America - The Official Thread

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Liquid
Perfectly normal behaviour.

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"normal"

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The job, in this case, of writing... uh... that book... which, a hard-working American was going to do.
 
Today's internet seems full of pictures of Americans filling bins, bags, sacks, buckets etc. etc. with petrol/gasoline. One even seems to have exploded after the driver lit a cigarette. Would I be right in thinking that these people are not only of reduced mental capacity but that they're probably the same people who dropped their wads when they thought electric car owners might not be able to recharge?
 
TenEightyOne
Today's internet seems full of pictures of Americans filling bins, bags, sacks, buckets etc. etc. with petrol/gasoline. One even seems to have exploded after the driver lit a cigarette. Would I be right in thinking that these people are not only of reduced mental capacity but that they're probably the same people who dropped their wads when they thought electric car owners might not be able to recharge?
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I'm at least 80% sure they're the same people that bought a ton of toilet paper a little over a year ago.
 
TenEightyOne
Today's internet seems full of pictures of Americans filling bins, bags, sacks, buckets etc. etc. with petrol/gasoline. One even seems to have exploded after the driver lit a cigarette. Would I be right in thinking that these people are not only of reduced mental capacity but that they're probably the same people who dropped their wads when they thought electric car owners might not be able to recharge?
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Yes, they're also likely the same people who bought a 28 year supply of toilet paper last year.

*Tree'd :lol:
 
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Liquid
Perfectly normal behaviour.

Click to expand...

I sincerely hope whatever website that "review" was left on, removes it & can ban the IP that made it.

That's all sorts of sad to see that "reviewer" showcase what a waste to society they are.
 
Dotini
We seem to be on the brink of potentially massive inflation for the first time in decades. This will give labor the upper hand in demanding and getting higher wages.
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Evidence seems to be mounting.

Chipotle hikes average wage to $15 an hour amid labor squeeze

It's getting harder and harder to maintain the position that significant inflation isn't or isn't about to be our reality. I'm curious to see it will move all wage boats or if it will primarily push up the bottom with the middle staying the same.

I think we're going to see interest rates rising shortly.
 
If you're walking in Memphis, please to use the correct bridge when you leave...One of them is dangerously faulty.

8837E0B5-4358-4B31-864C-0F556026601D.jpeg

...this is one of the rare cases where the media's use of "crack" is downplaying things.

Granted, this isn't going hold up everything for too long, but throw a day here and another back and it starts to add up. Barges can't go under it while they work in it. It's the widest highway crossing of the Mississippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans, and all of that Mid-South traffic has to use a 1930s-era structure as the relief route...which stops about a half mile into a tight loop ramp which makes Monaco's Station Hairpin look like 130R.

I mean, it's not like a third crossing hasn't been talked about for at least three decades...
 
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Pupik
If you're walking in Memphis, please to use the correct bridge when you leave...One of them is dangerously faulty.

View attachment 1010711
...this is one of the rare cases where the media's use of "crack" is downplaying things.

Granted, this isn't going hold up everything for too long, but throw a day here and another back and it starts to add up. Barges can't go under it while they work in it. It's the widest highway crossing of the Mississippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans, and all of that Mid-South traffic has to use a 1930s-era structure as the relief route...which stops about a half mile into a tight loop ramp which makes Monaco's Station Hairpin look like 130R.

I mean, it's not like a third crossing hasn't been talked about for at least three decades...
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Just walk with your feet ten feet off that bridge.

Pupik
Barges can't go under it while they work in it.
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Big oof right there. I've spent several hours flying over this exact spot and it is definitely busy with barges. Over the course of a week it would look a lot like the Suez fiasco recently.

Speaking of holding up traffic, I love how the highway loops first of all are all 5 miles beyond the developed city because Memphis is kind of a hellhole and nobody wants to move there, and those loops certainly don't cross into Arkansas like 275 around Cincinnati because even fewer people want to live in Arkansas. Beyond Memphis, Little Rock is the only city of any decent size and its still over two hours away. They just plonked a city there and called it good. I've always thought the lack of cities along the Mississippi was interesting considering how many cities like the Great Lakes but I suppose the lakes don't exactly flood. But regardless that area of the country seems to be where cities start to get quite far apart from each other which is something else I'm not used to. There are several ways to get anywhere here in Ohio but if you need to cross the Mississippi at Memphis, buddy you're going right through downtown. The main interstate bridge at Cincy is also a problem but there are three others to choose from. Louisville has three crossings on four bridges and none of them are particularly busy. St. Louis has at least five, and even Wheeling WV has two interstate crossings. You'd think Memphis would've considered this problem a bit harder. No offense to you if you live in Memphis but I spent a month there and it kinda sucks unless you're a Fedex pilot. And I don't plan on working night shift anytime soon.

