The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

Good time to pick up the habit Syt.

[DGuller]

The last two days, as I was entering the PATH train station coming home from work, there was a long line of people waiting to refill their cards in the machine.  Yesterday the line was snaking well into the staircase. 

Were some machines down, causing the backup?  No, they were all functioning, or at least functioning as well as they can.  The answer to the mystery was by the turnstiles, where a couple of cops were standing and letting their presence be known.  I guess so many people got used to jumping the turnstiles that they didn't even bother keeping their cards filled.

[Admiral Yi]

I had a similar experience in Amsterdam on the trams.  You buy your ticket at the stop but no one checks it when you board.  So no one buys one.  I was riding it one day and I noticed some dudes in trench coats waiting at the next stop.  Every single person on the tram got up from their seat and exited by the rear door so they could avoid ticket control.

[Barrister]

I had a similar experience in Amsterdam on the trams.  You buy your ticket at the stop but no one checks it when you board.  So no one buys one.  I was riding it one day and I noticed some dudes in trench coats waiting at the next stop.  Every single person on the tram got up from their seat and exited by the rear door so they could avoid ticket control.

I'm still vaguely pissed at my experience in Prague in 2008.  We buy our tickets and get on the bus.  Some guys ask us to disembark.  They know English as least.  I ask to see some ID, which they provide.  They ask for our tickets, which we show.

Turns out we hadn't validated our tickets by getting them stamped when we got on the bus.

Like fuck off - we're tourists.  We're clearly trying to comply with your rules.  I had no idea you needed to validate my ticket.

So they fine us on the spot, which we had to pay immediately.  As a result we get something that allows us to ride transit the rest of the day - but again fuck off, you're just shaking down tourists.

[Syt]

Maybe not now, Boeing

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/Boeing-aims-to-bring-flying-cars-to-Asia-by-2030

Boeing aims to bring flying cars to Asia by 2030
April 19, 2024 02:51 JST

U.S. aircraft maker opens office in Japan's Nagoya to boost local R&D

TOKYO -- U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing plans to enter the flying car business in Asia by 2030, looking to tap demand for the fast, short-distance travel the vehicles could provide in the region's traffic-choked cities.

Boeing Chief Technology Officer Todd Citron revealed the plans to Nikkei.

The company is developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) craft at subsidiary Wisk Aero. The aircraft will adopt autonomous technology, rare among eVTOL craft.

The plan is to first obtain certification in the U.S. before expanding into Asia. Details of the Asia business will be finalized in the future, including whether Boeing will sell the aircraft to companies aiming to provide eVTOL transportation services or operate the services itself.

Boeing is currently selecting its first Asian market, including Japan.

In Japan, domestic startup SkyDrive and Germany's Volocopter are scheduled to operate air taxi services at the 2025 Osaka World Expo.

Boeing opened a research and development base in Nagoya on Thursday. It first established R&D operations in Japan in 2022 but had been renting space from other companies until now.

The new Nagoya base is the company's seventh R&D facility outside the U.S., following locations in Australia, South Korea and India.

Citron signaled potential collaboration with automakers with experience in fuel cells or electric vehicles. The auto sector is a major industry in the Chubu region around Nagoya.

Boeing Japan President Will Shaffer pointed to the advantages of basing operations in Nagoya, including the presence of suppliers in Aichi prefecture and neighboring Gifu prefecture. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Subaru, which manufacture key parts for Boeing, all have factories nearby.

"The other real opportunity here in this region is the access to talent and we've partnered very closely with Nagoya University as well as other places to find and access very good talent," Shaffer added.

Boeing currently employs 27 R&D staff from 12 countries in Japan and plans to increase that number to around 50 in the future.

The company will use the Nagoya base to develop digital tools for aircraft design and manufacturing, sustainable aviation fuel and hydrogen fuel cells. It will also research composite materials used in aircraft bodies -- including recycle technology and methods to boost production capacity -- and factory robots.

