Poucas coisas me surpreendem tanto quanto as maravilhas da engenharia e arquitetura humana. D. Maria, como boa mãe que conhece bem a sua prole, sabe disso. Vejam só o que ela me enviou desta vez…

E já agora, veja também As Pontes Mais Compridas do Mundo e Arquitetura Exotica .

This square, where the strees Calle Eduardo Dato and Calle Santa Engracia meet, gives its name to one of the most traditional neighbourhoods of Madrid, born in the early 19th century outside the walls built by Phillip IV, where those who couldn’t afford paying the rent inside the city built their homes. In the square you can find the Museum Andén Cero (a former Metro station that preserves all its charm) and a bandstand that stages concerts.

Hi Friends,

I will be launching an e-book in January 2010 ” The Power of 24 Hours” which is based on Time Management looking at the common problems we go through in our day to day lives.
A commoners approach on how to improve the quality of our life is the key message in the book.

Its free to all. I will mention the link in my blog once its ready and am free for an open discussion after you read my thoughts. Your valuable inputs will help us all create a valuable ready reckoner.

Warm Regards,
Roshan

I think one of the downsides to the bus is that I see the same shit over and over again. The same scams, the same issues, the same people.  The problem is as we get older we experience lots of stuff and thus, as adults we seldome experience anything new, for the first time, hence we forget what it feels like to do something for the first time.  I bring this up because occasionally As Im driving I get to see people experiencing things for the first time and it makes me feel young, even if the experience isn’t a happy one.

I thought of this because on Friday I saw a couple break up, it was their first break up, they were all of 13. The boy and girl have been riding my bus for a few weeks, and they always got on together, sat together and made out as my bus rolled down the street, ahhh  young love. well on friday.. the guy wasn’t there only the girl was with her friend. The two girls had a conversation about the break up, seems the boy just moved on.  The girl was devastated.  Initially I thought she was too devastated, but then I realized I was judging it from the eyes of a 42 year old man and not feeling it from the heart of a 13 year old kid. And in that moment I felt sad. Not for her, but for me. She will be fine, she is good looking, she’ll have plenty of boyfriends. I however seemed to forget, if even for an instance, how it feels to be young… and in that moment I felt old.  I see many 1st on the bus.

Every time some adult gets on and tries to apologize for never riding the bus before and not know what to do, I’m laughing hysterically inside! Have they never used a change machine before? Is the concept of pulling the cord to stop too much for them? In those instances I revel in their explanations of how ” My BMW is in the shop, I don’t take the bus” well you do now buddy ” Get behind the yellow line!”

There are those magical times however, when kids get on and get so much joy from riding the bus. Hey The only happy day I’ve had on the bus was my first day, its all been down hill since then. But these kids wait with glee to pull the cord and I get pissed when an adult not paying attention pulls it first. I get so pissed I turn the bell off and on to reset it so the kid  can pull it.

All of this reminded me of something I saw and wrote about not too long ago. I saw a mother letting he son cross a big street (Roscoe) alone for the first time. The joy of his face as he crossed the street and ran into school was proportionally equal to the terror on his mom’s face.
It made me think of Heraclitus’s quote “that a person can’t step into the same river (street) twice.  I thought back to that child crossing the street and his mother and I think the street metaphor works better than the river. As parents we watch the journey of our children, we witness them cross their streets, we hope for the best,and watch them grow as people. Soon their journey will carry them across a horizon that we ourselves will never see, nor can imagine. But all along we will root from the sidewalk. But  try to remember while rooting from the sidewalk is important, it is equally as important to not just stay on the curb but to also let our kids see you step off that curb and cross our own streets.  To keep trying new things, because I think that’s how we never forget  what it’s like to be young!!!

Ride on People!!!!!

Según el sitio oficial de “Steam” la salida de Metro 2033 (posiblemente su sucesor se titule Metro 2034) esta planeada para el 16 de Marzo del año entrante (según en estos precisos momentos en los que estoy redactando faltan 4 meses, 1 dia y 15 horas aproximadamente para que salga al mercado).

La historia esta basada en un libro del ruso Dmitry Glukhovsky que se sitúa en un desastre apocalíptico (algo FallOut y S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) en donde curiosamente las personas ahora viven en el subsuelo la mayor parte del tiempo y ahora en vez de transportarse por las carreteras se mueven directamente en el metro. Aunque cuidado que ahí muchas cosas ahí afuera.

Otro shooter en primera persona que posiblemente disfrutemos mucho y seguro que lo hicieron para que no falten historias de este genero. Esperadísimo… aja.

