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Be involved with your schools! Act TODAY!

During the rezoning we told the school board that the community wanted to be informed and involved in the choices that were being made. The School Matters forum was created as a result to help facilitate communication on educational issues. School Matters can be used by the community to talk amongst themselves on all issues of education throughout life. Education is not limited to K through 12. Fortunately, the school board listens in on School Matters and often provides commentary and responses.

The Knox County Board of Education will host an overview of school finance and the FY 2009 Budget request at 6:00 p.m. Thursday, June 12 in the West High School auditorium at 3300 Sutherland Ave.

The session is for interested citizens and is designed to provide a primer on school finance and an overview of the FY 2009 budget request and approval process.

[Source, School Matters, Knox County Schools Budget Overview Meeting for General Public]

Your comments to this announcement on School Matters could possibly help keep the budget on track and steer our educational resources in the best possible manner to provide our children with the education they deserve. Take time and comment now! For the children.

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TN/GA Border Dispute continues?

I thought Georgia wanting to move the Tennessee border was a publicity stunt. Is this really continuing or is Knoxnews hurting that badly for a story? "More details as they develop online and in Wednesday’s News Sentinel."

Georgia’s water problem will not be solved by tapping the Tennessee River. They have a water management problem. If someone has a spending problem, their spending habit does not get cured by throwing more money at them. Georgia must develop land management and water management plans. How much of their water is flushed out to the Gulf of Mexico in storm drains rather than recaptured for recharging the aquifers? Does Peachtree Street need another fountain?

I predict there will be bloodshed if that border ever actually moves!

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Hillary is going out..why is she following me?

Like The Whispers on LOST, I’ve heard hushed chatter all day long about how Hillary is dropping out of the race tomorrow. Naturally, I raised an eyebrow when my email informed me that @Hillary2008 was started following my Twitter account today. Back before October of last year, I started following presidential candidates wise enough to be using technology to their advantage. Edwards, Thompson, and Obama used it the best.

Now I can’t remember which one but one of the candidates even opened Twitter up for questions while he was on CNN (or some other live show); unfortunately I was walking out the door and didn’t get to fire off any questions nor watch the program.Joe Biden opened Twitter up for questions while he was on a live chat with The Washington Post. What a powerful way to use the Internet! Putting Twitter ahead of the reporters and phones!

Early on, it became evident that @Hillary2008 was not the real Hillary Clinton. Today Hillary2008 follows 787 people and is followed by 829 people. The real Hillary Clinton appears to be @HillaryClinton and follows 0 people with 4,140 people following her which means she doesn’t understand Twitter. (Randy, are you listening? 0/66) Barack Obama at @BarackObama is following 35,777 people and has 34,765 people following him; his updates are frequent and does not read like a staffer is trying to impersonate him. Seems early on in the campaign that @BarackObama even sent @ replies to followers (but I cannot find an example right now).

I personally belief that either the people behind Hillary2008 gave the account over to the campaign or decided to start working it as true Hillary fans that actually understand the technology. What’s to understand about Twitter? It’s bi-directional. We use our feed readers and RSS for push news and headlines. If all you are doing is using Twitter to push your urls and try to get people to your site, then for all practical purposes, you are a spammer. Even news sites like @Knoxnews responds to its followers. If you listen to them, they’ll listen to you! @SantaClaus is a hoot! Not only does he work the Twitter account around the holiday, but he responds to almost everyone that mentions him and he does year round! Interactivity is the key to Twitter. Of course, Leo Laporte breaks this theory by following 441 people and having 39821 people follow him. He’s this anomaly I just haven’t figured out yet. Of course, as much as I can’t figure out why you would want to follow him (and his ego), I find myself that compelled to follow more of him. Long and short of it, if you have a zero in either following or followers, you are using Twitter poorly.

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What causes writer’s block?

For me, writer’s block is caused by deadlines. I would like to take time for a lengthy post relating the weekend visit by the extended family, the birthday celebrations, the pains, the miracles, and so forth that transpired over the past few days. Unfortunately, I have work that must get done. My mentally and physically exhausted body failed to wake at the crack of dawn which is when I often let my creative writing out.

My writer’s block is not due to a lack of words but due to a lack of minutes in the day. My podcasting block is due to a need to purchase a hard drive (and preferably a digital recorder).

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Safer traffic is with less, not more

Michael Silence has posted that another Oak Ridge camera company (we have many: Ipix (dead), Pips, Perceptics, Aldis, others?) is attaching cameras to traffic lights. The full story is in the Knoxnews. These new cameras are being tested to replace the magnetic strips in the pavement that detect the flow of traffic or vehicles backed up at an intersection. These strips are often the bane of motorcyclists as they sometimes do not get detected and have to sit at a light forever. These cameras might be a good thing! Of course, No Silence Here commenter Joe Lance notes "Chattanooga has invested in a couple of cameras — complete with loudspeakers — that announce to illegal dumpers that they are being photographed." When do cameras cease to be a good thing?

