Netfoot

The train appears to have begun it's run on the west coast, somewhere quite far north. Seattle, maybe?

That would indicate very poor planning & space allocation on the train. You don't have to be a genius like Mr. Wilford to know you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. That is one very real possibility. Another is that he missed the train and Melanie Cavill is pretending he is on board and that she consults him. Or perhaps she is Mr. Wilford, and is avoiding the mantle of fame so as to remain effective as an executive officer? There certainly is more to Mr. W that will surely be revealed in later episodes. Hmmm. Short scene where Melanie puts the W badge on upside down, therefore making it a M badge. A portent? Because Chekhov's Pistol.....

Steven Ogg plays the part of Simon.....

Don't know if this is the right topic, but: I've taken some screen-caps from episode #1 intro, looking at the map of the route. Starting on the West coast, the train travels down through he Isthmus of Panama, makes a loop through South America, and back via the isthmus again. North on the East coast (ish), diverts through the Great Lakes, up through Newfoundland & Labrador, passing West of Greenland. Looks like it crosses over or near the north pole, travels south over Yuzhny Island and into Northern Europe. Down through the Iberian Peninsula, over the Straights of Gibraltar, around the West coast of Africa as far as the cape, then Northerly again near the East coast. We have no more route than this. However, we can see a number of waypoints on an earlier map, showing a path East, from around Suez, through Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, down through Malaysia, across the Timor sea into Australia. From there back North through China... ...and (presumably) across the Bering Straits and back to the starting point on the West coast. This route differs from the one we saw in the movie, but the essentials are pretty much the same.

My error -- I offer my apologies.

I have googled a bit. The maximum size of rolling stock is determined by the tightness of curves in the track, and obstacles (bridges, tunnels, etc) that must be negotiated. The largest carriages appear to be boxcars for freight, and they come in a variety of types. The biggest seems to be an "86' Auto", for carrying car parts, appliances, and other bulky goods. They are 86'7" long, 9'6" wide and 13' high. If you were building specialized cars to carry aquariums, farms, etc, it would probably be wise not to exceed this general dimension if you wanted the carriage to run on standard rail lines. At this stage we don't know if the train runs on a standard gauge line or specially laid track. The train consists of 1001 cars which would imply a length of 50,800'3" or 9.62 miles of train. But this does not include the space between individual carriages, because I don't have any figures for that distance. I would guess a minimum of 5 feet? This would add another 5x1,000=5,000' or nearly another mile, to the overall length. So, well over 10 miles long. And to my eye, the carriages on this train are much larger than normal, so... Neither. It isn't taking a Great Circle route. This map supposedly shows the route of the train: As you can see the train reaches South America by traversing the Caribbean island chain, somehow, and returns North via the Isthmus of Panama. (Or is it the other way around?) It also crosses the Bering straits and a bight of the track even runs out over Japan and Korea. Perhaps track was laid over ice, as the world slowly froze? The map also shows a track loop up into Greenland, and there is no land bridge to Greenland....

I just love this show! The level of insanity is just beyond belief. And at the end of every episode, I never know if it was all tongue-in-cheek or whether the madness is actually real!

Of course, because I am not a dick. But there is nothing that says I have to. And nothing that says they get to vote on who sleeps in the master bedroom, and who chooses the channel on TV after eating my dinner. Anyway, as been mentioned above, the tone of the thread has changed, and since I don't want to get bogged down in a heated discussion over the moral and ethical values of the matter, I will make this my last post on this subject.

I deny the truth of this. You suggest that "I and my guests" were the cause of the global freeze. What, the remainder of the planet didn't drive cars thereby polluting the atmosphere and depleting all sources of hydrocarbons? The po' li'l Tailies never dumped garbage at the side of the road or poured used engine oil down the drain? Was it the 1% whose slash-and-burn agriculture cut down the Amazon rain forest? Did they use dynamite to simultaneously catch fish and destroy their habitat? Nah. My party guests are NOT responsible for the rain storm. Certainly no more so than the passers-by who got caught up in the unexpected downpour. All they are guilty of is having the foresight to erect a marquee.

But I would have been perfectly within my rights to give them nothing at all. The "crust and backwash" is more than they have any right to expect. Equally, an "insufficient umbrella." They have no right to claim that because I have more comfortable spaces or better food available to be enjoyed by my invited guests, that they, the interlopers, should get an equal share. Or any share at all. Now, in the context of this show, we must assume that no supplies or materiel are available from outside the environment of the train. Nor will there be, in the future. So yes, it would make more sense to me, to treat everything on the train, every empty tin can, every piece of string, every bottle-cap, and the Tailies themselves, as a non-renewable resource. And I would think that we could manage with slightly less smoked salmon and caviar at the front, in order to provide something better than homogeneous ick-bars at the rear. But I don't think the Tailies have any right to demand this, because they have no right to it. Any more than the passers-by have any right to my champagne or my Rolex at my Christmas party.

