Trainguyrom
@Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
- Comment on #environmentalist 15 hours ago:
Many fast food cups lack the structural integrity to hold the quantity of liquid that they’re supposed to without a lid, and using a lid necessitates using a straw
- Comment on #environmentalist 15 hours ago:
Idk about you but my ass has burgers
- Comment on 'This is definitely my last TwitchCon': High-profile streamer Emiru was assaulted at the event, even as streamers have been sounding the alarm about stalkers and harassment 3 days ago:
They’re out and about. Whereas there’s an undeniable mass of socially inept users that streaming specifically caters to.
Funnily enough this goes both ways. At the first streamer awards there were a lot of jokes about how many of the streamers attending needed a shower and a good number of them showed up in the same clothing they stream in, which is not really appropriate for a publicly broadcast award ceremony
- Comment on Fucking math... 3 days ago:
See I love quick and dirty rules to get close enough through estimation for whatever I’m mental mathing, because if I need exact numbers I’m turning to a computation device
20% of 36.23 I’d be going “okay 20% of 10 is 2, 3 10s in 36 so 3x2=6, and 6.23 is pretty close to half 10 and half 2 (from my previous 20% of 10 calculation) is 1 so 20% of 36.23 is slightly more than 7”
36.23% of 20 I’d be going “30% of 10 is 3, 2 10s in 20 so 2x3=6, 6.23% is close to 5 so half of 3 is 1.5, 6+1.5=7.5 so 36.23% of 20 is a bit more than 7.5”
Now which is closer to correct? Ehh I’m not sure I haven’t used a calculator yet, but I’m mental mathing so chances are my estimation got me close enough that I can just round to whichever direction is safer for errors and call it good. Usually I’m mental mathing to figure out splitting a bill, a tip or to double check some machine computed math that looks wrong, and none of those call for perfect precision, just getting close enough that it doesn’t matter
- Comment on American public transit 4 days ago:
Do not the bees
- Comment on Forbidden knowledge 1 week ago:
My kids are old enough to start using computers and smart devices but young enough that the best thing we can do is limit them to certain sites, so basically they only poke around on pbskids.org and play games or watch shows there. I’m not sure what I’ll do when they start learning to explore more, but we definitely keep a loose eye on what they’re up to whenever they’re on any kind of computer no matter what.
Only parental controls we use currently is there’s an old phone that the kids sometimes use which I locked down with Google Parental Controls to block most apps, downloaded some kids games (play pass is super good for kids games and can be shared amongst family members so $20/yr for all family members to have access to a ton of paid apps) and time limit them so they can’t spend too much time when we aren’t looking on the phone
- Comment on Forbidden knowledge 1 week ago:
In HG Wells The Time Machine, the main character travels all the way to the very end of the world and the last creatures on the planet were some gigantic crabs before he travels forwards and finds a completely bare world
- Comment on Anon shops for diamonds 1 week ago:
My wife and I looked at places a couple of friends got married at a couple of years earlier when we were planning on our wedding and those venues had doubled in price since then. A couple of years later our venue doubled in price. The wedding industry really seems intent on pricing itself out of existence!
- Comment on A data center fire in South Korea sees 858 TB of government files and 'eight years’ worth of work' stored in the cloud go up in smoke 2 weeks ago:
Something something the cloud is not a backup
- Comment on Happy 20th anniversary to the Corrupted Blood incident! 2 weeks ago:
Last night I realized we’re closer to 2030 than 2020 now
- Comment on I c it! 2 weeks ago:
It’s uncanny and special for someone to be looking the other way during an eclipse.
During the two minutes of totality I tried really hard to take in as much as I possibly could. The light was very weird the entire time and because I wasn’t looking at the sun and moon when it happened, I saw the weird wavey shadow things as totality ended. Absolutely incredible experience and I highly recommend everyone experience it at least once in their life!
