Hello again, pull up a bar stool, open a cold one. I have some more thoughts, such as they are. I like to observe people. Not in the hide in the bushes wearing a trench coat creepy way, but in every day settings. One of the best places is in mass transit venues. Places like airports, train stations, even bus stations, if you are the type who uses those. Personally I'd rather go by donkey cart, but hey, to each their own. These places are endlessly fascinating to me. Used to be so much more amazing when you could walk up to the gate in the airport and wait for your people to get off the plane. If you are old enough you remember this. My people always got off last. That seemed to be some kind of universal law. Something like the right to self defense, the right to freedom of speech, and then the right for my people to get off the plane last, or near enough to last as made no difference. But I digress. Back to the interesting part. These places are chock full of the many multiple walks of life. There may not be a place on earth where so many different types of people congregate, and become forced to interact so closely with others, as in airports, train stations etc. Most of them would not associate with the others they find in these places at all, except that they are forced to by virtue of their travels. And so it is a great place to observe, to see all kinds of people subjected to the same environment. Hilarity, and annoyance, typically ensues.
For example. I once saw, the spring after 9/11, a young college kid taken down by one of the many airline cougars that work for Delta. You know, the ladies behind the counter. Big hair, lots of makeup, bad attitude. Anyway, this kid is leaving Panama City, Florida and is clearly still drunk. He was being loud and stupid, but I gave him a pass as it was spring break and he had obviously made the most of his time up to the second he got to the airport. Unfortunately, he decided it would be funny to say something about a bomb while talking loudly, and drunkenly. The queen of the cougars behind the counter was willing to give him a pass as well, up until the bomb mentioning bit. It was at that point he was hauled off, his luggage, full of god knows what might go home from Panama City Beach after spring break, was dumped and searched. That incident still makes me laugh.
Here's another one, and really this is the tie to my title today. Let me se this up for you. You are waiting for a train. Standing on the platform, you note that your fellow travelers are starting to congregate as the train is due soon. As more people come to the platform, the herd begins to mill a bit. Some of them move forward to where they think the doors will be. Then you see the train, and those who hang back initially are now energized by the sight of the train and need to get on it. So the herd surges forward, nearly pushing a few off into the oncoming train. As the train stops, the herd is now crowding where the various doors are soon to open. Each intrepid traveler wanting to the be the first to get on the conveyance. Each person has somewhere to go, some trip to start or end. Some person or persons to see. And by golly, they will get on that train and get a good seat! Now, I usually hang back, because I always like to watch this phenomenon. It just makes me laugh every time. Because you see, there is a an alternate, and mirror universe inside the train. Inside the train there are other travelers. People with places to go, and people to see. And they too want to transition, but for them it is to get OFF the train. I think you are seeing where this is going. Every time I see this (and it happens at elevators and many other places) I just love it. I usually say something pithy like "It's physics Einstein" as the immovable force meets the immovable object. There is, invariably, a remedial physics lesson when the doors open. People on the platform bumping into people in the train, both trying to occupy the limited space provided by the door opening. Why? Why do those who want to get on the train attempt to shove past those trying to get off? It is plainly obvious to me that you have to let the volume inside the train escape the container before you shove more volume in. Additionally, even if there is unused volume inside the train, there is a certain limited capability of the door space to process outgoing and incoming. Let's say you have two full glasses of water, and you want the water from one to go into the other. One option is surely to just dump one glass into the other. The net effect is you are going to have a spill, and while it can be argued that some of the water from the poured glass will get it, and some of the water in the receiver will spill out, it is hardly the most efficient way to get it done. So, people just pour themselves into the door, shoving past each other, both sides somehow secure in the idea that they are right. It's physics Einstein, let the people on the train get off first. And by the way, you have to step back from the damn door.
