June 19, 2007

N&W History - June 18

Robert Hall 'Racehorse' Smith, President of the Norfolk and Western Railway Company between 1946 and 1958, died on this date in 1960 at the age of 72.

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Thompson & Thatcher

It appears that former Senator F.D. Thompson (R-TN) is is in the UK for a bit of foreign policy work which includes a meeting with Baroness Thatcher. The topic of his speech is, "Strengthening the Transatlantic Alliance" and will be/has been delivered to the Policy Exchange, a think tank that Wikipedia defines as "centre right".1

Your correspondent is intrigued.

Given that I can look up on a bookshelf and see three or four hardcover books written by Baroness Thatcher---and two of which have been read---I would consider myself at least favorably inclined to the old Iron Lady. Although she and I would probably differ on the nitty gritty of economic theories, I think that we would get along, and therefore anything favorable that she has to say about F.D. Thompson would be well received.

Since your correspondent remains a quasi-nostalgic Atlanticist, he considers cooperation between ourselves and the United Kingdom as a good thing. l'd like to read a transcript of the speech, but this thing may be a not-for-attribution event. A buddy of mine in law school said those things are not uncommon in politics, so go figure. If I do manage to run across a transcript, I'll provide it, along with miscellaneous commentary from me. In the interim, don't bother with the comments posted at the end of that Politico article. Between the Pauloids and the random unassociated ramblings of other commenters, it's a good way to induce either a frenzy of self-mutilation or catatonia, the latter not being the late Welsh band with Cerys Matthews.


Alas, Catatonia

The only thing F.D. Thompson needs to do now is figure out how to throw the Bush family and its hangers-on away, and I'd like him a lot more. It says something about the state of my dissatisfaction with our leading candidates that even with Thompson's close ties to the Bush effort, I'm still more in favor of him than I am the so-called 'Rudy McRomney'.

Meanwhile, I appear to have scooped the Llama Butchers. Your orgle is right here, son.

---
1 Admittedly, that sort of language on Wikipedia could mean that their policies put them slightly to the right of Pol Pot or Mao Tse-tung, but it seems to be accurate.

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June 12, 2007

Gratuitous Buck Blogging - June 11, 2007

Gary has the latest installment of Gratuitous Buck Blogging over at Llamabutchers. This episode: Ep. 1.20 “A Dream Of Jennifer” (2/14/80), with special guest star Anne Lockhart.

Gary goes into detail praising Ms. Lockhart by stating, "Cast as Jennifer/Leila is Anne Lockhart, who most of the young male audience (yours truly included) had already formed an attachment to from her role as Lt. Sheba on "Battlestar Galactica" the year before."

Yeah yeah, whatever. Where the Galactica is concerned, Lieutenant Sheba can finish no better than tied for third with Laurette Spang's Cassiopeia. Locked in an eternal battle for first place are Jane Seymour's Serina and Maren Jensen's Athena, both from the early days of the first season.

Anyways. I can finally keep up with Gary now, 'cause I got my own copy of BR25C recently, and woo hoo---Wilma's even better in DVD clarity. I also found the second season of Airwolf, so my backlog of television programs I spent hours of my youth on is being whittled down. Next up? CHiPs. Y'know, 'cause cars always explode when they roll down an embankment.

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June 08, 2007

Penn Central History - June 7th, 1968

NEW YORK, N.Y., JUNE 7th, 1968.

TO ALL CONCERNED:

Account SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY FUNERAL & PARTY, operate extra train from New York, no stops, to Washington, on SATURDAY JUNE 8th, 1968.

CONSIST
1 Baggage car #7534
6 "Congo" coaches
1 Diner #4484
4 "Congo" coaches
2 Diners-twin uni #4608-4609
4 "Congo" coaches
1 Parlor 7-DR #7146
1 Biz car #30 (Kitchen end to rear)
1 Biz car #120 (Obs to rear)
21 cars.

