Free-For-All Friday 10/16/09
Decatur Metro | October 16, 2009 | 9:59 amUse this post to make comments and ask questions about local topics not covered in the prior week.
Comments will be closed Monday.
Use this post to make comments and ask questions about local topics not covered in the prior week.
Comments will be closed Monday.
AJC Attempts to Explain the “e” in Clairemont Avenue
Okay, I’ll try to get things started. My wife showed me this very interesting article in the Atlantic questioning the efficacy of the flu vaccine. I thought of the recent post on CDC studying the spread of H1N1 in Decatur and the fact that we have lots of CDC folks in Decatur and probably reading this blog. This Atlantic piece seemed persuasive to this layman in its argument that flu vaccination is of very doubtful efficacy and thus an enormous waste of public health resources.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/brownlee-h1n1
The article is also fascinating as a case study in just how unscientific “scientific communities” can sometimes be.
I had an email exchange today with my father-in-law, who is an immunologist and infectious diseases expert, about whether or not to get our infant vaccinated. I also asked him what he thought about this article. This was his reply: “There have been several infant deaths from H1N1 in otherwise healthy kids, so unless someone showed that the vaccine were harmful I would definitely try to get him immunized. This is not to say that if vaccinated you should ignore the other precautions to avoid infection, as the article assumes one will do. I agree with some of the points in the article especially the fact that each year’s vaccine does not get a rigorous test. This is very difficult to do and the ethical question can not be ignored. On the other hand, I have listened to the epidemiologists for years and find them to be like economists – very long on hindsight but not so good at extrapolating.”
Virtually every day I am reminded that the folks that drop off their kids at STM in the mornings are the most inconsiderate lot that I have ever seen. It goes without saying that this does not apply to everyone, but I have the unfortunate need like many others to have to pick up mail at the Post Office and then try to head out west on Ponce at the same time as the seemingly endless parade of vans and SUVs are turning onto Water Street. This is by far the most frustrating and annoying part of my daily commute, no matter how bad the traffic is otherwise. I really expect better from my fellow Catholics, and I am constantly disappointed on almost daily basis.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to help this situation? I know that I am not the only one that has experienced this problem.
“I really expect better from my fellow Catholics, and I am constantly disappointed on almost daily basis.”
Eh he he, ha ha, sorry, it’s just that’s so rich.
The carpool route for dropping off and pick up was dictated by the City of Decatur and parents are required to enter the queue at Water Street. The school is aware of the inconvenience and trying to figure out a better way to propose. No one is trying to be inconsiderate, just following the rules given to them for getting their kids to school safely.
If you’re wanting to head west from the post office, you should just come down Water St to Trinity and come out at the light on Ponce. It would probably be easier anyway, and is only a short way out of your way.
My apologies for the slowness of the site this morning folks. The server where DM lives seems to be slammed this morning. Hopefully this won’t become an ongoing problem. If so, we might need to find a new place to live.
Looks like things have gotten better in the last few minutes.
The speed is improving and thanks for the explanation. I’m always relieved when IT issues are not caused by operator error (namely me).
In case you missed it, the beer festival is this weekend. And, while this can’t possibly compete with the 6-word thread from last week, I thought it might be fun for the DM community to compose a Top 10 “Signs-You-Might-Be-Taking-The-Festival-Too-Seriously” List. A few ideas to get things started:
– Already printed the list of beers and have highlighted specific beverages
– Committed the festival map to memory
– Already figured out what to eat at Chick-fil-A afterwards
– Spent more on your ticket than a nice dinner at Cakes & Ale
– You correct people who omit the word ‘Craft’ when talking about the Decatur Beer Festival
– Bought the 10lb container of pretzels at Costco, just to be on the safe side
Do you have a link to the beer list? I was just about to print it (seriously!) and cannot find the link on the website. Thanks!
I would add to that: tracking the weather since last week along with “knows the previous weather for last 4 beer festivals”
Glennwood Fall Carnival tomorrow! Come out and support your neighborhood school. I just put the finishing touches on some creepy, scary treats for the cake walk. Hope everyone shows up!
Buy your pumpkins at Glennwood! Pumpkin sale starts tomorrow.
Small gripe–why did MARTA rename the rail lines from e.g., the informative East-West to the totally uninformative Blue? And the boards announcing the approaching trains don’t say things like
“Eastbound: Indian Creek: 3 minutes.
Westbound: H.E. Holmes: 5 minutes”
but
“Blue: Indian Creek: 3 minutes.
Blue: H.E. Holmes: 5 minutes”
Thanks MARTA! I’m already familiar with the stops so it’s no big deal, but it helps make things more confusing for new riders.
It’s part of Atlanta’s new tourism initiative. “Atlanta: Welcome to our city, Now Get Lost Y’all!”
Where one branch becomes two, which happens both north-south and east-west, colors are clearer than saying line names like “northeast” and “northwest” and “Proctor Creek” and “Candler Park”.
Agreed Steve, but wouldn’t it make more sense to keep direction and color-coding and ditch the endpoint label (at least on the marquee)? Any uninitiated visitor can understand cardinal directions, but they’ll have to spend at least a few minutes in front of the wall map to identify their desired line’s terminus (if they even realize in the first place that the trains are being labeled by their terminus).
I’m an advocate and a heavy user, but sometimes it does feel like they’re trying to deter riders.
The Washington Metro has been using color codes only since its inception and doesn’t seem to cause a problem.
Yeah, but other systems actually curve around and crisscross and go in more than one direction.
Since we just go north-south, east-west, the name change seems costly (they will have to change maps, signs, etc.), poorly thought out and sort of stupid.
Northeast (Doraville), Northwest (North Springs), and Proctor Creek-Candler Park are overlays to the N-S and E-W. That’s the reason for the color codes.
Maybe the colors are in preparation for the MARTA network expanding to look like this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/travel/downloads/tube_map.gif
As opposed to the current MARTA network:
http://whispersofelyk.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/plus_sign3.jpg
Yet for folks unfamiliar with the city trying to get from the airport to Decatur, it’s pretty damn uninformative.
Here’s the link to the Beer Festival map and list of beers: http://decaturbeerfestival.org/map.php
I have ordered wonderful October weather for another wonderful festival day in Decatur!
Great festival this past weekend, but you might want to see if you can get a refund on that weather order. Seems like they were a day late delivering the wonderful weather!
Excellent job, Cheryl! Once again, the weather will be perfect for BeerFest!