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Across the USA by Train for Just $213

dereklow.co

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Re: Across the USA by Train for Just $213

#91

Post by JoeAltmaier »

s73v3r wrote: post #78
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unloaded in checked baggage has been legal since 2010. So he must have made a mistake, kept a handgun in personal baggage? Not worth 6 squad cars in my opinion. Maybe a kind reminder, and move it to his checked bag?

But you don't know if he simply made an honest mistake, or if he had a reason for keeping a gun with him.

...and it shouldn't matter, if he had the right to carry a firearm. Anyway, putting it into checked luggage erases the difference between the two.

Re: Across the USA by Train for Just $213

#92

Post by wcummings »

austenallred wrote: post #17

When I lived as a poor vagabond couch-surfer in China, I did almost 100% of my traveling by train. I'm convinced there's no better way to travel. When you travel by airplane, you're pretty much rapidly moving from huge city to huge city. You miss everything in-between, from the terrain to seeing how people outside of the cities live. Even driving from one place to another, you're confined to the freeways. You see a l…

You also get to see a lot of freight trains.

Re: Across the USA by Train for Just $213

#93

Post by prezjordan »

united893 wrote: post #52
prezjordan wrote: post #28

I wanted to enjoy this post, but I couldn't help but wonder what was plagiarized[0] this time around. Perhaps it was a stupid mistake back then, but tough to look past it. [0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/2huw34/what_its_... EDIT: Looks like a lot of it. Sigh.

Doing a reverse google image search seems like he googled for lots of train trips and combined photos from various sources. He's a great marketer, but bad photographer. * http://landscapevoice.com/the-california-zephyr-trip-recap/ * http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/08/16/i-survived-the-lake-s... A number of the images are direct copies from the first link (ie: sleeper car pictures) The Lakeshore limited image was awk…

It's gone :)

https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/11230907

Re: Across the USA by Train for Just $213

#94

Post by FireBeyond »

logfromblammo wrote: post #54
hornd wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Federal law mandates Amtrak priority over freight, even when operating on freight railways, but my understanding is that the law is not often followed.

Only if they're running on time. And they're never running on time over the longer routes. I once took the train from Chicago to Denver and back. On the return trip, our train was delayed 24 hours total. We spent an entire extra day stuck on sidings in the middle of nowhere, as freight cars passed us by. Ofttimes in those situations, the passengers are offloaded onto coach buses, but there were no paved roads nearby.…

And as soon as they're off schedule because of any hiccup, they're never getting back on it.

Re: Across the USA by Train for Just $213

#96

Post by Simulacra »

united893 wrote: post #52
prezjordan wrote: post #28

I wanted to enjoy this post, but I couldn't help but wonder what was plagiarized[0] this time around. Perhaps it was a stupid mistake back then, but tough to look past it. [0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/2huw34/what_its_... EDIT: Looks like a lot of it. Sigh.

Doing a reverse google image search seems like he googled for lots of train trips and combined photos from various sources. He's a great marketer, but bad photographer. * http://landscapevoice.com/the-california-zephyr-trip-recap/ * http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/08/16/i-survived-the-lake-s... A number of the images are direct copies from the first link (ie: sleeper car pictures) The Lakeshore limited image was awk…

If you're interested in reporting him to UC Berkeley for plagiarism and generally conduct unbecoming of a Berkeley student, here is the link:

http://sa.berkeley.edu/conduct/report

Re: Across the USA by Train for Just $213

#97

Post by dalke »

jacalata wrote: post #81
sandworm101 wrote: post #61

Worth noting re US train travel: "Based on data spanning the period 2004-12, for example, to expect one transit-related injury, a passenger would need to ride the French railroad for 4.9 million miles or the German railroad for 4.1 million miles. Yet he would need to ride America's railroads for only 84,300 miles, on average, to sustain one injury." http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32694447 84k miles isn't ver…

I think it's kind of nonsensical to conflate injuries of people not on a train with the likelihood of injury while riding on a train, sorry.

The statistics are at http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pub... .

Eyeballing, it looks like 10 fatalities per 100 million passenger train-miles and about 1,300 injuries per 100 million passenger train-miles.

That's indeed ~1 injury per 100,000 passenger miles. And "Passenger fatalities and Injured persons include passengers on trains only"

Looking at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Prel... , for 'Annual Report 2012 – Preliminary', Table 1-3, and picking 2010 as representative:

       41 non-fatal conditions for Train Accidents
          Excluding Highway-Rail Crossing (HRC) Incidents
      112 non-fatal conditions for Highway-Rail Crossing (HRC) Incidents
    1,213 non-fatal conditions for Other Incidents, Excluding HRC
I can find that "Other Incidents" means "not train accidents or crossing incidents" ... but I don't know what that means. Knife fights in the observation lounge? A high incidence of getting drunk, falling, and knocking oneself on the head? Do the European numbers use the same categories?

If we leave out that large but unknown category, it looks about 10x safer than the numbers sandworm101 gave. Still worse than Germany by a factor of 5.

Re: Across the USA by Train for Just $213

#98

Post by s73v3r »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #91
s73v3r wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you don't know if he simply made an honest mistake, or if he had a reason for keeping a gun with him.

...and it shouldn't matter, if he had the right to carry a firearm. Anyway, putting it into checked luggage erases the difference between the two.

Except the rules are different for many federal areas. Transportation included.

Re: Across the USA by Train for Just $213

#100

Post by shoumik »

Simulacra wrote: post #96
united893 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing a reverse google image search seems like he googled for lots of train trips and combined photos from various sources. He's a great marketer, but bad photographer. * http://landscapevoice.com/the-california-zephyr-trip-recap/ * http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/08/16/i-survived-the-lake-s... A number of the images are direct copies from the first link (ie: sleeper car pictures) The Lakeshore limited image was awk…

If you're interested in reporting him to UC Berkeley for plagiarism and generally conduct unbecoming of a Berkeley student, here is the link: http://sa.berkeley.edu/conduct/report

He's not a Berkeley student anymore. He graduated two years ago. Slightly ashamed I went to the same school as he did but I suppose he's just a lazy blogger trying to document his trips. Overall a harmless guy.
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