No. Ejection is sufficient. But of course, under the circumstances ejection is tantamount to slaughter. So, despite being in a position where they would normally be ejected, they have been allowed to stay. Scenario: I'm having a party in my garden to celebrate Christmas, and my friends are all invited. Suddenly, an unexpected downpour causes a number of passers-by to seek shelter under the marquee. Not being a complete dick, I allow them to stay. That does not mean they are entitled to sit in the chairs reserved for my guests, eat up the Christmas feast, drink my booze, or help themselves to the presents under my tree. If I give them a beer and a sandwich, they should consider themselves lucky I am so generous. Because, if they start with the "inequity" bullshit, I just might throw them back out into the rain!

PT/INR results: too high. Change dosage; retest in 2 weeks. Active virus cases have remained at the same level for a week now, and two new cases yesterday. Need these numbers to go down!

I knew coming in this was not going to be anything like Eva Green's Penny Dreadful, but I thought it might still be good. And so far, I still think so. Natalie Dormer is killing her role as multi-faceted daemon. And she is exquisite in each persona. Heh! I noticed that. But then, I always count the rounds (7). And there are pistols with seven rounds (even eight!) in the cylinder. I just don't think it too believable that one of them happened to be on some rioter's belt! She has done so for us to see, when she visited the doctor with her son - she manifested the bodies of both mother and son with apparent ease.

Don't know why. All the relevant details were shown in this episode, and to my recollection, nothing like this happens in the movie.

I saw the original movie, and while it didn't actually suck rocks, it wasn't what I'd call top quality cinema. But there is no reason that the basic premise (last human survivors on a perpetually circling train; inevitable conflict between the haves and the have-nots) could not be made into a great TV series. I'll keep watching in the hope that the show is at least as good as - and hopefully better than - the original movie. Besides, it isn't like there's a whole lot else to watch. I'm down to three shows a week, one of which has one episode to go, and one of which is this! If I can hand-wave the technology in other series, I can hand-wave perpetual motion in Snowpiercer. (The power actually comes from hydrogen fusion; the train has to keep moving so it can scoop up enough deuterium from the fresh-fallen snow in order to keep going.) Yeah, I can easily talk myself into believing it, if it doesn't get too ridiculous!

I doubt standard gauge tracks would support the train we have seen. I watched for some indication of increased track width and didn't see anything definitive, but some of the scenes showed interiors that looked much wider than any standard carriage I've ever been in. But if a double line of track (two lines side by side) existed, you could design a train to run on the two outer rails, capitalizing on the full width. And dual lines seem pretty common, i my (limited) experience. But whereas there is (obviously) a standard width for standard gauge track, there isn't, as far as I know, a standard for spacing between two lines of track. So the spacing of the outermost two rails on a double line might easily vary from region to region. Or maybe not.

So, a fairly accurate portrayal, then?

