Maria Ford waited outside Fairfield's downtown railroad station for a shuttle bus to take her back to Westport on Monday afternoon.
The Pelham, N.Y., resident usually takes the train to her job in Fairfield, and was pleased to learn that full service is expected to be restored by Wednesday's morning commute, following much more dire predictions of service disruptions in the wake of Friday's collision between two Metro-North trains in Bridgeport.
"It's hard enough when there aren't any problems," Ford said, of the typical commute by rail. Having to hop on a bus in Westport to complete her journey to Fairfield added about an hour to her trip Monday, she said. She left early, though "and just made it to work. I was here by 9." Ford had left her home at 6:50 a.m.
Overall, though, Ford said the challenges of Monday's travel weren't as terrible as she thought.
Buses stopped at the Fairfield Metro and Fairfield Center stations (but not Southport) about every 20 minutes Monday, bringing passengers back and forth to Westport, the western-most point where there was limited train service to Grand Center Terminal.
But even with the good news that there was only more day of the "modified service," First Selectman Michael Tetreau urged commuters to do on Tuesday what they did Monday, which kept problems at a minimum. Traffic at the town's train stations was greatly reduced as commuters either stayed home or carpooled to stations farther south.
In addition to the buses at two Fairfield depots, buses also picked up train riders in Bridgeport, bringing them to Stamford. According to Metro-North, all of the buses carried about 1,200 riders during the morning peak travel hours and another 1,500 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Overall ridership on the New Haven line was down at least 20 percent Monday, railroad officials estimated.
"It went very smooth," Cecile Girard, a commuter of seven years, said Monday afternoon. The only problem Girard experienced was on the way back to Fairfield. "The driver didn't know where the train station was," she said, "and got off the highway and started driving to the wrong part of Fairfield."
A passenger helped get him pointed in the right direction. "Other than that, it was fine," Girard said, and she knows fine from not fine. In July 2011, Girard was on the Metro-North train that got stuck during a heat wave outside Westport because of an electrical malfunction before limping into the station. She refers to it as the "hot train." "I was on that car," she recalled.
On the New Haven-bound side of the downtown station, Anthony Davis, an employee of Fabricare, was sitting outside on a bench. He'd been on the New York side before 6 a.m. in case any commuters needed to drop off dry cleaning. "Just one person," he said. "On a Monday, it's usually very busy; it's been so dead."
2013年5月20日 星期一
2013年5月19日 星期日
Wind turbine debate leaves village in a spin
Campaigners have renewed their fight to stop wind turbines being put up in their village as more companies look to use the alternative energy source.
Last year Arcus Renewable Energy Consulting Ltd was awarded planning permission to put up two turbines on land at Church Farm, south of Gypsy Lane, in Woolley.
But after being challenged by people living near to the site, the decision by Wakefield Council has been quashed.
Now members of the Woolley Wind Turbine Action Group say two more companies are looking to erect another three turbines on fields close to the site between Haw Top and the Windhill Gate Farm complex at Staincross.
People fear the construction of the turbines will disrupt village life as well as causing noise issues once they are up.
Ruth Sheard, of New Road, Woolley, said she felt the council had ignored its “duty to co-operate” with neighbouring authorities such as Barnsley Council, whose objections to the last application were ignored.
And she felt more research should be done on the impact such developments will have on neighbours.
She said: “It is hardly surprising that the residents of both Woolley and Staincross are up in arms. They have a right to expect more detailed evaluations of cumulative noise effects, and more rigorous assessments of cumulative visual impacts by the case officers concerned, and better strategic planning.”
Resident’s association member Richard Dixon and Woolley parish councillor Carol Robson have warned that a decision to approve wind turbines could lead to a “flurry” of applications.
Ian Thomson, service director for planning at Wakefield Council, said: “Following a high court decision planning approval has been quashed and we are aware other companies are interested.
