HOYA SWALLOWS PENTAX !

"Kennedy McEwen" wrote in message
...
In article , David J. Littleboy
writes

"Kennedy McEwen" wrote:

I personally don't want to see someone in my rear view mirror
approaching
at 175MPH while I am stuck at traffic lights on my way home from work.

The easy way to avoid that is to not own a car. (That's one of the reasons
I
ended up in Tokyo.)

Seriously, I don't understand why more people don't decide not to own
cars.
The (quite rational*) decision not to own a car ought to be a possibility,
right?

It is indeed a possibility David and I, for many years, lived without
owning or driving a car. However, I consciously took the leap some 15
years ago because the alternatives I was relying on were becoming too
expensive and/or unreliable and/or unsuitable for regular use. Successive
government policies have encouraged that trend. If, however, I lived and
worked in central London for example then I would gladly return to my no
car owning life. It is a lifestyle choice, but one heavily influenced by
economics and the civil planning of governments.

And by what you do for a living, and where you have to do it, and by many
other variables that usually grow along with your other choices, so changing
overnight is quite impossible, and certainly shouldn't be expected of a
whole nation of breadwinners.......

"Roger" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 08:50:29 +0000, Kennedy McEwen
wrote:

In article , William
Graham writes


I am impressed, however with these formula I cars that can hit the rails
at
175 MPH, fly end over end a dozen times, completely come apart at the
seams
until there is nothing left of them but the cage containing the driver,
which, after he unbelts himself, he walks away from without a
scratch....Why
can't they do that with the family sedan?

To an extent, most of them are designed to deform protectively in
exactly the same way - hence the presence of crush zones etc. Of
course, they won't withstand a 175MPH impact with all/any passengers
surviving, but the suspension doesn't fall apart when they drive over a
pothole either. Drivers and passengers of the average family sedan
wouldn't accept being strapped into the harness by a 3 man team (drivers

I took a "test drive" in a new airplane to do some aerobatics. I got
in was tightening the 5-point harness while the demo pilot for the
corporation was checking things out. I pulled the harness as tight
as I could pull, then slipped my hand under it. Sooo, I braced my hand
and pulled a bit harder, but I could still work my fingers under it.
About the time I got to the point where I could no longer get my thumb
under the harness I noticed him watching me. His only comment was "I
see you've done this before". IOW if the harness is comfortable it
isn't tight enough. If you can work your hand under it, it isn't tight
enough.

Very few drivers would ever put up with that. OTOH few are capable of
even tightening a harness that tight by them selves.

cannot tighten the harness enough by themselves), wearing a HANS brace

At least in aerobatics we don't have to have some one else tighten the
harness. :-))
or flameproof overalls every time they get into the vehicle either or
being fit enough to withstand 10g differential forces on their neck
muscles before being given a license every season.

But we do regularly pull 6 or more G's even at my age.


There have been many technologies that have transitioned from F1 to
commercial cars, seat belts, anti-lock brakes, monocoque/unibody chassis
to name a few, but ultimately they are different vehicle types with
vastly differing requirements. One common aspect is that if you make
the car capable of going fast enough, that is as fast as some people
will drive it, and I personally don't want to see someone in my rear
view mirror approaching at 175MPH while I am stuck at traffic lights on
my way home from work.

It was far from 175 MPH but one afternoon on the way home for work I
was stopped at a stop light. I was the only car in that lane. There
was a lot of crossing traffic. All of a sudden I noticed a van coming
up behind and he was coming fast. There was a small opening in the
crossing traffic. I hit the horn and put the throttle to the floor
with that Corvette engine in the TA. I made it through the
intersection leaving a cloud of smoke. The van came through right
behind me. I hit 60 in a 30 zone as he stopped getting closer about 3
feet behind me.

Yes, that was the same TA I totaled when the SUV pulled out in front
of me. I don't think I'd have fared nearly as well had I been rear
ended at that speed.
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Nice heads up driving! The last time I had a close call was when I was
reading one of these changing light bulb signs on the center strip of I-84
coming into Portland, and my wife said, "Look out!" When I looked back to
the road I saw that the traffic in the left lane in front of me was stopped,
and I was going 75 with only about 200 feet left to stop. When I floored my
ABS brakes, I felt exactly ZERO stopping force, so with less than 100 feet
to go, I took my foot off the brakes, punched the gas, and drove off the
road onto the center strip at over 65 MPH....When My wife asked me later why
I was accelerating, I said. "I never skid anywhere....If I am going to go
off a cliff, you can be sure of one thing....I'm gonna drive there, not skid
there...."
Fortunately, the ice plant slowed us down fine, and I drove back up onto
the road after we drove by the obstruction. (some stupid truck stopped in
the left lane for an unknown reason) I hate to run into anything....I will
always try to drive around an accident unless there is no other
choice.......

"Ron Hunter" wrote in message
...
Kennedy McEwen wrote:
In article , William Graham
writes


I am impressed, however with these formula I cars that can hit the rails
at
175 MPH, fly end over end a dozen times, completely come apart at the
seams
until there is nothing left of them but the cage containing the driver,
which, after he unbelts himself, he walks away from without a
scratch....Why
can't they do that with the family sedan?

