if you wanted the translation it says "first download the app, then pee!" Since at least the late 1800s, people have been predicting what the "future" would look like. They meant us. They predicted flying machines and replicators and magical communication devices. Keynes predicted the inevitability of leisure, as he thought mechanization would shortly take over much of the work that humans had needed to put in to keep themselves alive. They dreamed of a modern world where humans would be able to lose the fetters of mere survival and truly indulge their higher planes of intellect.
Me too. I didn't get my first car until I was 22. I rode a bicycle EVERYWHERE in all weathers, including minus 20 degrees in Des Moines with 4 feet of snow piled up on the sides of the streets. You have to be young to do that, and it certainly kept me healthy. But when I got my first car (1974 second-hand Gremlin) my father said "This is the start of unending expenses for you" and damn, if he wasn't right. I hated it when that happened. Just like Mark Twain said: “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
Here in the US I will drive the 3 blocks to the supermarket without thinking twice. But whenever I go to Europe I walk miles every day without thinking twice. I can't figure out why that is. Is there something in the water here?
Well that's pretty gross. What would happen if you bucked the Seattle expectations and did not pretend nothing bad was happening? I'm just curious, because I could not live up to Seattle expectations, so I need to know in case I ever visit there.
The worst experience I had was while taking a long-distance bus (think Greyhound) from Córdoba to Sevilla. Two men in their 40's sat about 4 rows in front of me and my sister, on the other side of the aisle, and spent the ENTIRE TRIP of several hours turned around in their seats and staring at us, while murmuring things we were glad we couldn't hear. We complained to the bus driver. He refused to do anything. It is surprisingly uncomfortable to be stared at non-stop for 2 hours.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the 30 guys standing around in the Sevilla bus station at 7 am, where I was waiting for a bus to go to Málaga. They lined up against the opposite wall and they all stared at me while fondling their hard-ons through their pants for about an hour. It was unnerving. But it didn't kill me.
Jeeze, what a pain. I would have screamed right back.
Living in Spain for a year in 1975-76 would make anyone strong. You had to learn to cope with the verbal harassment, because it was everywhere, all the time, non-stop. You learned to completely ignore it. It took me about 2 months to master that, although I admit the 30 guys in the bus station were a bit much. But by the time that experience rolled around, I was an expert at the game. But I will never go alone to Sevilla during Holy Week, ever again. You can push your luck only so far. And don't ask me about the nice, middle-aged, married lawyer in Burgos who offered me a ride to Valladolid in his BMW. He was disappointed. I should be dead in a ditch, but I'm not. That which does not kill you, makes you stronger.
"We are avoiding public transportation here because it is TOO GROSS."
Why is public transit in the US so gross? Do people not clean it, or are the riders just slobs? Transportation is clean, safe, and in perfect repair here in Japan. I know Japan is a bit exceptional, but still... When we went to Europe the trains and busses were gross by Japanese standards, but still MUCH cleaner than in the US. Also, the US prices tended to be HIGHER than Japan, at least in the NY/NJ area.
I think Japan does public transportation so well because their cultural mindset is very different than ours. We stress individualism much more, and the Japanese have a more communal mentality. You work hard and be respectful not necessarily because it will benefit yourself, but because you are just part of something larger that you want to contribute to, whether that's being a good citizen or being a loyal company employee. I can imagine that's why they take better care of their public transportation. (But you probably know all this, considering that you live there.)
By 2038 I will ( or rather, would be ) 92 y.o. and I know that ain't gonna happen, so since I have no progeny it's somehow comforting that none of this stuff is going to have any effect on me or mine.
I once read an interview with Mike Judge (creator of King of the Hill and Beavis and Butthead) that the hardest part of writing Silicon Valley (his current show) is that what actually happens there is funnier and stranger then anything he and the writers could come up with. He told a story that he was researching a convention scene and had a photo for reference. One of the producers come up and asked if they needed to add more women and or miniorties in. Judge had to explain it was a actual photo to the producers . Her reaction was shock and amusement.
I'm sure that's part of it. Another part might simply be how widely it's used. EVERYONE uses it, from minimum wager part-timers up to CEOs. In most of the US people use cars for everything so it's only the poorest people that use public transportation. A lot of them are pretty tired, miserable and angry (usually with good reason) so aren't going to be particularly polite or clean up after themselves.
I know Amtrack is slow and late. Their problem is that if you're using it outside the NE corridor, they share the same train tracks with Burlington Northern Freight, and freight takes precedence. So when a freight is coming, Amtrak has to go to the nearest siding and wait. I've taken Amtrak out to CA several times, and you are guaranteed to be 7-8 hours late. Their employees are, to a one, pleasant and helpful.
Maybe if our gov't. put some more funding into Amtrak outside the NE corridor, it would be much, much better and faster. I highly prefer to travel by train. I'd rather take 56 hours to get to CA than live through another airplane ride with an asshole pilot trying to land, multiple times, in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. You know it was bad when there are ambulances waiting at the gates for all the other planes that flew through the same damn thunderstorm.
Also when I lived in Chicago, I took public transportation a lot, even though I had a car. Yes, sometimes it was gross, but not very often. I used the 56 Milwaukee bus or the Blue line a lot. I think people who dis public transportation are kind of showing their elitism a little bit.
I used to live in NJ, so often used NJ and NY transit. Pretty good system, but a few trains and busses were nasty. I almost always used public transportation when I went to NYC because driving and parking just wasn't worth the expense and hassle, even without traffic jams.
