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What's going on?

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Posted by cv_acr on Monday, July 19, 2021 12:31 PM

Back to original topic:

Yes - unloading plastic pellets from covered hoppers to truck via means of vaccuum-pneumatic unloading.

Here's a close-up of the discharge gate on a pneumatic-discharge covered hopper used in plastic pellet service:

http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=rdix20137detail3&o=rdix

Rather than dumping into a pit via gravity, the hopper discharges through a horizontal tube (with the blue cap on it). The cap is removed and a suction hose is attached and the product is sucked out of the car with a vaccuum system. Some of the truck trailers may have their own vaccum equipment, and I've seen a separate portable vaccuum system in such a transload yard before that can be moved around to transfer product from railcar to truck.

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Posted by Convicted One on Saturday, July 17, 2021 11:01 PM

 

 

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, July 17, 2021 10:46 PM

In case you're wondering, 39 is the ASCII code for an apostophe...

Anyone who has watched "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" might remember that the "answer" is 42 - ASCII code for an asterisk, often used for a wild card.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Saturday, July 17, 2021 10:15 PM

Convicted One

 

 
Lithonia Operator
When I tweaked that photo, the altered file went up as a new photo on the site, so it had a new URL. In addition to putting the new link in the recent post, I also went back and changed the original post's link to the current URL. Maybe that means something to you! It's all Greek to me.

 

S'all good, LO

Nobody is saying that you should (or even could) have done anything different. I was just sincerely wondering if the code "melted down" on it's own...and that was where my curiosity ended. Angel

Having seen it earlier in pristine form, and then noticing it had changed,...got me to wondering.

 

I was not bothered one iota by anything you wrote. No worries. I never read anything as being aimed at me.

Still in training.


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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, July 17, 2021 9:15 PM

Convicted One
 
Overmod
At least now you know something about why the crap is displayed, and why I think it's a sign Kalmbach IT is messing with the physical site code. 

While they are in there tinkering,  I would gladly accept a few floating ampersands here and there if they would  just  tweak the avatar database along with it. 

I suspect Kalmbach IT is nothing more than an Avatar.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Convicted One on Saturday, July 17, 2021 6:18 PM

Overmod
At least now you know something about why the crap is displayed, and why I think it's a sign Kalmbach IT is messing with the physical site code.

While they are in there tinkering,  I would gladly accept a few floating ampersands here and there if they would  just  tweak the avatar database along with it. 

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Posted by Convicted One on Saturday, July 17, 2021 6:10 PM

Lithonia Operator
When I tweaked that photo, the altered file went up as a new photo on the site, so it had a new URL. In addition to putting the new link in the recent post, I also went back and changed the original post's link to the current URL. Maybe that means something to you! It's all Greek to me.

S'all good, LO

Nobody is saying that you should (or even could) have done anything different. I was just sincerely wondering if the code "melted down" on it's own...and that was where my curiosity ended. Angel

Having seen it earlier in pristine form, and then noticing it had changed,...got me to wondering.

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, July 17, 2021 5:46 PM

In case anyone wonders:

HTML is not the only markup language an application might use.  If -- mind you, I say 'if' -- an application that runs BBcode tags that also has an option to format text as HTML has an option to type text into a field... let's say a topic in a forum... and there are special characters in there, it might render them a particular way.  If an editor with 'the wrong stuff' then modifies the text, it might save the HTML code for the character instead of the character so that when it's 'recopied' into the forum software the HTML is rendered as characters.

Now let's look at a few Forum fehlern that have appeared over the years.  See if these codes are familiar:

  or & or  

here's where that cursing shorthand comes from...

HTML was set up to use both 'names'  and number codes (like the alt-### convention on a PC keyboard to type special characters).  It signifies the start of a special code with the ampersand, and ends the code with the semicolon.  To distinguish the name (which might be apos for apostrophe or quot for noncurly quotation marks... you there in the back, put your hand down a moment, I know a couple of those are dismally familiar too) from the equivalent code number, we use -- logically to computer people -- the number sign or pound sign or octothorpe after the initial ampersand and then type the code number instead of the abbreviation.

38 is code for a typed ampersand; 39 is code for apos; 32 is code for quot... etc. ad naus.

Incidentally, if you've been following along, not all clients render both the name and number HTML correctly... at least up to a couple of years ago more of them used the numbers than the original names.  The   is   while the ampersand & is the dismally familiar & I mentioned.  And so it goes...

Now if you're particularly inept about how you rendered your HTML, an application might be too stupid to recognize that a particular string of characters is supposed to be replaced by what HTML code is calling for to be displayed.  So it wags its little tail and dutifully prints out the code as if you'd initially typed it that way... without looking to see if that's dumb in context.

