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Old trains and more old trains? [KT]

F_high_speed_rail_.jpeg

The end of a dream?

This has been a big month for train news so far.

California's High-speed Rail

You may recall that Gavin Newsom killed Jerry Brown's dream for high-speed rail from Los Angeles (much less San Diego) to San Francisco earlier this year. But the truncated train line from Bakersfield to Merced was still supposed to showcase the energy efficiency of the New California. Still wasn't easy. On May 1, the San Francisco Chronicle informed us that California's high-speed rail might start with old-school diesel trains.

The cost of getting high-speed trains up and running in the Central Valley is expected to jump $1.8 billion, California rail officials said Wednesday, but they have a plan to weather that increase -- and it may include starting service with slower diesel trains.

A new report by the California High-Speed Rail Authority details how the state will build and pay for high-speed service between Bakersfield and Merced, now estimated to cost $20.4 billion. It's the rail authority's first plan for moving forward with the controversial train project since Gov. Gavin Newsom called for focusing the effort on a 165-mile Central Valley stretch.

Then on May 10, the LA Times ran a piece suggesting that this high-speed rail project and the feds were no longer on speaking terms.

Don't know why the feds wouldn't want to pay for the glorious plans described above.

Then, from a couple of days ago, Trump pulled a billion dollars in federal funding. Trump stated that he could have gotten the project done if he had been involved in the planning.

Sad. But, WINNING. As Stephen Green noted. Maybe it's back to updating the Amtrak route. That would be pretty hard on Jerry Brown.

For the technically-minded, here's a video noting some of the practical limits on the speed of trains, and asking what happened to hover trains?

The Transcontinental Railroad

Or as Barak Obama called it, the intercontinental railroad:

Back on May 9, David Foster wrote about the transcontinental railroad:

This month marks the 150th anniversary of the US Transcontinental Railroad... surely one of the most important 'infrastructure' projects of all time. Railway Age reprints the contemporary coverage from their predecessor publication, Railway Times.

Union Pacific has completed the restoration of their 'Big Boy' steam locomotive, #4014, and will be running it, together with Living Legend #844, from Ogden, Utah to Cheyenne, Wyoming, as part of the transcontinental commemoration.


It seems likely that, absent the transcontinental railroad, the United States would not have been able to stay together as a nation on a continental basis-certainly, long-distance transportation technology acts as a centripetal force to counterbalance the many centrifugal forces that tend to separate geographies politically. I've previously cited the thoughts of Edward Porter Alexander, a Confederate general turned railroad president, on this topic, while raising the question as to how far this effect can and should extend.

There are songs connected to the transcontinental railroad, including the one in Canada. And some interesting information and views in the comments.

The Federalist also ran a piece emphasizing the brute force necessary in building the transcontinental railroad.

A couple of train songs

Hope you have a great weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread:

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:15 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I like trains. I don't like peeing on trains

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 18, 2019 11:19 AM (FwN37)

2 It's Thomas Jefferson's fault.

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 11:21 AM (EOEiY)

3 If the project you want to build doubles in price, you should look over everything again, because you probably don't need it.

If the project you want to build increases in price without end, fire everyone and quit.

Posted by: DaveM at May 18, 2019 11:22 AM (WWC3Y)

4 I'm gonna take a freight train down at the station, Lord
I don't care where it goes
I'm gonna climb a mountain, the highest mountain, Lord
I'm gonna jump off, ain't nobody, ain't nobody gonna know

I'm gonna buy a ticket as far as I can
I ain't never comin' back
I'm gonna take me that south-bound
All the way to Georgia now

Posted by: Insomniac at May 18, 2019 11:23 AM (ywNoU)

5 Till the train it run out of track

Posted by: Insomniac at May 18, 2019 11:23 AM (ywNoU)

6 Willowed:

Biggest breakfast disappointment ever?
Garlic bacon.

--

If you can find it at your local deli counter (I've never seen it on the shelf or hanging pre-packaged) find some garlic bologna. It's delicious. Wonderful fried in a pan with some onions and then made into a sandwich with some mustard.

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 11:24 AM (EOEiY)

7 MYSTERY TRAIN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_eE0NPArEY

Posted by: ELVIS at May 18, 2019 11:24 AM (3+RZS)

8 Well, train, train, take me on out of this town
Train, train, Lord, take me on out of this town
Well, that woman I'm in love with, Lord, she's Memphis bound
Well, leavin' here, I'm just a raggedy hobo
Lord, I'm leaving here, I'm just a raggedy hobo
Well, that woman I'm in love with, Lord, she's got to go
Well, goodbye pretty mama, get yourself a money man
Goodbye, pretty mama, Lord, get yourself a money man
You take that midnight train to Memphis
Lord, leave me if you can
Oh, take that midnight train to Memphis
Lord, leave me if you can
Oh, take that train, baby

Posted by: Insomniac at May 18, 2019 11:26 AM (ywNoU)

9 Biden 2020: TOOT-TOOOOOOOT!

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 18, 2019 11:27 AM (oVJmc)

10 Was watching some of those the other day. A Big Boy is going to be traveling around the West a lot this year, the 150th anniversary. Would be awesome to stand next to it as it rumbles by.

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 11:27 AM (8ruUE)

11 If most pop musicians listened to talented people playing Orange Blossom Special, they might do the right thing and try another career.

The City of New Orleans is also good.

Posted by: Quint at May 18, 2019 11:27 AM (n13/j)

12 and it may include starting service with slower diesel trains.

They can have San Jose's Light Rail if they want it. 20 mph should be fast enough for anybody.

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 11:28 AM (8ruUE)

13 I'm doing you a favor
As I'm taking all your money
I guess I should feel sorry
But I don't even trust me
There's bad news creeping up
And you feel a sudden chill
How do you do? my name is trouble
I'm coming in for the kill
I'm in for the kill
And you know I will
Set the ball a-rollin'
I'll be clicking off the miles
On the Train of Consequences
My boxcar life of style
My thinking is derailed
I'm tied up to the tracks
The Train of Consequences
There ain't no turning back

Posted by: Insomniac at May 18, 2019 11:29 AM (ywNoU)

14 Canadian Railroad Trilogy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXzauTuRG78

Posted by: Hobart Harumphey at May 18, 2019 11:29 AM (m45I2)

15 Solomon L. Wisenberg @WisenbergSol
13h
For God's sake shut up. You disgraced the FBI and your country in 2016 and you disgrace yourself every time you open your mouth. No amount of pandering to the lunatic left will erase the historical judgment on your unprecedented, unprofessional interference in the 2016 election.

Posted by: Deep State is In DEEP SHIT at May 18, 2019 11:31 AM (BqBId)

16 L.A. proved too much for the man

Posted by: fluffy at May 18, 2019 11:31 AM (dCRRg)

17 All aboard the Incontinental, Huma! Choo! Choo!

Heh-heh... *shart!*

Posted by: Hillary! at May 18, 2019 11:32 AM (8ruUE)

18
and it may include starting service with slower diesel trains.





$10 says that it'll be slower than the existing Amtrak line that's been there for nearly 50 years.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 18, 2019 11:33 AM (cwL3u)

19
and it may include starting service with slower diesel trains.


Low-speed rail doesn't sound very sexy

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 11:33 AM (TAmPV)

20 This Train is bound for Glory

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 18, 2019 11:33 AM (FwN37)

21 Did you see the video of President Trump at the Real Estate convention? He spent a few minutes talking about trains, slow trains. "They can't build a train from San Diego? to San Francisco and they want to build one to Europe?

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 11:34 AM (WSVNe)

22 It was a train that took me away from here, but a train can't bring me home.

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 11:34 AM (EOEiY)

23 Now I'll tell you where I'm goin' boy
Down the Rock Island Line she's a mighty good road
The Rock Island Line is the road to ride
The Rock Island Line she's a mighty good road
If you ride you gotta ride her like you find her
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

Posted by: irright at May 18, 2019 11:35 AM (RVcmP)

24 Also 900 miles is a dang good train song.

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 11:35 AM (EOEiY)

25 Mississippi John Hurt. -

Casey Jones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfG3s10mfxE


Talking Casey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdHtq2BU7IY

Posted by: Hobart Harumphey at May 18, 2019 11:35 AM (m45I2)

26 Can't find the Big Boy schedule. Maybe it will come by our little section of the D&RGW.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 11:35 AM (yBXUJ)

27 "But the truncated train line from Bakersfield to Merced was still
supposed to showcase the energy efficiency of the New California."

Not sure why they want to spend $20 BILLION for train service between two cities with a combined population of less than 500,000.

Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 18, 2019 11:35 AM (JUOKG)

28 Solomon L. Wisenberg , a man with blood on his hands.

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 11:36 AM (WSVNe)

29 Bbbbut Europe has trains and everything Europe does is awesome so we need trains!!!!

Posted by: Lurking Lurker at May 18, 2019 11:36 AM (FiUMj)

30 $10 says that it'll be slower than the existing Amtrak line that's been there for nearly 50 years.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 18, 2019 11:33 AM (cwL3u)

___

And tickets prices twice as high.

Posted by: Lurking Lurker at May 18, 2019 11:37 AM (FiUMj)

31 Well, you wake up in the mornin'
You hear the work bell ring
And they march you to the table
To see the same old thing
Ain't no food upon the table
Ain't no pork up in the pan
But you better not complain, boy
You'll get in trouble with the man

Let the midnight special...
Shine a light on me
Let the midnight special...
Shine a light on me
Let the midnight special...
Shine a light on me
Let the midnight special...
Shine an everlovin' light on me

Posted by: Insomniac at May 18, 2019 11:37 AM (ywNoU)

32 Tank candy. The T-34 Orange Chocolate does look too bad.

https://bit.ly/2VvXyC1

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 18, 2019 11:37 AM (+y/Ru)

33 Done by private industry, if the State of Calfornia had rebuilt this huge locomotive, it would have cost billions, and billions.

Posted by: Colin at May 18, 2019 11:37 AM (ERvZ7)

34 Joey Choo Choo likes the train

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 18, 2019 11:37 AM (FwN37)

35 schedule:

https://www.up.com/heritage/
steam/schedule/index.htm

(after removing the space, of course)

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 11:38 AM (elfAG)

36 Talking Casey

-

The live version of that is great when the crowd realizes what is being said about the sheep.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - The Media Controls the Whether Machines at May 18, 2019 11:39 AM (lPsvG)

37 Midnight Special is not a train song. It's an escape from prison song.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 18, 2019 11:39 AM (+y/Ru)

38 Honestly, I really like trains; always have. Something about them just seems cool to me, and I think we sometimes don't appreciate how important they still are to national transportation.

But. After a year traveling around in Europe, I don't think there's any way large-scale passenger rail service would work here, unless it was done far differently than over there. Even in Germany, which isn't supposed to have these problems, the schedule is often extremely unreliable, and the fact that most are state-run or state-subsidized means the prices are jacked way up and the services pretty basic. Not saying it can't be done, but I don't see it happening.

Posted by: Dr. T at May 18, 2019 11:40 AM (2PXwn)

39 Commies should quit trying to ruin our fine FREIGHT railroad system trying to create passenger trains. One of the sad things I saw after the recession and start of BO's reign of error was all the railroad cars sitting parked on old sidings.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at May 18, 2019 11:40 AM (pAkRe)

40 -
--
Not sure why they want to spend $20 BILLION for train service between two cities with a combined population of less than 500,000.
Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 18, 2019 11:35 AM

---------------------------

You could literally buy everyone there a $30,000 car and save $5 billion.

Posted by: irright at May 18, 2019 11:41 AM (RVcmP)

41 Thanks t-bird. Looks like it's in Medicine Bow this weekend.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 11:41 AM (yBXUJ)

42 Driving my train, high on cocaine,
Casey Jones you better watch your speed
Trouble ahead, trouble behind
And you know that notion just crossed my mind

Trouble ahead, Lady in red
Take my advice you'd be better off dead
Switchman's sleeping, train hundred and two is
On the wrong track and headed for you

Drive my train, whoo
Trouble with you is the trouble with me
Got two good eyes but you still don't see
Come round the bend, you know it's the end
The fireman screams and the engine just gleams

Driving my train, high on cocaine,
Casey Jones you better watch your speed
Trouble ahead, trouble behind

Posted by: Alexandria at May 18, 2019 11:41 AM (WSVNe)

43 Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie
With the demise of The Weekly Standard and the increasing Trumpification of much of the rest of the conservative media, the Bulwark increasingly stands alone in the breach, shouting "You can't be serious?"
But we need your support..

Posted by: Deep State is In DEEP SHIT at May 18, 2019 11:41 AM (BqBId)

44 Train robbery song.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IOk71pHqCu8

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 18, 2019 11:42 AM (+y/Ru)

45 I lived in NYC for a while and had to go to Boston for bidness. I gave Acela a chance but it was about 90 minutes slower than flying. This was door to door time.

It was less stressful not having to deal with the airport zoo. But still that 90 minutes both ways was more valuable to me.

Posted by: Lurking Lurker at May 18, 2019 11:42 AM (FiUMj)

46
He spent a few minutes talking about trains, slow trains. "They can't build a train from San Diego? to San Francisco and they want to build one to Europe?

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 11:34 AM (WSVNe)


With the exception of Camp Pendleton SD to LA is now almost one continuous city. The Amtrack Surfliner can't even get up to speed so high speed rail is pointless

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 11:42 AM (TAmPV)

47 "But the truncated train line from Bakersfield to Merced was still

supposed to showcase the energy efficiency of the New California."


How energy efficient is a train no one rides?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 18, 2019 11:42 AM (oVJmc)

48 Posted by: Dr. T at May 18, 2019 11:40 AM (2PXwn)

____


Plus the "high speed" lines aren't really that high speed. The top speed is high, but it's not like they take off at 250MPH and keep that up until the destination. They slow down a lot to 70-80 MPH.

Posted by: Lurking Lurker at May 18, 2019 11:44 AM (FiUMj)

49 When has a president ever done anything so beautiful as to pull back a billion dollars from Commiefornia.
Sheesh. Trump. Love the guy.

