xkcd #2940: Modes of Transportation ( sh.itjust.works )

xkcd : Modes of Transportation

https://xkcd.com/2940

Explain xkcd #2940

Title Text:

My bold criticism might anger the hot air balloon people, which would be a real concern if any of them lived along a very narrow line directly upwind of me.

alt-text:

A chart that categorizes various modes of transportation based on their practicality and danger level:

Zone of Practicality:

  • Trains
  • Airliners
  • Boats
  • Walking
  • Cars
  • Scooters
  • Bicycles

Zone of Specialty and Recreational Vehicles:

  • Motorcycles
  • Helicopters
  • Light aircraft
  • Go karts
  • Skateboards
  • Rollerblades
  • Skis
  • Unicycles
  • Sleds
  • Bumper cars

?????:

  • Hot air balloons

“Hot air balloons are the optimal mode of transportation, if your optimization algorithm has a sign error.”

Venat0r ,

Airliners should be below boats for convenience 😂 just because of airport security and bag collection...

Venat0r ,

Oh, and because you have to get to the airport first with some other means of travel and then get to the terminal...

brbposting OP ,

Airplane least convenient for travel from bedroom to kitchen

Walking least convenient for travel to Antarctica

Venat0r ,

Iduno, travelling to Antarctica might be more difficult with skis than walking 😂

thirstyhyena ,

Bicycles are only more dangerous than cars because of cars.

rockerface ,
@rockerface@lemm.ee avatar

Also, only less convenient than cars because of cars

EddoWagt ,

That's just not true, try getting groceries on your bike

parlaptie ,

Literally how I always do my grocery shopping.

EddoWagt ,

For a family or only for yourself?

parlaptie ,

I only live by myself but if you need larger shipping trips, there's cargo bikes for that.

EddoWagt ,

Didn't consider that, fair enough I suppose

Jentu ,

I really wish the x axis was average distance traveled and the y axis was danger.

I get that the way this graph was designed was for humor and to highlight hot air balloons, but if you’re looking for a safe vehicle for a specific distance, it really doesn’t help out in any way. It probably wouldn’t be safe to drive my car across the Atlantic Ocean.

AeonFelis ,

What about pogo sticks?

fruitycoder ,

Less convient but also less dangerous then hot air ballons

IamLazersword ,

I'm not sure I agree that unicycles are safer than roller blades. But that's probably because I am comfortable on roller blades and don't know how to unicycle, so for me, the opposite is true.

ReveredOxygen ,
@ReveredOxygen@sh.itjust.works avatar

I suspect that roller blades have much higher top speed, as well as being much more susceptible to small rocks

grandkaiser ,

As both an extreme unicyclist & rollerblader, unicycles are actually incredibly safe. More safe than a bicycle. The top speed is very slow comparatively, and if you fall... You fall on your feet. Forwards? Feet. Backwards? Feet. Sideways? Feet. If your feet were strapped into the pedals (like rollerblades...) it would be a deathtrap.

LifeInMultipleChoice ,

Trains and planes and others are a bit wonky for this chart. If I needed to take get to work, train and plane immediately resort to walking the entire way (unless get in a car, on a bike, fall just after). So while traveling across the country for a trip may be convenient on a train... Wait, unless I only have the weekend or a short work trip/vacation, because then it would take to much time and be inconvenient. Tried to find an example. Travel to Las Vegas from Nashville. Plane, ~3 hour flight plus let's say 2 hour travel and airport bs. So 5 hours there, 5 back. Driving: 26 hours (each way). Walking: Death by dehydration in desert. Train: not even listed as there was no routes.

FiniteBanjo ,

Technicalities:

Planes are safer per mile but not per trip. One could argue that if people spent the same amount of time in both then it would be far more fatalities on aircrafts.

Cars are technically the major source of danger for bikes and scooters.

sus ,

also a fun fact, while commercial aviation is very safe, private planes are much more dangerous, being almost as dangerous per mile as a regular car (and you get a lot more miles per hour of travel)

14th_cylon ,

private planes are much more dangerous, being almost as dangerous per mile as a regular car

that is because they are operated by semi-competent people who often have less practice then they have in car.

imagine how competent driver you are when you have your fresh license. it is the same with piloting license. and now imagine you are a hobby pilot and can afford to spend in the cockpit 3 hours per month. your skill is not really going to get significantly better. you are probably flying airplane that is at the end of its life, because that is only one you can afford, and there may be no one keeping an eye on you telling you "this is not how we do it, it is risky, dangerous, and you will get someone killed".

AeonFelis ,

That already fits with the chart - "commercial aviation" is "airlines" and "private planes" are "light aircraft".

sus ,

how did I miss that..

Skates ,

Trains, scooters and/ motorcycles are convenient for travel? I mean sure, if you never carry anything anywhere and/or you love how every other person in the world smells after they finish their 12 hour shift of breaking big rocks with smaller rocks.

thefrankring ,
@thefrankring@lemmy.world avatar

Now I wish I has a hot air balloon for my transportation optimization algorithm.

s_s ,

Randall is offically carpilled

sasquash ,

where to put my 3 favorites? hovercraft, monorail and blimp

marcos ,

Those first two are incredibly fit for some niche that is so small that nobody even remembers it exists.

The last one is still more practical than hot air balloons.

FiniteBanjo ,

Even with heavier propulsion, blimps and rigid airships are completely beholden to the weather as a light breeze can completely prevent landing or cause crashes.

son_named_bort ,

I watched a documentary once about the dangers of monorails. The conductor had possums in the wiring. He called the big one Bitey.

Dagwood222 ,

Someone else put it this way.

Sometimes I walk to work; sometimes I drive my car; other times i ride a bicycle. Whichever option I pick, I hate anyone who isn't doing the same thing.

captainlezbian ,

That’s not true. When I drive I still hate drivers

Dagwood222 ,

A therapist once told me that who you are when you drive is who you really are.

ShouldIHaveFun ,

I don't drive, so I guess I'm a nobody.

Dagwood222 ,

That may be the most American thing anyone has ever said!

Also, the same therapist told me that she has a number of alcoholic patients who moved to New York City simply because they knew there was a good 24 hour mass transit system and they wouldn't have to drive drunk.

Katana314 ,

Sora wants to know your location

Everythingispenguins ,

This seems totally rational to me. I think we might have a problem.

DarkCloud ,

The Dyke Delta doesn't fit anywhere on this graph.

brbposting OP ,

an American homebuilt aircraft designed in the United States in the 1960s and marketed for amateur construction.

Doesn’t get safer than that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyke_Delta

DarkCloud ,

Hmmm, Boeing vs me being paranoid about my own safety.

ouch ,

Motorcycles should be replaced with EUCs.

misterundercoat ,

Where would horses go?

Draegur ,

and i suppose blimps and dirigibles are further to the right and lower than the graph displays u_u

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