SCHEDULE
PLACE TRAIN ON TRACK #12 AT NEW YORK.
Leave New York 12.30pm
Pass Newark 12.45pm
" New Brunswick 1.05pm
" Trenton 1.30pm
" North Phila 1.55pm
" 30th St Phila 2.05pm
" Chester 2.20pm
" Wilmington 2.35pm
" Perryville 3.00pm
" Aberdeen 3.05pm
" Baltimore 3.40pm
Arrive Washn Terml Trk 16. 4.20pm more...

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June 07, 2007

VDH on OVERLORD

Victor Davis Hanson has a nice article up at NRO about Operation OVERLORD. It is worth reading, in my opinion.

A valuable quote:

Nevertheless, the Normandy campaign reminds us that war is by nature horrific, fraught with foolish error — and only won by the side that commits the least number of mistakes. Our grandfathers knew that. So they pressed on as best they could, convinced that they needn’t be perfect, only good enough, to win.

Worth remembering in the current contest.

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Good Job, Guilford

I gave up a while back trying to understand the exact corporate structure of the entity formerly known as Guilford Transportation Industries, i.e. the Guilford Rail System, whose holdings included the Boston & Maine, Maine Central, and Springfield Terminal railroads. Their recent change in branding to "Pan Am Railways" didn't help either.1

I don't know anyone who sings the praises of this company, but a lot of complaints usually tend to be railfan insults: "The paint job's boring!" "They don't run this locomotive or that! They didn't give me unrestricted access to roam around the Waterville or North Billerica facilities!" Y'know, meaningless complaints.2

However, the Superintendent over at the Cold Spring Shops has dug up an article detailing the latest misdeeds of the company. For more information, read his snarky rejoinder here.

Given the praise I've seen sent his way in the past, ol' PBM might actually be an improvement on Dave Fink. From what I understand, a railroad under McGinnis couldn't pay its bills. Pan Am, on the other hand, won't pay its bills. They've supposedly got the money.

---
1 Wikipedia's Pan Am Railways article suggests that GTI=Pan Am Systems now, which owns the B&M, MEC, and ST. Go figure.

2 For the record, I don't hate PAR; I just don't understand their mindset. Last I heard, they had ex-N&W/SOU motive power running around up there, along with some GP7/GP9s; that counts for something. I do like the two liveries they've used so far. My only complaint is that their ownership of the Delaware & Hudson didn't turn out so great, but the Canadian Pacific seems to have done all right with it.

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June 06, 2007

Joltin' Joe

No, not DiMaggio, but Scarborough.

By now, you've probably heard of the shot the MSNBC columnist took at former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri. If you haven't, see here from America's litter box liner of record. If you want to see it, you know the drill:

A reporter from WFAN in NYC was on just before that and mentioned that she used a pole of some sort as a means of training. Mr. Scarborough then wondered aloud if Mrs. Thompson "works the pole", potentially a reference to er, exotic dancing. On the one hand, yeah, that's a potentially valid reference, to the prior segment, but given Joe's wiseacre attitude and the context of the conversation, I'd suggest a less favorable interpretation just out of pure spite for Scarborough. Perhaps if I liked him more---or if the Red Sox had beaten Oakland last night---I'd be more charitable, but I don't, they didn't, and so I'm not.

Meh, it's not like I watch Scarborough anyways. MSNBC has been dead to me for years anways, and their canning of Imus torched the corpse. To quote a movie, "You dirtbags have been in third place for five years." (Note: I have no idea of what the actual ratings are, nor do I care.)

Anyways, if Fred runs and wins, we'll be guaranteed a good-looking First Lady. Of course, that's not the only reason to support Senator Thompson's candidacy. He does seem, on the basis of what I've read, to have some sense about him when it comes to illegal aliens. Furthermore, he may see clearly on the question of the future course of our strategic policy vis a vis the Islamists, and he doesn't have any of the negatives (to my mind) that Giuliani, McCain, and Romney bring to the table.

Hooray for Fred.

