TEN YEARS AGO.

We were contemplating additional Amtrak service between Chicago and Milwaukee, with an extension to Madison.

The Madison extension died in the Wisconsin Legislature, a casualty of misleading framing by opponents and inadequate explanation of its merits by supporters.

Additional schedules east of Milwaukee?  Still hung up in wrangling over the placement of sidings to recess freight trains.  And connectivity at Chicago?  Each regional route is a negotiation involving Amtrak, the contracting freight carrier, and one or more state departments of transportation.

There are hints of yet another summer to come, and I'm still fighting it out on the same line.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED BETTER DISPATCHING?

As part of the ongoing efforts to add more Hiawatha frequencies between Milwaukee and Chicago, the freight railroads would like to provide additional capacity for recessing trains, both on the former Milwaukee Road trackage used by the passenger trains and on the Union Pacific's Freight Bypass, which Canadian Pacific freight trains use from Northbrook to Bensenville to avoid obstructing commuter trains for and from Chicago.

One nearly two-mile holding track is planned between Highway 60 in Lake Forest and Rondout near Highway 176, according to the assessment. Another of approximately the same length is planned between West Lake Avenue in Glenview and Techny Road in Northbrook. The third, 1,500 feet long for Metra trains, will extend north from Greenwood Avenue in Deerfield.

The first mentioned track would involve some filling in of wetlands in the neighborhood of the old Armour estate, where the grounds of one mansion have been subdivided for the construction of multiple McMansions, but there is space along the right of way for it.  The second is along the Freight Bypass.  The shorter track will permit additional scoots to short-turn at Deerfield.  You'll note such trains in the current Milwaukee North Line schedules; these must flip back on one of the main tracks.  That can interfere with the movement of freight trains, or of late-running Empire Builders (or other long-distance Amtrak trains, should such ever occur.)

It's the siding along the Freight Bypass that appears to be aggravating the locals.  "Of particular concern in Northbrook is how long delays will be at grade crossings like Techny Road as the freights slow down and speed up because of time spent on the holding track."

To some extent, such delays can be mitigated by sharper dispatching, although I have it from sources among rail professionals that dispatching has become a lost art.  My earlier post on the sidings flap noted a number of other possibilities, including upgrading the Union Pacific Freight Bypass, and restoring the outside sidings elsewhere along The Milwaukee Road.  Maybe I should finish the computer simulation I've been working on, of speeded up service on this line, and see what happens.

For comparison, my summer 1954 Official Guide shows nine frequencies between Chicago and Milwaukee, including two westbound 75 Minute Trains and four eastbound 80 Minute Trains, including two Hiawathas.  The five extra minutes were for recovery margin.  Dispatchers could use the outside sidings at Lake, Caledonia, and Sturtevant to recess freight trains.  And in those days, there might have been less urgency about keeping the freight trains moving, as the Hours of Service Law applied at sixteen hours on call, rather than the twelve hours currently stipulated.

WORDS SHOULD MEAN THINGS.

With the coming of the new year, the banished words lists.  Lake Superior State College (their hockey team, the Soo Lakers, once won a national championship) famously has the general interest list.  Next City's Josh Cohen wants to clean up the language in regional planning (all bureaucratic organizations, particularly those in government, are notorious for abusage of language) starting with eight to ban.  Planetizen's Michael Lewyn dissents in part.

Cohen rejects the use of the term "stroad" to describe streets with fast traffic, because "for most everyone else in the world, roads and streets are synonymous and a portmanteau of them means nothing." In other words, most people don't know what a stroad is. I agree that most Americans don't know what a stroad is—but every non-obscure term was once obscure. The genius of the word "stroad" is that it conveys a one-word mental picture of something that would otherwise require a sentence to describe—a street where cars travel so rapidly as to endanger pedestrians, but which is not a limited-access highway (which means that street lights ensure constant stop-and-go traffic, thus making both pedestrians and drivers unhappy.) I wish every American knew what a stroad was, and I am happy to help lead readers in this direction!

The term "stroad" illustrates why the creation of a new word can sometimes be a good thing: it allows us to take a complex idea and describe it in one vivid word. The best "jargon words" clarify; the worst are so vague that they increase, rather than reduce, reader confusion.

