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proton007 said:

Yeah, for inter-city/state transport you're right. For intra-city I think public transport is a good idea to reduce congestion and all.

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Subway expansion in large cities and an increase in bicycle friendly roads and paths for everywhere. Should help with national fitness as well. That's what I'd do anyhow.

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tangster said:

Subway expansion in large cities and an increase in bicycle friendly roads and paths for everywhere. Should help with national fitness as well. That's what I'd do anyhow.

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Agree on that. Subway + Public Buses + Bicycle friendly roads.

magick man said:

Here's the deal, TN is a 3 strikes state and he already has 2 previous felonies. The guy he beat the poo out of wasn't wanting to press charges, at first, due to him knowing the guy and not wanting to see him go to prison for life. However, the perp's wife asked him to reconsider. LOL From what I understand, a potential plea agreement could be 15 years mandatory, no parole, in the state penn. That's the lightest penalty. All over a carton of smokes. Forgot to mention, the guy he assaulted has a broken nose, cheek, wrist, and jaw and lost 5 teeth.

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For smokes. Welp, at least his priorities are right for long-term incarceration.

On the public transit discussion, I'm reminded of a presentation from UDOT a few years ago, where the summary was (and still remains) that European or Japanese style mass-transit could never (and will never) work in the United States. Even in very rigidly planned urban areas like the SLC valley; it just isn't a geoculturally relevant model. Mass transit would have to look very different in the US than in other places in the world in order to work effectively, and in many cases still cannot replicate the experience of many other places in the world. City planning would also have to change dramatically (and it's not like you can un-plan or level and re-start an existing city).

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obobskivich said:

For smokes. Welp, at least his priorities are right for long-term incarceration.

On the public transit discussion, I'm reminded of a presentation from UDOT a few years ago, where the summary was (and still remains) that European or Japanese style mass-transit could never (and will never) work in the United States. Even in very rigidly planned urban areas like the SLC valley; it just isn't a geoculturally relevant model. Mass transit would have to look very different in the US than in other places in the world in order to work effectively, and in many cases still cannot replicate the experience of many other places in the world. City planning would also have to change dramatically (and it's not like you can un-plan or level and re-start an existing city).

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Well, people not wanting to take public transport is an issue wherever personal transport is affordable. The question is, what will happen if and when the cost of personal mobility becomes too high.
As of now its pretty out of range for me, so I find public buses/trains convenient. Once one gets used to be driven around, its hard to imagine driving unless its for purely recreational purpose. (One of the reasons I don't drive when I go to my parents').

proton007 said:

Well, people not wanting to take public transport is an issue wherever personal transport is affordable. The question is, what will happen if and when the cost of personal mobility becomes too high.
As of now its pretty out of range for me, so I find public buses/trains convenient. Once one gets used to be driven around, its hard to imagine driving unless its for purely recreational purpose. (One of the reasons I don't drive when I go to my parents').

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It won't. Worst case scenario, we fall back to natural gas, which most ICEs can be converted to run. We have vast resources there and it's extremely clean to burn.

proton007 said:

Well, people not wanting to take public transport is an issue wherever personal transport is affordable. The question is, what will happen if and when the cost of personal mobility becomes too high.

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It has little to do with the generalization that Americans "don't want" public transit, and much more to do with the de-centralized population distribution, over relatively large areas, that characterizes American cities. There is no "if everyone just..." quick-fix for this; it's a very complex problem.

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obobskivich said:

It has little to do with the generalization that Americans "don't want" public transit, and much more to do with the de-centralized population distribution, over relatively large areas, that characterizes American cities. There is no "if everyone just..." quick-fix for this; it's a very complex problem.

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Well, I'm guessing if the problem presents itself strongly, there will be some sort of a solution. It may not be public transit but something else suitable enough (alternate fuels, teleportation etc).
 
