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Flight Blog: July 14-15 & 20, 2009 | Three Weeks in October 2002 | Washington D.C. Metro Area |
Reckless & Plain Stupid Drivers | 2007 A Year In Review | Mass Transit | Signaling
Wednesday, August 5, 2009: Flight Blog: July 14-15 & 20, 2009
This blog post can be read here, due to it's length.
Monday, October 6, 2008: Three Weeks in October 2002
Three weeks in October 2002, those three weeks people in the Washington DC area feared for there life. This time was when John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo went on a shooting rampage killing 10 people and injuring 3 others. Adults, kids, elderly, black, white, it did not matter. You did not feel safe, you even feared for your life while pumping gas. I remember thinking how anyone could go around killing innocent people. These killings were senseless acts of violence. All of the information contained within this post is from Wikipedia.
The Timeline:
After the shootings on October 2nd and 3rd fear quickly spread throughout the community as news of the shootings spread. Many parents went to pick up their children at school early, not allowing them to take a school bus or walk home alone. Montgomery County Public Schools, District of Columbia Public Schools, and private schools went into a lock down, with no recess or outdoor gym classes. Other school districts in the area also took precautionary measures, keeping students indoors.
October 24: The incident came to a close on October 24, when Muhammad and Malvo were found sleeping in their car, a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice, at a rest stop off of Interstate 70 near Myersville, Maryland, and arrested on federal weapons charges. Police were tipped off by Whitney Donahue, who noticed the parked car. Donahue used his rig to block the exit from the rest stop while he alerted police. A Bushmaster .223-caliber weapon and bipod were found in a bag in Muhammad's car. Ballistics tests later conclusively linked the seized rifle to 11 of the 14 bullets recovered from earlier attacks.
During all this there was a state of fear that I have never seen. People usually mowing there lawn with headphones on would not have them and would be looking around. Pumping gas, people would duck behind there doors. Early tips from eyewitnesses included reports of a white box truck, whenever people saw a box truck they thought there would be a shooting. The investigation was publicly headed by the Montgomery County Police Department and its Police Chief, Charles A. Moose. Eyewitness accounts of the attacks were mostly confused and spotty.
At several scenes Tarot cards were left as calling cards, including one Death card upon which was written “Dear Policeman, I am God. Do not tell the media about this.” This information was leaked to the press. Later scenes had long, handwritten notes carefully sealed inside plastic bags, including a rambling one that demanded $10,000,000 and threatened the lives of children in the area.
During the period of the attacks, the North American media devoted enormous amounts of air time and newspaper space to each new attack. By the middle of October 2002, all-news television networks were providing live coverage of the aftermath of each new attack, with the coverage often lasting for hours at a time. The FOX show “America's Most Wanted” even devoted an entire episode to the shooters in hopes of aiding in their capture.
There was a lot more to these attacks than what was written here, but I wanted to compile this for my visitors to read, you can read the whole the entry on Wikipedia.
Here are some more of the details of victims and ballistics information from the shootings [Washington Post].
There is a memorial "Reflection Terrace" at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD to honor the 10 victims of the attacks. Also were Conrad Johnson was shot there is a memorial bench as a sign on the bus stop including a shrub and flowers. See the pictures on Flickr.
Picture Originally Upload By: Daniel.Techie..... @ Flickr.com
Friday, May 16, 2008: Washington D.C. Metro Area
It's been a while since my last post this one has been a good while coming, just never got around to writing it.
Washington D.C. = "Create Your Own Power Trip"
Living in the Washington DC Metro area is wonderful for a variety of reasons. The most important one has to be the public transportation options(see this post). The main one is Metro which consists of both rail (Metrorail) and bus (Metrobus) which is operated the the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). All of Washington DC is accessibly by Metro train and/or bus and some walking. Metrorail is safe, reliable, comfortable, and most important does not runs late (except during delays, etc...). It is easy to understand and its next to impossible to get lost. There are 5 lines (Red, Orange, Blue, Green, and Yellow lines. From some of the stations you can transfer to other lines to get to your destination. There are Metro employees anytime you need them. Some of the stations have parking for $4.25 to $4.75 depending on the station, but even better on weekends and holidays parking is free....YAY!
A bit off the subject but:
Some facts about Metro go here (PDF):
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority operates the second largest rail transit system and the fifth largest bus network in the United States.
Metrorail and Metrobus serve a population of 3.5 million within a 1,500 square-mile area. The transit zone consists of the District of Columbia, the suburban Maryland counties of Montgomery and Prince George’s and the Northern Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church.
Ok, back to to what I was writing about before I got side-tracked.