The principle goes back at least to Alfred Marshall, something along the lines of it being less costly to add a new word to the language, rather than repeatedly rattling off a phrase or paragraph.  And "stroad" has an economy of expression that "Permanently Aggravating Traffic Jam and Hazard to Bikers and Walkers" does not.

TELEVISION CAN BE ASPIRATIONAL.

Chicago Tribune reporter Nina Metz compares and contrasts Chicago first-responders as portrayed on television with the reality.

How are we, as TV viewers, meant to reconcile what we see on the show with what the DOJ has spelled out in its report? Does it make you uncomfortable? That the show functions as de facto marketing for the CPD? That the network and everyone involved with the show is making big money from it? And even if it does bother you, what then? I don't necessarily think the show should be yanked off the air or radically revamped. Almost all cop shows are guilty of these fictions. Still, I'm struggling. Something doesn't sit right.

I will cop to enjoying the entire NBC Chicago lineup, Fire, P.D., Med, and I'll likely add Law to the mix once that airs.  (The Sons of Ragnar Lothbrok will by then be refitting until the fall.)  The eternal verities frequently come up in Chicago Fire, and the way the protagonists in the P.D. grapple with their frequently troubled lives (perhaps comfortable people don't go to the Police Academy or Firefighter Academy?) and keep their sanity and get the job done, plus the odd object lesson.  That Northern Illinois's Joe Minoso has one of the more interesting firefighter roles is a plus.

Reality, though, also makes for compelling drama.

The show isn't built to tackle nuance or reality, anyway. And by that I mean: The legitimate challenges and concerns of being a Chicago police officer along with the equally legitimate dysfunction, bias and lack of accountability that exists in the department as outlined by the DOJ.

The show is meant as an escape. And we need shows that offer a distraction from real world anxieties. There is value in that. But it's not so easy to swallow on "Chicago P.D." now that the elephant in the room — of widespread problems with the system itself — is now singing and dancing and introducing itself to everyone, courtesy of that DOJ report.

Ken Dowler, a criminologist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, has studied the effect police dramas have on audiences and says he's found two lines of thought. One is something called cultivation theory "which means basically, when you get constant exposure to something, it's going to lead you to believe that's the way it is … and if you look at propaganda research, if you keep throwing the message out there, over and over again and simplifying it, people are going to eventually believe it."

On the other hand, he said: "Watching a television show, you see what you want to see. So the theory is that cop shows have a very limited impact, because people already have preconceived notions. People that choose to watch these shows probably already have a favorable view of the police, whereas somebody who has firsthand experience with police corruption or brutality, they're probably not going to watch the show — or if they do, they're not going to have the same view watching it."

The point of a procedural show is to produce a happy ending, preferably in 46 minutes.  Critics of law enforcement as practiced get that.

I asked Chicago activist Ja'Mal Green, who has been outspoken about police misconduct and brutality, how this all sits with him. "I'm a very big fan of 'Chicago P.D.,'" he said. "I've watched probably every episode. I don't expect it to show exactly how police are because it's for entertainment. They really show the best parts of the Chicago Police Department to the world and when I watch, I'll be like, 'OK, that's not real.' Because of course, I'm out here fighting against the reality! But I don't jump off and be like, 'I hate this show!' because it doesn't show the real Chicago PD. I know it's still just TV. And I don't think people look at it as a documentary or something where they're really getting information, so I don't think it is hurtful for the majority of viewers.

"It could give the message that the Chicago Police Department is just amazing," he said after a moment, "catching killers every episode, solving every case, respectful and caring. Of course it's a false reality. It's not real. This is not how the Chicago Police Department is. But hopefully people that watch it just see it as television."

Bella Bahhs is also a Chicago-based activist and she has a different perspective: "I'm familiar with the show," she told me, "but I do not watch it because it is a false representation of the Chicago Police Department. There's so much work to be done, that I can not even deal with the media's role in perpetuating these images. I'm an activism organizer so I'm really on the ground and a show like this does make the work harder because the media keeps portraying police as heroes in our community."

The cops on the NBC series are certainly flawed. And the show does acknowledge that all is not perfect within the CPD. Too often, though, it comes off as lip service. When we do see unlawful use of force, it almost always comes at the hands of the tough guy sergeant (played by Jason Beghe, who is very good in the role; he's as watchable as you would want).

Lately, Mr Beghe has been doing the voice-overs for WMAQ's Consumer Complaint operation.  Not that the scammers have to be roughed up in the interrogation room, the threat of an interview for all of Greater Chicago to see is generally sufficient.