But, just a mention, I found recently that the number of people obtaining their driving license in the 19-24 age group has dropped. Maybe there's a shift, IDK.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-dont-young-americans-buy-cars/255001/

magick man said:

It won't. Worst case scenario, we fall back to natural gas, which most ICEs can be converted to run. We have vast resources there and it's extremely clean to burn.

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And this is where the fuel cell shines as a power source. Natural gas goes in, and warm steam and electricity comes out.

On the perp - I really don't see what he can do if the DA won't press charges. I still say any shyster lawyer he would get that has half a brain will bail out of a civil case as soon as they get the facts and they learn you won't just pay them to go away. On the flip side, I am very surprised it even matters what the clerk wants. Laws were broken and I would think the DA could bring charges regardless of what the clerk wants to do - and if I was a DA with the ability to put a psychotic 3-time loser away for 15 years min, I would do it in a heartbeat. I would also think the store owner could press charges for something, no?

On public transportation in US cities, it really depends on the city. It seems to work very well in some cities and not at all in other cities. Buses are not the answer - it takes forever to get anywhere unless you are lucky enough to have a bus stop outside your door on the same line where your destination is located. Trains & subways are better - if there are an adequate number of stops, lines and capacity on each train. The last item, capacity, is not something that is talked about very much - but should be. Let's assume a large city like Los Angeles suddenly convinced a significant percentage of the residents to use public transportation. Think about that - how many people would that be? The "greater Los Angeles" area is said to have ~18 million residents. What percentage would you like to see riding public transportation? 30%? that's 5.4 million people! I think I remember reading that ~3 million people go through the main Tokyo subway stations every day. Is that what we see as our future?? If it is, then no thank you!

billybob_jcv said:

And this is where the fuel cell shines as a power source. Natural gas goes in, and warm steam and electricity comes out.

On the perp - I really don't see what he can do if the DA won't press charges. I still say any shyster lawyer he would get that has half a brain will bail out of a civil case as soon as they get the facts and they learn you won't just pay them to go away. On the flip side, I am very surprised it even matters what the clerk wants. Laws were broken and I would think the DA could bring charges regardless of what the clerk wants to do - and if I was a DA with the ability to put a psychotic 3-time loser away for 15 years min, I would do it in a heartbeat. I would also think the store owner could press charges for something, no?

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They take into account the victim's views. That's not to say they could throw it out, but it would hamper the case if the clerk refused to press charges or even testify. What's hilarious is how the attacker's wife wanted to see her husband go to prison, that says a lot right there. There's no telling what he's put her through, considering his temper.

Fuel cells are cool, no denying that, but I'm not sure if classic cars can be adapted to use them. It appears to be a completely different power system from the ground up.

magick man said:

They take into account the victim's views. That's not to say they could throw it out, but it would hamper the case if the clerk refused to press charges or even testify. What's hilarious is how the attacker's wife wanted to see her husband go to prison, that says a lot right there. There's no telling what he's put her through, considering his temper.

Fuel cells are cool, no denying that, but I'm not sure if classic cars can be adapted to use them. It appears to be a completely different power system from the ground up.

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Just strap a Mr. Fusion to the top...

LOL!!!

[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=TV_gJ3U7wTY[/VIDEO]

Coming back to cars, there's something I noticed the other day, the Bugatti Gangloff:
 

 
 

 
The best of all, the interiors...
 
 

 
I'm not sure if they plan to bring it into production, but its pretty refreshing.

It looks like the product of a Crossfire and a balloon - and I'm sure it'll cost more than a house in spite of itself.

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obobskivich said:

It looks like the product of a Crossfire and a balloon - and I'm sure it'll cost more than a house in spite of itself.

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Well its actually based on a mix of this Bugatti Type 57 (below) and the current Bugatti designs.
 

 
But I'm somehow still attracted to that curvaceous design  and the interiors...
 
 
Infact, it reminds me of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, a design I really like.
 

I love the Alfa 8C, one day I'll buy one (after they've depreciated some more) but that new Bugatti concept is awful. :blink: But then, I thought the Veyron was ugly too.