Yesterday evening, at 5pm, a Red Line train near the DC/Maryland border, collided into the train directly in front of it, jack-knifing and piggy-backing on top of it. As of this morning, WMATA had reported 6 confirmed deaths and dozens of injuries, and rescue attempts were still clearing the bodies and injured victims.
The National Transportation Security Board (NTSB) blames the Metro for non-compliance to safety recommendations. Seems logical. The train that was stopped was a 5000-series, newer model, while the train that lost control and crashed into it, was a 1000-series model, which the NTSB recommended retrofitting or replacing. The scary part is that the Metro refused on the basis of taxes.
Maybe if the Metro, the only public transportation without guaranteed funding, had some sort of stable cash flow, they could make long term adjustments and address safety concerns. Hopefully this accident will cast light on the flawed system and bring about a dialogue about insuring safety.
On a personal note, this accident occured outside of my station, during rush hour. Not only were my fiance and I at risk, although we serendipitously met in Arlington instead of going straight home, but we had to haggle with a cab driver, get through blocked roads, and fork over $50 in order to get home. And we had the cash to make it happen. Most of DC's residents do NOT. Shuttles are ineffective, and many can't afford to make it to work.
Socio-Economic tensions? Ahhh... smells like DC.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
U.S. Government Wasteful? Nah...
The last few months, I've had to really bite my tongue over government waste. I've been contracting with a Small Business Programs office at the Pentagon, and on Friday, they terminated our contract after a series of rifts between the company and the office.
This office was like an elementary school playground. It had bullies, kids who picked their noses and slept through class, and crossing guards and hall monitors who had basically no real authority.
Except these weren't rowdy kids with nothing better to do. These were GS-12s and GS-15s, getting paid six-figures, doing practically nothing, traveling to meaningless conferences and events, and taking every Friday off. Sometimes taking several weeks at a time off.
Just letting you know, your tax dollars pay for that office. A hamster's cage of pathetic creatures who want to shake things up just to advance their careers. Tasteless, really.
They forced us to hire at least four staff who we would not have normally hired, and then terminated without warning, so those staff, plus half a dozen others are out of a job, as of today. These are people that this office insisted on hiring, because they were the best for the job, and they didn't even give them the consideration of a warning shot.
We are a small company, so firing 10 people is about HALF of our normal staff. And this is the model for treating small businesses at the DoD - from a Small Business Programs office? Chew on that for a minute.
I'd love to quantify all the ways they waste, and oh, I do have that information.
For those of you who are interested in Government Contracting Waste, feel free to use the following resource:
https://www.fpds.gov
Make a public access username and password. The only difference is that there is a 90 day delay for DoD data, for security purposes.
you can download free training resources at www.fpdsng.com
I suggest the Data Dictionary, which will help you sort abbreviations and codes out.
Whatever you find, make public. Some of us have our hands tied, but the government is responsible to its constituents, right?
...Right?
This office was like an elementary school playground. It had bullies, kids who picked their noses and slept through class, and crossing guards and hall monitors who had basically no real authority.
Except these weren't rowdy kids with nothing better to do. These were GS-12s and GS-15s, getting paid six-figures, doing practically nothing, traveling to meaningless conferences and events, and taking every Friday off. Sometimes taking several weeks at a time off.
Just letting you know, your tax dollars pay for that office. A hamster's cage of pathetic creatures who want to shake things up just to advance their careers. Tasteless, really.
They forced us to hire at least four staff who we would not have normally hired, and then terminated without warning, so those staff, plus half a dozen others are out of a job, as of today. These are people that this office insisted on hiring, because they were the best for the job, and they didn't even give them the consideration of a warning shot.
We are a small company, so firing 10 people is about HALF of our normal staff. And this is the model for treating small businesses at the DoD - from a Small Business Programs office? Chew on that for a minute.
I'd love to quantify all the ways they waste, and oh, I do have that information.
For those of you who are interested in Government Contracting Waste, feel free to use the following resource:
https://www.fpds.gov
Make a public access username and password. The only difference is that there is a 90 day delay for DoD data, for security purposes.
you can download free training resources at www.fpdsng.com
I suggest the Data Dictionary, which will help you sort abbreviations and codes out.
Whatever you find, make public. Some of us have our hands tied, but the government is responsible to its constituents, right?
...Right?
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Fear, the Flu, and Farming
Remember your European History class in high school? You know, the one where the coolest guy (in your extremely dorky opinion) was the one wearing the baggy black t-shirt with a rat screen-printed on the front of it? And above, in Gothic lettering, it read: "BLACK DEATH" and below: "EUROPEAN TOUR 1347-1351"?
