Monday
Sep032012
Ep 27: Ticket to Ride
Posted on 
Monday, September 3, 2012 at 9:33AM | in episodes
Monday, September 3, 2012 at 9:33AM | in episodes 
All aboard! Mind-blowing facts about transportation. We find out what's up with those old-timey bikes with the humongous front wheel, airplane secrets, the Hindenburg, JK Rowling's minor error, and train facts that will make your brain go OOoOooOooOoO!
ALSO: Whose Ride is it Anyways? quiz, and "One Letter Off" word puzzle and new listener challenge
RUNTIME: 43 minutes 28 seconds
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Reader Comments (6)
In this episode, you refer to the Hindenberg as a blimp. However, the term blimp refers specifically to a non-rigid lighter-than-air craft, that is, there is no internal framework supporting the balloon. The brand name Zeppelin has come in general usage to mean any rigid airship. The term Derigible refers to any airship that is "directable," or not tethered to the ground, and can refer to either a blimp or zeppelin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship#Types
The siren-like "OOoOooOooOoO!" that will be how my brain goes regarding this episode (as referenced in your episode summary above) is similar to a song by a Brooklyn based group called Oberhofer entitled "o0Oo0O0o." Not that it's of any interest to anybody but me, but any time I see repetition of the letter "o" in a word to signify a long "u" sound or emphasis (BOOOOOO!), inside my brain I sing the chorus of that song. In other words, I now sing "BOOOOOO!)
Regarding the private train lines in Japan, those companies are also building housing estates and recreational facilities around the shopping malls along their lines, creating dormitory towns.
That combined infrastructure and cheap housing draws the young families, creating daily customers of the train line, shopping mall, cinemas, etc...
The Tokyu group are a great example of this.
Just listened to my first two shows...#26 & 27...and will definitely be going back to the earlier shows. Tripped the trivia trigger in my brain, that's for sure! One small note...in talking about train travel and time zones, you forgot to mention Sir Sanford Fleming and his work in the development of standard time,which he called "Cosmic Time."
Great show!
Cheers
I just started to listen to your podcast (thanks to Animation Aficionados), and I have a comment about your description of the "ordinary" bicycle (also called the penny-farthing). But, this has to do with the two coins that go into the description. Although we are familiar with the US penny, the two coins in the name are actually British coins. The farthing was actually 1/4 a penny, or 1/960 of a pound sterling (pre-decimalization). The coin went out of circulation at the end of 1960 due to inflation,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthing_(British_coin)
In the fall of 2010 I rode the maglev train from Shanghai to the airport. This regular-running train routinely tops 430 km/hr (268 mph).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train