Severe Delays - London Underground Tube Status API

I spent most of my holiday break relaxing and catching up on little projects around the house. I did manage to get some time together to build a service that I have wanted for awhile.

As many of you know, I wrote a little iGoogle gadget to display the current status of the London Underground network (the Tube). It worked well, but relied on a backend that I didn't have any administrative control over. So, when the TFL changed their page layout, which they seem to do a couple of times a year, it took awhile to get things fixed.

The last time this happened, I dropped an email to Malcolm Barclay (author of the great iPhone TubeStatus app) and asked him if he would like to collaborate on this problem. He agreed, and we were off.

I put together a source code repository and a site at www.severedelays.org. The API is still a little new, but I've been running my iGoogle gadget on it for about a week now with no serious trouble. It's pretty easy to use and I provide data in two formats XML and JSON.

To make a request you fetch the following url:

http://status.severedelays.org/uk-lon/current?format=xml

This will give you an XML formatted doc with all of our most recent information (right now that is just tube lines, but more is coming). If you prefer JSON then change the format to json.

The next release, which will probably come out in a week or so, will include information for tube, dlr, and London Overground, as well as the messages for each station. There will be an API for getting at particular pieces of data (/uk-lon/lines/current or /uk-lon/stations/current).

You might ask why I've got the uk-lon identifier in the URL. That is where you come in. Do you want to include data from your own network? I would love to hear from you. It would be great to get information from any and all mass transit networks, and even road congestion data too.

This service runs on top of Google's App Engine. I hope you find this useful, and please drop me a line if you have any questions.

More Protests

Last night and tonight have brought  more protests in London. Last night there was a large demonstration at Trafalger Square, and the an attempted march toward Kensington, but apparently the police blocked that from taking place. The protesters reassembled at High Street Kensington for a couple of hours in front of the Israeli embassy.

Jenna and I saw the protests on our way to get groceries last night. There were a lot of angry people in the road, and the police had traffic on Kensington High Street blocked off. As we were watching the protests, people started throwing things towards the police, or maybe towards the embassy (the police were standing between the crowd and the embassy so it's hard to say).

A line of about 100 police in full riot gear moved in, and that was when Jenna and I decided to move. We didn't want to be between the police line and the crowd. Over the next hour or so the police segmented and dispursed the crowd.

There was a new demonstration tonight, but it didn't have the same force of the group last night, and organizers are promising another large demonstration next weekend.

Third day of protests at home

This is the third day of protests at the Israeli Embassy down the street from my flat. I snapped this picture on my way to get some groceries this afternoon.

Murder Rates Compared

This morning The Times published an article that mentioned the high murder rate in South Africa in the context of that country hosting the 2010 World Cup. The Times quoted the absolute number of homicides in South Africa last year, "18,487". Unfortunately, without context, that number is completely meaningless. I wanted to know what that number really meant for day to day life.

To help with that I found a page on Wikipedia that compiles the homicide rate for several countries per 100000 people. That changed the South African number to 38.6. Then I compared that rate to the rates in several countries I have visited in the last year.

This chart gives much greater context for understanding how incredibly high the murder rate in South Africa really is.

Lighter

I just went through security at BGI in Barbados and had a sad experience with airport security. I was carrying a lighter in my carry-on that my wife had given me for my birthday last year. It was a pretty nice one that hadn't been cheap.

The reason I was carrying it in my bag was because my airline (Virgin Atlantic) forbids lighters in checked luggage. Given this rule, I packed it in my bag and headed through security only to fond that I'm not allowed to tale a lighter through security in Barbados.

Essentially the authorities have set up a system where you can bring a lighter into the country, but aren't allowed to tale it home. In fact I learned later that the only way I could have gotten it home was to ship it home as a parcel.

So, be warned.

Why I Voted No on Proposition 8

I voted in California by Absentee Ballot a few weeks ago, and I've been talking about my votes in this space over the last few days.

Today, I want to talk about why I voted NO on Proposition 8. For my friends who don't live in California, the Wikipedia definition of Prop 8 is:

Proposition 8 is an initiative measure on the 2008 California General Election ballot titled Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry. If passed, the proposition would "change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California." A new section would be added stating "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

In essence, Prop 8 takes away the rights of same sex couples to marry in California. I find this not only un-American, but disturbing at a very deep level. Prop 8 is bigotry codified in law. Americans should be better than this. We should know that in our country all people are equal under the law and have the same rights under the law.

I was so proud when I read that my employer publicly took a position to oppose this proposition:

However, while there are many objections to this proposition -- further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.

This morning, I saw a link to a video that Lawrence Lessig made about his opposition to this initiative. Take a look at what Lessig has to say on Prop 8:

Why I Voted for Obama

There are many, many reasons that I voted for Obama a few weeks ago. Today I want to share a video with you from a campaign event in Ohio.



"There are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-American than anywhere else. We're one nation. All of us proud. All of us patriots."

Why I Voted for Obama

I voted awhile ago by absentee ballot, and I voted for Obama. There are a lot of reasons, but the main one is education not experience. When I interview someone, the first thing I look at is where they went to school and how they did there.

Why do I do this? Because the school you go to is a great filtering mechanism. If schools didn't filter we would all go to Harvard, Berkeley, and MIT. We would all go to the best schools because we want to ensure that we get the best education. So, while the school a candidate went to isn't the only determining factor, it's an important one.

Then I look at how that person did at school. Did he graduate at the top of his class at Harvard? Did he graduate at all? Did the candidate work hard in school? That's important. The only reason a person has to work hard at school is if they are motiviated. For the first time in a person's life, they are on their own, and no one is really pushing them anymore. There is no external scrutiny, and that tells me something about their character.

Now, I apply those decision criteria to the people running for office, as summarized on this blog:

Barack Obama:

• Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
• Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:

• University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
• Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.
John McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:

• Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
• North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
• University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
• Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
• University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

 I have to say that is a pretty stark difference, and that difference is one of the biggest reasons for me to vote for Obama. I want smart people in office. I want people who are smarter and have worked harder than me to represent me to the world.

Reading Books on iPhone 2.0

I've always been a fan of ebooks, and have read them for years on Palm devices with software from eReader.com.

I wrote a short article a year ago about reading ebooks on the iPhone, and another one last September on using Books.app, but the conclusion in each of those cases is that the iPhone would be a great platform for ebooks, but the software wasn't there yet.

I'm really glad to say that the software is "there" now with the release of several software packages on the iPhone. In particular I've been using eReader, and Stanza for reading on my iPhone, and have been very pleased with both.

In each case the app provides a full screen text view, with a tap or slide motion to turn the pages. Both are extremely easy to use. eReader works with all of my books from eReader.com, and allows me to download books that I have purchased in the past. Stanza will read several formats, but it's biggest use for me is a library of free out of copyright texts that I would otherwise pay for at eReader.

Of the two I would say that Stanza has the best UI, but eReader has the best book selection (by virtue of their online store). They are both free in the iTunes store, so give them a try and let me know which you like best.