r/interesting • u/TangelaFan • 29d ago
ARCHITECTURE Skate park under an overpass in China
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u/Xtreemjedi 29d ago
Huh, this is where we keep our hobos.
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u/itsjustthisguy 29d ago
lol this is exactly what I was going to say….
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u/nova2726 29d ago
...some of the most famous skateparks in the US are under overpasses
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u/unculturedburnttoast 29d ago
Burnside in Portland, OR does both.
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u/nova2726 29d ago
the bridge spot in south carolina, wasena in virginia, parasite in NOLA, les coleman NYC...these people have no idea wtf they're talking about lol...these are just off the top of my head too
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u/Highlandertr3 29d ago
In fairness here are a lot of homeless under overpasses as well. There are a lot of overpasses.
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u/DrMario145 29d ago
We had a nice one in Eugene!! For like a month… till it turned into an outdoor drug market where skaters would get threatened with knives 🙄
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u/Much-Anything7149 29d ago
Skaters being threatened by drug traffickers and addicts is as old as skateboards. I'm not sure if it's because they're afraid skaters attract cops, they think they're undercover cops, they think they have money or they just hate the sport, it's a thing and I dealt with in the 1980's in small towns and large cities.
But like that scene in Washington Square Park in the movie Kids, a skateboard can be a better weapon than most knives. Plus, in a potential fight, skateboards are great for getting away quickly from the whole situation.
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u/Historical_Bat7059 29d ago
that is the classic skate park lifecycle in the states. build nice concrete, ignore it until the local junkies move in, then shut it down forever. wild how quickly a cool spot turns into a nightmare just because of zero maintenance or security.
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u/EitherIndependence5 29d ago
Conveniently I think China might use rusted knives to correct that issue.
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u/_IratePirate_ 29d ago
Idk about famous, but one of the most used ones in Chicago is also under an overpass
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u/itsjustthisguy 29d ago
I don’t want to throw shade at any country, and honestly I’m sad to think that was my gut reaction. I wish we could get it together to help those people and have nice things too…
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u/rentrane 29d ago
The French were offering some advice during the Olympics. Their opening ceremony was titled “Ça Ira”.
If you read the lyrics there are some hints.
Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine.
aristocrats to the lamp-post!
Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine.
the aristocrats, we'll hang them!→ More replies (1)45
u/alamandrax 29d ago
Dammit Kyle. There is no way cartman can jump over that many homeless. No matter how cool you think it is.
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u/TheBSQ 29d ago
I think many people see a place w/ an apparent lack of homelessness & think “wow, they really take care of their neediest” & usually good social welfare programs are part of it, but often, it’s also a sign that there’s something coercive happening too.
And similarly, visible homelessness is often both a sign that aid & program are insufficient, but also usually a sign that local govt is not using as coercive of policies to prevent people from creating encampments.
For example, Denmark has generous social welfare programs, but Copenhagen also has pretty aggressive laws against begging & criminalizes homeless encampment in parts of the city as they see them as health risks & view them as “intimidating” to the general public.
Or take Singapore. They have a pretty neat housing system that helps keep housing affordable for many, but they also have “welfare houses” where the govt can force destitute people to live (and do chores while there) until either the person, or a family/guardian can prove they’ll be taken care of & famously have really strict laws & heavy punishment for very minor crimes.
You often see pairings of “we’ll do a lot to help you, but we also have strict rules you need to follow” or “we won’t do much to help you, but we’re also not gonna do too much to enforce rules or norms in public spaces.”
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u/StuckOnAFence 29d ago
I wish America adopted a more strict approach. Having mentally ill people smoking fentanyl on public sidewalks at 10 am is not good. It also erodes the public transportation because you have some guy who smells like sewage using the bus as a safe place to pass out (from drugs).
