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Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by l0b0 on Friday June 23, 2023 @08:34PM (#36454121)
Same - I used the simple "rule" that basically everything that's in the park and used to carry people or goods is a "vehicle" at least by some people's standard. But you can fly a plane across the globe without going through 15 separate immigration rituals, so for most practical purposes (obviously excluding things like no-fly zones or bomber planes) the plane is not "in" any of the areas it passes over.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by jorvi on Friday June 23, 2023 @08:37PM (#36454152)
Funnily enough, by your wide standard, any footwear would also be considered a vehicle.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by bhaney on Friday June 23, 2023 @08:40PM (#36454185)
That would depend on your definition of "carry." I personally wouldn't say that shoes "carry" people any more than floors do (which is to say, they don't).
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by jorvi on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:12PM (#36454413)
We need to go deeper!

I would say those two things are very different. The ground (floors are inside) is the cooperating object upon which leading objects carry.

The shoes carried the person on the ground, the car carried the person on the ground, the horse carried the person on the ground, etc;

An interesting dilemma does occur if we are walking barefoot: our feet carry us but are part of our whole, so we cannot reasonably consider them or ourselves a vehicle. But in a general day-to-day sense we would say they carry us.

It is very interesting what you brought up because I think it shows some people consider their outfit as an extension of themselves. Then again, many people also do for their car :)

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dec0dedab0de on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:10PM (#36455105)
I would say those two things are very different. The ground (floors are inside) is the cooperating object upon which leading objects carry.

Since we're already taking it too far, I want to point out that you can have outside floors, and you can have floors that are not supported by the ground.

An airplanes floor in flight, or a dance floor in your backyard are examples of both.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by mathgeek on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:42PM (#36454609)
A more obvious example is a pregnant woman, or a woman holding a baby. Both can reasonably be called “carrying a human”.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by klyrs on Saturday June 24, 2023 @12:30AM (#36455590)
Just to pick the nit, what about stilts? Are they shoes or vehicles?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by Qwertious on Saturday June 24, 2023 @01:11AM (#36455769)
By the same logic, wouldn't rollerblades also not carry people (and by extension, not be vehicles)?

Rollerblades, skis, snowboards, skateboards, scooters, bikes.

IMO the definition of a vehicle comes down to how wieldy, how large, and how powerful the device is - for instance car is obviously a vehicle as it's very powerful, has a large turning radius, and large area. The interesting thing about this is that there's an argument that scooters are not vehicles but skateboards are - scooters are far easier to control (i.e. more wieldy) whereas skateboards have a tendency to launch the user in one direction and the skateboard in the other, which makes it rather unwieldy.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by whelp_24 on Saturday June 24, 2023 @08:17AM (#36458047)
I would argue it's able mechanical advantage. Everything you listed is a vehicle. Also, skateboards are far more agile than scooters when used by people who know how to ride them. Scooters are just easier for novices.

I would only consider skates to be slightly ambiguous because they are shoes that are mounted but worn. but still, i say vehicle

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by version_five on Friday June 23, 2023 @08:44PM (#36454217)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vehicle

Other definitions include an agent of transmission (e.g. for and infection) and a medium though which something is displayed (dance is the vehicle for my creativity). Would have been interesting to see the different definitions exploited vs more strained classification of shoes or skates or whatnot as vehicles.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Saturday June 24, 2023 @11:30AM (#36459525)
Oh hahaha! This one didn’t occur to me, but ‘no vehicles in the park’ can literally be translated to mean no people in the park.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by megablast on Friday June 23, 2023 @08:56PM (#36454306)
So that includes wheelchair?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by l0b0 on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:07PM (#36454371)
Yep. Obviously this is a thought experiment, and the site did tell users to take the problem as stated very literally. So I basically went with two simple rules:

- Would anyone call it a vehicle?

- Is it in the park?

