Apparently it is not bad enough that they get to humiliate you before you even get on an airplane, because of manipulating your fears about terrorism (forgetting that it is distracted drivers on our highways that kill far more people than the terrorists have ever dreamed of killing, and yet you do not see TSA agents frisking down people in their respective driveways, and garages, to lock away mobile devices before they kill). And then humiliate you even more as you must bare with ever more sausagization to be crammed into the aluminum tubes to make their hub and spoke economics work for them. And if that also means waiting on the runway for however long as well, just suck it up and deal because that is what having a relative low ticket price requires.

Now we also revel in the detail that nearly all of the carbon emission we saved from not making, and using, coal, has been canceled out by the increase in use of jet aviation fuel; and mostly from the sheer volume of it.

Forget for a moment that their vaunted "hub and spoke" system makes them ignore large areas of America that don't have a hub or spoke airport nearby, even as it saves them tons of money. Forget for a moment how hard it is for communities not near these kinds of facilities to prosper; especially if the rail lines that have rights of way don't need to stop much either as they're ever more given over to the big tonnage hauling now of bulk items, whether that is just containers, or grains, or fuels, or solvents etc. Now we also get to see these beautiful pieces of aerodynamic design result in going backwards on where we need to be in getting rid of carbon in the air.

This is, actually, kind of difficult for me because I have a real feel for the amazing engineering that has gone into making commercial jets, of all types, more efficient; in better air foils, better fuel sipping engines, etc. Some of these new wings especially have been true works of art in getting ever more smoother flow over all of an aircraft's lift, and control surfaces. And the people behind this creativity should be commended for it.

The problem, though, is that we are designing for the wrong dynamic now, which is commercial viability, and not actual best useage viability, both in terms of environmental impact, but also for overall social impact. And that bad influence has been a very big part of why we're in the transportation mess we are in now; no public railroads left much to speak of. No public air mobility either. All in a time when voting with your feet is becoming a matter of life and death for a lot people; both in our nation, and the rest of the world.

And this is why, as a matter of conscience, and morality, I will not travel again until this situation is rectified (I also want to be clear that there are other reasons I refuse to travel now, revolving around pot laws, and the fact that I already have one felony conviction for growing pot back in the mid seventies). And the biggest rectification element of all is simply the one we have to start with: That Capitalism is obsolete, and that it must be replaced, because that is certainly where the aforementioned "wrong dynamic" comes from. We get rid of it and we can start designing a public transportation system that is not only a great deal more flexible than what we have now, but a great deal more generally serving of public need, and be completely green in the bargain. A system that might not travel at the same speeds, but will get everybody, and their important stuff, where they need to go, when they need to get there.

America’s love for flying is negating the benefits of phasing out coal

See Also:
[Post Note: I've included this next post because it serves to indicate the absurdity of thinking that markets, and the seekers of less uncertainty, are the ways to build our future, just like Mr. Musk still seems to think with his grandiose plans for future transportation options. All built on the supposedly unfailable ability of the invisible hand to keep "prosperity" going. J.V.]

TESLA FOILED

Things Are Not Looking Good For Tesla Right Now

11 diggs Jalopnik

As its stock nosedives and its credit gets downgraded, Tesla might finally be forced to ask itself: What if this, in fact, is entirely unsustainable?

[Post Note: We cannot, and must not, turn away from this kind of need. We must not only help them move to where they need to move, we must find new places for them to live, and build them if they are not built yet. We must do this because it is the human thing to do. Not an algorithm thing. Not a cost benefit analysis. Just the human thing to do. J.V.]