It's reasonably close, and I would think more people have experience with lead than with gold, at least in the quantities to easily demonstrate malleability.
Gold is also used for ultra-fine wires in sensitive test equipment, during chip development and research work, including chemistry and medicine experiments (gold substrates can be used for DNA analysis). Sure, gold is generally not used in large quantities for a single task, but it is a vital part of keeping the modern technological world running. There is ~50 milligrams of gold in a modern mobile phone, which isn't a lot, but it adds up with billions of devices in use.
Not to mention tooth fillings (gold is bio-compatible), arthritis medication and so on. It is also very easy to electroplate gold onto other surfaces, which makes it even easier to make use of its reflective properties.
Of course, the value of gold has been grossly inflated by jewelry manufacture because "ooh shiny", but that doesn't change the fact that it is a rare metal with numerous practical uses, some of them relatively low-tech. That is what helped cement its value throughout human history. On a very basic level, gold is denser and more malleable than lead, and non-toxic to boot. If nothing also, that alone would ensure a number of practical uses.
Gold doesn't corrode and it is the most malleable metal. Those two factors are alone make gold hugely useful for a number of practical uses. Literally every single connector in your PC (aside from the molex plugs) is gold-plated for corrosion resistance. Every single connector in every single cellphone is gold-plated for the same reason.
And then you get into the malleability and reflectivity. Because gold can be rolled so thin (or deposited on a mylar film) and still reflect infrared radiation, it is an essential material in designing heat shielding.
Gold does look pretty and shiny, but it does happen to have a lot of industrial and practical uses as well.
How very very odd that they actually sound better when you listen to them yourself. Is that the marketing team whispering sweet nothings into my ears to convince me to buy them? If you can't hear the difference between a pair of Beats or a similarly-priced pair of Sennheisers, then I am very sorry indeed for your massive hearing loss. How many decades have you been working with industrial machinery, with no ear protection?
Instead of spewing baseless nonsense, try actually listening for yourself. The PX-100 IIs are amazing, they play better than most 'phones costing many times their price. Sennheiser may be expensive (although the PX-100 IIs only cost $60, or $70 if you want iPhone controls and a mic), but they do know sound very well indeed.
Only if you play your "music" obnoxiously loud. But fair is fair, a closed-back headphone is probably a good idea. HD280s are a nice choice, as are Beyerdynamic DT-231s. I have a set of AIAIAI TMA-1 Studio or X, which are extremely nice, but kinda huge. The base TMA-1 or the TMA-1 X are smaller, but still sound amazing. I haven't heard their Capital 'phones, but they're supposedly very good, too.
Ditch the earbuds, they leak a ton of sound as well, and ditch the in-ears, lest you get ear irritation and infection. Trust me on this, I wear earplugs (for noise protection) almost every day. Your ears are extremely sensitive to pressure and trapped moisture.
Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. My old PX-100s have foam pads that are disintegrating, but now they're getting a nice set of pleather earpads instead. They'll probably last me another 10 years or so, now.
Much better sound quality than any earpuds, more comfortable, plus no microphoning noise from the cable like you get with earpuds and in-ear units. Seriously, the PX-100 series is an absolute bargain for how good of a sound quality you get, they're right up there with fullsize cans and lightyears ahead of shit like Beats or Skullcandy.
That reminds me, I still have my old 733MHz P3 in a closet at my parents' house, along with possibly a 350MHz K6-2 and maybe a couple of others too, I can't remember. All of them started out as desktop machines and eventually did duty as firewalls, routers and so on, until they were eventually each replaced with a dedicated piece of hardware. With a lightweight OS, they would still do great as basic machines for writing and email etc., I wonder if I can find some place that will take them.
There is a balance point, and it lies where the current stock exhausts are. Just about any sportbike or naked bike you can find will be relatively quiet at idle and at low revs, but make a decent racket at full tilt. This is done with clever piping, flaps in the exhaust, well-designed mufflers and so on.
Aftermarket exhausts tend to be all noise, all the time. The only benefit they have over stock is a slight reduction in weight.
Because of EU regulations, I can't even turn off the lights on my bike, they're permanently on if the engine is running. Every little bit helps when it comes to visibility.
I've transferred a lot of good riding habits over to normal driving. Proper orientation like you mentioned, and never assume that someone has seen you, even if you have direct eye contact. Looking far ahead is also very important, don't just stare directly at the rear lights of the car in front, look through it or around it, keep an eye on what's happening up ahead. And keep proper safe following distances, that's probably the biggest once. Never assume that you can outbrake the vehicle in front of you.
