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[Bauglir]

I'm sad that so many people find Bay12 to be such a major source of news-related knowledge.

Also, that I'm one of them. Yeah, the sadness is more related to the fact that this isn't an entirely ridiculous thing. Still kind of ridiculous though. I need to expand the scope of my vision, methinks.

[ECrownofFire]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm sad that you guys have public transit and we have....a bus. That runs sometimes. To a few places... 

It's really sad that in a metro area of 1.7 million people, we have jack-all for mass transit. The best thing going is the trolleys in downtown Raleigh for people to use for bar-hopping. We actually have a very nice Amtrak station almost within walking distance of our house. I was excited about the idea of hopping a train and taking the family for a day trip to another city. Then I saw the prices and the timetables.

It's over $100 round-trip to take 2 adults and two kids (one of whom rides free) to the next main metro area (Greensboro) about 80 miles away. Takes the same amount of time to drive there and back, at half the cost in terms of a tank of gas. This is why Amtrak is epic fail outside of the Northeast corridor. There's just no absolutely no incentive to ride an inter-city train in the US other than novelty (again, with the exception of the Northeast corridor, where traffic is insane enough that riding a train actually does save you time and a lot of stress).

I just don't understand why we suck so hard at this. I know the "we're such a big country and so spread out" argument. Bullshit. I took an overnight train from Beijing to Shanghai for about $50. In a sleeper car with meal service, no less. When I was in Beijing, you never had to walk more than half a mile to get to a bus stop or subway station. And you could get from that point to pretty much within half a mile of whatever your destination was through the mass transit system. You might have to swap buses a few times, but they were so cheap and easy that it really didn't pose an issue.

Prague has a great subway and bus system -- even if the bus drivers are terrifying with the way they hurtle down narrow medieval streets at full speed, and the subway trains are mostly Russian-made holdovers from the Communist days. And the national rail system was cheap and effective. Day trip to Plzen or Brno? No problem.

Adelaide had a good bus system, although I rarely used it. That was my first trip abroad and mass transit was so mystifying to me that I chose to walk a couple of miles each way to go downtown, rather than try to navigate the bus system.

Even in the US, there are places that get it right. San Francisco had a pretty good system from what I saw. NYC does a good job. The DC Metro has been pretty good in the past. I don't understand why we can't get the people behind those municipal systems to come up with a national system that works.

The Portland area has a very good system in my opinion. Can't really get much better than it, actually.

[Realmfighter]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm sad that you guys have public transit and we have....a bus. That runs sometimes. To a few places... 

It's really sad that in a metro area of 1.7 million people, we have jack-all for mass transit. The best thing going is the trolleys in downtown Raleigh for people to use for bar-hopping. We actually have a very nice Amtrak station almost within walking distance of our house. I was excited about the idea of hopping a train and taking the family for a day trip to another city. Then I saw the prices and the timetables.

It's over $100 round-trip to take 2 adults and two kids (one of whom rides free) to the next main metro area (Greensboro) about 80 miles away. Takes the same amount of time to drive there and back, at half the cost in terms of a tank of gas. This is why Amtrak is epic fail outside of the Northeast corridor. There's just no absolutely no incentive to ride an inter-city train in the US other than novelty (again, with the exception of the Northeast corridor, where traffic is insane enough that riding a train actually does save you time and a lot of stress).

I just don't understand why we suck so hard at this. I know the "we're such a big country and so spread out" argument. Bullshit. I took an overnight train from Beijing to Shanghai for about $50. In a sleeper car with meal service, no less. When I was in Beijing, you never had to walk more than half a mile to get to a bus stop or subway station. And you could get from that point to pretty much within half a mile of whatever your destination was through the mass transit system. You might have to swap buses a few times, but they were so cheap and easy that it really didn't pose an issue.

Prague has a great subway and bus system -- even if the bus drivers are terrifying with the way they hurtle down narrow medieval streets at full speed, and the subway trains are mostly Russian-made holdovers from the Communist days. And the national rail system was cheap and effective. Day trip to Plzen or Brno? No problem.

Adelaide had a good bus system, although I rarely used it. That was my first trip abroad and mass transit was so mystifying to me that I chose to walk a couple of miles each way to go downtown, rather than try to navigate the bus system.

Even in the US, there are places that get it right. San Francisco had a pretty good system from what I saw. NYC does a good job. The DC Metro has been pretty good in the past. I don't understand why we can't get the people behind those municipal systems to come up with a national system that works.

The Portland area has a very good system in my opinion. Can't really get much better than it, actually.

Winnipeg also has a bus system that can get you basically anywhere in the city for about 2$ (Some drivers take the transfer when you get on your second bus, but most don't)

[Vector]

My favorite transportation system is definitely Russia's.

