> sadness in the fact that they're launching it to an equatorial site, so we don't get to see the fascinating hydrocarbon seas

Why is that? Is it to simplify communications? The lakes would certainly be more interesting.

researchers have discovered the more memorable an image, the more likely a person is to think they have been looking at it for longer than they actually have.

Goatse is the secret to immortality!

Happens to me when I take off my undies.

Han shot first via his 3rd arm.

Boogeymen drive votes. (Boogypeople?)

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.

The most popular route in Japan is Tokyo to Osaka, which is two hours on the high speed train. The new maglev will cut that down to 45 minutes.

I note that even in the US, those routes are covered by flights. With a train you could even take your car, like the Channel Tunnel does.

When BattleBots escape

Courts may rule evidence is needed before "punishing" Tik Tok, otherwise could be considered unequal treatment.

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.

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.

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.

That claim contradicts your earlier one.

Yep. More than ever, I miss my 1991 Isuzu Trooper.

Thunderf00t is a jackass, and I haven't seen the specific claims made in his video, but The Boring Company is actually a joke.

The tunnel is completely normal, nothing special about it at all. No magic low cost boring machine or special construction techniques. The Chinese dig them much, much faster for their metro systems.

The idea of using cars instead of trains is also dumb. Worse capacity, a lot more staff because Full Self Driving doesn't work even in a carefully controlled environment with one single file lane of traffic. As a novelty ride it's pretty mediocre.