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#1
Central States / Re: ACCESS Oklahoma
Last post by Plutonic Panda - Today at 01:11:00 AM
Heh Norman people still think they can stop this from being built: https://kfor.com/news/local/mixed-feelings-following-norman-mayors-turnpike-town-hall/
#2
Off-Topic / Re: Random Thoughts
Last post by LilianaUwU - Today at 12:32:40 AM
You know, this whole game is all about trial and error. The only way to get through it is to memorize everything that happens. And, once again, I'd like to stress, what's the point of having an energy bar when everything kills you with one hit? ONE, FUCKING, HIT!

--AVGN
#3
Off-Topic / Re: Random Thoughts
Last post by Max Rockatansky - Today at 12:09:30 AM
Yes, the NES port featured on an early episode of AVGN.  The idea is that you die repeatedly in absurd ways until you memorize all the hazards.  I powered through it once on an emulator in high school, even that wasn't easy.
#4
I like the 10 lane alternative. What are the chances that gets selected?
#5
Off-Topic / Re: Oddities that defy convent...
Last post by jgb191 - Today at 12:01:35 AM
Ft. Worth has once again pulled even with Austin, both cities are almost at 980,000.  It's anybody's guess as to which one of these cities will be the fourth in Texas -- and tenth in the country -- to reach the million mark.
#6
Off-Topic / Re: Random Thoughts
Last post by ZLoth - May 21, 2024, 11:57:57 PM
The timeline was:
  • 1983 - Dragon's Lair
  • 1984 - Space Ace
  • 1990 - Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp
There were multiple issues with the laserdisc games, notably in replayability and the lack of quality of other laserdisc games that were rushed to market by 1984. While a typical arcade game was 25¢ per play, the higher costs of the laserdisc games meant that the operators were charging 50¢ or more per play, yet the arcade operators were unable to recoop their investment. The consumer-grade laserdisc players that were initially used did not hold up well, causing downtime on the games.

One notable laser game, Cliffhanger, utilized footage from the 1979 anime classic The Castle of Cagliostro in order to quickly get the game out (along with a bad dubbing job). This is one of the earliest works of Hayao Miyazaki who is considered one of Japanese animations legends having won Oscars for the films Spirited Away and The Boy and the Heron, plus multiple other Oscar nominations.

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 21, 2024, 08:36:17 PMDragon's Lair was still around in arcades well into the 1990s in my area.  I never ran into the sequel cabinet though in the wild. The NES adaptation was hot trash.

Are you talking about this?


Yeah, and this is the first time I've seen this "port". Many of the computer ports at that time were bad. Fortunately, you can pick up both Dragons Lairs and Space Ace as a package dea for around $20 at Steam. I did have the opportunity to play all three games in a arcade setting.
#7
Mid-South / Re: I-10 expansion between San...
Last post by jgb191 - May 21, 2024, 11:55:21 PM
It's mystifying that Katy's population is listed at only about twenty thousand people, from the way it has developed the last couple of decades it seems like it broke six-figures by now.  In fact Ft. Bend county (which Katy is in) is fast approaching a million people.
#8
Northwest / Re: North Spokane Corridor - U...
Last post by Henry - May 21, 2024, 11:24:10 PM
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on May 21, 2024, 10:46:26 PMAdding more fuel to the urban legend that Interstates were designed for planes to land and take off.
AFAIK, this is not going to be an Interstate anytime soon, although it would make a good I-x90 spur route.
#9
Southeast / Re: SC MV and AV ROW Markers
Last post by Henry - May 21, 2024, 11:22:30 PM
My guess is that it has something to do with the water main, as "MV" means "Master Valve", and "AV" means "Auxiliary Valve".
#10
Road Trips / Trip Report; May 2024 Miami to...
Last post by N9JIG - May 21, 2024, 11:18:47 PM
Earlier this month we flew to Miami, rented a car and spent a week there. We then drove up to Myrtle Beach SC, spent a couple days there and then drove down to Charleston from where we flew home. Here are a few notes from that trip:

Miami:

It has been years since I have been there so I considered it a new area for me. My first thought was that it was "Chicago with sand". Hot, humid, crowded, old-looking and crumbling infrastructure. The drive out of the airport up to the Fort Lauderdale suburbs where we were staying was confusing. Trying to follow the GPS directions was a little tough as there were too many lane drops and confusingly similar numbers. The GPS took us on FL-836 out of the airport, then FL-826 north to the FTP to Hollywood Blvd. Of course our flight landed at 4:15 and by the time we got our luggage and rental it was about 5:30 on a Friday afternoon. Where I have lived the last decade a traffic jam is 3 cars at the same stoplight, I am not used to heavy city traffic anymore. It took almost 2 hours to get to Hollywood from the airport and we dealt with the crazy city drivers, especially the future road-stains driving sport bikes between lanes at high speeds.

Once we got to Hollywood we drove to various places in the next week, restaurants, the beach, Sawgrass Mall, etc. The roads were sufficient for the most part, but more narrow and beat up than I am used to.
 
The one thing that really struck me was how many state-numbered routes there are in Florida. They are much more prevalent than in Arizona or Illinois, the states I am most used to driving in. It seems there are tons of 3-digit roads all over the greater Miami area.

We stopped at a Buc-ees near Daytona, this was my first such experience. I was pretty impressed, it met the expectations I had. The food we bought was good, the wife bought some souvenirs and we had a good time there.

Miami to Myrtle Beach to Charleston:

At the end of the week we drive north to Myrtle Beach. We took the FTP to Fort Pierce then I-95 north from there. The FTP was pretty decent, we lucked out that traffic SB was horrid but NB was fine. Between a car fire, construction and an accident the SB lanes were slow or stopped a good part of the way while we cruised right along NB. At Jacksonville we took the east bypass around then continued to and thru Georgia. I really liked the view going across the bridge at the St. Johns River!

Georgia was noteworthy in the lack of anything particularly noteworthy thru here. Several of the counties and cities were running speed traps on the Interstate, I only saw one GA State Trooper but dozens of locals.

In South Carolina we hopped off at US-378 and took that into Conway, then US-501 and SC-544 into Myrtle Beach. For the rest of that weekend we bounced around town doing the tourist stuff, going to the beach and other stuff.

The roads in and around Myrtle Beach are sufficient for the traffic I saw. It was Bike Week so there was a lot of motorcycle traffic but it seemed pretty tame compared to other biker events I have seen.  US-378 was a 4-lane highway most of the way as was US-17.

I did see a couple old-style SC state route markers on some of the intersecting roads, I wish I had the time to get some pictures. I posted in the SE Regional Board a question about ROW markers in SC having "MV" and "AV" on them, I will watch for answers there.

I noticed that both SC and GA seem to prefer to have the state name on the Interstate markers but still use the larger numbers. This tends to make the state name seem smaller but that appears to be just an optical illusion. SC also seems to eschew directional tabs on reassurance markers on US and state routes.

On the last day we drove down to Charleston along US-17 for our flight home. Like US-378, US-17 is mostly a 4-lane facility between Myrtle Beach and Charleston. Charleston, as an old city, was mostly narrow and crooked streets. Charming for sure but a challenge for big SUV's to get around in. This would be an ideal city for a SmartCar.

General Notes:

Gas was about a dollar cheaper throughout the area than here in the Phoenix area (where most of our fuel comes from California). That was handy as my rental was a huge SUV.

Speaking of that, my rental was a Nissan Armada, the first time I have driven one of these (or any Nissan for that matter). I was pretty impressed, it was on par with the Tahoe's and Expeditions I am used to. I really liked the cameras, they really helped me get the beast parked properly between the lines.

I-95 was not nearly as intimidating as I expected. It was 3 or more lanes in each of direction thru all of Florida and Georgia while dropping to 2 in South Carolina, at least for the portion I was on. I think SC would do well to expand I-95 but that could be said for most roads these days.

In all 3 states the road condition of I-95 was pretty decent as far as I could tell. Outside the Miami area the same goes for most of the other highways I used.

As a former Chicago area resident and current Phoenix area one I am used to straight streets and highways with plenty of capacity and decent pavement. (Yes, despite its reputation, Chicago area expressways and especially the tollways are better than most eastern cities.) Driving out east has always been a weird experience for me.


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