-cvj

@Clifford: Make all the yokes you want. I just don’t get it. Maybe you sometimes need to be a native english speaker … I would have loved to laugh

Cheers, Helge

Actually, long before the TVs were installed, the MTA buses in Los Angeles had displays of poetry mixed in among the advertising. Although I don’t know how many people ever bothered to read it…

I think video on buses is kind of neat, as long as the sound stays under control, at least until we all get Bluetooth Borg implants. Let’s face it, the static ads only show advertising. Video monitors can show news, science, art and other good stuff and only show ads for a certain percentage of the time. Maybe someone will be inspired, if only by the pictures; maybe someone will be informed. My only hope is that the monitors don’t get taken over by the malady advertisers. For a while, it was impossible to ride the NYC subways without thinking about “the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”, what with the Preparation H ads next to the laser foot surgery ads next to the “Are you pregnant” ads next to the “Fight AIDS” ads next to the butt lift ads next to the cough syrup ads and so on and so on.

Thanks for the good thoughts. I agree it’s a personal choice; however, I can honestly say I didn’t fully understand the consequences of this choice until I was tumbling through the air realizing that I might be about to die. For me, the line between minor error and serious consequence is just too fine.

I’m going to miss the bike a lot (2000 Honda Shadow 750 ACE; a sweet, sweet bike), but I’d miss the life I’ve put together a lot more.

Sorry to hear about your accident. One of your former students, a friend of mine whom I met at MIT, also gave up riding after he interned at an ER.

A personal choice. At least two of my professors here at Berkeley share my predilection (one rides rather cautiously), as do some colleagues at LBL who have been riding for many years. A few spills here and there, but nothing serious. Moreso than in a car, your safety as a rider is contingent upon the extent of your skill and depth of your self-criticism.

Sourav

The main thing is that with the back sprain I can’t move around too much, so I’m going slightly stir crazy. I’m dreaming of return to work next week so I can continue lecturing my GR course. Ed Bertschinger did a very able job covering for me this past week, but I really want to get back into the show …

-cvj

Thanks! This contributes a lot. I also have had friends from the medical industry mention that they view motorcycles as reliable sources for donor organs.

Our friend is advocating increased use of them to flit around in the gaps between traffic on the highways, and we’re all supposed to park them in our offices.

Excellent stuff.

-cvj

I realize this contributes nothing germane to the argument whatsoever, but this just struck too close to home for me to NOT comment. Perhaps if you’re ever laid up sucking down Vicodin like its candy you’ll understand …

Scott H.

Do you really need a table in order to write? I just balance a notepad on my knee. Or scribble on the back of something. This is not a hugely long journey…just 25 minutes actual bus time…. Sometimes I’m just writing into a little handheld notepad too. I mean the old-fashioned type. Pen and paper. Cup of coffee in other hand. Bike under seat. Sweet.

-cvj

If I have not had breakfast yet, I write on an empty stomach.

-cvj

…. this is all a “mass psychosis of people on this bus….people, just ascenting to the reality and measures now?

Dare I ask the picture taker whether my permission is needed to show me to people in the state I am…?

bubble universes??? what strange thoughts today…this bus ride is sure slow….

The gravitational field at a fixed time can be described by the geometry of the three spatial dimensions at that time. The history of the gravitational field is described by the four dimensional spacetime that these three spatial dimensions sweep out in time

… a Bubble poppings and all that I see is tranfixed to the view in my head, as some The Coleman-De Luccia Instanton.

Maybe all of us are accepting this state of the reality this way…ach! it was a hard day today.:) ah, a few more minutes of sleep anyway.

If by counterexamples you mean the traffic being horrendous with two-wheeled vehicles and public mass transit being far superior, I am thoroughly unconvinced. I’ve had the (mis)fortune of using various forms of transportation in Paris, Rome, all over India and briefly other Asian cities.

The bottom line is that motorized transport is faster and more comfortable for intracity travel unless your route happens to coincide with a train line. Investing in a car, scooter, or motorcycle, is just as economical as public transport on the long-term, even with the heavy subsidies flowing into them. Rather than the state fighting an uphill battle on some presumption of efficiency, charge for environmental damage and infrastructure use and let things loose. Mass transit will appear where it’s efficient, and other forms of transportation will fill the gaps as they are fit.

If I am woefully ignorant on this topic, I would appreciate pointers to resources that would reduce my ignorance when I have more time. In any case, I’d like to think that I’m intellectually honest

Back to supersymmetry!

Best,

Sourav

A question for you Clifford: You write about doing you writing stuff in the bus. What do you write on? I don’t see tables in the bus, and what to write on is always a problem I have doing that on public transports.
And another question: How long is your ride?

Cheers,
Helge

Nice talking to you.

Cheers,

-cvj

I think we are talking past each other, so this will be my last

We’ll see in the future how things shake out. I agree that cars, particularly massive SUVs, will become increasingly untenable as commuting devices as environmental pressures become significant. However, public transit will continue to be a niche mode of transportation in the US unless there are massive redesigns of metropolitan landscapes. Fuel- and space-efficient personal modes of transport like motorcycles will become increasingly popular.

Privatization and carbon credits would shake up the game by making the costs of various modes of transport more apparent and quell the grandiose passions of urban planners. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, and am not aware of any examples of it not working.

Best,

Sourav