Kate Hinds

Contractors Vying For Silver Line Phase II Have History Of Busting Budgets (link)
Transport Workers, Needing to Bargain With NY MTA Chair Prendergast, Open With Praise (link)
Prendergast to Be Chief of Nation’s Largest Transit System (link)

Low-Bid Process For Silver Line’s Phase II May Foster Hidden Costs (link)
Quinn’s Transit Vision: Long on Buses, Ferries, Short on Bike Share (link)
VIDEO: Will Metro Do Away with its Mood Lighting? (link)

Depending on your take, the lighting in D.C.'s Metro stations is either insufficient, charmingly subdued, or designed by someone scarred by the energy crisis of the 1970s.

NJ Transit: We’re Being More Transparent About Sandy Recovery (link)
Revived: Idea To Send NYC Subway Line To New Jersey (link)
San Francisco Airport Bans Rideshare App Companies from Taxi Line (link)
Contractors To Pay For Repairs To Beleaguered Maryland Transit Hub (link)

NJ Transit's board meetings will now be videotaped, and the agency is expanding the information on its Sandy recovery website.

It's part of an agency attempt to provide more transparency to the riding public -- many of whom have showed up at NJ Transit board meetings since Sandy to complain about confusing schedule changes, last-minute service outages, and a general lack of effective communication.

Jim Simpson, the state's transportation commissioner and NJ Transit chairman, said Wednesday at a board meeting that the videos of each board meeting will be available on the agency's website within 48 hours "to increase transparency on the board. We think it's really a good thing for everybody."

Executive director Jim Weinstein also said the NJ Transit website will now "include a listing of contracts associated with the Sandy recovery, as well as background on all projects." And the site now offers details on agency efforts to repair and replace trains damaged by Sandy.

NJ Transit has been under scrutiny for its decision to store rail stock in flood-prone areas during the storm, which caused nearly a quarter of its fleet to suffer damage.

The board also approved paying another $28.5 million to Canadian rail company Bombardier, which is repairing train cars damaged by Sandy. NJ Transit says it will reimbursed for storm expenses through a  combination of federal aid and insurance money.

Related: NJ Transit Chief: Our Trains, Equipment, Suffered $100 Million In Sandy Damage

Following the meeting, Weinstein less enthusiastic about a different subject: a recent study endorsing a proposal to extend the #7 subway to Secaucus. "It’s not a New Jersey project," he said. "It emanated from the mayor’s office in New York and it clearly has some different points of view in New York, from the MTA." Weinstein sounded lukewarm about the project.  "We'll see where it goes," he said.

One recent bright spot for the agency: Weinstein said NJ Transit got a ridership boost during last week's Wrestlemania, when the agency provided more than 35,000 bus and rail trips to the Meadowlands.  The agency views the event as a dress rehearsal for next year's Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium, where the Jets and Giants play. Weinstein, who was on site for much of the event, described Wrestlemania as "quite an enlightening experience."

Top stories on TN:
Does Classical Music at Train Stations Really Deter Crime? (link)
Pay-By-Phone Parking — And Real-Time Space Availability — Being Tested in the Bronx (link)
Ostriches, Brownies, and Childbirth: Memories of a Golden Gate Bridge Toll Taker (link)
Amtrak Ridership Continues to Set Records — Despite Sandy Damage (link)

An 18-block stretch in the Bronx will be the first in New York City to test pay-by-phone parking.

An 18-block stretch in the Bronx will be the first in New York City to test pay-by-phone parking.

The pilot program will allow people to use phone, internet or smartphone app to pay for 264 metered parking spaces along or adjacent to Arthur Avenue  -- as well as spots in the city's Belmont Municipal Parking Field. To participate, motorists must sign up in advance on the Pay-By-Phone website. Each Muni-Meter in the pilot program has a QR code and a seven-digit number; the motorist must use either to confirm payment.

Users will receive a text or email when their meter is about to expire, and they will have the option of extending their time without having to return to their cars. According to the mayor's press release, traffic enforcement agents will use new hand-held scanners to cross-check the PayByPhone's data to ensure compliance.

