HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rmura@world.std.com (Ron Mura)
Subject: Incident on Boston (MBTA) Commuter Rail
Organization: The World
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 19:54:16 GMT

This incident happened Tuesday (Dec. 15) on the Framingham train to
Boston:

The train was proceeding at normal speed (45 mph?).  As we approached
the crossover point called CP (control point) 11, near route 128,
there was a loud "pop."  The brakes were applied (either manually or
automatically, I couldn't tell) immediately and everyone was jolted.
The train slowed rapidly but still went through the signals and both
switches of the crossover.  After a minute the train slowly
backed up to a point before the signals.

The train seemingly had gone through a red signal at a dangerous point.
I called the MBTA (which runs commuter rail in Boston) and talked to
several managers about it.  None of them seemed too interested.  One,
at my urging, called the dispatcher and said that the dispatcher said
that nothing unusual had happened.  He indicated that he wouldn't
pursue it further.  

After that I called Senator Kerry's office, asking for advice on how
to report it to the NTSB.  I talked with an aid who said that the NTSB
had no jurisdiction unless there was a serious accident or the MBTA
invited them to investigate.

This is the third time I have experienced the same sequence of events
at the same location.  The others were two years ago and some time
in the early '80s.  I don't know if these incidents are as serious
as they seem, but I think the agencies responsible for riders' safety
should show an interest in potential problems BEFORE we have
another crash.

If anyone who railroad knowledge can offer comments on this incident,
I would appreciate it.  Also, is there some other agency that would
be interested in railroad safety issues?


-- 
- Ron Mura, Boston, Massachusetts              rmura@world.std.com

Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
Subject: Re: Drinking and the MBTA was Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Organization: The World
	<li73v1INN50e@news.bbn.com> <BZS.92Dec14224630@world.std.com>
	<BETSYS.92Dec15150940@ra.cs.umb.edu>
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 02:28:27 GMT


From: betsys@cs.umb.edu (Elizabeth Schwartz)
>  The MBTA ought to stay open until an hour after closing time. Hell,
>it ought to run all night, like trains in bigger cities do.

You mean like trains in REAL cities, heh heh.

It's funny, saying "they oughta run all night" sounds like this HUGE
proposition, a major expansion in service.

However, the MBTA trolleys (for example) stop around 12:30AM. They
start again around 5AM if I remember right (well, there are people
waiting at the trolley stop when I exit here at 5AM in Brookline.)

So that's 4.5 hrs of no service.

Say they did one run on all their tracks (all 3 or 4 of them) at 2AM,
another at 3AM, and another at 4AM. That would serve the purpose, no?

THREE MORE RUNS of the trolley. Call it a total of 9 more runs (I
suspect they can get away with keeping at least one line shut as you
can hoof between them thru most of the city or take a short $2-3 cab
ride.)

NINE more runs up and down and they'd be open all night.

Ok, it's really more because you need to run some subway lines to be
fair.

But it's probably not a whole lot, even with whatever skeletal support
personnel.

Heck, they can probably cut those costs by using parallel bus runs
instead.  They can do it just a few nights per week (notably Friday
and Saturday), tho I think 7 nights is warrented.

They can probably do TWO more runs, one at 2AM, one at 3:30AM and if
you miss that you wait until 5AM or whatever. And for all intents and
purposes they'd be open all night.

But noooooooo....(falls off chair backwards.)

-- 
        -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die    | bzs@world.std.com          | uunet!world!bzs
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202        | Login: 617-739-WRLD
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: rhs@world.std.com (Richard H Schwartz)
Subject: Re: Logan Airport Parking Garage
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Distribution: ne
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 14:38:47 GMT

allyn@netcom.com (allyn) writes:

>I would like to hear what experiences you all have had with this. If
>there are problems, I will tell my parents to pick me up somewhere
>in town and take the bus or the cross harbor boat from the airport 
>itself.

Do this anyhow, if at all possible!  Or take a limo out.  It will be
much easier on you and your parents.  Planes come in late.  Or early.
Luggage takes an unpredictable amount of time to get to the carousel.  
People who are coming in to meet you get delayed in tunnel traffic.
The chances of pulling off a successful meeting with at the airport
with no aggravation and everyone comfortable are practically nil.
If you don't have a lot of luggage to carry, public transportation to
a convenient meeting place with free or cheap parking is definitely
the way to go.