Posted by: PJ at May 18, 2019 11:45 AM (qlTN9)

50 Medicine Bow was yesterday, acc. to the schedule.

Live map says it's stopped in Laramie, on its way to Cheyenne:

https://www.up.com/forms/
steam-trace.cfm

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 11:45 AM (elfAG)

51 They should allow freight trains to pull passenger cars at the same time.

Posted by: Alexandria at May 18, 2019 11:45 AM (WSVNe)

52 With the exception of Camp Pendleton SD to LA is now almost one continuous city. The Amtrack Surfliner can't even get up to speed so high speed rail is pointless
Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 11:42 AM (TAmPV)

___

Yeah. If anything, expand the existing lines and schedule. That may help traffic on I-5. But high speed between SD and LA is idiotic. It's basically going from the south side of a city to the north side of a city. You don't need a 200MPH train for that.

Posted by: Lurking Lurker at May 18, 2019 11:45 AM (FiUMj)

53 Whoops, not Laramie. "Miller", WY

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 11:46 AM (elfAG)

54 train from here to Denver takes over eight hours to travel 250 miles. Granted, it does cross the Continental Divide. You can do quite a bit of day drinking in the club car. Just don't get caught with your own beer.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 11:46 AM (yBXUJ)

55 Ya know who made the trains run on time right?
Coincidence? I think not

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 18, 2019 11:47 AM (FwN37)

56 Speaking of train robberies

Robert Earl Keen - Whenever Kindness Fails


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTpvD0bL7y4

I saw the brakeman and the engineer
Drinking wine and eating Brie
I asked them who would brake and who would steer
They started pointing back at me

So I shot 'em down
One by one
And I left 'em on the rails
I use my gun
Whenever kindness fails.

Posted by: Hobart Harumphey at May 18, 2019 11:47 AM (m45I2)

57 There is a a railroad siding near my house. They park trains overnight and sometimes you can see crews getting dropped off to fire up the locomotives.

On occasion I have seen trainspotters stop to to observe. Part of the vacant land had a duplex put in recently. I can't imagine who would want to live with those massive diesels in their backyard.

Posted by: fluffy at May 18, 2019 11:47 AM (dCRRg)

58 Medicine Bow was yesterday, acc. to the schedule.

Live map says it's stopped in Laramie, on its way to Cheyenne

My typical MO, day late and a dollar short. Was thinking it was the 17th.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 11:47 AM (yBXUJ)

59

Click Clack

https://youtu.be/uNyOr4h2ZLw

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 18, 2019 11:48 AM (aKsyK)

60 saw after the recession and start of BO's reign of error was all the railroad cars sitting parked on old sidings.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at May 18, 2019 11:40 AM (pAkRe)


I saw them also, any long side track full of new oil tank cars, miles of them. You don't see them around here anymore. Cuomo once talked about building an highspeed RR across the state from Buffalo to Albany. Would have cost billions, far, far more than just updating the Amtrak train which runs the same route. Same in California, rebuild what you already have, not buy land, fight law suits, pay off the local pols, who wanted the HS train to stop in every small town in their district. Which made the route wander all over the Central Valley.

Posted by: Colin at May 18, 2019 11:48 AM (ERvZ7)

61 Well, to be fair, the cost of the Bakersfield to Merced route was only $23,415 per foot.

That's such an important, highly sought after travel route for Californians, and that meager amount of money really wouldn't help solve any of California's other major problems such as homelessness or the illegal alien invasion.

Certainly best to spend the money on a really cool set of bullet trains.

HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

Sarc!

When SMOD finally arrives on it's Holy Mission of Cleansing Fire, it will hit square on the San Andreas Fault.

Or so I pray.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 11:48 AM (smc0A)

62 Gonna lay my head on the track
Get some rest when the wheels go clack
And the train goes a roaring on
And now all my troubles are gone

Posted by: Insomniac at May 18, 2019 11:50 AM (ywNoU)

63 City of New Orleans is my favorite train song. I think it is one of the only two songs in the world that has Kankakee in it. I was born in K3. Also, I used to ride the City of New Orleans from my so-called home down to college. I liked sleeping on the train. Trains are good for that.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 18, 2019 11:50 AM (lwiT4)

64 Oh, take that midnight train to Memphis
Lord, leave me if you can
Oh, take that train, baby

Posted by: Insomniac


Ah, now THAT is an ear worm to be reckoned with.

Thank you, Brother Insom.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 11:51 AM (smc0A)

65 Got this off utube, it sounds promising:
"Late Saturday, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. called 74 seats in the 151-seat lower parliamentary house as wins for Morrison's conservative Liberal-National party coalition, with 65 seats to Labor and 12 undecided..."

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 11:51 AM (WSVNe)

66 Gavin MacLeod > Gavin Newsom

Posted by: Quint at May 18, 2019 11:51 AM (n13/j)

67
"But the truncated train line from Bakersfield to Merced was still
supposed to showcase the energy efficiency of the New California."

Not sure why they want to spend $20 BILLION for train service between two cities with a combined population of less than 500,000.
Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 18, 2019 11:35 AM (JUOKG)








And already serviced by a passenger rail line that's rarely at full capacity.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 18, 2019 11:52 AM (cwL3u)

68 Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie
With the demise of The Weekly Standard and the increasing Trumpification of much of the rest of the conservative media, the Bulwark increasingly stands alone in the breach, shouting "You can't be serious?"
But we need your support..

-
Yeah, boy, moonbat progs can hardly get a word in edgewise.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 18, 2019 11:53 AM (+y/Ru)

69 Plus the "high speed" lines aren't really that high
speed. The top speed is high, but it's not like they take off at 250MPH
and keep that up until the destination. They slow down a lot to 70-80
MPH.






Posted by: Lurking Lurker at May 18, 2019 11:44 AM

---

High speed only makes sense if there are few stops. The Tokyo bullet train only has 6 stops on it's entire route. And the entire high speed train system for the entire Country of Japan only has 15 stops.


At the end of the day you know California would make that train stop at every single little community on the way and it would never get close to it's theoretical top speed.

Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 18, 2019 11:54 AM (JUOKG)

70 And already serviced by a passenger rail line that's rarely at full capacity.

And serviced even better by Uber/Lyft, I'll bet.

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 11:54 AM (8ruUE)

71 If the project you want to build increases in price without end, fire everyone and quit.
Posted by: DaveM at May 18, 2019 11:22

What...?

Posted by: The Big Dig at May 18, 2019 11:55 AM (LkJkV)

72 I don't like the Liberal Party (our "conservatives") all that much, but for every policy they have that I dislike, Labor (the centre-left party here) have a matching policy that is at least ten times worse.

So yay us, we continue to slide into Brave New World rather than 1984.


Some say the world will end in Brave New World,
Some say in 1984.
I stand with corporate flag unfurled
And push like hell for Brave New World.
But if it had to die once more,
I know enough of politics
To say that 1984
Could be the fix
I'm looking for.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 18, 2019 11:55 AM (2yngH)

73

And already serviced by a passenger rail line that's rarely at full capacity.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 18, 2019 11:52 AM (cwL3u)


It is Moombeam's vanity project.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 11:55 AM (yBXUJ)

74 Holy crap, how could we forget one of the best train songs ever written?

Johnny Cash's "Texas 1947" (written by Guy Clark IIRC)

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=_KwvQ5lfA2k

Being six years old I had seen some trains before
So it's hard to figure out what we're at the depot for...

(3 minutes long and worth it)

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 11:55 AM (EOEiY)

75 One of my favorite songs, from Roy Rogers and Dale Evans:

"Pardon me, Roy,

Is that the cat who chewed

Your new shoes?"

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 11:56 AM (T09ml)

76 I love me some Orange Blossom Special.

Posted by: DR.WTF at May 18, 2019 11:57 AM (aS1PU)

77 Colorado and esp. Denver is all about sexy light rail. I think they diverted road funding to bribing homeless addicts to come here to push folks to want light rail as an alternative to over crowded and potholed highways.

In Weld county, home of a lot of natural gas and oil wells, the county has upgraded a lot of county roads; but I-76 is in horrid shape. The state no doubt wants folks to think "oil trucks == bad roads".

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at May 18, 2019 11:57 AM (pAkRe)

78 Traveling Wilburys - End of the Line


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMVjToYOjbM

Posted by: Hobart Harumphey at May 18, 2019 11:57 AM (m45I2)

79 [Self-honking warning]

A hook, I do declare, for
Getting from Here to There.

2013 June. for thirty days I pondered, in cartoonish fashion, transportation's past, present, and future.

Link in nic to Panel 1. Click on the "Larger" links to better see.

[Been meaning to reformat this for better readability than the "Daily Doodles" constraints under which they were first done. Any year now.]

um_____________

* puts on carnival barker's fedora *

The PayPal donation buttons on my site work, last I knew. Help me replace this failing tablet for a new, real computer so I can make great webworks again, right? (MGWA? never mind)

* switches to humble artist tattered knit cap *

Whenever I see that rare time someone actually followed a link from Ace to my website (I can't see who, just that), I don't know whether to be amused or apologize. "Sorry I tricked you into seeing the dumb stuff I did."

* switches to cowboy hat, goes for a walk in the rain *

Posted by: mindful webworker - click for transportoon at May 18, 2019 11:57 AM (NsI03)

80 It is Moombeam's vanity project.

I wonder if it's just a scam to fund lawyers, activists, landowners who get a heads up, construction companies, politicians, and unions. Completing it would be a bonus, but completely optional.

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 11:58 AM (CMq2e)

81 They need to consult with AOC. She's apparently an expert on how to pull train. Yes, I know the expression is "pull a train".

Posted by: pep at May 18, 2019 11:58 AM (T6t7i)

82 LA Times is upset that Trump killed the HS rail, after they had run articles about the cost of it. Because Trump did it, its bad, bad, bad. Trump hates us here in California. Trump is a meanie...Mean while the HS Rail Authority says they are going forward. How much forward is taking money from the cap and trade, new gas taxes, etc....Tax payers don't seem to have anything to say about all this, or maybe don't care.

Posted by: Colin at May 18, 2019 11:58 AM (ERvZ7)

83 72
I don't like the Liberal Party (our "conservatives") all that much, but
for every policy they have that I dislike, Labor (the centre-left party
here) have a matching policy that is at least ten times worse.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 18, 2019 11:55 AM (2yngH)


That describes our Republicans and Democrats pretty well.

Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 11:58 AM (sdi6R)

84 Pardon me, Roy,

Is that the cat who chewed

Your new shoes?"
Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 11:56 AM (T09ml)

****

Groan.

Haven't heard that joke in 30 years.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 11:59 AM (0tfLf)

85 Pardon me, boy....is this the Transylvania Station?

Posted by: Froederick Frankenstein at May 18, 2019 11:59 AM (LkJkV)

86 I wonder if it's just a scam to fund lawyers, activists, landowners who
get a heads up, construction companies, politicians, and unions.


Do you? Do you really wonder?

Posted by: pep at May 18, 2019 11:59 AM (T6t7i)

87

So yay us, we continue to slide into Brave New World rather than 1984.

https://tinyurl.com/y9tb4but

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 18, 2019 12:00 PM (aKsyK)

88 Not saying it can't be done, but I don't see it happening.

Posted by: Dr. T


Congrats on your En-Doctor-enating yesterday, Dr. T.


The thing about the US v. Europe and ANY comparison of the possibility of building and successfully operating any mass transportation method is population density.

Simply put, Europe has a high enough pop Density that you can ALMOST make it work without pissing yuge amounts of money down a hole.

In the US, it will never work. Too spread out.

And of course we also like the freedom of jetting around in our cars. Europeans are sheep who've never had the sort of individual car culture we've had.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 12:00 PM (smc0A)

89
Not sure why they want to spend $20 BILLION for train service between two cities with a combined population of less than 500,000.
Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 18, 2019 11:35 AM (JUOKG)


Four words: High-speed produce transport.

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 12:00 PM (TAmPV)

90 Then things got real quiet
And Momma jerked me back
But not before I got a chance
To lay a nickel on the track

Posted by: Hobart Harumphey at May 18, 2019 12:01 PM (m45I2)

91 "It looks like the Liberals (Australia's conservative party) have pulled off an upset win against Labor to retain power for the nineteenth consecutive year.* (Sydney Morning Herald)"


Wait, wait, I just read (on utube) that Labor did a rout.

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 12:01 PM (WSVNe)

92 pixy sighting.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 12:01 PM (yBXUJ)

93 Groan.

Haven't heard that joke in 30 years.
Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 11:59 AM

++++

Ok, so I'm old. Don't rub it in.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 12:01 PM (T09ml)

94 Bbbbut Europe has trains and everything Europe does is awesome so we need trains!!!!

Posted by: Lurking Lurker


Europe also has a shitload of nuclear power and pretty restrictive abortion laws.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 12:02 PM (smc0A)

95 Billy Joe Shaver's "Georgia on a Fast Train" is another all time favorite but it's not really a train song.

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=UvpuWk5kwpQ

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 12:02 PM (EOEiY)

96 Yes, a passenger train line that ends in Merced.

Merced, where the counties biggest employer is???

The Prison system.

Oh, and they won't fix the Freeway here to three lanes because? They still can't decide where the damn train tracks are even going.

99 Highway is the deadliest Highway in the country, and we're going to spend billions on a train that no one will ride, because its a 'Train to nowhere'.

Posted by: Don Q at May 18, 2019 12:03 PM (NgKpN)

97 Europeans are sheep who've never had the sort of individual car culture we've had.
Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 12:00 PM

Just back from Greece. I had the option of taking a 90 minute tram ride from 10 miles outside of Athens, or driving in Athens. Drove to Athens. It took 25 minutes, and wasn't much worse than driving in Boston. Screw trains.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 18, 2019 12:03 PM (LkJkV)

98 Train kept a rollin', all night long.

Posted by: Smokin' Uncle Joe Biden at May 18, 2019 12:04 PM (EgshT)

99 The terminator (Arnie S). was attacked in S. Africa:
https://preview.tinyurl.com/yxbo8wbj

Posted by: bananadream at May 18, 2019 12:04 PM (YR7aL)

100 ...we're going to spend billions on a train that no one will ride, because its a 'Train to nowhere'.

