“Hello Kitty” not a cat, has never been: We Have Been Deceived

Hello Kitty is not a cat, the company behind Japan’s global icon of cute insisted, despite an uproar from Internet users who spluttered: “But she’s got whiskers!”

When is a cat not a cat? When it’s Hello Kitty, apparently.

We’re not really sure how to feel about this revelation. Clearly this character has cat ears and whiskers, but it has just come to light that Hello Kitty is in fact a British schoolgirl in the third grade.

The moon-faced creation that adorns everything from pencil cases to pyjamas the world over is, in fact, human.

“Hello Kitty” is a cheerful and happy little girl with a heart of gold,” brand owner Sanrio says on its website.

The shocking revelation came to light when a Hawaii-based academic specialising in the epitome of “kawaii” (“cute” in Japanese) asked Sanrio to fact-check captions for an exhibition she was curating to mark the 40th anniversary of Hello Kitty

Christine Yano, an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii, told the Los Angeles Times that she “was corrected — very firmly” by Sanrio that Kitty was not a cat.

“That’s one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show,” the paper quoted her as saying.

“Hello Kitty” is not a cat. She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature.”

And indeed, an AFP enquiry as to the status — feline or otherwise — of one of Japan’s most famous exports confirmed her non-cat identity.

“It is a 100-percent personified character,” a Sanrio spokesman told AFP in Tokyo. “The design takes the motif of a cat, but there is no element of a cat in Hello Kitty’s setting.”

Her life story has always been there, the spokesman said, adding the personification is meant to make her fans feel closer to the character “as a friend”.

Web users were agog at the news.

“Hello Kitty is not actually a cat. MIND BLOWN”, tweeted @killedbydying

“‘Sanrio confirms that Hello Kitty is NOT a cat.’ One of the many reasons why I have trust issues”, wrote @eisakuivan

“So Hello Kitty isn’t a cat? Everything I know is a lie,” said @nymbc

Asked about the worldwide reaction to the shock revelation that Hello Kitty is not a cat, the Sanrio spokesman offered: “I don’t think anyone in Japan found it surprising.”

“There is an explanation we have made the whole time, and I think that’s how people have understood it.”

A straw poll of Japanese people within the AFP Tokyo bureau found that not to be the case, however.

The Sanrio spokesman explained that Kitty and her family were given no specific nationality but were designed to be living in Britain, because many girls in Japan had strong admiration for the Western lifestyle in the 1970s.

Ever since the mouthless white character first appeared in 1974 on a coin purse in Japan, she has graced tens of thousands of products, from handbags to aircraft, in some 130 countries.

But just remember: she’s not a cat.

Now, let’s stand up for real cats. How would you like it if you were a cat and people kept telling you you looked like a third-grade kid? Cats are such wonderful animals.

Unfortunately, not all cats are so lucky and get adopted by third graders with no mouth. Many need help and good shelters are slim.

 Let’s all get together and help a good shelter:

Let’s help Refuge les Chamours in Ste-Béatrix, Quebec

On the  internet, go to www.chamours.ws you can click on the PayPal button or on “faire un donne”

Easy to give to them. Don’t need to know a word of French.

Mail instead?

Refuge les Chamours 100 de la Colline Ste-Béatrix, J0K1Y0

Québec, Canada

Looking for a life outside FACEBOOK? Look to FAIRPROMISE and Fairpromise

Last Friday in August Developments in Florida Rail

Keeping out tradition of going over developments with All Aboard Florida, Florida East Coast Railway and Tri-Rail. One would think end of August would be quiet, but no, we have some good stories for you.

The Miami Herald has a big story “Work begins — finally — on Miami-to-Orlando fast train”

Preliminary work has begun for construction of a $2.5 billion express passenger train between Miami and Orlando.

In preparation for the project, 35,000 linear feet of new steel rails have been laid on the ground alongside existing freight train tracks at two sites in Palm Beach County just west of North Dixie Highway in Boca Raton.

Parking lots that for years were packed with vehicles next to the Miami-Dade County Hall building and Metrorail tracks in downtown Miami are now empty, closed for coming construction of the train’s Miami station.

