201–210 of 225 posts
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Agreed in the UK I used to have to fairly regularly do London to Scarborough for conferences I always used to prefer to go up on the Friday on the flying Scotsman to York (and eat on the train). And have Saturday and Sunday as time to prep for conference and have some me time in a cool uk seaside resort
I'm curious what regular conferences are held in Scarborough?
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At least one more
Is there/would y'all be interested in a mini HN reader meetup? Perhaps over beer in Hood River? I settled in White Salmon late last year due to its proximity to outdoor activities without knowing too much about the area. I'm surprised there's an underlying tech scene. I guess primarily due of Insitu?
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Did the interstate highway system have to buy land rights?
The government used it in Eminent domain power to acquire the land (which if owned was paid for). The interstate system was built by the government, so it’s a totally different situation as the railroads built and maintain the track Amtrack is using.
I have traveled Amtrak quite a lot - across the country on the Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, and California Zephyr. And many other routes. I think the food is usually decent - the veggie burger is reliably edible. What I can say is terrible - and what has caused me to cease using Amtrak - is the presence of the DEA. In case you haven't experienced this, the DEA sometimes raids specific sleeper cars at a station, d…
When did this occur to you?
I have traveled Amtrak quite a lot - across the country on the Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, and California Zephyr. And many other routes. I think the food is usually decent - the veggie burger is reliably edible. What I can say is terrible - and what has caused me to cease using Amtrak - is the presence of the DEA. In case you haven't experienced this, the DEA sometimes raids specific sleeper cars at a station, d…
And here I thought the sleep was poor back in steerage! It's interesting that one of those articles mentions ABQ. One of my times on the Southwest Chief, the guy in the seat next to me was in the "import export business", and upgraded to a sleeper car on the spot. Some jackboots got on at ABQ and started mildly harassing passengers looking for this guy. He was still on the train afterwards and insisted they had only…
My reaction was quite different: I got the sense that these people are hurting badly. Being the vessel for state oppression must take a terrible spiritual toll.
Let's not be so unsympathetic to those tasked with oppression, even though they make the bad choice to go along with it. The combination of desperation and mental illness that leads a person to do these sorts of things is nobody's envy, and I believe that a humane world will look not only for revolution but salvation for these poor souls.
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And here I thought the sleep was poor back in steerage! It's interesting that one of those articles mentions ABQ. One of my times on the Southwest Chief, the guy in the seat next to me was in the "import export business", and upgraded to a sleeper car on the spot. Some jackboots got on at ABQ and started mildly harassing passengers looking for this guy. He was still on the train afterwards and insisted they had only…
> Although reading such accounts I can't help but feel what they really deserve is the gallows. My reaction was quite different: I got the sense that these people are hurting badly. Being the vessel for state oppression must take a terrible spiritual toll. Let's not be so unsympathetic to those tasked with oppression, even though they make the bad choice to go along with it. The combination of desperation and mental…
I generally try to understand people's motivations, analyze in terms of what larger systemic failings led them on a path etc. But when your job is to directly terrorize and rob people for a mere paycheck, I think one's Nuremberg defense has gone out the window.
And there most certainly are people who "envy" these thugs, hopped up on the same propaganda that preaches their entire regime as being for the greater good. Sure, we can describe this as mental illness and hope to heal their brain damage - and I look forward to us ever having the luxury of being in that position.
Which was really the crux of my quip. If we could count on actual justice - eg these criminals being shunned from society and going to prison for armed assault - then we wouldn't have to substitute idyllic placeholders like my hoping they'll somehow eventually come by vigilante justice. I'd say that you're even doing something similar in your own framework, asserting that they must be suffering a "terrible spiritual toll".
Alas, all we can do for now is cope.
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And here I thought the sleep was poor back in steerage! It's interesting that one of those articles mentions ABQ. One of my times on the Southwest Chief, the guy in the seat next to me was in the "import export business", and upgraded to a sleeper car on the spot. Some jackboots got on at ABQ and started mildly harassing passengers looking for this guy. He was still on the train afterwards and insisted they had only…
> Although reading such accounts I can't help but feel what they really deserve is the gallows. My reaction was quite different: I got the sense that these people are hurting badly. Being the vessel for state oppression must take a terrible spiritual toll. Let's not be so unsympathetic to those tasked with oppression, even though they make the bad choice to go along with it. The combination of desperation and mental…
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That's just about the distance that I prefer to take Amtrak over driving or flying (mostly I travel SF Fresno). I can get work done, unlike when driving, and I don't have to deal with all the pains of getting to the airport early and going through security.
Unsolicited advice: get yourself global entry.
Trains have the beauty of being able to go to the station, hop on the train, hop off. No wait or lines. I've had great trips taking the subway to Union Station then a train to San Diego. If trains were more affordable, widespread, and faster, it'd probably help the US immensely.
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wow I am really surprised this was triggered by cryptocurrency. this is terribly authoritarian and disappointing. if you don't mind me asking are you a US citizen? if so contact your local congressperson and file a complaint with the DEA office. has your friend ever had anything similar happen traveling by air?
> wow I am really surprised this was triggered by cryptocurrency. this is terribly authoritarian and disappointing. It is authoritarian and disappointing, but to me unsurprising. The cryptocurrency world associates pretty hard with drug trafficking. Coupling that with someone choosing a train over what might be an easier flight could be read as avoiding TSA. The low security of Amtrak likely makes it a common smuggli…
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> Although reading such accounts I can't help but feel what they really deserve is the gallows. My reaction was quite different: I got the sense that these people are hurting badly. Being the vessel for state oppression must take a terrible spiritual toll. Let's not be so unsympathetic to those tasked with oppression, even though they make the bad choice to go along with it. The combination of desperation and mental…
Just to be clear, I was and am talking about the actual thugs who attacked you, not the train attendants or Amtrak etc. I generally try to understand people's motivations, analyze in terms of what larger systemic failings led them on a path etc. But when your job is to directly terrorize and rob people for a mere paycheck, I think one's Nuremberg defense has gone out the window. And there most certainly are people wh…
Sure - me too.
> when your job is to directly terrorize and rob people for a mere paycheck, I think one's Nuremberg defense has gone out the window.
Yeah, agreed. I don't want to make excuses for these people or understate their wrongs. They sucked. And they owe me and my family and everybody they've terrorized an apology. I don't have high hopes that it will come.
> Sure, we can describe this as mental illness and hope to heal their brain damage - and I look forward to us ever having the luxury of being in that position.
I don't know your situation, but I can tell you that I'm exactly in that position. Unlike a poor brown person who behaves exactly as I have during my life, I am not in a cage, nor do I estimate that the government has the political capital to mess with me very much. They're much, much weaker than we think.
Not only am I in a more comfortable and privileged position than people who are more seriously victimized by this system, I'm also in a more comfortable and privileged position than the people who are tasked with doing the victimizing. I count my blessings that I have never been so sick or desperate as to take such a job.
> Alas, all we can do for now is cope.
...and I acknowledge that my somewhat passive attitude in response is itself a coping mechanism.
Nevertheless, I think that for compassion and peace to become the true orders of the day in the information age, we must never lose track of our empathy for the agents of our oppression.