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Editor's note: We continue beta-testing the change to one of the oldest editorial policies of "PRT is a Joke" IS A JOKE. For a limited time, The Name of the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist will be shown -- although special formatting will be used.

Multi-cartoonist Kena Wei (Ken Avidor) doesn't allow comments on his PRT Moondoggie blog, so I guess I'll just have to comment here!

Discovery's Insane Video About Personal Rapid Transit

"Insane"? What, is he a mental health professional now? Come on, it's the Discovery Channel (he calls it "Discovery Company") -- not the Discovery Institute. 'Insane' goes in his lexicon now, I suppose. Is Larry Page 'insane,' Ken?

Here's two stills from the video showing elevated pod guide-ways desecrating historic buildings and public places in Washington DC. Does any sane person think this could ever happen?

Say, that appears to be a 9-lane avenue past John Marshall Place--




Don't tell me Kena Wei prefers a busy car-choked street to a grassy pedestrian zone, transit zipping by overhead? Yeah, no one wants modern transit technology next to landmarks. Hey, isn't that the 9th-10th century Baptistery in Florence?→

"skull-like PRT pod"

"The narrator on this clip explains that a pod plan for Washington DC would require highways "two to three times wider" "

Hey Kena Wei, mull this over -- who created TDC's animations? They look like no other podcar design heretofore (more later).

"This segment is all about the threat of terrorism to an automated pod system and how it would be prevented by... what else... adding more automated, complex gadgets" [ellipses in original]

Uh, what are the ways we try to prevent terrorism ANYWHERE? Isn't technology one of the ways? Maybe Kena prefers body cavity searches ('Metal Detectors are a Joke'?).

"The narrator says the ULTra pod is run by "a laptop"... which may be another reason why the launch of ULTRA [sic] has been postponed" [ellipsis in original]

Right! Laptops can't do anything complex. The words of a real Luddite!

"The Pod People have applied for millions of Federal dollars"

And if their application isn't worthy, the evaluation panel won't approve it! Unless you think the Obama Administration is part of the PRT scam -- you don't -- do ya, Kena Wei? Ya don't think PRT is Fascist, do ya?




In fact, what does the entire five-decade long PRT conspiracy look like in your mind? We'd really appreciate it if you would chart it for us, in detail.

Also today: Is the editorial policy at PRT Moondoggie simply "copy whatever is posted at PRT Is a Joke IS A JOKE"?

Does anyone else find it hilariously ironic that Ken is associated with a publication called False Witness??

gPRT

Against it before he was for it

Now he's an urban planner.

The city of Alameda (Kenwood claims he lives there) is working with the developer SunCal to redevelop Alameda Point, the site of the former Alameda Naval Air Station. Good idea? That's for the community to decide.

The Point is a sprawling 770 acre brownfield at the west end of Alameda's island.

One version of SunCal's proposal, option "B," was designed by reknowned planner Peter Calthorpe. The concept calls for 6,000 homes on 700 acres of the Point. This translates to 13,056 people on just over 1 square mile, nearly the density of San Francisco (16,634). Alameda's current density is on the order of 2500-ish per sq mi.

Calthorpe has designed it to have a PRT network, and SunCal wants to connect it to BART in Oakland. Therefore, Kenmore hates the "B" plan.

Kennel Ration says PRT is being put forward to get around environmental regulations that limit density, instead of offering "real solutions" for transit:

Is PRT also an Environmental Regulation-Busting Tool?[*]
. . .
PRT is being used to bamboozle citizens in Alameda into scrapping Measure A, a ballot initiative aimed to regulate development...

...The 1972 ballot initiative regulates lot size and forbids construction of housing units that would accommodate more than two families. The developer has put forward two potential options, both of which would require a ballot initiative, likely in 2009, that would waive Measure A at least at Alameda Point.

Instead of offering a real solution to the transportation needs of the people who move into those additional 2,000 units, Suncal offers an imaginary, snake-oil solution - PRT... CLEVER!!! Source

In other words, he is complaining the Point "B" plan ought to be using light rail. Here's his contradictory logic: with light rail, plan "B" would still be 13,056 people per sq mi. Hold on -- is that density "regulation-busting," or isn't it? Note also that Lubridor misrepresented Measure A's purpose -- it is not primarily to protect the environment, but to keep density low (no more than 2 families per lot). The slogan of the Keep Measure A campaign is "No Overcrowding."

But if the regulations aren't busted, that low density is not cost effective for light rail. And if you don't have density, the alternative is sprawl somewhere else. Humidor is either supporting Measure A against Smart Growth and higher densities that help any mass transit work better, or is fine with busting regulations if it is light rail doing the busting.

He's against Smart Growth before he was for it! He was a NIMBY until he wasn't!

