CH — LARRY ROMANOFF — 美国人与汽车：资本主义与宣传 — 2022年5月28日

 

 

美国人与汽车：资本主义与宣传

 

 拉里·罗曼诺夫，2022年5月28日

译者：珍珠

CHINESE   ENGLISH

 

 美国神话的一个重要部分围绕着所谓的“美国对汽车的热爱”展开，这是一种令人兴奋但有点古怪的个人表达，表达了美国的独立和热爱自由。由于美国人的个性和对自由的渴望，廉价的大众运输未能发展。但这种历史叙事是错误的。今天的美国“汽车文化”是汽车和石油寡头策划的大规模阴谋的结果，就像消费社会一样，通过欺骗和宣传强加给一个毫无戒心的国家。大部分真相已从历史记录中删除，取而代之的是一个“感觉良好”的童话故事。在摧毁了公共交通系统之后，以通用为首的汽车制造商们制作了一系列虚构的故事来证明和赞扬他们所创造的交通系统。

 

 一些背景知识

 

 这个故事开始于20世纪初，当时美国正忙于工业化，由火车和有轨电车组成的大众公共交通满足了美国的大部分需求，与其他许多类似的故事一样。与此同时，汽车当然也在迅速发展，但汽油驱动的交通工具，无论是私人汽车还是公共交通工具，正在逐渐退出市场。几乎全国所有的地方和城市间火车运输都是电动的，电动汽车正迅速超越其燃气驱动的竞争对手。到1900年，美国将近40%的汽车都是电动的，而且非常受欢迎，以至于纽约市有了一支电动出租车车队。

 

 

Clearance of the TAM 1989 - EN from No name on Vimeo.

CH — LARRY ROMANOFF — 中国的高速列车。美国，你在哪里？– 2022年5月27日

 

中国的高速列车。美国，你在哪里？

 拉里·罗曼诺夫，2022年5月27日

翻译：珍珠

 

CHINESE   ENGLISH

 

 介绍

 

 中国拥有世界上最长的高铁（HSR）网络，运营里程约38000公里，（1）占世界所有高铁线路的近70%（2），是整个欧盟的三倍多。（3） 中国有2500多辆高速列车在运行，超过了世界其他所有国家的总和，（4）中国也有世界上运行速度最快的列车，（5）几代人现在的运行速度在350公里/小时到400公里/小时之间。上海的磁悬浮列车仍然是世界上运行速度最快的列车，（6） 中国的铁路系统每年运载约35亿乘客，其中近70%的乘客乘坐高速列车。在中国春节的40天里，客运量达到了4亿多人次的高峰。

 

China’s High-Speed Rail Network

 中国高铁网络

 

EN — LARRY ROMANOFF — China’s High-Speed Trains. America, Where are You? May 27, 2028

 

China’s High-Speed Trains. America, Where are You?

By Larry Romanoff, May 27, 2022

 

 

 

Introduction

 

China has the world’s longest high-speed rail (HSR) network with some 38,000 kilometers in operation, (1) which comprises nearly 70% of all the world’s high-speed lines (2) and more than three times that of the entire European Union. (3) China has more than 2,500 high-speed trains in operation, more than all the rest of the world combined, (4) and it also has the fastest trains in operation anywhere, (5) with several generations now operating at speeds between 350 Km/h and 400 Km/h. Shanghai’s Maglev is still the fastest operating train in the world, (6) with sustained speeds of 430 Km/h. China’s rail system carries about 3.5 billion passengers per year, nearly 70% of these on high-speed trains. During the 40 days of China’s Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), passenger volume reached a peak of more than 400 million.

 

China’s High-Speed Rail Network

EN — LARRY ROMANOFF — Americans and Automobiles: Capitalism and Propaganda — May 28, 2022

Americans and Automobiles: Capitalism and Propaganda

By Larry Romanoff, May 28, 2022

 

 

 

 

One of the grand parts of American mythology revolves around what is called “America’s Love Affair With the Automobile”, presented as an exciting if a bit quirky personal expression of independent and freedom-loving America, where inexpensive mass transportation failed to evolve due to Americans’ individuality and desire for freedom. But this historical narrative is wrong. Today’s US ‘car culture’ was the result of a massive conspiracy contrived by the auto and oil oligarchs and, like the consumer society, imposed on an unsuspecting nation through deceit and propaganda. Most of the truth has been deleted from the historical record and replaced with a ‘feel-good’ fairytale. After trashing the mass transit systems, the automakers led by GM produced a wide array of mythical narratives to justify and praise the transportation system they had created.

 

Some Background

 

This story begins, as do many others similar, in the early 1900s, when the US was busy industrialising, when mass public transportation consisting of trains and trams was filling much of the nation’s needs. Autos were of course rapidly evolving at the same time, but gasoline-powered transportation, whether by private auto or mass transit, was on its way out. Almost all of the nation’s local and inter-city train transport was electric, and electric automobiles were rapidly gaining ground over their gas-powered rivals. By 1900, nearly 40% of all US cars were electric, and were so popular that New York City had a fleet of electric taxis.

 

CH — LARRY ROMANOFF — 中美移动电话系统 — 2022年5月21日

中美移动电话系统

 拉里·罗曼诺夫，2022年5月21日

翻译：佩尔

CHINESE   ENGLISH

 

 我认为，冒着看似犹豫不决的风险，可以肯定地说，中国的移动电话服务可以说是世界上最好的，当然是首屈一指的，而美国和加拿大的移动电话服务可以说是最差的，当然是最分散、最不正常的，当然也是最昂贵的。让我们看看一些细节。

 

 我对美国不太清楚，但据我所知，在加拿大和许多欧洲国家，手机只能从电信公司购买，这是西方通信立法中更聪明但明确的反社会条款之一。这给了电话公司一个真正的“垄断市场”，如果你想要一部特定的电话，你别无选择，只能服从该公司的所有政策并支付他们要求的价格。通信领域的一个主要区别是，中国的电话公司在手机销售方面并不垄断，事实上是少数卖家。

EN — LARRY ROMANOFF — Chinese and American Mobile Phone Systems — May 21, 2022

Chinese and American Mobile Phone Systems

By Larry Romanoff, May 21, 2022

 

 

 

At the risk of appearing to be a shill, I think it is safe to say that China arguably has the best mobile phone service in the world, certainly second to none, while the US and Canada have arguably the worst, surely the most fragmented and dysfunctional, and certainly the most expensive. Let’s look at some details.

 

I’m uncertain about the US but, so far as I am aware, in Canada and many European countries, mobile phones can be purchased only from a telecom company, one of the more clever but clearly anti-social provisions in Western communications legislation. This gives the phone companies a truly ‘captive market’ in that, if you want a particular phone, you have no choice but to submit to all that company’s policies and to pay their demanded prices. A major difference in the communications landscape is that Chinese phone companies do not have a monopoly on the sale of mobile phones and are in fact minority sellers.