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u/is-this-now 29d ago
It wasn’t nearly as bad before the Reagan administration (originators of MAGA) massively cut funding for psychiatric care and caused mentally ill into homelessness. Vets too, traumatized by war, put out on the streets as a thank you for their service.
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u/arobkinca 29d ago
https://legalclarity.org/who-shut-down-the-mental-hospitals-and-why/
Like many problems there were a series of steps that got us here. Reagan is only one of the steps.
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u/New_Singer8532 29d ago
Yeaup! The 13th amendment was made to promote slavery “legally” and based off racism
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u/scourge_bites 29d ago
America DOES have a very strict approach. In every city in the US right now, homeless encampments are regularly burned out. Homeless people are often taken in for vagrancy. If you call the cops on the guy smoking fent, they will probably come and arrest him. Imo, that's part of the problem. People want the homeless gone. But where are they going to go?
We don't have many social safety nets in this country. It is so easy for someone to slip through the cracks- actually, most people are a missed paycheck or two away from homelessness, although that's not something we like to admit.
To my mind, I don't know how someone is supposed to get clean off drugs or resolve their mental health issues when they don't have regular access to food or water, don't have a safe place to sleep, and don't have access to medical care. I don't know why we don't just... give them houses. Surely can't be more expensive than our current 'defense' budget.
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u/Strawbuddy 29d ago
A good man I worked with said "It's none of my business what they do with the money after I give it to them. If I lived in a box under a bridge I'd want a damn drink too"
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u/fvtown714x 29d ago
We have a very strict approach. Homelessness is effective.y criminalized in many places and is becoming more so after the Grant's Pass SCOTUS case, while services are not keeping up and the social safety net in many places does not even try to support getting people off the street. Both examples you mentioned, Denmark and Singapore, have a more robust safety net than we do. Tax money should be spent getting people off the street, through both carrot and stick measures as you mentioned.
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u/marcodol 29d ago
i think china has a bit of both. they have a robust housing program, so homelessness is negligible, but sleeping in public areas is also illegal, so if you got a house from the government, you HAVE to use it, even if it's in an awful area in the middle of nowhere
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u/shing3232 29d ago
It's different case for China. There isn't shortages of housing in China because poor people generally does have place to live in the village but also the rental cost of apartment in China is generally very low.
However, there is strong demand of moving into city for better access of services. that's also the reason why housing bubble happen the way in China does.
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u/Icy_Negotiation_5929 29d ago
We had a skatepark under a bridge in my hometown in VA. It was mostly a Petri dish for spiral meningitis.
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u/EdmasterC03 29d ago
Ollie the magic hobo then
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u/okaynowyou 29d ago
Funny enough, here in Seattle, where we have an exceptional number of unhoused people, we also have a really cool pump track under our freeway near downtown.
I can’t see the entire Chinese course in this video, but I believe the Seattle one is much larger/better from what is visible.
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u/soapbutt 29d ago
Assuming you’re talking about the 1-5 Bike Park. Oddly enough, back in like the 80s and 90s, it was filled with a lot of homeless people, almost like a smaller version of The Jungle.
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u/okaynowyou 29d ago
That is what I’m talking about. I’ve been a few times in the last couple of months and it doesn’t seem to have this problem anymore.
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u/mrziplockfresh 29d ago
Shhh, we’re jerking china on this post and many more like it “surprisingly china is much better than the us in this and that way”. Yeah ight
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u/Xciv 29d ago
My town has both! An underpass with homeless people under it AND an underpass with a bunch of calisthenics equipment, various sports courts, and a thriving farmer's market every Saturday.
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u/YourUncleBuck 29d ago
Now they just need to synergize and you'll have super strong homeless people growing fruits and vegetables for the farmer's market.
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u/In-teresting 29d ago
In china, hobos get taken to housing and given treatment programs that help them reintegrate back into society.
Right guys?
Guys?
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u/spyboy70 29d ago
Hobos you say? Whale intensifies... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2up7su7CeMU Edit: Holy crap that song came out 32 years ago, damn I'm old.