Thermidor always thinks light rail is the solution and ignores the urban planning context. Now, I'm not an urban planner either. But I've looked at enough MUPs to notice some realities at Alameda that would render conventional, large-vehicle transit problematic, although not impossible.

It has to do with distance and cost. The most direct route for a light rail connection to BART is to go north about 1200 yards, to the West Oakland BART station.

Except there's something in the way: the Oakland Inner Harbor. This is a 300 yard wide navigable waterway. An expensive high bridge would be needed to cross it, in order to allow ocean-going freighters and the San Francisco ferries to pass beneath.

The alternative would be to run the light rail line east through the built-up area of Alameda. Not only would this create a beneficial transit connection to and for the rest of the city, but it would also allow light rail to cross the Inner Harbor channel at its narrowest point in the Fruitvale Bridge area, and then on to the Fruitvale BART station. These would be good results.

The problem is that it's about 4.8 miles to Fruitvale Bridge, and through the heart of town. Do you think Alameda or SunCal have $250 millionish for such a disruptive project? Light rail in this situation would be a non-starter politically. No redevelopment, no "busting" of regulations -- no Smart Growth. "CLEVER!!!"

* Notice his longtime and frequent use of the question mark. It's a classic cheat used by ignoramuses and propagandists -- a question mark turns a smear into a question. They don't really answer the question, they just present distortions, so to the casual reader it appears the smear is the answer to the question. Plus, if fact-checkers catch them lying, propagandists can use the excuse 'I was only asking a question.'

Update (11/23): Developer chooses the 4,000 home option

He's green until he's not (2012)

gPRT
Someone's knockin' on my Ken Avidor, somebody's ringin' the bell

Mock Journalist, Part V - Bonehead Revisited

Remember the Ken Avidor-authored laff riot otherwise known as Was the ULTra test track bulldozed? Journey with me now to the days of yesteryear --

It was February 19, 2007, and Kennel Ration tried to use Google Maps to prove that the Cardiff test track had been removed. The ULTra website shows an aerial photo of the track, but Google Maps shows a vacant lot -- the track must be gone and ULTra a failure! was his line of reasoning. It didn't occur to Kenmore that the Google Maps photo might be -- oh, I don't know -- out of date?

I responded to him, also on February 19, with my own satirical take on his gaffe.

Have you tried our new information resource, The PRT-Centered Universe of...? In the course of doing research for it, I happened upon a posting to a Welsh message board:

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:20 am
Post subject: ULTra Cardiff Test Track... Bulldozed?
Does anyone know if the ULTra Test track at the end of Viking Ln is still there? [ellipsis in original]
Source

Now, over the years I have been critical of Vapidor's lame attempts at journalism, so it's good to see him, the ex-Transportation Editor of the Twin Cities Daily Planet, trying to ask questions, seeking the whole story.

Oh but wait -- notice the date. February 20 -- the day after his original blog post!¹

That wasn't a real reporter's question, it was Labridor desperately trying to get the 'proof' he should have tried to get before publishing the story! Which makes his 'story' a Lie.^®

1. Even accounting for time zones, 12:20am in Cardiff is 6:20pm in Minneapolis, and Kenwood's original blog post was at 10:11am.


gPRT
Ken Avidor got his tit caught in a big fat wringer

Rep. Bachmann gets a promotion

She's now Senator Bachmann. The jump-up is courtesy of Kennel Ration, the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist. Would I lie to you?

In Minnesota, the biggest supporters of PRT are the usual anti-rail transit suspects: Senator Michele Bachmann, Rep. Mark Olson (16b), Phil Krinkie.... and Dean Zimmermann [ellipses in original]. Source

Too bad no other Los Angeles Times readers know or care who Olson, Krinkie or Zimmermann are. People less concerned with Guilt By Association and more into finding additional transit alternatives probably care more that PRT has been endorsed by the World Wildlife Fund* and the EU.

Related: LA Times Steve Hymon blog

Also today: World Premiere!
New Feature!

* Click Skycab thumbnail

gPRT
Ken Avidor, the human cut and paste hot key

Missed it by THAT much

Post #200!

What is the margin of error for the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist? For instance, one of his 'proofs' that PRT is a hoax and a scam is that a felon proposed a PRT test track before he was a felon. Well, ATS proposed and built a test track in Wales, for a PRT system that is now under construction at Heathrow -- was that test track a scam too? Did ATS succeed in hoodwinking Cardiff County, the UK government and the EU into funding . . . . something that proved PRT works?

So no -- proposing a PRT test track does not prove PRT is a hoax or scam.

That's a pretty huge error though. Has Roadkill Bill International no Quality Control Division?

Here's another one, it comes from that golden age of anti-PRT propaganda known as 2004. It concerns this infamous piece of disinformation:


Truthtellers have long since debunked it based on what can actually be seen in the image. First, the 'ugly' guideway is the late-90s Raytheon version that was canceled years before Ovendoor created the image. Therefore, he was asking people to judge PRT on the basis of how it was not going to look.

