Minor things that bother you

[Dirt Roads]

Someone who's better at math than I am:  Assuming an 80-mile surface drive from point A to point B, and assuming the Earth's surface were smooth between those two points, how many feet below the surface would a straight line pass at its midpoint?

Oops.  I meant CD = ?

Being a math geek in addition to being a road geek, I felt compelled to try to solve this, scraping the rust off my trigonometry.  Assuming the earth's radius is 4000 miles (for ease of computation), as well as a perfect sphere, and the distance along the arc is 80 miles, looks like the straight line distance is 79.9987 miles, or a whopping 7 feet shorter.  Paradoxically it looks like the CD distance is around 4200 feet (seems to defy logic).  Others can feel free to check my math - I have been known to be wrong

Cool!  So, assuming your math is correct, the tunnel would need to get down to 4200 feet below grade in order to shave 7 feet off the travel distance.  That hardly seems worth it.

I feel the same way about blasting a straight line through hills.   (However, I remember when this was nothing but a rock wall, and I must admit it was pretty cool to see them blast through it.)

All of which reminds me of the former Memorial Tunnel on the West Virginia Turnpike: 
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.1354749,-81.4082973,3a,75y,259.74h,99.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skpYiWbQE2FmUJ3RaQgOd9A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Memorial Tunnel is the longest [entirely] in West Virginia at 2,802 feet, but certainly saved travellers many miles of widing roads.

[formulanone]

People referring to airports with their three-letter codes in a context where their audience likely is not familiar with these codes.

YEA, IDA KNO ALO TOV THE MEE THR.

ORD.

SIN to HEL

PNS to CLT via AA (that's Pensacola to Charlotte via American Airlines) exists, but there's a MOB of people who'd fly elsewhere.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

[Derby Field, Lovelock NV]

[abefroman329]

People referring to airports with their three-letter codes in a context where their audience likely is not familiar with these codes.

YEA, IDA KNO ALO TOV THE MEE THR.

ORD.

SIN to HEL

PNS to CLT via AA (that's Pensacola to Charlotte via American Airlines) exists, but there's a MOB of people who'd fly elsewhere.

ORD-SUX.

I'm sure many travelers would agree.

[kphoger]

I do have a soft spot for Midway, I must admit.

[Max Rockatansky]

I rather my dystopian airport come with a like atmosphere, Midway delivers on that. 

[CtrlAltDel]

I rather my dystopian airport come with a like atmosphere, Midway delivers on that.

Really? I have to admit it looks like any other midsize airport in the country to me.

[webny99]

People referring to airports with their three-letter codes in a context where their audience likely is not familiar with these codes.

Upstate NY is an exception to this, since most of the codes are painstakingly obvious (BUF, ROC, SYR, and ALB).

I once heard Portland, OR referred to as "PDX" and it took me a minute to figure out that was the airport code.

[kphoger]

I once heard Portland, OR referred to as "PDX" and it took me a minute to figure out that was the airport code.

Whenever I see that, my first thought is always Phoenix.

[roadman65]

EWR for Newark is far from obvious as well. NWK would be bettter. At least LaGuardia is LGA and JFK is JFK.

Then MCO for Orlando named after the former Air Force Base it was is far from the name. 

ORD for O Hare is another.

[kphoger]

ORD for O Hare is another.

ORcharD Place.

[roadman65]

Of course, I think Post 5728 means that even though letters are derived from related wording, it can confuse the non informed flyer.  That is why I said ORD for O Hare as no one is going to think Orchard.

[Max Rockatansky]

I rather my dystopian airport come with a like atmosphere, Midway delivers on that.

Really? I have to admit it looks like any other midsize airport in the country to me.

They've obviously modernized it slightly since I last flew there during the early 2000s.  Used to give me Airplane! vibes back when I used to fly into Midway from Lansing during the mid-to-late 1990s.

[kphoger]

Yeah, Midway definitely used to feel like "the other airport".

[hbelkins]

It wasn't until relatively recently that I found out why Rush entitled that certain instrumental "YYZ."

And why is it pronounced "Y Y Zed" sometimes?

[hotdogPi]

And why is it pronounced "Y Y Zed" sometimes?

Because both the airport and the band are Canadian. That's how it's supposed to be pronounced.

[kurumi]

And why is it pronounced "Y Y Zed" sometimes?

Because both the airport and the band are Canadian. That's how it's supposed to be pronounced.

If you say "Y Y Zeeee", Krieger will correct you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBJO3Zj-Sv0

[Takumi]

People referring to airports with their three-letter codes in a context where their audience likely is not familiar with these codes.

YEA, IDA KNO ALO TOV THE MEE THR.

How long were you waiting to use that?

[thspfc]

EWR for Newark is far from obvious as well. NWK would be bettter. At least LaGuardia is LGA and JFK is JFK.

Then MCO for Orlando named after the former Air Force Base it was is far from the name. 

ORD for O Hare is another.

My list of airport codes that are acceptable to use in a normal setting (definitely missing some)

- JFK
- DFW
- OKC
- LAX because it sounds cool

All the others that I can think of are either a) not obvious enough, b) stupid, or c) redundant to the name of the city because the three letters take more effort to say than the city name (i.e. SLC vs Salt Lake, STL vs St. Louis).

Yes, I am choosing to die on this hill. Admittedly I've barely left my house since Wednesday because of awful weather.

[thspfc]

This whacky weather. Here in New York State, the temperature dropped from 58 degrees...to 10...in 12 hours.

In Cheyenne, WY on Wednesday, it dropped from 43 to 19 in 10 minutes.

[Scott5114]

EWR for Newark is far from obvious as well. NWK would be bettter. At least LaGuardia is LGA and JFK is JFK.

Then MCO for Orlando named after the former Air Force Base it was is far from the name. 

ORD for O Hare is another.

My list of airport codes that are acceptable to use in a normal setting (definitely missing some)

- JFK
- DFW
- OKC
- LAX because it sounds cool

All the others that I can think of are either a) not obvious enough, b) stupid, or c) redundant to the name of the city because the three letters take more effort to say than the city name (i.e. SLC vs Salt Lake, STL vs St. Louis).

Yes, I am choosing to die on this hill. Admittedly I've barely left my house since Wednesday because of awful weather.

I assume this applies to speech only? I agree that saying "ess ell cee" aloud instead of "Salt Lake City" is kind of silly, but in textual form it seems like a perfectly reasonable abbreviation.

Other possible "normal" airport codes: ABQ, MSP, COS

[formulanone]

People referring to airports with their three-letter codes in a context where their audience likely is not familiar with these codes.

YEA, IDA KNO ALO TOV THE MEE THR.

How long were you waiting to use that?

10-12 minutes; there's pages with every code.

[LilianaUwU]

People referring to airports with their three-letter codes in a context where their audience likely is not familiar with these codes.

Even worse: Calgary uses YYC, their airport code, for everything Calgary.

[1995hoo]

EWR for Newark is far from obvious as well. NWK would be bettter. At least LaGuardia is LGA and JFK is JFK.

...

Interestingly, NWK is the train station code for Newark Penn Station (the stop in the city, not the separate stop for Newark Airport). I assume that has no bearing whatsoever on assignment of airport codes, but I have no idea, and I have no idea which was assigned first.

[abefroman329]

It wasn't until relatively recently that I found out why Rush entitled that certain instrumental "YYZ."

Ah, but did you know that the rhythm of the guitar riff is set to "YYZ"  in Morse code?