The shuttered parking lots and the new steel rails mark the first physical work on the future service since the ambitious project was announced in March 2012.

All Aboard Florida, as the project is called, is expected to begin operations in two phases: first between Miami and West Palm Beach in 2016 and then between West Palm Beach and Orlando in 2017.

It won’t be as fast as the French TGV, but at 125 mph, it won’t loaf along either. Details of the trainsets are not finalized, but they will be Made In U.S.A.

First passenger trains since the 1960’s along the East Coast that was originally developed by Henry Flagler.

Four good pictures and a recap of the grade crossings and other issues.

Florida Governor Rick Scott

Next we have even more All Aboard Florida opponents who want ‘open and honest’ response from Governor Scott

The story in TCPalm says this group will get their “moment in the Sun” with Scott’s staff. CARE FL — an acronym for Citizens Against Rail Expansion in Florida — is all from “upscale” communities in Palm Beach County. Concerns about property values and blocked access.

TriRail Train

 

A plan to expand Tri-Rail service would deliver commuters smack in the center of downtowns from West Palm Beach to Miami. A proposed Tri-Rail service, called the “Coastal Link,” would use the train tracks running through coastal downtown communities such as West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale. The trains would be added to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks that run along Dixie Highway, but would not replace Tri-Rail service on the tracks along Interstate 95.

 

The Sun-Sentinal has written an expanded article that answers a lot of our questions.

Laying the groundwork for the “Coastal Link” has been underway for the last few years. But plenty of planning, construction and funding still has to happen. Consider:

• Fees to use the tracks are being negotiated between Tri-Rail and the Florida East Coast Railroad, which owns the coastal tracks.

• The estimated cost to get Tri-Rail Coastal Link started is between $720 and $800 million. That money would cover stations, a third track, and bridge improvements. A final cost will be nailed down after the Florida Department of Transportation‘s two-year study is complete.

• Money to run the trains still has to be found. An estimated $100 million would be needed annually. Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties would have to pitch in, and possibly some cities as well.

Right now, Tri-Rail service starts and ends north of West Palm Beach. Using the coastal tracks, Tri-Rail would reach to Jupiter and connect some 28 coastal communities by train.

The new Tri-Rail system would then have three main routes:

• The red line would run from Mangonia Park to downtown Miami with trains traveling on the western tracks Tri-Rail currently uses and switching over at Pompano Beach to the coastal tracks.

• The blue line would run from Boca Raton to Miami International Airport, using the same route Tri-Rail uses now.

• The green line would run from Jupiter to downtown Fort Lauderdale on the coastal tracks.

• Trains would run every 30 minutes or every hour. About 20 to 22 stations are being considered for the service.

The new service would provide people with access to more entertainment and recreation options and would be more than a way “just to get to work,” said Amie Goddeau, a mobility development manager for the state’s transportation department.

If All Aboard Florida, the high-speed rail between Miami and Orlando, continues as planned, the private company will add a second track to the coastal line, which Tri-Rail trains could also use. Even with that second track, a third track also may be built to prevent train traffic jams.

Earlier this year, Tri-Rail and All Aboard Florida reached an agreement on how the two services would operate. Basically, they agreed not to compete with each other, leaving Tri-Rail as the local commuter service and All Aboard Florida as a limited-stop service.

Two construction projects critical to Tri-Rail’s coastal service are in the works. Work on two additional connections that link the coastal railroad to the tracks near I-95 should begin within a year. Those connections would allow Tri-Rail trains to travel between the two railways.

One connection is north of downtown West Palm Beach at 25th Street. The other connection is in Miami.

The three counties are looking at various ways to come up with the money, including using a transportation sales tax, gas tax or rental car surcharge.

Anybody remember this? “A collection of articles about Railroads and Transit in Florida. Tri-Rail was created to head-off an often-quoted scenario in which I-95 would have to be widened to 44 lanes to handle increased traffic expected along certain stretches by the year 2020.”

2014-15 Utica Comets Schedule Released

The Utica Comets have their schedule in place!

The second season of Comets hockey will begin with a weekend series in Toronto when they face the Marlies on Saturday, Oct. 11 and Sunday, Oct. 12..

