Disqus - Latest Comments for adronhall

Re: Public Service Announcement - Miguel de Icaza

adronhall — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:28:54 -0000

this and private should be evident though. If not, something is amiss...

Re: guerrilla curatorship - it’s not that public buildings can’t occasionally...

adronhall — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:44:05 -0000

I stayed with the significant other down the street while visiting friends in SF. Awesome connections to the transit, but I'd rather have stayed somewhere else solely because of this abomination. I'm into crazy architecture, but I'm into the crazy functional aspects of things, not abhorrent disregard for the human element.

The building would make for great Sci-Fi Film, but it is horrid to add a pleasing feeling to the street.

Then of course, this building only aggravates me a little, in comparison to the other goddiness and superficiality of other Government buildings I've seen. Most of the time they're large, overbuilt, and act only to remind people - if they think - that Government will be there to stand the test of time and apply the jack boot of thuggery.

I'd rather visit the torn up parts of LA and see gang members. At least I know they have family, friends, loved ones and can sit down for the ole barbecue among the known violence that occurs. These buildings just remind me of empiricism which provides nothing in solitude for peoples...

Enough of my commenting mind running rampant now. Obviously, I'm in agreement with your judgment of the building. :)

Re: Making coffee at home instead of buying by the cup is a futile exercise in fucking uselessness.

adronhall — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:49:15 -0000

Ditto Mariad. That's what my bag o' Stumptown is always for. I wouldn't dare take that extra 20 minutes to prepare my own in the morning (especially considering my mix of either doing a French Press or a Vietnamese Style Coffee, the later taking almost 30 minutes some morning). If you haven't tried the later, check out a Pho Restaurant there in Seattle (I know a few if you need references) and order a Vietnamese Style Coffee when you're there.

Re: People who hate Muni

adronhall — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:54:48 -0000

Portland is the same on that note, right up there with the best like SF's options. Even though we're a small town by comparison to big ole' SF. I also ponder a lot (re: http://www.transitsleuth.com) about why the planners seem to be so dumb right along with tons of the riders.

Then of course, I know better than to expect the average masses (the riders) or the planners (public servants) to really have things coordinated accordingly. There is always a bit of confusion between those masses.

Every visit to SF though myself and Joleen (the GF) have only ridden in a car once. Everything else is Muni, BART, etc. I've even answered questions for locals, since I tend to know the system fairly well. :)

Re: guerrilla curatorship - I’m flying to D.C. tomorrow, to attend the...

adronhall — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:57:49 -0000

It's interesting how many people are obsessed with The New Deal but know almost nothing about the economic situation actually leading up to the Great Depression, or the economic events that transpired most likely because of The New Deal. On that note I'm curious, what exactly about it do you like? I'm going to have to post an entry soon about it, I suspect, since many are infatuated about it but know little to nothing about what really happened or what went on.

Re: guerrilla curatorship - Adams Morgan (via PreservationNation) I’m going...

adronhall — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:01:34 -0000

You should definitely have that in DC. :) Have fun! I always dig old Georgetown and such. Alexandria even has some really nice areas and ole' architecture. Too many areas to name...

Re: guerrilla curatorship

adronhall — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:04:12 -0000

Wonderful sign. I want. :)

Re: AT&T Near Deal to Buy Bell South

adronhall — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 12:49:35 -0000

Wow, you hit that on the head.
Irony here, is that ATT is basically buying back what it CREATED in the first place but had to give up by force because of the Government. So now all the acquisition costs will have to be paid by ATT (and their customers) and Bellsouth (and their customers).
If the Government would have kept it's meddling hands to itself and just allowed businesses to compete, we'd have the competition we have now and probably better service from all of these telecom companies.
I'll bet they've spent billions of dollars over the years compensating for their forced competition created by the Government.

Re: EOS

adronhall — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:13:58 -0000

That is the way to fly...

Re: The Great Portland Interview Experiment

adronhall — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:15:06 -0000

@adronbh - yeah, count me in too.

