Minor things that bother you

[Max Rockatansky]

What is the affixiation of straight roads anyway? To me a road is to get between two points. Why does it matter how?

Because the most efficient route between 2 points is a straight line.

No, it isn't.... at least for great circle navigation. It's why your flight from the United States to Asia may go north through Alaska instead of Hawaii.

Also, a straight-line may be the most efficient, but may not be scenic.

Given MMM's fictional post content I suspect he's a fan of symmetry.

[kphoger]

What is the affixiation of straight roads anyway? To me a road is to get between two points. Why does it matter how?

Because the most efficient route between 2 points is a straight line.

So I'm sure you'd also like every highway to tunnel down below the curvature of the Earth, correct?

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 = ?

[MultiMillionMiler]

I meant straight lines along earth surface. I know this results in great circles that would seem illogical on a 2D map. I didn't mean literally straight as in drilling through the mantle (even that wouldn't necessarily be perfectly straight as the effects of gravity and the warping of spacetime itself caused by earth's mass would ever so slightly vary depending on how close you are to the core, which would technically distort any straight line even if all 3 dimensions. But yes, I am aware of the great circles, and Europe is actually more north than it is east.

[kphoger]

I meant straight lines along earth surface.

Why?  Why not bore underground?

[kphoger]

Because you aren't saving any meaningful distance. Even the most extreme case of drilling through the core to get to the antipode from your current location, it is 8000 miles vs 12,000, saving 1/3 of the distance. So imagine how little you are saving in shorter distances, such as a few hundred miles. The earth curves maybe 1 degree every 70 miles. Not to mention you would be going against gravity as you pass the midpoint, but I am not quite sure how you would perceive this. It's like the question of falling through the core and flying back to the surface on the other side, would you suddenly feel upside down even though your body never changed orientation? How would your brain process this? For driving through the earth, at first you would feel like you are going slightly downhill, then you'd feel like you are going flat, then you'd feel like you are going uphill, against gravity, even though it is a mathematically perfectly straight line.

You do realize that tunnels already exist in reality, right?

Anyway, curves don't add "any meaningful distance" either.  As an example, I just checked US-60 across southern Missouri, which has plenty of curves and hills.  The straight-line surface distance between I-44 Exit 69 and I-55 Exit 66 is 217 miles.  The current driving distance between those two points is 242 miles.  At 68 mph, that's only a 22-minute difference.  It barely takes that much time to fill up with gas and go to the bathroom.

[MultiMillionMiler]

But the tunnels aren't designed to compensate for the curvature of the earth. They are just to bypass things on the surface, like water. They still follow the earth's curvature in that respect. Curves on highways can really add up however. It's not the fact of more miles added, it is the fact that you have to navigate them slower. You can measure the difference by drawing a line on the map "as the cross flies" between 2 points on a highway, and then ask Google maps to give you the distance between those points via the highway.

[kphoger]

You do realize that tunnels already exist in reality, right?

But the tunnels aren't designed to compensate for the curvature of the earth. They are just to bypass things on the surface, like water. They still follow the earth's curvature in that respect.

My point is that "going against gravity" isn't a thing with the tunnels that already exist, so I'm not sure what you brought it up for.

Anyway, curves don't add "any meaningful distance" either.  As an example, I just checked US-60 across southern Missouri, which has plenty of curves and hills.  The straight-line surface distance between I-44 Exit 69 and I-55 Exit 66 is 217 miles.  The current driving distance between those two points is 242 miles.  At 68 mph, that's only a 22-minute difference.  It barely takes that much time to fill up with gas and go to the bathroom.

Curves on highways can really add up however. It's not the fact of more miles added, it is the fact that you have to navigate them slower. You can measure the difference by drawing a line on the map "as the cross flies" between 2 points on a highway, and then ask Google maps to give you the distance between those points via the highway.

Yes, that's literally what I just did.  It's only a 22-minute difference for a trip across very hilly terrain.  And no, most curves don't have to be navigated more slower than the straightaways.  You're apparently just inept at navigating curves, which you've already made clear in another thread.  I once drove US-60 across southern Missouri and almost never let the needle drop below 85 the whole way.

[MultiMillionMiler]

The going against gravity thing was when you brought up drilling under the surface in a straight line. Even though the line is mathematically straight, it's going to feel like it slightly changed direction as you Traverse it. Earth appearing flat because it is so large and the curves are gradual is only part of the reason. Gravity is also the reason. It is literally the warping of the fabric of spacetime. This literally affects the perception of flatness, beyond just the illusion of gradually curves surfaces appearing flat.

[kphoger]

The going against gravity thing was when you brought up drilling under the surface in a straight line. Even though the line is mathematically straight, it's going to feel like it slightly changed direction as you Traverse it. Earth appearing flat because it is so large and the curves are gradual is only part of the reason. Gravity is also the reason. It is literally the warping of the fabric of spacetime. This literally affects the perception of flatness, beyond just the illusion of gradually curves surfaces appearing flat.

And my point is that none of that matters.  Tunnels already go down and then up again.

[roadman65]

How long before this thread gets locked.  It seems every thread that gets hijacked by this troll seems to end up like the other, MMM promoting his ideas and then the padlock.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=32429.0
That's what this thread is for MMM to promote or discuss his ideas.

