They fix the cable?

Somebody plug it back in.

Don't be fatuous

Used to live in Monty Co...getting a kick..etc...

Feed the squirrels....

Thank goodness NASA and the FAA use much more modern systems! Oh wait, nevermind...

We spent a year in Montgomery County. It is the only place I've ever lived....and I've lived all over this country and overseas...that I just could not stand. We moved the day we found a house in Northern Virginia.

Were the planes bouncing around like a game of pong?

/DNRTFA

Subby fails at system administration. Those 1970's traffic-control systems he sneers at are some of the most reliable computers ever built for any purpose, which is why the tale of the forgotten, walled-off traffic-signal mainframe is a perennial urban legend in IT.

Somehow I don't think the Dell PowerEdge 6850s or Unisys ES/7000s I work with today will be doing much beyond sitting in a landfill in 30 years.

This transformed my 1.5 hour commute to a 2.75 hour commute and I wanted to kill everyone.

Puppies.

Yeah, but I bet all the government union employees have insanely high salaries and benefits packages for the "work" they perform in that county.

I was wondering why the lights that were usually on flash at 3am were working
normally yesterday evening.

/Gets to work at 4am

Best link I could find (hot, of course)

I grew up there and drove back there last year to find out there are now speed cameras everywhere. Slowing down the little bit of traffic that does move to get more money seems to be their MO.

How would you like to be stuck in traffic with her?

Approves.

Oh no! The traffic lights don't work in Monty Co..what shall we ever do?

Sounds like they knew it was going to start being a problem soon, and were already planning on replacing it.

Mmm.

Yeah! I'm gonna be late for work...again...

She likes a little traffic "jam"..you know, stop and go, stop and go..

Yes...getting caught in a traffic jam next to her would be awesome..

Little known fact (at least among you younger fellows): those seventies machines may have had slower hardware than a cellphone, but their architecture and system software were streets ahead of the PC/Mac brigade.

Bloody IBM PC put us back into the dark ages.

If you don't believe me, try googling for some of these:
CDC Star, MU5, Ferranti Atlas, George III (not the king), ICL 1900, ICL 2900. Don't bother looking of the IBM 360 or any of the plug-compatibles - they were as bad as the PC.

Yeah, I'm getting old. It's preferable to the alternative.

For those in MC, other than the Four Corners area, most of the east county areas have been ok.

/Still prefers MC to NoVa or PG County.

If memory serves, Bill Gates started out selling traffic control systems, didn't he?

Kensey: Somehow I don't think the Dell PowerEdge 6850s or Unisys ES/7000s I work with today will be doing much beyond sitting in a landfill in 30 years.

This.

Keeping in mind that the specifications these things were built for was pretty intense.

Wow, steklo. Talk about Rule 34.

Penny-wise and pound-foolish. Those computers may have been built to last, but it doesn't mean you should run a system built for controlling traffic into the ground before you set about updating it.

Otherwise, this is what happens. Over and over again. Why is this a lesson that we can't learn?

steklo: Yes...getting caught in a traffic jam next to her would be awesome..

FTFM

I would have thought that they could have used the income from all of the traffic cams to upgrade the system.

Very glad to be out of MC.

It's just asking too much of the old systems. We had so little traffic back in the 70's. There really were few posted speed limits and fewer traffic signals. We used to breeze in to work at 80 mph plus every day and we always had parking within steps of our destinations. We got really upset when gas prices skyrocketed over 50 cents per gallon.

Maybe the computers just had a nervous breakdown.

Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Make it stop!
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
I can't take it anymore!
Green, yellow, red.
Green, yellow, red.
Arrrgh!
Green, yellow, red.
*blam*

austerity101: Penny-wise and pound-foolish. Those computers may have been built to last, but it doesn't mean you should run a system built for controlling traffic into the ground before you set about updating it.

Otherwise, this is what happens. Over and over again. Why is this a lesson that we can't learn?

So, I take it you don't want to inspect the air traffic control systems.

Our tax money is for dropping bombs on brown people, not for updating infrastructure!

austerity101: Those computers may have been built to last, but it doesn't mean you should run a system built for controlling traffic into the ground before you set about updating it.

No, you wait until the right campaign contributor has slipped you enough money to "update" the hardware with a fancy new system from the contributor's company at forty times the cost, that conveniently shiats the bed the day after the election.

