Local school kids helmet "bribe".

[Ambrose Nankive]

In news:[email protected], Just zis Guy, you know?
<[email protected]> typed:
> On Tue, 13 May 2003 11:53:57 +0100, "Ambrose Nankivell"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I merely mentioned that I couldn't get all the esoteric things I use to run on Linux.
>
> Clearly not - it only does Windows emulation. You need a genuine Mac to run the esoteric stuff.
> Obviously ;-)
<OT> Not on Pentium 233 MMX, it doesn't. Well, not usably. Unless I fork out (not that easy at the
moment) on VMWare.

It's just that I use a lot of different *peripherals*, and I took ages getting my (wireless) network
card (and thus internet link) installed, due to the fact that I had to specify it in
/etc/pcmcia/config.opts myself and the make install didn't do it for me. And now, as soon as I've
rewritten the applet to connect and hangup the modem in my Airport, I may go full time with it. I
still haven't managed to make my scanner work, but it's worth it for a bit of extra stability. Do
you have any experience with software-suspend, or do you leave your computer on all the time?

</OT>
Ambrose

 

[Daniel Barlow]

Tim Woodall <[email protected]> writes:

> I thought it amusing at the weekend when I overheard two cyclists talking about taking their
> helmets off for the climbs because it was too hot but putting them back on for the descents. I'm
> not sure where they were talking about but when I was in the Alps my climbing speed was usually
> near enough 5mph and my descending speed 40mph+

If I fall off at 5mph - even clipped in - I'm pretty confident that I will be able to take
appropriate action to avoid concussing myself against the road surface.

On the other hand, if I was descending a road I didn't know at 40mph, maybe I'd want a helmet as
protection against skidding on a gravel patch on a bend then rolling over the edge of the road and
hitting my head on a tree root.

This is pretty hypothetical really, though. I don't wear a helmet anyway.

-dan

--

http://www.cliki.net/ - Link farm for free CL-on-Unix resources

 

[Patrick Herring]

"Ambrose Nankivell" <[email protected]> wrote:

| In news:[email protected], Michael MacClancy
| <[email protected]> typed:
| > I don't disagree with your point about sliding but the OP seemed to suggest (or, at least,
| > didn't discount) that the helmet would be useful in the full on 30 mph collision. Some might
| > argue that the helmet could increase the likelihood of rotational neck injuries because the
| > greater diameter of the helmet applies greater forces to the neck but I suppose the cover is
| > slippery enough to stop this.
|
| I doubt it's as slippy as hair, though.

AIUI one reason racers shave their legs is that hairy legs don't slide as well over tarmac so
leading to more skin loss. So, to be really safe, we've all got to go bald...

--
Patrick Herring, Sheffield, UK http://www.anweald.co.uk

 

[Just Zis Guy]

On Tue, 13 May 2003 21:42:02 +0100, "Ambrose Nankivell"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>> Clearly not - it only does Windows emulation. You need a genuine Mac to run the esoteric stuff.
>> Obviously ;-)

>Not on Pentium 233 MMX, it doesn't. Well, not usably. Unless I fork out (not that easy at the
>moment) on VMWare.

Wouldn't know - I've blagged / built mew systems in the last coule of years so my slowest is
a PIII 366.

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. http://www.chapmancentral.com (BT ADSL and
dynamic DNS permitting)
NOTE: BT Openworld have now blocked port 25 (without notice), so old mail addresses may no longer
work. Apologies.

 

[Patrick Herring]

Peter Clinch <[email protected]> wrote: ...
| The point about the "anti" camp is it isn't, by and large, actually against wearing of helmets.
| It's against promotion and presentation of helmets as some sort of panacea, especially where
| that's at the expense of something which is more useful for protecting people. How dare they try
| and reduce accidents in the first place! Who do they think they are?

Me2.

--
Patrick Herring, Sheffield, UK http://www.anweald.co.uk

 

[Patrick Herring]

"Robin Long" <[email protected]> wrote:

|
| "Patrick Herring" <[email protected]> wrote in message
| news:[email protected]...
| > "Robin Long" <[email protected]> wrote:
| >
| > | Wearing a helmet whilst riding 20mph-30mph, or more, on a skinny wheeled bike helps to avoid a
| > | reasonably foreseeable consequence of falling off.
| > |
| > | At the end of the day it's your decision, I hope you make what I consider to be the right one.
| >
| > FUD
...
| Forgive me for being naive, but what does FUD stand for?

Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt.

| If it's an insult, why was I insulted? And ask if I care.

It wasn't meant to be insulting, although it was perhaps a tad abrupt.

It was meant to highlight the underlying theme of your approach to this problem, which I saw as that
of seeing "accidents" as essentially inevitable; so the thing to do is to increase people's fear of
them until they do the only thing they then can do, that fear being the single biggest factor:
reduce their fear to manageable proportions by putting something on their heads. I have a profound
disagreement with this line of thinking, so profound I find it impossible to put into words exactly
why. I accept I may have misinterpreted you.

--
Patrick Herring, Sheffield, UK http://www.anweald.co.uk

 

[Peter Clinch]

Daniel Barlow wrote:

> If I fall off at 5mph - even clipped in - I'm pretty confident that I will be able to take
> appropriate action to avoid concussing myself against the road surface.

This is a recurring idea in many, but I'm afraid it's not really something that stands up. You're
saying that in the event of something that could be completely unexpected you can be sure of your
reaction. Well, you can't: surprises aren't like that.

Not that that's a reason to wear a hat or not, but please don't go on thinking that unplanned forced
dismounts and your reaction to them are inherently predictable.

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

 

[Michael Macclan]

In message <[email protected]>, Peter Clinch
<[email protected]> writes
>Daniel Barlow wrote:
>
>> If I fall off at 5mph - even clipped in - I'm pretty confident that I will be able to take
>> appropriate action to avoid concussing myself against the road surface.
>
>This is a recurring idea in many, but I'm afraid it's not really something that stands up. You're
>saying that in the event of something that could be completely unexpected you can be sure of your
>reaction. Well, you can't: surprises aren't like that.
>
>Not that that's a reason to wear a hat or not, but please don't go on thinking that unplanned
>forced dismounts and your reaction to them are inherently predictable.
>
>Pete.

Your interpretation of what he wrote seems a tad unfair to me, even though your argument is pretty
stylish. The way I read it, he believes that at 5mph he has a better chance of protecting his head
than at 40mph. That seems reasonable, doesn't it? The time between event and impact is likely to be
greater at 5mph and he has more time for his reflexes to take effect.

'I'm pretty confident' isn't as strong as 'sure' or 'certain' and he seems to understand that he
won't always avoid low speed concussion. His original comment lacks the absolutes which your
response implies.
--
Michael MacClancy

 

[Jose Marques]

On Tue, 13 May 2003, Ambrose Nankivell wrote:

> And now, as soon as I've rewritten the applet to connect and hangup the modem in my Airport

If you have a Grey Airport then the Perl script below (needs Net::SNMP module) can dial/hangup the
modem. Doesn't work with snow or extreme airports as far as I can tell.

-8<- cut here ----
#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

use Getopt::Std; use IO::Handle; use IO::Socket; use Net::SNMP; # From CPAN

# Defaults
my %opts = ( 'b' => "10.0.1.1", # Airport IP address 't' => 60, # Connection timeout );

# Process options
getopts("hcdwqb:t:", \%opts);

# Base station IP
my $abs_addr = $opts{'b'};

# Other details
my $udp_port = 192; my $modem_dialup_packet = "\x07" . "\0" x 115; my $modem_hangup_packet = "\x06"
. "\0" x 115; my $modem_status_oid = "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.8.3";

# So progress dots work
STDOUT->autoflush(1);

# Help
if (exists $opts{'h'}) { print "Usage: amu (-h | -c | -d) [-w] [-q] [-b <ip>] [-t <seconds>]\n";
print "\n"; print " -h help, display this text\n"; print " -c connect to ISP\n"; print " -d
disconnect from ISP\n"; print " -w with -c or -d wait for connection/disconnection\n"; print " -q
quiet mode, no messages\n"; print " -b base station IP address\n"; print " -t timeout when used with
-w\n"; print "\n"; print "When invoked without flags the modem status will be shown and the exit
code\n"; print "will be set as follows:\n"; print "\n"; print " The exit status will be 0 if the
modem is up\n"; print " The exit status will be 2 if the modem is down\n"; print "\n"; print
"Examples:\n"; print "\n"; print " amu # display modem status\n"; print " amu -c -w # wait for modem
to connect\n"; print " amu -d # disconnect modem without waiting\n"; print "\n"; exit 0; }