Finally! I can go home.

Posted by: Nowhere Man at May 18, 2019 12:04 PM (aS1PU)

101 On-topic, that selfish SOB and worldwide-developer Trump probably understands exactly how much graft is involved in important projects like this.

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 12:04 PM (EOEiY)

102 Europe also has a shitload of nuclear power and pretty restrictive abortion laws.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 12:02 PM (smc0A)


Except Germany, Merkel is shutting them all down. To save the earth you know. Just keep buying gas from Russia, that takes care of our needs.

Posted by: Colin at May 18, 2019 12:05 PM (ERvZ7)

103
City of New Orleans is my favorite train song. I think it is one of the only two songs in the world that has Kankakee in it. I was born in K3. Also, I used to ride the City of New Orleans from my so-called home down to college. I liked sleeping on the train. Trains are good for that.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 18, 2019 11:50 AM (lwiT4)


Peace Train is the worst train song ever.

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 12:05 PM (TAmPV)

104 Just back from Greece. I had the option of taking a 90 minute tram ride from 10 miles outside of Athens, or driving in Athens. Drove to Athens. It took 25 minutes, and wasn't much worse than driving in Boston. Screw trains.

--

We routinely drive for 8-10 hour trips now. With the family there's not much reason not to. Save hundreds if not thousands of dollars, stop to see things we want to look at, and get there in just about the same amount of time as if we'd flown.

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 12:06 PM (EOEiY)

105 Some dude hauls off and kicks Schwarzenegger square in the back. I think it knocks him to the ground but later you see him walking out.

Posted by: bananadream at May 18, 2019 12:06 PM (YR7aL)

106 California's HIGH. SPEED. RAIL. was a non-starter from the get-go, as all grownups (there are a few of us left here) knew right from the start. The only question was how long the farce would continue before the liberals finally acceded to reality.

A conservative buddy has an earnestly liberal wife. When a group of us - all conservative - started ripping on HIGH. SPEED. RAIL. she got very quiet. I went out of my way to dump on it, because my buddy couldn't, as he had to maintain the domestic tranquility, so I did the running.

Next time I'm around her I'm going to dump on it all again (pretending I don't realize that she was all for it, as a member of the community-based reality), and deprecating the intelligence and judgment of those who supported the Chowchilla Express.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:07 PM (1tY1L)

107 A peanut sat on a railroad track

It's heart was all a-flutter

Along came the six-fifteen (Toot Toot)

Peanut butter!

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 18, 2019 12:07 PM (q1Pj5)

108 The Smothers Brothers had a song about a train.
Old 49.
It left the station. It went fast. It arrived on time. It didn't crash.
That's pretty much it.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 12:07 PM (0tfLf)

109 Four words: High-speed produce transport.

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic



Ah, the Lettuce Luge.

Posted by: pep at May 18, 2019 12:08 PM (T6t7i)

110 But the truncated train line from Bakersfield to Merced was still supposed to showcase the energy efficiency of the New California.

And yet, paradoxically and ironically, that's EXACTLY what it does.

You have to laugh.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:08 PM (1tY1L)

111 Schwarzenegger attacked (but apparently unhurt) by a man wanting a Lamborghini and an Apple TV.

https://bit.ly/30su3ES

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 18, 2019 12:09 PM (+y/Ru)

112 /sock

Posted by: DR.WTF at May 18, 2019 12:09 PM (aS1PU)

113 But the truncated train line from Bakersfield to Merced was still supposed to showcase the energy efficiency of the New California.

--

You mean the New California that ranks 49th in education?

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 12:09 PM (EOEiY)

114 Ok, so I'm old. Don't rub it in.
Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 12:01 PM

****

Yeah. Me too. That's how I recognized it!

Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 12:10 PM (0tfLf)

115 Just keep buying gas from Russia, that takes care of our needs.

Posted by: Colin


Well at least Germany learned that it is better to just buy shit from people rather than invading them to take their stuff.

That's progress.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 12:10 PM (smc0A)

116
Ah, the Lettuce Luge.

Posted by: pep at May 18, 2019 12:08 PM (T6t7i)


The Cantaloupe Express.

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 12:10 PM (TAmPV)

117 100 ...we're going to spend billions on a train that no one will ride, because its a 'Train to nowhere'.

Finally! I can go home.
Posted by: Nowhere Man at May 18, 2019 12:04 PM (aS1PU)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0

No he never returned, no he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned.

MTA song

Posted by: Don Q at May 18, 2019 12:11 PM (NgKpN)

118 Oh, and they won't fix the Freeway here to three lanes because?
Posted by: Don Q at May 18, 2019 12:03 PM (NgKpN)


Road diet.

Thanks, Jerry. Retard.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:11 PM (1tY1L)

119 Chattanooga Choo Choo

Posted by: Deep State is In DEEP SHIT at May 18, 2019 12:12 PM (BqBId)

120 114 Ok, so I'm old. Don't rub it in.
Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 12:01 PM

****

Yeah. Me too. That's how I recognized it!
Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 12:10 PM (0tfLf)

We're not Old! We're CLASSICS!

Posted by: Don Q at May 18, 2019 12:12 PM (NgKpN)

121 Hey the The Family Truckster with grandma on the roof is still faster than the California HS choo choo.

Posted by: Colin at May 18, 2019 12:12 PM (ERvZ7)

122 You mean the New California that ranks 49th in education?
Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 12:09 PM (EOEiY)


Que?

Yep. That's the one.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:12 PM (1tY1L)

123 Steve Goodman playing "City of New Orleans"

Probably the best version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SfPyg-mGhU


Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 12:12 PM (T09ml)

124 >> 111 Schwarzenegger attacked


What's the dude that kicked him screaming? Is he asking for a Lamborghini?

Posted by: bananadream at May 18, 2019 12:13 PM (YR7aL)

125
Next time I'm around her I'm going to dump on it all again (pretending I don't realize that she was all for it, as a member of the community-based reality), and deprecating the intelligence and judgment of those who supported the Chowchilla Express.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara

=======

Hee hee hee. Make sure you talk about all the women's shelters they could have built and run with all that money. Name the amount, scope out a hypothetical couple of local buildings, cite a domestic violent crime as close to your area as possible, and shake your head over how that poor woman could be alive and thriving now if it hadn't been for these crazy *men* and their obsession with *engineering* and *science* and how they can't grow up about their precious *toy trains.*

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:13 PM (13CQC)

126 Happy Mt St Helens Day!

I was there. It was incredible. Mother Nature at its most awesome.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 12:13 PM (0tfLf)

127 " One of the sad things I saw after the recession and start of BO's reign of error was all the railroad cars sitting parked on old sidings. "


Not always an economic thing ... here in WI there are long sidings, multi-tracked, that are used to store all the grain hopper cars that are only used at harvest time; in the fall the sidings empty out, then refill over the winter.


Hope they bring #4014 around here some time.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - they are gaslighting us 24/365 at May 18, 2019 12:14 PM (isI7q)

128 ust back from Greece. I had the option of taking a 90 minute tram ride
from 10 miles outside of Athens, or driving in Athens. Drove to Athens.
It took 25 minutes, and wasn't much worse than driving in Boston. Screw
trains.

Interesting. I found Athens to be about the worst driving experience ever. My advice to people visiting Greece is see Athens if you must then go to the good parts.

Posted by: Quint at May 18, 2019 12:14 PM (n13/j)

129 Oh, and for those who don't know.

Merced to Bakersfield is 2.5 hours drive time.

Straight shot on a crowded freeway, where most of the speed limit is 70 MPH.

And lots, and LOTS of trucks, which a passenger train will not fix.

Posted by: Don Q at May 18, 2019 12:14 PM (NgKpN)

130 My Baby Thinks He's A Train - Roseanne Cash

https://youtu.be/HxzklJK5GpU

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 18, 2019 12:14 PM (q1Pj5)

131
Steve Goodman playing "City of New Orleans"



Probably the best version.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SfPyg-mGhU







Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 12:12 PM (T09ml)



Nice - thanks!

Posted by: grammie winger at May 18, 2019 12:15 PM (lwiT4)

132 I was looking at Amtrak schedules and fares to Arizona.. we have a wedding to go to in the fall..

Closest I can get to Phoenix is Flagstaff.. and that takes 30 hours.. 30 hours! I can drive it myself in less time!

And the fare is twice as much as airfare! Geebus.. government run trains...

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at May 18, 2019 12:15 PM (438dO)

133 Peace Train is the worst train song ever.

Yusuf rocks.

Posted by: John "The Sweetest Sound" Brennan at May 18, 2019 12:15 PM (EgshT)

134
On-topic, that selfish SOB and worldwide-developer Trump probably understands exactly how much graft is involved in important projects like this.
Posted by: Moron Robbie

======

The only chapter you need to read in The Art of the Deal is the one on the Wollman Rink. It ought to be compulsory in American schools.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:17 PM (13CQC)

135 What, no Love Train?

Posted by: The O'Jays at May 18, 2019 12:18 PM (eZfF5)

136 LA Times is upset that Trump killed the HS rail, after they had run articles about the cost of it. Because Trump did it, its bad, bad, bad. Trump hates us here in California. Trump is a meanie...Mean while the HS Rail Authority says they are going forward. How much forward is taking money from the cap and trade, new gas taxes, etc....Tax payers don't seem to have anything to say about all this, or maybe don't care.
Posted by: Colin at May 18, 2019 11:58 AM (ERvZ7)


OK, they started building HIGH. SPEED. RAIL. (I write it that way because of the ponderous and reverential way liberals used to say the words) out in the Central Valley, where all they had to contend with were lettuce fields.

How exactly were they going to get to LA? Bore through the San Gabriel mountains? That sounds cheap.

And how exactly were they going to get to SF, through some of the most expensive and earthquake-prone turf on the planet?

These trifling details were left for others to solve. The liberals basically imposed taxes, pissed away an incredible amount of money (several border walls worth), tooted a train whistle, and called it good.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:18 PM (1tY1L)

137 The weather is nice today but I'm not getting motivated to mow the lawn.

Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 12:18 PM (sdi6R)

138 Also, 900 Miles may or may not be related to Train 45

Del McCoury's version here:

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=2FcQIqBWYjo

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 12:18 PM (EOEiY)

139 By the time it is all not done, with the very few passengers that ride the high speed hoax, we could have given each one a Ferrari. Or Bentley.


All government is bad but kalifornia government, i.e. demofascist government, is the very worst. This gigantic graft and terrible fascist rule is what the democrat party is and wants all of the USA under... before they kill us.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Profoundly Unserious at May 18, 2019 12:19 PM (pw+jk)

140 wasn't much worse than driving in Boston

Worse than driving in Boston?

I do not understand those words in that order.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:20 PM (1tY1L)

141 Runaway Train starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts.
Awesome flick, especially the ending.

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 18, 2019 12:20 PM (q1Pj5)

142 Well at least Germany learned that it is better to just buy shit from people rather than invading them to take their stuff.



That's progress.


Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 12:10 PM

---

The Germans managed to conduct operations for the last 18 months of the War by liquefying coal into fuel once they got cut off from oil sources.

They could do it again if they wanted to.

Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 18, 2019 12:20 PM (JUOKG)

143 18 minute video of 14 y/o femme going on a political rant. She's on point.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/OdaUDeAGIck/

Posted by: Ex-ex at May 18, 2019 12:21 PM (RU4sa)

144 Happy Mt St Helens Day!

I was there. It was incredible. Mother Nature at its most awesome.
Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 12:13 PM (0tfLf)

My grandpa saw it happen. He was in his kitchen in Longview, sipping his coffee and watching the mountain because it was a clear day. then kerblooey. There was plenty of ash in Longview, but the northward explosion sent the majority of the ash north and east. Missoula Montana ended up with feet of ash.

Posted by: Pug Mahon at May 18, 2019 12:21 PM (uzjER)

145 California should find some wood burning steam locomotives for their choo-choo. Sustainable, natural.... What's not to like?

Posted by: Ripley at May 18, 2019 12:22 PM (MxEKc)

146 wasn't much worse than driving in Boston

Worse than driving in Boston?

I do not understand those words in that order.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara
...........

I've never been to Boston, but the scariest driving experience I ever had was San Francisco.

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at May 18, 2019 12:22 PM (438dO)

147 Hee hee hee. Make sure you talk about all the women's shelters they could have built and run with all that money. Name the amount, scope out a hypothetical couple of local buildings, cite a domestic violent crime as close to your area as possible, and shake your head over how that poor woman could be alive and thriving now if it hadn't been for these crazy *men* and their obsession with *engineering* and *science* and how they can't grow up about their precious *toy trains.*
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:13 PM (13CQC)


Great idea!

"And think of all the poor brown people we could have helped. We could have called it, "The Tortilla Express."

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:22 PM (1tY1L)

148 The conservative party was reelected in Australia, despite pools saying that the Labor Party would win overwhelmingly (sound familiar).

The Left in Australia is going absolutely nuts - among other things, they are passing around suicide hotline numbers, because normal. stable people contemplate killing themselves when their side loses an election.

It's like Trump's and Brexit - when the media explains that you are irredeemable and deplorable for voting for a conservative, people start lying to pollsters.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 12:23 PM (I2/tG)

149 We got a thick dusting of ash in Cody, Wyoming as well.

Posted by: Pug Mahon at May 18, 2019 12:23 PM (uzjER)

150 Runaway Train starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts.
Awesome flick, especially the ending.
Posted by: Count de Monet at May 18, 2019 12:20 PM (q1Pj5)

++++

I saws a runaway train on a milk carton one time.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 12:23 PM (T09ml)

151 And yes, that is shamelessly stolen.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 12:23 PM (T09ml)

152 because normal. stable people contemplate killing themselves when their side loses an election.

--

Look, it's either that or start a nuclear war with Russia.

