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A comment on In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washington to San Francisco. Parent comment

Re:In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washingt... by dsfyu404ed on Monday July 08, 2019 @11:46AM (#20383700)
The most remarkable part of that is that they were willing to risk breaking bridges then broke them then fixed them on their own without being sued into doing so by the municipalities that owned the bridges. It truly was a different time.
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Re:In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washingt... by tantalor on Monday July 08, 2019 @11:49AM (#20383724)
Not sure why you're so shocked. This was standard practice back in the day for measuring & testing bridge capacity; you'd build the bridge then drive a bunch of heavy trucks over it until it breaks, then rebuild the bridge. That's just how things were done.

Reference: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/11/26

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Re:In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washingt... by mikelockz on Monday July 08, 2019 @01:14PM (#20384581)
Sounds like modern day software development.
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Re:In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washingt... by DenisM on Monday July 08, 2019 @03:26PM (#20385900)
MVB. Minimally Viable Bridge.
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Re:In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washingt... by dsfyu404ed on Monday July 08, 2019 @11:54AM (#20383767)
I said it was remarkable though upon reflection I guess that was mostly sarcasm. I guess I mostly wanted to call attention to the fact that that's how things were done back then and that things <gasp> actually got done.
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Re:In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washingt... by jefftk on Monday July 08, 2019 @01:13PM (#20384574)
The post you're replying to is citing the father from Calvin & Hobbes, so I suspect it's sarcastic.
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Re:In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washingt... by dTal on Monday July 08, 2019 @03:47PM (#20386096)
And yet, as evidenced, there's actually some truth to it! Who knew, eh?
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Re:In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washingt... by dragonwriter on Monday July 08, 2019 @04:11PM (#20386301)
It was a propaganda effort to get funding for road building. (That's what it means when they say the idea was “to develop a through route from coast to coast for motor transport”.)

Breaking bridges helped demonstrate the need.

Fixing bridges avoided lasting negative feelings towards the demonstration that could backfire politically.

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