Agreed, love the flick-Seriously can't stand that frikkin' motif that Leone used for that harmonica Bronson carried around with him to constantly play that tired riff....Ugh!

Best scene, opening scene. Buildup to, and throw-down at the train station.

"Looks like we didn't come with enough horses."

(shakes head) "You brought two too many."

I saw one similar to this on a television show about 5 years ago. Also you should of seen the mens room at a train station in France I went to in 96 it was transparent without any kind of frosting mechanism when you locked the door. I couldn't do it and had to use the ladies which was not transparent.

another link: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c2d_1189898051

This scene is based on a true story: Hachikō
"In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo, took in Hachikō, a golden brown Akita, as a pet. During his owner's life, Hachikō greeted him at the end of each day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Professor Ueno did not return. The professor had suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and died, never returning to the train station where Hachikō was waiting. Every day for the next nine years the dog waited at Shibuya station."

And there is a film with Richard Gere based on this story: Hachi: A Dog's Tale - Wiki and Trailer

Tear Drop :')

Kinda wish some of these were deployed in the Boston area... or at train stations at the end of the line. It'd make for a convenient way to park the bike w/o having to worry about retards trying to swipe your $100 (or $1000) bike.

@GeeSussFreeK

I tried to stay way from issues specific to the use of nuclear technology for a reason. There's very little in your reply that I can respond to, simply for a lack of expertise. So bear with me if I once again attempt to generalize and abstract some points. And I'll try to keep it shorter this time.

You mentioned how construction times and costs are pushed up by the constant evolution of compliance codes. A problem not exclusive to the construction of power plants, but maybe more pronounced in these cases. No matter.

What buggers me, however, is what you can currently observe in real time at the EPR construction sites in Olkiluoto and Flamanville.
For instance, the former is reported to have more than 4000 workers from over 60 nations, involving more than 1500 sub-contractors. It's basically the Tower of Babylon, and the quality of work might be similar as well. Workers say, they were ordered to just pour concrete over inadequate weld seams to get things done in time, just to name an example. They are three years over plan as of now, and it'll be at least 2-3 more before completion.
And Flamanville... here's some of what the French Nuclear Safety Authority had to say about the construction site: "concrete supports look like Swiss cheese", "walls with gaping holes", "brittle spots without a trace of cement".

Again, this is not exclusive to the construction of NPPs. Almost every large scale construction site in Europe these days looks like this, except for whatever the Swiss are doing: kudos to them, wonderful work indeed. But if they mess up the construction of a train station, they don't run a risk of ruining the ground water and irradiating what little living space we have in Europe as it is.

Then you explain the advantages of small scale, modular reactors. Again, no argument from my side on the feasability of this, I have to take your word on it. But looking at how the Russians dispose of their old nuclear reactors (bottom of the Barents Sea) and how Germany disposes of its nuclear waste (dropped down a hole), I don't fancy the idea of having even more reactors around.

As for prices, I have to raise my hands in surrender once again. Not my area of expertise, my knowledge is limited to whatever analysis hits the mainstream press every now and then. Here's my take on it, regarding just the German market: the development, construction, tax exemption, insurance exemption, fuel transport and waste disposal of the nuclear industry was paid for primarly by taxes. Conservative government estimates were in the neighbourhood of €300B since the sixties, in addition to the costs of waste disposal and plant deconstruction that the companies can't pay for. And that's if nothing happens to any of the plants, no flood, no fire, nothing.

That's not cheap. E.ON and RWE dropped out of the bid on construction permits for new NPPs in GB, simply because it's not profitable. RWE CEO Terium mentioned ~100€/MWh as the minimum base price to make new NPPs profitable, 75.80€/MWh for gas-powered plants. Right now, the base (peak) price is at 46€/MWh (54€/MWh) in Germany. France generates ~75% of its power through NPPs, while Germany is getting plastered with highly subsidized wind turbines and solar panels, yet the market price for energy is lower in Germany.

Yes, the conditions are vastly different in the US, and yes, the next generation of NPPs might be significantly cheaper and safer to construct and run. I'm all for research in these areas. But on the field of commercial energy generation, nuclear energy just doesn't seem to cut it right now.

