Comments by "MacAdvisor" (@MacAdvisor) on "DownieLive" channel.

  1. The episode is exactly why I watch DownieLive and love Mike Downie. No where else anywhere does one get to see things like this in operation AND get to see the joy and thrill that Mike displays in his face. Thanks to his expressive face, we get to share in the ride. Mike, you are not just a national treasure, but a world treasure. Thank you.
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  2. Ok, let me absolutely crystal clear: I will never, ever, dip so much as a toe in that pool. Ever. Not. No.
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  3. Question: If, to repair a flat spot, they grind the wheel down to smooth it out, doesn't that make the wheel smaller? That is, the diameter of the wheel would be less? Given they are on fixed axels that are set at a fixed height, wouldn't the smaller wheel ride above the track?
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  4. So, Mike, are you saying, "Don't come a knocking, if our orb is a rockin''"?
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  5. Yes, let's imagine the cost of purchasing the right-of-way all the way from downtown Seattle to downtown Portland. We can't use the existing rails, they belong to the freight company and the HSR train needs specialized tracks to handle the stresses of the speed. So, maybe $500 billion? Then another $100 billion to build it. Thus, we now have $5,000 ticket instead of a $60 ticket. Yay! That's progress. The sad fact is the time for building HSR has passed. For long distances, jets are simply vastly faster. For shorter trips, such as this one, autonomous vehicles will do the job far more conveniently. In the 20 years or so building a HSR would take, the vast majority of cars will drive themselves. I love trains myself. I take the Capitol Corridor train frequently and used to commute to work on it. It is great, but building a replacement HSR version is simply not feasible.
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  6. What do you mean you are on vacation?!?!? You're ALWAYS on vacation. Who thinks taking a train trip with your Dad or a friend is working?
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  7. A classic DownieLive video! Has every element from hidden services like sign making and 15k gold to firefighting vehicle for the open water to museums to, and it wouldn't be DownieLive without it, a peak at the bathrooms. What a great show. I loved every minute, Mike, thank you.
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  8. The classic DownieLive video: visit to an interesting place by train with a special guest and a bathroom tour. Ticked all the boxes and was a masterpiece. Such a nice way to start the weekend, a little trip with Mike. I don't know where you are going next week, but I am already looking forward to coming along.
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  9. Normally, Mike, your videos leave me with a smile. Today, I was crying at the end. I miss my father so much. He's been gone five years now and I have just barely leaned to bear the loss. The happy time with your dad brought back with full force how big a hole his death left in my life. He was a train buff, with an amazing model RR in his garage (it even went across the garage door, which could still rise up and let the cars in by a special disconnect system he created), and his real life train adventures. When he visited Promontory Summit where the Golden Spike was driven in, his buddies from the train club told the managers there he was the President of California's Golden State Railroad Club. That was true, but it only had five members and they were all with him. Still, because of his "prominence," the park people let him drive the train for a bit. He favorite train was the Skunk Train in Fort Bragg, one you should consider (the steam train there reminds me of the Hogwarts Express (https://www.skunktrain.com/days-of-steam/ )). I've ridden with him four or five times and he's ridden at least 100. My favorite times were just sitting in the door of the garage in these two big, green LazyBoy recliners he had there, watch the world go by, and just talk. This is in Sacramento, so this was almost always AFTER the sun goes down. You think Texas was hot, pshaw, that's sweater weather to us Sacramentans. He'd done so many things in his life and he was a great, loving, wonderful father. Please, do enjoy all the time you can with your mom and your dad while you can. Each second is precious. Thank you for one more train ride with my dad would have felt like. Based on the name of the local paper, The Normalite, (see: http://www.normalite.com), I believe there are called Normalites. The collective noun for a group of Normalites is Normals.
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  10. So, can DownieLive finally answer the question that has dogged us for generations: why DID the bison cross the road?
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  11. One of the best DownieLive trips EVER! Not only did I have fantastic fun joining you, but you look transcendently happy. The sheer joy was so palpable, I could feel it through the video screen. Great job!
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  12. I have made so, so many mistakes in my life, some, I well and truly regret, others were some of the best memories of my life. I close friend of mine owned a coffee, tea, and bakery store. One day she was making her lemon bars when, unbeknownst to her, two pages in her recipe binder got stuck and she went from the lemon bar recipe to another, different recipe about halfway through. She wound up with something entirely new with lemons, almonds, and a lemon crunch topping. They made her store famous. The lemon crunch bars become the signature dish. Mistakes can advance human endeavors.
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  13. In the busy world we all live in, I rarely get the time to say thank you to the people that have made this last horror of a year bearable, if not down right fun. You are one and near the top of the list. I loved your travel videos and all the train rides before the shutdown, but your exploration of Vancouver has been one of the brightest lights of the year. Each week, you take me away to BC and to a small, little known gem. Someplace not really famous, but fun and charming. I've seen the mosaic of your childhood artwork, friendly lamas, treehouse vacations, train hotel rooms, you family and so, so much more. All of them accompanied by your cheerful, upbeat style. Even in the worst moment, such as the suicide death of your friend, you found The Light and showed it to us. I don't know where I am going now that things may be getting back to normal, but I know I will always want to have your videos along with me. Um, how did you get to drive a SkyTrain car if they are driverless?
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  14. I just want to remind you: with cross-country skiing, start with small countries.
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  15. Not to criticize the Skytrain deep cleaning crew, but one should clean from the top down, thus, they should spray down and mop last.
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  16. Your Dad's advice set to music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-70lnxjgO6o
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  17. At 5'7-½" tall and 330 pounds (1.71 meters, 150 kg), I displace a bit more room in a seat than I think you do, Mike. Thus, I always pay to upgrade to business class. Having travelled on Via Rail several times, I have always appreciated their emphasis on better food over more accurate departure times. I just assume the train doesn't move until the chef says the food is ready. Thank you for another slice of perfection in video. I can't start my weekend without DownieLive.
