Massachusetts Bodged Transistor Authority

[karagenit]

https://tris.fyi/blog/mbta-cab-signaling-indicator.html

[quercusa]

Extra points for:

In a way, it's more accurate to say that the signaling system can infer where trains are because it knows where they aren't.

[bombcar → quercusa]

Have to believe it is a reference to the missile copypasta.

[throwaway201606]

¿ Should it be "Massachusetts Bodged Transit Authority" and not "Massachusetts Bodged Transistor Authority"?

I can't help but think that I am missing a really cool inside joke of some kind here.

I get that it is an electronics project using a piece of transit authority electronic equipment so "transistor" make a ton of sense from that perspective but also get it that it is easy to go "transistor" when you mean "transit" especially if you work a lot with electronics.

Can anyone help me out with a hint ( and not an answer ) if I am indeed missing something key all together.

Either way, both article title and article content are dope.

[breckenedge → throwaway201606]

It’s in the article: “The transistors are backwards.”

[colanderman → throwaway201606]

I just read it as a nod toward electronics hacking.

[jffry → throwaway201606]

Hint: You should read the "Driving the indicator from a microcontroller" section again

[throwaway201606 → jffry]

THANK YOU!

Makes perfect sense now.

That is a really clever joke.

[szvsw]

Not sure if this makes me more or less depressed about the state of the MBTA… will definitely be thinking about this on the red line tomorrow morning! Thanks for sharing.

[willis936 → szvsw]

As someone who regularly takes the red line also: you'll have plenty of time to consider it.

[pavel_lishin]

Re: the OpenStreetMap speed limit thing - is that why Google Maps also doesn't show me the speed limit of the current street I'm driving on, unless I'm following directions?

[elric]

Tangent: I've never seen botched spelled with dg before. Is this a local spelling variation? Or is my brain on the fritz?

English, the gift that keeps on giving.

[ahazred8ta → elric]

“Just repair it,” she hissed. “Please?”

“What, make a bodge job?” said the dwarf, his pipe clattering to the floor.

“Yes.”

“Patch it up, you mean? Betray my training by doing half a job?”

“Yes,” said Granny. Her pupils were two little black holes.

“Oh,” said the dwarf. “Right, then.”

-- Discworld

[rcxdude → elric]

It's definitely a variation. I'm aware of people using botch like bodge but to me botch is specifically screwing something up, bodge is hacking something together.

[elric → rcxdude]

Interesting, thanks, I was unaware of that distinction.

[sparselogic → elric]

I typically see “bodged” used more like “hacked”: fixed/made to work in a clumsy way, jury-rigged.

So I’d botch my attempt to build a shelf by cutting a board too short; I’d then bodge it into shape by screwing on a piece of scrap lumber.

[harshaw]

Cool hack. Funny to see them drive onto RT 2 after alewife and have a 25 mph limit as everyone floors it. Also not sure where an mbta train ever hits 55.

[mrgoldenbrown → harshaw]

The normal top speed nowadays is 40mph and you would see that mostly south of the city. There is work being done to (optimistically) allow 50mph in some sections in the future.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/07/19/mbta-red-line-closure-b...

[dmd → harshaw]

55? It’s only recently the red line has gotten back above _5_ in some stretches.

[jmclnx → dmd]

So True.

The only time I saw the MBTA go above 20 MPH (~30 KPM) was in the late 60s or maybe early 70s as a young kid when I lived in the area.

The driver passed out after he emptied his whiskey bottle, we could see it on the floor. The train was going extremely fast, not stopping at any stations. Me and my friends were banging on the locked door to wake him up.

Not long after a conductor came running and unlocked the door to stop the train.

For the MBTA that was just another day, no one got in trouble. There are still big issues based upon what my friends from then have told me. But seems things are starting to change, but very slowly.

Does the MBTA Trains in Boston even have Conductors now ?

[mrgoldenbrown → jmclnx]

Nowadays the trains require positive control - it will stop if you pass out and let go of the controls.

Also if that happens again you can try yanking the emergency brake :)

[heartag]

> Train. Honk honk(??)

Hi Tris!

[dheera]

I would have probably just taken apart the mechanics and replaced it with an RC servo.