"New York City parking has come a long way since we had to put a roll of quarters in our pocket," said city transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, making the announcement Tuesday in the Bronx with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

A side view of the Muni-Meter in the Bronx. Note QR code and 7-digit ID. (Photo by Christine Streich)

Related: Good Bye, Parking Meter; Hello, Muni-Meter

The pay-by-phone pilot will be tested for three months; it could then expand citywide.

Potentially more interesting than the ability to feed the meter remotely is the second half of Tuesday's announcement: a real-time parking availability map, seeded by information transmitted from roadbed sensors.

A sensor embedded in the roadway detects whether a parking space is free or not. (Photo by Christine Streich)

"Green indicates the greatest likelihood of a spot; yellow, the chances aren't so good, and red, well, you get the idea--" said Sadik-Khan. "Forget about it, as Marty [Markowitz] would say," interjected Bloomberg, referring to Brooklyn's Borough President.

Sadik-Khan added the map would cut down on the pollution created by cruising around and looking for a spot. "Knowing where to go, and to concentrate your search on where it's going to have the biggest value and the biggest payoff, is half the battle," she said.

In addition to being available online, the map is also available as a smartphone app. Bloomberg batted away suggestions that the app could encourage distracted driving.  Bloomberg reasoned passengers could check the map -- or drivers could check it before they leave "or pull over. I mean, a lot of things are meant for you, you can't do it while you're --" here the mayor paused -- "in the shower, for example."

This cracked up the crowd. "I'm just trying to think of some other place you shouldn't," Bloomberg said, moving along to the next question.

Real-time parking conditions in the Belmont section of the Bronx (click for interactive map)

Other cities around the world -- San Francisco, London, Vancouver, Miami -- use similar technology. Monica Hernandez, a spokesperson for the District Department of Transportation, said all 17,500 meters in Washington D.C. can be paid for via phone, and that the program had been in place for almost two years. "It's serving its purpose," she said. "It provides one more option for people looking to park."

With reporting from Christine Streich/WNYC.

Top stories on TN:
NYC Starts Placing Bike Share Docks (link)
US Navy Could Use Blimps to Track Drug Submarines (link)

Top stories on TN:
World’s Worst Airship Disaster Wasn’t the Hindenburg: Remembering the USS Akron (link)
BART, Unions Begin Contract Negotiations as Agency Emerges from Deficit (link)
Why Tolls Will Be Waived On One Virginia Highway This Weekend (link)

Madison Square Garden (photo by Flodigrip's World via flickr)

The renewal of Madison Square Garden's lease is no longer a sure thing. (Crain's New York Business)

Remember how the FAA was going to shut down 149 air traffic control towers this month? Now that's delayed until June. (The Hill)

Passenger complaints about airlines are up 20% -- even though airlines are doing a better job with on-time performance and luggage. (AP)

Car sharing reflects a cultural shift: "People of my generation believed that our private automobile said a lot about who we are, that [it] defined our power and our status. The younger generations don't seem to be buying into that anymore, and they are seeing automobiles as simply a tool." (NPR)

New Jersey is synchronizing traffic lights on one highway. (Star-Ledger)

The jihad ad war is paying off for New York's MTA. (New York Times)

Michigan's first BRT line is shaping up. (MLive)

HopStop is crowdsourcing transit information. "We can't afford to wait years for transit agencies to slowly make this information available," says the company's CEO. "We should rely on our user base, the largest transit user base out there." (The Verge)

A public health message for Shanghai straphangers: don't bring your pet birds on the subway during an avian flu outbreak. (Shanghaiist)

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Top stories on TN:
New Yorkers: Meet Your Bike Share Station Map (link)
Feds Set Uniform Standards For Sandy Rebuilding (link)
New Law Makes Distracted Driving a Primary Offense in Virginia (link)
The Tradition Of Naming Tunneling Machines (link)

The FAA has been using 30-year-old data on aircraft collisions to justify the cost of operating control towers at small airports -- even though accident rates have improved significantly over that time. (AP)

DC's transit system is reviewing what led to its 'million dollar bus stop.' (Washington Post)

Texting, drinking: these behaviors are not beneficial to the pedestrian experience. (Virginia Public Radio)

Chicago's transit system wants cell phone service in its subways. (WBEZ)

Transportation funding challenges in Texas: "although gas tax revenue has failed to keep pace with either inflation or the state’s explosive growth since the early 1990s, TxDOT has been in a building boom over the past 10 years, its budget roughly doubling to the more than $20 billion proposed for 2014-15." (American Statesman)

A well-known NYC environmentalist was paid by Fresh Direct to help sell their move to the Bronx. (New York Times)

The Los Angeles Times rides along with a parking enforcement officer. "I was lucky to have never had an incident of violence."

