211–215 of 215 posts
I ponder this kind of things from time to time. This one makes a very enjoyable puzzle because it is extremely simply to move people on a conveyor or a rolling platform but amazingly complicated to get them on and off if you want to run it at any meaninfull speed, absurdly complicated. My mental gymnastics is mostly trying to mobilize an entire city with the concept. I see some research suggesting there is lots of ro…
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There's a German black-and-white comedy "Die Feuerzangenbowle" from 1944 and most of the actors knew this was going to be their last film. They were drafted into the war right after filming wrapped up and all of them died, apart from the main star.
You may be thinking of a different film, as all the cast members listed on wikipedia[0] are stated to have died after 1945. The trivia section of the German wiki page of the same film says there's a disputed rumour that the film was prolonged to help the young extras avoid conscription. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Feuerzangenbowle_(1944_fil...
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A roller coaster would be fun. I've always kind of wanted a city to city flight that you could just jump out of with a parachute and land at your destination without the airport faff. On the more realistic end of things, ebikes are fun. >e-biking over a bridge, preferably at night — has developed its own ardent following. Liberated for the most part of any physical exertion, e-bikers can instead focus on the texture…
Fun is good and all, if you enjoy it I won't argue. I enjoy a sunset myself from time to time. However most people are not enjoying in the moment. They want transportation only for the purposes of getting someplace so they can get something else done (or enjoy something else). Fun is good, but not everything is fun. I need to get home from work so I can get supper done in time for the evening activities (by coinciden…
I ask him things like, what about working from home? That would be terrible! He replied with a sour face.
But the knife cuts both ways. If you hate the rollercoasters you will be so happy when it is finally over. The pretzels will taste even better.
Some will feel your suffering when they see it, some will enjoy seeing it.
Most people would have every other city in the world where they can be practical, sober or boring, depending on who you ask.
Most people can't always have what they want and they shouldn't. It wouldn't be good for them :-)
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I love this. As another poster brought up, plenty of people buy enjoyable cars and motorcycles for the pleasure of driving. Why not add a little spice to life?
Spice is fine - but you still need to get places and that is the primary goal of most cars. People who have the car/motorcycle for fun only nearly all have some other vehicle they use as the "daily driver" to get places. I might take a train on a sunday drive myself once in a while. The majority of uses should be for people trying to get someplace. If the trip is also fun that is a bonus, but if it is only fun but ot…
A lot of people have recreational boats. They go places but the destination isn't half the fun. With cruse ships the destination is perhaps 5-10%?
Maybe we got it all wrong. Perhaps trains should have lan gaming. Have some exclusieve game that one can only play in the train with some exclusive content for the specific trip.
One could also do exclusive interactive educational material. There is a lot to learn before you become a train driver, train manager, mechanic, engineer, cleaner, etc etc
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it is worth noting that we have transportation systems where you get into a slow moving vehicle that then speeds up. the cable car is a lot safer than a faster moving sidewalk because you can just get inside and sit down securely. of course, it takes up a lot more space and costs a lot more money.
And you can only hop on/hop off a cable car at predetermined locations. To keep average speed high, those tend to be spaced relatively far apart. I’m not sure about the “takes a lot more space”, and I definitely doubt about the “costs a lot more money”. Using outdoor escalators as proxies, I suspect outdoor moving sidewalks will need lots and lots of maintenance. If you want to have some guarantee of service you’ll a…