>> ^Raveni:

>> ^nock:
lol. Face -> horn -> face -> horn -> face.

That's actually the horn going off automatically when the airbags deploy.


There was no front-end impact. My airbag deployed a few months ago from the airbag control unit getting wet and shorting a circuit. The horn did not sound.

That was the last sign I needed to go buy a new car though...

>> ^nock:

lol. Face -> horn -> face -> horn -> face.


That's actually the horn going off automatically when the airbags deploy.

If you watch the longer version of this video...I think this guy hit hard enough to trigger his fuel shut off. They are parked there for awhile and it looks like either someone is coming up to the vehicle or someone is getting in and out of it. And the truck keeps honking on it's own...either because of some sort of fuel problem or they shook a door open.

And it looks like there's 3-4 tracks. So it's like having 3-4 really close speed bumps and they launching off one to hit the side of another with their rear tires landing in between them making it even more jarring...so they probably can't help but hit the gas when they get jarred.

If it's like the way they do rail road track around here, they put space barriers on each side of the track so there's enough for the train wheel to fit between it at the block. Then they lay the asphalt up to the block so there's not a hard corner to wear down or pop tires. So the surface of the asphalt and the surface of the track are about level but the asphalt slopes up to and away from the tracks on both sides to return to roadway grade....probably for drainage reasons. And between the tracks is usually a treated wood or concrete gap space so there's not enough gap for wheels to drop down between the tracks when crossing them.

Can't imagine people don't recognize that as a railroad crossing considering the drop down bars and the Xing markings. Plus it has to look like a massive heaving in the ground when you drive up to it.

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>> ^deathcow:

I can tell by your forehead that you drive FORD cars.


Used to have a 93 mustang. Till a soccer mom in an SUV pulled out in front of me and I nailed her. Airbag went off and instead of the plastic splitting for deployment the whole thing was ripped off. The force of the bag going off imprinted SRS and a little Mustang emblem from the plastic in to my forearm. To this day if I get a little sun or tan it shows up really bright.

Durrr, I ain't gotta slow down for no railroad tracks. I'm drivin' a SUV!

This single handedly makes this video 100x better.>> ^nock:

lol. Face -> horn -> face -> horn -> face.

It doesn't matter if the mother wants to stay at home with the children. Reality is dictating that she needs to earn additional income for the family. It's statistically proven if I spend more time with my wife, our marriage would be better, but it doesn't give me a right to not work. Reality is reality, doesn't matter if it's economic or otherwise. Look, families requiring two income earners is nothing new. Women entering the workforce has been a growing trend since WWII. One income earner staying at home is a luxury. I'd be more sympathetic if they didn't railroad their lifestyles upward on a single salary. Driving a big SUV, bought an oversized house, all on a one income salary. You're painting a picture that they're dewy eyed innocents in this, and they're being enslaved without their tacit approval to debt. If it was so darned important for the wife to stay at home, then they should have made that a priority to preserve this lifestyle instead of buying a big SUV, buying that big house, etc. I have sympathy that they got caught with their pants down, and didn't realize what they're doing, but now it's time for the pants to be pulled up. She needs a freaking job until they're in a better economic place, period! No sympathy from me about having to do this. And she should be doing that to BENEFIT her family. Don't want to leave the home? Plenty of jobs she can do from home now in the internet age. But do something, don't just sit there clipping coupons only. That's another the part that killed me, they paint coupon and bargain shopping as this horrific thing. Seriously?! That's called life!

Look, my wife doesn't work due to medical reasons. I'm completely sympathetic to a spouse needing or wanting to not work. But that means sacrifices in other material things. My wife and I rarely travel, when we do half is reimbursed by my employer. I earn a six figure salary in IT, and I'm constantly working my butt off to earn more certifications and expand my skills, because the reality is if I lose my job and don't find another good paying job quickly, we're screwed. I gave up my dream to be a teacher when my wife had medical issues that prevented her from working. That's a sacrifice by me for my family, and I don't complain about it other than to illustrate why talented people leave the teaching profession because they're grossly underpaid. We don't own a big house. We have a very large emergency fund, no credit card debt, etc. This is all in the face of the reality of our life choices.