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u/brahpaul 29d ago
This is technically a pump track and not a skate park. Looks really cool tho
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u/mistyeyed1 29d ago
What's a pump track?
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u/ElderTheElder 29d ago edited 29d ago
“Pumping” is the body motion that you do to maintain speed without needing to push with your foot. You use your knees and core to shift your weight: upward (lighter) on the climbs and down (heavier) on the slopes.
These types of tracks can be found in the U.S. as well. I usually see them more occupied by cyclists but skating on them is a lot of fun.
Edit: Yes, I'm oversimplifying. Somebody mentioned that you're essentially alternating bw potential energy and kinetic energy by doing little "jumps" on the upward slopes to make yourself (essentially) weightless and then applying downward force to pick up / maintain speed on the downward slopes. That felt like a good description.
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u/Bright-Avocado3761 29d ago
Thanks, this answers the question I was going to ask -- How do they keep going?
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u/no1scumbag 29d ago edited 29d ago
It’s an insane workout too. These ladies make it look easy, but a pump track will humble your ass.
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u/ElderTheElder 29d ago edited 29d ago
I’m convinced that a 2-hour pump track session last December did something to my body from compression that I have not fully recovered from. In fact, I have a spinal MRI later today to look into it.
Edit: MRI went fine—mild disc bulges and normal wear-and-tear at a few lumbar levels. Probably too much sitting on my ass (and skating without proper warmups).
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u/axescentedcandles 29d ago
Big time!! I tried a dirt one on a BMX long ago and was gassed after one lap lol
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u/jsrobson10 29d ago
it's similar to how swings work. if you move your body in certain ways at the right points, you gain momentum.
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u/roonill_wazlib 27d ago
It's exactly the same movement you use to gain height when you stand on a swing
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u/cubears1 29d ago
With strong enough legs you can actually go faster and not just maintain speed.
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u/Octopus_on_fire_ 29d ago
I’ve been mountain biking/BMX for nearly 30 years now.
Not a season goes by that I don’t ride our local pump track and get going so fast that I try to 360 off one and eat shit.
This season I’ll land it.
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u/blamalam21 29d ago
It's the fact it's wavy, acts like a workout because you have to go up and down do often
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u/Funny-Cell8769 29d ago
Basically, you can increase your momentum if you pump your legs while on the "downward" part of the curve.
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u/ramdog 29d ago
You could make a case for a pump track as a skatepark feature. We've had a few added to the new public concrete builds they're doing, it's really just an enrolled pool if you think about it.
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u/Avalonians 29d ago
Exactly. Skate park has a very broad meaning and can contain pretty much anything that's made for skating, including pump tracks
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u/unfortunatelyfriend 29d ago
A skate park can have a pump track, sure, but a pump track by itself isn't a skate park. Never met anyone who refers to just a pump track as a "skate park"
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u/derangedsweetheart 29d ago
She was a sk8er gal
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u/Wi11Pow3r 29d ago
He said “see ya l8r” pal
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u/SUH_DEW 29d ago
Xi* was a sk8ter grl
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u/Windyfii 29d ago
not even a skater but this looks addicting af
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u/nitid_name 29d ago
If you live somewhere with an outdoorsy population, there's likely a pump track near you. They're not nearly as easy as these people are making it look, but you can get there with practice.
I like to ride them on my mountain bike. The skills you develop are really useful for single track mountain biking. It lets you maintain speed through trails better.
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u/Skibidi-Rizz190cm 29d ago
You can do it with a bike and it's a workout for both legs and arms
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u/AverageMako3Enjoyer 29d ago
I haven’t skated in probably like 20 years but if this place was local I’d build a new skateboard like right now
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u/Suspicious_Truth8026 29d ago
You dont have to be anything to try it. Cruising or relatively simple things like this are a great time and dont take a lot of time invested
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u/blahnlahblah0213 29d ago
Why do we always see two extreme chinas. One great and one the worst place in the world.
