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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Yeah this is an important clarification about Toronto I wasn't aware of. AFAIK Portland still has this problem.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

(unless you use a different card)

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This still wouldn't help people who start a second journey before the transfer period from the first expires but don't finish it until after. The system in Toronto is not like NY, it absolutely will not charge you a second fare until 2 hours have elapsed no matter what you do.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Portland has the same issue and it's worse because there are no readers on the train so you have to actually get off after 2 hours of railfanning and retap, then get on the next train. Though at least in Portland 2 fares is the daily fare cap so you only have to do this once.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Well but then you're guilty of fare evasion if you're still traveling past the 2 hour mark and can be cited for not having a current valid fare. Now on streetcars and buses you can go to the reader and retap after the 2 hour mark to be kosher, but it's silly to expect people to do this.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

To be fair Toronto has created a different problem with this policy in that it's impossible to pay a new fare with the same card until after 2 hours have passed, so if you're in the middle of another transit trip at the 2 hour mark after your first tap, well..

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Ergo, if someone is called out for straight up rape, the only misunderstanding or mistake is that the perpetrator thought they could get away with it.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I think part of what muddies this too is that misunderstandings and mistakes when it comes to things you can do as a first step to engaging intimately with someone are absolutely a thing... but you're not getting to penetrative sex without a clear indication because it's never step one.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

And this isn't a specifically US phenomenon - see also how Volkswagen got a slap on the wrist from the German government over their massive emissions testing cheating scandal. Same situation - company too important to German economy, can't hurt them.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

That doesn't help, but no prior president has been particularly willing to get tough on the tech industry either. The tech industry is a huge chunk of the US economy and no sane politician wants to risk crashing the economy by attacking it.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

snap elections imply the existence of crackle elections and pop elections

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I wonder how much of the high number in the US is attributable to much of the western half of the country naturally having frequent wildfires. Something that's not nearly as major an issue in Europe.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"neon-style" Would've been better if they'd actually used neon to properly match the historic appearance of the sign. Instead it looks like it's missing an important detail.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

More people need to understand that being a fan of a professional sports team is an abusive relationship. If a romantic partner said "give me tons of money or I'll leave you" this would be obvious, and yet when a sports team does the same thing people don't see it.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"Oh there's this great podcast, you should listen to it" Buddy you might as well be suggesting I sit there and listen to you scrape your nails across a chalkboard. NO.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I am once again begging people making podcasts to publish text transcripts of them so that anyone who is hard of hearing or experiences sensory overload when listening to recordings of people talking isn't excluded.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Nonetheless, being the place that manufactures a lot of basic necessities that other countries depend on importing from you gives you a lot of soft power... and not having domestic manufacturing capacity of those things gives that country power over you. The dynamic stated is real.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

They added crosswalks back at Portage and Main a few years ago so you no longer have to walk through here to cross the street. That has reduced foot traffic through the underground mall.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I have a degree in civil engineering and can confirm this. Look up what ESALs are if you're curious. This by the way is why you sometimes see concrete slabs on otherwise asphalt roads at bus stops - the bus stop takes more wear from the buses braking and accelerating so they beef it up.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Is this strictly the O&M budget and not the capital budget for both?

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I mean this is good practice anyway because even if you don't have US freight drama sometimes you will need to single track due to construction or an incident.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

As someone who used to as a kid pour a pile of salt on his plate and dip fries in it like a normal person might dip them in ketchup, I don't see that being the limiting factor here. XD

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Ah, adendum: they're using expired drugs because they can't buy new ones. So yeah.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yeah this is because no reputable company will sell drugs that can kill people to prisons anymore so they're getting their shit from sketchy suppliers where you can't trust that the dosing is right.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This goes to show you how because the federal gas tax hasn't been raised in over 30 years, federal highway funding... just isn't that much money anymore.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Ah yes, the days when trademark infringement in DOS games was cool and common. (Jill of the Jungle by Epic Megagames, 1992)

A gameplay screenshot from Jill of the Jungle episode 2: Jill Goes Underground. Jill is seen climbing a vine. To her left are two enemies circling which are totally not blue ghosts from Pac Man.

