MTA raises fares 50% and reduces fares to 1975 prices!

It seems the bureaucrats in Albany have decided that the most expedient fix to the MTA’s billion-dollar budget woes is to defer the problem to the future. No surprise there, of course. Even the New York Times is aghast.

crashed-subway In the end, a standard non-reduced fare is likely going up to $2.25, up from $2.00. Plans which Albany scrapped included some which looked for a more substantial fare increase, up to $2.50.

Let’s face it – running one of the largest transit operations is expensive. Is $2.25 too much to pay? How about $2.50? $3.00? What if I told you that the MTA can raise the fare by 50% (to $3.00), and you’ll still be paying no more for a ride on the subway than you did in 1975? Would you believe me?

In historical context, we can look at subway fares in New York City in the past and compare them to today. To make the pennies of 100 years ago equate to dollars today, we have to adjust historical numbers.

Year MTA Single-Fare Ride
(historic amount)
Fare, 2008 dollars
(inflation-adjusted)
1904 $0.05 $1.18
1948 $0.10 $0.88
1953 $0.15 $1.19
1966 $0.20 $1.31
1970 $0.30 $1.65
1972 $0.35 $1.78
1975 $0.50 $1.98
1980 $0.60 $1.55
1981 $0.75 $1.75
1984 $0.90 $1.84
1986 $1.00 $1.94
1990 $1.15 $1.87
1992 $1.25 $1.90
1995 $1.50 $2.10
2003 $2.00 $2.34

It’s pretty clear that there’s a trend: public transportation is becoming more expensive: the proposed fare of $2.25  is quite a bit higher than the inflation-adjusted fare of old.

However, this analysis skips one important fact: Today, most riders do not pay the full fare. Thanks to bulk pricing and the unlimited-ride MetroCard, only 2.1% of riders pay the full fare. In fact, according to the Independent Budget Office (New York City’s internal watchdog), the average fair paid on MTA transit systems which run at the $2.00 single-ride far is about $1.30.

The $2.00 fare – or $2.25, or $2.50 – is a false reality, much like the sticker price on a new car. The actual fare is much lower, thanks to the discounts that most people get. A $3.00 fare today would result in an effective cost of about $1.95 per ride – the same price you paid in 1975, when factoring in the discounts and inflation.

Oh, and at $3.00 (er, $1.95) per ride, you would also eliminate a new payroll tax and new fees on driver’s licenses and taxi fares. Sign me up for higher fares!

Book Review: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

For a guy who spends most of his days commuting reading things like The Economist and Scientific American, it felt somewhat strange pulling out a book whose subtitle is Complete protection from the living dead. Yet here I was, reading just that book, on a recommendation by an old friend, Mr. Vikar (who knows a good book when he reads one)… and enjoying every minute of it.

The Zombie Survival Guide is the work of Max Brooks, son of comedian/writer/director Mel Brooks (the brains behind of one of my all-time favorite movies, Blazing Saddles). In it, the author takes us on a journey that describes, as only a self-help survival guide can, how to survive a zombie invasion.

Everything zombie-related is covered, including their physiology (they’re dead) and psychology (none); their source (a virus, Solanum); and, of course, an in-depth education on how to identify them, kill them, and survive in a world where there presence is rare to common.

What’s most interesting about the book is that you’ll not just be entertained by the amount of thoughtfulness that went into it, you’ll actually learn something by reading it. There are a few underlying themes of zombie survival:

  • know your enemy’s — and your own — strengths and weaknesses;
  • keep your cool; and
  • be prepared.

No doubt, such a book would have pleased Sun Tzu.

This book certainly isn’t for everyone. If you can’t suspend disbelief and accept the fact that you’re reading a book that is clearly made up but written as if it’s absolutely real, and if you’ve got a problem reading books about the living dead, move on. But if you enjoy novels of the horror genre, and get a kick out of guys like Bear Grills and shows like Survivorman, you’ll no doubt enjoy this quick read.

Besides, you never know… there just might be some truth behind the fiction.