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 12:23 PM (EOEiY)

153
Gavin MacLeod > Gavin Newsom
Posted by: Quint

======

Fig Newton > Gavin Newsom

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:24 PM (13CQC)

154 I love trains, the idea of them, the engineering, the history, the legacy, and its just a great way to travel. But they aren't economically viable as built. Every major rail system on earth is heavily subsidized by the government because they cannot charge people enough to pay for the costs of running one. Freight pays its way because it doesn't require space or seats, service or oversight. Your freight isn't going to get sick or drunk or try to hurt anyone.

That said, I think they probably could run trains with a mini nuke as an engine and that would severely reduce operational costs, since the second major expense is fuel (the first being personnel as always). You'd have to get past the people terrified of anything nuclear, and all the jackass protesters, but I think its viable.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 12:24 PM (39g3+)

155 "Missoula Montana ended up with feet of ash."

Better than a feet of clay.

Posted by: lowandslow at May 18, 2019 12:24 PM (4thlk)

156 "The Germans managed to conduct operations for the last 18 months of the War by liquefying coal into fuel once they got cut off from oil sources.

They could do it again if they wanted to.

Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 18, 2019 12:20 PM (JUOKG) "



Worked on a couple of pilot plants trying to do that from "biomass" earlier this century, it happens every time oil prices get high enough to allow numbers to work out on paper.
In practice, not so much ... and then oil prices go down again ...
In wartime, economic considerations go right out the window.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - they are gaslighting us 24/365 at May 18, 2019 12:26 PM (isI7q)

157
Great idea!

"And think of all the poor brown people we could have helped. We could have called it, "The Tortilla Express."
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara

====

Make it personal. Make it real. Make her envision her liberal proteges suffering because of her failure to think things through.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:26 PM (13CQC)

158 Happy Mt St Helens Day!

I was there. It was incredible. Mother Nature at its most awesome.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 12:13 PM (0tfLf)


Me too. My, does time fly. That was before kidlets. Don't mess with mother nature!

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 12:27 PM (yBXUJ)

159 Iowahawk quoted a hilarious Austrlian Twitter thread, which starts:

My daughter watching @abcnews from Iceland now saying she's not coming home now in tears with my Grandson wondering what the hell is going on. Others have contacted me in tears.. I'm confused ffs .. Strange night #auspol not good for Australia

Followed by:

I've been crying fro the past hour. Tried to eat dinner, couldn't I feel like there's simply no tomorrow.

Les, im now totally ashamed to be an Australian, im starting to loathe this dumb Nation now, just so fucked up on so many levels, just greed, avarice, corruption rules, no compassion, nothing, but cold dead heart, I really hate Australia tonight, How can morons be so dumb, how. ?

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 12:27 PM (I2/tG)

160 because normal. stable people contemplate killing themselves when their side loses an election.

Would these be the same people who assured us they would move to Canada, or NZ, or Europe, if Trump won? What's the current count on them?

A little histrionic drama is a big plus in the SJW community.

Posted by: pep at May 18, 2019 12:27 PM (T6t7i)

161 I've never been to Boston, but the scariest driving experience I ever had was San Francisco.
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at May 18, 2019 12:22 PM (438dO)


Pfft. Child's play compared to Boston. At least people stop for red lights in SF (or used to).

My first driving experience in Boston I was stopping for a yellow light, which would turn red before I got there. Behind me there were brakes screeching, tires burning, and people swearing at me. I hadn't known that (at least then) that four or five cars would cruise through a red light before anyone actually stopped. The people behind were accelerating, not slowing, hence the pandemonium when I stopped.

My favorite Boston driving story: an ambulance was driving with its lights and sirens on when a guy pulled up onto a raised divider strip, gunned his engine, raced past the ambulance, then drove back off the raised divider to cut off the ambulance. I couldn't believe it.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:27 PM (1tY1L)

162 Silver train is comin'
Think I'm gonna get on now, oh, yeah

Posted by: M. Jagger & K. Richards at May 18, 2019 12:28 PM (4knXT)

163 Better than a feet of clay.
Posted by: lowandslow at May 18, 2019 12:24 PM (4thlk)


I had this dream once...

Posted by: Nebuchadnezzar at May 18, 2019 12:28 PM (aS1PU)

164 The Germans managed to conduct operations for the last 18 months of the War by liquefying coal into fuel once they got cut off from oil sources.

They could do it again if they wanted to.

Posted by: The Great White Scotsman


Probably true.

But where are they going to find 5 million dudes who are willing to fight and die for the Fatherland?

I think that the possibility of a new World War ever breaking out died with the invention of the smart phone.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 18, 2019 12:29 PM (smc0A)

165 Wreck of the Old 97 - Boxcar Willie
Just shovel in a little more coal

https://youtu.be/lyk3AEXvmLg

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 18, 2019 12:29 PM (q1Pj5)

166 Make it personal. Make it real. Make her envision her liberal proteges suffering because of her failure to think things through.
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:26 PM (13CQC)


Another good point.

Of course, her husband and I could just show her our income tax returns. Think that that would personalize it enough?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:30 PM (1tY1L)

167 That said, I think they probably could run trains with a mini nuke as an
engine and that would severely reduce operational costs, since the
second major expense is fuel (the first being personnel as always).
You'd have to get past the people terrified of anything nuclear, and all
the jackass protesters, but I think its viable.


If you made all the trains autonomous and got rid of the people, I suspect that not only would the cost go down dramatically, but safety would improve. It seems like every train accident I hear about is because the engineer was on drugs or drunk.

Posted by: pep at May 18, 2019 12:30 PM (T6t7i)

168 Napoli, Italy.

A city of 2 million. All the standard roads, lanes and traffic lights. Except ... the lanes are optional, three traffic lights are obeyed at any one day, and change the next, and a certain maniacal testosterone surge is needed to get anywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 18, 2019 12:30 PM (u82oZ)

169 I loved seeing different little train sets of the those people that would do the huge landscapes, depots, etc when I was a kid (still do a little bit) but I never wanted to build one.
High speed rail could really only be useful in big city to big city with few or no other stops. Otherwise whats the point.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 18, 2019 12:30 PM (r+sAi)

170 If you made all the trains autonomous and got rid of the people, I suspect that not only would the cost go down dramatically, but safety would improve. It seems like every train accident I hear about is because the engineer was on drugs or drunk.
Posted by: pep at May 18, 2019 12:30 PM (T6t7i)


I heard that Tesla's on it. No worries.

Posted by: DR.WTF at May 18, 2019 12:31 PM (aS1PU)

171 How about all those homeless living on San Francisco bay in *makeshift* 15/20 thousand dollar boats?

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 12:31 PM (W54U5)

172 Ride the train. Ride the train.
Everywhere I go I ride trains.
Sleeping in the boxcars when it rains.
Ride the train. Ride the train.

Posted by: Ex-ex at May 18, 2019 12:32 PM (RU4sa)

173 I had this dream once...

Posted by: Nebuchadnezzar



I dreamed a dream of days gone by......

Posted by: Fantine at May 18, 2019 12:32 PM (T6t7i)

174 The scene from Dr. Zhivago where the commie train station master instructs the passengers on the use of disinfectant and the removal of night soil during their trip across California, errr, I mean Russia is a favorite of mine.

Klaus Klinski is the only free man on the train.



Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 18, 2019 12:32 PM (Z+IKu)

175
"The conservative party was reelected in Australia, despite pools saying
that the Labor Party would win overwhelmingly (sound familiar).



Posted by: The ARC of History!"

Are Australian conservatives actually, you know conservative? Or are they just less socialist like euro-conservatives?

Posted by: Ripley at May 18, 2019 12:34 PM (MxEKc)

176 159
Les, im now totally ashamed to be an Australian, im starting to
loathe this dumb Nation now, just so fucked up on so many levels, just
greed, avarice, corruption rules, no compassion, nothing, but cold dead
heart, I really hate Australia tonight, How can morons be so dumb, how. ?

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 12:27 PM (I2/tG)


Yes, I really want people like that governing me.

Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 12:34 PM (sdi6R)

177 How about all those homeless living on San Francisco bay in *makeshift* 15/20 thousand dollar boats?

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 12:31 PM (W54U5)

--

I'm told they've got a huge problem with people living in RVs parked on city streets, too.

Posted by: Moron Robbie remembers when painting your face as a caricature of a minority was wrong at May 18, 2019 12:35 PM (EOEiY)

178
With no other commentary (it IS technically a silent movie)

Buster Keaton in The Railrodder (Canadian Rail across the continent)


https://youtu.be/xYmcN12M97o

Posted by: Kindltot at May 18, 2019 12:35 PM (KTmSx)

179 When I was a little girl, my mother took me and my sister on a passenger train from Iowa to San Francisco. I don't remember much about it, I was so young, but I remember my mother wanting us to have the experience of long distance train travel at least once in our lives.

Posted by: ALH at May 18, 2019 12:35 PM (htgmn)

180 I rode a train once from Osan AFB to somewhere near Wonju, Korea. The toilet opened directly to the tracks.

I'd hate to see what it looks like between the rails.

Posted by: Ex-ex at May 18, 2019 12:36 PM (RU4sa)

181 Worked on a couple of pilot plants trying to do that from "biomass" earlier this century, it happens every time oil prices get high enough to allow numbers to work out on paper.
In practice, not so much ... and then oil prices go down again ...
In wartime, economic considerations go right out the window.
Posted by: sock_rat_eez - they are gaslighting us 24/365 at May 18, 2019 12:26 PM (isI7q)


The big difference is in the oxidation state of the starting material. Biomass is typically highly oxygenated, usually consisting largely of carbohydrates (e.g., cellulose, a carbohydrate polymer). As such, its energy density is fairly low; it's already half-oxidized. (That's the problem with ethanol; practically the only thing worse would be burning acetic acid - vinegar - which in principle can be done.)

Coal, OTOH, is not highly oxygenated, and is closer to being just carbon. The Fischer-Tropsch process essentially just hydrogenates coal to make hydrocarbon fuel. That's much more energy dense, and therefore much more cost-effective to produce.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:36 PM (1tY1L)

182 One of my favorite train songs

https://youtu.be/_tvNMU4LMeY

By the little Warby Gals from O Brother Where Art Thou, more grown up

Also, of course,

https://youtu.be/2SfPyg-mGhU

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 12:36 PM (39g3+)

183 I rode a train once from Osan AFB to somewhere near Wonju, Korea. The toilet opened directly to the tracks.

I'd hate to see what it looks like between the rails.
Posted by: Ex-ex at May 18, 2019 12:36 PM (RU4sa)


It's called "night soil."

Posted by: DR.WTF at May 18, 2019 12:37 PM (aS1PU)

184 I'd hate to see what it looks like between the rails.

Posted by: Ex-ex


Lush?

Posted by: Fantine at May 18, 2019 12:37 PM (T6t7i)

185 It seems like every train accident I hear about is because the engineer was on drugs or drunk.

Self Driving Trains make a hell of a lot more sense than cars: its on a literal rail and is constantly overseen by engineers at central locations.

I'd hate to see the guy in that striped cap be wiped out though

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 12:38 PM (39g3+)

186 Yes, I really want people like that governing me.


Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 12:34 PM (sdi6R)

he stole all of that from the libs after W was reelected and when Trump won. I will give him the "Australian" part though.

Posted by: Quint at May 18, 2019 12:38 PM (n13/j)

187 I'd hate to see the guy in that striped cap be wiped out though
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 12:38 PM (39g3+)


Don't kill Smiley Burdett!

Posted by: ALH at May 18, 2019 12:39 PM (htgmn)

188 My favorite Boston driving story: an ambulance was driving with its lights and sirens on when a guy pulled up onto a raised divider strip, gunned his engine, raced past the ambulance, then drove back off the raised divider to cut off the ambulance.

I drove from the West Coast to Chicago, and got on the Kennedy Expressway in a blinding rainstorm headed into the city. There was a highly visible ambulance with lights and siren behind me, and it occurred to me and the guy in the adjacent lane that it we stopped, that would create enough space for the ambulance to get by the knot of cars it was trapped in.

So I stop for the ambulance, and the guy behind me immediately starts leaning on his horn.

"I'm back in Chicago, alright", I thought.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 12:39 PM (I2/tG)

189 The Cold Blue, new WWII movie made from digitally enhanced William Wyler footage.

http://tinyurl.com/y4hktmpk
https://preview.tinyurl.com/y4hktmpk

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 12:39 PM (W54U5)

190 I rode a train once from Osan AFB to somewhere near Wonju, Korea. The toilet opened directly to the tracks.



I'd hate to see what it looks like between the rails.

Posted by: Ex-ex at May 18, 2019 12:36 PM (RU4sa)
At least it is not 'blue ice' crashing through your roof.

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 18, 2019 12:39 PM (q1Pj5)

191 Would these be the same people who assured us they would move to Canada, or NZ, or Europe, if Trump won? What's the current count on them?

A little histrionic drama is a big plus in the SJW community.
Posted by: pep at May 18, 2019 12:27 PM (T6t7i)


That just reveals the ignorance of the liberals. They seem to think that those places are just like the US: you just waltz in if the spirit moves you.

I hate to break it to them, but most countries restrict the bejesus out of immigration. You have to have skills that they want, or a buttload of money, and if they let you in at all, some countries specify where exactly you can live.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:40 PM (1tY1L)

192
Another good point.

Of course, her husband and I could just show her our income tax returns. Think that that would personalize it enough?
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara

=====

I've heard of that sort of thing. "You know that [Kitchen Thing] you wanted that would make your life so much easier that cost $800? Here it is. [points to tax return] I gave it to someone else who isn't working. I'm supporting them as well as you."

Every time Liberal Wife talks about spending money -- on something reasonable and labor-saving, mind you -- remind her that you've earmarked that money for someone else who isn't working. If you're in the right part of town or the local news is playing, you should be able to point at a person of dubious deservingness and say "I gave it to him instead."

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:41 PM (13CQC)

193 I'd hate to see what it looks like between the rails.

They try to dump it when they're between cities and at speed so its less likely to be a stinky mess in one spot where people are.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 12:42 PM (39g3+)

194 OT, but (thanks to Sean Davis!) the best looking video of the day is Halle Berry (thank you Cleveland) at the range, toning up for John Wick. I could watch this for many minutes. Oh, whathisname Keanu is there too.


https://tinyurl.com/y5mfn7xy

Posted by: Ernest Hemingway, who admires crisp opening sentences at May 18, 2019 12:43 PM (Z216Q)

195 That just reveals the ignorance of the liberals. They seem to think that those places are just like the US: you just waltz in if the spirit moves you.

They also ignore that Canada and New Zealand have had right-wing governments recently.

What are you going to do - live a nomadic existence where you move from country to country every time your side loses an election?

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 12:43 PM (I2/tG)

196 Dammit. Now I have a Peace Train earworm.

Posted by: John "The Sweetest Sound" Brennan at May 18, 2019 12:44 PM (EgshT)

197 I hate to break it to them, but most countries
restrict the bejesus out of immigration. You have to have skills that
they want, or a buttload of money, and if they let you in at all, some
countries specify where exactly you can live.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:40 PM (1tY1L)

Yeah they are freaking clueless. And in the E.U. Americans are so down the list it is laughable. Like you said, unless you having something they need (most likely you don't), it is going to a hard trek.

Posted by: Quint at May 18, 2019 12:44 PM (n13/j)

198 the bell long since tolled for my Hemingway sock

Posted by: Huck Follywood, the Bwaana returns at May 18, 2019 12:44 PM (Z216Q)

199 Only rode 2 real trains in my life, when I was a kid rode something called the skunk train in CA on vacation and my wife and I took an Amtrack on vacation once.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 18, 2019 12:46 PM (r+sAi)

200
Klaus Klinski is the only free man on the train.



Posted by: Hairyback Guy

=====

I never understood just what the deal was with that character. He was a prisoner of what/whom?

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:46 PM (13CQC)

201 My great grandfather (Irish) worked for the RR.
One of his jobs was to roust the drunks engineers and bring them to work.
He was a teetotaler.

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 12:46 PM (W54U5)

202 If most pop musicians listened to talented people playing Orange Blossom Special, they might do the right thing and try another career.

The City of New Orleans is also good.
Posted by: Quint at May 18, 2019 11:27 AM (n13/j)

There is a metric fuckton of good train songs.

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=f9yTqFWxHpA

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 12:46 PM (7njPr)

203 They try to dump it when they're between cities and at speed so its less likely to be a stinky mess in one spot where people are.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 12:42 PM (39g3+)


There was no tank. Just an open portal straight to the ground.

Posted by: Ex-ex at May 18, 2019 12:46 PM (RU4sa)

204 I have ridden Amtrack to Seattle several times and its slow but a nice ride. But they changed the cars, and the last time I went it wasn't so roomy, comfortable, and luxurious, it was more like airplane seating. They went to smaller, lighter, and cheaper cars and it showed

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 12:47 PM (39g3+)

205 A local Leftist took the train from Portland to Minneapolis for vacation, and of course put out a Tweet demanding high-speed rail. (He flew back, but he didn't Tweet about that.)

Portland to Minneapolis is farther than Paris to Moscow. Even with HSR, you are going to spending a long, long time on that train.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 12:48 PM (I2/tG)

206 There's a Big Boy and another big UP engine stationed on a bluff coming into Omaha on I 80. John Kennefick, a former CEO of UP, paid at least $1 mil to put them there.

They used to be in a little park area called, for some odd reason or another, Kennefick Park. The city of Omaha and UP got into a squabble over who should maintain it, so it turned into a weed patch.

One day, while I was still working for Waldens, Mr. Kennefick came in to look at some history books. He told me he was finding suggestions for what to get grandpa for Christmas because his grandkids had problems finding anything. Jokingly, I asked him "Well, what do you get the guy who owns his own park?" Without missing a beat, he shot back "A lawn mower!"

A couple years later, UP moved the engines from that little park to the spot on the bluff. It took all day and half the night. The flatbed carrying the Big Boy got stuck trying to make a 90° turn onto the street the new location was. I understand it took them hours to finally make that turn.

But it sure is impressive to see those huge engines up there on that bluff.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin at May 18, 2019 12:49 PM (ebZss)

207 My fave train ride ever was through the mountains from Jasper to Vancouver, with an overnight in Kamloops for touristy stuff. That train is an engineering marvel.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, the Bwaana returns at May 18, 2019 12:49 PM (Z216Q)

208 I Like Trains:

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=jd34Ioye5v4

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 12:50 PM (7njPr)

209 And what, no love for Curtis Mayfield?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdKEbnS1eBE

Posted by: The Eponymous Hugh Tootooie at May 18, 2019 12:50 PM (hu22E)

210 ALL ABOARD

https://youtu.be/vy1V5LHXWbg

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 12:51 PM (39g3+)

211 "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!"
Last words of volcanologist David Johnston who was at a monitoring site 6 miles from the mountain. He was never found afterwards.
Hell of a way to go. I suspect he was excited right up to the end.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 12:52 PM (0tfLf)

212 208
I Like Trains:


I'll see your "I like trains" and raise you "I like trains!!"



https://tinyurl.com/yctbyxvf

Posted by: Huck Follywood, the Bwaana returns at May 18, 2019 12:52 PM (Z216Q)

213
Les, im now totally ashamed to be an Australian,




Wait,I thought Men at Work calling themselves a rock band made everybody ashamed of being Australian?

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 12:53 PM (TAmPV)

214
Haha, I like that Australian story. Was it a big Upset? Unexpected? A whopping divergence from the polls and other indicators?

In other words, another news story sitting right there under the eyes of liberal media waiting to be picked up that they somehow completely missed?

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:53 PM (13CQC)

215 Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 12:46 PM (7njPr)

You gotta love Hank Snow.

Posted by: Quint at May 18, 2019 12:53 PM (n13/j)

216 A little histrionic drama is a big plus in the SJW community.

Imagine a tenured professor of Histrionics. It's coming!

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 12:53 PM (TQyCa)

217 They need to find the descendants of those Coolies that dug the Grand Canyon. Those guys could work.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 12:54 PM (yQpMk)

218 https://hooktube.com/watch?v=f9yTqFWxHpA

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 12:46 PM (7njPr)


Hey, I've been everywhere man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGj7-R6WPf4

Posted by: Hank Snow at May 18, 2019 12:54 PM (W54U5)

219 Mystery Train:

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=7KbjWK6kTQg

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 12:54 PM (7njPr)

220 Mystery Train - Butterfield Blues Band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrFm2T87nJk

Posted by: DR.WTF at May 18, 2019 12:54 PM (aS1PU)

221 Wait,I thought Men at Work calling themselves a rock band made everybody ashamed of being Australian?[./i]


That was the OY! battery guy.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 12:54 PM (yQpMk)

222 Since UP is head quartered in Omaha, it always brings its restored steam engine to town and parks it just across the street from the College World Series stadium. I'd love to see it up close and personal, but the traffic is murder.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin at May 18, 2019 12:55 PM (ebZss)

223 dammit

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 12:55 PM (yQpMk)

224 Hive mind!

Posted by: DR.WTF at May 18, 2019 12:55 PM (aS1PU)

225 https://tinyurl.com/y4bud8sb

Headed to Buffalo in August...

and hey guys! She's single!

Posted by: mikeyG at May 18, 2019 12:55 PM (LL1Be)

226 I've heard of that sort of thing. "You know that [Kitchen Thing] you wanted that would make your life so much easier that cost $800? Here it is. [points to tax return] I gave it to someone else who isn't working. I'm supporting them as well as you."

Every time Liberal Wife talks about spending money -- on something reasonable and labor-saving, mind you -- remind her that you've earmarked that money for someone else who isn't working. If you're in the right part of town or the local news is playing, you should be able to point at a person of dubious deservingness and say "I gave it to him instead."
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 12:41 PM (13CQC)


You're on fire!

Fortunately, MY wife is conservative, and so we're on the same page. But those are great ideas!

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:55 PM (1tY1L)

227 I'll bet my money on de bob-tail nag,


Somebody bet on de bay!

Posted by: Fritz Porter at May 18, 2019 12:55 PM (LuPts)

228 Haha, I like that Australian story. Was it a big Upset? Unexpected? A whopping divergence from the polls and other indicators?

Huge, unexpected upset.

Somebody bet a million bucks on the Labor Party - he would have gotten 1.23 million if Labor had won. Instead, he lost it all.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 12:56 PM (I2/tG)

229 225 https://tinyurl.com/y4bud8sb

Headed to Buffalo in August...

and hey guys! She's single!
Posted by: mikeyG at May 18, 2019 12:55 PM (LL1Be)


Isn't it a little presumptuous of the late RBG to be making plans further out than this afternoon?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:56 PM (1tY1L)

230 Never got the fascination with trains.

Airplanes, tho...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 12:57 PM (6qErC)

231 There's a good new Orleans style version of some modern musicians doing "This Train is Bound for Glory" that is worth finding. It's very popular so it should be one of the top hits if you search.

The horn players make it, of course.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - The Media Controls the Whether Machines at May 18, 2019 12:57 PM (lPsvG)

232 Can't believe nobody did this one yet. I even know all the words to Choo Choo Charlie and Good 'n Plenty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExSlyoVTX3I

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 18, 2019 12:57 PM (MIKMs)

233 dammit"

Janet?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 12:58 PM (6qErC)

234 As in "make it sound right" not make the video.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - The Media Controls the Whether Machines at May 18, 2019 12:59 PM (lPsvG)

235 203There was no tank. Just an open portal straight to the ground.

Posted by: Ex-ex at May 18, 2019 12:46 PM (RU4sa)


I saw that on a train once, back in the 60s. In Indiana, I believe. Hit the flush handle and see the ties going by underneath.

Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 12:59 PM (sdi6R)

236 Yeah, Australia has the fake polls designed to benefit leftists syndrome too. Just like the Biden poll here by CNN, nobody under 50 was polled, but they got the headline they wanted.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 18, 2019 12:59 PM (r+sAi)

237 I saw that on a train once, back in the 60s. In Indiana, I believe. Hit the flush handle and see the ties going by underneath.


That's why the have the sign that says No Dumping in the Station.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 01:00 PM (yQpMk)

238 Trains can be fun. If you're in no hurry, and just want to see the scenery, and the train is well-appointed, I could see that being fun. Very relaxing, especially now with wifi, you could just cruise along, look out the window, communicate with the world, maybe watch a movie, that sort of thing.

But not if you're working, your time is valuable, and you need to get somewhere pronto.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 01:00 PM (1tY1L)

239 The gardening/butterfly/Memorial Day preview thread is up. Or you can hang around here.

Posted by: KTbarthedoor at May 18, 2019 01:01 PM (BVQ+1)

240 Was just outside. I could probably find all those Hank Snow songs on vinyl in the guest room.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 01:01 PM (yBXUJ)

241
Never got the fascination with trains.
Airplanes, tho...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 12:57 PM (6qErC)


I can see the fascination with steam engines, those things are like a living, breathing beast.

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 01:02 PM (TAmPV)

242 What, no Love Train?
Posted by: The O'Jays


Too busy doing the Locomotion.

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 01:03 PM (n6bs1)

243
The Australian thing is the Trump Curse gone international.

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 01:03 PM (TAmPV)

244 Yeah, Australia has the fake polls designed to benefit leftists syndrome too.

The pollsters do their best - it's just that now uneducated, deplorable, right-wing rubes lie to pollsters, thereby demonstrating further their subhumanness.

This is now officially a multi-national phenomenon.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 01:03 PM (I2/tG)

245 I saw that on a train once, back in the 60s. In Indiana, I believe. Hit the flush handle and see the ties going by underneath.
Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 12:59 PM (sdi6R)


Common in parts of Europe. Plus signs telling you not to use the toilet in the station, for obvious reasons.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 01:03 PM (1tY1L)

246 In other words, another news story sitting right there under the eyes of liberal media waiting to be picked up that they somehow completely missed?

The entire polling system is broken, every major election in the last 10 years proves it. They just cannot do it any longer, and I think a large portion of it is that alot of these pollsters are either personally biased or are being paid to give polls that give a certain result.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:04 PM (39g3+)

247 So external combustion engine good, internal combustion baaad?

Heh

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 01:04 PM (6qErC)

248 My son loved trains when he was a little boy. He had a ton of "Thomas the Train" cars, tracks, and extras. We had all the videos.
Some of our family's most special times were going on the Grand Canyon Railroad and the Sugar Pine Railroad.

Yes, it is hard to imagine the American West without trains.

Posted by: Mutnodjmet at May 18, 2019 01:04 PM (sPJyv)

249 Sunday Morning Coming Down , best version:
https://hooktube.com/watch?v=s9rny1p66yU

Posted by: Hank Snow at May 18, 2019 01:05 PM (W54U5)

250 The pollsters do their best - it's just that now uneducated, deplorable, right-wing rubes lie to pollsters, thereby demonstrating further their subhumanness.

This is now officially a multi-national phenomenon.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 01:03 PM (I2/tG)


Yep. This is what happens when giving the wrong answer, or having the wrong opinions, can result in nasty consequences for you.

Thank God for secret ballots.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 01:05 PM (1tY1L)

251

Slow Train by Joe Bonamassa

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 01:05 PM (TAmPV)

252 Never got the fascination with trains.
Airplanes, tho...


If you're talking prop-driven bombers, I got you.

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 01:05 PM (oTMWb)

253 Pardon me boys...*hork* *harf*

Posted by: The cat who chewed your new shoes at May 18, 2019 01:05 PM (EgshT)

254 The entire polling system is broken"

Always was public relations, nothing more. Gallup pimped the heck out of his organization...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 01:06 PM (6qErC)

255 "The entire polling system is broken..."

They deserve it. The questions they ask are usually not worthy of honest answers, but are designed to steer you toward a preferred outcome.
I rat f*ck them every chance I get.
I am likely not alone.

Posted by: navybrat, occasional commentater at May 18, 2019 01:06 PM (w7KSn)

256 LOL. LOL. LOL.

From AFP, prior to the election:

Climate change to be decisive issue is Australian election

I guess it was.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 01:06 PM (I2/tG)

257 The entire polling system is broken, every major election in the last 10 years proves it. They just cannot do it any longer, and I think a large portion of it is that alot of these pollsters are either personally biased or are being paid to give polls that give a certain result.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:04 PM (39g3+)


I'm sure that that's true to some unspecified extent, but even with the best will in the world, polling is now problematic.