Perhaps, though, the critics of Business as Usual in Chicago would see policing as acted on television as a first step toward a proper police force.

COMPOUNDING THE ERROR.

On television, the Money Pit is on Oak Island, Nova Scotia.

To the transportation critics of National Review, the Money Pit is the California bullet train  (Via Newmark's Door.)

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is seven years behind schedule on the easiest-to-build Central Valley segment. Delay is deadly to an expensive and over-budget effort, as it prevents a large public constituency from coalescing to support it, while scaring off elected officials. Federal authorities blame the delays on sluggish environmental approvals (Come on, this is California! They should have seen that one coming . . . ), not acquiring the needed rights-of-way in the richest farmland in America, and not quickly processing the paperwork to unlock federal money.

It isn't helping things that this bullet train is going the Great Way Around, rather than into the thickly settled parts of the San Francisco peninsula.  Meanwhile, the Bay Area Rapid Transit might be building an extension, through Silicon Valley, and apparently they know the way to San Jose.  "BART is coming to town, tunneling a “J”-shaped route from the Berryessa station, which is scheduled to open this fall, beneath Santa Clara Street to Diridon Station, then turning north beneath Stockton Avenue and finally surfacing beyond Interstate 880 at the former Union Pacific Railroad Newhall Yard and a terminal station adjacent to Santa Clara’s Caltrain station."  It's not clear from this map of the San Jose line whether riders will be riding northward east of the bay or west of the bay.

Only now might the folly of building the Bay Area lines to an idiosyncratic wide gauge hit home.  The existing cars are long, and the lines designed for, cruising speeds of up to 70 mph.  Perhaps such a rapid transit line could also handle the bullet trains, through Silicon Valley and into San Francisco proper.

There is a precedent.

That's the Mother of All Bullet Trains, at Belmont, with Wrigley Field behind.  Back then, you'd likely have the Milwaukee Braves pennant atop the National flagstaff and the New York Yankees atop the American, and the rush hour flag hoist would be the Blue Lima.  And yes, the Electroliners would fit into the subway, if required.

Back to the National Review article, with some better news from the commuter rail area.

In Florida, an alternative vision of high-speed rail is unfolding using updated diesel-electric locomotives built by Siemens — ironically, in a Sacramento, Calif., facility. Unlike California’s all-government effort, Florida’s Brightline is a private venture, with executive leadership drawn from the hospitality industry. Brightline’s investors have raised $1 billion to use existing tracks to operate a train between Miami and West Palm Beach, reliably shaving 30 minutes off a 90-minute drive, with service starting this summer.

Brightline’s investors plan to raise an additional $1.5 billion to operate a line from Miami to Orlando. Their trains will travel at up to 125 mph on this route. By comparison, California’s vaporware electric train is supposed to hit a top speed of 220 mph in its San Jose–to–LA run, assuming political considerations would allow it to operate non-stop. It will operate at up to 125 mph in the 51 miles from San Francisco to San Jose.

Existing infrastructure is adequate for Brightline's version of the "Free Rein to 110" campaign we have championed at Cold Spring Shops.  And let's think about the cost-effectiveness.  Consider an 85 mile rail route.  Average 60 mph, make the run in 85 minutes.  Push the average speed to 120 mph, cut just over 40 minutes from the trip time.  Push the speed again, to 240 mph, now you've cut the trip time another 20 minutes.  But it's a lot cheaper to reduce the trip time from 85 minutes to 45 give or take than it will be to achieve the further reduction to 25 minutes or so.

The Brightline proposal might be part of a larger project, in which the railroad is part of a real-estate development project.  That's not implausible, in fact, that's the way a lot of Japanese passenger railroads roll.  There's an old computer game called A-Train (even back then, some wags called it Sim Trump!) that might give the hobbyist an idea how it's done.

HAVE THEY CONSIDERED ACKNOWLEDGING THEIR CUSTOMERS?

The kind of studied indolence I've sometimes griped about from the staff at Starbucks might be hurting the company.

The coffee chain reported disappointing sales growth on Thursday and partly blamed the "congestion" in its stores for prompting some people to leave without buying anything. Starbucks said the popularity of its mobile order-and-pay option, which was supposed to make getting a drink easier, has caused bottlenecks at the areas where people pick up their drinks.