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  18. "(B)atteries are environmentally friendly?"  @FkCCPspiesinYT  Compared with the release of additional carbon into the atmosphere, batteries are like pure mountain spring water. Moreover, the environmental issue with the mining of the materials is mostly due to lack of regulation and greed, not an inherent part of obtaining those materials. Moreover, batteries are rapidly developing and away from rare earth metals. I'd much, much rather have a battery powered train than a diesel one.
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  19.  @SeattleSummers122  Union Pacific has a market cap of about $135 billion. We'd spend around $1.4 trillion to buy out all the rail companies. Nationalizing them, which is not close to politically possible, would be cost prohibitive and not build one single mile of new track. HSR only works economically if we do all kinds of wild, politically impossible things. This is why I say its time is over here.
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  20. I completely agree. These BoftheB videos show Mike's personality and interests so much more than some run of the mill.
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  21. What is the Canadian term for boondoggle or scam? First, hydrogen is all-but universally made not from electrolysis (the process of breaking water into its component hydrogen and oxygen with electricity, NOT combining them back together as stated in the video), but is a byproduct of oil. Hydrogen puts the hydro in hydrocarbon.Thus, in widespread use, hydrogen is a carbon fuel. It just doesn't release the carbon at the point of use, but during creation during distillation. Second, Mike, while there may be a company in Quebec that makes hydrogen through electrolysis to supply this train, it is doing so at a greater cost than the hydrogen from oil. The needed electricity is much more expensive. Taking that electricity and storing it in a battery is vastly more efficient. So, the use of hydrogen costs more money, making the train more expensive to operate. Third, hydrogen is wildly difficult to store. Moving it about, from where the hydrogen is created to storing it on the train likely involves significant loss and very expensive tech. Again, moving the electricity from the dam to the train is so, so much easier by wires, most of which already exist, than building new distribution tubes for volatile hydrogen. Again, not cost effective. Fourth, hydrogen is VERY explosive. The tiniest spark can cause big explosions. Think Hindenburg. Think of that train burning in but a few minutes thanks to the hydrogen on top. A rail accident with that train could be disaster of unimagined proportions. Think of terrorists getting ahold of that much hydrogen and fashioning bomb. So, this train uses an expensive, oil-derived fuel, that is expensive to make, inefficient and dangerous to move about, and adds unnecessary and extra layers of unneeded tech. It is a Rube Goldberg train. Hydrogen is the fuel of the future and always will be. It is too impractical to be used. You got punked by some PR person.
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  22. My late father loved trains, model trains, real trains, train-shaped liquor bottles, whatever. He just loved trains. Sacramento, where we live, has a great train museum and he went regularly. One summer, he was traveling with his wife (my step-mom, who I adore) and his buddy from high school, Darryl. They went to Promontory Point, Utah, to Golden Spike National Historical Park. It preserves 2,735 acres of land surrounding a 15-mile stretch of the original Transcontinental Railroad (hint, hint, travel blogger). Dad was president of his local model railroaders club, the Capital City Railroad Club, which sound impressive, but was really just eight guys who got together once a month to eat snacks and play with their trains. Darryl called the press office and told them the President of the world-famous Capital City Railroad Club was coming and arranged all sort of extras. I don't know if the press office thought he was with our railroad museum or something, but they not only let Dad and crew into the cab of one of the steam locomotives they use to re-create the joining of the Transcontinental Railroad, but actually let him drive the train for a while. They gave him an engineers hat and the whole nine yards. They had a ball and Dad had the time of his life.
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  23. Downie FINALLY got a laundry sponsor. About time. Now, zero in on the fabric softener. And I have shirts older than 1984.
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  24. I really don't know how I lived my life without DownieLive taking me to all these interesting places before I hit the subscribe button. I SO want to go along. I will be there with you.
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  25. Off to a very good start, that's for sure. I don't know where you are going next, but I bet there will be a brownie there to greet you!
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  26. They are running from the Canadian mafia and are in witness protection.
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  27. As someone who lives in a place where snow is unheard-of, how does through in your sticks pick teams? Thank you for a wonderful series. I've enjoyed every minute.
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  28. Mike, are you stalking my friends?!?! Last week you showed a picture of my friend Rob's house in San Francisco and NOW you showed a picture of my friends Brian and Chuck's (at 3:32) place in Palm Springs! Had I known to let them know you were coming, they've got a fabulous guest room with its own kitchenette, front entrance, and en suite. Chuck is a great cook and would have made you some of his famous home-made pasta in their outdoor kitchen while you took a swim in their pool. Sadly, because you didn't give me a heads up, you missed out. Also, the period in your quote on traveling goes within the quotation marks, not outside, even if they are not part of the quote. This is true for periods as well. Colons and semi-colons go outside, even if part of the quote. Exclamation marks and question marks go within if part of the quote, outside if not. Please see: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-life-hacks/writing/quotation-mark-rules Last, the thing Albuquerque is most known for is not hot air balloons, but where Bugs Bunny should have taken that left. Please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8TUwHTfOOU
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  29. As this YouTube shows, the trains going through Jack London Square go right down the street with people walking and cars driving along side, not separated by a fence, not a close as in Hanoi, but close enough for accidents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFk-yeGHn-o
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  30.  @troublewithtriton8529  I am the ultimate judge of any entertainer: the audience. However, I recognize Mike works hard and does a spectacular job. I honestly praise his work.
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  31. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean%27s_Bar
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  32.  @ice3753  Yes, they have absolutely marvelous systems, but they have the legacy infrastructure. HSR is like copper wire telephone lines. One can do many marvelous things with the connection to the house if it already exists, but in places where phone lines are being installed, laying all the wire is way too expensive and installing a cell phone system is far, far cheaper. We missed the boat. Sad, yes, but a fact. HSR rail is simply not cost effective given the land acquisition and infrastructure costs.
