Side comment: I hadn't noticed that one could use j/k to navigate the photos; whoever put the photo page design together was presumably a vi user?
Or played too much rogue/hack once upon a time?
Stalin's Rope Roads
21–30 of 33 posts
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#22“In 2008 the hauling rope of this tramway snapped with 12 passengers inside. Ramaz Khipshidze, the director of the Aerial Tramway Network says the automatic braking system worked "thanks to God."” Well, it certainly wasn’t thanks to regular maintenance. Honestly, why is everything from the Soviet era just left to rot?
Even just a fresh coat of paint would prevent those tram cabins from rusting. Even the mining company, who I assume has cash, does not bother.
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#23When reading the title: Stalin's ropes I was expecting something more cruel and dangerous like an article on prisons or tortures or something. What a relief to find out that it's about city transport, though it Is dangerous now as they haven't maintaned it well and the breaks should add the security to those ropes. I doubt if I dared to use them unless wishing for the adrenaline rush.
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#24“In 2008 the hauling rope of this tramway snapped with 12 passengers inside. Ramaz Khipshidze, the director of the Aerial Tramway Network says the automatic braking system worked "thanks to God."” Well, it certainly wasn’t thanks to regular maintenance. Honestly, why is everything from the Soviet era just left to rot?
Even just a fresh coat of paint would prevent those tram cabins from rusting. Even the mining company, who I assume has cash, does not bother.
Soviet Union had lots of drawbacks, no doubt, but they did a lot of good stuff like rope roads, railroad, undergrounds etc. It's cheaper to maintain the heritage than build something from scratch, why is it neglected?
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#25FrogDesign proposed cable gondolas to solve Austin's mass transit problem[1]. With the hills and lakes/rivers in the area, it's a plausible solution (cheaper than a subway, anyway). The only hitch I see is how to air-condition the cars -- I wouldn't want to be in an enclosed glass box on one of our 110F days without it. [1] http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/11/forget-subw...
Interesting that they compare the cost of roadways to the cost of light rail/subway, but don't mention what the potential cost-per-mile of a gondola system would be.
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#26This is really cool and incredibly dangerous: >The cabins run without a braking system; if the haulage cable snaps, the cabins will roll straight back down the track cable. This happened to a tramway in Georgia's capital Tbilisi in 1990, killing twenty people. All in all, a good article that shows a really neat place. A city of tons of tramways, built for an incredible worker efficiency. The pictures are well done an…
Brings to mind the time a US Marine Corps aircraft sliced a ski-lift cable† with its wing at an Italian ski resort, killing 20 people. The airplane was damaged but managed to land safely at Aviano Air Base.
†http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(19...
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#27This is really cool and incredibly dangerous: >The cabins run without a braking system; if the haulage cable snaps, the cabins will roll straight back down the track cable. This happened to a tramway in Georgia's capital Tbilisi in 1990, killing twenty people. All in all, a good article that shows a really neat place. A city of tons of tramways, built for an incredible worker efficiency. The pictures are well done an…
Brings to mind the time a US Marine Corps aircraft sliced a ski-lift cable† with its wing at an Italian ski resort, killing 20 people. The airplane was damaged but managed to land safely at Aviano Air Base. † http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(19...
With the pilots getting away with it.
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even just a fresh coat of paint would prevent those tram cabins from rusting. Even the mining company, who I assume has cash, does not bother.
Soviet Union had lots of drawbacks, no doubt, but they did a lot of good stuff like rope roads, railroad, undergrounds etc. It's cheaper to maintain the heritage than build something from scratch, why is it neglected?
The present government has to blame the past in order to maintain its authority. Independent if how the USSR did, they have to be shown as 'evil'
(I am not saying USSR was puffy and fluffy)
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#29I love the "In Focus" by The Atlantic. There are always mesmerizing and capture the beauty of the subject being talked about. And also, wow - keyboard navigation! Yes!
The Big Picture by the Boston Globe is similar.
Re: Stalin's Rope Roads
#30Side comment: I hadn't noticed that one could use j/k to navigate the photos; whoever put the photo page design together was presumably a vi user?
Or played too much rogue/hack once upon a time?
or used something like google reader or another RSS reader that used j/k to navigate items.