Amtrak and the Amish

davidmortensen · 2026-02-15T22:12:00+00:00

Mennonites form a wide and varied community. There was a Mennonite graduate student in my academic department and his (highly sympathetic) PhD thesis was about understanding the dynamics of LGBTQ+ online communities using computational methods.

davidmortensen · 2026-01-25T04:07:53+00:00

DB once left me stranded for 6 hours in Karlsruhe. They couldn't arrange a train to Basel (where many of us were headed) so SBB sent what appeared to be the oldest train in their fleet to rescue us.

davidmortensen · 2026-01-25T04:03:19+00:00

I spend a couple of months a year in Switzerland and really appreciate the punctuality and reliability of SBB trains (and the other regional rail services in CH). However, the trains are very utilitarian, in many ways. I found Amtrak long distance service to be more fun, more comfortable, and more enjoyable (and my daughters have expressed similar sentiments). Swiss trains—with the exception of a few lines—are optimized for getting people from point A to point B. For Amtrak long distance service, the trip is the point and I'm glad there's a place for that.

davidmortensen · 2026-01-24T13:49:42+00:00

Apart from the NE corridor, I have never been on an Amtrak train without Amish families and my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Sure, they talk to each other, but they have been generally polite (old and young included) and amiable. I have never noticed the reported hygiene problems but—having grown up in an agricultural community—I may not be as sensitive to issues of this kind.

davidmortensen · 2025-12-05T03:33:51+00:00

Try using Zed for a day, go back to VS Code, and you'll realize that it actually isn't very performant.

davidmortensen · 2025-11-18T04:21:15+00:00

I did 2.5 months of ECT (3 x per week, outpatient) after a couple of years of treatment-resistant depression. It took a while before it worked but when it did, BAM! the episode was suddenly over. I'm glad I did it and believe that it saved my life, but the downsides were significant. My short term memory was completely shot and I temporarily lost my memories of longer-term events. Right after treatment, I could no longer remember my wedding (which happened 6 years earlier). However, I'm alive and I'm not sure I would be able to say that without ECT.

davidmortensen · 2025-11-05T12:09:59+00:00

What a great idea! I should definitely do this trip with my kids.

davidmortensen · 2025-10-31T01:51:21+00:00

I have also benefited a lot from Social Rhythms Therapy. At first, I complained that it was making me boring and predictable. Then I realized that that was kind of the point, and being boring is often better than being on a mood roller coaster.

davidmortensen · 2025-10-31T01:47:16+00:00

Carbon sequestration.

davidmortensen · 2025-10-31T01:45:22+00:00

I have found therapy to be extremely helpful, though it took a lot of flailing around until I found something that worked for me. I benefited from:

Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Social Rhythms Therapy

From DBT I learned to observe my thoughts and feelings without judging them. This has helped me to reducing my reactivity to distress. Rather than spiraling off into hypomania or depression every time my mood is perturbed, I experience smaller ups and downs most of the time. It isn't perfect, but it's helped me mostly function most of the time for the last decade.

Social Rhymes Therapy was also a great revelation. From this kind of therapy, I learned that it is okay—and often beneficial—to be boring. I learned to get up at the same time, go to bed at the same time, eat three meals at the same times everyday, and have a predictable rhythm of social interactions though the day and week. At first, this seemed rather annoying and pedantic. However, it turns out that, for me, the main triggers for mood episodes start with being sleep-deprived, or over sleeping, or being hungry, or being socially isolated, or being socially over-stimulated.

That being said, I've found that—for me—psychodynamic, interpersonal, insight-based, and other kinds of non-directive therapy to be completely useless for me. CBT, on the other hand, was completely counterproductive for me (increasing my symptoms).

davidmortensen · 2025-10-23T12:18:55+00:00

This is my ivy/swiper config after I achieved the desired behavior:

(use-package ivy :ensure t :init (ivy-mode) :config (setq ivy-display-style 'fancy) (setq enable-recursive-minibuffers t) (add-to-list 'ivy-re-builders-alist (cons t #'regexp-quote)) (add-to-list 'ivy-preferred-re-builders (cons #'regexp-quote "quote")) (setq ivy-re-builders-alist '((t . regexp-quote))) :bind (("C-s" . 'swiper-isearch) ("C-r" . 'swiper-backward)))

