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Keyword: boondoggle

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  • The Not-so-Obvious Design Feature of Apple Watch That Everyone is Missing

    07/11/2015 6:00:18 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 38 replies
    The Mac Observer ^ | July 10, 2015 | by John Martellaro
    When a revolutionary new product is launched, the first instinct is to understand it by relating its most obvious features to what we already know. In time, it becomes apparent that the analogies we formed, to understand the device, failed to properly inform us of the new way of doing things invited by the product._______________________Source: Apple _______________________ Nowhere is this more obvious than with the Apple Watch. To understand it as a wristwatch that has some fancy features is to miss the relationship it has with the iPhone. The proper, elegant partitioning of tasks is one key area that is...
  • THE TPA BOONDOGGLE IS BACK AND ...

    06/18/2015 5:33:20 AM PDT · by sheikdetailfeather · 40 replies
    Facebook ^ | 6-17-2015 | Mark Levin
    Mark Levin 12 hrs · THE TPA BOONDOGGLE IS BACK AND ... I am told that John Boehner is telling the GOP members that if they vote to pass the TPA, a bill later with restrictions on immigration, among other things, will be passed to reign in Obama's actions. Boehner pulled the same trick against Congressman Marlin Stutzman not long ago, when Kevin McCarthy promised if he voted to let the massive budget bill go to the House floor, the GOP leadership would replace the bill on the floor with a smaller spending bill. But McCarthy lied to Stutzman. The...
  • In their universe, a costly train is success

    06/03/2015 6:39:35 AM PDT · by TurboZamboni · 14 replies
    Pioneer Press ^ | 6-3-15 | Joe Soucheray
    The political class -- they build themselves new office buildings and such -- live in a different universe from the rest of us, and the rest of us are getting routinely pickpocketed. No greater proof of this truth exists than the remarks of St. Paul's own City Council Member Dave Thune last week after Metro Transit released the financial figures for the first six months of the Green Line. Passengers boarding the Green Line from its debut in June, 2014 through the end of the year paid $6.21 million into the farebox, or about 35.8 percent of what it costs...
  • Massive statewide solar plan gets Minnesota PUC approval

    05/29/2015 8:41:01 AM PDT · by TurboZamboni · 23 replies
    Pioneer Press ^ | 5-28-15 | tom webb
    State regulators approved Minnesota's first industrial-scale solar energy project Thursday, a mammoth 21-site setup that will dot the Twin Cities exurbs and beyond with acres of solar panels. The unanimous vote by the Public Utilities Commission advances the ramp-up phase of large-scale solar energy in Minnesota, with this single $250 million project promising up to 100 megawatts of power by 2016. Currently, fewer than 15 megawatts of solar power are estimated to be generated in Minnesota -- so the swift addition of 100 megawatts would represent more than a six-fold increase, with other huge projects on deck. The project is...
  • Green Line's $6.21M in 2014 fares pay 35.8 percent of expenses

    05/29/2015 6:16:02 AM PDT · by TurboZamboni · 17 replies
    Pioneer Press ^ | 5-28-15 | Fredrick Melo
    While Metro Transit's Green Line isn't exactly paying for itself through passenger fares, it's doing a better job than most other Minnesota public transit options. Passengers boarding the state's second light-rail line from its debut in June through the end of 2014 paid $6.21 million into the fare box, or about 35.8 percent of what it costs to operate the 11-mile route. "I think 35 percent is a really good percentage," said St. Paul City Council member Dave Thune. "I love it. I think it has been a success. The kind of traffic it's seeing, going from one end of...
  • Plenty of ideas would trump that $2 billion train

    05/04/2015 6:29:56 AM PDT · by TurboZamboni · 10 replies
    Pioneer Press ^ | 4-28-15 | Joe Soucheray
    As recently as 2010, the estimated cost for the Southwest Light Rail Transit line was estimated to be $1.2 billion, or about the cost of a new football stadium. Then the cost jumped to $1.7 billion because somebody spun the magic wheel. Now the cost is projected to be $2 billion. OK, $1.994 billion, but if they find an endangered earthworm or an especially exotic cattail, all bets are off and the project will shoot over $2 billion in a European minute, for the Metropolitan Council loves to keep playing Europe. The train stops are called Royalston, West Lake, Blake...
  • Mass transit is more than light rail - and still costly