---

This posting has been somewhat overtaken by events. I saw the story here and Mr. Orr has an extended statement here that explains the thing. What's 48 hours behind the rest of the news cycle? Nothing, especially if you're like me who is apparently the Frank Vitchard of the blogging world.

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June 05, 2007

The Republican Debate

Oops, I missed it. I plead being tired from mowing the lawn in the pleasant Virginia heat.

Fred Thompson wasn't there, so I probably didn't miss much anyways.

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Subsim Quiz

What kind of subsim skipper are you?



CASUAL SUBSIM SKIPPER
You fell in love with Aces of the Deep. Your playing style is relaxed, more for fun than historical accuracy. You always play Sub Command or Dangerous Waters from the NavMap (rightclick is your friend), if you ever ventured to play them at all. Probably you prefer WWII subsims like Silent Hunter 3, SH4 and Aces. You may try the manual TDC, but you prefer to leave the auto map contacts on, (blank maps scare you). Even though you know submarine skippers missed targets occasionally in real life, you cannot resist reloading a mission to take another shot at a 10,000-tonne troopship that got away. One ship, one torpedo, finished off with the deck gun--that's the creed you live by.

 

Found at Subsim.com.

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June 04, 2007

Today's Snickers

Shamelessly stolen from Lawrence Auster, where a correspondent of his writes:

How many times do they have to listen to Republican functionaries with names like Gonzalez, Gutierrez and Martinez telling them how good a deal the border sellout is for "Americans" before they realize the fix is in for real Americans?

Ha ha. "But it's good for 'murica if it is like Mexico, because if 'murica is like Mexico, then it is good."

Viva Jorge Busheron.

(Yeah, I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the prospect of amnesty for all the illegal aliens in this country. Y'couldn't tell, could you?)

Also in this vein:

Tee hee.

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The Most Recent Democratic Debate

No, I didn't watch. I had better things to do, like, er, nothing.

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April 23, 2007

What's Today's Good Word?

SWEEP

I know a certain Yankees fan who's getting a phone call in about eight to nine hours.



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April 22, 2007

Hot Dog

This weblog is first among all Google results for fficial&client=firefox-a">"officer wirtz", a fact that I discovered last night while perusing some site data. This is of course a reference to Genevieve O'Reilly, who also was the young Senator Mon Mothma in Revenge of the Sith. A page dedicated to Ms. O'Reilly appears here on the Star Wars Actors Database. Really, she's not a man; call her an actress.

A large percentage of my visits are not for my incisive commentary or snappy wit, but rather Ashley Judd in a Kentucky hockey jersey. And I don't even like the Wildcats.

Being the nice, customer-focused guy that I am, that link will keep being chummed for quite some time.

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April 21, 2007

Giovanni Explained, Partially

While doing the daily read of Lawrence Auster's website, I came across the following link. It is a full-text reprint of Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni's remarks at an event commemorating the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. Incidentally, I saw the end of her remarks via WDBJ video, and was impressed. Instead of sniffling, she seemed almost defiant, a stance with which I agree.

The author (and several commenters) wanted to know what, among other things, a reference to an "Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized" meant. It would seem that the author and/or commenters believed that the reference was fictionalized or simply the ravings of a barking moonbat. Not so.

Without regard for the other substance of Professor Giovanni's remarks, I can explain the reference to the Appalachian infant. It is a dreadful story, one that sparked a spot of irritated annoyance with the company in my circumstance. A toddler, three year old Jeremy Davidson of Inman Hollow near Appalachia, was killed in his bed when a boulder of ~1,000 pounds rolled off a nearby coal mining site and struck the trailer in which he was sleeping on the night of August 20, 2004.

A press release from the Commonwealth's Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy describing their findings is here; the DMME found that, "[the site operator] demonstrated gross negligence by committing the following unauthorized actions that resulted in the death of Jeremy Kyle Davidson.

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April 17, 2007

Local Observations

The nearest major institution of higher learning to me is the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Like someone on a message board I frequent said, "it's hard not to know someone who goes there". Many of my high school class went there, and several members of my law school class wore maroon and orange on a regular basis. Despite all this, I thought nobody I knew was caught up in the Korean's rampage.

