It's an update!

Have you looked at Tilley lamps? They have mantles and run on paraffin (kerosene) but need to be started with methylated spirits.

I love that you've gotten a whole stearing assembly just to demo turn signals.

GmCity

I like the hair

Andi Kettu

Be sure the power strip you bring has a fuse or circuit breaker! The recent videos about extension cords and in-wall wiring makes me wonder how the train cars are wired - what's the supply, where's the panel, what amp is the breaker, what gague are the wires? Cool to hear the Empire Builder is so nice. I haven't been a big Amtrak fan since I learned Greyhound is both faster and cheaper. As a kid, I spent 3 agonizing days with my family on a train from Seattle to LA - and 3 more back. Train troubles and track use meant hours-long waits, and Amtrak put us on a Greyhound more than once during the trip. Not to mention our cars can use the same bituminous tarmacadam as the Greyhound. Could you imagine the congestion if we each had a personal train?

Stephen Gillie

Do they still lose money on a $10 burger?

Martin Deutsch

I was thinking that, too. I'm in western Massachusetts and I've definitely lived in places that weren't super rural but didn't have a grocery store closer than about 20 minutes away.

Circuitmike

Wait, BBC 4 is going off longwave once the last of the special tubes dies?? No more shipping forecast? NO!!!

Circuitmike

20 minutes drive to a grocery store isn't really remote.. just saying..

Felix Wong

My recollection from my childhood cat having this issue is that the prescription stuff isn't a ploy per se, but rather that it's poorly labeled. I believe the prescribed food simply has a very high sodium content to force the cat to drink and therefore pee more.

Jerrad Pierce

I'm not going to bury the lede...rants about hair(not)cut.

I took a round trip on Amtrak between San Jose and LA once, and it was a neat experience. The train to LA was delayed by several hours, so it was night time and a chill ride, and I ended up having a great conversation in the gallery car with 3 other riders.

Michael Dunn

Malvern is a town in England which still has some street lighting worked by gas mantles. By the way, to my Anglo Saxon ear, about your hair, I heard "It will get sordid soon" ho ho.

Peter Bryenton

very glad to hear that you and your kitty are doing well now. looking forward to future content, whenever it may come about!

We have a male cat who had a urinary blockage a couple years ago. As a result of that experience, we learned that cats don't have a very strong thirst drive, as they have evolved to get a large amount of their water intake from their food. Of course, that doesn't happen if they eat mostly dry kibble. So, perhaps the best thing you can do for your cat's urinary health is to feed him canned food every day. You don't actually need to buy the "prescription" stuff, as that's mostly a marketing ploy, but you should strive to buy high-quality food. Check CatFoodDB.com for ingredient and nutrient analysis of a huge number of brands. It's like the EWG guides except for cat food. One other thing: definitely concur with the other commenter who recommended a cat fountain. Cats prefer to drink running water, and your cat will consume more water from a fountain than he will from a bowl. And yes, taste matters, so bottled water may be your best bet.

Matt Whitlock

The train ticket doesn’t cost that much because it represents the cost of the ride plus profit. It costs that much because it has to help defray the costs of all the long distance routes that Congress forces Amtrak to run where they hemorrhage cash. Also being a monopoly helps.

Ryan Butler

Any chance that your 1990s new-old-stock gas lantern might come with a thorium mantle? Would love to see a Geiger counter reading of it if so. :)

Matt Whitlock

A potentially fun bit of cross-over reference or collaboration for the turn signal video is Ian Charnas' windshield-wiper radio synchronizer; possibly via signal-wiper synchornization?

Jerrad Pierce

You could send that steering wheel to The Lockpicking Lawyer for some fun Youtube cross-creator action!

clickallnight

Demand-response (DR) and off-peak electric DHW is very old tech, used to be pretty common in the 70s among rural electric co-oops. Related topics that might be worth tieing into thermal storage/demand response in buildings are: phase change materials and industrial ice machines as thermal batteries, and economizers (AC bypass that draws in cool outside air if it meets certain temperature/humidity criteria) Also the recent bruhaha in TX about people not understanding the DR of their smart thermostats, although it's possible the operator was not using them properly only doing peak-shaving and not shifting some of the load to pre-cool before trimming the peak.

Jerrad Pierce

Our Coleman propane lantern got smashed yesterday unpacking after a weekend of camping. Odd to tune into this today and see you trotting one out.

