

Human-shaped pylons carry electricity across Iceland - bensummers
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-08/16/human-pylons

======
Groxx
Important bit:

> _An architecture and design firm called Choi+Shine has submitted a design
> for the Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design
> Competition which proposes giant human-shaped pylons carrying electricity
> cables across the country's landscape._

Meaning the title should be closer to "Human-shaped pylons _could_ carry
electricity across Iceland". Though given all the press lately, and how much I
like the idea, I really hope they do build them. It's something unique that'll
last for a long time; there should be more of that in the world.

~~~
bruceboughton
Isn't Iceland broke?

~~~
siculars
Iceland is a net energy producer. That means they will never be broke. They
just happen to owe certain countries a few billion bucks which they may or may
not pay back.

~~~
eru
Why can you never be broke if you produce energy?

~~~
sliverstorm
1) You have a free source of money, so you can pay off all your debts with
time

2) You will probably always have someone by the balls

~~~
nanairo
Eh??? By that account everyone should be able to pay off all their debts.

It's not enough to have a "renewable" source of income (such as tourism,
moderate farming/fishing, solar energy, etc...). Everyone, including
countries, also have bills to pay. And if you have a debt you also have to pay
the interest on your debts.

As long as the money they make from this renewable energy source is less than
what they need to pay for their bills (e.g to import food) plus the interest
in their debt, they are still losing money.

~~~
fleitz
In a fractional reserve banking system there is never enough money to pay all
the debts. And with a debt based currency, the money is the debt. It's
impossible to pay back all the debt.

~~~
eru
What do monetary fictions have to do with real things?

------
nhebb
Prediction: Icelandic children will have recurring nightmares about robot
invasions.

I do like the idea of artistic designs of mundane structures. In Portland they
decided to combat graffiti and vandalism on bus stops by sandblasting motifs
into the glass: <http://trimet.org/publicart/busshelters.htm>

~~~
w00pla
> graffiti and vandalism on bus stops by sandblasting motifs into the glass:
> <http://trimet.org/publicart/busshelters.htm>

That addresses the consequences of a problem and not the root causes. It is
important to stop the cause of petty vandalism.

I can take a bet that if most countries had corporal punishment and applied it
readily and liberally to vandalism cases, both vandalism and other offenses
would be stopped.

In the west people continue to do crimes (and let off) until they do a major
crime (when it is too late to change entrenched behaviour).

~~~
b-man
_I can take a bet that if most countries had corporal punishment and applied
it readily and liberally to vandalism cases, both vandalism and other offenses
would be stopped._ [citation needed]

~~~
eitland
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Singapore>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caning_in_Singapore>

~~~
b-man
The thing about references is that they should demonstrate or negate the
connection or affirmation that was presented.

I fail to see that in these links. I think a more appropriate set of citations
would be:

 _basic research_

<http://www.religioustolerance.org/spanking_menu.htm>

 _against corporal punishment as an educative method_

<http://www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/corporal-> punishment.aspx

<http://www.nospank.net/vcb.htm>

<http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin4.htm>

<http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin29.htm>

 _for corporal punishment as an educative method_

<http://www.corpun.com/ukju9803.htm>

<http://www.corpun.com/10archive/ukd01001.htm#21929>

I personally find a lack of serious psychological research that finds
correlation between corporal punishment and increase of quality of life in the
society where it is practiced. That observation makes me believe that this
practice should be abolished, or severely restricted at least.

~~~
w00pla
Firstly, a lot of studies (esp. in the USA) shows that corporal punishment
have negative outcomes. This is because they do not control for other
variables (such as socio-economic circumstances). Poorer parents often hit
their kids more (and many studies do make a distinction between parental abuse
and responsible punishment).

This is the same as the “powerlines causes cancer” research (people living
near powerlines tend to be poorer and more prone to cancer). And powerlines is
not even an ideological viewpoint!

The problem is that I can give you a slew of papers saying that “corporal
punishment has no detrimental effects” and you can give me another slew saying
it has detrimental effects. Such internet discussions will not go anywhere
(the same as with the death penalty or gun rights). Perhaps I was wrong to
bring this up in YCNews (since this is not the forum for such debates).

In any case, in the country of Singapore they have less crime and fewer
problems that 99% of Western countries. Yet they have very strict laws
(including corporal and capital punishment for drug offences).