EngieDiesel
If it makes you feel better, Colonial apparently paid $5 million to the ransomers and then ended up resorting to using their own backups because the decryption tool sent to them was working far too slowly, meaning they rewarded the criminals for no reason at all. So the morons weren't just at the pumps on this one.
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I thought the US didn't negotiate with terrorists? Where is the government on this one?
 
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Keef
The main interstate bridge at Cincy is also a problem but there are three others to choose from.
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The Brett Spence Bridge narrowly averted a major truck disaster a few months ago; heck, even 'ol 45 put it in one of his stump speeches there a few years back.

Nobody wants to pay for it; tolls are an unpopular decision for locals who may use it 5-10 times a week, but no matter who pays for that kind of infrastructure cost, it's always passed down to the consumer. And instead of just understanding and swallowing that (or a gas tax), it's a political beach ball (a football takes a little bit more precision) just batted around. When it finally comes down to recouping the tax, it winds up into some general fund which shifts burden, depending on how the state legislature handles the wording. And since that example crossed two states, any sort of joint resolution is tougher to plan out.

This is why we can't have nice things...or at least, ugly-but-useful eyesores.

Wheeling WV has two interstate crossings.
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I heard that there was no way to easily widen the tunnel for the I-70 crossing, and therefore cheaper overall to build another parallel structure. Otherwise, Wheeling isn't that big and wouldn't normally get a second crossing. Besides, most traffic is probably passing right on by from Ohio into Pennsylvania past one of America's Geographic Quirks.
 
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Pupik
The Brett Spence Bridge narrowly averted a major truck disaster a few months ago; heck, even 'ol 45 put it in one of his stump speeches there a few years back.

Nobody wants to pay for it; tolls are an unpopular decision for locals who may use it 5-10 times a week, but no matter who pays for that kind of infrastructure cost, it's always passed down to the consumer. And instead of just understanding and swallowing that (or a gas tax), it's a political beach ball (a football takes a little bit more precision) just batted around. When it finally comes down to recouping the tax, it winds up into some general fund which shifts burden, depending on how the state legislature handles the wording. And since that example crossed two states, any sort of joint resolution is tougher to plan out.

This is why we can't have nice things...or at least, ugly-but-useful eyesores.
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That bridge has averted disaster for at least a decade now. In fact as we speak it's down to one lane either direction concentrated on a single deck of the bridge. They'll have to replace it eventually but no matter, because there are three other under-utilized freeway bridges that cross the river. The western loop of 275 is very under-utilized, partly because it was routed through Nowhere, Indiana as part of its design compromise. So closing the Brent Spence will cause time delays of about 15 minutes for through-traffic but won't actually cause much heavier traffic. No big deal. Compare that to Dayton's decade-long rebuilding of I-75 through the middle of the city, for which there is no effective bypass because all the poor people live on the west side of the river and they wanted to make sure they couldn't get anywhere quickly.
 
Pupik
If you're walking in Memphis, please to use the correct bridge when you leave...One of them is dangerously faulty.

View attachment 1010711
...this is one of the rare cases where the media's use of "crack" is downplaying things.

Granted, this isn't going hold up everything for too long, but throw a day here and another back and it starts to add up. Barges can't go under it while they work in it. It's the widest highway crossing of the Mississippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans, and all of that Mid-South traffic has to use a 1930s-era structure as the relief route...which stops about a half mile into a tight loop ramp which makes Monaco's Station Hairpin look like 130R.

I mean, it's not like a third crossing hasn't been talked about for at least three decades...
Click to expand...

Some JB Weld and duct tape will take quick care of that fracture. While we are at it, let's go with a bright color for the duct tape so that everyone can see we fixed it.

Keef
Just walk with your feet ten feet off that bridge.


Big oof right there. I've spent several hours flying over this exact spot and it is definitely busy with barges. Over the course of a week it would look a lot like the Suez fiasco recently.

Speaking of holding up traffic, I love how the highway loops first of all are all 5 miles beyond the developed city because Memphis is kind of a hellhole and nobody wants to move there, and those loops certainly don't cross into Arkansas like 275 around Cincinnati because even fewer people want to live in Arkansas. Beyond Memphis, Little Rock is the only city of any decent size and its still over two hours away. They just plonked a city there and called it good. I've always thought the lack of cities along the Mississippi was interesting considering how many cities like the Great Lakes but I suppose the lakes don't exactly flood. But regardless that area of the country seems to be where cities start to get quite far apart from each other which is something else I'm not used to. There are several ways to get anywhere here in Ohio but if you need to cross the Mississippi at Memphis, buddy you're going right through downtown. The main interstate bridge at Cincy is also a problem but there are three others to choose from. Louisville has three crossings on four bridges and none of them are particularly busy. St. Louis has at least five, and even Wheeling WV has two interstate crossings. You'd think Memphis would've considered this problem a bit harder. No offense to you if you live in Memphis but I spent a month there and it kinda sucks unless you're a Fedex pilot. And I don't plan on working night shift anytime soon.


