The R62 Rollsign: Almost There, but Not Quite

One of the aspects of being a fan of urban transportation is learning not just the various destinations a transit vehicle fleet did go, but where it could go. This is why some of them are also collectors of what are called "rollsigns." Rollsigns, also known called "blinds" or "curtains," are essentially long scrolls on which are printed destinations, route numbers, or other symbols, intended to identify the route on which the vehicle is traveling, and in many instances, its destination.

Back in the early days of my presence on the Internet, I had a little website where I had virtual roll signs, primarily belonging to New York City subway cars in service at the time.



Above is the rollsign for the R62 and R62A subway cars which I had on the website, scaled down to 25% of its original size. Currently, R62 and R62A subway cars run on the 1, 3, and 7 lines, and on the 42nd Street Shuttle. They might occasionally appear on the 4, but I haven't seen that in a while.

As you can see, this virtual rollsign has space between each indication to allow for a blank space to be displayed. I had often seen R62 subway cars, usually mid-train, with a blank displayed on their rollsign, though sometimes, the blank sometimes appears at the end of the train! Anyway, I had thought that there was a blank space in between each indication, to allow for a person changing the sign to easily blank it, in preparation for placing the car mid-train. However, what I'm about to show you will blow that idea out of the water.

As a consequence of there being numerous railfans, and many collectors of transit-related paraphernalia, it is not uncommon to find rollsigns available for sale on sites like eBay. That's where I happened to be what I encountered a curious listing.

Someone was actually selling an R62 rollsign on eBay! Now, this wasn't a part for a vintage subway car no longer in service. This is something that you could go into a subway station and likely see on a train as it passes through! There are only 11 out of a total of 1,150 cars (1366-1370, 1435-1437 1439, 1440, and 1909) that have been retired prematurely, due to damage beyond repair (the ones in the 1435-1440 range were involved in the gruesome Union Square derailment of 1991). This means that a maximum of 22 could theoretically be made available, and they would most likely be used to replace rollsigns that have been broken on other cars. These would be extremely difficult to obtain, unless the MTA puts them up for sale as surplus materials. That's why it's such a surprise to see one for sale on eBay.

With that surprise aside, let's go to the other thing that surprised me about this piece. One of the pictures included with the eBay listing shows something very peculiar.

All of the usual suspects are in this lineup, but there's something peculiar between the diamond 5 and the circle 6. It's a blank space. Not only that, it's one of two blank spaces that I thought was between every indication. The other is to the left of the 1. Those blank spaces have their own positions on the sign. And now that I think about it, it makes sense to put them there. If there were many blank spaces, the length of the curtain would be well over the 50 feet that the eBay listing lists it as, probably somewhere between 75 and 100 feet.

Oh, in case you're wondering, those white circles, squares, and diamonds above each of the indications is actually for the person changing the sign inside the car. Inside the car, there is a miniature display where the backside of the curtain appears. This miniature display represents what is being shown on the exterior display. The person changing the sign scrolls it until the desired reading appears in the miniature display. This ensures that the exterior display is properly aligned.

So anyway, here is the corrected R62A rollsign, based on the rollsign pictured in the eBay listing.

General Conference 2012 – Highlights and One-Liners

I uploaded this video a couple of weeks ago. I had posted it to my Facebook, G+, and Twitter pages, but it's just making the blog now.

What's On My Menu?

Before I begin, I should note that this post is not about food. This is about food, but this post is not.

Having said that, I will continue after the break.

The London 2012 Font

Whenever I see a typeface that looks interesting, two questions usually pop into my head.
1. "What font is that?"
2. "How can I get it?"
I've become a bit of a font enthusiast. I have my list of favorites (Standard Medium), my least favorites (Comic Sans), and fonts that are so overused, I wish people would use them less (Arial and Times New Roman).

Recently, I've been watching the Olympic Games, and pretty much wherever there's a playing field, the text, "London 2012" appears, written in an interesting font. As it always does when I see an interest font, that first question popped into my mind. "What is that font?"

More on Singles Ward FHEs

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about YSA ward Family Home Evening activities. I somewhat explained why each of those activities was good or bad, but I didn't fully explain why it matters, and instead of editing the original post numerous times to include what I left out, I will condense them in this post.