Support Eric Sundwall for Congress

The appointment of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, and the subsequent appointment of (former Representative) Kirsten Gillibrand to replace her, has left a void in Congress. A special election is pending – and, if you’re among those eligible to vote in it, you should vote for Eric Sundwall to fill that void.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never met Mr. Sundwall, nor do I pretend to know him personally. I do know him as the Chairman for the Libertarian Party of New York, and I do support him for the following reasons.

  • He’s an IT guy. Many readers of my blog are IT people, and as we all know, IT people are typically smart, pragmatic, and results-driven. No doubt Sundwall shares those characteristics.
  • He’s a small-government guy. Sundwall recognizes the danger in deficit spending (which simply puts the burden of payment to our children), and no doubt would be strongly against the $800-billion (so-called) bailout.
  • He recognizes the limitations of government. Sundwall believes in protecting personal liberties. Though supportive of the rule of law, he also sees the extension of law beyond its Constitutionally-defined limits as dangerous, and sees an over-reaching government as a great danger to a free, prosperous society.
  • He’s a free-trade, free-market guy. It has been widely studied, and shown, that free trade and free  markets make societies more open, prosperous, and safe. (Strong trade partners don’t war with each other.) Sundwall is a believer in free trade and free international markets, and believes that labor should be as free to interact with international markets just as products are.

I don’t agree with everything Sundwall says – I’m a bit more conservative on some foreign policy initiatives, perhaps not as liberal in some other concerns – but taken as a whole, Sundwall is one of the best candidates we have for Congress that will support free minds and free markets, and recognize government’s limited role.

Unfortunately, I am not a resident of New York’s 20th Congressional District, so I can’t vote for him, but I can help raise awareness of him to those who can.

To find out more about Eric Sundwall and to support his candidacy, go to sundwall4congress.org.

Good luck, Eric!

I won’t get Alzheimer’s or diabetes (but I will have hallucinations)

Via Slashdot:

Amenacier writes:

“Recent studies by Finnish and Swedish researchers have shown that drinking moderate amounts of coffee can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people. The reason for this is as yet unknown, although it has been hypothesized that the high levels of antioxidants found in coffee may play a role in preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s. Alternatively, some studies have shown that coffee can protect nerves, which may help prevent Alzheimer’s. Other studies have shown that coffee may also help to protect against diabetes, another disease which has been shown to have links to Alzheimer’s disease. However, researchers warn against drinking too much coffee, as 3 cups or more may cause hallucinations.”

Mixed blessing for me. I’m a more-than-three-cups-per-day coffee drinker (less on weekends), which means I’m getting all the Alzheimer’s and diabetes protection, with the occasional hallucination.

Oddly, I don’t recall ever hallucinating, unless… this entire experience… of reality… is not real……

Anyone using Sprint mobile phone service?

I’ve used a Palm Treo 650 for about 2 1/2 years, and it’s served me well (especially when teamed up with ChatterEmail). That being said, my Verizon Wireless contract is up for renewal, which means I can get a severely discounted new phone… or I can switch to a new provider.

Palm Pre I was going to stick with the Treo until the announcement of the upcoming Palm Pre. I’m no iPhone junkie or gadget-hound, but I’m a fan of Palm, so this new device certainly caught my eye and created a small amount of drooling.

No surprise that the Pre will initially be available to a service provider other than Verizon Wireless – that service provider being Sprint. I’ve never used Sprint, but their rates seem much more competitive than Verizon, and they do have the phone I’m yearning for.

Does anyone have experience with Sprint, especially in the New York City area? How’s the service and wireless coverage? Is data access fast and reliable?

Heaven has one hell of a baseball team

It’s hard to believe that, not so long ago, blacks were forbidden from playing Major League Baseball. For a person like myself, born in 1970 and never experiencing the true meaning of segregation, it’s hard to comprehend. Alas, it’s true. One can be disappointed by this tarnished past, or be proud of how we, as a people, have overcome it.

Regardless, being excluded from “professional” baseball didn’t stop many from playing professional baseball, thanks to the Negro Leagues. Without such a league, we’d never have the opportunity to know some of the most talented athletes and colorful sports personalities to ever play the game.

The Negro Leagues brought to fame folks such as Andrew “Rube” Foster (a great pitcher and the founder of the Negro League), Satchel Paige (one of the best pitchers of all time), Josh Gibson (a power-hitting catcher)… and Prince Joe Henry.

