USA Bus Lines

How many signaled intersections along Pace or CTA bus routes have right turn lanes or the space to add one? Pace and CTA bus intersection jump signals.

Pace and metro routes to the college of dupage from elmhurst IL? I live in elmhurst IL and i want to take the pace bus or the train to school to save gas and free up a car at home, what would be the route/buses and train that i would have to take to get there in time for a 9 am class during the week?

this is a question for people that are familliar with the pace bus route in geneva and st charles? what bus picks up and drops off at the bus stop on delnore and route 25 in st charles im talking about the delnore branch not the hospital

Chicago Pace Bus Route from Chicago Ave. in Naperville to York Rd. in Oak Brook? I'm looking for a pace bus route that will take me from Chicago Ave. in Naperville to York Road by 22nd Street in Oak Brook. I already went on the Pace website and couldn't find one so don't tell me to go there it was too confusing. I'm just getting really frustrated with gas prices and I don't think I'm going to use my car during the week anymore.

What Pace bus would take you from the Des Plaines Metra Station to Golf Mill Mall? Hey guys :) I need to get to Golf Mill Mall and the only way I can is if I take the bus, but I do not know what bus route to take from the DP Metra station to Golf mill. Does anyone know??? Thanks!

Castle Shaped Restaurant on 9th Street along 381 Pace Bus Route in Chicago? There is a restaurant shaped like a colorful castle or kids play house, far west on 95th street here in the Chicago area (in a south west burb along 95th street). Its past western because you've got take the 381 bus there. By the looks of it, I assume it's kids play center/indoor amusement park for kids. I passed it a million times when I was booked to work in Bedford Park but never remembered the cross street and can't remember the name. Does anybody now what plcae I'm talking about?

Chicago pace bus does the run till 11am? I need to take it from toyata park to 63 in harlem to 53 in midlothian.Do they run this late?I tried checking the site but cant seem to find the schedules/routes thing.help plz.

To anyone who lives in/around Des Plaines,IL--does anyone know what bus route to take to get to Randhurst mall? I'm trying to get from the Des Plaines Metra station to Randhurst mall with Pace.Does anyone know the route?

Public transportation in southwest suburbs of Chicago? I live in Downers grove, I take the pace bus route 834 to yorktown mall in lombard, IL. http://www.pacebus.com/sub/schedules/route_detail.asp?RouteNo=834 I'm trying to get to Lombard Metra Station, these are the connecting bus routes. http://www.pacebus.com/sub/schedules/route_detail.asp?RouteNo=674 http://www.pacebus.com/sub/schedules/route_detail.asp?RouteNo=313 The route 674 says that it goes to the Lombard Metra from Yorktown condiminiums, but I don't know where they are? help??

How long do you think it will take me to walk approx. 6 miles? Hi, It looks like I will have to walk to school tomorrow because my dad is a jerk. I map quested it to see how many miles it was and its about 6 miles away. So I was wondering how long it would take me to walk there if I walked at a normal/slightly faster pace. I tried looking for bus routes but i wont be able to get a pass/card this late for tomorrow morning. Thanks for any help.....

I have family coming into town and need help to translate travel directions into Mandarin? Help to translate travel directions into Mandarin (pinyin) ? Pace Bus Take bus Route 250 from O'Hare to the Davis Street CTA station in downtown Evanston (about half-a-mile from campus). Subway (the "El") First take the CTA Blue Line (Loop) train from O'Hare to the Washington stop in Chicago's Loop. Exit the train to the Red Line (Howard) train's Washington stop. Next take the Red Line (Howard) train north to the Howard stop. Exit the train and transfer to the Purple Line (Linden) train. Then take the Purple Line train north to the Foster stop in Evanston. Walk east on Foster about two blocks until you arrive at Northwestern University. By car the trip will be 17 miles and will take approximately 35 minutes. The main airport exit will become highway I-190 East. Continue on I-190 for one-and-a-half miles. Take the 1C exit to merge onto I-294 North toward Rockford/Milwaukee/I-90/Tollway. You will pay a toll. Continue on I-294 for four miles. Exit onto East Dempster Street/US-14. Continue on Dempster Street for 10 miles. Turn left at Chicago Avenue. Continue on Chicago Avenue for less than a mile. You will arrive at Northwestern University at Chicago Avenue and Sheridan Road.

worthy of a trip on the Circle line around Manhatten? Or is Staen Island ferry better?? what of Bus M41 & B88? We were advised to take the Loop 1( bus M41) and Loop 2 ( bus 88 ) routes as well as the M5 bus routes to see & and take in as much of the city as poss, any other New Yorkers out there willing to share some good tips with us, like Jamerican Steve ( excellent site, well done . I am going to use your tips ! )Many thanks from an over eager traveller soon to be pacing up and down the Big Apple for 8 days !

would a shy guy do these when he's interested? am i giving enough hints? we've been friends for some time already. some things he does include.. telling me stories and asking qns about me when we do talk.he smiles and mumbles alot when he talks to me. and when we walk together, he slows his pace. changed his bus route for mine once and made like he wanted my no but kept his phone. he avoids physical contact and when other guys talk to me he stares alot. he texted me continuously for 4 days though he had an exam and always ended with a qn. ok, he stared alot at me in class all year, he'd choose seats opposite me or somethin. when i used to catch him, he'd look away. now, he holds my gaze. we hardly talk in class..and i'm too embarrassed to say hi or look at him. however, i do text him if ever, out of the blue.. just to let him know im interested. is that enough..? and lessons are ending soon, is it ok to ask him out? thanks =)

Public transportation route to Allstate Arena (Rosemont)? If I am willing to leave around 4-5 pm on June 2 from Orland Park and looking to arrive at Allstate Arena before 6:30 pm, what public transportation routes can I take (ex. Pace bus, trains, etc.)? To give you a better idea of my area, I live near Orland Square Mall (288 Orland Square, Orland Park, IL 60462) but can drive to any location nearby in order to connect to public transportation. (Address of Allstate Arena: 6920 North Mannheim Road, Rosemont, IL 60018) Thanks!

What time does the Route 59 commuter parking lot fill up in Naperville/Aurora, IL? I'm considering a move to the area and I'm curious from those of you who commute what time does the Route 59 Metra parking lot fill up? Parking passes are a long wait so I'm curious what's the latest time one can arrive to get one of the daily parking spaces. I'm trying to avoid using the PACE buses and may consider Elmhurst or Glen Ellyn if this is too difficult. Thanks.

