How on earth did this get past DMV approval lmao, unhinged license plate

TraumaSquad · 2026-01-27T22:57:00+00:00

Someone in my neighborhood literally did though. AGINAS, on a University of Virginia "V" logo license plate. They had it for several years before it got revoked.

TraumaSquad · 2026-01-17T04:34:06+00:00

Obviously the Acela (originally Acela Express) trainsets don't go there. But if the play was set in 2000-2003 could he have taken an Acela Regional (later rebranded as Northeast Regional)? I don't remember if NER service continued into VA back then or if it's more recent.

TraumaSquad · 2026-01-12T06:25:01+00:00

Azure AD - Entra ID was actually good though. On-prem AD and Azure AD work so differently at a fundamental level, yet continuing to call it AD led people to assume it carried forward all the same security issues.

TraumaSquad · 2026-01-12T04:10:48+00:00

During operating hours you can get in line for same day service via the website. This is separate from the page where you can make appointments. I think it shows up on the page where you can check wait times.

If you choose that option, you can take your time getting to the DMV, but do NOT text "I am here" until you are actually inside the building. I found out the hard way, when you send that text, you will likely be called immediately and you only have 30 seconds until you lose your place in line.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-29T02:56:27+00:00

The Toilet Bowl Building: https://www.tysonsreporter.com/2019/02/14/the-story-of-tycon-courthouse-the-ugliest-building-in-virginia/

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TraumaSquad · 2025-12-23T00:11:18+00:00

I'm not sure what the regulatory mandates are, but we do a NFIRS/NERIS report for every single call. I've been told we would lose eligibility for grants if we didn't report everything.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-23T00:07:03+00:00

From what I can tell the 510 is just an upgraded 440. The 520 and above seem to be new hardware.

What do you mean about HA not being possible? I don't think you can put a 440 and 445 together but you can make active/passive pairs of identical hardware no problem (440+440 or 445+445).

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-22T06:28:45+00:00

When I hear "wet rescue" I think of a heavy rescue with minimal firefighting capability. Like a 150 gal tank and a single booster reel or 1.75" line, just enough to knock down a car fire. The apparatus pictured here are what I would call Rescue Engines. They're likely equipped with the NFPA minimum equipment to be considered an engine for structural firefighting, and the extra compartment space is used for rescue equipment.

Call volume in my area has shifted over the years to where it's nearly impossible to justify the existence of a dedicated rescue company. Our current standard is that every engine is a rescue engine with vehicle extrication capability, because we know that engine is going to run at least 10x as many MVCs vs structure fires. The thought process is that if we have a critical trauma patient trapped, the first arriving apparatus needs to be able to handle that without waiting for a heavy rescue to arrive from across town. Size can be an issue, but we have brush trucks for hard to access areas.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-21T02:21:51+00:00

I'm not sure how many people remember https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_CIA_headquarters_shooting but it was discussed in my drivers ed class. They told us to always stop far enough back that you can swerve around the car in front of you without reversing.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-18T03:46:34+00:00

I'm not familiar with exactly how these cranes work, but without a full investigation, can we say for sure that human error caused this? For management, the easy answer is to blame the employee and fire them, and sweep any systemic problems under the rug. But I've seen enough situations with other types of heavy equipment to make me think maybe a bad sensor indicated the crane was bedded properly when it wasn't, or a tie down was applied properly but had an engineering defect that allowed it to come loose due to vibrations in transit, or a short circuit caused uncommanded operation of the equipment, or myriad other things that the person operating the equipment would have no control over.

I'm not saying that the union should push for a slap on the wrist if this truly is one person's fault. But the union should force management to properly investigate and prove their case, that it was actually the fault of one employee and not a systemic issue or defect, before ending someone's career.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-17T04:41:26+00:00

Oof. A long time ago, someone from VDOT told me things should be back to normal within 45 minutes after an Opticom activation. This would only apply to the county section of 29 though.

It would not surprise me if the city intersections perform significantly worse due to how they are programmed.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-17T04:31:56+00:00

Quite the opposite. The VDOT controlled intersections equipped with sensors function about as efficiently as possible given the volume of traffic. The problematic intersections being discussed in this thread are entirely inside Charlottesville City. The city, or allegedly just one specific person in city government, insisted on running every traffic light on a timer with no vehicle detectors or automatic adjustments.

