Lee.org

[written 9-25-02 updated 1-24-03]

I wrote to Governor James McGreevey on 8-29-02 about this. I wrote:

Please do not rename Newark International Airport “Liberty International Airport at Newark”.

– Newark Airport had nothing to do with the attack. They’ll name the new World Trade Center after the attack, that is enough of a scar for it to leave.
– It’s a bland name that doesn’t identify the purpose for it’s naming.
– The reason for it’s naming will be completely moot (and mocked) the next time a terrorist attacks the US. And that will happen, sooner or later.
– It’s an ungainly name that doesn’t indicate where it is. The word “Newark” got tagged on at the end like the name of a shopping mall…. “The Mall at Short Hills”.

“Newark Liberty International Airport” is a slightly better choice but it still sucks.

Please don’t.

As you may know, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently approved changing the name of the facility from Newark Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport. Through the new name, Newark Liberty International honors the memory of the heroes of September 11, 2001, and reminds us all of the principles upon which our nation is founded.

Great, let’s go on a renaming spree… Jersey Truth City, Hudson Freedom River, New Liberty York City, The Empire Justice State Building….

Also, after I thought about this a while, I really really don’t want to use an airport named after an airline disaster! Would you want to sail on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Iceberg Princess? Or how about working in the Towering Inferno Towers? Or working in the McVey Towers office complex? This is so sick, it’s funny! No, it’s just sick.

1-24-03 I recently got an email from a total stranger (now I suppose he’s an “acquaintance” :-) about this Rant. He gave permission for me to repost his comments here:

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your website. What prompts me to write, however, is your Rant about the renaming of EWK. I’m from Jersey, born in Elizabeth, lived there for 22 years. Now I’m in Northern Virginia. Down here, the GOP recently re-named Washington National Airport, Reagan National Airport in honor of the Conqueror of Genada, the Pasha of Panama, and the B’wana of Bedtime for Bonzo, his imperial excellency, Mister Nancy Reagan. (Personally, I can’t wait ’til they re-re-name it Reagan Memorial Airport.) Courageously, our Metro system refused to budget money for new signs for the airport MetroRail station, and they remained unchanged until Congress provided emergency funding money to make the alterations. No one here (except political appointees) calls it Reagan Airport. In the people’s eyes, it will always be Washington National. But I know how you feel about the issue. Actually, “Newark Liberty” isn’t half-bad. Beats “Reagan”.

Winch

And here is my response to him about this:

That stupid Reagan airport thing too! Ugh! I followed that in congress while it was happening. I had to turn off CSPAN, it made me so angry! The argument was that he was a “great” president and should be honored as such. But there is no way that anyone could tell if his legacy would be “great” until 10 or 20 years after he left office! By their reckoning, a president that printed money and gave it to the people would be “great”… until the currency devaluation catches up with everyone. Oh wait, that’s what happened.

To followup on this story just a little more… Yes, the Governor renamed Newark Airport. The question is, will anyone acknowledge the name change? A quick search on Google.com on 1-24-03 is enlightening.

After a year, no one has changed their websites to match the name change.

After 10 years, the old name is still more popular than the new one!

I had been doing some research on getting a motorized bike and the Golden Eagle Bike Engines motorized bicycles, running EHO25 25cc Robin/Subaru Mini 4 engines get about 225 miles per gallon. The similar EHO35 35cc Robin/Subaru Mini-4 gets about 200 MPG. I’ve seem this claim verified in a few places.

These are 1.1 and 1.6 horsepower 4 cycle engines made by Robin Subaru that weigh under 8 lbs… under 13 with mounting hardware. So that’s a 200 lb rider, 25 lb bike, 15 lb engine…

