Monthly Archives: January 2017
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News Featured Stories- January 27, 2017 63
Today on my morning commute, I had the opportunity to help someone. I noticed a man in a motorized wheelchair having some trouble getting his chair onto the train. Another commuter and I asked if he wanted assistance and we lifted his wheels and helped him onto the train. What kind of access do people with disabilities to public transportation? While the Americans With Disabilities Act mandates access to public transportation, it has its shortcomings, especially in certain parts of the country. A recent study indicates that self-driving cars are a viable solution for Americans with disabilities...
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News Featured Stories- January 20, 2017 41
You can see it all the time, but sometimes you have to pay attention. Someone giving their bus seat to an elderly person. A person letting someone traveling with small children ahead of them at a convenience store. Everyday good. We saw it in Portland, Oregon a few days ago.
Everyday Good In Rare Portland Winter
Portland doesn't usually get a lot of snow. Snow is so rare that, for environmental reasons, they don't use rock salt on roads. A snow storm recently brought 13 inches of snow and somewhat shut down the city. A video from a news helicopter shows a car getting stuck on train tracks in the...
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News Featured Stories- January 16, 2017 101
I have weather alerts set up for 3 places. New York, where I live, Topeka, where my parents live, and the Bay Area, where 2 of brothers live with their families.
It's been an interesting week. The Bay Area is officially not in a drought after a drought monitor issued Thursday. Powerful storms in the area have caused at least 40% of the state to enter a drought.
Even though it's still winter, yesterday in New York it was around 70°. It was so amazing. I wore a t-shirt in January. Then there's Jupiter.
Winter Storm Jupiter
Winter storm Jupiter is a huge multi-day ice storm that is expected to cut...
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News Featured Stories- January 12, 2017 51
SB 1072, commonly called the "Paul Lee School Bus Safety Law", went into effect at the start of 2017. The bill was drafted in response to the 2015 tragic death of 19-year-old Hun Joon "Paul" Lee. Paul Lee was a student with severe autism, who died after being locked inside a parked school bus.
The law states that all school buses, car motor vehicles, and youth buses must be outfitted with special alert systems. An audible alarm starts when the required technology generates an audible alarm when the ignition is turned off. The driver must walk to the rear of the bus to turn off the alarm. This...
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News- January 06, 2017 26
I received a bunch of texts early Wednesday morning. They were from friends and family checking if I was alright. I was commuting to work at the time, and received the text and alerts about the horrible LIRR crash when I got off my A train stop, about 3 miles from the crash. Thankfully no one was killed, but more than 100 people were injured when a train failed to stop and hit a bumping block in the Atlantic terminal. The train was reportedly traveling 10 mph, nearly double the speed limit for approaching trains. They also indicate that the engineer may have been suffering from sleep apnea.
Sleep...
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Featured Stories- January 05, 2017 45
Happy New Year! It's finally cold in New York. The kind of cold where you carefully layer clothing and speed walk to the bus to avoid the brisk morning wind. It makes me want to go RVing more than ever.
Though I spent a lot of time camping and in the outdoors growing up, I've never been RVing. Learning about RV culture has been like learning a new language, exciting and challenging. Many of our systems are made for RVs, but the culture is a whole new world. It's very exciting discovering terms like toads, dry weight, and full-timing.
Toad: Vehicle towed behind a motor home
Dry Weight: The weight...