Last weekend I ran out of the house at 10 a.m. to play soccer at Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC and I forgot my headphones.  It takes me a good 15-20 minutes on the Metro to get to the field so without my headphones I was left to sit and awkwardly avoid making eye contact with fellow riders.

After the game I was covered in mud and desperately needing a drink.  I stopped in a little corner store and grabbed a Gatorade.  As I stood people-watching and chugging my beverage I heard a Hispanic man jamming on his guitar outside the Metro.

He was really good and as I started to head down into the Metro to go back home I thought about how cool it would be to make a slideshow of my journey back to my apartment using only my iPhone.

I used the Voice Memos app to record the man playing the guitar and the CameraBag app to edit the photos.  I put it all together using iMovie ‘08.

Maybe one day I’ll upgrade to the iPhone 3GS and shoot short videos of my travels in DC but for now this will do.  Let me know what you think!

The Keegan Theatre’s “Of Mice and Men” is a touching reenactment of a story many of us first discovered in high school.

A classic staple of American Literature, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men explores a common theme in his work—the lives of migrant workers in the Eastern United States during the Great Depression—by focusing on two ranch workers that travel together, in the hopes of earning enough to buy their own plot of land.

Director Kerry Water Lucas’ version of the story, currently at the Church Street Theater by Dupont Circle, focuses on the theme of friendship. Danny Gavigan, in the role of the friendly yet mentally disabled Lennie, is most convincing in the moments when he expresses his feeling for George, played by Mark A. Rhea.

When the black stable keeper on the ranch questions Lennie about George’s intentions, Gavigan responds with an immediate pain that overwhelms the scene, shadowing the subplot of racial tension at the ranch.

In the final moments of the play, as Lennie kneels and looks out over the river, trusting George completely even as he takes out the pistol by which Lennie meets his end, the agony of the loss of friendship again overwhelms a scene that has powerful socio-political subtext. The lighting and sound in the final scene improves noticeably, complementing the powerful emotions in the scene.

The set design is stark, yet beautiful, dominated by movable wooden partitions that alternatively resemble a fence in shambles or a downtrodden barn.

Some of the supporting cast is less successful in their approximations of the other ranch workers. Lee Matthews, the token woman the play, is tragically misunderstood and tragically theatric. Her performance seems more appropriate for a Broadway production than a small intimate stage.

Matt Bolie plays the wistful farm hand Candy. He has lost his hand on the farm and received $250 of compensation, about half of what George and Lennie need to buy up the plot they have in mind. Bolie’s character undergoes a complete transformation throughout the play, from a cheerful and hopeful accomplice in the plan, to a devastated skeleton of a man when his dog, a pride and joy, is shot and buried.

The play continues to vacillate between hope and destruction: Lennie accidentally kills a mouse by “petting it too hard” and then receives a baby pup—a dog on the farm has just had young; the black farm hand overcomes his loneliness and accepts Lennie’s presence shortly before a striking confrontation at the door with the ranch owner; Lennie and George seem to be well on their way to success when an unfortunate misstep destroys their hopes yet again. It leaves the audience with a deep confusion about optimism and pessimism, as well as the inevitable intervention of luck in life.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Directed by Kerry Waters Lucas. About 2 hours 20 minutes running time, $30 general admission, $25 for students/seniors. Through Nov. 29 at the Church Street Theater. For tickets, call 703-892-0202 or go to http://www.keegantheatre.com

I should mention right here and now that the original title of this post was “TTC hikes up the wrong tree,” which was kind of a bad title anyway, but upon further research, was actually kind of factually incorrect.. so I went with the title you see above. More about that later.

So, with the TTC here in Toronto about to hike our fees again, to the point that today, @bradTTC, the Director of corporate communications for the Toronto Transit Commission announced that they are pulling token sales until January, 2010, I felt this post was required. I wanted to take a look worldwide at how much people are paying for their daily commutes using their Public transport systems. I wanted to compare this to my own commute, so I used my peak hours of use and my distance traveled to do the comparison.

** My friend Laurent calls this a ‘Mise au point’ because I started out trying to prove that the TTC was charging us an unfairly high fare and were now going to jack up the price, but it turns out.. sigh, the TTC is just slightly on the high end of average. **

I live in Toronto, and I travel by TTC to and from work. I travel a total of 6.25km in each direction, taking the bus to St.Clair West station, and then the subway down to St. Andrew station.

You can read more about how I came up with these costs based on the distance traveled etc below the table.

