Tube Strike April 2008 - What might happen if it
goes ahead

post from Going Underground's Blog on 31 March 2008 10:05:00 PM. © Going Underground's Blog

Firstly, let me say this post is not an April Fool. As you can imagine I've had A LOT of traffic to the blog with people trying to find out more about the planned London Underground Strike for April 2008. It's currently set for 6.30pm on Sunday, April 6th 2008 running until 6.30pm on Wednesday, April 9th 2008. The strike action is proposed by members of the RMT and members of TSSA.

Richard is a regular commenter to my blog, is clearly in the know and makes the following speculations as to how the strike may or may not affect your journey:

"The RMT strike will go ahead. They couldn't possibly resolve eight issues in a few days even if they really wanted to.

If TSSA back down, as history would suggest they will, most stations will remain open and most trains will run. Station staff are allowed to work overtime and there will be sufficient numbers, along with managers to keep most open. To my knowledge, RMT members were balloted on whether they wanted to strike but not warned that it would be a 72-hour strike. This is only anecdotal but I've yet to speak to anyone who takes the RMT line on ALL these issues. I would expect a fair amount of dissent. Although there is a stigma about 'scabbing' I get the impression that staff feel very little reluctance these days to slag off the unions, whether or not they belong to one.

I think about one-third of tube drivers are in the RMT, about one-half in ASLEF, the remainder not in a union. Drivers are not allowed to work overtime so a striking RMT driver's train will have to be cancelled unless a 'spare' driver is available (every day there are some spare drivers booked to cover absence). But even if all the RMT drivers 'obey' the strike - which is highly unlikely - there shouldn't be a crippling impact on most lines.

Lots of passengers will expect the worst so you may even have a bit more room than usual even though the intervals between trains will be greater.

I should add that a lot of station supervisors are in TSSA. If they walk out then there will be problems!"

I think they are very useful tips. If BOTH TSSA & RMT unions don't back down or London Underground aren't able to come to an agreement with both - there will be serious problems across the whole Tube system. If it's just the RMT, less so, but it's still not going to be pretty.

But as usual with any London Underground industrial action, please look at TfL's website to see the actual disruptions that are taking place on the day. I know that many of us will need to plan ahead and I'll try to keep you as updated as far as I possibly can too. Thanks.

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http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/04/tube-strike-april-2008-what-might.
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Lunch at Balaw-Balaw Restaurant in Angono

post from Ivan About Town on 31 March 2008 08:50:00 PM. © Ivan About Town

For lunch, we visited the Balaw-Balaw Folk Art Museum of the late Perdigon Vocalan. It's more known as the Balaw-Balaw Restaurant which serves both local specialties and exotic foods. For the brave, try ordering uok (larva of beetles that are found in coconut trees cooked as adobo or steamed in tamarind fruit and tomatoes just like escargot), nilasing na palaka (frogs marinated in wine and cooked as adobo), kamaru (a popular Kapampangan cricket[...]

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http://www.ivanhenares.com/2008/04/lunch-at-balaw-balaw-restaurant-in.html

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Virtual Tube Ride may help treat Paranoia

post from Going Underground's Blog on 31 March 2008 08:35:00 PM. © Going Underground's Blog

A virtual reality ride on the London Underground may help treat paranoia, experts at King's College London believe.

Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London have developed a programme recreating a journey where a person interacts with other travellers. The British Journal of Psychiatry found that 30% of the 200 people studied had paranoid thoughts, with (not surprisingly) those anxious and worried most likely to do so.

The researchers believe the programme could be used to assess and treat people in combination with counselling.

Dr Daniel Freeman said: "Paranoid thoughts are often triggered by ambiguous events such as people looking in one's direction or hearing laughter in a room. But it is very difficult to recreate such social interactions.

"Virtual reality allows us to do just that, to look at how different people interpret exactly the same social situation. It is a uniquely powerful method to detect those liable to misinterpret other people."

The study funded by The Wellcome Trust had participants wearing headsets. They were taken on a four minute virtual Tube ride. Volunteers walked around a carriage filled with "virtual" passengers who behaved like real people.

