Blog Heap o'Links
Just random links galore
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Transport

Displaying 1 - 30 of 316
Dolphin
@SJPFISH, Twitter • Tue 2020 Sep 1, 3:40pm

Wait one second!

Those aren’t Dolphins 🐬 following my boat!

Twitter video, 0:40
Vince Gerasole | CBS Chicago • Sun 2018 Nov 18, 7:40am

CHICAGO Hancock Tower …A broken hoist rope caused the express elevator to malfunction… they had careened from the 95th floor down to the 11th floor.… It took nearly three hours to rescue six people… The rescue crew had to hammer out a concrete wall in the garage area of the 11th floor.…

I've been on that elevator, and contemplated this very scenario. Even knowing all the modern safeties, which properly kicked in here, it seems, kinda terrifying. Wheeee! Gulp!
Shamil Zhumatov | OANN • Thu 2018 Oct 11, 2:54pm

…two-man U.S.-Russian crew of a Soyuz spacecraft en route to the International Space Station was forced to make a dramatic emergency landing in Kazakhstan on Thursday when their rocket failed in mid-air. U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin landed safely without harm… made what NASA called a steep ballistic descent to Earth… Moscow immediately suspended all manned space launches… Footage from inside the Soyuz had shown the two men being shaken around at the moment the failure occurred, with their arms and legs flailing. Ovchinin, the Russian cosmonaut, can be heard saying: “That was a quick flight.”…

Robinson Meyer, the Atlantic • Fri 2018 Jul 13, 12:00pm

…Interstate 95, the country’s most used highway, will finally run as one continuous road between Miami and Maine by the late summer. The interstate’s infamous “gap” on the Pennsylvania and New Jersey border will be closed, turning I-95 into an unbroken river of concrete more than 1,900 miles long. In so doing, it will also mark a larger milestone, say transportation officials—the completion of the original United States interstate system.…

WaPo, NoLa • Wed 2018 Apr 18, 2:27pm

…The engine on Shults's plane had, in fact, exploded on Tuesday, spraying shrapnel into the aircraft, causing a window to be blown out and leaving one passenger dead and seven others injured. Frightened passengers on board the Dallas-bound flight braced for impact as oxygen masks muffled their screams.

In the midst of the chaos, Shults successfully completed an emergency landing at the Philadelphia International Airport, sparing the lives of 148 people and averting a far worse catastrophe.…

Article has background on the pillot.
Michelle's Mirror • Sun 2018 Mar 25, 8:59am

Could there be anything less American than driverless cars? I suppose sexbots might quality but certainly driverless cars are right up there.…

All I really want is long-distance in my private vehicle. There was a car-ferry train system once. It didn't last.

Getting From Here to There, a comic examination, from the Daily Doodle series.

BlazingCatFur • Sat 2018 Mar 24, 1:00am

A pedestrian was killed after she was struck by a self-driving Uber vehicle in Arizona.

Elaine Herzberg, 49, was hit by a SUV early on Monday in Tempe when she was walking outside of a crosswalk

She was immediately rush to the hospital where she died from her injuries…

…and so acceptance of collateral damage for "automated transport" begins…
Flying car
Polliwog the 'Ette, Ace of Spades • Sun 2018 Mar 18, 10:03am

…Self-driving cars are essentially a train with expanded range, each vehicle being its own railcar. In the planners' minds their flow-optimized system works neatly and safely at speeds and densities not achievable by human reflexes and with a minimal loss of autonomy. They refuse to acknowledge Murphy's Law though, which when dealing with the speed and densities expected means guaranteed disaster.

Flying car
BlazingCatFur • Sat 2018 Mar 3, 9:09pm

…CNN recently called carwashes “a nightmare” for self-driving cars, and here’s why: it seems the traditional car wash – with its massive automated brushes – are too harsh when applied to a vehicle whose exterior is covered in sensors.…

Still a few bugs in the system - and on the windshield.
Dr. Tar, IOTW Report • Sat 2018 Feb 10, 4:34pm

…red Tesla convertible …launched into space this week … While it seemed the flight controllers intended to send the vehicle into orbit around Mars, the car will instead circle the Sun, avoiding a fiery return to Earth or smashing into Mars or the asteroid belt…

Close enough for spacecraft.
UFO
rickl, Ace of Spades • Sat 2018 Feb 3, 1:33pm

During the night, Japan broke the record for the smallest rocket to orbit a satellite. They modified a two-stage suborbital sounding rocket by adding a third stage and a guidance system, and put a 6 lb. cubesat into orbit. (The previous record was also held by Japan, in 1970.)

Here is an article about it:
https://preview.tinyurl.com/yao28s3c

And the launch video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeW-Qqu9-8U

Dr. Tar, IOTW Report • Mon 2017 Jan 16, 6:43pm

One can truly say that we have now passed out of perhaps the golden age of space flight . Apollo 17 Commander and the last man to stand on the moon, Gene Cernan, died today at the age of 82.…

BlazingCatFur • Thu 2016 Dec 15, 8:14pm

All new cars and light trucks would be able to talk wirelessly with each other, with traffic lights and with other roadway infrastructure under a proposal released Tuesday by the Transportation Department.

Officials say the technology holds the potential to dramatically reduce traffic deaths and transform driving.…

(Links to AP story.)

Good idea? Probably more problems than helpful, like most such ideas.