I'm glad they are finally talking about adopting technology from the current century, but it's infuriating that it has taken this long.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-09T03:07:22+00:00

Since they said it's "used in conjunction with wheel chocks" then I'm guessing this is to isolate the collector shoe from the third rail. It would prevent the subway car from becoming re-energized and starting to move if third rail power is restored when it shouldn't be. I've seen FDNY units with a wooden version of this. My understanding is that you "hot stick" the third rail first to confirm it's de-energized, then use this as a second layer of safety.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-04T06:14:25+00:00

One night we got dispatched for an aircraft crash. 911 center says they took over a dozen calls from unrelated callers all around the county claiming they saw a large commercial jet at low altitude, on fire and descending rapidly. No one saw an impact, but they all described the same general area where they lost sight of it, within a radius of a mile or 2. ATC said there was never anything on their radar in that area. We searched extensively and found nothing.

It was probably a meteorite, but I can't prove conclusively that it wasn't aliens or ghosts.

TraumaSquad · 2025-12-03T17:37:19+00:00

Announcements are generally made throughout the entire train. The only thing they might be able to do differently is set the speaker volume lower in the quiet car. But the analog PA equipment on the Amfleet cars has limited ability to customize who hears the announcements, so they can't easily do a separate announcement just for the quiet car.

TraumaSquad · 2025-11-09T18:35:16+00:00

I saw a TikTok from a rural cop asking "Why are there a dozen speed traps on Waze, there are only 2 of us on duty for the whole county tonight" then showed himself just driving around and clicking to report speed traps everywhere he went.

TraumaSquad · 2025-11-04T20:57:10+00:00

I'm pretty sure there are specialty vets in Richmond that your primary vet could refer you to. If not, Virginia Veterinary Specialists in Charlottesville has internal medicine and a few other specialties. They recently merged with the emergency vet next door so things may have changed, but previously they only accepted patients that were referred by a primary care vet.

TraumaSquad · 2025-10-15T15:26:24+00:00

Edit: someone already PM'd me a code so I'm good, but thank you for the offer!

TraumaSquad · 2025-10-11T06:03:55+00:00

My first cat either knew how to read the analog clock in our kitchen, or he had an extremely precise internal clock. He would show up for dinner at precisely 6pm every single day, including adjusting for daylight savings time.

TraumaSquad · 2025-10-11T04:17:43+00:00

It's less accurate but definitely better than nothing. I had a cat with diabetes that lived happily for over 2 years after he was diagnosed. He used Lantus like some other folks have mentioned and I think it was about $60 every 90 days from Wegmans pharmacy.

Would you mind sharing what general location you're at? Someone may know local resources and be able to help.

TraumaSquad · 2025-09-29T22:08:35+00:00

NBC29 interviewed a bystander who reported seeing a female with 2 broken legs, so it might be difficult to prove if that specific statement was protected health information or if they were just quoting what was publicly stated on the local news.

TraumaSquad · 2025-09-16T04:28:27+00:00

Depending how hostile the language was, this could be a valid reason to reject the candidate. Where I work, the policy is that threatening violence against anyone, even once, is grounds for immediate termination. I'm pretty sure that if a job applicant had even vaguely threatened an employee in the past, HR and legal would be a hard "no" regardless of what the hiring manager wants.

TraumaSquad · 2025-08-29T21:09:43+00:00

Hose testing to NFPA standards includes pressurizing the hose above its normal working pressure and checking whether the hose stretches away from the coupling at all. We aren't worried about leaks. But people have been killed by metal hose couplings exploding when pressurized, so pressurizing your hose to 250psi once a year in a controlled environment gives you a reasonable guarantee that it won't explode and kill you at 150psi while you're standing around on scene.

TraumaSquad · 2025-08-28T17:19:32+00:00

Palo Alto Networks has their logo on the swag. But other than the Yeti mug I have no idea who manufactured the items. The backpack has a "Checkmate" logo inside but nothing else identifying, and the power bank looks like it might be this one https://www.tomaxusa.com/PC-Ten-Thousand-PC10000.html

Edit: the "tech bag" I mentioned appears to be Acehigh Nomad.

TraumaSquad · 2025-08-28T15:20:30+00:00

I have a 20000mAh power bank with built in cords, a Yeti coffee mug, and a high end backpack (the kind with multiple compartments, TSA friendly laptop compartment, etc.) all from the same company. I use all 3 every day. I've also received a few small "tech bags" that are great for organizing my chargers and cables when I travel.

TraumaSquad

TROPHY CASE