I was wrong.

Long-time neighbors of my parents have a son who attends Virginia Tech. He's fine, but apparently some of their cousins were not, their names included on the list of the dead. Blast it.

Meanwhile, I had the chance to travel along Interstate 81 earlier today, and stopped at the Wytheville Wal-Mart. In the parking lot was a car, driven by a youth by the looks of it. Written on the back glass was the speedlettered 'VT' along with the legend, "KEEP THEM IN UR PRAYERS". Indeed.

If you're on 81 in Smyth County ever, you've probably seen the household with the hand-painted (but apparently well-executed) barns at Seven Mile Ford with various Virginia Tech indicia, including that bird. I usually snort amusedly at the thing---again, I didn't go to VPI---but tonight I did a little something different. I wondered out loud if the property owners would do anything different. From the looks of it---and it was brilliantly illuminated at night---nothing has changed, but I'll get a better look at it in the daytime later in the week. Perhaps they will do something; perhaps they will do nothing. Either would be appropriate, in my judgment.

If you're interested, a discussion of sorts is going on over at Grim's Hall as to an appropriate tactical response in such a situation. I myself am inclined to believe that anyone short of military or law enforcement personnel would have been essentially useless in the situation, given the psychological advantage the Korean---I can't pronounce or spell his name and I intend to dehumanize the little monster as best I can---would have had. Every man probably asks himself, "What would I do?" The answer for me is (more than likely) attempt to flee at all costs. About the only thing I carry of value is a pen, but I'm not Joe Pesci and this ain't Casino, so yeah, flight would be my most likely choice, if I wasn't paralyzed by fear.

I would like to think that I, along with others, would have had the nerve to rush the guy. After all, unless the Korean was lifted straight from a John Woo film, he's going to be using a single pistol at a time, and Glocks only carry so many rounds. Further, the Korean would have to stop every one who charged him, while the defenders would only have to stop one "man". This is of course the optimum outcome scenario, but it only prevents some losses. Enh, such discussion disheartens me.

I was unfortunate enough to see some of the National Broadcasting Company's coverage on its program Dateline. All I learned is that good people died at the hands of a pimple-faced geek with a social disorder. At least he's dead; that way, we'll be spared the spectacle of some poor defense counsel trying to make the best of a really bad situation.

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The Second Day

Harrumph. The death toll climbed after my intial posting, and I do not like it. I have not particularly paid attention to the matter, primarily because there is only sorrow there.

Conversation with an emergency medical professional indicated that the casualty list may have increased due to high winds plaguing the area. If this is true, then it may have complicated rotary-wing approaches to the VPI area, forcing the evacuation to be performed solely by ambulance. Given the spaghetti-bowl nature of VPI's streets (or so it seemed to me the last time I was there) valuable time may have been lost.

From a religious standpoint, I always hate these sorts of things. Given my personal nature, I usually wind up cursing the perpetrator of the crime. This is in direct contravention of the generally accepted Christian doctrine of praying for those who do harm to you. I've only managed to pull that off once, and it was nearly a physical effort to do so---it was at the non-denominational service held at my graduate institution shortly after 11 September 2001. I remember most clearly that the words would not come. Then, as now. I have not yet managed to get beyond growling, "I hope he's screaming in Hell about right now." I hope the fires around him are being fed by anthracite coal---I hear it burns nice and hot.

Yet, in the midst of pointless slaughter, beauty. Jesus Christ remarked in the thirteenth verse of the fifteenth book of St. John that, "Greater love hath no man than this, that lay down his life for his friends." It is safe to say that Professor Liviu Librescu conclusively demonstrated that greater love. I don't know much of anything about Jewish concepts of the afterlife etc., but if I had my way about, his arrival in Heaven would have been something on the order of the scene from Return of the Jedi where Emperor Palpatine arrives aboard the second Death Star. Blocking a door so others may escape, buying their lives with yours? That is a man. I can only hope that I could be so brave in the face of death.

