Photo of the Day

 

Cacti in bloom. Joshua Tree National Park. Spring 2004.

This Is Rail Safety?

As the 7 p.m. train roared into the Secaucus station, the man - who was carrying a tan briefcase and wearing shorts, sunglasses and a colorful Hawaiian shirt - was seen hanging from a ladder of the locomotive.

"His hair was blowing and he was leaning back, taking in the breeze," said Steve Sager of Ho-Ho-Kus who watched wide-eyed from the platform.

"He looked happy, almost as if he should have had a cocktail in his hand," said Rob Odell of Franklin Lakes.

NJ Transit identified the rail surfer as William Fitzpatrick of North Arlington. Saying he smelled of alcohol, transit police charged Fitzpatrick with fare evasion, disorderly conduct and interfering with transportation, crimes that could bring $500 in fines and 90 days in jail.

Shouldn't NJ Transit better safeguard its locomotives?

Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said the engineer could not get a clear view of Fitzpatrick, but "nothing was compromised aboard the locomotive."

"Our security system worked," said Stessel. "Both commuters and transit personnel spotted the man and he was arrested."

How comforting.

I'm a regular user of NJ Transit, and this is perplexing to say the least. Someone who gets on board a locomotive and has the knowledge and the intent to cause harm could have done so, despite the claims by NJ Transit. There are insufficient safeguards to prevent someone from gaining access to those locomotives. Those customers on board were lucky that this guy was simply drunk. Had he had a more nefarious intent, the trip may have ended quite differently.

If a drunkard could get on board the locomotive, what does that say about the security and safety of NJ Transit trains?

Further, he becomes a risk to himself and others - and had he fallen off, he could have been severely injured or even run over by a passing train, which would have disrupted the commute - affecting thousands in the process.

NJ Transit must do a better job.

Photo of the Day

 

Iguana at the San Diego Zoo sunning itself. Taken Spring 2004.

Wishful Thinking For Downtown

When one looks at the gaping pit in Lower Manhattan that was formerly the World Trade Center, one realizes the tremendous sense of loss that still hovers over the City. The Libeskind plan hasn't materialized, the Governor who holds the cards appears to fold at the worst times, the NYPD questions the safety of the Freedom Tower, no steel has been ordered for the construction, a self imposed deadline for finishing the tower will come and go because nothing has been accomplished on the Freedom Tower front, and the only sign of moving forward is the nearly completed 7 World Trade Center, which was built by Silverstein Properties separately from the rest of the site.

So, why are we in the mess we are in? It could be because the selection of the Libeskind plan was a spectacular failure. Libeskind's plan was unique. It was different. It was also proposed by a novice in building skyscrapers, and the whole point of developing the site was to build a replacement of one of the most recognizable skyscrapers in world history. We weren't talking about building a park, a museum, or a bunch of low-slung buildings.

Libeskind's chief fault is that he has absolutely no experience in building big. It was that failure that led to Silverstein demanding - and getting - his own architects involved in the process, in order to ensure that whatever was built was office space that was actually usable and whose floor plans were sufficient for future customers.

The 'partnership' was more like a shotgun wedding than a wedding in bliss. Libeskind and Childs (Silverstein's architect with the firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill) never got along, and the resulting Freedom Tower looks more like a mishmash of ideas than a coherent design.

It makes one wonder what would have happened if an internationally recognized skyscraper designer, such as Sir Norman Foster had won the master plan and been allowed to work on the site. I have to believe that the infighting would not have been as severe, and the skyscraper portion of the site would have been able to progress far more quickly than the current plans.

Foster's buildings including the Hearst Corporation's headquarters expansion in New York City, London's Gherkin (the Swiss Re headquarters) as well as the Kissing Towers plan show that Foster had an eye for aesthetics as well as commerical and practical considerations.

It is that lack of an eye for the aesthetics combined with the commercial and practical that has held up the building at Ground Zero.

Can You Read What I Write?

Check out the link above and see for yourself whether a particular webpage, or web site is easy to read according to several different scales.

This site is apparently quite easy to read. Like reading a popular novel. Make that a good one.

