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Rob C

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Boston Bombings
« on: April 16, 2013, 04:08:53 am »

And so it continues - madness and mayhem.

Watching the news this morning over my tea, I was brought face to face with an unsettling thought: Sky News employs enormous strap lines with reds, yellows etc. that can take up nearly a third of the base of the screen. I found myself getting angry with them for obscuring so much of the action going on in the street. Does that mean I'm too keen to see horror; that the deaf (for whose benefit I assume such wording exists) are spoiling it for the rest of us; that Sky News employs insensitive morons (or machines) to do its visual editing/presentations/look for it?

Would it be beyond technical possibilty for these lines to be summoned up on demand where needed, but kept off the screen if that's the viewer's choice, much as one can select soundtracks from a menu of languages...?

Rob C

Chris Calohan

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2013, 08:56:16 am »

Makes you want to drive out to the great southwestern deserts and mountains, shoot and never leave. Not much out there to blow up. Silly-assed people...really. For what?
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Rob C

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2013, 09:47:01 am »

Makes you want to drive out to the great southwestern deserts and mountains, shoot and never leave. Not much out there to blow up. Silly-assed people...really. For what?


Quite, and as a council workman I know said to me this morning, "and why do this to sports peple? They make no contribution to anyone's national/religious problems..."

Yet, minutes before I met this chap, I was already in a roundabout, signalling to make a right off it, when I was cut off by a chain of cyclists coming in from the side-road just prior to the one I wanted to exit into... I ended up having to go right round the friggin' roundabout again to avoid killing the goddam lot of them. Give an idiot some lycra knickers and there's no convincing him/her he/she ain't Superman.

Some get killed here every winter; just pleased it isn't myself doing the deed, because for sure the sympathy would lie with the hero on wheels and/or steroids.

Rob C
« Last Edit: April 17, 2013, 04:05:59 am by Rob C »
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Michael West

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2013, 10:05:24 am »

Makes you want to drive out to the great southwestern deserts and mountains, shoot and never leave. Not much out there to blow up. Silly-assed people...really. For what?

I thank God I live where I have a clear view of the local "mountain" and thousands of acres of redwood forests. 

Photography has to be at its base about perception. Being more or less forced to perceive what we've  just perceived demands a change of scenery.
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Michael West

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2013, 10:11:00 am »


Quite, and as a council workman I know said to me this morning, "and why do this to sports peple? They make no contribution to anyone's national/religious problems..."

Give an idiot some licra knickers and there's no convincing him/her he/she ain't Superman.

Some get killed here every winter; just pleased it isn't myself doing the deed, because for sure the sympathy would lie with the hero on wheels and/or steroids.

Rob C

They appear to assume that the lycra and their ten thousand dollar bicyles give them supernatural powers of some sort dont they.

Stop signs, traffic lights and others right of way mean little to these guys who think they are SUPER BIKER

they give the rest of us who  enjoy the simple pleasures of riding a bike a very bad name amongst a wide swath of mototrist who have been known to share their misplaced digust with the poor manners of the few with the "Rest Of Us"

</rant>
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Rob C

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2013, 12:57:29 pm »

This discussion really belongs in the Coffee Corner forum.


I'm glad you appreciate that...

Rob C

david loble

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2013, 04:31:30 pm »

Rob,

Your council workman might be interested in knowing that according to the Boston Athletic Assoc. website the marathon has raised US$133 million for charities in 25 years. So, sporting people may not contribute to problems as he stated, nor would I guess that they are the targets of such terrible acts as yesterday's, but 133 million ain't chicken feed and attests to the fact that some of the participants are not running just to stay in shape.

David
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Pete_G

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2013, 05:23:38 pm »

And so it continues - madness and mayhem.

Watching the news this morning over my tea, I was brought face to face with an unsettling thought: Sky News employs enormous strap lines with reds, yellows etc. that can take up nearly a third of the base of the screen. I found myself getting angry with them for obscuring so much of the action going on in the street. Does that mean I'm too keen to see horror; that the deaf (for whose benefit I assume such wording exists) are spoiling it for the rest of us; that Sky News employs insensitive morons (or machines) to do its visual editing/presentations/look for it?

Would it be beyond technical possibilty for these lines to be summoned up on demand where needed, but kept off the screen if that's the viewer's choice, much as one can select soundtracks from a menu of languages...?

Rob C


Rob,

Another one of your rants. Keep it up. I think the banner headlines you rightly complain about are not for deaf people, I mean they're just headlines - not the story. I think it's just another one of these stupid ideas from a bunch of TV executives (not programme makers), who had a "great idea" over lunch one day. An American university did a study a couple of years ago and concluded that most people were offended by them and they had no use whatsoever, there was no evidence that anyone took in the extra "information" that the banners contain.

As for the Spanish cyclists, well..I know what you mean, but it's a huge thing there, and you have to admit is pretty amazing watching a 65 year old geezer pedalling up and down the Pyrenees of a Sunday.

The Boston bombing was obviously awful, but we don't really know who's responsible yet. AFAIK.
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EduPerez

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2013, 02:55:01 am »

[...]

Yet, minutes before I met this chap, I was already in a roundabout, signalling to make a right off it, when I was cut off by a chain of cyclists coming in from the side-road just prior to the one I wanted to exit into... I ended up having to go right round the friggin' roundabout again to avoid killing the goddam lot of them. Give an idiot some licra knickers and there's no convincing him/her he/she ain't Superman.

Some get killed here every winter; just pleased it isn't myself doing the deed, because for sure the sympathy would lie with the hero on wheels and/or steroids.

