FOLDING BIKES DON'T HAVE TO BE DULL

On 1/7/2021 6:52 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 3:49:59 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/7/2021 3:43 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 6 Jan 2021 16:30:52 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:

When they get this state rolling again the commute would be absolutely
impossible. It would probably be faster to commute on a bicycle
than in a car and it is some 40 miles.

Car pooling might be useful.
I know this is a repeat, but I still like it:
https://www.theonion.com/report-98-p...ans-1819565837
So your entire cash of knowledge is Fake News articles on the Internet? As I was coming back from todays 1900 foot 26 mile ride I went past BART. The local BART for San Leandro is in fact two stations. San Leandro and Bay Fair. The San Leandro station has four parking lots and when people were working before you got rid of Trump, all of these spaces were filled and you had to rent a space by the month. At Bayfair there are probably 1000 spaces and they would be almost entire filled. There is a commuter train as well that was always jammed. Does that sound like people don't like public transit?


It's a well known trope from a satirical paper (like all
good satire, with some basic truth in it) which is
oft-quoted, including here several times over several years.

and it's humorous every time IMHO

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Thu, 7 Jan 2021 18:49:56 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 1/7/2021 3:43 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 6 Jan 2021 16:30:52 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:

When they get this state rolling again the commute would be absolutely
impossible. It would probably be faster to commute on a bicycle
than in a car and it is some 40 miles.

Car pooling might be useful.

I know this is a repeat, but I still like it:
https://www.theonion.com/report-98-p...ans-1819565837

A study released Monday by the American Public Transportation
Association reveals that 98 percent of Americans support the
use of mass transit by others.

Note the words "by others" which means everyone except the person
answering the poll. The article is from "The Onion", which does
satire, not news. Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of truth in the
article. Most people will provide the politically correct answer as
long as it only applies to someone else. I have a little experience
in marketing research and poll taking, which has lead me to believe
that it is almost impossible to get an honest answer and that one can
manipulate the results by simply rephrasing the questions.

How would you answer these questions?
- Do you believe in public transportation for everyone?
- Would you agree that funding public transportation is more important
than funding road maintenance?
- Would you approve a bond to finance a light rail system that runs
past your front door?
- Would you vote for bicycle lane funding if it meant eliminating on
street parking in front of your house?
- Most public transportation project have had serious delays and cost
overruns. Would you approve of further public transportation funding?

I would have little difficulty predicting the answer to any of these
questions as long as I had some details on the responders background.
Of course, all these questions would be labeled "Poll shows that
voters will likely reject public transportation project funding".

--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Thu, 7 Jan 2021 16:52:26 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:

On Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 3:49:59 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/7/2021 3:43 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 6 Jan 2021 16:30:52 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:

When they get this state rolling again the commute would be absolutely
impossible. It would probably be faster to commute on a bicycle
than in a car and it is some 40 miles.

Car pooling might be useful.
I know this is a repeat, but I still like it:
https://www.theonion.com/report-98-p...ans-1819565837

So your entire cash of knowledge is Fake News articles on the Internet?


As I was coming back from todays 1900 foot 26 mile ride I went past BART.
The local BART for San Leandro is in fact two stations. San Leandro and
Bay Fair. The San Leandro station has four parking lots and when people
were working before you got rid of Trump, all of these spaces were filled
and you had to rent a space by the month. At Bayfair there are probably
1000 spaces and they would be almost entire filled. There is a commuter
train as well that was always jammed. Does that sound like people don't
like public transit?

Nope. It sounds like your cause and effect logic is faulty. Trump
did not cause the parking lots to empty. The public and private
reaction to the pandemic is what emptied the parking lots.
Non-essential businesses were ordered by Governor Newsom to close or
lock down. Many businesses decided it was safer for their employees
to work at home. Many businesses lost their overseas suppliers. Many
individuals believe correctly that packing people into a train is too
risky. In other words, the BART parking lots are empty for reasons
that have nothing to do with Trump.


