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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: August 9th, 2023

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  • Not really. Even from an almost sociopathic perspective, the economic loss of sending a chunk of your population off to war instead of doing something more productive at home can kill the whole calculus. Sun Tzu had a whole bit on how expensive it is just to march an army around, as if he were trying to get nobels to understand that maybe you just fucking shouldn’t.











  • It’s way more pleasant than a drive. We also have an EV, and while we can make that range, charging infrastructure isn’t good in northwest Wisconsin, and the Twin Cities are falling behind there, too. Southeast Wisconsin and Chicagoland are much better.

    Trains are generally a better environmental option than EVs, anyway, and they can be a more practical option if we fucking try.

    Even as it is, I prefer taking the train on this route if possible.




  • As bad as it is, when it does work out, it’s way, way better than flying.

    Took a trip to Minneapolis on Amtrak from Columbus, WI (closest station to my house in Madison). Everything is so much more low key than air travel. Seats are fairly comfy, and have legroom that might even beat first class air travel. Food is . . . no worse than airlines.

    Most of all, I didn’t feel tired at the end of the trip. Air travel always makes me want to spend the rest of the day in bed.

    We’d probably go out of Wisconsin Dells next time. It takes the train an hour to go between the Dells and Columbus, and the extra drive time is less than that. But we also found this wonderful pizzeria not far from the station in Columbus, so idk.