• FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    “we heavily biased the network against trains and now it’s just saying the optimal car consists of several metal struts connecting just two thinned out wheels that the driver sits on top of and propels themselves using pedals. It was busy redesigning intersections to have clear safe lanes for these bi-cycle ‘cars’ with plenty of trees / room for pedestrians when we pulled the plug…”

    • 257m@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days ago

      Even in bike racing the optimal form ends being to become a train. A peloton is just a train made up of bikes.

      • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        And then imagine if instead of wheels a bicycle was on a track with even greater reduced rolling resistance than skinny overinflated tires and didn’t require lumbar strength for balance.

  • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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    9 days ago

    Minimum rolling friction by having hard wheels on a hard surface. Minimum wind resistance by making it long and narrow. Minimum stop time by having big doors.

    BAM: train.

  • Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org
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    9 days ago

    Okay, now solve for local transportation and create a single network that’s highly optimized for both long distance, medium distance, and last mile solutions. Bet you it looks like cargo trucks, buses, and road infrastructure.

    • booly@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days ago

      Okay, now solve for local transportation and create a single network that’s highly optimized for both long distance, medium distance, and last mile solutions.

      Why does it need to be a single network? A shipping container can go on ship, train, and truck pretty seamlessly, and that combined multi-modal network can connect sources and destinations that no one method is sufficient for.

      And once you design an optimized network under your parameters, it starts to look like a hub and spoke model, with high volume arterial routes connecting the hubs, pretty close to how parcel delivery tends to work. And once you have that, you can optimize specific segments, including using hubs connected by air for time sensitive stuff (same day, next day, 2-day service), waterways or rail for really heavy or bulky stuff, and all sorts of intermediate methods or a variety of last mile delivery needs for the specific needs of any given package.

      • kshade@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        Wouldn’t it be neat if companies weren’t flocking to a few neighborhoods in a few cities, creating not only traffic jams but driving up housing prices as well? Isn’t it silly how local governments are competing on who can throw the most money at private enterprise to get the new widget factory or tech campus built there?

        • kurwa@lemmy.world
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          9 days ago

          I just hate the whole concept of housing as an investment vehicle. You get all these old ass shit houses worth a million dollars for no damn reason.

    • davidagain@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Looks like fast frequent all neighbourhoods city tram system with tap on, tap off, coherent pricing, decent buses and free park and ride at tram stops.

      • davidagain@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        And trams. Which admittedly look a lot like trains but run to a high frequency rather than a timetable.

    • rothaine@lemm.ee
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      9 days ago

      Hey there 👋, I know you mean well by that comment, like I get it, I do. ☺️ But I just wanted to let you know:

      THERE HAVE BEEN ZERO STUDIES DONE ON THE SAFETY OF CRAB TRAINS.

      ZERO.

      But despite that, they are gaining widespread support, and now even people like yourself are calling them “optimal.”

      Listen: Someone I know lost an arm in the pincer mechanism of one of these trains. More work needs to be done before we can consider them safe, nevermind “optimal”. Don’t buy into the techbro BS.

      Friends don’t let friends crab train.

  • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Sharing because I was delighted to learn this: trees are also an example of convergent evolution. I’m personally rooting for us to become trees. Pun intended.

    • Wofls@feddit.org
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      9 days ago

      Okay so now we are looking at some kind of tree-crab-train as the crown of creation, am I understanding this correctly?

    • dondelelcaro@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      There’s likely some cases of convergent evolution, but I’m not sure this is settled for all trees.

      I’d suspect that at least some trees with last common ancestors that are shrubs have re-enabled genes that enable the tree phenotype rather than independently evolving the tree phenotype.

      But still really cool (and maybe turns on exactly how much evolution your consider needs to happen before it’s convergent evolution.)

  • Kowowow@lemmy.ca
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    9 days ago

    With how bad semis rut the road I’ve been wanting to see them with retractable train wheels on the back

  • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Train cars are crabs. They’ve got an exoskeleton, they’re squat bodied, many legged, and have pincers on either side. All they have to do is start moving that body plan around some and they will be crabs.

    • jawsua@lemmy.one
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      8 days ago

      Checks out: while they CAN move forward, they highly prefer to move side to side

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      the last time I gave factorio a serious run was waaaay back in its beta, before it was even finished and had an end game.

      its just gotten so complicated since then that I get overwhelmed, especially when you start to scale up and realize you fucked something up and have to undo an entire day of shit to move something 2 tiles or something.

        • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          I tried about 6 months ago after falling deep into DoshDoshington’s various Factorio Mod and Challenge series.

          I got about 15 hours in before I was just overwhelmed with what I was doing. I miss being young and eager.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        Bots can do that shit. Ctrl+X, select, move the two tiles, place. Realize that’s still a tile off on the Y axis, and repeat. The bots don’t complain.

        I will hand make the hundred or so blue science I need to make construction bots if I have to.