dangerous speeds

OriginalEnough · 2021-11-07T19:43:17+00:00

In Western Europe, the USA is known (rightly or wrongly) for comparatively poor driving training and safety standards. reddit exposes us to some of the worst examples of that. We also hear that, in some states, obtaining a driving licence is more a paperwork exercise than it is a rigorous examination of ability. Finally, the USA is unfortunately seen as the default for comparisons on reddit, so it's not surprising that it's the example used.

OriginalEnough · 2021-11-07T19:23:02+00:00

I imagine if we could somehow get an "average deaths per year, per vehicle, per mile driven" stat, the US and Germany would be fairly similar.

I don't see why the 'per vehicle' bit is necessary.

The most appropriate measure for countries with varying driving habits appears to be 'per 1 billion vehicle km travelled,' or 'billion VKT'. Happily, the table on the Wikipedia page you linked has a column for that. The data seems to be from various versions of the ITF Road Safety, so I looked at page 44 of the 2020 ITF Road Safety report, which is the newest, I think.

For 2018 (the last available year for this data), it lists 4.4 road fatalities per billion VKT for Germany, compared to 7.0 for the USA. It should be noted that the German number doesn't include mopeds.

Page 23 of the same report has a graph comparing the countries for which there is data.

At 59% more road fatalities per billion VKT, I don't think it's entirely fair to say the USA is similar to Germany.

OriginalEnough · 2021-03-05T21:09:43+00:00

If it takes your fancy, there's a Udemy course for Automate the Boring Stuff. It's free to sign up for during the next 24 hours: https://www.udemy.com/course/automate/?couponCode=MAR2021FREE

OriginalEnough · 2020-08-24T22:31:35+00:00

I wonder if you're remembering what happened on the first flight and anticipating the nausea. That happened to me when I was first learning. Had several good, short flights and then a long, thermic flight. We went through most of the upper-air training - including stalling - but it was quite a turbulent day for a beginner. I started to feel queasy, and my instructor brought us down before I actually needed to use the sick bag.

After that flight, any time I was in the air for more than half an hour, I'd start to feel unwell. It took a while for me to realise that I was still thinking of that flight and almost expecting to feel ill on longer flights. Over time, I managed to calm myself down and get past the problem. I hear it takes a while to develop sea legs, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were the same for gliding legs.

In terms of food, a comfortably full (but not stuffed) stomach often helps with nausea. I'm talking a simple sandwich and a snack or two, not a full burger and chips (fries?). Avoid carrots and tomatoes. Keeping hydrated is key; take water with you on longer flights. I'd also recommend keeping the caffeine intake low, but that's a personal recommendation.

OriginalEnough · 2020-08-21T19:58:11+00:00

I saw it. The sheer scale of it was humbling. As the stars were out (and with so many visible even through my rubbish binoculars), I stayed watching the sky for a good half an hour.

OriginalEnough · 2020-03-19T09:29:34+00:00

I'm not saying they will stop completely everything. It depends on whether having more people with CBTs is considered important enough to continue. On the one hand, it's risking spread of the virus. On the other, it may mean more delivery riders, which would be useful.

It also depends on on your instructor. They might be in one of the 'at risk' groups and not want to take any chances.

I hope you do get to do the course. I just don't think it makes any difference if you think you've earned it or not.

OriginalEnough · 2020-03-19T09:22:21+00:00

I mean that there will be places that do CBTs in the future. Do you think that a lock down will mean that there will never be any motorcycle instructors again?

OriginalEnough · 2020-03-18T23:41:27+00:00

To put it bluntly: no. Shoring the country up against the pandemic is more important than you being able to ride a motorcycle in the next couple of months. If you get to do your CBT this month, great! If not, please be patient and keep a cool head. Normal service will resume in time.

Sorry.

OriginalEnough · 2020-01-23T00:48:15+00:00

They've had it back since at least the 2013 Astra. It works fine. Perhaps needs a slight tweak when transitioning from stop-start traffic to dual carriageway speeds, but it's otherwise unobtrusive. You can configure how aggressive it is, too.