In Chicagoland West Suburbs (Darien to Downers Grove)...........? Where is there cheap public transportation. I need to figure out a way to get from Darien to Ogden Ave and Main St. to work. Pace bus doesn't have anything route wise or even town wise. I need to get to work by 4:30. I would take a cab but no money. A bike ride would take about 2 hours and I'd look like shit by the time I got to work. Help!

How to get to Woodfield Mall using public Transportation? How can I get to woodfield mall in Schaumburg using Metra and Pace? Can someone please tell me the complete route. I can get to Schaumburg Metra Station, then which bus do I have to take to go to mall from the train station.Any easy and fastest way...... Thanks The 2 answers were good but what I really want is to figure out way from Schaumburg Metra Station to mall using bus. Is there a bus stop where I can connect from Pace#602 to 606...Thanks

Do you think a Chicago Casino is the answer for permanent funding for public transportation in Chicago? As the governor approved another bailout plan, the solution for permanent funding has not yet been established. Rod Blagojavich, governor of Illinois, wants to open up a series of casinos (including one in the city) to solve the current transit funding crisis, as opposed to raising the sales tax in counties serviced by RTA. CTA stated they will cut a load of bus routes and raise fares if a permanent funding solution is not placed. But the biggest blow will happen to us if what will Pace do if they do not receive adequate funding: cut ALL night and weekend service. Would you want a casino in the Chi to save mass transit in the Chi (not to mention a bid in the 2016 Olympics)?

How can we fix Melbourne's public transport crisis? It's pretty obvious to anyone who at least has some idea as to what's going on, that Melbourne's public transport system is a complete failure. Trains running late, poor bus routes that aren't direct and not enough State Government funding for much needed train infrastructure improvements. The facts are that the State Government's lack of action for improved public transport, is causing Melbourne's freeways to travel at snail's pace during peak hour. A lot of people only drive because they have no choice. Also, safety is a major concern on the train network, which is primarily caused by the lack of people using the system during off-peak hours due to the poor service. Melbourne's trains have extremely poor frequencies, one line only has 40 minute frequencies on weekends, with no increase of frequency during the evening party peak. Not to mention the lengthy travel time on trains from the outer suburbs of Melbourne, a lot of services stopping all stations, with little to no express services. As Melburnians what can we do to have a world class public transport system and hold the government accountable for putting funds into new freeways instead of much needed new train lines (such as to Doncaster and Rowville)? I'm not sure how wide the median strip on the Eastern Freeway is but a Doncaster line on it, with underground exits would be a great option.

Are they any cta routes that I can take from 890 e ogden in naperville to 1300 naperville drive in romeoville? I have called RTA and Pace. The earliest train is at 6:10am Monday through Friday then I take a bus and another train BUT it gets me to my destination at 8:50am. I start work at 8:30. Why is there no transportation earlier? I called 3 cab companies and they all said $50.00 one way.My car is going to be at the mechanics for 1 month. I'm trying to find transportation to Romeoville in the morning and in the evening. I get off of work at 5pm. Is there any carpooling around the address above on Ogden avenue that I could join? My family and friends all either start work at 5am and some live no where near me.Somebody help please! Thanks for any help from anyone in advance.!

Any decent fart stories? On a downer so need cheering up. Lets face it theres still a lil bit of childishness in all of us. I have a few, one day I was with a mate of mine in a local shop. It was a saturday afternoon so the shop was absolutely packed. Walking through the aisle looking at drinks when I felt a pocket of air rapidly approaching the departure lounge shall we say. I turned to look at my friend and it came barrelling out, one of the loudest I had done in a while, it rumbled like no other. Moments later my friend went red with laughter and everybody in the aisle started laughing hard. I turned around to see a member of staff on his knees behind me, his face inches away from my ass. (turns out he was stacking the lower shelves the whole time) With the entire aisle erupting in fits of laughter I quickly paid for my goods and left... never come back since. Another time I was on the bus on the way to work, the bus was kinda half full, it was just before rush hour. I had my headphones in listening to music reading the paper. I had a very spicy meal the previous evening which really didn't agree with me. We hit a lot of traffic on the way into town so I was there for quite a while. Long enough to finish the whole newspaper. Throughout the entire journey I had an old bearded man sat next to me, He too was reading his newspaper. I sat there casually letting them off. Generally with the usual racket on a bus you can't normally hear your own let alone other peoples. A majority of them really smelled bad so I kept my head buried in the newspaper hoping to avert suspicion. Eventually my stop came so I took my headphones out an went to fold my newspaper when I noticed everybody on the bus staring back at me with filthy looks. I look to my right and the old bearded man sitting next to me put his hand on my shoulder and said "son, I think you need to go to the toilet". Apparently my farts weren't as quiet as I had thought (either that or my music drowned out the sound, I still can't quite decide) I still get funny looks on that bus route to this day. Another time I was sat at my friends house celebrating his 25th birthday. There were about ten of us sat around in his dining room watching DVDs, playing cards and drinking beer. I was playing cards at the time at the dining room table. He had (at the time) these chairs that had cushions in the centre so you could get away with sneaking them out without the loud rattle of a hard surface. It was my hand at the time so everybody was looking my way. I sat there realising that I really really needed to drop one badly. It was hindering my concentration holding it in. I released it quietly without suspicion. What a relief that was, I could finally get to concentrate on the task at hand. After a moment or two the smell became apparent. It was absolutely awful, this one could have stripped the enamel off your teeth at fifty paces it was so bad. Everybody naturally started complaining and holding their noses demanding to know who did it. I denied it (of course) and so did everybody else in the room. At that point my friends girlfriend walked in with the dog. She immediately commented on the awful stench and left the room to get some air presumably. Anyways she let the dog off his leash. Within seconds he was sniffing around (I had my back to the door so I couldn't see what he was doing) but then I felt what he was doing, he sniffed the fart back to its original source, I felt his nose nudging my ass sniffing away. Needless to say it was completely obvious who had dropped it at that point. Throughout the remainder of the evening I was the subject of many fart and smell related jibes and jokes.. all thanks to Benny. Look forward to reading your stories. Hope yours put a smile on your face like they do to me every time I recall them.