Sure, I like revving my big thumper (660cc single-cylinder) and feeling the vibrations, but have you ever ridden or driven a decently powered electric vehicle? They're not silent, there is a very definite motor/geartrain noise, and the torque and responsiveness really has to be experienced to believe it.
The way to be safe is to increase the VISUAL presence of the bike.
Finally, someone sensible joins the discussion.
In my own experience, going from a dark green (near black) bike with an obnoxiously loud exhaust to a bright orange bike with quiet stock exhausts, it is definitely the visual presence of the bike that matters. And that includes actively making yourself as visible as possible, never riding in blind spots etc.
Loud pipes don't make a difference, riding defensively and not putting yourself in bad positions relative to other traffic is what makes a difference. Visibility also makes a big difference. Consider that most cars these days are very thoroughly sound-proofed, and most people have their radios up loud enough to be heard clearly from outside the car. They routinely fail to notice emergency vehicles until they're literally right in front of them. They probably won't notice the fart can on your bike.
My previous bike was a 1996 Suzuki Bandit 600. It had a completely straight-through "muffler" with all the wadding blown out from years of (ab)use. That thing was loud enough to wake the dead and cause cows to stampede when I rode by. It also spat fire when hitting the limiter and burbled gloriously under engine braking. In short, it was a fantastically antisocial mode of transport. I had a number of close calls while riding it, which I attribute partly to my inexperience, and partly to the fact that it was very dark green, almost black.
My current bike is almost completely opposite. It's a bright orange Yamaha XT660X with stock pipes, and in the two years I've ridden it, I have only had one "close" call. It was really that close at all, just some guy merging closely in front of me. All I had to do was close the throttle and beep the horn. We waved 'hi' to each other as I passed him, he did look a bit sheepish, but I guess he was chatting with his passengers, and I might have been in his blind spot.
And I promise you, I ride every bit as hard on my new bike as I did on my old one. I'm just a lot more conscious about making myself visible and not putting myself in dangerous positions in relation to cars. Exhaust noise doesn't even factor into it.
Black bikes are notoriously easy to overlook. When I got my current bike (Yamaha XT660X), it was black. Looked pretty mean, but I knew it would become a problem. So I switched out all of the plastic parts for the bright orange spare parts that I got with the bike, and now you really have to be legally blind to overlook it. And I've found that personally, bright goddamn orange looks cooler than all black, anyway.
Back in the early days, Harley-Davidson used to make bikes known as "silent grey fellows". A stock modern Harley is actually surprisingly quiet, while still having that characteristic lumpy idle that has become their trademark.
They only become unbearably loud when dumbass idiots put SCREAMIN' EAGLE pipes on their bikes because LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES and CHOPPER CHOPPER CHOPPER CHOPPER, 'MURICA!
I used to have a 24" 1920x1200 display, but I upgraded to a 27" 2560x1440. It's 16:9, but I find it I can just about fit three browser windows side by side (or two for wider layout pages). It's not the aspect ratio that's important, it's the number of vertical pixels you have available. I put the main KDE tool par on the left-hand side of the screen to make the most of the vertical resolution, it's working pretty well for me.
I've finally reached the point where I don't feel like I have to vertically maximize every window to make full use of my desktop resolution.
Around here, there's a third category, the middle eastern-owned pizzeria. They make decent enough pizzas that are completely indistinguishable from the ones at competing pizzerias, since they all get their ingredients from the same place. And you can get a cheap greasy kebab to go with it.
I'm firmly in the "Italians make the best pizzas" camp, and I firmly believe that my favorite pizzeria is one of the best in the world. Run by Italians, with a proper wood-fired oven, a TV that plays nothing but Italian soccer matches, surprisingly good and affordable Italian wine for sale and a uniquely Italian "hands waving above the head, prego prego, ciao, buona sera" atmosphere. A pizza always takes "20 minutti", no matter how busy the place is.
Slashdot Mirror
It's reasonably close, and I would think more people have experience with lead than with gold, at least in the quantities to easily demonstrate malleability.
From the very link you posted:
"The most ductile metal is platinum and the most malleable metal is gold."
Gold is both highly ductile and very malleable.
Gold is also used for ultra-fine wires in sensitive test equipment, during chip development and research work, including chemistry and medicine experiments (gold substrates can be used for DNA analysis). Sure, gold is generally not used in large quantities for a single task, but it is a vital part of keeping the modern technological world running. There is ~50 milligrams of gold in a modern mobile phone, which isn't a lot, but it adds up with billions of devices in use.