I watched a lengthy address from the PM yesterday. (She has completed her convalescence after her recent operation.) A playback speed x1.75 works good for that stuff. There are new changes to the quarantine/ lockdown beginning on Monday, which will take us into Phase #3. We stick with alphabetical shopping days but relaxed to the full day each day instead of half-day. I was Tuesday afternoon and Friday morning, now all day, both days. Businesses allowed open now include many service-type operation as well as appliance stores (so, technically I shouldn't have bought the fan on the 5th?), florists, barbers (but I'm not keen to have anyone man-handling my face just yet), and so forth. Beaches now open from 4:00 to 6:30 PM as well as previous morning hours. Non-contact sports now allowed, no surprise because May is, after all, the start of the cricket season! I guess this includes Glider Guiding and R/C flying too, since no contact is required. As one member said on WhatsApp: "Social distancing: You throw the beer and I catch!" But I won't be taking advantage, much as I'd like to. It would be OK to go and just maintain Social Distancing with the other pilots... but I don't know how to explain the concept to Budweiser. He will want to go and rub his head on all his friends, one after the other, and I don't want him to be the Typhoid Mary of this pandemic. I could go and leave him at home... but no. So these changes are slightly more convenient for me. I see Dr. Kristi early on Tuesday morning for a PT/INR blood-draw, and to get her prescription for stuff I'm running low on. But now, instead of twiddling my thumbs until 1:00PM, I can go directly to the pharmacy to collect the meds. Also have to get a prescription from Dr. Karen, but she don't need to see me, so I'm hoping I can arrange it over the phone and she can call it in. I now have twelve packages ready for pickup, including those styptic pencils I ordered from Amazon! Godnoze how they got here so quick. The packages also include 11 books from two different series, but as you'd expect, the first book of each series still languishing in never-never land. Those books might be released this evening or Monday, but who knows? Just for reference, my Eafengrow EF97 pocket knife with the D2 steel blade and titanium handle has been stuck in the system for exactly six months today. Wet Market Sickness numbers continue to improve, with only 13 active cases remaining. Heard that initial estimates were as high as 1,200 to 1,600 deaths, and we've had seven! Some may see that as evidence the whole thing was a storm in a teacup. I saw the rocketing numbers abruptly checked the day the country went into lock-down, and turn abruptly down after two weeks (incubation period) of quarantine. So, I choose to believe that things would have been much worse were not steps taken to manage the situation. And as someone who pays the pharmacy every month to suppress my immune system, and who, a few months ago, was found to have lungs compromised by "dozens of blood clots," I'm happy to adopt a Just-In-Case stance. Two weeks to the start of the hurricane season. ("June, too soon..." You know the rhyme, right?) Hmmm. Generally, I am pretty sanguine about the hurricane season, but seeing as the past year or so has graced me with (to name only a few) an auto-immune disease, kidney cancer, clotty lungs and now a global pandemic, I think this year a good category 4 or 5 storm is pretty much guaranteed! Bangers and mash for dinner, I think.....

We're doing well here, with plenty of grub in the house, probably enough for four months. Naturally, the fresh food will run out much faster than that. But I will be going to the pharmacy every couple of weeks, and said pharmacy is inside the supermarket. So, I can lay in supplies of fresh fruit & veggies to keep the diet more healthy, and stem the tide of beriberi and scurvy. My breadfruit is all gone. It was delicious! Had to eat it all before it started to spoil, so it was breadfruit with every meal until it was gone. Prolly a good thing we're on lockdown, because... you know... breadfruit! Heidi on WhatsApp was complaining that she couldn't find a breadfruit. Dunno why, there were plenty in the shop, but then she shops Mondays & Thursdays. Besides, as I told her, she once cut down a breadfruit tree! So, she can't complain if the gods prevent her from ever enjoying breadfruit again..... Tried a curry. Originally locked down with no curry powder so was keen to lay in some last time I shopped. No Chief's no Lalah's, not even any Ecaf. Was forced to buy a brand I wasn't familiar with, something out of Guyana. Guyanese curry is usually quite good, but this brand, not so much. The packet said use one teaspoon and I used two heaping tablespoons, yet the taste was very mild and there was no heat. If I use more and more curry powder to compensate, it will run out faster. You can compensate for the lack of heat by throwing in a bonny pepper, but that doesn't bring up the flavour. Bud is fine, but a huge pain in the butt. He comes begging for food every 15 minutes, and wants the door opened (so he can go out) all through the night. Since I'm having trouble sleeping, I really don't appreciate him rousing me up when I do actually fall asleep. He stands with his feet on the bedside table and his head out the window, with his mouth all ready in pre-bark mode. If so much as a leaf blows, he creates a huge fuss to be let out to prowl the yard. Even if I ignore him, which I usually do, I still get dragged backwards out of the land of Nod. Trouble is he sleeps all day so he isn't tired at night. Whereas I can't sleep soundly at night, so I'm tired all day. The Bat Soup Sniffle numbers continue to improve, with active cases trending down quite comfortably. Alas, one more case discovered today, so that is unfortunate, but in general it looks good. Gotta get myself that PT/INR because I've been bleeding heavily from small scratches that seem to come out of nowhere. Today was pretty bad. I know viscosity is affected by what you eat, and I have not been eating normally for the last 52 days. So maybe Dr. Kristi needs to tweak my warfarin dosage. I've ordered styptic pencils from Amazon, but godnoze when they will get here. I have 23 books I ordered before the lockdown, which are still outstanding. They are now starting to come in, but in reverse chronological order, which is annoying.

You can get an injured arm in a crash, whether you are driver or passenger.

So did I.