[kphoger]

And my MMM thread is in fictional highways, not just a thread I can dump other non-road related miscellaneous ideas in. That would be off topic posting, which is what I was warned for.

Are any of your ideas not fictional?

Yes, please keep yourself from spewing all over the forum.

I'm not sure how we went from talking about airplane seating to earth's curvature, but I'll stop responding here if people wish.

It started when you said ...

One minor thing that bothers me is when the road is curvy, and it is finally about to straighten out, but my exit is just before the straight section. Sometimes I feel tempted to drive the length of the straight section and backtrack, to not leave the good stretches of the road out.

... and then |roadman65| asked what's up with your obsession about straight roads.  So yeah, you started it.  It had nothing to do with airplane seating.

[zachary_amaryllis]

I meant straight lines along earth surface.

Why?  Why not bore underground?

Because you aren't saving any meaningful distance. Even the most extreme case of drilling through the core to get to the antipode from your current location, it is 8000 miles vs 12,000, saving 1/3 of the distance. So imagine how little you are saving in shorter distances, such as a few hundred miles. The earth curves maybe 1 degree every 70 miles. Not to mention you would be going against gravity as you pass the midpoint, but I am not quite sure how you would perceive this. It's like the question of falling through the core and flying back to the surface on the other side, would you suddenly feel upside down even though your body never changed orientation? How would your brain process this? For driving through the earth, at first you would feel like you are going slightly downhill, then you'd feel like you are going flat, then you'd feel like you are going uphill, against gravity, even though it is a mathematically perfectly straight line.

The Fall Enslaves Us All.

[dlsterner]

And my MMM thread is in fictional highways, not just a thread I can dump other non-road related miscellaneous ideas in. That would be off topic posting, which is what I was warned for. I'm not sure how we went from talking about airplane seating to earth's curvature, but I'll stop responding here if people wish.

Perhaps the admins of this board might be willing to give you carte blanche to post off-topic posts in your MMM thread.  That could help contain the shitshow the spread of posts.

[Max Rockatansky]

And my MMM thread is in fictional highways, not just a thread I can dump other non-road related miscellaneous ideas in. That would be off topic posting, which is what I was warned for. I'm not sure how we went from talking about airplane seating to earth's curvature, but I'll stop responding here if people wish.

Perhaps the admins of this board might be willing to give you carte blanche to post off-topic posts in your MMM thread.  That could help contain the shitshow the spread of posts.

He can't hack it on the legitimate boards.  Staying grounded in reality just isn't something he does.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Regular boards are boring. I think it also had something to do with Max R asking me about why I didn't drive to Charlotte (which was brought up in the airplane discussion) and I mentioned how bad 78 in PA was. That's wasn't because of curves though. That was because of potholes and narrow sections/long construction zones.

[dlsterner]

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

[hotdogPi]

I'm confused what the 422 420 is in that problem? No lengths are given so there isn't enough information to see how far apart the 2 lines are.

422400 feet = 80 miles.

There is no 420 in that problem.

[MultiMillionMiler]

I'm confused what the 422 420 is in that problem? No lengths are given so there isn't enough information to see how far apart the 2 lines are.

422400 feet = 80 miles.

There is no 420 in that problem.

Oh this is using the curvature of the earth, so there is enough info. NVM. How does the 4200 feet defy logic? That means the straight line underground would be a little less than a mile below the surface at the deepest point. For the distance of 80 miles and the 1 degree change every 65-70 miles, that makes sense. It would be that deep at the midpoint (40 miles into the trip)

[kphoger]

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.)

[SkyPesos]

Because you have to exit the interstate. It's torture having to get off a beautiful highway to go to your destination when there is more highway in front of you. One minor thing that bothers me is when the road is curvy, and it is finally about to straighten out, but my exit is just before the straight section. Sometimes I feel tempted to drive the length of the straight section and backtrack, to not leave the good stretches of the road out.

Just think about that statement for a second.

MMM thinks I-80 in Nebraska is very scenic, so this is not that far off for him.

[ZLoth]

Another minor computer thing that bothers me...

I'm one of those people who has set up all of their computers to backup every day... usually when everyone is sleeping. Those computers backup to a SMB share on my TrueNAS server, then the TrueNAS server does the off-site backup to BackBlaze which is a offsite storage solution. At $0.005 per GB per month, my bill runs under $5 per month. There is a cost to download a file beyond a certain file size, but if that occurs, something catastrophic has happened. So far, so good?

I just built a new computer (after eight years, no less). My old computer was running the Acronis backup software (now called "Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office") under an older incremental backup configuration. That meant that a full backup file was created, followed by several smaller incremental backups. Each of these backups were a separate file. However, when I checked my new computer, there is only one single file created. Per Acronis, this is intentional with the new file format. I can understand the reasoning, however, that means that 84GB file is now being uploaded every night to my offsite storage provider. With the backup copies, that's about 235GB at $1.18 per month. Because Cloud Sync tasks are a low-priority/low bandwidth event, it takes 2½ hours for the file to upload each night. I might as well make a full backup each night.

Minor, but irritating.

[thspfc]

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

[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.

[JoePCool14]

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.

[SkyPesos]

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