Well, yes, if 'phone-it-in joins drive-by as getting preferential treatment, that's going to annoy the walk-in trade, whether it's paying cash or using a card or hackable money on the iToy.

[CEO Howard] Schultz has stressed that Starbucks is positioned to adapt. He noted that the congestion created by mobile order-and-pay is a good problem, and the company is working on operational changes in stores to alleviate the issue.

There might be something simple. Like not giving walk-up patrons lots of time to stew and choose whether to give "Claude Raines" or "Ralph Ellison" as the name to put on the label.

STRIKE UP THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER.

The New York Times interviews a number of local circus enthusiasts, mourning the end of Ringling Barnum as we know it.

I've seen some of their work at gatherings such as the Worldwide Circus Summit, and at circus events in Baraboo, which, along with Sarasota, are the two home bases of all things Greatest Show on Earth.

Hope to see some of you on down the road.  The models will tour again this summer.

If you can't get to a model show, find yourself a circus and go to it.

THE VALUE OF PLAYING WITH IDEAS.

Clay Routledge of an organization called The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal offers advice to young conservatives. You Need College and College Definitely Needs You.

Education is about expanding knowledge and being exposed to new ideas, not affirming existing beliefs. Plus, many college courses have little or nothing to do with political or social ideology.

Now, I would like to speak directly to conservative students. You might not feel at home at many universities but your presence and contributions are important. The only way you are going to impact the fields that lean so far to the left is if you roll up your sleeves and get in the game. The academy is much better off intellectually when it enjoys a truly diverse marketplace of ideas.

If you don’t like the leftist cultural elite echo chambers, break down the chamber doors and chime in. If you are interested, pursue advanced degrees in the social sciences and careers in the academy. Don’t let the view that these disciplines are only for progressives hold you back.

I understand it is easier said than done. Surveys suggest you will face ostracism and discrimination. But, believe it or not, there are conservative, libertarian, classically liberal, and centrist professors out there, even in the social sciences, and they are doing outstanding work. They would welcome you, as would a growing number of academics who worry about ideological homogeneity and want to see a more intellectually vibrant academy. Surveys also indicate that, despite being in the minority, conservative academics are very happy at work.

The truth is, it is not just the case that you need college. Colleges also desperately need you. Leftist academics accuse conservatives of not sufficiently supporting science but turn a blind eye to their postmodernist colleagues who reject the entire scientific enterprise. Many of the concepts campus progressives are obsessed with such as stereotype threat, implicit bias, and microaggressions have not stood up well to empirical scrutiny but remain the foundation of social justice-oriented training programs on campus.

It's not a bad gig, if you can get it.

It's crucial, though, to know the intellectual foundations of the common-room commonplaces better than the people who unthinkingly adhere to them do.  Fortunately, this is not hard.

ECON PEOPLE ARE RATIONALISTS.

Margaret "University Diaries" Soltan salutes her colleagues in the dismal science.  "They’re the only professors who consistently attack big-time university football. Almost all other professors, from other departments, keep their traps shut; but there’s always some guy in economics shooting off his mouth."  Go.  Read.  Understand.

PRIVILEGE-CHECKING IN MADISON.

Women's Hoops picks up a story that a basketball game in the People's Republic of Madison wasn't exactly a celebration of diversity.

After the Madison East Lady Purgolders basketball team beat Middleton High School 75-63 on Monday, the players' celebration was cut short by an insensitive social media post.

A Middleton player posted the following comment to her Instagram page: “I would say good game but a good game doesn’t involve intentionally trying to hurt two of our players and then laughing about it like it was a funny joke. Be aggressive not violent!! Thanks #youregonnaworkforusanyways.”

The Instagram page has been deleted.

Of course it has.

East High is in the industrial section of Madison, between the Ray-O-Vac factory and Oscar Mayer packing plant, and not far from Monona Yard on the railroad.  Well, maybe was, I think the battery factory and the packing house are both closed now.

Middleton is a suburb to the west of Madison.  Tories to windward.  And apparently the politically correct attitudes of the University and high level state employees haven't filtered down to all the spawn of Middleton and Cross Plains residents.  Or perhaps behaving like a deplorable is the only way to rebel these days.

TEN YEARS AGO.

A visit to the Rockford snow sculpting competition.

