Another Luddite Veto

Today's Ken Avidor/Dump Bachmann coverage of Personal Rapid Transit in Amritsar, Punjab is pretty good -- if you like omission of balancing quotes, lack of cultural context, and no content about Krazy Eyes herself. It's a bait-and-switch.

That's right, the Laffable Luddite blogger who recently mocked an Indian newspaper's use of "operationalized" as though it were not a real word is now Extremely Concerned about shopkeepers in Amritsar who

apprehend that the system would adversely hit their business.

The foundation stone was laid outside the Hall Gate where shopkeepers raised anti-government slogans and staged dharnas. [emphasis not in original] 

Ken is Extremely Concerned because -- oh, did I mention the screaming headline on his post?

Shopkeepers in India Are Fasting in Protest Against the Personal Rapid Transit Boondoggle

...
A dharna is "a fast held at the door of an offender in India as an appeal for justice."

Not the first time, pRT [sic] has provoked a mass protest, read; "Pod Off! Residents oppose Daventry PRT scheme".

Here's the cultural context: dharnas actually are a prevalent form of protest in India, found in situations major and minor, in both the public and private spheres. Dharnas are not extreme last resorts like hunger strikes in the West because, Ken, India is a different culture. To see what I mean, just look up "dharna" in Google News.

And, true to form, Avidor also fails to look for articles explaining the Government's response to the merchant's concerns. Avidor doesn't do it, so I will:

[Dep. Chief Min.] Badal said that this new technology transport system not only facilitate [sic] the pilgrims coming to Golden Temple but also proved to be beneficial for the local business, as it would attract more tourists to the city. He said that as the main station of this PRT system would be in Hall Gate bazaar of the city, thus, it would multiply the business opportunities for local vendors. "Moreover, the POD would run at height more [sic] than the nearby shops, the system would provide traffic and hindrance free access to these shops", he added. Source

Avidor also pretends to weep over how advertising on PRT structures "Would be a hideous visual scar on the historic city"...

...as though Amritsar is not already a massive urban area that has -- yes -- buildings as tall or taller than PRT, and advertising:

How are each day's thousands of pilgrims supposed to get through congestion like this? Avidor doesn't want to let the local authorities decide. Flickr Photo: rwoan

And NO RELEVANCE TO BACHMANN, other than the usual 'she got her cooties on it when she was a state senator.'

Bottom line: the Laffable Luddite is once again trying to interfere in local decisionmaking, just as he has in England, Alameda and Richmond, California.  He claims PRT is a right wing conspiracy, yet the only reason he knows about any pod transit project in any country is because planning for them is occurring in public view. Whether they proceed is up to each locality. Ask Ken Avidor why he cares so much, and make him be factual and consistent.

IMPORTANT ARCHIVES:

• The year Bachmann sponsored PRT in the Minnesota Senate, she was one of 5 Republicans and 13 Democrats to do so. Ken Avidor never mentions the Democrats.
• Old Laffable Luddite blog "Now Bogus On Two Continents" (Daventry, England)
• Avidor claims to live in Alameda, accidentally sides with anti-Smart Growth NIMBYs
• "Luddite Fires His Loose Cannon" (Richmond, CA)
• Avidor claims PRT is right wing scam, but he promoted candidacy of anti-PRT Teabagger.

Ken, what did you mean by:

"Polish PRT?"

Ken Avidor (@Daily Kos)
read the PRTJJ coverage

UPDATE 1: The Amritsar pod public transit system would be used by the more than a million religious pilgrims a year who visit the Golden Temple. An Avidor fan equates them with rich people crossing cities in helicopters in order to avoid seeing slums:

UPDATE 2: (12/15/2011) Today a Ken tweet leads to one inescapable conclusion -- he believes transit competes for fares against taxis and rickshaws* ONLY IN INDIA:

Also that the planning/decisionmaking roles of the local Amritsar government and Punjab state government are not worth mentioning -- on Planet Avidorpia the "British Automated Pod Corporation" is doing it all!

"#occupy," Ken? Really?