Public Transit System	Trip fare	Monthly pass
	$2.75 CAN	$111 CAN
	£6.70  ($11.83 CAN)	£99.10 ($174.82CAN)
	€1.60 ($2.54 CAN)	€56.60 ($89.99 CAN)
	22 rubles ($ 0.81 CAN!)	1700 rubles ($62 CAN)
	2,00 € ($3.18 CAN)	52,10 € ($82.86 CAN).
	¥190 ($2.28 CAN)	Cannot find monthly pass.
	1000 won ($0.92 CAN)
	$2.25US ($2.49 CAN)	$89.00US  ($94.94 CAN)
	$2.75 CAN	$68.50 CAN

The London Tube

Prices are determined by ZONES, and whether you are traveling in Peak hours.
So if we do a direct comparison, 6.75km from downtown London – let’s say the Bond Street Tube station to Willesden Green Tube station (about 6.8km’s apart) the cost would be £6.70 in peak hours (or $11.83 CAN in each direction). If you by a monthly Adult Travelcard, the cost would be £99.10 or $174.82CAN.

The Paris Metro fare price is also determined by Zones, but their zones are much larger that the Tube it would seem, or at least you can travel farther on one “ticket+” than you can on the Tube.  The cost to travel in one direction with transfers seems to be €1.60 ($2.54 CAN) and the monthly pass for unlimited travel is €56.60 ($89.99 CAN).

I’ve actually traveled the Paris Metro myself this summer, and I can attest to its cheapness and just how fantastic it is to use, you really can get to anywhere in Paris on this subway system. And the rail system out of Paris is equally amazing, if slightly pricier.

Cost of one trip is 22 rubles ($ 0.81 CAN!) and the unlimited monthly pass is 1700 rubles ($62 CAN).

The Madrid Metro is the second largest underground system in Europe and the sixth largest system in the world.

The Madrid Metro network is split into the six “functional” zones mentioned above. Each one has a “single” ticket (Billete Sencillo), valid for one trip within the zone, and a 10-trip ticket for a comparatively lower price. When crossing zone boundaries, one has to buy a new ticket for the zone being entered. There is also a “combined” ticket, which provides for a single trip between any two points of the network except the Airport stations, which have an additional supplement of 1€. All in all, it is possible to go from the airport to any other point of the network for 3.00 €.

So one fare that will get you pretty much anywhere in Madrid (except the airport) but definetley the 6.25km for comparison is 2,00 € ($3.18 CAN) and a monthly pass is 52,10 € ($82.86 CAN).

I could not find a monthly pass equivalent on the English site, perhaps on their original site?

A one-way fare is $2.25US ($2.49 CAN) and an unlimited monthly pass is $89.00US  ($94.94 CAN).

Am 30. Juli 2009 wurde der Tonträger Rastafari vom Jamaikanischen Reggae-Musiker SIZZLA von der Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien indiziert. Er ist damit für Jugendliche unter 18 Jahren nicht mehr erhältlich.

Am Samstag, den 21. November 2009, fand sich dennoch die indizierte CD Rastafari unter den Tonträgern im Media Markt Velbert. Wir möchten sie ausdrücklich bitten, diese so genannte Hassmusik aus sämtlichen Regalen verschwinden zu lassen. Wer Hass verbreitet, darf damit in Deutschland kein Geld verdienen. Das gilt für Reggaesänger aus Jamaika wie rechtsextremistische Neonazi-Bands

Wir möchten darauf hinweisen, so genannte Hassmusik aus sämtlichen Regaln verschwinden zu lassen. Wer Hass verbreitet, darf damit in Deutschland kein Geld verdienen. Das gilt für Reggaesänger aus Jamaika wie rechtsextremistische Neonazi-Bands oder bestimmte deutsche Rapper.

Kein Geld mit Sexismus, Homophobie, Nationalismus und Menschenverachtung!

Beachtet den Info-Blog:
http://hassmusikbeimediamarkt.wordpress.com

I’ve recently begun a D&AD design project in University. For this project I need to design a new poster campaign to promote the Metro newspaper. At the moment I am compiling research about people’s opinions of the paper, so based on this I would love if anyone who reads the newspaper could answer the following 2 questions in the comment section below:

1) What is the main reason you choose to read the Metro newspaper?

2) How would you compare the content of the Metro to tabloid/broadsheet newspapers?

Your help would be greatly appreciated and if you could share this blog link in any way then that would only help me further.

Thanks in advance for any answers I receive.

Am 30. Juli 2009 wurde der Tonträger Rastafari vom Jamaikanischen Reggae-Musiker SIZZLA von der Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien indiziert. Er ist damit für Jugendliche unter 18 Jahren nicht mehr erhältlich.