Rob C

According to Spanish traffic laws, once the first member of a group of cyclists (rightfully) enters a roundabout, then the whole group as has the right to enter together, and does not have to give way to other vehicles in the roundabout.
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Rob C

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2013, 04:03:29 am »

According to Spanish traffic laws, once the first member of a group of cyclists (rightfully) enters a roundabout, then the whole group as has the right to enter together, and does not have to give way to other vehicles in the roundabout.


I can see the sense of that, but the problem is when they enter roundabouts: they should wait until the road is safe, as does every other form of traffic (officially if not in practice!). I see the obvious danger of a pile-up, but that is simply a measure of the crazy system of bunching. These guys fall off even during races when there is no other traffic anywhere on the road: they are incapable of recognizing the obvious limitations of response times, cycle brakes and stability. That's a further reason why I gave up riding motorcycles, for which I still hold a licence. They are even worse than cycles!

There's a road up in the northern mountains forming that coast of Mallorca, the Tramuntana range, and the road through them, in winter, is beautiful. It's very tight, though well surfaced, and Sunday is when the motorcycle lads take to it to enjoy their 'sport' and the first thing you notice is this: when a motorcycle comes towards you on a right (for you) bend, though the wheels are usually on the correct side of the central line, the body of the rider is often right over in your half of the road because motorcyclists lean into corners...

Come summer, avoid it at all costs: get behind one tourist coach and you can spend the next ninety minutes right there, enjoying the diesel. Petrol head conditioning?

Nice to see you posting again, Eduardo.

Rob C

EduPerez

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2013, 04:17:44 am »

Come summer, avoid it at all costs: get behind one tourist coach and you can spend the next ninety minutes right there, enjoying the diesel. Petrol head conditioning?

Just to top my quota of pedantic comments for today: some studies link crime rates to the use of lead in gasoline; see America's Real Criminal Element: Lead, for example.

Nice to see you posting again, Eduardo.

Rob C

Glad to be welcome back!
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Jim Pascoe

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2013, 12:51:50 pm »


Quite, and as a council workman I know said to me this morning, "and why do this to sports peple? They make no contribution to anyone's national/religious problems..."

Yet, minutes before I met this chap, I was already in a roundabout, signalling to make a right off it, when I was cut off by a chain of cyclists coming in from the side-road just prior to the one I wanted to exit into... I ended up having to go right round the friggin' roundabout again to avoid killing the goddam lot of them. Give an idiot some lycra knickers and there's no convincing him/her he/she ain't Superman.

Some get killed here every winter; just pleased it isn't myself doing the deed, because for sure the sympathy would lie with the hero on wheels and/or steroids.

Rob C

I do find it a bit disturbing that you managed to link annoying cyclists to the Boston bombing.  Let's face it, if we banned all cars from the roads and only allowed bicycles, the world-wide death toll from road traffic accidents would plummet.  I'm not advocating this because obviously we are all stupid enough to value the convenience of motor vehicles over our low perceived risk of sudden death on the road.   Cyclists don't usually kill anyone, and rarely even manage to kill themselves.  I think a cyclist on steroids would be a lot less dangerous than a driver on alcohol.  So perhaps in this particular thread we should just agree that the bombing was a terrible act, and that Sky news or whatever have no visual taste whatsoever in designing their screen layout.

Jim
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Rob C

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2013, 02:05:56 pm »

I do find it a bit disturbing that you managed to link annoying cyclists to the Boston bombing.  Let's face it, if we banned all cars from the roads and only allowed bicycles, the world-wide death toll from road traffic accidents would plummet.  I'm not advocating this because obviously we are all stupid enough to value the convenience of motor vehicles over our low perceived risk of sudden death on the road.   Cyclists don't usually kill anyone, and rarely even manage to kill themselves.  I think a cyclist on steroids would be a lot less dangerous than a driver on alcohol.  So perhaps in this particular thread we should just agree that the bombing was a terrible act, and that Sky news or whatever have no visual taste whatsoever in designing their screen layout.

Jim


Jim,

I’m puzzled: why is making the connection difficult for you?

Think Lycra (which word I realised I’d spelt incorrectly in my earlier post - in the heat of the moment - and then had to suffer the indignity of seeing it quoted over and over again; is there no pìty in this place?), and the picture is clear: runners, cyclist, gym-haunters, all of those clans wear the stuff, but at least only the bike people wear the shoes. The flow is seamless.

I think you need to spend time under a black cloth, admiring the world upside down in a monorail. I’m advised here that it helps with so many mental problems, clears the soul and altogether raises one’s game. I might buy a black cloth myself. Not another camera of that ilk, but at least a cloth.

I understand your point about a cyclist on steroids being potentially less dangerous than a driver on alcohol, but why would the driver necessarily be on alcohol? Much more likely, in the general scheme of things, that the muscled ones would be on the added supplements!

Anyway, people have told me that they are better drivers after a couple of drinks…

;-)

Rob C

Rocco Penny

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Re: Boston Bombings
« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2013, 03:06:07 pm »

I'm so sorry many people have a thick hide, some poor 8 year old died.
Don't forget what happened over the last time a terrible event happened in the US because of violence in a popular area frequented by those our society values most.
These aren't victims of the daily violence our society perpetrates on itself.
This grabbed headlines, more people get the idea that grabbing headlines is as good as securing solutions.
thick hides

Those bike dudes are pretty fussy though,
make them follow a rule they don't like and some invective is sure to follow.
I don't stand up to them though,
muttering softly as I back down,
lycra?
and you want me to compete with that?
Surely you see I'm no match for invective hurling, lycra wearing, self-entitled $10,000 dollar bike riding heroes.
So, I watch them carefully for signs of impending tantrums the like you never saw in a 4 year old;
"...because I'm with my friends Muriel, I'll come home when I want to!"
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