Residents of a remote town in Peru used bikes, cars and rickshaws to help light up an airstrip so an emergency medical flight could take off. (BBC; video)

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(Click for interactive map)

New Yorkers, meet your Citi Bike station locations. Even more closely placed than your neighborhood Starbucks. Beginning next month, you'll be able to pick up and drop off bikes from Central Park South to Barclays Center. Annual members will get 45 minutes of free riding, daily members 30 minutes.

The New York City Department of Transportation has released an interactive map showing the draft locations of 293 stations located across Manhattan (below Central Park) and across a swath of Brooklyn through Fort Greene. (That 293  is down a bit from last year's projected launch of 420 stations.) Gray dots show the location of future docking stations. The DOT's website says it will "continue to work with New Yorkers to refine these station locations."

The system, which is scheduled to launch next month, will eventually grow to 10,000 bikes and 600 docking stations around the city. It's being operated by Alta Bike Share and funded by Citibank.

The city's bike share program was to have originally launched last year, but a one-two punch of software trouble followed by Sandy flooding knocked it back to May 2013.

To see detailed maps of stations at the community level, click here.

Top stories on TN:
Fatter Pedestrians Are Safer, Taxis Are Scourge for Cyclists: Study (link)
Subway Service Returns to South Ferry (link)
One Train Ticket in New Jersey Can be Valid for Years … If You Never Get on a Train (link)
Maryland County Approves Millions More for Troubled Transit Center (link)

All aboard in Tallinn, Estonia -- and put away your wallet. (Photo by MissTerje via flickr)

The head of NJ Transit admitted the agency moved trains into a flood-prone area just before Sandy hit. (The Record)

General Motors is closely watching the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula and would consider shifting production if the situation deteriorates. (Detroit Free Press)

Texas Governor Rick Perry refuses to back a statewide ban on texting while driving -- but Houston's mayor says she's prepared to go it alone. (KUHF)

Detroit Electric has launched to much fanfare (Wall Street Journal) -- and some skepticism: "Let me get this straight. Detroit Electric, shifty about funding & battery supplier & doesn't have factory, will make EVs 5 months from now?" (@NathanBomey, Detroit Free Press reporter)

Boston could have just one bidder for a $1 billion commuter rail contract. (Boston Globe)

Three months later: assessing the impact of free transit in the Estonian capital city of Tallinn. (AP via Miami Herald)

On this morning's Brian Lehrer Show: more on a new study that found that the majority of pedestrians struck in New York City were hit while in a crosswalk. (WNYC)

Philadelphia's library and city transit provider SEPTA have launched a virtual library at a train station throughout the month of April. (Metro; h/t Transit Wire)

Meet a matchmaker who takes clients to the NYC subway. "The Love Conductor is the first matchmaker to go underground — targeting New York's 1.6 billion subway riders, many of whom are the most alluring, creative and energetically sexy on earth." (New York Magazine)

The founder of Zappos is launching Project 100 in downtown Las Vegas -- "the code name for a complete transportation system designed to let you get rid of your car and be more connected to your neighborhood — all for less than the monthly cost of traditional car ownership." Ingredients: bike share, bus shuttles, and Tesla EVs. (GigaOM)

February traffic crash stats for NYC: 1,111 pedestrians and cyclists injured; 13 killed. (Streetsblog)

The town of Wyckoff, New Jersey, is adopting a "zero tolerance policy" for drivers who flout pedestrian crosswalk laws. One reason why: "a driver recently pulled around a stopped car while children were crossing the street." (NJ.com)

PHOTOS: a rail link reopens in Nigeria. (The Guardian)

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On Thursday, New Yorkers will ride the subway like it's 1999.