UPDATE 3: (12/16/2011) Desperate to blunt today's NY Times coverage of Amritsar, Ken is now blogging and tweeting about comments by a grumpypants Heathrow traveler who thought 25 mph "felt" too slow, didn't like that the pods were busy, didn't like emergency exit hatches, and didn't like that the pod's windows didn't let him look directly forward or behind. Ken also issues a call for  an:

I don't know what experts would ever satisfy Avidor, since he doesn't want a state department of transportation involved.

Irony of The Year: Ken Avidor is putting stock in the opinion of someone who didn't like riding on his pod with strangers:

Ken has always tried to claim people who don't like riding with strangers love PRT.

UPDATE 4: By the way, this photo which Ken thought showed "a hideous visual scar" on historic Amritsar? 



It's not even Amritsar. It's Gurgaon.


Leave Laffy Alone!

gPRT

* Taxis and autorickshaws burn petrol, Ken! 

Intolerance

Luddite fires his loose cannon, Part II

It was so predictable. No sooner had I alerted Ken Avidor to the existence yesterday of the Richmond Confidential's human interest piece on Cybertran's Eugene Nishinaga, than the Laffable Luddite picked it up. And today he blogs about it: "Faith-Based Pie-in-the-Sky Boondoggle Cybertran Partner's Right-Wing, Anti-Abortion Tweets"

Now, we know Ken shares our distaste for fundamentalist Christians, since it is a fixture of his work with Dump Bachmann (motto: "Dumping Bachmann since 2005 or possibly 2004").

But "Faith-Based Pie-in-the-Sky Boondoggle Cybertran Partner's Right-Wing, Anti-Abortion Tweets" takes him into smeary territory that is darker and intolerant. Because the Richmond Confidential article isn't about the right-wing partner (Allen Payton), the focus is on Eugene Nishinaga:

CyberTran: Small start-up has big dreams
By: Alexis Kenyon | October 31, 2011 – 4:05 pm

For Eugene Nishinaga, the chief technical officer at CyberTran International, ultralight rail is nothing short of a spiritual awakening.

"I was actually driving on the highway, right outside the [Richmond] field station," he said, "totally coincidence — and I felt the call of God."

The call was the impetus for a major shift in Nishinaga's life. At the time, he was a respected research and development manager for BART with nearly 40 years experience in transit. But in 2008, Nishinaga, 58, quit his job to take a position at CyberTran International -- an ultralight rail start-up based out of UC Berkeley's Richmond Field Station.

Avidor needs to discredit Nishinaga because the man is an expert in conventional transit who is now trying to make innovative technology a reality. Therefore Avidor uses the old bait-and-switch -- in the headline promising Payton, but leading with Nishinaga. Equating them.

I don't know what Nishinaga's political views are, but the way his religious views are characterized in the story (he felt a 'calling', he wanted to become a pastor and join the ministry) is so neutral as to reveal nothing that is inherently fundamentalist OR liberal.

The point is that Avidor doesn't know what Nishinaga's ideology is either. But because of Cybertran, Avidor goes ahead and smears Nishinaga anyway, because he needs Nishinaga to be just like Payton.

Today we also see Ken attempt to practice the journalism basic known as 'establishing a pattern':

It is not surprising to find faith-based jargon among supporters of Personal Rapid Transit. PRT is essentially a faith-based concept - check out Higherway PRT brought to you by the inventor of the Savior Cycle.

But the pattern here is that the person is religious, not how they are religious. Avidor is just indiscriminately (or discriminately) putting all religious people in the same basket.

He doesn't know anything about Higherway inventor Tad Winiecki, he just sees another Christian like Nishinaga who, in his mind, must be just like Allen Payton. And, presumably by extension, just like Michele Bachmann.

Except I happen to know that Tad Winiecki is definitely not like Bachmann:

On March 21st, 2007, Tad Winiecki said:

I have noticed what I consider far too much name calling, attributed motives by association, and denigration of opponents in most public forums and especially blogs related to partisan politics. I was trained to be a scientist so this is against my usual way of thinking. It bothers me when Republicans refer to the "democrat party" rather than the "Democratic Party". It makes me want to call them the "publican party"...

