BaltACDNaomi Judd (C&W Singer) died today with the family listing her as having succumbed to Mental Illness at age 76.
"Mental illness" can cover a lot of ground, but we don't need to know the particulars. Some things should stay private if the family wants it that way.
Rest in peace Naomi. Go sing with the angels now.
Naomi Judd (C&W Singer) died today with the family listing her as having succumbed to Mental Illness at age 76.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/naomi-judd-dies-singer-mother-of-wynonna-ashley-judd-dead-age-76/
She didn't pick train as her preferred method. RIP the Peace you didn't find in life.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BEAUSABREa police officer assigned to a "Special Victims" type task force. He started out sympathizing with women who had intimate pictures blasted across the Internet by ex-boyfriends
There it is. "Don't put anything out over the electromagnetic spectrum..."
I do shake my head over today's tech-savvy kids (of all people) making mistakes like this.
The only mitigating circumstance I can think of concerning this is it's becoming such a common practice that's getting to be unremarkable. Soon the attitude may very well change from "Oh WOW!" to "So what?"
Deleted by poster
York1 John
Flintlock76 In particular I read a story about a police officer assigned to a "Special Victims" type task force. He started out sympathizing with women who had intimate pictures blasted across the Internet by ex-boyfriends (or girlfriends, let's not be bigoted) as "revenge porn" but grew to resent them as they were soaking up an inordinate amount of time better spent investgating physical abuse and assault. His attitude was, "What sort of idiot agrees to pose nude in front of a camera with no concern for whether the photos/videos will get out? You agreed to do it. Unless violence or threats of violence were involved, live with your mistakes, the way the rest of humanity has to."
charlie hebdoRisk/reward evaluation. The device whether through car electronics or people's smartphones** should simply warn of train coming. No need for other data.
The problem is that the devices can track actuation. And this can tell people with 'access to the data' (like Apple, or companies allowed to use the information) where the front of the train is, where the back of the train is, and how fast the front end is moving at particular crossings... which will tell you enough about the type of train. Remember that the smartphones are already doing this by default for 'differential' GPS enhancement -- a necessary thing given the drift of many of the GPS chipsets as their phones heat up and cool down.
I really liked the idea of an app that could track grade-crossing occupancy in real-time, with dynamic GPS-navigation instructions avoiding trains, suggesting alternate routes, counting down time for crossings to clear, warning about trains on other tracks, etc. Nifty as hell... but it tells people where the trains are. Railroads don't generally like that.
charlie hebdo** Smartphones are just fine, the Luddite reactions by some elders notwithstanding.
I don't think it's so much a Luddite reaction from us geezers as much as the realization of one of life's great lessons, which most of us learn sooner or later:
"Too much of a good thing is bad!"
Risk/reward evaluation. The device whether through car electronics or people's smartphones** should simply warn of train coming. No need for other data.
** Smartphones are just fine, the Luddite reactions by some elders notwithstanding.
You know, there is a battle I fought, and lost, in the 1970s and then again, in a different context, in the 1990s. It remains a somewhat attractive option today... if the obvious issues can be addressed.
Back in the days of CONELRAD, there was discussion that as part of developing FM portable and car radios, there be circuitry installed that would turn them on, adjust volume and in some cases auto tune, and broadcast the appropriate tones for the EBS system. Some people regarded this in a sort of tinfoil-hat sense as the camel's nose for PRC-style pervasive propaganda broadcasting... and the idea didn't go far.
But it would be highly logical to use a similar system in cars to produce an alarm near an active railroad crossing, or if sensors detected imminent 'fouling' of a crossing to activate the general warning. This would turn your car radio on and transmit an appropriate warning... at one and the same time removing one of the likely distractions and noise sources masking bells or horns and providing immediate warning messages.
The 1990s extension would be to implement similar bridging to 'Walkman' devices (using a small FM tuner chip as appropriate) so that wearers of headphones within range of track, or more specifically locomotives on the track, would be alerted through the phones when a horn or other 'protection' was activated.
It would of course be trivial to put this in 'smartphones' whether they connect to handsfree equipment or not. And that would be more 'bang for the buck' than one-way FM radio broadcast...
... except that railroads do NOT like to have their traffic and train lengths recorded and analyzed, and the results used for purposes not rewarding the stockholders. Or for terrorism, robbery, and other things, some of which we've discussed comparatively recently. Speed or location, length, and frequency could be trivially extracted from 'connected' smartphones, including those perverted into the wireless-telephony equivalent of bot nets or Stuxnet-style exploits.
And of course it begs the question of whether warning of an oncoming train actually dissuades 'suicidal trespassers' rather than actually letting them know "opportunity is coming knocking".
BaltACDGetting today's juveniles weaned off electronic devices and keeping those devices from impinging upon their 'personal space' is next to impossible.
I know. It's pathetic. It truly is.
I don't know if the inventors of "SmartPhone" technology planned it that way or if like Doctor Frankenstein they're asking themselves "What have we done?"