# Connect
if (exists $opts{'c'}) { airport_send($modem_dialup_packet); sleep 1;
airport_send($modem_dialup_packet); wait_for_modem(0); exit 0; }

# Disconnect
if (exists $opts{'d'}) { airport_send($modem_hangup_packet); sleep 1;
airport_send($modem_hangup_packet); wait_for_modem(1); exit 0; }

# Display modem status
if (modem_online()) { message("modem is connected\n"); exit 0; } else { message("modem is not
connected\n"); exit 2; }

# Wait for modem status to change
sub wait_for_modem { my ($sense) = @_;

# Quick exit if -w not specified
return if !exists $opts{'w'};

my $start_time = time;

# While we still have time
while ((time - $start_time) < $opts{'t'}) {

# Check modem status
if (modem_online() - $sense) { message(" ok\n"); exit 0; }

# Progress dots
message(".");

# Wait
sleep 2;

}

# We failed
message(" failed\n"); exit 1;

}

# Send UDP packet to base station
sub airport_send { my ($packet) = @_;

# Create UDP socket
my $socket = IO::Socket::INET->new( PeerAddr => $abs_addr, PeerPort => $udp_port, Proto =>
'udp', Timeout => 15000, );

# Check it
if (!defined $socket) { error_message("socket: $@"); }

# Send packet
$socket->send($packet);

}

# Query modem status via SNMP
sub modem_online {

# Setup SNMP
my ($session, $error) = Net::SNMP->session( -hostname => $abs_addr, -community => "public",
-timeout => 10, -version => 1, ); if (!defined $session) { error_message("Unable to initiate
modem status query: $error\n"); }

# Query Airport
my $response = $session->get_request($modem_status_oid); if (!defined $response) {
error_message("Unable to obtain response to modem status query\n"); }

# Return result
if ($response->{$modem_status_oid} == 1) { return 1; # It's up } else { return 0; # It's down }

}

# Display message (unless running in quiet mode)
sub message { print join('', @_) if !exists $opts{'q'}; }

# Display error message and quit
sub error_message { print STDERR join('', @_) if !exists $opts{'q'}; exit 1; } -8<- cut here ----

--
Jose Marques

 

[Dave Larrington]

Tim Woodall wrote:

> I thought it amusing at the weekend when I overheard two cyclists talking about taking their
> helmets off for the climbs because it was too hot but putting them back on for the descents. I'm
> not sure where they were talking about but when I was in the Alps my climbing speed was usually
> near enough 5mph and my descending speed 40mph+

The thing which amuses me, though, is the substantial number of cyclists I see in London who *do*
have h*lm*ts, but strap them to their bikes rather than their heads. I can only assume that they
believe a h*lm*t to be a variety of talisman, it's mere presence being enough to ward off Vauxhall
Vectras, wet manhole covers and the Accursed Zombie Tribesmen (a.k.a. "pedestrians"). And cure
warts, impotence and leprosy too, I shouldn't wonder.

Dave "Two H*lm*ts" Larrington - http://legslarry.crosswinds.net/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

 

[W K]

"Ambrose Nankivell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In news:[email protected], Michael MacClancy
> <[email protected]> typed:
> > I don't disagree with your point about sliding but the OP seemed to suggest (or, at least,
> > didn't discount) that the helmet would be useful in the full on 30 mph collision.

The nature of the beast is though, that you are unlikely to go straight into things at 30. I wonder
whether the racing guy hit a planter or some other street furniture. I've only been at such speeds
on clear roads with obstacles well off the side of the road.

>> Some might argue that the helmet
> > could increase the likelihood of rotational neck injuries because the greater diameter of
> > the helmet applies greater forces to the neck but I suppose the cover is slippery enough to
> > stop this.
>
> I doubt it's as slippy as hair, though.

If you rub your head on a paving slab where is the friction coming from - hair or scalp?

 

[Daniel Barlow]

Peter Clinch <[email protected]> writes:

> This is a recurring idea in many, but I'm afraid it's not really something that stands up. You're
> saying that in the event of something that could be completely unexpected you can be sure of your
> reaction. Well, you can't: surprises aren't like that.