Opening weekend in Utica will begin with a contest on Wednesday, Oct. 22 against the Adirondack Flames at 7:35 p.m. It will continue with a Friday night affair against the San Antonio Rampage on Oct. 24 and a finish off on Saturday, Oct. 25 with the Toronto Marlies in town.

Utica will once again have a fan-friendly schedule with 24 of their 38 home games occurring on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  Comets fans will have an opportunity to see 16 different AHL teams play against the Comets this season, including 13 of the other 14 teams in the Western Conference.

Read more great comments on their schedule for 2014-15

Comets Coach Travis Green

The 2014-15 American Hockey League regular-season schedule is out, and Utica Comets coach Travis Green is excited.

“I like it,” he said. “You don’t have a lot of say over what you get, but, on first glance, I think it’s a good schedule for us.”

Read more of his comments in Matt Becker’s column in the Utica OD

Kennedy Center Rome NY

The Utica Comets announced that the team will host the Adirondack Flames in a preseason game at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, at Kennedy Arena.

Tickets are $5, and will go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at the arena’s box office. There will be 700 tickets available. All proceeds will go to Kennedy Arena.

This is the second straight year that the Comets have hosted Adirondack in a preseason game. Last year, Adirondack was the AHL franchise for the Philadelphia Flyers. That team moved to Allentown in the offseason. This season, Adirondack is affiliated with the Calgary Flames.

“Last year’s preseason game was such a tremendous success, and we received such strong support from the Rome community all season long,” Comets President Rob Esche said in a news release. “Being able to host a preseason game in Rome, give back to the community and showcase our players in their beautiful facility is the perfect fit for our organization. “

The teams will play again the next night at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

.

Opportunities In Your Supply Chain

Recently Scott Koegler published an article on “Fixing Your Supply Chain” in which he quoted the “Top Five Opportunities In Your Supply Chain” per OPS Rules Management Consultants. He then “threw down the gauntlet” for others to list their own Top 5, and see if these match. I am accepting the challenge!

Here is my game plan: I’m going to identify and add other vendors who are good at fixing your supply chain and see what THEIR opportunities might be. Then I will pick MY top 5 and tell you why I picked them.

Read more: http://www.ec-bp.com/index.php/articles/industry-updates/10672-opportunities-in-your-supply-chain#ixzz3BZzaM0sa

Conference Crashing: The Latest Trend in Networking

Agile entrepreneurs have make “conference crashing” a trend. No more thousands spent on big shows! Instead, company founders instead “network” the lobby. Hey, these start-ups don’t have much funding. Priorities are finding clients and partners; both of which are found at these big shows. They save however they can.

Gee, we tried the same thing: Just got through reading about the Rail Trends Conference in New York City on November 20 and 21 in New York City. WOW it sounds fantastic! Ran into the bosses office (well, actually ran over to his table, since we all work out of a seaside restaurant). Told him I really wanted to go and would get a lot out of it. He says: “No KC, we don’t have it in the budget. Go back to your table and write a good story about it and maybe they will send you a Press Pass”.

No comparison of the panels and videos to meeting someone someone in the lobby who can arrange an important meeting. These folks are crying for funding, face-time, and learning the ropes and maybe they can find someone who is willing to help. Just think of it: venture capitalists, experienced executives, and other key folks in their field all in one place. Those one-on-one mini-meetings are where the beef is.

Philadelphia Proposal: Bring Amtrak Trains to Center City

Recently there was an article in PhillyMag about bringing Amtrak into the Center City, using the existing tunnel. It’s the easiest thing in the world to board an Amtrak train in Philly and be in New York barely an hour later. Would it be an even better process if Philadelphians could board that train in Center City? There is already a tunnel , Why not use it?

It goes from 30th Street Station to Suburban and Market Street stations and is  used by SEPTA. Just let a couple of Amtrak trains per hour use that tunnel, he says, and the results might be startling:

Transit expert Bob Previdi thinks so “Having Amtrak operating in the Center City Tunnel would not only be good for business and tourism, it could also make the housing stock of Philadelphia and its suburbs more commutable to NYC. Most people in Philadelphia do not understand just how bad commuting distances are in in NYC and what opportunities there are to attract home buyers. For example, 14,000 cars a day park at the Long Island Rail Road’s Ronkonkoma Station in Suffolk County to take one hour and 20 minute train ride to/from Penn Station each way! Combine the long trek with a New York State tax rate of nearly 9 percent and even with the high monthly ticket fee of Amtrak we can still promote living in Pennsylvania as a real value.”

