That's about the size of it (don't try this in some places in France though, as they sometimes have their own wierd rules).
Anyhow, the basic idea is that you queue to get on to the roundabout, leaping in wherever there is a reasonable gap (or not!). Then you just get out at the appropriate lane. Adding in complication is when you have a very large roundabout, so they put in multiple lanes all around it, and you start from the central lane and then gradually filter to the outside just as you get to the exit you want.
The magic roundabout then takes this one stage further and has lots of roundabouts next to eachother to fsck with your head. You then end up breaking the mindset of the "conventional roundabout" by effectively going the wrong way. I'd not think about it if you're never going to be on one though.
Basically, it's just a slightly ordered free-for all within the confines of an intersection with Stop signs.
The magic roundabout is actually quite simple when you get the hang of it, and it certainly eases the traffic flow in the area. All is not lost, however, and the local council did display an astounding amount of stupidity when they first built it (according to legend...). What they originally did was to have the area as one big flat piece of asphalt with the markings just painted on (cheap implementation!). You can imagine the chaos that ensued in the first snow fall.... (in some respects, their lack of foresight was moderately excusable as snow seems to have stopped falling in the south of england nowadays).
Bah - sensor traffic lights are about the worse thing when looked at from the point of view of the driver (I don't know how good they might be from an overall traffic flow perspective, I'm just using this topic as a jumping board for my rant).
I live in the poxy town of Swindon in England - home of the wierdest traffic management systems in the world, one of which is the Magic Roundabout (which I actually like, but timid drivers wet themselves at the thought of crossing it). On the north side of town, where I live, the new part of the ring road has about a dozen consectutive traffic lights on a road designed for fairly high volumes of traffic - all of which have sensors implanted in the road to detect traffic. The situation you get in rush hour is that when someone wants to get out of a side road, they trip their sensors, which eventually gets their lights green and the main junction is red. A chunk of traffic builds up at the red light and a gap appears in the road ahead. The next lights down then notice the gap and begin to think that it's a good time to let the people out who are waiting, with a consequence that by the time you get there these ones are red too. This repeats all the way up the road, so if you hit one red light, you hit them all.
You could be philosphical and think, "why do I need to hurry?". The answer is that I don't need to hurry, but the constant stop/start does reduce the mileage I get from a tank of petrol, and it just irritates me for various other unquantifiable reasons.
I thought that the whole idea was that the screensaver merely asked a central server for somewhere to request data from, and not maintained its own list - that's the impression I got from the site (before it went down to the slashdot effect - it made the BBC News site yesterday so I got the early scoop)
According to BBC he was elected by 59 million fools - is that 51% of the voting population of the US? It's certainly 51% of the turnout, but the census (pdf) for 2000 seems to imply about 75% of the population is eligible to vote (over 18, I am ignoring the felon issue, but don't know how much that skews these numbers), so that means he was voted in by approx 32% of the voting population (whether they registered/turned up or not)
I fail to see the hypocrisy regarding phones ringing at work. If you work in a place where phones are going off and it's expected of you to actually answer them, then fine. Lots of companies explicity have terms in contracts about personal calls and mobile phone usage (I know I do, lots of ppl in my office are given mobile phones) and if they are allowed then this is fine by me and the disturbance I view as part of my job and when you are surrounded by people in a similar position you tune it out (this does not apply to a show as you have a reasonable expectation of being able to devote your concentration on being entertained).
If you work in a place where phones should not be present - e.g. airline pilot, cinema/concert usher, burger flipper even:-) - then you should not have a phone with you as the use of it is counterproductive to your job - i.e. it degrades the customer experience or potentially violates working regulations. If you are employed to do a function, that function has environmental parameters that shapes the way you perform it. It seems that your parameters include being in contact 24-7, in which case the participation in any other activity where your function interferes with the enjoyment of others in their pursuit of paid for entertainment is just plain rude.
I would agree with you that babies should certainly be banned from the cinema, that people rustling sweet wrappers should be dragged out and shot. I can live with the toilet thing up to a point as taking a dump/piss is a necessary part of everyone's everyday life - irrespective of what they are doing at the time (up to a point, I mean - if you are going on a long journey with no anticipated stops, you try to take the opportunity to go when it is present, and not at the point of maximum inconvenience to others).
OK - I've read your other posts in response to the various hate mails with your clarification that you'd have the mobile on silent and you'd slip out before talking to the person on the other end - which is fair enough, although I'd also ask if you deliberately sit on the end of the aisle, preferably near the exit so that you would minimise any disturbance to the other members of the paying public. If you did this, then fine, you are being considerate and you probably wouldn't cause much of a disturbance.
