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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 1h

New argument:

Who has better trains, Melbourne or Sydney?

Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 1h

Also not a lot of “we must run as many double stacks as possible from the ports to the hinterland how dare you have overhead wire clearances” because there is no hinterland, just ports.

Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 1h

You can always click the little x button for the few times you want to use shrug and not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 2h

One man's "strong-arming" is another man's "so senile and erratic that even Bibi got scared" but this is Ross Douthat so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Douthat probably thinks he's playing 3D chess, while clearly he knocked over the Chutes and Ladders board and is throwing a tantrum, but with nuclear codes.)

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 2h

Broke: Google is enshittified
Woke: Google has started giving me this when I search "shrug emoji"
Bespoke: On my phone, I set up the word "shrug" to have the suggested text replacement of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 2h

Microtransit’s marketing pitch:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Po4a...

But it might work for us!

YouTube video by Jesse Clark

m.youtube.com

Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 11h

There was never really any need to unify gauges aside from standard gauge lines from Melbourne to Sydney and Adelaide.

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 11h

There was very little business for long-distance, and very little freight. The north-south line to Darwin was only completed in 2004 (!). The focus was on local freight and passenger service, so that's what they built.

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 11h

WA only joined the confederation in 1901 with the promise of a railroad, which still goes through 1500 miles of nothing. Not a lot of terrain to tackle, but not a lot of online customers either. Finished 32 years after the CP and 48 after the UP/CP.

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 11h

Ah I think this is it!

Australia grew entirely at coastal cities. The railroads in each province developed on their own. It's why there are several gauge breaks. There's very little reason to have interior or transcontinental railways

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 15h

AA44, AF34, OS90

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 17h

The Chicago protest is going to be off the chain.

This was January 2017, when Chicago hadn't been specifically targeted. It was like this for blocks.

(Twitter advanced search: the only part of Twitter that still kinda works.)

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Reposted by Ari Ofsevit

Paul @pawlbologna.bsky.social · 19h

See you 10/18

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 18h

ETD3

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 18h

Gonna be fun when they're found to have violated the antideficiency act (the other, less sexy ADA) and everyone gets reinstated in a few weeks.

Reposted by Ari Ofsevit

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 21h

Three key points:
1) The admin has been planning mass firings to begin in October since February
2) The work necessary to carry out mass firings is illegal during a shutdown, violating the Antideficiency Act, which carries a criminal penalty
3) This harms America, ridding us of talent and expertise

Russ Vought v @russvought
The RIFs have begun.
12:27 PM • 10/10/25 • 15K Views

230 2.3K 6K

Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 21h

There are about to be 1000% tariffs on frog costumes

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 1d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 21h

Well only if we're Paraguay.

If we want to talk Canada then we have to talk about all of HQ.

But the Niagara is like Itaipu in that it is on the border.

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 21h

This post, which seems to have lost its graphics, talked about the seasonal power storage potential of the Great Lakes

euanmearns.com/the-pumped-h...

A few minor issues include things like how to keep from flooding Montreal.

The pumped hydro storage potential of the Great Lakes

The potential energy contained in the waters of the Great Lakes amounts to approximately six thousand terawatt hours, enough to supply the US and Canada with electricity for an entire year were the…

euanmearns.com

Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 21h

Grand Coulee only has a capacity factor of 35% since it also drains seasonal precipitation. It generates 21TWh/yr.

Robert Moses (Niagara) has 1/3 the installed capacity of Grand Coulee but generates nearly as much (16TWh); Adam Beck on the Ontario side generates an additional 13Twh.

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 21h

Yeah the Hoover Dam is mostly there for irrigation and flood control, incidental power generation is nice to have, but since the Colorado mostly drains desert, it doesn't have that much annual flow.

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 22h

Why would you have a $400 enameled cast iron when that much money can buy you like 18 burrito taxis?

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 23h

HUB WOMAN WINS NOBEL

Henry Santoro @henrysantoro.bsky.social · 1d

Worth noting:
2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado
attended the Dana Hall boarding school in Wellesley.
@gbhnews.bsky.social

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 23h

Moon sets over the building which was going to get man to the moon … until it wasn’t

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Ari Ofsevit @ofsevit.bsky.social · 1d

Now just imagine if Chicago had a police department what they could do.

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