- Comment on Truly 2 weeks ago:
I couldn’t agree more. My pet theory is that those who enjoy slots haven’t tried better video games yet, and that the mainstreaming of video games will slowly kill slots off.
- Comment on Texas National Guard arriving in Chicago 2 weeks ago:
So there’s two types of food deserts: rural and urban
Rural food deserts are typically some small dying town populated by overworked commuters (who primarily work in an agriculture or agriculture supporting businesses, since that’s what exists near these towns) and tax- and price-sensitive retirees. It’s a small town of less than a thousand people and everyone just drives to the Walmart the next town over because that’s what they have for options now.
Urban food deserts are typically in poorer sections of the city (areas whose poverty was reinforced by historical practices of redlining and broken window policing for example) so any businesses that do sell food tend to be dollar stores which due to their margins can’t afford non-shelf stable food, or gas station convenience stores which both can’t afford non-shelf stable food and might not have the space to dedicate to some fresh produce. Grocery store chains will generally aim for locations with some wealthier clients since they’ll spend more per trip, and they fear that opening locations in less affluent areas will lead to more crime.
Some cities have responded to food deserts by directly subsidizing the opening of a grocery store, or subsidizing the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables at existing stores, but that requires a level of civic engagement that not all cities are willing to put in, and more affluent citizens may turn their noses up at such neighborhoods and just want them to decay out of existence (which isn’t going to work) or worse they try it and find that most of the people who could be supporting a small local grocery store still go to the big grocery store/Walmart that they have to drive to instead, so the local grocery store goes out of business despite the subsidy
- Comment on thank goodness 2 weeks ago:
I have been a good bing 🤗 and you have been a bad user
- Comment on 💩. 2 weeks ago:
My metabolism is funky. If I lump around all day I’m usually at the low end of this scale, but start doing some cardio and I leap into the ideal zone.
Case in point, last week I was traveling so I got no real walking or biking in for a full week. First day back I get a good walk and bike ride in and immediately back to the good zone. No transition just an immediate leap back to where I should be
On the upside my metabolism will automatically reduce to asking for a less than normal adult amount of calories when not exercising then start demanding a normal amount of calories once any exercise enters my routine
- Comment on PUT THE TRAINS IN THE BAG 2 weeks ago:
Thank you kind sir and/or madam, that’s a million times better!
- Comment on Truly 2 weeks ago:
I went to a casino once to see what it’s about. Ultimately just felt like I was staring at a visual stimulation machine more than anything (my local casino is basically only penny slots)
I spent an hour that felt like 3 there and turned $40 into $60 and I don’t feel like I ever need to do that again. Also worst of all was the ice cream place I was hoping to go to afterwards closed
- Comment on Truly 2 weeks ago:
I attended one of Corey Taylor’s solo concerts at a casino once and as all of these rock and metal fans come out of the oldies concert (because he was performing the music of all of the bands who inspired him) and walking out at midnight from the concert I got the dirtiest looks from the old people pressing the buttons at the slot machines and it was honestly kinda hilarious being judged by retirees spending the night gambling for heading home after enjoying a concert. Also absolutely nobody looked happy to be there as they started glass-eyed at the screens
- Comment on I can't find a single decent bedtime story online. 90% of the articles are AI slop. 2 weeks ago:
Go buy a cheap $20 bookcase at $bigboxstore find the nearest thrift store and buy $20 worth of picture books. Read one every time the child is being out to bed and you’ll figure out which ones go back and which ones become favorites pretty quick. It’s one of the best things one can do for their kids (and once they’re in school teachers can immediately tell what kids have parents who read to them and what kids don’t)
- Comment on Unified Theory of American Reality 2 weeks ago:
I’ve always appreciated Douglas Adam’s take on this:
The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
- Comment on Unified Theory of American Reality 2 weeks ago:
I prefer to take a more The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street approach to the worst acts of humanity, is not that it comes from a place of evil, but instead a place of fear that a very small handful have used to manipulate those who wouldn’t commit these acts otherwise.
