French politics

[John Larkin]

Certainly not now. And certainly not in recentish times generally.

US trains seem bizarrely over-manned to us.

Can you tell us more about crew requirements on US railroads?

John

 

[krw]

Can you tell us more about crew requirements on US railroads?

The hundredish car train that ties up "the Junction" here at 5:00PM,
has a crew of two (they stop for dinner at one of the fast food
restaurants next to the tracks).

 

[krw]

On Wed, 09 May 2007 10:21:38 -0700, Charlie Edmondson


Sno-o-o-o-ort!

Some of our RSO laws are just plain stupid.

Particularly when "Flash" would be treated the same as a child rapist
(here, the child molester would be treated less harshly).

Considering how many buildings I've pissed against in my youth, it's a
miracle I'm not an RSO ;-)

Not to mention how many desert bushes.

Not too many women out in the desert to be "on the other side of the
fence".

Musing... Is it illegal to "play doctor" anymore? I'll show you mine,
if...

Hell, it's illegal to bring a butter knife in a lunch box.

I'd be in the slammer ;-)

Shhh! Don't tell the dumb donkey that!

 

[krw]

Recently they busted a guy who represented people in court as an
attorney. A minor glitch there was that he never went to law school and

Interestingly, here in Vermont law school isn't a requirement to
become an attorney.

had no degrees or bar registration. The news anchor said that this
arrest would open up the chance for his former clients to sue him. They
asked a few of those and they seemed quite happy with his services and
didn't see any reason to sue.

The same thing might happen with a heart surgeon. ;-)

 

[Rich Grise]

.

Recently they busted a guy who represented people in court as an
attorney. A minor glitch there was that he never went to law school and
had no degrees or bar registration. The news anchor said that this
arrest would open up the chance for his former clients to sue him. They
asked a few of those and they seemed quite happy with his services and ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
didn't see any reason to sue.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That right there is prima facie evidence that the guy wasn't a "real"
attorney. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

Oh, I did. Take a look at the end of this page:
http://www.b737.org.uk/powerplant.htm

No wires and stuff flopping about in there.

Apparently, we have different definitions of "wires and stuff flopping
about in there." ;-)

Plus, this is either brand new off the line, or has just been pressure-
washed. ;-)

When I was in the USAF, I had to work on airplanes - I used liquid flux
on my fingers to make them sticky so I could lace cables with that waxed
lacing tape, in an environment where everything is covered with a film
of oil/jet fuel.

But I'm feeling much better now. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich


Cheers!
Rich

 

[Joerg]

Apparently, we have different definitions of "wires and stuff flopping
about in there." ;-)

Plus, this is either brand new off the line, or has just been pressure-
washed. ;-)

When I was in the USAF, I had to work on airplanes - I used liquid flux
on my fingers to make them sticky so I could lace cables with that waxed
lacing tape, in an environment where everything is covered with a film
of oil/jet fuel.

But I'm feeling much better now. ;-)

Sure, but the same applies to cars like the Saab 900. You can certainly
let things go to the point where a mechanic doesn't want to touch it
with a 10ft pole.

 

[krw]

Sure, but the same applies to cars like the Saab 900. You can certainly
let things go to the point where a mechanic doesn't want to touch it
with a 10ft pole.

You can also have problems being a neat freak. My wife had a problem
with "wet" plugs, so took the car to the local dealership. It
finally turned out to be a shorted coil on one/two of the cylinders,
but they dried it out the first trip in. :-(

Later, a good friend (the GM at said dealership) was telling me a
bout another customer with a "wet plug" problem. Seems he washed the
engine regularly.

 

[John Larkin]

California seems to be fond of setting ramp speeds which screech tires
;-)

And we don't believe in guard rails.

John

 

[Homer J Simpson]

I heard some UL about some guy who lied his way into a job, and wasn't
discovered until it turned out that he couldn't do the job.

But they can't get rid of him until 2009!

