Cost of Transport in London and New York City

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People usually claim that London taxis are prohibitively expensive and that driving in NY is impossible, however these conclusions wouldn’t be the same if they were based purely on relative costs: Suppose you lived two miles from the center of New York City or London and wanted to go to the town center for a one hour lunch by cab, subway or car, how much would the travel cost: Cab: London: $27.60 NYC: $15 [54% of London price] Subway: London: $8 New York: $4 [50% of London price] Car: London: $21.50 New York: $2.75 [13% of London price] This is based upon the following data: Cab: 1 mile cab ride (with 1 minute waiting time), excluding tips: London: $6.90 (noon), $9 (midnight) http://www.transportforlondon.gov.uk/pco/fares-detailed.shtml New York: $3.70 (noon), $4.20 (midnight) http://www.ny.com/transportation/taxis/ Car: Toll for driving in city center: London: $14 http://www.cclondon.com/ New York: $0. Gas price per gallon London: $7 http://www.yrl.co.uk/tony/fuel2/fuel2.html…

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Deconstructing Instapundit

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In light of today’s attacks and me being increasingly annoyed with both right and left wing ‘bloggards’, I thought I would pick out a sample piece and fact check it: Instapundit writes: “UPDATE: Here are some interesting observations about the location of the attacks in London. “I have talked to a few people who have pointed out that Edgware, Aldgate (and Moorgate) and King’s Cross all are in or adjacent to Muslim communities. King’s Cross is the locale of The School of Oriental and African Studies, a highly respected institution teaching and researching Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is possible that the attacks were as much directed at the Muslim population as much as the city at large.” 1. There are many other stations that are near SOAS, such that Kings Cross is certainly not the local tube station to it. Also, SOAS’s remit not Islam – hence…

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Right and Left wing blogs are both crap.

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I have been reading political blogs to try and find out what makes particular ones good meme spreaders. One the left I looked at Eschaton and DailyKos and on the right Instapundit and Little Green Morons. Conclusions: The left is full of crop circle paranoids. The right is full of stupid angry people. The sheer volume of information in both does manage to strip things to bare bones facts, but not by virtue of intelligence, just volume – like a colony of bacteria feeding on a corpse. Analysis still seems to be better in MSM – so I’ll be sticking to my favorite publications for the moment: The Economist and Atlantic Monthly.

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Who is the leak?

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Cooper to talk. My guess is that Miller Gossiped, i.e. the leak went Judith Miller (NYT) -> Administration -> Cooper (Time) and Novak (WaPo). Whether there is any evidence that Plame’s name went twice around the merry-go-round (Administration -> Miller) is another matter. Whatever the scenario, what amazes me is that few people seem to question that this was a vindictive act rather than a cockup.

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Urban Seashore

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New York is great for urban archeology, but with the worst roads and the best architecture in the developed world, the interface between the sidewalk and street produces an amazing variety of types. Have put my pictures of NYC curbs on Flickr, tagged as fucked_up_curb.link » tags: [photos] [nyc] posted via Wists: permamark

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France backed into a corner at G8.

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Read the small print and you can see that there has been some horse trading for the G8 agenda and that France looks like the loser over Africa, instead of the US over Global Warming. In exchange for compromize on Global Warming, the US has agreed to fair trade concessions for Africa – this completely turns the tables on France where farm subsidies can no longer been seen as socialist in terms of the global view. "On the other major issue to be discussed at the summit, African aid and debt relief, he signalled he was ready to abandon US farm subsidies, which have unfairly distorted the market for African farmers. But he said he would only do it, if the European Union was prepared to scrap its Common Agricultural Policy. "We've got agricultural subsidies, not nearly to the extent that our friends in the EU have," he said. "…

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MSNBC analyst says Rove is the source of the Time story.

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MSNBC Analyst Says Cooper Documents Reveal Karl Rove as Source in Plame Case This would be the most ironic story ever – Journo leaks via unknown source – Supreme Court rules that journos have to give up sources – Supreme Court member resigns – Rove gets to be spindoctor for replacement – MSNBC analyst says that Rove was the leaker. “Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, presumably revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source, and what might happen to him or her. Tonight, on the syndicated McLaughlin Group political talk show, Lawrence O’Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, claimed to know that name–and it is, according to him, top White House mastermind Karl Rove.” Somehow this doesn’t ring true. This rumor has been around blogs for a while, but…

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