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When visiting Wrostercheister, I took my son to view the famous railroad switchyard. All manner of locomotives, passenger trains and freight cars were in action coupling, uncoupling and changing tracks, accompanied to a cacophony of groaning engines and screaming whistles.
We entered the large stationhouse
and were surprised to find the ground floor almost fully occupied with an extensive model railroad. The HO model was, we realized, a switchyard, the same switchyard as outside, but on a scale of 1/87. No one ran the model trains; it was computer controlled to exactly mimic the movements and clamor of the real trains outside.
Imagine our astonishment when a guide approached and lifted off the roof of the model stationhouse to reveal a 1/7569 scale model of the same switchyard complete with moving,1mm long locomotives and train cars. I strained to see if I could spy a miniscule model of myself peering over the tiny railway.
The guide with tweezers then carefully lifted the 3mm roof of that stationhouse and pulled down a ceiling-mounted microscope to allow visitors to view the 1/658503 model railroad within.
A copy of its 0.03mm stationhouse 1/57289761 model-filled interior could be viewed nearby under a more powerful microscope. An even smaller silicon railway with nano-trains could be seen in the next room on an electron microscope.
Returning to the car, we noticed excavations for an immense stadium-size building that would cover the entire switchyard. The billboard displayed its design: a scaled up railroad stationhouse.
Self-referential toys
Self-referential_20toys (blatant plug) [hippo, May 14 2005]
[link]
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nesting train station buildings?. a smaller one inside a bigger one and on down to microscopic. |
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"This Russian doll manfacturer in consortium with a Japanese nanotech company has just put in a last minute bid for your new switchyard contract. Would you like to take a look at it?" |
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"What's their pricing like?" |
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"Just give it to them then." |
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"Scientists at CERN working under a new grant have discovered a new fundemental particle which they name the Switchyardon..." |
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Your son is so very lucky to have such a creative daddy. The huge one would be scary to me, if I was a little lad, but the teeny one would be waaay cool! + |
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By extrapolation, this means that when
you started your visit, you were strolling
around in the beam of the world's
largest electron microscope. I bet that
stung. |
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Actually, maybe I mean 'intrapolation'. |
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There is nothing I do not love about this idea. Not the least of which it incorporates trains. |
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"Welcome to Mandlebrot Junction, next stops will be Nano, Macro and Infinitum stations." |
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