patrick.net

Good.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/em-assets-hit-negative-macro-backdrop-amid-trumps-expected-tariff-flurry-sparks-strong

Aside the fact that the math just doesn't work for HST in 99% of America, there is this:

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Aside the fact that the math just doesn't work for HST in 99% of America

Why doesn't it work? Tracks for high speed trains too expensive to build?

Patrick says

Why doesn't it work? Tracks for high speed trains too expensive to build?

Economically and just practically, the math doesn't work.

Just like there isn't a thriving bush plane sector in Europe & Japan, but there is in Alaska, Australia, Canada & parts of Brazil & Africa.

It's about population square densities per unit of geography you need transportation across. See bush plane regions per above. For HST, see Japan, Eastern China and Europe.

It can thus be used in certain high pop density corridors in the US. Like Florida, BoshWash, California and Texas. But new rail separate from the existing freight-based system are needed in each case. And that involves right-of-way purchases that can be horrendously expensive.

And, then there is the competence issue. Nuff said.

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Patrick says

Why doesn't it work? Tracks for high speed trains too expensive to build?

Economically and just practically, the math doesn't work.

Just like there isn't a thriving bush plane sector in Europe & Japan, but there is in Alaska, Australia, Canada & parts of Brazil & Africa.

You're right with population density. Even then every town/city is going to want a stop along the way. If I take a one way flight to say San Diego, but have to stop in St. Louis, Omaha, Denver and Salt Lake City then San Diego, is that efficient? Fuck no. That's what train travel is bad even if they go 400mph. And they'll want more stops to generate revenue.

It could work in the Northeast. Freight takes precedent over passenger as well. Makes new lines and land acquisition expensive AF. Plus if anything is within 5 hours just drive at that point. Large cities going 200mph are 50 miles apart in Europe. So it makes sense.

Perfect example. I want to go to St. Louis from Chicago. 5 hour drive. I have to drive an hour (best case) into the city. Pay parking. A non-stop train will still take 4 hours. I'm 6-8 hours deep at least. I'll just drive or could fly in 3 hours with 50 minutes in the air.

And from what I know of California I don't even know that it makes sense there. I'm surprised FL is doing it. But if they keep it along the east coast Miami to Jacksonville it kind of makes sense. You have 5-8 logical stops that would be better than driving or flying. But still, I don't think most Americans if traveling are going to want to travel in their own state.

I'm on a plane going somewhere 90% and 10% driving to WI, MI, IN or MO. Iowa is gay. I'd maybe take a sleeper car train trip in Alaska in the summer. I wish Southwest flew up there instead of Hawaii. They need one flight into Guam for sure though.

On the other hand, trains usually go right into the center of town so you save time there.

Patrick says

On the other hand, trains usually go right into the center of town so you save time there.

The train problem is the grifter towns. They want a stop. So fine, it goes fast, but has to stop every 20 miles. If you can get me to St. Louis or Minneapolis with no stops at 300mph, let's go. Not happening in the US. I also don't trust on grade crossings with cars/trucks.

People freak out about flying. Fuck trains. I'm not going to hit a semi in the sky. I get fears of height from some people, but it's the safest travel. Think about a derailed train going that fast. Everyone is dead. Some of those being miserable deaths. At least a plane crash is generally instant death.

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Early 80's here. Happily married. 2 kids plus the nephew.

Given I have a decent amount of friends/family born in the 90's. The women are whores from the 90's and 2000's. Guys don't want to marry them. It's one thing to have fun when young, but fucking 30-40 different dudes? Honorable dudes ain't going to want you. Young men do want relationships, they just don't trust women anymore. Social media is likely the cause. Act like a whore, get attention and then you have to be the whore. Rinse and repeat.

Well, well, well..truth eventually comes out.

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Did it ever occur to anybody like the Cramer figure on TV, whose investment advices were invariably wrong, but nonetheless he never lost his public presence, that these guys were subsidized purposely lying and not just fucking stupid as shit with stupid as shit followers? The Nobel Prizes were a casualty of misdirection already from many years ago. Krugman's "job" has been to lie from falsified authority?