But the best thing to happen to Metro in my onion; has to be SmarTrip®. If you leave in the DC Metro area and take public transit this is one card you can not live without. If you use Smartrip over cash on Metrobus you save $.10 (Same with Ride-On). Regular Fare (cash) is $1.35 w/Smartrip is $1.25.
With Smartrip there is no need for a paper farecard or a paper transfer, this one card replaces it all. SmarTrip is a permanent, rechargeable farecard. It's plastic – like a credit card – and is embedded with a special computer chip that keeps track of the value of the card., now Smartrip cards are not only accepted on Metro but now on other local bus systems as well, currently accepted on: Ride-On, DASH, Fairfax Connector, CUE, ART, PRTC OmniRide, and DC Circulator. Hopefully other locals systems will adopt Smartrip.
Transferring is simple with SmarTrip®. There’s no need for paper transfers. If you transfer (within two hours of boarding your first bus) from one Ride On bus to another, or between Ride On and Metrobus, the farebox will "read" the transfer information on your card. If you transfer from Metrorail to Ride On or to Metrobus, the card will automatically deduct the $.35 transfer fee. You will still need a paper transfer if you transfer to a bus system other than Ride On or Metrobus. (From the Ride-On Smartrip Brochure ~ PDF)
Depending on the fare respective to each system the Smartrip reader will deduct the respective amount.
Also the many other bus systems available are excellent to get you anywhere you need to go. From my experience I have no need to drive, public transit gets me were I need to go and with the gas prices going up at ridiculous rates and traffic getting worse, I am grateful to have these transportation options.
Then there is the no lack on police in the region. DC is not the place to be committing a crime. Also the culture and diversity, there is no lack of that here.
Another things has to be the amount of stuff to see/do around Washington, the main thing has to be the numerous museums of the Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian is the world's largest museum complex and research organization composed of 19 museums, 9 research centers, and the National Zoo. The majority of the Smithsonian museums and others attractions are located around the National Mall. The National Mall covers 309.2 acres. (Wikipedia). The National Mall is a great place to relax, have a picnic, play, and many other things. There are so many places to just relax in DC. The National Mall is America's Front Lawn
There are are also many things to see and do, a good chunk of them are listed below. I have lived in DC Metro Area all of my life, and I have yet to see everything in DC.
There are many others not listed above .....Thanks for reading.
Thursday, February 28, 2008: Reckless & Plain Stupid Drivers
I was prompted to write the following blrub by reading this article about a street car were 8 onlookers were killed in Maryland.
NOTE: What is written below is not targeted at any: age group, race, ethnicity, etc...
In 2006, I lost a good friend of 3 years to a drunk driver. She was coming home from a night class and while proceeding through a intersection, with a green light, a teenager who was later discovered to be intoxicated, ran the red light and hit her car, slamming it into a tree.She was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, were she later died. After that accident, I swore never to drink alcohol for any reason, 4 years later I have stayed true to what I swore.
In today’s society, just because you have a license to drive does not mean you know how to drive. In my years of driving I have seen almost everything; none of which are safe and/or reckless.
You may already know the stuff listed or have heard/seen these points, but the articles and statistics will drive these points home. Not all the points are listed below but the majority of them are.
Here is the definition of reckless driving from Wikipedia:
"Reckless driving, in the United States, is a serious moving traffic violation. As an offense reckless driving is variously described by different U.S. state statutes. It is usually a more serious offense than careless or improper driving and is often punishable by fines, imprisonment, and/or driver's license suspension or revocation."
"Reckless driving is either a mental state in which the driver of an automobile behaves recklessly, or a condition where, a driver, even though neither behaving recklessly nor in a dangerous fashion, operates a vehicle in a manner that is de jure or statutorily unlawful. In the case where a driver is behaving recklessly, the driver often misjudges common driving procedures, intentionally causing accidents and other damages. Reckless driving has been studied by psychologists. However, not one cause can be assigned to this state."
Stupid: Driving with a suspended license, WHY? Your license could of been suspend for a reason some of which may be listed in this post. This is your fault, not anyone else's. And let's not forget the STOP sign. It is there for a reason. The people that run them or don't look before they proceed = accidents.
Montgomery County, MD police Sgt. Meredith Dominick.
"We wish everyone would adhere to that, and realize it's a law and the reason that it's the law is because they do save lives."
Here is one of the points from the article they say: "Motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free cell phones drove slightly slower, were 9 percent slower to hit the brakes, displayed 24 percent more variation in following distance as their attention switched between driving and conversing, were 19 percent slower to resume normal speed after braking and were more likely to crash. Three study participants rear-ended the pace car. All were talking on cell phones. None were drunk.