So let's hop over to safety/dangers. Again, priorities might differ significantly and I can only argue from a central European perspective. As cold-hearted as it may sound, the number of direct casualties is not the issue. Toxicity and radiation is, as far as I'm concerned. All our NPPs are built on rivers and the entire country is rather densely populated. A crashing plane might kill 500 people, but there will be no long term damage, particularly not to the water table. The picture of an experimental waste storage site is disturbing enough as it is, and it wasn't even "by accident" that some of these chambers are now flooded by ground water.

Apologies if I ripped anything out of context. I tried to avoid the technicalities as best as I could in a desperate attempt not to make a fool of myself. Again.

And sorry for not linking any sources in many cases. Most of it was taken from German/Swiss/Austrian/French articles.

Shinyblurry,

You are invited to my house. I have a nice house, I will transport you with my Lexus SUV from the train station through the extinct volcanoes to my house where I will make you comfortable, bring your Bible keep it handy. Then I will give you a MAOI a natural substance and then I will give you another natural pill. These both have been used for many more thousands of years than Christianity has even been around.

Then you tell me what you see and feel. I assure you, you will not be saying demons, you will have no idea of how to describe what you are seeing except that you are feeling God and God is feeling you. You may even realize that there is no God but that is the only way you know how to describe it. Once you experience this, once again, something that has been around before most religions, then you can tell me your opinion. But, until you do, my door is open to you but your opinion is pretty much meaningless. I am a non judgmental person, I understand that you just do not know because you have not had this natural experience

Shinyblurry,

You are invited to my house. I have a nice house, I will transport you with my Lexus SUV from the train station through the extinct volcanoes to my house where I will make you comfortable, bring your Bible keep it handy. Then I will give you a MAOI a natural substance and then I will give you another natural pill. These both have been used for many more thousands of years than Christianity has even been around.

Then you tell me what you see and feel. I assure you, you will not be saying demons, you will have no idea of how to describe what you are seeing except that you are feeling God and God is feeling you. You may even realize that there is no God but that is the only way you know how to describe it. Once you experience this, once again, something that has been around before most religions, then you can tell me your opinion. But, until you do, my door is open to you but your opinion is pretty much meaningless. I am a non judgmental person, I understand that you just do not know because you have not had this natural experience

Overly enthusiastic contest participant injures bystanders, actors, animals and himself after being instructed to race against clock through public train station to win movie tickets.

I think this product will be for some, but not all. Oh look, I won your little debate.

>> ^FlowersInHisHair:

>> ^spoco2:
>> ^brycewi19:
>> ^spoco2:
'How to get that last mile to your destination?' Um... how about walking?
I mean, this thing is pretty damn cool, but come on people, walking a mile is actually a GOOD thing, not something to be avoided.
All the houses we've bought as a family I've mandated it had to be a 'good walk' away from the nearest train station so I can get me some daily exercise. A couple of kms each way each day does you a world of good. A lot moreso than standing on a powered board would.
Still, if it gets people out of cars, it's a net win.

I would maintain that there a lot of people who are going to work, just getting off the train or bus and still have a mile or two to go who don't necessarily want to be sweating in their work clothes before they get to their job.
My guess is that there are enough people who already showered, did their make-up or whatever, and still want to look good without looking like they just had their second morning workout.

If someone gets sweaty and dishevelled from just walking a mile, then I think they need that walking more than they realise

Or they live in a hot place? Ever walked a mile in NYC in August?

>> ^spoco2:

>> ^brycewi19:
>> ^spoco2:
'How to get that last mile to your destination?' Um... how about walking?
I mean, this thing is pretty damn cool, but come on people, walking a mile is actually a GOOD thing, not something to be avoided.
All the houses we've bought as a family I've mandated it had to be a 'good walk' away from the nearest train station so I can get me some daily exercise. A couple of kms each way each day does you a world of good. A lot moreso than standing on a powered board would.
Still, if it gets people out of cars, it's a net win.

I would maintain that there a lot of people who are going to work, just getting off the train or bus and still have a mile or two to go who don't necessarily want to be sweating in their work clothes before they get to their job.
My guess is that there are enough people who already showered, did their make-up or whatever, and still want to look good without looking like they just had their second morning workout.

If someone gets sweaty and dishevelled from just walking a mile, then I think they need that walking more than they realise

Or they live in a hot place? Ever walked a mile in NYC in August?

