Last response ... this thread is now at least 100% OT :-)
On Wednesday 07 November 2001 20:57, you wrote:
The basic rule of thumb is: Trains take all ties.
Many years ago a guy in a Volkswagen Beetle tried to out-run a train.
Twenty-six freight cars later, he hit the caboose hard enough to knock it
off the rail. What he might have been thinking is a problem for his
next-of-kin to unravel. Beneath the floor of the caboose is a layer of
concrete for ballast. Their weight is stenciled on their sides. Take a
look at it sometime ... and bear in mind that it's usually the lightest
car in the train.
> in a
> pissing contest between several hundred thousand tons of train and a car
> or for that much a truck it does not take a rocket scientest to figure
> out WHO is going to take a big hit in that one, and the locomotive it
> aint.
(two gristly stories deleted. This is a family mailing list.)
Up to and including an M1-Abrams tank, I don't think there is a vehicle
made that can withstand a hit from a freight train. The Abrams tank might
handle a short passenger train ... but I doubt if it would be driveable
and I guarantee the guys inside would never make that mistake again.
Sometimes a vehicle bounces clear and there are survivors. Other times it
gets wedged underneath and you can't tell where the people end and the
poodle begins. That's a reference to the two stories I chose not to
include. I was on the train for both of those. I speak from first-hand
experience.
>
> And people still want to compete with something that can not stop even
> when the people running it wish with all of their life the could.
>
Actually, most engineers won't, unless startled, even bother with the
emergency brake until they have made what is called a "heavy service
application." Why risk killing the guys in the caboose when there isn't
any way to avoid hitting the car? Most railroaders are family men. They
very much want to go home at the end of the trip.
As a matter of technical reference, each freight car has about 1 square
inch of steel-to-steel contact with the rail. Just what makes people think
the train can avoid hitting them is completely beyond my understanding. It
is not unusual for the engineer to hit the emergency brakes and for the
caboose to pass beyond the point of impact.
> How many times do you hear of a vehicle getting stuck on the tracks,
> a tire hung or the blasted thing just quits, much more so than people
> winning the lottery...
Usually, what we see is people stop on the tracks, put the car in park,
put their hands on the steering wheel, stare straight ahead and make no
attempt to get out of the car. I don't work for the railroad any more but
I can tell you this: we didn't even feel bad about hitting those. We got
upset at being forced to play a part in the repugnant final act of
someone's life ... but if you let it shake you, turn in your switch keys
and lantern ... you're all done on the railroad.
> the thing pulled in time. Not pulled out on a hot runway yet... As to
> the can, zip lock bags work well too....
ROFLOL ... I figgered you'd know what I was talking about! :-))))
MMMMMMMMM getting this thing back on-topic for a moment ...
I did a tech support service call for my sister this morning. She had
bought a snazzy HP Pavilion 7935 (the HP web site says it has a Athlon 1.3
and 128 m DRAM) that had XP installed. Lots of eye candy, but the day
Linux runs that slow on that level of hardware is the day I start digging
through configuration files and logs to see what went wrong. She was, of
course, quite thrilled with it. But, to someone accustomed to Linux,
there is a disconnect between the raw numbers and the final performance. I
have an Athlon K-7 750 and mine would eat hers for breakfast. (apples to
oranges ... I also have enough ram to gag a maggot.) Still, I did "the
right thing" (tm) and praised her machine.
She needed to be shown 1) how to save her MSN password (a check off box
directly below the text box where it is entered) 2) how to open the door
on her second cd-rom (there isn't one), and 3) how to save a file to
diskette. She is two semesters short of a bachelors degree in business and
is carrying a 3.7 gpa.
There you have it, folks ... another XP user and darned proud of it!
I know she is "family" ... but that was XP I was dealing with. I charged
her for the hour. It's part of her TCO. Wait til it goes froggy on her.
:-) I don't have an XP install disk and I don't think she does, either.
But I'll bet you the guys she bought the computer from have a whole stack
of 'em.
Bill
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Linux a.genesis.com 2.4.13 #3 Mon Nov 5 23:04:22 EST 2001 i686 unknown
9:57pm up 1 day, 22:30, 2 users, load average: 0.02, 0.08, 0.03
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