How do u guys like my story so far? So I started writing this in the sixth grade and recently i started to fix it up some. So please be truthful if it is good or bad and if i need help with anything just tell me what. Oh also everytime my character reads her watch umm i couldnt really think of a perfect time yet. I walked out of the almost half empty classroom. “Okay, see you guys in a few days.” I said as I waved good-bye to everyone. I walked through the hallway of Jenton high. What time is it? I thought. I looked at my watch. “Oh no!” I exclaimed. Today is not a good day at all. I ran down the hall as quickly as I could. I have to somehow get to a phone. Dang, now is one of those times that I wish I had a cell phone. But when I reached at least ten feet from the office door, I froze unable to move my body. I felt as though my body has become a ton of lead. I fell onto my knees, and the rest of my body fell with it. My brain felt like it has became a bowl of soup. I remember my eyes closing shut and everything went black. In the dark abyss from the back of my head, I felt something. It made me want to laugh but cry at the same time. I have never had this strange sensation before. Suddenly, there was somebody far, far away from me, I couldn’t see them but I could feel that there was someone there. It was dark but I sensed them there. But who was it, why is this happening? I am supposed to be heading home before…”Mira,” I heard my name spoken, but I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman speaking. It was just a strange monotone sound. “Mira,” I heard it speak my name again. Who is it I need to get home! But all of a sudden I saw a body shape. Due to the fact that the stance was masculine, I could tell it was a man. Again who is this person, is this some kind of strange dream? The voice was fading in and out.” Mira….Mira…why? Why…found me yet? That was all I heard from that strange dream until I heard a familiar voice. Mr. Luke was calling my name and that is what I woke up to. “Mira, Mira. Should I get a doctor please wake up!” I opened my eyes slowly “Are you okay Miss. Mira?” I sat up baffled. I couldn’t remember where I was and what I was doing. I shook my head trying to clear my vision, till’ it all came back to me. “Oh!” I said loudly. “Do I need to get a doctor Miss. Mira?” He asked again. I shook my head. “N-no…what time is it?” “Oh no!” I said and ran to the office door. It was locked. So I ran into the streets. ‘Okay so first I take flor’ I said to myself, trying to remember the bus route. I’ve been running around for a lengthy time, trying to find the house with the lawn gnome I always stare at after school. I looked at my watch. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.” I said pacing around the block then running in a direction. How could I not know how to get to my own home! “Oh no.” I said again. Soon, too soon everything got hazy then dark and shortly I couldn’t see a thing. I was too late, I was blind. I began sobbing and mumbling to myself nonstop. After an extensive period of time, I was exhausted from running so I walked. I didn’t know which direction I was going. Doesn’t matter, I’m going to end up lost in the next morning anyway. I heard a car behind me a not many minuets after I got my breath together. No it was not a car; it was a truck, a large one! Calm down Mira. I told myself. I started walking faster. Then I heard the engine stop. I felt calmed. But then the doors opened and I started running. However, they were faster; they caught me before I could even scream. “Let me go!” I yelled as they shoved me in the back of the truck. “Shh,” said one of the men.” You are attracting too much attention” “Good, just what I want. HELP!” I shouted They ignored me and closed the door. I heard them get in the front of the truck and start the engine. “Just relax.” I heard one say. I sat back, suddenly relieved. “Her name is Mira.” The other man said. “Mmm.” The one driving muttered. “How do you know my name?” How is my personal information out in the open, what’s going on? Where are they even taking me? “Its here on the paper.” I sat up entirely not relaxed. “Paper? What paper where did you get this information?” They did not say anything. “Give me the paper.” I said getting impatient. I opened my hands, and one slipped the paper into it. I held the paper in front of me. What was I thinking, me being able to magically read this? IM BLIND! I held the paper as far as I could away from me, and the man took it. “What, can’t read?” he asked. I ignored his question. “Sorry for bothering you.” I said and sat back again. I wasn’t really sorry, I was sorrier for myself. “Oh right, it says here that she is blind. Is that why?” The one with the paper said. How could he just talk about me like that as if I am not here? “I don’t know.” “You never know Tracey.” The other said sarcastically. Chapter 2: first sight. I woke to the sound of a car door opening.

Advice about where to live in Oahu? My husband passed last year and now it is just me and my 9 yr old son. My mother and sister passed the year before we have nothing holding us to Tulsa, OK anymore and would like to move to Oahu in the next year. I work in the medical field would like to be somewhat near a hospital or easy bus route to hospital. Nice elementary school for my son. We would love to be in a community but near the water. I have been looking in at Kailua and Ala Moana. What is the best side of the island to live? Would like sunny and drier. I have heard one side is rainy is that true? Also what is leeward side ? I do not understand that. My son and I have had a rough go of it the last 2 years and we are looking forward to slower paced life in a community we can love. Any advice would be very appreciated.

How is my story so far? So I started writing this in the sixth grade and recently i started to fix it up some. So please be truthful if it is good or bad and if i need help with anything just tell me what. Oh also everytime my character reads her watch umm i couldnt really think of a perfect time yet. I know i aleady asked this question but i dont think i put it in the right place I walked out of the almost half empty classroom. “Okay, see you guys in a few days.” I said as I waved good-bye to everyone. I walked through the hallway of Jenton high. What time is it? I thought. I looked at my watch. “Oh no!” I exclaimed. Today is not a good day at all. I ran down the hall as quickly as I could. I have to somehow get to a phone. Dang, now is one of those times that I wish I had a cell phone. But when I reached at least ten feet from the office door, I froze unable to move my body. I felt as though my body has become a ton of lead. I fell onto my knees, and the rest of my body fell with it. My brain felt like it has became a bowl of soup. I remember my eyes closing shut and everything went black. In the dark abyss from the back of my head, I felt something. It made me want to laugh but cry at the same time. I have never had this strange sensation before. Suddenly, there was somebody far, far away from me, I couldn’t see them but I could feel that there was someone there. It was dark but I sensed them there. But who was it, why is this happening? I am supposed to be heading home before…”Mira,” I heard my name spoken, but I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman speaking. It was just a strange monotone sound. “Mira,” I heard it speak my name again. Who is it I need to get home! But all of a sudden I saw a body shape. Due to the fact that the stance was masculine, I could tell it was a man. Again who is this person, is this some kind of strange dream? The voice was fading in and out.” Mira….Mira…why? Why…found me yet? That was all I heard from that strange dream until I heard a familiar voice. Mr. Luke was calling my name and that is what I woke up to. “Mira, Mira. Should I get a doctor please wake up!” I opened my eyes slowly “Are you okay Miss. Mira?” I sat up baffled. I couldn’t remember where I was and what I was doing. I shook my head trying to clear my vision, till’ it all came back to me. “Oh!” I said loudly. “Do I need to get a doctor Miss. Mira?” He asked again. I shook my head. “N-no…what time is it?” “Oh no!” I said and ran to the office door. It was locked. So I ran into the streets. ‘Okay so first I take flor’ I said to myself, trying to remember the bus route. I’ve been running around for a lengthy time, trying to find the house with the lawn gnome I always stare at after school. I looked at my watch. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.” I said pacing around the block then running in a direction. How could I not know how to get to my own home! “Oh no.” I said again. Soon, too soon everything got hazy then dark and shortly I couldn’t see a thing. I was too late, I was blind. I began sobbing and mumbling to myself nonstop. After an extensive period of time, I was exhausted from running so I walked. I didn’t know which direction I was going. Doesn’t matter, I’m going to end up lost in the next morning anyway. I heard a car behind me a not many minuets after I got my breath together. No it was not a car; it was a truck, a large one! Calm down Mira. I told myself. I started walking faster. Then I heard the engine stop. I felt calmed. But then the doors opened and I started running. However, they were faster; they caught me before I could even scream. “Let me go!” I yelled as they shoved me in the back of the truck. “Shh,” said one of the men.” You are attracting too much attention” “Good, just what I want. HELP!” I shouted They ignored me and closed the door. I heard them get in the front of the truck and start the engine. “Just relax.” I heard one say. I sat back, suddenly relieved. “Her name is Mira.” The other man said. “Mmm.” The one driving muttered. “How do you know my name?” How is my personal information out in the open, what’s going on? Where are they even taking me? “Its here on the paper.” I sat up entirely not relaxed. “Paper? What paper where did you get this information?” They did not say anything. “Give me the paper.” I said getting impatient. I opened my hands, and one slipped the paper into it. I held the paper in front of me. What was I thinking, me being able to magically read this? IM BLIND! I held the paper as far as I could away from me, and the man took it. “What, can’t read?” he asked. I ignored his question. “Sorry for bothering you.” I said and sat back again. I wasn’t really sorry, I was sorrier for myself. “Oh right, it says here that she is blind. Is that why?” The one with the paper said. How could he just talk about me like that as if I am not here? “I don’t know.” “You never know Tracey.” The other said sarcastically.

