Yo, Dudes

Is this blog still stick in anyone's RSS feed?

I blog here now: http://shereadsbooks.org/

See you there!

Christine

Public Transportation: The Rules

I feel as if the Rules of public transportation cannot often enough be restated. Accordingly, here are the things which, if you are taking public transit, you must and must not do:

1. Escalators:

- Walk on the left; stand on the right. Or, if you prefer, stand on the right and walk on the left. Never, ever stand on the left. It is acceptable to walk on the right if your path is clear or if you are closing a gap. Do not attempt to walk on the right if the way is not clear. If you are travelling with a friend and wish to remain beside them on the escalator, please recognize that you cannot in good conscience do so. Learn to talk to each other while both facing the same direction, or take the stairs.

Remember: Walk on the left. Stand on the right.

2. Subway trains:

- Don't try to run into the train when the doors are closing. If it's off-peak hours, there will be another train in 3 minutes. If it's rush hour, there will be another train in 30 seconds. You're probably not going to make it, anyway. If you do make it, either your purse will not, or you'll end up running face-first into the passengers standing near the door. It's not worth the trouble.

- Don't stand in the doorway if it's possible to avoid it. We all know that it happens during rush hour because the train is crowded and people aren't willing to just wait for the next train (see above). But if there is room anywhere else in the train, please go there. If you insist on standing in the doorway, you will create a self-perpetuating Mutual Annoyance Vortex between yourself and the people trying to enter/exit, and that can only lead to no good.

- Don't stand in front of an empty seat. Perhaps you don't like sitting, or perhaps you think you're bring courteous by leaving the seat empty so that someone else can sit there. But guess what? Other people can't get to that seat because your body is in the way and presumably made of solid matter. Either sit down, or go stand somewhere else.

- Don't sit on the inside of a row and leave the outside empty. People hate skootching by you just as much as you hate them doing it. Just move to the wall seat and everyone will be happier.

- For the love of Pete, subway seats are made for people's bottoms: not for their purses, not for their knapsacks, and certainly not for their feet. You're not at home. Put your bag in your lap or on the floor, sit front-ways, and keep your feet on the ground where they belong.

- Seriously: don't stand in the doorway.

3. Buses:

- There's a line at the bus stop for a reason. Stand in it. Didn't you go to kindergarten?

- Have your fare ready before you board the bus. If you can see the bus approaching, take out your wallet or purse or whatever and extract your fare, so that you can board and pay in one smooth motion. Don't wait until you're on the bus to stop and dig. Keep the line moving.

- Don't pull the bell unless you're getting off. Seriously. Now that stop announcements are both automated in sound and sight, there really isn't a reason to pull the bell too early or too late. If you're still not sure where you need to get off, sit up front and ask the driver. He or she will tell you.

- If your stop is coming up, get ready to get off the bus. Don't wait until the bus is starting to pull away before jumping out of your seat and hollering for it to stop. That's just crazy.

- Bus seating: see comments regarding subway seating (above). They all still apply.

- Don't stand in the door here, either. And furthermore, you know all those signs that say things like "Please Move Back!"? They aren't a joke. Just move back. Please.

4. Subway Stations:

- Don't stop on the stairs, especially not during rush hour. If you're confused as to which platform you need to be on, get off the stairs and then figure it out. You can't see the signs from the stairwells anyway. If you feel like having a conversation with someone, do it elsewhere. If you are meeting someone, use your brain and pick a place to wait for them that isn't in everyone else's way.

- Don't stand so close to the edge of the platform. It's not macho and you make me nervous.

- If you're waiting to enter a train, stand aside to let disembarking passengers disembark before you board the train. Trying to rush in while they're trying to rush out will get you punched. I've seen it happen.

- Understand how paying your fare works. Get in the right line. If you're paying with a ticket, or you need to buy tickets or tokens or passes, stand in line at the conductor booth. If you have a token or a pass, use the quick lines beside the aforementioned line. It is acceptable to use a token or a pass in the conductor booth line. The reverse is impossible, and therefore both futile and annoying.