There were plenty of sparks when he was the tough guy FBI, and she would upstage him by whipping a .50 caliber revolver out of her purse and blast the baddie with it.... As for Nolan, there is no reason he can't be single, as others have said. The occasional date -- maybe with catastrophically funny results? It could be a thing. But TPTB will probably want to force the issue because they think the fans (i.e. you and me) will demand it.

$1,600+ later.... Left home at 12:20 so as to be at the door at 1:00 when it opened. Still had to wait in a line outside. Went in and got a 20" fan! Thank goodness. Also, a ladle for the next time the stew turns out soupy. Then PriceSmart, followed by the supermarket/pharmacy. Long lines to get in, and long lines to get out again. Wasn't on my way home until 4:45. But as well as fresh chicken and steaks, minced beef, curry powder, soy sauce, bread, cheese, hen fruit and cow juice, etc, and a mass of tinned stuff, I also got fresh onions, potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkin, a medium sized breadfruit, even mandarins and gala apples! And a guy in the parking lot begged me to buy some of his tiny mangoes for a buck each, so I took ten and gave him $20, because honestly, he looked hungry. No scurvy for a little while yet, then. Oh, just as we were driving out of the lot, Budweiser went completely nuts, because a troop of green monkeys (bull, two females, two young) were casually walking across. Took me 10 minutes to calm Bud down! Now I'm home, I drank a beastly cold malt, and sat here to catch my breath. I just wish I had the strength to unpack the car! Because the new fan is under that pile of groceries. Dr. Kristi sent to say I should look to come in for my PT/INR. Maybe I'll venture abroad again in another two weeks. And I never got near the optical place, so...

@Spunkygal, I don't know how I would have survived the 44 days at home without Bud for company. He is an irritating rascal most of the time, but I love the demonic creature, and overall I enjoy his company. Just don't tell him I said so! I hope you soon meet up with a four-footed friend who needs you.

Yesterday was the last day of the quarantine/lock down! Sort of... As of midnight yesterday, the lock down entered Phase #2 which is exactly like Phase #1 except with more things allowed/essential. For example, you can now go for a sea bath (but between 6:00 and 9:00 AM only). You can buy rum again, but not for public consumption. Laundries, pet supply stores, landscaping, and a handful of others businesses have now been re-opened. Plus a buncha government departments. So, since landscaping is now OK, I put Buddy in the van and drove up to the club. (Didn't take me long to remember which pedal did what.) I know he has been going nutty, cooped up in he house for the last 44 days, and I figured I would enjoy some fresh air as well. Given that it's over six weeks since anybody cut the grass, I thought the grounds around the club might need some work, but to my surprise there was little growth. I guess there hasn't been much rain up there, although it's rained here almost every day. Any way, I wasn't actually feeling that well, so I decided not to get the mower out and do a cut. Bud ran around and sniffed everything and peed on everything. He roamed away hundreds of yards, and only came back when tired and thirsty, to lap from his water bowl, before heading out again. Finally he was tired enough to stand still for a photo with his dad, and shortly afterwards, when I saw him preparing for a nap, I slung him in the car and brought him home again. Our shopping days (by alphabet) are Tuesdays 1:00 to 4:00 PM and Fridays 8:00 to 11:00 AM. Good thing because I am down to the wire with regards meds, and desperately need some fresh vegetables. Dinner tonight was bully beef stew that was mostly liquid. Perhaps it was a soup? If it wasn't for a small piece of butternut squash, there would have been no 'bits' in it at all! There is 3 months food still in the house (and 1 month for Bud), but the lack of fresh vegetables would make that a pretty miserable 3 months! So, tomorrow, the pharmacy & supermarket are a priority. I will also try to get a replacement fan for the one that fritzed out early in the lock down. It's a sweltering night again, and I'm sitting here with the liquid pouring off in rivulets. And of course, my spectacles decided to go get busted again. That's twice since the lock down began. First, one of the nose pads fell off, making it very uncomfortable to wear, and just a few days ago one of the right side arm/limb/thingy fell off completely and had to be reattached with nylon cord and CA glue, in non-folding mode. I really don't have the $1,200 it will take to replace them, and they do need replacing because the lenses are in disgraceful condition! But I've been told where to find the place where all specs are made and buy direct for a lot less. If they can make my current pair comfy to wear, I will see about ordering a brand new pair, which should take a week, probably. So, tomorrow will be a busy day, with the hardware store, the pharmacy, the supermarket, and the optical place. And if (as I've been told) no bread is to be found in the supermarket, I will have to find a "bread shop". I suppose I could go direct to Purity Bakeries... And I have exactly three hours to do all that, including travel between one place and the next! Thank goodness I don't need to visit the barber.....