One *FEWER* Michael Brown.
One fewer, indeed.

by David on Oct 2, 2010 1:39 pm • link • report

Fewer applies to stuff, not people.

by Omar on Oct 2, 2010 1:59 pm • link • report

I hope there's a location planned for across the Key Bridge in Georgetown, maybe in Francis Scott Key Park or near the Ukranian Embassy. It's a shame the Car Barn location was opposed. Eventually it will be possible to ride from Rosslyn, and I'd much rather drop off my bike across the bridge instead of haggling with M Street traffic (unless they build a bike lane!).

by Omar on Oct 2, 2010 2:06 pm • link • report

Fewer applies to anything countable (houses, dollars, people), less applies to anything continuous (prices, money...)

To quote merriam webster:
"A smaller number of persons or things"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fewer

by David on Oct 2, 2010 2:07 pm • link • report

Great blog... from Lexington, we've just started with our floating bike lane. It works, for the most part, but it is a learning experience for drivers. I've seen people parked at the wrong time and others using the lane as a driving lane. In about a year, we'll be able to better assess how it works.

Basically, during the peak hours (7-9am; 4-6 pm) the parking lane is eliminated to create an additional driving lane. Bicyclists during peak time should ride next to the curb. Streetlight posts are marked with lane markers to indicate parking, cycling or driving.

Thanks for the pic and the link! I'll be posting soon on my blog, Kaintuckeean, about these lanes.

by Kaintuckeean on Oct 2, 2010 2:55 pm • link • report

DC could try this floating lane idea on Massachusetts Avenue NW between Scott Circle and Dupont Circle. Right now the road is about 2.5 lanes wide. Parking is allowed on the right most of the time but not in the evening rush. When parking is allowed, the road is just about wide enough for cars to squeeze between the parked cars and the regular lane, but it depends how far over the drivers are in the regular lane, where the cars are parked, and whether the vehicles are trucks or small cars.

by David Alpert on Oct 2, 2010 3:09 pm • link • report

Will cab drivers ever stop complaining about the meters? It's time to move on.

I'm sorry that you can no longer blatantly cheat riders with the the ridiculous zone system, and are now reduced to going 10 mph below the speed limit, stopping at green lights until they turn red, taking the most convoluted routes possible, etc.

by anon on Oct 2, 2010 10:33 pm • link • report

If you believe the story being handed out by the County Board, he voluntarily resigned *and* they've decided to give him $110,000 in severance money, after being on the job only four months. Nice work if you can get it. There is an interesting discussion going on over on ARLnow.com. Apparently, his contract calls for the severance package should the County Board terminate him without cause, but it's highly irregular for such an expensive severance package to be given for a voluntary resignation. I'm hoping the Sun-Gazette and ARLnow push for truth from the County Board.

by ksu499 on Oct 2, 2010 11:42 pm • link • report

There were fewer people at the party, David, but when Jack left there was one less person in attendance. I was wrong; it's not about it being a person. It's just that it's singular. (It's just one less thing to worry about, grammatically.)

I normally stick up for proper usage, but I had always accepted "one less" as proper colloquial usage. It turns out it's technically correct too, at least according to Webster's Third (not the Merriam-Webster you find online).

While you can use "fewer," "One Michael Brown fewer" would be the correct construction in the Queen's English. But this is America, and even here "one fewer Michael Brown" would sound "outright barbarous," to quote one of George Orwell's rules of writing on when it is appropriate to break a rule.

As for "less" applying only to continuous series, I would argue that if you have "one less" of something, there is an implied series, since to have one less you would have to have others. But I'm not sure that's the definition to begin with, and I couldn't care less anyway (or I couldn't care any fewer units of caring).

by Omar on Oct 3, 2010 1:27 am • link • report

Well, at least I got a nice glimpse into the seedy underbelly of cabbie blogging this morning.

by OX4 on Oct 3, 2010 10:03 am • link • report

That lexington system looks terrible. Very hard to understand whats going on, and nonstandard.

by JJJ on Oct 3, 2010 4:15 pm • link • report

Actually I disagree with OX4's comment, I am impressed that the cabbie is very good story teller. I live in Arlington as well like the young lady in the story, and hailing a DC cab to take me home at night is a real hustle from time to time. But one thing I noticed is that I never had any problems with American born drivers, which I assume that the Mad DC Cabbie is African American.

by Anti-Liberals on Oct 3, 2010 7:40 pm • link • report

One of the Georgetown CaBi stations will go in a former parking spot. That's a good idea, and is where many of the Bixi stations are located in Montreal. (In fact, the size of the Bixi stations makes me think they were designed to fit in a parking spot.) But so far, I haven't seen it much in DC, where they're (anecdotally) mostly on the sidewalk.

by Gavin on Oct 3, 2010 8:41 pm • link • report

Of course meters have nothing to do with either the taxi problems. The $1.50/passenger surcharge (which of course is ridiculous) was there before meters and so was the incentive for groups.

And cabbies had the same problem with zones going to Arlington--you have to return empty--with the zone system. Again, nothing to do with meters or the (allegedly) low rates.

by ah on Oct 4, 2010 11:57 am • link • report