Do you answer telephone polls? I don't. I forward all calls from unknown callers to a local obnoxious telemarketing firm's HQ.

So who DOES answer such calls? Not many people, but those who do are by definition not representative of the population as a whole.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 01:07 PM (1tY1L)

258 I do love Hank Snow but I could never understand why those old cowboy singers got all duded up like that.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:08 PM (39g3+)

259 Happy Mt St Helens Day!

I was there. It was incredible. Mother Nature at its most awesome.
Posted by: Diogenes at May 18, 2019 12:13 PM (0tfLf)

There was an earth-shattering Kaboom! I heard from Vancouver, B.C.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 01:08 PM (7njPr)

260 our fine FREIGHT railroad system trying to create passenger trains"

This is what most folks don't understand - lorries clog every roadway across 'urrup... cause they can't use rails.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 01:08 PM (6qErC)

261 Ah, the California initiatives of 2008.

I do recall:

-Funding for High Speed Rail. An obvious crock of shit. Voted against it. It passed. Now look.

-Funding for Fetal Stem Cell Research. The state choosing dead baby science projects to fund. Another obvious crock of shit. Voted against it. It passed. The project board of eminent scientists awarded billions to their friends and cronies, who built shiny new research institutes and discovered nothing. All advances in stem cell research have used adult stem celks.

-Proposition 8. Amendment to state constitution to define marriage as between man and woman. Did not cast a vote, did not care. It passed. After seeing the shrieking collective tantrum thrown by the Gay Mafia, I would vote for that and any other measure that thwarts their agenda. It was black and hispanic votes that got the thing passed, but the homos directed their wrath against Mormons and white people only. The measure was eventually overturned illegally by a judge who was one of them, part of their mafia, a card carrying colon comrade.

Eleven years ago, and the lunatics have been consolidating their control ever since.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at May 18, 2019 01:09 PM (t5m5e)

262 If you're talking prop-driven bombers, I got you.


Warbirds. A young man strapped into a hot, insanely noisy, complicated claustrophobic cockpit behind an engine with the power of a locomotive trying to shoot other young men out of the sky who are also shooting back.

That had to be a scary rush.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 01:09 PM (yQpMk)

263
Happy Mt St Helens Day!


MAKE SURE YOU DON'T MISS OUR BIG HOLIDAY BLOWOUT SALE!!

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 01:10 PM (TAmPV)

264 our fine FREIGHT railroad system trying to create passenger trains"

Freight doesn't mind being transported at 3 am, or sitting on a siding for a while. People do.

A small detail lost on aficionados of passenger rail.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 01:10 PM (1tY1L)

265 Happy Mt St Helens Day!"

Still have one of those vials of "genuine volcano ash" somewhere...

It's ms mouses, not mine.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 01:10 PM (6qErC)

266 So who DOES answer such calls? Not many people, but those who do are by definition not representative of the population as a whole.

Yeah, I can't remember which polling company it was but in 2012 they announced that polling was broken and had a bit post on their main business sight about how it was basically impossible to do now, for this and many other reasons. They weren't sure how to go ahead or how to fix that, but they've still kept going.

Polling is basically modern day divination, its tea leaves and reading stars and tarot cards. Yes, there's a vague foundation of science to it, buts always been very debatable how valid that science as, and now it doesn't really even apply.

They keep getting it wrong, and not just a little wrong, either. I just keep hoping people will wise up but everyone wants to know the future. Hell, palm readers still do business.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:10 PM (39g3+)

267 So who DOES answer such calls? Not many people, but those who do are by definition not representative of the population as a whole.

Years ago, I helped do polling (not on political issues).

The trick is "stratified random sampling", you weight the responses by income, age, etc. to try to correct for the fact that some groups respond less to polls than others.

But then, the weights become an issue - clearly the pollsters aren't accounting for the "shy conservative" effect.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 01:11 PM (I2/tG)

268 And how exactly were they going to get to SF, through some of the most expensive and earthquake-prone turf on the planet?

These trifling details were left for others to solve. The liberals basically imposed taxes, pissed away an incredible amount of money (several border walls worth), tooted a train whistle, and called it good.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:18 PM (1tY1L)

Frisco, L.A., and San Diego are all seaports. Just build a big fleet of sea-going hovercrafts that can do 120 miles and hour or so, and can handle waves typical of the area.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 01:12 PM (7njPr)

269 Warbirds"

One of my first plastic models was a Valkyrie...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 01:12 PM (6qErC)

270 "The entire polling system is broken, every major election in the last
10 years proves it. They just cannot do it any longer, and I think a
large portion of it is that alot of these pollsters are either
personally biased or are being paid to give polls that give a certain
result.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor"


Also a lot of people aren't voting the way they are supposed to. This is NOT the good kind of diversity.

Posted by: Ripley at May 18, 2019 01:13 PM (MxEKc)

271 Phone rings. I pick up.
"Hello I'm from Consolidated Amalgamation Polling Services. Can you answer a few questions for me?"
"What's in it for me?"
"uh, umm..."
Click.

Now, if you want to PAY me to show up for a focus group, THAT I will do. And have done many times in the past.

Posted by: navybrat, occasional commentater at May 18, 2019 01:13 PM (w7KSn)

272 Runaway Train starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts. FTW!

Ever notice who wrote the screenplay for that? Akira f'in Kurosawa, dat who.

Lot of f*gs running around spouting "existential" this month.That right there is an existentialist movie.
A different kind of a star turn by Rebecca deMornay, really surprised me.
Also, that volcano at the end, wow.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at May 18, 2019 01:13 PM (8ZmvG)

273 Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at May 18, 2019 01:09 PM (t5m5e)

I hear ya. I voted the same way as you on every one of those things.

The stem cell thing was especially egregious. California wanted to establish its own NIH - at its own expense - just to stick a thumb in W's eye.

What next? Establish their own military, independent of the Feds?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 01:14 PM (1tY1L)

274 Just build a big fleet of sea-going hovercrafts"

Used to have a hovercraft service across SF bay from Oakland to SF airports...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 01:14 PM (6qErC)

275 262
Warbirds. A young man strapped into a hot, insanely noisy,
complicated claustrophobic cockpit behind an engine with the power of a
locomotive trying to shoot other young men out of the sky who are also
shooting back.



That had to be a scary rush.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 01:09 PM (yQpMk)

Try WWI. Open cockpit, no parachute, flimsy wings that would sometimes fold up without warning. Oh, and the gas tank is right in front of you.

Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 01:14 PM (sdi6R)

276 I'd hate to see what it looks like between the rails.


Like San Francisco!

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 18, 2019 01:14 PM (oVJmc)

277 My hovercraft is full of eels.

Posted by: Hungarian Tourist at May 18, 2019 01:15 PM (oVJmc)

278 Now, if you want to PAY me to show up for a focus group, THAT I will do. And have done many times in the past.
Posted by: navybrat, occasional commentater at May 18, 2019 01:13 PM (w7KSn)


But even there, you're getting a skewed sample, viz., people who have the time to show up, and the willingness to do for $X. Think Bill Gates would do that? How about somebody on welfare angling for a six pack of malt liquor? The selection bias is huge.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 01:16 PM (1tY1L)

279 High speed rail could really only be useful in big city to big city with few or no other stops. Otherwise whats the point.
Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 18, 2019 12:30 PM (r+sAi)

Might be useful to those who are normally non-drivers, and accustomed to using transit, or cabs, or ride-sharing within a city.

People like me, who want to have a vehicle to get around the destination city, once arrived there, will never use it. Oh, maybe once, just as a novelty.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 01:20 PM (7njPr)

280 "The selection bias is huge."

Hence the name, focus group.

Posted by: navybrat, occasional commentater at May 18, 2019 01:23 PM (w7KSn)

281 The trick is "stratified random sampling", you weight the responses by income, age, etc. to try to correct for the fact that some groups respond less to polls than others.

Yeah, they do their best, but its even worse now than it used to be. Everyone has a phone but they hate talking on it. Everyone thinks they're a comedian so even if they do answer they have to come up with the best sarcastic viral response to everything. You think Boaty McBoatface would even be considered as a response 40 years ago?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:24 PM (39g3+)

282 Help me, I need an appletini!

Posted by: Dropkick Ninja at May 18, 2019 01:24 PM (LuPts)

283 If the state had sunk 15 billion dollars and eleven years into moving people by Star Trek style transporter beams instead of trains, they would have the same high speed passenger capacity that they do now.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at May 18, 2019 01:24 PM (t5m5e)

284 I rode a train once from Osan AFB to somewhere near Wonju, Korea. The toilet opened directly to the tracks.

I'd hate to see what it looks like between the rails.
Posted by: Ex-ex at May 18, 2019 12:36 PM (RU4sa)

That's the way it was in Canada (and probably the USA, too, since train technology was common) up until the 1960's or so.

"Passengers will please refrain

From using toilets, while the train

Is standing in the station."

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 01:24 PM (7njPr)

285 I don't ever want to hear you snot-nosed brats misspell Milenial again.

The warning plaque not to open the railway flush door while in the station,
"Passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets while the train is standing in the station" can be sung -- has to be, now that you know -- to the tune of Dvorak's Humoresque.

And the reason WWI fighter aces wore those face scarves was the castol oil total loss lubrication system on the Rhone rotary engine. Pilots were breathing in a mist of what most people take for a laxative, with predictable results. Hell of a war.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at May 18, 2019 01:25 PM (8ZmvG)

286 Frisco, L.A., and San Diego are all seaports. Just build a big fleet of sea-going hovercrafts that can do 120 miles and hour or so, and can handle waves typical of the area.

Please! They don't need any more ideas, especially when there are so many alternatives.

It's tough to beat I-5 (Sunday nights after Thanksgiving excepted). If I want to go, I go. If I want to stop, I stop. Doesn't matter when or where.

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 01:25 PM (jOEDM)

287 Happy Mt St Helens Day!

Here is my favorite Mt St Helen's Day story.

The TV Guide ran an ad that week for Toutle River Campground. Its tagline "The Loneliest Campground in Washington"

By the time that issue came out, Toutle River Campground was under 30 feet of ash and mud. It was so weird seeing a Washington State campground being advertised to begin with.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:26 PM (39g3+)

288 Luxury Liner:

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=uzhLojTaX9w

Posted by: Hank Snow at May 18, 2019 01:26 PM (W54U5)

289 Can't remember where I read this (but I'm sure it was linked at AoS) but there are almost no cases where mass transit is more energy efficient than individuals in cars going where they want or need to go. A big reason is that mass transit must still travel even when nearly empty. All trips must be round trips to pick up the next batch of passengers.

One of the few mass transit operations that is more efficient than driving is in the Phoenix area, not some dark-blue, enlightened urban area.

Posted by: Emmie at May 18, 2019 01:26 PM (4HMW8)

290 I feel ripped off!! Where's my Saturday morning weird news fix?

Posted by: anon ymous at May 18, 2019 01:26 PM (nSstq)

291 Buster Keaton in The Railrodder (Canadian Rail across the continent)

The astounding thing about that was Keaton's age, and the fact that he would be dead in a year, he's still out there ACTUALLY RIDING that open cart at high speed in the open air and doing action scenes.

Posted by: Hungarian Tourist at May 18, 2019 01:29 PM (oVJmc)

292 Raining cats. hmm. Coltrane Blue Train or fishing?

Posted by: Dropkick Ninja at May 18, 2019 01:32 PM (LuPts)

293 @291 Even later, he absolutely carries "A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to The Forum" in 1966. It was written by Plautus. I think he knew him.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at May 18, 2019 01:33 PM (8ZmvG)

294 So What?

Posted by: Hank Snow at May 18, 2019 01:34 PM (W54U5)

295 I can't find it now but I saw a picture of Keaton without his shirt on and he's freaking shredded. You can't really tell when he's all dressed but the guy was ripped. And it makes sense, you could not do some of those stunts so effortlessly without being in terrific shape.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:35 PM (39g3+)

296 So external combustion engine good, internal combustion baaad?

Heh
Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 18, 2019 01:04 PM (6qErC)

The steam locomotives had prodigious torque, even at a standstill. A big one could pull the rails loose from the ties, even. But they used a lot of fuel.

Thermodynamics tells us that the efficiency of a heat engine is a function of the delta-T through the engine'[s working area (be it cylinder, or turbine). That's why internal combustion wins in the fuel economy game. Steam locomotives also had to stop frequently to take on water, as the steam was wasted to the atmosphere.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 01:37 PM (7njPr)

297
Fortunately, MY wife is conservative, and so we're on the same page. But those are great ideas!
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara

=======

Oh, I know your wife is -- I was speaking "to" your liberal-wifed buddy.

As for being on fire, that's just how I think, all the time. My mind just goes that way, maybe even because I'm female and I think in terms of personal impact. Should be more women doing political advice like this, maybe. I often stun my female liberal acquaintances into silence this way. They've simply never heard such arguments -- all they've heard is slogans, principles, abstractions, big meaningless numbers. I can always point to something right across the street or right in their own kitchens that they've never thought of. Not because I'm brilliant, just that's how I put it together.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 01:37 PM (13CQC)

298 I do love Hank Snow but I could never understand why those old cowboy singers got all duded up like that.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:08 PM (39g3+)

Because they were performers. Same as Gene Simmons putting on all the Kiss war paint.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 01:40 PM (7njPr)

299 Emmie's got it just right. This is all about how you record the statistics. Count in what you need to do once you arrive in the other city, and all of a sudden mass transit is not such a great deal, economically or ecologically.

I used to enjoy taking the train to Chicago. First, The Agency stopped having meetings and training downtown, within a walk of the train station, because everyone else was flying in. And then Amtrak got so screwed that the bus is faster, for a trip of 240 miles.

