Changing demographics, budget issues and big construction jobs force planners to perpetually tinker with the subway routes, said Lunden, an MTA veteran. The train names have always been a work in progress. Back in the 1930s, NYC Transit first start assigning letters to the lines, picking roughly in alphabetical order. Local routes were given double letters and an express a single one, like the “A” and “AA” running along Eighth Avenue. The numbers were first added in the 1940s, but it took 20 years to fully phase them in, Lunden said.
At its peak in 1967, the MTA was home to 34 different routes, including such confusing lines as the MJ, QJ and six different “SS” shuttles.
I thought these were especially interesting tid-bits:
Recycling: Letters have sometimes been recycled. The K was introduced twice into the system, only to bow out. The T was used before, and could come back for the Second Avenue Subway.
Diamonds: Were used for some express routes during rush hour, but by 2004 no one understood them anymore and they were eliminated except on the No. 6 and 7 lines.
I, O: Looks too much like numbers to use.
P, U, Y: Also no-no’s, as they sound like words.
X: Has been used as a placeholder for lines under development. Was considered for a line from Sixth Avenue to the World Trade Center, but the route never surfaced.
It took Kashi Samaddar nearly seven years and £350,000 to visit all 218 nations on Earth, setting the world record. Sadly, his photographs of such an achievement are a bit lack-luster.
The idea for the trip began in 2003 when Calcutta-born Mr Samaddar was left stranded in Johannesburg, South Africa for two days because of visa problems due to his nationality.
As an act of defiance, the businessman promised himself he would travel to all the countries in the world, using his life savings to do so.
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According to Guinness World Records, any person attempting the trip must take public transport such as scheduled flights, buses, trains and ferries to arrive in countries.
The record-breaking authority also defines visiting a country as ‘setting foot within its border’.
It is not necessary to remain in any country for any length of time – perhaps this could go some way to explain Mr Samaddar’s opportunistic photos.
As a result of his trip, the Indian national has set up the Travel, Tourism and Peace Initiative, which provides travellers with advice on what documentation they need to enter different countries.
Funny law that’s still, surprisingly, on the Parisian books!
The rule banning women from dressing like men – namely by wearing trousers – was first introduced in 1800 by Paris’ police chief and has survived repeated attempts to repeal it.
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As Evelyne Pisier, a law professor whose book Le Droit des Femmes (The Rights of Women) unearthed the curious decree points out, given that trousers are compulsory for Parisian policewoman, they are all breaking the law.
In 1898, Thayer and another artist, George de Forest Brush (september 28, 1855 – april 24, 1941), proposed using camouflage patterns (they called it “counter-shading”) to protect ships during the Spanish-American war. The war ended before the proposal could be acted on. But by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, many countries were experimenting with camouflage for use on land, sea and air.
The French were the first to establish an official camouflage unit, the Service de Camouflage, in 1915. They were followed by the British, Italians, Germans and Americans. Since then, of course, camouflage has moved off the battlefield and into mainstream culture.
Mexico City puckered up to set a new record Saturday as nearly 40,000 people locked lips in the city center for the world’s largest group kiss.
Carlos Martinez of Guinness World Records verified the record of 39,897 people who entered the gated kissing area of the city’s Zocalo main square on Valentine’s Day, besting Weston-super-Mare, an English town that set the previous kissing record in 2007.
The Valentine’s Day kiss was meant to show love at a time when a crackdown against drug traffickers has led to widespread violence across the country.
Once upon a time a California boy met a Georgia girl in New York. They didn't get along, at first. But, little by little, they fell in love. Today they are happy and still very much in love, running a business and a blog together.
Once upon a time a California boy met a Georgia girl in New York. They didn't get along, at first. But, little by little, they fell in love. Today they are happy and still very much in love, running a business and a blog together.
