SIGforum
Historic bridge to be dismantled for yacht reportedly for Jeff Bezos

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/3030012984

February 04, 2022, 04:15 PM
redstone
Historic bridge to be dismantled for yacht reportedly for Jeff Bezos
If he has the money, pays for the bridge to be disassembled and it provides local work for the builders, what is the issue? I imagine this was all worked out before they signed contracts for the yacht construction.

Now, if he was applying to get the local government to pay for the bridge etc. now that is worth complaining about.



This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it. -Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Joshua Painter Played by Senator Fred Thompson
February 04, 2022, 04:18 PM
SIGnified
It’s beams, nuts and bolts.

Not the flipping Mona Lisa or even the Brooklyn Bridge.





"Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty."
~Robert A. Heinlein
February 04, 2022, 04:38 PM
bigdeal
quote:
The municipality declined to comment on who owns the yacht in question or identify the shipbuilder.
I think I'll wait for a response from the yacht builder before I commit any more interest to this issue.


-----------------------------
Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter
February 04, 2022, 04:59 PM
cparktd
It's a railroad bridge... decommissioned in the 90's, replaced by a tunnel and was slated to be demolished at one time. Saved and then restored in 2017.

So no disruption to traffic etc and Bezos is to foot the bill for the work on it.

I don't see a problem... perhaps a small dent for the local economy if it is a tourist attraction?

It's a 500 million dollar boat!

https://www.theridgefieldpress...w-yacht-16831387.php





Endeavor to persevere.
February 04, 2022, 05:00 PM
ZSMICHAEL
I am sure the average Dutch citizen will be pleased with the construction noise and inconvenience it will cause. Just another rich American doing what he wants. The average European is not exactly a big fan of Americans. Imagine a wealthy European doing that with the Golden Gate. It would not matter to me since I dont like in California. Maybe we could put up a McDonalds close by for the workers.
February 09, 2022, 03:40 PM
ZSMICHAEL
The plan to egg Bezos yacht has been worked out. It seems that the bridge was declared a historical monument and Dutch authorites promised to never dismantle it. Here is the funny story:

The biggest athletic event of the year is not, in fact, the Beijing Olympics (too international; dystopian COVID-19 vibes too heavy), but rather a mass stinky egging planned for this summer in the Netherlands. A group of residents in Rotterdam has put out a call to throw rotten eggs at Jeff Bezos’s superyacht when it passes through the city’s river in June. The event, succinctly titled “Throwing eggs at superyacht Jeff Bezos,” is a response to reports that the city is considering a plan to dismantle the historic Koningshaven Bridge (known as “De Hef,” which means “the lever”) to allow Bezos’s $500 million, and apparently very tall, new superyacht to take to the sea.

The event itself has gotten considerable media attention, but a more pressing question has been left unexamined: How hard would it be to hit Jeff Bezos’s superyacht with a rotten egg?


AD
An egg is tiny, full of yolk treasure. Bezos’s superyacht is enormous — reportedly 417 feet in length, it will be the world’s largest, according to the boat experts over at Boat International — and full of egg-shaped trash (Bezos’s head). Is nailing it with a projectile really that simple?

My Week In New York
A week-in-review newsletter from the people who make New York Magazine.

Enter your email
A study by Yale and Harvard researchers on “optimal strategies for throwing accurately” frames the undertaking — throwing in general, not egging Jeff Bezos — quite beautifully: “The ability to throw fast and accurately is quintessentially human, and a seemingly complex task.” Those attempting the quintessentially human (but complex) task of throwing an egg at Bezos’s superyacht might want to follow its guidance. Speed, it suggests, might be the enemy of precision: “What we find is that almost the slowest arc is often the most accurate,” lead author Madhusudhan Venkadesan said. “We’ve compared these calculations to published data of people throwing into wastebaskets; we’ve compared it to a study on dart throwing.” Venkadesan went on to note that people’s natural throws are often quite close to mathematically optimal methods — so if in doubt, those throwing rotten eggs at Bezos’s superyacht should just do what feels right.

