Comments on Silver Spring, Singular: Begun the Sign War has.

Thomas Hardman said... Anonymous wrote, after quot...

2008-10-10T23:30:00.000-05:00

Thomas Hardman said...
Anonymous wrote, after quoting my entire remark as if he were a clueless idiot, which might in fact be the case...

[ ... ]
Building a Cheap Trolley-Like Light Rail to go from New Carollton to Bethesda is a Waste of Tax Payers money in which it can be better spent on Building a Heavy Rail Under/Above Ground Subway......

Um, to be blunt, what taxpayer money?

Have you even read a newspaper or turned on a news broadcast in the last two weeks? I'm guessing "no". Either that or whatever you perceived remains unconsidered, or perhaps you're one of those folks with a rare disorder that makes it impossible for you to actually understand implications.

When we're discussing things like future capital infrastructure projects, such things are utterly dependent on the existence of such things as a functioning economy with markets, specie, credit, paychecks, employment, and taxation. We can't possibly project the existence of such things -- based on the past performance of the administration and markets in the last two weeks -- much beyond the next two weeks.

Thus, our debates here take on all of the surrealism of a debate between missionaries -- as they start to come to a boil in a cannibal's kettle -- as to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The irrelevance is almost absolute.

To conclude, words fail me; your pointlessness beggars the language for a term sufficient to properly label you.

Friday, October 10, 2008 11:03:00 AM

RE: Your a very mentally sick man; please seek psychological evaluation..........

Anonymous wrote, after quoting my entire remark as...

2008-10-10T11:03:00.000-05:00

Anonymous wrote, after quoting my entire remark as if he were a clueless idiot, which might in fact be the case...

[ ... ]
Building a Cheap Trolley-Like Light Rail to go from New Carollton to Bethesda is a Waste of Tax Payers money in which it can be better spent on Building a Heavy Rail Under/Above Ground Subway......

Um, to be blunt, what taxpayer money?

Have you even read a newspaper or turned on a news broadcast in the last two weeks? I'm guessing "no". Either that or whatever you perceived remains unconsidered, or perhaps you're one of those folks with a rare disorder that makes it impossible for you to actually understand implications.

When we're discussing things like future capital infrastructure projects, such things are utterly dependent on the existence of such things as a functioning economy with markets, specie, credit, paychecks, employment, and taxation. We can't possibly project the existence of such things -- based on the past performance of the administration and markets in the last two weeks -- much beyond the next two weeks.

Thus, our debates here take on all of the surrealism of a debate between missionaries -- as they start to come to a boil in a cannibal's kettle -- as to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The irrelevance is almost absolute.

To conclude, words fail me; your pointlessness beggars the language for a term sufficient to properly label you.

Thomas Hardman said... Anonymous, you seem to be m...

2008-10-08T22:55:00.000-05:00

Thomas Hardman said...
Anonymous, you seem to be missing a few nuts and bolts as well as a name.

I'm well aware that the segments of Red Line I mentioned ran along extant right-of-way. Yet the point remains, that dedicating a surface transit line doesn't impede traffic. The point here is "dedicated" as opposed to "shared".

Now, that being said, let's not get all bogged in the details of, for example, how "activists" have made sure that the old rail right-of-way crossing Connecticut Avenue just south of Kensington will remain a pedestrian trial rather than being converted to a dedicated surface-rail (or bus-train) line.

Let's get involved, rather, in discussions of how you could turn the designated surface streets into a dedicated surface rail line and simply move the traffic off of those streets onto surrounding streets. Expand and improve those surrounding streets, dedicate a surface rail line, no mixed-traffic trolley, no ridiculous tunneling expenses. And you get everything done a lot faster.

I'm all for the Purple Line, I've supported the general idea (if not gotten bogged in specifics) for a decade or so. Don't believe me? Ask Brian Robinson. Tell him "klaatu" sent you. Then maybe research Google Groups history. So do me a favor and don't call me anti-purple-line.

My only real concern is that it might be "too little too late" and that would be just sad. But people insisting on nothing but a fully tunneled Purple Line are the biggest enemy of any Purple Line at all; they insist on only the most expensive, time-consuming, and 'non-scalable' solution to a problem that everyone agrees needs to be solved. Translating from server-admin concepts, it's sort of like having the "corporate pet visionary" insisting that nothing will do to deal with today's problems other than to build a whole new co-location facility, when all you really need to do is to toss another server in the local racks and upgrade your local bandwidth.

To summarize, "go get a grip yer own dang self".

Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:45:00 AM

RE: Fairfax and Loudon Counties are getting a $5 Billion Subway Extension from Falls Church/DC towards Leesburg(Includes 4 Underground Stations in Tysons Corner) but yet you want to stuff a unreliable Trolly-Like Light Rail down the Tax Payers throats just so that it will run along the Major Streets("Dedicated Right-Of-Way") that have busy Commuter Traffic..........

Building a Cheap Trolley-Like Light Rail to go from New Carollton to Bethesda is a Waste of Tax Payers money in which it can be better spent on Building a Heavy Rail Under/Above Ground Subway......

Even more lawn signs cropping up: "Drive Safe, Wal...

2008-10-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

Even more lawn signs cropping up: "Drive Safe, Walk Safe," sponsored by Prezco, a group of civic association presidents. The signs are posted all up and down Dale Drive & in neighborhoods. What side are these in the sign war?

Anonymous, you seem to be missing a few nuts and b...

2008-10-07T11:45:00.000-05:00

Anonymous, you seem to be missing a few nuts and bolts as well as a name.

I'm well aware that the segments of Red Line I mentioned ran along extant right-of-way. Yet the point remains, that dedicating a surface transit line doesn't impede traffic. The point here is "dedicated" as opposed to "shared".