Summary value for this entire blog:
Total sentences 329
Total words 3,091
Average words per Sentence 9.40
Words with 1 Syllable 1,906
Words with 2 Syllables 754
Words with 3 Syllables 296
Words with 4 or more Syllables 135
Percentage of word with three or more syllables 13.94%
Average Syllables per Word 1.57
Gunning Fog Index 9.34
Flesch Reading Ease 64.77
Flesch-Kincaid Grade 6.56

I'll be working on making this site more difficult to read in the days and weeks to come. I'm disappointed in myself considering that some of my other work, such as this law review article scores much more difficult to read (GF Index of 12.06, FRE of 55.80, and a FKG of 7.78). Expect longer sentences, bigger words, and polysyllabic words (even if I have to make them up). One word responses (Heh, Indeed, etc., are not going to cut it anymore).

Personalized Stamps Making a Comeback?

I used to be an avid stamp collector. Color me nerd, but it was a great way to learn about the world - history, politics, science, geography, you name it, there was a stamp for it. You had to learn how to distinguish between stamps that appeared to be the same, yet had minor differences that could be the difference between a 5 cent common or a $125 rarity.

So, when the USPS began a program to allow consumers to print off their own personalized stamps, stamp collecting definitely hit the end of the road - after all, how can you collect all stamps from a series or year when people are putting Fido, Max, Spot, Tiger, or Rover on their stamps.

Well, it turns out that people weren't just putting their pets on the stamps. The folks at The Smoking Gun had put a rogue's gallery worth of folks on their personalized stamps including:

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the New York couple executed in 1953 for spying for the Soviet Union. On the succeeding pages you'll find stamps honoring Monica Lewinsky's blue dress (the one splattered with Bill Clinton's DNA); Linda Tripp; deposed Yugoslavian ethnic cleanser/war criminal Slobodan Milosevic; MIA labor racketeer Jimmy Hoffa; executed Romanian dictator/Communist oppressor Nicolae Ceaucescu; former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and alleged gay lover Golan Cipel; and high school and college yearbook photos of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, who used the postal service to deliver his homemade bombs.

Well, despite that little problem, the USPS is putting this contract out to bid.

Go figure.

Photo of the Day

 

Fountains at the FDR Monument in Washington, D.C. Taken 3/2005.

From Beirut Through Lebanon

Michael Totten who has spent the past week in Lebanon covering the protests, has come up with a definitive description of Beirut that ranks up there with Thomas Friedman's book From Beirut to Jerusalem. Yet, Michael does so without having to kill several hundred trees to get to the core of Beirut's mystery, intrigue, and why we should pay attention to what goes on there.

Amir Taheri looks at Lebanon more generally, and looks at the Shi'ite majority as the key to the future.

Eerie Video

With the Moussaoui trial puttering along into news oblivion - Moussaoui pleaded guilty to charges, so there is no further trial on the fact and instead the courts are proceeding to the sentencing phase - the real action on the WTC attack prosecution front is taking place in Spain.

In the wake of the 3/11 attack on railways in Madrid, the Spanish government rounded up a bunch of terrorists, some of whom had connections to the 9/11 attackers in the US. Prosecutors played a video tape taken by suspect Ghasoub al Abrash Ghalyoun in 1997 that shows Lower Manhattan and other sites.

Eerie videotape of the World Trade Center, recorded by a suspected al Qaeda advance man scouting targets for the Sept. 11 attackers, was played yesterday in a Spanish courtroom.

"Ah, Manhattan!" a voice exclaims as Ghasoub al Abrash Ghalyoun's video zooms in on sites like the Twin Towers, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.

But Ghalyoun — who faces more than 62,000 years in jail if convicted in Spain — testified yesterday that he was just a tourist dazzled by American landmarks when he videotaped them in 1997.

He also denied his previous claim that a fellow defendant, Imad Yarkas, had been recruiting Muslim men for "holy war" training in Afghanistan and "was a radical person."

Ghalyoun and Yarkas, the alleged head of a Spanish-based al Qaeda cell, and 22 suspected confederates are on trial in a specially built courtroom on the outskirts of Madrid, secured inside a bulletproof glass cubicle.

Prosecutors say Ghalyoun's videotape, shown in court for the first time yesterday, is damning evidence that was later turned over to other al Qaeda members to provide a blue print for the Sept. 11 plotters.

It is real easy for a terrorist to claim that these tapes are those of a tourist in awe of the sights and sounds of the big city. Tourists the world over take photos of famous sites (Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building, etc.). Problem is, they can also be used as scouting intel for a terrorist attack. The tapes can be used to get the terrorists accustomed to the sights and views.

It would appear that these individuals sought to scout out locations for potential attacks under the guise of being tourists. Other terrorist groups operate in a similar fashion, scouting locations before an attack in order to maximize the efficency of their attacks.

