After writing the previous entry, I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed to a darkish area in Tunney’s Pasture. Once there, I set up my tripod on the hood of my Tracker, located Venus (hard to miss as it was the second brightest thing in the sky) and pointed the camera so that it would have the best chance of the ISS being in frame. And then I waited.

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The International Space Station (ISS) will be passing over Ottawa this evening in less than an hour’s time. Assuming the skies are clear, this should be one of the best opportunities to view it.

It should come over the horizon in the west-northwest at 17:50 Eastern and travel across the sky before descending below the horizon to the southeast at about 18:00. Because your horizon is probably obscured by trees and/or buildings, you’ll probably find it just before 17:53 Eastern when it will be about 10 degrees above the horizon. It descends through 10 degrees elevation at about 17:58 Eastern. It achieves its maximum elevation of 54 degrees at about 17:55 Eastern.

For more information about the pass, check out the Heavens Above website or click on the star map.

I’m going to try to take some time-lapse photos of it passing over head.  If they turn out, I’ll post them here.

Update #1: You can see a couple of the pictures I took here.

Update #2: Link to ISS updated (2010-11-12).

In recognition of the fact that the OC Transpo strike is over now that the ATU has ratified the agreement to go to binding arbitration I’ve removed the little anti-ATU 279 logo that’s been gracing the header picture of my blog the last few weeks.

Have you heard of Google Street View? Basically, Google has cars with cameras mounted on them that provide a 360-degree view of wherever the Street View car is driving. With a GPS tracking its route, Google is able to integrate these pictures into Google Maps. The end result is that you can “drive” along the road while sitting in front of your computer. Pretty neat stuff!

Of course, when you drive along as many roads as the Street View cars have taking pictures, it’s inevitable that you’ll capture pictures of things like drug deals going down, and rednecks with guns and booze walking down 7th Street. There’s really no end of things you’ll find if you look hard enough, though depending on what it is Google may remove the photos when they find out.

Another consequence of driving as much as the Street View cars do is that sooner or later the Street View car is going to hit something and capture the incident for posterity, such as a Street View car running into Bambi. (Actually, to be fair it looks like the deer hit the car, which is what’s happened to me twice.)

Of course, Google has since removed the photos from their database, but not before someone made screen captures and posted them on the Internet.

O’Brien said when the federal government began to move forward with the legislation it was obvious that the strike was over. (CBC story)

So, it seems that with the very real threat of being legislated back to work, both the city and the ATU 279 decided to send the dispute to binding arbitration. Of course, the strike isn’t officially over until both sides ratify the agreement, but it’s probably not in the interest of either side to not accept it.

Assuming they do, an arbitrator will come up with a three-year contract that covers wages, benefits, sick leave and contracting out. CBC reports that the mayor said “the city and the union are still very far apart on scheduling, raises, bonuses and benefits.” Hopefully the arbitrator will recognize the principle that management has the right to manage and return control of the schedule to the city where it should be.

In any event, it’s probably going to take people a long time to get over the strike. Other transit strikes have resulted in significant drops in ridership levels that can take months or years to return to pre-strike levels. I wonder how long it’ll take for ridership levels to return to “normal” this time.

Hopefully, there won’t be any incidents of violence towards the drivers when the buses get back on the road.

Larry O’Brien has written a blog entry asking what is the ATU willing to compromise on. He talks about the negotiations over the last couple of months, including the recent negotiations. The city has changed their offer from 7.25% over three years to 9.25% over three years. (As a point of reference, federal employees are only getting 6.8% over four years.) They’re focusing on the safety aspects and consequently have removed the $2500 bonus drivers were going to receive in recognition of efficiencies that would have been achieved by the new contract.

9.25% is what the union was asking for (even though they’ve said it’s not about the money) and still they’re saying no.

For the union to say that the city’s offer is basically unchanged from the original offer is ludicrous. True, the city wants to regain control of the schedule and they’re not budging on this, but they’ve sweetened the pot in return by giving in on the salary demands. (Management has the right and responsibility to manage. Without control over the schedule, they cannot exercise this right nor fulfill their responsibilities.)

Compromise is a two-way street. The city has compromised on some things, so what is the union willing to compromise on to reach an agreement?

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Andre Cornellier certainly makes it easy for reporters to file their stories about the negotiations between the City and ATU 279, doesn’t he, because there’s really just a handful of phrases and quotes they need to use when writing their stories?

Now you can write your own story in five easy steps!

First, you need a headline:

1. Talks break off again between the city and striking transit union
2. Union negotiators walk away from the table
3. ATU 279 still on strike
4. No progress in negotiations between the city and transit union
5. Day ___: Still no deal   (you’ll have to fill in the blank with the appropriate number)

Chose one of the following opening sentences:

1. After returning to the bargaining table, talks between the City and Local 279 of the Amalgamated Transit Union have broken down once again.
2. Once again, negotiators for Local 279 of the Amalgamated Transit Union walked away from the negotiating table.
3. Bus riders are still stuck walking as the strike enters its _______th day in a row. (again, fill in the blank with the appropriate number)

Next, add a reason why the talks broke off:

1. Union negotiators maintain that they have the right to determine their schedules.
2. According to union officials the City’s latest offer is not substantially different from previous offers.
3. City maintains it has the support of its citizens in pursuing its goals of reducing overtime and operating costs while improving safety.

Finally, you need some quotes. First, one from a random citizen of Ottawa:

1. U. N. Owen, regular bus rider, said “I can’t believe they rejected this offer. It’s more than most people in this city are getting.”
2. “Both sides are being spoiled rotten children,” said John upon hearing talks had broken down again. “They should be taken out to the woodshed and beaten with a switch.”
3. “Looks like I’m going to be walking to work for a long time,” one rider was heard to comment.

And then one from the Union:

1. “I’m just drooling,” Andre Cornellier told reporters.
2. “It’s about maximum disruption and maximum inconvenience to the public,” reminded local president Andre Cornellier.

And voila! You’ve just written the next story about negotiations between the city and ATU 279!

If I’ve missed any options, please feel free to post suggestions below. 🙂