WikiHow’s guidance on how to throw a baseball recommends a 45-degree arc and practicing a long toss for at least 15 minutes a day. Bezos’s yacht is not set to be moved downstream until June, so interested egg-throwers would have sufficient time to prepare. Knowing the direction of the wind is also crucial: In an article about baseball conditions, Alan Nathan, a professor emeritus of physics at the University of Illinois, told Popular Science that “a five-mile-an-hour wind that’s blowing out will increase the carry of a fly ball by like 18 or 20 feet.”

Here’s another point of data for consideration: The Guinness world record for throwing and catching a fresh hen’s egg in 1978 was 323 feet. The Privilege One, a comparably giant motor yacht set to be delivered in 2023, is about 72 feet wide. By a rough estimate on Google Maps, the Koningshaven, at the point in question, is about 468 feet across, plus another 40 feet up to the sidewalk along the riverbank. So an egg would have to travel about 238 feet to hit the hull. A difficult, but not impossible, feat. Dream big, my throwers — Bezos’s yacht may well be within reach.

LINK: https://www.curbed.com/2022/02...-rotterdam-eggs.html
February 09, 2022, 05:15 PM
Graniteguy
That's what slingshots are for !!
February 09, 2022, 05:37 PM
DaveL
What does this have to do with Bezos? He ordered a boat and the builder made it too tall to deliver. Unless something odd is going on the boat builder will foot the bill to solve the problem or be in breach of their contract. I guess it's possible that the builder told Bezos it was too tall to pass under the bridge and he agreed to solve that problem himself but that seems unlikely and, regardless, isn't in the article.
February 09, 2022, 05:40 PM
SevenPlusOne
Some British Paratroopers should take, and hold the bridge.



"Ninja kick the damn rabbit"
February 09, 2022, 05:45 PM
ZSMICHAEL
^^^^^^^^^
I like it. Would be a good short film.
February 09, 2022, 05:49 PM
HRK
wonder if the Dutch will order their slingshots and eggs delivered by Amazon....
February 09, 2022, 06:16 PM
LS1 GTO
Anybody else here realize Bezos and the shipyard had this built into the contract - and the government also signed off - before the contract was finalized?

This kind of event and the associate costs were a known before the final signature were even applied and






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers

The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



February 09, 2022, 06:23 PM
bigwagon
quote:
Originally posted by SevenPlusOne:
Some British Paratroopers should take, and hold the bridge.

I'm not so sure they could pull it off. Might be a bridge too tall.
February 09, 2022, 06:45 PM
ZSMICHAEL
I am sure that Bruce Willis is available. Tom Cruise is just too short for the part.
February 09, 2022, 06:48 PM
recoatlift
quote:
Originally posted by HRK:
wonder if the Dutch will order their slingshots and eggs delivered by Amazon....


[FLASH_VIDEO] [/FLASH_VIDEO]
February 09, 2022, 07:00 PM
ensigmatic
I was looking at that bridge and thinking "That must be one helluva tall boat." Turns out it's a 3-masted schooner. IOW: A very fracking big sailboat--with a commensurately tall main mast.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
February 09, 2022, 07:24 PM
pbslinger
kind of surprising that the sailboat is so massive that it's easier to move the bridge rather than move the masts and install them on the other side of the bridge. Not that much of a bridge though.
February 09, 2022, 07:32 PM
ensigmatic
I imagine stepping masts that large would be quite involved. Then there's all the rigging. And God knows what electronics and automation are going to be built into that beast.

I would bet they looked at that and found it would be more effective to get the obstruction out of the way.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
February 10, 2022, 09:39 AM
Expert308
Make Bezos pay to have the shipyard relocated further downriver.
February 10, 2022, 10:04 AM
pbslinger
Of course it's cheaper to remove, and the powers that be have approved removal, but couldn't you just remove the center section and then reinstall it?