I twitch a bit as we throw up more traffic lights, more signs, more lines on the road, more cameras, cameras, cameras. Traffic engineer Hans Monderman believes signs to be a danger to driving.

To him, they are an admission of failure, a sign – literally – that a road designer somewhere hasn’t done his job. "The trouble with traffic engineers is that when there’s a problem with a road, they always try to add something," Monderman says. "To my mind, it’s much better to remove things." [Source, Wired, Roads Gone Wild]

How does Monderman recommend building better intersections?

  1. Remove signs
  2. Install art
  3. Let lighting illuminate both roadbed and pedestrian areas
  4. Do it in the road (ie, get store fronts and Cafes closer to the road)
  5. Negotiate right-of-way by human interaction instead of signs
  6. Eliminate curbs

Knoxville has re-engeered roads for traffic control.near West High Schoolnear West High School Of course this project is not yet complete and Knoxville hasn’t reported on it at all much less said anything about its success or lack of success. Re-engineering roads for traffic control is not simply about removing lights and putting in traffic circles. It is about not cutting down that tree which seems so close to the road. A road with such an apparent danger causes drivers to be more alert. Re-engineering is about not straightening the roads and letting curves control speed. Re-engineering is about rethinking the paradigm by which we design our roads. I think some direct quotes from the article are in order. My favorite is when Monderman proves that designing without signs and signals works by putting hsi hands behind his back and walking backwards, blindly into traffic.

Monderman is one of the leaders of a new breed of traffic engineer – equal parts urban designer, social scientist, civil engineer, and psychologist. The approach is radically counterintuitive: Build roads that seem dangerous, and they’ll be safer.

He [shows] a favorite intersection he designed. It’s a busy confluence of two busy two-lane roads that handle 20,000 cars a day, plus thousands of bicyclists and pedestrians that doesn’t contain a single traffic signal, road sign, or directional marker, an approach that turns eight decades of traditional traffic thinking on its head. Several years ago, Monderman ripped out all the traffic lights, road markings, and some pedestrian crossings – and in their place created a roundabout, or traffic circle. The circle is remarkable for what it doesn’t contain: signs or signals telling drivers how fast to go, who has the right-of-way, or how to behave. There are no lane markers or curbs separating street and sidewalk, so it’s unclear exactly where the car zone ends and the pedestrian zone begins.

Monderman and I stand in silence by the side of the road a few minutes, watching the stream of motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians make their way through the circle, a giant concrete mixing bowl of transport. Somehow it all works. The drivers slow to gauge the intentions of crossing bicyclists and walkers. Negotiations over right-of-way are made through fleeting eye contact. Remarkably, traffic moves smoothly around the circle with hardly a brake screeching, horn honking, or obscene gesture. "I love it!" Monderman says at last. "Pedestrians and cyclists used to avoid this place, but now, as you see, the cars look out for the cyclists, the cyclists look out for the pedestrians, and everyone looks out for each other. You can’t expect traffic signs and street markings to encourage that sort of behavior. You have to build it into the design of the road."

In West Palm Beach, Florida, planners have redesigned several major streets, removing traffic signals and turn lanes, narrowing the roadbed, and bringing people and cars into much closer contact. The result: slower traffic, fewer accidents, shorter trip times.

In the village of Oosterwolde was once a conventional road junction with traffic lights [which] has been turned into something resembling a public square that mixes cars, pedestrians, and cyclists. About 5,000 cars pass through the square each day, with no serious accidents since the redesign in 1999. "To my mind, there is one crucial test of a design such as this," Monderman says. "Here, I will show you." With that, Monderman tucks his hands behind his back and begins to walk into the square – backward – straight into traffic, without being able to see oncoming vehicles. A stream of motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians ease around him, instinctively yielding to a man with the courage of his convictions.
[Source, Wired, Roads Gone Wild]

Some countries have no traffic controls what-so-ever and still function fine. We can also use traffic calming methods or make our roads play music to control speed.

Related: One way to be environmentally sound and avoid tickets is to pickup a free bus ticket from Kroger when you buy groceries!

Update 6/3/08: Knoxviews reports that Oak Ridge is considering red light cameras at the same time The New York Times reports Trolling for Trouble in the Red Light District.

Perhaps a better way to reduce red light running lies in improving the design of the intersection. Studies have shown that extending the duration of the yellow light by just two seconds has significantly decreased the number of red light violations. In Dallas, longer yellows and signs warning motorists of red light cameras have helped reduce the violations so dramatically that the cameras are no longer generating the revenue needed to keep them in operation. [Source, The New York Times,Trolling for Trouble in the Red Light District]

Update 6/4/08: Red light cameras legal?.