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Cirque du soleil mass transit

Pole-vault to work
  (+12, -3)(+12, -3)
(+12, -3)
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Circuses sometimes have people on top of big bendy poles. Generally, the people are balanced there, and they waft back and forth. Sometimes, two pole-people meet, and swap poles or do other clever stuff. Or maybe I dreamt that. But no matter.

A suitable array of really large springy poles dotted across a city, with sizeable platforms on top, could form a picturesque mass transit system. The poles would swing slowly and majestically, and the platforms on top would have side-railings which open only when two platforms come together (and are briefly held there) allowing people to move from one platform to the next. The swinging could be maintained by a very gentle ground-based nudger, or it could be left up to the skill and teamwork of the commuters to establish and maintain the oscillations. Lights on the platforms would make for a spectacular display during night-time rush-hour.

MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 31 2009

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       (This is) A world where physical ability is placed(measured) above intellectual ability and public transit becomes(mimics) a platform video game.
wjt, Jul 31 2009
  

       I've just checked, and there are no less than six distinct possible interpretations of that annotation.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 31 2009
  

       And because we are in the quantum (understanding/learning) era, the individual collapses statement meaning.   

       Sorry.. Healthier public, though.
wjt, Jul 31 2009
  

       // in the quantum era //   

       Like, "in the last six-and-a-half -billion earth years since Event One" ?   

       // individual collapses statement meaning. //   

       The observer colapses the wave function. Each observer is by definition discrete, as each interaction is unique. This statement is either tautology, or sophistry, or more likely both, being both a wave and a particle simultaneousy.   

       Yet another example of Bohr's "complementarity" theory (as if you needed it pointed out, which you probably did. Pay attention. Look at us when we're talking to you. This is for your benefit, not ours).
8th of 7, Jul 31 2009
  

       [+] for the picture of sedate businessmen/ladies calmly acrobat'ing their way to/from work.... hmm... how would rush hour work? given that more people are traveling one way than the other.
FlyingToaster, Aug 01 2009
  

       {Drives a nail through his tongue before realising he's on the wrong line}
Dub, Aug 01 2009
  

       //how would rush hour work?// The system is inherently bi- directional, but then again so are buses and trains (unless you have a very large stockpile of buses and trains).   

       For busy periods, the poles could be hydraulically stiffened to increase the frequency of oscillation for skilled commuters.
MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 01 2009
  

       + only if all the commuters are required to wear sequined body suits and paint their faces multi colors
dentworth, Aug 01 2009
  

       [8th of 7] So a sentence with multiple meanings is not a good 'simple' metaphor for a quantum state ? And the way the state collapses(I am thinking more of Bose-Einstein condensate) depends on the environment applied? In this case a persons reading ability and word knowledge.
wjt, Aug 01 2009
  

       re: sentences with multiple meanings   

       I think all sentences, and more broadly speaking all data, have an infinite number of possible interpretations dependent on the context/reader/observer. I'm undecided as to whether this makes it a good analogy for collapsing wave functions.
xaviergisz, Aug 01 2009
  

       wouldn't it be simpler to just use fleets of clown cars?
Gamma48, Aug 02 2009
  

       I like it. Low carbon footprint, keeps people fit, potential for hilarious accidents that can be posted on YouTube. + as long as I don't have to use it.
Bad Jim, Aug 02 2009
  

       Could the platform be engineered to pass off to the next pole?   

       Each pole has two platforms each passed the opposite way. Of course the whole system, as looking down on the city, would have to be some spirograph pattern to have the platforms circulate and get people to where they want to go.
wjt, Aug 03 2009
  

       //{Drives a nail through his tongue before realising he's on the wrong line}//
And also at the wrong circus, I suspect.
coprocephalous, Aug 03 2009
  

       Oxford / Piccadilly / Holborn? {Set's up for "I'll show you viacuct" gag}
Dub, Aug 03 2009
  

       [Dub] - Mornington Crescent
coprocephalous, Aug 03 2009
  

       GenK!
Dub, Aug 03 2009
  

       I thought we weren't allowing quangies!
Gamma48, Aug 03 2009
  

       Always with quangies. It's a different game without
Dub, Aug 03 2009
  
      
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