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Homercles

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Homercles

  1. I thought that’s what the many infrastructure weeks were about?
  2. Shit she should sell it while everything still works.
  3. Holy shit. I owned a V1 for a decade, and most everything was pretty simple…cheap as shit that broke regularly…but no dumbass design like I’d expect in an Italian car. Sure the taillight flew off on 45 toll, I replaced half the sensors in the damn car, and catalytic converters were unobtanium, but everything came apart with a Phillips or Torx. Always wanted an XLR, even knowing they were problematic. Wonder what other gremlins lie within.
  4. I grew up in a RR family. Paternal grandfather went from shuffling index cards that represented rail manifests under steam power to VP of Operations at a large railroad in the NE by 1985. My uncle was the highest non-elected FRA official before he retired. His son drove trains for the CP. I still ogle trains like a kid. It is a very old industry, and advances at a snail’s pace. It’s lead by cautious leadership that increments efficiency and safety in a very conservative way…incredibly ‘old money’ style. Hell up until recently there was still trackage with semaphore signaling and mechanical interlocks for small yards. For all its flaws, the airline industry (sometimes kicking and screaming) has moved the state-of-the-art in safe, efficient transportation forward relatively rapidly. 9/11 lead to improved screening and armored cockpit doors, they’ve adopted computerized FMS and ADS-B to squeeze every dollar out of each gallon of Jet A, and regulations that are written in blood tend to stay put. Yes ATC is stretched thin and SWA is running on a Commodore 64, but generally they adopt new means effectively. I don’t see the RR industry changing jack shit after this fiasco.
  5. I haven’t tripped in 15 years. Would absolutely love to experience that with my wife…but I’d have be 500 miles away from my kids, with my phone locked up, nothing to do the next day and a few Xanax for emergencies/sleep. Basically it’ll never happen unless we take a trip to Colorado sometime, I can find it, and start with a low dose like 2g maybe.
  6. Great article summarizing the bill and associated lobbying to kill it that was meant to help prevent these situations https://theintercept.com/2023/02/21/east-palestine-rail-safety-congress/ “Thune’s legislation was part of an industry push to kill the ECP mandate, review of lobbying, congressional, and court records show. Around the same time as he advanced delaying provisions in omnibus transportation legislation, Thune also introduced another bill to entirely eliminate the mandate for implementation of ECP. Following the election of President Donald Trump and with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the rule was indeed scuttled in 2018. Thune issued a celebratory press release.” … “Critics of the rail industry in recent days have pointed out that Norfolk Southern paid out $18 billion in stock buybacks and dividends over the last five years, an amount that eclipses the money spent on railway operations and safety.”
  7. Every time I see it, a voice pops up in my head saying ‘bitches, leave’
  8. Y’all can argue about artificial sweeteners in diet soda all you want, but if you fucks with my HEB sparkling water I’ll cut a bitch. Believe the sweetener is sucralose, I drink about 50/50 of sweetened vs unsweetened versions during the day. I don’t know about poison, but combined with all the carbonation I fart enough complete with cows as a source of global warming…still don’t care.
  9. No experience as treatment but grew a ton of my own psilocybin in college. Wonderful stuff…with the right people, mindset, setting, and care. I have zero doubt that it could be used, correctly with a trained professional, to affect impactful change in a persons mental health. The question has been legality and insane barriers to even develop protocol for it. I didn’t watch the video but I know MDMA has proven helpful in small doses with therapy, and I’m sure it’s the same for psychedelics. The way your senses change is indescribable, almost like you finally found the autofocus button for a brief spell…or found a hidden room in your house. The most peaceful I’ve ever felt was watching the sunset while listening to Any Colour You Like on 5g with a close friend…and that memory of ‘everything will be all right’ still pops up in my mind occasionally. No doubt that would be useful to someone.
