My Social Media Postings

Facebook

• 14 June 2023 — In 2005 my family and our French friends visited Andalusia in Southern Spain. The intricate decorations on the walls of the palaces reminded me of his work. It was only after we returned home that I found that M.C. Escher had visited there and studied the moorish art..

• 28 June 2023 — Back in my hitchhiking days, the early 70s when my car was disabled and I needed to get from Syracuse to Flushing, Queens, one of my rides dropped me off on the New Jersey side. It was an eerie and strange sight walking across the bridge at four in the morning, it was as if I had the whole bridge to myself. In Manhattan I got on the IND line and made my way back home by dawn.

• 28 June 2023 — Being a hacker was an interesting experience.
  In my college years I drove a yellow NYC taxi during the summers to help pay my way. On a warm Labor Day my taxi broke an axle on the upper level of this bridge on the Queens-bound side, just after the sharp right-hand turn. In the early 1970s, there was no radio in the taxi, so I had to walk down the ramp to the nearest pay phone to call into the dispatcher's office to report the problem. They eventually sent a car to change my tire, which wasn't the problem. He drove back to the office and had them send a tow truck. Each of these visits had to cross from Queens, where our fleet was located, over the bridge to Manhattan, and then back through the traffic that I was causing by blocking a lane.
  I spent much of my time in the right lane of the bridge ramp before the turn, waving traffic to the left lane so as to ensure nobody ran into my taxi blocking the lane just after the turn. In any case, I spent two hours being the chief item of interest in all the radio stations' traffic reports!

• 1 July 2023 — Back in the days of the elevated lines of NYC, before they were all torn down, trains ran from the elevated Queensboro station, located just below the picture. The infrastructure for the tracks can be seen until the roadways start using them. The Queensboro station was an eight track double level facility served by both the IRT and BMT in shuttle mode.

• 17 July 2023 — My command of the language is limited to what I remember what my grandma would mutter to my mom or me as in "Shlogn zikh kop in vant", "to bang your head against the wall" when I wanted something I couldn't get or have

• 19 July 2023 — The residential street is tree-lined, the business one isn't. Do you think that trees on the residential street would work on the business one? Could you find the stores you were looking for? A better contrast would have been two residential streets, one with trees, one without.

• 20 July 2023 — Prior to the pandemic, I participated in the study that WMATA organized to get feedback on the various options discussed below. Although the option below will add capacity and new stops in the District of Columbia and Prince George's County in Maryland, it won't do much for Northern Virginia. I advocated for a route that would allow a strait run from Reagan National Airport to Dulles International Airport, connecting the southern part of Fairfax and Prince William County to Northern Fairfax and Loudoun County. Will Metro Go Ahead With Its Biggest Rail Expansion Since The Silver Line? | DCist

• 20 July 2023 — Last fall my wife and I traveled via train from Strasbourg, Fr, to Amsterdam via Frankfort. This a great aerial picture of the city's train station. From the station our hotel was just a short tram ride away.

• 19 July 2023 — Back in the day of video tape cameras half of the footage would be my feet walking.

• 22 July 2023 — I am disappointed in the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. He turned an opportunity to establish nonpartisan ethics rules for the US Supreme Court into another political battle, ensuring it will not be enacted.
  For instance, his remarks introducing the bill could ended after his reference to billionaires, without the gratuitous mention of MAGA extremists.
  "And right now, sadly, Americas' trust in the Supreme Court is understandably shaken. They see Supreme Court justices accepting lavish gifts and vacations from billionaires and MAGA extremists – not your ordinary run-of-the-mill billionaires but true ideologues"

• 31 May 2023 — I rode them back then!

• 23 July 2023 — Over the last two years I listened to the Good Earth trilogy, the original followed by Sons and then A House Divided. It took me almost a year of occasional solo driving, this was during the pandemic, so it was rare for me to be driving solo, but the time was well spent. The three generations of the protagonist's family became my family, their troubles and exploits mine. Take the time to read them all!

• 24 March 2022 — Madeleine Albright said she didn't know she was Jewish until The Post told her.

• 25 September 2022 — Shana Tova u'metuka, wishing the congregation a good and sweet new year. May you be written in the books of health, well being and life!.

• 8 June 2023 — Last night we attended the first preview performance of Theatre J's staging of "One Jewish Boy", the best show of the season so far. We highly recommend it!

• 31 May 2022 — Here's a link to the 1975 US postage stamp honoring Haym Salomon as a "Financial Hero", a "contributor to the cause." I remember when I saw the stamp thinking I had learnt about him in our synagogue's after school classes, not the religious part were we learnt Hebrew, but the English-speaking classes, where we we taught our Jewish heritage.

• 12 July 2023 — In 1963 or 1964, when my three-year younger brother and I would ride the NYC subway system carrying a lunch packed by our mother, one trip took us on the Franklin shuttle. The northern terminus was in a bad section of Brooklyn. When the other riders heard of our plans, as we had to walk across the street to make the transfer, they told us not to make eye contact or speak to anyone as we walked from one station to the other.
  We survived the transfer and continued on our merry way, eventually, over the course of many excursions, exploring every inch of the NYC subways, including the SIRT and eventually the Hudson Tubes.

• 20 July 2023 — United uses Dulles International as a hub, and allowing longer distance flights at Reagan National would compromise their ability to do so efficiently. In addition, residents near Reagan National have complained bitterly about the noise of the flights in and out of that airport. Until recently, that hasn't been a problem at Dulles, so it seems that moving flights from Dulles to Reagan would be counterproductive

• 23 July 2023 — Might be protected site, water feature, rare or threatened flora or fauna, many reasons

• 27 July 2023 — Since I lived in North Flushing, almost in Whitestone, I hated to see one of these trains, they stopped at the penultimate station, and I need to go to the last stop in Flushing

• 27 July 2023 — A scene of the Flushing-bound #7 train that can't be taken now

• 11 June 2023 — The last of the Guinness brewery tasting, a fantastic combination birthday and Father's Day treat.

• 6 July 2023 — My not yet seven year self had the opportunity to ride the trolley in its last day of operation!

• 27 July 2023 — Last night I spoke at the Planning Commission on behalf of the Joint Sully District Land Use and Transportation Committee against Fairfax County's proposed Zoning Ordinance Amendment on Parking and Loading and Related Changes, popularly known as "Parking Reimagined". My testimony starts at 2:58:10. The Joint Sully District Land Use and Transportation Committee resolution on Parking Reimagined can be read here: http://www.sullydistrict.org/resolutions/20230717_JSDLU&TCResolution_ParkingReimagined.pdf

• 28 July 2023 — After the Joint Sully District Land Use and Transportation Committee passed a resolution at its 17 July meeting in opposition to Fairfax County's Parking Reimagined proposal, the resolution was distributed to all the local TV stations as well as the usual suspects. Last night WUSA9 reached out and asked if I'd be available to discuss the proposal.
  Matthew Torres with a videographer drove out to my house where interviewed me for over 15 minutes. He also asked if I knew someone who could speak to the opposing view. I suggested my other co-chair of the Fairfax Federation's transportation committee, Carey Campbell. You can see by our contrasting views why the Federation was not able to generate a consensus statement on the proposal.
  Here is the WUSA9 news segment that they posted to YouTube
• 29 July 2023 — Against The Dark: As the nation faces a spike in antisemitic hate crimes, a little-known private security team in New York City offers a model for how to combat violent threats against Jewish targets