The protests from the parent groups were just dumb. It was three kids in a trench coat trying to look important. People had forgotten that there were racy jokes on the Muppet Show and even some stuff on Sesame Street that they used to throw in for the parents.

If I'm reading this correctly, would the correct translation of "antiskios" be "counter shadow" or should it be something less literal like "before shadow" or "against shadow"? In other words "the angle that precedes before the shadow."

In any case, this was a fantastic read. It is difficult to imagine the different planes of an armilary sphere, but the text is bracingly clear.

Seriously? This was not the answer I expected. It sounded from the article like one of those small, main street chains that all closed back in the day.

I've never heard of this, despite living near Paramus for decades.

Christie didn't replace the Corzine project with any tunnel development at all. Whatever you think about Corzine's plan, Christie's subsequent action was short-sighted because whatever the budget is, it only goes up as we move forward in time.

Christie in fact strangled the NJT operating budget to the point at which it could no longer run a full schedule of trains. They didn't have enough crew and functioning rolling stock.

The tunnels have to be replaced for the state's economy to continue to prosper. The only thing more expensive than getting it done now is trying to replace it on an emergency basis after something really goes wrong.

Our black cat is irrationally afraid of everyone but me, which probably has something to do with the enormous scars on her hindquarters. Something got her good.

Anyway, she loves cuddling, yelling at birds, and bringing me stuffed mice -- regular cat stuff.

Tried to get rail schedule info for Christmas Day and it stubbornly refused to return any result. It gave an error message totally unrelated to the problem. Total fail.

The frustrating part is that there are parts of the app that work well. I had a good experience with the bus info a couple of weeks ago.

They've been doing the PDF thing for 20 years despite consistent negative feedback.

Jesus God, when I took a class in PASCAL in 1991 one of the problems to demonstrate minimum competency was to create a program to administer a transit schedule. This is literally 101-level work.

Right? I'm sitting there, rooting for him to restore water flow to the Victorian-era sheep troughs, when my wife asks me what I'm watching.

How do I explain that? "I'm watching a man fix a pipe to bring water to a herd of sheep."