Driven by high gas prices and an uncertain economy, Americans are turning to trains and buses to get around in greater numbers than ever before. But the aging transit systems they're riding face an $80 billion maintenance backlog that jeopardizes service just when it's most in demand.
The boost in ridership comes as pain at the gas pump and the sluggish economic recovery combine with a migration of young adults to cities and new technology that makes transit faster and friendlier than in the past. The number of transit trips over a 12-month period will likely set a new record later this month or next, say Federal Transit Administration officials. The current peak is 10.3 billion trips over a year, set in December 2008.
But decades of deferred repairs and modernization projects also have many transit agencies scrambling to keep trains and buses in operation. The transit administration estimated in 2010 that it would take $78 billion to get transit systems into shape, and officials say the backlog has grown since then. In some places, workers search the Internet for spare parts that are no longer manufactured. In others, trains operate using equipment designed, literally, in the horse-and-buggy era.
In Philadelphia, for example, commuters ride trains over rusty steel bridges, some of them dating back to the 19th century. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority - which operates subway, trolley, bus and commuter rail systems - is responsible for 346 bridges that are on average 80 years old. Officials said they may be forced to slow trains or even stop them from crossing one bridge that's 1,000 feet long and 90 feet above the ground if it deteriorates further, leaving stations on the other side without service.
A key power substation relies on electrical equipment manufactured in 1926. There's no hope for acquiring spare parts, so workers try to open the boxes housing the equipment as infrequently as possible to prevent damage from exposure to the environment.
"We're operating on a prayer on that line," Joseph Casey, the transportation authority's general manager, said in an interview. "If that fails, half of our commuter rail system would shut down." The system carries 125,000 passengers on weekdays.
The transportation authority doesn't have enough money to replace the bridges or outdated electrical equipment, Casey said. In recent years, the authority has spent $600 million on renovating elevated portions of a subway line that dates back to 1905, and $100 million to install a federally required rail safety system. Another $327 million was spent on new rail cars to replace 72 cars built in 1964. Some of the older cars - nearly 40 of which are still in service - are in such disrepair that passengers get soaked from leaks when it rains.
And yet passengers made 334 million trips on the transit system last year, the most in 22 years, despite a 9 percent fare hike. So far this year, ridership is up 3 percent, Casey said.
San Francisco's subway system, Bay Area Rapid Transit, faces many similar problems. Opened in 1972, BART was at that time the most automated subway system in the nation. But circuit boards and other electronic components for 449 original train cars - out of the system's total of 669 cars - are now 40 years old, no longer manufactured and often impossible to replace.
BART employees regularly scour eBay and other websites in search of after-market dealers who might stock the parts, said Tamar Allen, manager of BART's mechanical operations. When they find a dealer, they buy every useable part until "the well runs dry," she said.
And that's still not enough. Some cars have been cannibalized for parts in order to keep other cars working. Cars whose parts have been removed are still in use, but only when they can be sandwiched between other cars, Allen said. In some cases, employees have re-engineered parts when no replacements could be found, but it's a difficult process because there is no margin for error, she said.
BART plans to buy 775 new cars by 2023 at an estimated cost of $3.2 billion, but so far the agency has identified only about a third of the money - enough for the first phase of 200 cars, James Allison, a BART spokesman, said. Where will the rest come from? "We're working on that," he said.
2012年4月16日星期一
2012年3月8日星期四
In Defense of Liquid Smoke
My mother cooks to feed her family. She produced low-fat, low-salt, balanced meals for four children who grew up healthy and strong.
My father cooks to soothe his soul. He sometimes whistles hymns while he works, turning his kitchen into a Sunday morning church service.
Everything my father cooks begins with a full stick of butter, melted slowly just until it starts to foam. On special occasions, he unearths the faded black stock pot he and my mother received as a wedding gift and makes his “secret” recipe barbeque sauce. The recipe is secret, because it’s always different, made from whatever condiments my mother has in the fridge. But there are three constants: that stick of butter, ketchup and a healthy dose of Liquid Smoke.