It's fixed now, my commute this morning was back to it's glorious 10 minutes so I can confirm.

/Live near Four Corners
//It did suck a metric farkton Wednesday & Yesterday (took 25 mins, the horror...)

Ahhhhhhh Maryland, the armpit of America.

It becomes trappic system?

Fire Sale?

austerity101: Penny-wise and pound-foolish. Those computers may have been built to last, but it doesn't mean you should run a system built for controlling traffic into the ground before you set about updating it.

Otherwise, this is what happens. Over and over again. Why is this a lesson that we can't learn?

Yeah. In the ten years i have live here, this antiquated busted ass system has broken down once. THE OUTRAGE. I would type more, but i need to reboot. BRB

/S

Bethesda and Silver Spring were total gridlock. Sucked bigtime.

zena: We spent a year in Montgomery County. It is the only place I've ever lived....and I've lived all over this country and overseas...that I just could not stand. We moved the day we found a house in Northern Virginia.

Montgomery County is what happens when liberals go unchallenged, on anything, for 100 years. It's not even a utopia for liberals, because the office holders managed to so ruin the quality of life that even otherwise liberal people don't want to live there.

These are the same people who outlawed Santa Claus.

They couldn't farking send out the police to direct traffic at main intersections? It's not like Maryland cops solve crimes anyway - they probably had tons of free time.

belowner: They couldn't farking send out the police to direct traffic at main intersections?

Oh, sorry, a Democrat (D) didn't think that the resources they tax you for should be used:

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D):

Leggett said he decided against sending county police officers to take command of congested intersections because the lights were working properly.

"That would not have been an effective use of the police department," Leggett said.

Since Maryland cops don't actually solve crimes, I wonder what this idiot thinks would be an effective use of the police department. Probably providing his security detail, I guess.

I live in Rockville, and yes, traffic here blows. But, to be fair it's not any worse than NOVA, it's just different. NOVA is less congested, but their roads are more narrow and you hit more lights. In MC the lights take forever though, 2+ minute waits for them to change.

MC's roads are typically in very good shape, especially considering the amount of volume they handle. NOVA's roads are crap. Potholes everywhere, signage sucks, barely if at all visible road markings, etc.

MC may have red light cameras, NOVA has ridiculously strict cops. 29 in a 25? Ticket. Also, in VA you get a misdemeanor, reckless driving charge if you go 80 or above. So, say you're doing 80 in a 65 on the highway on a nice day with nobody buy you and the trooper, that's a seven point offense, you get a misdemeanor on your criminal record, a minimum of $1,500 fine, and you must appear in court. For 80 on the highway?

I prefer driving in NOVA because there is less lane jockeying due to there being less people. However, I can't help but feel I'm driving 20 miles to get to a place 10 miles away since VA is so against infrastructural decision making.

PG county doesn't deserve to be mentioned, their section of the beltway is no holds barred, drivers passing on the shoulder, getting pushed by the car behind you at 80 mph, and nobody has insurance.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160

Which is why four of the 100 best schools in the nation are located right in MoCo, MD. That's statistical over representation for you.

Doink_Boink: PG county doesn't deserve to be mentioned, their section of the beltway is no holds barred, drivers passing on the shoulder, getting pushed by the car behind you at 80 mph, and nobody has insurance.

And those are just the police officers.

PG county is awful.

clintp: Thank goodness NASA and the FAA use much more modern systems! Oh wait, nevermind...

Holy hell THIS. The company I used to work for had one of the tallest buildings in the downtown area. The FAA had some equipment on the roof. The room with the electronics in it looked like something from the 50's. Most of the equipment had tubes! Scary!

Can this thread get back to pics of scantily clad women in cars?

KTHXBAI

belowner: zena: We spent a year in Montgomery County. It is the only place I've ever lived....and I've lived all over this country and overseas...that I just could not stand. We moved the day we found a house in Northern Virginia.

Montgomery County is what happens when liberals go unchallenged, on anything, for 100 years. It's not even a utopia for liberals, because the office holders managed to so ruin the quality of life that even otherwise liberal people don't want to live there.

These are the same people who outlawed Santa Claus.

1/10. MontgoCo has the highest per capita income of any county in the
USA.

You're just jealous that the traffic kept you from getting to the teabag
rally.