  Thoughts?

I don't think he's competent to serve as Secretary of Transportation. He has no qualifications for the office aside from appearing on two television shows that have the word "road" in the title—which I suspect is the reason he was appointed to the office, as such a naive misunderstanding would be par for the course for the person who made the appointment.

Functionally, this memo can be ignored—the only way USDOT has to enforce compliance is by withholding federal funding. Most streets that are pedestrian-focused enough to have crosswalks are maintained by local agencies that get no federal funding anyway.

In light of that, I strongly encourage Secretary Duffy to take a long walk off a short pier, then to go jump in a lake (I understand there is a rather large one in Wisconsin's 7th district, which he represented in Congress), and when he's done with that to go piss up a rope, and I would say so to Secretary Duffy were he to ask my opinion on the matter, either directly or on a Congressionally-required public comment docket.

You described someone as qualified, if not more qualified than the previous guy.

Equating a TV show guy to a previous elected official who had responsibility for their jurisdiction's transportation program is certainly a stretch.

My neighbor is working on his driveway right now. Would that make him qualify to lead DOT from your perspective?
My biggest memory of Pete B. Is how FAA - which is part of DOT - was going through complete meltdown while big boss was on paternity leave.

To be more accurate, your biggest memory of Pete B. is Fox News telling you how FAA was going through a complete meltdown while big boss was paternity leave, which is far from the truth.

I followed that story in real time, including official documents. It was not bad, it was a horrible failure which should be dealt with in criminal court.

Wonder why others didn't follow your well-informed opinion on this, then.

#28

General Highway Talk / Re: No more 'rainbow' crosswal...

Last post by mgk920 - Today at 01:20:33 PM

But looks like those lower level professionals are no longer there, most likely boomers going into sunset.

I seem to recall at the beginning of Duffy's term of office, there was a big push to get rid of a whole bunch of those lower level professionals. We had a lower level professional from another agency who was very angry about it make a thread about it on this forum, even.

I don't know if it's because I've been up since yesterday, but the idea of a LGBT organization maintaining roads seems hilarious to me for no other reason than the absurdity of the concept.

I don't know of any particular LGBT organization that has done it, but interest groups volunteering to take care of potholes and trash and other things that city governments won't do in under-served areas is a way that they sometimes try to win support for whatever their cause is.

- until they run headlong into the city's Department of Public Works ('DPW') employees' union . . .

Mike

#29

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by Max Rockatansky - Today at 01:20:18 PM

Geeze, I wonder what some of you would think of celebrating The Cry of Dolores?

#30

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by Rothman - Today at 01:18:26 PM

I kind of have a problem with July 4, but it has nothing to do with current politics. My issue is that you can't pinpoint an exact date of independence unless you use the day everyone else recognized us (September 3, 1783, when the war ended). The Declaration of Independence was signed over the process of about a month, but even it had no legal significance; the war was both before and after the signing of that document. There is nothing special about the date of July 4, 1776.

That's certainly an opinion.  But, I suspect the vast majority of people would simply raise an eyebrow at the idea that there was nothing special about the date.