“We are bound by planning law to process any valid applications we may receive and will carry out appropriate public consultation before making a decision.”
However, this has provoked anger among the Uplawmoor community. Aileen Jackson, chair of the wind farm protest group in Uplawmoor, opposes the four 110 metre turbines.
She said: “Residents would appreciate some form of recompense for the existing turbines, as an offer to become a partner in the proposed extension would be seen as coercion and adds insult to injury.”
Mrs Jackson has already taken a petition to the Scottish public petitions committee, calling for future wind farm planning applications to notify residential properties if they fall within a distance of ten times the height of a turbine.
He told The Extra: “These turbines were to be barely visible from Uplawmoor but poor planning now means these towering machines are all you can see. ”
“Everyone hopes the project will be successful, but it doesn’t change Uplawmoor being blighted by wind farms that were meant to be in the background.”
Ms Sturgeon commented: “The Neilston community wind farm is a great example of community-led regeneration, which is why the Scottish government is supporting this 15.6 million development with a 250,000 investment as a pilot for the renewable energy investment.”
Last year Arcus Renewable Energy Consulting Ltd was awarded planning permission to put up two turbines on land at Church Farm, south of Gypsy Lane, in Woolley.
But after being challenged by people living near to the site, the decision by Wakefield Council has been quashed.
Now members of the Woolley Wind Turbine Action Group say two more companies are looking to erect another three turbines on fields close to the site between Haw Top and the Windhill Gate Farm complex at Staincross.
People fear the construction of the turbines will disrupt village life as well as causing noise issues once they are up.
Ruth Sheard, of New Road, Woolley, said she felt the council had ignored its “duty to co-operate” with neighbouring authorities such as Barnsley Council, whose objections to the last application were ignored.
And she felt more research should be done on the impact such developments will have on neighbours.
She said: “It is hardly surprising that the residents of both Woolley and Staincross are up in arms. They have a right to expect more detailed evaluations of cumulative noise effects, and more rigorous assessments of cumulative visual impacts by the case officers concerned, and better strategic planning.”
Resident’s association member Richard Dixon and Woolley parish councillor Carol Robson have warned that a decision to approve wind turbines could lead to a “flurry” of applications.
Ian Thomson, service director for planning at Wakefield Council, said: “Following a high court decision planning approval has been quashed and we are aware other companies are interested.
“We are bound by planning law to process any valid applications we may receive and will carry out appropriate public consultation before making a decision.”
However, this has provoked anger among the Uplawmoor community. Aileen Jackson, chair of the wind farm protest group in Uplawmoor, opposes the four 110 metre turbines.
She said: “Residents would appreciate some form of recompense for the existing turbines, as an offer to become a partner in the proposed extension would be seen as coercion and adds insult to injury.”
Mrs Jackson has already taken a petition to the Scottish public petitions committee, calling for future wind farm planning applications to notify residential properties if they fall within a distance of ten times the height of a turbine.
He told The Extra: “These turbines were to be barely visible from Uplawmoor but poor planning now means these towering machines are all you can see. ”
“Everyone hopes the project will be successful, but it doesn’t change Uplawmoor being blighted by wind farms that were meant to be in the background.”
Ms Sturgeon commented: “The Neilston community wind farm is a great example of community-led regeneration, which is why the Scottish government is supporting this 15.6 million development with a 250,000 investment as a pilot for the renewable energy investment.”
2013年3月25日 星期一
Fix The Text In Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
When Nintendo first launched the 3DS handheld, the company focused its hype machine on one major aspect of the device: Its 3D functionality. In truth, it's very impressive that Nintendo's engineers were able to design a portable gaming machine that can offer 3D graphics without requiring players to strap on bulky glasses, but since its debut most players have discovered that the 3D - no matter how technically impressive - is more of a hassle than the promised future of handheld gaming. Speaking personally, I leave the 3D slider set to "off," only switching it on periodically to check how well a developer has implemented the feature in whichever game I might be reviewing at the moment.
