According to a graphic in today's Wall Street Journal, the average commuter spends 34 hours delayed by traffic a year. The article compares this to the time of two performances of Wagner's Ring Cycle. Average traffic delays for San Francisco are an even longer 49 hours, allowing residents of the Bay Area to take in an extra cycle.
8 comments:
One can always listen to the Ring while stuck in traffic!
I dislike cars, commuting and "The Ring," so the math equaled out to a happy zero. And why are you reading that fascist rag, the WSJ?
y2k: A couple of years ago I drove from SF to LA & back playing the Ring in the car, & I did not get through the whole thing.
sfmike: I hate to drive, so I try to avoid car trips as much as possible myself. I think the WSJ is very entertaining! I also take the Financial Times. They both have daily arts coverage. I also like to read the Economist when it comes my way.
The way I'm reading it, it's like "it could be worse: you could be stuck in a Ring Cycle instead of traffic".
All of a sudden I look forward to my morning commute.
Immanuel: Perhaps if would have been more relevant to express the time stuck in traffic as 8 performances of Philip Glass's Music in 12 Parts or 7 performances of Einstein on the Beach.
Or: if you don't like the Ring, you could listen to the third of Webern's Five Pieces for Orchestra 3090 times (or 4454 times if you're driving in the Bay Area). Goodbye Bayreuth, hello Vienna!
I'd be fast asleep half way through the first Einstein on the Beach, let alone seven!
If one prefers Vienna to Bayreuth, perhaps one could measure the lost time in complete Mahler cycles, one of which might last as long as a Ring.
There are probably many people who would be fast asleep or worse after a couple hours of Wagner too!
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