If you are going to central Chicago, it will cost around $20 a day to park your car, and you probably won't use it. So for the handful of highly centralized big cities with everything still on their loop, a train is fine. That's not a big enough destination list for me to not have a car, and we're done. Silly kids.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at May 18, 2019 01:40 PM (8ZmvG)

300 Old article:

Some high mountain train route in South America,
they replaced the obsolete external combustion engine with a modern diesel electric. ruh ro

Diesel ran out of air and barely made it to the top.
They put the obsolete engine back into service.

Posted by: Hank Snow at May 18, 2019 01:42 PM (W54U5)

301
"The entire polling system is broken..."

They deserve it. The questions they ask are usually not worthy of honest answers, but are designed to steer you toward a preferred outcome.

======

It depends on who's doing the polling. I've done some push-polling myself when I volunteered during an election season and it was part info-gathering (who's gonna vote how) and part propagandizing.

Legit pollsters, I think, are actually searching for information. I don't have a problem with this and I don't really get the hostility towards this kind of information gathering. I always cooperate with marketing surveys, too -- I want people to offer products and services that I like.

I think polls will go the way of the diesel train. One new thing is analyzing social media. A South African firm called Brandseye used that technique and called Pennsylvania for Trump a few days before the election.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 01:42 PM (13CQC)

302 socking stinks if you don't remember to take them off

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 01:48 PM (W54U5)

303
As for Australia, it's inarguable that there's an entrumpening wave around the world. I read a lot of Canadian and British twitterererers, common folk, who are envious of Americans for getting our Trump and trying to entrumpen their own politics in whatever way they can.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 01:48 PM (13CQC)

304
If I am not mistaken, the Intercontinental Railroad was used to transport whole hotels, fully assembled, from city to city.

Its engines and flatcars were BIGLY!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 18, 2019 01:49 PM (pNxlR)

305
302 socking stinks if you don't remember to take them off
Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 01:48 PM (W54U5)


Just as it does in real life, friend. Just as it does in real life.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 18, 2019 01:50 PM (pNxlR)

306 Diesel ran out of air and barely made it to the top.

Wonder what they use for that situation. Supercharger? Got to stuff a lot more air in there to get the same oxygen.

Posted by: t-bird at May 18, 2019 01:51 PM (oTMWb)

307 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dy1C95p00E&feature=
player_embedded

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 01:51 PM (yBXUJ)

308 Some high mountain train route in South America,
they replaced the obsolete external combustion engine with a modern diesel electric. ruh ro

Diesel ran out of air and barely made it to the top.
They put the obsolete engine back into service.
Posted by: Hank Snow at May 18, 2019 01:42 PM (W54U5)

Poor planning on somebody's part. Obvious answer would be to put a turbo on the Diesel engine. They had long put superchargers on aircraft engines to "normalize" them to sea level conditions.

But the firebox for that steam boiler is not going to work as efficiently at high elevation either, and for the same reason: less oxygen available for combustion.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 01:52 PM (7njPr)

309 Legit pollsters, I think, are actually searching for information.


Is there a legitimate pollster?
The very first Gallup poll that correctly predicted the election withheld the information.

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 01:53 PM (W54U5)

310 The last generation of steam locomotives had some truly inspiring efficiencies. But there was no getting around the "TBOH" factor. You see the pictures of all the roundhouses, but you never see them at work. The big steam engines had to be "rodded out" after every long trip. Hard, dirty work, way worse than diesel engine tuning and overhaul. That was what broke them.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at May 18, 2019 01:54 PM (8ZmvG)

311 307
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dy1C95p00Efeature=

player_embedded

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 01:51 PM (yBXUJ)

++++
I just adore that video. Makes me laugh every time.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 18, 2019 01:54 PM (EjlXc)

312 I wike twains pulled on me!

Posted by: Bwarny Fwank at May 18, 2019 01:55 PM (FiFer)

313 307 is for Blonde Morticia.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 01:55 PM (yBXUJ)

314 Keaton loved trains, and even here, you can tell his timing is excellent. I am sure that had a lot to do about it.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 18, 2019 01:56 PM (KTmSx)

315
++++
I just adore that video. Makes me laugh every time.


Posted by: washrivergal at May 18, 2019 01:54 PM (EjlXc)


Me too, washrivergal.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 01:57 PM (yBXUJ)

316 313
307 is for Blonde Morticia.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 01:55 PM (yBXUJ)

++++
I watched it anyway. So there.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 18, 2019 01:57 PM (EjlXc)

317 It's been so long I can't remember the specifics but poor planning for sure. The only certainties were altitude, the old engine cut the mustard and the diesel couldn't.

I can't fathom buying a diesel w/out a blower.

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 01:58 PM (W54U5)

318 Happy Mt St Helens Day!
Here is my favorite Mt St Helen's Day story.
The TV Guide ran an ad that week for Toutle River Campground. Its tagline "The Loneliest Campground in Washington"
By the time that issue came out, Toutle River Campground was under 30 feet of ash and mud. It was so weird seeing a Washington State campground being advertised to begin with.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 18, 2019 01:26 PM (39g3+)

They ever find that old bastard that wouldn't come off the mountain before it blew?

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 18, 2019 01:59 PM (Z+IKu)

319 I was just referring the the Trumpening of the other Continents.

It's Big, and Beautiful. Not tired of winning.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 02:00 PM (yBXUJ)

320 I remember I happened to be in central Wisconsin when Mt. St. Helens blew. The next day (maybe it was 2 days) I went out and collected an entire envelope full of little ashy spherical particles that had settled on my car overnight.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 18, 2019 02:00 PM (V2Yro)

321 just read the Australia news - hilarious!

Lots of examples of how wrong polling has been recently - remember that it was just over a month ago when Netanyahu was going to be thrown out of office and put in jail??? All the polls said so!!!

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 18, 2019 02:02 PM (V2Yro)

322 Was in Bellingham when St. Helen's blew. Heard it and felt it. Didn't get much ash due to the weather pattern. Was very weird. I think the ground shook a little too. Reminded me of the earthquakes in So Cal as a kid. It's not like it was a surprise. Shit was all over the news for months. Jut a matter of when.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 02:04 PM (yBXUJ)

323 I am running my dishwasher and wondering, not for the first time, why they have such a long cycle in the home models. When I worked in the food industry, the dishwashers ran for 1 1/2 minutes, or longer, if you changed the timer. They did not have a dry cycle, so you had to either air dry the load or use towels. The water was scalding, however. Obviously, you cannot have a dishwasher in your restaurant that takes over an hour to do the dishes, but for some reason we are expected to have lengthy times washing dishes with our domestic automatics.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 18, 2019 02:06 PM (EjlXc)

324 323: Part of that is to use less water now. The home models must use lower temp steam to do a good bit of the cleaning. I turn ours on before heading to bed usually.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at May 18, 2019 02:09 PM (pAkRe)

325 washrivergal, I have the same problem. It sucks and doesn't get things clean. There have been convos here discussing this very problem. But I can't remember the recommended brands. Seems like such a waste to run so long and with the crappy dishwasher soap the greenies forced on us.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 02:10 PM (yBXUJ)

326
Did the Gardening Thread nOOd get called? It's been up for an hour...

Posted by: Spun & Murky at May 18, 2019 02:10 PM (4DCSq)

327 A conservative dingo at my hopes and dreams!

Posted by: Australian Voter at May 18, 2019 02:10 PM (oVJmc)

328 er, ate.

Posted by: Australian Voter at May 18, 2019 02:10 PM (oVJmc)

329 Just a little bit about last night's post devoted to the Snowflake and the Police encounter at UNC-Chapel Hill. UNC-CH has its own police force. All officers are fully-trained and armed sworn LEO. There is also a UNC-CH Secuity force that is not armed, but is also well-trained. Interestingly, UNC Hospitals have their own police agency. They are also competent and highly-skilled LEOs.

Posted by: mrp at May 18, 2019 02:13 PM (Pqytn)

330 I think voters the world over are pretty much fed up with the constant lying, the constant deception, the never ending defense of the indefensible. Up is down, good is bad, right is left, etc.

Posted by: navybrat, occasional commentater at May 18, 2019 02:14 PM (w7KSn)

331 Uncle Joe Grabby hands is on Fox saying President Trump has been the divider of the nation.He is right in that he is dividing the country from the Socialists saving us from their evil deeds.

Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 02:16 PM (BbGew)

332 They regulated out the tsp? You can buy it at HomeDepot.

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 02:17 PM (W54U5)

333 Braenyard, always afraid to use too much. Doesn't solve the long cycle and lack of really hot water.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 02:19 PM (yBXUJ)

334 Uncle Joe Grabby hands is on Fox saying President
Trump has been the divider of the nation.He is right in that he is
dividing the country from the Socialists saving us from their evil
deeds.

Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 02:16 PM (BbGew)

=========================
Endless film loops of Hillary calling us "Deplorables" + every appearance of Hillary and Handy Joe on stage together.

Posted by: mrp at May 18, 2019 02:20 PM (Pqytn)

335 At the end of the day you know California would make that train stop at every single little community on the way and it would never get close to it's theoretical top speed.
Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 18, 2019 11:54 AM (JUOKG)

Brightline/Virgin is having the same problem with two of the counties on their northern extension to Orlando. Lots of NIMBY from cities that aren't going to have stops, which is basically everything.

Posted by: Fox2! at May 18, 2019 02:20 PM (MwFQu)

336 Steam locomotives also had to stop frequently to take on water, as the steam was wasted to the atmosphere.


They actually had that licked in the 19th century. They had a scoop they could lower into a water filled trough and take on water while moving at 45MPH.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_pan

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 02:20 PM (yQpMk)

337

UPLAND, Ind. - Dozens of graduates and faculty at Taylor University walked out of graduation exercises Saturday morning minutes before the introduction of Vice President Mike Pence, who delivered the Christian liberal arts school's commencement address.

In caps and gowns, the students and faculty rose and quietly walked down the aisle and out of the auditorium in the Kesler Student Activities Center at Taylor.

The protest, planned and discussed prior to Saturday's ceremony, comes after faculty and students at the nondenominational Christian liberal arts school debated the appropriateness of the vice president at the commencement ceremony.

Most of Taylor's graduating class remained seated for the vice president, who received a standing ovation after the planned walkout.

Prior to the ceremony, graduate Laura Rathburn said she planned to walk out in protest of Pence as speaker. Rathburn had decorated the top of her graduation cap in rainbow colors and put a message on top that said, "Ally Visible For Those Who Can't Be." Rathburn said she was disappointed in Taylor's decision to involve Pence in the ceremony.

"I thought it was a really inappropriate decision. I think his presence makes it difficult for everyone at Taylor to feel welcomed," she said.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 18, 2019 02:22 PM (aKsyK)

338 Just glanced at commercial dishwashers - 3 grand
and a thought; no plastics, that hot steam would leave one with a mess.

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 02:22 PM (W54U5)

339 Speaking of train robberies

Robert Earl Keen - Whenever Kindness Fails


Love the Joe Ely version.

Coincidentally I went to the largest private collection of steam locomotives, at least in the nation if not the world, in Sugarcreek, Ohio yesterday. They're in half a roundhouse, which was built from scratch on a former cornfield, and there are at least 20 of them, most in operating condition. Plus they have a lot of diesels outside including a couple B&O switchers like used to operate in freight yard like where I worked a summer job in Baltimore a half century ago. I had a great time.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 18, 2019 02:23 PM (y7DUB)

340 UPLAND, Ind. - Dozens of graduates and faculty at Taylor University walked out of graduation exercises Saturday morning minutes before the introduction of Vice President Mike Pence, who delivered the Christian liberal arts school's commencement address.


One might say Mike separated the wheat from the chaff.

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 02:26 PM (W54U5)

341 Anyone triggered by Pence forfeits the right to be taken seriously.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 18, 2019 02:29 PM (y7DUB)

342 Good on Pence.

I may just start washing dishes by hand again. I already do for big bowls and pots and pans.

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 02:30 PM (yBXUJ)

343 "...she got run over by a damned old train"

Posted by: David Allen Coe at May 18, 2019 02:30 PM (eZfF5)

344 In caps and gowns, the students and faculty rose and quietly walked down the aisle and out of the auditorium in the Kesler Student Activities Center at Taylor.

"Off to the bathhouse, are we?"

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 02:31 PM (1tY1L)

345 "I thought it was a really inappropriate decision. I think his presence makes it difficult for everyone at Taylor to feel welcomed," she said.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 18, 2019 02:22 PM (aKsyK)

Pence seems to get a lot of that from the Leftards. He should develop a stock answer, and work it into his remarks. "Universities are supposed to open one's mind, and you folks here at _____ have done a great job of that. Maybe too good, as some minds seem to have been opened so far, that their brains have gone and fallen right out."

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 02:32 PM (7njPr)

346

@CNN
Middle school invites drag queens to encourage students to be themselves

https://cnn.it/2HCVjb7

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 18, 2019 02:33 PM (aKsyK)

347 "In caps and gowns, the students and faculty rose and
quietly walked down the aisle and out of the auditorium in the Kesler
Student Activities Center at Taylor.






Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr"

Bad move. They just made it a lot easier for the Dept of Religious Conformity to identify, arrest and execute dissenters.

Posted by: Ripley at May 18, 2019 02:35 PM (MxEKc)

348 "I thought it was a really inappropriate decision. I think his presence makes it difficult for everyone at Taylor to feel welcomed," she said.

What's with this "welcomed," "feeling comfortable," needing "safe spaces" shit? You're going to university, not to day care, or a mental health clinic. Although the latter two might be more appropriate options

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 02:35 PM (1tY1L)

349 @CNN
Middle school invites drag queens to encourage students to be themselves


... somewhere else.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 02:36 PM (1tY1L)

350 I would have been hard pressed to have avoiding singing Heh heh heh Goodbye during the walkout.

Nananana...

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 02:38 PM (yQpMk)

351 I'm glad at times I didn't have a kid in public Leftist Seminary to have them turn out mental cases

Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 02:42 PM (BbGew)

352
/grabs cpr kit

/performs chest compressions

Posted by: 'Ment Doctor at May 18, 2019 02:46 PM (jK3b3)

353 "176 159
Les, im now totally ashamed to be an Australian, im starting to
loathe this dumb Nation now, just so fucked up on so many levels, just
greed, avarice, corruption rules, no compassion, nothing, but cold dead
heart, I really hate Australia tonight, How can morons be so dumb, how. ?

