I don’t mean BETTER. That’s a different conversation. I mean cooler.

An old CRT display was literally a small scale particle accelerator, firing angry electron beams at light speed towards the viewers, bent by an electromagnet that alternates at an ultra high frequency, stopped by a rounded rectangle of glowing phosphors.

If a CRT goes bad it can actually make people sick.

That’s just. Conceptually a lot COOLER than a modern LED panel, which really is just a bajillion very tiny lightbulbs.

  • Everett@reddthat.comEnglish
    931·
    2 months ago

    In the near to mid future, I think an answer to this question are Internal Combustion Engines. I love electric vehicles and look forward to the tech improving. But the sheer coolness factor of moving a large machine through perfectly timed and calibrated explosions is tough to beat.

      • Cris@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        Thoughts on motorcycles? Totally fine if you really don’t like them either, I’m just curious :)

        • Count Regal Inkwell@pawb.socialOP
          2·
          2 months ago

          Grudging respect.

          I don’t like motorcycles either, but they are the “noble steed” of my country’s entire service industry, and being a worker in said service industry is a very sucky (and dangerous!) position to be in.

          So I don’t like bikes. But. I respect their riders. Their lives are hard and they are therefore stronger than I.

          • Cris@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            2 months ago

            Interesting, that’s very different in my country so I appreciate hearing your perspective!

            Hope you have a good one :)

    • reesilva@bolha.forum
      18·
      2 months ago

      And the fact is “mechanic automated” system for me is what makes it even cooler. All you had to do to start is twist it a couple revolutions and bang, it works as long as you have fuel because everything simply works. Of course, today you have electronic fuel injection and so one, but if you want you can make it works just with a lot of metal to do the right parts.

      Man, I’ll miss combustion engines (but I hope its use ends ASAP because planet can’t wait anymore)

      • spookex@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        That’s why I kinda like my carburated 2-stroke motorcycle.

        Needs just 3 wires from the engine to work and 1 to shut it off. Weighs just around 100kg and will propel me to 90km/h with just a 50cc cylinder.

        Not to mention the smoke, sound, and the narrow powerband, just love that feeling.

    • waz@lemmy.world
      15·
      2 months ago

      As a subset of this, the fact that carburators worked as well as they did, until we had the technology to invent the simpler fuel injector, I think is pretty cool.

    • Gil Wanderley@lemmy.eco.br
      2·
      2 months ago

      I never knew the complexity of ICE until watching the Garbage Time YouTube channel. They repair old cars (and sometimes break them to fix them later) and show the whole process, but do it as a hobby, so it’s all for entertainment.

      • frezik@midwest.social
        5·
        2 months ago

        It won’t. Hydrogen has terrible efficiency even when fuel cells are in the pipeline. Putting it in an ICE only makes it worse. It’ll have some racing applications, but that’s it.

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      Whenever I hear a running hit and miss engine it brings a smile to my face, similar with small stationary steam engines. There’s a club in Baraboo WI that does a big meetup once a year where there’s just tons of early tractors and stationary engines powered by all sorts of different types of combustion with all sorts of creative new engine designs that stopped being viable around the time of the first world war. I haven’t been able to go most years but it’s really incredible to see so many wonky engines wirring and popping and hissing and clanking around, all while struggling to reach the performance of a present day lawnmower (and not a good one at that)

    • Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nzEnglish
      79·
      2 months ago

      Drag disagrees. If you want transportation with fire, ride a dragon. No need to pollute the earth. The emissions make it uncool, just like the ridiculous Mad Max cars.

      • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        71·
        2 months ago

        If you want transportation with fire, ride a dragon.

        Username checks out. I see you everywhere, and your comments often make me happy.

        I definitely agree with you that cars are terrible, and I wish they didn’t exist. Even though I’m a hater, I gotta admit the engineering and history behind them fascinates me, still.