Don't click through to the article. With a headline like that, whatever your imagination comes up with will be so vivid that the reality cannot fail to disappoint.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/07/2008 16:01 ||
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Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of its passengers was accused of beheading and cannibalizing another traveler. The ad's tag line was ``There's a reason you've never heard of 'bus rage.''' Not anymore...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Timing is everything. I think Greyhound just got done with a big $60 million initiative of upgrading the fleet, new routes, new ads etc. to get more people to use the buses. Especially, now with the price of oil, low economic expectations, etc. it was to be very appealing to lower income and less experienced travelers. Maybe they need to think of having "armed" drivers like airline pilots.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/07/2008 3:23 Comments ||
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#2
A few years ago, as an adventure, I rode the bus from Virginia to Oregon. It was about as fast as the train, but I could stop anyplace along the way and stay awhile, unlike the train. Atitudes were a bit better than on the train and much better than on planes. Seats were nearly as good as the train and MUCH better than an airplane. The cost was about 1/4 of a train or plane, or less. Much better than train in most every way except one. It had no class. You had to live with poor people for a few days. I didn't mind that. In fact, I enjoyed the experience for a short while and left feeling grateful for what I have. I bought a couple of meals for guys who ran out of money before they ran out of journey. I didn't buy booze for an Indian in Montana. Picky me! The bus drivers that I saw, I wouldn't mind them carrying a gun. Greyhound is a hidden treasure for poor folks, in my opinion.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/07/2008 8:50 Comments ||
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#3
The cost was about 1/4 of a train or plane, or less.
The founder of Southwest Airlines in an interview said he didn't compete with other airlines. He competed with the bus company. Using the 'Ding' software off their website, it appears they're still trying to do that.
#4
When I was a kid an airplane ride only came around once every 5 or 6 years. My mother would load us up on Amtrak or Greyhound and we'd hit the road. It wasn't glamorous, but it was cheap enough for a policeman's family to travel around the country. I think with the airlines announcing 60Million seats to be cut, it will go back to being more people's only affordable choice.
An Indian pilgrim knocked unconscious in a stampede that killed 150 people woke up in a morgue as doctors prepared to perform a postmortem on him, a newspaper reported Wednesday. Mange Ram, 19, lost consciousness in the stampede triggered by rumours of a landslide that caused panic among thousands of people climbing a steep mountain path, the report said. Ram told the Times of India he awoke in a hospital morgue after Sunday's tragedy at the Naina Devi shrine in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. "When I woke up, I was in the middle of a row of bodies waiting for postmortem," he said. "My throat was parched and I asked for water. Towering over me the doctors and nursing staff at Anandpur Sahib Civil Hospital looked dazed. "They must have been surprised to see a dead man come alive like that," he said. Sat Pal Aggarwal, a doctor on the pilgrimage, said few checks were carried out to see if victims were alive and might have been saved. "People were dumped quite haphazardly into trucks without following any procedure or checking if they were alive," the paper quoted him as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
150 "killed" is a pretty loose term if Mange Ram is any example.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/07/2008 3:24 Comments ||
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#2
"Dr. Quincy! Dr. Quincy! This one's still twitching!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 8:01 Comments ||
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#3
OK, someone has to do this:
"I'm not dead."
"What?"
"I'm not dead!"
"'Ere. He says he's not dead!"
"Yes, he is."
"I'm not!"
"He isn't?"
"Well, he will be soon. He's very ill."
"I'm getting better! . . . I think I'll go for a walk."
Posted by: Mike ||
08/07/2008 13:00 Comments ||
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Airlines are set to make the reduction, the equivalent of one in every 14 seats, in response to high oil prices and the global credit crisis, according to the Official Airline Guide (OAG). Reduced availability is almost certain to force up ticket prices. Higher tickets = fewer passengers = higher tickets = fewer passengers, etc etc
In all there will be 59.7m fewer tickets available compared to October-December last year. Routes will be scrapped at 275 airports around the world and 3,500 fewer planes will be needed, according to the OAG.