Or really 2009, because that's the last time the old South Ferry station saw action.

The formerly decommissioned station is being pressed back into service while the newer station -- heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy -- undergoes extensive repairs that could take several years. The old station is built around a tight curve in the tracks at the Lower Manhattan terminus of the 1 line that subway trains sometimes use to turn around. And the platform is shorter than the length of a train: passengers using the retro station will need to sit in the first five cars to exit.
Related: Old South Ferry Station, Replaced At a Cost of $530 Million, Pressed Back Into Service

South Ferry is used by tens of thousands of Staten Island Ferry riders. Their convenient connection to the 1 train was lost when Sandy flooded the new South Ferry station. Since then, the 1 line has been starting and ending at Rector Street, which inserts a ten minute walk into Staten Islanders' already long commutes.

Related: Video: South Ferry Subway Station, Post-Sandy

The MTA estimated several weeks ago that returning service to the decommissioned station would cost about $2 million. (Read about the scope of the work here.) Meanwhile, restoring service to the three-year old station destroyed by Sandy will cost about 300 times more.

Workers restoring the old South Ferry station (photo courtesy of NY MTA)

Related: To Replace One Station After Sandy, A Cost of $600 Million

The MTA is still working on restoring another post-Sandy subway service gap: A train service to the Rockaways.

The South Ferry subway station, flooded during Sandy, will take years to replace. (Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin)

Top stories on TN:
Feds Posit Ambitious Plan for Northeast High Speed Rail (link)
Seattle Could Cancel Nearly 30 Percent Of Bus Routes (link)
Distracted Driving Awareness Month Begins With Plea to Change Behavior (link)

 (photo by Kate Hinds)

Crosswalks aren't havens: a study of traffic crashes conducted by one Manhattan hospital found "pedestrians struck by cars are most often hit while in the crosswalk, with the signal on their side...(and) taxicabs pose a disproportionate threat to cyclists." (New York Times)

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford made a "vomiting sound" when asked about transit funding. (CBC)

Minnesota lawmakers are weighing whether to approve the Mayo Clinic's request for $500 million to support its $3 billion expansion plan. "Supporters of the project say state financing for roads, bridges, parking garages and other improvements would ensure that the hospital and clinic system cements its future in the Rochester area." (MPR)

The transportation funding plan proposed by Boston legislators is significantly less ambitious than the governor's. (WBUR)

Some homeless people are essentially making Newark Penn Station their permanent address. (WNYC)

Manhattan's district attorney: "Legislators in Albany must allow New York City to begin a pilot speed camera program, starting at city schools." (AMNY)

Capital Bikeshare set a record Saturday -- and is embarking upon a major expansion. (Washington Post)

The Dutch city of Rotterdam is crowdfunding a bridge. (The Star)

Two of Chicago Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein's favorite things: bikes and shoes. (Link)

Samoa Air says it's charging passengers based on what they weigh. (NPR)

Explainer: decode the multicolored inscriptions of subterranean infrastructure spray-painted on streets and sidewalks across the United States. (Studio X)

The shoot-for-the-moon, Level D plan: a second Northeast Corridor "spine," Long Island-to-New England service, and 220-mph rail (image via NEC FUTURE)

Over a dozen plans for improving rail in the Northeast Corridor are under consideration by the federal government, ranging from minor improvements to a future with 220-mile-per-hour bullet trains between Washington and Boston -- not to mention new service between Long Island and New England.

These various options are detailed in a new report released Tuesday by the Federal Railroad Administration. NEC FUTURE sketches out 15 alternatives representing different levels of investment through the year 2040 in the 457-mile corridor.

Related: Amtrak Updates High-Speed Rail Vision, What’s Changed

The options, in turn, have been grouped into four separate categories which grow progressively more ambitious: while those in Level A focus on achieving a state of good repair, Level D would build a separate high-speed rail line between Boston and D.C. and bring new service in the region, primarily in Long Island, New England and the Delmarva peninsula.