Re: Politics Test

adronhall — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:08:22 -0000

Just like most people, they're actually Libertarians. Americans do cherish their freedoms, and their business freedoms. Regardless of what the blues and reds want to tell you.

Re: Using TriMet? Open those wallets a bit more

adronhall — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:29:40 -0000

I love seeing the ridership increases, but I gotta say I hope it tapers off a bit soon. Rush hour is almost untolerable on the majority of routes alreay. If anything the major routes, like #12, MAX, and others need buffed up more before anymore increase can really be seen, unless TriMet and the city figure a way out to get companies to really encourage more remote and non-9 to 5 work hours.

Re: Sometimes We’re Too Nice with the Driving?

adronhall — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:03:17 -0000

Personally, I think people are just that laid back in PDX. No one ever seems to fret over time or anything here. I thought the southeastern United States was laid back, but Portland has got it beat.

As for the bus lanes... I use whatever road there is, but often get in trouble. Thus I try to stick to using the bus lane by riding the bus. :o

Re: Not scared? Then you're doing it wrong

adronhall — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:11:28 -0000

Scariest things in life eh. :) I just stay with high return on adrenaline or high return of unknowns becoming known.

...dug the entry.

Re: Transit managers look at commuter rail for Phoenix

adronhall — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:00:40 -0000

That would be an interesting thing for Pheonix, I'm not sure if density would allow for an effective use of something like commuter rail though.

Usually for commuter rail to be successful there needs to be a certain density, and population mass before it is efficient and useful. Even Seattle, with 3-4x as many people as Phoenix in a smaller area just barely has efficiency with their commuter rail.

Needless to say though, it is a way to incur development in a more "city center" type way, which definitely helps with standard and quality of life.

Re: Is an inexpensive bike worth the price?

adronhall — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:01:50 -0000

Every time I got to OC down in Cali, that's what my bike looks like... cruiser with a bit of black brutishness to it. :)

Re: Public art missing from Phoenix light rail station

adronhall — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:27:47 -0000

Finally had time to come and catch up on the entries! Great story. Enjoyed it, always dig hearing about the back story on the art along transit. In Portland the same thing is done, and I tell ya, some of it is rather thick with story. :)

Re: Ride the Phoenix light rail for free

adronhall — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:30:06 -0000

Thx for the trackback links!

Great to hear the projections have been blown away! Usually easy work for light rail. :)

Now the challenge is to keep em' high and growing! Also usually a fairly easy task. Especially as the gas prices start inching back up.

...and yeah, Transit Nerds RULE!

Re: The devil made me quiver (and think about living carfree)

adronhall — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:53:50 -0000

Not sure I could drive less if I wanted to. Last month I drove a total of 26 miles. If I start the car up I generally only do so for two reasons - one to make sure the oil and such is staying in its appropriate places & the engine is operative good and - two to get out of the city i.e. 20 + miles from downtown outside of the reach of transit. The later of course doesn't happen much.

So maybe, I'll just not touch the car this/next month for any outside of city trips. :)

Re: Thread

adronhall — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:39:00 -0000

Wrote up a response to this at http://adronbhall.com/blogs/technology__softwar...

But to cover the bases, great write up. I sure hope Starbucks manages to get themselves back on track before they turn into another mundane, disgusting, and below average McDonald`s type of product. In the north west they already are, as one would expect, the north west takes their coffee seriously. Thus Starbucks is the standard joke du jour in cities like Portland AND Seattle these days.

Starbucks employees and staff - go enjoy some coffee from people who know about the product like Stumptown. You could take quit a few lessons from the small guys these days.

Re: Commerce Is Not Conquest

adronhall — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:24:30 -0000

People don't know this?!

hmpf. I guess that is why I have to scream a lot at the various companies that I work at when we discuss the economic activity and decisions the respective companies should make.