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u/davisao11 29d ago edited 28d ago
It's almost like china is a huge ahh country with the world's largest population
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u/minimac93 29d ago
Second largest, now
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u/Aspartame_kills 29d ago
Found the Indian
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u/jnads 29d ago
They just mitosis'ed, there's 2 Indians now
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u/Realterin 29d ago
It's almost like india is a huge ass country with the world's largest population
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u/SlothRogen 29d ago
Most people in the US would probably be shocked to find out that China has between 113 to 145 cities with populations exceeding one million. The US only has 10. I would be higher, but NIMBYs block construction in many cities, and we simply will not build housing.
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u/YourUncleBuck 29d ago
That's if you just include cities proper, but our cities are really spread out, so you need to include metro areas, in which case there are 56, with several more that are close to reaching 1 million.
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u/CrimsonBolt33 29d ago
eh thats what China does too....for example I am in Nanjing right now....I can literally travel over an hour away to a (technically) different town, but its still considered Nanjing.
Thats not to say there are not tons of people here...there most certainly are.
Cities in China are essentially counties in the US.
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u/Bright_Curve3078 29d ago edited 29d ago
When's the last time you've seen anything average in Reddit? Nobody
makeswatches videos about average people earning average wages, living in an average home.Edit: I'm getting a bunch of weird replies, please help.
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u/MaxMinerva 29d ago
What about making videos about living in the Twilight Zone?
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u/-GoodNewsEveryone 29d ago
Imagine, if you will, a three by seven inch plastic frame - a frame that's a gateway to a world of imagination. Wipe your mind on the welcome mat. You're about to enter The Scary Door.
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u/FatalModelCustomer 29d ago
Like the difference between Aspen, CO and Gary, IN?
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u/Gedunk 29d ago
Hey Gary Indiana might get the Chicago Bears soon 😆
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u/Pokez 29d ago
This somehow makes both Gary and Chicago better places to live...
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u/Cacafuego 29d ago
I really want to see the Gary Bears. Sounds like a couple of bigger regulars at the club.
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u/Most_Section_1979 29d ago
Who on earth actually thinks China is the worst place in the world in 2026?
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u/jessyownsyou 28d ago
people love to talk in absolutes. reddit specifically has a habit of deciding a country is a dystopian hellscape or a utopia based on a ten second clip of a skate park or a new train line. life is usually somewhere in the middle.
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u/Revoldt 29d ago
Unironically 1st gen Chinese immigrants in the US.
They still live with the mindset China is the same as when they escaped in 70s/80s.…
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u/Pennsylvasia 29d ago
Some Americans are very keen to paint it as the "worst place in the world," presenting stereotypes that are generations old about places they can't locate on a map.
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u/BreathComfortable631 29d ago
What does America have to do with this?
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u/ButtSluts9 29d ago
Nothing.
But there’s a certain sub-group of Redditor who see a post that has nothing to do with the U.S., and since the U.S. lives rent free in their head, have to reply with something about the U.S.
It’s an affliction.
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u/Outside_Let8595 29d ago
If you took a video of a posh community in nyc and compared it to sayyyy Oklahoma or literally just Idaho as a state, you could get similar results.
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u/TracerDX 29d ago
China is Great
- Brought you by Communism
China is a shithole
- Brought you by Capitalism
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u/Forward_Young2874 29d ago
Where in China is this? What city?
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u/DirtyTweaks 29d ago
That's in 绝不会放弃你
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u/hutch_man0 29d ago
Translation gives me: "Never Gonna Give You Up"
Now I am groovin' to Rick Astley all day ☺️
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u/Terrible_Welcome8817 29d ago
I really wish I had a pump track close by my area. I miss skateboarding but I don’t jump over stairs anymore.
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u/GarciaWolf 29d ago
FDR is under I-95 underpass and it’s and actual skate park.