When my mother went back to work, some of the family cooking duties fell to me, and I set out to capture the magic I felt when my father was in the kitchen. I knew I’d never get away with using butter by the stick, and my 12-year-old knife skills were no match for my father’s. That left the Liquid Smoke. I put it in everything.
My mom’s meatloaf recipe got a dose of Liquid Smoke. So did the instructions she left me for making taco meat. It was not until I started putting the stuff in my spaghetti sauce that my older brother, John, pushed his chair away from the dinner table and declared that he would eat nothing more that I cooked, unless I stopped cooking with Liquid Smoke.
I dialed it back a bit after that.
Today, my father can still be found standing in the golden desert sunlight that streams through my family’s Southern California kitchen, slowly and meticulously chopping onions and potatoes into perfectly uniform cubes. Here in Boston, I have learned to reserve Liquid Smoke for my dad’s barbeque beans and amazing slow cooker pulled pork. I did not inherit his patience, so I buy commercially made barbeque sauce. But, you should see my Sunday morning potatoes and onions. Every cube is perfect.
My father cooks to soothe his soul. He sometimes whistles hymns while he works, turning his kitchen into a Sunday morning church service.
Everything my father cooks begins with a full stick of butter, melted slowly just until it starts to foam. On special occasions, he unearths the faded black stock pot he and my mother received as a wedding gift and makes his “secret” recipe barbeque sauce. The recipe is secret, because it’s always different, made from whatever condiments my mother has in the fridge. But there are three constants: that stick of butter, ketchup and a healthy dose of Liquid Smoke.
When my mother went back to work, some of the family cooking duties fell to me, and I set out to capture the magic I felt when my father was in the kitchen. I knew I’d never get away with using butter by the stick, and my 12-year-old knife skills were no match for my father’s. That left the Liquid Smoke. I put it in everything.
My mom’s meatloaf recipe got a dose of Liquid Smoke. So did the instructions she left me for making taco meat. It was not until I started putting the stuff in my spaghetti sauce that my older brother, John, pushed his chair away from the dinner table and declared that he would eat nothing more that I cooked, unless I stopped cooking with Liquid Smoke.
I dialed it back a bit after that.
Today, my father can still be found standing in the golden desert sunlight that streams through my family’s Southern California kitchen, slowly and meticulously chopping onions and potatoes into perfectly uniform cubes. Here in Boston, I have learned to reserve Liquid Smoke for my dad’s barbeque beans and amazing slow cooker pulled pork. I did not inherit his patience, so I buy commercially made barbeque sauce. But, you should see my Sunday morning potatoes and onions. Every cube is perfect.
2012年3月7日星期三
A look at Seven Souls Online with the NEOWIZ team
Just a few short weeks ago, Seven Souls Online was in closed beta and Massively readers were scooping up beta keys to test it out. Now, with closed beta, well, closed and open beta just around the corner, the team at NEOWIZ GAMES sat down to show off the state of the game and its plans for launch. The devs showed some beginner gameplay and then revealed some of the content that's ready and waiting for the higher levels. From jackpots to cubes to rage mode, Lead Community Manager Cesar Gatica and Marketing Manager Joon Yoon explained it all. What the heck are jackpots, cubes, and rage mode? Read on!
First off, the team gave an overview of the nuts and bolts of the game, starting with classes. As Community Manager Gatica explained, there are three classes. The Exiled Avenger is best described as a rogue type, with stealth, dagger, and ranged attacks. The Imperial Guard is basically a melee toon, with a variety of weapons at his dispense, while the Manatech Rebel is looks like a hybrid melee/magic user. There is a fourth class hinted at on the character select screen, but right now its still under wraps and will be revealed later on. The character creator is very detailed, and when open beta arrives, the team plans on holding an in-game event called "infamous character creator" to see how many famous icons players can come up with.
The game takes place in the realm of Akkadia, and when open beta launches, players will be able to access more areas than in closed. The tutorial areas and the UI have the same familiar features that are common in MMOs, with features like minimaps, quest trackers, waypoint paths, and casting hotbars. One of the more unique features, though, is the Jackpot bar. It's based on damage dealt, and when you've dealt enough and filled the bar, you can select from four different prizes and then roll to see what you've won. There is a chance of failure, though!