Okay, maybe that was just me, but you have to admit that everybody loved the stories of the bubonic plague. The drama! The tragedy! The Monty Python references!
Anyway, the idea that diseases could spread wildly and kill off whole tens of percentages of the population is nothing new. Rat-infested Europe's population suffered from the bubonic plague fairly consistently for 400 years. And yes, this little germazoid (known in the scientific community as Yersitia pestis) is still around, still infecting 1,000 to 3,000 people globally every year, including a whole 10-15 in the United States. So, if you're feeling plague-y, antibiotics are effective now, and try not to play with flea-infested rodents so much.
Gosh, compared to this ruckus, Swine flu sounds like a day in the park! Well, yes and no. First the good news: the symptoms of H1N1 are mild and very similar to the normal run-of-the-mill flu. In fact, there are estimations that many more Americans have had H1N1 than have been reported, but didn't have extreme symptoms that would cause a doctor to test his or her blood.
Now, on the flipside, we have to take responsibility for why this is happening. It's no secret that smooshing 100 acres worth of animals into a facility the size of my grandfather's pole barn can be hazardous. Many claim, it's farming, it's a way of life. But, let's say you were a Medieval European, cramming a million rats into your apartment. You'd probably be dead and/or institutionalized, whichever came first.
No offense to pigs, or anything, but they eat and poop anything and everything. Really, really. And that kind of environment is excellent for viruses, and even better, virus mutation. So take a million virus mutating vessels, shove them all into your apartment, no go on, do it. See how the virus mutates! Now it can affect humans. You know, like day laborers in Mexico where we (and I use the term lightly. What I mean to say is Smithfield, but don't tell them, okay?) outsourced our farm (you know, the American way of life?) and let the pigs crap all over the village and let the people drink the water from that ground and work with pigs for 10 cents an hour. Voila! Swine flu.
Laurie Garrett describes it a lot better than I can.
Food and Water Watch (consumer advocacy org) does a pretty good job of connecting the dots, too.
The Humane Society has a lot to say about this, obviously.
What I'm trying to say, is that factory farming is really, really, really bad. It's bad for farmers, and it's bad for animals, and by gods, it's bad for humans. If we don't act over salmonella, and we don't act over e-coli, and we don't act over H1N1, what will be the thing to actually get our attention?
Okay, maybe that was just me, but you have to admit that everybody loved the stories of the bubonic plague. The drama! The tragedy! The Monty Python references!
Anyway, the idea that diseases could spread wildly and kill off whole tens of percentages of the population is nothing new. Rat-infested Europe's population suffered from the bubonic plague fairly consistently for 400 years. And yes, this little germazoid (known in the scientific community as Yersitia pestis) is still around, still infecting 1,000 to 3,000 people globally every year, including a whole 10-15 in the United States. So, if you're feeling plague-y, antibiotics are effective now, and try not to play with flea-infested rodents so much.
Gosh, compared to this ruckus, Swine flu sounds like a day in the park! Well, yes and no. First the good news: the symptoms of H1N1 are mild and very similar to the normal run-of-the-mill flu. In fact, there are estimations that many more Americans have had H1N1 than have been reported, but didn't have extreme symptoms that would cause a doctor to test his or her blood.
Now, on the flipside, we have to take responsibility for why this is happening. It's no secret that smooshing 100 acres worth of animals into a facility the size of my grandfather's pole barn can be hazardous. Many claim, it's farming, it's a way of life. But, let's say you were a Medieval European, cramming a million rats into your apartment. You'd probably be dead and/or institutionalized, whichever came first.
No offense to pigs, or anything, but they eat and poop anything and everything. Really, really. And that kind of environment is excellent for viruses, and even better, virus mutation. So take a million virus mutating vessels, shove them all into your apartment, no go on, do it. See how the virus mutates! Now it can affect humans. You know, like day laborers in Mexico where we (and I use the term lightly. What I mean to say is Smithfield, but don't tell them, okay?) outsourced our farm (you know, the American way of life?) and let the pigs crap all over the village and let the people drink the water from that ground and work with pigs for 10 cents an hour. Voila! Swine flu.
Laurie Garrett describes it a lot better than I can.
Food and Water Watch (consumer advocacy org) does a pretty good job of connecting the dots, too.
The Humane Society has a lot to say about this, obviously.
What I'm trying to say, is that factory farming is really, really, really bad. It's bad for farmers, and it's bad for animals, and by gods, it's bad for humans. If we don't act over salmonella, and we don't act over e-coli, and we don't act over H1N1, what will be the thing to actually get our attention?
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