As for my point about education, etc. You should read what I wrote more carefully. I never said that education was the biggest problem. I never disputed anything about what you're saying about outsourcing. I was pointing out that outsourcing isn't ONLY about corporations trying to pay less for labor because they're greedy. That certainly goes on (A LOT), but we also bring workers in from other countries because we simply don't have enough of those skills, too. The lack of skills we need in American workers is also a major problem, and part of that is a conscious choice made by Americans to underfund schools, to not go to college, to not seek education post-grad, to not spend some time outside of work expanding their skills, etc. Don't want to do those things? Fine, then accept less material things in your life. But don't go around complaining you can't afford an overpriced house, large SUV, all on a struggling single income salary to feed four people. For that Arizona family, where I do see society failing is there is very little help training/retraining the parents for new careers that would help them and the economy recover now that they made their mistakes. With that said, if neither is willing to do that, what would it matter?

I said that it's not just about the talking points of the political left. If you read my other posts (especially how many times I've taken qm to task for various things), I'm not a political ideologue for the right (or the left for that matter). This video is obviously slanted to the left, and that's not an accurate reflection of reality. Solutions shouldn't just come from the left or right to address a single problem. Neither has a monopoly on good ideas.

He also says that they derailed four times that day.


>> ^Stingray:

Ahh information... (from YT):
The South Carolina Railroad Museum has 11.5 miles of track that was once the Rockton & Rion Railway. The western 6.5 miles of track is known as the Museum's "West End" and is more than 40 years old and badly overgrown with weeds and small trees. A small crew is clearing and reopening this track. The video is taken through the windshield of a small self-propelled railroad motor car known as a speeder. The speeder was moving at idle speed and had already made three trips through the weeds that morning before the video was shot.
Some of the comments also go on to say that they were spraying weed killer.

Ahh information... (from YT):

The South Carolina Railroad Museum has 11.5 miles of track that was once the Rockton & Rion Railway. The western 6.5 miles of track is known as the Museum's "West End" and is more than 40 years old and badly overgrown with weeds and small trees. A small crew is clearing and reopening this track. The video is taken through the windshield of a small self-propelled railroad motor car known as a speeder. The speeder was moving at idle speed and had already made three trips through the weeds that morning before the video was shot.

Some of the comments also go on to say that they were spraying weed killer.

As a geek, I have to tip my hat to the creator(s): marvelous work.

But as a railroad aficionado, I have to say: if a station like this was built nowadays, everyone involved ought to be hung, drawn and quartered.

>> ^spaceman:

I'd let her touch me..


Education is HOT!!!

@blankfist, I think my libertarian answers were actually better defenses of libertarianism.

And some of my answers were humorously echoed.

The Great Depression:

>> ^NetRunner:

The Great Depression was caused by government interference in the market, an no amount of historical or economic facts will ever convince me otherwise.
>> ^blankfist:

The great depression was prolonged by government. In fact, our recession has lasted longer already than the great depression. Thanks Bush and Obama.

Incidentally, you're citing Friedman the inflationist there, who said that the Great Depression was prolonged by government refusing to restore confidence to the markets by bailing out failing banks, and by trying in vain to hold to the gold standard when what it needed to do was print shitloads of money to counteract the drop in the money supply caused by people stuffing cash into their mattresses. Seriously, go look it up.

On Monopolies:

>> ^NetRunner:

Natural monopolies, where the cost of entering a sector of the market outweighs the expected return, are just part of market economics, and should be tolerated. Market leaders that become a de facto monopoly, but do not actually enjoy 100% market share (such as Microsoft Windows), are not monopolies, and also a natural result of the free market, so government must not interfere.

Government sponsored monopolies, like the USPS, are evil in ways the others are not because their existence is based on violent coercion, not natural market choice.
>> ^blankfist:
And monopolies? How about government monopolies on the postal system? Public utilities and railroads used to be public, but recent years have been privatized. Government runs monopolies on alcoholic and controlled substance distribution in a lot of states. And don't get me started on government granted monopolies.

On deregulation's benefits:
>> ^NetRunner:
Deregulation in Chile is a huge success story.
>> ^blankfist:

[A]ccording to wikipedia, today "Chile is ranked 3rd out of 29 countries in the Americas and has been a regional leader for over a decade. Chile's annual GDP growth was 3.2% in 2008 and has averaged 4.8% from 2004 to 2008." Not too shabby, though people like Neomi Klein may disagree.

Though technically that last was offered as a defense of violently implementing deregulation, even though you cited growth numbers from an era after they'd shifted from the Randian wet dream of Pinochet's rule to a more regulated and democratic system.

