Somewhen else

[den]

"Let me get this straight. You propose to pack people in to 1.5 ton metal and glass boxes whose only control is provided by gravity and friction, and then shoot them toward each other at 110kph along a surface made of gravel and a crude oil derivative?"

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

"What I have a problem with is the 'at each other' bit.What's to stop them from slamming together at 220kph?"

"We'll paint a white line along the middle of the road."

"Paint a line."

"White line. Yes."

"Right. And this paint is...?"

"Just white paint."

"It doesn't have some force field properties in it?"

"No, just a white dye and some tiny plastic beads to make it reflective."

"Ah! So the beads are-"

"Just plastic."

"Ah. Right. Okay. And this will stop the boxes from slamming into each other?"

"Yes."

"A painted white line."

"With plastic beads, yes."

"Right. Beads. Right. Okay, so where two of these 'roads' as you call them intersect, what happens? How do you stop the metal boxes from slamming together?"

"That's where we use the coloured lights."

"Coloured lights."

"Yes."

"And the lights are-?"

"Just coloured lights."

"Ah-huh."

"Red, amber and green."

"Red amber and green lights."

"Yes."

"And a painted white line. With plastic beads."

"Yes."

"Right. You know, it sounds stupid. It'll never work."

Comments

[caitycat.livejournal.com]

the wonder is that it works most of the time...

[http://users.livejournal.com/killjoy_/]

*snicker* Sounds really crazy when you put it like that.

... says the person who spent the weekend racing. ;)

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

No, see, the *really* scary part is when a person, *not* in one of the metal boxes, attempts to cross the road.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

I don't know where in your brain that was delved from , but more like it please; utterly brilliant :)

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

**giggles**

Social Conventions....

[(Anonymous)]

Road stripes are one of those 'social conventions' that make civilization work. There are dozens or hundreds of these little 'conventions' that we use everyday without thinking, but we would be far worse off without them....

Re: Somewhen else

[ms-interpret.livejournal.com]

Wow! You truly are The Master of Pointing Out The Blatantly Obvious. :)

Re: Somewhen else

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Play nice, kids. 8)

[weibchenwolf.livejournal.com]

*grins*Now I'm thinking of "Surfing Samurai Robots" by Mel Gilden.

Class.

[weyrdbird.livejournal.com]

Good thing this isn't happening in Wisconsin. There's a tendency for the box people to sit looking at the pretty lights a while before bothering to move. 100 kph isn't a good time to encounter and obstacle:)............

[(Anonymous)]

The white line has a force field, of sorts. It guides responsibility, which is generated by the drivers of the glass and steel boxes, transforming it into a slightly squishy but generally effective barrier. The problem in the system typically arises when a generator malfunctions, possibly through the use of inappropriate fuel like alcohol, or inadequate maintennance such as sleep. Alternately, failure may occur due to obvuscation of the waveguide by materials such as ice.

Or possibly I'm just really not a morning person and should wait until the mental fog clears before I post

-Rust

[tatterdemalion.livejournal.com]

*grin*

[dancinglights.livejournal.com]

"responsibility", perhaps. I generally chalk it up to "fear of a painful crunchy death", but I'm one of those sorts that will weave back and forth over the lines for my own amusement when on perfectly flat empty roads, brightly lit in the middle of nowhere.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

This is why I patented the Gneechworks 2000 Personal People Hurler^TM! For all your self-catapulting needs!

-The Gneech

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

And at some intersections, there's just an eight-sided metal plate painted red and white with no identifiable source of power. How's that work? :)

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

What? You lie!

[blackwolfalpha1.livejournal.com]

cool icon.

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

*giggles* MORE!

[princessvirgo.livejournal.com]

Indeed, that is one of the many wonders of the world... :D

"Brave Sir Robin, He ran away..."

[camstone.livejournal.com]

But, but... what is the meaning of that yellow upside down triangle? It's cryptic word "Yield" scrawled over it... and this white sign that says "No Par King!"

Prayhaps, are these two anceint factions of the white line wars? Is this a feud that has travelled down the eons - looking for a resolution in our time?! Is this all a prelude to some sort of odd jousting contest perhaps?

PATSY!! My Mount!! I must tarry no longer!! Forsoth - I sense I must tilt with a windmill forthwith!!

[sjwt.livejournal.com]

lets not forget the blub of cconcrete that grows in the
middel, as if the combinded forces of everyone wanting
to slow down has willed a physical object into being.

Re: Somewhen else

[ms-interpret.livejournal.com]

/me grins. I was! I was joking. :D

[bsquad.livejournal.com]

"I've got another idea."

"They do travel in packs. Don't they?"

"Sorry?"

"No point in apologizing for it. What's your idea?"

"If we strap long, flat metal bits on the sides of these boxes and make them go much faster, we don't need the macadem or the white lines."

"I know this may be stating the obvious, but I don't follow. Why would we take the white lines away if they were faster?"

"That's the brilliant part. They'd be flying."

"Of course. Why didn't I think of that."

"..."

"It was a rhetorical question. Anyway, I suppose if we made them really small..."

"Big."

"Big?"

"Really big."

"Bigger than a bread box?"

"Bigger than a house."

"This is what you went to school for?"

"Yeah. Want to hear my idea for the one with the big, spinning blade on top?"

"No. I want to hear your idea for the little, white pill that you take to get rid of a headache."

"That sounds like aspirin."

"Exactly!"

This drive-by comment brought to you by a fellow Callahanian.