That year, as this year, early January was too warm for the competition, but toward the end of the month the organizers were able to get the event in.  Techniques for manufacturing blocks of snow and keeping them from melting have improved; ten years ago the source of blocks was snow scooped off runways at the airport.

Some years, the contest date has to be changed account cold weather, either because the crystallized snow is too brittle to work, or because there's a risk to the sculptors.

Go here for a photo gallery.

THE TRENCHANT OBSERVATION OF THE DAY.

Samuel Hammond of the Niskanen Center contemplates classical liberalism.  Free inquiry requires rules of inquiry.

At some point, a liberal norm goes from being merely pragmatic to being an internalized value that transcends time and place. Nonetheless, emphasizing the discovered versus the invented distinction is important to avoid what F.A. Hayek called “rational constructivism,”  or the belief that the authority of liberal norms comes from an abstract theory or argument, independent of the internal recognition of society’s participants. To think otherwise gives social planners permission to redesign society in accord with pure reason, often with calamitous results.

I've been battling away at this idea for years, but never so concisely.  Plus:  "Liberal norms were discovered, not invented, through a process of social evolution. Forgetting this can lead one to overestimate our ability to redesign society, even along more libertarian dimensions."  Thus, should the fanatics get the upper hand, and a new dark age descend, the evolutionary advantages we've already discovered may still have a fighting chance to emerge again.

That said, there are still a lot of weeds for that essay to get into, and it deserves careful study.

SMALL BEGINNINGS.

The first public performance by the Ringling Brothers, and Billy Rainbow the Hippocapra, took place in McGregor, Iowa.  Baraboo, and the partnership with Barnum and Bailey, came later.  "By Alf T.’s estimates, over 100 McGregorites enjoyed the circus, which included tumbling acts by all the brothers, trapeze and ring performances, and juggling by Al, who broke a number of plates, much to the delight of the crowd."  It's always better with elephants, but as long as there are jugglers and aerialists there will be circus.

THINGS AREN'T ALWAYS AS GRIM AS THEY SEEM.

The Central Waters Brewery in Amherst, Wisconsin, have a special issue brew that's on sale for one day, and one day only.   "Buying a $15 ticket allows fans to purchase 22-ounce bottles of the brewery's special bourbon barrel-aged beer called 19, for the brewery's 19th anniversary. A bottle costs $15 and ticket holders can buy up to six bottles."  This sort of event is popular at several craft breweries.  "Central Waters isn't the only brewery that holds a daylong event around a specific beer. Three Floyds near Chicago hosts Dark Lord Day, and Surly Brewing in Minneapolis has Darkness Day."

It's encouraging to encounter a few taverns that have more imagination than three kinds of light beer and a headache-in-a-keg pale ale on tap.  Prosit!

TEN YEARS AGO.

Cold Spring Shops had not yet committed to moving to new quarters, and the mockup of a steel mill was proceeding apace at the old house.

That's the high line for the blast furnace mocked up in the background, and one of the small radius Atlas snap-switches in the foreground.

I'm almost ready to mock up the high line for the blast furnace on the new railroad, plus get the tracks in place for the open hearth.

First, some carpentry work getting more uprights in place for the track, which will be at three elevations in here.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE CAPITAL.

The first tranche of public spending on internal improvements might include money for two railroad projects in Chicago, continued redevelopment of Union Station and further upgrades to the main stem of the Northwestern Elevated north of Wrigley Field, which contemporary riders understand as the Red (Howard) and Purple (Evanston) Lines.  Both of these projects will offer politicians ribbon-cutting opportunities, and I fully expect some ankle-biter to suggest that easier rapid transit access to the River North area, where there is a Trump Tower, is somehow contrary to the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

Missing, however, is any mention of public moneys for the 75th Street Corridor Improvement project, one of several upgrades to the existing Chicago railroad network that, while less splashy than an upgraded passenger terminal or a return of the Evanston Express, have the potential to pay off with much less capital tied up in inventories and fewer shipments delayed in transit.

Among the investor-owned railroads, BNSF will be spending about US$3.4bn on maintaining a state of good repair whilst preparing to serve new shippers.

The projects included in this part of the plan will primarily be for replacing and upgrading rail, rail ties and ballast (which are the main components for the tracks on which BNSF trains operate) and maintaining its rolling stock. This year’s maintenance program will include approximately 20,000 miles of track surfacing and/or undercutting work and the replacement of about 600 miles of rail and nearly 3 million rail ties.