Short poem - what do you think? I feel like an envelope stamped and sealed; like a bus on its regular route. No need to stray. Not today. Just keep moving at the regular pace of life. I feel like I’m chained, but not to a tree. No I’m not an activist. Sometimes I’m a pessimist; rarely an optimist. I’m sick of these “ists”. Sexist cries meet exhausted eyes, unwilling to shed a tear. How are you not offended? Don’t we share the same parts? We’re so alike but so different, and I’m the one unable to conform. Invigorated by passion, if only for a moment, soon to be quenched by the reality of life. Why these invisible walls? They’re so solid and concrete, yet no one can see them. No one can see them, No not anyone, but me.

This is a short story, comments encouraged. What do you think? The Red Headed Girl Liana never complained about her childhood, that’s because there was never anything to complain about. I guess she could complain about the little things like arguing with cousins or not getting along with friends or her parents. But none of that mattered or was to concerning at this point, because one way or another it was resolved or time passed and they realized it was stupid and just dropped it altogether. And there were various other things she could bring up and be angry about, but what is the point of bringing them back to the surface, if everyone has moved on? Liana never had any trouble, health problems, nothing and that was a good thing. Her family lived happily together, always struggling here and there, but found the good in everything around them. She had supporting friends and attended a school to be proud of, and every thing in life was just fine with some problems here and there, but otherwise perfectly normal and okay. That morning, was a brisk and somewhat chilly Monday, enough for you to pull out your winter coat that smelled musty from being stored in the attic in a bin. It kept her warm and that was its purpose which it accomplished. Bundled in her coat with a scarf around her neck and a pair of gloves, the wind blew Liana’s chestnut brown hair across her face, and her deep brown eyes squinted. The falling snowflakes fell from the sky floating down and seemed to evaporate when it touched the earth’s surface. During that night New York had received about an inch or two. It never occurred to Liana that the snow could be so significant. It was seven a.m. sharp and the bus was late as usual. You could never tell if Mindy the new bus driver would be really late, or very early. Mindy was not a particularly great driver, and Liana always could tell whether the tires were losing traction or not. But either way, she always kept you wondering. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, a pair of yellowish headlights appeared and snowflakes glistened through them. The bus drove down the slight hill and came to a halt. Mindy still hadn’t mastered how to stop with a little snow and ice especially outside of town where the roads were bending left and right and extremely hilly. Liana trudged across the road, came around to the other side, and boarded the bus. Mindy obviously was an early morning person as she said “Good Morning Hun!” and Liana was definitely the opposite as she could barley keep her eyes open. “Morning Mindy” Liana tried to sound happy, but she didn’t give a great effort. The sky was a grayish color and the sun was still waking up, so it wasn’t particularly light out and Liana sometimes thought that was why she was not fully awake. However Mindy was the complete opposite, and then Liana figured that the job suited her well. She seated herself in the middle of the bus, on the driver side. No one ever sat across from her but it never concerned her, and why should it? It wasn’t a big deal to her then, but soon it would be. She peered out the window and once again glanced at every house the bus passed. It was all so ordinary, and routine, nothing ever changed. In time, Mindy had made it to her next destination safely. She picked up the pace and stopped at a few more houses. The bus carried on its normal task, tending to lose traction here and there. The bus stopped at more houses, and the was about half full. They were close to school and only had a little ways to go. But, abruptly Mindy turned right instead of left, she was not going on the normal route. Liana at first didn’t think much of it, and then after a few minutes she became a little worried. Mindy did not seem very cautious on an unfamiliar road. Thoughts like ‘what kind of detour are we taking?’and ‘ Might there be a new kid in school, possibly in my grade? ‘came to Liana’s mind constantly. Finally, the bus came to a clattered stop in front of a light olive green house with dark green shudders and windows on either side of the front door. A thin red headed girl climbs up the bus steps and exchanges a few words with the bus driver, though Liana was unable to hear this. The bus wasn’t full and there were plenty of seats in the front or back, but surprisingly the girl sat across from Liana. The bus started up again, and Liana inspected her, trying to picture her whole face, but could only see her profile. This red headed girl had hair that was wavy and came to elbow length, and freckles covered her face. Her eyes seemed like a light blue or grayish, but it was hard to tell in the light. She was very pretty thought Liana and definitely seemed like she could have a secret stubborn side to her, but Liana had not a clue. Liana realized she had been staring at her for some time and looked away realizing how impolite she was being. The bus turned left on Tupper Street, which was a road with a huge hill. There was a river that was parallel with the road they just turned off of, and this river was