Nnnh. I do not look forward to the politico-legal response to this circumstance.

In a meaningless statement of solidarity with those murdered by this Korean loser, an ersatz graphic taken from the Cold Spring Shops has been posted in the right margin and will remain for some time.

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April 16, 2007

VPI Shootings

Yikes, just up the road a couple of hours in Blacksburg:

Lone gunman kills 21 at Virginia Tech

Reports suggest that the gunman is dead. There is no news at this point as to potential motivations or victim patterns. Unverified hearsay reports suggest that the gunman performed execution-style killing of several VPI students. Some survivors have been transferred to the Carilon New River Valley Medical Center in Radford, just off of 81. Cripes, that must mean that whatever's in Blacksburg has been filled up.

The VPI&SU website has been overhauled to provide details on the matter. As of 1240 hours, 22 are dead.

I had a couple other things planned for today, but there is no value in posting them now; perhaps tomorrow. This publication's prayers and sympathies are with the victims and their families.

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April 13, 2007

Adios, Imus

Don Imus is gone and I will miss him.

Well, not that much. I got through college listening to Don Imus on the local radio station. Between Mike Breen, Bernard McGuirk, Patrick McEnroe, Charles McCord, Warner Wolf, the occasional Laura Ingraham, and yes, even the old man himself, I could arrive at school in a proper frame of mind to face the stoners and the starry-eyed fools that populated a lot of my classes.

"The daily dose of mean", I think I called it.

Imus in the Morning was a refreshing counterpoint to whoever was running NPR's competitive morning broadcast---Bob Edwards, maybe---and it certainly beat the local morning yuksters. You could get a global news perspective that didn't involve five-minute dronefests---Ira Glass, lookin' at you---about how awful U.S. policy in Upper Son Volta was and how that affected the lives of transgendered activists for animal peace there. Also, there was no Andrei Codrescu. At least, not without the possibility of Imus or McGuirk saying something nasty back to them.

Imus also wasn't John Boy and Billy; the exquisite value of that simple fact cannot be overstated. If you've ever listened to those Charlotte-based boobs, even the worst of Sid---good riddance---Rosenberg can be tolerated. I was given a free choice between NPR, Imus, John Boy & Billy, and the local clowns; the choice was Imus without hesitation.

To be blunt, I don't care what he said to the Rutgers players. One of them reportedly whined that she was scarred, perhaps for life, as a result of his comments. Oh, please. If I was 'scarred' every time someone made a disparaging remark about my ethnicity or regional origin, I'd look like I got in a hand-to-hand fight with Edward Scissorhands, Freddy Krueger, and Marvel Comics' Wolverine. I don't, despite a pretty constant string of insults against rural white Southerners being issued from the vile City of New York and other such places. I even had to smile graciously when insulted in law school by similar slurs. Yet, here I sit without 'scars' or the need to have Al Sharpton raising a ruckus supposedly on my behalf. How's that, you say? Simple: Use a line I learned from Imus, and growl "Idiots..." under my breath

My message for the Rutgers players? Grow up. The world isn't about you or your pathetic ethnic insecurities.

The president of NBC News has given us a profile in cowardice. I saw him the other night---Wednesday, perhaps---whining something about being the steward of the good name of NBC News. I openly laughed at the guy; the network that airs Today and has some level of responsibility for Keith Olbermann's waste of the EM spectrum really doesn't have a "good name" left.

I am bemused by people who whine that his remarks were demeaning to blacks, women, whatever. I, like Cal Thomas, see something odd where Imus' remarks are offensive, yet the latest rap single on BET is a celebration of black culture, all while using pretty much the same verbiage to describe black women.

I tuned out of IITM once I got to law school, where my travel patterns no longer coincided with his place on the AM dial. Oddly enough, I tuned in yesterday for the heck of it. Pretty much the same as always, shilling for money and some functionary slobbering over how great Imus was for raising money for some cause. Little did I know at the time that it would be the last. Well, fine.

That will be all, Charles. I hope he moves to XM.

