Bus Angst

I'm kind of sickened by the way people act on the bus around here. I was going to write about it, but I decided to see if someone had already done it, and sure enough they had. (My pet peeve is the people who jump in front of the line to get on a crowded bus. If you wait five more minutes another one comes along, and it's usually less crowded.)

Don't Be a Dick On the Bus

by Marah Eakin
January 5, 2011

More than 1.01 million people take the CTA Bus every single day—about 400,000 more than take the train. There are 140 bus routes, 11,577 posted bus stops, and 1,782 buses in Chicago. Combined, those 1,782 buses travel 172,991 miles a day. And still, people are assholes to the bus.

Actually, it’s not just to the bus—it’s on the bus. As 2011 begins, let’s make a resolution, Chicago, for the sanity of millions of people: Let’s all stop being a dick about the bus.

There are a few things everyone can do—other than not smelling bad—to make those treacherous and tedious rides more enjoyable for those 1.01 million people riding the bus every day. They’re common sense, but it’s nice to be reminded of them from time to time. After all, even the most pious of bus riders—this reporter included—slips up sometime.

For the love of God, cars, please let the bus over.
It’s simple math, right? Any passenger car holds, at most, six people. No fronting, though: During the morning commute, most cars haul one person. Of course all those people have somewhere to go—but so do the passengers on the bus. Plus, there are maybe 30 to 75 people in winter coats crammed on a bus, mostly standing up and bumping into each other precariously. 75 people on a bus trump one person in a car, period.

It sucks, yes, to be stuck behind a slow bus, but that’s what drivers get in Chicago. It’s a major city with major public transportation. Driving on streets with bus routes—that’s part of the deal. Don’t like the bus? Move somewhere without buses.

So, let the damn bus over, drivers. (And this means you, Chicago Ave. commuters.) It’s good karma. Plus, you can just scoot around them when they pull over to a stop in two blocks anyway.

Let older people sit down. Duh.
This one should go without saying, but once you’ve seen an old man crack his head open on the Kimball bus because no one would let him sit down, it bears repeating. If someone looks even a little bit older than you, ask if they want your seat. Don’t let an old lady—or a pregnant lady—wander sadly to the middle or back of the bus while everyone tries not to look her in the eye. You’ll have to stand up for maybe five minutes. Just bite the bullet and give up your seat.

Move to the back.
The bus driver says it because he or she means it. Move to the back, suckers. Everyone wants to get out at the train stop quickly, but everyone’s lives are a lot better when they have more room. This is especially true when everyone’s wearing boots, winter coats, and carrying backpacks—or when a bus appears to be so full to the driver that they’re forced to pass up people waiting at stops, even though it’s 9 degrees out, and there’s plenty of room in the back of the bus that they can’t see, even with their big mirrors.

Again, it’s karma. Move to the back, and if someone’s in front of you, not moving, and you can’t get around them, either ask them to move, or ask them if you can go around them. No one minds when people ask nicely, in theory.

Wait your turn.
This one might be easier said that done—and maybe it’s just this reporter’s pet peeve—but it’s absolute madness when, in a crowded bus, people start fighting to get to the doors two stops in advance before a stop where you can transfer to a train. Take the Chicago bus at Milwaukee, for example. Everyone’s going to get off. People who aren’t getting off are forced into the laps of strangers. Bags go in faces. No one can switch to the newly emptied seats. It’s just madness.

Wait your turn. Sure, that split second might make you just miss the train, but that’s sort of the price of public transportation admission, right?

Alex Ferguson's Words of Wisdom

Alex Ferguson is probably the only old-school manager left in professional sports. If I ever become manager of something I'm going to follow his philosophy:

Ferguson did not talk in detail about his relationship with Rooney. But asked to talk in general about how he has handled troublesome players during his 24 years at United, he said “nobody is more important than the manager.”

“The minute a footballer becomes more important than a manager, your club is dead. The history of this club goes right down the drain,” he said. “I am the most important man at Manchester United. It has to be that way.

“My concern will always be control. The minute a footballer threatens my control of the dressing room, I have to take it seriously. I have to consider: Is this worthwhile? Is it affecting the team morale? Is it affecting results? Is it affecting the atmosphere in the dressing room? If that is the case, the player has to go, no question.”

The Joist

A joist, in architecture and engineering, is one of the horizontal supporting members that run from wall to wall, wall to beam, or beam to beam to support a ceiling, roof, or floor. It may be made of wood, steel, or concrete. Typically, a beam is bigger than, and is thus distinguished from, a joist. Joists are often supported by beams and are usually repetitive.

The wider the span between the supporting structures, the deeper the joist will need to be if it is not to deflect under load. Lateral support also increases its strength. There are approved formulas for calculating the depth required and reducing the depth as needed; however, a rule of thumb for calculating the depth of a wooden floor joist for a residential property is half the span in feet plus two inches; for example, the joist depth required for a 14-foot span is 9 inches. Many steel joist manufacturers supply load tables in order to allow designers to select the proper joist sizes for their projects.

Engineered wood products such as I-joists gain strength from the depth of the floor or the height of each joist. A common saying in the industry is that deeper is cheaper, referring to the lower-quality cost-effective joists 14 inches and above.

Bandsill is another term for joist used by construction workers and home inspectors in the southeast U.S.