OT: Muppets

I'm not sure about the casino, but there was a woman working on a degree in philosophy, and an interesting engineer who accidentally set a timing standard when he picked a random capacitor value (just to try... and it worked... so to three decimal places, every manufactured item since has to match it). It's actually very likely that talking to 2000 people will include some pleasant surprises.

On an air flight, you get a chance to talk to 2.

Reply to
whit3rd
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The US suffers from low population density - about 40 people er square km.

Northern Europe and Japan have ten times as many people per square km and are crawling with high speed trains.

It's not actually what it ought to be about. Cost benefit should be evaluat ed across the society as a whole, and people getting to their destinations faster without clogging the roads advantages more people than the travelers themselves.

I'm reminded of the accountants at one UK company I worked for, who could s ee that delaying payments to suppliers maximised the amount of money the co mpany kept in the bank, but were unaware that a supplier putting us on "sto p" could leave a million dollar bit of kit stuck at the end of the producti on line, so that the money we were going to get for it didn't get to our ba nk account until later than it might have.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

That he couldn't sleep on a sleeper train. You seem to be saying that it shouldn't be expected to get rest when traveling by train. That's the point. Planes are much better in that regard. Instead of dealing with travel on two days each way, by plane it eats up one day each way and saves money.

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Rick C 

Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, 
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Reply to
rickman

Why? Don't people have the freedom to chose their transportation methods without subsidizing methods they don't wish to use?

They started a MARC train service to bring people from Frederick, Maryland into Baltimore each day. Last time I looked it had started with about 300 people using the service and still has only 300 people using the service each day. Not worth the bother and the huge start up expense. No justification for the subsidy no matter what you wave your arms about.

--
Rick C 

Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, 
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Reply to
rickman

So it's useless because it's not perfect? Utter nonsense.

Reply to
krw

Nonsense. Dead reckoning would work fine for tunnels. It's not like you're digging them as you go. Since the path is so constrained, it would correct reflections and other issues, as well.

Use it as another tool for the engineer. Hell, my GPS tells me when I'm speeding, warns of school zones, and even railroad tracks. It would be a trivial exercise to add the maps of the entire NA rail system.

Reply to
krw

I looked into this a number of times. There is a reason it's only used on one train, from one location to one other. It's no bargain and quite restrictive. IOW, another Amtrak loser. The bottom line is that, except for very limited routes, trains are losers.

Reply to
krw

Absolutely correct.

Reply to
krw

Better yet. Get where you *want* to be, as fast as possible (in hours, not days). Then see what you want to see and enjoy real food.

Reply to
krw

Utter nonsense.

Reply to
krw

A large truck hit the Amtrak passenger station in Ocala a few years ago. They closed it, instead of repairing it. They said that it was breaking even, but it would never recover the costs to rebuild the building.

The nearest station is now a couple hour drive away.

Reply to
Michael A Terrell

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luated across the society as a whole, and people getting to their destinati ons faster without clogging the roads advantages more people than the trave lers themselves.

Driving a car takes up road space that other drivers would like to use, is noisy, and pollutes the air around the road being driven on - all externali ties that aren't normally costed.

Even for the drivers, subsidising a transportation method they don't want t o use makes their own trip quicker and easier.

The economics is more complicated than the average Republican is equipped t o imagine.

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Typical cheap-skate approach - offer the minimum service to minimise the ca pital investment, and when it's too cheap to attract much use, use this as evidence that the service should never have been offered. A bit more bother and a slightly larger start-up expense and it might have been worth the tr ouble.

This is also the US approach to welfare payments - pay out a bare minimum, and complain that the people who get the money don't thrive. The Swedes pay out a bit more - not much more but enough to allow the kids of the people on welfare to do pretty much as well as regular people's kids.

It's a great way of devaluing a particular approach to a problem - implemen t that approach badly enough that it doesn't really work, and blame the con sequent mess on the approach, rather than the implementation.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

I believe norovirus is more, um, spectacular.

At least you stand a chance of not getting listeria, by not eating the affected food.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Don't know why you are trying to turn this into a political thing. You are saying things that while they may be true, don't properly support your statement that train travel should be subsidized. Until you have numbers to support your claims, they are empty assertions.

I have no idea what you are talking about. What "minimum" service? The

*demand* for train transport is only 300 per day. The trains have empty seats every trip.

My god you are on a tear this morning. But then it is late where you are. Get some sleep!

--
Rick C 

Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, 
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Reply to
rickman

Talk to strangers? We have dive bars for that.

--
John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
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Reply to
John Larkin

I had explained it within this thread. Why don't you first read before typing such stuff? There isn't much available in English language but here are more details, it is a ground based system with inductive coupling, not radio-operated or GPS:

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But that's not my point, the US system can also work very well. My point is, they _implemented_ it more than half a decade ago while we are still talking and talking and talking. Meantime people are dying needlessly.

The system will interlock. The only time when that doesn't happen is in deliberate "wrong direction travel" ("Falschfahrbetrieb") on a line that isn't equipped for both-direction interlock. This can happen if, for example, the regular direction track is closed for construction activities or track maintenance. Then they travel with written instructions, typically at low speed and with extra caution.

The older one gets the more one sees. I have seen several serious ones, with fatalities. The first one as a child made me very aware that one shall use provided safety equipment at all times. A guy wasn't buckled in, flipped his car, went through the windshield and died.

When I got my first car it was an old model budget-class car which was prepared for but not equipped with safety belts. My first action after restoring its engine was the installation of safety belts. Before I even test-drove it.

I hope we all learn from such white-knuckle events. However, mostly mankind is quite learning-resistant. For example, in the hills near Fukushima there are stone markers from hundreds of years ago reading something like "Do not build anything valuable below here because eventually the sea will take it away" (quite obviously referring to tsunamis). Then, they built a nuclear power station way down there and didn't even place the emergency generators high enough or up into the hills. We all know how that ended.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

However, the days of handing a box to a pilot so he can stuff it under the seat are long gone. I think nowadays they'd arrest you for even trying.

Yes, it is amazing. I didn't mean for parts shipment. We used the railroad method for shorter distances and often picked our suppliers within such reach on purpose. Think California Coast. If that had a decent railroad system like much of Europe does you can have a buggy unit in L.A. in three hours or so, someone could debug it there and have it back to you by evening. All within one day.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

It is expensive, even in Europe where that service is more widespread. It is mainly used by people who absolutely have to have their own car available at the destination. Might be a remnant of the olden days where sometimes you could otherwise end up with a rental car that reeked of cold cigarette smoke. My dad had that happen and was very miffed about it.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

This is because they aren't customer-oriented enough. Sometimes when I have to visit a client in the Bay Area I look into using a train. Then I discover that there still is no reliable public transport to the next big train station (about 1h away), parking there is tough, not very safe and really expensive, the fare is much higher than my gas costs, the connections at the destination are iffy and the on-schedule record is paltry.

When I go here ...

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... and key in Placerville (Amtrak bus terminal) to San Jose I get:

Quote "We were unable to process your request: Please correct the error(s) shown below and resubmit. Problem with Departure/Arrival Station or City Name: Please provide your departure or arrival station and resubmit. [Error ID: 572S]"

That is _not_ how to run a passenger transport business.

So I drive. Like pretty much everyone else does.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

Trains are big, accelerate and decelerate slowly, and their path is entirely predictable. You could put a GPS receiver and iPad on both ends of a mile-long train. There are lots of opportunities for algorithms.

--
John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  
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Reply to
John Larkin

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