Elon Musk

that we subsidize more public transport of freight in addition to passengers? or at least reallocate money away from interstate highways

idk, iatee and his ideas about gas prices to thread

HOOS otm

ah, ok. I thought maybe there was a problem with CA's existing freight lines. I don't really know anything about them but I do see freight trains going up and down the state all the time.

If this thing actually worked the political will would develop pretty quickly. If the Acela line was shipping people 400 miles in 30 minutes every state would want one.

Which is why yeah, he should just fucking build one. I wonder what a good demonstration distance would be.

L.A. to S.D.?

http://www.humancannonball.us/IMAGES/photos/017.jpg

what are the possible operating failure modes on one these loops

giant pillow deployment

halp im stuck in a tube inside of a tube

*giant sucking sound*

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj176/rsjem23/HomerWaterslide.jpg

homerloop

i don't understand why this would be a good alternative to commuter flights

I'd rather see the money spent on suburb-to-city trolley lines

commuter flights are very carbon-intensive, for one thing

There are ways.

http://opinion-forum.com/index/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/airplane_hybrid.jpg

wouldn't even a dependable normal rail line be comparable to commuter flights by the time you figure in airport screening and boarding times and shit?

n/m, I am being way optimistic about rail speeds

there is a rail line that runs the California coast, it's called Amtrak

http://www.amtrak.com/coast-starlight-train

best described as "leisurely"

kind of forget the massive size of California, from now on I'll think of the distance from LA to SF being about the same as the distance from me to Chicago

about distance from the border to austin! i didn't realize it was that far.

now we've got some common terms here

mostly slow because they have to give freight trains the right of way or something like that iirc

yep. it's an enjoyable ride, but not for commuters, it's way too slow. granted I haven't ridden it in 25 years

so the freight lines are pretty congested, you're saying

they're full of hobos

if planes are carbon intensive why not build solar planes? about as doable as a solar rail vacuum tube

I agree that the major problems with implementing his proposal are political, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea!

Invent a solar plane that generates as much thrust as burning a bunch of jet fuel and you'll have everything solved. xp

why not build wind powered planes with propellers that are also windmills?

http://trollscience.com/image/f/full/3778286b17bf40dc45d98c31c99ba016.jpg

Guys we'll have nuclear fusion by 2025 chillax

http://trollscience.com/image/f/full/8dff6ab64e09451e30476175170f9ec0.jpg

i've always lived the idea of giant solar-power helium dirigibles for freight transport

LOLLLLLL

I agree that the major problems with implementing his proposal are political, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea!

uh whut

i think there's the major technical hurdle of building the giant vacuum tube

stick all of these ideas in a pdf and send them to the cologne tycoon

anybody who is over the age of 25, has lived in a city for any length of time, and paid a modicum of attention to the world around them knows that these kinds of massive public works projects tend to be underbid by shady contractors and then they go wildly over the original schedule and budget. so the fact that he's coming in saying he can do it so much cheaper with a totally new and untested technology is a huge red flag. to me it immediately suggests that the whole thing is not serious.

I can't find the specific economist or businessweek article that talked about this but in the US consultants who put the bid together for the state/county/city are not barred from bidding and often end up on the winning bid team.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-superfast-transport-system-powered-by-passenge,33468/

I'm pretty sure ross perot was trying to warn us about this giant vacuum tube 20 years ago

what's that giant sucking sound?

This sounds neat. Anyone speculating as to whether it will work or not right now is completely full of shit -- you have nothing to base your opinion on yet.

One thing I do wonder is whether it will have stops along the way or just be a bullet shot from LA to SF -- there's a big difference in the effect and in the target demographic of a train that's just LA to SF vs one that has intermediate suburban stops. True "commuter" transportation is normally built on a suburbs-to-city model, where people can save money on living expenses and/or have more land by living outside the city and use the transit to get to their jobs. The kind of person who would "commute" from LA to SF or vice versa is more likely someone in a high-powered job travelling back and forth for business meetings and the like -- I don't really see a lot of people living in one city and making a daily commute to an office in the other.

you have nothing to base your opinion on yet

I mean, outside of scientific studies, existing forms of similar transport, use patterns of public transport in that region and regions with high-speed rail, and studies on the efficiency of public project implementation

what I want to know is if they can team this Musk guy up with that Dyson dude so we can make sure this new rail system never loses suction

i have a plan for affordable teleportation. anyone who says otherwise is basing their opinion on nothing and is therefore full of shit

you mean buzz bissinger? xp

high powered boozenass

why everybody want use internet why nobody read deh booehk

i think there's the major technical hurdle of building the giant vacuum tube

― the late great, Tuesday, August 13, 2013 1:57 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it doesn't involve a giant vacuum tube, tho, is the thing