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That looks like a reasonable solution.

My commute would be a whole lot better with those. Either I'd get to see jerks vaporized or not have to deal with three people running every red light that doesn't have a camera. My personal favorite is the people who run the red when there isn't enough room to pull through and so they end up blocking the intersection too.

My friend was on this train! (She's fine)

Oh gosh, they even have a video of the crash itself happening. A wonder nobody got killed. (Gruesome deaths following) In a fairly similar accident here the first car of the train got ripped open by the machinery that had been standing on the track and not everybody made it alive. Not sure anymore if it was the same accident or a different one ... I think it was the same ... someone was in the piece of equipment on the track and someone else got out of a car trying to get him to abandon the thing ... and both died, with the family watching from the car. My parents used to work in the train repair place and sometimes they took us kids there on weekends to look at and climb around in fairly tightly folded locomotives.

Kaharz wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/24/americas/ ... ry-tunnel/

I suspect DR.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/Canadia/toronto/t ... -1.2978109

Ah yes, a "man cave".

DonRetrasado wrote:

Kaharz wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/24/americas/ ... ry-tunnel/

I suspect DR.

http://www.cbc.ca/1.2978109

Ah yes, a "man cave".

Foiled by the forum filters you were. I put a working link there.

DonRetrasado wrote: http://www.cbc.ca/news/Canadia/toronto/t ... -1.2978109

Ah yes, a "man cave".

Ahh so they were just idiots who were digging a death trap to hang out in. The worst part is that if the guy worked doing underpinnings he should be knowlegable about how dangerous it can be. It should be less dangerous since he might kind of know how to do it in the safest manner, but it is still not safe.

An editorial from one of my local newspapers discussing the letter signed by 47 Republican senators sent to the Iranian government. Both my of state senators, one of them the no-handwashing-for-restaurant-employees-guy, signed the incredibly condescending letter.

Liriodendron_fagotti wrote:My friend was on this train! (She's fine)

Man there's been a lot of train derailments lately. Here's the one that happened East of here Wednesday evening.

I have a very strong suspicion that the leaders of Iran have a solid understanding of how the US federal government works. Probably a whole lot better than the very basic explanation provided in the letter. I don't really think the letter was intended to have any direct impact on the negotiations. I'm fairly certain it was just political showmanship and a continued attempt to maintain favor with stridently pro-Israel Jewish voters. It is still a very jack-assy thing to do and possibly a decent argument in favor of term limits for congress.

Apparently the Iranian Foreign Minister dismissed the letter out of hand as a partisan move with no real meaning. My friend and I were discussing it earlier and he guessed (and hoped) that the Republican senators were just jazzed up from Netenyahu's speech.

Liriodendron_fagotti wrote:An editorial from one of my local newspapers discussing the letter signed by 47 Republican senators sent to the Iranian government. Both my of state senators, one of them the no-handwashing-for-restaurant-employees-guy, signed the incredibly condescending letter.

Wow, I hadn't heard about that letter. That's some petty shit. It's the sort of thing the current government in Australia keeps doing (although on a much smaller scale), actually.

For example, the previous state government of Victoria (Liberal party i.e. conservatives) had been pushing a giant tollway project that was economically not justified as well as necessitating a lot of destructive development very near a big beautifal park and the zoo. It was quite unpopular, and it became apparent that the Liberals would be voted out in the coming election. Which of course meant that they signed the contract for the tollway a month before the election, as well as a side clause calling for $1 billion of compensation (out of the state budget) to be paid to the construction company even if the contract were found to be invalid.

Because of this, the now in opposition state Liberal party is calling the current Labor party economically irresponsible with taxpayer funds, because of their pre election promise to not build the tollway and the fact that they are sticking to said promise. For the terms of a contract that the Liberals themselves signed, knowing full well they would likely be voted out.

It's the sort of wonderful stuff that happens when a party decides they don't give a shit about screwing over the people they are elected to represent if it means they can stick it to their opponents.

Apocalyptus wrote:It's the sort of wonderful stuff that happens when a party decides they don't give a shit about screwing over the people they are elected to represent if it means they can stick it to their opponents.

Yea, partisanship in the US has been getting pretty extreme. The president (a democrat) used executive orders to pass some immigration reform. Before the last election, and probably at least the five or six elections before that, both sides were promising immigration reform. But it never went anywhere at all, so the president just forced it through. Not the best way to handle it, but the normal political process has been badly deadlocked for years.* So when the funding bill for the Department for Homeland Security came up, the Republicans initially refused to pass it unless riders were attached that overturned the executive actions on immigration. They eventually gave in, but considering how much Republicans go on and on about national security and despite being in favor of small government, often expand federal law enforcement and military, it was rather ridiculous.

*To the point that the federal government was shut down a while back because they couldn't pass a budget.

Apparently Germans are strongly opposed to a new European Central Bank headquarters.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/201 ... adquarters

Yeah, there was a big Blockupy thing in Frankfurt am Main this week.



Video: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/b ... 90273.html

37 photos: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/b ... 90501.html