A friend and I went to a Scottish Celebration at a volunteer fire department on the 25/1/15 so i could enjoy Scottish music, dancing and food by being there with it. I had haggis, mashed potatoes, and scones. There were sword dances.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019
Personal Cars
Adventure Van here, reposting one of my college papers!
Despite the American tendency to buy personal cars, reaching
two or even three per household, it is still a possible move to create a
functioning metro system in the vast majority of cities improving involved from
air to traffic. It’s also a helpful way in reducing taxes, as the fares would
help go to that, as well as lowering gas taxes. And most transit systems are a
good investment in helping communities grow and improve. I’ll be discussing the
environmental and social benefits of building such public transportation.
Because of how the systems work, they help provide
transportation at a lesser cost to the environment. Unlike cars, which use more oil per person that requires
drilling to a much greater extent and then put gasses into the air and oil onto
the streets when in use, the more environmentally sound option of buses take
down the amount of oil and diesel needed to a much steadier amount. Because the
amount needed goes down, the drilling decreases, as well as the gasses and
leaked oil amounts.
As much as some argue that such damage is either nonexistent
or not consequential, those are falsified viewpoints. The damage that a single
car does is minimal, but with 20 people driving separate cars, it gets larger.
When you build up to hundreds and thousands of cars clogging up a highway, the
pollution it causes can sometimes be very visible, and very dangerous. Divide
those thousands and put them on buses, and the damage caused decreases
heavily, along with people still getting to their destination.
Building a metro system in your local area, with buses and
subway/trolleys, will be extreme additions towards keeping those who do need
cars in a much more traffic free area. Since fewer people will be forced to use
cars to get around, the amount of cars on the road at any given time will
decrease. And because the buses and trolleys are singular entities, it doesn’t
matter how many people need to use them, any addition they add to traffic will
be the same no matter the amount of people.
Even with the counter argument that such buses and trolley
cars would be capable of adding a significant amount of traffic, it would still
reduce traffic overall due to the condensing of people from multiple cars to
one bus. And the only real problem would be getting directly stuck behind a bus
for a large amount of time because you’re going on the same path, but then it’d
be simpler to just take that bus instead of driving completely separately.
And any public transportation gives people freedom. Trolleys
completely negate traffic jams just from their design, allowing more control
over scheduling. It also allows those unable to have a car to be able to travel
at basically the same speed, giving better access to jobs and other important
events. Buses and trolleys are usually very bike friendly, allowing people to
take their bikes to stops with them and therefore opening many more options of
pathways and open doors.
I’m not saying through all of this that cars are bad.
However, because we have such a large number of cars and such a wide extent of
roads for them, they aren’t all that great, but more of a necessity. And
although the cost for building a subway would be somewhat extensive depending
on the area, bulldozing neighborhoods for highways is also costly and displaces
people, as well as being a horrible detriment to local sightseeing. They also
carry more danger, as drivers of cars can be impaired in such ways that a
driver of a bus or trolley very unlikely to be.
At the end, it is a huge improvement to all circles of
transportation and environmental safety to build in public transportation.
Costs will go down, likely including taxes. Cars will be off the road, not only
helping the environment but also putting a halt to traffic jams. There will be
an extreme excess of access available to those who may not be able to otherwise
get opportunities for jobs or housing. And such systems can be made to look
beautiful, giving tourism a boost. All in all, it is a huge advantage for most
population points to use public transit.
metro.nfta.com
Sunday, April 14, 2019
Won't You Be My Neighbor
Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about Mister Rogers. I was privileged to see the documentary, Won't You Be My Neighbor, and it was a heart wrenching but lovely documentary about the kindness and life of the extraordinary Mister Rogers. From the very beginning, to how his childhood played into his work, to the extraordinary lengths he would go to to explain complex, serious topics in a child friendly manner, and how often he was talked off as another child's program. It brought tears to my eyes several times, and is most definitely worth watching if you get an opportunity to.
Adventure Van, neighbor.
Adventure Van, neighbor.
Big Trouble in Little China.
Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about Big Trouble in Little China. Starring the great Kurt Russel, this movie has a multitude of great moments, and almost none that are of subpar quality! It's an epic tale that works as if it's some sort of RPG with a couple of friends just messing around. Magic and guns are intertwined as Jack Burton, a truck driver, has to help his friend Wang rescue his girlfriend. It's a great story, and Kurt Russel is an amazing actor. The props and plot are both spot on, with relevantly few flaws with each. I'd definitely recommend watching it, and watching this blog for something to do with it...
Adventure Van, watching out.
Adventure Van, watching out.
Forestry Camp
Adventure Van here with a blog about Forestry Camp. I went to a camp in the Adirondacks that was sure something. After a few interesting icebreakers, there was mostly just socialization that happened during the first day. However, the second day had a large selection of labs and talks, including working log splitters and plankers, chainsaws, and tree identification and plotting. The third day also had a nice introduction to the Adirondacks Ranger Camp, which is a pretty intense forestry school that included multiple techniques and labs about tree tasting and land surveys, as well as an intense touring of an american all purpose logging company!
Adventure Van, logging out.
Adventure Van, logging out.
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