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April 09, 2007

Earth Without People

While reading the Wikipedia article about the Pennsylvania Railroad's Hell Gate Bridge, I stumbled across the reference to it lasting a thousand years if humans vanished tomorrow.

The assertion is made by a man interviewed for a Discover magazine article about what would happen if we suddenly weren't here. It doesn't sound like one of those fringe ecological articles that hopes we're gone; rather, I picked up that it was merely a statement of supposed fact.

Anyways, it's kind of creepy reading what the City of New York would look like as the years ground on. Read the whole thing.

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April 07, 2007

Unwelcome Theories

There are days in the world of MSTS when you want to strangle someone. Today is one of those days.

Some chap posts the following on a message board:

I have been pondering this one: For MSFS there is an API called FSUIPC, which allows the interfacing of 3rd party custom models with the simulation. Through FSUIPC, we are able to use functionality in aircraft models, which have not been within the scope of the out-of the-box program.

Now, for the new train simuator, let me imagine the following scenario. Imagine the new simulator out of the box does only have a limited functionality regarding EOT devices, like the current version. With the current version we helped ourselves with the creation of a car, which looks like an EOT device. It works, but honestly, it does not really cut the mustard for known reasons.

Now if in the new simulation, there would be a TSUIPC functionality, we would be able to make a working EOT device, which would be rendered at the last car and feed-back the relevant information to a new custom gauge within the locomotive cab. (End of Imagination)

On the top of that an API like this would enable to fully customise how a given locomotive model works, down to simulation complex systems. It would enable the user not to have to rely on what the box provided, but what the community is able to come up with.

In other words, what he wants is the opportunity to spend more money. Pete Dowson charges for FSUIPC at this point, and has for some time. Let me imagine the following scenario: Someone makes TSUIPC and charges for it. No.

I am not enamored of solutions that involve giving third party vultures the opportunity to insert themselves into train simulation as they have for flight simulation. The original poster is an FS devotee, and quite frankly, I don't care for his opinion. A fair amount of the FS apparently loves spending money and driving out freeware or Microsoft-created functionality. No thanks; one of the reasons I enjoy railroad simulation is that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. This is contradistinguished from flight simulation, where PMDG charges sixty bucks or so for a 747-400.

Our poster also dreams of "full customization" for how a locomotive works, apparently tacking on additional layers of overhead on the processor. Oh, let's make this game even more demanding on hardware than it already will be. Sure thing!

To once again quote Joschka Fischer, "I am not convinced." What's the point? If Microsoft are able to shoehorn some sort of intelligent FRED into the game, who needs TSUIPC (and the probability of additional costs)?

There's one response so far, and it's the sort that makes you want to throw something at the poster:

I'm a bit of an evangelist for it, but I've already seen some awesome things done in FSX with the API. I look forward to the future when people can build add-on products (other than planes or trains, things like environmental add-ons) that use SimConnect and can be cross-platform between Flight Sim and Train Sim.

I have actively loathed the term "evangelist" as applied to bloody software since 1996-1997 when I first heard it. A guy told me he was an evangelist and I asked him what for, expecting the Southern Baptist Church or something similar. He told me, "Apple", and you could have knocked me over with a feather.

To the point, I have heard this fantasy of FS/TS interoperability before, and I've yet to figure out what the value of it is. His dream of add-ons that are useful in both FS and TS seems irrelevant; they're simply very different modes of transportation and I don't see anything that could benefit the simulation railroader from the simulation pilot's world. Navigation's a whole different ballgame, and as for environmental add-ons, who cares? Trains run at ground level, where the weather's a lot different than at FL350. A weather add-on? Forget it; already exists in the FSX engine. I'm not paying a red cent for what Microsoft already provide for free in their game engine.

This sounds mean and nasty, and it should. I have no interest in railroad simulation being turned into the high cost replica of flight simulation. I don't think the railroad simulation interest group should be dragged to FS economies just because a couple of people think it's a great idea to hamstring the basic program in favor of some half-wit API.

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