Awl! I will not be there, of course, but I hope it's great fun.
1: Too busy dating a lifeguard? Gotcha.
2: No, and for so many reasons not going to meddle in the relationship of the nice lesbian couple who are going to be running swim lessons for the girls soon and I hope getting Nia onto their swim team. The train to NYC is 19 hours and the drive would be 10, which hasn't kept the girls from pushing for it to be our next trip.
Not to jump on Awl's thread, but I'll be in NY the week after. 8th to 13th.
Probably busy most days, but might be free on one of the evenings.
The train to NYC is 19 hours and the drive would be 10
I boggled for a bit at this and then remembered what the trains are like. When I took the train from NY to DC I kept having to suppress an instinctive desire to get out and push.
Oh, and I'm in Ithaca end of next week. If anyone is Cornell or Cornell-adjacent.
5: Cincy to DC was 15 hours versus 8 by car, so you did the easy bit.
I was going to say, I thought DC to NY (and then on up to Boston) was by far the fastest bit of rail travel in the U.S.
If you think of the most common trips people take in America, like Pittsburgh to Lincoln, you get a good idea of how slow the trains are. It would take probably 17 hours or so to drive, but the train takes 24 hours. And if you want to get a bed for the leg of the trip that is mostly overnight, it costs more to take the train one way than to fly round trip.
Pittsburgh to NYC seems better. $80 and 10 hours.
re: 8
I guess ajay is used to EU and UK trains that are 100mph+. UK trains only go up to about 120-140mph in regular service (and 125 is the usual max) but obviously French trains go faster.
Of course, then you have to get from Penn Station to Fresh Salt.
15: Yeah, I'm just bitter. Thanks to our moderate governor!
I think the train situation predates him. Or did the guy before start one and have it stopped after a while?
True story. The last standard gauge train ride I took was pulled by an engine in a Thomas costume. It was in Ohio.
UK trains only go up to about 120-140mph in regular service (and 125 is the usual max) but obviously French trains go faster.
Because there's more room?
20: partly, yes! It turns out it's a lot easier to build long straight railways if you don't have quite so many people, houses etc in the way. There are a lot of other factors too.
Protip from Selah, Mobes, you can just decide which trains (regular or subway) are which fucking Sodor engines and then talk to them and insist on giving them goodbye hugs and then shriek piteously "Don't gooooooooo, [Emily/Percy/Gordon/Thomas]! Don't leave me!" as they chug away.
17: Ohio got stimulus money to start train service, and then Kasich was elected and he refused the money.
22: I may not have that level of imagination anymore. Also, hugging a train sounds like a way to get a shirt dirty.
4: Name the evening -- I'm all in favor of spending more time at FS. (Or, of course, in one of the many other fine drinking establishments in NYC.)
No NYC primary thread? Are we just resigned to the inevitable "abandon all hope..." outcome represented by the front-runners of both parties?*
*Not a "not a dime's worth of difference" point which is clearly false, just a, well fuck it...
Moby mentioned it briefly in the great tragedy thread (perhaps appropriately). I'll just observe that I'm totally unsurprised by Trump's massive win, which will inevitably shift the media narrative back to "maybe Trump can win this thing after all" from "Trump is probably finished; what now?" even though it's been entirely predictable for weeks or even months.
Maybe the N.Y. contingent has drunk themselves into a numb stupor?
Was his win huge? I haven't checked yet (except to see on that excellent NYTimes map that my old neighborhood in Astoria went for Bernie in a big way )
I'm not sick of twitter, but I'm so sick of election twitter, especially supporters of the other Democratic candidate are all racists because some are racists twitter.
Was his win huge?
With the GOP's 50 percent winner-take-all trigger, yes, it was huge. NYTimes is projecting he'll get 90 of 95 delegates.
(Astoria is my old neighborhood, too).
Was his win huge?
Looks like he got 60% statewide and won almost every congressional district with a majority, giving him an overwhelming majority of delgates (90 or so out of 95 total).
It's okay. At least I have another hour or so of daylight to console me (even though it's actually overcast right now).
Trump appears to have won every county in the state except for Manhattan, which went for Kasich.
Manhattan is the Ohio of the five boroughs. Very high in the middle.
Within NYC, Ted Cruz appears to have only done well in Borough Park and Far Rockaway. I'll leave it to the New Yorkers to interpret that.
Cruz also appears to have come in third in every upstate county, all of which were won by Trump.
What about near Rockaway? Are there divides between Rockaway on the A and Rockaway on the shuttle that connects to the A?
The nearer parts of the Rockaways seem to be Trump country. I don't know from subway lines.
Amtrak from NY to DC is...OK. Too much lateral acceleration for my taste. It isn't very fast. But political support for faster service is not there.
Ooh, I will be in town for two months from April 29th and would love to go to a meetup at some point.
But so this gives us some scheduling constraints -- Awl's around from the 27th on, but you're here starting the 29th. That Friday 4/29? Monday 5/2?
Too bad I'm already committed to go to Nebraska on the weekend of the 29th.
But so this gives us some scheduling constraints
You could also have TWO meetups!
So let's say 4/29? Anyone have a strong preference for another day?
Belatedly, since this thread is active again:
The train to NYC is 19 hours and the drive would be 10
I boggled for a bit at this and then remembered what the trains are like. When I took the train from NY to DC I kept having to suppress an instinctive desire to get out and push.
The other complicating factor is that once you get out of the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak often doesn't own the tracks. So they don't always have right of way, and if they get delayed a little bit for other reasons, they can end up having to wait even longer for freight trains and the like.
It's not surprising when I'm waiting in Philadelphia to see on the board that trains coming from Miami or Savannah are 4 or 6 hours delayed.
I thought I remembered having written 58 before. It turns out I talked about it in 2007 and 2010. At least I am consistent.
JM and I should be able to do the 29th.
Take pity on my shameful attempt at a self-bump. tomorrow at Fresh Salt? What time?
I feel I should clarify that 63 is not binding on people who will actually be there.
Yea, verily, I am a stranger in a strange land, with very little internet and an inability to tell Moby's humor from his straight sentences.
Sure enough, my internet dribbled out while writing that and I missed your clarification.
I might be. I have a wretched cold that I don't want to share.
Nothing is better for a cold than a few drinks.
Bad news, everyone! FS is closed for a private event. I'm waiting here for the first local (well, for LB) to show up and suggest some other place nearby.
As the first local, I have declared a relocation to Les Halles -- John St east of Broadway.
Ignored the sign, walked in, and was baffled.
There in a few.
Meetup has taken place, and disbanded.
ISTM that the rule should be that if there is no live-blogging, there should be knife-fighting interesting pix in the pool.
If this is your first meetup, you have to fight.
Awl's been before. I met him at a NYC meetup (maybe not FS though IIRC). But pics in the pool would be great or at least a list of attendees. ( Also: mike d!)