Merge branch 'main' of https://git.woozle.org/neale/homepage

content/blog/2023-03-07-trains.md

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+---
+title: Trains
+date: 2023-03-07
+---
+
+This year I am trying to spend less time on airplanes,
+as part of a global movement motivated by carbon emissions concerns.
+
+Amtrak, the US national passenger rail company
+(the *only* national passenge rail company in the US),
+is in a really sad state right now.
+They keep getting their budget cut,
+and freight companies have found several innovative ways
+to save money at the expense of safety and passenger rail quality.
+So rail exists in the US, technically,
+but it is not generally considered a desirable way to go.
+Maybe that will change as people seek non-airplane methods of travel.
+
+The place where I work will let me take rail,
+but they won't reimburse more than the equivalent flight.
+This has never been a problem for me:
+flying has always come in more expensive than train.
+
+On this upcoming trip, I have to stay overnight in Chicago,
+because there is only one train per day on each line.
+Even though the train is $315 less than the cheapest flight,
+I am not allowed to apply any of that toward lodging reimbursement.
+
+If you assume people are going to take the option that
+lines up closest to their personal economic interest,
+that's 2 points against the train,
+both of which carry an outsized societal burden.
+
+Point 1: Time
+-------------
+
+My time is worth something to me,
+and taking 4 additional days for a work trip kinda sucks.
+A lot of people will stop considering rail travel based just on this point.
+There's a way to fix this,
+by upgrading tracks so that passenger trains can go much faster,
+and by finally addressing how the mega-long freight trains can't yeild to the passenger trains,
+because there aren't stretches of side track long enough for them to do so.
+(People who would know assure me that the freight companies are well aware of what they're doing to passenger rail)
+
+This fix requires two things: a country willing to spend lots of money on passenger rail,
+and the political will to do something that will make freight companies really upset.
+I'm not seeing that the country is excited about any kind of infrastructure spending,
+much less passenger rail.
+And I'm definitely not seeing a country that wants to hurt any kind of commerce.
+But maybe if more scientists are inconvenienced by rail,
+the winds can shift.
+
+
+Point 2: Money
+--------------
+
+Even though it costs fewer dollars for me to take the train,
+my company is not set up to handle this.
+The result is that I have to pay out of pocket for the hotel stays,
+and I will not get reimbursed.
+
+If taking over 3 times longer wasn't enough to dissuade people,
+telling them it will also cost them $400 that won't be reimbursed
+is going to make rail travel look like a bad decision.
+
+The fix for this is easier:
+my company needs to figure out a way to consider that the train is saving them money,
+and allow me to spend some of that savings on the required hotel.
+I've started trying to see what I can do to make that happen.
+It may take a few years, and depends on senior management caring,
+but I think it has a higher chance of happening.
+
+If enough places figure out how to stope penalizing people for taking the cheaper option,
+maybe there will be sufficient public interest in point 1 for something to happen there.
+

content/blog/2023-03-14-universal-date-format.md

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+---
+title: Universal Date Format
+date: 2023-03-14
+---
+
+YYYY🌍MM🌙DD 
+
+If we use this, we won't have to re-do date formats again when we colonize another planet.
+
+Posting here to bolster any future claim that I thought of this first.