Comments on: Today’s Headlines

By: galvo

galvo — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:41:41 +0000

little late to the game but a observation to comment #13, the crossing of double yellow lines.
one problem that should be addressed in the congested NY area (nothing to do with this hit) the number of streets that have double yellow or white no passing lanes markers that every driver has to ignore.
When the lane markings make no sense, and have to be ignored, drivers tend to ignore all the really important double yellow lines.
there are many streets that have double yellow lines that with parking on both sides, it is impossible to drive down the street without crossing them.

By: Spud Spudly

Spud Spudly — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:57:47 +0000

I'm surprised you kept at it this long. I was going to stop after #33 but I didn't like the ad hominem comment. I figured you'd just say "no" about Brad and cut him some slack for being on assignment for Streetsblog, or just ignore me altogether or maybe just admit that not all drivers are what you say. But this is silly and I don't want you to think I ever seek you out for an argument. Carry on...

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:19:57 +0000

I don't know how you expect me to elaborate. To address your question as best I can, am I willing to attack Brad Aaron for driving a car on assignment? No, I think he deserves better. Do I stand by my statement that drivers are evil? Yes. Granted, it's a provocative position, I need to do a better job of defending it, and I'll try to do that someday. There may be a distinction to be made between drivers and driving but I haven't thought it out yet. How do I explain the disparity between the first and second answers? I guess I'm more willing to attack broad groups of people than single individuals. I think that's a good policy, because otherwise you end up in shouting matches. Am I asking rhetorical questions, as I accused you of doing? Have I probably committed every single rhetorical sin I accuse you of? Guilty. I'm far from perfect. Do I make provocative statements? Sure. I do it because I feel I'm among friends, and may be forgiven -- if not by you, then by others. This is my best shot at responding to your posts. I hope it's sufficient, and if we ever meet, perhaps we'll laugh about this. But I can't go on with this thread.

By: Spud Spudly

Spud Spudly — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:44:33 +0000

This is only about what you said.

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:51:14 +0000

Spud, this is the third (or fourth) ad hominem attack you've launched against me in the past six months. I'm sorry if I've offended you with my remarks about your sacred cows, cars and the people who drive them. So declare victory, turn the key in the ignition, and drive away.

By: Spud Spudly

Spud Spudly — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:38:46 +0000

Funny. You're the one changing the subject and refusing to answer the question because you talked yourself into a corner. All this is BS to draw attention away from the fact that you claim that drivers are depraved and evil. So, is Brad who drove 1,800 miles depraved and evil?

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:42:18 +0000

Are you changing the subject? Do you like asking rhetorical questions? Do you set up straw men when your back is to the wall? And incidentally, since you've brought my profession into this, what do you do for a living?

By: Spud Spudly

Spud Spudly — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:25:17 +0000

So is Brad Aaron depraved, evil and ethically challenged for taking his 1,800-mile rental car trip?

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:33:48 +0000

Cars kill more than a million people per year worldwide (World Health Organization via Wiki). That is the very definition of depraved. Turn the key in the ignition and you're a member of the club. Not everyone is ethically challenged enough to make excuses for this behavior, but some obviously are.

By: Spud Spudly

Spud Spudly — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:38:14 +0000

It doesn't matter what the pedestrians OR drivers in that particular video did or didn't do or could or couldn't see. To say that people who drive cars are evil and depraved is just stupid. It would be like saying that all journalists are prone to making sensationalistic comments on Web sites -- they're not all like that, but some obviously are.

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:20:30 +0000

Nice, when you walk on a sidewalk, do you look in front of you, or is your head twisted 90 degrees to the side? You look ahead. The video is from a security cam that surveys the scene from overhead. So the perspective of peds and the perspective of the video are entirely different.

By: Nice Ped

Nice Ped — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:04:40 +0000

Mark W - that's loony. Did you see the photos/video? How would a pedestrian not have seen a human body laying in the street? Let's not get melodramatic here.

By: Clarence

Clarence — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:57:25 +0000

That's a nice photo of Enrique...

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:17:36 +0000

Questions for Enrique Peñalosa:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/magazine/08WWLN-Q4-t.html

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:32:45 +0000

Whoops! I meant to post that in the other thread.

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:31:08 +0000

This is an amazing find. The only part I don't agree on is this:

provides mobile shelter for rakes intent on seducing his daughters

Maybe I should see if it works at the next Community Board meeting, though!

Actually, at a 1998 hearing I attended on a proposal to expand the bus system in Albuquerque, one City Council member - who probably wasn't much older than I am now - said that he was concerned that if his teenage daughter could ride a bus home from the mall, then some creep could get off the bus behind her and attack her.

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:57:18 +0000

Josh, he was in the road, where drivers could see him, not on the sidewalk, where peds would see him. Stop kidding yourself. Drivers are evil. They stake out their moral position every time they turn the key in the ignition.

By: KOB

KOB — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:44:13 +0000

Mark,
More like "Foreign Oil Dependence Day"

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:24:42 +0000

And a few hours later it's $139. Morgan Stanley is predicting $150 before Independence Day. Or should we call it Foreign Oil Independence Day?

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:22:06 +0000

Mark Walker wrote: "Several more drivers went right past his prone body until others finally slowed and stopped. There is no limit to the depravity of people who drive cars." Several pedestrians went past before anyone went to help as well. Let's not make this out to be about "pedestrians are good and drivers are evil."