Dumb things being crowdfunded.
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@Luhmann said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
there is an official concern that groups of bike racing enthusiasts are literally driving normal bikers of bicycle paths
That's going to get the likes of Strava into a lot of trouble if they ever get a judgement that they're abetting traffic violations.
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
If you are on a bicycle, you may as well be in the wasteland from Mad Max, because laws don't apply to you. Laws like stop signs...
That’s no different than here in the Netherlands. The vast majority of cyclists seem to never have heard of traffic rules at all. Red lights are for other people, hardly anyone indicates a turn (and when they do, don’t bother to look around before actually making the turn), switching on head- and taillights in the dark is too big an inconvenience to bother with, and so on.
Accidents waiting to happen, you’d think, but not frequently enough in my opinion. And I say that as someone whose main mode of transport is a bicycle …
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Time? Ain't nobody got no time for that
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/471038177/the-motto-time-without-the-clock
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@mott555 said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
So everyone tries to shove through the middle lane which doesn't work because it's full of governed semis trying to pass slightly more governed semis, and the left-lane campers vary their speeds so much that hardly anyone gets a chance to pass the mess.
They fixed that around here by installing electronic no-overtake signs for lorries and switching them on pretty much constantly.
Sometimes this leads to some pretty impressive right-lane-only traffic jams. But usually it keeps the slow idiots and lorries in the right lane going 80-90, the somewhat-faster idiots going 120 in the middle, and the left lane free for impatient crazy assholes like me in their Audis and BMWs pushing 200+.
I love the Autobahn.
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@ChrisH Don't forget the slightly-faster-than-120 idiots that just have to change to the left lane right now (without checking the mirror or using the blinker, of course) to overtake the oh-so-slow car in front of them with about 5 km/h speed difference -_-
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@bb36e said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Time? Ain't nobody got no time for that
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/471038177/the-motto-time-without-the-clock
Poe's Law, meet Kickstarter. Kickstarter, meet Poe's Law.
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@Akko said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@ChrisH Don't forget the slightly-faster-than-120 idiots that just have to change to the left lane right now (without checking the mirror or using the blinker, of course) to overtake the oh-so-slow car in front of them with about 5 km/h speed difference -_-
or the fucktards that drive in the extreme left lane and 50 meters short of the exit decide to take it and cut blindly across four lanes of traffic to make the exit.
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@accalia it should be legal to hunt those people for sport.
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@accalia it should be legal to hunt those people for sport.
I can get behind that plan.
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@accalia said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
or the fucktards that drive in the extreme left lane and 50 meters short of the exit decide to take it and cut blindly across four lanes of traffic to make the exit.
I saw a brilliant one the other week. Slip road off the motorway, the far left lane was going super slow, and I couldn't see why, until a car poked out to cut across the other exit lane, almost getting hit by someone coming up that lane, and back onto the chevrons to rejoin the motorway. Cutting across two lanes of traffic to get back onto the full speed road with no space to build up speed.
Presumably they'd taken the exit by mistake, but almost all UK motorway junctions (including this one) go up to a roundabout where you can exit onto whatever roads meet the junction, or go straight back on to the other side. They did a stupid, dangerous manoeuvre which was probably slower than just rejoining the road in the expected way a few hundred meters further on
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@Polygeekery
There are a number of USian states (Idaho being the first to have adopted the rule) that specifically allow for an "Idaho stop" rule for bicyclists. That basically means bicyclists can treat stop signs as yield signs. And similarly, many areas allow for "proceed on red light after stop if clear" for bicyclists, since they usually don't have enough metal to trigger the sensors at stop lights.(Or, to use another term that's common in the lingo for my part of the country, they can do a "California roll". But I think that's more colloquialism than actual legal term, like "Idaho stop" is).
I think it makes some sense in lower traffic areas to allow for rolling stops, because starting from a dead 0 is significantly more of a bitch on a bicycle than it is in a car (even a god-forsaken stick shift). What really grinds my gears are the bicyclists that ride {on sidewalks|on the wrong side of the road}. You're a car with benefits, ride like it...
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@accalia said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
or the fucktards that drive in the extreme left lane and 50 meters short of the exit decide to take it and cut blindly across four lanes of traffic to make the exit.
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@Luhmann said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@accalia said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
or the fucktards that drive in the extreme left lane and 50 meters short of the exit decide to take it and cut blindly across four lanes of traffic to make the exit.