Second, Wikipedia editors determined he was showing the guideway disproportionately large -- out of scale. Meaning he was asking people to judge PRT on the basis of how it was really not going to look!

Despite these truths he keeps on using this image. Hey Kenwood: repeating something over and over until the truth sinks in, catapulting the propaganda, doesn't make something true. Until now, the PRT community's counter-propaganda troops have relied on these facts to Fight The Photo.

But recently some additional facts emerged. Thanks to Google Maps and its Satellite and Street View functions, plus my experience in aerial photo interpretation, "PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE has determined that the photo was taken at the corner of 36th and S. Grand in Minneapolis. The business at left is a laundromat, and the one in the center is Present Moment Books & Herbs.

By itself, the location is immaterial. However if we look at what Labridor wrote about PRT and this particular location, it becomes yet another example of how you can't trust anything he puts out. Here's what he wrote in Wikipedia:

The illustration shows an actual PRT guideway (Raytheon) on an actual street in Minneapolis (where Dean Zimmermann and the CPRT propose to build a PRT system) Source

Now here's a map of said Zimmerman/CPRT proposal -- with a special enhancement!

Can you spot the enhancement? It's the Green Arrow. If you follow that arrow off the edge of the map and go another 3-and-a-half blocks, you'll come to 36th & Grand.

THAT'S RIGHT: Humidor was claiming Zimmerman/CPRT wanted to PRTify a place that no one was talking about PRTifying.

Kenjob should not take this as a total defeat though -- I've shown that Hippy Paradise is not in danger.

Recently: Leave your car at the Coliseum and take the PRT to campus (Morgantown)

gPRT
Ken Avidor is the world's longest underwater tunnel

Light rail segment obliterated - Heroic editor sounds alarm

Watchful transportation expert alerted by Google Maps

A large segment of a Minneapolis light rail line has been obliterated under mysterious circumstances.

Ben Labridor, transportation editor of the Twin Cities Daily Planet, alerted authorities on Monday after discovering that a block-long section of the Hiawatha light rail line was missing from the vicinity of Hiawatha Avenue and E. 29th Street. Metro Transit officials have yet to comment, and Minneapolis police and fire departments report no explosions or other demolition activities.

"This tragedy goes far beyond mere vandalism or even terrorism," said an anxious Labridor by phone from his Minneapolis home. "This is transit bashing at its worst."

Labridor said that he had been at home performing internet research about transit systems, when he happened to chance upon an aerial photo of Minneapolis that shocked him.

"I had just seen the light rail earlier today," said Labridor, "When I'm in the area I always make sure to look at the train," he said, "its long, hard, ramrod-like form going back and forth through the neighborhood, back and forth, back and forth. In and out of Bloomington, in and out."

"Just imagine my surprise, then, when I saw on my computer that according to Google Maps a huge section of our beautiful Hiawatha light rail is gone. Around 29th Street on the west side of Hiawatha Avenue--nothing but scarred earth," said a shaken Labridor.

Labridor vowed he won't rest until he finds who is responsible. He said he believed the culprits have something to do with Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), which he said is a nonexistent transit technology that can't work and is being built at London's Heathrow Airport, as well as a site in Sweden. An early version of the nonexistent technology has been running in West Virginia for over 30 years.

Labridor said he had just found evidence on Google Maps that a PRT test facility in Wales may have been demolished, and discovered the damage to the Hiawatha Line shortly after. "It's too much of a coincidence, it's obviously payback by the PRT cabal," said Labridor. He would not elaborate on the PRT cabal without reporters first signing oaths in blood.

"Rest assured, destroying a light rail line is not beyond the power of the PRT conspirators," he said. "They've erased evidence of their work in Wales, bulldozing one half of their test facility, and turned the other half into a very realistic simulation of undeveloped industrial land."

"They're diabolical, and they could be anywhere," he said, looking over his shoulder.

Links: the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist thinks Google=reality (claims pre-ULTra aerial photo is Now)
See Wales test track (Microsoft Virtual Earth, Bird's Eye View)

Update (2/21): ULTra track's continued existence
just means "the bulldozing has been postponed." Apparently Google Maps is now a magical glimpse into the future!
Also: he asks about the Raytheon test track (MSVE, BEV)--desperately trying to change the subject, again.

Update (Aug. 2007): Cardiff test track enhanced to emulate Heathrow conditions. "The bulldozing" pushed even further into the future!

Update (May 2008): The Google Maps Affair is mentioned at Daily Kos (in response to this item of propaganda)

I smell Eisner nomination!
Imagine, an entire comic book about hernias:


gPRT
Microsoft has announced a security flaw in Ken Avidor, a patch will be released soon