EDIT: The original point I wanted to make was this:

In the USA, tough punishment only comes after the criminal has firmly
established his bad behaviour. Any pet owner knows that at that stage it is
the most difficult to change set behaviour.

You have silly things such as three strikes laws. Why? The third time that
behaviour is fixed.

If that same person were punished severely for his first crime (however minor)
he would think twice about breaking the law.

That is how it works in Singapore - the first crime is punished hard, and the
behaviour doesn't re-occur.

~~~
rdtsc
> capital punishment for drug offences ...

> the first crime is punished hard, and the behaviour doesn't re-occur.

Of course it "doesn't re-occur" -- the person is already dead the second time
around ;-)

~~~
w00pla
How many lives do you think one drug dealer ruin before they are caught?

~~~
speleding
How many lives would he ruin if drugs were not illegal?

~~~
w00pla
Making drugs legal (contrary to popular internet belief) does not make them
less addictive or less harmful.

~~~
jazzdev
It absolutely makes them less harmful because the government will no longer
harm you.

------
c1sc0
I love this idea. Most of the time I prefer function over form, but this is
just awesome. Choi+Shine added: "Like the statues of Easter Island, it is
envisioned that these one hundred and fifty foot tall, modern caryatids will
take on a quiet authority, belonging to their landscape yet serving the
people, silently transporting electricity across all terrain, day and night,
sunshine or snow."

~~~
PidGin128
The choice doesn't have to be form over function, or the reverse.

I think we can agree both tasks are handled nicely.

Also amusing, a story on electricity delivery, in "Wired".

~~~
asmithmd1
I agree, don't dismiss design lightly.

I learned from industrial designers at Black & Decker that form can enhance
and suggest function.

Just changing the shape of a cordless vacuum cleaner changed peoples
impression from "This is a shitty, low-powered vacuum cleaner" to "This is a
terrific powered dustpan"

[http://www.blackanddecker.com/dustbuster/dustbuster_innovati...](http://www.blackanddecker.com/dustbuster/dustbuster_innovation/default.aspx)

Just changing the outside shape - with no change in product specs. - made the
DustBuster into one of the highest selling Black & Decker products ever.

------
bitwize
With a design like this -- Iceland, you must construct additional pylons.

~~~
stcredzero
How is it you actually have the non-gaming free time to make the reference?

Since they are variable, they should make ones modeled after Tricia Helfer and
Grace Park. Cylon Pylons!

~~~
bitwize
I don't play a lot of SC now. Got it out of my system in college.

~~~
stcredzero
Yes, but SC2 came out!

------
ratsbane
I do like the idea. They've taken something ordinary and thought beyond the
conventional interpretation. Looking at those images, though, I did have the
strange anthropomorphic concern that their arms would get tired. Couldn't they
hold the cables on their shoulders?

~~~
gaius
Frost Giants do _not_ get tired, puny mortal! Bring on Ragnarok!

~~~
mkr-hn
They might melt from all the heat those lines put off though.

~~~
gaius
That'd be a prank worthy of Loki himself :-D

------
greyman
The title should be "to carry", it's just a design proposal not yet
implemented.

------
chrisbaglieri
I never quite understood our culture's instinctual response to cover up or
mask the infrastructure that surrounds us. There's something serene about a
wind farm. It's function _over_ form, not function _or_ form. Compare this
design proposal to the phone towers that litter the landscape (pathetically)
disguised to look like trees.

~~~
mcantor
I must disagree; these designs do not appear to be pathetic disguises in the
least. They are instead celebrations of the existing design, enhanced to
resemble a powerful symbol in a meaningful way.

~~~
chrisbaglieri
Just to clarify, I thought the manner in which _phone towers_ were masked as
trees was pathetic (or at least in the manner in which it was implemented),
not the pylons proposal. I thought the design team hit a home run on the
later. I have yet to see any phone tower made to look like a tree inspiring.

~~~
roqetman
Perhaps they should make cell towers look like a giant with a cellphone to his
ear?

------
brk
It's a neat idea, but I wonder how practical this is from a
build/serviceability perspective. They say they are only "minor alterations"
from standard designs, but each one of the towers looks unique (I'd guess they
have 6 or 8 total "poses"). But I'd also think there is a lot of value when
all the towers have the _same_ design in terms of service and maintenance.
These must undergo regular inspections to ensure that no load-bearing
components have been compromised.

~~~
gaius
All the components, e.g. struts and joints, can be interchangeable, just
arranged differently in each one. You would never need to keep complete pylons
in stock for each design.