..... ouch..... karma is reeally a bitch
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@Akko said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@ChrisH Don't forget the slightly-faster-than-120 idiots that just have to change to the left lane right now (without checking the mirror or using the blinker, of course) to overtake the oh-so-slow car in front of them with about 5 km/h speed difference -_-
Full-LED high beams work really well to wake those up. But yes, fuck them.
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@accalia said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Akko said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@ChrisH Don't forget the slightly-faster-than-120 idiots that just have to change to the left lane right now (without checking the mirror or using the blinker, of course) to overtake the oh-so-slow car in front of them with about 5 km/h speed difference -_-
or the fucktards that drive in the extreme left lane and 50 meters short of the exit decide to take it and cut blindly across four lanes of traffic to make the exit.
I'm moving in a couple weeks and can't wait to get out of my neighborhood. The roads here are really nonintuitive with lanes adding on and dropping off and not going where you expect. As a result, drivers who aren't familiar with the roads tend to suddenly cut across 4 lanes of traffic several times in a row in different directions as they try to figure out which side of the road they actually need to be on.
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@ChrisH said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Akko said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@ChrisH Don't forget the slightly-faster-than-120 idiots that just have to change to the left lane right now (without checking the mirror or using the blinker, of course) to overtake the oh-so-slow car in front of them with about 5 km/h speed difference -_-
Full-LED high beams work really well to wake those up. But yes, fuck them.
That is one thing I miss about driving a full size pickup as my primary transport. They sit higher and put the headlights at roughly eye level for most cars. So in order to get someone out of your way you only need to hug the left side and aim your headlights right at their side view mirror. You don't even have to use high beams.
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@izzion said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
What really grinds my gears are the bicyclists that ride {on sidewalks|on the wrong side of the road}. You're a car with benefits, ride like it...
Yeah, I've come somewhat close to hitting a couple of those recently. Pulling out of a driveway onto a very busy street (El Camino Real — it was once the road from San Diego to San Francisco, and it's basically Main Street of every city it runs through), my focus is on the cars that are going to hit me if I don't time my maneuver just right, and whether somebody in the next lane is suddenly going to decide to fill the gap I'm trying to pull into. Anything approaching from the opposite direction is, at best, a secondary focus, and the view tends to be obscured somewhat by bushes, fences, etc. If your approach is both unexpected (pedestrians are uncommon — I dunno, maybe 1 every 10 or 15 minutes) and unexpectedly rapid (bike speed vs. walking speed), you're putting yourself at risk.
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@ChrisH said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Full-LED high beams work really well to wake those up. But yes, fuck them.
That reminds me of the latest fucktard that high-beamed me (2 days ago): 2 lanes highway, fully congested, he decided that he was above that shit and started going between the 2 lanes (like a motorbike). Of course, people that didn't move out fast enough to let him through got high beams and honks. For some reason, I was quite happy to be one of those.
(the really hilarious part being that the rightmost lane I was in turned out to be slightly faster than the other one, so I overtook him and he did the same trick again a couple of minutes later, showing how much time he was gaining by being a total dick!)
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
put the headlights at roughly eye level for most cars
I hate you.
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@remi said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Of course, people that didn't move out fast enough to let him through got high beams and honks.
Those people are one of the reason I always buy cars with disc-brakes at all wheels. If you do that to me, you better have really good reflexes to stump the brakes
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@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Luhmann said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
who thought about that?
Around here the 30 km/h speed limit is very much enforced, it is used for example around schools.School and high pedestrian activity areas here are 40km/h. And those are enforced with great enthusiasm.
That's equal to 25 MPH, which is used similarly in the US, and enforced with similar enthusiasm. The fines are typically increased also, because you were caught speeding in a school zone, which makes you an ogre who likes running over little schoolchildren.
Fortunately they only tend to be in effect while school is in session, so either the sign will post day/time ranges or it'll have a set of yellow lights that flash while the lowered speed limit is in effect. If the lights aren't flashing you can go the usual speed.
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@Gurth said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Conversely, around here cyclists (who typically go without a speedometer) can receive speeding tickets for going over the posted speed limit. This is rare, because the lowest posted speed limits tend to be 30 km/h and riding at a sustained speed of even 25 km/h on a normal bicycle can be difficult, but it’s fairly easy on a racing bike. Some of those riders have gotten tickets, complained about it, and been told that speed limits apply to all road users, not just motor vehicles.
It's easier that way. There's the very rare occasion where a bicyclist will exceed the speed limit AND be caught AND charged.
Versus the very common occasion when some douch-leaf fucktard on a MOTORIZED bike (not a motocycle, a fucking e-bike or some other dumbfuck) will go racing down a street.