Here is the "Getting From Here to There" panel predicting this, though.
Wikipedia • Thu 2016 Dec 8, 7:13pm

…John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio. In 1962 he became the first American to orbit the earth, circling three times. Before joining NASA, he was a distinguished fighter pilot in both World War II and Korea, with five Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen clusters.

He was one of the "Mercury Seven" group of military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA to become America's first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission and became the first American to orbit the Earth and the fifth person in space. Glenn received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, and was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990. Glenn was the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven after the death of Scott Carpenter.…

Bald Eagle
Katherine Rodriguez, Breitbart • Tue 2016 Oct 11, 11:19pm

…A driver reported that the bald eagle flew in front of an oncoming vehicle and got stuck in the grill… quickly chased the other car down, notified him that he had a bird stuck in his grill, and called 911…

Amazing photo
Breitbart News • Thu 2016 Sep 29, 10:33am

…commuter train… crashed into a station in Hoboken, New Jersey.… "We have a 100 plus injuries. Most of them are critical."…

Cause unknown so far. Rumor of something on the tracks.
Lightning
Dallas Franklin, KFOR • Fri 2016 Sep 2, 11:34am

CATOOSA, Okla. – An Oklahoma driver was shaken up after lightning struck their car… driver was able to maintain control, but was quite shaken up. … driver immediately called for an ambulance. … When fire crews arrived, they noticed smoke coming from beneath the vehicle’s hood. That is when the 2016 Toyota Prius Hybrid caught fire…

Katie Mansfield, Express (UK) • Sat 2016 Jul 30, 7:09pm

16 PEOPLE have been killed in a hot air balloon crash near Austin, Texas in one of the deadliest balloon accidents on record. The balloon caught fire before hitting the ground near Lockhart, south of the city of Austin.…

Rob Verger, Fox News • Thu 2016 Jul 21, 11:33am

Wednesday marks the 47th anniversary of when NASA astronauts first landed on the moon, a giant leap of an accomplishment that still resonates today, over four and a half decades later.…

BlazingCatFur • Fri 2016 Jul 1, 11:42am

US authorities are investigating the first death potentially caused by self-driving technology. …driver of a Tesla car died in Florida in May… Model S car was unable to recognise “the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky” that had driven across the car’s path.…

Note well: Death caused by "self-driving" technology. And why, if it happened in May, are we only now finding out about it?
• citing BBC
Andrew P Collins, Jalopnik • Fri 2016 Jul 1, 12:08am

The Havana, Illinois police department says be careful on the bridge; it’s covered in bugs. …six inches deep… made of mayflies… has bogged cars and crashed motorcycles.…

UPI • Fri 2016 Jul 1, 12:05am

A car crashed while traveling on the Autobahn in Germany after police say it slipped on slime produced by a group of snails.…

Pig
Mary Beth Griggs, Popular Science • Thu 2016 Jun 30, 3:11pm

Roads …one day they might be paved with pig manure. …pig manure has oils that can be used to create a petroleum-like substance, which can be mixed with sand or gravel to make a strong asphalt substitute.…

Bacon! Is there anything it can't do?
News9 / CBS • Wed 2016 Jun 29, 12:12am

A head-on collision involving two freight trains caused several box cars to derail and erupt in flames in the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday, injuring an unknown amount of people and leading authorities to evacuate people who live nearby.… Billy Brown, a farmer who lives in the area, said he saw a fireball erupt after the collision. … "I don't know how anyone survived," Brown said. "It's terrible. I've seen a number of train wrecks but I've never seen one like this."…

Terry Turner, Good News Network • Fri 2016 Jun 17, 2:53pm

A tourist driving through Alberta performed a make-shift C-section to deliver a fawn, after its mother was struck by a car.…

Plane
Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection • Tue 2016 May 17, 7:55pm

…airlines report that some 4,000 passengers have missed flights at O’Hare Airport because of the long wait times since February, and there have been reports of screening hold-ups, delayed baggage transport, and difficulties at many other airports.… TSA executives got fairly hefty pay bonuses for their hard work..… guess who the TSA blames for their boobery? You.…

Private Monorail Car
Ben Kew, Breitbart • Tue 2016 May 3, 9:50pm

Experts are warning that the rise of semi-autonomous cars could lead to couples having sex in moving vehicles.…

Shocka!

Here is a pictorial history of "if this van is rockin'" type getaways, from the Getting From Here to There series: Getting Away From it All.

Matt McFarland, Examiner-Enterprise / Wash Post • Sun 2016 May 1, 9:12pm

Proponents of autonomous vehicles are in a sticky situation. Self-driving technology is expected to have a tremendous impact on public health and reduce the 1.25 million deaths every year on global roads. At the same time, this emerging technology is a threat to the employment of the millions who are paid to sit behind the wheel — from truck drivers to cab drivers and delivery workers.

Baidu chief scientist Andrew Ng, an expert in the world of artificial intelligence, acknowledges the unemployment concerns, but he sees a way forward that offers society the benefits of autonomous vehicles and blunts the negative impact of job losses.…

Human problems be damned, full speed ahead for progress! Right.

See this panel from the "Transport Future" series: Ask Professor Future

NewsOn6 • Thu 2016 Apr 21, 11:22pm

BIXBY, Oklahoma - A small plane landed on Memorial Drive at East 121st Street South Thursday afternoon. …pilot was the only person on board the single-engine Cessna. …no one was hurt.…

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