[I've never had a hassle, with the parking lot attendants.  The cops
who hassle people for waiting are just doing their job -- there are
just far too many people trying to move through there to allow anyone
to sit and wait.  A single late 747 with 350+ passengers could completely
block the roadway if there are cars waiting for even half of them.]

-rich
-- 
             Richard H. Schwartz, Scheduling Systems Inc.,
            1000 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA  02138
                  (617) 864 8330; FAX (617) 864 8377
                          rhs@world.std.com
From: johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: ne.general
Subject: Re: Bike paths near Cambridge?
Date: 21 Dec 92 02:50:36 GMT
Organization: I.E.C.C.

>I'm thinking of moving to the Boston area, probably near Cambridge, and
>I'm wondering if there are any nice bicycle paths in the area.  Something
>like a converted railway right-of-way would be great, but that is expecting
>a lot.  Are there any converted rail paths in the outlying Boston area?

There is a bike path along both sides of the Charles from the Science
Museum near downtown Boston out to Watertown, about 1/2 hour each way
riding fairly fast.

Also, an abandoned one-track rail line is being converted to a bike path
starting at the Alewife T station out through Arlington and Lexington into
Bedford.  You can get to Alewife on your bike from various points in North
Cambridge via interconnecting but poorly documented bike paths mostly in
city parks.  The conversion isn't quite done yet and the path isn't
formally open because there are some exciting places in Lexington where
bridges collapsed and haven't yet been replaced.  Probably next summer.
When the path is done it'll take an hour or so to ride from end to end; it
takes me 45 minutes out to Lexington along Mass Ave. which is roughly
parallel.

That's it for rails to trails in the city; we're more interested in
turning abandoned rail lines into active rail lines with passenger
service.  There are some rails-to-trails paths on Cape Cod that I haven't
tried yet.

The Boston Area Bike Coaltition is quite active and publishes a detailed
area map showing both dedicated bike paths and low-traffic streets
recommended for cyclists.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: vail@tegra.com (Johnathan Vail)
Subject: Re: Logan Airport Parking Garage
Organization: Tegra-Varityper, Inc. Billerica, MA
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 17:39:06 GMT



For my last vacation of two weeks we tried something different.  We
did a one-day one-way car rental at each end of the trip.  It was
about $25 or $30 each way but for two people from NH that compares
favorably with a limo and is much cheaper than parking.  Plus it is
just about as convenient as your own car, maybe even easier at the
airport end.

jv


 _____
|     | Johnathan Vail     vail@tegra.com     (508) 663-7435
|Tegra| jv@n1dxg.ampr.org    N1DXG@448.625-(WorldNet)
 -----  MEMBER: League for Programming Freedom (league@prep.ai.mit.edu)
From: glazier@isr.harvard.edu (Andrew Baker Glazier)
Newsgroups: ne.general
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Date: 16 Dec 92 17:12:24 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

>Yeah.  More old-fashioned religion-based law-making at work...
>
>>And how about a city which lets you drink later than it runs its
>>public transit (mostly shut down by 12-12:30AM) and then wrings its
>>collective hands about drinking and driving?
>
>I agree completely on this.  However the flip side:  Would you *really*
>dare ride the subway at 3am?  How about other cities?  How late does the
>subway run in Manhatten?  Woudl you dare ride it at 3am?
u            ^^^^ It runs all night




-- 
"A horse! A horse! Somebody give me a horse, man, because|glazier@ 
I come to bury this dirtball, not to praise him. Whaddya |harvard.isr.edu
think I am? Whether it's nobler for the mind to make people suffer with all
these totally outrageous arrows arrows for a fortune, or what!" -- D.R.
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Organization: The World
	<li73v1INN50e@news.bbn.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 03:46:30 GMT


From: rnewman@bbn.com (Ron Newman)
>White Hen is open 24 hours.  Why should they be restricted from
>selling liquor during hours that they are already open to 
>sell food and non-alcoholic drinks?

Actually, I'd trade keeping them closed on Sundays for not being able
to sell after (what is it) 11PM on other days. And the bar closing
hours which are like 1AM and you have to be out by 2AM?