Another feature that the team showed off is the cube system. When players reach level 10, they gain access to the Cube, in which players can place items and then combine, dismantle, or copy them. Combining unwanted items in the cube gives you a chance of creating a tier pebble, which is a crafting item, and from there you can click on that to get a random item. If you dismantle an tem, it spawns jewels that can be applied to the armor and gives stat bonuses as well as improves the look of the armor. There are currently 10 levels, and when you reach the higher levels you begin to glow silver and eventually gold. If you feel lucky and want to see if you can double your loot, you can put an item in the cube, copy it, and have a chance to create a second copy of the item.
Combat is fast, and based on a combo-system. The more successive hits, the greater the damage you deal. It also opens up special attacks and chain attacks as well as rage mode. When a player does enough damage, he can activate rage, which allows him to do double damage for a certain amount of time. As players level up, the time they remain in rage increases.
While you're out adventuring, there are regular task-type quests, area quests that open up as you enter a certain area, and special storyline quests. The storyline quests are a bit more in depth, and during the demo, the team showed a cutscene involving a traitorous general and his army, who are attempting to take over a palace, and the player is asked to drive them back. As for the zones, when players start off, the areas have an Asian look to them, but as players venture out, the areas take on more of a Medieval-European look. Players can use both portals located throughout the areas to speed up travel and travel hubs that allow them to ride floating futuristic-steampunk motorcycles to various waypoints.
The team also talked about features and content for groups and guilds. Guilds can level up in game, and as they level up, they can earn special buffs. There is group content for up to groups of four as well as overland bosses for groups and larger bosses for raids of over 20 players.
The world is PvP, but there are no factions, so it's pretty much a free-for-all. However, the team has said that it is always listening to what the community wants, and the devs have the ability to switch to a PvE style if the players demand it.
First off, the team gave an overview of the nuts and bolts of the game, starting with classes. As Community Manager Gatica explained, there are three classes. The Exiled Avenger is best described as a rogue type, with stealth, dagger, and ranged attacks. The Imperial Guard is basically a melee toon, with a variety of weapons at his dispense, while the Manatech Rebel is looks like a hybrid melee/magic user. There is a fourth class hinted at on the character select screen, but right now its still under wraps and will be revealed later on. The character creator is very detailed, and when open beta arrives, the team plans on holding an in-game event called "infamous character creator" to see how many famous icons players can come up with.
The game takes place in the realm of Akkadia, and when open beta launches, players will be able to access more areas than in closed. The tutorial areas and the UI have the same familiar features that are common in MMOs, with features like minimaps, quest trackers, waypoint paths, and casting hotbars. One of the more unique features, though, is the Jackpot bar. It's based on damage dealt, and when you've dealt enough and filled the bar, you can select from four different prizes and then roll to see what you've won. There is a chance of failure, though!
Another feature that the team showed off is the cube system. When players reach level 10, they gain access to the Cube, in which players can place items and then combine, dismantle, or copy them. Combining unwanted items in the cube gives you a chance of creating a tier pebble, which is a crafting item, and from there you can click on that to get a random item. If you dismantle an tem, it spawns jewels that can be applied to the armor and gives stat bonuses as well as improves the look of the armor. There are currently 10 levels, and when you reach the higher levels you begin to glow silver and eventually gold. If you feel lucky and want to see if you can double your loot, you can put an item in the cube, copy it, and have a chance to create a second copy of the item.
Combat is fast, and based on a combo-system. The more successive hits, the greater the damage you deal. It also opens up special attacks and chain attacks as well as rage mode. When a player does enough damage, he can activate rage, which allows him to do double damage for a certain amount of time. As players level up, the time they remain in rage increases.
While you're out adventuring, there are regular task-type quests, area quests that open up as you enter a certain area, and special storyline quests. The storyline quests are a bit more in depth, and during the demo, the team showed a cutscene involving a traitorous general and his army, who are attempting to take over a palace, and the player is asked to drive them back. As for the zones, when players start off, the areas have an Asian look to them, but as players venture out, the areas take on more of a Medieval-European look. Players can use both portals located throughout the areas to speed up travel and travel hubs that allow them to ride floating futuristic-steampunk motorcycles to various waypoints.