Am Samstag, den 21. November 2009, fand sich dennoch die indizierte CD Rastafari unter den Tonträgern im Media Markt Velbert.

Wir möchten darauf hinweisen, so genannte Hassmusik aus sämtlichen Regaln verschwinden zu lassen. Wer Hass verbreitet, darf damit in Deutschland kein Geld verdienen. Das gilt für Reggaesänger aus Jamaika wie rechtsextremistische Neonazi-Bands oder bestimmte deutsche Rapper.

Kein Geld mit Sexismus, Homophobie, Nationalismus und Menschenverachtung!

La prima onda di bombing in metro. Dopo i pionieri come Tritalo e Spyder, c’era stato un bombing a Porta Genova di Dayaki e Fly, consigliati dai conchettari che sapevano muoversi già da prima. Da quel momento con Fly si scendeva ogni fine settimana, sempre tra Porta Venezia e Cologno: yard, lay up di Gobba, treni posteggiati nei tunnel a Caiazzo o Palestro, Loreto, la famosa linea tre fatta da Fluido e Sky per l’inaugurazione. Tanta adrenalina, raramente i pezzi si finivano, le scale mobili non le avevano ancora chiuse. I CKC non erano ancora nati, in azione c’erano PWD con noi tre freak e forse Elektro con il suo nucleo adepto del temibile alfabeto turco-cinese. Fluido è stato il primo a fare Loreto, iniziando ad arrivarci la prima volta con la bicicletta dal tunnel Crescenzago. Poi dopo Pace per Natale, quello era stato un pezzo mostruoso per l’epoca, andava spesso da solo. Gomma era il nostro fotografo ufficiale, sul suo blog ci sono belle foto in questo post (all’inizio di questo video invece è un treno della 3 parcheggiato in un deposito della 2, solo Sky aveva finito, c’erano anche Mace e Clout con un pezzo Cal, e io col mio Shad – Gomma dice che è del 1989).

Salí de la proyección para la prensa de Julie and Julia, era miércoles a las 11:30 am y me encontraba en el Boulevar de Chacaíto. Me dieron ganas de comerme la mandarina que llevé por si acaso me daba hambre.

Caminé con plena conciencia de lo que hacía, estaba conciente de mis pies, mis zapatos nike de caminar, el asfalto sucio de grasa de perros calientes, la acera medio rota que tiene años sin ser consentida. Veía al cielo y pensaba que era un hermoso medio día, un poco caluroso sí, pero hermoso.

Caminar es una forma de pensar, de escuchar, de sentir. Cuando camino tengo un valioso tiempo para mi misma. Es sabroso recorrer la capital en dos piernas. Aunque en realidad en Caracas caminar más que una decisión es una obligación: el tráfico se aburrió de las horas pico y ahora hace de las suyas en cualquier momento, el metro pasó de ser un ejemplo de ciudadanía para ser una cueva llena de basura y oportunistas y, para poner la cereza en la punta del helado, los malandros no respetan la inersia de las colas y hacen su agosto robando cuanto carro se les antoje porque, como ya sabemos, Caracas es una tierra sin ley.

Aún así ese miércoles iba reconciliada con la vida porque había visto una buena película sobre dos mujeres que logran superarse así misma. Yo me sentí confiada, segura de mí misma y con las esperanzas recargadas.

Caminando se puede ver a los demás de una forma más detallada: puedes observar al tipo que se come un helado en la plaza Brión, puedes ver a la señora que casi arrastra a un niño que a su vez intenta seguirle el apurado paso, pero, pobre de él, sus pequeñas piernas no le dan, puedes oler al Mc Donalds friendo sus papas e impregnando un pedacito de ciudad con su olor a fritanga de dudosa procedencia, puedes ver al evangélico que reúne unas decenas de personas oyéndole la palabra del Señor a cambio de, no se, quizá unas monedas o su consagración en la fama de las plazas, puedes oir al tipo que se te pega a la oreja para decirte mototaisi, mototaisi.

Así iba yo aprovechando mi paranoia caraqueña como excusa para ejercitar un poco las piernas, terminando el último gajito de mandarina y buscando una papelera para botar la concha. Llegué hasta el Tolón y no seguí más porque el calor me agotó y esta ciudad no piensa mucho en sus peatones por lo que la acera no es algo que exista en todas partes.