---

On June 19th, 2007, Tad Winiecki said:

"He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich – both come to poverty." Proverbs 22:16 (NIV)

Corporate welfare – gifts to the rich – bothers me. A bad example in Washington State (and many similar cases elsewhere) was tearing down the Kingdome in Seattle and building a new stadium. It cost us poor taxpayers and benefitted rich team owners and players. Uneconomic deals with extraction industries such as oil companies are also giving to the rich. The Republican Medicare prescription drug plan was a gift to rich drug companies. We could go on and on, couldn’t we?

Ken could have known this too. But he is not duly diligent.

Religious intolerance. Somewhat ironic for someone who is waging a holy war against new transit technology.

Earlier:
The Luddite Veto (September)

Luddite fires his loose cannon (October)

Update 1:

PRT Consulting reports Nishinaga has left CyberTran

gPRT

Great Mileage

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." - George W. Bush

Tell me, what does "No need to ride with strangers" mean to you?

In the context of Personal Rapid Transit, it is describing a fact of the service concept -- when transit service is on demand, a trip starts when you enter the station and select a destination, board a pod and go. People ahead of you are in their pods and don't have to wait for you, and your pod doesn't have to wait for others. Whether you know them or not is immaterial. If you're at your neighborhood station you might know the travelers in the other pods, but otherwise the odds are good that you won't. This is what it means.

To Ken Avidor it means something else: People don't like to ride with strangers.

Let's just tell it like it is. What Ken is doing here is trying to smear PRT with another Ick Factor (like PRT is dirty and PRT=Bachmann). He's implying PRT fans are people who don't care for other people, are trying to scare people away from transit, or trying to appeal to classists, ageists, racists, etc.

Ken 's little paraphrase would be fine if it just stopped there, but it wouldn't be our Ken if he stopped there. Ken takes People don't like to ride with strangers and attributes it to others.

It's gone from a paraphrase to a quote, those are quotation marks. The group Minnesota 350 is holding a sustainability event this Saturday, part of the worldwide Moving Planet day, and Citizens For PRT is participating. Ken wants to try and shame MN 350 into disassociating itself from CPRT. Lookit what the bad PRT people say! says Ken. He even provides a photo, the Twitpic link. Only, that photo only proves he is the Great Misquoter:

What, he's hoping no one actually looks at it?

This would be a minor amusement, except for that Ken has been pulling this same trick for 8 years.

Apr. 23, 2003 in Pulse Of The Twin Cities:

[gives no reference.]

Jul. 13, 2004, at Car Free Cities: The biggest myth the PRT proponents spread around is that people don't like to ride with "strangers". [gives no reference. At this point he's just quoting one word though.]

Jan. 2005 at Light Rail Now: PRT proponents can say things that the highway boosters could never say, such as "people don't like to ride with strangers". [gives no reference. Now the quote is a whole phrase.]

Apr. 17, 2005 at Mobjectivist: When Councilman Dean Zimmermann testified for Mark Olson's PRT bill (HF1174) in the Minnesota House Local Government Committee March 9th 2005, he said "With PRT you don't have to ride with strangers." This is the audio link:

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/audio/ls84/locpol03092005.asx [This should be definitive, right? I mean, it's audio! Except Ken gets wrong both the quote and the context. At 3:15:20, what Zimmerman really says is:

"You have the same relationship with this sky cab that you would to an ordinary taxi cab, in that you get in it, you ride it with yourself or your family, you're not riding with strangers. And when you get to your destination you don't look back and say 'now what am I going to do with that big hunk of steel?' You just leave it there, and it's available, sitting in the station, ready for the next person to jump in and go."

He's only describing how PRT is like a taxi.]