Not to mention tooth fillings (gold is bio-compatible), arthritis medication and so on. It is also very easy to electroplate gold onto other surfaces, which makes it even easier to make use of its reflective properties.
Of course, the value of gold has been grossly inflated by jewelry manufacture because "ooh shiny", but that doesn't change the fact that it is a rare metal with numerous practical uses, some of them relatively low-tech. That is what helped cement its value throughout human history. On a very basic level, gold is denser and more malleable than lead, and non-toxic to boot. If nothing also, that alone would ensure a number of practical uses.
Gold doesn't corrode and it is the most malleable metal. Those two factors are alone make gold hugely useful for a number of practical uses. Literally every single connector in your PC (aside from the molex plugs) is gold-plated for corrosion resistance. Every single connector in every single cellphone is gold-plated for the same reason.
And then you get into the malleability and reflectivity. Because gold can be rolled so thin (or deposited on a mylar film) and still reflect infrared radiation, it is an essential material in designing heat shielding.
Gold does look pretty and shiny, but it does happen to have a lot of industrial and practical uses as well.
How very very odd that they actually sound better when you listen to them yourself. Is that the marketing team whispering sweet nothings into my ears to convince me to buy them? If you can't hear the difference between a pair of Beats or a similarly-priced pair of Sennheisers, then I am very sorry indeed for your massive hearing loss. How many decades have you been working with industrial machinery, with no ear protection?
Instead of spewing baseless nonsense, try actually listening for yourself. The PX-100 IIs are amazing, they play better than most 'phones costing many times their price. Sennheiser may be expensive (although the PX-100 IIs only cost $60, or $70 if you want iPhone controls and a mic), but they do know sound very well indeed.
Only if you play your "music" obnoxiously loud. But fair is fair, a closed-back headphone is probably a good idea. HD280s are a nice choice, as are Beyerdynamic DT-231s. I have a set of AIAIAI TMA-1 Studio or X, which are extremely nice, but kinda huge. The base TMA-1 or the TMA-1 X are smaller, but still sound amazing. I haven't heard their Capital 'phones, but they're supposedly very good, too.
Ditch the earbuds, they leak a ton of sound as well, and ditch the in-ears, lest you get ear irritation and infection. Trust me on this, I wear earplugs (for noise protection) almost every day. Your ears are extremely sensitive to pressure and trapped moisture.
Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. My old PX-100s have foam pads that are disintegrating, but now they're getting a nice set of pleather earpads instead. They'll probably last me another 10 years or so, now.
Get a set of Sennheiser PX-100 II, or Sennheiser PX-100 IIi if you want a microphone and controls.
Much better sound quality than any earpuds, more comfortable, plus no microphoning noise from the cable like you get with earpuds and in-ear units. Seriously, the PX-100 series is an absolute bargain for how good of a sound quality you get, they're right up there with fullsize cans and lightyears ahead of shit like Beats or Skullcandy.
That reminds me, I still have my old 733MHz P3 in a closet at my parents' house, along with possibly a 350MHz K6-2 and maybe a couple of others too, I can't remember. All of them started out as desktop machines and eventually did duty as firewalls, routers and so on, until they were eventually each replaced with a dedicated piece of hardware. With a lightweight OS, they would still do great as basic machines for writing and email etc., I wonder if I can find some place that will take them.
*Pacific Rimshot*
There is a balance point, and it lies where the current stock exhausts are. Just about any sportbike or naked bike you can find will be relatively quiet at idle and at low revs, but make a decent racket at full tilt. This is done with clever piping, flaps in the exhaust, well-designed mufflers and so on.
Aftermarket exhausts tend to be all noise, all the time. The only benefit they have over stock is a slight reduction in weight.
Even if it causes "normal people" to dislike you for making excessive noise?
Motorcycle riders are unpopular enough as it is, due to squids and biker gangs. Why make people hate us even more?
Because of EU regulations, I can't even turn off the lights on my bike, they're permanently on if the engine is running. Every little bit helps when it comes to visibility.
I've transferred a lot of good riding habits over to normal driving. Proper orientation like you mentioned, and never assume that someone has seen you, even if you have direct eye contact. Looking far ahead is also very important, don't just stare directly at the rear lights of the car in front, look through it or around it, keep an eye on what's happening up ahead. And keep proper safe following distances, that's probably the biggest once. Never assume that you can outbrake the vehicle in front of you.