Kevin Tessner

I wish all the best for Reed, we also used to have a black cat from when I was about 10 years old, this fellow also developed numerous of bladder problems... We had to take him to the vet a lot, but in spite of that, he managed to live for over 20 years! Yes, Reed reminds me a bit of him ;-). Cool that you're going to take the train trip, I wanted to travel by train from San Francisco via Chicago to New York, when I had to go to California for work, but everything went so quick (end of November: start new job, December: maybe you need to go to California somewhere next year, mid of January: confirmation, you'll have to go there for the whole month of February, flights directly arranged) no time for staying any longer in the US... I'm curious to hear about the experience for an American with the Amtrak. I travelled already many times with the night and day trains in Europe. Funny fact: most of the Americans I know here in Switzerland don't even have a car: they do everything by train! Because it can! And your hair: when I was 15, I decided I wanted to try long hair. Never cut it again afterwards ;-).

MrHammond

Glad your kitty is doing better!

Chuck Sembroski

Glad to hear that Reid (Reed?) is doing better. Southwest Chief! Woohoo! I've wanted to take the SWC from Los Angles to Chicago and based on past experiences on other long distance Amtrak lines I would also get a roomette.

Don Eitner

Sounds like time for a crossover video with LockPicking Lawyer! Except he's in NJ...

Stephen Gillie

Suggestion: you could get a lock picking set to unlock the steering column. It's shockingly easy to do with most locks. And this might in fact be an interesting video in itself! Though, depending on how much of a backlog of ideas you have it could also prove to be a dangerous distraction. Yak shaving anyone? :-)

I had a cat with the same issue, and ended up on a prescription food. Completely eliminated the problem, I hope it does the same for you (and keeps those pesky ER Vet bills at bay) and your little pal.

Honorary Octopus

Imagine if we each had a personal train, how congested would be the nation's rails. We'd need millions of rails, with cities becoming grid-iron.

Stephen Gillie

If you're spending so much time in traffic that you're trying to sync turn signals with the car in front of you, consinder turning off your engine. Stoplight idling is a huge source of pollution in cities, and it takes a very, very tiny amount of fuel to restart the car. (Unless your car is "exciting" in the way that you don't know if it will start again.)

Stephen Gillie

Alec experienced literal gas lighting when he was young.

Stephen Gillie

You and me are in the same hair boat. My last one was in March 2020 - since then I've recovered from a terrible undiagnosed lung issue - and had a day-long relapse over a year later. I'll get my hair cut when we can all go sit around in a barber shop without masks on. Thanks for making these videos.

Stephen Gillie

First, I've lived vicariously through your hair. I too have wanted to do that, but have never really had the nerve. Plus I have ultra-normative family that always asked when I'd get it cut. Coworker of mine bought an Z-Wave heavy-duty smart switch and wired that inline with his water heater to turn that on & off again whenever his smart hub told it to.

Jason Wellband

I also second the idea of a rambly-vlog-style video from your trip! Like you said, other people may have already done that, but they’re not you, and I think a lot of us would appreciate, and greatly enjoy, watching and hearing about your experiences and learning new things along with you on this journey!

I would absolutely be interested in a silly (potentially rambly) v-log style video about a train with a sleeping car. trains are pretty cool, and because america hates trains for some reason - I (not american) don't have much of a grasp on what the experience is like, or even what it would look like outside... desert? i think deserts.

Gord Allott

Would you mind saying what region this is? I'd really like to see general lighting like this if it's not a long way away, and if it is noticeably different I expect others would too.

Jeremy

This should help your Honda problem. https://youtu.be/u8ep9_O3HbQ?t=68

Milo de Villiers

Our cats have gone to zero urinary issues after we bought a water fountain for them maybe four years ago. Many cats prefer to drink from moving water and it is a low cost preventive measure I'd recommend. They are also mainly on a pellet diet preventing urinary problems, just not one of the expensive brands.

Mars Mountain

Using your home as a heat battery reminded me of storage heaters, which I think are primarily a British thing: electric heaters which contain clay bricks. They heat up the bricks overnight, then the bricks emit heat during the day. There's also a 1970s solution to charging less for power overnight overnight: the electricity meter receives a switching signal from a data subcarrier on the long wave transmission of BBC Radio 4. (This is on borrowed time though: the transmitter is valve-based and there's only a handful of spares left. When they run out, the transmitter isn't being replaced.)

Martin Deutsch

You look great with yours!