  10. I’ll throw in my $.02 though it seems I’m not an actual alcoholic but more of a person inclined to self medication…to which alcohol was the drug of choice for a few years. I can tell you where it started for me…the birth of my daughter, kiddo #2. It wasn’t her fault, but she was a very hard baby with digestive issues that affected her sleep and she cried A LOT. In addition I was already in grad school at the time, the added stress from not sleeping, and ultimately adjusting from ‘couple with a cute kiddo’ to ‘all hands on deck just to survive’ drove me to solace in a bottle. My wife made some serious comments and a semi-ultimatum, which got my attention and drove me to therapy. There I learned I have codependent tendencies and look for self worth through others (especially my wife) too much. I’m still that way but I’ve learned to (mostly) brush off the worst days without ‘rewarding’ myself with secret drinking. I still drink, so try to mostly stay away from this thread so I don’t dilute the awesomeness here, but nothing like I was and…more importantly…the reason that I drink when I choose to. My marriage has returned to as normal as can be with two full time working parents with two young kids, and thus my root problem was addressed. The ‘will I / won’t I’ voice is gone, and I can enjoy a few drinks socially without ‘well I started so let’s push it’ voice urging me on…I can have a glass of wine with dinner and not keep going once we get home. To Twice’s point: that’s what seems to separate problem drinkers from alcoholics. I was able to moderate after severe enough consequences. Now I still don’t consider myself a ‘normie’ as all these thoughts are always in the back of my mind, but I’m able to work through the trials of life without considering an alcohol escape as a ‘solution’ and having a drink isn’t a gateway to getting drunk 100% of the time…so for ME, I consider that victory over it. Your mileage may vary.
  11. Man I miss the Bass King dude, Leslie, Hoeks vs Roppolo’s at closing, Irish pub, those spray paint dudes blasting techno, etc. Probably romanticizing my 20’s, sixth was never an upscale howdy doody environment, and there were a lot fewer options across the city at the time I regularly hung out down there (2002-2005ish)…but I still miss it.
  12. Doing my occasional perusal of Fox News comments…they’re upset about all the money spent in equipment given to Ukraine. Funny how that works with the stupid tax break, wall, etc. Just like Tea Party bullshit with Obama.
  13. Y’all aren’t the only ones going ‘wtf’ this early in the season
  14. Don’t summon him to join the race
  15. Have you checked the servers for any Myanmar Muslim Hackers?
  16. Guess it’s time to add “Porterhouse’d” to the Surly Lexicon Wall alongside Slorch’d
  17. That was actually a good, even-handed breakdown. Pos rep. What I don’t understand about this is why, in the age of cheap microelectronics, do we not have hotbox detectors on the cars themselves? While the video of the burning bearings is wild, it’s possible it didn’t go by a defect detector during that 20+ mile run before the axle sheered off. Obviously stuff like dragging equipment and car counting needs to be done via trackside equipment, but hotbox should be relatively easy. I’m sure the answer is money
  18. Well it only took a little over six years for them to forget what happened with Tay…the tweet/chat bot that quickly turned into a racist insane person for spending too much time with TTomTerrific And of course this classic:
  19. Do we know what caused the original derailment?
  20. Distinct possibility that all these things are not necessarily China/foreign objects, and hopefully we aren’t shooting down every slow moving aerial object that’s unidentified.
  21. I live within walking distance of Breakaway/40XS here in Cedar Park, and I’m always jealous of those bastards who just taxi out of their hangar for the $100 hamburger. Of course there’s a whole other world of expenses and headaches, but I can dream. Highlight of my walks over there was a Blackhawk practicing some kind of low approach, was an impressive sight. Regarding that 30-hour Queen getting put down, sucks so hard. Always wanted one of those luggage tags made out of an aircraft skin but the price seems stupid for what they are.
  22. Yeah I hate playing God’s Gift when it matters. Hopefully GIA is rocking, can’t watch tonight
  23. Well yeah, it’s fluid (response to Ballgame)
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