Jun. 2, 2005 at Transportation Geek: What they will "market" will be more websites with flashy computer graphics and more brochures with anti-transit propaganda saying stuff like "People don''t [sic] like to ride with strangers". [link to image of flyer with quote that doesn't match]

Jun. 6, 2005 at MAP-NP Community Forum: Dean Zimmermann has testified at the Minnesota State Legislature in favor of Rep. Mark Olson''s anti-transit PRT bills saying that "people don''t [sic] like to ride with strangers". [gives no reference, note same typo as Jun. 2, 2005]

Jun. 14, 2005 at PRT Skeptic: Dean has even teamed up with right-wing Republican Mark Olson at the Capitol and Minneapolis City Hall to say wonderful things about the Taxi 2000 Corporation and spread nasty disinformation about buses and trains such as "People don't like to ride with strangers". [gives no reference]

Jul. 25, 2005 at PRT Skeptic: What do you expect from people who are fond of saying "People don't like to ride with strangers."? [gives no reference]

Aug. 22, 2005 at Seattle P-I (and republished elsewhere): PRT proponents can say things that the highway boosters could never say, such as "People don't like to ride with strangers." [gives no reference]

Jan. 25, 2006 at Detroit Metro Times: PRT proponents can say things that the highway boosters could never say, such as "People don't like to ride with strangers." [gives no reference]

Feb. 7, 2006 at Wikipedia: PRT proponents can say things that the highway boosters could never say, such as "People don't like to ride with strangers." [he was unable to document it, tried to use the Jun. 2, 2005 link]

Apr. 11, 2006 at PRT Skeptic: What do you expect from people who are fond of saying "People don't like to ride with strangers."? [gives no reference]

Jan. 12, 2010 at Democratic Underground: The pod people are always saying PRT is better that reality-based transit because "you don't have to ride with strangers". [includes image with non-matching quote]

And now it's back!

May 20, 2011 at PRT Moondoggie: the PRT hucksters aint [sic] going to give up the fear-mongering about "strangers" on buses and trains

Ken Avidor: the Great Catapulter. How many more miles can he get out of this sleight of hand?

Also: The reality is that PRT ride-sharing is happening

UPDATE: This Avidor  post shows how if someone thinks PRT is about not riding with strangers, it's because Ken gave them the idea.

Archives: Ken's opinions about teenagers and Poland

Catapult:

Super mileage:

gPRT

Love Letters (with apologies to A.R. Gurney)

After all these years, I think we've finally found a PRT scam. And it has been exposed by "PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE!!!

from: J. Edward Anderson <[* * * *]@gmail.com>
to: ["PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE]
date Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 12:43 PM
subject Re: Help Request

Dear,

How are you today? May this emergency appeal finds you well,i am sorry i didn't inform you about my travelling to Europe for a program.The program is taking place in three major Countries in

Europe which includes Spain Germany and United Kingdom.It has been a sad and bad moment for me,the present condition i found myself is so intoxicated to explain.I feel so ashamed because i am

stranded and stocked in United Kingdom because I've misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money,my document and other valuable things were kept ,i am so confussed right now i don't know what to do or where to go.

I need your urgent help,i want you to please loan me the sum of 3,200.00 USD = £2,000GBP to sort-out myself and confirm my basic travelling allowance fees back home.In case you couldn't come up

with all the requested amount due to the short notice kindly go ahead and send me any amount you can afford at this time and email me the transfer details i will be so grateful to receive the money,I

will appreciate whatever you can afford to help me with and I promise to pay you back as soon as I return home.
I want you to understand that i am in a very tight and critical sitaution at the moment,i know you will never disappoint me that is why i have contacted you in this regards and please as you endeavor to

help me with this money i don't mean you should disclose my predicament to anybody for personal reasons till when am successfully back home.However,it is not compulsory that you will send me the

money but if my situation and our good relationship touches you i want you to quickly proceed to any of the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER OR MONEY GRAM TRANSFER station or post

office around you and transfer me the money as soon as you have received this email.Western union money transfer is the most convenience and safe for me to receive the money here without any delay or problem.

Below is the information where to send me the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.

