Things you're tired of seeing in movies

[joberg]

I said hardly any, not none. I meant how pre interstate highways and air travel, we had trains running all over. Now just a shadow of what it was.

What the "people in charge" don't seems to get is that trains are the best and fastest mode of public transportation available.
You have a major train station (downtown) where you can take a train without going through security/custom and going to another main station hundreds of miles away (downtown). No wait for your luggage on a carousel and no taxi trip to reach downtown. The closing of many routes made it unreliable and less practical than during the heydays of rail travelling

 

[Cephus]

They're just not efficient or convenient. Like all public transport, you have to run on their schedule, not your own. You have to deal with their limitations. They're useless for going to the grocery store and bringing home a dozen bags of groceries. They're useless for going to the hardware store and bringing home 10 sheets of plywood. They're useless if you've got to go when and where you've got to go.

My daughter, who now lives just outside of DC and takes the subway most places has started to realize that.

 

[joberg]

They're just not efficient or convenient. Like all public transport, you have to run on their schedule, not your own. You have to deal with their limitations. They're useless for going to the grocery store and bringing home a dozen bags of groceries. They're useless for going to the hardware store and bringing home 10 sheets of plywood. They're useless if you've got to go when and where you've got to go.

My daughter, who now lives just outside of DC and takes the subway most places has started to realize that.

Long distances, not your local supermarket or any other "small" trip.

 

[Cephus]

Long distances, not your local supermarket or any other "small" trip.

And then what do you do when you get there? You don't have a car!

 

[blewis17]

And then what do you do when you get there? You don't have a car!

Just go to the local livery stable...

 

[pengbuzz]

And then what do you do when you get there? You don't have a car!

Cry and walk back.

 

[Treadwell]

Just go to the local livery stable...

hire a buckboard and hope you don't crash into Shonash ravine.

 

[joberg]

And then what do you do when you get there? You don't have a car!

Rent-a-car...whether you take a plane or train

 

[Cephus]

Rent-a-car...whether you take a plane or train

You're still using a car then.

 

[batguy]

Cell phones don't take pictures nearly as well as a real dedicated camera. They cannot shoot video as well as a legit video camera. They aren't as comfortable to hold against your head as a corded headset phone. They don't have as consistent reception as a land-line phone. And yet they have captured a lot of the market for cameras and land line phones. Not to mention calendars and many other things.

Electric cars or train-based public transport are different hardware from gasoline cars. They aren't going to drop into exactly the same slots and do the jobs the same way. They don't have to be a perfect match just to have a legit purpose. In the mid-1900s we didn't demand that airplanes cover all the same bases (for the same prices) as ships. We still embraced airplanes as a society.


The near future fix (for EV shortcomings) is probably splitting it with 2-car households. One parent uses a smaller EV and the other has a bigger gasoline truck/SUV.

Another possible fix for the range & cargo issues with EVs is rentals. We could end up with a future where it's more common (and cheap) to rent a gasoline truck/SUV for a weekend. All we need is a fresh batch of real trucks that aren't glitzed-up to sell for $80k. Today they still build Uhaul box trucks with basic dashboards, crank windows, rubber floormats, flat vinyl seats, etc. It's not that hard.

 

[p51]

Almost any western movie showing the building of the transcontinental railroad shows crews laying down rails and then immediately the rail gets spiked in place.
Yes, they laid track really fast then, but they always made sure the gauge (the space between the rails) was correct before spiking down rails.

 

[simiouno]

sick of seeing people slide down the wall when they are crying or overcome

 

[dascoyne]

sick of seeing people slide down the wall when they are crying or overcome

What's worse is seeing someone do it in real life.

(Yes. She was generally insufferably histrionic as you can imagine.)

 

[joberg]

sick of seeing people slide down the wall when they are crying or overcome

I think the walls in all of those scenes are really forgotten pieces of set/decor and should have their own Oscar noms

 

[blewis17]

What's worse is seeing someone do it in real life.

(Yes. She was generally insufferably histrionic as you can imagine.)

When I was in medical school, occasionally we would have family members "fall out" in despair. But it seemed to be a cultural thing.

 

[joberg]

When I was in medical school, occasionally we would have family members "fall out" in despair. But it seemed to be a cultural thing.

Part traditions/cultural: some Latin/Muslim countries have professional mourners, crying while following the funeral procession. Also, I've noticed that, the death of a child is much more dramatic for families in general.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

No. We gotta do this as a family.

 

[p51]

What's worse is seeing someone do it in real life.

When I got the word my mother died in December, I did exactly that.

 

[pengbuzz]

When I got the word my mother died in December, I did exactly that.

My condolences, p51; I know how hard that hits (lost my mom in 2011).

As for sliding down the wall; I only ever did that once, and it was a stucco wall.

*insert picture of planet earth in the distance with a faint scream coming from it*

 

[DarkKnight]

tired of movies and TV where little kids have major roles and are just as or more powerful than adults. sick of it. Wesley Crusher on steroids