Just when you think visiting Australia can't be any stranger, the Brits turn up a new one by discovering the resting place of the first person to circumnavigate Australia while renovating a train station. Remember, kids, always use lead for your coffin plate so if you are lost for a few centuries, people who find you will know who you are.
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England Finds Matthew Flinders -- First Circumnavigator of Australia -- in a London Train Station
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(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 26 2019, @07:22AM
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47000518 [bbc.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday January 26 2019, @07:24AM (2 children)
"You can embalm a stiff in it."
(Dad was a beekeeper.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday January 26 2019, @09:28AM
But you still need something in which to put the honey..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 26 2019, @01:31PM
It also gets icky and crystallized if you put it in the fridge.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday January 26 2019, @10:55AM (5 children)
For context, the railway station is being expanded to accommodate a new high-speed railway line [wikipedia.org] from London to Birmingham.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Saturday January 26 2019, @05:10PM (4 children)
And further north, to Manchester and Leeds
(Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Saturday January 26 2019, @05:15PM (2 children)
That's a couple hundred miles. Just add six more lanes on the highway and stop wasting money on trains!
Regards,
Americans
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday January 26 2019, @06:49PM
Actually, HS2 is effectively adding two tracks to the existing four-track line to Birmingham, Manchester, etc., to give a six-lane railway.
Yes, we've got that many people commuting into London by rail. And we're running out of space to put on more/longer trains.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @09:00AM
Canberra is trying to build its first tram.
Sydney has taken a couple of years to upgrade its trams with no end in sight.
Best not to ask about Melbourne.
For reference.
(Score: 2, Informative) by driverless on Sunday January 27 2019, @02:12PM
For people from the US reading this, Manchester is a small fishing village just north of Unst, and Leeds is a former mining town down by the border near St Ives.
(Score: 4, Touché) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday January 26 2019, @01:16PM (1 child)
From TFA:
Can't they just leave him alone? They knock down his tombstone, lose his remains, build a train station over him, and now they're going to rummage through his bones to see if they can find out some random facts about seafaring life?
"Rest in peace" definitely not happening for this dude.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 26 2019, @02:31PM
If he had wanted peace, he would have been buried at sea, with Davey Jones and all the peaceful mermaids.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 26 2019, @02:29PM (14 children)
So this guy went to catch a train, and he's still waiting 205 years later? I'm glad I never took the train in England.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fritsd on Saturday January 26 2019, @03:04PM (13 children)
Trains in the UK are quite a bit worse and more expensive than in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy.
We need a competent transport secretary. We’ve got Chris Grayling [theguardian.com]
I quote:
The Brits seem to prefer ideological approaches like deregulation and privatization over boring physical things like trains, rails, and timetables.
And there's about 400 000 people commuting into London every day, so they need their rail infrastructure badly.
The Tube [wikipedia.org], and London Overground, is OK though.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday January 26 2019, @03:28PM (12 children)
Hmmm, I've heard Italy got the trains running on time(*) nicely in early-mid last century :-p
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* - (-1 Overrated) it was more propaganda than reality.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 26 2019, @03:42PM (7 children)
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday January 26 2019, @04:09PM (6 children)
I suspect there is a cultural aspect involved there also. Hopefully the Japanese continue to retain these aspects of courtesy better than the US has.
After decades of riding trains and watching ridiculously privileged scum routinely stop an entire train full of hundreds of people, physically block a doors, and throw train schedules in the dumpster for hours rather than wait in order for the next train in 7 minutes I have come to the conclusion the solution is simply unpalatable.
Back in the 90s we went to Paris. The first time I rode a train we saw the doors SLAM shut, hard. Unsurprisingly -noone- was near them when they closed and I never once saw someone even think of trying to physically block the doors.
So there are two of the solutions.
1) have a culture that values respect and politeness in unfathomable ways unfathomable. That ship has sailed off a cliff into a black hole dumped out into an antimatter mirror universe and annihilated an entire star system.
2) make the trains obviously unforgiving. We don't have the stomach for that here.
Other solutions require more expense and infrastructure.
- more trains, more lines, mass euthenasia, man traps, active police presence
Long and short - plan on trains being late and give yourself an extra hour to get to the airport :-\
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 26 2019, @08:10PM (2 children)
Japanese values of courtesy are based on fuedalism, aka a systematic lack of respect for 99% of human life. We got rid of that bullshit for a reason. I will not present my neck for cutting or blindly follow the orders of the more powerful.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday January 26 2019, @09:18PM (1 child)
Ignoring fanciful/idealized visions of history and ancient life, disrespect for 99% of human life has been a fact of human life in societies pretty much everywhere for the majority of recorded history. Specifics, attempts at constraint, and how far back you have to go vary.
On much of the planet, it remains how things are today.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @09:07AM
Not in all places. Some of us are doing what we can to create a civilised society.
Avoid muslim countries.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday January 26 2019, @11:25PM
Say... what?
The answer is: be practical, hire some train stuffers to squeeze as may passengers in as they can fit, before the train is scheduled to leave the station in time. Good for bottom line too.
Like they are doing... in Japan [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @09:04AM (1 child)
Dickwads in Melbourne who jump onto the tracks to spray paint graffiti along the walls destroy timetables. The trains have no choice but to slow down or stop.
I am guessing in the US they would run them down.
I was on a train that stopped in the middle of nowhere. The muttering of the regular commuters was along the lines of if they could jump out and deal with the problem themselves they would.
In some places the graffiti is terrible but given the length of track what do you do.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Sunday January 27 2019, @04:43PM
I suppose in the long run it's one of the benefits of the surveillance society we are barreling towards.
At least idiots that pull that crap will eventually be assured of identification.
Still a horrible end state in other ways, but at least there's that.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Informative) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday January 26 2019, @03:56PM (2 children)
Italy, so incredible, the trains were on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location. And the Italian Turnpike -- the Autostrada -- magnificent! You go to China, you go to Japan, they have fast trains all over the place. We don’t have one fast train. It’s the same thing with our airports. Our airports used to be the best. Now they’re at the bottom of the rung. Not for long. Next week is Infrastructure Week!!
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 26 2019, @10:56PM (1 child)
Unfuck San Diego's public transit and you'll be one popular, if not more slightly rich, dude.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday January 27 2019, @07:38AM
Oh please, God him(her?)self couldn't accomplish that!
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @05:44PM
That's what you thought you heard, but it's a widespread misunderstanding:
https://xkcd.com/282/ [xkcd.com]
:-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @05:42PM
Being married to a computational linguist has left me alert for syntactic ambiguities and there was a funny one in the article.
The first person to circumnavigate Australia while renovating a train station? He must have been a talented and busy man :-)