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by madeofpalk on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:08PM (#36454388)
So that includes wheelchair? Would anyone call it a vehicle?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by bhaney on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:20PM (#36454470)
Yes, I think it's reasonable to consider a wheelchair to be a vehicle. Especially the motorized ones.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by mcny on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:26PM (#36454496)
I said, no. A wheelchair is not a vehicle. In my opinion, the wheelchair is an extension of the person, and not a separate object as long as it is being used by someone who needs it.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by manwe150 on Friday June 23, 2023 @10:38PM (#36454923)
This seems a fun direction of thought. So does it cease to become a vehicle as soon as someone sits in it, and resume its functionality as a vehicle as soon as it is abandoned?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by Dylan16807 on Saturday June 24, 2023 @12:10AM (#36455471)
So whether it's a vehicle depends on how well the person in it can walk? I don't know about that. I'd rather just give exceptions.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by mcny on Saturday June 24, 2023 @10:30PM (#36464652)
Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I have older parents who can walk short distances but I'd rather they have the choice to use a wheelchair at an airport.

In general, no testing. Unless some people are being jackasses and doing something absurd like standing on wheelchairs jousting with long sticks holding up everyone in line.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by josefx on Saturday June 24, 2023 @12:45AM (#36455668)
What is your definition of need? If I need to meet friends in the park in five minutes I clearly need a car to get there in time. So the car would not be a vehicle in that case?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by mook on Saturday June 24, 2023 @01:54AM (#36455965)
Does a wheelchair become a vehicle if somebody who _can_ walk without it sits in it? Does that mean everyone in wheelchairs must be harassed (to find out if they need it)?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Saturday June 24, 2023 @11:38AM (#36459590)
Since the preamble mentioned this was a test of language literalness, before I answered the question, I looked up the definition of “vehicle”: “A means of carrying or transporting something” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vehicle

While it might be uncommon to call a wheelchair a vehicle, it fits the literal definition. I don’t understand the ‘extension of the person’ rationale, you’re still using the word ‘wheelchair’, and it’s obviously a separate object from a person. How would that rationale differ if you were talking about cars? Can I argue a car is an extension of me as long as I’m using it while I need it?

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by delecti on Saturday June 24, 2023 @04:44PM (#36462489)
It's a common sentiment among wheelchair users that the freedom they enable makes them feel like an extension of a person. In that context, for the purpose of the "vehicle" question, there's not much difference between a wheelchair, prosthetic leg, or eyeglasses.

I wouldn't say I'm entirely convinced, but it's at least convincing enough that I said that a wheelchair did not violate the "vehicle" rule. I can't define "vehicle" in a way that would satisfactorily justify that decision, but I'm comfortable with that.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by manwe150 on Tuesday June 27, 2023 @11:15PM (#36501832)
The Merriam-Webster definition tends towards a vehicle being something with a power source (something where the power source is not manual/manus/human) capable of moving other things. That would include any sort of powered chair, but not be a problem for a standard wheelchair. Interestingly the Oxford American dictionary explicitly includes a cart as a primary example however, and Wikipedia’s primary example of a vehicle is a bike.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by ClumsyPilot on Friday June 23, 2023 @10:37PM (#36454917)
Roller skates are clearly not a vehicle. Similarly, neither is a wheelchair. They are not reasonably separable form the person using them.

A bicycle actually goes on roads, follow rules and get a ticket for jumping a red light.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by wskish on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:19PM (#36455170)
It isn't so clear to me. If it conveys a human in any way that humans don't naturally move unassisted then in my mind it qualifies as a conveyance and hence a vehicle, especially in the sense of the the French véhicule, from Latin vehiculum (“a carriage, conveyance”), from vehere (“to carry”)
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by sethammons on Saturday June 24, 2023 @05:29AM (#36457077)
Stilts? How tall? Platform shoes? How tall?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by xyzzy_plugh on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:21PM (#36455177)
The person riding the bicycle does those things, the bicycle is a tool. A tool can't follow rules.

You can take roller skates off, get out of a wheelchair, and get off a bicycle.

Imagine you were wearing roller skates being pulled by a dog.

Imagine you were sitting in a chair, with a roller skate bound to each leg of the chair, rolling down a hill.

Imagine you were a flea in a roller skate rolling down a hill.

Imagine you were a dog in a wheelchair rolling down a hill.

Imagine you were a flea on a dog in a chair with roller skates on its legs rolling down a hill.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by bhaney on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:34PM (#36455266)
> Roller skates are clearly not a vehicle

I don't think that's particularly clear and I think a non-negligible number of people would disagree

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by talaketu on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:25PM (#36454486)
A wheelchair is used for transporting a person.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by michaelt on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:46PM (#36454638)
Personally I wouldn't call a wheelchair a vehicle for purposes of this question, but I think some people would call a wheelchair a vehicle, yes.

After all, bicycles are clearly vehicles, and bicycles and wheelchairs are both things with metal frames, wheels and seats designed to convey humans around under their own power.

Other than the placement of the wheels, the main difference is the character of its use.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by kevinmchugh on Friday June 23, 2023 @10:43PM (#36454955)
Speed and impact on the user are meaningful differences. I don't like bikes in parks (except those designed for them) because the bikes are moving much faster than anything else. For that reason I might feel that a small child on a bike is more permissible than an adult. Also that the carried skateboard is not a violation - I understand the rule to be about vehicle use more than presence
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by zimpenfish on Saturday June 24, 2023 @01:28AM (#36455834)
> I understand the rule to be about vehicle use more than presence

Which I guess is part of the point - the rule specifically does not say anything about use, only presence - but people (including me) are still interpreting the rule with a "usage" axis. Perfect demonstration that the "simple rules for Internet content that are easy to apply" assertion has fallen over at the first hurdle.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by bscphil on Saturday June 24, 2023 @02:12AM (#36456053)
> I think some people would call a wheelchair a vehicle

I think, just being overly annoying and literal, that the game shouldn't be answered by asking whether anyone would call a wheelchair a vehicle, but whether a wheelchair is a vehicle in the sense meant in the rule statement. I don't think it is, personally, though it's probably the closest non-vehicle in the list.

Strictly speaking, by the definition of "would anyone call this object a vehicle", every single thing on the list is a vehicle, because apparently at least ~2% of the quiz respondents said they were vehicles - including kites!

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by zajio1am on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:09PM (#36455099)
Would anyone not call it a vehicle?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by vkou on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:18PM (#36455160)
Because the vernacular definition of 'vehicle' in this context does not include crutches, wheelchairs, kites, or slippers.

It might include a powered mobility scooter.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by tuatoru on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:40PM (#36455305)
Kites, toy cars and toy boats are toys (to me).

Drones and balloons I would say are in the park, whereas aircraft (at normal altitudes) I would say are not. Unfortunately: I'd like more parks to have a protected square inch of silence.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Square_Inch_of_Silence 1. https://onesquareinch.org/

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by nostrebored on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:36PM (#36455281)
What’s the difference between a powered mobility scooter and a modern wheelchair?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by vkou on Saturday June 24, 2023 @12:09AM (#36455458)
Weight and top speed that most of their occupants reach, although I haven't looked closely at a lot of 'modern wheelchairs', so I may be off the mark.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by ThePowerOfFuet on Saturday June 24, 2023 @05:24AM (#36457046)
So no effective difference, then.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by vkou on Saturday June 24, 2023 @02:19PM (#36461246)
There's be a pretty big difference for someone that they ran into, just like I'd much rather be ran over by a golf cart, than by a Honda Civic.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by klyrs on Saturday June 24, 2023 @12:34AM (#36455613)
I wouldn't ordinarily define a wheelchair as a vehicle. But I looked up a definition:

a thing used for transporting people or goods

On this basis, I conclude that wheelchairs, roller skates and carried skatebords are vehicles, and horses are not (as thing implies non-sentience).

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by fragmede on Saturday June 24, 2023 @06:47PM (#36463331)
And what about after we get AGI on a computer in a car? Is Nightrider's KITT not a vehicle?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by klyrs on Saturday June 24, 2023 @10:47PM (#36464733)
An excellent question!
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by lostlogin on Saturday June 24, 2023 @02:33AM (#36456159)
What if the user wasn’t disabled?

Or if it was motorised?

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by talaketu on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:09PM (#36454393)
Let's say that in your opinion: (a) it's a vehicle, (b) it's in the park, (c) but the park authority doesn't have jurisdiction over the activity.

Is the correct resolution to deny (b)?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what "in the park" represents within the analogy.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by cgriswald on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:14PM (#36454420)
Humans carry all kinds of goods and often carry people. Even if we limit "goods" to exclude our personal effects, someone carrying takeout across a park—especially for someone else—could be considered a vehicle by that definition.

Additionally strollers, wagons, and other baby or child conveyances would also qualify.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by jrockway on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:15PM (#36454427)
> But you can fly a plane across the globe without going through 15 separate immigration rituals, so for most practical purposes (obviously excluding things like no-fly zones or bomber planes) the plane is not "in" any of the areas it passes over.

But you were specifically instructed to not use any laws local to your jurisdiction, and that's why this can happen. The 15 countries it flew over are members of the ICAO, which delegated some of their sovereignty to the common good of easy air travel. It could have easily worked out some other way; fly over our country without stopping for immigration, and we blow up your plane. (You can see this in action if you fly your plane from Canada to do a low approach over the White House. You probably won't be home for dinner.) Similarly, in the US, the FAA decides who can fly over your property and how low. These are not universal constraints on existence, just actual laws that people wrote down because nobody could agree on the details. I'd venture a guess that if you asked the average property owner if airplanes could fly over their property and stare at them in their hot tubs, they'd say "no". However, the law simply doesn't agree with them, and a satellite is photographing your underwear as we speak!

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by monocasa on Friday June 23, 2023 @10:16PM (#36454805)
But it's not really a local thing; I'd be shocked if there was a park which meaningfully controlled it's airspace. Practically the bounds of a park only go so high.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by gmane on Friday June 23, 2023 @10:33PM (#36454898)
I mean, while it's not technically just the park, I'm sure there are several parks on US Military bases where the airspace is restricted. Also, we can be the change we wish to see in the world: any park can be a park with a controlled airspace if you bring enough surface-to-air missiles into the park.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by bhaney on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:31PM (#36455248)
Do the missiles count as vehicles? Might not be able to bring them in.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by coryrc on Saturday June 24, 2023 @02:07AM (#36456027)
Do you consider them a conveyance for the warhead? Then yes.

But what if it's a single unit (no warhead) which only works via kinetic contact, then perhaps not a vehicle.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by flaminHotSpeedo on Saturday June 24, 2023 @03:53AM (#36456554)
That hypothetical airspace is restricted due to it being a military base... Which means you're applying other rules beyond what's written
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by jrockway on Saturday June 24, 2023 @02:03AM (#36456006)
That's how you see it, but not how most people see it. The "corner crossing" lawsuit got a LOT of coverage on Hacker News. Landowners claimed that merely floating over their property was trespassing. The courts disagreed.

Trust me, if there weren't any laws, people would be shooting down airplanes above their farms, or at the very least, writing a lot of angry letters to the FAA. The laws that we have right now allowing the freedom of air travel were hard-won and unpopular among those affected.

Therefore, the park in this exercise would mostly like try and shoot down the International Space Station, or else risk the reputation of not being strict against surfers carrying surfboards. It's exactly the same thing.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by flaminHotSpeedo on Saturday June 24, 2023 @03:58AM (#36456584)
Ignoring the fact that many of the corner crossing cases were bad faith arguments by landowners intentionally attempting to abuse the situation, I don't think anyone would argue that the park boundary is a prism that extends vertically to infinity.

So where do you draw the line?

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by jrockway on Saturday June 24, 2023 @03:13PM (#36461789)
It definitely extends to infinity. Why would it stop somewhere?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by zerocrates on Saturday June 24, 2023 @09:17PM (#36464307)
Why wouldn't it? If you think most people would consider a satellite passing overhead, an airplane flying high overhead, the Moon, the Sun, other objects in space etc. when directly overhead to be "in" a park, I think you'd be mistaken. And the results here bear that out, at least to the limited extent there were relevant questions.

Similarly a subway train passing underneath the park is not "in" the park, nor are vehicles that are at the antipode of the park on the polar opposite side of the Earth.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by flaminHotSpeedo on Monday June 26, 2023 @07:27PM (#36487198)
So you're saying that, for parks in there right location, for brief periods of time, parts of other plants, stars, and space are "part of the park"
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by emmelaich on Friday June 23, 2023 @10:33PM (#36454901)
> specifically instructed to not use any laws local to your jurisdiction,

To me, that doesn't change the answers much. You still have to have some definition of vehicle that inevitably assumes some context.

That to me means any human-propelled thing smaller than say a motorbike is not a vehicle.

So I only said 'is indisputably a vehicle' to cars and similar (even if was an ambulance or police car)

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by themaninthedark on Friday June 23, 2023 @09:18PM (#36454450)
You can fly a plane across the globe but the plane's flight path must be approved by each of the 15 countries before it is allowed in their airspace.

The countries often ask for passenger lists and manifests before they allow your plane to do so and have, in the past forced planes to land to get to passengers or suspected passengers on the plane they have an interest in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales_grounding_incident

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by monkeywork on Saturday June 24, 2023 @12:05AM (#36455439)
countries yes - because countries have airspaces. Parks typically do not - anymore than people flying over my house are not tresspassing.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Saturday June 24, 2023 @11:06AM (#36459317)
If you live in the U.S., people flying very low over your house probably are trespassing, you have air rights. (True in other countries too.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights Before commercial flight was common, air rights used to extend into space. Now they’re limited, but you have at least a few hundred feet.

Parks do have airspaces, obviously and literally, and more to the point, in the U.S. there’s existing legislation defining the altitudes that are considered “in” and out of the park.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by NegativeK on Saturday June 24, 2023 @11:51AM (#36459703)
US laws aren't relevant to the game, though.

Whether any airspace is included in the park is completely ambiguous in the game.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Saturday June 24, 2023 @12:05PM (#36459847)
I agree the question is intentionally ambiguous. I disagree that laws aren’t relevant, precisely because they will disambiguate. This isn’t specific to US laws, most countries globally have flight regulations. The game is using words and concepts to ask questions that can only be defined and answered by laws. The altitude and location matter, if you want to answer the question correctly. You cannot moderate the situation, and the question cannot be answered correctly without knowing the altitude and location and laws that apply, and that doesn’t mean that moderation is hard, it means the author is fabricating unnecessary amounts of ambiguity.

Asking intentionally ambiguous questions that existing laws already answer in order to make a point about the difficulty of moderation kind-of undermines the author’s intent here. He was trying to prove that unanswerable corner cases always exist, but it’s not true for the specific case of airlines over parks once you know the laws.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by fragmede on Saturday June 24, 2023 @06:27PM (#36463198)
How about quadcopter drones though? How about ones big enough to hold a human?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Monday June 26, 2023 @09:33AM (#36479472)
What about them? Both of those can violate air rights, and in the US both have FAA regulations that apply. I’m using the US as an example because I live in the US, but many many countries have similar regulations. Small drones need a remote pilot license, and drones large enough to carry a human require an actual aircraft pilot’s license just like any other airplane or helicopter. In a public park in the US, small drones are required to stay under 400 ft altitude above ground, inside the airspace of the park. (Small drones are also required to not fly directly above other people.) Aircraft with people in them are required to fly higher than that, which thus defines an altitude threshold above which is considered outside of land-based public and private property boundaries.

https://www.faa.gov/uas/commercial_operators/become_a_drone_...

The question in the quiz about flying airplanes over a park can be correctly answered with 3 pieces of information: the aircraft type, the park’s location, and the altitude. The question cannot be answered without that information. Contrary to the author’s attempted point, the correct answer to the question is not a matter of language ambiguity.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by fragmede on Monday June 26, 2023 @11:46AM (#36481289)
Interesting! But you didn't answer the question of if you consider a small quadcopter is a vehicle or not, just that there are rules about them. Small ones don't carry a person, or much of anything really.

Is a quadcopter at 399 ft in the park then? If it's at 401 ft, then it's not?

Yeah I saw all those rules. The FAA killed flying drones as a legal hobby for me.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Monday June 26, 2023 @09:08PM (#36487856)
Oh yeah I think a quadcopter can easily count as a (tiny) vehicle, if it’s, say, carrying a camera. I liked how someone pointed to the Merriam Webster page for “vehicle”, which includes things like “an agent of transmission” and “a medium through which something is expressed”. People fit the literal definition of vehicle!
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by emmelaich on Friday June 23, 2023 @10:44PM (#36454960)
Even for no-fly zones, we don't say 'in' the place. We say in the zone. We're over the place, but in the zone.

Is an airplane in your park if you put a roof over it? Is an airplane in your house?

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by pix128 on Friday June 23, 2023 @11:39PM (#36455302)
The plane question stated the plane was `over` the park which implies it is not in the park. If the question instead said `through` the park, the answer would differ.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by patmcc on Saturday June 24, 2023 @12:25AM (#36455565)
What if I fly a helicopter 10 feet off the ground, in the area of the park. Is that 'over' or 'through'?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by Qwertious on Saturday June 24, 2023 @01:04AM (#36455730)
Given that a helicopter at that speed is a clear hazard to anyone below it and will blow a person below it off their feet, and could easily be pushed around or into the ground at any time (sudden gusts of winds do happen, although I have no real experience with helicopters so I may be wrong on some specifics), that is through.

"the park" includes not only the ground, but also a certain area above the ground - otherwise someone riding a bike through the park wouldn't be in the park (as they are not touching the ground) but their bike would be. That would be absurd.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by patmcc on Saturday June 24, 2023 @01:48AM (#36455933)
Ok. What about 20ft off the ground? 50? 100? 200? 350?

You see the issue, yah?

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by kazinator on Saturday June 24, 2023 @02:28AM (#36456137)
Let's say we imagine a dome over the park which is geometrically a convex hull that encloses all the tree tops. Everything in that dome is in the park.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by notyoutube on Saturday June 24, 2023 @02:02AM (#36455996)
Given that the whole point of the website and the discussion is the fuzziness that any such rule implies, I'm pretty sure they _do_ see the point, but decided to play the interpretation game anyway. What's your point?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Saturday June 24, 2023 @11:51AM (#36459706)
Your list of altitudes didn’t go high enough to change the answer. ;) Drones (in the US and the UK) must be limited to 400ft/120m and are still considered “in” the airspace of the ground they’re over. Commercial aircraft flying at 35,000ft AGL are not considered to be in the airspace of a specific park or private property when over the U.S. (and most of the world, I suspect), but they are considered to be inside the country’s airspace, since park & private property airspace has a limited ceiling, but country airspace extends into space.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by fragmede on Saturday June 24, 2023 @06:29PM (#36463210)
What if it's using antigravity technology or magic to hover instead, posing no threat to the people below due to wind.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by ckolkey on Saturday June 24, 2023 @02:03AM (#36455999)
Through, no question. If someone in the park is able to interact with it, you're in it.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by fragmede on Saturday June 24, 2023 @06:32PM (#36463226)
What if it is a digital vehicle? If we're all wearing AR glasses, and can interact with it, is it there?
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by flaminHotSpeedo on Saturday June 24, 2023 @04:00AM (#36456590)
Depends on how you word the question. If you say the helicopter is flying 10 feet over the park, by the rules of this game it's objectively not a violation. If you say it's 10 feet above the ground inside the park, objectively a violation.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Saturday June 24, 2023 @11:27AM (#36459494)
In the U.S., by FAA law, flying a helicopter 10 feet off the ground in a public park is both over the ground and through (or “in”) the park. There’s no either-or.
Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by dahart on Saturday June 24, 2023 @11:24AM (#36459472)
The question intentionally left out the altitude of the vehicle in order to trick us into thinking it’s a harder question to answer than it really is. I agree that ‘over’ tends to somewhat imply out, and ‘through’ tends to imply in, and would indeed change the distribution of answers.

In at least some countries (such as the U.S., and I would speculate practically all countries in the age of commercial flight and private drones, but I don’t know that for a fact) there are laws that define whether flying “over” a public park means in our out, and the park’s bounding volume is defined with a specific altitude ceiling. (It may be different depending on the type of aircraft, e.g., civilian drone vs emergency helicopter vs commercial airliner, etc.)

The author’s trick worked. People are arguing over whether a hypothetical airplane is in the hypothetical park without knowing the altitude or location, rather than pointing at the fact that he question is intentionally under-specified and the right answer depends on important details that were left out.

Re:The rule says, “No vehicles in the park” by sethammons on Saturday June 24, 2023 @05:19AM (#36457012)
Backpack? Dog? Dog with a backpack? Horse? Riding a horse?

I say none are vehicles but I could see how one might.