Be-YOING!

[Grant Lamontagne]

I imagine that you guys in the UK have it pretty similar to us here- there's a good reason why everything here is named after stuff over there!

Of course much of this cold issue is my own damned fault too.  I keep insisting on wearing shorts, t-shirt and sandals until I absolutely have to stop!

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

See I'm lucky by order of the courts I'm banned from wearing shorts ;D

[Grant Lamontagne]

I am actually pretty self conscious about wearing shorts since one of my legs is noticeably smaller than the other following the accident.  No matter what I do, I can't seem to re-build it properly, but then since the ankle doesn't move well it's very hard to build the calf.

I wear shorts anyways though, and console myself that no one was ever looking at me in the first place!

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I am actually pretty self conscious about wearing shorts since one of my legs is noticeably smaller than the other following the accident.  No matter what I do, I can't seem to re-build it properly, but then since the ankle doesn't move well it's very hard to build the calf.

I wear shorts anyways though, and console myself that no one was ever looking at me in the first place!

Def

Have you though about hydro therepy? my mum had to have an op on her foot to fuse the bones together as the nerves where severly damaged by her poreing hot fat on her foot and ankle

And thats what the docs have got her doing to put some muscle back into her leg.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yup- I did hydrotherapy at the time, and fusing the ankle will be the next step.  The problem is that the joint has developed post traumatic arthritis, coupled with the different shape of the bones (they may put them back together again, but they are never the same) keeping the joint from having the full range of motion.  The muscles that control that joint develop a certain way to allow for the full range of movement but when that's hampered, the muscle develops differently.

Sorry to hear about your mum- sounds like a terrible accident.

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Yup- I did hydrotherapy at the time, and fusing the ankle will be the next step.  The problem is that the joint has developed post traumatic arthritis, coupled with the different shape of the bones (they may put them back together again, but they are never the same) keeping the joint from having the full range of motion.  The muscles that control that joint develop a certain way to allow for the full range of movement but when that's hampered, the muscle develops differently.

Sorry to hear about your mum- sounds like a terrible accident.

Def

It was a loong time ago (about 19 years I think) but she still suffers with it and its getting progresively worse, so the hydrotherapy really is just damage limitation for her, but you being younger I didn't know if the was something more to be done

The whole fuse the ankle, I mean I'm no doctor but it seems a little drastic, is there really nothing else to be done?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Not really- when you look at the foot, that big bone in the heel is the one I broke.  Shattered actually.



I had a plate and 8 pins (screws) installed to hold the larger fragments together while the bone healed- remember that the breaking motion was from downward force (I fell) from the leg bones, which not only shattered the heel, but splayed out the rest of the foot.  This mucked up all of the cartilage in the ankle joint, not just the stuff between the leg and heel bones, although that's where the worst of the damage was.  The theory is that when the pain of the arthritis gets too bad to live with, they will fuse the joint in what sounds like an extremely unpleasant surgical procedure which will  keep the joint from moving in the future, and theoretically keep it from aggravating the damaged cartilage.  It is supposed to stop the pain, and I have heard form many people that it does indeed do that, but the next problem is that the ankle moves for a reason.  When it stops moving, all the other joints (other ankle, knees, hips and lower back) have to re-align themselves to take up the slack, which means I will wear on them faster.  Given that the knee on the opposite leg already has problems (I broke that when I was 15 or 16), I am in no hurry to push it any time soon.

If you want to break something, break a big bone, don't ever mess with a joint!

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Whoa that sound's very grim indeed, I broke my heel but luckily only in half I didn't grenade it like you did

I suppose having it fused will be good in the short time but like you say it will accelerate wear on the rest off you, hmm tough choice

If you don't mind me asking how did you do it

[Grant Lamontagne]

I was rock climbing and a foothold didn't hold.  I slid down a few feet then over an embankment, dropped about 8 feet and landed flat foot, rather than on the ball where the impact would be cushioned.

Given many of the other things I've jumped off or fallen off, and how none of it has ever resulted in injury, it was kind of a silly accident, and was all the result of landing wrong- just a few degrees on the wrong angle and you go from safe to lifetime injury.

Remind me to tell you some time about the moving train I leapt off (from the top, not from the door!) without any problems! 

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I was rock climbing and a foothold didn't hold.  I slid down a few feet then over an embankment, dropped about 8 feet and landed flat foot, rather than on the ball where the impact would be cushioned.

