|
Welcome to the International Skeptics Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today. |
2nd April 2020, 10:32 PM | #81 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,214
|
|
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
2nd April 2020, 10:40 PM | #82 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 7,508
|
|
__________________
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right. - Baba O'Riley |
|
2nd April 2020, 10:44 PM | #83 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 7,508
|
|
__________________
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right. - Baba O'Riley |
|
2nd April 2020, 10:45 PM | #84 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 7,508
|
|
__________________
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right. - Baba O'Riley |
|
2nd April 2020, 10:49 PM | #85 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 7,508
|
|
__________________
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right. - Baba O'Riley |
|
2nd April 2020, 11:01 PM | #86 | |||
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Dharug & Gundungurra
Posts: 16,809
|
Here's the video of the accident!
|
|||
__________________
...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015 |
||||
2nd April 2020, 11:02 PM | #87 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 7,508
|
|
__________________
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right. - Baba O'Riley |
|
2nd April 2020, 11:38 PM | #88 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Nelson, New Zealand
Posts: 25,306
|
|
__________________
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong. Its TRE45ON season... convict the F45CIST!! |
|
3rd April 2020, 07:32 AM | #89 |
Self Employed
Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Florida
Posts: 46,649
|
I feel like there's a trolley problem joke just begging to be made here.
I wonder if a person was tied to the track and that news just hasn't hit yet? |
__________________
"If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong. |
|
3rd April 2020, 07:37 AM | #90 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
|
|
3rd April 2020, 07:38 AM | #91 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 22,789
|
|
3rd April 2020, 08:21 AM | #92 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Disneyland
Posts: 3,414
|
I'm still just broken up and sitting on the fence about this whole situation.
|
3rd April 2020, 08:22 AM | #93 |
a flimsy character...perfidious and despised
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Where the Old Man of the Mountain used to stand
Posts: 58,585
|
I don't know why he did this but I'm sure he had a loco motive.
|
__________________
Being the victim of genocidal atrocities does not give you free reign to commit your own genocidal atrocities. When Republican politicians were young, they were the kids who watched James Bond movies and said "I want to grow up to be just like [insert name of villain here]." |
|
3rd April 2020, 08:45 AM | #94 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
|
|
3rd April 2020, 09:00 AM | #95 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 10,215
|
Doesn't sound like a great new entry in the series, but I guess Keanu and Sandra need the cash!
|
__________________
"I know my brain cannot tell me what to think." - Scorpion "Nebulous means Nebulous" - Adam Hills |
|
3rd April 2020, 09:11 AM | #96 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
|
|
3rd April 2020, 09:31 AM | #97 |
Self Employed
Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Florida
Posts: 46,649
|
So about 10 years back there was a halfway decent but forgettable disaster film called Unstoppable about a runaway freight train loaded with hazardous material that will derail in a major populated area if it isn't stopped. Standard disaster movie fair; evil businessman that wants to save the company money, one of our hero's estranged wife and daughter just so happen to live in the populated area, scene were heroic guy has to get on the moving train, all very good and well.
Well it was mentioned in some of the reviews for the film that it was based on a "real life incident" which intrigued me so I read up on it. In May of 2001 locomotive CXS 8888 did in fact leave an Ohio under power but without control and was out of control for 2 hours, reaching speeds of over 50 mphs and was indeed carrying several traincars of toxic chemicals, not the "Kill thousands and ecological disaster" of the stuff in the film but surely stuff you wouldn't want a big area to take a bath in for sure and while everything was very highly dramatized for the film a lot of beats where the same, including failed attempts at using protable derailing devices to slow/stop the train and the police shooting out the tires. It's just so weird to see the film, shot in Tony Scott's patented (and missed) high energy action movie style and the real world footage, like comparing Chris Pine in the film having to jump onto the uncontrolled train from another train and the real world footage of "They got the train to slow down enough that a chubby, middle aged rail engineer at a light job was able to catch up with and climb on board and take control." |
__________________
"If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong. |
|
3rd April 2020, 10:10 AM | #98 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 22,789
|
|
3rd April 2020, 10:49 AM | #99 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
|
The train movie that doesn't have Keanu Reeves in it? Did you mean Unbreakable, the superhero movie that doesn't have Keanu Reeves in it? Or possibly Unforgettable, the psychological thriller move that doesn't have Keanu Reeves in it?
Why would I be checking out any of these, in the context of Keanu Reeves' career success? |
3rd April 2020, 03:01 PM | #100 |
Poisoned Waffles
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Monkey
Posts: 68,744
|
|
__________________
You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara. |
|
3rd April 2020, 03:16 PM | #101 |
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open.
Posts: 46,328
|
|
__________________
We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy. Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos |
|
3rd April 2020, 03:43 PM | #102 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
|
|
3rd April 2020, 04:07 PM | #103 |
Skepticifimisticalationist
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Gulf Coast
Posts: 28,589
|
|
__________________
"żWHAT KIND OF BIRD? żA PARANORMAL BIRD?" --- Carlos S., 2002 |
|
3rd April 2020, 05:18 PM | #104 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 8,594
|
or, using the more usual understanding of swain, just a very ardent trainspotter?
|
__________________
Vote like you’re poor. A closed mouth gathers no feet" "Ignorance is a renewable resource" P.J.O'Rourke "It's all god's handiwork, there's little quality control applied", Fox26 reporter on Texas granite |
|
3rd April 2020, 05:26 PM | #105 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
|
That's actually the etymology of the word. The boat swain was (and is) the person whose main responsibility is knowledge of and care for the boat itself. I'm thinking it must have started as poking fun at the boat maintenance guy, and evolved into an honorable name for an honorable profession.
