It's an electromagnet, so nothing interesting happens unless it's got a whopping big current in it.

Because there is a lot of very, very expensive equipment at Fermilab already. As big of a deal as this thing is, the stuff that is already there is far more pricey and extensive. Physicists are easy to move; their equipment isn't.

You're forgetting traffic, which is about this side of hell here, and impedes pedestrians pretty badly (or can). Losing 45 seconds per block you walk to a red light is unpleasant. Although I did screw up: the 1.6 mile figure was something else. It's actually 3 miles. Shows what happens when you post on slashdot with your brain half full of Perl code.

Perhaps the mentality in Australia is different than the United States. At least, in my time there, I felt it to be (I rented a car and drove, but never encountered police, so I have no idea how they treat drivers.)

A tremendous majority of traffic tickets given in the USA have nothing to do with truly unsafe driving. A very small fraction of traffic stops are for drunk driving, and I am totally in your court regarding it: pick a threshold, determined scientifically, for which the impairment is judged to be sufficiently bad, and enforce it rigorously. But, sadly, that's not what happens here. In the USA, the relationship between police and drivers, even safe responsible drivers, is an adversarial one.

LA is probably run by fewer crooks. You know how there was that crack-smoking mayor in DC 23 years ago, who did six months in the slammer? He's still the most powerful politician in the city, and Washington Post calls him "mayor for life".

(See my other posts about why I'm on mass transit now -- my bike is broken.)

I'm a desert rat, so the summer heat doesn't bother me (so much). But, yeah -- Metro is absolutely awful, and WMATA is the biggest bunch of incompetents I have ever seen. And I agree on the architecture.

Thank you for the clarification!

When I've been in Europe, it's generally been pretty good (although, come to think of it, although I've been to Frankfurt I've never taken the transit there). But that's likely because I go to the places that visitors/tourists go, and have a travel pattern very different than locals. Thanks for pointing out that the problems aren't just here!

I don't have the study right in front of me, but I believe what they did was to look at the trajectory the murder rate was on before the ban, and extrapolate the trends throughout the timeframe since the ban. It was of course more sophisticated and numerically rigorous, but that was the essence of it.

Statistics doesn't really attempt (or need to attempt) to answer that question. But violence is going down, as a broad trend across many countries -- probably as a result of greater overall prosperity.

I live in Glover Park where there is no Metrorail service. I have to walk to Wisconsin Avenue, take the bus south, and then walk to my office.

Normally I bike, but my bike is broken right now -- I need to get it fixed, but keep on having to work late. That takes about 20 minutes.

Good for the police in Beijing! That is what policing should be: serve and protect. I had a similar encounter on the last train of the Orange Line: there was a guy who was drunk and high on my train car who kept asking how to get home, and couldn't understand "you're on the wrong train -- go up these stairs here..." Thankfully the conductor was ahead of schedule (the last trains never run ahead of time to ensure everyone gets home), so I got her to wait for me while I escorted that dumbass to the Red Line platform.

I have a friend who's a Londoner (or was), and she says that the Tube is very nice. If I may ask, what are the fares? In DC they are quite high: from $1.80 to $5.50 for a one-way ride, depending on the distance and time of day, and the real cost is twice that, since it's 50% subsidized and taxpayers pay the rest.

I do have a bike, but it's currently broken. :) I usually do bike, though -- takes about 20 min, since you get caught up in the same traffic bullshit as everyone else.

Actually, you have to be careful with that. Near the Capitol are some of the very worst parts of town. Fortunately I'm in a safe(r) area -- although my old officemate was robbed at gunpoint near here.

Biking it takes 15-20 minutes depending on traffic, and that's what I normally do. (But my bike is broken right now -- one of the wheels is sitting in my office, and I keep getting out of work too late to fix it.) Traffic is bad enough that it slows down pedestrians, too -- the walk is about 45 minutes, despite the hiker's rule that you go 3mph over roads, 2.5mph over nice trails, etc.

I'd like to see some Western states start passing (by citizens' initiative) state laws that say "All traffic fines and associated court costs don't go to the general fund or law enforcement, but to the offender's choice of the local victim's compensation fund, the Red Cross, MSF, UNICEF, etc. Alternatively, they may, in the presence of a notary public, set the required amount of cash on fire."