Japanese Rail Pointing and Calling Why?

Recently I was surfing youtube and decided to watch some videos of Tokyo train operations, one of the most unusual sights I saw was platform staff saluting the operator and the operator pointing and verbally stating what he was pointing at.

Japanese rail systems are known for being the safest to ride worldwide.  Why?  They take safety to a level beyond just looking at signals and communicating with the control towers.  Each time a train or subway enters certain stations operators and staff point out things that need to be done or checked to ensure safety standards are met.

The system is almost perfect, accidents are very rare and from what I have read amount to a low of 15%  What that is based on I have no idea.  My guess is it is based on the amount of trips and people in transit, rated at about 12 billion passengers country wide.  Somehow I think it is based on the number of trips.  The goal is to reduce errors that can cause mistakes, which in turn reduces accidents in the system.

There is not much in the way of detailed explanation, most likely to avoid risk of some prankster disrupting the routine of the operator and staff.   You can read and also look at videos of staff doing the calling via youtube just key in Japanese pointing and calling.

Here is a video of a driver using the system as he operates his train.

BTW the system is actually being used in New York City.

Cliff T.

The Russian Woodbpecker

When I got my radio license back in 1982 used to hang out in a radio room at the Montreal Association for the Blind.  I would tune the ham radio bands and hear this really weird noise, it sounded like a fast tapping noise.  I found out later on that this was an array that was built by the Russians in the Ukraine called Duga.  We just called it the Russian Woodpecker.

A lot of people had many theories about the signal one of the most interesting, an attempt to control the mind.  The only thing it did to my brain was annoy the hell out of me during the times I wanted to make radio contacts.  It also annoyed a lot of other people too.  It got so bad that equipment had to be built that filtered out the sound of the fast tapping.

The clip listed here of the radar in action.  And yes its annoying but eerie and kind of cool too.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOMVdOc9UbE.

There are other radars that can be heard as well and apparently the woodpecker is back!  Though I have not heard it, yet.

To get an idea of the hugeness of this thing here is a picture of the site.

The good thing that came out of this radar system and others like it, well we are still here aren't we?  The system of course was developed to detect missiles not control minds.

Wikipedia has a pretty good article about this radar installation as well.

Enjoy the read and see you sooner rather than later!  Yes I AM back writing my blogs again.

C. T.

BRB

Hi you probably are wondering where I have been.

Well it's been busy for the last few months and I just have not had time to write.  But, I will be back soon.

I PROMISE

C. T.

Keep Calm And.....Enjoy This Cool Aritcle I Wrote

Have you ever wondered where the Keep Calm And messages came from.  A quick flip through on the internet brought me to a site on Wikipedia that explains it.

According to Wikipedia the following is the reason for the poster:

Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for the Second World War. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities.

In 1939 and Germany began it's assault on Europe soon England was the target of the Luftwaffe, the great Battle of Britain fought in 1940 from July to October saw massive bombing raids launched against targets all across England, most notable were the attacks on London.

The Keep Calm And Carry On message was intended to bolster the British people during this dark time in history.

The poster has been brought back and has morphed into many forms.  Even app developers have gotten into the game, creating apps that people can use to create they're own poster and even put them on T-Shirts.

Below is the original poster from World War 2.