Comment Re:I live within driving distance, (Score 1) 199
Maybe I'll see you there!
Maybe I'll see you there!
Then he'll know what his guys are getting into, and he knows if he should call the Governor for reinforcements.
I have no idea if the volunteer Fire Chief actually has the time to learn enough to digest all the info that's in the report, but small town governments don't actually have much to do except bitch about might-bes, and in a state like ND the governor's job is to make small towns happy, so they'll get their reports eventually.
Strangely enough, the current governor's family farmstead is a few miles east of Casselton (accident was on the west side of town). I'm sure they have his direct number.
I grew a block and a half from that line that goes through Casselton ND and have lived most of my life within a mile of it, It's one of the main lines from Chicago to Seattle and there's trains about every 20 minutes. There is a derailment around Casselton about every 15 years or so (usually there's no giant fireballs).
I think this story gets attention from the right who want to criticize the environmentalists delaying the XL pipeline expansion. Other criticisms fall on Warren Buffet/Berkshire Hathaway who is/are major investors in BNSF and stand to lose a lot of money if it gets expanded.
The horribly tragic story from Canada last year is still fresh in some people's minds. I listen to CBC radio at night and the story is much worse than just the explosion & deaths; the chemicals were so nasty people couldn't go back to their homes, bodies could not be recovered. That seemed to be a completely avoidable incident.
There was a big stink about 20 years ago about BNSF not wanting to slow down for the residents in Casselton, but residents complained that when they go through at full speed the vibrations actually break windows. I've had to live with the effects of BN/BNSF most of my life. It took years of work and negotiations to get Fargo ND/Moorhead MN whistle free but the side effect was fewer crossings. There's also the effect of the Dilworth MN switching yards causing unnecessary traffic stoppages in Moorhead (Train starts moving west, sets off the sensors that trigger the traffic lights to go into a special mode; Trains slows/stops/reverses direction before it reaches the intersection).
I realize that both Casselton and Fargo/Moorhead wouldn't be where they are without the railroad going through it, but I have to deal with its existence pretty much every day.
Does anyone else have a similar story?
Class dinosauria was around for just shy of 70 million years.
More like 170 million (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous)
Facebook is to infidelity what cheap HFCS is to obesity
This is so true. Facebook is reviled on Infidelity websites/support groups. It makes it way too easy to find that friend of a friend that you had a one-night stand with in college or that former co-worker that was kinda cute. Granted, you can still find people to fool around with using non-internet methods. It's a catalyst, it lowers the energy required to do something.
fortune: No such file or directory