The team also talked about features and content for groups and guilds. Guilds can level up in game, and as they level up, they can earn special buffs. There is group content for up to groups of four as well as overland bosses for groups and larger bosses for raids of over 20 players.
The world is PvP, but there are no factions, so it's pretty much a free-for-all. However, the team has said that it is always listening to what the community wants, and the devs have the ability to switch to a PvE style if the players demand it.
2011年9月7日星期三
Illusionist finds his great escape
IT'S no exaggeration to say magic changed Paul Cosentino's life. As a young child, he was shy, not very popular and educationally a slow developer. "I didn't read my first word until I was in grade three," says the magician/escape artist/illusionist and runner-up in this year's Aus-tralia's Got Talent. "I cannot explain how terrible it was to be asked to read out loud. It was shocking. It really crushes you."
His mother, a school principal, took him to all kinds of experts, but nothing helped until, aged 12, he learnt his first coin trick. Suddenly, he wanted to know more.
There was a book in the house, an encyclopaedia of magic, but Cosentino wasn't quite up to reading it, even at 12, so his mother read it to him and as he became more and more entranced by the world of possibility it opened up, he realised he was going to have to start reading himself. "And from being this kid who couldn't speak or talk, I became by 16 somebody who was standing in front of people performing, and it was all because of magic," he says.
The bookshelves in Cosentino's workshop in a wing of his parents' house in Lysterfield are crammed with tomes on magic, illusions and escape artistry, as well as DVDs and videos, all of which he's devoured over the years. There are signed posters and photos on the walls from the likes of Penn and Teller, David Blaine and David Copperfield, all of whom he has met (mostly in Las Vegas). "When I first met them they were my heroes," he says. "It's weird to think there are kids now who might look at me in the same way."
If there are, he readily acknowledges it's all down to the Channel Seven talent show. He didn't win, but an estimated 4 million people (including regional and time-shifted audiences) saw his high-energy mix of Michael Jackson-style dance moves and magic.
"It's made a huge difference," says the 28-year-old on the eve of his first Melbourne theatre show, at the Athenaeum. "I'm not doing anything different to what I've been doing for the last 10 years, but suddenly people know I exist."
Grateful as he is for the exposure, he bemoans the fact that there's no infrastructure he can tap into to take his act to the next level. In fact, the only support network is the one he and his family have made. One brother, Adam, is his manager, another brother, John, is his trainer, and his father, a structural engineer, helps design the elaborate props, including the rig from which a heavily manacled Cosentino was dropped into five metres of water at the Melbourne Aquarium last February.
That stunt — in which he spent three minutes and 39 seconds under water — was a year in the planning, cost $25,000 of Cosentino's money and brought not a cent of direct income. "It was all about raising my profile," he says.
It did, however, bring him plenty of offers to repeat the stunt. He declined them all. "Just the natural high — you haven't had air for four minutes, then all this air goes rushing in — it's just exhilarating. I can never recapture that moment now. It's a one-off. For me it's lost its interest. You're not going to get on a motorbike to set the world record for a jump then say, 'I guess I'll do it again'. You've done it. I want to do a new stunt."
He does have another eye-catching stunt in mind, though.
In his studio-workshop — the space in fact houses an indoor swimming pool, its surface long since boarded over — there's a metal cage about the size of a small car. Inside it is a grid of 25-centimetre-long metal spikes, suspended upside down, attached to a rope that is itself attached to a winch. At the Athenaeum shows, Cosentino will be inside the box with the spikes suspended above his head. He'll be in a straitjacket, he'll be chained and the door to the cage will be locked. And then the rope will be set on fire. He will have three minutes to escape.
While Cosentino is confident he can stay on just the right side of danger, he says the risk is real. "There is an element of danger, and that's the whole reason you're doing it. If it's too safe, if it's 100 per cent sure, what's the point?"
Impressive as it sounds, the stunt he will perform at the Athenaeum will be the light version. What he's working up to in the full version is a Blaine-like public endurance test with a Houdini-style death-defying finale. He plans to spend 48 hours locked inside the cube, without food or toilet breaks, suspended in a public place. At the end of it, the rope will be set alight.
