[tangerinedream]

Or possibly testing the handling of an alfa

 

[tangerinedream]

Didn't realise the difficulties of people in wheelchairs till my late father in law needed one, a real eye opener, it would make all of us more understanding to have to spend a day in one, but the flip side is how many times have you seen people abusing the use of a blue badge, poor spatial skills, I e bad parking is exacerbated by the size of modern vehicles whoever is driving

 

[gus3049]

Or possibly testing the handling of an alfa

You got me!

GTV6. Beautiful, immaculate car. The best engine I have ever sat behind. Entering the bend, which I took on the way home every evening, the front end just went straight on, followed of course, by the rest of the car. Ended upside down in a ditch full of water. Still don't know how I got through the six inches of open side window above the water. Write off, the roof was crushed. Only accident I have ever had on the road.

We won't talk about how many times I came off on the track

 

[dvd3500]

Why does it matter where they are located? Does it inconvenience you? A 200 yard walk is arguably more beneficial for the elderly than it is for a young child, and that's assuming that the child is old enough to be able to walk, which many aren't.

It is mostly so that the kids are exposed to cars for the shortest period of time. You can see a 70 year you often cannot see a 7 year old when cruising through the parking lot.

By having the spaces close you reduce the amount of time they are running around objects that render them invisible.

Prams/buggies and baby carriages are also usually lower than most windows on cars.

When you add in that people are often distracted and miffed while looking for a space for their car keeping kids out of harm's way is more difficult...

Don't get me wrong: Parents should have their kids under control but I was a stay-at-home dad for over a year and sometimes the darn baby carriage would roll a wee bit while I was loading the car or she would stop in the middle of the road to look at an earthworm etc.

They aren't little machines that react the same way all the time ..

 

[Gripping Pneus]

everybody should be given a much bigger car space

In the UK, the standard design space size has been unchanged at 2.4 x 4.8 metres for at least 35 years to my knowledge and this size had been in use for some time prior to that, so I would guess at 50 years. It is clearly inappropriate for today's cars where a "Mini" has the footprint of a traditional Land Rover.

The last edition of the Architect's Handbook which is the definitive work on this subject was 2005, and there was no revision of the space size then, so Architects - and their clients - are to blame. Yes, I know that its really a matter for Engineers, but Architects claim it, as they do the kudos for such pure engineering structures as the Millau Bridge, so they might as well take the flak when its wrong!

 

[tangerinedream]

You could give some drivers a space the size of an aircraft carrier and they wouldn't be able to park properly, last Friday I called into a convenient Tesco en route from school, a latest spec cooper s 2 door had parked with the first 300 mm overhanging into the opposite space.

 

[CMOTD]

A tale of two purchases:

1) Three years ago I bought a German manufactured barbecue. Last summer a small part failed which made it unusable. Sent an email enquiry to the firm about purchasing a replacement part. Three days later it was delivered direct from Germany, FOC even though it was well out of warranty. Top notch customer service!

2) A few weeks ago I bought an English company's LED type fluorescent fitting. On fitting it I discovered one of the small plastic end caps was broken so emailed them asking for a spare under warranty. This was their reply, complete with spelling mistake and bad grammar:

"Thanks for your email, all the warrantees issues would be handled by the store it was purchased from as this sounds like it was broken in transit. Unfortunately we do not do spare parts also."

So, in order to replace a small plastic end cap, I have to remove the whole fitting from the ceiling, drive 10 miles to the supplier who will give me a complete new one and either junk a perfectly good fitting or send it back to the manufacturer to throw in the skip. Hardly a cost effective way to deal with small faults is it?

Spot the difference between the two firms and guess which one has just lost a customer!

 

[dvd3500]

Wow... Germany used to an utter disaster in customer service... That IS surprising..

The latest wave of arguing here though is if you buy something 2nd hand but still within the warranty.

German (and possibly EU) law says the rights of the owner start with the purchase and are not exclusive to the person.

So if I buy a Carrera car and sell it to you a month later the warranty is passed on to you.

A lot of manufacturers try to not honor this but usually a small note about shaming them in public seems to help...

 

[StuBeeDoo]

Today I'm grumpy about not being IT-savvy. I really don't understand stuff, and I find that most instruction manuals (if you can call them that) only explain in language I don't understand.

I admit that I'm an analogue dude in a digital world, but I try to understand stuff, I really do.

I recently took an advanced driving test. Although he passed me, the examiner pointed-out a few mistakes I made, and some things I could do better. "Review your dashcam footage, and you'll see what I mean" he said. So this afternoon, I've tried to upload said footage to my laptop. Don't ask me how, but I managed to delete the entire footage of the test, but save everything I didn't want. It's gone, never to be seen again, and I don't know how or why.

Bloody technology!..... Why does it have to be so user-unfriendly?

 

[Dopamine]

<rant>

Dashcams?! I hate the whole concept of them, not because of the technology, but because of what we are being encouraged to do with "incriminating" video: "Revolutionary dash cam portal makes sending police videos of dangerous driving a doddle."