[Vattic]

Using public transport here in the UK is getting prohibitively expensive. This makes me sad because I love public transport. I used to get a lot of my reading done on the train or bus.

[Aqizzar]

My favorite transportation system is definitely Russia's.

Spoiler: Indeed. (click to show/hide)

Is it a bad or good thing when the Sad thread goes off-topic?

[Vector]

Probably good.


I, on the other hand, can't seem to be able to stop stressing about, well, everything.

... D:

[scriver]

I, on the other hand, can't seem to be able to stop stressing about, well, everything.

... D:

I'd say a good start would be to stop doing some of the things that stress you out

But seriously, watch out for the burn out. If you don't slow down, you might not be able to do things in the future even if you want to. You're making me worried about you. Don't drive yourself beyond your limit.

[Vector]

Eh, I think it's just the inherent "job instability" of a college student.  The competition's cutthroat, you've got 4+ bosses to please, and everyone always wants better performance numbers out of you.

I know it'll get better, and I know it's never quite so bad as my stressful feelings tell me it is, but I really have to land a university job.  As my friends always joke, and as I know very well, they're probably the only people who would be crazy enough to hire me.

[Comp112]

My son started walking and  nobody told me about it.

I had one of my old friends tell me. Man I am pissed now.

[Virex]

Eh, I think it's just the inherent "job instability" of a college student.  The competition's cutthroat, you've got 4+ bosses to please, and everyone always wants better performance numbers out of you.

I know it'll get better, and I know it's never quite so bad as my stressful feelings tell me it is, but I really have to land a university job.  As my friends always joke, and as I know very well, they're probably the only people who would be crazy enough to hire me.

Do you have to land a university job, or do you just want it? Because there are plenty of companies interested in mathematicians, especially in the aerospace, mining and petrochemical industries, though many other industries are also looking. Hell, even BasF employs mathematicians and they produce fine chemicals...

[Vector]

Hmm... Well, yeah, that could be an option.  University job is still tops for me, but if there's a lot of people looking even in this economy, I guess I should relax a little.

[Rose]

Ah yes, and them's some fine, fine chemicals indeed.

[Virex]

They also produce bulk chemicals, which don't look as fine, performance chemicals in case you need liven up your lab and functional polymers, because all other companies produce stuff that doesn't function one bit

[ein]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm sad that you guys have public transit and we have....a bus. That runs sometimes. To a few places... 

It's really sad that in a metro area of 1.7 million people, we have jack-all for mass transit. The best thing going is the trolleys in downtown Raleigh for people to use for bar-hopping. We actually have a very nice Amtrak station almost within walking distance of our house. I was excited about the idea of hopping a train and taking the family for a day trip to another city. Then I saw the prices and the timetables.

It's over $100 round-trip to take 2 adults and two kids (one of whom rides free) to the next main metro area (Greensboro) about 80 miles away. Takes the same amount of time to drive there and back, at half the cost in terms of a tank of gas. This is why Amtrak is epic fail outside of the Northeast corridor. There's just no absolutely no incentive to ride an inter-city train in the US other than novelty (again, with the exception of the Northeast corridor, where traffic is insane enough that riding a train actually does save you time and a lot of stress).

I just don't understand why we suck so hard at this. I know the "we're such a big country and so spread out" argument. Bullshit. I took an overnight train from Beijing to Shanghai for about $50. In a sleeper car with meal service, no less. When I was in Beijing, you never had to walk more than half a mile to get to a bus stop or subway station. And you could get from that point to pretty much within half a mile of whatever your destination was through the mass transit system. You might have to swap buses a few times, but they were so cheap and easy that it really didn't pose an issue.

Prague has a great subway and bus system -- even if the bus drivers are terrifying with the way they hurtle down narrow medieval streets at full speed, and the subway trains are mostly Russian-made holdovers from the Communist days. And the national rail system was cheap and effective. Day trip to Plzen or Brno? No problem.

Adelaide had a good bus system, although I rarely used it. That was my first trip abroad and mass transit was so mystifying to me that I chose to walk a couple of miles each way to go downtown, rather than try to navigate the bus system.

Even in the US, there are places that get it right. San Francisco had a pretty good system from what I saw. NYC does a good job. The DC Metro has been pretty good in the past. I don't understand why we can't get the people behind those municipal systems to come up with a national system that works.

The Portland area has a very good system in my opinion. Can't really get much better than it, actually.

Winnipeg also has a bus system that can get you basically anywhere in the city for about 2$ (Some drivers take the transfer when you get on your second bus, but most don't)

That's exactly how the bus here works, but the drivers always take the transfer pass~