"I really don't know what that will do to me, whether the body will be cramped up, what effect the wind might have on burning rates. There's a lot we don't know yet."
Some people have asked him if he has a death wish, but he's adamant they're missing the point. "It's about pushing it to the limit where you know it's safe but you're walking that line," he says. "Doing legitimately dangerous escapes, that's when I feel most alive."
His mother, a school principal, took him to all kinds of experts, but nothing helped until, aged 12, he learnt his first coin trick. Suddenly, he wanted to know more.
There was a book in the house, an encyclopaedia of magic, but Cosentino wasn't quite up to reading it, even at 12, so his mother read it to him and as he became more and more entranced by the world of possibility it opened up, he realised he was going to have to start reading himself. "And from being this kid who couldn't speak or talk, I became by 16 somebody who was standing in front of people performing, and it was all because of magic," he says.
The bookshelves in Cosentino's workshop in a wing of his parents' house in Lysterfield are crammed with tomes on magic, illusions and escape artistry, as well as DVDs and videos, all of which he's devoured over the years. There are signed posters and photos on the walls from the likes of Penn and Teller, David Blaine and David Copperfield, all of whom he has met (mostly in Las Vegas). "When I first met them they were my heroes," he says. "It's weird to think there are kids now who might look at me in the same way."
If there are, he readily acknowledges it's all down to the Channel Seven talent show. He didn't win, but an estimated 4 million people (including regional and time-shifted audiences) saw his high-energy mix of Michael Jackson-style dance moves and magic.
"It's made a huge difference," says the 28-year-old on the eve of his first Melbourne theatre show, at the Athenaeum. "I'm not doing anything different to what I've been doing for the last 10 years, but suddenly people know I exist."
Grateful as he is for the exposure, he bemoans the fact that there's no infrastructure he can tap into to take his act to the next level. In fact, the only support network is the one he and his family have made. One brother, Adam, is his manager, another brother, John, is his trainer, and his father, a structural engineer, helps design the elaborate props, including the rig from which a heavily manacled Cosentino was dropped into five metres of water at the Melbourne Aquarium last February.
That stunt — in which he spent three minutes and 39 seconds under water — was a year in the planning, cost $25,000 of Cosentino's money and brought not a cent of direct income. "It was all about raising my profile," he says.
It did, however, bring him plenty of offers to repeat the stunt. He declined them all. "Just the natural high — you haven't had air for four minutes, then all this air goes rushing in — it's just exhilarating. I can never recapture that moment now. It's a one-off. For me it's lost its interest. You're not going to get on a motorbike to set the world record for a jump then say, 'I guess I'll do it again'. You've done it. I want to do a new stunt."
He does have another eye-catching stunt in mind, though.
In his studio-workshop — the space in fact houses an indoor swimming pool, its surface long since boarded over — there's a metal cage about the size of a small car. Inside it is a grid of 25-centimetre-long metal spikes, suspended upside down, attached to a rope that is itself attached to a winch. At the Athenaeum shows, Cosentino will be inside the box with the spikes suspended above his head. He'll be in a straitjacket, he'll be chained and the door to the cage will be locked. And then the rope will be set on fire. He will have three minutes to escape.
While Cosentino is confident he can stay on just the right side of danger, he says the risk is real. "There is an element of danger, and that's the whole reason you're doing it. If it's too safe, if it's 100 per cent sure, what's the point?"
Impressive as it sounds, the stunt he will perform at the Athenaeum will be the light version. What he's working up to in the full version is a Blaine-like public endurance test with a Houdini-style death-defying finale. He plans to spend 48 hours locked inside the cube, without food or toilet breaks, suspended in a public place. At the end of it, the rope will be set alight.
"I really don't know what that will do to me, whether the body will be cramped up, what effect the wind might have on burning rates. There's a lot we don't know yet."
Some people have asked him if he has a death wish, but he's adamant they're missing the point. "It's about pushing it to the limit where you know it's safe but you're walking that line," he says. "Doing legitimately dangerous escapes, that's when I feel most alive."
