Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

railtarget.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 474 posts

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#141

Post by jorvi »

yesco wrote: post #136
petre wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Are you suggesting most people enjoy graffiti? Because I don't know anyone irl who does so I'm a bit surprised by this perspective. I've personally always viewed it as equivalent to littering and assumed the ones doing it were just thrill seekers up until now...

There are two types of graffiti: actual art, and tags which are akin to the forum signatures of yore.

The actual art is often a bit strange but can be beautiful, and is more interesting than a bare concrete wall or train hull. But I agree with you that virtually all tags are ugly. And not only that, tags represent an extreme concept of ego, where you subsume the art, spending your entire canvas on your signature.

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#142

Post by wiml »

croemer wrote: post #49

Terrible press release. The first picture shows an _intransparent_ barrier. Is that a before after picture? And what is "meta technology"?

My guess is it's related to "metamaterials", which are materials engineered to have interesting properties by including structures smaller than the wavelength of whatever is going through them (sound, microwaves, even visible light if the structures are fine enough). There is quite a lot of research into sound-absorbing yet porous acoustic metamaterials.

(Related, but maybe not technically a metamaterial, previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38678415 )

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#143

Post by krona »

flohofwoe wrote: post #138
constantcrying wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is exactly nothing about defacing public infrastructure which elicits the tiniest spark of "admiration" or "interest" in me. If you want to live out your "artistic ambitions" do it somewhere away from public property.

Bah, sorry, but most modern concrete buildings do indeed look better with graffity, no matter whether you see it as art or not. Every bit of color helps on those grey/dirty glass and concrete monstrosities. (the OPs photo is actually a perfect example of that, without graffity it would just be a depressing grey wall, I much prefer the colorful "defaced" version)

Everything has been vandalized but we shouldn't blame the vandals. [They were] built by vandals and those who added the graffiti merely finished the job. - Scruton.

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#144

Post by mschuster91 »

throwaway4good wrote: post #94

This is an international site and I think people don’t understand just how big Deutsche Bahn’s problems with delays are and how incredible dissatisfied its customers are. The situation with DB is really unique compared to its neighbors in any direction. While the tech described probably has merits, anyone who has been near DB lately would instinctively go: why are you doing this when you cannot get the basics right?

> While the tech described probably has merits, anyone who has been near DB lately would instinctively go: why are you doing this when you cannot get the basics right?

DB is facing the problem that the network needs substantial overhaul - the problem is that when you do a large-scale renovation, you gotta adhere to current code, not late 19th century code (which is when quite a few of the railways had been built). And that means noise protection anywhere where the tracks are adjacent to residential areas, but NIMBYs will launch intensive protests if they get presented with a massive wall of steel in their backyard - understandably so, these things are an eyesore.

So, it's a prerequisite for DB to tackle its problems... because most of them are caused by the aged infrastructure. Right next to Munich, on the route to Mühldorf, there are still mechanical switches in place, built around 1900 [1].

[1] https://www.merkur.de/lokales/erding/der-bahnausbau-nach-mue...

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#145

Post by whilenot-dev »

ldjb wrote: post #48
thuuuomas wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The impact isn't merely aesthetic. For one thing, it can be costly to remove graffiti. The cost incurred here is a choice the owner makes when they disagree with the aesthetics of the graffiti.

We're talking about public property here. Many authorities have a 'no tolerance' approach to graffiti. Even if it looks nice, it will be removed. There is a belief that removing graffiti quickly discourages it. If graffiti artists find that their work won't last long, they may be discouraged from doing it in the first place. Aesthetics doesn't really come into it.

> There is a belief that removing graffiti quickly discourages it.

It's the other way around, if it isn't quickly removed it will be encouraged: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#146

Post by edejong »

vasco wrote: post #16
flemhans wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can also start a subculture about competing for the best type of bank robberies, doesn't make bank robberies a nice thing to do. But yeah fascinating

When graffiti is done on public owned objects or walls, it's impact is merely aesthetic. Not like a bank robbery. And I'd rather see graffiti, even if I find some ugly, than ads all over. And there's way more public ads anywhere than graffiti. I think local urban expressions like stickers and graffiti is pretty cool. The mainstream prefers ads I guess.

One bad does not legitimize another.

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#147

Post by vasco »

Nathanba wrote: post #90
vasco wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When graffiti is done on public owned objects or walls, it's impact is merely aesthetic. Not like a bank robbery. And I'd rather see graffiti, even if I find some ugly, than ads all over. And there's way more public ads anywhere than graffiti. I think local urban expressions like stickers and graffiti is pretty cool. The mainstream prefers ads I guess.

Private individuals should not get to decide what public building aesthetic I need to accept

Who are these public individuals that can decide? All choices are done by some person.

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#148

Post by saagarjha »

matrix_overload wrote: post #95
ldjb wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The impact isn't merely aesthetic. For one thing, it can be costly to remove graffiti. And when it's on publicly owned property, who pays for that removal? The public, of course. If, for example, a train is the target of graffiti, it will often need to be taken out of service. This, then, results in a degraded service to the travelling public. Furthermore, graffiti artists often put themselves in dangerous situations…

Why does this comment read like it's written by AI?

Because the only other group of people who use transitions so often are third graders making sentences from templates.

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#149

Post by [deleted] »

constantcrying wrote: post #107
lifeofguenter wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comparing Graffiti with Bank robbery is crazy. Its Art. I would like to understand why people take offense in it - especially if done on places that are so non-important.

Because at best it is ugly. On average you are defacing someone's property and worst case you are causing serious economic damage to someone. It's a reason it is a crime, although sadly it doesn't seem to be really enforced or punished, given the prevalence.

[deleted]

Re: Deutsche Bahn introduces "MetaWindow"

#150

Post by 331c8c71 »

constantcrying wrote: post #104
umpalumpaaa wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you dive into the graffiti scene a bit you will start to appreciate all those graffitis. The story behind some of them is super interesting. There is a lot of "competition", "collaboration", and group dynamics involved. It is truly fascinating. I was living in Cologne (Ehrenfeld) for a while in a place with awesome graffiti and every weekend there were people taking pictures "collecting" and documenting the graffi…

There is exactly nothing about defacing public infrastructure which elicits the tiniest spark of "admiration" or "interest" in me. If you want to live out your "artistic ambitions" do it somewhere away from public property.

[flagged]
Post reply on HN