--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:40:48 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Thu, 7 Jan 2021 18:49:56 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 1/7/2021 3:43 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 6 Jan 2021 16:30:52 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:

When they get this state rolling again the commute would be absolutely
impossible. It would probably be faster to commute on a bicycle
than in a car and it is some 40 miles.

Car pooling might be useful.

I know this is a repeat, but I still like it:
https://www.theonion.com/report-98-p...ans-1819565837

A study released Monday by the American Public Transportation
Association reveals that 98 percent of Americans support the
use of mass transit by others.

Note the words "by others" which means everyone except the person
answering the poll. The article is from "The Onion", which does
satire, not news. Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of truth in the
article. Most people will provide the politically correct answer as
long as it only applies to someone else. I have a little experience
in marketing research and poll taking, which has lead me to believe
that it is almost impossible to get an honest answer and that one can
manipulate the results by simply rephrasing the questions.


How would you answer these questions?
- Do you believe in public transportation for everyone?
- Would you agree that funding public transportation is more important
than funding road maintenance?
- Would you approve a bond to finance a light rail system that runs
past your front door?
- Would you vote for bicycle lane funding if it meant eliminating on
street parking in front of your house?
- Most public transportation project have had serious delays and cost
overruns. Would you approve of further public transportation funding?

I would have little difficulty predicting the answer to any of these
questions as long as I had some details on the responders background.
Of course, all these questions would be labeled "Poll shows that
voters will likely reject public transportation project funding".

A good friend, no longer with us, built a business here on market
surveys and did quite well with it. He once commented "tell me what
you want to prove and I'll design a survey to prove it"

And, based on some of the survey's I've seen he must have told his
secret to others :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Fri, 08 Jan 2021 09:56:37 +0700, John B.
wrote:
A good friend, no longer with us, built a business here on market
surveys and did quite well with it. He once commented "tell me what
you want to prove and I'll design a survey to prove it"

That's almost exactly what a former employer demonstrated to me. I
found a summer job with an advertising agency turned marketing
research company. What he did was generate a survey with each
question asked at least twice, but in different ways. Methinks there
were a total of 20 questions. He was good enough at writing questions
that I didn't even notice the duplicated questions. Very
embarrassing. He was able to successfully predict my answer for
almost all the questions.

And, based on some of the survey's I've seen he must have told his
secret to others :-)

It's not a big secret. It is taught in most marketing classes. The
methods are easy enough to demonstrate as I tried to do with a few
random examples. What's difficult is finding a writer with sufficient
writing skills who can prepare questions without introducing any
spurious interpretations or unintentional biases. To do it correctly
requires some understanding of psychology, motivation, cultural
differences, statistics, etymology, etc. My skill level is nowhere
near what is required to write properly biases and targeted surveys.

"Wording Bias"
https://www.statisticshowto.com/wording-bias/

More examples:
https://www.google.com/search?q=biased+survery+questions

Here's one I haven't seen in print. While reading, what do you do
when you encounter a spelling error? By tracking eye movements, it
was found that most people stop reading and try to figure out what
went wrong. If you ask a two part question, you can prevent the
reader from reading the 2nd part by merely introducing a spelling
error where the two parts join. Odds are that the reader will answer
the question based mostly on the first part.


--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Thu, 07 Jan 2021 21:43:01 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Fri, 08 Jan 2021 09:56:37 +0700, John B.
wrote:
A good friend, no longer with us, built a business here on market
surveys and did quite well with it. He once commented "tell me what
you want to prove and I'll design a survey to prove it"

That's almost exactly what a former employer demonstrated to me. I
found a summer job with an advertising agency turned marketing
research company. What he did was generate a survey with each
question asked at least twice, but in different ways. Methinks there
were a total of 20 questions. He was good enough at writing questions
that I didn't even notice the duplicated questions. Very
embarrassing. He was able to successfully predict my answer for
almost all the questions.

