Borough President Marty Markowitz, on NY1 last night, criticized Transportation Commish Janette Sadik-Khan for placement of the two way bike line on Prospect Park West, citing the potential for safety issues for kids in strollers, and its not-so-hidden agenda of making it difficult for automobile users in the City. "NYC is not Amsterdam," said Marty. This may ultimately prove to be less of a problem for PPW (except for parking for PPW residents and the other safety issues cited by the Boro Prez) than it will for surrounding blocks as folks avoid driving down Prospect Park West. Our friend OTBKB.com noted that a study by a neighborhood advocacy group reported that PPW appears much calmer since the lane was installed. I would likely avoid it on the rare occasions that I might be driving near the Park.
In the past year, I have been driving a lot less, walking more and taking public transportation to work. But there are times when I want to and/or need to drive my car. I am not sure if this is more of a political issue and turf war between Marty and Jan, since Marty asked that this new lane be relocated elsewhere, but Jan went ahead and put it there anyway. Even as an occasional driver, I recognize that NYC is a heavily car-oriented City, crazy in some times and places. But there are times when I don't want to take public transportation and choose to drive. And, at the same time, you have to respect the wishes of a lot of people to get around by bike.
But I don't think it is realistic to see a day when bikes and current public transportation alone will replace cars. Perhaps even newer public transportation alternatives are needed - light rail; more, higher-volume ferry services; express dirigibles to JFK; whatever. Remember when the Segway was the transportation alternative of the future? They aren't even legal in NYC.
But it will always come down to peoples' preferences for personal, not public, transportation - largely bike or automobile. There is a message and a truth on both sides in this policy battle, but I think the Boro Prez and the Commish, probably with the Mayor's tacit blessing, risk further polarizing an already heated issue. After all, there is one, unalterable fact in this situation -- in NYC, bikes and cars are here to stay.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A Package of Sunlight Reaches Earth
On 1 August, almost the entire side of the Sun that faces the Earth erupted in a blaze of activity known as a "coronal mass ejection". These storms throw up to 10 billion tons of plasma - superheated gas - off the surface of the star and hurtling into space at around a million miles an hour. It covered the 93 million mile journey from the Sun to the Earth in just three and a half days.
From the U.K. Telegraph: "It was the "first major Earth-directed eruption in quite some time," according to Leon Golub, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), who warned of the event on Monday.
The flare which caused the eruption was relatively small, described as a class C3 by astronomers. Other flares, known as X or M class, are much larger, and capable of doing damage on Earth. C-class flares rarely have much effect on Earth beyond auroras - the glowing displays towards the poles, like the Northern (and Southern) Lights.
Dramatic auroras were seen in Denmark, Norway, Greenland, Germany and across the northern United States and Canada as the expanding bubble of gas slammed into the Earth's atmosphere. The frequently beautiful displays are caused by the charged particles in the plasma interacting with the Earth's magnetic field - the solar matter is drawn towards the poles, where they collide with nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the atmosphere.
While no damage seems to have been done by this flare, Nasa astronomers have previously warned that a much larger solar storm could cause havoc with electrical systems on Earth. In 2013, the Sun is expected to reach a stage in its roughly 11-year cycle when large storms are more likely."
More here
A NASA Scientist has watned that, with the sun awakening from a cyclical solar minimum period, we are now heading into a period of solar maximum. Scientists are concerned about the impact of a severe solar storm on the Earth's satellites, electrical grid, and even earth-bound sensitive technological devices such as cell phones, GPS, etc. Lookout, Cleveland...
More here