Tappan Zee Bridge: Where did Andrew Cuomo get that Corvette?
Transportation
Despite Proven Technology, Attempts To Make Table Saws Safer Drag On
Rest Area Plan Questioned by Congresswoman Tenney
This is stupid, especially because Congresswomen Tenney doesn't understand the law. The NYS Thruway was financed by the Thruway Authority bonds, it receives no federal highway funding (with a handful of exemptions, e.g. in late 1970s widening of the "free" Interstate 88 overlap).
The Thruway was built before the Interstate system, it's grandfathered into whatever state standards exist. Full-service rest areas are allowed on the Thruway, because it's grandfathered in facility. This is why there are gas stations and McDonalds on the Thruway -- even though on a normal federally funded highway -- this is not permitted. On normal federally funded highways, only facilities that may be provided on the highway is bathrooms and picnic tables. No other businesses are allowed on federally funded interstate highways (which, I repeat, the Thruway is not a federally funded road).
Even if the US DOT decides to withhold federal highway funding for some reason (like the I Love NY signs), it's a moot point, because if you withhold 100% of $0 in funding, the Thruway Authority still receives no money.
The Truth
"On my way home from work two Thursdays ago, the No. 3 train I was riding stopped suddenly, just before the 72nd Street station.This, on the New York City subway, was not particularly unusual. But what happened afterward was."
“Ladies and gentlemen,” began the voice over the loudspeaker, sounding rattled. “I have bad news. A passenger just jumped in front of the train.”
Several people gasped. A woman near me jerked her head up from her phone, wearing an expression of horror. We riders did something not normally acceptable: We made eye contact with one another. A train conductor or operator speaking of a death on the tracks without euphemism: We had never heard that before."
Fatal Ford Pinto crash in Indiana
"On this day in 1978, three teenage girls die after their 1973 Ford Pinto is rammed from behind by a van and bursts into flames on an Indiana highway. The fatal crash was one of a series of Pinto accidents that caused a national scandal during the 1970s."
What Are Those Squiggles of Tar on the Road?
"Spend a good amount of time driving, especially in rural areas, and you've probably noticed those messy-looking black squiggles that cut across asphalt road surfaces in what seems like haphazard fashion. But rest assured that they're not simply the result of some sloppy tar work by a road crew that decided to have a few beers before the end of the shift."
"Instead, what you're noticing is crack sealing. It's a time-honored technique for remedying the damaged road surfaces, without inflicting even more pain upon taxpayers by tearing up and repaving the entire road."
Fully Autonomous Cars May Be Decades Away, If They Ever Arrive
"In practical terms, though, we’re ages from getting there. Why? As security researchers at the University of Washington discovered, as smart as partially autonomous technology is, it’s a long ways from being smart enough to operate a vehicle in anything but perfect conditions, and it’s easy to throw that technology into turmoil. Sometimes with as little as a sticker placed on a stop sign."