Oh, and on the aforementioned violent implementation of libertarianism:

>> ^NetRunner:

Only governments do those things! Wealthy businessmen would never go along with that, because they're all paragons of moral virtue. They'd never let a thing like considerable personal gain motivate them to call for these things in the first place...
>> ^blankfist:
The only group that tends to use violence to coerce people into doing what they want is government. Only a statist can conflate freedom with violence.

Lulz.

You asked a lot of questions, @dystopianfuturetoday. Let's jump in.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

Underregulated markets in early America resulted in slavery, child labor, monopolies, labor abuse and the great depression. Why should we want to return to those dark days?

Patently false. Slavery was held over from early British rule. And a lot of industrialized nations followed the same trend of slavery and child labor, but that's more endemic of the path of civilization than free markets. To think child labor or slavery would come back to the US if we deregulated the markets is ridiculous.

The great depression was prolonged by government. In fact, our recession has lasted longer already than the great depression. Thanks Bush and Obama.

And monopolies? How about government monopolies on the postal system? Public utilities and railroads used to be public, but recent years have been privatized. Government runs monopolies on alcoholic and controlled substance distribution in a lot of states. And don't get me started on government granted monopolies.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

Deregulation and privatization always seem to result in massive unemployment, economic inequity, inflation and corruption. Is this the desired effect?

I had to reread that a couple times. Always results in massive unemployment? Where has that happened once in history? Regulations have lead to less employment, because less people can create jobs. If you want to open a florist in some states, you must pay several grand to take a test and get a license. Or be a barber. And so on. Regulations kill employment opportunity.

And inflation is caused mainly by growing the money supply. And you have the central bank system and the government to thank for that.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

There is no evidence to suggest a libertarian society would function at all. Why should I join you on blind faith?

There was no evidence to suggest an individualist society would work prior to the US. Good thing they took a chance.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

Why do corporations fund your movement? What do they have to gain out of supporting your cause?

What movement is that exactly? Not too many corporations are really for a free market. A free market would add unwanted competition that would decrease their profits. But I take it you meant the Koch brothers supporting CATO? That's hardly my movement.

But for every one corporation you find in favor of Libertarianism, I can find you twenty against it.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

Why does this American version of libertarianism require absolute fealty to market capitalism? Doesn't that kind of totalitarianism go against the concept of liberty?

If you mean the Libertarian Party, then they're acting in accord with capitalism just as Democrats and Republicans are. Because that's the current economic system. You want a better system? Then offer one up... oh, oops, you can't because we're not allowed those kinds of freedoms in this society, are we? It's the US Dollar or else.

For those of us who are libertarian in name (not party), it doesn't have to be capitalism. It doesn't have to be money. It just has to be voluntary.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

Why is it that violence, blackmail and intimidation seem to be the primary ways of bringing these kinds of free market changes to other countries around the world? Liberty at the butt of a gun?

Interesting choice of words. The only group that tends to use violence to coerce people into doing what they want is government. Only a statist can conflate freedom with violence.

I doubt adoption of free markets is primarily done at the butt of the gun. I think you're alluding to Friedman and Chile. I doubt Friedman lead an army of Libertarians through Chile, but I know he was consulted regarding their economy. And according to wikipedia, today "Chile is ranked 3rd out of 29 countries in the Americas and has been a regional leader for over a decade. Chile's annual GDP growth was 3.2% in 2008 and has averaged 4.8% from 2004 to 2008." Not too shabby, though people like Neomi Klein may disagree.

But, to get back to your question, I don't know of any Libertarians that want to "bring" free markets to other countries; they just want to be able to freely provide for themselves and their families without other people telling them how to do it. Again, why not use your power of perception to look at the countless acts of violence perpetrated on the people by their government. And Chile is no different.

I did make it up. I'm saying that without any effort, I could see any number of reasonable situations in which this behaviour would be understandable. If the conductor made some comment about her "uneducated" speech, then it makes sense she'd go off about her education. A bit of empathy, that's all.>> ^Gallowflak:

But... You just made that up.
"Excuse me, do you know how well educated I am?" is not something you can say. Ever. Ever. Not unless you're a sociopath or a hardcore solipsist, where everyone else is probably a figment of your imagination anyway.
She just seems self-absorbed, narcissistic to the extreme. Doesn't seem like there's much here to defend.