Flintlock76 BaltACD Smart phones bring the outside world - worldwide, national, local and personal acquaintance right into a person's bedroom and personal space. Bullying takes many forms and when some of those forms get inserted into someone's personal space it creates even more pressure on those that are least able to handle it. Don't they realize the damn phones have an "off" switch?
BaltACD Smart phones bring the outside world - worldwide, national, local and personal acquaintance right into a person's bedroom and personal space. Bullying takes many forms and when some of those forms get inserted into someone's personal space it creates even more pressure on those that are least able to handle it.
Don't they realize the damn phones have an "off" switch?
The 21st Century tells everyone entering it that you 'must be connected' or you will lose out. What you will 'lose out' on is immaterial - you will lose out.
Parents want to keep 'close tab' on their children and would probably punish them in many cases if they found them with the phone turned off. Phones, smart or otherwise are not the only devices that kids are entwined within - Ipads, Chromebooks, laptops - in today's world most schools provide or require students to have one of those devices in the normal course of their education.
The world as it exists today is no where near the world that most of us grew up in or for that matter raised our own children in.
Getting today's juveniles weaned off electronic devices and keeping those devices from impinging upon their 'personal space' is next to impossible.
Backshop Flintlock76 BaltACD Smart phones bring the outside world - worldwide, national, local and personal acquaintance right into a person's bedroom and personal space. Bullying takes many forms and when some of those forms get inserted into someone's personal space it creates even more pressure on those that are least able to handle it. Don't they realize the damn phones have an "off" switch? I agree. You also read about people telling the whole world their innermost thoughts and everything that they do. They don't have to know and it just gives them more fodder for their attacks on you.
I agree. You also read about people telling the whole world their innermost thoughts and everything that they do. They don't have to know and it just gives them more fodder for their attacks on you.
You know, in the Marines (And I'd imagine just about every other service) they taught us:
NEVER put ANYTHING out over the electromagnetic spectrum or unsecured line you don't want anyone else to hear! You might think you're talking to good ol' Joe from the second platoon, but chances are it's good ol' Ivan!
Good words to live by concerning communications that I live by to this day.
BaltACDSmart phones bring the outside world - worldwide, national, local and personal acquaintance right into a person's bedroom and personal space. Bullying takes many forms and when some of those forms get inserted into someone's personal space it creates even more pressure on those that are least able to handle it.
Flintlock76 York1 Some research is showing that much of the increase in depression and suicidal thoughts among young people may partially be linked to smart phones and social media (not the bullying in the news). I have to wonder how much is due to the 24-hour news cycle with a constant drumbeat of crisis after crisis, doom report after doom report, and the typical "If it bleeds, it leads." Bad news from parts of the country and around the world we wouldn't have heard about years back we certainly hear about now. They've got to fill up that air time and can't be repetitious. I could see how it might affect some overly sensitive souls to believe everything's hopeless and the next world's GOT to be better than this one. Not like the olden times when there were only three major networks with local and national news broadcast only from 6:00 to 8:00 PM and then "Film at 11:00."
York1 Some research is showing that much of the increase in depression and suicidal thoughts among young people may partially be linked to smart phones and social media (not the bullying in the news).
I have to wonder how much is due to the 24-hour news cycle with a constant drumbeat of crisis after crisis, doom report after doom report, and the typical "If it bleeds, it leads." Bad news from parts of the country and around the world we wouldn't have heard about years back we certainly hear about now. They've got to fill up that air time and can't be repetitious. I could see how it might affect some overly sensitive souls to believe everything's hopeless and the next world's GOT to be better than this one.
Not like the olden times when there were only three major networks with local and national news broadcast only from 6:00 to 8:00 PM and then "Film at 11:00."
Smart phones bring the outside world - worldwide, national, local and personal acquaintance right into a person's bedroom and personal space.
Bullying takes many forms and when some of those forms get inserted into someone's personal space it creates even more pressure on those that are least able to handle it.
York1Some research is showing that much of the increase in depression and suicidal thoughts among young people may partially be linked to smart phones and social media (not the bullying in the news).
I realize we're off-topic, but ...
Some research is showing that much of the increase in depression and suicidal thoughts among young people may partially be linked to smart phones and social media (not the bullying in the news).
Many families and social groups have replaced physical interactions with online socializing.
BackshopIt happened a few times in quick succession and things like that normally bring copycats because now it's "okay" for them to do it.
Copycatting is real. Back in New Jersey in the 80's several high school students decided to commit group suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Parked the car in a garage, closed the door, turned on the ignition and waited for the inevitable.
Next thing you know over several ensuing weeks there were more in other towns. Why? God alone knows why.
Starting several years ago it seems copycat suicide by train on NJ Transit lines began when one was reported as an SBT. Then the others began and haven't stopped, averaging at least one per month. Now they're reported as "tresspasser strikes," probably so as not to give any others ideas. Maybe most are tresspassers who don't know any better or who just don't think. Who knows?
charlie hebdo You don't understand what empathy is. Not the same as sympathy.
You don't understand what empathy is. Not the same as sympathy.
