What do inspectors find when they closely investigate taxis in your town? In Phoenix, Ariz., they found one in five taxis with violations.
The Arizona Republic reports:
One in five taxis pulled over by state inspectors in the past year
failed at least one part of an inspection that ensures honest meter
readings, licensed drivers, and safe and insured cabs.
From July 2006 to July, Department of Weights and Measures inspectors
conducted nearly 1,570 field inspections of cabs, citing 120 taxis and
limousines for having improperly sealed, calibrated or installed meters.
Among other citations, 126 vehicles had no insurance or too little
insurance, and 95 drivers did not have valid driver's licenses,
according to field inspection data requested by The Arizona Republic.
When the Weights and Measures Department started inspecting taxis in Arizona two years ago, investigators found that half of the taxis had violations. I wonder if anybody inspects cars in most areas. Who checks the meters, asks for insurance and makes sure rate cards are posted properly? Do inspectors make surprise visits like restaurant inspectors? What taxi companies have the worst/best record? What happens when they are found violating the rules?
The Arizona Republic continues:
New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago all require drivers to
undergo background checks and taxis to meet specific safety standards.
Cities smaller than Phoenix that regulate taxis include Philadelphia,
Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, San Antonio, San Jose and Seattle,
according to a 2004 City Council report. Sky Harbor International
Airport does require cab companies to provide proof of insurance and
has drivers go through background checks and carry airport-issued
identification cards.
Last year, KNBC-TV investigative reporters Joel Grover and Matt Goldberg produced
an impressive series of stories about taxi drivers who tamper with their meters. KNBC went undercover to find people who are willing to jigger the meters to charge whatever rate per mile the driver wants.
Housing-Related Layoffs on the Rise
A friend of mine who managed a real estate office lost her job last week. She is one of about 21,000 Americans working in the housing industry who have lost their jobs. Twenty-one thousand in one month is equal to the the total number of people who lost their jobs in the housing industry last year.
The Christian Science Monitor says says the layoffs are in banking, construction, real estate and the many jobs related to it all:
The flood of layoffs – some 21,000 since the beginning of the month
in the real estate, construction, and mortgage-lending industries – is
one way the Federal Reserve can see real impact on the economy from the
turmoil in the markets. It's not just guys in hard hats looking for
work; it's also white-collar workers. Many of these jobs in finance and
real estate are relatively high paying, which has helped car
dealerships and high-end retailers. To be sure, all sorts of jobs are
affected, because when a house changes hands, a small army of brokers,
appraisers, pest-control inspectors, title searchers, and lawyers send
out invoices.
"Unlike a lot of other businesses, real estate is everywhere," says economist Bob Brusca of Fact & Opinion Economics in New
York. "Even if this turns out to be small potatoes in one place, it has a fairly big impact."
A
simple real estate transaction can involve up to 20 people, says Steve
Walsh, president of Scout Mortgage in Scottsdale, Ariz. "An escrow
officer may make $1,000, the county recorder gets a few hundred, the
appraiser makes $300 to $400, the termite man $50 to $100, and there
are movers and landscapers and decorators."
Mr. Walsh says his accountant told him of some real estate agents who had been making $200,000 a year but are down to a $15,000
income. He says his firm, with business down 40 percent, has cut staff, too.
Think about others who make a living from the housing industry, including real estate photographers, home inspectors, surveyors and even moving companies.
Campus Safety Talk Rising in Importance
The Seattle P-I says universities are taking their "safety talks" with returning students a lot more seriously this fall.
Parents about to send their children off to college -- some for the
first time -- listened to the University of Washington's Assistant
Police Chief Ray Wittmier address common safety issues at college
campuses.
Underage drinking. Stolen laptops. Walking on campus at night.
This year, though, they heard about yet another rare, but possible, problem: Campus shootings.
The UW and other colleges have routinely tackled safety and crime
prevention at summer orientations. But in the wake of last spring's
Virginia Tech shootings in which 32 people were killed, college
officials are now telling parents how they would handle it should a
similar attack happen on their campus.
In addition to detailing night escorts and emergency blue-light
phones, colleges are also pointing out the public address systems,
resource phone numbers and emergency communications systems.
"It's brought the issue to a whole different level," said Laurie
Prince, director of new student and family programs at Seattle
University, which will give new students an updated public safety
emergency guide this fall.
In some cases, the college officials have brought up the issue of
Virginia Tech on their own, while in others, parents have raised it by
asking questions about how their children would learn of a crisis on
campus.
Officials at Washington State University expected to receive more
inquiries from parents about safety this summer, said Terese King,
director new student programs. And they have.
Truveo: A "Do-it-All" Video Search Engine
I often find myself looking through several search engines to find videos on MySpace, YouTube, Google Videos and more. Now, there is a one-stop shop search engine that collects them all. The revamped
truveo.com is the place to go. It turns up way more videos than any other single video search engine I have used.
Last week
The Wall Street Journal gushed over the site:
[Truevo] operates under the idea that users don't merely search
for video by entering specific words or phrases, like they would when
starting a regular Web search. Instead, Truveo thinks that people don't
often know what they're looking for in online video searches, and
browsing through content helps to retrieve unexpected and perhaps
unintended (but welcome) results. I found that, compared with other
sites, Truveo provided the most useful interface, which showed five
times as many results per page as the others and encouraged me to
browse other clips.
In effect, Truveo combines the browsing experience of a YouTube with the best Web-wide video-search engine I've seen.
The other video-search sites I tested included Google's (www.google.com/video) and Yahoo's (www.video.yahoo.com), as well as Blinkx.com (www.blinkx.com).
None of these three sites do much to encourage browsing; by default
they display as many as 10 results per search on one page and display
the clips in a vertical list, forcing you to scroll down to see them
all. The majority of clips watched on Truveo, Yahoo and Blinkx direct
you to an external link to play the video on its original content
provider's site -- which takes an extra step and often involves
watching an advertisement.
Searching on Google video almost always displays only content from Google and its famously acquired site, YouTube.
PCWorld wrote an article agreeing that the revamped Truveo is a winner.
Trouble With Some Antibacterial SoapsResearchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health found that some antibacterial soaps are no better at preventing infections than
regular soap and may even cause bacteria to become resistant to certain
types of antibiotics.
The researchers' study, titled "Consumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky?" ran in the August edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The researchers looked at triclosan, the main active ingredient in
antibacterial soaps, and found that the chemical did not remove any more bacteria from one's hands during washing than the ingredients used in plain soaps.
Researcher Allison Aiello said: "The soaps containing
triclosan used in the community setting are no more effective than
plain soap at preventing infectious illness symptoms, as well as
reducing bacteria on the hands." The study does note, however, that there is an antibacterial benefit when hospitals use triclosan in higher
concentrations.
Physorg.com writes:
Because of the way the main
active ingredient -- triclosan -- in many antibacterial soaps reacts in
the cells, it may cause some bacteria to become resistant to commonly
used drugs such as amoxicillin, the researchers say. These changes have
not been detected at the population level, but e-coli bacteria bugs
adapted in lab experiments showed resistance when exposed to as much as
0.1 percent wt/vol triclosan soap.
"What we are saying is that these e-coli could survive in the
concentrations that we use in our (consumer formulated) antibacterial
soaps," Aiello said. "What it means for consumers is that we need to be
aware of what's in the products. The soaps containing triclosan used in
the community setting are no more effective than plain soap at
preventing infectious illness symptoms, as well as reducing bacteria on
the hands."
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Is there a relation between spike in home invasions while...