"Guy who operates the train" can totally be a train swain in my book. |
3rd April 2020, 05:28 PM | #106 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 22,789
|
Train whip?
|
3rd April 2020, 05:56 PM | #107 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
|
Multi track drifting?
|
3rd April 2020, 05:57 PM | #108 |
Skepticifimisticalationist
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Gulf Coast
Posts: 28,589
|
Still doesn't work - the engineer doesn't operate the train, just the engine. I know that may sound semantic but it really isn't: the conductor operates the train. He tells the engineer what to do with the engine specifically, and does everything else manually - so uncoupling or decoupling cars, operating track switches if required, handling communications and etc. Way back a long time ago train crews had another position called the brakeman and the conductor gave him orders too, but in modern trains that job is automated.
Interestingly, I don't think the guys who operate small locomotives just to shunt cars around a railyard get called engineers (though I forget what they ARE called). |
__________________
"żWHAT KIND OF BIRD? żA PARANORMAL BIRD?" --- Carlos S., 2002 |
|
3rd April 2020, 06:56 PM | #109 |
Philosopher
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
Posts: 6,119
|
During the middle part of the Age of Steam, most American freight trains had five crew members: the conductor, engineer, fireman, flagman (senior brakeman, also responsible for signaling), and brakeman. One of the brakemen's jobs when the train was moving was to watch along the cars for any problems with the equipment. One of the brakemen also usually prepared the crew's meals in the caboose ("brake van" or "guard's van," for you British and Commonwealth types) when necessary, so conductors generally tried to get at least one who was a good cook. Also, the driver of a switch engine ("shunting engine") is still referred to as an engineer, though there may be a qualifier such as "yard" attached. Possibly you are thinking of a hostler, who is authorized to move a locomotive from one location to another within a yard, usually to or from a maintenance area. See here. |
__________________
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." --Carl Schurz |
|
3rd April 2020, 07:06 PM | #110 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 8,594
|
|
__________________
Vote like you’re poor. A closed mouth gathers no feet" "Ignorance is a renewable resource" P.J.O'Rourke "It's all god's handiwork, there's little quality control applied", Fox26 reporter on Texas granite |
|
3rd April 2020, 09:12 PM | #111 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Colorado
Posts: 5,718
|
So a train tried to sink a ship.
Hasn't anyone here geeked out enough to reference the time a submarine attacked a train? |
3rd April 2020, 09:24 PM | #112 |
Official Ponylandistanian National Treasure. Respect it!
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Ponylandistan! Where the bacon grows on trees! Can it get any better than that? I submit it can not!
Posts: 53,086
|
The crew of a sub went ashore and attacked a train, not quite the same as the sub itself launching an overt attack on a train, which, we have to agree, would be pretty impressive.
That's not to short change the impressive naval maneuver they pulled off before the crew's on shore anti-rail antics by any means. |
__________________
"Never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes... Because then it won't really matter, you’ll be a mile away and have his shoes." |
|
3rd April 2020, 10:39 PM | #113 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Nelson, New Zealand
Posts: 25,306
|
That incident probably was not the only one it was inspired by. In 1989 there was an incident near San Bernardino in which a train was unable to slow down on a long downward gradient due to the wagons being overweight and several of the locomotives having faulty dynamic brakes. The train could not stop and derailed on a bend in the track, ploughing through a residential area killing four people including two crews. This was actually a double disaster, as the clean-up crew damaged gas pipes with earthmoving equipment, and that lead to a gas explosion two weeks later which killed another two residents.
|
__________________
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong. Its TRE45ON season... convict the F45CIST!! |
|
3rd April 2020, 10:41 PM | #114 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Dharug & Gundungurra
Posts: 16,809
|
|
__________________
...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015 |
|
3rd April 2020, 10:51 PM | #115 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Dharug & Gundungurra
Posts: 16,809
|
This one from 1959 in New Jersey was thrilling for me to read as a kid.
|
__________________
...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015 |
|
3rd April 2020, 11:45 PM | #116 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 8,594
|
|
__________________
Vote like you’re poor. A closed mouth gathers no feet" "Ignorance is a renewable resource" P.J.O'Rourke "It's all god's handiwork, there's little quality control applied", Fox26 reporter on Texas granite |
|
4th April 2020, 08:24 AM | #117 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
|
|
4th April 2020, 09:13 AM | #118 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 7,051
|
Although, this one postdates Joe's movie by three years it's as if it has cast a large Mégantic cloud over the entire industry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%..._rail_disaster |
4th April 2020, 10:07 AM | #119 |
Philosopher
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
Posts: 6,119
|
Thanks for sharing that; I remember my dad's telling me about this episode when I was a kid. The detail about the attempt to throw a flare into the cab to see if there was anyone in it jogged my memory. I wonder if he read that particular article, because that seems like a detail that might not have been reported by most newspapers. |
__________________
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." --Carl Schurz |
|
4th April 2020, 03:56 PM | #120 |
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open.
Posts: 46,328
|
|
__________________
We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy. Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos |
|
Thread Tools | |
|
|