Humor Random Comments Thread

[Notebook]

The Great Escape?

Cats to be freed from special lockdown in German town

Owners were ordered to keep their felines indoors to protect an endangered bird.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Arvil]

So, that's what happened to the Beagle 2.

 

[Arvil]

 

[jedidia]

First time ever bought some stuff from shutterstock, an image licensing site. Found some stuff that really fit a need I have right now, and they said it's an EPS, so I was quite thrilled. Not so thrilled after purchasing, though. Turns out the eps is just a bitmap wrapped in a vector object, not the actual vector data of the image. Thanks for nothing, I guess? Certainly not going to make that mistake again...

 

[jedidia]

Heh, youtube currently seems to be broken. It will play adds, but can't load the actual videos. Classy...

 

[Matias Saibene]

I followed a tutorial to make a black hole in Blender. I know my results aren't great, but I can't ask much of my integrated graphics computer either. This is my result, I changed the colors a bit to resemble the color palette of black holes that the EHT captured.

Here is the tutorial in case anyone is interested.

 

[Linguofreak]

This is my result, I changed the colors a bit to resemble the color palette of black holes that the EHT captured.

Note that EHT images are radio images: the color palette is completely arbitrary; I believe it was intensity based with no relation to frequency, i.e, basically a black and white image.

 

[TheShuttleExperience]

Recently I had a very rare encounter with a nice piece of history during work. I had to dig out my cellphone very quick to get this shot at the very last second:



Something I don't see very often during my routine train rides. This particular one is called "Prussian T 18" and by now it is 99 years old. It's empty weight is as twice as much than that of an empty Boeing 737-800 and still more than a 737-800 at MTOW. A monster of steel.

Prussian T 18 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[kuddel]

Is that RAIN ? Wow!
....and sure nice locomotive, too

 

[steph]

Nice shot. I hear the Orient Express is doing some Europe-wide trip nowadays, but I don't know if it was that. Never saw one live, unfortunately

 

[TheShuttleExperience]

Is that RAIN ? Wow!
....and sure nice locomotive, too

Sadly no. I haven't seen any rain for... well, I don't even remember. I guess many weeks. Very strange. The sky is full of water at times. But it just doesn't come down I wish it would. Slippery rails are fun because it's a welcome change when you get a higher adrenaline level in case you probably might not quite stop the train where you want it to stop But I always manage to stop as intended in the end (which luckily means I know what I am doing) It's a good "selftest". The worst thing is rain + rust (or dust or even pollen)...

 

[Urwumpe]

Sadly no. I haven't seen any rain for... well, I don't even remember. I guess many weeks.

We had some small amount of rain last week on a morning, but that quickly evaporated away and didn't even reach the soil. It wasn't even enough for making the local brook rise, that one also almost dried out. Worse at my parents river. On the lower side of the beaver dam is no flow any more, its now like a dead arm of the bigger Aller river a few km away.

 

[TheShuttleExperience]

Nice shot. I hear the Orient Express is doing some Europe-wide trip nowadays, but I don't know if it was that. Never saw one live, unfortunately

I don't really know much about the Orient Express either

 

[Matias Saibene]

Sadly no. I haven't seen any rain for... well, I don't even remember. I guess many weeks. Very strange. The sky is full of water at times. But it just doesn't come down I wish it would. Slippery rails are fun because it's a welcome change when you get a higher adrenaline level in case you probably might not quite stop the train where you want it to stop But I always manage to stop as intended in the end (which luckily means I know what I am doing) It's a good "selftest". The worst thing is rain + rust (or dust or even pollen)...

Excellent images, I love trains. And yes, what you say about the clouds being full of water but not raining also happened in my country in the 4 years prior to this one. This 2022 is the most normal for us.
If I remember correctly from my time in the MSTS, when the wheels spin, sand is poured on them to stop the skidding.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(locomotive)

 

[TheShuttleExperience]

Excellent images, I love trains. And yes, what you say about the clouds being full of water but not raining also happened in my country in the 4 years prior to this one. This 2022 is the most normal for us.
If I remember correctly from my time in the MSTS, when the wheels spin, sand is poured on them to stop the skidding.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(locomotive)

Well, as always it's a little bit more complicated There are two cases. Slipping/sliding (brakeforce greater than adhesive force) and skidding (driving force greater than adhesive force).