- Just read the signs already. Look at the big red arrows; they'll help.

5. General Advice:

- Don't be a jerk.

Dewey Book Drive 2008!

Note: I posted this already on my book blog; I'm posting it here too because I think it's important, by gum.

The Dewey Donation System was set up as a book drive in 2003 to raise money for the Oakland Public Library System, which had lost most of its funding and desperately needed both money and books. Over 700 books, CDs, and videos were donated.

In 2004, the drive helped the San Diego Public Library, which had had many of its branches damaged by wildfires.

In 2005, the drive was initiated for a tsunami-ravaged village in India. By the end of it, 2,400 children were completely sponsored to go to school: books, bags, uniforms, everything.

In 2006 funds went to the Harrison County Library System, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. 1,800 books and almost $3,000 dollars were sent their way, meaning that branches could rebuild and reopen.

That’s the sort of thing this thing is about.

Now, it’s this year. There are two recipents for donations: The Rockhouse Foundation (monetary donations) and the Children’s Institute (book donations). The Rockhouse Foundation is working to improve the Negril All Ages School in Jamaica and to build a community library there. The Children’s Institute is a Los Angeles organization working with children affected by violence in their homes and/or communities. You can find out a whole lot more about both of these foundations and their projects by clicking the above links.

This is a really excellent thing. Why not donate today? I did, and if I can, anyone can.

Seriously… give it a shot. Why not be a hero?

This & That

Ah, I have been remiss. Bad blogger.

I now tender the following excuses:

1) I am still sick. Boo, hiss.

2) There is lots of snow outside (this does not specifically stop me from blogging, but I find it interesting nonetheless).

3) I've been busy creating a new blog elsewhere.


Oh, well.

Oh, Really?

I'm so glad that someone's figured this out.




(Click to embiggen)

Yaaaaaaaay

Conspiracy Update

This year's flu shot doesn't work, apparently.

Oops!

See here.

Conspiracy Theory

A few weeks ago, I had what I would describe as an apocalyptic dream. This is unusual for me; my dreams are often strange but they are seldom frightening. My dream involved airplanes crashing into buildings at the university, and a lot of running and hiding. It went on for a long time (or as long as dreams ever do, since it's hard to tell when awake exactly how time passes while asleep). Other dreams lately have been unusually vivid, almost hallucinatory. Remember this.

The reason I haven't been blogging recently is that I've been sick, sick for the last six or seven weeks. It started as bronchitis, complicating and complicated by asthma. The bronchitis also seemed to be moderately resistant to antibiotics. As my coughing got better, though, the rest of my symptoms got worse. I was exhausted all the time, eating poorly, and missed three weeks of school. The doctor thought it could have been any number of things, including mononucleosis. All tests came back negative -- but as he pointed out, there are a lot more viruses out there than just mono. Remember this.

Canada has been involved in Afghanistan -- first during the war after 9/11, and now as part of a NATO nation-building mission -- for almost exactly six years. There are currently 2,800 Canadian troops in Afghanistan. About 15,000 troops have been stationed in Afghanistan since the initial deployment in February of 2002. The vast bulk of soldiers who have been in Afghanistan at various times are therefore now back home. Remember this.

J, a colleague of mine, has a daughter who is a public health nurse. She (the daughter) says that since about November 2007, people have been getting sick and staying that way. This corroborates with my doctor's remark that this is the worst cold/flu season he's seen in ten years; people are getting sick and they're staying sick. Remember this.

We know that it is not unknown for governments to surreptitiously experiment on their soldiers. Remember this.

Today was my first day back at work in some weeks, and J and I were commiserating on being sick and such-like. She mentioned that she knows a lot of people who have been sick, and that most of them have reported having extremely vivid, apocalyptic dreams, usually involving matters of personal safety: being chased, being killed, being in danger, etc. At this point, I hadn't mentioned my own dreams. When I did so, shefurther elaborated that most of the people who were were reporting the "dream" symptoms had traceable connections to soldiers returned from Afghanistan.

Draw your conclusions as you wish.