The Doorman Building

I sort of understand the reason for apartment buildings staffed with a doorman, but the protocol surrounding entry into such buildings has always baffled me. It's like having to use a typewriter when you are used to using a word processor on a computer to write a paper, or having to use a quill or a fountain pen when one is used to using a ball-point pen.

Regardless of the type of building, there is always the chance of being denied entry, but it seems so much greater when a doorman building is involved. Compare this with a standard apartment building. Upon approaching a standard building, the visitor encounters a locked entry door with an array of buttons corresponding to each apartment within. The visitor pushes the button for the desired apartment. An audible alarm is sounded within the apartment. In response, someone inside the apartment pushes a button on an intercom that unlocks the locked entry door, admitting the visitor into the building, usually without question.

In contrast, there's an extra layer of scrutiny involved with doorman buildings. That extra scrutiny is somewhat frivolous. However, that is a bit alleviated when I show up with someone else going the same way. Then, I feel more comfortable.

In such cases, I simply wait outside for someone I know, and go in with them.

The Singles Ward FHE

Family Home Evening. It's a weekly activity members are encouraged to have every Monday night. For the typical family, consisting of mother, father, and children, who attends and what happens for FHE can be easily determined. For single people, this is not always the case. Depending on the ward, you might have the option of attending one of many FHE activities.

There are some which are better than others, of course. There are constraints placed upon those organizing such events due to events in their personal or professional lives. All things considered though, there are usually 10 different types of FHE activities held by singles. The following is a list of them, in order from worst to best.

The Means to an End

Last week, I visited a ward for Young Single Adult members of the church. It just so happened to be their ward conference there. There were two speakers listed in the program for the sacrament meeting: the ward's bishop, and the stake president, who himself was a bishop in a YSA ward in that stake. Of the things I heard the ward's bishop say to the congregation was that their time in New York was "a means to an end." I thought about that phrase. I searched the Internet for its meaning. What I learned was that the phrase refers to something one has to do (the means) in order to achieve a certain goal (the end). This thing need not be desirable. In fact, the phrase implies that the thing to be done is not desirable at all. I did not and do not agree with that statement. I posted a statement on Facebook which stated that my time in New York is not merely a "means to an end." This is home, and I ask that anyone who joins me on life's journey be accepting of that and be as accommodating as possible.

Fortunately, their stake president, who is also a long-time advocate of staying and raising a family in New York, disagreed with the bishop, and encouraged as many of the members of that ward as possible to stay in New York.

I've been reflecting on that bishop's statement for a while, especially his use of that phrase. What is my "means to an end"?

Travel the Northeast by Local Public Transit!

Lately, I've been thinking about this article from the Washington City Paper. This article, from 2008, describes the journey of one man, Joshua Kucera, from Washington, DC to New York City without the use of national rail carrier Amtrak, or Greyhound, which operates buses to many American cities. The former being a rather expensive option, and the latter prompting him to see if there was another way.

Now let's say that someone wanted to repeat the journey. The only rule is that the journey must only include local public transportation and commuter rail. No taxis, no private cars, no hitchhiking, and certainly no Amtrak, Greyhound, or other carriers that provide similar city-to-city service. I will line up an itinerary for anyone who desires to make such a journey, but I must warn the reader that I cannot be held responsible if you follow it and encounter missed connections, detours, schedule changes, or anything that causes you to deviate from the itinerary. You do this at your own risk and expense. With that out of the way, on to it.

Time Travel Is Impossible

The Enrichment Center regrets to inform you that this next test is impossible. Make no attempt to solve it.
— GLaDOS, Portal, Test chamber 09

I've been thinking about it lately, and I've come to the conclusion that time travel is impossible.

Super Bowl XLVI Commercials: The Best and Worst

So, if you saw the Giants win over the Patriots during Super Bowl XLVI, you likely saw some commercials. Here's my list of the best and worst commercials to air during the Big Game. Find all the commercials here.

Introducing… the Shades of Gray Subway Map!

Ever since the early days of subway map making, different map designers have tried to create the ideal subway map. Some map makers have created designs that have stood up to the test of time (e.g. Harry Beck's map of the London Underground). Other systems, like New York City, have been through several redesigns, usually about once a decade (1939, 1948, 1959, 1967, 1972, 1979, 1998, 2010).

