transportation
wonderful dream, max, but could you smole a pipe on a zeppelin; would they be hydrogen or helium? how would you avoid another hindenberg? jlm Luxury Zeppelins. I think it's high time we had nice luxury zeppelin travel. Floating 5-star bars in the sky with ample leg room and good views. No airports, no TSA, no rush, under the radar for the most part... just debarking from private fields and decorated mooring towers, hopefully near nice city entertainment districts or near good mass transit to such... Who wouldn't enjoy the retro-futuristic cruise ships of the sky? There's no reason we couldn't bring back a sense of luxury to mass transit. There's no reason we couldn't bring back a sense of personal ownership and investment to mass transit. (You can't run a passenger Zeppelin without a personal name like The Heart of Helium and a well uniformed Captain that would die before another man piloted her...) We might not ever see luxury rail travel again in this country, but if someone is willing to give me a few million dollars I'd be happy to start building a fleet of my airships... Pipe Dream? Perhaps. But I'd rather take a leisurely zeppelin ride with a micro-brew or a bourbon on a rocks and chatting with some classy noir dame than ride the modern sardine can that is an airplane... Sometimes the future isn't as good as it used to be. __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: conservation
At 10:21 PM Tuesday 5/8/2007, Max Battcher wrote: jon louis mann wrote: Actually, I'm to blame for that . . . Catapults? Luxury Zeppelins. I think it's high time we had nice luxury zeppelin travel. Floating 5-star bars in the sky with ample leg room and good views. No airports, no TSA, no rush, under the radar for the most part... just debarking from private fields and decorated mooring towers, hopefully near nice city entertainment districts or near good mass transit to such... Who wouldn't enjoy the retro-futuristic cruise ships of the sky? There's no reason we couldn't bring back a sense of luxury to mass transit. There's no reason we couldn't bring back a sense of personal ownership and investment to mass transit. (You can't run a passenger Zeppelin without a personal name like The Heart of Helium and a well uniformed Captain that would die before another man piloted her...) We might not ever see luxury rail travel again in this country, but if someone is willing to give me a few million dollars I'd be happy to start building a fleet of my airships... Pipe Dream? Perhaps. But I'd rather take a leisurely zeppelin ride with a micro-brew or a bourbon on a rocks and chatting with some classy noir dame than ride the modern sardine can that is an airplane... Sometimes the future isn't as good as it used to be. -- --Max Battcher-- So what about all of the packages and people that (in the words of the commercial) absolutely, positively, have to be there by 9 AM? -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
transportation
So what about all of the packages and people that (in the words of the commercial) absolutely, positively, have to be there by 9 AM? -- Ronn! :) for the present, those people have to be satisfied, but some day, in the not too distant furure, it will no longer be realistic to ship freight all over the world to meet deadlines, -- jlm __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: transportation
On 0, jon louis mann [EMAIL PROTECTED] scribbled: wonderful dream, max, but could you smole a pipe on a zeppelin; would they be hydrogen or helium? how would you avoid another hindenberg? jlm As I recall, wasn't the Hindenburg disaster due to the flammable paint and a known design flaw which allowed the buildup of static electricity? I have little doubt we could do better today. -- Gwern Inquiring minds want to know. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Hindenburg
wonderful dream, max, but could you smoke a pipe on a zeppelin; would hydrogen or helium be used? how would you avoid another hindenburg? jlm As I recall, wasn't the Hindenburg disaster due to the flammable paint and a known design flaw which allowed the buildup of static electricity? I have little doubt we could do better today. -- Gwern i have no doubt we can, and have done MUCH better, gwern. i believe we will do even better and someday large blimps will again be used for transport. there are a number of theories of what caused the disaster including: structural failure, lightning, static spark, engine exhaust spark, puncture, hydrogen fuel leak, incendiary paint, and sabotage, etc. a german luger with one shell fired was found in the wreckage... the question i am asking is how to avoid another disaster with modern technology? jlm __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: transportation
Gwern Branwen wrote: As I recall, wasn't the Hindenburg disaster due to the flammable paint and a known design flaw which allowed the buildup of static electricity? I have little doubt we could do better today. Helium could be used instead of Hydrogen. If cost is the problem, then use Methane. Alberto Monteiro, who can't count ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Re Cost of conservation
Ronn! Blankenship wrote: At 05:11 PM Tuesday 5/8/2007, Julia Thompson wrote: IOW, the dose makes the poison? Water in excess is toxic. Which just supports my statement. :) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Weekly Chat Reminder
