u/TerribleBumblebee800

I'm sure everyone on this sub reddit knows how to look at the next arriving train sign to see if a train will be 6 or 8 cars. And I'm sure the same group knows that if it's an 8 car train, the last two cars will be far less crowded than the others both because of where people naturally enter each station and the signs they've put on the floor about 6 car train cutoffs. And finally, most here would know that for any train, the very front car is often much less crowded.

All of that being said, with the new 8000 series trains that will have open gangways throughout, those effects will be mitigated as people in immediately adjacent cars will naturally spread out, especially if one car is standing room only and the next one has available seats.

In general, this is obviously a good thing, and I am supportive of this design. That said, we, the most informed transit riders, stand to lose out on the advantage of being a more informed rider. No more "life hacks" to go to the way back or front of a train to get a seat that's otherwise not available or to be in a less packed car. I always felt good knowing I had a few tricks up my sleeve, especially when riding with friends or family who don't know or choose not to know about these things.

EDIT: I've been informed that it's only an open gangway between pairs. So this no longer applies. We get to keep our car 7+8 advantage. A good theoretical thought though if true open gangway trains are considered in the future.

Here's a general tip that will help with issues streaming Nebula, and streaming on your TV in general. Buy an Amazon Fire TV Stick (or roku or other preferred device) for your Smart TV. Yes, you might think, that's redundant. It's not. An external device is significantly more powerful and works far better. They only cost like $30, so it's a minimal investment. The hardware in your TV that operates the Smart TV is JUNK. Even on high end TVs, it's JUNK.

TV manufacturers know when people shop for TVs, they look at three things...the price, size, and visual specs. Nobody is paying attention at all to the streaming hardware, only that it says "Smart TV" which 99% of TVs are now. Their incentive is to cut costs anywhere possible to keep costs down, and an easy way to do that is the streaming hardware. They know nobody is looking, so they get the cheapest components.

On my TVs, I never use the built in interface. Everything is controlled by my Fire Stick. You will never have a lag issue or other weird errors and delays like you do with the built in. Also, as certain Nebula errors and delays can demonstrate, streaming services big and small optimize for the big players; Amazon, Roku, etc. They sometimes make it compatible with TV brands like Samsung, LG, etc., but there are so many players, that it takes a back seat. The bandwidth is also much higher on an external device, meaning you'll be able to stream at higher quality too.

I promise, you'll have a WAY better TV (and Nebula) experience if you just drop $30 and 10 minutes to set up on a Fire Stick. Keep your TV on that input and never use the built in interface for anything. You'll be much happier.

Anyone know when the elevator in the Vienna North Garage will be repaired? u/metroforward

Sometimes, those responsible for ADA and disability compliance and accommodation assume that every handicapped person is in a wheelchair. They forget that for some people, they walk, but have to walk only limited distances. Without that elevator in service, if the adjacent handicap spots are taken, the only available spaces are very long distance walks in the South Garage. That walk, especially uphill, it very difficult for certain people. The North Garage is a much close walk, but the elevator needs to reliably work to open up for more accessible spaces for mobility constrained riders.

Not really a spoiler here...Voiceover Sam has not yet addressed whether or not overnight trains during the rest period are allowed, like they were in Arctic Escape. They also have not discussed that topic at all on the Layover. I wonder if they haven't mentioned it because 1) it's not going to happen or 2) it is going to happen, but they're withholding thay rule to add drama when it does. One would think since this was explicitly allowed in the rules in the last America season, and they love trains and want to incentivize their use, that they'd have reason to clarify it at some point. You'd also think if it wasn't allowed, the boys would want to explain why on the Layover. That's why I lean towards possibility 2 that it's going to happen and they didn't want to give it away. Maybe that's just me rooting for it to happen again, but who knows 🤷.

I suspect the boys did not consider this closely enough when designing the game and introducing the National Park wild card. I lived in St. Louis for four years, and this National Park (which only received that designation in 2018 as a political favor in Congress) where the Gateway Arch sits is even more advantageous than they've discussed thus far. Here's why it's GOATED with that wild card:

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1. STL isn't known for its public transport, but believe it or not, their single-line, two-branch light rail system goes directly from the airport terminal (not even a walk of more than 2 minutes) straight to right next to the park border/entrance, with the Arch immediately in view. So not only is it near an airport, but they won't even have to rent a car or pay for two Ubers (with 100% car tax) to get there. It will be quick, convenient, and free. They may even beat the time record for Canada as quickest "state" to be claimed.

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2. STL is on the border with Illinois. Literally, the Arch is next to the Mississippi River, and Illinois is a 20 minute walk away over the Eads Bridge. Illinois isn't on the board now, but the fact that a team could get both in a matter of minutes under the right circumstances is a big advantage.

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3. Missouri borders 8 states. Tennessee and Missouri share the record for states that border the most states (and the two of them border each other.) I'd argue MO is even better since the states it borders are larger, go in different directions, and is right in the middle of the country, being great for this game. But beyond the individual benefit, the TN/MO combo is HUGE. You have 2 states already if you hit the combo, and they border 12 other distinct states combined (AR and KY are shared by both) in every possible direction. That's 1/4 of the game board!