I cant think of a title for my essay...? I need help thinking of a title for my essay! it's about how this camp i went to in the boundary waters taught me that it's teh simple things that count and that hard experiences turn out to be great in the end. here's the essay if you want to read it and give suggestions, that would be great (many thanks!) or if you just want to give a suggestion based on my "summary" thanks a ton!! i just can't think of a title.... Last summer, I went to the bus stop at a YMCA not knowing what to expect. This scared me, but I also liked for once not knowing what I would be doing over the next twelve days. The bus ride took five hours, not counting the stop at Subway, until we finally saw the sign proclaiming ‘Camp Widjiwagen’. I knew what it looked like because of our class trip last winter, but to say this time was different would be an understatement. During seventh grade, if you asked me what I most liked doing I would probably say watching TV and movies, going on the internet, and being with my friends. I still like those things, but now I have more appreciation for things that you actually feel good about doing afterwards that are worthwhile. I found that the simpler things can make you happier because there’s something about canoeing and portaging and just being with nature that can’t compare to sitting and watching TV all day. Since everything now is so complicated and fast-paced, its nice to experience what people had to do and that taking it slow can be good. After a little while, we were split into the groups of people we would be doing everything with for the next twelve days. My group, later named the Djibouti Fish, included me, Alicia, Emily, Maddie, and our two counselors, Lauren and Elisa. We spent the first day getting to know each other, by talking and playing games like the one where you take a handful of M&Ms and for each one say something about yourself. We found that my group had a ton in common, so much that it could have been good or bad. It turned out to be good, luckily, and we all liked the same things and even thought alike. It seemed like we were was made to be together. We all liked skiing, rock climbing, travel, dogs, singing—I could go on for a while. Because of the bond of being so alike, it felt like we were together for much more than twelve days. Though it was tough from the beginning (doing swim and canoe tests, planning food and route, and getting used to everything), it really started to get hard once we went on trail. We had first spent a few days at camp training and preparing for our trip. On trail it was much different. We canoed every day for at least four hours, but canoeing wasn’t the hard part; portaging was. A portage is when you carry everything over land until you get to the next river or lake. Sounds simple, but it is really difficult. We divided all our stuff—one 95 pound canoe per counselor and one uncomfortable Duluth pack each for the rest of us. One person carried the food pack, so heavy at the beginning that everyone who carried it kept falling over. We also had to split the tent, pots and pans, oars, and water bottles between us. Our worst portage was the third or fourth, so we were tired even before we started. It was not only almost a mile long but was very steep, with rocks everywhere. It was toward the beginning of our trip, so we switched the massive food pack among us every so often. The sweltering heat made us tired, and when I looked down I saw a swarm of mosquitoes covering my legs. Later that day I counted, and during the portage I had gotten over 100 mosquito bites. After ages of portaging, our backs aching and our bodies itching, we finally saw the beautiful and rocky, lake (called Steep Lake, for obvious reasons) and our campsite right outside of the portage. It was one of the best feelings, knowing what we had accomplished. Some people might say, “It wasn’t even a mile, I could do that easily.” When you take into consideration the circumstances, though, it was not something most people could do. Because we all pushed through it and completed the portage in one trip, we could really see what an accomplishment it was when we came to the lake. Steep Lake was probably our favorite just because it showed us that the huge portage was over. That was one of the most amazing days of my life because it showed how making an effort comes with a lot of rewards in the long run. One of the most perfect moments of our trip happened the night before we arrived back at camp. We had decided to have our counselors wake us up in the middle of the night. All of us, except Alicia, took our ground pads and sleeping bags outside to the large rock face on our campsite. There was a break in the trees so we could see the wide open sky. We climbed into our sleeping bags, hoping that we wouldn’t slide down the slightly steep rock. We wondered at the brightness since it was so late, but once we looked up, we could see why. It seemed like the sky went on forever, millions of stars surrounded a shining crescent moon. I saw at least one shooting star, and though they weren’t the northern lights, we saw some kind of colorful lights reflecting on the clouds. We kept staring at the sky because everything felt so overwhelming. It seemed like we both completely understood everything and also didn’t understand anything at all, depending on how you thought about it. From canoeing all day to looking at the stars, we had a lot of time to wonder what life was about. The only conclusion I could think of was that you should pay attention to small things and appreciate everyone even if you have to look under the surface to find their goodness. I am making it sound like my experience at Widji was pretty deep, but a lot of the time we spent was just having fun and laughing so hard we fell over. We have so many inside jokes that we still use today and many funny things have happened. Some of the other things we did included trying to float in a lake with a ground pad, trying to force ourselves to eat all of the horrible calzone sauce but deciding it was so awful we should just pack it, watching an otter swim by our canoes, and me finding a leech stuck on my boot. I stuck a tent stake through the leech, watching and later screaming when about 100 tiny leeches crawled out of the punctured mother (It was a mother, right?). Okay, maybe the last one wasn’t such a good memory. But during those times, and the whole trip, the experiences brought us together while still letting us learn more about ourselves and life. Before I went to Widji, I have to say I was lazier and didn’t appreciate the simple things in life as much. There were a lot of important things I learned, and not only about camping and canoeing though because of those I have become stronger and more able to do things beyond my comfort zone. One of the most important things I learned was that sometimes really hard experiences help make everything more worthwhile and help you to appreciate life. I also found that out in the Boundary Waters with only a few other people who you can trust, I could truly be myself and not worry about what other people might say or think. These people don’t know all about you so there’s nothing they can have against you, and you can be totally honest because there is no reason you shouldn’t be. Because of this, I have become more confident and learned more about myself and what I can do., and I have learned more about what people are like when they are totally being themselves. This is just a little about what Camp Widjiwagen is like, and everyone has a different experience, but these were the most important parts that have changed the foundation of how I am.