The report aims to jump-start public debate about how rail capacity should be shaped in the region. "It is intended to be the foundation for future investments in the Northeast Corridor, a 150 year-old alignment that has guided the growth of what is now one of the most densely populated transportation corridors in the world,” said Rebecca Reyes-Alicea, NEC FUTURE program manager for the Federal Railroad Administration.  “(It) will further the dialogue about the rail network in the Northeast and how it can best serve us over for the years ahead.”

Over the next year, these 15 options will be winnowed down. The federal government wants to have a single alternative in place by 2015.

Because it's conceptual, no cost estimates are included in the report. But existing documents provide a baseline. In 2010, Amtrak identified $9 billion alone in state of good repair projects for the NEC, with an additional $43 billion in investment just to meet projected 2030 ridership levels for the current system. Meanwhile, another Amtrak report estimated the cost of bringing high-speed rail to the NEC at $151 billion.

Related: Amtrak’s 220mph Vision for the Future

Dan Schned, a senior transportation planner at the Regional Plan Association, said "what’s possible and what Congress has the stomach to spend are two different things."

But he said that funding need not come solely from Congress. "Successful high-speed rail projects around the world have private sector participation," Schned pointed out, adding that "the arrangement of public and private financing and project delivery issues will be the most challenging" aspects of overhauling the NEC.

The Federal Railroad Administration is holding workshops in New Haven, Newark and Washington D.C. next week to present the plan to the public. For more information, go here.  Read the full report below.

NEC Future: A Rail Investment Plan for the Northeast Corridor

Top stories on TN:
A Blind Rider’s Long Commute, or How Transit Cuts Hit Those Who Need It Most (link)
Subway Sea Wall Of Steel Rising Between A Train And Jamaica Bay (link)

Los Angeles (photo by Neil Kremer via flickr)

Los Angeles has synchronized every one of its 4,500 traffic signals across 469 square miles — the first major metropolis in the world to do so. Also: "The magnetic sensors pick up most bicycles as well. Pedestrians are tougher to record, but they are also accounted for." (New York Times)

Ridership on Atlanta's transit system is bucking a national trend by falling. Since 2001 MARTA showed ridership losses on trains for eight years and on buses for 10 — far worse than comparable cities or transit systems. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Seattle's transit system says it might remove 65 bus routes and reduce trips on 86 more -- unless the state Legislature allows the county to collect new taxes. (Seattle Times)

Massachusetts legislators will unveil their transportation funding plan today. (WBUR)

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The California Department of Transportation is reviewing whether the large bolts that broke last month on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge had failed quality-control tests by the agency's materials lab. (Sacramento Bee)

Shares of Tesla Motors hit an all-time high after the electric-car maker said it would show a quarterly profit for the first time in its 10-year history -- and founder Elon Musk promises even better news today. (Mercury News)

What do car sales say about the U.S. economy? "The recession may be over, but consumers and manufacturers are still embracing what's practical." (Marketplace)

China's 'airpocalypse:' 1.2 million early deaths in one year alone are being blamed on China's air quality; expatriates are fleeing, and it's only getting worse: rising car ownership and coal consumption will push that country’s air pollution 70% higher by 2025. (Quartz)

Indonesia's Lion Air is planning a massive expansion. Helloooo Australia! (And Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam.) (Bloomberg)

A blast from Chicago's two-wheeled past: behold the Lake View Cycling Club, circa 1890. (Link)

Alec Baldwin: distracted bicyclist. (New York Daily News)

It's like the Sharks vs. Jets, only with two people playing brass instruments: watch an epic subway sax battle unfold. (h/t Gothamist)

Top stories on TN:
Subway Sea Wall Of Steel Rising Between A Train And Jamaica Bay (link)
LaHood Doles Out Another $1.42 Billion To Transit Hit By Sandy (link)
Contractor Responds to Reported Defects In Silver Spring Transit Centers (link)
Reimagining Package Delivery, WalMart Asks Customers to Play Couriers (link)
Striking Vintage EPA Photos Show Troubling Proximity of People and Pollution in 1970s (link)

Heading to the Bronx today: the MTA's nostalgia train (photo courtesy of NY MTA)