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Photoshopped of course. Probably a model from a high end car show they could superimpose. No chance in hell that girl is at whatever event that is. Also no reflection in any of the windows.

Patrick says

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Aside the fact that the math just doesn't work for HST in 99% of America

Why doesn't it work? Tracks for high speed trains too expensive to build?

Three aspects here.

Yes it’s incredibly expensive. The right of ways plus building in mountains.

Second, it’s the effing government. All the California high speed train was is Jerry Brown paying back the unions that are his political donors. Create additional government bureaucracy represented by unions. And in fact that’s what happened.

Finally, there’s truly no purpose. People bemoan how early you have to leave to get through LAX but Long Beach, John Wayne, Burbank, and Ontario service millions. And those don’t require you leave home three hours before your flight to SF or LV. It only takes a few minutes to go through TSA at those locations. And those flights can be had for $99-120 round trip. And quicker overall than any train.

I still assert that the LA to Vegas train idea came from some buffoon who tried to drive back to LA on a holiday return day where everyone with a brain knows it’s gonna be a 7 hour trip because California drivers are terrible. Said buffoon was probably bitching and moaning the whole way and comparing it to Europe. Basically considering buffoons own needs and desires and nothing else…like the 300+ days a year where this dynamic doesn’t exist. And instead buffoon thinks like a buffoon and says to himself “oh the trains in Europe are just SPLENDID!” Instead of considering cost, cost of airfare, not going on holiday weekends, etc.

FuckTheMainstreamMedia says

And those don’t require you leave home three hours before your flight to SF or LV. It only takes a few minutes to go through TSA at those locations. And those flights can be had for $99-120 round trip. And quicker overall than any train.

The problem with train routes in the US is every town/city is going to be lobbying for a stop. Unless passengers load and unload in 10 seconds at each stop, it's a pointless endeavor. Europe has major hubs much closer to each other. They can go 100 miles without stoping. That's not happening in the US. There are too many mid sized cities on almost every route. If I have to go to Chicago to get on a train, I'm just going to Midway and flying.

Chicago to say St. Louis non-stop on a HST would take me 90 minutes to get to Union station and park. Then check in. Mind you there's no parking garage on site. Today with wind chills at 15ºF it would blow. Then if you have tracks that don't cater to freight, so say 250mph non stop it's still a 3-1/2 hour trip. Flying would be the same. But I park the car and am in an elevator to the terminal in 20 seconds.

Freight versus passenger trains one hurdle. Right of way as FTMM mentions another. Infrastructure. Tracks and grade crossings so you don't hit a car going 200 mph. Then you get into the bridge game. Stations would need upgrading. It's 100% doable, but why waste the money? We need to stop spending money. Also existing freight lines you would share are insanely difficult to deal with. It takes them months to do anything to help a project get going.

I hate more government, but there should be a DOT2.0 (Department of Trains). The rail companies are about as gangster as you can get. They give no shits about any other government body. They get to do whatever they want. They just build a bridge or the tracks in a neighboring community. It got held up and made the project take 5 years. Not a joke. Could have been done in 2 years accounting for winter here.

Colombian hitwoman known as "The Doll" arrested for several targeted murders, including the assassination of her ex-boyfriend.

I can fix her!

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Gotta move on at some point.

https://x.com/Globalstats11/status/1866181918330327172

Crazy stupid policing. Those gals will get killed by someone if that's routine for them. If he's got shrooms or weed, who cares? Won't kill anyone. Most deaths happen on the roadway, not a sidewalk. Start taking cell phones from drivers. Those are more dangerous than someone getting high sitting on a couch listening to music or a movie.

Gee, for a moment I was wondering if it was lesbians frenzied with cock hunger who were going to gang bang the yute for their occasional dick fix.

Women should not be police.

Women should only interview female and child victims, handle female perps, and do paperwork. Perhaps traffic control.

Excerpt from Gary Gygax's FBI file:

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

WWII ended 79 years ago. What "comrades" was he "meeting since WWII"? His kindergarden buddies?

RWSGFY says

WWII ended 79 years ago.