Here are the details:

Name:Edward Anderson
Address : 10 Godliman Street
Zip code : EC4V 5AJ,
State : London
Country: England
Test Question :Thank
Answer :You

After you have sent the money email me the western union transfer details such as:

WESTERN UNION TRANSFER RECEIPT
MTCN(Money transfer control number)
Test Question: Thank
Answer:You
Amount Needed: 3,200.00 USD = £2,000GBP

I'll check my email soonest to pick up the western union transfer details to enable me return back home with the next available flight,i need the transfer # MTCN (money transfer control number) as soon as you are done with the transfer.

Thanks for your kind help and sorry to bother you.

Regards.

J. Edward (Ed) Anderson
PRT International, LLC
763 [* * * *]
[* * * *]@prtinternational.com
www.prtinternational.com

from ["PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE]
to "J. Edward Anderson"
date Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 1:08 PM
subject Re: Help Request

Ed --

FYI, your email account has been hacked.

- Show quoted text -

from: J. Edward Anderson <[* * * *]@gmail.com>
to: ["PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE]
date Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 1:19 PM
subject Re: Help Request

Thank you for your concern and reply, My email address has not been compromised, I sent you the mail in-order for you to help me out, let me know if you can help me out

from ["PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE]
to "J. Edward Anderson"
date Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 1:43 PM
subject Re: Help Request

Ken, is that you?

from: J. Edward Anderson <[* * * *]@gmail.com>
to: ["PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE]
date Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 1:55 PM
subject Re: Help Request

Ken

Thanks so much for your concern and reply i sent you the email in other for you to help me out,let me know if you can help me make the transfer.

Thanks

from ["PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE]
to "J. Edward Anderson"
date Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 2:04 PM
subject Re: Help Request

Typos. Repetitive. Slow to catch on -- Ken, it IS you!!! I will send you this much post-haste! Don't spend it all on pints at Quarter Jacks, 10 Godliman Street, London.

(Note to lawyers with no sense of humor: it wasn't really Ken Avidor.)

Reading:
Scams with same/similar language

The REAL J. Edward Anderson and PRT International

Godliman Street by St. Paul's, London:
Quarter Jacks
(in Grange St. Paul's Hotel)

The corner of Godliman & Knightrider (!)

View Larger Map

gPRT

Pics of the Day - "Skyweb Express" is all wet!

"Craig Horsfield’s Skyweb Express, USA655 at the St. Francis YC dock after winning the first West Coast Mini 650 Offshore Race. Congrats to Craig and his crew Tom on their achievement!"

Never Sea Land

gPRT
"...the Professor and Mary Ann, here on Ken Avidor's Isle!"

Egg Salad on his face

Originally published at "PRT Is A Joke" IS A JOKE v.1
Words written with wildcards (***, !!!, etc.) was the way we originally wrote Ken Avidor, Ken, and Avidor.

*** reminds me of a gag from the classic Woody Allen movie, What's Up Tiger Lily:

"At one point during the planning of a break-in, a spy unfolds a map of their quarry's residence, explaining that the man "lives here." "He lives on that small piece of paper?" questions one of the henchmen. It's that silly." Source

When *** writes about "dorky little wheels" on a scale model of a PRT vehicle, I almost expect him to ask, "how can three people ride in something so small?"

When I explain to him that a PRT vehicle has been designed with places to mount HVAC equipment, the makers know what equipment to use and how much it will weigh, he acts as though the very idea is impossible. It's as if 45-50 pounds of equipment that works in cars WON'T work in PRT, simply because it's PRT. Or he'll write that the amount of weight HVAC will add is a mystery-- 45-50 pounds suddenly becomes indeterminate!

What supernatural qualities does he ascribe to PRT that it possesses such powers? It's just engineering. Maybe to *** ****** it's one of the Black Arts.

Flyp-Flop-ocrite

*** recently allowed that:

"If those people want to pursue PRT with their own money, that's okay with me." Source, #356

How nice of him to say--now. Too bad his PRTJ website has a page titled "Don't Invest in Bogus PRT!" (roadkillbill.com/PRT%20PigNPoke.html)

Plus, you also have to take his LTO3 about "PRT is impossible" as an attempt to discourage private investment as well.

So busy; so bossy; so concerned about what other people are doing with their own time and money (see also: "The O.C.," 7.29.05, below).

gPRT