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What's something that's taken for granted that occasionally makes you think, wait wtf? (feddit.uk)

submitted 20 hours ago by manicdave@feddit.uk to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

50 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] LeftRedditOnJul1@lemmy.world 18 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

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 10 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

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 points 2 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.