While Europe will suffer the loss of 5.5m seats, America will be worst hit, with a reduction of about 20m.
Some of Britain's biggest airlines, including British Airways, Ryanaid and Easyjet, have already confirmed that they are making major cuts to their capacity, while experts have predicted that further reductions are sure to follow in 2009 as the industry, which has expanded rapidly in recent years, adjusts to the current economic downturn.
British Airways has already dropped six of its short-haul routes to European destinations from Gatwick, while Ryanair has also axed several routes from Stansted.
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, last week said that the airline industry was facing its "worst ever" business environment. a Spokesman for British Airways said: "Our capacity has been reduced 3.1 per cent versus last year. I think that Willie Walsh has been quite upfront about that. He has said it is inevitable that fares will rise."
Steve Casley, the chief executive of the OAG, said: "The data speaks for itself. It took a good three years for the industry to recover from the downturn in 2001 when it had a five per cent drop in capacity and a sevenper cent drop in flights.
"From our statistics, it looks quite possible that we may be facing a far more severe global downturn than we have experienced before.
"The industry's resilience will be pushed to its limits in the coming months."
#1
Make the seats more comfortable and the flight attendants pretty and friendly again or get rid of them altogether in favor of videos.
Personally I think someone should come up with a ferry-style zeppelin. Drive your car onto it and enjoy the ride. It'll be longer but more comfortable and more scenic than a plane and when you arrive at your destination your car will be there as well. Yeah there will be difficult security issues but it would be a very cool way to see the Grand Canyon and the Southern Deserts.
#2
Any predictions as to whether the 3500 fewer planes will be older gas guzzlers, or new orders being cancelled?
with neg cash flow, i expect more cnx's than old airframe retirements.
there have been no press releases (AFAIK) from BCAC about cancellations (or deferrals) as yet.
#4
Something DEFINITELY has to change in this situation. Flying today is just a miserable experience from the minute you get up to go to the airport to the minute you get to your actual destination. Rude, surly, uncaring staff, minimum-wage fascists at the TSA, jam-packed planes, chairs that don't provide as much room as a coffin would, bad or no food, late flights, missed connections...flying just sucks.
Both the workers and the people they "serve" hate the process with a passion. Many people with any choice would, have, and will continue to go a long way out of their way to avoid being exposed to it. It is a rare case where a successful business model involves a clientele that truly hates doing business with a service provider, and that is the situation the airlines are now in. It will get worse before it gets better.
#5
Seats may be harder to get and more expensive BUT, their on-time rate will be much better as they will not be stressing airport capacity quite so badly. And the aircrew shortage won't be quite so bad either.
No matter how the airlines whine, an airport can only handle so many aircraft as there is a minimum separation requirement between aircraft due to turbulence created by the aircraft. The bigger the aircraft the greater the spacing required. That's why airlines don't like (read hates) General Aviation as the smaller aircraft uses some of the capacity that the airline wants for it's own use.
#6
Flying today is just a miserable experience from the minute you get up to go to the airport to the minute you get to your actual destination. Rude, surly, uncaring staff, minimum-wage fascists.
Japan called Wednesday for a swift resolution of a health scare involving Chinese dumplings as it emerged that several people had fallen ill in China after eating the same product.
The latest food poisoning cases in China appeared to cast doubt on Beijing's assertion that the dumplings at the centre of the incident in Japan early this year were contaminated with pesticide after leaving the country.
"A lot of time has passed (since the incident in Japan). I thought this needed to be settled as quickly as possible. But currently, Chinese authorities are continuing their investigation," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said.
Ten people suffered pesticide poisoning in December and January in Japan after eating the frozen dumplings imported from China, while thousands more complained about feeling ill.
A Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said Beijing had informed Tokyo that Chinese people who ate dumplings also fell ill in June.
"It is true that food poisoning caused by dumplings occurred in June in China," he quoted the Chinese government as saying.
As for Japan, "we need to continue investigating this issue, including any possible link between the incident and the food poisoning in Japan," he said.
