High Speed Rail as religion - nice post on the problems with HSR forecasts, and the evangelical aspects of HSR promotion.
"Well, I don't know how to refute a claim about what it's going to be like waiting for a train in California in 2035. I have no idea what the headways will be in 2035. I don't know what good it will do to see a real high speed train, either. I've seen some, I've ridden some, and they're great. So are Ferraris". ... "No one knows how much tickets will cost. No one knows how much business travel will be replaced by telecommuting. It's the future! We have no idea what is out there. "
Note: title of this post from comment section of King's post.
i don't know what my personal bathroom break headways are going to be in 2035 either, but i can make a reasonable guess, and at the end of the day - i'll realize that it's not an important question. the rest of the quoted comments also do not make any sense -- we saw the Rumsfeld quote about not planning for the future because nobody can predict the future. he sounded like a careless maniac. he was.