It has overtones of the Stasi, when the public were encouraged to spy on each other and become state informants. Now we have an ever increasing bunch of drivers, convinced of their own driving superiority, determining in their own biased minds what constitutes dangerous driving and running off to the police with the "evidence". As someone who spent most of his school life sat at the back of a classroom or in detention writing lines, there is very little that I hate more than a snitch.

I draw some comfort from the many studies that show that 80-90% of drivers think themselves to be above average, so I'm quite sure than many of those who think that a dashcam is a great addition to their car will in fact record their own misdemeanours and be subsequently prosecuted on the basis of their own dashcam's evidence. That'll teach 'em!

What the hell is happening to the developed world? We have internet forums where a small group of self-appointed "superiors" control what the plebs can and cannot say, drivers encouraged to film others and tell tales, endemic cctv monitoring our every move. Freedom? What freedom? Bring on the revolution!!

If you've five minutes to spare, "Leave no dark corner" is a very interesting and slightly chilling report about China's use of technology and cameras to implement its "Social Credit" system:

"What may sound like a dystopian vision of the future is already happening in China. And it's making and breaking lives. The Communist Party calls it "social credit" and says it will be fully operational by 2020."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-18/china-social-credit-a-model-citizen-in-a-digital-dictatorship/10200278

Today dashcams, tomorrow social credit. You have been warned!

</rant>

 

[CMOTD]

So, If someone videos a burglar breaking into your house you don't want them to hand the evidence to the police then? Or is it just dangerous driving which could lead to an innocent person's death that you want them to ignore?

 

[RikoRocket]

I draw some comfort from the many studies that show that 80-90% of drivers think themselves to be above average, so I'm quite sure than many of those who think that a dashcam is a great addition to their car will in fact record their own misdemeanours and be subsequently prosecuted on the basis of their own dashcam's evidence. That'll teach 'em!

I'm more worried that they can already work out I'm speeding from the ANPR cameras, Kent to Chester in 3hrs 20 mins, surely someone is going to twig that holistically they can determine speed.

I like the China system though (I would be 900 heart )

 

[Dopamine]

So, If someone videos a burglar breaking into your house you don't want them to hand the evidence to the police then? Or is it just dangerous driving which could lead to an innocent person's death that you want them to ignore?

Neither. It's more subtle than that. It's the encouragement of people to view everyone else as a potential criminal, to allow the self-righteous and moralistic to exist unquestioned and unchallenged.

Elsewhere you warn against mass surveillance, yet here you appear to encourage it. It's what some people do; when the argument suits them, they'll use it.

If a burglar breaks into my house, evidence that might help the police is to be welcomed. However, your example of driving "that could" lead to a death is exactly what I hate; you're making a judgement of what might happen. A death hasn't occurred. The surveillance isn't targeted, it's blanket.

It's the same old same old. Small groups believe themselves to be more perfect than others. Fortunately, there will always remain small groups willing to call them out and question things. It is, perhaps, one of the positive aspects of social media: that it is very lightly moderated, to the very obvious discomfort of governments and the intolerant.

 

[dvd3500]

 

[Gripping Pneus]

Don't ask me how, but I managed to delete the entire footage of the test, but save everything I didn't want.

I sympathise Stu. We are assumed to be familiar with the terminology. I never know whether to "upload" or "download" when backing up. Which device is "up" and does the subject data reside on the "up" or "down" device? So - I managed to replace 6 months worth of business phone numbers on my "smart" phone with a back up from the previous 6 months, thus losing the new numbers whilst trying to do the exact opposite. As there are 4 permutations of this conundrum I shall probably do the same again next time.

 

[Wankel Ickx]

All I'm asking is, and this is all I'm asking, but is grammar no longer taught in our education establishments these days? Or spelling? Here, on Twatter, in business emails: laziness and ignorance abound.

Not saying I'm perfect, I'm flawed (in so many ways) but do folk no longer try?

Here end endeth the rant. For now....

 

[tangerinedream]

As a teacher I am probably biased, but if we ie schools are judged on results/ league tables then staff spend the time maximising results by concentrating on what gets the marks and having a reasonable grasp of grandma ain't it, synthesis, blooms and higher level thinking skills is where its at, this is due to a general lack of reading, books, newspapers etc particularly by boys, a general lack of awareness of current affairs, don't watch the news sir, make a point, give an example, say why it's important, that's what gets exam marks, makes school a look better than school b, but construction and engineering btecs get rubbished and marginalised as they don't score enough brownie points, who is going the lay the chinese steel rails and test the japanese trains for hs2, it's called progress, kids today communicate in a different way and language but the exam system tests them in a way that is alien hence standards of grandma.

 

[munter]

As a primary school teacher that started in 1974 and worked continuously in the classroom until 2013 I have accepted that things change, language changes, attitudes changes, people's behaviour changes.

I still believe in speaking and writing with respect to your audience however....and to the best of your grammatical ability.

Here on the forum, you give a picture of yourself through what you say and how you say it.

What say you?

 

[RikoRocket]

OMG, LMFAO...

I'm down with the hood!

 

[RikoRocket]

But seriously, I'm talking at a local grammar school tomorrow night about careers, and out of all the parents my talk is by far the most popular. My talk? Design, engineering and aerospace.

There is hope!