Muito criativa a idéia da Agência Espaço/Z feita na estação de metro no Rio de Janeiro

Agency: Espaço/Z, Brazil
Creative Director: Antônio Guerra, Zé Maria de Oliveira.
Art Director: Filippe Vidal, Murilo Silvio, Julio Costa, Antônio Guerra
Copywriter: Felippe Mendonça

From a new set on Flickr, to collect Metro Art.

Uma breve reflexão sobre o projeto da Nova Marginal, cujas obras estão em andamento.

O projeto prevê a criação de 3 novas faixas em cada sentido, que dá algo em torno de 10,5 m a mais de asfalto (ou a menos de solo permeável) de cada lado do rio.
Esse numero de faixas acrescenta uma capacidade de transporte em torno de 4.000 passageiros/hora/sentido. É pouco.

Uma faixa de ciclovia poderia transportar 5.000 passageiros/hora/sentido.
Um corredor de ônibus lotado leva uns 25.000 passageiros/hora/sentido.
Uma linha de metrô cheia (não lotada) carrega 60.000 passageiros/hora-sentido.
Todos ocupando menos da metade da faixa que está em construção.

O jeito mais facil de entender é ver esse esquema do HMD (projeto original do Metrô de São Paulo, de 1968) . Ele mostra a proporção de espaço necessário para transportar o mesmo volume de pessoas com carro, ônibus e metrô.

Calculando por cima, pra conseguir com carros um rendimento próximo ao de um metrô (não cheio, algo em torno de 20.000~40.ooo passageiros/hora/sentido), seria necessária toda a Marginal Tietê, com as faixas novas, e todos os carros andando com 4 pessoas. Ou, pensando pelo outro lado, seria possivel substituir o transporte de passageiros da Marginal por uma linha de metrô. Claro que o custo das obras é muito diferente, mas o ganho seria igualmente diferente. Além de ser uma solução muito mais duradoura para o transporte, reduz a impermeabilização das margens do rio (que passou por uma grande intervenção recentemente para aumentar sua vazão).

Mas também não adianta nada botar uma ferrovia na marginal e só, depende quais conexões esta linha faria, e sua articulação com o restante do sistema. Transporte funciona em rede.

[限時免費]Taipei Metro 台北捷運：說明文字裡是說11/21一日免費，不過到此時都還是免費呢～

itunes link

**所以無論如何就下載吧～
**下載前注意看一下調回原價了沒有喔！

Aquela poderia ser mais uma manhã como outra qualquer. Eis que o sujeito desce na estação do metrô: vestindo jeans, camiseta e boné, encosta-se próximo à entrada, tira o violino da caixa e começa a tocar com entusiasmo para a multidão que passa por ali, bem na hora do rush matinal.

Mesmo assim, durante os 45 minutos que tocou, foi praticamente ignorado pelos passantes.  Ninguém  sabia, mas o músico era Joshua Bell, um dos maiores violinistas do mundo,  executando peças musicais consagradas num instrumento raríssimo, um Stradivarius de 1713, estimado em mais de 3 milhões de dólares.

Alguns dias antes Bell havia tocado no Symphony Hall de Boston, onde os melhores lugares custam a bagatela de 1.000 dólares. A experiência, gravada em vídeo, mostra homens e mulheres de andar ligeiro, copo de café na mão, celular no ouvido, crachá  balançando no pescoço, indiferentes ao som do violino. A iniciativa realizada pelo  jornal “The Washington Post” era a de lançar um debate sobre valor, contexto e arte.

A conclusão: estamos acostumados a dar valor às coisas quando estão num contexto. Bell era uma obra de arte sem moldura. Um artefato de luxo sem etiqueta de grife. Esse é  um exemplo daquelas tantas situações que acontecem em nossas vidas que são únicas, singulares, e a que não damos a menor bola porque não vêm com a etiqueta de seu preço.

O que tem valor real para nós, independentemente de marcas, preços e grifes? É o que  o mercado diz que você deve ter, sentir, vestir ou ser?

Essa experiência mostra como na sociedade em que vivemos os nossos sentimentos e a  nossa apreciação de beleza são manipulados pelo mercado, pela mídia, e pelas instituições que detém o poder financeiro. Mostra-nos como estamos condicionados a nos mover quando estamos no meio do rebanho.

Nota do Blog:

Devido à baixa qualidade do video, preferi postar um outro, onde Joshua Bell executa Ave Maria, com suavidade e emoção. Quem quiser ver o video citado no texto acima, acesse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myq8upzJDJc

Julian Plenti @ The Metro tonight. Also heard Interpol will be releasing the next album in 2010. Can’t wait fer that. yup. yup.