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  33. I dearly wish you had done this video three years ago when my late father was still alive. He loved trains, big trains, model trains, Jim Beam trains, all trains. Our Christmas tree always had a train gong around the base. He once scammed his way on to the train engine at Promontory Point, Utah, and took her for a ride as the president of the Capital City Train Club (we live in Sacramento, the capital of California). He was actually the president, but the club consisted of six guys who met once a month in their various garages to eat sandwiches and play with their model trains. He travelled the US going to trains and train shows. He would have been right there with you on the engine and staying in that Caboose hostel.
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  34. A salad?!?! For breakfast?!?! As John Pinette says, a salad isn't food, it is the promise that food is coming. After that morning, you deserved a salmon Benedict with home fries (with a bit of the Benedict sauce on the potatoes), great toast with strawberry jam, and a decent-sized pot (a Brown Betty, of course) of Constant Comment, the finest tea in the world, with a nice fruit and cheese plate to finish off. Excuse me, I need to go eat.
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  35. There were so many wonderful moments in this video, but my favorite -- yes, I know it is silly -- was watching Mike's flowing long hair in the wind of the helicopter. Man, has it been a while since a haircut or WHAT?!?!
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  36.  @IzzyOnTheMove  Yes, he looks like an ad for a romance novel!
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  37. First, I hate to sound the alarm, but I think you may need to see a doctor. There appears to be some odd growth on your upper lip. It might be a fungal infection or molting of the skin, but you should really have it checked out soon, Michael. 😜 Second, >>sigh<<, I would rather hope a member of the Commonwealth of Nations would know high tea from low tea. High tea, despite the name, is not fancy. It is a late midday meal that is more like supper. It is called "high" tea because it is generally self-service from a buffet or highboy and would typically have meat pies and full sandwiches. Low tea is the fancy tea, served by the host from a low table, like a coffee table, to the guests, often using the family silver and fine china. Low tea would have small sweets and savories, but would be a light meal. It is generally an intimate, more formal gathering. Various hotels, catering to American ignorance, have promoted "high tea" as a formal event, when that is not really the case.
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  38.  @dionlindsay2  Mike is handsome and good-looking enough I always enjoy looking at him.
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  39.  @joermnyc  Oh, come on, how hard can sneaking across the US/Canadian border be? That alone sound like a great adventure.
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  40.  @joermnyc  😋😉
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  41. Sitting on my desk holding down some papers is a rock I broke off from the rock walls when I was a kid and my Dad took the family on this train. That was about half a century ago and it wasn't as, um, plush as it seems to be now, but -- wow -- was it fun. Dad was a train buff and, as both my parents were teachers so had the summers off, we tended to just off on adventures like this. Great video as always Mike!
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  42. The first item you ate was an apple fritter, not a donut. A donut, by definition, is a small fried cake of sweetened dough in the shape of a torus. There also isn't such thing as vegetarian gravy. Again, but definition, gravy is a sauce made from cooked meat juices together with stock and other ingredients. Billions and billions of years ago, when I was in seventh grade, my class did an exchange with some Vancouver students. As part of the experience, I attended a Canadian Boy Scouts meeting. I was shocked when we started by singing, "God Save the Queen." Whoa, I was in a different country. At the end of the meeting, out came a plate of those Nanaimo bars. I loved them and have never since been able to find anyone who knew what I was talking about and I didn't know what they were called. I thought they were called Nana bars. Finally, at long last, thanks to you, Mike, I know what they are called and can order some. After a half a century, I will again taste my beloved Nanaimo bars. Thank you.
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  43. The pumpkins are good for the trees? They don't seem to have helped the tree they were on much.
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  44. What does ViaRail have against people that assist those in wheelchairs? The "seat" looks about a bare, minimal, and uncomfortable as it could be except if it had spikes on it. Good to see the trains were tested in the winter and those cold snow days. How do they handle Canadian summers? Can they make it through fire?
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  45. Natives say, "Oranto"?
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  46. I, too, don't know where you are going next, but life is about the journey, not the destination. So, wherever you go next, I want to be there with you. Thank you, again, for a wonderful video, beautiful scenery, and just a tiny smidgen of life philosophy.
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  47. To paraphrase the almond farmers near me (Blue Diamond is here in Sacramento), a bag a week is all we ask. Great episode, one of your best. Hell, they're all great.
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  48. Today I did something I never, ever wanted to do and never, ever really want to do again. My best friend of 30 years had lost her battle with cancer. She barely made it, but she took her death with dignity medication and died as I held her hand. We had a Zoom meeting where her friends and family gathered to tell her how much they loved her. She then drank the cocktail and as we (me, her doula, her only child, and his wife) held her, she quickly passed into a deep sleep, then a non-responsive coma. Fifty-five minutes later, she entered immortality. I know this may seem way off topic, but eight hours have passed and I've just sat here numb. I decided to watch your video and thought of those wonderful places. Joyce would have loved them so. Thank you, Michael. You added a good thing to a not great day. I hope I never lose someone again.
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  49. You may want to mention the service is only available in Canada. There are not any departures or destinations out side of Canada. This is a bit limiting, particularly for this Californian.
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  50. Hydrogen cars are the future and always will be. First and foremost, virtually ALL of the hydrogen available in the world, Canada included, is produced as part of fossil fuels. Hydrogen puts the "hydro" in "hydrocarbons." It is a part of the oil industry, not a clean fuel. Can it be produced by clean means, electrolysis? Yes, but it is not economically efficient to do that except in Iceland. Second, hydrogen is wildly explosive, several times more explosive than gasoline. You think the bombs terrorists make with diesel fuel and fertilizer are bad, wait till you can see what they do with hydrogen. Having hydrogen widely and generally available is not just asking, but begging, for trouble. So, a hydrogen car doesn't help with global warming AND it arms terrorists with better explosives. No thank you. The cars are a terrible idea.
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  51. Not to be rude, but Amtrak does not service San Francisco by train. It does run a bus from San Francisco to Emeryville, which is where you clearly departed from. I do think the route you road in this video is one of the most beautiful in the world. "Sacramento and other small towns"? Sacramento has a half million people in it and that is the City alone.If the side-to-side rocking motion bothers you, sit in the lower level, it is far less down there.