The "avatars" - breathed, looked around, and sometimes met the gaze of the participants. Though all the characters were designed to be neutral, showing neither overt hostility nor friendliness, the volunteers interpreted the same characters in very different ways.

One participant who experienced paranoid thoughts said: "There's something dodgy about one guy. Like he was about to do something - assault someone, plant a bomb, say something not nice to me, be aggressive."

A woman said: "Felt trapped between two men in the doorway. As a woman I'm a lot more suspicious of men. Didn't like the close proximity of the men. The guy opposite may have had sexual intent, manipulation or whatever."

Another said: "There was a guy spooking me out - tried to get away from him."

Dr Freeman said the results suggest that paranoia was a quite normal emotion: "In the past, only those with a severe mental illness were thought to experience paranoid thoughts, but now we know that this is simply not the case."

Read The Full Article:
http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/04/virtual-tube-ride-may-help-treat.h
tml

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Art gallery overload in Angono, Rizal

post from Ivan About Town on 31 March 2008 07:34:00 PM. © Ivan About Town

Angono, Rizal is indeed the Art Capital of the Philippines. It's actually the center of an artists haven which includes the neighboring towns of Binangonan and Morong, an area which abounds with art galleries, museums, shrines and studios.We went around Angono today courtesy of Havila since they wanted to show us the wonderful and conducive environment their communities are built in. So after a brief tour of their various developments, we went to[...]

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http://www.ivanhenares.com/2008/03/art-gallery-overload-in-angono-rizal.html

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Summer 2008

post from Philippine Travel Blog - Discover Philippines 7,107 Amazing Islands on 31 March 2008 07:06:26 PM. © Philippine Travel Blog - Discover Philippines 7,107 Amazing Islands

summer is here.. and i bet everyone has their own plans where to go, where to spend their summer with their friends, family and love-ers.. ouch! as for me no more boracay this year.. primarily because of BUDGET CONSTRAINTS.. ouch again.. and anyway there are other cheaper options.. what is paradise anyway if you’ve got [...]

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Save Japan Probe! James is being deported!

post from Japan Probe on 31 March 2008 07:05:12 PM. © Japan Probe

I got an odd phone call this morning from a man with a heavy accent, but not the usual Japanese variety I tend to encounter. Basically, what I gathered is that James, founder of Japan Probe, is in big trouble.As some of you know or have noticed, James is actually Zhuang, from Beijing. His [...]

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Tips for Advertising Your Vacation Rental
Property

post from CapeLinks Cape Cod on 31 March 2008 06:59:00 PM. © CapeLinks Cape Cod

Cape Cod vacation rental property owners often overlook simple things that can be the difference between booked and unbooked weeks. Below is the secret to advertising your vacation rental property online via paid and free websites as well as some advice about offline advertising. These tips are geared towards owners of Cape Cod summer rentals, but they can be applied to vacation properties anywhere.

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http://www.capelinks.com/cape-cod/main/entry/advertising-your-vacation-rental-pro
perty/

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Meet the World’s Dirtiest Cities

Where are The World’s Dirtiest Cities? Forbes recently came up with a list. The 25 cities deemed the world’s dirtiest won their places on the list with disease-infested water supplies, life-threatening air pollution, plentiful raw sewage and rank public sanitation problems. Drum roll, puh-lease. The cities are: 1. Baku, Azerbaijan (pictured) 2. Dhaka, Bangladesh 3. Antananarivo, [...]

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http://blog.travelpost.com/2008/03/31/meet-the-worlds-dirtiest-cities/

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The Best of Cheap Stuff in Berlin [Berlin]

The weak dollar. It brings scary things to mind, such as economy-class travel, early-bird specials, and (this just sent a shiver down my spine) McDonalds. You imagine yourself window shopping (only), depending on the subway for cultural intake, and gazing wistfully at those lingering in cozy cafes while you drink beer at sidewalk imbiss with the unfortunate Hartz IV recipients (basically the long-time unemployed on welfare). These are the depths to which, we fear, our measly American dollars are going to take us. But Berlin is here to show you that poor can also be sexy! The following lists the city's ultra-schnäppchen (little bargains).