#1
were contaminated with pesticide after leaving the country.
Yup, standard operating procedure for the Chinese. We never have any defects, and if anything is wrong, then it didn't happen in China. And you're supposed to accept this explanation because the authorities are always right, and it is impossible for them to lie.
#1
Saw a report from a local TV reporter who's there this AM. She says Olympic officials are calling the smog "mist". You could barely see the main stadium across the parking lot.
Wouldn't wanna screw up their big party.
#4
"I would also like to point out the extraordinary olympic spirit and humanitarian efforts of the Chinese is providing cheap, effective vitamins to their competitors."
#5
Can't speak for the rest of you but I expect to spend a grand total of ZERO hours watching the Olympics. Or, in other words, about the same number of hours I spent watching the Moscow Olympics. No interest, particularly in watching a Chinese replay of the 1936 event.
#6
Olympics? Is that Kibuki theater back again so soon?
Who gives a rat's ass? It would be a more productive use of my time to watch oil paint dry. In 100% humidity.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/07/2008 19:43 Comments ||
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#7
When the Tibetan Horse Festival becomes a Chinese Olympic event... well, then maybe. Until then, forget it. I'm concerned with what happens with the Tibetans after the 'Games' are over and the spotlight is off the Communist Chinese.
I couldn't resist so heres to quoting out of context!
"The discovery of dynamic frustration reveals a whole new class of glassy materials whose behavior is governed by dynamic rather than static disorder," Osborn said.
This discovery may allow scientists to tune the degree of frustration and therefore develop a better understanding of how glasses are formed in nature.
#1
What is the degree of Dynamic Frustration found on the Daily Kos and Democratic Underground? Is it any different than their degree of Constant Frustration?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/07/2008 16:27 Comments ||
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Should've expected this, I guess...
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. An animal rights group has tried and failed to run a newspaper ad comparing the beheading of a passenger on a Greyhound bus last week to the treatment of animals by the meat industry. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said on its website it would run the ad in the Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic. However, city editor Tara Seel said the newspaper had no intention of running the ad, which uses imagery of an innocent victim's throat being cut, in reference to the slaughter of cows, chickens and pigs on factory farms. I eat them all. And enjoy it.
His struggles and cries are ignored ... the man with the knife shows no emotion ... the victim is slaughtered and his head cut off ... his flesh is eaten, reads the ad, which is posted on the website.If this ad leaves a bad taste in your mouth, please give a thought to what sensitive animals think and feel when they come to the end of their frightening journey and see, hear and smell the slaughterhouse. They probably think, "Well at least I'm not on a bus."
Ms. Seel would not specify reasons for why the newspaper was choosing not to run the ad, except to say it wasn't something they wanted to do. She noted the newspaper had been inundated with calls from other media since the posting to the PETA website. Maybe they won't run it because PETA's a bunch of assholes?
Vince Weiguang Li, 40, of Edmonton, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old carnival worker Tim McLean, who was stabbed and decapitated aboard a Greyhound bus on July 30. Mr. Li has been ordered by a judge to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Aw, c'mon, PETA. Go to bat for the guy. He only killed a human.
Like human victims, animals in slaughterhouses experience terror when they are attacked by a knife-wielding assailant, Lindsay Rajt of PETA said in a news release. We are challenging everyone who is rightly horrified by this crime to look into their hearts and consider leaving violence off their dinner plates. I'd prefer an ad with Pam Anderson's gynormous boobs...
Ms. Rajt said the ad was intended to be shocking and is meant to spur people to think about the terror and pain experienced by animals who are raised and killed for food. So they've served their purpose in the circle of life...and they're delicious!
#2
PETA has found an ally in Fred Phelps and his nutcases, who are also trying to capitalize on this tragedy. The latter are planning to picket the funeral of the beheaded man.
"Local Obama spokesman Paul Cox said later that Nifong "has no official role in the campaign and was not recruited by the campaign. He simply showed up as a volunteer." "
Looks to me like a little pre-emptive underbustossoloectomy.
