http://bismuthbi.googlepages.com/mbtareal.kml
This file contains all commuter rail and rapid transit lines in the MBTA system, including stations. The paths are actually accurate, not simply straight lines between stations.
I'm making this public domain--use, modify, and redistribute however you wish.
You can view it on Google Maps if you want by entering the URL in the search bar, but this is not recommended (too many stations, not all are shown, colors are not shown for stations).
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Most intriguing sentence in all Wikipedia?
So I was browsing that encyclopedia we all know and love, and I came across this tidbit in the MBTA page (emphasis mine):
Maynard. Maynard! What, may I ask, is so interesting about Maynard?
Was this some Maynardite (Maynardian? Maynard?) who felt slighted by his hometown's lack of prominence? Is there something unique to the position of Maynard that merited mention? Why Maynard?
I am immensely, immensely intrigued by this.
By 1999, the district was expanded further to 175 cities and towns, adding most that were served by or adjacent to commuter rail lines (including Maynard), though the MBTA did not assume responsibility for local service in those communities.
Maynard. Maynard! What, may I ask, is so interesting about Maynard?
Was this some Maynardite (Maynardian? Maynard?) who felt slighted by his hometown's lack of prominence? Is there something unique to the position of Maynard that merited mention? Why Maynard?
I am immensely, immensely intrigued by this.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Fun Times with Boltbus Fares
Found a little quirk in BoltBus scheduling today:
So basically, it'll take you $10 to do this:
View Larger Map
But $1 to do this:
View Larger Map
So basically, it'll take you $10 to do this:
View Larger Map
But $1 to do this:
View Larger Map
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Today on Hardball...
BS. Boumedienne v. Bush gave the Guantanamo detainees habeas corpus. They have it because in theory we can't lock people up forever because the GOVERNMENT say's they're guilty. So Saxby Chambliss is either an idiot who has no idea what he's talking about or a liar.
Sick. Sick. Sick.
Dainty. Why are we so dainty? I mean, they're criminals. The government said so.
What are we waiting for then? Let's do it! Let's chop their bloody heads off and be done with it!
Because they are evil. They are Scary and they are Terrorists and they are Bad and They want to Kill Us All. And we must be very, very afraid of them, and we must kill them.
Our political culture is rotten to the core. The national discourse is dominated by barbarians and people with no respect for basic ideas of justice. And there is no end in sight.
SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R-GA): We know that the ones that are left in Guantanamo are the meanest, nastiest killers in the world. They getup every day thinking of ways that they can kill and harm Americans. And those are the individuals that we just can't afford to have transferred to this country and certainly we can't afford to put them into a position to be released into US society.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Do you think our maximum security prisons are not adequate to hold them? We've got some, you know, a lot of killers in our prisons. We've got murderers, people who murdered again and again in our prisons, really horrible people in those prisons in our country. Senator, Chambliss, you're saying they're not good enough to hold these terorists, not tough enough to hold them?
CHAMBLISS: No, what I'm saying is that once you put 'em on Americal soil, then all of a sudden they become eligible for a lot of rights that American criminal have and these are combatant detainees. These are not ordinary bank robbers or the nasty folks who they might be asociated with at these. These are folks that either have killed or tried to kill Americans. And we ned to make sure that they don't have the rights given to those criminals that are on American soil, such as the right of habeas corpus, and a certain number of them will probably be successful in a habeas corpus action and could be released in America.
BS. Boumedienne v. Bush gave the Guantanamo detainees habeas corpus. They have it because in theory we can't lock people up forever because the GOVERNMENT say's they're guilty. So Saxby Chambliss is either an idiot who has no idea what he's talking about or a liar.
BEN NELSON (D-ND): It's certainly not in my case. I think it's inappropriate to bring those prisoners .. er combatants to America to house them to incarcerate them. It's just inappropriate. It's a matter of politics, it's a matter of policy, and even if you didn't run the risk of habeas corpus and some of the other rights that they might be able to assert on American soil, it's inappropriate.
Sick. Sick. Sick.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I mean, let's be honest about it. If we believe they're evil, if we believe they're coming to get us, they're hardened killers and terrorists and they intend the minute they get out to come back and try to kill us, why are we being so dainty about it? Why do we keep holding them? Why don't we execute them?
