In a previous career, I worked in transportation planning in some capacity for just about 20 years. IT started out very fulfilling, but then it became monotonous, and I needed a career switch. Buuuuuttttt… I did get exposed to many aspects of transportation. So this week I am answering 20 questions about the topic of Transportation.
Thanks this week go to K-Pop, Nadav, Lsig, Little Man, and Alex.
Onto the questions:
1: I really want to know when you think we will get the transportation methods promised to us by the back to the future movies. You know… hoverboards and flying cars.
Ah, retro-futurism. How we all wish the utopian future of yesterday was the now of today… you know, aside from the racism and all that. I think we forget how fast things were changing in the 1950’s/1960’s. We, as the entirety of the human race, went from not flying to flying and landing on the moon in 66 years. If you look at that growth curve in 1966, it’s a hockey stick. The idea at that time was that the sky wasn’t even the limit. There was no limit.
I think we are in a similar time period for the usage of expert systems and ai/large language models. The plateau hasn’t hit for those yet, but they will, and 80 years from now, people will be asking where their AI robot babysitters and AI Robot world dominators are.
2: Why do we park on DRIVEWAYS and drive on PARKWAYS??!??
Because English is a broken language. This is only an issue in English.
3: Manual or automatic?
Automatic. My driving style does not require the nuance of applying skill to changing gears. The car’s computer is good enough at it.
4: What do you think about driverless cars and what do you think of their prospects?
I think it will be a long time before we truly have driverless cars, but when it does happen, it will happen fast, and it will happen fast due to insurance rates. Driverless cars will be in communication with each other and share information and telemetry, the free-radical in a driverless system is a driver who is not in constant communication and contact with all the cars around them. Insurance is going to be super expensive for human driven cars, once autonomous driving cars truly become a reality (and not this smoke and mirrors Tesla “autopilot” bullshit.)
5: Favorite classic car? Ever been to a car show and do you have a story from one?
I don’t really have a favorite classic car. I do have a very strong sense-memory of being at a car dealership and getting in a gold colored Ford Bronco in the 1980’s with sheepskin leather seats. So, I would say that would be the car experience that could be considered “favorite.” I am sure that the actual vehicle would never live up to the sense-memory I have as a tiny child. I have never been, not have I ever wanted to go to a car show. I am just not a gear head.
6: Ever ridden in a small airplane? Helicopter? What's the most weird vehicle you've ridden in?
I have been in a little tiny Cessna airplane that my kinda uncle owned. That was years and years ago, and I was surprised at how loud it was. I think the weirdest thing I have ridden in is an articulated bus back when I was visiting Hamburg,, Germany. I would love to fly in a helicopter though.
7: Say something about public transportation that you think is true but that nobody else says
People say a bunch about public transportation, so I am not sure I can hit this mark. That being said, public transportation won’t really hit hard in the US because of how spread out places are from one another. Shocking, I know.
8: If you were into model trains would you wear the stripey conductor/engineer hat?
Nope, but I probably would be wearing a black Canadian Southern graphic T-shirt.
9: Name 5 unintended consequences of the invention of the teleporter that Star Trek doesn't want you to know
It doesn’t work 100% of the time
The human body is about 1-3% micro-organism biota…. This messes with the signal to noise ratio in transporter issues and some people, when transported that percentage changes… making some people more microbial and some people less
The transporter noise is made by the people being transported
They aren’t actually transporting a person, they are scanning that person molecule by molecule by breaking the molecular bonds in their body, thus disintegrating the initial body. Then they send the scanned data to the transporter receiver and it builds a new person from scratch. They are not transporting anything, they are destroying and creating versions of people. The destroyed biological ingredients stored in tanks near the transporters and used to recreate other people being transported to that transporter. Think of it like vats of resin for existing 3-d printers. The people being transported are actually being reconstituted from the building blocks of people who have already been “beamed” from the transporter. Think “The Prestige” but in Star Trek
Smells like egg farts
10: If you could visit Venus or mars which would you choose and why
Mars. Venus is an inhospitable place that would take significantly more safety protocols to keep people living there.
11: Have you ever suddenly wondered if you walk all wrong and then found you were no longer able to walk correctly so long as you kept thinking about it?
Movement issues akin to semantic satiation? Nope. I have not run into that.
12: You're from the south. How many motorized bar stool races have you participated in?
None, I am from the south of the 80’s and early 90’s. Motorized bar stools would have just gotten in the way of drinking. I think you are thinking more the Naught’s than the 80’s/90’s.
13: If you had to stereotype people who ride recumbent bikes, how would you characterize them?
Remember, stereotypes are bad, even if they seem positive… that beingbsaid, they are male or female in the 30’s or 40’s, have sandy brown curly hair, are wearing sunglasses, a beige t-shirt with cut-off jeans shorts and are wearing wool socks… or… they are a man in his 60’s in a pink short sleeve polo shirt and khaki shorts with a silver necklace and at least one ring that is not a wedding ring.
14: If you had to ride an animal to work from now on, would you pick camel, ostrich, elephant, burro, or something boring like a horse?
I think I would like to ride a bear, provided it was tame enough that it would not kill me or others. Her name would be Daisy.
15: What about a sedan, like the chair carried by slaves? Would you ride one if the alternative was driving a Buick rendezvous?
As long as they are not slaves, I’ll be carried on a sedan. Full vacation package with dental… now carry me on a heavy chair.
16: Have you been skydiving or bungee jumping? If not and you had to pick one to do, which would you pick?
Haven’t done either, but would choose sky-diving over bungee jumping. I would love to see the landscape laid out before me like a map.
17: Would you let your kids drive a reliant robin as their daily driver, or would you insist they walk instead?
They would make me drive them… so the Robin it is, even if it is a weirdo 3 wheeled tiny coffin.
18: What’s the longest flight you’ve been on? Longest road trip?
Flight: Munich to Newark New Jersey
Road-trip: Haven’t gone on many of those… Birmingham, Alabama to Niagara Falls, Ontario
19. Since you were a stellar employee ar ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation)... If you were to place one metro-line (editor’s note: I assume you mean a subway or some form of trolly/tram/light rail) to start up a mass transit network in Columbus, where would it go?Overall start and terminus for that first section.
Okay, there have been multiple studies on this in the Columbus area, I actually work on one when I was a consultant working in transportation planning. So, it is important to note, a mass transit network cannot be built piece-meal anymore. The const vs utility to drop a single line is just not there. But, I would have a line going from the Polaris area to High Street and then down High Street to Downtown and then head east to the airport. So it would be an “L” shaped line basically going from north of 270 on 71, to downtown and then to the airport, while still hugging the campus area and arena district for even traffic.
20. What was your first car?
It was a metallic forest green 1970 Chevrolet Kingswood Estate Station Wagon. No fake wood paneling and the thing was a land yacht.
Image has been doctored to try to get the correct color
To recap:
Seriously, A bunch of car centric questions… can you tell I didn’t ask any European friends for questions?
Still need a job
Burning through an inadequate retirement really fast
Been walking the doggos more
They have been bored since they haven’t been on Zoom calls lately… or wait, that’s me
They have been bored as well
We are all bored
So bored
I really need some work to do
Like honest to goodness UX work
The family is doing well
Pretty much across the board
Making Outback Steakhouse’s Alice Springs Chicken at home is very satisfying
I want to try mushroom ketchup
Not mushroom flavored tomato ketchup
Have a great week everyone