I'm introducing a new map today. More info after the break.

Remembering Steve Jobs

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past week, Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple, Inc., died this past Wednesday. His work changed the way people use computers, changed the way we listen to and buy music, and changes the way we communicate. He truly was an innovator.

As the word of his passing spread (fittingly enough, many people heard the news using a device he created), many people went to Apple retail stores to pay their respects to the man who changed the world.

And I should note that this post, as well as the photos were written and taken using an iPhone, while listening to music on an iPod, and edited on a MacBook. It's only fitting.

The Scriptures in Audiobook Form, and How to Do It Yourself

also called "How Shell Scripts Saved the Day".

As I'm sure many of you know, I'm a Mormon, and as a Mormon, we are taught to read and study the scriptures. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has provided many ways to bring the scriptures to the people. In addition to the print edition of the scriptures, the Church provides them online, in mobile applications, and in audio form as a set of compact discs or a set of MP3 files which can be downloaded gratis and played on an audio player (e.g. an iPod).

The thing is, that they're provided as a set of MP3 files, with one MP3 file for each chapter of all the scriptures. This is fine if your MP3 player can only handle MP3 files, but if you have an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, your device supports audiobooks with the M4B extension, which are much nicer to manage, and they can remember your position as you listen to them. They can also be divided into chapters, but these chapters are in a single file, which is nice if you're listening through a book, so that the chapters play together in order as opposed to them playing in a random order. They also appear as audiobooks in iTunes, as opposed to music.

This is how I have it with my copy of the scriptures in audio form. I did this a few years ago, using a shareware app whose name I don't remember, on Macs in Queens College's computer labs (as I didn't have my own Mac at the time, and you could only make these audiobooks with chapters on a Mac). I was on these computers a few hours at a time, entering information by hand and the rather slow book-by-book process (and by "book" I mean the subdivisions found in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Pearl of Great Price). After a couple of weeks of this, I had a complete set of the Standard Works in audiobook form, for my enjoyment.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago. My mom asks me if I can put a set of audio scriptures – in Spanish – on an iPod for someone. I figure, "Well, I might as well give it the same treatment."

Ten Years Ago...

With all this talk about "Ten years ago," ramping up to the tenth anniversary of this, I figure I'd share with you some pictures of what I did ten years ago today, September 8th.

The A Train? I've Got It Covered!

Over my summer blog hiatus, I did manage to make a couple of time lapse videos featuring the A line.

For those of you who don't know, the A line is one of the longest lines in the New York City subway, and includes the longest one-seat ride in the system.

These two videos cover the whole thing, all three branches, and it will take just a few minutes to watch them. Enjoy!

My Favorite Quotes from Portal 2

Two weeks ago, Valve released Portal 2, the sequel to their popular game Portal. I gotta hand it to the writers at Valve. They've come up with some great gameplay, and some awesome quotes. In this post, I will list some of my favorite quotes from the game. Before we start however, keep in mind that not everyone has completed the game, as I have. Therefore, I am throwing up a huge SPOILER ALERT warning. If you are interested in playing this game, and have not yet done so, or if you couldn't care less about Portal or Portal 2, or video games in general, stop reading this post, and go to some of my others and read those, as they're relatively spoiler-free. If you have completed the single-player Portal 2 campaign, feel free to read on, by clicking on the title of this post.

The B24 VLOG – Post #1

Here's my first vlog post.

Messiah Sing-along: A Chaotic Experience

On December 12, 2010, I had the pleasure of attending what is called a "Messiah Sing-along." Also known as a "Scratch Messiah," this annual tradition, due to the fact that most of the chorus members are relatively unrehearsed, tends to be a bit disorganized. However, this year's performance was a bit more disorganized than usual.

26.2: Running the Marathon Route… on Public Transit!

Today, I embarked on a journey tens of thousands of people make every year, all on the same day… and I live-tweeted it. Apparently, my attempt at making my tweets public didn't take, so I tweeted anyway. I started on the route at 14:34:24 when the S53 bus left Lily Pond & McClean Avenues on Staten Island.