    04/01/2015 6:06:46 AM PDT · by TurboZamboni · 18 replies
    Pioneer Press ^ | 4-1-15 | David Montgoery
    Light rail is controversial because of its price tag -- the recently finished Green Line linking downtown St. Paul with Minneapolis cost $957 million. Supporters, though, say it's justified along dense routes where it can move many people more efficiently than buses can. <<>> Taxpayers shoulder the majority of the cost. In the metro area, fares account for about $100 million in revenue last year -- about 30 percent of the operating cost of transit. Federal grants play a big role in paying for new transitways and vehicles -- 55 percent of capital costs last year. But federal taxpayers covered...
  • Software Glitch Causes F-35 to Incorrectly Detect Targets in Formation

    03/26/2015 6:50:26 AM PDT · by Doogle · 37 replies
    Military.com ^ | 03/24/15 | Kris Osborn
    Engineers are trying to fix the F-35’s software package after it was discovered the sensors for the Joint Strike Fighter malfunction when detecting targets when the aircraft flies in formation. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, Program Executive Officer, F-35, said he didn’t have a date when the correction would be made. However, he said the problem would not delay the declaration of the Marine variant of the aircraft, the F-35B, ready for combat. “When you have two, three or four F-35s looking at the same threat, they don’t all see it exactly the same because of the angles that...
  • Chinatown businesses, supporters unhappy about impacts of high-speed rail work

    03/23/2015 3:07:25 PM PDT · by Oldeconomybuyer · 10 replies
    Fresno Bee ^ | March 22, 2015 | BY ANDREA CASTILLO
    Around 25 business owners and supporters of Fresno’s Chinatown gathered Sunday afternoon to share their concerns about the imminent high-speed rail construction along Kern and F streets. Chinatown Revitalization Inc. listed many concerns including that Spanish and Chinese speaking business owners have not been notified of the construction. Verta Gonzalez, who runs Floreria Rubi at 1515 Tulare St., said she had no idea about the coming construction. Gonzalez said business owners who speak English perhaps are able to defend themselves better. “It’s like they think Mexicans don’t matter,” she said of the rail authority. Rail authority spokeswoman Lisa Alley said...
  • George Will: The Export-Import Bank's grip

    03/13/2015 6:15:20 AM PDT · by TurboZamboni · 6 replies
    NEWSOK ^ | 3-12-15 | George Will
    WASHINGTON — Conservatives’ next disappointment will at least be a validation. The coming reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank will confirm their warnings about the difficulty of prying the government’s tentacles off what should be society’s private sphere. The bank, which exists to allocate credit by criteria other than the market’s preference for efficiency, mirrors the market-distorting policies of foreign governments. These policies favor those countries’ exports that compete with America’s. Much of what the bank does is supposedly to “level the playing field.” When Fred P. Hochberg, the bank’s chairman and president, defends it, an old joke comes to mind:...
  • US Navy: One Year Delay in Zumwalt Class Destroyers

    03/10/2015 6:10:42 AM PDT · by artichokegrower · 5 replies
    Marine Link ^ | March 10, 2015 | Joseph Keefe
    General Dynamics Corp will deliver two Zumwalt-class destroyers a year later than planned, U.S. Navy officials said, blaming complications related to new technology. The Navy is adjusting its official baseline for the $22 billion DDG 1000 ship program to reflect the new delivery dates but the change will not trigger a mandatory review since the resulting cost increase will be under 15 percent, a defense official told Reuters, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
  • MNsure’s birth: A tale of incompetence, report suggests

    02/18/2015 5:45:22 AM PST · by TurboZamboni · 2 replies
    MPR ^ | 2-17-15 | Bob Collins
    Today’s release of the review of MNsure from the Office of the Legislative Auditor leaves a big question for MNsure’s board of directors and the Commerce Department: What were you thinking when you put such incompetence on the payroll? This one page in the report concerning the development of the technological infrastructure by MNsure is a how-to on developing something that is sure to fail. MNsure rejected the auditor’s finding on this point, saying it contradicts the facts. It contends the I.T. agency’s participation was robust, although it acknowledges its expertise “was not utilized in the early stages of the...
  • As high-speed rail gains momentum, U.S. can look to Europe's example

    02/16/2015 5:02:12 PM PST · by Oldeconomybuyer · 38 replies
    Los Angeles Times ^ | February 15, 2015 | By ANASTASIA LOUKAITOU-SIDERIS
    Most of the debate over the building of the nation's first bullet train, in California, has focused on the economics of such a monumental undertaking and its projected $68-billion first-phase price tag. Largely ignored amid the excitement over the railway's recent official groundbreaking is the physical impact and design challenges that cities will need to grapple with as they prepare for high-speed rail. California should look to rail systems across Europe to fully understand the challenge of building a transportation hub that connects to the community. To make the most of California's once-in-a-lifetime chance at building a thriving transportation network,...
  • U.S. Navy says renaming LCS ships as "frigates"