2011年8月31日星期三
Is it Time To Fire The Outsourcerer’s Apprentice?
I suspect that someone who is standing in a hotel lobby screaming “I’m gonna lose my sh*t” into his mobile phone is probably not going to see his sh*t again anytime soon. Yet there he was lighting up the lobby of the Fairmont in Montreal so, naturally, I had to swing in for a closer look.
Alas, the man whose sh”t had sailed, figured out that he was attracting the attention of the security people and stopped yelling. “Sorry”, he said apologetically, “I’ve been on the phone with Tibet or someplace for three hours trying to get my VPN to work.” Poor bugger.
Speaking of work, I know a risk management consultant who waited three months to be paid by a previously reliable client. The reason? Contractor management had been outsourced to a local daycare centre (I’m making that last bit up) and managers who once simply authorized an invoice were now required to wrestle for hours with a hostile web application just to set up their consultants and then take a free monthly trip back to Hell to approve the timesheets. Naturally, this system required a senior manager or higher to do the administration previously handled by clerks and assistants. Smells like P-Cubers to me.
A personal favourite of mine was a long-ago employer who Outsourcerered their Lotus Notes administration and development to a consultant who would work only on projects which allowed him to bill at least 20 hours. Need a field added? Drop down menu not dropping? You’d better hope there’s a point release coming.
So here we have three examples of Outsourcery. That is, taking costs from a responsible, specialized functional area and, just likemagic , making them disappear. Now we all know the costs, like the bunny and the dove, end up someplace. And the someplace is your budget, your time and your productivity. Bunny and dove probably end up in some trousers.
Meanwhile, back in IT, an exultant Geek Lord is collecting a big fat bonus for reducing support costs by 30%, while the P-Cube pretends not to notice that the cost of supporting some poor road warrior with his VPN has simply moved from IT to sales in the form of lost productivity, lower revenue and someone’s sh*t going missing.
The millions of dollars that HR director is crowing about saving has simply shifted from her line to multiple others as senior managers, directors and vice presidents shout at slow applications and outsourced help desks. HR, which is strategic now, in case you missed the memo, will explain that they made it clear that suppliers were not to increase their fees to cover the management tax exacted by the consulting-consultants-to-consult-on-managing-the-consultants. Doesn’t every supplier want to pay an involuntary tax of five or ten percent of billings just so some other supplier can make contract negotiation and payment even slower? Well of course they do.
Alas, the man whose sh”t had sailed, figured out that he was attracting the attention of the security people and stopped yelling. “Sorry”, he said apologetically, “I’ve been on the phone with Tibet or someplace for three hours trying to get my VPN to work.” Poor bugger.
Speaking of work, I know a risk management consultant who waited three months to be paid by a previously reliable client. The reason? Contractor management had been outsourced to a local daycare centre (I’m making that last bit up) and managers who once simply authorized an invoice were now required to wrestle for hours with a hostile web application just to set up their consultants and then take a free monthly trip back to Hell to approve the timesheets. Naturally, this system required a senior manager or higher to do the administration previously handled by clerks and assistants. Smells like P-Cubers to me.
A personal favourite of mine was a long-ago employer who Outsourcerered their Lotus Notes administration and development to a consultant who would work only on projects which allowed him to bill at least 20 hours. Need a field added? Drop down menu not dropping? You’d better hope there’s a point release coming.
So here we have three examples of Outsourcery. That is, taking costs from a responsible, specialized functional area and, just like
Meanwhile, back in IT, an exultant Geek Lord is collecting a big fat bonus for reducing support costs by 30%, while the P-
The millions of dollars that HR director is crowing about saving has simply shifted from her line to multiple others as senior managers, directors and vice presidents shout at slow applications and outsourced help desks. HR, which is strategic now, in case you missed the memo, will explain that they made it clear that suppliers were not to increase their fees to cover the management tax exacted by the consulting-consultants-to-consult-on-managing-the-consultants. Doesn’t every supplier want to pay an involuntary tax of five or ten percent of billings just so some other supplier can make contract negotiation and payment even slower? Well of course they do.
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