And, based on some of the survey's I've seen he must have told his
secret to others :-)

It's not a big secret. It is taught in most marketing classes. The
methods are easy enough to demonstrate as I tried to do with a few
random examples. What's difficult is finding a writer with sufficient
writing skills who can prepare questions without introducing any
spurious interpretations or unintentional biases. To do it correctly
requires some understanding of psychology, motivation, cultural
differences, statistics, etymology, etc. My skill level is nowhere
near what is required to write properly biases and targeted surveys.

"Wording Bias"
https://www.statisticshowto.com/wording-bias/

More examples:
https://www.google.com/search?q=biased+survery+questions

Here's one I haven't seen in print. While reading, what do you do
when you encounter a spelling error? By tracking eye movements, it
was found that most people stop reading and try to figure out what
went wrong. If you ask a two part question, you can prevent the
reader from reading the 2nd part by merely introducing a spelling
error where the two parts join. Odds are that the reader will answer
the question based mostly on the first part.

As for "word bias" it is frequently done in writing, particularly in
"news" writing. Kill and slaughter mean basically the same thing but
"Cyclist slaughtered in New Years crash" certainly sounds much worse
than "Cyclist killed in New Year's..."

I usually scan the Aljazeera site for foreign view points and I find
that while the facts and statistics that they quote are generally very
accurate the wording, while not being incorrect, certainly does not
depict the U.S. in a complementary manner. :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 1/7/2021 11:43 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 08 Jan 2021 09:56:37 +0700, John B.
wrote:
A good friend, no longer with us, built a business here on market
surveys and did quite well with it. He once commented "tell me what
you want to prove and I'll design a survey to prove it"

That's almost exactly what a former employer demonstrated to me. I
found a summer job with an advertising agency turned marketing
research company. What he did was generate a survey with each
question asked at least twice, but in different ways. Methinks there
were a total of 20 questions. He was good enough at writing questions
that I didn't even notice the duplicated questions. Very
embarrassing. He was able to successfully predict my answer for
almost all the questions.

And, based on some of the survey's I've seen he must have told his
secret to others :-)

It's not a big secret. It is taught in most marketing classes. The
methods are easy enough to demonstrate as I tried to do with a few
random examples. What's difficult is finding a writer with sufficient
writing skills who can prepare questions without introducing any
spurious interpretations or unintentional biases. To do it correctly
requires some understanding of psychology, motivation, cultural
differences, statistics, etymology, etc. My skill level is nowhere
near what is required to write properly biases and targeted surveys.

"Wording Bias"
https://www.statisticshowto.com/wording-bias/

More examples:
https://www.google.com/search?q=biased+survery+questions

Here's one I haven't seen in print. While reading, what do you do
when you encounter a spelling error? By tracking eye movements, it
was found that most people stop reading and try to figure out what
went wrong. If you ask a two part question, you can prevent the
reader from reading the 2nd part by merely introducing a spelling
error where the two parts join. Odds are that the reader will answer
the question based mostly on the first part.


"While reading, what do you do
when you encounter a spelling error?"

Girlfriend, who gets the newspapers after me, complains
about all the circles, strikeouts, corrections and editorial
comments in the margins.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 6:40:58 PM UTC-8, wrote:
On Thu, 7 Jan 2021 18:49:56 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 1/7/2021 3:43 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 6 Jan 2021 16:30:52 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:

When they get this state rolling again the commute would be absolutely
impossible. It would probably be faster to commute on a bicycle
than in a car and it is some 40 miles.

Car pooling might be useful.

I know this is a repeat, but I still like it:
https://www.theonion.com/report-98-p...ans-1819565837
A study released Monday by the American Public Transportation
Association reveals that 98 percent of Americans support the
use of mass transit by others.

Note the words "by others" which means everyone except the person
answering the poll. The article is from "The Onion", which does
satire, not news. Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of truth in the
article. Most people will provide the politically correct answer as
long as it only applies to someone else. I have a little experience
in marketing research and poll taking, which has lead me to believe
that it is almost impossible to get an honest answer and that one can
manipulate the results by simply rephrasing the questions.