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  52. You know, when I find a good person to watch my house while I am away, I ask them year after year. My last one took care of my house and dogs every year for 23 years. She passed away a few months ago and I so miss her, but I will miss her even more this Labor Day when I go away and have to try out a new house sitter. If I lived someplace cool, like in the middle of a great park, I'd ask you, Mike, but I have a rather ordinary townhouse in an ordinary part of Sacrament, which is a rather ordinary town (and, right now, not at all cool, it will be over 100°F today). On the other hand, those nice folks living in the park may well invite you back next year. They can take vacations without any fears about their beloved home with your around (or both of you). Love Tru Earth, thanks for the discount code. It is SO HARD to remember!
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  53. My problem is I would have to bust into Canada first. I would feel very safe traveling there as you folks seem to be taken COVID seriously and doing what is necessary. Here in the states, where I am, people are sanitizing their hands, wearing their masks, or observing social distancing. Here I would not feel safe. So, I stay home and watch DownieLive.
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  54. Mike, as medical doctor and well-known TV and Radio personality, Dr. Dean Edell ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Edell ) said repeatedly, "Vitamins make for expensive pee." His father vitamin manufacturer in the 1940s and 50s, so he was very familiar with the game. If you have a specific vitamin deficiency, your doctor can tell from a blood test and proscribe accordingly. If you feel still the need for supplements, a cheap, simple multivitamin will give you everything you need for around $10 for a three-month supply versus Athletic Greens price of $300 for the same. Multivitamins are cheap. My point is your sponsor is a scam. You've had some great sponsors. I swear by Tru Earth. Drop this sponsor like a hot rock on a hot summer's day. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
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  55. There is something funny about a commercial for Downy Wrinkleguard Liquid Fabric Conditioner in the middle of a DownieLive video. Good match between artist and sponsor. Of course, I also like a travel blogger who can't now travel so covers his hometown. I just love these stories about Vancouver. When I was in 7th grade, which was shortly after the letter Q had been invented, we took a class trip to Vancouver, BC. I thought it so magical and so unbelievably clean. Even the streets were clean.
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  56. Just want to brag for a moment, my friend Rob lives in the white building in the middle of the row of tall buildings at 2:46 on Hyde Street at Lombard.
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  57.  @noseboop4354  A battery based on sodium chloride, basic table salt, replacing lithium is already getting ready to into production. We have nuclear power already, just not a specific type, while battery technology is beginning to move forward in leaps and bounds. There is much money to made in improving batteries, not so much nuclear power production.
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  58. I don't know if I believe in reincarnation or not, but if I do come back, I want to live a Mike Downey life and go on adventures like these. You live, the life, Mike, you really do, from living in the only house in a park, to now traveling by train the beautiful Canada. I don't know what you will do after this, but I want to follow along.
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  59. It doesn't beg the question. Begging the question is a logical fallacy where the conclusion is assumed in the question. For example, chocolate is the best ice cream because the best ice cream is chocolate. That is begging the question. What you did was avoid answering the question.
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  60. Pubs are great, but they have great trouble taking one from London to Calgary.
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  61. As Bilbo Baggins says, "“We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures." As his book makes clear, adventures are rarely actually fun or in the least bit comfortable, BUT a train ride IS an adventure, with all the beauty, excitement, mishaps, and trials along the way, yet it is safe, comfortable, pleasant, and a joy. You are so right, Mike, it is what is between A and B that is fun. That is true for one's whole life. It isn't getting there to the end, we will all get to the end soon enough (perhaps too soon for some), but the measure of one's life isn't the end, but what happened along the way, what was between A and B. Thank you so much for these videos. I know you are looking for merch ideas, so how about a DownieLive face mask with your smile on it. That way, we could see you great smile even when you aren't eating. BTW, I used to take the train from SF to Sacramento to visit my parents. It is about three hour trip and the train was once 26-hours late pulling in. I left Friday after work and didn't get to my parent's house until late Saturday night.
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  62.  @DownieLive  I'd buy one, at least, and likely two more Christmas gifts. I think gifts of DownieLive merch make the best gifts, don't you?
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  63. Dome Car: as I always say, "the closed mouth don't get fed." Always ask, if you don't speak up for yourself and state what you really want, no one is likely to do it for ya.
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  64. This whole time you've been saying, "ChekTV," I've been hearing, "CzechTV" as in Czech Television from the Czech Republic. I've wondering why the former Bohemia was so interested in Canada. Prelude to an invasion? Envy of the vast, spectacular Canadian landscape? Just wanted to work with Mike? Can't wait to watch the series and also to have you back. Great work, Michael.
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  65. As a native California and regular user of the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train, I must let everyone know you absolutely, positively DO NOT get to San Francisco on the Zephyr. The closest you do come is Emeryville, which is across the bay in a different county from The City (our nickname for San Francisco). You can take an Amtrak bus across, but the train doesn't get there. Personally, I get off in Richmond (and the Zephyr also stops there), which is a combined BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)/Amtrak station. One can depart the train and then take a short walk to the BART platform and take BART directly into The City. It is nicer than the bus and one has a choice of several BART stations in San Francisco. The Amtrak bus will only let you out at the Transbay Transit Terminal, though the Terminal is directly across from the leaning Millennium Tower (The 58-story, 645-foot tall Millennium Tower is now tilting 26 inches north and west). Welcome to my state and, if you need anything -- rides, advice, home-cooked meal -- please call on me.
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  66. Here is a great video on why hydrogen cars are not the cars of the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b88v-WvqzeQ
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  67. OK, the voice of my mother, the English teacher, is making me post this. "Unique" does not take superlatives. Something isn't "very unique," it is just "unique." "Unique" means, "one of a kind." Something can't be very one of a kind. Second, if there are two elevators with the open top design, one of them isn't unique. There are two and, remember, "unique" means "ONE of a kind." Whew, the voices in my head are quite now.
