Interesting Links for 18-08-2013

[andrewducker]

• Some Atari Arcade Cabinate Concept Art
  (tags: art atari arcade )
• Turns out the USA is bigger than Europe, Africa and South America combined!
  (tags: maps funny )
• Forget the nostalgia for British Rail - our trains are better than ever
  (tags: uk transports trains )
• A fantastic illustration of the Australian electoral system. With koala!
  (tags:

Comments

[xenophanean]

Yeah, now the prices have doubled, the trains are slightly more efficient, Yay Capitalism! They're nearly as punctual as European trains (pity they're half the speed and twice the price).

[andrewducker]

Britain is only more expensive than Europe on peak/commuter fares - the rest of the time we're cheaper/about the same:
http://www.seat61.com/uk-europe-train-fares-comparison.html#.UhDUQRComH8

[xenophanean]

This doesn't match up with my results searching just now. My results from

[nojay]

Shinkansen, Tokyo to Nagoya

Distance:~ 220km (about 160 miles)

Time:~ 1:40 (Nozomi, the fastest service)

Price: 10800 yen one-way, about £80 at current exchange rates (a few months ago it would have been a lot more in sterling, £100 at least). All journeys are one-way, no return tickets at lower cost.

No off-peak price tickets available, some ticket scalping does happen but it's not condoned by JR-West who run the Sanyo route. There are occasional special deals for regular JR travel (seishun 18 kippu etc.) but rarely on shinkansen routes.

From what I understand the various JR companies are privately owned but have tight connections with the Japanese government. If they are subsidised it's not clear to outsiders just how it's done.

[dreema]

Lol, first glance and it was Dennis the Erection koala...

[swisstone]

The trouble with Birrell's article is that it's a classic post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy - all this happened after privatization, therefore, it must be because of privatization, He may be right, but he hasn't really advanced any evidence. He also slants his case rather illegitimately. Clearly (and contra Birrell's implication) investment would not have stopped had BR continued to exist, they probably would have found some way to compete with the sudden cheapness of coach and air travel (they'd have had to), and the increase in passenger numbers could be as much due to the increasing costs and difficulties of road travel as to successful marketing by the TOCs. He exaggerates the poor service under BR and elides it for the present, when delays and dirty trains and surly staff are still known. Worst of all, he only accepts two possible models - underinvested public ownership, or privatization. Some of us envision the possibility that a properly-funded public railway could have delivered the service improvements and increased

[andrewducker]

Good points, well made :->

I do agree that he slants things, and I'd love to know what a publicly funded rail system that got the same amount of subsidy that the privately run one does would look like.

[momentsmusicaux]

Much better put than I could have. I just think that article is total fucking bollocks from start to finish.

[andrewducker]

That's not terribly persuasive.

[momentsmusicaux]

Do Australians have to number all the boxes?
Here I've always seen instructions to the effect that you can stop your numbers 'when you no longer wish to express a preference'.

[andrewducker]

Depends on the system. AV over here wouldn't have required you to fill in all of the boxes. Over there they clearly did - in fact they have compulsory voting, and an interesting "above the line/below the line" system, whereby you can either vote for all of your preferences in turn, or say "I vote for party X first, and then I'm happy to follow their preferences after that"

[skington]

Given the secret ballot, how you could enforce any penalty?

[danieldwilliam]

IIRC you are required to turn up to vote and having your name ticked off and being handed your ballot paper fulfils your obligation and avoids the sanction (which again IIRC was about parking ticket levels of cash

privatization

[apostle_of_eris]

"Under socialism [sic] you nationalize then destroy. Under capitalism, we destroy then nationalize."