No, I'm saying that falling off at walking pace is probably not much different from falling over
while walking, and the instinctive reactions we're evolved with to protect our skulls can cope quite
well with keeping my head off the floor in the latter case. That's a gut feeling, I don't have
evidence for it.

Granted, this doesn't account for e.g. a stick in the spokes catapulting me over the handlebars
(though that'd be tricky at 5mph) or a collision with another vehicle (but then we're likely back
into helmets-are-only-designed-for-12mph territory anyway, as the other vehicle is probably doing
more than that - especially if coming downhill).

> Not that that's a reason to wear a hat or not, but please don't go on thinking that unplanned
> forced dismounts and your reaction to them are inherently predictable.

I'm not quite that dogmatic about it, no

-dan

--

http://www.cliki.net/ - Link farm for free CL-on-Unix resources

 

[Peter Clinch]

Daniel Barlow wrote:

> No, I'm saying that falling off at walking pace is probably not much different from falling over
> while walking, and the instinctive reactions we're evolved with to protect our skulls can cope
> quite well with keeping my head off the floor in the latter case. That's a gut feeling, I don't
> have evidence for it.

Fair point, though...

> Granted, this doesn't account for e.g. a stick in the spokes catapulting me over the handlebars
> (though that'd be tricky at 5mph)

... last time I came off the bike was at very low speed (crossing a staggered junction from rest)
and I think it must have been a patch of diesel or something. I just found myself lying in the road,
feet still clipped in, hands still on the bars, thinking "***********, what happened *there*?"...
(didn't bash my head though)

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

 

[Ambrose Nankive]

In news:[email protected], Jose Marques
<[email protected]> typed:
> On Tue, 13 May 2003, Ambrose Nankivell wrote:
>
>> And now, as soon as I've rewritten the applet to connect and hangup the modem in my Airport
>
> If you have a Grey Airport then the Perl script below (needs Net::SNMP module) can dial/hangup the
> modem. Doesn't work with snow or extreme airports as far as I can tell.

Many thanks. That looks handier than the Java I'm using at the moment. I'll still try and get the
applet ported (need to download windowing toolkit to do so).

Ambrose

 

[Michael Macclan]

In message <[email protected]>, Peter Clinch
<[email protected]> writes
>... last time I came off the bike was at very low speed (crossing a staggered junction from rest)
>and I think it must have been a patch of diesel or something. I just found myself lying in the
>road, feet still clipped in, hands still on the bars, thinking "***********, what happened
>*there*?"... (didn't bash my head though)

Might that not be because of you reflex action protecting your head? (Not trying to prove anything
about helmets but I do suspect that that's what reflexes can do.)
--
Michael MacClancy

 

[Peter Clinch]

Michael MacClancy wrote:

> Might that not be because of you reflex action protecting your head? (Not trying to prove anything
> about helmets but I do suspect that that's what reflexes can do.)

I don't know. It might, OTOH... However, it does illustrate the fact that things can happen very
suddenly. My initial strong reaction came in part from folk in the past who've assured us that in
the event of a crash they're sure they can throw up their arms to protect their head. No, the OP
here didn't do that, so my mistake associating the post with that sort of nonsense.

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

 

[David Damerell]

Patrick Herring <[email protected]> wrote:
>AIUI one reason racers shave their legs is that hairy legs don't slide as well over tarmac so
>leading to more skin loss. So, to be really safe, we've all got to go bald...

Sheldon's ahead of the game as usual.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> Distortion Field!

 

[Tony W]

"Patrick Herring" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> AIUI one reason racers shave their legs is that hairy legs don't slide as well over tarmac so
> leading to more skin loss. So, to be really safe, we've all got to go bald...

A sunburnt head is a significantly greater danger than a fall (for the sort of cycling I do anyway).

H*lm*ts can provide partial protection -- another absolute proof we should all wear them
all the time.

T

 

[Dave Kahn]

"W K" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> If you rub your head on a paving slab where is the friction coming from - hair or scalp?

The friction comes from provoking the paving slab fairy.

--
Dave...

 

[Peter Clinch]

Tony W wrote:

> H*lm*ts can provide partial protection -- another absolute proof we should all wear them all
> the time.

I make a point of creaming up on top for a long ride in the sun even with a hat, in case a long,
straightish stretch results in a comedy helmet vent sunburn pattern...

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