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  68. Things are not "very unique." "Unique" is digital, either it is unique, that is one of kind, or it is not, meaning there two or more alike. As for Netflix recommendations, I really like Ozarks and a new season was recently released. It is really old now, but I loved Merlin. Pay extra, stay on the boat, you look so happy there.
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  69.  @liamz.6245  HSR may well be the fastest option, but fastest isn't the sole criterion. The SST was the fastest plane, but it wasn't economical. There just weren't enough people willing to pay the greater cost to go that fast. Same here. HSR simply costs too much now. I strongly supported the HSR project here in my home state of California, but it now runs from Bakersfield to Modesto, rather than SF to LA and is triple the original estimates. The line will never be completed to reach SF or LA, let alone San Diego and Sacramento. We Californians are throwing money at it and we can't get it done. Now try this between two different states!
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  70.  @moartrainz4242  I don't think G-d cares. He is everywhere at all times, so thus, doesn't need to travel.
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  71.  @bubbledoubletrouble  The government of Shanghai already owns the right of way. The right of way is the single most expensive item and is what makes most HSR prohibitively expensive.
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  72.  @yaash4123  I don't believe they are "suddenly" going to be a thing. I think they will benefit from competition and iteration like most engineering. Five years ago, the cars were terrible, today they work in controlled environments, in ten years, we will take them for granted like smart phones.
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  73.  @TohaBgood2  The land being purchased so far is in some of the cheapest places to buy land in California and it is already way over budget. The average home price in Bakersfield is $384,077 while the average home price in Santa Clara is $1,728,670. In San Francisco, it is $1,633,651 and for LA the price is $1,004,807. The average lot size in Bakersfield is a little less than half an acre, about 21,070 square feet, while in San Francisco, it is 2,713 square feet. So, CAHSR is now buying 8 times the land for a quarter of the price. Government doesn't own the tracks between Seattle and Portland. It would be improving the tracks belonging to someone else, who may very well not want them "improved." The tracks are for freight traffic and engineered for such, not faster, lighter passenger trains. Even getting to higher speed rail is impractical. Seattle land is TWICE the national average. How does the government buy all this land for a new system or acquire the tracks from the existing railroad that needs them for a vital shipping route? How?
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  74.  @TohaBgood2  So, we are going to build a new track from Seattle to Portland avoiding urban areas? Have you looked at a map how far the urban and suburban areas of Seattle and Portland extend from their downtown?!? One almost to Olympia from Seattle before leaving behind expensive urban and suburban homes and assuming the tracks avoid intervening towns, which greatly limits the utility, one starts up again around Vancouver. Also, that assumes the intervening farm land is cheap, which is hardly the case. All of this to create a workaround I5 that is a very good alternative for autonomous cars.
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  75.  @xxTheminemanxx  Yes, we went down different paths. Frankly, despite the charm of trains, I think we ultimately made the right choice. Auto, particularly autonomous ones, provide a flexibility and comfort unmatched by any other form of transportation. Unless one stays at the Hotel Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, a train ride typical ends with a car ride. If I take the Capitol Corridor train to SF, the trip ends on a bus from Emeryville to SF. I drive to the Sacramento train station to depart. The main fault with cars, having to drive them, is going away.
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  76.  @roboko6618  The Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express has a $5,000 ticket and tickets that cost even more. Second, as I have noted before, the Europeans and the rest of the world have a legacy passenger rail service to build on. We really don't. They own the right-of-ways, we do not. Our rail system is set up for freight transport.
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  77.  @Kevbot6000  I didn't in any way suggest it was representative. You wrote flatly there wasn't any train with such a ticket price. That was wrong. There is such a train. This is exactly the problem I have with people who advocate for HSR in the US, you don't think things through. You wave you magic metaphor and everything works out. Except, of course, it doesn't. HSR isn't economic feasible here.
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  78.  @Kevbot6000  Another straw man argument. I never suggested HSR had to be profitable. Over all, airlines aren't. Public services, however, should be cost effective. Vaccines don't have to make money, but they should be cheaper and save more lives than without them (and they are WILDLY cost effective, aside from public sanitation, they are the single most effective medical expenditure we can make). Autonomous vehicles on I5 between Seattle and Portland will carry EIGHT times the number of people for FAR less money. I love trains. I'd rather take a train than drive or fly. I often DO take a train rather than drive or fly. However, I don't confuse my person preferences with good public policy.
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  79.  @mondoman712  Except, of course, the owner of those tracks doesn't want them with tilting tracks because they use them for freight. The only way really good passenger rail works is to own the tracks and that is impossibly expensive. Again we get the wave the magic wand to make it work line of expanded passenger rail.
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  80.  @mondoman712  The Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution forbids the government just taking it. The government is required to pay fair market value and the right-of-way are worth billions. While tilting freight trains do exist, they are not common and cost real money. They also impose real restriction on the way freight must be loaded. The US companies don't want to go the extra expense for something that doesn't benefit them. Again, HSR isn't going to happen in the US. Get used to it. There are just too many real-world impracticalities.
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  81.  @loljewlol  Exaggerated construction costs? How much do you think acquiring right-of-way from Seattle to Portland is going to cost?!? The HSR in California was going to be $9 billion when we voters approved it. The latest estimate is $105 billion. Do you think Seattle to Portland is going to magically be way cheaper?
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  82.  @davecooper3238  Trying reading the comments. We can't do it here because the expense of acquiring the right-of-ways is too expensive. The right-of-ways in Europe and Asia were acquired decades ago and not always with compensation. The time for trains has past in the US. We will use autonomous vehicles for shorter trips and jets for longer ones.
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  83.  @davecooper3238  No, that isn't what I wrote. I wrote we can't acquire right-of-way cost effectively here in the US. The right-of-ways in Europe and Asia were acquired decades ago at reasonable cost or without any cost. That isn't possible in the US. The land costs through major metro areas are wildly expensive.