Can You Believe This Cheap Mexican airlines are taking Mexican right to our border for illegal immigration? MEXICALI, Mexico - Among travelers, it's jokingly known as Aeromigrante - Migrant Air. New discount airlines in Mexico are doing a brisk business shuttling migrants to the U.S. border, turning what was once a days-long trek into an easy hop for legions of workers, both legal and illegal. "It's much more comfortable than the bus and about the same price," said Leopoldo Torres, 37, of Mexico City, as he stretched his legs aboard Volaris Flight 190 to the border city of He and a traveling companion, Julio Menéndez, paid $118 each for the three-hour flight. They planned to cross into the United States illegally through the California desert. Such migrants have become bread-and-butter customers for airlines Volaris, Avolar, Alma, Viva Aerobus, Interjet and Click, all of which have started up in the past two years. Older carriers such as Aero California and Aviacsa have cut their own prices to compete. "The most productive routes we have are cities where you have those passengers who are traveling with the idea of the American Dream," said Luis Ceceña, a spokesman for Avolar. About 70 percent of Avolar's passengers are migrants, he said. For some airlines like Avolar, the emphasis on migrant travel was a conscious decision, with company officials structuring their routes and fares around migrants' needs, he said. For others, it was simply a side effect of low prices, which have opened up air travel to millions of poorer Mexicans. The airlines say they treat migrants like any other passengers. The Mexican government has promised to try to slow emigration by creating jobs in Mexico. But by law, Mexican authorities and companies cannot impede the free travel of their fellow citizens, even if they suspect they are going to cross the U.S. border illegally. Heading for the desert Travelers planning to cross illegally are easy to spot. At the Hermosillo airport, a major crossroads for migrants headed to the Arizona desert, they are the men traveling in groups of three and four, wearing new sneakers or hiking boots and carrying nothing but backpacks. "Altar! Naco! Nogales!" taxi dispatcher Javier Montaño shouted outside the airport as he directed travelers to vans headed to the main staging grounds for illegal border crossers. Because of the increased traffic, Mexican immigration agents now check the IDs of all arriving passengers, even on domestic flights, to try to catch Central American migrants headed to the border. In Hermosillo, federal police conduct spot checks on the vans before they leave the airport. "By law, we can't stop the Mexican (migrants)," police Officer Carlos Zequera Arias said. "But the Central Americans are starting to get on these flights, too." Falling prices Until the flood of discount airlines began in 2005, air travel in Mexico was too expensive for most poor Mexicans. A one-way flight from central Mexico to Tijuana ran $300 or more on the country's two flag carriers, Aeromexico and Mexicana. For most migrants, getting to the border meant days of travel on long-distance buses - or for the very poor, a harrowing and illegal ride on Mexico's railways while clinging to a freight car. The discount airlines cut costs by copying the business model of U.S. carrier Southwest Airlines. They fly out of smaller airports, make several stops on the same trip, bypass travel-agent fees by selling directly to customers, and concentrate on a few high-volume routes instead of a hub-and-spoke system. Typical fares to Tijuana from Toluca, just east of Mexico City, are now around $150 on the discount airlines. That has opened up air travel to millions of new customers, said José Calderoni, marketing director for Volaris. About one-third of the airline's passengers have never flown before, he said. Overall, the number of Mexicans flying has jumped 36 percent since 2004. About 13.4 million people took domestic flights from January to June, according to Mexico's Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Processing. The discount airlines have been adding planes and routes at a breakneck pace. Avolar has grown from one jetliner and three destinations to nine with 16 destinations. Viva Aerobus has 21 destinations and plans to double its fleet to 10 jets from five. Interjet has nine planes and says it will order 20 more. Alma has 15 regional jets and 25 destinations, Volaris has 12 planes and 17 destinations, while Click has 26 destinations with 18 planes and six on order. Read further details @ http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1012migrantair1012.html