Given many of the other things I've jumped off or fallen off, and how none of it has ever resulted in injury, it was kind of a silly accident, and was all the result of landing wrong- just a few degrees on the wrong angle and you go from safe to lifetime injury.

Remind me to tell you some time about the moving train I leapt off (from the top, not from the door!) without any problems! 

Def

Sound's very painful mate, and sadly very easily done

As for the train, well your trains are usually 2k long so they don't move very quickly

[Grant Lamontagne]

Those long trains are usually only on the prairies, where I grew up.  I remember waiting hours for trains to go by.  Folks would stop and have picnics at the side of the road waiting for trains to go by.  It was a great impromptu party for anyone else that was there.  Folks would open up coolers or groceries that wouldn't make it home and share with everyone else.  I think the newer superhighways have pretty well killed that nowadays, but it was always a great time. 

Trains can't be that long in the rest of the country as the terrain is too uneven, but in Manitoba (where I grew up), Saskatchewan and Alberta, you can literally drive for several days straight and not see anything.  No hills, no mountains, no ravines, no gullies, nothing but wheat and cattle!

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Those long trains are usually only on the prairies, where I grew up.  I remember waiting hours for trains to go by.  Folks would stop and have picnics at the side of the road waiting for trains to go by.  It was a great impromptu party for anyone else that was there.  Folks would open up coolers or groceries that wouldn't make it home and share with everyone else.  I think the newer superhighways have pretty well killed that nowadays, but it was always a great time. 

Trains can't be that long in the rest of the country as the terrain is too uneven, but in Manitoba (where I grew up), Saskatchewan and Alberta, you can literally drive for several days straight and not see anything.  No hills, no mountains, no ravines, no gullies, nothing but wheat and cattle!

Def

Did they get that new diesel electric train to work properly I remember it was pretty cutting edge we it came out

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't know.  I know most of the engines I see are the regular diesel engines like this one:



But then Canada is so vast, there could be better engines being rotated into service and it would take many years before all the old ones are gone, and being in the oldest, shabbiest end of the country, we'd likely be last to get anything!

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

It's this one...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LRC_(train)

It was pretty advanced, but they strugled to make it reliable and profitable, so I wasn't sure if it was still in service?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Occasionally you see commuter trains like that in the major centers, but there are no commuter trains here.  Mostly cargo trains, and some long distance passenger trains.

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Occasionally you see commuter trains like that in the major centers, but there are no commuter trains here.  Mostly cargo trains, and some long distance passenger trains.

Def

Just to clarify I'm not one of those poor so n so's who wait's at stations taking train numbers ;D I just like big locomotives

As for them being used on the commutor runs, that's quite a sad thing as it's a bit of a waste of it pottential

Mind you canada should be getting some high speed gas turbine loco's in the near future

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't think that electric or hybrid trains have the sheer power necessary to pull big cargo loads.

Def 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I don't think that electric or hybrid trains have the sheer power necessary to pull big cargo loads.

Def 

Not over the vast rail network you and the yanks have, unless you wana spend billions electrifying all the lines

There are a lot of electric freight loco's here in europe and there used to be a lot of mixed traffic electric engines in the states too. but the cost of electrification is too expensive so the diesel electric is here to stay for at least another 20 years

[Grant Lamontagne]

There's no getting around it- the only way to get the power to pull hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dead weight is with diesel, and I think the only viable alternative would be nuclear.  Unfortunately electric engines just can't produce that kind of power, and if we converted the rail lines to electric, that power would still have to be generated somewhere, and my guess is additional coal and oil burning generators. 

Frankly, I'd like to see some solar powered monorails put into service.  The may not be able to handle the same kinds of loads, but given the savings in fuel costs and maintenance, you could have many more in operation.

Def

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

There's no getting around it- the only way to get the power to pull hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dead weight is with diesel, and I think the only viable alternative would be nuclear.  Unfortunately electric engines just can't produce that kind of power, and if we converted the rail lines to electric, that power would still have to be generated somewhere, and my guess is additional coal and oil burning generators. 

Frankly, I'd like to see some solar powered monorails put into service.  The may not be able to handle the same kinds of loads, but given the savings in fuel costs and maintenance, you could have many more in operation.

Def

Monorails and repulser technologys will definatly start making the presence known within the next 20 years, electric trains have been used to pull freight for many years, take the swedish iron ore trains for example...



Those puppies have the equivalent of 10,000 bhp! but obviously there still dependant on having electric pantographs, so no good in north america