The platforms in this area that Jill can stand on are made of bright blue blocks, the background is textured gravel in most places but gray brick along the path the Pac Man ghosts circle.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Zero wild card teams in either championship series seems unlikely

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Yoooooo the full registered version of Jill of the Jungle is available for free on GOG Guess what I've been playing for the last hour!

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

To this point, it's still more normal in spaces where some sort of access filter has been applied. For example ride an Amtrak long distance sleeper and people will talk to each other. But well the fact that you're there proves you have some affinity for trains and are thus probably alright.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I think people having this mindset is downstream of my point. Striking up conversations with random strangers in public used to be a lot more socially normal. It stopped being normal as people's trust that they wouldn't find a randomly selected person unpleasant eroded.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I mean, it can be a feedback loop with both being true. But yeah, public third spaces being viable depends on trusting that you can chat with any random person in one and not find them to be utterly repulsive. When this doesn't work, people retreat to where they can gatekeep who is allowed in.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It makes steel and will create "at least 1,750 permanent jobs" (we don't talk about how a similarly sized plant 50 years ago would employ 5 times as many people, and how automation eliminated far more steel industry jobs than imports ever did)

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

There's definitely a philosophical difference across the ocean on signage design. The US has long favored minimalism so the entire sign can be read quickly. Europeans assume you can find what's relevant to you and don't need to read the whole sign, so are willing to put more text up.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Instead, the train stops in Tryone where they suggest you go check out the small museum inside the old depot immediately adjacent to the Amtrak platform before reboarding the train back to Bellefonte.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

US heritage railroads are really something. The Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society operates trains that stop by the Amtrak station in Tyrone. So you can get on the train here transferring from Amtrak, right? No of course not why would you be able to do that - you can only get on in Bellefonte.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

It makes sense though. 70 years ago it was seen as a joke and it was funny because it seemed absurd/silly that someone would do this. Hell even 20 years ago, it was that. People only started to feel threatened by it when it started to enter mainstream spaces in unironic contexts.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Yeah the shareholders spoke up and said knock it off this is losing us revenue.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

...because it produces little to no obvious immediate consequence for the average American, it's easy for everyone to miss. And thus, the average American is oblivious to the degree to which international relations have already changed, and doesn't see the urgency to deal with this.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Yeah the problem is the US still has a ton of soft power, so the rest of the world can't quickly or easily cut us off. They have nonetheless shifted from dealing with us because they want to to dealing with us because they have to, and this will make a huge difference in the long term. But...

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Problem is Trump is simply going to pardon everyone on his way out. There is no way to hold anyone accountable for any of this so long as the current system stands. Nazi Germany needed to lose a major war and have its government completely dissolved before they got there. We're not there.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I'd appreciate it if they could reliably approach the track speed limit instead of seemingly randomly slowing to 30 mph at least once on every express run. Like Stamford-GCT is 33 miles, it shouldn't take more than 40 minutes, but it's scheduled for ~55 because of these slowdowns.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Indeed, federal law REQUIRES backup cameras in all new cars precisely to avoid tragedies such as this. So yeah either he wasn't paying attention or the camera malfunctioned.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The chef's kiss on the story is the bar posted an apology but did so as an image and neglected to add alt text... and so then they got dogpiled on for that too. 🍿

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

So I guess don't count on account age alone saving you, Discord is not convinced I'm an adult in spite of my account being over 8 years old

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Unfortunately unlikely, this doesn't appear to be politically motivated. They attacked the federal agency that's investigating them and trying to bring them to justice for their crimes (which are usually for profit), presumably to hinder said investigations.

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Reposted by Duke87

the kiracken🏳️‍⚧️ @kiraculous.net · 22/09/2026

undead cher: do you believe in love after life

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Ah I saw September 11 and it looked like it lined up. Nope, separate incident from August.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Yeah making thousands of phone calls to everyone you think was in the station to personally inform them of possible contact with a disease most of them are vaccinated against is just... not a good use of resources. Especially since most of them won't pick up since they don't recognize the number.

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Duke87 @duke87.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I'm thinking of contact tracing broadly. I do not think it has ever been standard to attempt to identify everyone who was in a large public place where someone contagious was and reach out to them all directly, regardless of the disease, simply because this is impractical to do.

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