There’s a lot that’s appealing about this idea. 30th Street Station, grand though it is, is across the river from the heart of the city.

But in saying that the only thing standing in the way of operating Amtrak service through the Commuter Tunnel is the political will to bring the passenger and freight railroads together to implement the through-tunnel service.

Philadelphia Market East Station

The next day, PhillyMag had another article about how you can’t do it. Amtrak service through the Commuter Tunnel sounds like a great idea. But there’s this little engineering issue …

The problem with the proposal is this: Once Amtrak trains would exit the Commuter Tunnel’s east portal, there would be no way for them to get back to the tracks heading to New York Penn Station. That’s because the tracks feeding the tunnel from the north belonged to the Reading Railroad, and the Reading had no physical connections to its crosstown rival, the Pennsylvania.

The Reading did operate its own Philadelphia-New York trains, to be sure. They followed the route of what’s now SEPTA’s West Trenton Line and used the Jersey Central to reach a terminal in Jersey City, where passengers could catch ferries to Lower Manhattan.

The Jersey Central and the Jersey City train station are both gone. And even if a new terminal were built there, it would simply trade inconvenience in New York for inconvenience in Philadelphia.

A new, high-speed connection would have to be built to allow Amtrak Northeast Regional trains to run between Washington and New York via “Philadelphia City Hall.” And that would cost some money and require some land.

The good news is that there is a place where such a connection could be built. It’s near Woodbourne station on the West Trenton line. South of this station, the West Trenton line tracks pass under the former Pennsylvania Railroad Trenton Cutoff, which connects with the main Northeast Corridor line at Morrisville, just across the Delaware from Trenton. A two-track flyover there from south of the crossover to east of it would allow for the through Commuter Tunnel service.  Build that, and restore the catenary from the junction to Morrisville, and we’re in business.

It would cost less to build this than it would to build the north-south tunnel under Philadelphia with stations at the airport and Market East.

 

Read more about railroads and transit in Philadelphia. Read more about tourism in Philadelphia.

Have You Ever Heard Of The Ludlow Massacre? You Might Be Shocked When You See What Happened.

A friend recently sent  me a link to both a video and a story on an important event in American Labor History.  Not only that, it has music from one of my favorite singers: Woody Guthrie’s tribute to the good people who fought in the battles of Ludlow to help make a better tomorrow for everyone.

100 years ago, the Rocky Mountains were the source of a vast supply of coal. At its peak, it employed 16,000 people and accounted for 10% of all employed workers in the state of Colorado. It was dangerous work; in just 1913 alone, the mines claimed the lives of over 100 people. There were laws in place that were supposed to protect workers, but largely, management ignored those, which led to Colorado having double the on-the-job fatality rate of any other mining state.

It was a time of company towns, when all real estate, housing, doctors, and grocery stores were owned by the coal companies themselves, which led to the suppression of dissent as well as overinflated prices and an extreme dependence on the coal companies for everything that made life livable. In some of these, workers couldn’t even leave town, and armed guards made sure they didn’t. Also, if any miner or his family began to air grievances, they might find themselves evicted and run out of town.

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) had been organizing for many years in the area, and this particular company, Colorado Fuel and Iron, was one of the biggest in the West — and was owned by the Rockefeller family, notoriously anti-union.

Put all this together, and it was a powder keg.

When a strike was called in 1913, the coal company evicted all the miners from their company homes, and they moved to tent villages on leased land set up by the UMWA. Company-hired guards (aka “goons”) and members of the Colorado National Guard would drive by the tent villages and randomly shoot into the tents, leading the strikers to dig holes under their tents and the wooden beams that supported them.