(as in, even the messiah has his limits)
#5
Don't you have to be an attorney to be Attorney General? Nifong was disbarred. (In my humble opinion, he should have been sent to prison, but that's just me as an ordinary citizen of North Carolina talking.)
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
08/07/2008 14:48 Comments ||
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#6
Actually, Deval would probably settle for Supreme Court Justice.
#8
Or possibly campaigning for Obama will bring Nifong support in some future Durham election. The man has no shame (neither man does, come to think of it).
HYDERABAD, August 1: A four-year-old girl of Kohli community has been married to the boy of the same age under the decision taken by elders to punish the family of the girl whose father disappeared with a sister of the boy.
Tando Allahyar DPO Farooq Jamali told ROD that he had sought details from elders of the community, the families of the two children and the Pyaro Loond police. It is learnt that teen-aged girl Radha eloped with Neelo Kohli, the father of Meena, a few days ago, but no FIR was registered by Radha's family.
The Kohlis work on the land of the Loond senior in the Hakra Mori area. Elders of the Loond community assembled a meeting in Tando Allahyar and decided that the four-year-old Meena be married to Radha's four-year-old brother Dhalo. On Friday, a crying Meena was handed over to the boy's family despite stiff resistance put up by her mother and grandmother. It is learnt that the thumb impression of her grandmother had been forcibly obtained on a document about the marriage.
The document also has the thumb impression of Karo Kohli, the father of Dhalo. Any side infringing the agreement will have to pay a fine of Rs. 200,000 (US$ 2777.78). Meena's mother and grandmother informed that they had never approved to the marriage. They met SP investigation Altaf Awan to enlighten him about the case. DPO Farooq Jamali will meet both the families on Saturday in attendance of heads of Kohli and Loond gatherings.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2008 12:53 ||
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I toyed with the idea of a GPS based replacement for DNS. The whole purpose of DNS is a crutch for route discovery from point A to point B. These days with multiple providers, last mile paths and backbones its a bit more complicated than when invented for DARPA.
I envisioned an address assignment method that went: Provider, Provider carrier, GPS coordinate, altitude, random number, NIC card/connection in device.
This allows a device to discover the address of each connection by: GPS, altitude estimate, choosing a small random number, connection in the device and provider and carrier information either broadcast or in a handshake. A packet sent to itself could verify if the random number provided a collision with another device and then choose another random number (maybe sequential would be good enough).
If this method is used all the way through the system you do not need DNS. A benefit is it could be slowly retrofitted onto a DNS based system.
This would remove the need to have DNS. It would be good enough that you could have a stack of computers and each would quickly figure out working addresses for themselves.
Another benefit is mobility. As the device moves you can choose the proper nodes to contact it from. As it moves it can provide the new address to its connections.
Sorry for the rant bandwith... just mumbling out loud... because if you don't have DNS you don't have this hack.
Good idea except one vulnerability. If the GPS system went down due to sabatoge, unless computers were designed to keep in memory its last known GPS coordinates, all on-line communications would cease.
Also, something else that could be a problem that may also have solutions given enough thought, is security. Looking at the address that datapackets are going to can expose precisely where a computer (I.E. military computer out in the battle field or at the Pentagon) is located by the GPS info in the header...
#3
For civilian use it would be ideal. Military might need scrambling. For instance - you would be able to derive the location of that hacker.....
think about it ... hacker ... base ball bat... hacker...
Plus... you could easily block a region...
Chinese hacking your site... blocked
Smart assed heckler from say GREECE ... blocked.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Airlines are set to make the reduction, the equivalent of one in every 14 seats, in response to high oil prices and the global credit crisis, according to the Official Airline Guide (OAG). Reduced availability is almost certain to force up ticket prices. 
HYDERABAD, August 1: A four-year-old girl of Kohli community has been married to the boy of the same age under the decision taken by elders to punish the family of the girl whose father disappeared with a sister of the boy.
