The only really safe way to use a phone in a car is when you're not driving it at the time. I don't care how urgent your business call is, or that you need your other half to put the kettle on now so the coffee's ready when you get home. Either pull over in a safe and legal place and make/answer the call, or wait until you've arrived. Anything else is dangerous driving, and should be prosecuted under your local dangerous driving laws regardless of any phone-specific restrictions. If it really was safer than not making the call (e.g., you're calling the emergency services a good reason) then that should be a sufficient defence in court.
I used to think having a Linux kernel driver ABI would be a good thing. But then I started to change once I read about the OpenBSD ilk and their trials with wireless, RAID, etc. (and their recent "blob" song). My attitude these days is "not in my kernel".
Binary blobs prevent peer review for security. They are in themselves a security risk as any vendor could use them to inject God-only-knows what hooks into the kernel (Sony rootkit native on Linux, anyone?). And I'd be more inclined trust the quality of code from the Linux community above and beyond anything proprietary.
I'd rather go without. If we must have binary drivers, they should either be run in user-space through a strict Free-software gateway or provided as a safe byte-code for a driver virtual machine.
90% of the time when I see someone doign something REALLY stupid on the road, they're on the cell!
I agree. Most times when I've been cut up or another driver has made a major foul-up, they're chin-wagging down a mobile. Talking on a phone not only distracts you from keeping track of hazards, it compromises control of the vehicle something rotten. One wonders how some of these characters are deemed fit to roam free with such a cavalier attitude, let alone take charge of a motor vehicle.
OK, quoting F1 car design is being unfair. They're hardly suitable for our Green and Pleasant land with, ahem, exotic driving surfaces.
Italians build fast fragile fantastic looking cars
True. Looks are everything. I mean, VW got an Italian to design their hatchbacks. But I wouldn't buy a Fiat.
Germans build well engineered, fast but slightly boring cars
Well some might call Kraftwerk boring, too. It's post-modern minimalism. Besides "fast" and "built like a Brikenwerk Scheissehause", what more could you want?
French build slightly odd, quirky cars
Yes, all that arse-shaking stuff.
British cars are just excellent all round, well I would say that wouldn't I.
"When all else fails, pour a pint of Guinness in the gas tank, advance the spark 20 degrees, cry 'God Save the Queen!', and pull the starter knob."
American cars, well lets just say they suit the average american and leave it at that. lol
The educated Americans are different. A few summers back, I was in Avebury with my then car, a VW Lupo. Two Americans approached us (and very polite they were, too) and asked me how I liked the car. Apparently, they can't get them out there (the Polo's only just penetrated the US).
I used to drive a VW Lupo. It had manual steering, and it was very nice because this was a light, well-balanced little car. (I doubt it would be so on a heavier model; with your average modern car weighing in at 1.2 to 1.5 Mg unladen, power steering is a must these days.) It did feel "natural", a more earthy close-to-the road experience because the feedback was just right. Also, as another poster pointed out, if you need ABS routinely, there's either something wrong with the brakes or your braking. It's there to help you brake hard and steer at the same time (again, if you need to do this you've probably planned badly). ABS is another safety device and should only be invoked in emergencies. Maybe your father is referring to servo-assited brakes?
Crap design, terrible fuel efficiency, ugly reliability, driven by middle-aged jerk-offs who lack good observational skills and routinely do stupid things like overlap breaking, gear-change and steering... welcome to the British motor!
I thought kqemu, the kernel module, allowed user-space processes to run natively on the host CPU, wereas any supervisor-mode instructions are run under emulation.
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Running the byte-codes in kernel would be slow, but what about having a user-space JIT compiler check and load the code?
Christ, man, why couldn't you just toe the line and post a Goatse link like everyone else?
On the other hand, I admire someone who has the guts to do that with a username.
I used to think having a Linux kernel driver ABI would be a good thing. But then I started to change once I read about the OpenBSD ilk and their trials with wireless, RAID, etc. (and their recent "blob" song). My attitude these days is "not in my kernel".
Binary blobs prevent peer review for security. They are in themselves a security risk as any vendor could use them to inject God-only-knows what hooks into the kernel (Sony rootkit native on Linux, anyone?). And I'd be more inclined trust the quality of code from the Linux community above and beyond anything proprietary.
I'd rather go without. If we must have binary drivers, they should either be run in user-space through a strict Free-software gateway or provided as a safe byte-code for a driver virtual machine.
And I thought Patrick Moore was the monacled presenter of The Sky at Night!
I used to drive a VW Lupo. It had manual steering, and it was very nice because this was a light, well-balanced little car. (I doubt it would be so on a heavier model; with your average modern car weighing in at 1.2 to 1.5 Mg unladen, power steering is a must these days.) It did feel "natural", a more earthy close-to-the road experience because the feedback was just right. Also, as another poster pointed out, if you need ABS routinely, there's either something wrong with the brakes or your braking. It's there to help you brake hard and steer at the same time (again, if you need to do this you've probably planned badly). ABS is another safety device and should only be invoked in emergencies. Maybe your father is referring to servo-assited brakes?
Crap design, terrible fuel efficiency, ugly reliability, driven by middle-aged jerk-offs who lack good observational skills and routinely do stupid things like overlap breaking, gear-change and steering... welcome to the British motor!
Eula (oi-LAH) n. Stage name for a Swiss mathematician turned gangsta rap artist.
Those of you familiar with the Zardoz quote are in for a disappointment. Following this, I have changed my signature to be more compliant with UK law.
Now the grandparent poster should apologise to all those working hard to detect gravitational waves from outer space.
I thought kqemu, the kernel module, allowed user-space processes to run natively on the host CPU, wereas any supervisor-mode instructions are run under emulation.
Quite. Talk about trying to byte the hand that feeds you.
God damn it! The correct spelling and pronunciation is "aitch"! A-I-T-C-H, see? One "h"!
You are one sick bugger.
So what would the tune be, then? "Tunnel of Love" by Doris Day?
Can't be any worse than Crazy Frog.
It shows you how old and Slashdot-wise you have become when the first thing that pops into your head on mention of "Uranus" and "ring" is hello.jpg.