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Comment Taser company (Score 1) 40

Taser company selling body cam transcribers? That's an easy task, most output will resemble "Oooww oouch stop zapping me! Aaaooow!..."

Reminds me of when I worked for an environmental cleanup company that was eventually bought out by a chemical company. The company was thus paid to clean up its own messes, via Fed Superfund money.

Comment Re: Still has to pass court (Score 1) 110

I believe courts have interpreted it to mean people on US territories or citizens (even when abroad). Conservative courts have also assigned corporations and organizations many person-like legal qualities, which liberals often balk at because it gives them a potentially overly large voice on political issues traditionally considered only to be rights for individuals.

Comment Re:As a rail fan (Score 1) 209

Shouldn't wide open areas make it even more suitable for trains? High speed rail is ideal for long distance cross-country. It is faster than flying for anything under about a 5 hour flight, sometimes more if the airport has traffic issues etc.

I think the bigger issue is that so much of the US is built around cars. But rail can help there too. In Japan they often build a new railway line in conjunction with new towns along it. They are ideal for commuters and people who want access to big cities without living in them. They are designed around the railway and public transport, and are relatively affordable.

Comment Re:As a rail fan (Score 1) 209

Interesting, thanks. In Japan they had some legal issues with the new maglev line. First there was a big fight over the route it would take, because several smaller towns wanted stops that would massively boost their economies. Even without a stop, the route dictated where the construction would be, sure to be a benefit to local businesses.

They also had some issues with potential noise, which is partly why most of it is in tunnels.

Not all of it is resolved, but construction has already started anyway.

Seems like some of the NIMBY issues could be resolved with some incentives. Place solar along the line, maybe vertically oriented to help block noise, and give people living nearby some credits from the energy produced.

For the underground, China built over 10,000km of metro lines using tunnel boring machines. They built them faster than anyone else too, having perfected some new techniques to make it cheaper and quicker. It's possible, but for some reason not in the US or UK... Musk tried, but the Boring Company ended up just using conventional methods.

Comment Re:Understanding why the US (or UK) can't build st (Score 1) 209

There is certainly an element of that in the UK, but even after they resolved it there were further issues.

For example, to protect the highly overrated "green belt", much of the High Speed 2 line was going to be underground. The tunnels needed air vents to the surface, but some local politicians insisted that they be disguised as barns using local materials like stone. The buildings themselves cost about 3 million, seemingly not huge in the scheme of things, but it also delayed the project and was one of a thousand cuts that ultimately doomed it.

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