[Josquius]

Interesting little article about a recreation of 16th century beer.
Historic food and drink is not something I have ever read much about


https://theconversation.com/five-things-our-research-uncovered-when-we-recreated-16th-century-beer-and-barrels-223599

Strikes me as interesting how close to Chinese belief you still find today so much of this medieval belief was. I didn't know in Europe too we had the whole heating and cooling food idea (unconnected to actual hot and cold food)

[Sheilbh]

Reading that and Galen popping up caused a GCSE history "Medicine Through Time" flashback

[Josquius]

I've just had an idea for a game which I have nowhere near the skill to make and has probably been done by someone somewhere.
Basically a game version of flatland. Ish.
 Start off in a terraria looking 2D civilization doing a menial task or two....run into some villains who it looks like are doomed to defeat you. They're far more powerful. You're cornered and trapped in a cave no escape.

Then mystical magubbin happenings you gain the ability to enter the third dimension, complete change in graphical style of what you're seeing, and you can effortlessly beat them through this third dimension exploit which they are unaware of.

Some more adventures, whipping your 2D enemies, effortlessly sneaking into the middle of their castle to steal their treasure et al.... But then horrific 3D entities begin to appear.

I'm sure I can think of some early 3D platformers joking with the entry to 3D but I can't recall a game actually using the dimension change like so.

[Syt]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/you-can-now-buy-a-flame-throwing-robot-dog-for-under-10000/

"What could possibly go wrong?"

You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000
Thermonator, the first "flamethrower-wielding robot dog," is completely legal in 48 US states.
BENJ EDWARDS - 4/23/2024, 11:27 PM

If you've been wondering when you'll be able to order the flame-throwing robot that Ohio-based Throwflame first announced last summer, that day has finally arrived. The Thermonator, what Throwflame bills as "the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog" is now available for purchase. The price? $9,420.

Thermonator is a quadruped robot with an ARC flamethrower mounted to its back, fueled by gasoline or napalm. It features a one-hour battery, a 30-foot flame-throwing range, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for remote control through a smartphone.

It also includes a LIDAR sensor for mapping and obstacle avoidance, laser sighting, and first-person view (FPV) navigation through an onboard camera. The product appears to integrate a version of the Unitree Go2 robot quadruped that retails alone for $1,600 in its base configuration.

The company lists possible applications of the new robot as "wildfire control and prevention," "agricultural management," "ecological conservation," "snow and ice removal," and "entertainment and SFX." But most of all, it sets things on fire in a variety of real-world scenarios.

Back in 2018, Elon Musk made the news for offering an official Boring Company flamethrower that reportedly sold 10,000 units in 48 hours. It sparked some controversy because flamethrowers can also double as weapons or potentially start wildfires.

In the US, flamethrowers are legally unregulated in 48 states and are not considered firearms by federal agencies. Restrictions exist in Maryland, where flamethrowers require a Federal Firearms License to own, and California, where the range of flamethrowers cannot exceed 10 feet.

Even so, to state the obvious, flamethrowers can easily burn both things and people, starting fires and wreaking havoc if not used safely. Accordingly, the Thermonator might be one Christmas present you should skip for little Johnny this year.

[Sheilbh]

'Seagull Boy', nine, wins European screeching competition:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-68874762

The video is really remarkable

[Jacob]

'Seagull Boy', nine, wins European screeching competition:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-68874762

The video is really remarkable

Glad to see that Brexit didn't rob this young Brit of his chance to compete in Europe

[Josquius]

He was bitten by a seagull so became seagull boy

[Syt]

 

[Sheilbh]

Just discovered there's a mini-chain of Uyghur restaurants (one in Leicester, one in London) that is engaged in some incredible historical, international trolling of Italians.

All their dishes have Italian names, which is where they initially came from on the Silk Road. So noodles are "Original linguine" and polo (like plov or pilaf) is "Original risotto"

I can only hope the Italians mad at food discover it at some point.

[Josquius]

Today I learned: The convention of north being at the top of the maps comes from Ptolemy and was done because everything north and west (Europe) was believed to be discovered and had a lot of detail, whilst east and south there was a lot of important stuff about which knowledge was hazier....and you naturally write from left to right, top of the page to the bottom, and smudging was a risk.