Hello Robin,

I have posted much before in the TOD archives on my speculative SpiderWebRiding ideas. I reposted below for your convenience my latest text, which was originally posted at the bottom of Nate's keypost on Jay Hanson's Society of Sloth:
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A postPeak society of sloth implies the need for great human efficiency when movement is required,IMO. As FFs head toward Unobtainium: smooth riding on steel wheels on steel rails powered by pedalized chain & gearsets offers the best way to move mass/energy expenditure:

http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et1199/et1199s13.html
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Pedal power probe shows bicycles waste little energy
When it comes to efficient use of energy, it's tough to beat a bike.
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http://users.frii.com/katana/biketext.html
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Bicycle efficiency and power -- or, why bikes have gears.
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Recall my earlier posting on the authors of "Bicycle Science" conclusion: HPV record will have to move to rails to advance any further past 82mph. IMO, SpiderWebRiding for vital cargo movement vastly outweighs the Nuhautl Tlameme backpacking scheme.

Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?

Hi totoniela,

I'm confused by your message, partly because of this strange txt language you were speaking. I don't understand all of the abbreviations! I presume your point is that bicycles are highly efficient.

There is a brilliant graph of the energy consumption of different modes of transport here.

We need a ten fold increase in cycling rates to:

1) Increase happiness ratings

2) Decrease obesity rates

3) Prevent the collapse of our transport system

Robin

Robin;
Thanks for the article. I find the language and the balance of ideas very accessible.

There was one phrase I stumbled on and I felt could be rethought, which was when you described needing a 'Complete Restucturing of the (UK) transp. sector', which is not to say that I essentially disagree with the statement, but it's the kind of language that makes too many listeners' 'Eyes Glaze Over', particularly I fear, those in policy-making positions who listen to every proposal with a running Cost Estimate filter over it. Maybe that's not really your intended audience, but if it were, I would propose that the opening to a summary paragraph gets extra attention, and needs to use somewhat more lubricating language. For all that, it wasn't a big deal, just a thought.. (in the vein of, 'There are several more things I would like to say on the topic of brevity..')

Bob Shaw's shorthand (above) can be tricky to translate, but it's worth trying if you want to tune in with a very revolutionary mind that's playing with possibilities that others too quickly dismiss. His structures and constructions are very much in the spirit of 'Complete restructuring' of transportation, trying as Sherlock Holmes advised, 'To Eliminate the impossible to arrive at the truth.' Some are not workable in and of themselves, they are just routes out to various fields of thought that very likely have some gems in them, very much in terms of 'Established Technologies that we know work', but might be liberally re-worked or re-apportioned to make them useful steps out of today's conundrum.

Best,
Bob Fiske