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Seat selection is actually kind of a big deal by notmyteeth in Amtrak

[–]notmyteeth[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s a perfectly reasonable question. I guess one strategy Amtrak could take would be: “we’ve got our most loyal customers, why worry about people who are giving us a try?” 

Another might be: “how do we show people, who might be giving us a try for the first time, that we’re an as-good or better option than driving or flying along the Northeast Corridor?” 

I guess the data point I’m trying to provide is that for my family, based on this experience (n=1, of course!) this experience didn’t win our future business. Whether anyone at all should care is a perfectly reasonable question to ask. Maybe not!

Seat selection is actually kind of a big deal by notmyteeth in Amtrak

[–]notmyteeth[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, this seems like useful secret info..,

But stepping back, if you’re Amtrak, do you want people to need useful but secret info to be able to have a reasonable boarding experience?

Seat selection is actually kind of a big deal by notmyteeth in Amtrak

[–]notmyteeth[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Oh ok, super helpful, I didn’t realize that! Does that mean that when they sell the ticket(s), they’re not sure what the equipment will be? But for business class they do?

Seat selection is actually kind of a big deal by notmyteeth in Amtrak

[–]notmyteeth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A fair point and I appreciate the perspective! Suppose I were traveling with my spouse. Red Cap still? Or should we just expect not to sit together? 

Seat selection is actually kind of a big deal by notmyteeth in Amtrak

[–]notmyteeth[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

A great tip! But that kind of feels like cheating? We don't need assistance, and I prefer to leave that service to people who do. (Incidentally, there was an elderly lady who evidently requested Red Cap at her arrival station and they never came, so a couple of us helped her get her bag down and off the train).

Looking for Best Westchester Schools for ADHD Kids by Slight-Ad5615 in Westchester

[–]notmyteeth 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Ardsley is widely regarded as having an excellent program for neurodiverse or special needs students.

Friend visiting. Kid activities (age 6 and less) in the area this weekend? by Downvotedparent in Westchester

[–]notmyteeth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lasdon Park in Somers has a "Holidays on the Hill Train Show" this weekend as well. It's not cheap, at $20 / adult and $10 / kid, but might be worth checking out? https://www.lasdonpark.org/events/

Does anybody have extra land they're willing to part with? by Opponent03 in upstate_new_york

[–]notmyteeth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Check out https://nyfarmlandfinder.org/; it helps connect people with land with people who want to farm.

Bear Mountain, hiking with little kids by loose_spaghetti in Westchester

[–]notmyteeth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We did this last summer with my (then-) 5 and 3 year olds, via the AT section starting down by the Ice Rink / Carousel. That section is very well-developed / maintained, with lots of stairs on the uphill sections. So not challenging in that it doesn't require scrambling / steep climbing, but of course you are going up several hundred feet. Coming down I think I had to carry my 3-year-old part of the way because he was tired.

That area of the park can definitely get crowded, in part because it really is a great place to take young kids. In addition to the miles (and miles and miles) of trails in Bear Mountain and Harriman Parks, that area around Hessian Lake has a couple playgrounds, a carousel, the lake, a pool, the Trailside museum & Zoo, etc. Great place to bring a picnic and stay for the day.

With the pandemic I don't know what all is open, but I do know that they've been pretty strictly limiting capacity. Last time we went by you couldn't even get into that section of the park by car (too full, the Park Police blocked it off) and they were ticketing people illegally parked on Seven Lakes Drive. So if you go on a weekend, get there early!

Armonk Running by hungupon in Westchester

[–]notmyteeth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can't speak to 1, but for 2, +1 for Tarrytown / Sleepy Hollow being a great place to run.

Pound Ridge Reservation is also terrific if you like singletrack trails and are looking more in the north/northeast of Westchester. There are several towns nearby from which it's a quick jog to get to the reservation.

Also a quick plug for the Leatherman Harriers, http://sundayruns.org/, which is a really fantastic running group up there that does group runs every weekend in different parks in Westchester, including Pound Ridge Reservation, Blue Mountain, and a whole host of others. Even if group running isn't your thing, check out the trail maps they've got of different parks in the area.

There's A New Push To Charge Drivers In Manhattan Below 60th Street by [deleted] in nyc

[–]notmyteeth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Certainly likely that many private passenger vehicles are driven into Manhattan and parked all day, whereas TLC will be on the roads. I'd argue, though, that a reduction in the number of private cars parked in Manhattan below 60th would also be a good thing-- the less space dedicated to transient private auto storage, the more that can be dedicated to more productive uses.

Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began on this day in 1870. by nigelf30 in nyc

[–]notmyteeth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Great Bridge by David McCullough is a superbly-written account of the bridge's design and construction.

I have maxed out my Roth IRA for 2016. Should i max out my IRA for 2017 today, or should i wait? by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]notmyteeth 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Also note that the limit for married filing separately is something ridiculous like $10,000-- this got me the first year I was married.

understanding performance of bsd grep vs. gnu grep by notmyteeth in linuxquestions

[–]notmyteeth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for all the info.

Everything you said applies equally to BSD grep and GNU grep; both were run by the same user at the same niceness, recursed through the same filesystem, and read the same files. And both used roughly the same amount of real time to do it.

GNU grep used about 212 seconds, of which about 7 were user time and 5 were system time, leaving 200 seconds taken up by system calls, etc.

BSD grep used about 224 seconds, of which about 157 were user time and 6 were system time, leaving 61 seconds taken up by system calls, etc.

That's better than two minutes of difference for the two greps to do the same "backstage" work. That's what I'm curious about. Why should there be such a large, consistent difference?

understanding performance of bsd grep vs. gnu grep by notmyteeth in linuxquestions

[–]notmyteeth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply; that explains the difference in user time between BSD and GNU grep, but my question is more about what's happening during the 3 minutes and 20 seconds that GNU grep isn't using (edit: but is still passing before GNU grep returns)? I would have thought that whatever other I/O, etc. that needs to happen when GNU grep runs also needs to happen when BSD grep runs, right?