Dainty. Why are we so dainty? I mean, they're criminals. The government said so.
What are we waiting for then? Let's do it! Let's chop their bloody heads off and be done with it!
Because they are evil. They are Scary and they are Terrorists and they are Bad and They want to Kill Us All. And we must be very, very afraid of them, and we must kill them.
Our political culture is rotten to the core. The national discourse is dominated by barbarians and people with no respect for basic ideas of justice. And there is no end in sight.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Good, good news from Venezuela
CNN reports that Hugo Chavez is willing to take on innocent people released from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Remember, we have been holding people whom we have declared innocent for six years (i.e. the Uighurs). Innocent people. Determined back in 2004 to not be "enemy combatants".
They cannot return to their home countries, they were denied asylum by the United States, denied the right to even roam the naval base freely, these people have basically been kept in cages for no reason. The Boston Globe excellently laid out how awful and unjust their conditions are.
Let me reiterate this. Innocent people. Imprisoned. By the United States of America.
There is no way to defend this. No "Yes, but..." No way to be apathetic, to say it doesn't matter. Innocent. People.
I don't care if you think George W Bush or Barack Obama is the greatest president in history. I don't care if you are a Democrat or Republican or Libertarian or Communist.
This is undeniably utterly reprehensible.
And it looks like it might take Hugo Chavez to set them free. Now, I am no huge fan of Hugo Chavez. But this is a act of basic humanity that he alone among government leaders has been willing to take, to the shame of every other country on Earth. And it starts with us, and with George Bush, and with Barack Obama, who refused asylum to innocent people whose lives our country destroyed.
Remember, we have been holding people whom we have declared innocent for six years (i.e. the Uighurs). Innocent people. Determined back in 2004 to not be "enemy combatants".
They cannot return to their home countries, they were denied asylum by the United States, denied the right to even roam the naval base freely, these people have basically been kept in cages for no reason. The Boston Globe excellently laid out how awful and unjust their conditions are.
Let me reiterate this. Innocent people. Imprisoned. By the United States of America.
There is no way to defend this. No "Yes, but..." No way to be apathetic, to say it doesn't matter. Innocent. People.
I don't care if you think George W Bush or Barack Obama is the greatest president in history. I don't care if you are a Democrat or Republican or Libertarian or Communist.
This is undeniably utterly reprehensible.
And it looks like it might take Hugo Chavez to set them free. Now, I am no huge fan of Hugo Chavez. But this is a act of basic humanity that he alone among government leaders has been willing to take, to the shame of every other country on Earth. And it starts with us, and with George Bush, and with Barack Obama, who refused asylum to innocent people whose lives our country destroyed.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
More on Bagram Abuse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7903005.stm
Bagram is the site of the infamous case of the death of a taxi driver known only as Dilawar, along with other cases of abuse.
Remember, we are holding people who have not been charged with anything. We are embracing the idea that due process is not a fundamental right, that the government can hold people with virtually no oversight, a blatant violation of human rights.
It was bad enough under Bush. But at least there was hope that this was just one rotten administration, a small shameful blip in American history. And now the Obama administration is giving that process its blessing.
The justice department ruled that some 600 so-called enemy combatants at Bagram have no constitutional rights.
Most have been arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of waging a terrorist war against the US.
The move has disappointed human rights lawyers who had hoped the Obama administration would take a different line to that of George W Bush.
...
"There are no military hearings where the detainees can present evidence," she [Prof Barbara Olshansky] added. "Torture has led to homicides there that have been admitted by the US."
Bagram is the site of the infamous case of the death of a taxi driver known only as Dilawar, along with other cases of abuse.
Remember, we are holding people who have not been charged with anything. We are embracing the idea that due process is not a fundamental right, that the government can hold people with virtually no oversight, a blatant violation of human rights.
It was bad enough under Bush. But at least there was hope that this was just one rotten administration, a small shameful blip in American history. And now the Obama administration is giving that process its blessing.
Bagram Detainees
For reasons far too obvious (and it being far too late) to state, this is an awful, awful thing:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7903005.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7903005.stm
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