Backshop charlie hebdo A bizarre story against the odds but it demonstrates the statistic that firearms are the means of choice. No empathy? No, that just says that I worked at a gun range. I'm sure any railroad engineer here has their stories where trains are the focus. Does that mean that trains are the means of choice. Or an ER doc would say he's seen more intentional ODs. Does that mean that drugs are the means of choice? As far as empathy, I had loads of it for the person with PTSD. The other two, not as much. This might sound cold, but the biggest fear that I had was someone accidentally shooting themselves or someone else. You make sure everyone knows the rules and you give a safety demonstration to all new(er) shooters, but you never know what they might do. I'd feel terrible if someone I instructed got wounded or killed. I made peace with myself on the suicides in that that's what they wanted and they didn't hurt anyone else.
charlie hebdo A bizarre story against the odds but it demonstrates the statistic that firearms are the means of choice. No empathy?
A bizarre story against the odds but it demonstrates the statistic that firearms are the means of choice.
No empathy?
No, that just says that I worked at a gun range. I'm sure any railroad engineer here has their stories where trains are the focus. Does that mean that trains are the means of choice. Or an ER doc would say he's seen more intentional ODs. Does that mean that drugs are the means of choice?
As far as empathy, I had loads of it for the person with PTSD. The other two, not as much. This might sound cold, but the biggest fear that I had was someone accidentally shooting themselves or someone else. You make sure everyone knows the rules and you give a safety demonstration to all new(er) shooters, but you never know what they might do. I'd feel terrible if someone I instructed got wounded or killed. I made peace with myself on the suicides in that that's what they wanted and they didn't hurt anyone else.
It might help if you actually read other posts. I said it demonstrates the statistics that show guns are the means in over 50%of suicides.
It happened a few times in quick succession and things like that normally bring copycats because now it's "okay" for them to do it. Unless you're wearing headphones, it's kinda hard not to hear a blaring train horn. If you're that drunk, you probably couldn't walk there in the first place.
There were 3 suicides at the gun range that I worked at. I was there for two of them. The first one, I had empathy for the victim, but not so much for the other two. The first one was a young woman who suffered from PTSD. She was from Iowa and was treated at the VA in Battle Creek. The treatment wasn't successful because she had the cab driver drop her off at our range near the Detroit airport. She shot several different guns and seemed happy-go-lucky until "that moment". The second was a middle aged man going through a divorce. The strange thing was his children were all adults so it wasn't a custody thing. In fact, one of his sons called up and apologized to us. The third one was the strangest. He was a 21yo Marine from Oklahoma, stationed at Camp Pendleton. He came in two nights in a row and did it the second night. Nobody could explain what he was doing in Michigan.
After that, us and the other big stores/ranges came out with a unified policy that we won't rent to unknown customers unless they are accompanied by a friend. We haven't had any suicides since then, to my knowledge.
Backshop zugmann I wonder what true numbers really are, as I'm sure many suicides are still ruled as "accidental", esp in close-knit smaller areas. Several years ago, there were several people killed on the GTW just north of Detroit in Royal Oak. There was a lively nightlife downtown right next to the tracks. They were trying to get the railroad to fence off the RoW. They claimed that people went out and got drunk and didn't hear the trains when it was obvious that people got drunk so that they had the "courage" to commit suicide.
zugmann I wonder what true numbers really are, as I'm sure many suicides are still ruled as "accidental", esp in close-knit smaller areas.
I wonder what true numbers really are, as I'm sure many suicides are still ruled as "accidental", esp in close-knit smaller areas.
Several years ago, there were several people killed on the GTW just north of Detroit in Royal Oak. There was a lively nightlife downtown right next to the tracks. They were trying to get the railroad to fence off the RoW. They claimed that people went out and got drunk and didn't hear the trains when it was obvious that people got drunk so that they had the "courage" to commit suicide.
In what way was that obvious?
Still in training.
BackshopWhile there are many more of them, our population has also expanded greatly. People don't commit suicide because they have a gun. They commit suicide because they are despondent and the gun is merely the vehicle that they use. They could also OD, jump, start the car in a closed garage, etc.
The gun is far more likely to be fatal. With most other means, the person can change their mind and or initiate but then get help. I had or heard from colleagues of several of the latter over my 35 years of clinical practice. Guns are far more lethal.
Also, I gave rates per hundred thousand, not absolute numbers.
After too many sucides by train, Japanese RRs several years ago decided to sue the estates of those choosing this method of dying. The stated reason was protection of engineers from the ensueing trauma. I do not know if this reduced suicides or not. This may have worked because of the specific demographics involved.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
While there are many more of them, our population has also expanded greatly. People don't commit suicide because they have a gun. They commit suicide because they are despondent and the gun is merely the vehicle that they use. They could also OD, jump, start the car in a closed garage, etc.
It's sorta like the whole opioid crisis. While not discounting immoral doctors and a specific drug company, many of the addicts would've been addicts of something else, if not opioids. When you have all these 20-30-somethings claiming that they have serious pain from injuries and that's how they started, it's mainly BS. People that young normally don't have traumatic injuries like that. They're just good actors when they go to the doctor's office.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.