He wore shorts as part of his uniform, his hat bill turned around crooked and was animated at the plate.ref

Prince Joe has a special place for me and some friends, for a very special reason. A few years back, RedHawk (a player of my online baseball game, CSFBL) started a new league in our game: Negro League Tribute. After starting the league, RedHawk and TFM_Dale (another community member) got in touch with Negro League legend Prince Joe. Continue reading

2008: A personal retrospective

Guinness Draught bottle... a modern day masterpieceAh, the final day of the year. While many of you are partying the night away, I’m sitting at the computer, pondering what happened in 2008, thinking about what’s going to happen in 2009… and, as is often fitting of an evening after the house is finally quiet, enjoying the greatest invention of the modern era: the Guinness Draught bottle.

Back to reality. What were my personal highlights—and lowlights—of 2008? In no particular order…

  1. Leaving a full-time job to go back to work for myself — for the third time in ten years.
    Granted, the actual change happened in early December 2007, when I left a job with the New York Yankees to go back to being an independent consultant. Most people are amazed that someone would do such a thing, but I’ve made a bit of a history being just that person. Alas, my indy career didn’t last…
  2. Getting a full-time job and ending my days as an independent consultant — for the third time in eight years.
    It wasn’t an easy decision, but ultimately, there were a number of factors. What were those factors? In no particular order…

    1. I realized something about myself: My greatest value is not as an independent. As good as I may be as a technologist, solutions provider, consultant, developer, manager, adviser, whatever, my most notable successes have always been when I worked for someone else. Perhaps that’s because the stakes were always higher for me when I worked for the man. Perhaps it’s because I incorporate differently as a full-timer than as an independent. Either way, I realized I have to go where I am most effective: full-time labor for someone else.
    2. I burnt myself out by trying to be Superman — an ultra-involved father and a self-employed man just don’t mix. Too many very late nights doing work, then getting up too early. I was burning myself out. I’m too old for this (I turned 38 this year).
    3. The economy slowed, my clients tightened, and I found an incredible full-time opportunity at a great company: Business Intelligence Associates. In one month they have exceeded my expectations. I hope that in time they realize what my true potential is and give me as many opportunities to make an impact. Why don’t they know my true potential? Because I’ve masked it by making a major career blunder…
  3. Realizing the biggest career mistake I ever made was made nearly four years ago.
    Four years ago I had a very good job at a law firm, Kramer Levin. I reported directly to the CTO, had a great team of guys working for me, was responsible for nearly every business-critical system, and was doing an incredible job. Why did I leave? There’s lots of reasons, and they all made sense at the time… but looking back, leaving this job (I left to become — you guessed it — an independent consultant) set the stage for a nearly four-year stretch where I sabotaged my career. Four years ago I was well-positioned to be a senior technology manager (if not a small-company CTO) in four years. Instead, today, I am trying to re-establish my resume to get back to where I was four years ago. If I knew then what I know today, I’d make a different decision, but it’s water under the bridge at this point. Career damage control is a major 2009 objective.

Reading this, you probably are thinking, “How many times does this guy change jobs?” The answer: 14 times since 1992 (totaling 15 jobs). In chronological order:

(1) Sears, (2) Music Pen, (3) Sears (again), (4) independent music instructor, (5) World of Science, (6) Visiting Nurse Association, (7) Square One, (8) Merrill Lynch (as independent consultant), (9) some company name I can’t remember, (10) Merrill Lynch (as a full-timer), (11) Kramer Levin, (12) independent consultant, (13) New York Yankees, (14) independent consultant, (15) Business Intelligence Associates.

Spilled milk. It happens...Needless to say, I’ve very acclimated to change, and I’m very good at not crying over spilled milk.

Back on track… What am I looking forward to in 2009, which starts in 60 minutes?