Anyone intrested in writing a two page summary of this? FIBER KEEPS ITS PROMISE BY GEORGE GILDER "Today, I await the death of television, telephony, VCRs, and analog cameras with utter confidence as Moore's law unfolds." Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner, John Malone, are you listening?" Get ready. Bandwidth will triple each year for the next 25, creating trillions in new wealth. Editor's note: Four years ago, Forbes ASAP published its first issue with a stunning prophecy by contributing editor George Gilder. Fiber optics, said George, had the potential to carry 25 trillion bits per second down a single strand. This represented a ten-thousandfold leap in carrying capacity over the 2.5 billion bits "barrier" long assumed by most experts in the field. What did George see that others had missed? One, a little-recognized (at the time) breakthrough called an erbium-doped amplifier, which keeps optical signals pure and strong over long distances. The other was a deep technical shift, with roots in the 1940s-era work of information theory pioneer Claude Shannon. If you believed Shannon, his logic dictated a new messaging scheme called wave division multiplexing. Though scorned by the experts four years ago, WDM now is emerging as the winner George had prophesied. The real winners will be all of us, as the coming world of cheap, unlimited bandwidth unfolds and at last fulfills the true potential of the information age. Here is George with an update. IMAGINE THAT IN 1975 YOU KNEW that Moore's law--the Intel chairman's projection of the doubling of the number of transistors on a microchip every 18 months--would hold for the rest of your lifetime. What if you knew that these transistors would run cooler, faster, better, and cheaper as they got smaller and were crammed more closely together? Suppose you knew the law of the microcosm: that the cost-effectiveness of any number of "n" transistors on a single silicon sliver would rise by the square of the increase in "n." As an investor knowing this Moore's law trajectory, you would have been able to predict and exploit a long series of developments: the emergence of the PC; its dominance over all other computer form factors; the success of companies making chips, disk drives, peripherals, and software for this machine. With a slight effort of intellect, you could have extended the insight and prophesied the digitization of watches, records (CDs), cellular phones, cameras, TVs, broadcast satellites, and other devices that can use miniaturized computer power. If you did not know precisely when each of these benisons would flourish, you would have known that each one was essentially inevitable. To calculate approximate dates, you had only to guess the product's optimal price of popularization and then match its need for mips (millions of instructions per second) of computer power with the cost of those mips as defined by Moore's law. Merely by using this technique of Moore's law matching--and holding to it with unshakable conviction for nearly 20 years--I became known as a "futurist." Today I await the death of television, telephony, VCRs, and analog cameras with utter confidence as Moore's law unfolds. You can tell me about the 98% penetration of TVs in American homes, the continuing popularity of couch-potato entertainments, the effectiveness of broadcast advertising, and the profound and unbridgeable chasm between the office appliance and the living-room tube. But I will pay no attention. Just you wait--Jack Welch, Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch, John Malone, and David Jennings--the TV will die and you may be too late for the Net. It is now 1997, and a stream of dramatic events certifies that another law, as powerful and fateful and inexorable as Moore's, is gaining a similar sway over the future of technology. It is what I have termed the law of the telecosm. Its physical base lies in the same quantum realm of eigenstates and band gaps that governs the performance of transistors and also makes photons leap and lase. But the telecosm reaches beyond components to systems, combining the science of the electromagnetic spectrum with Claude Shannon's information theory. In essence, as frequencies rise and wavelengths drop, digital performance improves exponentially. Bandwidth rises, power usage sinks, antenna size shrinks, interference collapses, error rates plummet. The law of the telecosm ordains that the total bandwidth of communications systems will triple every year for the next 25 years. As communicators move up-spectrum, they can use bandwidth as a substitute for power, memory, and switching. This results in far cheaper and more efficient systems. In 1996, the new fiber paradigm emerged in full force. Parallel communications in all-optical networks became the dominant source of new bandwidth in telecom. Like Moore's law, the law of the telecosm will reshape the entire world of information technology. It defines the direction of technological advance, the vectors of growth, the sweet spots for finance. AMERICA'S DARK SECRET FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, American companies have been laying optical fiber strands at a pace of some 4,000 miles a day, for a total of more than 25 million strand miles. Five years ago, the top 10% of U.S. homes and businesses were, on average, a thousand households away from a fiber node; now they are a hundred households away. However, the imperial advance of this technology conceals a dark secret, which has led to a pervasive underestimation of the long-term impact of photonics. Sixty percent of the fiber remains "dark" (unused for communications) and even the leading-edge "lit" fiber is being used at less than one ten-thousandth of its intrinsic capacity. This problem has prompted leaders in the industry, from Bill Gates and Andy Grove to Bob Metcalfe and Mitch Kapor, to underrate drastically the impact of fiber optics. Restricting the speed and cost-effectiveness of fiber has been an electronic bottleneck and a regulatory noose. In order for the signal to be amplified, regenerated, or switched, the light pulses had to be transformed into electronic pulses by optoelectronic converters. For all the talk of the speed of light, fiber-optic systems therefore could pass bits no faster than the switching speed of transistors, which tops out at a cycle time of between 2.5 and 10 gigahertz. Meanwhile, telecom companies could not deploy new low-cost fiber products any faster than the switching speed of politicians and regulators, which tops out roughly at a cycle time of between 2.5 years and a rate of evolution measurable only by means of carbon 14. Nonetheless, the intrinsic capacity of every fiber line is not 2.5 gigahertz. Nor is it even 25 gigahertz, which is roughly the capacity of all the frequencies commonly used in the air, from AM radio to kA band satellite. The intrinsic capacity of every fiber thread, as thin as a human hair, is at the least one thousand times the capacity of what we call the "air." One thread could carry all the calls in America on the peak moment of Mother's Day. One fiber thread could carry 25 times more bits than last year's average traffic load of all the world's communications networks put together: an estimated terabit (trillion bits) a second. Over the last five years, technological breakthroughs and legislative loopholes have begun to open up this immense capacity to possible use. Following concepts pioneered and patented by David Payne at the University of Southampton in England, a Bell Laboratories group led by Emmanuel Desurvire and Randy Giles developed a workable all-optical device. They showed that a short stretch of fiber doped with erbium, a rare earth mineral, and excited by a cheap laser diode can function as a powerful amplifier over fully 4,500 gigahertz of the 25,000 gigahertz span. Introduced by Pirelli of Italy and popularized by Ciena Corporation of Savage, Maryland, and by Lucent and Alcatel, today such photonic amplifiers are a practical reality. Put in packages between two and three cubic inches in size, the erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) fit anywhere in an optical network for enhancing signals without electronics. This invention overcame the most fundamental disadvantage of optical networks compared to electronic networks. You can tap into an electronic network as often as desired without eroding the voltage signal. Although resistance and capacitance will leach away the current, there are no splitting losses in a voltage divider. Photonic signals, by contrast, suffer splitting losses every time they are tapped; they lose photons until eventually there are none left. The cheap and compact all-optical amplifier solves this problem. It is an invention comparable in importance to the integrated circuit. Just as the integrated circuit made it possible to put an entire computer system on a single sliver of silicon, the all-optical amplifier makes it possible to put an entire system on a seamless seine of silica--glass. Unleashing the law of the telecosm, it makes possible a new global economy of bandwidth abundance. Five years ago when I first celebrated the radical implications of erbium-doped amplifiers, skepticism reigned. I was summoned to Bellcore, where the first optical networks had been built and then abandoned, to learn the acute limits of the technology from Charles Brackett and his team. I had offered the vision of a broadband fibersphere--a worldwide web of glass and light--where computer users could tune into favored frequencies as readily as radios tune into frequencies in the atmosphere today. But Brackett and other Bellcore experts told me that my basic assumption was false. It was no simpler, they said, to tune into one of scores of frequencies on a fiber than to select time slots in a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) bitstream. Indeed, electronic switching technology was moving faster than optical technology. In the face of the momentum and installed base of electronic switching and multiplexing, the fibersphere with hundreds of tunable frequencies would remain a fantasy, like Ted Nelson's Xanadu. In 1997 the fantasy is coming true around the world. Xanadu has become the World Wide Web. The erbium-doped fiber amplifier is an explosively growing $250 million business. Electronic TDM seems to have topped out at 2.5 gigabits a second. TDM gear has suffered a series of delays and nagging defects and so far has failed in the market. Electronic TDM failed not only because it pushed the envelope of electronics but also because it violated the new paradigm. In single-mode fiber, the two key impediments are nonlinearities in the glass and chromatic dispersion (the blurring of bit pulses because even in a single band different frequencies move at different speeds). Chromatic