    01/15/2015 8:38:13 AM PST · by sukhoi-30mki · 26 replies
    Reuters ^ | Jan 15, 2015 | Andrea Shalal
    Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Thursday said the Navy would rename the modified Littoral Combat Ships it plans to build in coming years as "frigates," given their enhanced capabilities. "One of the requirements of the Small Surface Combatant Task Force was to have a ship with frigate-like capabilities. Well, if it's like a frigate, why don't we call it a frigate?" Mabus told the annual conference of the Surface Navy Association. Mabus said the changed designation would apply primarily to the next 20 ships to be built, but 32 earlier Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) that...
  • The Growing Inanity of California High-Speed Rail

    12/29/2014 5:01:34 PM PST · by george76 · 50 replies
    The Antiplanner ^ | December 29, 2014
    Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne–who claims to be an “unabashed supporter” of high-speed rail–reviews Anaheim’s new train station and finds it “oddly antiseptic.” Hawthorne doesn’t care that taxpayers spent $2,764 per square foot for what is essentially a big glass tent. He is a little disturbed that the design is so dysfunctional that train passengers “exit onto an uncovered platform, take the elevator or stairs [up] to a pedestrian bridge, and then enter the building at its highest interior level” only to have to go back down again to get to ground level. ... While Hawthorne’s critique is...
  • Canceling the DDG-1000 Destroyer Program Was a Mistake

    12/12/2014 9:24:49 AM PST · by C19fan · 1 replies
    National Defense ^ | December 12, 2014 | Ben Freeman
    The U.S. Navy’s DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyers are extraordinarily expensive. Since 2009, the cost of the ships has increased 34.4 percent, according to the Congressional Research Service. Each of the three Zumwalt’s being built will cost taxpayers around $3.4 billion. And, that’s on top of the more than $9 billion in research and design funding that has gone into this program. Are they worth the price? The Navy didn’t think so in 2009 when Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the program would end with the procurement of just three ships, down from the 32 ships the Navy had initially planned...
  • The USAF Has To Re-Paint Its Trucks Because The F-35 Can’t Fly On Warm Fuel

    12/09/2014 10:47:29 AM PST · by Idaho_Cowboy · 90 replies
    Daily Caller via Yahoo ^ | December 9, 2014 | Staff
    After a year of several fleet-wide groundings for the F-35, the latest problem to plague the fifth-generation fighter is forcing the U.S. Air Force to revamp an entirely separate fleet to support the military’s most expensive plane yet. The F-35 can only fly on jet fuel under a certain temperature due to a range of heating issues attributed to the F-35B variant’s short takeoff and vertical landing engine. According to the USAF, the dark-green trucks that carry that fuel absorb too much heat from the sun to keep the planes in the sky.
  • U.S. to give $3 billion to international climate fund

    11/15/2014 6:35:35 AM PST · by TurboZamboni · 25 replies
    NYT/Pioneer Press ^ | 11-14-14 | Coral Davenport and Mark Landler
    WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama soon will announce that the United States will contribute $3 billion to a new international fund intended to help the world's poorest countries address the effects of climate change, according to a senior administration official. Obama is expected to make the announcement at a summit meeting of the Group of 20 industrial powers this weekend in Brisbane, Australia, on the heels of his landmark announcement this week that the United States and China will jointly commit to curbing greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. The two announcements, both unveiled at prominent global meetings with...
  • Obama’s Ebola plans: A new boondoggle?

    11/12/2014 6:20:29 AM PST · by JustaCowgirl · 18 replies
    Fox News Politics ^ | Nov 12, 2014 | George Russell
    So far, the Administration has largely limited itself to providing a broad-brush sketch of the various areas where it intends to shower funds, including $4.64 billion for “immediate needs” and another $1.54 billion as a contingency “to ensure that there are resources available to respond to the evolving epidemic both domestically and internationally,” as the White House declared on November 5.
  • Commodore Young takes command of Navy's newest ships (Littoral combat ships in Mayport FL)

    11/08/2014 10:55:53 AM PST · by 2ndDivisionVet · 22 replies
    The Fremont Tribune ^ | November 8, 2014 | Chris Zavadil
    A Fremont native is playing a key role in a historical transition taking place in the U.S. Navy. Capt. Paul D. Young on Friday became the first commodore of LCS Squadron 2, a new unit created by the Navy to launch a class of ships that is still under construction. Young assumed his leadership post during a command establishment ceremony at the Mayport Naval Station in Florida. The task before him is nothing less than building the new squadron from the ground up, and then overseeing six new Littoral Combat Ships as they are put to sea. His first two...