INTERESTING: If I was an impala, I’d be called “Lunch” or maybe, if lucky, “Lurch”

Saturday, August 3, 2024

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240724-what-olympic-athletes-can-learn-about-running-from-cheetahs?ICID=ref_fark

What Olympic runners can learn from cheetahs
Sophie Hardach

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Cheetahs are famous for being the fastest land animals – but research suggests there’s much more to their athleticism than just speed.

Imagine you are an impala, racing across the African savannah to try and escape a cheetah – the world’s fastest land animal, which can reach a running speed of more than 100 km/h (62 mph). It may seem like a hopeless effort, but in real life, impalas do sometimes manage to get away. Which running strategy do you think would give you the best chance of beating the cheetah?

A. Fast and in a straight line

B. Fast and zig-zag

C. Slow and in a straight line

D. Slow and zig-zag

A growing body of research on wild cheetahs and their prey not only reveals the answer to this quiz – more on this below – but also offers wider insights into why exactly cheetahs are so fast, and what we might learn from them to help our own athletic pursuits.

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If it was me, I’d have to fight.  No change for this fat old white guy injineer to run or doge.  Of course, YMMV and faiwwypfi (Free Advice Is Worth What You Pay For It! ?zero?) ! ! ! 

I found this very interesting and well written.  I needed a choice “E. None of the Above”.  Which we should also have in elections, imho.

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GOVERNACIDE: Politicians ribbon-cutting opportunities cost people’s lives and Taxpayers’ wealth

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

https://www.cato.org/blog/questions-ask-about-amtrak-501

DECEMBER 20, 2017 9:21AM
Questions to Ask About Amtrak 501
By RANDAL O’TOOLE

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The wreck of the 501–the Amtrak train that crashed near Seattle on Monday–is raising lots of questions about Amtrak operations, but they aren’t always the right ones. Here are some questions that should be asked and some of my preliminary answers. Answers from Amtrak (the operator), FRA (the funder), Sound Transit (the track owner), or WSDOT (the train owner) may differ.

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2. Around 800 people die in railroad accidents a year. PTC would prevent only about 1 percent of these fatalities; far more would be saved by spending the same amount of money on better grade crossings and fencing of rail rights of way. Why do we put so much emphasis on an expensive technology that will do so little?

Answer: Accidents that PTC could have prevented tend to be more spectacular than people getting killed when a train hits their car at a grade crossing. This suggests that, when politicians decide where private businesses spend their money, it’ll get spent on grandiose programs rather than things that could really make a difference.

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5. Why do so many reporters call this a high-speed train? The top speed between Portland and Seattle is 79 mph, the same as it has always been and the same as most other Amtrak routes. In technical terms, this was a conventional, low-speed train.

Answer: Though this was a low-speed train, it was funded by Obama’s high-speed rail fund. By repeatedly using the term “high-speed trains,” reporters are keeping that idea in the public consciousness, perhaps in the hopes that Trump’s infrastructure plan will include money for more such trains. (This could backfire, however, by making people think that high-speed trains are more dangerous. They aren’t–but they are a lot more expensive.)

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Question: So are all trains obsolete?

Answer: No, only passenger trains are obsolete. Freight trains are extremely productive, and America has the finest, most advanced rail system in the world. That’s because it is mostly private and operates to produce profits, not to give politicians ribbon-cutting opportunities.

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So the answer is that politicians and bureaucrats, their egos, cause the waste of Taxpayers’ wealth on their egos.

Argh!

Happy New Year; new year same as the old year.

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