Now, that being said, let's not get all bogged in the details of, for example, how "activists" have made sure that the old rail right-of-way crossing Connecticut Avenue just south of Kensington will remain a pedestrian trial rather than being converted to a dedicated surface-rail (or bus-train) line.

Let's get involved, rather, in discussions of how you could turn the designated surface streets into a dedicated surface rail line and simply move the traffic off of those streets onto surrounding streets. Expand and improve those surrounding streets, dedicate a surface rail line, no mixed-traffic trolley, no ridiculous tunneling expenses. And you get everything done a lot faster.

I'm all for the Purple Line, I've supported the general idea (if not gotten bogged in specifics) for a decade or so. Don't believe me? Ask Brian Robinson. Tell him "klaatu" sent you. Then maybe research Google Groups history. So do me a favor and don't call me anti-purple-line.

My only real concern is that it might be "too little too late" and that would be just sad. But people insisting on nothing but a fully tunneled Purple Line are the biggest enemy of any Purple Line at all; they insist on only the most expensive, time-consuming, and 'non-scalable' solution to a problem that everyone agrees needs to be solved. Translating from server-admin concepts, it's sort of like having the "corporate pet visionary" insisting that nothing will do to deal with today's problems other than to build a whole new co-location facility, when all you really need to do is to toss another server in the local racks and upgrade your local bandwidth.

To summarize, "go get a grip yer own dang self".

I've been seeing a lot of pro-purple signs in my n...

2008-10-07T10:32:00.000-05:00

I've been seeing a lot of pro-purple signs in my neighborhood, but that's a block or so off the proposed line and in a place that's mostly rentals. It's a good thing for people trying to rent-- being close to pubtrans is a nice selling point.

And the Purple Line won't wear a flag pin.

2008-10-05T06:33:00.000-05:00

And the Purple Line won't wear a flag pin.

Um Thomas, I don't know how to say this lightly, s...

2008-10-04T22:21:00.000-05:00

Um Thomas, I don't know how to say this lightly, so here goes: GET A CLUE! The sections of METRO you speak of where built in the right-of-way of an existing - and built about 1875 - railroad. That is hardly the same as Wayne Ave., Sligo Ave., or any other public roadway open to vehicular traffic in the area. Next thing you know, you'll claim that the Purple Line likes to pal around with terrorists.

Anonymous badgers a straw man when he suggests tha...

2008-10-04T12:54:00.000-05:00

Anonymous badgers a straw man when he suggests that the only alternative to an underground Purple Line is a trolley line running at surface on streets also serving automobile traffic.

Or is that "erroneous comparison of false opposites"? It's fallacious rhetoric, in any case.

A surface-running Purple Line with grade-separated crossings of major automotive arterials will still be expensive, but less so than a full-tunnel option.

To illustrate how wrong this anonymous is, perhaps anonymous can tell us how the surface-running Red Line from Takoma to Silver Spring creates traffic chaos, or perhaps how the other leg from Twinbrook to Shady Grove makes commuting a nightmare.

Thomas Hardman said... In the next hundred years, ...

2008-10-04T00:47:00.000-05:00

Thomas Hardman said...
In the next hundred years, global warming and sea-level rise might only guarantee that an underground Purple Line will be permanently flooded. Now that would be a waste of time and money.

Oh BTW don't forget that a hundred years from now all fossil fuels will be exhausted and the population of the continental US will be about 800-millions

Friday, October 03, 2008 2:49:00 PM

RE: Somthing tells me that what your saying is Scare Tactic. If Virginia can can spend time and money to have a Heavy Rail Subway built under Tysons Corner then why the Hell can they do the samething in Silver Spring and Bethesda. The only reason people would support a Outdated trolly-like train to run along major streets in highly populated Silver Spring and Bethesda is to further piss off the Middle/Upper Class Commuters that have to Drive on those busy streets. A Intelligent person would agree that the best transit option would be to build an Underground Heavy Rail Subway or an Ubove Street Level Monorail-Like Heavy Rail Subway.....

Building a cheap Unreliable 19th Century trolley-like light rail is a waste of tax payers money and won't generate the false hopes of gaining more people to use mass transit......

In the next hundred years, global warming and sea-...

2008-10-03T14:49:00.000-05:00

In the next hundred years, global warming and sea-level rise might only guarantee that an underground Purple Line will be permanently flooded. Now that would be a waste of time and money.

Oh BTW don't forget that a hundred years from now all fossil fuels will be exhausted and the population of the continental US will be about 800-millions

I don't care what street they route it along as lo...

2008-10-03T07:15:00.000-05:00

I don't care what street they route it along as long as it is under ground. Putting a train on downtown Silver Spring streets will slow both the trains and traffic. We should build it right, not in a way we'll regret for the next 100 years.

Maybe she wanted to do more than "Bee Friends".

2008-10-01T16:07:00.000-05:00

Maybe she wanted to do more than "Bee Friends".

I perfectly recreated that card once for my wife o...

2008-10-01T15:58:00.000-05:00

I perfectly recreated that card once for my wife on Valentine's Day. She did not give me the "Bee Mine" one in return, however.

"And there's a picture of a train!"

2008-10-01T15:56:00.001-05:00

"And there's a picture of a train!"

And the winners all get greeting cards, courtesy o...

2008-10-01T15:56:00.000-05:00

And the winners all get greeting cards, courtesy of Ralph Wiggum.

I think we should lock all the protestors together...

2008-10-01T14:34:00.000-05:00

I think we should lock all the protestors together in one big room (any school gyms available?) and let them fight it out. The train will be built on the street represented by the group with the least survivors.