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@accalia said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
..... ouch..... karma is reeally a bitch
Uck. I'm pretty sure the driver wasn't walking away from that one. Given they were boxed in between three transport trucks-- yeah, there really wasn't much place for that car to go but under.
Only thing I can hope for is that they were the only person in the car. If a shitty driver is going to cause a fatal accident, I can only hope they don't take anyone with them.
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@bb36e said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Time? Ain't nobody got no time for that
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/471038177/the-motto-time-without-the-clock
That's not a watch, that's a bracelet with a tumor.
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@Lorne-Kates Also, what was up with the fucking idiots at the end of the video-- the other car and cube van-- the drivers who got out of their car to talk to each other.
Standing right by their car.
In live traffic.
After just witnessing a fucking idiot plow into the back of a stopped truck.
Fucking idiots. If you are stopped on the highway DO. NOT. EXIT. YOUR. CAR!
Worst case, if you must leave-- then as careful as possible get out the passenger side and make a mad rush to get off the road-- over the barriers, and up the embankment, as far away from 100kmph traffic as possible.
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@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Only thing I can hope for is that they were the only person in the car. If a shitty driver is going to cause a fatal accident, I can only hope they don't take anyone with them.
this. a thousand times this.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@bb36e said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Time? Ain't nobody got no time for that
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/471038177/the-motto-time-without-the-clock
That's not a watch, that's a bracelet with a tumor.
For my own sanity and what shreds of respect I have left for humanity, I am going to assume that asshole is independently wealthy, he think that Kickstarter is fucking dumb, and he did all of that just to troll people.
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@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Fucking idiots. If you are stopped on the highway DO. NOT. EXIT. YOUR. CAR!
Worst case, if you must leave-- then as careful as possible get out the passenger side and make a mad rush to get off the road-- over the barriers, and up the embankment, as far away from 100kmph traffic as possible.
Please stop interfering with natural selection.
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Kickstarter is
fucking dumba money laundering front,FTFY
"Congratulations, your Kickstarter project is now funded! Your primary backer is the Russian Mob! As an added bonus, you get to choose between two wonderful Gold Level funded project perks - handing over all the proceeds to the mob contact you will be provided, or an all-expenses paid set of concrete shoes!"
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@izzion said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
"or an all-expenses paid set of concrete shoes!"
Nice. These should last for the rest of my life !
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@Gurth said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Don't know about where you are, but here speed limits under 40km/h aren't enforcable. Motor vehicle speedometers aren't required to be accurate, or even display a value, under 40km/h. Non-motorised vehicles aren't required to have a speedometer.
Conversely, around here cyclists (who typically go without a speedometer) can receive speeding tickets for going over the posted speed limit. This is rare, because the lowest posted speed limits tend to be 30 km/h and riding at a sustained speed of even 25 km/h on a normal bicycle can be difficult, but it’s fairly easy on a racing bike. Some of those riders have gotten tickets, complained about it, and been told that speed limits apply to all road users, not just motor vehicles.
There's a long downhill slope entering a town near where I grew up. The speed limit is 70km/h in the slope, but changes to 50 at the bottom. Of course, this is a popular place to set up a speed trap.
Going downhill, even on a regular bike, it is easy to slipstream behind a car. Cars can quite easily brake from 70 to 50, especially when they see a police officer.
Regular bikes can't.
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@Mikael_Svahnberg So that's where you got the reverse SAAB emblem on your forehead?
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@Polygeekery it's more like "I hope there is no crossing traffic until I'm out of this town again oshitohshitohshit they put in a speedbump!"
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@Mikael_Svahnberg
The other fun thing to experience is when you need to make a turn (especially left) at the bottom of a hill, especially if you've just gotten a new bike with a different center of gravity. Growing up, I was making the test run with my new shiny 26" bike (upgrading from a 20"), and had such a left turn to make, at the bottom of a fairly small hill where you would get up to like 15-20mph without braking. Made about 30 degrees of the corner, right off into the ditch on the far side. Which was, of course, about 1' down and an immediate flattening into somebody's yard.The allen screw for the handlebars never did hold again for that bike...
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
The type of app that might be...crowdfunded??
I don't think this is being crowdfunded, but it could be:
This is like that EEV Blog guy but with a different weird accent.
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@TimeBandit said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Please stop interfering with natural selection.
The nice thing about natural selection is that giving people good advice never interferes with it; natural selection is when people get themselves killed by ignoring good advice. But if they can learn from good advice, there's hope for them.
The ones interfering with natural selection are the EMTs who respond...