Why did the union call for a strike? The workers wanted: (1) Recognition of the union as bargaining agent;  (2) An increase in tonnage rates (equivalent to a 10% wage increase); (3) Enforcement of the eight-hour work day; (4)Payment for “dead work” that usually wasn’t compensated, such as laying coal car tracks; (5)The job known as “Weight-checkmen” to be elected by workers. This was to keep company weightmen honest so the workers got paid for their true work; (6)The right to use any store rather than just the company store, and choose their own houses and doctors; (7) Strict enforcement of Colorado’s laws, especially mine safety laws.,

Please go ahead and watch the movie. I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Now that you know one of my favorite singers, let me introduce you to my favorite labor leader: John L. Lewis

 

Harry Truman and John L. Lewis

(Picture above) Creation of the UMWA Welfare Fund, May 29, 1946. Pictured seated from left are President Harry Truman, Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug and Lewis.

In 1948 when there was a coal strike, Harry Truman threatened to take over the nation’s railroads. Coal-burning locomotives were restricted to 60% of their normal mileage. Even with diesel locomotives running around the clock, rail traffic clogged up. The takeover didn’t happen. It all involved Harry Truman and John L. Lewis.

John L. Lewis was president of the United Mine Workers Union from 1920-1960. He was a giant among American leaders in the first half of the twentieth century, regularly advising presidents and challenging America’s corporate leaders. His work to organize the country’s industrial workers through the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s helped raise living standards for millions of American families.

Most impressive picture I have ever seen ANYWHERE is a 1940 poster of John L. Lewis at the Carbondale (Pennsylvania) historic society. The huge picture is at the top of a flight of stairs and IT IS AWSOME! In 1940, Lewis had considered running for President.

See a great biography of John L. Lewis on the AFL-CIO WebSite.

High Speed Rail

If you follow us, you know we have the most complete news on Florida.

Dallas Houston Bullet Train

 

KC Jones has been following Texas Central Railway’s plan to build a Dallas-to-Houston bullet train.

California Bullet Train

 

On to California. Their biggest problem has been finding. But now private investors are warming to California high-speed rail. Does this means maybe a 50-mile segment called “The Pepsi Trail”; or maybe naming rights for stations: “next station stop is Goldman Sachs”? The Sacramento Business Journal sees many possibilities. Nine companies, mostly large construction, engineering and infrastructure firms that have worked on high-speed rail elsewhere, have written letters saying they are interested in financing part of what would be the state’s largest-ever infrastructure project. “We would be very interested in participating in the competition for the construction and financing of California high-speed rail projects,” reads part of a letter from AECOM, a major engineering firm. Other companies writing to bullet train planners include Grupo ACS, Sener, Vinci Concessions, Siemens, Railgrup, Sacyr, Acciona Concesiones and Astaldi SpA.

The New York Times has presented a report on the almost $11 billion spent on High Speed Rail by the Obama Administration.

High-speed rail was supposed to be President Obama’s signature transportation project, but despite the administration spending nearly $11 billion since 2009 to develop faster passenger trains, the projects have gone mostly nowhere and the United States still lags far behind Europe and China.

While Republican opposition and community protests have slowed the projects here, transportation policy experts and members of both parties also place blame for the failures on missteps by the Obama administration — which in July asked Congress for nearly $10 billion more for high-speed initiatives.

Instead of putting the $11 billion directly into those projects, critics say, the administration made the mistake of parceling out the money to upgrade existing Amtrak service, which will allow trains to go no faster than 110 miles per hour. None of the money originally went to service in the Northeast Corridor, the most likely place for high-speed rail.

Continue reading the main story

On a 30-mile stretch of railroad between Westerly and Cranston, R.I., Amtrak’s 150-m.p.h. Acela hits its top speed — for five or 10 minutes. On the crowded New York to Washington corridor, the Acela averages only 80 m.p.h., and a plan to bring it up to the speed of Japanese bullet-trains, which can top 220 m.p.h., will take $150 billion and 26 years, if it ever happens.

Amtrak Northeast Corridor

New Jersey News 12 has reported on “Feds take first step in bringing high speed rail to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor in NJ”

The federal government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bring high speed rail to the Northeast.

Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, running from Washington, D.C. to Boston, is the crown jewel of the nation’s railroad system. 