I thought the US didn't negotiate with terrorists? Where is the government on this one?
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I put together some quick numbers because I was curious what the bridge lengths, widths, and areas are for both Memphis and Cincinnati and at a glance, I thought Memphis might have more length/area of bridge. They come up to being pretty close. Please remember these totals are very rough because I did them quickly with little research.

Memphis has approximately 14,655 feet and 1,120,478 square feet of bridge over the Mississippi. Cincinnati has approximately 15,208 feet and 1,123,189 square feet of bridge over the Ohio River. The reason I did this is because I know a very rough cost per square foot of bridge. It turns out my guess was close.

Knowing the lengths and square footage are about the same, the two Memphis bridges would cost roughly the same as all seven Cincinnati roadway bridges. There are all kinds of caveats with this information, but what it boils down to is the Mississippi River is a completely different animal compared to the Ohio River.

Pupik
The Brett Spence Bridge narrowly averted a major truck disaster a few months ago; heck, even 'ol 45 put it in one of his stump speeches there a few years back.

Nobody wants to pay for it; tolls are an unpopular decision for locals who may use it 5-10 times a week, but no matter who pays for that kind of infrastructure cost, it's always passed down to the consumer. And instead of just understanding and swallowing that (or a gas tax), it's a political beach ball (a football takes a little bit more precision) just batted around. When it finally comes down to recouping the tax, it winds up into some general fund which shifts burden, depending on how the state legislature handles the wording. And since that example crossed two states, any sort of joint resolution is tougher to plan out.

This is why we can't have nice things...or at least, ugly-but-useful eyesores.

I heard that there was no way to easily widen the tunnel for the I-70 crossing, and therefore cheaper overall to build another parallel structure. Otherwise, Wheeling isn't that big and wouldn't normally get a second crossing. Besides, most traffic is probably passing right on by from Ohio into Pennsylvania past one of America's Geographic Quirks.
Click to expand...

If ArDOT and TDOT were to build another Hernando de Soto Bridge, then I would guess the absolutely lowest of low end cost for the bridge would be $127,000,000. Realistically, it would probably be at least double that, if not more; my unit price per square foot is going to be way low because I do not have any experience with bridges of that magnitude. That number does not include the additional right of way that both ArDOT and TDOT would have to acquire or the additional highway that would have to be built to accommodate another crossing.
 
I found out today that the 4th Amendment doesn't apply in certain US states due to their border proximity, an exemption that the ACLU is challenging. Is this the case for any other Amendments or is this specific to this Amendment?
 
TenEightyOne
I found out today that the 4th Amendment doesn't apply in certain US states due to their border proximity, an exemption that the ACLU is challenging. Is this the case for any other Amendments or is this specific to this Amendment?
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Most Amendments have exceptions to them that were determined via court cases. I don't believe the original framers had the idea of exceptions in mind when they wrote the document though. Regarding the fourth amendment, an unlawful search and seizure should be an unlawful search and seizure no matter where it's performed as long as it's done so within the US and to an American citizen. Someone coming in from abroad who isn't an American citizen though doesn't get the same protection as citizens do though, so it would be entirely lawful to search someone's stuff who's a Canadian citizen trying to cross the border.
 
Joey D
Regarding the fourth amendment, an unlawful search and seizure should be an unlawful search and seizure no matter where it's performed as long as it's done so within the US and to an American citizen.
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The case seems to be that if you're within 100 miles of a border the 4th Amendment doesn't apply. I mean, I get that the ACLU present quite fervently but this seems legit.
 
Isn't that the same context that they were using to throw people into unmarked black vans in Portland last year? Something to do with proximity to a monument.
 
TenEightyOne
The case seems to be that if you're within 100 miles of a border the 4th Amendment doesn't apply. I mean, I get that the ACLU present quite fervently but this seems legit.
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It is legit. I'm sorry you guys are just now learning about this. Customs basically has free reign within 100 miles. In fact, the line was basically at the northern suburbs of Columbus which was pretty weird. It was always a bit weird flying within that area especially if you were near the border or crossing it, like when I was working over Montreal. If Customs got curious why these planes kept flying back and forth across the border every day there's basically nothing we could've done except call the FSDO and get the FAA involved.
 
Keef
It is legit. I'm sorry you guys are just now learning about this. Customs basically has free reign within 100 miles. In fact, the line was basically at the northern suburbs of Columbus which was pretty weird. It was always a bit weird flying within that area especially if you were near the border or crossing it, like when I was working over Montreal. If Customs got curious why these planes kept flying back and forth across the border every day there's basically nothing we could've done except call the FSDO and get the FAA involved.
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So effectively two-thirds of the American population live somewhere where they can be subject to a Federal search under this law but they're not marching about that?
 
TenEightyOne
So effectively two-thirds of the American population live somewhere where they can be subject to a Federal search under this law but they're not marching about that?
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Correct.

It hasn't effected enough people on Instagram yet for anyone to take notice. Plus, there do seem to be more pressing issues at hand. There can only be so many uprisings at a time lol.
 
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