Where Are The Wise Men?

Mike's Ramblings

Category: Life

A Science Conversation

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Earlier this week, Leah was helping me set the table. She said, "Dad, watch this!" and she put the tines of a fork underneath a plate, pushed down on the handle and the plate went up in the air.

Being a good parent, I decided this was a teachable moment. Or at least let my daughter know how smart her dad is. "Nice Leah! Do you know what that is called?"

Now I'm impressed! So I ask her "Where did you learn about levers from?"

Of course! Lovable Sid! She gets a lot of great stuff from that show. But does she understand what they were talking about. So I asked, "Do you know what you would use a lever for?"

Ah, genius. Okay, not really -- but who says you can't learn anything from TV?

YPC Summit

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Better late than never . . .

I was fortunate enough to go to [Omaha's Young Professionals Summit][] on March 5. I was excited about this because I'm a big fan of [Malcolm Gladwell.][] I had high expectations for his keynote and he exceeded them. His talk was inspiritional and informative on how to make Omaha a more creative and dynamic city. To summarize his talk takes two words: "Community Matters."

They also announce the [YP Bus Challenge.][] Since I ride the bus downtown to work anyway, this is a no-brainer. Another person I ride the bus with was also at the Summit, so we quickly formed our team. Go Team 94!!

I also enjoyed some of the breakout sessions and met a few new people I hope to see again soon.

Prairie News][] posted up the great video they showed at the Summit, but, alas, it's no longer there. Bummer.

News!][]

Who's Watching the Watchmen?

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After months of being on the reserve list, the library finally let me checkout [Watchmen][] (which is at least as fantastic as you can imagine). I was reading it last night while on the couch with Leah. Leah pointed to the back of the book.

We talked a little more about a few other things, not related to the book, and then Leah said, "That guy on the back of the book? I bet he got a haircut!"

I certainly hope so, but I doubt it.

The Inauguration Show

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Yeah, I'm behind a week, but still . . . . regardless of which side you are on, I think you should listen to last week's episode of This American Life, called [The Inauguration Show.][]

I thought the best part was Act II -- Lions and Lambs. What Dr. Fisher's entire interview in that part was very, very good, especially when he talked about Christians having dialog with those they disagreed with. And the kids reading their letters to now-President Obama was also poignant.

A Discussion With MAT

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A fellow employee and bus rider organize a townhall-type meeting with the head of Omaha's [bus system MAT][]and fellow employees as well as other bus riders. It was sorta a gripe session, but the President of MAT (Curt Simon) as well as the Director of Operations were both there. They fielded our questions and complaints and were honest about what was happening. It's been a while but [I have blogged about my frustrations with the bus service before.][] This was a good time to find out more.

This is my attempt of a summary of the meeting. Note that it's an attempt -- more was said that I probably didn't get down.

  • MAT is a state entity. It gets no money from the City. But the Mayor of Omaha appoints the people on the MAT Board.
  • The Federal Govt will help pay for a new bus once it reaches 500k miles or is 12 years old. MAT's average bus is 8.5 years old and has 417k miles on it. If a bus is refabricated , then it's date gets set to when that the refabrication was completed.
  • MAT's newest bus is from 2001, but that doesn't include the refabricated buses since then.
  • Simon says that new buses are their #1 priority and they will get some probably in Q3 or Q4 of this year. The goal is 63 new buses in the next five years. They hope that Obama's stimulus package will help them out with that. Most of these will be on the Express routes because they want to get as much mileage on them as possible before their warranty ends.
  • MAT got the 19 buses from Orlando for free -- Orlando just signed the titles over to them. MAT did this because they knew their fleet was aging and they didn't have money to get new buses. They got these to "put their finger in the dike" (Simon's phase). The idea was that they would have more buses to turn in and out. But the Orlando buses haven't worked out like they had hoped and are on the end of their lives. Now most of the Orlando buses are being refabricated and will be back out on the street soon.
  • MAT did not buy new buses and then turn around and sell them and then buy used ones, as a rumor states. Simon said that explicitly.
  • After some complaints this winter about buses being late or not showing up, they stepped up bus inspection. At 3:15, dispatchers go to the garage to make sure they have buses for all the Express routes, which has worked in ending the "there was no bus in the garage" excuse.
  • Circular buses generally have transmission problems so they are on the circular route until their rebuilt transmission comes in.
  • There is no reason why a bus driver doesn't know the route. All of them have been through classes and should know the route before they leave the barn. Simon said there is no excuse for that.