- Comment on Unified Theory of American Reality 2 weeks ago:
For me when I realized I was more grown up than the adults around me, I realized I could relax a bit and not hold myself to such an unsustainable standard. On the other hand I still have lofty goals for myself that I still strive to reach so I’ll pick up a ton of cool experiences along the way and maybe I’ll achieve those pipedreams or maybe I won’t but either way it beats just stagnating and aging in place
- Comment on Has this ever happened to you? 3 weeks ago:
As someone with mostly female friends, all I can think is hell yeah potentially more friends! More natural conversations with an extra body, plus first date is more about vibes than anything so if a trusted friend improves the vibes then bring that trusted friend!
- Comment on Who cares what it looks like? It works. 3 weeks ago:
That is definitely a risk with that kind of mod. Trunks are designed so that if someone were to become entrapped they can be opened from the inside.
- Comment on It's really not 4 weeks ago:
There’s two sides to this really. On one hand there’s folks like myself who spend years hemming and hawing over a $20 purchase and therefore never get the things they want in life because they’re too busy focusing on what’s financially responsible, but then there’s also so many folks who spend hundreds of dollars a month on things they don’t need but struggle to keep up with their savings, loans, etc.
Some people need to be reminded that it’s okay to buy something for yourself every once in a while, and some people need to be reminded that that doesn’t mean spending $500 every month on doordash and random crap from Temu
- Comment on PUT THE TRAINS IN THE BAG 4 weeks ago:
There might still be an operating wigwag signal at Devils Lake State Park. When I was last there about a decade ago it was still there and operational (and for revenue service no less!)
Otherwise the IRM has a really good collection of railroad signals. Many are actually in use on the mainline (so crews have to be familiar with even the biblically accurate railway signals along with all sorts of fun obscure variations. And if I remember correctly as you first enter and cross the streetcar loop and the steam shop/long barn sidings (long enough to store the entire Zephyr trainset on one track, as well as where quite a few cosmetically restored locomotives are stored including multiple articulated locomotives and a DDA40X) there’s a wig wag protecting the crossing
- Comment on NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE 4 weeks ago:
I’ll give you the same advise I recently took to heart and started following for my hobbies: don’t wait until you can make it perfect. Start working on the garden you can do right now…er next spring?
If you start small now, you can start enjoying it now, then you can build up your experience, skills and tools, and once you have the time and money for the epic garden you want, you’ll also have the skills to absolutely make full use of it!
I’m doing the same thing with model railroading. I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to start on my first model railroad as an adult. A few weeks ago I finally said “fuck it” and bought a door at the hardware store and some mounting hardware. I’ll have a car I can fit a 4x8 sheet of insulation foam into in a couple of weeks so then I can get rolling and start building a nice little starter layout and enjoy that right now. Then later on I can build something bigger and better (plus have more skills and experience under my belt to do it better!)
- Comment on PUT THE TRAINS IN THE BAG 4 weeks ago:
The good news is that soon there’ll be the California High Speed rail line. I’m hopeful that I can make a good long trip over there once it opens in a few years to check it out. Heck maybe I’ll move to California for a year or two? Who knows!
- Comment on PUT THE TRAINS IN THE BAG 4 weeks ago:
Those aren’t necessarily tracks but services. 3 services can share one mainline and several stops. Makes (dis)boarding easier for longer distances if passengers don’t have to change trains after they get out of the peninsula, plus 3 services hitting the same stations means 3x as much frequency along that corridor. Someone going Jacksonville to Miami can pick between the Chicago, LA or New York route and someone going from Miami to LA can just hop into the LA route and stay there until they arrive without changing trains
- Comment on PUT THE TRAINS IN THE BAG 4 weeks ago:
The above map basically connects every major city in the country with a high speed rail route, makes it easy to travel by high speed rail from any major city in a region to any other major city in a rrhion and standard speed routes to connect some of the smaller major cities and provide alternate cross connections for less populad itineraries