Posted by: The ARC of History! at May 18, 2019 12:27 PM (I2/tG)

Yes, I really want people like that governing me.

Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 12:34 PM (sdi6R) "



Yeah, you can just feel that tweet oozing compassion and tolerance, can'tcha ?

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - they are gaslighting us 24/365 at May 18, 2019 02:46 PM (isI7q)

354 351
I'm glad at times I didn't have a kid in public Leftist Seminary to have them turn out mental cases

Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 02:42 PM (BbGew)

+++
I didn't think I could loathe these people any more than I already do. I am finding it is possible, daily.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 18, 2019 02:47 PM (EjlXc)

355
Stay alive!


You. Must. Stay. With. Us. Until. The. Pet. Thread!

Posted by: 'Ment Doctor at May 18, 2019 02:47 PM (jK3b3)

356 He's dead, Jim.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 02:48 PM (yQpMk)

357
I woulda been like sayanora, cocksuckers! if I was at Taylor today.

Posted by: Soothsayer, A Journailst and a Climate Expert at May 18, 2019 02:48 PM (jK3b3)

358 Well, I better get out there and mow. It's supposed to get real hot tomorrow.

They're jackhammering the driveway next door, so I'll use ear protection.

Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 02:50 PM (sdi6R)

359 Bernie Sanders:

Putting the Cialis back into socialism.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 02:50 PM (Ct55T)

360 So I do work in schools and hospitals and whatnot, and now I've got to go through all this background check and fingerprinting nonsense....

I'm sick of this growing trend of treating all citizens as if they were criminals by default. It's sickening and Soviet and ridiculous.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 02:52 PM (Ct55T)

361 358
Well, I better get out there and mow. It's supposed to get real hot tomorrow.

They're jackhammering the driveway next door, so I'll use ear protection.


Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 02:50 PM (sdi6R)

+++
There are actually some soothing sounds (for me anyway) of the workman's endeavors. The jackhammer ain't one of them.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 18, 2019 02:55 PM (EjlXc)

362 We don't grow our hair long and shaggy like the hippies in San Francisco.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cbjlLFl4U

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 02:56 PM (W54U5)

363 @CNN
Middle school invites drag queens to encourage students to be themselves


Next up: Middle school invites serial murderers to encourage students to be themselves.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 02:56 PM (1tY1L)

364 360
I'm sick of this growing trend of treating all citizens as if they
were criminals by default. It's sickening and Soviet and ridiculous.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 02:52 PM (Ct55T)


That's 10 points off your social credit score, citizen.

Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 02:56 PM (sdi6R)

365 Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 02:38 PM (yQpMk)


THIS X1000

nanana hey aahaa goodbye

Posted by: Infidel at May 18, 2019 02:57 PM (yBXUJ)

366 That's 10 points off your social credit score, citizen.
Posted by: rickl at May 18, 2019 02:56 PM (sdi6R)

Hooray. Now I'm at -10.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 02:58 PM (Ct55T)

367 I woulda been like sayanora, cocksuckers! if I was at Taylor today.
Posted by: Soothsayer, A Journailst and a Climate Expert at May 18, 2019 02:48 PM (jK3b3)


"Looks like there's going to be a big line at the AIDS clinic."

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 02:58 PM (1tY1L)

368 I'm sick of this growing trend of treating all citizens as if they were criminals by default. It's sickening and Soviet and ridiculous.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 02:52 PM (Ct55T)

Wouldn't be necessary if child molesters were all put to death upon being convicted.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 18, 2019 03:01 PM (7njPr)

369 Yep.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 03:02 PM (Ct55T)

370 "I'm sick of this growing trend of treating all
citizens as if they were criminals by default. It's sickening and
Soviet and ridiculous.



Posted by: Warai-otoko"

If we don't create an unlimited surveillance and security state to keep us safe, in-line and get your mind right, the terrorists will have won.

Posted by: Ripley at May 18, 2019 03:02 PM (MxEKc)

371
@CNN Middle school invites drag queens to encourage students to be themselves



I bet it it was fabulous

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 03:04 PM (TAmPV)

372 @CNN Middle school invites drag queens to encourage students to be themselves

I bet it it was fabulous
Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 03:04 PM (TAmPV)


We must encourage degeneracy. Perversion is what this country great!

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 03:06 PM (1tY1L)

373 Not my job per say but Pet NOOD is up

Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 03:06 PM (BbGew)

374 I'm sick of this growing trend of treating all citizens as if they were criminals by default. It's sickening and Soviet and ridiculous.

Posted by: Warai-otoko


Except, paradoxically, actual criminals, who are feted and favored. See, e.g., the Democrat push to give felons the vote.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 03:08 PM (1tY1L)

375
Is there a legitimate pollster?
The very first Gallup poll that correctly predicted the election withheld the information.
Posted by: Braenyard

========

KellyAnnePolls? But really, you'd think that some pollster would want to be accurate so they can get people to buy their info.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 03:12 PM (13CQC)

376
307 is for Blonde Morticia.
Posted by: Infidel

=====

It never gets old.

It also makes me think I should get stoned and watch more movies by those people.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 03:13 PM (13CQC)

377 That's some damned fine fiddlin', but nothing beats good Big Band music. Thanks, OB!

Posted by: TheHoser at May 18, 2019 03:15 PM (IDjUx)

378 I'm seeing it the other way too, criminals are being set free, not charged at all and are the Democrats big voting block.

Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 03:16 PM (BbGew)

379 It also makes me think I should get stoned and watch more movies by those people.
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 03:13 PM (13CQC)


As a consequence of that clip I got interested in other Bollywood movies. They're surprisingly good, and are reminiscent of 1930s Busby Berkeley movies with their choreography etc. Also kind of interesting to see movies from a totally different culture.

If Bollywood ever decides to dial back the curry factor, I think Hollywood might have serious competition, since Bollywood - unlike Hollywood - is focused on plot and entertainment rather than sanctimonious preaching.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 03:19 PM (1tY1L)

380 I'm seeing it the other way too, criminals are being set free, not charged at all and are the Democrats big voting block.
Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 03:16 PM (BbGew)


Yep. Consider also the efforts to prevent employers from inquiring about criminal records, to make theft of less than $1000 a misdemeanor, to legalize urban camping (i.e., vagrancy), to ignore "minor" crimes (turnstile jumping, etc.) and so on.

All of these things encourage criminality, and dishearten the law-abiding. As they were intended to do.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 03:23 PM (1tY1L)

381 tablet sign in

Posted by: andycanuck at May 18, 2019 03:24 PM (Dh1wo)

382 371
@CNN Middle school invites drag queens to encourage students to be themselves

I bet it it was fabulous
Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 18, 2019 03:04 PM (TAmPV)

Isn't the whole god forsaken point of "going drag" literally to PRETEND YOU'RE SOMEONE ELSE??!?!?!

You wanna let your freak flag fly, go right ahead, but:

a) don't force me to cheer you on

b) stop pretending your freakishness is noble

and

c) leave the kids alone, you fucking weirdo.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 03:25 PM (Ct55T)

383 All of these things encourage criminality, and dishearten the law-abiding. As they were intended to do.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 03:23 PM (1tY1L)

It's like the polar opposite of Broken Windows policies.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 03:26 PM (Ct55T)

384 Worked for a long while as an IT contractor at Amtrak 30th Street Station in Philly. The funny thing is that the only people who know the town where my Mom's family is from (Renovo, in central PA) are railroaders. It used to be a MAJOR manufacturing/repair depot, and the crew swap point on the Philly to Erie, PA run.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 18, 2019 03:28 PM (T09ml)

385 It's like the polar opposite of Broken Windows policies.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 03:26 PM (Ct55T)


Exactly. That was kind of my point. It's as though the Reds have applied an inversion operator on the Broken Windows policies. You have to suspect that encouraging criminality was the whole idea.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 03:32 PM (1tY1L)

386 I don't know if I ever heard of Renovo

Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 03:33 PM (BbGew)

387
If Bollywood ever decides to dial back the curry factor, I think Hollywood might have serious competition

=====

Yeah, fun in small doses, but I couldn't watch a whole movie like that.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 03:36 PM (13CQC)

388 386 I don't know if I ever heard of Renovo
Posted by: Skip at May 18, 2019 03:33 PM (BbGew)

Isn't that where they make the Raptops?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 03:43 PM (Ct55T)

389
Rathburn had decorated the top of her graduation cap in rainbow colors and put a message on top that said, "Ally Visible For Those Who Can't Be."

=====

So Trump supporters?

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 03:49 PM (13CQC)

390 Rathburn had decorated the top of her graduation cap in rainbow colors and put a message on top that said, "Ally Visible For Those Who Can't Be."

As if the practitioners of the various perversions are hiding in the shadows.

If only.

The problem is shutting them up.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 03:53 PM (1tY1L)

391 I hear the train a comin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDktBZzQIiU

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 04:01 PM (ZS+GP)

392 And how exactly were they going to get to SF, through some of the most expensive and earthquake-prone turf on the planet?

These trifling details were left for others to solve. The liberals basically imposed taxes, pissed away an incredible amount of money (several border walls worth), tooted a train whistle, and called it good.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 12:18 PM

The Smithsonian channel has a show called "Impossible Engineering" where they detail some amazing engineering success stories. They have a specific series of those shows dedicated to amazing train success stories. One of them details the bullet train in Japan. One of the big things they had to work through is the fact that Japan is the most active earthquake area in the world. Japan is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and they have 1,500 earthquakes per year.

So, Step #1 to build a high-speed rail system in California? Go to Japan and benchmark what they did there. Anything less and you're not doing it right.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at May 18, 2019 04:08 PM (7A4qQ)

393 Annnd, off with the Bold...

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at May 18, 2019 04:13 PM (7A4qQ)

394
Step #1 to build a high-speed rail system in California? Go to Japan and benchmark what they did there. Anything less and you're not doing it right.
Posted by: Clyde Shelton

====

They did it with all Asians. Nix for racial noninclusiveness. Diversity is our strength. The Japanese didn't build that. The train is an illusion.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at May 18, 2019 04:15 PM (13CQC)

395 The main reason that California's rail project has failed is that it was attempted after 1990.

Posted by: RioBravo at May 18, 2019 04:15 PM (iQKgg)

396 Is it Johnny Cash day?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DZLI68Cgvs

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 04:15 PM (ZS+GP)

397 Italian Fascism: Made the trains run on time (lol not really but whatever)

Californian Fascism: Can't make the trains... at all.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 04:17 PM (Ct55T)

398 395 The main reason that California's rail project has failed is that it was attempted after 1990 by Democrats.

Who are not fit to govern, nor in fact to run anything. As they continue to prove at every instance.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 04:20 PM (1tY1L)

399 At least with old fashioned graft, you actually GOT a train or a bridge or whatever at the end of it all.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 18, 2019 04:21 PM (Ct55T)

400 The main reason that California's rail project has failed is that it was attempted after 1990 by Democrats.



Who are not fit to govern, nor in fact to run anything. As they continue to prove at every instance.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 18, 2019 04:20 PM (1tY1L)

We resemble that remark!

Posted by: Broward County Board of Elections at May 18, 2019 04:22 PM (q1Pj5)

401 Italian Fascism: Made the trains run on time (lol not really but whatever)

----------------

But many got a heck of a lot less late and late less often.

Posted by: RioBravo at May 18, 2019 04:22 PM (iQKgg)

402 The main reason that California's rail project has failed is that it was attempted after 1990 by Democrats.



------------------

In fairness to Democrats, the Red State I-69 project (Indy to the Rio Bravo) should not be impressing anyone.

Posted by: RioBravo at May 18, 2019 04:29 PM (iQKgg)

403 Rockefeller, rockefeller, rockefeller...........

Posted by: pawn at May 18, 2019 04:30 PM (ti2yD)

404 The main reason that California's rail project has failed is that it was attempted after 1990 by Democrats.


Also in fairness, it's really more of a Shelbyville idea.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 18, 2019 04:43 PM (yQpMk)

405 It's not Jambalaya, it's Jole Blon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F238KHpgDBM

Posted by: Braenyard at May 18, 2019 04:44 PM (ZS+GP)

406 Is my math right???? That's roughly $123 million per mile... They're talking about using some existing track and I'm guessing the diesel loco's will not be new. How do I get in on this action?

Posted by: Kurt Maddern at May 18, 2019 05:03 PM (I4O8T)

407 Amtrak makes a profit on its east and west coast routes but loses big on the transcontinental routes or as trump would say loses bigly
However Congress will only agree to fund if it has stops all along the money losing transcontinental routes
USA once had a great rail system

Posted by: Kurt at May 18, 2019 05:34 PM (2kH83)

408 A 200mph train would be a nice 12 hour ride coast to coast city to city
I'd rather do that then get groped by TSA and if we are going to get groped shouldn't we at least get to be groped by gender of our choice ?

Posted by: Kurt at May 18, 2019 05:38 PM (2kH83)

409 A 200mph train would be a nice 12 hour ride coast to coast city to city

You know nothing about how trains work.


And you fail math.

Posted by: Australian Voter at May 18, 2019 05:52 PM (oVJmc)

410 The Conservative Case for White Elephants

by Peggy Noonan

Posted by: James OBrien at May 18, 2019 06:42 PM (AsNmV)

411
410 The Conservative Case for White Elephants

-------------

Raycist!

Posted by: G at May 18, 2019 07:13 PM (7Ml7x)

412 Morocco has a high speed rail from Casablanca to Tangier. They built it over a decade for 2.4 b. It goes 200 mph. It's not fair to call California government third world. That's an insult to the third world which is actually making progress, while California rediscovers 19th century epidemics.

Posted by: James OBrien at May 18, 2019 09:10 PM (AsNmV)

413 Yes.
Yes it is Johnny Cash day. With trains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bksZ4Qu18kc

Posted by: Bad News Quillan at May 21, 2019 10:12 PM (BJGyd)

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