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  84.  @davecooper3238  With very rare exceptions, the high-speed rail lines are built parallel to ordinary lines in Europe and Asia. If you look at photos of the HSR tracks, you can see the older tracks a few meters away. There are times when the HSR tracks are elevated along the right-of-ways to prevent them from crossing over streets or farm areas. The high speed of the trains make them dangerous at ground level along certain routes. HOWEVER, the HSR tracks are still running in the pre-established right-of-way. The British tracks were nationalized in 1948 when they were in the worst shape and greatly in need of repair, thus cheap to buy. French rail lines were national ten years previously in 1938. Japans were about the earliest in 1908. Most of these happened when the private companies were on the verge of collapse and needed funding. Had the US acted in 1970 when Penn Central filed bankruptcy, we would have HSR today. Instead, we split off the unprofitable passenger lines and let the profitable freight business AND THE tracks stay with the private companies. We'd have been even better picking up all the major railroads in 1893 during that financial panic. Nevertheless, your thesis that HSR trains in Asia and Europe travel mainly on completely new right-of-ways is erroneous. There are a few, but not many. There are new tracks, but not new right-of-ways.
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  85.  @davecooper3238  Given I am a gay man, no, I do not have a wife, but my longest relationship was with a wonderful man who worked for VIA Rail. I have also travelled extensively and try to do so by train. I like trains. I have commuted by train. I watch DownieLive because of trains. All you need to do is look at the photos of HSR and you will see the track next to older lines. Do they diverge at times? Yes, but not often and typically not by much. I am not going to bother discussing this further. Neither of us will persuade the other and I can't find any reliable data online either way to provide. From my own experience, rail lines travel through well-establish and long standing corridors with the HSR lines added along side. On many of my trips I've looked over at the banked HSR tracks from my local train and vice versa. If you can find the budgets for these new HSR lines being contemplated, you can see how little money is allocated toward acquiring right-of-ways in Europe and Asia. I will simply say there will not be a LSR or even faster speed rail between Seattle and Portland in the lifetime of your children, if ever. Should we each last 100 years, I will be the one to post, "I told you so." That is about as far as this discussion can go for now.
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  86.  @davecooper3238  I didn't write you physically couldn't do HSR on totally new alinements. I wrote you didn't because of the huge expense. You used existing corridors for the new tracks, tracks that met the needs of HSR. I have very specifically wrote new infrastructure was built to accommodate the needs of HSR. What you don't do and you just wrote the same thing, is acquire entirely new right-of-ways. You piggy back on existing ones. Your examples support exactly what I wrote. We in the US don't have those existing right-of-ways and would have to acquire them now at a unsupportable expense. THAT is why HSR is doable in Europe and not here in the US.
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  87.  @davecooper3238  Other than the US, I have ridden trains more in the UK than any other country in the world. I love the UK. I love the people, the food (yes, I love British cooking), and the country side. I don't drink coffee, even, but tea (Constant Comment is my favorite) and I have Brown Betty under a tea cozy on my desk. Most of the HSR rail tracks I've observed in the UK travel along already established corridors. Some have replaced the tracks entirely, some have not. Given how well established British trains are, I wouldn't be surprised if there are now entirely new and previously unestablished right-of-ways being created as you have likely used up reasonable existing paths. However, they would be the exception not the rule. However, GB is only some 700 miles long and my state of California is 760. No part of GB is more than 75 miles from the sea (or the Channel). We have cities longer than 75 miles. California is only one of fifty states and not even the largest geographically. There are some 10,000 miles of rail track in the UK and it provides for extensive coverage (at the systems height in 1914, there were 20,000 miles, so there may well be right-of-ways without tracks available for expansion all over the place). That would allow for two sets of tracks from Juneau, Alaska, to Miami, Florida, but not much else. The distances in the US are much more suitable to private cars and planes than in the UK (private cars are common there, too, but the majority of your cities were really built with them in mind as are many American cities). The UK nationalized the railway system in 1948 and took over all rail right-of-ways through an act of Parliament in 1947 after having taken physical control in 1939 as a war measure. The best the US managed was to take over passenger service without the right-of-ways in 1970 after the system had mostly fallen apart.  What I am trying to make clear is your extraordinary and wonderful system is due in large part to decisive actions taken early and created circumstances that are not reproducible here. Not at all. We couldn't pass a nationalize the military bill through our Congress even though the Federal government already owns the military because the word, "nationalize" is in it. You DID nationalize the railroads (though it was a Labour government). Suggesting the US could use GB as a model is like suggesting I follow in Pavarotti's footsteps for a singer career though I sing like a wounded duck. Can you find some similarities? Yes, he and I were/are fat. There are many similarities between the GB and the US, but none that matter here. I don't think you are lying, but I think you are wrong about the central question in this very, very long debate. There cannot and will not be a HSR train between Seattle and Portland. There are a couple of good spots for them in the US, but not many and not out here in the West. Look at California's HSR and tell me if you and I will EVER be able to board a HSR train in San Francisco and ride it to LA, though that is the plan (you can't even board a slow train from SF to LA, but must cross The Bay to Emeryville to get to LA). We won't. China does not need to worry about paying for existing right-of-ways as they are not required to pay compensation nor do they in most circumstances. That is not an option here in the US or the UK.
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  88.  @frafraplanner9277  Yeah, labeling something. That's a good counter argument. Calling national health care "socialist" doesn't make it bad.
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  89.  @davecooper3238  HS1 was built in two parts, section 1 and then section 2. I road them at different times so my experience of them is as two different trains. They really aren't, but they were very different rides in my life.
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  90.  @davecooper3238  Yes, but Compulsory Purchase is the same eminent domain and works the same in the UK. The Government takes the land, but it must compensate the owners for the fair market value. What is "fair market value" is subject to substantial disagreement depending on the view point and, therefore, subject to much litigation. I assume the average Brit is about as happy having his home taken as the average American.
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  91.  @davecooper3238  The Wiki article, under route, specifically says there were two sections that opened at different time. How am I mistake?
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  92.  @davecooper3238  Compared to the Chester to Liverpool Central ride, it is faster than Stargate travel.