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@izzion said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
many areas allow for "proceed on red light after stop if clear" for bicyclists, since they usually don't have enough metal to trigger the sensors at stop lights
Interesting. My usual route to town involves one set of lights with car-sized induction loops in the road, and they pick up my bicycle just fine. (Which also allows me to spot tourists and other non-locals, because they all go to the push button by the side of the road to operate the lights.)
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@mott555 said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Jaloopa said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@mott555 said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
rightmost lane
how are people going to overtake if they're taking up the fast lane?
Are you on the wrong side of the ocean?
Actually, the middle lane is the fast lane here because idiots. Slow people (including morons on 20 horsepower motorcycles like me) take the rightmost lane, and really slow people who can't drive without constantly accelerating and braking through a range of 30 MPH velocities take the left lane because they're retarded. So everyone tries to shove through the middle lane which doesn't work because it's full of governed semis trying to pass slightly more governed semis, and the left-lane campers vary their speeds so much that hardly anyone gets a chance to pass the mess.
It really is a mess. There's literally no traffic on this interstate because there's nothing out there, but a few idiots can cause a hundred miles to back up. If you can manage to pass it all, you don't even see another passenger car for hours.
Ah, the pain of the interstates... on this stretch of I-80, you have to move though each of the three lanes because every half mile the fastest section of the road changes. It's like playing some weird car's-perspective rip-off of Frogger.
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@izzion said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Mikael_Svahnberg
The other fun thing to experience is when you need to make a turn (especially left) at the bottom of a hill, especially if you've just gotten a new bike with a different center of gravity. Growing up, I was making the test run with my new shiny 26" bike (upgrading from a 20"), and had such a left turn to make, at the bottom of a fairly small hill where you would get up to like 15-20mph without braking. Made about 30 degrees of the corner, right off into the ditch on the far side. Which was, of course, about 1' down and an immediate flattening into somebody's yard.The allen screw for the handlebars never did hold again for that bike...
I may or may not have once coasted too hard on a downhill left turn with wind at my back and smacked my face on a stop sign...
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@boomzilla said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
This is like that EEV Blog guy but with a different weird accent.
Also more explosions, electric shocks and burns.
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@anotherusername said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Fortunately they only tend to be in effect while school is in session, so either the sign will post day/time ranges or it'll have a set of yellow lights that flash while the lowered speed limit is in effect.
I've seen those, but mostly I've just seen ones that say "while children are present."
if (now.day_of_week() in (Monday.. Friday) && now.hour() in (8..15) && now.month() not in (June..August)) limit = 25; else if (now.hour() in (1..5)) limit = normal; // Probably, but are you sure? else limit = who_the_heck_knows;
Normal school hours, sure. Weekends, evenings, holidays — who knows what, if any, extracurricular activities kids might be attending
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@HardwareGeek well that's pretty smart; you can run 'em over just so long as you didn't see any children until one suddenly appeared from between two parked cars and darted out in front of your car.
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@Polygeekery Heh, nice. I just came here to post the same thing and this was the first undread post I had in this thread.
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https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/new-corporation#/
0/$2,000,000
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@bb36e said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
0/$2,000,000
You forgot three zeros.
They have bigger balls than @Lorne-Kates. $2B, and I don't even get a fuck you.
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
I don't even get a fuck you.
Fuck you! Don't even think about giving them money!
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@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
It's easier that way. There's the very rare occasion where a bicyclist will exceed the speed limit AND be caught AND charged.
Happened to a coworker of mine who doesn't have a driver's license.
Read a story about another person, without a license, who got a DUI on a bicycle. The law meted out a stronger punishment if you didn't get your license suspended. The guy's lawyer drove him to the DMV to apply for a learner's permit so it could then be immediately suspended.
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@HardwareGeek said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@anotherusername said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Fortunately they only tend to be in effect while school is in session, so either the sign will post day/time ranges or it'll have a set of yellow lights that flash while the lowered speed limit is in effect.
I've seen those, but mostly I've just seen ones that say "while children are present."
if (now.day_of_week() in (Monday.. Friday) && now.hour() in (8..15) && now.month() not in (June..August)) limit = 25; else if (now.hour() in (1..5)) limit = normal; // Probably, but are you sure? else limit = who_the_heck_knows;
Normal school hours, sure. Weekends, evenings, holidays — who knows what, if any, extracurricular activities kids might be attending
Thats what drives me nuts about holidays and vacations: is the school speed limit in effect then or not?! I normally just play it safe myself, I know how the local law enforcement is around here...