 

[Homer J Simpson]

In the UK? Back in highschool our economy teacher used their situation as
the perfect example of the level of absurdity it can reach: As in most
other countries locomotives were migrating from steam to electric and
Diesel. That meant that there was no longer a job for boilermen. After
all, if there is no boiler then you don't need a boilerman. Pretty
logical, ain't it? Not so for the union. According to what we learned back
then the union demanded that a boilerman had to be riding along on every
Diesel and electric locomotive. AFAIR this became standard operating
procedure.

Featherbedding was very common in the US rail system for a long time IIRC.
They still stuck to the old steam schedules after the conversion to diesel
although they no longer needed to stop every 100 miles for coal and water.

 

[Eeyore]

I heard some UL

Underwriters' Labs ?

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

and wasn't discovered until it turned out that he couldn't do the job.

Sounds like most ppl who get the job to me !

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

Recently they busted a guy who represented people in court as an
attorney. A minor glitch there was that he never went to law school and
had no degrees or bar registration. The news anchor said that this
arrest would open up the chance for his former clients to sue him. They
asked a few of those and they seemed quite happy with his services and
didn't see any reason to sue.

He probably gave better value and service than a typical attorney does.

Graham

 

[Rich Grise]

Underwriters' Labs ?

Urban Legend, but you already knew that and are just playing, right?

Cheers!
Rich

 

[joseph2k]

Jim Thompson wrote:
[snip]

I find that 15-25MPH over the limit is very comfortable for the road.

Sometimes you can even double up... the elevated curved ramp from
Pecos Road to I10W is marked as 45MPH... I don't even lean at 90MPH.


That's unusual. Typically the recommended curve speeds in the US are
quite realistic numbers, less conservative than in other countries.

I don't find that unusual at all... US speed limits are set by
politicians (to maximize revenue), NOT by road designers :-(

...Jim Thompson

I thought the curve speeds were recommended maximums, not legal
maximums, since they're in orange.

They vary a lot from place to place in the US, IME, sometimes there's
an insanely tight curve with a 20mph maximum that's entirely
realistic, but other times you can easily double up on the speeds on
dry pavement.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Can't speak for all the US, but in California road design is set by speed
limits and some engineering sense, and curve speed signs are set for a
"comfortable" speed around the curve. They are not a maximum here.

 

[joseph2k]

The Europeans, at least the French, seem to believe in a zero-sum game
of employment. They figure that if they reduce the workweek, more
people will be hired to do the work. And if old people are
force-retired, more jobs will be created for young people. And that if
it's hard to fire people, more people will stay employed.

They're insane, of course.

John

Yes, like most industrialized countries they are trying to delete the right
to fail. The right to fail is arguably the single most important right
possible.

 

[James Arthur]

Urban Legend, but you already knew that and are just playing, right?

I missed it as well. Maybe I'm spending too much time in RL? ;-)

Cheers,
James Arthur

 

[James Arthur]

John Larkin wrote:



Yes, like most industrialized countries they are trying to delete the right
to fail. The right to fail is arguably the single most important right
possible.

According to a hilarious book I have on Murphy's Law[1], the
FUTILITY FACTOR:

"No experiment is never a complete failure -- it can always serve as
a negative example."

Unless, of course, you don't permit the failure; then there are no
negative examples to teach us.

[1] "Murphy's Law, and other reasons why things go wrong!", Arthur
Bloch, ISBN 0-8431-0428-7. Published in 1977 (and very funny), it has
a great deal of prescient, practical engineering wisdom embedded. It
even foretells the rise of Microsoft. For example:

THE LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
1. Any given program, when running, is obsolete.
2. Any givem program costs more and takes longer.
3. If a program is useful, it will have to be changed.
4. If a program is useless, if will have to be documented.
5. Any given program will expand to fill all available memory.

or, under KLIPSTEIN'S LAWS
5. A transistor protected by a fast-acting fuse will protect the fuse
by blowing first.

Cheers,
James Arthur

 

[[email protected]]

so it says here, taking a broader view.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/28/17/36396820.xls

I do like those statistics. The productivity of an individual worker
in the Netherlnads is 4% higher than than it is in the US, and Norway
and Luxemburg score 30% higher.

The last time I saw some figures like that, the investigators also
looked at the capital investment per worker, which seemed to explain
most of the differences they saw - but this must have been thirty
years ago.