Five years ago, a permanent “Ghin Lon/Transcope,” otherwise known as a kaleidoscope without the colorful beads, was installed by artist Wang Po Shu on Market and Octavia.
Let’s take a look at this device and through its lens, shall we?
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Worst day on Muni ever
Heading between the Mission and North Beach shouldn’t be an aggravating experience. After all, it’s roughly four miles. There’s several public transit routes one could take.
Easy, right?
Well no; if there’s one thing that’s worse than taking Muni, it’s taking Muni on the weekends. But it turned out to be much worse than I thought.
Heading to the party
On the way to a Fleet Week airshow party, my girlfriend and I decided on Google’s suggested route; take the Metro to Powell and then take the cable car towards Hyde St. Simple, right?Well the line at the cable car roundabout was incredibly long. We realized this was an impossibility so we hiked up to the Union Square stop. Here, we waited while one full cable car after another went by without stopping. The one (out of five) that DID stop only let six people on. The line was moving fast, but only because everyone was bailing out.
One couple in line swore they’d never return to San Francisco, and with service like that who could blame them?
We gave up to and hiked over to the 30 stop on Stockton. We ran, making it just in time to get on a crowded bus. The 30 took off and then suddenly made an unexpected turn onto California St. There was no announcement as to why we had just gone off route. Everyone pushed and shoved off the bus. We decided to get off as well, as it seemed like the bus was going out of service. But actually it was simply being re-routed with NO announcement as to why or where it was heading.
There was a guy in a Muni vest at the intersection directing the bus. Passengers were asking him where the 30 was going, and he wouldn’t tell them; instead he just said “it’s a long story” and “tell me where you’re going.” Well jeez, thanks a lot!
Why there was no announcement wasn’t explained. It was also not explained why there were no fliers or maps to show where the bus was being re-routed to. Or why there were no signs at bus stops.
We got back on the next 30 to try our luck. Eventually it turned out the 30 Stockton went down California and took a right at Van Ness. With a little uphill hiking we made it to our destination.
After the party
On the way back, we were again divided between the 30 Stockton and the cable car. NextBus said the 30 would come first, so we waited at the 30 stop… and watched as the cable car went by. D’oh! Finally the 30 came, but of course it was full and passed us by. We started walking, and eventually caught up with the full bus and forced our way on.At Market St. we headed down to the Metro platform only to find that there was a problem with the “switching” or the “computer” depending on who you listened to. Or to put it another way, “we’re completely incompetent and have no clue how to run this system.” Just like every day on the Metro, basically.
I said forget it, we’re taking the F. So we went upstairs and waited at the F stop, while NextBus counted down for the arrival. And then we waited as the times started counting backwards. 8 minute way? Nope, try 9 minutes. Oh, 9 minute wait? How about 10?
It wasn’t coming. Time to head back down to the Metro platform. We made it down just in time to catch a J back to my place.
Conclusion
If anyone with any sense whatsoever was running Muni, they would spend time on outreach. Telling people what’s going on is as simple as printing up some fliers and handing them out. This isn’t rocket science.As for the daily problems with the Metro, this system has been running for THIRTY YEARS. If you can’t figure out how to operate it by now, it’s time to either find a new vendor and/or just fire everyone and start over. There’s no excuse for having the same problem every fucking day.
If there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s that the people at the top don’t care about the people they serve.
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Riding on the Metro
Here’s my Kubrick-inspired short film of a ride on Muni Metro. The route is outbound from Van Ness to Church. It’s somewhat distorted thanks to the iPhone’s wacky image sensor.
(I hope you weren’t expecting a squeaky-synth soundtrack by Berlin.)
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Site is back up… you jerk!
Due to a mistake on my part, this site (and all my other sites) went dead today. Don’t worry, they’re all back up and chugging along nicely now. But this brings up a good question that I and many other webmasters have struggled with:
Why didn’t anyone tell that my sites were down?
Okay, there’s a few reasons you might think of off the top of your head:
- During that time, nobody tried to access your site(s).
Okay, that’s possible. I mean if it was Google, maybe someone would have complained. But MrEricSir.com is only updated a couple times a week, so it’s possible (but statistically unlikely) that nobody tried to visit. - The contact info is ON your site!
Yes, but no. Plenty of people visit this site through Facebook, Twitter, and other sites where my contact info is easy to find. If you’re not a newbie, you can probably bring up my contact info in seconds. So while the average reader has this excuse, the more computer literate reader wouldn’t say this. - Everyone thought “someone else will tell him.”
Groupthink is actually a pretty good excuse. It’s like when the guy pulls over to the side of the freeway with smoke pouring out of his engine, and everyone goes driving by without stopping to help because we all assume that someone else will. There’s some merit to this line of reasoning. - Nobody expects the internet to actually work.
I think this is the number one reason. As our technology gets more complex, it develops more ways to fail. We aren’t surprised at all when a site like Twitter stops working, because hey, it stops working a few times a week. The problem is that unlike MrEricSir.com, there are actually a lot of critical systems out there that depends on the internet. The continued lowering of users’ expectations leads to shoddy work by engineers, and a vicious cycle of needlessly complex systems that fail often is created.
Now all this said, I don’t think that any of these are particularly good reasons. And that last one is downright scary. I’m not trying to pass the blame for my mistake. But when I see that something on the internet doesn’t work, I try to notify someone about it. Usually, they had no idea their site was broken.
As a webmaster I know from experience that fewer than 1 in 100 people will bother report problems; so as you can imagine, when someone bothers to send that e-mail, it’s very much appreciated.
- During that time, nobody tried to access your site(s).
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No fake bills
The charming Caffe Cento in South Park takes a lot of forms of payment. Hell, they even take American Express! But one form of payment they DON’T take? Counterfeit money. Nope, not even if it looks real. Don’t even try.
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UFO Response Team
Alexia Anthem spotted a UFO Response Team vehicle on 19th Avenue. Have aliens landed somewhere in San Francisco?
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Google is Evil
Google is evil, and now I have proof!
1. Go to http://www.google.com
2. Type in “Google is evil” (without the quotes) and do NOT press enter
3. PROOF!(Note: requires Google Instant, so this will not work on phones.)
Credit for this goes to 2600’s Google Blacklist.
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Bathroom etiquette
Enjoy urinating on the floor? Better stay away from Noisebridge, where your poor potty manners will be chastised by the above passive-aggressive note.
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Anti-radiation hysteria is endangering lives
Here in San Francisco, a group of anti-radiation activists is making headlines and creating a pointless debate about the “dangers” of radiation. Believing themselves to be white knights, they want to get rid of radio and cell phone towers to “protect” people from radiation.
The result? It’s more difficult to get a cell phone tower built in San Francisco than just about anywhere else. And now mobile phone service in San Francisco is horrible. There are dozens of spots in the city where coverage simply doesn’t exist. And all because of one group’s anti-science hysteria.
But here’s the kicker: the lack of coverage — not the radiation — is a threat to the public.
Why?
What if there was a car accident? Or a shooting? Without cell coverage, you either won’t be able to call 911 at all, or your call will drop.
In emergency situations, seconds count. Not being able to make a phone call can mean the difference between life and death.
Would you want to end up on a feeding tube, permanently paralyzed because some nutjob thinks cell phones are giving them cancer? Don’t let a fringe group’s anti-science fantasies cause real-world harm. Tell your politicians to say NO to these lunatics.
About Eric
Travel, movies, comedy, tech, and whatever I find on the streets of San Francisco.
Follow this blog with RSS or on Bluesky.
Contact: mrericsir “at” gmail.com
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