The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure • Hacker News Board

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#561

Post by dTal » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 1:35 AM UTC

FiatLuxDave wrote: post #515

dTal wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's quite different. The astronauts were small in number and accepted the risks for themselves. It's not as if hundreds of contractors died building the Saturn V itself.

No, the numbers were much smaller: http://afspacemuseum.org/ccafs/fatalities/

That page is a nice tribute, and a reminder that it's not just about astronauts. Far more people ultimately died on the ground.

However I would note that many of those deaths postdate the Apollo program, and some are only tenuously linked with space travel at all:

"10 June 1981 - Scott Maness, firefighter with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, died at Kennedy Space Center after becoming trapped during a firefight"

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#562

Post by karmelapple » Mon, Jun 05, 2017, 5:46 AM UTC

chc wrote: post #226

karmelapple wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The abusive relationship love-affair is the best explanation I've ever heard of cars in the USA. Just like a an abusive relationship, the car love affair still produces some good things. It's not all dark and dreary. "I hate that he comes home drunk and hits me, but he's so loving and apologetic the next morning." "I hate that I get so stressed from my daily commute, but being able to drive to the countryside on the…

Can we try to get through one thread on HN without frothing at the mouth about how much we hate cars? Message received, you happen to be in a situation where you don't need a car — I am genuinely happy for you, as well as envious. But it is not necessary or helpful for someone to bang on about it in every single thread that has anything to do with building stuff. It doesn't help anything, and it just annoys people wh…

Just to be clear, I do not live in a situation where I do not need a car. I am unsure why you think that.

Advocating for something means thinking it's a good idea. That's all.

I have a car and driving it can be fun, but saving many lives and accidents would be even better.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#563

Post by jimmyk » Mon, Jun 05, 2017, 6:29 PM UTC

pikzen wrote: post #552

jimmyk wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Yes, whoever owns CNN can use up all his airtime telling you that X is the greatest vandidate that's ever lived and yes, he will reach more people than I ever will. Yet, his vote has the exact same value as mine. Interesting logic. Let's try applying it to the completely obvious parallel: "Yes, whoever owns boatloads of money can use up all his money buying TV ads telling you that X is the greatest candidate that's…

You are kind of ignoring the second paragraph, which goes hand in hand with the first.

Nothing goes hand in hand with the first. The first is a failed attempt at rationalizing away the fact that there will always be people that have vastly more influence over politics than others do, and that there is no such thing as equality in politics.

The second paragraph as far as I can tell boils down to "educate people" as the answer. Who should be doing the educating?

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#564

Post by LordKano » Tue, Jun 06, 2017, 8:38 PM UTC

specialist wrote: post #359

LordKano wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are driving quite a long distance and/or on the open highway, car travel is not as much faster than foot travel as some people seem to believe. I'm going to have to disagree on this one. I can drive to my local Wal-Mart in about 5 minutes. It would take me 30 minutes to walk there. I can drive there. Do my shopping, wait in line, pay, cart my stuff back out to my vehicle and drive home in less than the amo…

Mz is clearly referring to urban (civilized) areas. The closest WalMart to me (checking...) is 13 miles away.

If that's the case, why the reference to open highways?