That sounds like a sweet job, Alison.

As for the GPS technology, having an in-bus display isn't that bad of an idea. In the winter when you take the bus home after dark it's sometimes impossible to tell where you are because you can't see anything but black out the windows. All the lights on inside the bus just reflect off the windows and there's nothing to be seen. I've experienced that tons of times where I have no clue where I am because I fell asleep and lost track of counting the turns that the bus is making. It's frustrating as hell. Sometimes that also happens in the winter when you're stuck standing in the aisle and the windows have fogged up. What are you supposed to do... be like "um, excuse me... could you wipe your window so I could look outside?" Fuck that. Get me GPS.

I don't really know the full story to either side of the argument, but from what I've heard, most of the people in the "scene" have come to the consensus that saving CBGBs isn't a big priority. Historical? Most definitely. Sells tons of T-Shirts and makes a killing? Yes. Good venue? Apparently not...

what? there was a chemical release from one of the plants, wasn't there? I am blissfully unaware of current events now that I'm out here and all... there's no time for newspapers or tv... so much is happening, and I have absolutely zero knowledge of it whatsoever.

I would like to say that I agree with you Jess, that GPS technology in busses is indeed excessive... because it really is. But it's not for the people already on the bus, it's for those people waiting for the bus... so that they can see how far away it is from their stop. So... for people like me who wait until the last minute to leave their houses before heading to the bus, we could check our computers and figure out exactly how much more dawdling time we have until we have to go chasing after the bus. It's a feature that they're hoping to include to major bus terminals (so that you can time connections better) and offer online. I'm not sure about the interior LCD screens telling people what exact street location they're at... ETS hasn't talked much about that, that I know of.

Anyway, I didn't expect to have two posts anywhere near eachother on here. Don't expect much more from me... silly three days of 'break' only and staff don't get the days off... I'm still loving it here. It's so beautiful, the students and staff we're working with are excellent - so positive, supportive and willing to work together - and the activities are just plain fun. Plus, I'm surrounded by wildlife and growing plants. What better experience can you have but to see a momma bear and cubs on a cutline (and survive), or ride in a helicopter? I love it out here!

new locust ep and a couple 7" and full lengths.

does punk give a shit?

save cbgb
from:
http://www.stereogum.com/archives/001463.html

Am I the only one who thinks GPS on a bus isn't really worth it? I mean, can't you just look out the window? And if you don't know what's going on can't you just ask the actual human being driving the bus?

And Alison - I think you need to get back to Edmonton. Apparently without you here they think they can burn off harzardous chemicals just east of the city. (kidding - it was an accident.)

Edmonton is getting into the gps technology... it's just a fair way's off. Like Tony said, first thing's first, let's get ourselves an LRT to Heritage, and then let's talk tracking our bus' every move. The other thing they're working on is bus rapid transit (like LRT only with busses, and using roads already (or soon to be) built. That should be phasing in on the west, north and east ends of town fairly soon too... those are the priorities - getting good service out to those who need it. Once that's done, they'll work on all the fancy bells and whistles.

damn... I saw bears a couple days ago... and today, I'm sick. this fucking sucks (actually yesterday was way worse - and it is just the sickness that fucking sucks, not this job, I'm loving the job). I hope you all are enjoying May thus far. happy Cinqo de Mayo! (sigh, it was cinqo de mayo earlier...) anyway, flying in helicopters tomorrow - woo hoo - have a great month, see you all some time in, um, June (?)

It's better than the Tories' Are you thinking what we're thinking? plain black and white posters, which often got vandalized to

So Tony Blair is still in power. Not quite a minority, but a much reduced majority all the same, losing ground to the Tories, from voters who wanted to keep him in office but punish him for Iraq. But it was also because, many felt, there wasn't a real choice amongst the parties, or out of fear of what a Tory government would mean. (This all seems a little too familiar.) Labour also ran perhaps one of the lamest campaign slogans ever: "If you value it, vote for it." Wasn't that the point of voting in the first place?

Also, Par, I'd seen something like this bus timer you'd described when I was last in Vancouver. There were LED displays in stops along major routes that showed when the next bus would arrive. So who knows, something like that might come here. But as long as we gotta get that LRT to the South End right now...

I have an interesting bus story from today (what? I can take the bus! I'm cheap, poor, and a long way from the UIUC campus!) I suppose I can tell it before I prep for my disastrous presentation tomorrow (prove me wrong, me!)

Anyway, I'm riding the bus, and I finally decide to ask about the LED sign at the front. See, the busses here are the same as Edmonton's low floor busses (I would later find out that they buy their busses from Canada, but that's beside the point.) This LED sign displays the intersection that the bus is currently passing through (up to this point, I was just enjoying the sign every time we passed the corner of Church & State.) So I ask the driver (who happens to have been to Edmonton on a regular basis, hence the later discovery that they buy the busses from Canada.)

It turns out that this tiny college town in the middle of Illinois uses GPS to track its busses. Apparently it's a pilot project. Moreover, they use the GPS at certain stops to display the time until the bus is projected to arrive (which, of course, is different than when it's scheduled to arrive.) Might we see this in Edmonton? Will I finally be able to sleep on the bus without spending five minutes after waking up to figure out where I am?