To an extent, most of them are designed to deform protectively in exactly
the same way - hence the presence of crush zones etc. Of course, they
won't withstand a 175MPH impact with all/any passengers surviving, but
the suspension doesn't fall apart when they drive over a pothole either.
Drivers and passengers of the average family sedan wouldn't accept being
strapped into the harness by a 3 man team (drivers cannot tighten the
harness enough by themselves), wearing a HANS brace or flameproof
overalls every time they get into the vehicle either or being fit enough
to withstand 10g differential forces on their neck muscles before being
given a license every season.

There have been many technologies that have transitioned from F1 to
commercial cars, seat belts, anti-lock brakes, monocoque/unibody chassis
to name a few, but ultimately they are different vehicle types with
vastly differing requirements. One common aspect is that if you make the
car capable of going fast enough, that is as fast as some people will
drive it, and I personally don't want to see someone in my rear view
mirror approaching at 175MPH while I am stuck at traffic lights on my way
home from work.

When driving on the Autobahns, it isn't all that unusual to be passed when
going at speeds approaching 200mph! Those guys DRIVE. NOte that the
drivers are MUCH more responsible there than in the US.

A good integral rollbar would be of great aid in preventing deaths, as
would a simplified full harness, rather than the airbag.

I agree, although, I do think airbags do have a use in preventing broken
necks in motorcycle accidents.....I would like to see them deployed from the
bottom of cycle helmets......

"Laurence Payne" lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 13:46:14 -0800, "William Graham"
wrote:

As I say, we here in the US are
individual-transportation oriented, and we will find a way to continue in
that mode, even if we end up each driving our own electric scooters....

You really, really don't get it, do you? (Note - no smiley)

No. - But I am waiting with baited breath for you to tell me exactly what it
is that you think I don't get....

William Graham wrote:
"Laurence Payne" lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 13:46:14 -0800, "William Graham"
wrote:

As I say, we here in the US are
individual-transportation oriented, and we will find a way to continue in
that mode, even if we end up each driving our own electric scooters....

You really, really don't get it, do you? (Note - no smiley)

No. - But I am waiting with baited breath for you to tell me exactly what it
is that you think I don't get....

Are you really sitting at your computer with a worm wriggling on your
tongue?

"Ron Hunter" wrote

I visited Philly, once. Got out of town as fast as [I could]

Smell, I didn't notice. Rudest city I have ever been in though.

Funny how city slogans tell you just what is wrong with the city:

Cleveland:
"Best Location in the Nation"
Should be: "Unarguably one of the worst locations in the Nation"

"Cleveland Rocks"
Should be: "There's No Surf in Cleveland"

New York:

"I Love NY"
Should be: "You don't want to live here"

"The City that Never Sleeps"
Should be: "You Will Get No Sleep Because of the Noise"

Philadelphia:
"The City of Brotherly Love"
Should be: "The City of Cain and Able"

Los Vegas:
"What Happens Here, Stays Here"
Should be: "Your Money Stays Here"

If the gist of this is to tell America that it is
squandering the world's resources:

o America already knows it;
o America knows it ****es everyone else off, it doesn't care;
o America is enjoying every minute of it.

No reason wasting bandwidth stating what is obvious. The
more Europe whines the more America's schadenfreude grows.

Back to OT:

"Pentax is dead."
"Long live Pentax."

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.nolindan.com/da/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
nk.net...
If the gist of this is to tell America that it is
squandering the world's resources:

o America already knows it;
o America knows it ****es everyone else off, it doesn't care;
o America is enjoying every minute of it.

No reason wasting bandwidth stating what is obvious. The
more Europe whines the more America's schadenfreude grows.

Besides, I object to the use of the word, "squander". Just because I am
using the world's resources, that doesn't mean I have to be squandering
them. Perhaps my use of them is legitimate. After all, If I don't use them,
then someone else probably will. Also, since I pay fair market value for
every resource, how can you say that I am "squandering" them? If you think
they are more valuable then, by all means, their purveyors can always raise
their prices until the point is reached where I will no longer purchase
their products. And, in any case, anyone else may outbid me at any time for
whatever it is that think is being squandered.
I live in, and believe in, a free market economy. Whatever I have is for
sale at any time to the highest bidder, and I hold no manufactured item that
I possess too holy to be replaced by a new one, or a more updated version.
If people have been selling me gasoline at 1/2 the European price for the
last 40 years, whose fault is that? - Certainly not mine. I suggest that
they offer it to me at twice the price. Perhaps then I will buy less of
it.......

In article ,
"William Graham" wrote:

To believe such a thing shows lack of basic
reasoning ability........

The refusal to consider alternative means of transportation shows that
people use their brains for making excuses much more than they use them
for making process.

In article ,
Ron Hunter wrote:

I find the whole idea of using public transportation VERY
restrictive, and confining.

I find the whole idea of being chained to a car so insane I just think
car people must be nuts or victims of advertising.

Around Thanksgiving, I was in NYC and the public trans there is
infinitely more convenient than owning a car even in rural parts of
America.