Weird News

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Why would it need to do that? Don't want to burn a smoke detector?

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

They're radioactive.

Americium, IIRC.

[BrianR]

ASPIRING rapper.

He wasn't really thug yet. Only real thugs drive Escalades with $100,000 in add-ons.

[Lamplighter]

Maybe this belongs in the "You know you are old" thread
... but I find this completely weird and insane.

Wall Street Journal
Amir Efrati
September 25, 2012, 11:00 PM

California Legalizes Self-Driving Cars

California on Tuesday became the third state to effectively legalize
self-driving car technology, which Google and many automakers are developing.

I was sensitized to something similar several weeks ago when I drove
into an industrialized area of PDX for the first time in a couple of years.
At a railroad crossing (with a stop sign) there is another sign that says something like:
"Beware - driverless trains on these tracks"

My thought was "Jeez, has the Afghanistan War brought us drone trains now" ?
But I can sort of understand driverless (commuter) trains,
but I'm way too old to accept driverless cars on the roads.

[glatt]

The DC Metro used to be driven by computer and the drivers were only there to make announcements and to open the doors.

Then there was the accident because of the faulty track sensors, so now the drivers drive the trains again. There have been two driver error accidents since that switch was made.

Out at Dulles airport, the trains to the far terminals have no drivers at all. Everything is automated, and they are much smoother riding than Metrorail ever was.

I think when the system works, computer controlled vehicles are better. But we've all seen how computers can fail.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by glatt

I think when the system works, computer controlled vehicles are better. But we've all seen how computers can fail.

All systems can fail, but when computers fail we freak out because they fail in a way that we can't envision ourselves doing.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Maybe this belongs in the "You know you are old" thread
... but I find this completely weird and insane.
California Legalizes Self-Driving Cars
<snip>

Today, this was in the PC World...

US road safety agency issues policy on driverless cars

Self-driving vehicle technology is not yet at a stage that
it can be authorized for use by the public for general driving,
according to a U.S. Department of Transportation recommendation to state governments.

If a state decides to permit operation of self-driving vehicles other than for testing,
at a minimum it should require that a person licensed to drive self-driving vehicles
should be seated in the driver's seat, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
said in a preliminary statement of policy on automated vehicles released Thursday.

The licensed driver should "be available at all times in order to operate
the vehicle in situations in which the automated technology is not able
to safely control the vehicle," it said.

<snip>

As they did when the first automobiles were introduced to the horse-drawn carriage age,
they should also require an adult on-foot carrying a red flag and a lighted lantern
to precede each driver-less car at all times.

.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

... they should also require an adult on-foot carrying a red flag and a lighted lantern to precede each driver-less car at all times.

Meanwhile, over the past decade, Google already has driven these automated cars for almost one-half million miles. But only in states that permit innovation and the creation of jobs - CA, NV, and FL.

DARPA's Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2007 should be known to all. Since (if I recall) a Federal law required half the military convoy type vehicles to be autonomous long before 2020.

[Lamplighter]

My latest post above was a feeble attempt at humor. But more to the point...

How many times do drivers demonstrate their intent or courtesy
by interior hand-signals to another driver ? e.g., "you go first"
It's one of the reasons cited for not allowing darkened front windshields.

If a "licensed person" is required to be in the driver's seat and ready to take over.
What's the point of a driver-less car ?

For free-way driving, maybe... and especially on long, uninterrupted trips.
But as someone who thinks some basic decisions were wrong back
when we allowed train transportation to wither in favor of cross-country trucking,
I think car+passenger transport trains running on tracks along side our existing freeways
would be more economical, faster and safer than Google/GM/etc's driver-less cars "just because they can".

ETA: The insurance companies will have a ball figuring out who
is responsible, and who will pay, for accidents that are bound to happen
Alert to Programing Engineers: Get your liability insurance now.

[Gravdigr]

Kinda gives new meaning to the phrase 'The Blue Screen of Death.'

[ZenGum]

http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/N...d-08102012.htm

Man, take a look at the bush, it's a masterpiece of horticulture.

[Lamplighter]

Landscaping plants do need periodic pruning.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Landscaping plants do need periodic pruning.

You mean smoking, right?

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/N...d-08102012.htm

Man, take a look at the bush, it's a masterpiece of horticulture.

You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think - Dorothy Parker

It is totally unfair how things just freaking grow like massive beasts in England. All they have to do is throw down some seed and voila- they have a beautiful garden. In fact, their yards are so pretty they actually call them 'gardens' - our yards are just that: yards. Of brown, crunchy, horrid used-to-be grass. You could cut yourself on it.

Here in Ohio things only grow in May and June when we get all excited that maybe, just maybe, they'll survive the holocaust that is Ohio July and August, only to have our hopes cruelly dashed by the relentless Sun God Apollo. Then in Sept. and Oct. plants have another slim chance before our first frost which is usually "earlier than expected" and there go your mums.

Ohio- it's cheap to live here and you'll know why once you visit!

[Lamplighter]

"Fearless" Felix Baumgartner's supersonic skydive from 24 miles
above the New Mexico desert was a rousing success, ...

What's the big deal ?
He jumped out of a balloon and went down... which way did he expect to go ?

Little kids have thrown their oatmeal on the floor for years to prove that gravity works.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

What's the big deal ?

I think that it was from a record breaking altitude and he fell very quickly.