As Steve said, The Brin-L weekly chat has been a list tradition for over six years. Way back on 27 May, 1998, Marco Maisenhelder first set up a chatroom for the list, and on the next day, he established a weekly chat time. We've been through several servers, chat technologies, and even casts of regulars over the years, but the chat goes on... and we want more recruits! Whether you're an active poster or a lurker, whether you've been a member of the list from the beginning or just joined today, we would really like for you to join us. We have less politics, more Uplift talk, and more light-hearted discussion. We're non-fattening and 100% environmentally friendly... -(_() Though sometimes marshmallows do get thrown. The Weekly Brin-L chat is scheduled for Wednesday 3 PM Eastern/2 PM Central time in the US, or 7 PM Greenwich time. There's usually somebody there to talk to for at least eight hours after the start time. If you want to attend, it's really easy now. All you have to do is send your web browser to: http://wtgab.demon.co.uk/~brinl/mud/ ..And you can connect directly from William's new web interface! My instruction page tells you how to log on, and how to talk when you get in: http://www.brin-l.org/brinmud.html It also gives a list of commands to use when you're in there. In addition, it tells you how to connect through a MUD client, which is more complicated to set up initially, but easier and more reliable than the web interface once you do get it set up. -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ This message was sent automatically using launchd. But even if WTG is away on holiday, at least it shows the server is still up. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Transportation
Helium could be used instead of Hydrogen. If cost is the problem, then use Methane. Alberto Monteiro, who can't count. lots of methane in new zealand - 70m sheep, each emitting a barrel a day here is another source: http://www.ciesin.org/TG/AG/ricecult.html jlm Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: transportation
On 5/9/07, Alberto Monteiro [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Gwern Branwen wrote: As I recall, wasn't the Hindenburg disaster due to the flammable paint and a known design flaw which allowed the buildup of static electricity? I have little doubt we could do better today. Helium could be used instead of Hydrogen. If cost is the problem, then use Methane. The only reason the Hindenburg itself didn't use Helium was that the biggest source of Helium was the United States (and there was that embargo between the US and Germany). I'm guessing Helium shouldn't be that tough to get a hold of nowadays. Think about all the Helium we use just for children's parties in this country... Plus, I remember someone telling me that some sort of Helium-Hydrogen cocktail (I don't remember any details and I'm not a chemist) would be a good compromise between the inert Helium and the cheap Hydrogen. -- --Max Battcher-- http://www.worldmaker.net/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: transportation
On 5/9/07, jon louis mann [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So what about all of the packages — and people — that (in the words of the commercial) absolutely, positively, have to be there by 9 AM? -- Ronn! :) for the present, those people have to be satisfied, but some day, in the not too distant furure, it will no longer be realistic to ship freight all over the world to meet deadlines, -- jlm I think there's a place for high deadline freight/passenger travel... but I think that so often in our culture we are forgetting that there is just as much a place as leisurely travel, and that if there is no reason for it to be there next day, why pay for next day air. Our culture is quagmired in this do it yesterday hustle and bustle and sometimes we forget to take our time to even enjoy our meals... When I was working in food service (at an amusement park) I was amazed at what I call the eating pressure wave. Generally people would start to hurry up eating as the people around them started to leave and would leave themselves soon afterward, particularly if they felt the other people around them had been there before they sat down. What this amounted to was very noticeable waves of people leaving at around the same time regardless of when they arrived. It never ceased to amaze and inform me. At a supposedly leisure establishment (an amusement park) people never seemed to actually take the time to sit and enjoy the food they bought and were often pressured by invisible peer pressure to eat faster than strictly necessary... I've come to the point where I'm starting to appreciate that sometimes people need to just slow down. -- --Max Battcher-- http://www.worldmaker.net/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: transportation
Max Battcher wrote: On 5/9/07, jon louis mann [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So what about all of the packages — and people — that (in the words of the commercial) absolutely, positively, have to be there by 9 AM? -- Ronn! :) for the present, those people have to be satisfied, but some day, in the not too distant furure, it will no longer be realistic to ship freight all over the world to meet deadlines, -- jlm I think there's a place for high deadline freight/passenger travel... but I think that so often in our culture we are forgetting that there is just as much a place as leisurely travel, and that if there is no reason for it to be there next day, why pay for next day air. Our culture is quagmired in this do it yesterday hustle and bustle and sometimes we forget to take our time to even enjoy our meals... 1) I plan ahead. If I know it has to be there by Friday, I do something about sending it no later than Tuesday. If it's big, I try to get it sent off at least a week in advance. It gets there when it needs to. 2) Leisurely travel is nice. 3) Leisurely meals with good company are *very* nice. I'm the sort that will be the last one kicked out of the restaurant if I'm in a situation where I can get away with it, and at least one other person is willing to stay until a minute before I get kicked out. :) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
