On: Japan maglev train breaks world speed record again

[rwmj]

Internal flights in Japan are basically turn-up-and-go (and cheap too), and have only a little security.

[jusben1369 → rwmj]

So that's fascinating. Having no expertise whatsoever on the topic of domestic Japanese transportation my immediate response is "Strong competition from fast rail means that air travel is a superior experience"

It breaks my heart we don't have fast rail in the US. Even if it was just the North Eastern corridor (extended maybe to Chicago and Atlanta) it would have a huge impact on air travel. Of course the cost and final date to roll this out means it's probably not worth buying into.

[vmarsy → jusben1369]

Texas has a project of a high speed train between Houston and Dallas, it would link the 2 cities in 90mn (instead of 3:30h of driving, or 70mn of plane. So if you spend more 20mn more at the airport than at the rail station , the train would be faster. http://texascentral.com/the-facts/

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/T...

It's a privately own project, supposedly ready in 2021.

[alanho → rwmj]

you can even bring your own bottled drinks/liquid on Japan domestic flights. they have a machine specifically for "scanning" drink/liquid. put your bottle on it, green light, then off you go. not sure how it works

[easytiger → alanho]

Something like:

    num_checks += 1                                                                                                                                                                                         
    if num_checks % 200000 == 0:                                                                                                                                                                            
        red_light()                                                                                                                                                                                         
    else:                                                                                                                                                                                                   
        green_light()

[kissickas → alanho]

There's a UK company in talks with the DoD on rolling these out for military use, and I'm sure they will expand to civilian airports eventually. I'm not sure if this is the same company, but they're doing the same thing: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/02/scanner-anal...

[goodcanadian → alanho]

Almost certainly a spectral analyzer. Shine a light through it, see what the chemical signature is.

[colanderman → goodcanadian]

That certainly won't work for my aluminum water bottle. Granted, neither do X-rays, and yet I've never had it even questioned going through security.

[goodcanadian → colanderman]

Yes, I was assuming a typical disposable transparent plastic or glass bottle. I have not seen the machine in question, so I am guessing, but it would be very easy to implement and cover the majority of cases.

[rwmj → colanderman]

I think we're assuming here that this machine isn't merely security theatre.

[practicalpants → rwmj]

I wasn't even asked to show my ID the last time I flew domestically in Japan.