That's what seems nuts to me, there's no real argument for that.

And how about a city which lets you drink later than it runs its
public transit (mostly shut down by 12-12:30AM) and then wrings its
collective hands about drinking and driving?

The whole thing is kind of a bad sitcom.

MBTA: In loco parentis.

-- 
        -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die    | bzs@world.std.com          | uunet!world!bzs
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202        | Login: 617-739-WRLD
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bill@unixland.natick.ma.us (Bill Heiser)
Subject: Re: Logan Airport Parking Garage
Organization: Unixland Public Access Unix  (508) 655-3848
Distribution: ne
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 05:01:57 GMT

GeraldR@sunfish.ratsys.com (Gerald Ruderman) writes:

>In article <1992Dec14.223718.29567@athena.mit.edu> mondol@mtl.mit.edu (mark k. mondol) writes:
>>My personal aggrivation with the parking garage (when I cannot find
>>a spot at the meters) is the damn video camera they have at the exit
>>taking pictures of your license plate.  If you ask them about it
>I can't speak for Logan, but another airport parking lot that did this said 
>that it was part of a system for finding cars for people who forgot where 
>Again Logan may do this for some other reason.

I thought it was some kind of security measure, so they'd have a record
of anyone who tried to take off without paying.
-- 
heiser@world.std.com
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Organization: The World
	<SPIKE.92Dec8140009@world.std.com>
	<1992Dec8.211047.15445@linus.mitre.org>
	<1992Dec10.032326.11190@unixland.natick.ma.us>
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 03:57:35 GMT


From: bill@unixland.natick.ma.us (Bill Heiser)
>What makes you think there would not be *additional* business 
>by being open an extra day?

Having worked in retail and raised by a father who owned retail stores
the common wisdom is that this isn't true, I have no idea what the
absolute facts are, if they can even be ascertained, but in general...

With some exceptions (i.e. things you will do without entirely if you
can't get them on Sunday), if you can't buy a pair of sneakers on
Sunday you buy them on Monday (or Tues or whatever) rather than go
barefoot and gross sales aren't much affected by merely being open an
extra day.

This of course does not apply to the entertainment business which is
very elastic, for example. If you can't see a movie on Sunday you
probably would see less movies per year. But if you can't food shop on
Sunday it's unlikely you will choose instead to starve to death.

>Have you never felt the urge for a cold
>beer on a hot summer Sunday, but had neglected to plan ahead for such
>a contingency, but couldn't satisfy the urge because of the puritanical
>blue laws? :-)

I'll count that kind of beer in with the entertainment industry, it's
not quite a matter of life or death tho.

Like I said earlier, soas you can sit back and have that cold beer
some poor schlep who sold you that beer can't have one. So you have to
be careful with your populist tone, someone has to work on Sunday in
your scheme, and they can't have a cold one until they get off work.



-- 
        -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die    | bzs@world.std.com          | uunet!world!bzs
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202        | Login: 617-739-WRLD
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: jfc@grouse.dsg.dec.com (John F Carr)
Subject: Re: Drinking and the MBTA was Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 20:20:55 GMT

In article <HROSE.92Dec15200301@rocza.eff.org>
	hrose@eff.org (Helen Trillian Rose) writes:

>        Buses scheduled to leave subway stations after 12:45 am wait for
>        the last train before departing.

In theory.  They sometimes don't wait.

Newsgroups: ne.general
From: grady@world.std.com (Dick Grady)
Subject: Re: Logan Airport Parking Garage
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Distribution: ne
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 02:25:00 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.002846.4147@netcom.com> allyn@netcom.com (allyn) writes:
>I have heard some horror stories about the Logan Airport Parking Garage
>lately and I would like to try to find out if they are true before I 
>have my parents come to meet me when I arrive next Saturday (Dec 19th). 
>(I am posting this from Seattle, Wa.)
>  [ ... ]
>I have also heard that they sometimes deliberately slow down at the top
>and bottom of each hour to force those still in line to pay for an 
>additional half hour of parking since the time you are charged is
>the time you actually get to the head of the line and hand your
>ticket and money to the clerk.

I would doubt this, because...
People arrive at the garage at random times, not just at the top and
bottom of the hour.

