The email bag has delivered something non-political that still has gotten under my skin.
Not only is this fantastic technology, but India now makes patches – and complete highway restorations – out of recycled plastic bags, which are holding up better and lasting much longer than traditional macadam. Wow!
High Tech Pothole Repair
Now this is truly inspired, though the public employee unions will never stand for it. It eliminates way too many jobs for guys standing around, leaning on shovels.
Then an mp4 is attached to the mail. Here is a YouTube video which appears to have the mp4 embedded in a story about Moscow’s pothole problem.
What is getting my attention? First, I haven’t heard of this from a real news source; second, the video appears to be a bad CGI video rather than real life. Third, the size of the machine implies so much mass that, in Earth’s gravity field, I expect the city streets on which it works would themselves crumble, as well as the sidewalk when the stabilizers are deployed and end up on the sidewalk, as one of the demos shows.
So I went looking on the Web. That leads to the fourth clue – I didn’t find a site dedicated to promoting this technology and its originator, whoever that might be. Ordinarily, it’d be right at the top of the search results. I found a couple of videos, but the first real results seems to be an article in the Detroit Free Press, which, at least in the past, was a reputable news source. I don’t really regard this as a strong clue, but still it’s the sort of thing that tells me that whoever is pumping this technology, which probably doesn’t exist, isn’t really competent to the task of evaluating the technology. Here’s the tell-tale paragraph.
Besides being James Bond cool, the machine can repair potholes in less than two minutes at a cost savings of 500% versus traditional repairs. The precision plugs will outlast typical poured asphalt solutions by years, and also provide a smooth ride for motorists compared to the uneven patchwork of today. With the new speed, precision, and quality, potholes could be diminished to the point of urban legend instead of major headache.
Did you catch the megablunder? “… cost savings of 500% …” OK, a lot of folks like to hide behind their innumeracy, but, rhetoric aside, I’m quite serious when I say that this should catch every last person’s attention, because this is simple math. Let me explain a trivial method for recognizing the meaning of that blunderous phrase.
If you had a 50% cost savings, that would mean the city is only paying half of what it’s paying now for pothole repair. Amazing! It’s worth checking out!
If you had a 100% cost savings, that means it costs nothing to repair those potholes. Even if you have to pay for the machine, that still implies the materials and power are free. Wait a minute, something’s not right here…
So, by simple progression, if you had a 500% cost savings … well … I think the manufacturer is paying the city to take the machine. Or that rubble they generate during application of the patch is apparently more valuable than gold nuggets. Wait, am I a sucker … ?
In my estimation, not finding anything believable on a quick & simple search suggests this is a hoax. I have no idea why anyone would make this video, unless it’s a school project for their computer graphics class – and then they should only get a ‘B’ on it, because the realism factor is markedly off.
And, yeah, this was just venting. The video on its own? Not worthy of comment. The guy in the Detroit Free Press who has no idea what he’s babbling about, or is a pumper? That irritates me. The editors at the Detroit Free Press should have caught it.
And me venting all over my readers is part of what this blog is all about.
