Layman's Law About the Internet & Gadgetbahn

Richard Layman has come up with the gadgetbahner equivalent of Godwin's Law in the Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space blog:

Layman's Law for Discussions about Transit is:

"As an online discussion about transit grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving monorails or personal rapid transit systems approaches 1." In other words, given enough time, in any online discussion about fixed rail transit, someone inevitably criticizes some point made in the discussion by declaring the technology obsolete, offering the example of monorail and/or personal rapid transit systems as more advanced and superior technologies.

Recent news about the ongoing, worldwide pod boondoggle:

Duluth News Tribune article about Taxi 2000 trying to restart Duluth pod project - hilarious comments.

PRT is so not happening at Heathrow.

Pod people invade Newport News ( the article quotes retired professor Vukan Vuchic)

Bizarre hearing for wacky Jpods proposal for Hull, Massachusetts. Video: Bill James Pitches Jpods Resolution to Hennepin County.

Daventry says "Pods Off!". also see the Daventry anti-pod Facebook page.

Taxi 2000 lobbyist and Bachmann pal Ed Cain also lobbied for the phony U.S. Navy Veterans Association charity.

The Swedish/Korean PRT prototype malfunctioned in front of the media.

The Masdar PRT (actually computer-guided golf carts that follow magnets imbedded in the roadway) has been scaled way back, This setback got a mention in the NY Times and confirmed in this Bloomberg article.

The so-called Morgantown PRT (it's a mundane people-mover) was the subject of a student newspaper editorial after a malfunction created a "fireball" and filled a vehicle with smoke. The cost of fixing the Morgantown boondoggle is $93 million. Twitter Reveals Morgantown WVU Personal Rapid Transit's Frequent Breakdowns.