Now, assuming you're like me and do the same with your slider, you may have noticed that the in-game text found in the 3DS incarnation of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate looks terrible. It's not quite unreadable, but it does look smudged and should look far better. The problem here is that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate has been programmed to render a 3D image, regardless of what your slider is telling the game to display.
As a result, the game effectively creates two versions of whatever the 3DS is supposed to display and tosses them onto the screen slightly offset so as to create the 3D effect. The good news is that knowing this makes it quite simple to fix the issue, and as a bonus this trick will also make the entire game look sharper and improve your in-game frame rate by up to 50 percent - which is very helpful in a game like Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate which demands precise timing.
When you first fire up Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, pay a visit to the main menu's "Options" screen. Here you'll notice a toggle for 3D functionality. This is switched to "on" by default, and most players leave it that way, thinking that simply setting the 3D slider to "off" will remove the (oft-literal) headaches of the handheld's 3D. You're going to want to switch this to "off." This will manually force Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate to no longer render that second image, thus removing the smudge effect from the in-game text and freeing up the 3DS' processor which will no longer attempt to render two images, despite your slider's insistence that you don't want to see such things.
Keep in mind that this simple fix does come with one caveat: Once you've switched the 3D toggle to "off," the game will obviously no longer be in 3D. Thus, turning the 3D slider all the way to maximum will have no effect. This isn't a problem if you disliked the 3D in the first place, but it's something to keep in mind.
Oh, and before you ask, there's sadly no text fix for the Wii U version of the game. That's an entirely separate issue that doesn't hinge on simply hitting "A" in the appropriate options menu. The good news is that it doesn't seem to affect most players, but the bad news is that most theories hold that the problem isn't with the game so much as it's with your television. Should you buy a new HDTV specifically to play Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate? No, that would be silly. Besides, it'd be far cheaper to kill a Giant Jaggi and a couple Ludroths for the materials necessary to craft one yourself.
Now, assuming you're like me and do the same with your slider, you may have noticed that the in-game text found in the 3DS incarnation of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate looks terrible. It's not quite unreadable, but it does look smudged and should look far better. The problem here is that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate has been programmed to render a 3D image, regardless of what your slider is telling the game to display.
As a result, the game effectively creates two versions of whatever the 3DS is supposed to display and tosses them onto the screen slightly offset so as to create the 3D effect. The good news is that knowing this makes it quite simple to fix the issue, and as a bonus this trick will also make the entire game look sharper and improve your in-game frame rate by up to 50 percent - which is very helpful in a game like Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate which demands precise timing.
When you first fire up Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, pay a visit to the main menu's "Options" screen. Here you'll notice a toggle for 3D functionality. This is switched to "on" by default, and most players leave it that way, thinking that simply setting the 3D slider to "off" will remove the (oft-literal) headaches of the handheld's 3D. You're going to want to switch this to "off." This will manually force Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate to no longer render that second image, thus removing the smudge effect from the in-game text and freeing up the 3DS' processor which will no longer attempt to render two images, despite your slider's insistence that you don't want to see such things.
Keep in mind that this simple fix does come with one caveat: Once you've switched the 3D toggle to "off," the game will obviously no longer be in 3D. Thus, turning the 3D slider all the way to maximum will have no effect. This isn't a problem if you disliked the 3D in the first place, but it's something to keep in mind.
Oh, and before you ask, there's sadly no text fix for the Wii U version of the game. That's an entirely separate issue that doesn't hinge on simply hitting "A" in the appropriate options menu. The good news is that it doesn't seem to affect most players, but the bad news is that most theories hold that the problem isn't with the game so much as it's with your television. Should you buy a new HDTV specifically to play Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate? No, that would be silly. Besides, it'd be far cheaper to kill a Giant Jaggi and a couple Ludroths for the materials necessary to craft one yourself.
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