Me too. I didn't get my first car until I was 22. I rode a bicycle EVERYWHERE in all weathers, including minus 20 degrees in Des Moines with 4 feet of snow piled up on the sides of the streets. You have to be young to do that, and it certainly kept me healthy. But when I got my first car (1974 second-hand Gremlin) my father said "This is the start of unending expenses for you" and damn, if he wasn't right. I hated it when that happened. Just like Mark Twain said: “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
Here in the US I will drive the 3 blocks to the supermarket without thinking twice. But whenever I go to Europe I walk miles every day without thinking twice. I can't figure out why that is. Is there something in the water here?
"We solved all our problems with bigger problems" O.K Go
Well that's pretty gross. What would happen if you bucked the Seattle expectations and did not pretend nothing bad was happening? I'm just curious, because I could not live up to Seattle expectations, so I need to know in case I ever visit there.
The worst experience I had was while taking a long-distance bus (think Greyhound) from Córdoba to Sevilla. Two men in their 40's sat about 4 rows in front of me and my sister, on the other side of the aisle, and spent the ENTIRE TRIP of several hours turned around in their seats and staring at us, while murmuring things we were glad we couldn't hear. We complained to the bus driver. He refused to do anything. It is surprisingly uncomfortable to be stared at non-stop for 2 hours.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the 30 guys standing around in the Sevilla bus station at 7 am, where I was waiting for a bus to go to Málaga. They lined up against the opposite wall and they all stared at me while fondling their hard-ons through their pants for about an hour. It was unnerving. But it didn't kill me.
Jeeze, what a pain. I would have screamed right back.
Living in Spain for a year in 1975-76 would make anyone strong. You had to learn to cope with the verbal harassment, because it was everywhere, all the time, non-stop. You learned to completely ignore it. It took me about 2 months to master that, although I admit the 30 guys in the bus station were a bit much. But by the time that experience rolled around, I was an expert at the game. But I will never go alone to Sevilla during Holy Week, ever again. You can push your luck only so far. And don't ask me about the nice, middle-aged, married lawyer in Burgos who offered me a ride to Valladolid in his BMW. He was disappointed. I should be dead in a ditch, but I'm not. That which does not kill you, makes you stronger.
"We are avoiding public transportation here because it is TOO GROSS."
Why is public transit in the US so gross? Do people not clean it, or are the riders just slobs? Transportation is clean, safe, and in perfect repair here in Japan. I know Japan is a bit exceptional, but still... When we went to Europe the trains and busses were gross by Japanese standards, but still MUCH cleaner than in the US. Also, the US prices tended to be HIGHER than Japan, at least in the NY/NJ area.
Public transpo in Japan is HUGELY exceptional.
Partly O/T: this is an eerily (and hilariously) accurate depiction of Translink, the public transit provider here in Vancouver:
http://thedailywtf.com/arti...
*sips juicero* Interesting.
I think Japan does public transportation so well because their cultural mindset is very different than ours. We stress individualism much more, and the Japanese have a more communal mentality. You work hard and be respectful not necessarily because it will benefit yourself, but because you are just part of something larger that you want to contribute to, whether that's being a good citizen or being a loyal company employee. I can imagine that's why they take better care of their public transportation. (But you probably know all this, considering that you live there.)
By 2038 I will ( or rather, would be ) 92 y.o. and I know that ain't gonna happen, so since I have no progeny it's somehow comforting that none of this stuff is going to have any effect on me or mine.
I once read an interview with Mike Judge (creator of King of the Hill and Beavis and Butthead) that the hardest part of writing Silicon Valley (his current show) is that what actually happens there is funnier and stranger then anything he and the writers could come up with. He told a story that he was researching a convention scene and had a photo for reference. One of the producers come up and asked if they needed to add more women and or miniorties in. Judge had to explain it was a actual photo to the producers . Her reaction was shock and amusement.
Yeah, it is pretty sweet. Got to ride one of the newest model shinkansen last weekend. SO nice. Beats the hell out of Amtrak.
Definitely on my to-do list for when I make my way over there....
I'm sure that's part of it. Another part might simply be how widely it's used. EVERYONE uses it, from minimum wager part-timers up to CEOs. In most of the US people use cars for everything so it's only the poorest people that use public transportation. A lot of them are pretty tired, miserable and angry (usually with good reason) so aren't going to be particularly polite or clean up after themselves.
I know Amtrack is slow and late. Their problem is that if you're using it outside the NE corridor, they share the same train tracks with Burlington Northern Freight, and freight takes precedence. So when a freight is coming, Amtrak has to go to the nearest siding and wait. I've taken Amtrak out to CA several times, and you are guaranteed to be 7-8 hours late. Their employees are, to a one, pleasant and helpful.
Maybe if our gov't. put some more funding into Amtrak outside the NE corridor, it would be much, much better and faster. I highly prefer to travel by train. I'd rather take 56 hours to get to CA than live through another airplane ride with an asshole pilot trying to land, multiple times, in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. You know it was bad when there are ambulances waiting at the gates for all the other planes that flew through the same damn thunderstorm.
Also when I lived in Chicago, I took public transportation a lot, even though I had a car. Yes, sometimes it was gross, but not very often. I used the 56 Milwaukee bus or the Blue line a lot. I think people who dis public transportation are kind of showing their elitism a little bit.
I used to live in NJ, so often used NJ and NY transit. Pretty good system, but a few trains and busses were nasty. I almost always used public transportation when I went to NYC because driving and parking just wasn't worth the expense and hassle, even without traffic jams.