Duly Noted

Egyptian protest babes have been spotted. Mubarak should know that when protest babes are spotted, things are sure to become rough for the ruling elites.

See Lebanon, Ukraine, et al.

Watch for the emergence of protest babes in a totalitarian state near you. It portends good things happening for the rights of the oppressed.

China, Egypt, Syria, Iran. That means you.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

Photo of the Day

Springtime in New York City 

This is one of the first pictures taken with a new Sony DCR DVD92 Camcorder. This thing is amazingly light and saves data to a mini DVD. While it is optimized for taking movies, it allows users to take sub 1mb images, which are marginally sufficient for posting online in the sizes I do.

There is liberating effect of going digital. You can take hundreds of photos without worrying about the film developing costs. More freedom to experiment with composition and technique.

I'm holding out on upgrading my Rebel SLR to the digital version until the prices come down, but the Rebel XT is certainly going to make my wish list in the next year.

No Surprise Here

Syrian intelligence troops are still scurrying about in Lebanon, despite the claims that Syria has withdrawn its forces.

I told you so doesn't quite cut it. Syria is trying to maintain its position any way it can, and it thinks that pushing the US and the world opinion to its limits is the only way. They may be right, but it sucks for the Lebanese who are tired of being dominated by the Syrians next door.

What's on the Zarqawi Laptop

In addition to tactical and strategic documents necessary to keep the insurgency going, Chrenkoff thinks that the infamous captured laptop carries gay porn. I beg to differ.

I'm thinking child porn.

UPDATE 4/28/2005 12:15 EDT:
Dan Darling of Winds of Change has an update on the contents of Zarqawi's laptop. Apparently the laptop did contain lots of porn, but the type was not categorized.

I am taking odds on the type - fetish, child, gay, etc.

How Not To Conduct Investigations

Kofi Annan was allowed to determine which documents he would have to turn over to investigators of UNSCAM, rather than allowing investigators to conduct the search themselves.

Since when do suspects get to pick and choose which evidence is allowed to be entered into the record and what investigators get to look at when determining a course of action for future investigations? It doesn't happen, unless the investigations are rigged for a predetermined outcome.

It certainly seems that way, when Kofi is under the spotlight for misdeeds relating to UNSCAM including his leadership (or lack thereof), management decisions, and other paperwork that could lead to other individuals.

The investigations by Volcker are compromised, which is probably a gross understatement. No wonder Kofi claimed that there was no way that he was leaving - when you get to make the rules, and determine what evidence can be used against you - you can say that. Problem is, some of the investigators and many bloggers aren't playing by Kofi's rules.

NYC Subways Stiffed Again

The MTA will put off 12 subway-station rehabs as part of a plan to cut $1 billion from its capital program because of inadequate state aid, officials said yesterday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had sought $27.8 billion for its five-year capital plan, but received $21 billion.

Repairs will be delayed at several stations, including the 47th-50th Street station at Rockefeller Center, the 71st Street-Continental Avenue station in Forest Hills, Queens, and five stations along the N line in Brooklyn.

Also at risk of delay are projects like the Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access, which would bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal.

MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said that means the MTA will hold off on major renovations of 12 of the 56 subway stations that were scheduled for them.

It is astonishing that the MTA cannot get these rehab projects done with $21 billion dollars. Where is all that money going that it cannot provide needed repairs at places like 47-50th Street in Manhattan, which is one of the busiest stations in the City. Each time renovations are delayed, the costs associated with their eventual repair/renovations increase. Those increases outstrip the capital funding, which means the MTA cannot get ahead of the repair curve. That is a failing of both the MTA and the State, which does not force the MTA to make needed cost cutting measures to ensure that the capital budget is utilized to maximize service and efficiency.

Bizarro Find in Brooklyn

Firefighters found more than 200 vehicle airbags believed to be stolen in the back room of a Brooklyn supermarket, where newspaper clippings about Osama bin Laden and beheadings in Iraq covered the walls, authorities said.
The firefighters from Ladder Co. 123 conducting a routine inspection, discovered the air bags — which sell for about $750 to $1,000 each — at the Superior Food Market at 1503 St. John's Place in Crown Heights.

Firefighters notified cops, and the FBI-NYPD joint terrorist task force was called in to search the building.

Authorities, however, did not believe they had stumbled onto a terrorist cell, even though the room contained some materials that could be used to fashion pipe bombs, sources said.

It will be interesting to see whether more news pops up about this story.