~~~
brk
Sorry, I wasn't commenting about the inventory, I was thinking more along the
the lines of creating simple maintenance plans for each arrangement. Keep in
mind that the average utility field service worker is often kept most
efficient by minimizing the number of variations of any given task.

------
tomwalker
Will it include a YMCA combo?

------
ja27
I immediately thought of this pole near Disney World:

<http://www.panoramio.com/photo/32142193>

------
Maskawanian
I agree, we do need to construct more pylons... like this.

~~~
stcredzero
Need to construct more cylons... like this:

[http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/maxim-
bat...](http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/maxim-
battlestar.jpg)

------
mattmcknight
It reminds one of that odd chapter on pylons from de Botton in "The Pleasures
and Sorrows of Work" where he mentions the "coquettish sexuality" of Finnish
pylons.

[http://books.google.com/books?id=SslgkiNvZ9wC&lpg=PA199&...](http://books.google.com/books?id=SslgkiNvZ9wC&lpg=PA199&ots=GdMkANQjuq&dq=%22de%20botton%22%20pylons%20korea&pg=PA199#v=onepage&q&f=false)

------
Luc
Here's a competing design from a different firm:
[http://www.dezeen.com/2009/03/30/high-voltage-
transmisison-l...](http://www.dezeen.com/2009/03/30/high-voltage-transmisison-
line-towers-by-arphenotype/)

At least, I assume it's for the same competition, as it's over a year old.

------
Marticus
What is awesome to me is how, presumably surviving the millenia, these will
look to generations hundreds or thousands of years later. Will this be our own
"Stonehenge?" How long will people someday puzzle over the purpose of these
things?

Pretty awesome stuff.

~~~
sasvari
I doubt these pylons will last longer than society's memory ...

~~~
thenduks
'When' the bombs fall they likely wont be targeted at remote areas of Iceland,
some could pretty easily survive. After that they could probably survive at
least long enough for some kids to gossip - "I heard _those things_ blew it
all up!"

------
afterburner
If they do this, I would go back to Iceland to see this. So from the tourist
point of view... success!

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seltzered
Very cool, but can Iceland afford it? Last time I checked their currency
nearly collapsed.

~~~
kolektiv
Good lord don't do it again then! More seriously, yes Iceland does still have
enough money and borrowing capability to keep the infrastructure going.
They're not all on the streets.

------
xutopia
This is a really bad idea. All it takes is one ice storm and those things will
fall:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_ice_storm_of_199...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_ice_storm_of_1998)

~~~
thenduks
There's a picture right at the top of the page of a crappy wooden one still
standing...

------
hackermom
About one year ago the country of Sweden began digging down the country's
entire electrical infrastructure underground, completely ridding the country
of the archaic terrestrial power pylon model. The country was done with
digging down all urban cabling more than 40 years ago, and free-hanging power
cabling has since only been seen outside urban areas across rural stretches,
connecting smaller communities to the grid. What called for the decision was
the problem of power outtages caused by storms wreaking havoc on the pylons
and the wires, causing civil dismay in the affected areas, as well as the
tremendous civilian and commercial costs that follow up. However cool that
humanoid design is, I think Iceland should've gone with Sweden's model instead
of reinventing the pylon :)

~~~
Vulture
In Montreal there are a lot of buried cables. I worked in a research facility
for the only power company around and they pointed out several problems for
this method. It costs a fortune so its not really applicable for very long
distances. Also, whenever there is a failure you have to reel a few kilometers
of cables, fix them and rewire everything in a tube full of mud, water and who
knows what. During autumn the water in the tube freezes and expands causing
stress and fissures.

It was discussed extensively since we had a massive power outage in 1998
caused by icing rain that affected about 3 millions for 3 weeks.

So burying cables might work well in a city for a while but I really don't
think its any silver bullet.

~~~
hackermom
It has worked great inside their cities for almost 50 years - as my post
clearly stated, the urban electrical infrastructure of Sweden has been
entirely underground since the 60s. The ongoing change is replacing the
_pylons spanning the country_ with underground cabling. I'm pretty confident
they know what they're doing. Not all underground solutions have to be the
same, but by nature, the pylon model is always vulnerable, and it always
suffers the same risks.

------
Devilboy
I hope they go ahead and build these, they look awesome.