Rounding out the plan will be $400 million for expansion projects, $100 million for the implementation of positive train control and $400 million for locomotives, freight cars and other equipment acquisitions.

The company has allocated about $190 million for network improvements in Illinois.  Some of the rolling stock money will be spent in state as well.

SEVEN DAYS OF TRUMP.

Better policies and worse behavior, notes National Review's Jim Geraghty.  "The 2016 presidential race between Clinton and Trump is now followed by a different kind of race: one between Trump’s decisions and his behavior. His policies should make the country better, if not universally recognized as “great again.” But his temperament, lack of impulse control, and tendency to blurt out the first thought that pops into his mind will embarrass the country, generating needless controversies and an endless series of distractions from any good news."  Betsy Newmark concurs.

In the balance I like more rather than less of the policies he's enunciated since he became president. I like or am fine with most of his nominees. I am excited about his possible Supreme Court nominations. His behavior often appalls me. But we don't live in the world of the ideal so I have to judge against what the alternative might have been. Sure, I would have preferred a Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, or Ted Cruz in the Oval Office right now, but that wasn't my choice. Compared to Hillary Clinton and the policies she would have been pushing now and the nominations she would have wanted, I'm heaving a big sigh of relief. That doesn't mean that I won't keep criticizing when Trump's behavior appalls.

Perhaps, though, the president's transgressive behavior is stiffening the spines of his voters.  That appears to be what American Thinker's Russ Vaughn is seeing.

One of the most frequent criticisms conservatives voice regarding liberals is the dripping condescension with which they deign to engage their opponents in political discourse.  It's like a directional speech defect – liberals don't talk to, but rather talk down when speaking to conservatives, and if you possibly miss the scornful contempt in their word and tone, it's usually accompanied by a visible backup cue, a knowing little smile of superiority that's there to make it perfectly clear, bubba, that you are one dumb, misinformed, knuckle-dragging primitive.  That derisive smile is always there when they are listening, usually moving from side-to-side as the head is being shaken slightly to convey the sneering certainty that you're just simply never going to get this, bumpkin.  It's beyond your flag-worshiping, gun-loving, Bible-thumping flyover yokel comprehension.

That is, until Tucker Carlson has one of the Smug on, and wipes the smirk off zir face.

CURATING THE MODEL RAILROAD.

Meet William Davidson, the General Superintendent of Transportation and Chief Track Walker at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Nevertheless, the United States of William Davidson, tells other stories, some anticipated, many not. There are condos and grizzly bears and annoying beachgoers. Gene Kelly swings from a lamppost and dances in the rain on a small town street corner. There are spots were our dream life breaks through to our everyday life. And there are places where religion seems to rear its head: a woman emerges from a municipal building and squints upward at the sky and appears to be in a fainting swoon. There is at least one video store left in business in the USWD, and in a reminder of economic inequality, a neighborhood playground sits mere steps from a factory. The majority of the residents of the USWD appear to be largely white though racial and ethnic diversity can be seen in places throughout. On the steps of a train station, there is a man wearing a sandwich board around his neck that says (though the lettering is way too small and distant for average museumgoers to read): "Equal Rights for All."

There is a dead body floating facedown in the Calumet River. Been there for years.

The USWD is a divided country, an incomplete place, bookended by tall buildings. "Selectively compressed" is how Davidson sees the nation.

Selective compression is what model railroading is all about. Plus sight gags, for the alert observer.  (Oh, the things you'll see at Hamburg's Miniatur Wunderland, if you look hard enough.  But I can't tell you here, this is a G-rated post.)  When you build a railroad in a heavily trafficked gallery, with balconies for viewing from above, there are in addition maintenance challenges the home model railroader doesn't face.

Homeland security is a part of the job. Vandalism is a struggle, he said. Say there's a large group of kids and one teacher to watch them — he rolled his eyes at the thought. "People derail our trains frequently. Kids lean over the railing, derail the trains. Debris falls from the balcony above, derails the trains. Gum wrappers, nickels, pennies derail trains. People throw money at trains. This layout is 15 years old. You have to be vigilant."

And when the trains are running, all day, every day (except for the holiday closures) there's a lot of track cleaning and locomotive maintenance to do.