Busted!

A prominent Islamic scholar was convicted Tuesday of 10 counts alleging he encouraged followers in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight the United States.

Jurors reached their verdict in their seventh day of deliberations in the trial of Ali al-Timimi.

The 41-year-old defendant showed no reaction to the verdict. He faces a mandatory maximum sentence of life in prison, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have said al-Timimi, a U.S. citizen born in Washington, was a respected scholar who enjoyed “rock star” status among his followers and that he used that influence to guide them into holy war against the United States.

Al-Timimi’s lawyers have said he only counseled young Muslims after Sept. 11 that they might be wise to leave the United States because it would become difficult to practice their faith in this country.

It only has become more difficult for the followers of terrorism to practice their religion of death in the US.

Al Timimi will be spending the rest of his life behind bars.

My Brother, The Billionaire

Wishful thinking of course, but the photo accompanying the story about Ken Langone's potential takeover of the NYSE is not of Langone, but of my brother.

I'm sure that will be great news to the Lawhawk clan.

I would attribute the photo mixup to the AP, which provided the photo and the NY Post, which ran the photo without checking to see that it was, in fact, Langone depicted in the photo.

Fact check in aisle one.

Syria Update

The Washington Post is reporting that inspectors in Iraq have not found any evidence that Syria hid Iraqi weapons.

At least that's what the headline reads. The second paragraph tells a different story:

Although Syria helped Iraq evade U.N.-imposed sanctions by shipping military and other products across its borders, the investigators "found no senior policy, program, or intelligence officials who admitted any direct knowledge of such movement of WMD." Because of the insular nature of Saddam Hussein's government, however, the investigators were "unable to rule out unofficial movement of limited WMD-related materials."

I wonder how they come to this conclusion when they aren't actually examining the Bek'aa Valley to see what weapons are present and their origins(and it is widely acknowledged that the Valley, which sits on the Syrian border, harbors terrorist groups and caches of weapons of all sorts).

This report strongly undercuts the belief of many, myself included, that Syria took Iraqi WMDs for safekeeping. Yet, without a sweep of the Bek'aa Valley we have no real way of knowing what is there.

Meanwhile, Syria is pulling out of Lebanon ahead of schedule. It took Syria 29 years to withdraw, and it wasn't a moment too soon. I wonder how many of the intel services are still there, despite the military withdrawal. It is the security services one has to worry about, not the military since the intel services can carry on the intimidation and coersion of the Lebanese polity via covert and subtle means.

News Roundup - Zarqawi's Computers and Soldiers Cleared in Sgrena Incident

While the US has yet to capture terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — Iraq's most wanted fugitive, the US has managed to capture a treasure trove of intel, including computers linked to Zarqawi. Those computers may include tactical and strategic information useful to thwarting future attacks, intercepting terrorist communications, and disrupting terror cells.

Also, while US investigators have cleared the soldiers who accidentally killed an Italian agent at a Baghdad checkpoint on March 4, stating that they committed no wrongdoing and will not be disciplined, it appears that the Italians disagree with key findings.

Detail from church in West Villlage. Taken April 2005.  

Chagall windows at President's house 

Ezer Weizman, RIP

Ezer Weizman, former President of Israel, and a hero to Israelis for his strategic vision and tactical victories during the 1967 Six Day War, died in Israel. He was 80.

I had the opportunity to meet him in 1993, and he was quite a distinguished gentleman. He had mellowed a bit by the time I got to meet him, but you could tell that he had a twinkle in his eye for mischief.

As commander of the air force from 1958 to 1966, Mr. Weizman assembled a potent fleet of fighter jets and personally led the training of its highly proficient pilots.

He was the military's chief of operations in 1967, when the Arab forces, led by Egypt, began gearing up for a coordinated offensive against Israel.

On the morning of June 5, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack, putting Mr. Weizman's air-based strategy into action with devastating results. In two hours, with just 300 combat planes, half as many as the combined Arab force, the Israeli Air Force destroyed 200 Egyptian aircraft, most of which never left the ground. By noon, another 200 Arab planes were downed in aerial combat. It was often said that the war, which lasted six days, was won by the air force in the first six hours.

Eleven years later, Mr. Weizman, then Israel's defense minister, made his reputation as a peacemaker by helping convince a skeptical Prime Minister Menachem Begin that a negotiated withdrawal from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula would make Israel more, rather than less secure.

President Ezer Weizman. Taken July 1993.