NPR gushes over the time-lapse video goodness of a traffic circle in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), captured by British photog, Rob Whitworth (who describes himself as an architectural photographer by day, time lapse photographer by night). Though I grew up in India and have seen it all when it comes to traffic congestion, there is no doubt the roundabout showcased in this video is plain crazy. Should be an awe inspiring sight to witness how they manage traffic and control the flow of traffic in real time without incidents. Maybe during my next visit to SE Asia I’ll take a detour and study it up close? Oh, while we are at it, don’t forget to check out Rob’s other two videos – one each from Shanghai, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Not sure what happened to this motorcyclist to create such a ruckus on the street. But one thing is damn clear – he/she is not fit to operate a motor vehicle, EVER. Ridiculous!
This vintage photo dates back to 1939 and was posted on the new Tumblr blog, FOUND, created by National Geographic in honor of its 125th anniversary.
A cowgirl puts a nickel in an El Paso parking meter to hitch her pony, October 1939. PHOTOGRAPH BY LUIS MARDEN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
As Mashable.com reports, the non-profit has joined Tumblr to showcase “FOUND,” a collection of rare photos from the National Geographic archives. According to the site, most of the photos have never been published, and were rarely seen by the public until now. National Geographic hopes digitizing the archive will also help identify the original date or location of the photos, since many are missing that information.
Do you have any vintage Transportation pictures that you would like to share? Drop me a note in the “Comments” section below and I’ll reach out to you.
Oh man.. Angry customers reacting to terrible service from a transportation provider is nothing new, esp. with airline companies, but what you are going to see below takes it to a new level. Interestingly, this customer who lost his cool is reported as a Chinese government official, which only means the airlines staff have no way of handling this as usual.. His poor spouse (lady standing adjacent to him) seems clueless about how to bring this raging bull of a man under control..
Amidst all the exhaustive and bitter political battles that rage day after day over the weak fiscal health of the nation, there are so many little things that slip away from the attention of tax paying public. And here is one such that I happened upon via twitter.
Guess what?
Just by eliminating a tax loophole that gives special treatment to corporate jets, for example—at a cost to taxpayers of $3.2 billion over 10 years – Congress could avert cuts that would cost thousands of jobs, hurt millions of disadvantaged students, and force hundreds of thousands of vulnerable families to lose critical nutrition and housing supports this year.
Information nuggets such as this make me wonder why our Politicians find it so difficult to act to avert painful cuts (in $$ that eventually affect middle and lower-income families) by taking a more balanced approach to deficit reduction. Corporations are people too? Not really (but the highest court in this land says otherwise). As CAP notes, “Unless Congress acts, on March 1 automatic and indiscriminate spending cuts will hit key programs, costing our economy more than 1 million jobs and cutting essential services for millions of low- and middle-income families.” That leaves me with this question: Will the politicians be rational for a change and do the right thing for the country? Or, will they continue to squabble and be addicted to doing their habitual partisan battles? Time will tell. Sigh!
An awesome visual, courtesy of Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagenize.com, that tells how our mobility models have changed over the years.. In a way it serves a testament to show how much the highway lobby has influenced our society’s transportation preferences, diminishing walking and bicycling over the generations.
A Short History of Traffic Engineering – Image Courtesy: Copenhagenize.com
Just a couple of hours ago, the premier transit agency in the nation’s capitol (WMATA) suffered a serious service outage on one of the heavily traveled train lines (Green Line). The abrupt disruptions have left many commuters stranded without a way out of the Navy Yard (and Anacostia) area, a major hub for riders employed at many of the facilities, including the US Department of Transportation, situated in the vicinity. Though it was an unexpected situation, #WMATA was a bit slow to respond and got customers ticked (to put it lightly). And the customers have already taken to using social media sharing pics. and tweets from the scene. To WMATA’s credit, the communications team at the agency was trying its best to deal with the situation, which is a bit more heartening than how they did in similar situations in the past. Here is a sample of what’s happening on Twitter as we speak :
A sample of what’s happening at Twitter hashtag #WMATA
Looks like it is going to be a long night for all involved, esp. for the communications team at WMATA. Hope they learn sooner than later to deal with/cool down their customers before they all start flocking to their personal automobiles to get around the town.
Police in Sunshine Coast (Australia) got a surprise during the recent storm & flooding of the coastal area. The churning seas whipped out a heavy dose of foam that completely enveloped the road near the coast . As the cops stood watch, out comes a stealthy surprise – a car, completely covered in the foam! Scary to say the least!
Prime minister turns traffic cop after hitting East Timor gridlock Image Courtesy: EPA via NBC News
Prime minister turns traffic cop after hitting East Timor gridlock Image Courtesy: EPA via NBC News
How often you see the leader of a nation get down to the street and direct traffic flow? The answer is NEVER. But that changed today. The Prime Minister of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, turned traffic cop on Monday after his car got stuck in a traffic jam outside the presidential office in the capital Dili.
