Ain't it magical?

[GIR]

Okay, so you're driving around somewhere in London right... and you see this sign.. what would you think is up ahead?

I like the name: "The magic roundabout" and I also like the fact that the sign is in the smack dead middle of a walk way

So you drive on and to your suprise you end up here

Not quiet what you expected isn't it?

Here's what a guy who crashed mayorly when he ran into one of those things had to say:

There are a few of them in England, in Swindon, Cardiff, London and Southampton.In the middle driving direction is against the direction on the outer circle.

No wonder, God put these idiots on an island.

When you look at the top down photo, you can see there is some logic to it but wouldn't it be much safer and easier to make a regular roundabout instead of a "magical" one. I mean somebody somewhere at some point should've realized that this is a bad idea right? Or maybe the person who designed these believes in magic and thought it would be magicaly okay

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Hallo GIR,

 

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[LateNightCable]

What is that exactly? A parking lot and an intersection in one?

[thepolarfoxqx]

i've always known the british were a little odd, but that is crazy.

Are those things just a sad attempt to one up Russia and France?

It's an intersection, the most inefficient one british science could create.

[SpEeDiSaDdIcTiVe]

What's the matter, G.I.R.? Haven't you ever seen someone's sense of humour acted out? Actually, it's probably a fucked-up way of trying to get us all out of our cars. :roll: Maybe it's called the magic roundabout because you'd have to be on the mushrooms of the same name to see your way around it.

[SpEeDiSaDdIcTiVe]

i've always known the british were a little odd, but that is crazy.

Are those things just a sad attempt to one up Russia and France?

It's an intersection, the most inefficient one british science could create.

We aren't odd. One up Russia and France? Not a chance. Russia's roads are ancient and France has a better road system than here. Call that roundabout (roundabouts - how many?!) one-upping? More like laughable. We do things both ends of the scale - produce shitty roads and amazing things such as Concorde. That's not odd, it's just showing we have a good sense of humour.

[thepolarfoxqx]

when i said one-upping, i said proving that indeed the brits could be wierder than the russians and french, who typically have the market on doing wierd stuff cornered.

[SpEeDiSaDdIcTiVe]

There's a fine line between insanity and genius. It probably looks more difficult than it is (I hope).

[kleinefisch]

That is totally rediculous. When engineering something that the public will interact with, you have to make it idiot proof. You could be a genius, and you will probably end up on the wrong street, or in an accident on this "ingenious" idea.

[thepolarfoxqx]

russia tried to make rivers run backwards and go uphill.

yes, that impressive huh?

ofcourse it failed.

And speaking as a business type who has to interact with engineers a lot, trust me, there is a reason the position of project planner is differentiated from engineer, you don't want the brilliant engineers dealing with the big picture. When they do, scary things happen.

[kleinefisch]

Yeah, like the space program.

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Hallo GIR,

 

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[SpEeDiSaDdIcTiVe]

The space programme? Wasn't it the U.S.A. that spent millions developing a pen that could write in space, while the Russians just used pencils? Not so stupid after all, are they?

[thepolarfoxqx]

there were good an plenty of beuracrats, military types, and managers working at NASA. Given the space program was the most engineer intensive endeavor to succeed i can think of (and by the way, i'd sell my soul to have gotten to work at NASA in the 60s), most of the engineers i know do crazy things when given the oppurtunity. Ever felt a need for robotic tupperware? if you do, it's been invented. I came up with a concept for the PAAS system, lovingly called pesterbot. some engineering buddies of mine are making a prototype. More efficient than TV adds, more helpful than a mall employee, and hell-more irratating than a tellemarketer.

Either way, yes, space pen was stupid, then again, we got to the moon, they didn't. A lot in the soviet union was political too. Brehznev was bad for the space program, while Kruschev was in power, things went well because he actively patronized scientific endeavors. Had he stayed premier, i think they could have done it.

We should tell them about magiical circles, maybe they want one?

[LateNightCable]

Wasn't it the U.S.A. that spent millions developing a pen that could write in space

You don't have to spend millions to develop a pen for outer space. Just stick a spring, and a small plunger in there to push the ink forward, problem solved :roll: .

[thepolarfoxqx]

they tried it, didn't work. They had to use pneumatics, the space pen had a trigger