What i proposed to Ashwagandhi (name has been changed to protect their privacy) who was leading the /neo/ team was the aforementioned recursion: when you have a string ready to send as an e-mail, look it over to see if characters that 'mean something' sneaked in and make a special pass when you send or reflect it to use whatever the e-mail client in question expects to see.  (Which at the time most browsers would do... it's simple for the client to say whether the user wants text displayed in HTML or plaintext/ASCII)

This required intelligence and some coprocessing in the server architecture, which Melissa and her minions decided would cost too much for a 'free service'.

It's a far easier fix for the Forum software; you may have noted that not all the different Kalmbach forums had this problem.  Perhaps more of them do now... Surprise

At least now you know something about why the crap is displayed, and why I think it's a sign Kalmbach IT is messing with the physical site code.

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Saturday, July 17, 2021 4:25 PM

Convicted One

 

 
Lithonia Operator
Actually, now that you say that, it may have happened after an edit. If so, that's never happened to me before.

 

I've noticed it happening to me while editing a message that already had existing HTML markup.

But personally, I've never seen it happen spontaneously to code that originally worked "right"...so that was why I was curious. Confused

 

When I tweaked that photo, the altered file went up as a new photo on the site, so it had a new URL. In addition to putting the new link in the recent post, I also went back and changed the original post's link to the current URL. Maybe that means something to you! It's all Greek to me.

Still in training.


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Posted by Convicted One on Saturday, July 17, 2021 2:09 PM

Lithonia Operator
Actually, now that you say that, it may have happened after an edit. If so, that's never happened to me before.

I've noticed it happening to me while editing a message that already had existing HTML markup.

But personally, I've never seen it happen spontaneously to code that originally worked "right"...so that was why I was curious. Confused

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, July 17, 2021 1:29 PM

Now that I've looked at it again, it's either a trailer, or a straight truck with a significantly bent frame...

There is an outfit that supplies vacuum based tankers to the fire service.  They haven't really caught on, as they add a degree of complexity in both operation and maintenance.  They're great if you have to draft a lot to fill tankers, otherwise, a PTO pump, a "quick dump", and a couple of fill ports do very well.

The shape of the tank in question suggests pressure (or vacuum).

 

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Saturday, July 17, 2021 12:46 PM

Convicted One

 

 
Lithonia Operator
his is something that just happens on this site; has for a long time

 

 

Wow, I've seen stuff like this  happen on an edit, or even as part of an original post, but I've never before seen it "melt down" on it's own where it originally was fine but them became corrupt all on it's own.

Truly, I've never seen one site have SO MUCH trouble with their software.

 

Actually, now that you say that, it may have happened after an edit. If so, that's never happened to me before.

Still in training.


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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, July 17, 2021 10:45 AM

Lithonia Operator
My sense of perspective strongly leans to it being a trailer.

As does the number visible on the front of the tank.

I don't think I've ever seen a vacuum straight truck used for bulk solids transfer of this kind, although they certainly build them for specialized service.

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, July 17, 2021 10:35 AM

Lithonia Operator
About the thread title morph:

Well-known issue with conversion between different conventions of Internet content display.

Has to be coded around, ideally with recursive processing.  Lazy Bangalore programmers tend to forget to check when they make changes to code, especially legacy code, and then have to go in and do it again, often breaking more in the process.  Saw it happen repeatedly in the Yahoo Groups /neo/ years...

I see it as a sort of hopeful sign.  Evidently IT is working on the 'stage three' of forum "improvement" and have gotten to the "stage" that they start breaking things in the diversely-modified site code.  With luck they will either fix or replace the parts that are not parsing modified characters correctly.

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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Saturday, July 17, 2021 10:32 AM

You're missing the blower that is behind the trailer that is mounted on a small trailer that gets moved around to help load our resins.  It sucks them out of the hopper cars then blows them into the trailer.  For our blending we have a pair of wrecked covered hoppers that are mounted on steel stands at our warehouse plus a 40 foot trailer that can blend the resins as needed.  The little guy is used for straight single use.  It's powered by a 5.9 liter Cummins 12 valve.  The big one however uses a slightly bigger motor.  It has a 425 Caterpillar engine out of a retired truck from the fleet.  

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Posted by Convicted One on Saturday, July 17, 2021 10:16 AM

Lithonia Operator
his is something that just happens on this site; has for a long time

 

Wow, I've seen stuff like this  happen on an edit, or even as part of an original post, but I've never before seen it "melt down" on it's own where it originally was fine but them became corrupt all on it's own.

Truly, I've never seen one site have SO MUCH trouble with their software.

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Saturday, July 17, 2021 10:00 AM

Convicted One

 

 
Lithonia Operator
Is it sucked out?

 

Was the truck made up of a single rigid frame, or is that tank part of a trailer? With the perspective it's hard to tell If I'm seeing a dept illusion, or not.

