To get to the Herew U. library to use my laptop with a wideband server, the old direct 48 bus now runs just twice in the morning, usually too early for me to use for that purpose, and approx. 8:35 pm and 11:30 pm, great for my going to my apartment after a day at the Yeshiva. But after breakfast, the choice is to hike the whole mile, witht he weight of my laptop, or walk aboug 1/ mile and board an 84, from the Mt. of Olives Cemetery, for trip to the Amunition Hill LRT station, and then backtrack on the 34 to the University.
But recently a boarded the 84 snd was the only passenger. The driver said: (trans.) I’m going to the University, not to light rail. I said: OK with me.
The University has johns. The light rail station does not.
I thought, after Amtrak was forced to go to retention toilets that all passenger cars that had toilets had to be equipped with retention equipment - including private cars that are required to have a ‘AMTK’ number to be operated on Amtrak. Most all private owners do have their cars operate on Amtrak from time to time.
I recall reading in the mag, Passenger Train Journal that fishermen in the St. John’s river in Florida complained about being “rained” on by the sewage coming from the Amtrak trains and that is why they installed retention toilets. The fishing was good under the bridge, apparently because of the sewage coming from the Amtrak trains.
Don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t eat any fish caught under that bridge!
There was a reason Lady Firestorm’s mother, a Newfoundland outport girl, wouldn’t eat any bottom feeders! She would make an exception for lobster!
I do remember that Amtrak controversy. The bridge was well posted with “Do Not Walk On Nor Trespass Near The Bridge” signs, but there’s always some dummies who think the rules don’t apply to them. Several got splattered and sued Amtrak. Then Amtrak president Graham Claytor threatened to cut off Amtrak service to Florida if the suit went through.
Long story short, it wasn’t too long afterward the holding tank installs began.
Was watching NCAA Basketball, got frustraterd watching Marshall kick around the Shockers, came in here and found this Thread. Sort of stunned that this one has not gotten itself locked up yet, based on the subject matter…[:^)]
‘Public Facilties’ being what they are, and the general public being ,currently, what they are. In High School, I worked as a baggage agent for our local Trailways Bus Sation, retention tank releases by passengers in the bus station were a problem, a very, fragrant problem. I’ve heard stories by railrioaders of their ‘issues’ in the era of pre-retention tanks on passenger equipment. Some pretty, ugly stuff! In recent years most of my travels have been by auto, so my ‘timing was my own’; old trucker’s tend to be able to pick times, and places, as well. . [:-,] I would guess the train crews are also adept at doing the same…
My understanding, is that these days[ information from ‘media’ tales.] Most large cities have allowed, by ordenance changes;the public displays of natural functions; to take place at the individual’s whim, as to the point at which they unlimber, and let fly. The cop’s are not writing tickets, and per the politicians instructions, and must look in other directions(?) Have not been to NYC or LA or other big cities to witness these new ways of doing things, but apparently, the politicians thing they do this to getr the voter to vote for them…[:-^] Retention tanks on AMTRAK seem like a very good idea. [:$]
Don’t all the inhabitants of both fresh and salt water -eliminate wastes and I haven’t seen any special ‘facilities’ when watching Planet Earth and Blue Planet on BBC America. Everything those animals ‘do’ does eventually filter on down to the bottom - be that a foot or 37K feet down, including the animals themselves when they die. It’s a fish eat fish world in the water!
Yes, and many of them have various kinds of parasite or coliform load that makes subsequent consumption a decidedly unpleasant kind of crapshoot. (Clever reference, wasn’t it?) I wouldn’t want to make book that the general excremental load of a given Amtrak train did not contain biohazardous material, no matter how appealing the whole circle-of-life argument is from a PR standpoint.
Bottom feeders add some additional things to the mix, including heavy metals and a bunch of organic things (remember the fun with fat-soluble material in the Hudson River, both as ‘encountered’ by sturgeon and as dredged for remediation?)
I don’t care for catfish unless it’s farm-raised, as I can often taste the ‘difference’ in natural-caught fillets and I don’t like it. On the other hand, I hope I will see a resurgence in shad before I die or lose too many taste buds; I can still dimly remember my grandfather teaching me how to bone them, and they are among the tastiest of fish.
I had the worst case of indigestion EVER from eating at a Red Lobster 35 years ago. I’d have KILLED to have gotten my hands on a bottle of Alka-Seltzer or Brioschi that night!
I don’t think that particular restaurant is there anymore, so if there’s some of you who go to a Red Lobster on a regular basis and enjoy it don’t be put off by my experience.
Rivers in NE Pennsylvania; I regret that these were stories told when I was very small and I did not think to ask before shad became “illegal” in the early Seventies. It is not at all difficult to bone shad if you know the trick which is turning the fillet knife a particular way to get the extra sets of bones to slide out without detaching from the spine. But I have forgotten exactly how that was done, just as I can’t remember how to re-coil one of those expanding landing nets.
My father told stories of fishing the Shohola gorge, which is a fairly long way from Kingston, so the actual range of rivers might be larger than expected.
Had fried Shad Roe at a Diner in Richmond VA…Disgusting when you think about it.-“Shad is an American saltwater fish, a type of herring that spawns in fresh water at the start of spring. The American shad, a boney fish that is typically three to five pounds each, is prized not for its flesh but for its eggs, a delicacy known as shad roe.”
Interesting. This was before my time, but my grandfather used to fish from Alpine Landing on the Hudson River and would catch shad during the yearly runs. Most of the time, though, he’d come home with stripers or what was locally known as “tommycod.”
According to my father, they were all good to eat!
Both the North and South Rivers we’re famous for shad, and I think remained so right up to the time we had to be saved from ourselves. I am still bitter that my plan to revive the famous New Jersey caviar industry repeatedly failed (now until the effects of remediating dredging have settled down, probably not in my lifetime, followed by the PCB/dioxin free sturgeon growing to proper size…). Hard to believe south Jersey supplied most of the connoisseurs of Europe in the late 19th Century!
It’s a brief overview of the shad fishery on the Hudson, late in the game though.
Grandpa didn’t fish like that though, he just used a pole and a line!
Shad also migrate up a number of rivers on the East Coast, the James and Appomattox here in Virginia for example.
In fact, in April of 1865 when Sheridan punched through George Pickett’s line and broke the Petersburg stalemate ol’ George was away from the front attending a shad bake! Lee was furious at Pickett for being away from his post and relieved him of command of his division, although Pickett’s immediate CO General Longstreet said Sheridan’s force was so powerful there was nothing Pickett could have done to stop it, even if he was there on the front line.
PRO TIP: Hotels have the best, cleanest (they get cleaned a few times a day) public restrooms you will find. There will be many in the lobby or ballroom/conference room levels of the hotel.
I live in Chicago and over time you get to know what’s where, but I do sympathize with visitors. Metra has rest rooms in most cars, though they don’t provide water for hand wash. CTA trains and buses have no facilities, but they stop every couple of blocks. The new parks have been built with facilities, though not always pristine as they are heavily used (Chicago gets 50 million visitors annually). But the city itself provides nothing except associated with government offices, and many of those are secure. This stuff gets cut when expenditures exceed revenues, an increasing issue with cities everywhere.