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  93.  @consisepepper73  Why? For what? Your comment is out of left field.
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  94.  @consisepepper73  Well, he isn't the first and won't be the last. Nothing upsets people like speaking the truth.
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  95.  @WhereWeRoll  You clearly haven't taken a bus if you think the experience of riding one is in way comparable to traveling in your own automobile.
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  96.  @meebie  Those other countries heavily subsidize their train ticket prices. Also, the cost to obtain the necessary right-of-ways would be astronomical. Moreover, there isn't any evidence the train would have a significant number of passengers unless we greatly subsidize the price of a ticket.
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  97.  @meebie  The country close to being carbon neutral are very small, not a good model for us. We are going to produce all those cars anyway, as people replace their current vehicles. The emissions, as opposed to other environmental costs, are minuscule to construct an EV compared to the lifetime carbon emissions of an ICE vehicle. So, we ARE going to replace virtually all of the current vehicles over the next twenty years, they will be autonomous by the end, and they will be the preferred means of travel.
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  98.  @TheUrbanGaze  Because most of Europe nationalized the railroads decades ago and own the right-of-ways. They don't need to spend money to acquire the necessary property. I've written this about 40 times here. Could you do me a favor before posting another totally obvious question that I've answer dozens of times already? Go back and actual read what has already been written rather than thinking you're the first schmo to think up the oh-so-devastating question. I wish this didn't sound so snarky, but I am totally bored with this whole topic because I've answered everything already many times. Don't bother me again unless you have something original to contribute.
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  99.  @iliashdz9106  For the 9,000th time in this discussion.: The California project escalated out of control because of the land costs (the right of way). Yes, lawsuits didn't help and some major inefficiencies added to the burden, but the French are not known for cheap projects either and the land is the expensive part. California hasn't even begun to purchase the necessary land into the Bay Area or into LA. The French already own most the land on which they built most of their HSR system. The cost of buying the land between Seattle and Portland would be astronomical.
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  100.  @iliashdz9106  Short answer: Yes, of course. Long answer: The average cost per square foot of land in Seattle suburbs is $333.29/square foot. Close to that in Portland suburbs. Lets go with $300/square foot for length of the line. The minimum right of way is 40 feet but most modern systems use 100 feet or so for access roads and safety. That makes the right of way $30,000 per foot. Downtown Seattle to Downtown Portland is about 175 miles or 924,000. To make things easy, lets make it 925,000 feet times the $30,000 per foot, or 27,720,000,000. That is $30 billion dollars for the average cost of land ignoring the considerably more expensive land in the cities of Portland and Seattle. Not add in land inflation, speculation, and the eminent domain costs, we are staring at $100 billion just to get the right of way. Now let's start building the thing ten years from now, because it will take that long to acquire all the land (one of the things most people don't realize about eminent domain is the government can get the land relatively quickly and start using it while settling on the price and the lawsuits, but the environmental impact suits in two different states and Federal claims, ten years easily). Just look at how much the initial estimates in California escalated just to get the useless part built.
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  101.  @iliashdz9106  The big benefit of HSR of fast speed is lost if we slow the train down to work on existing tracks. I don't know if you've ever taken the train from Seattle to Portland, but almost none of the existing tracks now run through low population rural areas with open land. I doubt there is an available stretch as long as 100 miles of open land between the two cities unless one goes very far east. Doubling the travel length at twice the speed isn't much of a gain. I suggest the current Amtrak train is about as nice and as fast as we could manage without significant lengths of new track. The number of people currently using the train is about a tenth those using planes.
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  102.  @iliashdz9106  The existing tracks between Bakersfield and Merced, the current HSR build in California travel mainly through suburban areas because most of the strip between the two cities is highway 99 or Interstate 5 and housing development has followed along the roads. To take the train out into the rural areas and then back in to the towns along the route would add significantly to the length. The West Coast did not control for urban sprawl and, therefore, there are long stretches of homes between towns.
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  103.  @iliashdz9106  Have you ever even driven highway 99 between those towns? The areas between are nearly an unbroken strip of development.
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  104.  @iliashdz9106  Except, of course, Highway 99 more or less follows the long existing rail line that connect the valley agricultural towns. Notice, btw, Pixley is just down from Tipton and is the town mentioned in Green Acres and Petticoat Junction.
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  105.  @henryhui7045  That HSR is infrastructure doesn't give it a pass in cost-benefit analysis. HSR will move far fewer people for far more money than autonomous vehicles. There just isn't the benefit to make them worthwhile except in very rare places in the US.
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  106.  @darthmaul216  Tell that to the High Speed Rail Commission here in California. Do you know how mach land for right-of-way costs?
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  107.  @DownieLive  He was a very fun guy. He was a DI in the US Marines, the football coach for the local jr. college, and collected everything from 1959 Cadillacs to Jim Beam bottles to Erector sets. When I came out to him, he set me up on a blind date with one of his gay football players. He had poker nights and block parties. Because both my Mom and Dad were teachers, we had the summers together as a family and went on adventures together. I miss him and Mom every single day. I urge you to enjoy every minute with your folks while you can. Keep up the great videos. They are truly a G-d send in these times.
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  108. Forgive me for commenting, but I notice your hair is getting a little long. I understand, in these times, how difficult keeping ones sartorial appearance crisp can be, but I have a suggestion that would put the longer hair to good use. One of my classmates in law school grew his hair all term and then had it cut off and sent it to a non-profit that made wigs for kids with cancer. What cancer kid wouldn't love a wig made from real Mike Downie hair?!?! You can read more at www.WigsForKids.org/donate-your-hair .
