iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 27/07/2026

I know a couple people who were at Seattle Center, but everyone I know is ok.

Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 26/07/2026

We all know the story of the Declaration of Independence, right? Some of us can sing the songs from 1776, the musical. But Michael Auslin's 2026 book National Treasure has some eye-openers, about the document, and about our society. A surprisingly page-turning account. - From rail.chat/@shortestrevs

rail.chat

Shortest Reviews (@shortestrevs@rail.chat)

14 Posts, 6 Following, 0 Followers · Shortest reviews ever. Well, Mastodon allows more characters than the old place did.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 20/07/2026

A semi-giant leap for raccoon-kind. Happy Moon Day!

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 17/07/2026

Look at this date! I'm proud to have been one of the pioneers. Washington Talking Book and Braille Library 1993 Managed development of online catalog for those with disabilities. Installed and set up access to reference materials through PC equipped with speech, large-print and Braille output.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 17/07/2026

Highly recommended. Great to see Anna's book produced by my former employer WTBBL.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 17/07/2026

I had the honor to work at WTBBL many years ago. The quiet professionalism of the people who work there, and the services they offer, are truly important to the community of non-drivers.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 03/07/2026

And I was commuting on Amtrak to Baltimore from my job at the Natural History Museum. The US was the best place in the world. July 4, 2026. We can make that happen again!

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 03/07/2026

July 4, 1976, Washington, DC. Gerald Ford was president, having taken over from Nixon after he resigned after Watergate. We were overrun with Scouts, on the way to their Jamboree. The Air & Space Museum had just opened. King Tut was in town.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 01/07/2026

To our northern friends. Have a happy day! Thank you for reminding us that the whole world isn’t crazy. As for us, we’re working on it. #CanadaDay #FêteduCanada

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 26/06/2026

Om Malik was my boss, even though I never met him. I only met a couple of the writers I worked with in person. But my colleagues at GigaOm are still friends -- some of the most insightful and interesting people I know. Thanks, Om, for bringing us together. boingboing.net/2026/06/25/o...

boingboing.net

Om Malik, 1966-2026

Om Malik was a great tech blogger in the times when tech was fun. "Blogging is not about opinion but it is about viewing the world in a certain way…

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 23/06/2026

For me, it feels like a wake. Even sadder, the days when advocates could agree on rail, even if we disagreed on everything else, seem to be gone. I begrudge how f'ed up American politics are. Maybe I'm naive, but I can only hope that the current situation is temporary.

chas.us

Writing

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 23/06/2026

Going through AU is sad. Names of people who are no longer with us. Gatherings where we had fun and made friends. For me, it feels like a wake. Even sadder, the days when advocates could agree on rail, even if we disagreed on everything else, seem to be gone.

chas.us

Writing

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 23/06/2026

I've been reposting a few of my trip reports from Amtrak Unlimited to my own website, since who knows what will happen when they move to a different platform. See my writing page at chas.us/writing/ My favorite report is Four New Trains and a Ferry chas.us/writing/four... (2015).

chas.us

Writing

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

I also co-admin the forum aawaforum.org as well as the rail.chat Mastodon instance. Each needs your participation and support. The folks in DC are not particularly interested, so it will be up to us to make rail a priority. Please donate at www.aawa.us/support/

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

I’m no longer posting on AU, but you can find reports of my travels at discuss.amtraktrains.com. Today, I’m the Executive Director of All Aboard Washington @aawa.us the rail advocacy group for Washington state. We need your participation and support.

rail.chat

Rail.chat

Discussing passenger and freight rail, its connections to transit and other non-car options, and the economic, environmental and equity benefits of seamless mobility.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

Rep. Earl Blumenauer was the featured speaker, and he gave an inspiring talk about the need for better trains and transit. I also attended the Amtrak Unlimited forum Gathering in #SEA, so suddenly I was a rail activist.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

While commuting on MARC in 1977, I read the National Association of Rail Passengers newsletter posted at Baltimore Penn Station, and became a member. Once I moved to Seattle in 1990, I was traveling more on #amtrak so when #narp held their regional meeting in #PDX I attended.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

During the 1980s, I started traveling by #Amtrak again, mostly to science fiction fan conventions in places like Boston and New York. Philly was particularly convenient, as the host hotel was connected to Suburban Station, a free transfer from Amtrak's 30th Street Station.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

Since the MARC B&O line was quite a ways from the main campus, and the DC Metro green line wasn’t built yet, these buses and their superb drivers were a godsend.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

When I went back to school at the University of Maryland-College Park in 1985 to work on a PhD, I used ShuttleUM, driven by very well-trained and professional students.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

By 1979, Amtrak and MARC had improved, and the DC Metro system was actually useful for getting places. For the next few years, I commuted from Capitol Hill to the Forrestal Building, and then to 16th & M Street.

statter911.com

40 years ago: Air Florida Flight 90 crash & Metro train derailment in Washington, DC - Statter911

Looking back at January 13, 1982 and two deadly transportation collisions in the nation's capital

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

I didn’t take train trips while in graduate school in Minnesota, but I rode public transit in the Twin Cities a lot. I made some great friends there, but man, the weather was brutal, so it was a relief to get back to the east coast.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

Frankly, I don’t remember much, since we had taken a redeye from Montreal, so I slept through a lot of it. This was before SNCF had started TGVs, so it wasn’t very comfortable!