It looks a lot like a wannabe KTM, actually. Which isn't that bad, I kinda want a KTM, preferably a 690 SMC or a 1290 Super Duke.
Loud pipes don't save lives. Loud paint does.
They absolutely do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Sure, I like revving my big thumper (660cc single-cylinder) and feeling the vibrations, but have you ever ridden or driven a decently powered electric vehicle? They're not silent, there is a very definite motor/geartrain noise, and the torque and responsiveness really has to be experienced to believe it.
They may not roar, but they are anything but silent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
And just listen to this as he's braking into the corners:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
The way to be safe is to increase the VISUAL presence of the bike.
Finally, someone sensible joins the discussion.
In my own experience, going from a dark green (near black) bike with an obnoxiously loud exhaust to a bright orange bike with quiet stock exhausts, it is definitely the visual presence of the bike that matters. And that includes actively making yourself as visible as possible, never riding in blind spots etc.
Depends on where you ride. Some places have speed limits that are higher than 80mph, or no speed limits at all.
And a lot of people are perfectly happy doing 10-20mph over the limit, even if it is illegal. That does not invalidate the OP's argument.
Loud pipes don't make a difference, riding defensively and not putting yourself in bad positions relative to other traffic is what makes a difference. Visibility also makes a big difference. Consider that most cars these days are very thoroughly sound-proofed, and most people have their radios up loud enough to be heard clearly from outside the car. They routinely fail to notice emergency vehicles until they're literally right in front of them. They probably won't notice the fart can on your bike.
My previous bike was a 1996 Suzuki Bandit 600. It had a completely straight-through "muffler" with all the wadding blown out from years of (ab)use. That thing was loud enough to wake the dead and cause cows to stampede when I rode by. It also spat fire when hitting the limiter and burbled gloriously under engine braking. In short, it was a fantastically antisocial mode of transport. I had a number of close calls while riding it, which I attribute partly to my inexperience, and partly to the fact that it was very dark green, almost black.
My current bike is almost completely opposite. It's a bright orange Yamaha XT660X with stock pipes, and in the two years I've ridden it, I have only had one "close" call. It was really that close at all, just some guy merging closely in front of me. All I had to do was close the throttle and beep the horn. We waved 'hi' to each other as I passed him, he did look a bit sheepish, but I guess he was chatting with his passengers, and I might have been in his blind spot.
And I promise you, I ride every bit as hard on my new bike as I did on my old one. I'm just a lot more conscious about making myself visible and not putting myself in dangerous positions in relation to cars. Exhaust noise doesn't even factor into it.
Black bikes are notoriously easy to overlook. When I got my current bike (Yamaha XT660X), it was black. Looked pretty mean, but I knew it would become a problem. So I switched out all of the plastic parts for the bright orange spare parts that I got with the bike, and now you really have to be legally blind to overlook it. And I've found that personally, bright goddamn orange looks cooler than all black, anyway.
Back in the early days, Harley-Davidson used to make bikes known as "silent grey fellows". A stock modern Harley is actually surprisingly quiet, while still having that characteristic lumpy idle that has become their trademark.
They only become unbearably loud when dumbass idiots put SCREAMIN' EAGLE pipes on their bikes because LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES and CHOPPER CHOPPER CHOPPER CHOPPER, 'MURICA!
I used to have a 24" 1920x1200 display, but I upgraded to a 27" 2560x1440. It's 16:9, but I find it I can just about fit three browser windows side by side (or two for wider layout pages). It's not the aspect ratio that's important, it's the number of vertical pixels you have available. I put the main KDE tool par on the left-hand side of the screen to make the most of the vertical resolution, it's working pretty well for me.
I've finally reached the point where I don't feel like I have to vertically maximize every window to make full use of my desktop resolution.
Around here, there's a third category, the middle eastern-owned pizzeria. They make decent enough pizzas that are completely indistinguishable from the ones at competing pizzerias, since they all get their ingredients from the same place. And you can get a cheap greasy kebab to go with it.
I'm firmly in the "Italians make the best pizzas" camp, and I firmly believe that my favorite pizzeria is one of the best in the world. Run by Italians, with a proper wood-fired oven, a TV that plays nothing but Italian soccer matches, surprisingly good and affordable Italian wine for sale and a uniquely Italian "hands waving above the head, prego prego, ciao, buona sera" atmosphere. A pizza always takes "20 minutti", no matter how busy the place is.