If a single rigid frame, it reminds me of the vacuum units that our local street dept uses to clear storm sewers.

 

My sense of perspective strongly leans to it being a trailer.

Still in training.


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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Saturday, July 17, 2021 9:55 AM

About the thread title morph:

This is something that just happens on this site; has for a long time. Always the same characters, interestingly. Usually it appears initially, but this time it hoboed a ride between terminals.  There's no known cure for it. It's a cancer.

Still in training.


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Posted by Convicted One on Saturday, July 17, 2021 9:49 AM

Lithonia Operator
Is it sucked out?

Was the truck made up of a single rigid frame, or is that tank part of a trailer? With the perspective it's hard to tell If I'm seeing a dept illusion, or not.

If a single rigid frame, it reminds me of the vacuum units that our local street dept uses to clear storm sewers.

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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, July 17, 2021 9:48 AM

MP173
That is a transload of either plastic particles or a petroleum based product, probably from the Houston petrochemical area to a storage in transit yard in Streator.  The product is off loaded into pneumatic trailers (Luckey Transportation is a Streator, Il based carrier) for final delivery to end user somewhere in the midwest.

There are several of these type of operations in the Joliet, Il area with sizeable trucking fleets providing final mile (several hundred final mile actually) to destination.  Why not ship all the way by rail?  Often the consignee does not have rail service or does not require an entire hopper car inventory. 

Ed

CSX has terminals in many of the larger cities that it serves under the Transflo banner.  

CSX
CSX has a variety of services to help you connect with our rail network, even if you do not have a rail served facility.

Our Industrial Development team can assist you with building or expanding a rail-served facility.

CSX subsidiary TRANSFLO can move bulk commodities from rail to truck or truck to rail. They handle more than 300 product types, including chemicals, plastics, ethanol, food-grade products, dry bulk and waste materials.

Combine the economies of rail with the flexibility of short-haul truck by using CSX Warehouse Services to connect with independent warehouse sites to store commodities such as food, paper, metal, building materials and other consumer goods.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Convicted One on Saturday, July 17, 2021 9:44 AM

Lithonia Operator
Slightly altered version:

So, did you edit the thread title yourself, or did it change all by itself?  Just curious because the apostrophe seems to have "de-html-ized" itself since viewing this thread last night

Now I'm seeing "What's  going on?"

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Posted by greyhounds on Saturday, July 17, 2021 7:48 AM

 

It's kind of like LCL for bulk commodities.

"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by MP173 on Saturday, July 17, 2021 7:04 AM

That is a transload of either plastic particles or a petroleum based product, probably from the Houston petrochemical area to a storage in transit yard in Streator.  The product is off loaded into pneumatic trailers (Luckey Transportation is a Streator, Il based carrier) for final delivery to end user somewhere in the midwest.

There are several of these type of operations in the Joliet, Il area with sizeable trucking fleets providing final mile (several hundred final mile actually) to destination.  Why not ship all the way by rail?  Often the consignee does not have rail service or does not require an entire hopper car inventory.

 

Ed

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Saturday, July 17, 2021 6:43 AM

Still in training.


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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Friday, July 16, 2021 8:57 PM

There's a man in the cab, actually. I meant to lighten that area up a tad. I may do that and re-post that shot. I had never before seen an operation like that.

 

CO, there are virtually never prints involved. Most of my shots exist only as hi res digital files, and lower res ones are made from the masters. (The shots I’ve posted to that site are 1500 pixels on the long dimension, and the files are greatly compressed. My masters are 3600 on the long dimension and are not compressed, as web JPEGs are.) Once in a blue moon I print one, frame it, hang it on the wall. Very infrequently.

 

Back when I was working, the clients worked from digital files. Most images were bound for offset printing in publications, or used on the web.

 

Portrait and wedding shooters do sell prints, a huge part of their business. But I was commercial/editorial/stock.

Still in training.


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Posted by tree68 on Friday, July 16, 2021 8:47 PM

Convicted One
LOL, I was gonna ask how you managed to decypher that, but just now noticed the "zoom" arrows...my bad.

That's how we learn!

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Convicted One on Friday, July 16, 2021 7:52 PM

tree68
Luckey Transportation.

 

LOL, I was gonna ask how you managed to decypher that, but just now noticed the "zoom" arrows...my bad.

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Friday, July 16, 2021 7:33 PM

tree, I think you nailed it.

Still in training.


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Posted by tree68 on Friday, July 16, 2021 7:22 PM

Luckey Transportation.  

Their website notes that they have vacuum trucks and plastic pellets is one of the commoditys they haul.

They also have a number of transfer sites, like the one in the picture.

Based on the construction of the tank on the truck in the picture, I'm going with it being a vacuum truck.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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