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What a concept! NY gave up on those buttons-- we are a lawless bunch of jaywalks..
mayor rudy has tried (he was a crossing guard in school) to get us to cross only at the corners, and with the lights, but its like holding back the tide!
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Carpal Tunnel
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TEd SAid: Many years ago, my sister, an amateur thespian, told me that when a director wants background crowd noises it is customary to tell those extras producing said noise to say rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb to one another.
That's where it came from, old chum. The best take-off of it I ever saw was a sketch in a British sketch comedy called "At Last The 1948 Show". It had a number of wonderful features, including:
- The self-confessed "lovely Amy McDonald"
- Marty Feldman at his goggle-eyed best
- Some of the most beautifully-crafted comedy sketches I've seen, before or since.
One recurring sketch occurred, which I suspect was thrown in to fill out the time available, was a bunch of people standing around saying "Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb ..." to each other for no apparent reason. Of course, this was directly linked to its use as described by TEd above.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Helen, the voice that launched a thousand quips, opined: What a concept! NY gave up on those buttons-- we are a lawless bunch of jaywalks
So are we, sweetheart. It's just that in New York, as I learned to my cost, it isn't individuals crossing against the lights, dodging cars with balletic grace to the tune of car horns as it is here in Zild, it's whole sections of the Manhattan daytime population doing it at once ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Sorry to burst your bubble there Rhu but I have it on good authority (gentleman who used to work for the city and install those light posts) that most of these buttons are not even plugged in. They are called <patience makers>. By letting people think that they have influence over the lights they wait at the corner longer, and jaywalk less.
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Carpal Tunnel
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PREVIOUS POST : Sorry to burst your bubble there Rhu but I have it on good authority (gentleman who used to work for the city and install those light posts) that most of these buttons are not even plugged in. They are called "patience makers." By letting people think that they have influence over the lights they wait at the corner longer, and jaywalk less.
THOSE S-O-Bs!
That tears it!! I have just converted to jaywalking. Crossing at corners is dangerous anyway. Ever seen a dog cross street? They do it mid-block where they can see the traffic. I recall nearly being run down by a driver who made a LEGAL "right turn on red" while I was LEGALLY crossing.
That patience light really makes me mad!
grumble grumble.
WOW
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old hand
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old hand
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most of these buttons are not even plugged in...
I know for sure that the buttons at the crossings near where I live are connected. More generally: some measures taken for our collective safety are best kept secret - in view of certain "amateurs of Russian roulette", which cause disproportionate cost to the community.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
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the crossings near where I live are connectedMy sister lived in Switzerland for a few years. Her boyfriend (also a Werner) used to smilingly say "Swiss efficiency" when I remarked how things actually worked properly (crossings, trains, elections, etc). The joys of a well-regulated democracy, eh W? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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>a driver who made a LEGAL "right turn on red" while I was LEGALLY crossing.
Wow:
Not that it would make a damned bit of difference to you if you got squished, but it is illegal to make a right turn on red when there's a pedestrian in the crosswalk. Even if, Heaven forfend, you are following orders and running when the sign clearly says "Don't walk." Running certainly is NOT walking, so it's OK, right???
While pedestrians always have the right of way, sometimes they are dead right.
Our English and other correspondents who drive on the other side of the road (notice I didn't say the wrong side) will verify that a New York cabby almost changed the course of world history back in the 30s when he ran over Winston Churchill, who had looked to his right when stepping off a kerb (and I even spelled it right!) rather than to his left.
A decade too long ago, I was in Ireland on a cycling holiday. After something like 20 hours in airports or airplanes, I was cycling from Shannon towards Limerick, in early afternoon, safely hugging the left kerb. I stopped at a traffic light and looked to my right at the car about two feet from my elbow. "What," I said to myself, "is that dog doing driving that car?" Proper rest is a prerequisite for making my brain work!!!
And apparently accidents such as that that almost took Churchill from us are also a matter of concern in Dublin. There, painted on the sidewalks, are instructions to look to the right rather than to the left when crossing the street.
TEd
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TEd said: And apparently accidents such as that that almost took Churchill from us are also a matter of concern in Dublin. There, painted on the sidewalks, are instructions to look to the right rather than to the left when crossing the street.
It always takes me about three days to remember to look in the right (left) direction when I go to the States at crossings. Why can't they drive on the same side of the road as us? Note: This was a rhetorical question and does not need responding to ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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