Posts about Humor
Pedestrians
"The Tourist Lane"
Recently, a funny photo was going around showing a New York sidewalk partitioned into a lane for New Yorkers and a lane for tourists. It turns out this was the latest Improve Improv Everywhere prank. (Bossi)
IE members even pose as NYC DOT workers directing pedestrians and taking a "survey" of people's reactions to the pilot, with an eye toward expanding it to the entire city.
Transit
Not allowed in the L'Enfant City?
Jaime Fearer noticed an item for sale in Maryland that might violate a 122-year-old ban if used in the L'Enfant City and Georgetown:
Development
Animal sprawl
This week's Tom the Dancing Bug imagines if animals from the wild settled our habitats the way humans take over theirs.
Click on the comic to see the final panels.
Roads
Driver's will
Here's a very amusing traffic safety film from Belgium. It starts out a bit slow but you'll get the point by around 2 minutes in, by which time it gets really entertaining.
Via How We Drive.
Roads
Mode separation
Reader and frequent commenter "ah" found this postcard in Paris:
Maybe "share the road" works better.
Photo by Audrey Penven.
Government
Congressman's dead son would have wanted tolls
Great piece by the Onion.
The actual Congressman from the 7th District (which does include Glen Allen and Culpeper) is Eric Cantor, who recently criticized DC for daring to use stimulus money for something that helps bicyclists.
Tip: Allen.
It'd have been an even better comic if Hat Guy had been on a bus or bike that was stuck behind a double parker. (Comment)
Correlation
If I could add one subject to the American high school curriculum, it would be statistics. In particular, too many people, including too many journalists, fall into the common statistical fallacy of confusing correlation with causation. An article will cover a study that shows a high correlation between two facts, but then discuss the study as if one therefore causes the other.
Examples are everywhere. A brief Google search revealed this example:
Researchers at the Aabo Akademi found that Finns who speak the language of their Nordic neighbors were up to 25 percent less likely to fall ill than those who do not.The accompanying headline would probably read, "Does studying Swedish improve your health?" In fact, of course, Swedish has nothing to do with health. Instead, perhaps people who have time to learn Swedish work in less physically taxing jobs. Or maybe they live in cities where there is better medical care. Whatever the actual cause, it may be useful to know that speaking Swedish and good health are correlated, but we can't jump to the conclusion that one causes the other.
The famous "flying spaghetti monster" letter pointed out that the global temperature has risen as the number of pirates has dropped. Does that mean that pirates prevent global warming?
In light of this pet peeve, I particularly enjoyed Friday's xkcd comic:
@ggwash
- Bikeshare is a gateway to private biking, not competition
- Judge denies injunction against closing schools
- Long-term closures: A solution to single-tracking?
- Metro policy for refunds after delays falls short, riders say
- M Street cycle track keeps improving, draws church anger
- PG planners propose bold new smart growth future
- Prince George's County struggles to get trails right
Greater Washington
District of Columbia