Hard hard life being an economist! (Fortunately I program for money ;)

Re: TriMet Could Use a “WTF Happened” Page

adronhall — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 04:32:35 -0000

I've always been annoyed by that too. I'd really like to know WTF is going on sometimes. Once I waited 45 minutes out in Hillsboro for the MAX to show. During rush hour of all times. So when the train showed up it got PACKED immediately. I finally found out that a MAX driver had driven one of the MAX trains into a city truck that was crossing legally. So in the end because of ole' FRA/LEgal/City legal obligation even though no one was hurt they had to pull the completely undamaged train out of service.

ugh, the ridiculousness.

The truck however, has been returned to the junk yard.

Re: Ripping Up Tape Tomorrow Night Along the Parade Route

adronhall — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 04:36:43 -0000

Why would ya get beat up? I'll pop a sucker in the face for messin with clean up. That just wouldn't be kewl.

Re: Taking a Stand to Promote OpenID

adronhall — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:49:05 -0000

Ditto.

Ramiro - Microsoft has their own ID, but as Hanselman points out on his blog there is an open source .NET implementation out now. Google also has their own ID system so I'm not sure what they want to do about Open ID. Amazon and Yahoo have pieces out there already, you'll have to do a search and check it out...

Re: Don’t Make Your Blog an OpenID Provider

adronhall — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:42:14 -0000

But wait, I was about to go to OpenID for everything! Actually no, all my secure stuff is staying with the original, slightly more seriously secure, security apparatusii. :)

But I look forward to locking down my OpenID stuff even better over the next few weeks and enabling my ID to work with more and more of my sites, sites I use, and other such.

Especially since, I always want your feedback on my articles and you won't use stuff that doesn't use Open ID! :o argh!

Re: Observations on Twitter, Noise, Filters, Spam, and Value

adronhall — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:29:03 -0000

I'm currently working on an application that will provide a filtering mechanism. We're hoping to really get it moving forward over the next couple of months. When it is released, one of the things that it will have is the ability to filter. The basic idea is to allow more of what you want to ignore from people but enable more of what you want to hear from your twitter peepz. I'll be sure you're one of the first to get informed when it is released.

Re: Big Surprise: Highways Don't Pay For Themselves

adronhall — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:38:19 -0000

Actually, the Libertarian ideology works very well for transportation. It's what built the largest rail network in the world, the most vast and expansive transit systems, and massive urban cities to boot.

Subsidies did NOT build any of that. Since subsidies where introduced the main achievement in transportation in the United States have been.

1. Transit usage has declined.

2. Auto usage has increased dramatically.

3. Passenger rail is no longer sustainable economically.

4. Air travel is almost not sustainable even under normal operations any longer.

5. People think cars are absurdly cheap, in reality they aren't because the majority of the cost is born by a non-majority part of the population (along with all the normally accrued Government debt).

Previous to direct subsidies in transportation the US expanded rail networks and transit throughout the north eastern and even south eastern US. The first subsidies where granted for the transcons across the country, all three which where completed almost all went bankrupt, the one that was NOT subsidized and instead met actual individual, market, and citizen use was the Northern Pacific. The failures of the first subsidies where eventually recouped when the MARKET finally created demand enough for the failed railways.

All of the above problems, the overuse of transportation, and the massive transportation failures that continue to occur in the US would be solved with a gradual but progressive weening of subsidies from the transportation industry.

Transit would be related to market demand, in other words in times as these now they would see an increase in revenue, in times of heady monies they might see a decrease. But it would be more closely related to what people use and want vs. the random mood swings of Republicans or Democrats in power.

...anyway, just throwing a little bit of the common sense observations into the pot.

BTW - Any Libertarian that tells you autos pay their way is merely a confused neo-Conservative Republican that thinks they're a Libertarian that doesn't understand what a Libertarian is, nor the socio-economic school of thought backing Libertarian epistemology.

Re: Obama's Campaign Steals MySpace Page From A Supporter

adronhall — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:34:55 -0000

This whole scenario is scary, hilarious, and stupid on the part of Obama's team.

He needs to put them on a leash and treat them like the dogs they're acting like. Actions like this are really pathetic.