On the other hand, maybe they are slow all the time for this reason.  :-)

The only horror I've encountered is the hassle you get from the cops if
you try to wait for your party at the curbside.

-- 
Dick Grady           Salem, NH,  USA            grady@world.std.com
So many newsgroups, so little time!
From: borden@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Dave Borden)
Newsgroups: ne.general
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Date: 17 Dec 92 15:28:44 GMT
Reply-To: borden@m5.harvard.edu
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA,  USA

In article <BZS.92Dec15211422@world.std.com> bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) writes:
>
>From: borden@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Dave Borden)
>>It means that Bill will probably have one or more weekdays off, and will
>>be able to perform his errands then.  Sunday business or no, we'll still have
>>the forty-hour law.
>
>Why? Why let them go home at all, what if I get an urge for a cold
>beer at 3AM, can't they just kind of sleep behind the cash register
>and ring me in?  Are there no prisons? Are the workhouses all full?

Well, we do have this forty-hour law, which applies to all wage-employees,
low or high wage.  It doesn't apply to salaried workers and contract workers,
but those are generally well paid people who are capable of sticking up for
their rights.  Some people would be glad to work at 3AM, rather than be
unemployed.  Probably a larger number than that would rather work on Sunday
than on some other day.  Can't you let them make the choice?  In any case,
even in a slow economy like we've had for awhile, the labor surplus isn't so
great that employers can get away with anything they want.

   - Dave Borden
     borden@m5.harvard.edu
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bill@unixland.natick.ma.us (Bill Heiser)
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Organization: Unixland Public Access Unix  (508) 655-3848
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 04:37:40 GMT

glazier@isr.harvard.edu (Andrew Baker Glazier) writes:
>>
>>Agreed.  I wonder why they still are.  I guess historically it has to
>>do with religious beliefs.  But in this day and age, with the separation
>>of church and state and all, all businesses should be treated equally.
>    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Which would seem to imply that the seperation of the church and state was a
>relatively recent idea. It's in  the Constitution!

You'd never know it judging by Mass's blue laws!!

-- 
heiser@world.std.com
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: dulcinea@cwis.unomaha.edu (Shaene Steinauer)
Subject: ne...
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 05:46:41 GMT

Since this is ne.general, I thought I'd post a general question.

Shouldn't NE stand for Nebraska, not North East United States?

If not, where do I find Nebraska listings?  (besides University postings)

Signed,

--Feeling Left Out in Omaha, Nebraska
-- 
--Dulcinea
    (Shaene M. Steinauer)
    (dulcinea@cwis.unomaha.edu)
****************************************************************************
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bill@unixland.natick.ma.us (Bill Heiser)
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Organization: Unixland Public Access Unix  (508) 655-3848
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 02:09:46 GMT

bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) writes:
>Hey, pay attention, we went over this earlier! Like so the whole
>family gets one day off per week to see each other.

I don't buy that!

>Maybe that's what this all is, revenge of the DINKs! (Dual-Income, No
>Kids.)
>[don't take offense, I guess I'm a DINK also]

not me! :-) (and boy oh boy am I glad! :-)


>That wasn't the point Mr Heiser, you are not paying attention, see me
>after class.

I guess I flunked *that* class!  :-)

>Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202        | Login: 617-739-WRLD
-- 
heiser@world.std.com
Newsgroups: ne.general
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Organization: The World
	<BZS.92Dec15211422@world.std.com>
	<1992Dec17.152844.7941@dunsel.harvard.edu>
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 23:54:46 GMT


From: borden@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Dave Borden) [responding to me]
>>Why? Why let them go home at all, what if I get an urge for a cold
>>beer at 3AM, can't they just kind of sleep behind the cash register
>>and ring me in?  Are there no prisons? Are the workhouses all full?
>
>Well, we do have this forty-hour law, which applies to all wage-employees,
>low or high wage.

But I repeat: Why? Why have the laws? That's what this is all about,
right? You can't really say "let's repeal the Sunday Blue Laws" in one
breath and then turn around and say "oh that won't happen (whatever)
there's a labor law against it", seems a bit disingenuous, no?