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4. Parts 4a-4d are all about how convenient and advantageous the travel in and out of STL is.

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4a. STL is a big enough city that is going to be easy to fly to from almost anywhere in the U.S. Southwest operates a de facto hub there, and every airline serves STL from most of their main hubs. Btw, American and Southwest both fly Boston to STL twice per day, so for all we know, it was possible for "Samy" to beat Badam there, especially since they had so much time to kill in ATL. It's also a pretty short flight from anywhere on the East or Midwest of the U.S. Frequent, short, competitive (thus lower prices) and nonstop flights is a huge leg up.

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4b. A similar point to 4, because there are decent flights to basically every U.S. hub airport and many more via Southwest, when they are done and ready to leave, they'll have so much optionality on where to go next with tons of flight options. And unlike Memphis, because you have a lot of east and west bound routes, they won't be stuck if it's later in the day. There are basically good flights at almost all hours, including evenings and first thing in the morning.

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4c. There are also decent train options in and out. There are several "higher speed" trains to Chicago every day, and two round trips to Kansas City daily. The same light rail has its next stop after the Arch in Illinois. It's not like being on the Northeast Corridor obviously, but there are some decent free alternatives to get in and out of STL.

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4d. Other than Illinois which is a 1 minute drive away, there are four other bordering states less than a three hour drive away: TN, MS, AR, and IA. IN too, though not a border state. Extend that to four hours and you add KS and OK too.

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5. Almost every other National Park is both nowhere near an airport and out West. In such a high percentage of scenarios, STL was going to be the go to move when this card became available. At least Canada had some variability to it. You could be equally close whether you were East, West, or Central in the US, and there are literally dozens of viable land borders and airports where Canada could have been claimed. Even if the teams were out West, depending on the scenarios (and if maybe they wanted to head East anyway), it's quite possible STL could still have been the best move if they were at or near an airport. The closest similar airport situation I can think of is Grand Teton NP since it's the only NP that has an airport in it. And while they don't fly from nearly as many places there, they do have some flights from hubs like Denver and SLC. You'd have to drive about an hour north, but the Teton range is also pretty iconic and can probably reliably yield a challenge victory. But the similarities end there. Grand Teton doesn't have any of these other factors.

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6. The Arch is INSANELY recognizable. Absolutely 100% chance the challenge is completable on the first chance. No world where that doesn't happen. The poll they do won't even be close. The next closest is the Grand Canyon, but even that I'd put at 80-90% likely. Anyone can identify it from an overhead helicopter shot, but from their vantage point taking a picture, it's not a guarantee. Still likely, but not a lock. Just about every other park gets less and less likely. These powerful wild card, as they mentioned on the Layover, are supposed to be harder than the regular state challenges since they have so much benefit. They say they didn't expect the Canada challenge to be possible in Windsor. I suspect the National Park challenge was chosen to be reasonably failable. There is no way STL was on their mind when they designed the challenge aspect of the card or they for sure would have realized it was an absolute give away.

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Conclusion: In short, I think the Jet Lag team probably didn't realize just how goated STL with the Gatway Arch was when they designed the game and this card specifically. And it's probably not what they were going for anyway when they came up with the card. Presumably, they wanted an incentive to show a remote and beautiful part of the country that would be unlikely to show up for any other reason. They talked on the Layover about a similar mechanic to incentivize the four corners with a wild card. I suspect if they realized STL would be the right answer in such a high % of scenarios, they may have altered the rules a bit. Maybe "any national park more than a 1 hour/50 mile drive from the nearest commercial airport or something like that. They also discussed on the Layover needing to provide incentives for the West, so it also could have been "any National Park west of the Gateway Arch." There's even a good chance they'd still go to STL otherwise for all the same reasons as above beyond the convenience of the National Park, meaning showing such an iconic location was totally still in the rehlm of possibility.

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I'm excited to watch the next episode and see them in St. Louis, but I can't help but feel this move, while totally legal and absolutely what a competitor should do, is not really what they as producers or what we as the audience wanted to see with that wild card. Feels a little like *people being animals.*

I bought an eBike to commute to work without a car. The ride is too long to use a regular bike, and I don't want to be sweaty for work. But when I take my helmet off, even after not sweating, I still have the imprint on my hair. Has anyone found a good solution to this? I'm obviously not going to stop wearing a helmet. I can't shower at work.

The recently released plan for the new Commanders Stadium got me thinking, what station enhancements could be made elsewhere in the system to improve the rider experience and access? Vienna is a prime candidate. The pedestrian bridge which connects the north and south sides is all the way at the east end of the station. If you park on the south side in the garage, you have to walk the entire length of the station downhill/uphill, the cross the highway, then if you know your destination is middle or rear train, walk much of the platform length back to where you started.

A relatively simple improvement would be building a second bridge and entrance turnstiles at the west end of the station, directly connecting into the two garages. If also add a narrower east-west bridge to the Vaden Drive overpass which would make the pedestrian/bike experience much improved, no longer requiring you to walk through a large park and ride or bus loop area. You could have a drop off on Vaden too cutting down traffic that has to access the main part of the station roads.

While other new station entrance projects have been expensive, this ought to be much more reasonable since it's all above ground. And if we're proceeding with these other projects, then surely less expensive options should be considered.