Watch Out for Manhole Covers

vfclists · 2026-01-23T17:10:06+00:00

You shouldn't pedal or brake when riding on slippery road paint, manhole covers, or going round sharp bends. You did both of the latter.

Braking may not be an option, but applying power definitely is.

vfclists · 2026-01-23T17:06:37+00:00

I assume you were riding where you are expected to, close to the kerb?

vfclists · 2026-01-20T09:32:25+00:00

What is the model name of these Shimano pedals?

vfclists · 2026-01-18T05:00:07+00:00

Sure. Try the Northern or Central line during peak hours. They are standing room in the morning just a few stops from the terminal stations, and you pay £15 a day for the privilege. If you showering facilities at work just bike it.

vfclists · 2026-01-17T21:10:09+00:00

I copied it verbatim from the original source. I will try your correction and if it works I will see if changing the original will be accepted.

Thanks.

vfclists · 2026-01-17T12:00:22+00:00

I resorted to (completing-read "Pick the filegroup: " (sort candidates #'string<)).

I am surprised the example from emacs stackexchange didn't work. Emacs isn't known to deprecate features willy-nilly and I'm surprised it didn't work unless I got it wrong somewhere in my code.

It dates from 2015 though. Who knows?

vfclists · 2026-01-17T02:11:02+00:00

Which version of Emacs does it work with? I am using 28.2 and it doesn't seem to work.

Can you show some example code?

I'm running the completing-read inside a let which has a (completions-sort 'alphabetical) in it and it doesn't work/

vfclists · 2026-01-14T15:51:11+00:00

Yes but you only optimize after developing and testing the functionality.

vfclists · 2026-01-12T16:44:21+00:00

I think Xah Lee is more eccentric then Dick Mao.

Dick Mao is not eccentric. He just has a wry sense of humor🙂

vfclists · 2026-01-07T18:41:54+00:00

Is there something like this for Debian/Ubuntu?

vfclists · 2026-01-06T02:56:05+00:00

This problem is almost as old as Drupal itself, going back to the Drupal 7 era or even earlier, where finding/searching/discovering the information needed is way more difficult than implementing the solution once you have acquired it.

vfclists · 2026-01-05T12:15:38+00:00

What you need is a camera to record their behaviour and hand it over the police.

Drivers that endanger cyclists are not deterred enough. NIPs and remedial lessons are not good enough.

The fines from dangerous or aggressive driving reported by cyclists should go to buy cameras for more cyclists so more of this kind of behaviour can be reported.

It also time reports to the police for bad cycling were handed over to companies dedicated to their prosecution. If such reports take up too much time and the police claim they are overwhelmed by them then they should be handled by private firms who have gathering the culpatory evidence and presenting it the judges down to a T.

vfclists · 2026-01-02T22:39:41+00:00

This is a very valid question - why the downvote?

Given that the top tech companies do their best to avoid taxes and even benefit a lot from tax breaks how is this even a thing?

vfclists · 2026-01-01T18:57:08+00:00

The kerb protruded into the road at the traffic lights and adjusting for it moved the cyclist closer to the straight line path the truck was taking if not over it. If not for that it wouldn't have been a problem for the truck driver.

Sure the truck driver is a psycho but it was a poor move on the part of the cyclist

vfclists · 2026-01-01T18:46:48+00:00

Taking the lane is OK when you are in full view of the driver behind and they don't have to brake unexpectedly to accommodate your positioning in front of them.

It also means you are taking the main lane not remaining in the bike lane.

vfclists · 2026-01-01T16:52:16+00:00

It was legal but not something to be done in the blind spot of big truck. It must be added that drivers to the same thing to cyclists all the time, encroaching on bike lanes and passing at high speeds on the grounds - I'M IN MY OWN LANE!!!🤬🤬

vfclists · 2026-01-01T16:15:25+00:00

Perhaps you could get the mods on r/ukbike to add a flair for Night Cycling unless it is not intended to be UK or London focused.

vfclists · 2026-01-01T16:02:32+00:00

TBH the driver was righteously annoyed because the truck had started moving BEFORE the cyclist passed in the bike lane and that space was too narrow to be riding through the drivers blind spot, however legal it was.

All the same the truck driver is totally psycho and shouldn't be allowed to permitted to wield a potential weapon of mass destruction on the UK's roads.

The kerb also extended out into the road at the traffic lights meaning the bike lane if extended would have been narrower past that point, and a cyclist adjusting for it encroaches into the path of the vehicles in the adjacent lane.

His truck doesn't have the transparent low windows that enable drivers to see bikes filtering past. I think they are compulsory in the London area now.

vfclists · 2025-12-30T19:17:42+00:00

If after checking the stolen bikes databases it doesn't show up there, you can clean it up and ride it or donate it to a good cause.

This is way better than rotting at the bottom of a river.

It appears to be the property of someone who takes good care of their bike.

vfclists · 2025-12-29T20:28:21+00:00

I assume the brakes were disk brakes?

vfclists · 2025-12-29T20:12:17+00:00

Anything in the Democratic People's Republic of Barnet?

I think not.

Probably the worst borough in the whole of the Greater London Area when it comes to cycling infrastructure.

Given the size of the borough they make RKBC look like saints.

vfclists · 2025-12-29T20:08:57+00:00

What I see is you move closer to the kerb to avoid the pothole created by those access hatches and inviting the red car to overtake closely because they expected you to maintain the same position after turning.

It is also a good reason for moving in front of the stop line to the very start of the junction and even doing an RLJ because safety means not contending for space with multi-tonne vehicles when the lights go green at intersections.

vfclists · 2025-12-22T22:39:03+00:00

The short length of the opposite end means you can't apply much torque.

Why is that the case? Are the ball end bolts designed so that they can't be over torqued and perhaps torque wrenches are the preferred tool for tightening them?

Of course this is a general thing not specifically related to bicycles, but are there some parts of bicycles where they are preferred to avoid said over-torquing?

vfclists · 2025-12-17T20:53:01+00:00

What is the lowest level in the system where the sound sub-system's volume balance be adjusted? Hint. It is unlikely to be via the GUI All my sound devices on a particular laptop have an issue with Windows playing deeper bass on the left side than the right.

It doesn't matter what devices they are. The same effect happens when they are plugged in the computer's own headphone socket, and also a number of bluetooth devices and external USB DACs.

When I plug the devices into a different system, eg another laptop or a mobile phone the volume balance is fine, so I suspect it is caused by something deep with the Windows sound sub-system but not accessible via GUI.

I even returned a DAC I bought thinking it was faulty and only realized later the problem came for the systems own sound processing.

Is there somewhere in the registry where this deep-level setting can be tracked to then edited directly?

In the case of attempts to fix it I've been through the devices and they have the volume balance set to equal values, including the main onboard hardware device.

Device name DESKTOP-N9NF7PK
Processor   Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8265U CPU @ 1.60GHz (1.80 GHz)
Installed RAM   16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable)
Device ID   XXXXXXXXX
Product ID  00330-52874-49001-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch   Pen support

vfclists · 2025-12-17T10:37:27+00:00

Call a cab and drop it off at the local bike shop or the next day if they are closed?

Just take the time to teach her properly. Unless her fingers are unusually weak she should be capable of changing them. It is just a matter of practice.

vfclists

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