Subj : Re: More Various Things To : Barry Martin From : Ky Moffet Date : Thu Jul 01 2021 15:19:00 BARRY MARTIN wrote: > Hi Ky! > > > > Plus dailydensen's mastery of the language are mediocre. > > MP> All our message bases are belong to him. > > BM> Darn! I was hoping for massage basses! > > DS> Deep throated guys rubbing your back...or maybe the bearded > > DS> ladies who retired from the circus. :P > > Sometimes one gets what one gets.... > KM> Call in the elephants! > > They perform by Zoom too?! They do! They make you zoom away very fast. > > DS> If the wind is blowing right, I can hear the train whistles > > DS> several miles away...and knowing the milepost of the crossings, I > > DS> can tell how far away he is. > KM> Same here, if I'm paying attention. > I just had a flashback to an incident on the news a few years ago: > someone walked into a train! Good news: train was going very slow and > the idiot got by with only minor injuries. Forget if I told this before... Some years back someone did a suicide-by-train (or so they think) right down at my crossing... train operator knew he'd hit someone but they never found the corpse. Some years later when they rebuilt the crossing (about a year before I moved here; as part of turning the highway into a four-lane and moving it from underpass to overpass), they found the remains... apparently had gotten flung a ways and sank in the swampy spot, which was more extensive before all their digging disrupted the spring. > > > I don't know that detail but in winter the sound of the train whistles > > travel a greater distance (or seem to); some seem to be heard 'forever', > > blowing their horn at approaching crossings, through the crossing, then > > what seems like a few seconds later warning for the next crossing. > KM> Track is 100 feet from my door and the next crossing about 400 > KM> feet down the way, so I get 'em full blast. And we're a slow zone > KM> (supposed to be 15mph speed limit, tho outbound are often going > KM> faster). > > The closeness of the tracks reminds me of the _I Love Lucy_ episode > where Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel are on their way to Hollywood, stop > at a cabin hotel in the middle of nowhere. As the train goies by the > cabin shakes and bounces, the bed slides from one side of the room to > the other. LOL, that would be fun :D It's a Burlington Northern track, and VERY well maintained... they're out here fixing and tamping and replacing every summer. Probably because a couple decades back they had a derail along here, and flying boxcars don't mesh well with nearby houses. So minimizing liability. Also most of the cars these days are in good shape, tho once in a while I hear a bad enough squealer or thumper that I call it in to their 24 hour emergency office. The one I could still hear screeching 3 miles away was notable... a really well-maintained train-and-track is actually pretty quiet with almost NO vibration. Not at all like this 5mph zone, which was still in use in this condition... new owners are slowly replacing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Vwt6xX9rM There's also video of it partially derailing and climbing back onto the track, but didn't find that one offhand. It gets worse (mostly somewhat sped up) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2fq575szuk Bad tracks AND snowplow fun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtBUvGO1g0g > > KM> But I love trains, so I don't care. :D > > I'll admit to being part of the take 'em or leave 'em group, but do > admire the design, strength, sometimes the grafitti. Never had the > opportunity to get acquainted. They're even more interesting when you have a trackside view. And yes, some of the graffiti is quite impressive artwork. Policy seems to be to leave it alone so long as it doesn't cover any of the safety or capacity markings. Also, if there's already nice artwork, the gangs usually don't tag 'em. > > > Unfortunately Davenport (next city over) has a lot of shooting and > > shots-fired incidents. "Good news" is the general area where occurring > > is about six or seven miles from the house. > KM> Now that we don't get around here, not least because the > KM> neighborhood would shoot back, with better aim. > > That's what's needed: consequences! By the news reports it > seems like a lot of guns are out there but seems all by the criminals. > (The rest of us are protected by little stickers we got at the dollar > store: "Warning! These premises are protected by a false sense of > security!") Pretty much, if you're in a blue state. Here the sticker points the other way around. > KM> [We have a stand-your-ground law that extends to protecting other > KM> persons and property.] > > I'm not sure what Iowa has. I do like the concept of not only being > able to protect one's own person and property but neighbours': neighbour > isn't home, I see someone break in, call 911 and then (if reasonably Yep. You want a safe neighborhood, it helps if everyone can contribute. > safe) detain. ...Might have to order delivery: Davenport police are > sometimes very slow to respond to low-level reports. At least here in > Bettendorf they're generally near-instant response. Correct police behavior would be to provide a department and public phone number, which answers thus: "Corpse Pickup, where may I direct your meatwagon?" þ RNET 2.10U: ILink: Techware BBS þ Hollywood, Ca þ www.techware2k.com --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .