Friday Morning Commute - The Final Countdown

Today, if the weather holds out and everything else works, will be the last Space Shuttle launch ever, which makes me nostalgic for my brief period testing software for the Shuttles (I wonder if any of the code my team wrote is still on board). They had just upgraded the computers and the new ones had 1 MB of memory (up from 500kb) and our job was to fill up that 500kb with useful stuff. I worked on testing code that would allow them to redirect the launch path during flight based on real time weather observations. This would increase accuracy of orbit insertion and allow them to conserve fuel so that they could stay in orbit longer. Anyway it was all pretty cool, and when I got to Goddard I wondered why the place didn't shut down during a launch so that everyone could gather around TV monitors to watch. I guess it was more of a Johnson thing. At Kennedy, I suspect they just go outside.

• The NCPC picked the winner of the President's Park South Design Competition. It wasn't the one that showed bike lanes on E Street though. Of the winner and E Street they wrote "Should threat conditions change in the future, this design could also accommodate re-opening E Street, NW without requiring significant changes."
• Another winner, the team that is redesigning the Southwest Waterfront, filed a preliminary report with the DC zoning office, bringing them one step closer to breaking ground. The three phase project, expected to complete in 2022, will, among other things, "turn Water Street into a promenade with 60' of width shared between pedestrians, streetcars, bikes and outdoor diners."
• BikingTown is coming in September. I have to remember to sign up to lead a tour next year. I have a good one.
• NoMa's summer screen next week (July 13th) has "a "bike-in" theme—the first 50 bikers will win a NoMa bike swag bag." The movie is The Dejarling Limited.
• There are just so many things wrong here. (1) The "self-righteous environmental snobbery" is all in her head. We're just trying to get somewhere, same as you. (2) Relegating cyclists to bike lanes or "tough cookies" when none are available is going to require a lot of cookies. (3) Anyone who thinks they're the next Lance Armstrong goes faster than 5 mph. (4) "I rev my engine in hopes of scaring the sheets out of the offensive biker. It has never worked." Classy - and illegal. She's only 19 I suppose.
• The Custis Trail is having some paving work done. "The contractor has moved beyond the projected section and will complete resurfacing up to the Lincoln Street ramp today. The detour takes you around to 14th Street, then back on the Custis trail. This section of the Custis Trail is expected to be open Friday 7/8."
• The author of this story about the new law that let's two-wheeled vehicles run red lights after waiting 120 seconds is not 19, so I don't know what their excuse is. "It’s a small victory, two-wheeled drivers say, in a constant battle between those on bikes and those behind the wheel. But some drivers feel it’s putting the brakes on safety." What? This has nothing to do with the "battle between" drivers and cyclists. It's about a flaw in technology. The video (at bottom) briefly mentions this, but mostly they act like this law is an Idaho Stop law. If only. And then some guy rambles on about bikes on the sidewalk, because that's relevant.
• Another try for the children's bike ride with the Columbia police. 
• Democrat Pamela Danner, running for the 34th Virginia District House of Delegates seat against freshman incumbent Republican Barbara Comstock, "would work to... bolster pedestrian and bicyclist access to future Metrorail stations on the Silver Line."
• Charles Blackford, the cyclist who died on Wednesday, may have been drinking. It is unlikely any charges will stem from the incident. Officers were called about him being on the road before the crash occurred.
• Maryland's Indian Head Rail Trail is Rails-to-Trails featured trail this month. "This is the first rail-trail conversion in southern Maryland," Roland says proudly. "Since 2009, we've probably had close to 170,000 visitors, and it's been very well-accepted by our community. We're seeing families, runners, bikers, birders, photographers, artists. It has been really nice."
• Cool lights for your wheels. You still need a head light and tail light though.
• Rep. Mica's proposed transportation bill eliminates any federal guarantee for bicycle and pedestrian programs and it and discourages states from choosing to spend their dollars on these activities that are “not in the federal interest.” "Meanwhile on the Senate side,  James Inhofe (R-OK), the lead Republican negotiator on the transportation bill, declared that one of his TOP THREE priorities for the transportation bill is to eliminate ‘frivolous spending for bike trails.’" Bike advocacy groups are organizing to oppose Mica's bill. Meanwhile AAA's Lon Anderson likes the policy direction even though he thinks there are too few dollars. Democrats think it's too small too. “This is a cruel imitation of a proposal,” added Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). “This is not a serious proposal. No one would really propose that districts get a third of what they got last time.”

Comments

[Joe D]

Okay, I've said this before, and now I've got the VA code citation. 46.2-833.C specifies that "[i]f the traffic lights controlling an intersection are out of service because of a power failure or other event that prevents the giving of signals by the traffic lights, the drivers of vehicles approaching such an intersection shall proceed as though such intersection were controlled by a stop sign on all approaches."

As I read that, if the light will not ever turn green for you, you treat it as a stop sign. The new (or revised) subsection B just codifies that treatment for a signal you don't yet know is incapable of turning green for you.

[Crickey7]

The signal activators I run into in Maryland generally turn the light for me, although I have to position myself right over the center of the loop, and it helps if I've have the Super Burrito with extra cheese for munch.

[IMGoph]

that patch woman who wrote that anti-bike screed goes on to say that we shouldn't take her seriously in the comments. sounds like she's auditioning to the be the next tony kornheiser. too bad for her.

[washcycle]

I know, but Tracy Morgan said the same thing. There are limits [SNL did a great sketch on this once with Roseanne Barr after she made fun of the National Anthem].

Worse than the straw man argument and the language errors is the fact that it's just hack. There isn't really an original joke in there - except maybe the part where she brings in the motorcyclists. I can see my old stand-up friends rolling their eyes at this. "You need more Dan Quayle jokes" as Howard Kremer used to say.

[dayglo]

All the Patch author needed to say was "not intended to be a factual statement." That gets you out of anything.

[Blue-eyed Devil]

Guess it was only a matter of time, given the prevalent hysteria over the fear--real or, more often, manufactured--of terrorism in this country:

http://gawker.com/5819455/reporter-if-new-york-city-gets-bike-lanes-the-terrorists-win

[JJJJJ]

Re: Patch article. Ignoring for a second the argument, and how it has more holes than a cheese grater, the quality of writing is pretty damn poor. If that's what it takes to get published these days, I need to start sending out my resume to that kind of website.