Posts by BenWilson
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to nzlemming,
your arguments smack more of wanting an argument than of making a logical point.
I am sorry about that, really. I didn't mean much more by that throwaway than that all the work all the horses in the world could produce wouldn't be enough to maintain the level of production that we currently have. It's a nice thought in some ways, that humanity could require horses for working farms again one day, but short of an apocalypse, I don't see it being necessary. Also, I don't think an apocalypse is likely. But you're right, there's no need for an argumentative tone on such wild speculations, which are also way off topic.
By any logical measure, oil’s use as a chemical feedstock for plastics should have much higher priority at a stage when rationing becomes necessary.
Could be. If farming could use entirely renewable energy. I hope.
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to George Darroch,
Or the vehicle with four legs? I imagine it's how all got by out your way before the oil-age.
Does seem like a bit of an unnecessary step backwards. Farms have so many options for fuel generation, and such a justifiable need, as part of the human food supply chain, that I can't see horses taking a realistic part in it again. Riding them will still be something that only country people regularly enjoy, though.
Biofuel. Electric industrial vehicles. These things already exist. Horses don't have to be worked to death any more.
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to Islander,
But the post-oil countryside is a much bleaker prospect.
I doubt there will ever be a post-fuel countryside. They can make fuel themselves. In the long run, it will be one of the only things that would justify ICEs continuing to exist. And they will get all the fuel at the end of the oil supply, when rationing demands it. Maybe construction will still have a heavy need, for remote works.
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Yes, anyone living in Piha is either stuck in Piha, or uses a car. It is physically possible to ride or walk it, but don't, if you value your life, without substantial preparation.
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Hard News: Review: Lana Del Rey, 'Born…, in reply to James Butler,
The technology gods never intended for music to be listened to in a tiny metal box with a pink noise generator at the front.
You're confusing the technology gods with the music gods, from whom the technology gods are stealing worshippers, and they most certainly did intend for that divine sound to be cranked into their tiny technological boxes.
Good car stereos are a waste of time. Choose for your journey music which sounds good on a crappy stereo.
But I use random play because I'm concentrating on driving. It all sounds good (by which I mean the quality of the sound is good, sometimes a small amount of equalizing is needed). If I don't like it, <next>.
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to Sacha,
Then you'll love the proposed future from the draft central city masterplan - scroll about halfway down until you find an picture of this
I do love it, btw. It's almost like Asimov's vision of Trantor, the Imperial capital planet, so completely covered in buildings that the area on top has actually been reverted to the great outdoors. If you like, you can play on top, but when you want to go somewhere or do some work, you pop into a lift and go down to the enormous infrastructure below the surface, where billions of people administer the entire galaxy.
Ah, futurism. In practice, I'll just be stoked to have a small concrete lane to avoid the K-Rd ridge.
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OMG thread takes a sudden turn to the heavily authoritarian.
It's worth noting that no one was actually harmed by said comedian. He was punished in a way commensurate with the crime, I think. Much harder than some other unrepentant drunks I know who have managed to get dispensations on the license revocation because they need to be able to drive for their work.
The community service might actually work on him, and the loss of license reduces his danger to society.
In theory I like the idea of cars being a lot smarter about unsafe driving, but practically there is a long way to go before that's viable. To have a GPS setting the speed limiter could be incredibly dangerous. GPS software is still often confused about what road you are actually on, and even if it got it right, the database of speed limits has to be kept strictly up to date. If a limit set by a road work is taken away but not changed in the database you'll have cars driving dangerously slow. Hell it took several weeks before Google even acknowledged that there was a huge perfectly formed motorway from Westgate to Albany, any time I drove along it, Google said I was screaming along through farmland.
Yep, would be some issues around surveillance and privacy to take care of, but most arguments against this that I anticipate come down to people arguing for the right to break the law if they think they won’t get caught.
I'd object most strongly to the data of where you were at all times being compulsorily kept by the government. The idea horrifies me. It wouldn't be long at all before it started being used for more than speed limiting, and always the creeping wedge that it's about preventing crime.
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Some of it sounds better on my crappy car stereo than it does through the big speakers at home
Get a good car stereo. That goes for all you music freaks. Don't let wubwub loving bogans be the only ones who get to hear their music as the technology gods intended.
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to Matthew Poole,
but it’ll be three generations before everyone who got a licence under the various old, inadequate systems finally shuffles their way off the roads.
I kind of like the idea of the 10 year retest cycle. Things do change, after all. Rules change, eyesight changes, conditions change. Such obsessive retesting is basic in so many other vehicles. Failing the tests is not something to fear - statistics suggest that people who fail their first driving test are more likely to survive, that their arrogance takes a much needed knock. If you can retest rapidly, it's not that disruptive to life (especially compared to having a car crash).
I should probably lose my motorbike license - it's been many years since I rode and you lose the touch. But the license says I can go out and buy a superbike today, and ride it home.
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to Maz,
And how many seconds does it add to your drive, patiently waiting for that safe opportunity to pass a group of riders? 10? 15 max?
In most cases, I think it doesn't actually add any time at all. This is a great fallacy that many drivers believe, that if you drive faster, without anyone impeding you, and taking every cheap dangerous advantage that you can, that you will get where you want to go substantially quicker. You won't - along your way, you will encounter many stops, most of which are far, far longer than all of the little cut corners and risks and speeding added up to. Average speeds are the same for high and low risk drivers, because they are dominated by the volume of traffic on the road. Most of the traffic ahead is going slower than the speed limit, so anything that slows you down for 10 seconds here, 20 there, doesn't make a difference - you will still catch up with the queue.
Just even knowing this fact is a big part of defensive driving - that hurrying will not actually help, and that your survival on the road begins by beginning your journey with some padding built into the time.
Subsidised or free compulsory training paid for from taxes and transport-user fees? Not that hard.
To me it's obvious, but selling it to user-pays society is the hard part. So far as I can tell, there would be a very straightforward case that it would cost far less in ACC bills to do it.
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