>> ^brycewi19:

>> ^spoco2:
'How to get that last mile to your destination?' Um... how about walking?
I mean, this thing is pretty damn cool, but come on people, walking a mile is actually a GOOD thing, not something to be avoided.
All the houses we've bought as a family I've mandated it had to be a 'good walk' away from the nearest train station so I can get me some daily exercise. A couple of kms each way each day does you a world of good. A lot moreso than standing on a powered board would.
Still, if it gets people out of cars, it's a net win.

I would maintain that there a lot of people who are going to work, just getting off the train or bus and still have a mile or two to go who don't necessarily want to be sweating in their work clothes before they get to their job.
My guess is that there are enough people who already showered, did their make-up or whatever, and still want to look good without looking like they just had their second morning workout.


If someone gets sweaty and dishevelled from just walking a mile, then I think they need that walking more than they realise

>> ^spoco2:

'How to get that last mile to your destination?' Um... how about walking?
I mean, this thing is pretty damn cool, but come on people, walking a mile is actually a GOOD thing, not something to be avoided.
All the houses we've bought as a family I've mandated it had to be a 'good walk' away from the nearest train station so I can get me some daily exercise. A couple of kms each way each day does you a world of good. A lot moreso than standing on a powered board would.
Still, if it gets people out of cars, it's a net win.


I would maintain that there a lot of people who are going to work, just getting off the train or bus and still have a mile or two to go who don't necessarily want to be sweating in their work clothes before they get to their job.
My guess is that there are enough people who already showered, did their make-up or whatever, and still want to look good without looking like they just had their second morning workout.

'How to get that last mile to your destination?' Um... how about walking?

I mean, this thing is pretty damn cool, but come on people, walking a mile is actually a GOOD thing, not something to be avoided.

All the houses we've bought as a family I've mandated it had to be a 'good walk' away from the nearest train station so I can get me some daily exercise. A couple of kms each way each day does you a world of good. A lot moreso than standing on a powered board would.

Still, if it gets people out of cars, it's a net win.

This is all about getting a reaction. As gun happy of a Nation we seem to be I have managed to go through life never really publicly seeing them. In my interactions with firearms they have always been kind of the dirty little secret you hide at home. I remember how shocked I was to see soldiers carry automatic riffles in a Paris train station. So honestly if I had seen these two gentlemen out in about carrying these weapons I would of been freaked out.

I'm very surprised the officer did not get out of the car with his gun drawn. I know were suppose to be a gun tolerant society but how did that officer know that they were not about to go on some kind of rampage? I hate to bring race into it but was it because they were white? I have to doubt this is how they would of reacted if the two civilians had been African American. Which is odd because and I may be wrong about this but every time I hear about a mass killing in America the suspect/s is/are usually white.

Sorry I was mistaken - the ice-Coke machine was in Ximending (teens fashion area), but the museum was close to Taipei Train Station.

Here is a google map of where the ice-Coke machine was (not sure if it's still there).

That "old Taipei" museum was here. Unfortunately they are now closed.

In reply to this comment by RhesusMonk:
Even though it's been three years since I was there (my GOD has it been that long?), I would be thrilled to see where this museum is located. My fiance and I spent one the best years of our lives living in JingMei. I took the LSAT at ShiDa Science. I miss TaiBei more than most grandmothers miss their grandkids.
In reply to this comment by spawnflagger:
In Taipei, there is a small underground museum that has old-style Taiwan (old buildings, pictures, cars, from the 1950s and before). There was even a 1950's style diner where they used the old manual machines to make shave-ice. The ice-coke machine was above ground nearby there. I have no idea if it's still there or not.

I can try to create a Google Map pushpin if you are interested.


In reply to this comment by RhesusMonk:
Where in Taiwan?
In reply to this comment by spawnflagger:
I had this in Taiwan a few years ago (was only available at 1 machine, I guess was a test/demo unit). It doesn't taste exactly the same - somewhere between coke and coke zero. The ice doesn't last too long when it's >35C outside; the "fizz" (carbonation) seems to run out faster than regular bottled coke; and it costs more.

So yeah, a neat novelty item, but won't replace regular Pop/Soda vending machines.