For example, Britain’s national mapping organisation’s brand is associated in our national consciousness with going to a small shop in a quaint village to get a map showing how to walk up a mountain. It’s called Ordnance Survey. If that sounds like Artillery Research to you, that’s because the project started because the king wanted to know how to accurately bomb Scotland.

  • manicdave@feddit.ukOP
    29·
    22 hours ago

    Driving just gets more absurd the more you think about it.

    Had it not been invented yet, would anyone get away with suggesting a machine propelled by explosions supplied by a tank of the most flammable liquid possible kept underneath the passenger seats?

    • thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      5·
      13 hours ago

      Reminds me of the Asgard from Stargate and how there advanced race was surprised about how we us explosives to propel a bullet and “primitive” things they never really thought of or considered because there dangerous.

    • LeftRedditOnJul1@lemmy.world
      20·
      22 hours ago

      If you think driving’s weird, think about flying, too. We put several tons of that explode-y liquid, along with a bunch of people, into a big metal tube and shoot it into the sky. And we made that form of transportation several orders of magnitude safer than driving.

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        111·
        22 hours ago

        I feel like it’s probably going to go down in safety an order of magnitude or two in the US given, you know, The Horrors.

        • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          5 hours ago

          The aviation industry can absorb a whole lot of sin before they’re on equal danger footing with automotive, if for no other reason than sheer volume. Most people, unless you fly constantly for work, get on a plane once a year or less. Most people drive to work almost every day. Roads have traffic, the skies do not (at least, not nearly to the same extent, midair collisions can happen but they’re rare).

          I have no doubt the skies are about to become noticeably less safe, but they’ve got a looooot of catching up to do before they dethrone the automobile as one of the top 3 leading causes of death in America.

    • ADKSilence@kbin.earth
      14·
      22 hours ago

      Not just merely a machine powered by explosions, sitting on volatile liquids… but one in which we’ve decided that it’s also a great place to enjoy some music, maybe a nice beverage, and as a great way to take our attention off into vast distances to the sides to “see the sights”.

      I think to myself as I steer with one knee, trying to simultaneously drink my coffee and light a cigarette…