Now that you have read this over, think about it, just think! with all these things listed above. Do you know the risks you are taking? You are not only putting your self in danger but also other people. What if you hit another card on god forbid a person, and you were doing the stuff listed above or something else, that took your concentration of the road. If it was your fault there is no excuse for what you did. WHAT IF you hit a person and killed them, the consequence are bad, there can be nothing good that comes out of it. Yes speeding is fun, but you hit another car or a object the forces involved are tremendous. PLEASE heed safety tips don't do stupid and/or reckless things while driving. Do you want to to see what happened to me, happen to your friends or family? DO YOU?
Friday, December 28, 2007: 2007 A Year In Review
As I sit on a flight to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) aboard a Boeing 767 (to be exact: Boeing 767-322/ER registered N651UA; flying at a altitude of 38,000 ft, currently flying over Kentucky, eating my “minimeal” which I paid $5 for, it’s the perfect time to look back on 2007. Just in case you are wondering our aircraft is traveling at a ground speed of 481 MPH and the temperature outside is a chilly -60˚F and there is frost forming on the window. The sun is rising over the wing revealing an amazing ski and excellent light settings. There are no clouds and I can see all the way to the ground. I love flying. The sound of the engines, the view, the service; what more could you ask for? So with that said let’s begin!
2007 was a great year for me. 1st was my graduation from Montgomery College with my Associates of Applied Science (A.A.S) in Computers. Montgomery College is a wonderful institution with wonderful teacher and helpful staff not to mention endless possibilities. The years that I spent there among the three campuses (Germantown, Rockville, Takoma Park/Silver Spring), I would not trade for anything. All the wonderful memories that I will always cherish and all the friends that I made. . At the beginning it seemed easy but it got harder and harder with easy in between. I never gave up as much as I believed that I could not do it, but I did do it and look what I archived. Even though I changed my major twice I followed my chosen track till the end.
2nd was the launch the panda cam site. At first it was only the National Zoo, Atlanta, and Memphis cams, but as time went by I finally added the much requested San Diego cam. At that point the core of my Panda cam page was complete. From that point on design changes after design changes until I finally found a design that was soothing and appealing to the eyes and user. A lot of time & effort went into designing my page to be friendly and a nice place to visit. From the 1st cam page I added various other pages to help navigate user around my various pages. When I first designed my page it was my own project to test out my skills, I never would have thought that it would take-off like it did. To this day I strive to improve my page. But in 2008 there may be new things…stay tuned.
The pretty covers the major and worth writing events of 2007.
Monday, December 9, 2007: Mass Transit
We all know that our car-based society* is not sustainable (not to mention dehumanizing). Smaller, lighter cars and hybrids can help us reduce the amount of energy used per kilometer/mile driven and and cut down on air pollution and smog, but these are not a solution in themselves, just a small band-aid on a pretty big wound. A larger systemic change has to take place at both ends....." SITE
In today's of world "go to get there fast" driving seems to be the only way to get were you need to go. But there is another option mass transit.
Yes mass transit, does not have all the luxury's of driving, but it less of a hassle. You do not need to deal with bad drivers, traffic (sometimes) , and most important GAS!
As gas prices fluctuate, some places gas is approaching $3 per/gallon. Mass transit is becoming a more important part of our lives, Most if not all major states have a mass transit system, consisting of buses and trains. Here were I live we have the benefit of have Metro (both trains and bus). Metro goes into three major areas: Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
When it comes to the bus there are many options including:
Buses are not only diesel powered anymore, now there are Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), clean-diesel, and hybrid-electric. All help save our environment.
(Left To Right: Clean-Diesel, CNG, Hybrid)
Sunday, November 25, 2007: Signaling
Signaling is a courtesy to let other drivers know what your intentions are on the road. What is so hard to do? Drivers do not see the importance of signaling. If you don't signal that leads to crashes. A simple action as using your signal can save the aggravation of other drivers trying to figure out what the hell your intentions are.
According to Online Auto Insurance News survey conducted in March 2006 found out that:
The survey also found out that there are a couple of diff rent types of drivers: Impulsive, Lazy, Forgetful, Swervers, Ostriches, Followers, and the Dare Devils.
The survey also found out that:
I always signal......even for lane-changes!
It annoys me as a pedestrian when you're crossing a road, junction or by a roundabout and you see a car coming but think it's safe to cross, so you start to cross and then all of a sudden the car honks at you and turn into where you're crossing as if it's your fault! If i had seen the signals going in that car I wouldn't have crossed because i'd have seen that they were going to turn! I yell at them SIGNAL!
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