According to the regulations of the "Deutsche Bahn" you are generally only allowed to use sand in case of emergency, but only in case of slipping but not below a speed of 25 kph, not above railway switches, turntables, traversers, bridges, wagon weighbridges and rail brakes. And you are never allowed to use sand while skidding. However, you can use a little bit of sand before you add power to prevent skidding before it starts. Also, when you used sand until wheel stop in an emergency, you have to report it to the train director because sand between the wheels and the rail can cause the block section to be shown as "clear" when it is not at all...

I personally keep it as simple as possible: I don't use sand so I don't have to bother with regulations But I'm a lucky guy anyway since I don't drive heavy and long cargo trains. I drive modern "multiple units" so passenger service only. They tend to slip and skid as hell (due to their lightweight) especially during fall, but they have good anti skid and slip systems. They even use sand automatically. But you still have to have a good feeling of how to drive and brake...

By the way, there was a little bit of rain (just drops) today

Flirt3 XL | Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr | 360°-Rundgang

Flirt3^XL | Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr | 360°-Rundgang

www.36o.de

 

[Urwumpe]

According to the regulations of the "Deutsche Bahn" you are generally only allowed to use sand in case of emergency, but only in case of slipping but not below a speed of 25 kph, not above railway switches, turntables, traversers, bridges, wagon weighbridges and rail brakes. And you are never allowed to use sand while skidding. However, you can use a little bit of sand before you add power to prevent skidding before it starts. Also, when you used sand until wheel stop in an emergency, you have to report it to the train director because sand between the wheels and the rail can cause the block section to be shown as "clear" when it is not at all...

Yes, there had been actually accidents like that in German railroad history, since the special kind of sand used in trains is a good electrical isolator and even small amounts of it on a rail can result in the block being shown as clear. Thus the "never below 25 km/h" rule, to prevent sand density to reach a critical level.

And the weather here (south of your turf ) had been "dry northern German weather" as we called it at home in lower saxony. I am still trying to understand, which mystical physical phenomena makes the people here completely wet with so little rain, while we northern Germans are perfectly dry by the same weather. Feels like some people are allergic to rain.

 

[TheShuttleExperience]

Yes, there had been actually accidents like that in German railroad history, since the special kind of sand used in trains is a good electrical isolator and even small amounts of it on a rail can result in the block being shown as clear. Thus the "never below 25 km/h" rule, to prevent sand density to reach a critical level.

The grains are very thick to provide sufficient friction when they get crushed. Much thicker than the sand you would find at a playground. But a possible isolation also depends on the kind of system that senses a block either clear or occupied. There are three types: one counts the number of axes going in and out of the block; the other two are based on a track circuit (one works with audio frequency). The sand doesn't matter when you have an axes counter. But since there are all three types mixed everywhere, there is this general rule.

It's like in aviation (and spaceflight). With every new accident you get new regulations. An isolation is considered unlikely but, and that's the problem, it nevertheless can possibly happen just as it did.

What is also interesting in this context: the point of contact between a wheel and rail is only as large as a piece of 5 cent (Euro). So for example, if you have a train (passenger transport) with 6 axes, the entire area of contact between the train and rails is only 12 x 5 cents. Which means it actually fits on a palm of your hand. That's why you get such a small friction coefficient on trains. It can roll many kilometers, even from one city to another, without adding any power (depending on the slope of course). But as soon as the rails get wet or if you consider that sand-topic, you can run into trouble quickly if you don't note and don't care.

Ah wait, I actually can take photos right now (it's quitting time now; don't ask how I could type this "random comment"... my apprentice was driving the train while I could relax )...





And this guy is an axis counter...

And the weather here (south of your turf ) had been "dry northern German weather" as we called it at home in lower saxony. I am still trying to understand, which mystical physical phenomena makes the people here completely wet with so little rain, while we northern Germans are perfectly dry by the same weather. Feels like some people are allergic to rain.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yeah, but what astounds me most is the fact, that the wheels of a train are actually lubricated.

(See: Wheel flange lubrication system. Yes, that is a thing.)

 

[TheShuttleExperience]

Yeah, but what astounds me most is the fact, that the wheels of a train are actually lubricated.

(See: Wheel flange lubrication system. Yes, that is a thing.)

I never really saw a contradiction there You can actually hear it working when you drive through a track curve while the windows of the driving cab are open (it hisses for about 3 seconds in intervals).

If you can not fall asleep at night you might watch the following video...

 

[Urwumpe]

I never really wanted to see a wheel from that perspective.... but its interesting, you can even see how the axle is balancing on the rails.

But seriously: Would you fall asleep by that sound? If yes, I am deeply concerned.... (And pray to the dead mans switch)