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 22/06/2026

Also that year, I took my first international train trip. I was on a student exchange, and we went from Paris to Bordeaux, and then to Bergerac, where we were staying.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

The trip I took had two cars with green Penn Central livery, and one in Pennsylvania RR tuscan red! Air conditioning? Not a chance!

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

I became an Amtrak and MARC rider when I commuted from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC—first on Amtrak’s Night Owl, since MARC didn’t run on weekends, then on the MARC Penn Line on summer weekdays.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

We didn't have a color TV then, and I was back in school by the time the episode I saw taped made it to air. So I wouldn't have known!

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

It was already 3 hours late, and it was packed. The only place to sit was in the leather chairs in the smoking lounge. We arrived in DC 6 hours late. I missed my birthday lunch, but I did get there!

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

My first trip on Amtrak was in December of 1973. I was finishing my last year in high school in Vermont, but my parents had already returned to Maryland. I was going to fly there for my birthday, but all the flights had been canceled due to an ice storm. So I got on the Montrealer in Essex Jct.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

That was also my first experience with the subway, which my mother knew well, having lived in the city in the 1950s. I enjoyed the Empire State Building and watching a taping of the game show Concentration.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

My first trip on the Northeast Corridor was when my mother took me and my grandmother to New York City in the mid-1960s. I don’t recall whether the Metroliners were running yet or not, but even if they were, we certainly wouldn’t have sprung for the premium fare!

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

My grandfather had been an engineer driving GG-1s on the Pennsylvania RR. He had retired by the time I joined the family, but that’s where I got my railphilia.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

My first train trip, at about 4, was from Baltimore to St. Louis on the B&O, then changing trains to the Katy to Oklahoma City. We stayed at the Skirvin (still there!). My parents attended a teachers’ convention and I was looked after by a local babysitter. I loved the trains and the elevators.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 21/06/2026

I’m one of the #30percent that doesn’t drive. But I’ve been lucky to live in places with decent local transit, and connections to #Amtrak. Tell your elected representatives that rail and transit is a major priority, and a tiny percentage of our tax dollars.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 23/05/2026

Happy 23rd of May, but don't buy the liverwurst! www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqTD...

youtube.com

Don't Buy the Liverwurst

YouTube video by SearTrip

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Reposted by Charlie Hamilton

Grow Trains @growtrains.org · 23/05/2026

"The roughly one-third of Americans who don’t drive—seniors who’ve stopped, people with disabilities, low-income households who can’t afford a car, people in transit-served cities—are subsidizing infrastructure they use little or not at all." www.fastcompany.com/91540490/gas...

fastcompany.com

The way we finance new highways and roads is no longer working

Those who use the roads should pay for the roads.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 15/05/2026

If you are interested in secure email, check out this special deal. go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_... You can also get mail + drive + a VPN + a password manager + several other features, scroll down and click on Proton Unlimited DEAL. I've moved my own account, and I'm very happy with the results.

go.getproton.me

Private & Secure Email Account with Proton Mail | Proton

Proton Mail is the world's largest secure email service with over 70 million users. Available on Web, iOS, Android, and desktop. Protected by Swiss privacy law.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 29/04/2026

Thank you so much for posting this. It's unlikely that anyone else could have given such a speech -- and received such ovations -- as the King did today.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 28/04/2026

After a very tough couple of weeks, a friend called just now to share some of their latest good news. I'm feeling better than I have in a long while. Thank you! (You know who you are.) If you have good news, pass it along! You just might make a friend's day.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 14/04/2026

Sad news. Jim Dana died early this morning. His wife Kimi will be converting his Facebook into a memorial page, and will post about his celebration of life when details are available. He will be sorely missed.

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 05/04/2026

Hop🐇 you have a Happy Easter!

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Charlie Hamilton @chas.us · 31/12/2025

It's the final day of AAWA's matching fundraiser. We're very close to reaching our goal--please bring us into the station! Donate now at www.aawa.us/support/ Thanks, and we wish you safe travels in the new year!

Fundraiser progress bar showing 94 percent of $35,000.

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