Necessary correction! You’ve saved us from the embarrassment of being demoted to marginally perilous (Earthlings prefer being mostly harmless, of course).
As an occasional listener to TAL I’m wondering how you feel about RadioLab, particularly the older series with Robert and Jad. I’ve always felt RadioLab and TAL fit within the same cabinet in my mind
Side note, but if you're trying to sell off this stuff, you better do it soon. Train nuts like this are a dying breed. Probably will all be mostly worthless in a couple decades, along with commemorative plates, or the "good china" your parents never use.
Market is hot(ish) now though, or was a few years ago. A friends dad died and he had trains. We helped ebay all of it. Owned a toy store or something, lots of rare stuff (like window displays). We even had a guy buy one of the rare posters, return it for questionable reasons, and then start selling counterfeits. Even so, the grand total wasn't a ton of money, more within the "worth doing" category.
To me it seems there are more hobbyists than ever. It's finally "cool" to play DnD, Covid gave hobbies a big boost and people yearn to do something away from screens.
There have been some articles lamenting that the space isn’t available as easily anymore.
But I think it’s a combination of “toy trains” being pushed out of the “hobby” so fewer new kids are introduced to it (the Lego Train clubs get some heat and hate and generally are disregarded by the “real model trains” for example) and that the “train obsession” has other ways to discharge these days.
Many people who would have built elaborate basement models instead spend their time perfecting Factorio or Minecraft worlds (any sufficiently advanced sandbox game becomes a train simulator).
I think the period of the trains might go out of date, with a few exceptions — though it might return to fashion once it's beyond living memory.
So a collection of model steam trains might lose value, as fewer people have remember them in use, but the hobby can continue with high-speed electric trains etc.
The TVA comparison is spot-on, bureaucracy across realities is universally soul-crushing. Severance's work/life divide feels like our quantum break room that exists in multiple states (you never know what you’ll find in the fridge). And yes, Everything Everywhere captures that cosmic-meets-mundane vibe I'm after. Corporate structures and cosmic physics share an absurd truth: both function through rules nobody fully understands but everyone pretends to follow
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the riff and associations. Have you see TAB ? Do you feel there's any Fight Club connection? If you haven't seen either (for a while) they are definitely worth a rewatch!
This article brilliantly demonstrates the elegance of simplicity in systems design, proving that even complex concepts like operating systems can be demystified with clarity and minimalism. It's a reminder that understanding fundamentals often unlocks deeper innovation. How might this inspire rethinking other "big" systems?
HN ostensibly tries to have thoughtful, engaged conversations. LLM grammatical cleanups and translations are absolutely fair game. The comment has certain hallmarks (broad, sweeping summary, certain word choices, ...) suggesting that an LLM had more creative liberty than HN really likes to see -- in sort of an Uncanny Valley situation, it's hard to tell if the LLM produced the post or if a person did (plus, somebody apparently went digging and didn't see a lot of value in your other comments while also finding self-endorsements, which paints this one in a worse light).
You might have better luck with prompts that try to adhere better to your intent:
> English is not my first language. Please correct the spelling/grammar and perhaps teach me up to one idiom that would fit well in the following comment, but leave the meat of the message largely the same.
> Please translate the following [franglish/spanglish/(English mixed with a few words from your native language as appropriate to better convey your point)] to English suitable for a forum post.
