Hyperloop • Hacker News Board

Re: Hyperloop

#841

Post by misterbwong » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 5:32 PM UTC

javert wrote: post #428

Anechoic wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe that an experimental tube is going to be somehow magically cheaper and easier to route and build than train tracks. Do you really think the special interests that are making HSR so difficult and expensive would say, "Oh, do whatever you like with your tube."? These are extremely important issues that advocates seem to be glossing over. Putting the guideway on pylons doesn't magically eliminate land is…

> Musk should do what the Germans did with the TR0x series of maglev vehicles Musk has already given more than enough for the world and done more than enough. Somebody should do it, but we should not expect him to do it.

Wow. I'm an Elon Musk fan too but this is a bit much. He didn't give anything to the world. He is a businessman-he gets paid very handsomely to do the things he does.

Re: Hyperloop

#842

Post by thatswrong0 » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 5:32 PM UTC

LockeWatts wrote: post #838

thatswrong0 wrote: post #829

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would it take to convince you? A peer reviewed study? Just take a look around at what unions have been up to in this country. Look at the union-born gigantic pension issues in California and Illinois. http://www.illinoispolicy.org/blog/blog.asp?ArticleSource=60... or http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-01-29/news/ct-met-su... Check out what unions did/do to convention centers in Chicago and Las Vegas. http:/…

It would take some logical argument as to why the concept of collective bargaining is a bad one.

That would be ridiculous, since that is not the argument that needs to be made. Instead, you want a logical argument as to why the concept of collective bargaining in the public sector is a bad one. I won't provide one since they are readily available if you have an ounce of curiosity. I'll just leave this:

“It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government.” - George Meany

Re: Hyperloop

#843

Post by HoratioWarlock » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 5:39 PM UTC

matthewcford wrote: post #241

gnu_fan2 wrote: post #104

i would say that it is marketing if the guy did not own SpaceX. Still I am skeptical. Every child can draw neat pictures and speak about vacuum.

I would read the pdf before commenting, this is a little more than some pictures.

Yes, it's a whole PDF!

Re: Hyperloop

#844

Post by Florin_Andrei » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 5:56 PM UTC

Turing_Machine wrote: post #479

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's actually more useful to think in terms of "2 minutes between them", as opposed to "23 miles". 2 minutes is all you have - to detect the situation, make a decision, then stop.

How much time do you have in heavy freeway traffic?

The two situations you're comparing are vastly dissimilar.

Re: Hyperloop

#845

Post by vidarh » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 5:57 PM UTC

robomartin wrote: post #791

coldpie wrote: post #768

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unions need to learn to be better citizens and to truly understand and partner with businesses. Then, and only then, everyone wins. There's two sides to this coin. Businesses don't have a very good track record of treating their employees well without some outside influence like government or unions. By the way, this comment here reads very differently from and much more reasonably than your "the goal of union lead…

> By the way, this comment here reads very differently from and much more reasonably than your Yes, it does. I have no love for unions as they stand today. Tis comes both from personal experience at several levels. I was in a union for a few years and saw the innards of the beast first hand. I saw that the rules they put into place allowed lazy, incompetent and almost useless people earn a wage they did not deserve b…

Part of the problem is that by European standards, unions in the US have been treated as pariahs for a century or more, and been fought relentlessly, whereas in Europe, parties supported by unions have been in power for lengthy periods in lots of countries.

US unions won tremendous concessions early on, at horrible costs to their members (a lot of blood was shed) - they were instrumental in laying the ground work for the 8 hour working day (and most of the world celebrate May Day in their honour, and in commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre), but unlike Europe where the workers movement continue to grow in influence and eventually effectively won a place at the table supported by governments friendly to their causes that forced business to learn to work with unions in a completely different way, the antagonism just kept escalating in the US.

If you treat people like shit long enough, they'll do their best to live up to the image you portray of them.

Re: Hyperloop

#846

Post by vidarh » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 6:01 PM UTC

epicureanideal wrote: post #504

javajosh wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30 million people donating 200 each...totally doable.

Or 3 million people donating $2000 each for huge discounts on long term access. I would donate $10,000 if the discount was steep enough on long term use and included use of future expansions of the system.

They'd better make sure not to fall in American Airlines "Lifetime pass" trap, then:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/05/business/la-fi-0506-...

Re: Hyperloop

#847

Post by mattermill » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 6:08 PM UTC

tinco wrote: post #438

ibudiallo wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bill gates can reach for his wallet and fund this. He won't even notice it. Someone get me his phone number right this moment.

Bill Gates has more important things to spend his money on than moving rich americans from somewhere in America to somewhere else in America.

What about a $40 round trip ticket implies that those of us in LA County or the Bay Area are rich?

Re: Hyperloop

#848

Post by yaddayadda » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 6:19 PM UTC

mahyarm wrote: post #478

mortenjorck wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not claustrophobic, but this image ever so slightly terrified me: http://i.imgur.com/lGD9bUP.png I have to wonder, would making the capsule the size of a small subway car completely destroy the economics of it?

How well will it fit the obese & large American, something that is around ~%40 of the population now?

Or individuals in wheelchairs?

Re: Hyperloop

#849

Post by saalweachter » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 6:20 PM UTC

gojomo wrote: post #582

jellicle wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this comparison is wrong and meaningless. Certainly no one would build a high-speed, dense train network across, say, Nevada. But building one across the coastal part of California? Or across the NE United States? Why yes, that does make sense, and why yes, it is warranted by the densities in those areas. The fact that the U.S. also owns Alaska doesn't really matter. No one is arguing Alaska needs a high-speed ra…

I can believe that's a good plan for the US NE corridor... which already has usable (but improvable) Amtrak. The California coastal cities (and connecting areas) are still pretty sparse, comparatively. And the marquee High Speed Rail project takes a big inland detour to the smaller interior cities, for political reasons. If ever finished, that will hurt its price/time attractiveness compared to flying.

The US NE corridor is arguably the only place it makes sense to build a high speed train network.

You'll notice that Elon Musk's plan for the Hyperloop includes an option for shooting automobiles through the tubes. That's because the mass transit within the cities on that coast is shit.

Inter-city mass transit only makes sense once you've solved intra-city mass transit. Unless you really, really love hanging out within a few city blocks of an inter-city train station, you need to have a convenient, desirable mass transit system waiting for you in the city you're going to. If you're linking Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC, you're liking the best mass transit system in America with four other pretty good transit systems. Cutting Boston to DC from 6.5 hours to 90 minutes is definitely worth doing.

Re: Hyperloop

#850

Post by smileysteve » Tue, Aug 13, 2013, 6:20 PM UTC

mhandley wrote: post #736

adventured wrote: post #649

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This system would seem very weak to criminals / terrorists / whatever firing bullets at it. It would be exceptionally difficult to track where the shot/s came from, and it would cause serious pressure problems.

Even if the pressure problems could be countered, a bullet hole is likely to leave a pretty ragged profile on the inside of the steel tube. The specification calls for the air bearing skis to ride 0.5 to 1.3mm off the tunnel wall. They'd need to be pretty robust to take hitting the ragged edge of a bullet hole at 700mph.

I think that a bullet hole in the type of tube that supports this much weight is unlikely. Oil pipeline tubes would typically be thinner (less weight to support) and the concept of a bullet piercing those tubes is unlikely.