Trains traveling 160 mph could soon fly across the rails, and New Jersey’s tracks are the key to the whole plan.

 

Chinese Electric Locomotive

Finally, a Forbes story on Chinese High Speed Rail.

It Is Florida Rail Friday In Our Newsroom

WOW, this high speed rail / Florida East Coast thing is even getting into the Governor’s Mansion. NEXT CITY has a big story on: High-Speed Rail Muddies Florida Governor’s Race.

High-speed rail has a complicated history in the Sunshine State. Florida’s current governor Rick Scott was one of several Republicans to refuse federal funds ($2.4 billion) earmarked for high-speed trains in 2011. According to the Tampa Bay Times, his decision elicited “cheers from his tea party base, and harsh criticism from leading Florida Republicans and Democrats.”

Fast-forward three years, and a high-speed project is in the works — with cautious support from Scott. But All Aboard Florida, as it’s cheerfully titled, is different from the project Scott refused for one simple Tea Party-pleasing reason: It’s privately owned and operated by Florida East Coast Industries. And Scott is quick to point that out.

“All Aboard Florida is a 100 percent private venture,” he said in a TV interview in June. “There is no state money involved.”

The train is expected to connect Miami to Orlando in less than three hours with stops in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. It will be the slowest of the three proposed U.S. rail projects (others are Texas and California), maxing out at 125 mph.

Check out their article to see the political implications.

 

Jacksonville, Florida

 

Now Jacksonville, who is not officially yet involved with All Aboard Florida has gotten into the news. The Jax Daily Record had a good article on “Better Transit Systems For Downtown Is Key To Growth”.

Getting Jacksonville’s Downtown better connected through public transit would lay the groundwork for regional high speed rail and help lift urban core real estate.

 

That was the takeaway of an industry panel that discussed the future of infrastructure in Northeast Florida.

The panel was part of an event that unveiled the Urban Land Institute’s 2014 infrastructure report. The report focused on how infrastructure investments could shape cities for global competitiveness.

The industry panel took a local view, though, by asking which investments would promote Jacksonville the best. Downtown public transit connectivity was considered one of the missing puzzle pieces.

It’s one of the things holding back All Aboard Florida, a privately funded high-speed rail initiative that will connect Orlando with Miami. Jacksonville is not yet included in that plan.

The initiative is first targeting cities that have local routes in place to take riders from high-speed rail stations to their final destinations, said Husein Cumber, executive vice president of Corporate Development for the Florida East Coast Railway, the parent company of All Aboard Florida.

Orlando is one such city. It has been investing in its public transportation system for decades.

To compete, Jacksonville would have to have routes in place so a rider could get from a high-speed rail station to places like EverBank Field for a game, to the airport, San Marco or Jacksonville Beach, Cumber said.

Read more of this article on Jacksonville.

 

Proposed West Palm Beach Station

 

South Florida Business Journal has a story involving two U.S. Congressmen.

In separate letters to the Government Accountability Office, U.S. Reps. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, and Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, said an independent review of the All Aboard project is needed before federal officials decide whether to give the company the loan, The Palm Beach Post reports.

Read more on this story about the Congressmen.

Florida East Coast Railway Grade Crossing

 

TC Palm has the story on Indian River County rejectingAll Aboard Florida’s plan to maintain rail crossings

The Horror Behind Curtain No 2

 

The Sunshine State News has a story on “The Horror Behind Curtain No. 2”.

All Aboard Florida (AAF) is like a rigged “Let’s Make a Deal” TV experience. 

They tell you the Big Prize is the shiny new passenger train service. But no matter which curtain you choose, you’re going to get what’s behind curtain No. 2 — the freight-train nightmare from hell.

Big Data, Analytics and Clouds

As volumes of Big Data increase, the ability of a business to take advantage of it will be a strategic advantage. By making decisions faster than competitors will be key to survival. The CIO needs to understand HOW decisions are made and put the ducks in a row to get the right data, get the right tools, and, most importantly, present to management in a way that is USEFUL. I have picked a few key issues to discuss.

Read more: http://www.ec-bp.com/index.php/advisors/ec-bps-bloggers/10630-big-data-analytics-and-clouds#ixzz3AvxiIx17