Man Builds His Own Subway 174
jerryjamesstone writes "Everybody is into rail these days; it is the greenest way to get around next to a bike. Leonid Mulyanchik has been into it for years since before the Berlin Wall fell, since before the first Macintosh, building his own private underground Metro railway system. English-Russia says that he has been doing it with his pension, that it is all legal and approved and that he is still at it. Gizmodo calls it 'Partly the traditional, inspiring, one man against all odds type of persistence, but more the obsessive, borderline insane persistence.'"
Update: 06/02 07:33 GMT by T : And if you're the type to visit Burning Man, you can actually ride a home-made monorail this summer, too.
Seriously? (Score:2, Insightful)
The "greenness" of a train doesn't come close to the "greenness" of a bike. It's not even within an order of magnitude... probably not even within two.
Damn you kids! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
"The "greenness" of a train doesn't come close to the "greenness" of a bike. It's not even within an order of magnitude... probably not even within two."
The train is not a Green way to move a single cyclist, but bicycles may not be a particularly Green way to move thousands of tons of cargo.
Re:Following this example... (Score:3, Insightful)
I could tell you that it's the journey, not the destination that matters. I could tell you that after some time you'd be an expert at electronics and would gain so many different valuable skills.
But what would you need skills like that for? It's not in your job description.
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Insightful)
It reminds me Cray supercomputers creator digging a tunnel under his home where he said he would find solutions to his problems while getting visited by elves ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Cray#Personal_life [wikipedia.org]
Re:Seriously? (Score:3, Insightful)
The "greenness" of a train doesn't come close to the "greenness" of a bike. It's not even within an order of magnitude... probably not even within two.
Iff you do not count the greenness of the road the bike rides on, but do count the tracks the train runs on.
Re:Following this example... (Score:3, Insightful)
I could tell you that all of those skills could be acquired in a fraction of the time by checking out a couple good books on electronics from you local library. I could tell you that all of your points are rationalizations to explain away obsessive compulsive behaviors with delusions of grandeur.
But, what would you need reality for. You seem to prefer self delusion.
Re:The First Macintosh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, considering that it seems most people are beginning to forget what communist Russia was like, what Nazi Germany was like, what the holocaust was like (and it wasn't just Jews, although they certainly bore quite a bit of it, it seems)...
It seems that we are tending to brainwash young folk to believe a certain thing about society and people (generally, we're good people, and society is good, and we can all reach peace and happiness if everyone just "gets along." And don't criticize me, either). When certain historical incidents don't match up with that general, nice-feeling idea - such as the holocaust, communist Russia, the Berlin Wall, wars in general, communist China, and many-many-many other bad things that have happened... the tendency seems to be to dismiss those incidents at strange, or consider those people to be somehow ... I don't know, less-highly evolved or something?
In other words, we're beginning to forget the past, because it "doesn't make sense" with what we want to think about ourselves.
Sorta like that electrical-shock game show that they did in France recently? the test, that is... people were "outraged" that the game show made them act that way. Because they KNEW they wouldn't have done those things if it wasn't for the peer pressure and game show situation and all that, but a psychological phenomena occurred where they did it even though they didn't want to! ... right. In my book, being willing to do something due to peer pressure means you don't really think it's all that bad to begin with.
But apparently, we think SO highly of ourselves and think we're above these sorts of bad behaviors, and thus - when shown that that is not true - we blame it on something else. Like ... "society" ("peer pressure" or the "game show" or whatever). Psychologically scarring? Sure. It should be. It should make people realize that they are capable of very bad behavior, and need to remember that and guard against going along with it, just because other people are telling them to.
Re:Seriously? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Seriously? (Score:1, Insightful)
It's actually much "greener" to fill up a train with people and use an efficient electric motor using low rolling resistance steel tires on steel rails than to have each person riding their own bike with rubber tires on pavement. Furthermore, a train can return braking energy to the power grid to be used later, while most bikes can't store energy; and a train can be powered by falling water, while bikes can only be powered by food.
The problem with trains is that they have to run even when they're not full, while a bike only needs to be powered when going somewhere.
dom
Re:Seriously? (Score:3, Insightful)
I haven't owned a car for many years now. I use a backpack for shopping; works just fine. When I need to move something large, I go all communist and rent a farking car; why own for all 365days a year when I only need one for approx 2 of them? I hear that "what if I want to move something big" argument from people with trucks quite often...who, despite the argument, have spotless truck beds that tell a tale of never having been used to move something big. Bike+car rentals...it's not a complicated concept.