How would you answer these questions?
- Do you believe in public transportation for everyone?
- Would you agree that funding public transportation is more important
than funding road maintenance?
- Would you approve a bond to finance a light rail system that runs
past your front door?
- Would you vote for bicycle lane funding if it meant eliminating on
street parking in front of your house?
- Most public transportation project have had serious delays and cost
overruns. Would you approve of further public transportation funding?

I would have little difficulty predicting the answer to any of these
questions as long as I had some details on the responders background.
Of course, all these questions would be labeled "Poll shows that
voters will likely reject public transportation project funding".

In my experience, if mass transit didn't require many transfers and would come within walking distance of their destination and didn't cost a fortune most people would use that rather than the rather large expense of a car. However, the bay area public transportation has decided to make mass transit a profit center and the cost of it is staggering compared to what it used to be. And mass transit simply doesn't go to where the jobs are save in the very special case of San Francisco and that is because the billionaires who have their businesses there want to pay their workers the lowest possible wages. So mass transit cost as much as driving and bridge tolls but not the parking fees which make driving to San Francisco impossible except for employees who have supplied parking. Working for BART not only was I a member of PERS (a staggeringly expensive system) but I was making well over $100,000/yr. With wages like that and the BART supervisors willing to make ANY concessions to the BART union, they have only NOW decided to extend the line into Silicon Valley. Too late it would appear since the large employers are either gone or leaving. And were the companies still there, it would overload the system so much that they couldn't actually exercise it. There are only one rail in either direction if there isn't track work in which case there is only a single track. Trains are limited to 10 cars because of the station length. The numbers simply do not work out for mass transit as presently envisioned or in actual use.

On Friday, January 8, 2021 at 5:54:50 AM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
Girlfriend, who gets the newspapers after me, complains
about all the circles, strikeouts, corrections and editorial
comments in the margins.

There are no real newspapers here now. The San Francisco Examiner always was garbage and the Oakland Tribune is no more. The local 6 page sheets are being supported via want ads or more accurately "I want to sell you" ads. These are useful and I normally use them for services. But the editorials are so far to the left they could be written directly in the hand of Mao. They won't even print my letters to the editor. But they will print letters from people that make them look moderate.

At one time there were journalists and the copy writers would correct all of their grammar and spelling errors. But there are no longer print media so there are no longer any copy writers and they expect spelling checkers to correct any spelling errors leaving massive grammatical errors and words spelled correctly but the incorrect word.

On 1/7/2021 6:53 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

snip

Nope. It sounds like your cause and effect logic is faulty. Trump
did not cause the parking lots to empty.

Well indirectly Trump was a big contributing cause. His extremely
bungled response to the pandemic has caused it to last much longer than
it would have had he taken it seriously and listened to the experts.

The public and private
reaction to the pandemic is what emptied the parking lots.
Non-essential businesses were ordered by Governor Newsom to close or
lock down. Many businesses decided it was safer for their employees
to work at home. Many businesses lost their overseas suppliers. Many
individuals believe correctly that packing people into a train is too
risky. In other words, the BART parking lots are empty for reasons
that have nothing to do with Trump.

The reasons do have to do with Trump, though indirectly.

Mass transit in this area is unlikely to recover. Even once the pandemic
is over many people will continue to work from home a majority of the
time, either from their homes in the Bay Area, or from other areas.

Commercial real estate will also be unlikely to recover.

Restaurants will be unlikely to recover their lunch business. It was sad
to see Specialty's call it quits, but they understood that the lunch
business, including catering lunches, was not coming back in anything
close to the volumes necessary.

Rental housing is suffering as people leave for areas where they can
live cheaper and afford to buy property. I'm losing my wonderful tenants
next month (moving to San Diego where they can afford a house) and two
years earlier the previous tenants moved to Rocklin where they could
afford a house and he telecommutes to Apple.