Recent posts

#1

Sports / Re: Arizona Coyotes players ap...

Last post by 1995hoo - Today at 01:33:42 PM

Well at least it snows in Utah.  That's my only criteria for who gets hockey teams. 

It snowed in Miami in 1977, so I guess the Panthers are safe.

#2

Off-Topic / Re: My idea for US currency re...

Last post by RobbieL2415 - Today at 01:18:38 PM

My thoughts:

- Eliminate all coins. Prices are rounded up or down to the nearest dollar

- Transition the Federal Reserve Notes to colored plastic with Braille for denominations

- Increase production of the $2 bill to match that of the $1 bill.

- Remove "In God We Trust" from all bills and replace it with, "Liberty and Justice for All."

- Have the following denominations:
  1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50, 100,

- Feature different portraits on the obverse side of each bill, including historical and modern Americans:

  - 1, George Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., Orville and Wilbur Wright
  - 2, Thomas Jefferson, Barack Obama, Sitting Bull
  - 5, Abraham Lincoln, Sandra Day O'Connor, Muhammad Ali
  - 10, Alexander Hamilton, Harriett Tubman, Jackie Robinson
  - 20, Andrew Jackson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony
  - 50, Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, Sojourner Truth
  - 100, Benjamin Franklin, Elvis Presley, Henry David Thoreau

- And, on the reverse side, the same idea for monuments and historic/famous landmarks. The $1 will no longer have the Great Seal and the Illuminati pyramid.

  - 1, Washington Monument, The 1903 Flight at Kitty Hawk, Yellowstone National Park
  - 2, Signing of the Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, Jefferson Memorial
  - 5, Lincoln Memorial, Supreme Court, Niagra Falls,
  - 10, The Treasury, Statue of Liberty, Gateway Arch, Signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
  - 20, The White House, Pike's Peak, Golden Gate Bridge, One World Trade Center
  - 50, US Capitol, The Grand Canyon, Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
  - 100, Independence Hall, the HOLLYWOOD Sign, Denali, Seattle Space Needle

#3

Sports / Re: Arizona Coyotes players ap...

Last post by Max Rockatansky - Today at 12:47:31 PM

It snows in Arizona also.  I was stuck up on the Mogollon Rim in Show Low for three days one time after being snow bound in a hotel there. I've even seen it snow on the mountains in Phoenix a couple times.

#4

Sports / Re: Arizona Coyotes players ap...

Last post by triplemultiplex - Today at 12:40:16 PM

Well at least it snows in Utah.  That's my only criteria for who gets hockey teams. 

#5

General Highway Talk / Re: Roads that you have been o...

Last post by CNGL-Leudimin - Today at 12:25:57 PM

I went over the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy in 2010.

#6

Mountain West / Re: New Mexico

Last post by triplemultiplex - Today at 12:21:55 PM

That drop from Cloudcroft is a doosy.  Even after being in the state for a month going up and down mountains elsewhere in New Mexico, coming down US 82 at Cloudcroft still hurt my ears with the pressure difference between the summit and the valley.

#7

Northeast / Re: I-95 and New Jersey Turnpi...

Last post by jeffandnicole - Today at 12:17:00 PM

It still amazes me that PA built part of I-95 as only 4 lanes. Its one of the busiest transportation corridors in the world (NYC<->Philly), eh, 4 lanes is enough! Maybe they knew I-95 wasn't going to be completed as planned.

It's hard to comprehend, but much of 95's original build was 4 lanes system-wide!

If you scroll thru here: https://www.northjersey.com/picture-gallery/news/2023/12/19/new-jersey-turnpike-construction-see-photos-from-the-1950s/71883622007/ you'll find pictures of the original NJ Turnpike. At Exit 11, there's a pic of the Turnpike...with only 2 lanes per direction. It's now 14 lanes wide there.

Using historicaerials.com is fascinating as well. While the images are a bit blurry several decades ago, you can make out how narrow the highway originally were before expansions. 95 in Georgia was 4 lanes when first constructed. In the mid 1960s: 95 in Delaware in the Churchmans Marsh area was 4 lanes; today there's 10 lanes there. 95 in MD was 4 lanes. Even 95 in VA just south of the Capital Beltway, which is now roughly 22 lanes wide with the various options and ramps - was just 4 lanes!

So, any theory that PA could crystal ball the future isn't true. Along with NJ's missing segment, they just happened to have the NJ Turnpike to its east, and to a smaller extent, I-295, take the traffic burden off of 95 in PA. While the rebuild of the Scudders Falls Bridges added a 3rd lane down to Rt. 332, there isn't the traffic volume to warrant widening of 95 in the southern Bucks County area.

#8

Northeast / Re: Massachusetts

Last post by RobbieL2415 - Today at 12:10:27 PM

I'm assuming they are referring to putting them up on US 3, since it becomes the Everett Turnpike, which is already tolled.

#9

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by mgk920 - Today at 12:10:13 PM

Similarly, places where you CAN'T book an appointment online. My doctor recently retired, so I needed to find a new practice to get a physical. Almost no doctor's offices near me let me book appointments online.

Agreed in general, but doctor's offices feel like a potential the exception to the rule. They usually have fairly rigorous approval and sign up processes for new patients (if they're even accepting them at all) so it makes sense they would want to speak to you first and verify personal information etc.

I think most primary-care physicians force new patients to jump through more hoops because initial appointments take much longer.

I wonder how much of that is due to language in recent federal laws?

Mike

#10

Northeast / Re: Connecticut News

Last post by RobbieL2415 - Today at 12:07:35 PM

So... for some reason, ConnDOT seems to think that "Merging Traffic (symbol)" signs are no longer necessary and has omitted them from recent sign replacement projects and replacement of "sheet aluminum" signs.  We now have large sections of I-91 and most of CT 2 and CT 9 without any merging traffic signs.  The only ones that were kept were those where there's a short acceleration lane. 

This afternoon, I spotted where some of them may have gone to... the "merging traffic" graveyard      where there's not 1, not 2, but 3, yup 3 merging traffic signs, of varying sizes, on I-95 NB in West Haven:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2827128,-72.9528576,3a,31.3y,75.26h,85.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMLoh_i2EVXMJEea8jev3IQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

So, does the MUTCD require a sign where a ramp merges onto the mainline, or is it mearly a suggestion?  Relying solely on pavement markings seems short-sighted (no pun intended).

I mean, if they invested into sturdier aluminum signage and went to I-beams for support (as MassDOT has started to do here ), maybe they wouldn't have to replace them as often.