ahegeman

There ya' go. That's more like it. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Hey bucko - shape up and make with the vitriol. I'm a total ignoramous when it comes to skydiving, so I can't say anything in any of the other forums. SC is the only place where I can get away with acting like a pompous know-it-all SOB. I will NOT have my domain polluted with this happy joy-joy shiny-happy-people lovefest that I can already smell starting. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

That's another good reason why I pay more - so I can tell my packer to quite his bitching when he starts whining like a little girl about my pretty new Safire2 189. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Awesome. I was just talking with my 4-way coach about the possibility of flying with my bird (Red-tailed hawk) under canopy. I know exactly how I could train him for it. I hadn't even thought about it with paragliding, which definitely makes a lot more sense. My hawk couldn't even think of doing the Ken Franklin freefall thing, but RTs are awesome soarers. I've got to check that out. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

No doubt. I hate all of you, you bunch of pinko commie collectivist assholes and fascist right-wing oppressor dickheads.

I'm generally pretty calm and don't have a problem with mice, rats, lawyers, snakes, etc., but there's just something about spiders that makes me want to shriek like a 12-year old girl. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Obvious jokes aside, this is disgusting and I don't really know what to say about it. Should provide quite a moral dilemma out there for some, though. Clicky Edited to fix clicky --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

I take care of my packer, and he takes care me. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Shouldn't this be in the "Women Only" forum? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Our packers charge $5 a packjob, but most people I know tip extra. I pay around $7 per packjob. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

I'm not too familiar with Algeria, so I won't argue with you there, but I think my statement is still true in general. Besides, what society could possibly be sane after 130 years of French occupation. Of course they are important, and it would be preferable if they were on board with the elections, but since when is the dissatisfaction of a previous ruling minority with a new democracy supposed to be the standard by which the "legitimacy" of the election is judged? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

This is great news, and it has gone much better than I expected. I think any people when given a real chance at freedom will take advantage of it. The real proof will come over the next year as the new democratically elected government takes charge. I hope all goes well. Forget the Sunnis. As has been noted in many other places, nobody saw Afrikaner turnout as a test of the legitimacy of the South African elections. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

They've got right around 40 engines. They probably run F59s. $5M seems a bit steep to me though. I'd have said right around $2.5M, including the upgrades they have to do for CA operations. Still $100M dollars, though, not to mention ongoing maintenance. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Heh. This is gonna be awesome. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Dnto gte fukcde otu of a jbo! I mean fired. Ed Heh. Nah, I kid. I love where I work. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Seewt! Now I can tlel all the fkuecrs I wrok wtih waht ahlssoes I tnhik tehy are oevr eaiml wouitht the filetrs pinckig it up! --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

That is exactly my point. Its an extremely low probability event, it hasn't happened in years, and it probably will not happen again for a very long time, if ever. This one is particularly bad because one train derailed into an oncoming train. The odds of a car even derailing a train are very small, and the odds of it doing it at the exact moment an oncoming train is on an adjacent track are even smaller, and the odds of two trains colliding into each other while next to yet another parked train are even smaller still. Yet you propose that Metrolink spend 100s of millions of dollars, evict thousands of people from their homes, and possibly drive thousands of riders into even more dangerous territory to maybe protect against something that may not happen again for decades. That will waste resources that could have been better spent, and in the end probably result in even more deaths. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

People like to screw with trains. Since time immemorial, children have been putting pennies on train tracks and adults have been killing themselves by forcing some poor train crew to watch their demise. Passengers demand fast, cheap, and reliable service. If they don't get it, they'll go to another mode. There is no way to design a perfectly safe transportation system that people will actually use. Train travel is incredibly safe, environmentally friendly, and reliable compared to other forms of transportation. How many people die on LA freeways every year? You want an answer on how to make sure nobody dies on board a Metrolink train ever again? Here's the only one that'll work - shut it down. Other than that, I'm at a loss. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Eminent domain is also known as condemnation, which yes, I have heard about, and in fact mentioned it in my post. That doesn't make it politically possible. Metrolink has had eminent domain attempts turned back by neighborhood opposition in the past. Perhaps someone will come up with a less costly, more desireable solution, but its not Metrolink's fault that it hasn't happened yet. As I said, all of these solutions will add cost and delays while reducing the fluidity of the network. A railroad is a highly constrained operation, and one train taking an extra 15 minutes to clear a section of track in a high-volume network can easily cause a cascade which will consume hours by the time all is said and done. Its not as low-impact or as easy as you think. The changes required to ensure no push operations would easily run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and all the shuffling and rejiggering of trains required would add delays and reduce the fluidity of the operation, potentially driving riders away. I'm surprised that even in the push operation an SUV derailed the train. That much money can be far better spent than protecting against such a low-probability event. If I remember correctly, Metrolink sees over 30M annual passenger trips. If even a small percentage of that is driven back onto the roads by cost or hassle increases on the Metrolink network, than even more people will die. Of course, nobody will ever hear about it when someone gets killed on the freeway because it isn't as impressive on the news. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Diablopilot is right, you don't just whip a train around. It requires either a wye connection or loop track, both of which take up a lot of real estate which will probably have to condemned to have the current owners thrown off, or cutting off the locomotive consist and running it around the train on a siding, and even then you may be faced with the problem of a locomotive facing the wrong direction, and you'll probably need to do an air test. All of those options consume track capacity and keep other trains from running for a pretty good chunk of time. In an operation like Metrolink's that is not always feasible, and would add cost and delays that might discourage riders, putting more people back on congested and even more dangerous roads. I used to live in Claremont but for the life of me can't remember much about those trains. Do they typically operate with 1 locomotive or 2? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

As a smoking fatso who's usually drunk, I take grave offense at your remarks. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Sounds like someone needs a hug. Did your mom stop breastfeeding you too early or something? He was just asking, sheesh. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Indeed. God bless them and their families. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Surprising that the driver of the car is even alive, much less talking. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

While the danger involved doesn't make the experience of an actual falling through the air any better for me, I think the PEOPLE involved in the sport would be entirely different. The danger keeps the community smaller than it otherwise would be, and fosters closer bonds among us. Nobody wants to see anyone bounce, so we all help each other as much as possible and watch out for each other. That makes the community stronger, makes the personal relationships stronger, and DOES make skydiving as an all-in experience better for me. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry