[HN Gopher] The engineering behind the San Antonio River Walk
___________________________________________________________________
The engineering behind the San Antonio River Walk
Author : impish9208
Score : 100 points
Date : 2025-01-07 22:10 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (practical.engineering)
(TXT) w3m dump (practical.engineering)
| robertclaus wrote:
| I thought the way he referenced the hydraulic pumps compared to
| electric motors with gear shafts was interesting.
| dgfitz wrote:
| The engineering is fascinating. The river walk itself is hardly
| worth the trip.
| dylan604 wrote:
| It's the same thing as anyone recommending a visit to high
| street, the Santa Monica 3rd Street promenade, SF's
| Embarcadero, NYC's 5th Ave or Times Square, or any other
| touristy area of a city. It is what it is.
| bombcar wrote:
| I find those to be highly worth visiting if you're in the
| area.
|
| But few are worth making them the centerpiece of an entire
| trip.
| db48x wrote:
| It's a pleasant spot. Texas is dry and hot as a rule, but the
| river walk is a level below the city, right at the water's
| edge, with trees providing ample shade for the whole length. If
| you are visiting San Antonio you will definitely want to eat
| lunch there so that you can be in the shade during the hottest
| part of the day.
|
| But is it special enough to make it worth a trip to San Antonio
| just to see the it? No, probably not. You probably live near a
| river, and there are probably restaurants with a deck you can
| sit on while you eat lunch. Go to San Antonio to see the Alamo
| and remember all who died for your freedom there, then as long
| as you're in the area go to the river for a leisurely lunch.
| closewith wrote:
| > remember all who died for your freedom there
|
| The Mexicans or the Texans?
| SR2Z wrote:
| The Texans were fighting for the slaveholding Republic of
| Texas, the Mexicans for a dictator.
|
| Probably not your freedom specifically, but the vague
| concept.
| superq wrote:
| No Mexicans died for anyone's freedom, including their own
| or other Mexicans. They were serving under a dictator and
| didn't have a choice. (And, yes, there were some slaves in
| Texas, but comparatively few compared to the rest of the
| South.)
|
| The small force there knew they would eventually be
| massacred by the thousands of troops surrounding them. The
| defenders held them off for 13 days. When they requested
| parley, Santa Anna signaled no quarter. Legend has it that
| Davy Crockett was on the roof, fighting to keep the horde
| from coming up the ladder, but he died with the rest of
| them.
|
| Santa Anna ordered the execution of the six surviving
| prisoners of war. The Alamo defenders fought bravely and
| died in support of an idea: that men can govern themselves
| and live in freedom. It would take another 30 years before
| the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, would sign
| the Emancipation Proclamation and free the slaves.
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| This is pretty revisionist. Slavery wasn't some ancillary
| factor that just happened to exist in Texas. It was core
| to the anglo side of the Texas revolution. The War Party
| was strongly proslavery and the increasing (Mexican)
| federal push towards abolition was a key point for them.
| They especially hated a Mexican predecessor to the
| Emancipation Proclamation called the Guerrero decree that
| (attempted to) free most slaves in the northern states.
| After independence, they wrote slavery into the
| constitution and some of the first laws passed prohibited
| slaveowners from freeing slaves without government
| approval. The events in Texas were just one of half a
| dozen revolutions opposed to Mexican federal
| centralization around the same time.
|
| None of this was politically palatable after the American
| Civil War and people certainly weren't going to focus on
| the non-anglo sides of the revolution that weren't so
| deeply proslavery, so the narrative that's taught in
| schools was sanitized.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Not a bad comment until BAM! The Alamo is such a lackluster
| disappointing building. It's tiny. Even if you know it is
| small, it is still impressive in how small it really is. It
| is the exact opposite of knowing how big the Grand Canyon is
| but still being amazed at its size when you visit in person.
| It's also a total let down in that no bicycles were found
| there.
| esalman wrote:
| It's pretty much the only thing to see South of Austin. Except
| for Big Bend but that's further West.
| superq wrote:
| Starbase, too and the hill country towns. And also way out
| west, Marfa.
| mleo wrote:
| Having grown up in San Antonio, I have many memories of spending
| time as a teenager downtown and around the river walk.
|
| The best time to visit is during the riverboat parade after
| Thanksgiving. Everything is lit up and many restaurants along the
| route offer dinner and nice views. Going during the summer can be
| incredibly hot and uncomfortable.
| TechPlasma wrote:
| Grew in San Antonio as well and one of the best parts about the
| Riverwalk is that it offers a fantastic pedestrian corridor
| across almost the entirety of downtown San Antonio and connects a
| lot of really interesting places, The missions down south, Pearl
| Brewery and it's shopping district, downtown mall and Convention
| center as well as La Villita and The Art Museum.
|
| Sure you can walk the streets but getting around via the
| Riverwalk is actually extremely pleasant. I really love how
| convinient of a convention city San Antonio is.
| dinkumthinkum wrote:
| I would highly endorse the Practical Engineering YouTube channel,
| it's quite nice!
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-01-11 23:00 UTC)