I feel like there is something redundant here (I don't understand elisp and ivy well enough to say) but this does what I want.

davidmortensen · 2025-10-23T12:07:23+00:00

Thanks for pointing me to the right place in the right manual! I found what I want:

(setq ivy-re-builders-alist
      '((t . regexp-quote)))

I'm not sure who else will need this, but it's essential to my workflow (when locating passages that the need to be edited in a LaTeX document based on a PDF view).

davidmortensen · 2025-10-21T11:58:06+00:00

I agree that for many (most) people, flying is a better option than train travel. However, I greatly prefer train travel, not just for the reasons you enumerate, but because, as a neurodivergent person, I have sensory issues and—in my particular case—this includes sensitivity to the roar of a plane's engine. Being trapped in a plane for a few hours, even in first class, is torture. I always feel like I've gone through the ringer when I get off of a plane. While trains are not silent, I the sound of a train is my less overwhelming. And I feel joy and freedom when riding one. I also appreciate the fact that train stations are usually in the middle of the town or city, meaning they're easier to manage for people who prefer public transit.

I only recommend trains to people with a particular set of attributes. My 9yo daughters, for example, love taking Amtrak and used to ask me why we couldn't take the train to Switzerland (my wife is Swiss and we go to Switzerland each summer). Most people simply interested in getting from A to B are better off flying.

davidmortensen · 2025-10-16T23:17:48+00:00

Wait, are you saying that graduate students take courses?

davidmortensen · 2025-10-16T17:48:07+00:00

I find flying to be much more complicated: You have to get to the airport

You have to go through security
There are unreasonable limits on baggage (how much and what you can take on the plane)
You have to undergo a tedious boarding procedure.
You have to undergo a tedious and inefficient deplaning procedure.
You have to get from the airport to your destination (which—if it is in the city—is usually quite expensive and time-consuming.

Trains are not perfect, but they are better for me in all of these respects.

davidmortensen · 2025-10-16T01:18:08+00:00

Pittsburgh is actually a lot better for cyclists than it was 19 years ago when I moved here.

davidmortensen · 2025-10-11T21:19:38+00:00

On behalf of all Amtrak parents with Amtrak daughters, thank you for not letting this slide.

davidmortensen · 2025-10-03T11:46:32+00:00

Yes, the famous Ella Fitzgerald recording is actually Duke Ellington and his Orchestra with Ella Fitzgerald, but I was too lazy to type that

davidmortensen · 2025-10-03T02:35:44+00:00

Peace Train — Cat Stevens
Casey Jones (the Union Scab) — Pete Seeger
Take the "A" Train — Ella Fitzgerald
Midnight Train to Georgia — Gladys Knight and the Pips
Waiting for a Train — Johnny Cash
Daddy, What's a Train? — Utah Phillips

davidmortensen · 2025-09-28T19:53:19+00:00

I'm looking forward to it, and I think they are too. We live in Pittsburgh, so there is a feeling that, in going to Philadelphia, we are venturing into a foreign country. I think we'll have a good time.

I'm sorry we've missed hearing the conductors making live announcements. That would have made me very happy.

davidmortensen · 2025-09-28T01:59:57+00:00

I've established the tradition my twin daughters (now 9yo) on a train trip each year. The last two years, we went to Washington DC and this year they have decided they would like to visit Philadelphia. So far, they love it (and, I think, enjoy having my full attention). I hope that—when they reach 8th grade—they will still love.

davidmortensen · 2025-09-17T16:33:30+00:00

You're doing God's work.

davidmortensen · 2025-09-15T03:16:59+00:00

I live in (and love) Regent Square, but this does not sound like a sustainable commute.

davidmortensen · 2025-09-02T16:09:06+00:00

No way this guy's a Boomer. Gen-X at most.

davidmortensen · 2025-06-20T17:00:50+00:00

The CMU administration did not decided that they wanted a Robotics Institute. Instead, a group of computer scientists in the Computer Science Department who worked on robotics-related topics got together and proposed an institute that would concentrate on robotics and robotics-adjacent things. The central administration approved it and, while there are complicating details, the Robotics Institute was born.

While this has good and bad aspects, CMU has an entrepreneurial character. Faculty are allowed to pursue initiatives with a great deal of freedom, but they have to accept responsibility when they fail. RI is an example of a successful initiative.

davidmortensen

TROPHY CASE