the world is your acorn

It looks like the T (oldest subway system in the country?) in Boston is finally catching up to the 21st century along with Washington D.C., and Chicago. They began by implementing the new “Charlie Ticket” system today at Airport Station on the Blue line. This automated fare system will free the poor folk from their tiny token booths and allow them to walk around and help travelers in need of support. It will also just make much more sense. No longer do we have to keep a bunch of tokens in our pockets along with loose change in case we want to get on the train. One card, which works on a debit system, will take care of us. The T wants for it to be usable at T kiosks like Dunkin and newsstands as well. Too bad it won’t be more widely implemented until 2006, when we will be in Nashville, home of … well, no underground public transportation.

The CharlieTicket/New Customer Service and Station Enhancements on the Blue Line [mbta website]
New MBTA fare system debuts at Airport station [Boston Globe]

YAY - the courts are clearly ruling on some really important stuff these days…

Supreme Court Allows Direct Shipment of Wine [Slashdot]

Dr. Elisabeth A. Lloyd, a philosopher of science and professor of biology at Indiana University, takes on 20 leading theories and finds them wanting. The female orgasm, she argues in the book, “The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution,” has no evolutionary function at all.

A Critic Takes On the Logic of Female Orgasm

Sony revealed information about its Playstation 3 yesterday in a press event in Culver City. Woah. That’s all I can say. It will be released in Spring 2006, which means I’d better get that new desktop this fall so that I can start saving up for the PS3!

Engadget & Joystiq’s live coverage of Sony’s PlayStation 3 launch [Engadget & Joystiq]
Sony Unveils Details About PlayStation 3 [New York Times]
PlayStation 3 announced for 2006 [Gamespot News]

A year ago today gay marriages were officially legal in the state of Massacusetts. Some 6000 couples have been married since (most of them women, of course). Of course there is still all kinds of opposition, and there are still amendments banning gay marriage in the works. Still though, gay people have gotten married, some under the watchful eyes of God, and the world has yet to come to an end. How puzzling.

First Anniversary: A Year After Gay Marriage [Boston.com, Special Report]