Davidson's hands are scrunched close to his face. His eyeballs are comically large behind his magnifying eyeglasses, outfitted with pen lights at the temples. He was operating on a derailed train. "It's an investigation," he said. "Something's throwing it off track. It's derailing by the apple orchard, all day long."

He worked in silence.

Then he spoke: "You work beyond your means. Model railroading is still a hobby where people like to work from scratch to build or enhance, and I do too, but we are working with trains that weren't intended to run the way we run them. You have to learn to bend metal and learn how to reuse and recycle parts. These trains, we have them running all day and they weren't designed to run eight, nine hours a day, 363 days a year, longer if we have holidays hours or a corporate event or a sleepover event or it's just a summer day, with summer hours. The parts are just plastic, man. Any part can go. Nature of the beast. Shafts break and wheels go. I am always cleaning debris out of the assemblies."

When Davidson talks trains he inspires confidence. A member of the Windy City Model Railroad Club (and a fixture of that community), he keeps connections, drawing on the know-how of others for cheap, believable tweaks to his nation. He's also fiscally frugal, and quick to react: The worst disaster since he's been here came when a baby dropped a Little Mermaid from the balcony. Prairie Town took the brunt. One building was damaged, another flattened. Trains derailed, scenery was destroyed. "It was a doll but it might as well have been lead weight," Davidson said. And yet, instead of growing cautious, Main Street was renamed Ariel Lane. Where there had been ruin, new businesses were added, buildings went up, and Prairie Town flourished.

Then there are the challenges of keeping a museum display relevant, something that contributed to the removal of the classic O Scale Museum and Santa Fe that used to be on display.

An actual coast to actual coast diorama, New York to Los Angeles, was a possibility, but didn't tell the right story of how resources were transported. He also decided the train set "should reflect today's America," and so in the 15 years since his exhibit was installed, the texture of its neighborhoods have changed. Edge closer to big cities, the racial mix of its tiny figures grows more diverse. Prairie Town, a backwater in 2002, now boasts a Mexican restaurant. Even gentrification has come to the train set: One of the evocative old factories on Chicago's West Side was reinvented as Algren Avenue Lofts. There is humor now: Dracula stalks the top of the Crain Communications Building, and Hulk stands on Lake Street. A skunk breaks up a picnic in the Rockies. And as in life, a slightly jaundiced view of institutions can be felt. The only insurance business is "Minimalist Insurance." Which is bad, because occasionally disaster strikes the USWD.

Disaster is always just a few minutes after museum opening away, as the article explains. But the trains roll, and the development of additional interactive exhibits and vignettes goes on.

PREPARE AS IF TO FACE CONNECTICUT.

We've noted the recent successes of the Northern Illinois women's basketball squad, including a fast start in the conference and a gaudy 90 points per game on average.  That fast start included road wins against strong Kent State and Toledo teams.  After those road trips, a home stand, commencing with Akron, naught in five conference games, and a low team scoring average.

Trap game.

The usually high-scoring Huskies struggled from the floor and suffered their first conference loss in a 84-55 defeat to Akron on Wednesday afternoon at the NIU Convocation Center.

The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Huskies.

At least one player took an education from the outcome.

“Credit to Akron, they put on a [heck] of a show,” [sophomore Courtney] Woods said. “They shot the crap out of the ball, and I don’t think we knew how to react to that because I think we felt like we could walk in and come out with a 20-point win.”

The game was still manageable early in the third quarter.  On any given Wednesday ...

DEMOCRATIZING TRANSGRESSION IS NOT A GOOD IDEA.

Daniel Gordon of ZooMass participates in a forum on populist revolt organized by The Critique.  By all means, read the essay, and note the suggestions offered therein to academicians, particularly of the culture-studies bent.  You might start by taking your postmodern skepticism seriously.

Indeed, a common point between academic and media analysis is the tendency to “unmask” an ideological opponent. To unmask is to reveal a delusion beneath a political or intellectual claim. To unmask is to presuppose that there is no principled basis for debate. There is nothing to understand besides the error of the other. The presence of difference of opinion attests only to the existence of false-consciousness, not to the existence of a question that admits more than one answer.

Put another way, if you interrogate (to use another academic term of art I despise) the practice rigorously enough, the Manipulating Ruling Class will confess.  The unmasking is often the confession of a tight prior, e.g. existing institutions exist solely to confer privilege to favored people, Trump voters are deplorable.  But sometimes when you get done digging through the Haufen Mist, there's no pony in there.