Author | Lightnews

William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 7h

surely they can't be this dense? Did they see the committee hearing last week where their staff was grilled?

William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 20h

An upside [for Canadians] to the deterioration in the Canada-US relationship is that Ottawa is now more open to the idea of adopting EU standards over US ones. Hopefully this continues to building standards as well.

motorillustrated.com/volkswagen-c...

Volkswagen Canada is Open to Bringing More European Models to Canada if Ottawa allows it - Motor Illustrated

Trade tensions with the United States have led to a push for Transport Canada to review its vehicle safety standards. This could allow automakers to import more models certified for sale in Europe, Ja...

motorillustrated.com

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 21h

"On the Amtrak route between Washington, D.C., and New York City, the highest-trafficked stretch of train track in the country, there are no grade crossings. The last one was eliminated in the 1980s.

There are 331 grade crossings along the Brightline route in South Florida."

A ‘Death Train’ Is Haunting South Florida

The Brightline has been hailed as the future of high-speed rail in the United States, but it has one big, unignorable problem.

www.theatlantic.com

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 3d

I counted five different permutations of "single", "exit", "stairwell", and "stairway" used in the article, including "single stairwell exits". No mention of "single-stair" though

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 6d

Have you gotten any interest from policymakers/transit officials?

William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 7d

This is just letting perfect being the enemy of (very) good. They're going to be used to create a new commuter rail operation for god sake! and Caltrain gets some cash. www.trains.com/pro/regulato...

California governor signs bill banning resale of retired diesel rail equipment - Trains

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law a bill prohibiting state agencies from reselling or otherwise transferring older diesel-powered rail equipment after it has been d...

www.trains.com

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 7d

I feel like it had a nice ending here, but I've heard/seen too many companies ruined by PE to feel too confident in this. Even if you are correct, what value is PE adding to society?

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 7d

This reminds me of something I found in my research that I wanted to ask you about. Is what they are referring to in this screenshot single stack or is it something else?

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 7d

Seeing some of the other replies you are getting, maybe you should do a poll?

William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 7d

Sq. miles. I doubt most Americans (myself included) know what an acre means in practice, but are more familiar with what a mile means.

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 11d

This is the most important quote of the article for me. With the recent reduction in the funding gap, I was hoping this was a possibility as I don't want the governance reforms watered-down just to get to 60% if we don't need it to take effect right away. Glad to hear that is under consideration.

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 13d

Not only do you not know which cars will open, but on UP-N at least drivers are inconsistent with where they stop the train on the platform. At morning rush at the beginning of Ravenswood platform, sometimes you would be near the last car and sometimes it was the engine. Really grinds my gears.

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 13d

Do you know if they will post a recording of it at some point?

William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 19d

super-secret industry lobby group who tried to keep code groups separate

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 19d

Eventually industry turned on the UBC too though

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 19d

Not a book unfortunately! It's from the first of a series of articles in a vintage home magazine. Starts on pg 64 here: www.usmodernist.org/HH/HH-1964-0...

www.usmodernist.org

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 19d

third-party code cost/benefit analysis = "Reviewer 2"?

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 19d

Lots of examples of tribalism in early building code history

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 28d

this was pre-PVC right? were most countries using cast iron or copper at that point?

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 28d

Chicago (only city left that does this AFAIK) still requires lead and oakum joints in taller buildings

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · 28d

previewing @pipedreaming.bsky.social's next report? should include Chicago requiring lead and oakum joints in the year of our lord 2025 in many buildings

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · Sep 21

Maybe! but 2010 SCOTUS did strike down the mandatory Medicaid expansion b/c they saw conditioning Medicaid funding to states on it was coercive.

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · Sep 21

Authors reason that much of the hostility to innovation culture in building code spaces are at least partially due to the fact the building code positions don’t attract fresh blood into the profession. Stagnant talent pool fosters groupthink.

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · Sep 21

Even with multiple model codes, there did not appear to much competitive pressure between them. The code groups looked more like a cartel, each had its own agreed-upon territory.

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William Skudlarek @willskud.bsky.social · Sep 21

This is still quite true even 50 years later. Even with the consolidation of four model codes into just one. Only two states (CA and MD) fully adopt the IRC section requiring sprinklers in all single family homes.

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