As BART workers continue to strike for the first time in 16 years, there’s still no word on when the Bay Area‘s transit system will be back in order. While most days the train is lively and hectic – especially when this naked man accosted riders – right now things are eerily still. BuzzFeed has an amusing compilation of then and now photos, showing side-by-side comparisons of BART before and during the strike. Meanwhile, economists estimate the shutdown is costing more than $73 million per day.
Brookland! America’s Hippest Theme Park
Upright Citizens Brigade’s latest parody video takes a shot at Brooklyn hipsterdom. The comedians turn trendy neighborhoods like Williamsburg into Brookland!, the place where adults who don’t want to grow up can eat pizza every day — while playing kick ball. Arcades and candy stores are on every corner, subways and taxis turn into roller coaster rides, and the proper skateboard age rises up and up. It all seems pretty amusing until the comedians point out seasons passes start at $57,000.
New York City Installs Pedestrian Maps (Finally)
New York is introducing wayfinding map kiosks throughout the city, a godsend for anyone who has ever emerged from a subway exit disoriented (don’t be ashamed, that’s pretty much everyone who has set foot in the city). The maps are not only helpful, but also match the graphic language established in the 1960s for the subway system, as Michael Bierut from design team Pentagram explains to Wired:
“All of this was deliberately echoing the way the subways look… We wanted people to be able to ride the subway, come out and orient themselves.”
The new monolith-style kiosks display two maps, a zoomed-in glimpse of what’s within a five-minute radius, and an overview of the location in relation to a larger patch of the city. The first kiosk was installed last week in Chinatown, with more to follow soon. In a city where an estimated 30 percent of all trips are made by foot, we can’t be the only ones excited this subway improvement is here. With the recent addition of free solar-powered cellphone charging stations, the city seems to be getting more tourist-friendly every day.
How Hot Is It In Death Valley? Hot Enough To Draw Heat-Seeking Tourists
Hotels in Death Valley are packed with visitors wanting to experience some of the hottest temperatures ever measured on the planet. As a historic heat wave engulfs the West, Death Valley hit 124 degrees on Saturday, and could eventually tie or surpass the 134-degree record it made in the summer of 1913.
Chris Carlson, an Associated Press photographer, explains what it’s like to be in triple-digit heat:
I know what to expect in Death Valley: Unrelenting heat so bad it makes my eyes hurt, as if someone is blowing a hair dryer in my face. I don’t leave CDs or electronics in the car because they could melt or warp. I always carry bottles of water.
But I still make mistakes. I forgot my oven mitts, the desert driving trick I learned as a teenager after burning my hands too many times on the steering wheel. And my rental car is black, adding several degrees to the outside temperature of 127. When the digital thermometer at the Furnace Creek visitor center ticks up to 128, a few people jump out of their cars to take a picture.
But how does a picture prove you were in a place with extreme heat? Tourists are having fun frying eggs on rocks, baking cookies in their rental cars and watching their shoes melt. If that sounds like fun to you, there are two hotels in Death Valley. Be sure to call ahead and ask about vacancies. This is one place you don’t want to get stranded.
Chicago Hops On The Bike Share Craze
Chicago has put a fleet of 700 sets of wheels on the pavement as part of the city’s first bike share program, Divvy. Sixty-five solar-powered docking stations now dot the area within a few miles of the lakefront, and as many as 4,000 bikes and 400 stations are expected to pop up across the city by next spring.
The bike share’s goal is to provide Chicagoans with an additional transportation option, but at $7 per day there’s no doubt tourists will be using pedal power to explore the city, too. As with other bike shares, the heavy-duty commuter bikes come with built-in-lights and a small front basket, and can be returned to any station after a jaunt around town.
[via Skift]