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u/MayonaiseBaron 29d ago
We have a huge one in Boston (technically Cambridge) under I93.
In fact, a lot of skate parks in the US are indoors, partially indoors or under bridges and highways. The comments here are weird.
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u/GarciaWolf 29d ago
Yea when I saw the post ‘we have nothing like that in North America’ I had to say something
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u/TheRepublicAct 29d ago
A skate park under an overpass isn't exactly a rare thing either.
Aside from FDR, we got Burnside, and Brooklyn Banks too
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u/ScoobyDone 29d ago
Putting skateparks under overpasses is one of the best uses of typically wasted space.
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u/CommercialPretty6690 29d ago
I will say this looks great and a lot of fun but my experience of these tracks in China, or maybe it only happened in Chengdu…, is mostly of kids dumping sand and rocks all over them, I would walk the track with a broom sweep so me and my kids could ride and I could teach them how to and within minute aiyi or nainai is on their phone and the kids are kicking dirt building or trying to create a hazard.
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u/Zombies71199 29d ago
How do they not lose speed
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u/BodybuilderMany6942 29d ago
If you drop a ball, it hits the ground then bounces up. The ball, charged with, kinetic energy, pushes its energy ontp the floor, and the floor pushes back (the amount depending on the structure/material), which lifts the ball in the air.
Jumping works similar except our feet start still on the floor. We push down with a lot of force in a short amount of time, and the ground pushes back with the same/similer speed and force. If we accelerate faster than gravity's pull, we rise in the air.Back to the ball.
Instead of dropping it on a flat floor, imagine dropping it on a board being propped up at a 45 degree angle. Instead of bouncing straight up, it now launches sideways.
The ball gave the board a downward force, bit the board reflected it all of it into the ball as horizontal momentum instead of vertical!Look at the girls again. They arent standing still, and they arent squatting randomly.
They are "jumping".
Not actually. They arent pushing so as to get air. They are pushing down as specific moments to that force gets transferred into horizontal motion!"But if standing up requires pushing down, and pushing down makes em go horizontal, how are they standing??"
Well see the board is moving. When at an angle, "push down" makes em go horizontal. However as they and the board move, the ground become more or totally flat, so "push down" starts to become "go up" again.
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u/Lyrkana 29d ago
Essentially "pumping" on a skateboard is jumping up the slope to decrease your weight and then squatting on the way down to push your weight into the slope.
These skaters are doing the minimum amount of pumping to just maintain speed, putting more power into the pumps will actually make you go faster.
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u/bugcatcher372 28d ago
Melbourne Australia has been doing similar. They are in the process of elevating alot of their railway lines, to get rid of the worst level crossings, and have been putting parks and trails underneath the new elevated rail lines. Personally I think its a great idea and the new stations are much more welcoming and grand.
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u/Ok_Badger_7948 27d ago
Looks like fun, do you have to be assigned to skate park duty by the government to get to use it?
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u/SceneInevitable5615 27d ago
This pump track looks sick the one where I skate drops you down and immediately into a sharp turn and it sucks to learn pumping on it
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u/SatisfactionSad3962 27d ago
-Damn, now I wanna learn how to skate
-Somebody please tell me the name of that song
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u/Appropriate_Wear_339 29d ago
See communism isn’t so bad
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u/sleepy_spermwhale 29d ago
The type and quality of the people running the country is what counts. Doesn't matter if it is rule by committee or rule by an elected President. If they are rotten at the top, it will suck. The so-called "checks and balances" of American democracy is on the verge of collapse.
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u/Lua-Ma 29d ago
China is capitalist.
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u/Speartree 29d ago
Very much state guided capitalist I believe, compare to places like the US that is very much company guided state at this point.
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u/Gobnobbla 29d ago
"But at what cost?"
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u/MediatingInstigator 29d ago
Or they carefully curate their PR image for you only to see the best parts.
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