"Be Bright - Wear White" vs' "Fight Back - Wear Black"

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:23:29 -0000, Jon Senior
jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk wrote in message
:

Just re-read this post. Er... that's juggling balls everyone... juggling
balls!

You could get arrested for that, you know.

The replacement for my (deselected) MP was, anyway. One more vote
lost...

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

On 22/11/04 10:47 pm, in article , "Danny
Colyer" wrote:

David Martin wrote:
A point source is very hard to place. I can just about juggle in daylight.
Trying to juggle glow in the dark balls in pitch black is very very hard
because you only have two dimensions to work with.

Do you have variable length arms? If you can remember where your hands
are (and you can throw accurately) then it shouldn't be too bad ;-)

It is surprisingly hard if you are not used to it. I used to practice much
more than I do now (I used to practise ;-) and one exercise was to try to
throw with the eyes closed. The record I managed was about 20 throws before
dropping the balls.

To go OT for a moment, to get the hang of juggling glowy stuff
(especially hot burny glowy stuff, which can hurt if you catch it
badly), it's a good idea to practice in twilight first. Although that
might not work so well if you're using luminous balls rather than Globalls.

It is the complete loss of the third dimension that gets you. Until you have
tried it .. (yes I was using luminous balls). I found the easiest way was to
try to not look at the balls.


Mmmm, Globalls. I want some, but they're just so damn expensive and I
can't bring myself to buy balls in sets of less than 5:
URL:http://www.globall.com/
Those look fun

...d

in message , Danny Colyer
') wrote:

Simon Brooke wrote:
Even a basic LED rear light is visible over a mile away, provided
the sight lines are clear; and if the sight lines are not clear being
lit up to the eyeballs won't help.

IME if the sight lines aren't clear then a powerful front light is
enormously helpful in slowing down motorists who think that if they
can't see a beam of light coming from around the next bend then the
road must be clear.

That I'll grant you. Indeed we frequently get motor vehicles pulling
into passing places to wait for us at night when we're coming home from
the woods with the Lumicycles on, which is (a) nice and (b) amusing.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they
;; do it from *religious*conviction." *********--*Pascal

In article ,
"Just zis Guy, you know?" writes:

The replacement for my (deselected) MP was, anyway. One more vote
lost...

boggle

Is that a story that bears retelling, or just some sordid little thing?

--
Nick Kew

Simon Brooke wrote:

I'd frankly far rather be seen as Being Wrong than not be seen at all.

Well, if those are the only options, yes, but I don't think they are.
Drivers aren't usually in the habit of running into bollards etc. with
the left hand side of their car, so if you're in its way you should
still be noticed (seems to work for me and Guy, if I read his post
right). OTOH you won't come across with a (literally) "in your face"
attitude, which may well make the difference between someone in a tonne+
of moving steel who resents you and someone who doesn't really mind you
and will thus treat you with accordingly more deference and respect.

My preferred riding position is approximately as far out from the kerb
as my head would be if I were driving a car - that way I'm right in
their vision and have the best possible chance of being seen.

I'll be there if I have to command the lane ready for my own
maneuvering, but since I'm on urban roads more often than not I've
probably got a lot more routine traffic passing me than you have so I do
have to take that into consideration.

Only time I can recall aggressive tailgating and honking I was right in
the middle of the lane, but since it was dual carriageway and he had a
whole other lane to get by in I just moved a little to the /right/ to
give him the message.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

The Oldfellow wrote:
(And some unofficial studies have suggested that
cars give you most room of all if you look like a policeman. :-)

Where can I buy a convincing police h*l**t? Preferably in
polystyrene
with a hard shell.

http://www.niton999.co.uk/

best wishes
james

although bear in mind their FAQ:
3) Will you sell me a police badge or a baton?
Not unless you are a serving Police Officer or an authorised member of
the Armed Forces. When you place your order, you are required to give
us your warrant number/shoulder number, force and station. We are not
prepared to help people break the law. If you do not include the
details needed, we will have to run checks before despatching police
badged goods and batons. Please note that due to a change in
legislation in 2004 we are no longer allowed to sell batons to
individuals, with or without ID. We may only sell batons to government
departments now. Sorry for any inconvenience.

4) Will you sell police equipment to individuals or do you only supply
police forces direct?
We are aimed at the individual but we are more than happy to supply
companies.

"Nathaniel Porter" wrote in message
...

snip
Arguably, if all cyclists went for stealth mode motorists would get used
to
it and be more careful.

Certainly, if you and you alone went for the stealth look, you would find
your rides became more "interesting".

Arguably if all cyclists went for stealth mode the penalties for running
down and killing cyclists would be even more lenient because "I never saw
him" would be very believable. Quite justifiably so.

O.K., car drivers might be a little more careful after hitting their first
couple of cyclists (it's such a bugger getting all the bits out of the wheel
arches) but to expect this to be a valid strategy for increasing cycling
safety??

If every cyclist was highly visible then this defence would not be credible
and the case for 'death by dangerous driving' would be much stronger.

Oh, and if all cars had no safety features at all then drivers would proceed
at a courteous 20mph or less to avoid any risk of injury to themselves.

Yeah, right.

Dave R

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 07:15:24 +0000, (Nick Kew)
wrote:

The replacement for my (deselected) MP was, anyway. One more vote
lost...

Is that a story that bears retelling, or just some sordid little thing?

Sordid, mainly. There were two factions in Reading's Labour group,
one was the Griffiths faction, the other the Salter faction. I think
some of the infighting is due to the fact that Reading East was
traditionally Tory, so eventually they would probably have ended up
competing for the same seat. Salter is a patron of BeHIT, but I don't
think that was part of it.

Jane was deselected and replaced by Tony Page, who has two convictions
for gross indecency (i.e. cottaging), the more recent in 1995. I
don't like Page anyway (too smarmy) and any public figure who has sex
in public toilets for kicks is clearly somewhat lacking in the
judgment department.

I declare an interest: I went to Jane's 50th birthday party.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

wrote:

The Oldfellow wrote:
(And some unofficial studies have suggested that
cars give you most room of all if you look like a policeman. :-)

Where can I buy a convincing police h*l**t? Preferably in
polystyrene
with a hard shell.

http://www.niton999.co.uk/

More specifically, http://www.niton999.co.uk/asp/list.asp?category=bike
http://www.niton999.co.uk/asp/product.asp?id=1327
http://www.niton999.co.uk/asp/product.asp?id=1328
http://www.niton999.co.uk/asp/product.asp?id=1329

Quite a few of the products seem to have the option of "Security" as
an alternative to "Police" on reflective badges etc. Not the jacket with
anti-stab facings, but if you really need that and aren't a policeman,
maybe there is something to be said for a steel cage after all.

Sniper8052(L96A1) wrote:

I thought skulls were comparativly weak requiring only about 8lbs per sq
inch to break. Thats what I was taught as a RM.
Peter Clinch:

Comparitive to what? If they were too weak to be useful fractured
skulls would be commonplace, but though bumps and scrapes happen a lot
fractures don't strike me as /that/ common. Especially if the impact is
against a broad sheet to spread the load that also deforms and conforms
as you strike it.

Well at the time it was the back end of a short stick as an improvised
weapon, the instructor said the skull was comparatively weak requiring
only about 8lbs of pressure to break. I just wondered if that was right
or if that's actually quite a high fracture point. As you say fractured
heads don't happen all the time but then humans are very good at
protecting their heads and privates.
Since you have the medical background I won't argue with you if you say
the skull is very strong it just never seemed one needed to hit it very
hard to kill someone.

Sniper8052