Japanese Train Sets A Speed Record Of 581 kph

Azuma writes "Last night, on December 2, a high-speed Japanese train set a new record of 581 kph, breaking its own previous record. The new Maglev high speed had real passengers on board this time. They proved that the distance between Osaka and Tokyo can be covered in one hour's time. However, we wouldn't see real trains for a while now since the cost is prohibitively expensive at this time. However, they expect that the cost would come down over the next 20 years. This seems to be the future of transportation, at least in Japan. Here is a detailed article from The Japan Times."

Comments

stuff

[p-unit*or*die]

boners & cheese!

Come on, America

[ReadParse]

I've never gotten this Japan train thing. Don't get me wrong. Happy to see how the Japanese recovered from WWII and became the powerhouse that they are in many ways. A nice stable government, an economy similar to ours, great scientific advances.

(America haters will reply something like "how is being like America a good thing? Bush sucks" -- or something. Disregard those morons).

Anyway, as much respect as I have for Japan, trains are our thing. Why is America not the one always building the fastest train in the world? Why isn't the rest of the world chasing us? And why don't we care about having the world's tallest building anymore? Especially now that we have some rebuilding to do in NY, I can't think of a single decent reason to not make it the tallest building in the world.

And while I'm on a Superman theme, I might as well complete it. We should also have the fastest speeding bullet. Come on ammo manufacturers. Get your act together :)

RP

Re:361MPH

[kyrre]

In metric water boils at 373 degres kelvin. Celcius is more apropriate for everyday use of course.

Re:361MPH

[Golias]

What's simpler?

Both are very simple unless you are a total moron. Is multiplying 3 by 12 too hard for you? If so, you need more help than a strict decimal-based system of weights and measures.

Or how about: water freezes at 0 and boils at 100?

Except that it almost never does. How close are you to sea level where you live? What's the atmospheric pressure today?

Compare to: water freezes at 32 and boils at 212?

That means F has 181 units from freezing to boiling, while C only has 101. This means metric is less precise, especially for climate temperatures. I can tell when somebody adjusts my house thermostat from 73 F to 72 F, so we are talking about useful degrees. To represent a change of the same ammount in the metric system, I would need to use fractions of degrees.

Re:361MPH

[Golias]

Well, rachets could have been divided into tenths of inches. "9/16th" is not really part of any standard, other than the fact that American auto manufacturers chose to use such goofy measurments for their nuts and bolts.

If you're going to defend a system because it's commonplace and everyone knows how to use it, that's one thing, but I can't see how you can argue that metric doesn't simply make more sense.

It doesn't. It's just as arbitrary, and while the uniform increments of 10s might sometimes make the math a little easier, it doesn't always. Nor does it always make sense to go up an entire factor of 10 for the next unit of measurment. Four quarts to the gallon makes a hell of a lot of sensse, because those are the two units by which people are most likely to buy beverages at the supermarket (orange juice, milk, etc.) "A gallon" is simpler than "four litres."

Our temperatures are also more useful, at least for weather reports, because it's centered on human comfort levels, not the sea-level boiling and freezing temps of water.

In F, a weather report of zero degrees means "fucking cold", and 100 means "fucking hot". Anything inside that range means you can probably stand to be outside for a few hours, provided you dress appropriately. In C, zero means "kinda cold, watch out for freezing rain and wear a hat", while 100 would mean "the world is coming to an end. Repent and prepare to meet thy God!"

Let's not forget...

[fiannaFailMan]

5. The auto makers bought up trolley and light rail companies in the sixties and promptly tore up the tracks to make way for their cars

6. The auto industry lobbyists make sure that their congressmen insist that Amtrak pay for rolling stock, pay for the maintenance of the track and still make a profit whilst the Interstates that carry their products remain subsidised by Uncle Sam.

Re:Too bad the US doesn't invest in more trains

[erroneus]

It's not theory, it's history. The auto industry activiely lobbied for taking funds away from railroads and putting them into highway development. It's in the books. Don't make me cite references... I kinda thought everyone knew about that. This was before air travel was taken seriously.

Re:You talk about Europe as if it's a country.

[Lars T.]

[...]a bunch of countries who don't really like each other very much getting together to prevent from becoming financially irrelevant as the size of the superstate increases.

Sounds like the US of A.