-- 
        -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die    | bzs@world.std.com          | uunet!world!bzs
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202        | Login: 617-739-WRLD
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bill@unixland.natick.ma.us (Bill Heiser)
Subject: Re: Logan Airport Parking Garage
Organization: Unixland Public Access Unix  (508) 655-3848
Distribution: ne
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 13:37:54 GMT

allyn@netcom.com (allyn) writes:

>I have heard some horror stories about the Logan Airport Parking Garage


Well when I went in to pick up a friend on Thanksgiving weekend, I was
in there for 15 minutes or so, and they didn't charge me anything.  I 
was surprised!


-- 
heiser@world.std.com
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
Subject: Need a battery for my car
Organization: The World
Distribution: ne
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 03:06:13 GMT


I'm in Boston, I have a 1978 Volvo 6 cyl (gas) which is a bit hard to
crank and this current battery just isn't cutting it, I bought it in
an emergency a year or so ago and, well, you know how those things
turn out.

I'm willing to spend a few extra bucks to rid myself of the headache
until I replace the whole car (that is, a few extra bucks on a battery
with a lot of cranking power.) I'll have the underlying problem looked
at but hey, ya know your car has had it when you're not sure it will
make thru the next car wash...maybe a $125 battery will save me
replacing the engine or something minor like that.

So the question:

Anyone have any strong recs on great batteries and where in the
Boston/Cambridge area to pick one up? Is Cambridge Tire still around?
I couldn't find them in the yellow pages today. Do they sell anything
decent? Anywhere else? My experience is that what's good in car
batteries tends to change over the years.

P.S. Don't drag me out to the burbs, if I get stuck again I want it to
be near a T stop :-)

-- 
        -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die    | bzs@world.std.com          | uunet!world!bzs
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202        | Login: 617-739-WRLD
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: bsmith@osf.org ()
Subject: W. MA art museum info wanted
Originator: bsmith@crustacean
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Distribution: ne
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 20:24:33 GMT

I have heard there is a wonderful, perhaps small, art museum in western
Massachusetts. Williamstown? Anyone have a clue? I just can't remember any
more than that.

Bruce Smith
bsmith@osf.org
From: kanarick@media.mit.edu (Craig M. Kanarick)
Newsgroups: ne.general
Subject: Looking for mantles
Date: 15 Dec 92 17:08:50 GMT
Distribution: ne
Organization: The Visible Language Workshop


Does anyone have any recommendations on where I can buy fireplace mantles?  
I am looking for antiques...

Thanks,

-- cmk
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craig M. Kanarick			"Do I love you?  Yes I love you.
					 All this talking...talking...	
kanarick@media-lab.media.mit.edu	 is only bravado..."
From: glazier@isr.harvard.edu (Andrew Baker Glazier)
Newsgroups: ne.general
Subject: Re: Sunday Liquor Sales
Date: 16 Dec 92 17:08:15 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Absolutely true. It *also* isn't a valid argument gainst striking down such
laws. There are valid societal reasons for outlawing murder ( I trust you
don't need a list ) that do not apply to something outlawed for *purely*
religious reasons, like being open on Sunday
-- 
"A horse! A horse! Somebody give me a horse, man, because|glazier@ 
I come to bury this dirtball, not to praise him. Whaddya |harvard.isr.edu
think I am? Whether it's nobler for the mind to make people suffer with all
these totally outrageous arrows arrows for a fortune, or what!" -- D.R.
Newsgroups: ne.general
From: grady@world.std.com (Dick Grady)
Subject: Re: Logan Airport Parking Garage
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 06:04:59 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.195433.3654@bass.lkw.com> brighid@bass.lkw.com (Brighid) writes:
>Consider flying to Hartford, CT or Manchester, NH if you'd
>like a smaller airport, no parking hassles and no driving
>into Logan hassles.

At the Manchester airport, parking is $0.50/hour in the short-term lot and
$4.50/day in the long-term lot. Both lots are less than 100 feet from
the terminal building, less than 200 feet from the ticket counters and
baggage claim!

-- 
Dick Grady           Salem, NH,  USA            grady@world.std.com
So many newsgroups, so little time!
From: allyn@netcom.com (allyn)
Subject: Logan Airport Parking Garage
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Distribution: ne
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 04:18:55 GMT

Thanks for all of your responses assuring that the rumors about the Logan
Airport garage are false!

Mark Allyn

Newsgroups: ne.general