I’m thinking of getting a motorized bicycle because:
– You need a lot of motorcycle to go over the Bay Bridge comfortably…. 250CC, $3-5k used. A motorized bike costs $200 for the bike + $550 for the engine, new. I just saw a used bike and engine on Craigslist for $325.
– You need a lot of nerve to take a motorcycle over the Bay Bridge. Lane splitting is nerve wracking and dangerous. In the 1 month I’ve been here, I saw one bike almost get bowled over by a car that didn’t see the bike and moved into his lane (or he was being a super-duper asshole). And pretty much every lane splitting motorcycle I saw was inches away from disaster.
– I mostly want the motor so I can keep up with slow urban traffic… SF traffic peaks at about 35 mph
– It would be peachy keen if I could easily put a motorized bike on a bike rack hanging off the back of my car.
– It is convenient to combine a bike (that can be run under human power) with a vehicle with more range and speed. Electric bike batteries are too heavy and underpowered.
– A motorized bike compares favorably to a 150CC scooter:

• top speed: 30mph vs 50mph
• highway capable: no vs not really
• weight: 40lbs (can be carried up stairs) vs 200lbs
• mileage: 200mpg vs 65mpg
• safety factor in an accident: similar
• cost (new): $800 vs $2,500
• towability: bike rack vs trailer
• can be pedaled effectively: yes vs no
• passenger capacity: no vs yes
• hauling capacity: backpack & 1 panier vs backpack & 1-2 cubic foot storage space
• noise: similar volume (some scooters are very quiet, most scooters make a less annoying noise than a motorized bike)
• cool factor: novelty vs sleek
• insurance: free vs $400/year (approx)

A motorized bike wins in most of these categories. So why don’t I see more of them on the street??? Am I missing something?

Beuller? Beuller?

Potential negatives….

• When riding in traffic lanes, especially at night, cars behind me might not see my (minimal compared to scooter) lights
• Cars won’t believe a bike can keep up so they’ll want to pass me, regardless of my speed
• … ?

Travis J.I. Corcoran wrote on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 3:53 PM:
> I still feel bad about that sandbar getting in the way [of your kite] in 1988.
>
> http://technicalvideorental.com/rental_93.html
>
> TJIC

I tell you, that was a great and useful experience for me. It was one of my first adult experiences showing that theoretical knowledge is sometimes worthless when performing a task. More dangerous is that theoretical knowledge can give you a false sense of security.

By Mark Jaquith. It was a total snap to install and its a gosh darn terrific plugin!

10-9-02

Everyone keeps talking about the “two party system” in the United States… Democrats and Republicans… Well, it’s not a two party system, it’s a multi-party system. Political parties are NOT (despite what they would like you to believe) a part of the government. So the next time a party manages to bend or break the rules or laws of the US government, know that corruption took place. (For instance, Lautenberg replaced Toricelli on the Democratic ticket for the NJ Senate race in November 2002. The law clearly forbade the switch but since Toricelli’s brother got in some trouble with the law, it looked like his name was tarnished enough that he’d lose…. so they were allowed to switch. Huh?)

The next time a candidate gets bumped from running merely because of it party affiliation, know that corruption took place; of course, if a candidate’s views are unpopular on their own, then he deserves to get bumped.

I just installed the Search Everything WordPress Plugin by Dan Cameron. It makes the little search button on my blog search comments as well as posts.

If you haven’t heard of it, Lazyweb is a cool. Check it out.

Dear Lazyweb,

Why does my Chrysler Sebring (3,400 lb, 2.4 liter V-6) get 27 MPG while an Aprilia Atlantic 500 scooter (425 lb, 0.46 liter 4 stroke) get only 45 MPG? If weight is any indication, shouldn’t it get more like 200 MPG?

I just went to pay a parking ticket and I ran into this rigged survey on San Francisco’s city web site.

You’ll notice two things. First, the “Highly Valuable” radio button is already pre-clicked for me. That was considerate of them, wasn’t it? Second, notice that two of the three options are positive. That’s like saying, “Using only the numbers 3, 7, or 10, rate our service on a scale from 1 to 10.”

Grrrr.

I just upgraded from WordPress 1.5 to 1.5.1.3.

[mini-woot]
It was really quite straightforward.
1. Backup backup backup
2. unzip WP 1.5.1.3 on my computer
3. upload it to my website, overwriting everything that might be overwritten.

Done.

All my plugins and add-ons still work just peachily.

Thanks PhotoMatt