Samuel Fout

I let my hair get to its longest point ever during pandemic. Didn't get professional cut the entirety of march20 to april21. Got one or two home cuts where she just kept it from becoming unwieldy (it grows thick for me). I liked how it looked but it was very high maintenance. Won't be able to pull it off back when I go back to being a professional in person worker soon..

Samuel Fout

Love taking Amtrak sleeper car, compare the travel style and prices more to a cruise ship (which I'd never do, given the industry's behavior, particularly in the last year.) I met some lawyers who got a month travel pass and they could jump on/off the train when/wherever they liked for the month. So jealous. Also much love to Reed. Stress (changes in your life patterns) may also exasperate his bladder issues. Not to stress you out about it...

Sierra Mistystep

You mentioned that you have a collection of books to read for videos. Would you be willing to compile a list of "recommend reading"? I've been meaning to read more and I think I would love to take a peak at your book list. Thanks for the update!

Software Defined Redneck

I am also on the Starlink list. I put my money down months ago but only went outside and tried the app for deciding where to place it. I had expected to need to put it at the back of my lot and was really surprized that it wants to be right up by my house. The app is really easy, you just turn on the camera and walk around your yard until there is a clear sky. If you can't find a clear sky through your trees, you may need to elevate. It appeared that I only need a 45 degree cone from center normal to earth surface. Also, I am not getting rid of my cable internet. Instead, I am going to run in fail-over because I have really fast internet 27 days of the month. It is the rest of the days that are so frustrating and much of this portion of Iowa are serviced through Cedar Rapids. When they have problems not only does cable internet go bad but cellphone internet goes into the bucket too. In fall over mode, the connection will work through either service that is available.

SnorkY2K

I took the Amtrak Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago, great ride! Glad to hear you are taking the train! Honestly jealous of those who get to sit at the table with you in the dining car (assuming they are still doing the shared tables with covid.) I also got a roomette, and it was more than enough for me. I highly recommend bringing a power strip as there is only one single outlet in the roomettes, and most importantly, a fan, as the rooms tend to get toasty at times! Enjoy your trip!

Brian Zimmerman

Another note of appreciation for the kitty cameo. I have a soft spot in my heart for black cats. We have one, his name is Tesla, and he's been troubled by similar issues. We were able to wean him off the Rx food by switching to a high quality canned food and water from our reverse-osmosis filter. Re: Amtrak - that trip's on my bucket list, too! We took a sleeper to DC a few years ago and learned a few things. Like I apparently have trouble sleeping on the top bunk of the upper level. Those cars can sway A LOT up that high. And when we got off the train it felt like the world was still moving for a few hours; very disorienting. But otherwise a very cool experience and way to see the countryside. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for the cat update and taking good care of Reed!

illves

I posted this under the video, too, but I'm new so I don't know how it works🙄 My baby boy Ollie had cystitis at age 3 and almost died. He had to have a penectomy, but he's still going strong 6 years later. FYI, Rx food is forever but it works and they are worth it Also, bottled water works because it tastes better so they drink more, which can be a problem with male cats. I love the fact you named your cat Reed. I think pets deserve the dignity of a real name, not a cutesy, silly name like Mr. Fluffypants, etc.👍

Irisarc

Those old Honda wheels aren't keyed IIRC, you just need a socket extension from one of those 35-minute hardware stores and you can pop it right off, it's just the one nut. Not exactly easy to do when it's not locked on the car, but... doable.

This gas lamp is still very popular in some parts of Brazil. The base is a 2kg gas can.

Mauricio Mariano

I signed up for Starlink too! I heard it would take up to 6 months to ship though, and it’s been 4 with no updates. So here’s hoping it’s soon.

Stumblr

regarding gas street lanterns: My city actually has ~14k of them still in use (my street actually has them). They want to reduce the number to 4k over the next couple of years, but there's a lot of resistance by some people who really like those lamps

SkaveRat

Shame that you can't stand the longer hair, because it definitely suits you (it actually looks better untidier IMO) but oh well...

Guy Mendes

Are you overdue? I just watched your last video. Maybe I'm just behind. In any case I'm content to wait because part of what makes your videos so enjoyable is your apparent genuine interest and if you were to compromise that I think it would be a net negative. I live vicariously through your passion and also avoid collecting hardware (that I won't use more than once) as a result.

Looove the hair. Keep it up!

The voices on the head of a mad man!!! :) Thanks for the update. :)

Mauricio Mariano