Thoughts on Public Transit

The Toronto Transit went on strike for a little over a day - midnight to early evening Sunday, only after the mayor and province legislated a back-to-work action. As I sit here and read the same comments over and over, I don't understand why these people continue to write away on the CBC's website - how many people read these comments, who are you reaching? Will this really make a difference? Probably not, the same crap occurred a few years back and although the same forum was not widely used, but nevertheless the same feelings were being expressed on local television broadcasts. Its a waste of time complaining - if you are not apart of the solution, you are part of the problem. That's it. No matter where you go, every city has its fair share of problems - in Berlin, the stop I take most often does not have a ticket collector, you validate your ticket and hop on the train. In Paris, you validate your ticket on the way 'out' of the station. Berlin has its transit cops that walk through trains checking for tickets and if you are caught without you are fined. My feeling is, they most likely have the backing of government funding, more so than Toronto's - but they have a very efficient system, you rarely have to deal with staff at all - so this would take care of the rudeness of transit workers here - put automated systems in all the stations, and get rid of ticket collectors all together. Put a barrier for the bus/streetcar drivers, so we don't have to look at their ugly mugs, pay your fair, swipe your pass - to get through the turnstile or to be let off the vehicle.

President Lincoln and Kennedy

I came across this website on a recent Google search on the Kennedy curse. The following is just a piece of some of the information on the website.

Lincoln & Kennedy - The Coincidences

President Abraham Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy died in tragic circumstances.

Curiously, both the Presidents were elected exactly one hundred years apart (1860 and 1960).

Further how does one explain that :

• Both the Presidents were assassinated on a Friday, in the presence of their wives.
• Each wife had lost a son while living at the White House.
• Lincoln was killed in Ford's Theater. Kennedy was killed in a Lincoln convertible manufactured by the Ford Motor Company.
• The first name of Lincoln's private secretary was John, the first name of Kennedy's private secretary was Lincoln.
• John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln's assassin) was born in 1839. Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939, one hundred years later.
• Both the assassins were Southerners who held extremist views. Both the assassins were murdered before they could be brought to trial.
• Both the Presidents were deeply involved in civil rights for Black people.
• Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre and fled to a barn. Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theatre.
• Both President's were killed by a bullet that entered the head from behind.
• Both the Presidents were succeeded by vice-presidents named Johnson who were Southern Democrats and former Senators.
• Andrew Johnson was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908, exactly a hundred years later.
• LINCOLN and KENNEDY, each has seven letters. The names of both the assassins are of 15 letters each.
• Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson, the Presidents who succeeded the assassinated Presidents have 13 letters each in their names