dispersion increases by the square of the bit rate, and the impact of nonlinearities rises with the power of the signal. High-powered, high-bit-rate TDM flunked both telecosm tests. By contrast, wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) follows the laws of the telecosm; it succeeds by wasting bandwidth and stinting on power. WDM takes some 33% more bandwidth per bit than TDM, but it reduces power to combat nonlinearity and divides the bitstream into multiple frequencies in order to combat dispersion. Thus it can extend the distance or increase capacity by a factor of four or more today and can lay the foundations for the fibersphere tomorrow. In 1996 the new fiber paradigm emerged in full force. Parallel communications in all-optical networks, long depicted as a broadband pipe dream, crushed all competitors and became the dominant source of new bandwidth in the world telecom network. The year began with a trifold explosion at the Conference on Optical Fiber Communication in San Jose when three companies--Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs, NTT Labs, and Fujitsu--all announced terabit-per-second WDM transmissions down a single fiber. Sprint confirmed the significance of the laboratory breakthroughs by announcing deployment of Ciena's MultiWave 1600 WDM system, so called because it can increase the capacity of a single fiber thread by 1,600%. The revolution continues in 1997. At the beginning of January, NEC declared that by increasing the number of bits per hertz from one to three, it had raised the laboratory WDM record to three terabits per second. During 1996, MCI had increased the speed of its Internet backbone by a factor of 25, from 45 megabits a second to 1.2 gigabits. On January 6, Fred Briggs, chief engineering officer at MCI, announced that his company is in the process of installing new WDM equipment from Hitachi and Pirelli that increases the speed of its phone network backbone to 40 gigabits per second. Accelerating MCI's previous plans by some two years, the new system will use a more limited form of wavelength-division multiplexing to put four 10-gigabit in-cause formation streams on a single fiber thread. The first deployment will use existing facilities on a 275-mile route between Chicago and St. Louis, but the technology will be extended to the entire network. This move will consummate a nearly thousandfold upgrade of the MCI backbone, from 45 megabits per second to 40 gigabits, within some 36 months. Ciena, meanwhile, has announced technology that allows transmission of 100 gigabits per second. Its February IPO was the most important since Netscape (market cap at the end of the first trading day: $3.4 billion). Why? Ciena is the industry leader in open standard WDM gear. During the first six months the MultiWave 1600 was available, through October 1996, the firm achieved $54.8 million in sales and $15 million in net income. (Lucent is believed to be the overall leader with more than $100 million of mostly proprietary AT&T systems.) At the same time, the trans-Pacific consortium announced that it would deploy 100-gigabit-per-second fiber in its new link between the United States and Asia. A powerful new player in these markets will be Tellabs, currently the fastest-growing supplier of electronic digital cross-connect switches and other optical switching gear. In a further coup, following its purchase of broadband digital radio pioneer Steinbrecher, Tellabs has signed up all 12 principals in IBM's all-optical team. Headed by Paul Green, recent chairman of the IEEE Communications Society and author of the leading text on fiber networks, and by Rajiv Ramaswami, coauthor of a new 1997 text on the subject, the IBM group built the world's first fully functioning all-optical networks (AONs), the Rainbow series. Tellabs now owns the 11 AON patents and 100 listed technology disclosures of the group. The implications of the WDM paradigm go beyond simple data pipes. The greatest impact of all-optical technology will likely come in consumer markets. A portent is Artel Video Systems of Marlborough, Massachusetts, which recently introduced a fiber-based WDM system that can transmit 48 digital video channels, 288 CD-quality audio bitstreams, and 64 data channels on one fiber line. Aggregating contributions from a variety of content sources--each on different fiber wavelengths--and delivering them to consumers who tune into favored frequencies on conventional cable, the Artel system represents a key step into the fibersphere. It can be used for new services by either cable TV companies or telcos. The deeper significance of the Artel product, however, is its use of bandwidth as a replacement for transistors and switches. The Artel system works on dark fiber without compression. The video uses 200-megabit-per-second bitstreams (compare MPEG2 at 4 to 6 megabytes per second) that permit lossless transmissions suitable for medical imaging, and obviate dedicated processing of compression codes at the two ends. A move to massively parallel communications analogous to the move to parallel computers, all-optical networks promise nearly boundless bandwidth in fiber. According to Ewart Lowe of British Telecom, whose labs at Martlesham Heath in Ipswich have been a fount of all-optical technology, the new paradigm will reduce the cost of transport by a factor of 10. For example, the optoelectronic amplifiers previously used in fiber networks entailed nine power-hungry bipolar microchips for each wavelength, rather than a simple loop of doped silica that covers scores of wavelengths. As these systems move down through the network hierarchy, the growth of network bandwidth and cost-effectiveness will not only outpace Moore's law, it will also excel the rise in bandwidth within computers--their internal "buses" connecting their microprocessors to memory and input-output. While MCI and Sprint move to deploy technology that functions at 40 gigabits a second, current computers and workstations command buses that run at a rate of close to 1 gigabit a second. This change in the relationship between the bandwidth of networks and the bandwidth of computers will transform the architecture of information technology. As Robert Lucky of Bellcore puts it, "Perhaps we should transmit signals thousands of miles to avoid even the simplest processing function." Lucky implies that the law of the telecosm eclipses the law of the microcosm. Actually, the law of the microcosm makes distributed computers (smart terminals) more efficient regardless of the cost of linking them together. The law of the telecosm makes broadband networks more efficient regardless of how numerous and smart are the terminals. Working together, however, these two laws of wires and switches impel ever more widely distributed information systems, with processing and memory in the optimal locations. WHAT SHOULD THE MAJOR PLAYERS DO NOW? FOR THE TELEPHONE COMPANIES, the age of ever smarter terminals mandates the emergence of ever dumber networks. Telephone companies may complain of the large costs of the transformation of their system, but they command capital budgets as large as the total revenues of the cable industry. Telcos may recoil in horror at the idea of dark fiber, but they command webs of the stuff 10 times larger than any other industry. Dumb and dark networks may not fit the phone company self-image or advertising posture. But they promise larger markets than the current phone company plan to choke off their own future in the labyrinthine nets of an "intelligent switching fabric" always behind schedule and full of software bugs. Telephone switches (now 80% software) are already too complex to keep pace with the efflorescence of the Internet. While computers become ever more lean and mean, turning to reduced instruction-set processors and Java stations, networks need to adopt reduced instruction-set architectures. The ultimate in dumb and dark is the fibersphere now incubating in their magnificent laboratories. The entrepreneurial folk in the computer industry may view this wrenching phone company adjustment with some satisfaction. But computer firms must also adjust. Now addicted to the use of transistors to solve the problems of limited bandwidth, the computer industry must use transistors to exploit the nearly unlimited bandwidth. When home-based machines are optimized for manipulating high-resolution digital video at high speeds, they will necessarily command what are now called supercomputer powers. This will mean that the dominant computer technology will first emerge not in the office market but in the consumer market. The major challenge for the computer industry is to change its focus from a few hundred million offices already full of computer technology to a billion living rooms now nearly devoid of it. Cable companies possess the advantage of already owning dumb networks based on the essentials of the all-optical model of broadcast and select--of customers seeking wavelengths or frequencies rather than switching circuits. Cable companies already provide all the programs to all the terminals and allow them to tune in to the desired messages. But the cable industry cannot become a full-service supplier of telecommunications unless the regulators give up their ridiculous two-wire dream in which everyone competes with cable and no one makes any money. Cash-poor and bandwidth-rich, cable companies need to collaborate with telcos--which are cash-rich and bandwidth-poor--in a joint effort to create broadband systems in their own regions. In all eras, companies tend to prevail by maximizing the use of the cheapest resources. In the age of the fibersphere, they will use the huge intrinsic bandwidth of fiber, all 25,000 gigahertz or more, to simplify everything else. This means replacing nearly all the hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of switches, bridges, routers, converters, codecs, compressors, error correctors, and other devices, together with the trillions of lines of software code, that pervade the intelligent switching fabric of both telephone and computer networks. The makers of all this equipment will resist mightily. But there is no chance that the old regime can prevail by fighting cheap and simple optics with costly and complex electronics and software. The all-optical network will triumph for the same reason that the integrated circuit triumphed: It is incomparably cheaper than the competition. Today, measured by the admittedly rough metric of mips per dollar, a personal computer is more than 2,000 times more cost-effective than a mainframe. Within 10 years, the all-optical network will be thousands of times more cost-effective than electronic networks. Just as the electron rules in computers, the photon will rule the waves of communication. I know people would not write it..But worth a try:)