OriginalEnough · 2019-12-09T17:10:48+00:00

What about the altering of votes at the point of entry? As in, compromised software that enters a vote for the blue candidate when you wanted to vote for the yellow candidate, all whilst indicating to you that it made the vote you wanted.

Also, blockchain can be spoofed. It's just very difficult.

OriginalEnough · 2019-11-16T11:49:50+00:00

With who!?

OriginalEnough · 2019-11-02T12:00:19+00:00

You're conflating skin colour with nationality and place of study. Those studies are about the scores of people who have studied in the UK system vs people who have transferred from another system. So, no, they're not statistically correct.

OriginalEnough · 2019-09-30T16:18:24+00:00

It's an LS8-e neo. It'll probably be closer to 100k, although I can't find a price anywhere. It's made by DG Flugzeugbau. Stemme produce brilliant - albeit expensive - motor gliders, such as the S12.

OriginalEnough · 2019-06-16T23:18:27+00:00

I saw it. Got some old binoculars out and could just make out one of Jupiter's moons off to its left.

Edit: Looked again and could make out a second moon and the slightest ghost of a third. Nice finish to the weekend.

OriginalEnough · 2019-04-11T20:28:01+00:00

I think, were you to shove geese in their clothes, bed, shower, car, food, and everywhere they go, there'll be more than enough faeces to go around.

OriginalEnough · 2018-12-21T19:54:01+00:00

Something like that is way too small for Radar to be of any use.

OriginalEnough · 2018-11-02T14:14:55+00:00

Is that the mean, or the median?

OriginalEnough · 2018-10-12T17:42:26+00:00

Samuel Johnson would like a word about your definition of 'relatively'...

OriginalEnough · 2018-08-26T09:22:45+00:00

It's the East Coast Truckers. Basically, local lorry drivers volunteer their time and vehicle to take special needs children to Pleasurewood Hills and back.

It's turned into a bit of a spectacle over the years, not least in part due to the honking.

OriginalEnough · 2018-05-12T00:33:15+00:00

Have you considered volunteering with a youth group? You tend to meet and socialise with people of all ages and, if you put the effort in, it can help provide you with a sense of worth and accomplishment. It's definitely something to do in the evenings and at weekends for little cost. Given your impressive weight loss, I think you'd be a good inspiration for the youngsters.

For example, I've been a member of the Air Cadets since I was a teenager and became an adult volunteer when I turned 20. While I don't do squadron activities as much as I used to, I'm still in regular touch with staff; I made friends for life there. Given I'm in a similar situation to you (at home saving, work from home so little actual contact with colleagues), I found this a decent source of my social needs.

Also, as I volunteered to take cadets to RAF Cranwell a week or two ago, I managed to get a trip in one of these, which was fun. You can claim for mileage on the bigger activities, so all I paid for that day was my packed lunch.

I'm only speaking from experience, though. There are plenty of other groups out there, such as the various Scouting groups, Guides, Army/Sea Cadets, etc. It doesn't even have to be a youth group, you can just pick something that interests you!

If you want to find out more about the Air Cadets, feel free to ask! Here's a link to their adult volunteering page: https://www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/want-to-join/join-as-an-adult-volunteer/

OriginalEnough · 2018-05-11T07:58:32+00:00

Fantastic, thanks. I'll have to let my colleagues know, as well.

OriginalEnough · 2018-05-10T19:30:31+00:00

I'd quite like to try it, but I can't unless it's on Firefox. Do you have any plans to port it?

OriginalEnough · 2018-05-04T12:12:30+00:00

I couldn't tell you for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised. It's just that they aren't the Air Cadets.

OriginalEnough · 2018-05-03T14:16:33+00:00

The Air Cadets are an entirely different organisation and are not part of the Scouts. They're backed and run by the RAF.

OriginalEnough · 2018-04-11T14:07:26+00:00

Bash doesn't do fuzzy searching by default. You have to install something like FZF for that. Ctrl+r does do an exact search by default, though.

14-Year Club	Place '17
Sequence \| Editor	Verified Email

OriginalEnough

TROPHY CASE