The EPA's push for more ethanol could be too little, too late. (NPR)

The GAO says ridership and revenue estimates for California's high-speed railway project are “reasonable." (The Hill)

Texas will use state DOT money to keep air control towers open at 13 small airports in its state. (KUHF)

DC Metro will triple the number of video cameras it has monitoring its stations and parking garages, and put cameras in rail cars for the first time. (Washington Examiner)

The great Red Car conspiracy theory: is it real?  Listen to why streetcars disappeared from Los Angeles. (SCPR/99% Invisible)

Denver's new light rail line will open April 26. (Denver Post)

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MARTA launched an app to report crimes. (WSBTV)

Women are free to ride bicycles and buggies in Saudi Arabia -- as long as they are accompanied by a male guardian or relative. (Al-Arabiya)

NYC is piloting a program that would give people with disabilities the option to take taxis instead of Access-A-Ride or public transportation. (New York Daily News)

America is exporting lowrider culture overseas to Brazil. (New York Times)

Reminder: opening day at Yankees Stadium means...the Nostalgia Train! It leaves Grand Central Terminal today at 11:30am. (MTA; more photos here)

The nostalgia train, as seen during the Yankees' 2012 postseason (photo by Kate Hinds)

Unnerving April Fool's Day story: The National Rifle Association will spend $3.2 billion to purchase the naming rights for the new Tappan Zee Bridge. (Nyack News and Views)

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Forced to trim $637 million from its budget, the FAA is closing 149 air traffic control facilities around the country.

The closures will start taking place early next month and will take four weeks to complete.

Air traffic controllers say this means more work for the pilots -- and could lead to delays. "When there’s no controller in the tower, it then becomes a one-in, one-out operation," said Sarah Dunn, a spokesperson for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, meaning pilots, not controllers, will be coordinating air traffic at these airports.  "All the pilots are on the same frequency checking to see who’s landing, who’s coming in and out."

But the FAA says the closures won't affect safety. “We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of safety at non-towered airports,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in a statement.

See the list of towers below.

FAA Contract Tower Closure List

Top stories on TN:
After Poisoning And Whacking Doesn’t Work, NYC Transit Tries Birth Control On Rats (link)
Judge Rules No ID Required to Ride NYC Subway (link)
Money Talking Asks, Is Energy Independence A Reality? (link)
NY School Bus Workers Face Major Pay Cut (link)

An old air traffic control tower at LaGuardia Airport.

The FAA is closing 149 airport control towers due to sequestration budget cuts. (FAA; list here)

Meanwhile, the agency is also considering allowing passengers to put their electronic devices into 'airplane mode' rather than having to shut them off. (Venture Beat)

Britain's state-owned East Coast rail route is to be put back into private hands. (Telegraph)

The Indian unit of Ford Motor Co. has apologized for advertisements decried as demeaning to women, including one depicting Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with a trio of bound women in the trunk of a car. (AP via Detroit Free Press)

Is the founder of Zappos just what downtown Las Vegas needs? (Guardian)

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Montana's legislature voted to become one of a handful of states in the U.S. to allow drivers to collect roadkill for meat or fur. (Marketplace; interactive map here)

Only 111 or so stations in New York City's 468-station system have cameras focused on public areas. (New York Daily News)

How Google's Street View has changed behavior: some people use it to eliminate uncertainty. (BBC)

A Houston Union Pacific conductor was fired for stealing train horns and selling them on eBay. (KHOU)

How to crowdsource traffic reporting in Ghana. (Phys Org)

How much do we really "need" fossil fuels? “It’s absolutely not true that we need natural gas, coal or oil — we think it’s a myth,” says one engineer. (New York Times)

From Downton Abbey to the F train: cousin Matthew loves New York's subway. (Gothamist)

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How tennis player Serena Williams beat car traffic to get to a game: "It was probably one of my best memories I think ever, riding a bike to a match. That’s pretty cool.” (AP via Washington Post)

Fine dining on the International Space Station: how to make a honey-peanut butter tortilla. Why a tortilla? Because the crumbs from bread would get everywhere. (h/t Village Voice)