Robot Rhino

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I really like this shock absorber at the end of the Minneapolis light rail line under the Mall of America parking garage. It looks like a robot rhino.

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Form follows function, they say. Can this tell us anything about the evolution of Rhinos?

First I thought about early Permian gorgonopsides, then I recalled the walking Imperial war machines from the second Star Wars film.

I am glad that light rail lines are still alive and well, and taking some load off the streets and roads.
In Stockholm, they were in a hurry to get rid of light rails since it was seen as a low-status, old-fashioned thing. Gothenburg kept them, which probably has kept the traffic situation substantially less overheated than in Stockholm.

By Birger Johansson (not verified) on 09 Apr 2011 #permalink

Ken @ #1:

Can this tell us anything about the evolution of Rhinos?

Yup: If we continue to allow railway traffic to exert selective pressure on rhinos, they will ultimately evolve to be yellow.

By Phillip IV (not verified) on 09 Apr 2011 #permalink

@Phillip IV: Brilliant! I'm going to steal that line and use it in conversation the next time I'm with someone at a rail depot. But don't worry, I'll give proper credit as to source. Eventually.

Birger, Minneapolis's light rail is not a tram that runs in the street, it's a small train running on a railroad bank and a lot of elevated stretches. It's like Stockholm's Tvärbanan.

My bad! :)

Are people in Minneapolis beginning to see the recession subside? I assume the bigger cities will be the first to recover (while there is of course a big demographic that are always the last to see any "trickledown"). I hope there are not many empty, foreclosed houses in the suburbs -these days, news stories from USA are often sad, but there must be a lot of dynamic stuff going on below the horizon of journalists.

By Birger Johansson (not verified) on 10 Apr 2011 #permalink

There are suspiciously many "For Rent" signs outside houses with peeling paintwork in the vicinity of the Institute of Arts and the American Swedish Institute.

Actually, it looks like the most industrial-strength sex toy ever.

(Wait, why are you all looking at me like that?)

By William Starr (not verified) on 27 Apr 2011 #permalink