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  109. Except this is a route of about 180 miles that would be 2-½ hours by autonomous vehicle and relatively easy and far less costly road improvements. Autonomous vehicles will be here in five year, ten at the most, while the train upgrades are 20 years off. An average of 274,000 vehicles per day already travel on I5. Even assuming only ONE passenger per car, far lower than the actual usage, that means 274,000 people per day travel I5. Amtrak single most used route is the NortheastDirect with about 24,000 daily passengers. That is not even 10% of the automobile traffic on the I5 route currently. Dollar for dollar we get far better increase in carrying capacity by improving auto lanes that train tracks. Plus, autonomous vehicles leave when you want from where you want, go to where you want, bring far more stuff with you, including passengers that add directly to carrying capacity. We could have autonomous buses on this route far sooner and for far less money than trains. There are already fabulous buses available between NY and DC for as little as $22 (please see: https://www.washny.com ). Make them autonomous and you have all the aspects of the train for little more than the rolling stock, plus it is far more scalable. Sorry, HSR, or even higher speed rail, isn't going to happen. There is not the political will or the demand and the alternatives are vastly better. This is sad, but facts are facts. Not. Going. To. Happen. Here. Not. Mike can answer this, but I think this is the longest single thread on DownieLive ever. What do you have to say, Mike?
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  110.  @YaBoiScrumpo  The gobbledygook about mining material for batteries and such is such nonsense. Do mining lithium make a mess? Yes, but it can be cleaned up and regulations can stop it from happening. You put your finger on the heart of the matter and my very point, "ail travel went under in the 70s and hasn't recovered to date." It simply can't recover because Amtrak doesn't own the right of way and purchasing it now is wildly cost prohibitive. I am not arguing rail travel isn't nice, I am arguing it isn't practical in our country. It is like trying to build a canal network now. The conditions that made both work are gone. Autonomous vehicles are all upside. They are going to do nothing buy get better, faster, cheaper, and easier. Trains are already at their limit. I think we need an award from Mike for the longest running thread. Maybe he could take us all to lunch in Vancouver, BC. I'd drive up for it.
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  111.  @bluevortex1045  A boat is often defined as a hole in the water into which one throws money. Trains are black holes that suck in vast sums of money. Roads are not profitable, but they have a dedicated funding source, gas taxes, from users to maintain them. There is losing money and sucking up vast sums. Look I am all for improving as we can. I love the Coast Starlight and ride it to and from LA several times a year. I hope to take the Zephyr to Chicago someday. I am not sure anyone is planning autonomous trains.
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  112.  @bluevortex1045  Autonomous vehicles would likely be privately owned as they offer a profitable business model that doesn't need subsidies, as do passenger trains, but they don't require personal ownership. Just as I can now rent a vehicle for a day or a few weeks, I could rent an autonomous vehicle. I currently own a small car that I use daily, but I rent a more appropriate vehicle several times year when I am taking a large number of people or hauling material. I just rented a U-haul truck last week. I have never needed to transport 100 people, but I can charter a bus if I ever do. I can drive from my home in Sacramento to San Francisco by car in an hour, forty minutes, excluding traffic, but the train, at best, is two hours, forty minutes. I have had traffic on both with the train taking, by far, the longest. The question here isn't should we get rid of the trains we have, but should we pour hundreds of billions in to building new HSR trains. You think spending the $104 billion estimated to finish the HSR now being built will increase equity? Really?
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  113.  @bluevortex1045  Thank you, sincerely, for letting me know. Yes, gas taxes are a small part of supporting automobiles, but they are a major part of the roads. For the most part, people support their own vehicles and that process makes a profit. I am all for subsidizing the Zephyr and the Coast Starlight. I strongly support the Capital Corridor trains. However, if I were a homeless guy or even living in a van down by the river, as Chris Farley would say, I think I'd rather a hundred billion housing for supporting low income housing rather than the same amount for the California HSR project.
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  114. Canada does NOT have common law marriage. SOME provinces recognize common law cohabitation, but that is not considered marriage, thought it does come with some rights and responsibilities. Please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage#Common-law_marriage_vs._cohabitation
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  115. So, a typical summer day in Vancouver is going some place else (Squamish, BC)? Sounds like one here in Sacramento where we escape the heat by going to Tahoe. And THIS is what you do when you get to the top of the peak and THIS is the music you play. Don't you know popular culture?!?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZCO40Zwt00
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  116. WOW! Love the new series. Can't wait. I'll be along by video the whole way!
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  117. The reason bodies, mostly coffins, are buried six feet deep is to be deep enough the freeze-thaw cycle and the water table does not force the coffin back up again. The problem with New Orleans is the water table is so close to the surface AND so deep, that burying someone below the table isn't practical. The harm to the bodies is irrelevant as the whole point is for the bodies to decompose, but having decomposing bodies in one's water table can be a public health hazard. Hence, bodies are kept above ground and decompose in reusable vaults.
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  118. What they do have in Germany are trains that run on time.
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  119. Do we have to wear a "Live" baseball cap while filming?
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  120. Nothing sounds more DownieLive than, "We're heading out with the Royal Canadian Marines." If it was on a train, would have been a grand slam.
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  121.  @joermnyc  But wouldn't the fine be in Canadian Dollars? Isn't that like Mexican Pesos? 😀😜😝
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  122. Mike, even an old queer like me knows, you can claim all you want this is like a date night and you've taken Nicole to a fancy restaurant, you STILL need to take her out on a real date night AND to a fancy restaurant. You don't get out of that just because you took on one of the nicest flights in the world. Sorry, you are still on the hook, date night awaits. Nicole deserves it. Great video, makes me want to fly to London just for the experience.
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  123. Question: can I skip the ads? I don't want to cut into your income, so I've been watching them, but now YouTube is putting Trump ads in. As a Canadian, you may not be aware of what a complete and utter d1ck he is and I just don't want to watch ads for him. I will if it makes you money, but seriously, can I skip them? Tugboat all the way. It was great and the food looked awesome.
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  124.  @DownieLive  Thank you. I so enjoy your channel I would, if it helped, watch those ads, but am so grateful I don't have to.
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  125. Go to Germany, very friendly people, well organized country, great food. French desserts look pretty, but German one's taste better. Street vendors sell the best sausages at wurst stands. All around best country in Europe.
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