  • A new addition to the family. My second child, another girl, is coming into my family in February. An infant, combined with a 3-year old, should keep me from sleeping, not that I sleep very well anyway.
  • A reinvigorated career. As outlined above, I’ve finally learned from some mistakes, and I’ve got a great job with a great company. That’s a lot to be optimistic about.
  • Something new to blog about. I got an idea, which will require some intense record-keeping next year, but I think it’ll be an enlightening project to share with people. (Hint: See that new “Taxes” category at the top of the page?)
  • Being older and wiser. When I was young, I thought experience meant nothing, that it was all about smarts and hard work. Now that I’m older, I know it is all about smarts and hard work — it’s just that experience is a huge part of intelligence. “He who doesn’t learn from his past is guaranteed to repeat his mistakes,” to paraphrase a famous quote. Fortunately, I’ve always had a fair degree of objective self-reflection. I just need to be more vigilant listening to it. 😉

Well, 53 minutes to go, and my Guinness is starting to get room temperature… I’ll leave you to your party, and wish you a HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Baseball Mogul Online is shutting down — but CSFBL isn’t, so why not check it out?

I just stumbled upon this announcement from the Baseball Mogul Online forums:

This page is to notify all Baseball Mogul Online users that we will be discontinuing the service as of December 1, 2008.

Why?
There are three main reasons:
#1 -The system is not profitable to operate for us. Even when it was at its peak of usership, it did not bring in enough money to support further growth and improvements.
#2 – We no longer have the staff needed to operate the system.
#3 – The machines and bandwidth that the system runs on were designed for a much larger load than we currently use. To economize, we will be switching services and bandwidth, and the new equipment will not support Mogul Online.

Sincerely,
Dee and Clay Dreslough
Sports Mogul Inc.

Well how about that. I’m as sorry as anyone to see a solid game go away, but there’s good news to all Baseball Mogul Online fans — there’s an alternative that is not going away, and it’s 100% free: CSFBL!

CSFBL, the Computer Simulated Fantasy Baseball League, the grand-daddy of all multiplayer baseball management simulations, is still going strong. In fact, we’re probably stronger today than we’ve ever been.

Even better, there is no reason to fear that CSFBL will go the path of Baseball Mogul Online. Why?

  1. Profitability doesn’t matter. The game is funded out of my pocket and with the help of generous donations from our members. We don’t have to make a profit to keep running. (In fact, we’ve almost never made a profit, but the game has kept running — for over eight years — despite that fact.)
  2. Our staff is volunteer, so they’re easy to replace. Everyone who helps out with CSFBL does it of their own free will, because they love the game and the adventure in helping watch it grow. Much like open source software projects succeed despite any paid staff, CSFBL has succeeded and will continue to succeed under the same model.
  3. We’ve got horsepower to run the game. About six months ago we upgraded to a new server. With all the kinks worked out, we’re now running faster and more reliably than we have in years. Even better, we’re about to migrate our forums to vBulletin as we move to improve our community features. On top of all that, if we generate revenue above our expenses, my intent is to continue to expand our infrastructure to keep up with growth and demand.

Don’t get me wrong, CSFBL has had its share of growing pains — but what you get, for the price you pay, is simply incredible. Aside from a feature-rich game (running on a baseball simulation engine that has been battle-tested for over eight years) and a rich community, there’s also one thing that is rare in any online service, much less a free one: The guy who runs it is honest, up-front, and always involved.

Why not check us out? http://www.csfbl.com

Can you outperform expectations if outperforming is expected?

Today, a friend of mine relayed this quote from his company leader.

EVERYONE better outperform their expectations.

I wonder… How can you outperform expectations if your boss is expecting you to outperform your expectations? Doesn’t that create a never-ending cycle of failure?

Kind of reminds me the quote from the leader of a business I once worked at.

Come to work every day expecting to be fired.

Neither of these two folks can be considered effective motivational speakers.

Announcing the ASP.Net Control Adapters, a new open source project

Over the past few weeks, I started doing some experimentation with a different approach to changing the rendering of default ASP.Net controls. For a few years, I (and many others) have used the CSSFriendly project for this. That project does some nice things, but has many shortcomings.

I hemmed and hawed about this a bit (see Rewriting the ASP.Net CSS Friendly Adapters – does anyone care?), but in the end some fundamental interest — and the underlying popularity of the CSSFriendly project (consistently in the top-20 downloads on CodePlex) made me decide to go ahead with it.

So, I am proud to announce a new open source project: the ASP.Net Control Adapters! Continue reading