Children fought on the Soviet side.

Patrick says

Women should not be police.

I disagree on that. She's an American citizen born and raised and you probably know the area in Chicago. Irish women can be good cops. No accent but grew up around the attitude of the Irish. Beverly (not a name, neighborhood and I know Patrick knows of it). One of the CPD cops I know is a tough bitch. Played rugby. She could hold her own as much as the fat fuck man cop.

I generally agree though that women shouldn't be in the field cops. Women citizens from immigrants can be tough. Mexicans also can be. Irish for sure. A few 2-3rd gen American women can, but that's rare. Actually my SIL would be an amazing cop if she could get rid of her ghetto talk. And she wouldn't get hired as a felon. When sober she's cordial and nice, but she could kick a lot of guys ass. I would 100% not trust her with a fire arm though.

I also don't agree with needing women cops for searches in another comment. I've been searched and had a good 'ole rub down from a female cop. I was totally compliant and didn't care. Was visiting the eventual to be wife and was speeding to have sex. She assumed the city I was from had a drug problem and I just answered honestly. Yes. Thought I was bringing drugs down to the college. Good thing she wasn't attractive otherwise she may have thought that erection was a large jar of weed. lol.

Patrick says

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Aside the fact that the math just doesn't work for HST in 99% of America

Why doesn't it work? Tracks for high speed trains too expensive to build?

@Patrick

https://enotrans.org/article/population-density-and-high-speed-rail/

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Patrick says

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Aside the fact that the math just doesn't work for HST in 99% of America

Why doesn't it work? Tracks for high speed trains too expensive to build?

Patrick

https://enotrans.org/article/population-density-and-high-speed-rail/

Good maps. Fact is we built an incredible interstate system. Most states have solid state roads. City people are the ones pushing HST that have no clue about the rest of the country because they're stuck in traffic. No idea about rail. They'd use it once a year if it existed.

Every bridge, every crossing is $1-10M at minimum not including the track leading to it and the land purchase. Existing tracks you're 2nd in line because of freight and all those tracks would have to be replaced. And then anyone with political clout would get a stop in their town/city. You won't even break 100mph on 9 of 10 routes. Also the Sierras and Rockies are a huge hurdle for nation wide HST. Smokies don't help either north to south vice versa.

Yes, that's a good map site. Looks to me like California could run two high-speed rail lines that at least break even. One from SF through San Jose down to LA toward the coast, and the other from Oakland through the Central Valley towns to LA.

SF to LA makes sense, but implementing it isn't easy given the cost of land. And I know it's actively in progress. IL is long and I've never flow in state to another airport besides on a private plane. I don't get the demand for it outside of tourism.

At some point you drive 30 min to the airport for a 30min flight. Might be double the cost, but 3x's faster. It would have to be downtown SF and LA stops and that's it. Not happening.

HST's aren't going work unless stops are about 100 miles apart minimum. You don't just go zero to 250mph in seconds. By the time you get to high speed you're breaking for a stop. Besides Gibraltar I don't recall an airport with a road through it. Now do 40 grade crossings with dip shit drivers. Gates won't work. You'd need those flip up metal barricades when the train is 2 miles away. There's another $2M and millions in maintenance ongoing.

We're a car centric country. That's okay. We help the trees grow. Knowing and living in the US my whole life, it will just turn into Greyhound 2.0 except train. They'll have to cut rates and service will be shit.

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

RWSGFY says

WWII ended 79 years ago.

Children fought on the Soviet side.

2-6 yo children? Fought? Wanna buy a bridge?

RWSGFY says

WWII ended 79 years ago. What "comrades" was he "meeting since WWII"? His kindergarden buddies?

Photo was taken in 2011.

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

Excerpt from Gary Gygax's FBI file:

Gygax was a huge mensch. Sadly he was surround by degens who blew all the money.

Patrick says

Women should not be police.

Women should not be field police on beats in predictably tough hoods or expected to subdue male perps (or even aggressive female perps).

However, their observational, undercover, and dogged investigation talents are necessary for police work otherwise. Face it, men just don't notice a lot of shit.