Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: LA to SF in 6 minutes? Meet Elon Musk's 4,000 mph transportation concept, the "Hyperloop" [View all]hunter
(38,311 posts)If I was Emperor of the Earth I'd make 35mph the universal speed limit and I'd use my space fortresses to vaporize any man-made vehicle traveling faster than that. With the exceptions of wind powered, human powered, emergency services, or peaceful space exploration machines.
Yes, you'd better put a speed limiter on your antique Corvette or you will be turned into hot stinky smoke. Jet airplane? Gone. All vaporized on the runways after fair warning.
Might as well tow your old car with an oat-powered horse, Amish style.
If you must go fast go get yourself a bicycle, put on a helmet, and find a long steep hill to ride down.
Highway 154 down to Santa Barbara used to work for me on a bicycle, and I've done far, far worse on absurdly powerful motorcycles... But I am older and wiser now, and fortunately not dead with scars to prove it.
Yep, these days I'm an environmentalist fascist. I hate your car as much as I hate my own. Our family cars have mileage to the moon and now they are working their way back. They are old enough to vote. They continue to live only to spite me. They hate me as I hate them. This is not a positive relationship. Fuck you, car, you didn't pass the smog test? I can make you pass the smog test. Oh yeah? My fuel pump relay will burn out in a bad neighborhood in Oakland at 1:13 in the morning.
Look, threatening dude, you don't want nothing I've got. C'mon, you think I'd be driving this car if I had money??? Okay, I've got $3.16 in my pocket, a VISA card well past it's limit, and maybe once I get these wires twisted together I can give you a ride. Want some coffee? Threatening dude is bought off with $2.00. His life must suck way more than mine.
I don't understand why everyone is in such a hurry to go nowhere. Life is nothing if you are not enjoying the ride. Get on a big, luxury, high tech sailing ship and cross the oceans. Enjoy the ride on slow trains spanning continents. Open the windows, stick your head out, and smell the air just like a dog in a car.
Tour the world? Sure! A few years on slow boats, trains, on foot, on electric scooters, legs, or wheelchairs. Wonderful! No hurry, no deadlines. Wherever you go, there you are.
Retired mom and dad are calling from Australia. They'll be back in a year or two, or maybe not. But they are having a great time.