If, however, you sat in the geeky "optimimum sound position" at the centre of the aisle in the centre of the auditorium (or wherever), you may still deserve cricifying:-), as on a par with annoying ringtones is the person that gets up mumbling "Excuse me, excuse me" as they force lots of people to shuffle around so that they can go pee / have a chat on their phone (I'm not saying that everyone should pee in a cup rather than disturb others, but they could think ahead a bit when they buy their 2-gallon supersize coke)
I also disagree that listening to the occasional beep mid film is ok - it distracts from the film. Most people want to actually immerse themselves in the film (isn't entertainment all about escapism, after all), and things like beeps will drag them out of that and lower the enjoyment. If you're not most people, then fine, you're entitled to that viewpoint, but assuming that other people share that view is a folly.
The issue here is the expectation that if you have a mobile phone, you must be reachable. Historically no-one was all that bothered if you weren't in when you were rung at the home phone - they just left a message. However now you are expected to cart around this small device that means you are contactable 24-7. I would question why you would want this? If it's for work and you are on call, then I expect that, but then don't go to the cinema/show/performance during that time as you will annoy everyone else with your job-related emergency. If it's various of your nearest and dearest that you cannot bear to not hear from for 3 hours then what are you doing in a place where you are expected to be silent and sit still for that length of time? You may think you have valid reasons for having your phone switched on, but most other people will view that as a reason for you not being there in the first place.
Doesn't the WTO (or whoever) have a get out clause allowing countries to ignore patents if the use of them is in defence of an epidemic? I vauguely recall some lawsuit that was brought about against the "3rd world" companies that were manufacturing retro-virals, but neglecting to pay royalties to whoever it is that invented/developed them in the first place. That may have been about the time that the patent holders reduced the royalty rate as part of a settlement - but then my memory is completely rubbish and I may have just made all that up.
Lazy buggers - guess I should have been surprised at getting a response then (2 technically, as the first response was from a secretary asking me to verify constituency, and the second one was his actual response)
You would have thought that MP are supposed to actually listen to their constituents, wouldn't you? Maybe complain to Labour for them not listening (assuming someone there cares too!)
You could try emailing him - I did that to mine and got a politely worded "bugger off, I know what I'm doing" type email back. You can get his email quite easily using the tools at this site, and this site has a fair few good links if you dig deep enough.
A while ago I was emailed something that stuck out from the usual chain/joke/... flood. Basically it had a very long and badly spelled sentence, where the only rules followed were that the first and last letter in the word were in the correct position. You could read it easily. Go figure!
Hree is an epamxle of jsut taht, it's qitue esay to raed, ins't it? Agulohth it can get plluartraicy hrad wtih the lgnoer wdros.
a) This is scary for those poor ignorant fools
b) slightly better is the knowledge that the main sites with this info have now been slashdotted so the info is *slightly* better protected now:-)
c) unfortunately they will now suffer a barrage of well-meaning emails/phone calls informing them that their info is insecure and will end up having their emails & phones slashdotted (do we slashdot phones?)
I think that at least one use of them was mentioned in the article (but of course, who reads that, nowadays?) in that students use them on silent mode during exams. Schools aren't necessarily the richest institutions in the world either.
7) If you have the facility - tell em how many people are in the queue. Ikea do that here in the UK, so you just give up straight away if a large number is read out.
8) Don't recommend going to your website to find the solution. I'm ringing because your website is rubbish and doesn't do what I want it to.
9) have a menu system that covers everything, or at least has a category for "all other enquiries", I hate trying to force what I want into categories that don't quite fit (although I have a sneaky suspicion that I end up talking to the same person, whatever buttons I push)
Slashdot Mirror
Anyhow, the basic idea is that you queue to get on to the roundabout, leaping in wherever there is a reasonable gap (or not!). Then you just get out at the appropriate lane. Adding in complication is when you have a very large roundabout, so they put in multiple lanes all around it, and you start from the central lane and then gradually filter to the outside just as you get to the exit you want.
The magic roundabout then takes this one stage further and has lots of roundabouts next to eachother to fsck with your head. You then end up breaking the mindset of the "conventional roundabout" by effectively going the wrong way. I'd not think about it if you're never going to be on one though.
Basically, it's just a slightly ordered free-for all within the confines of an intersection with Stop signs.
I live in the poxy town of Swindon in England - home of the wierdest traffic management systems in the world, one of which is the Magic Roundabout (which I actually like, but timid drivers wet themselves at the thought of crossing it). On the north side of town, where I live, the new part of the ring road has about a dozen consectutive traffic lights on a road designed for fairly high volumes of traffic - all of which have sensors implanted in the road to detect traffic. The situation you get in rush hour is that when someone wants to get out of a side road, they trip their sensors, which eventually gets their lights green and the main junction is red. A chunk of traffic builds up at the red light and a gap appears in the road ahead. The next lights down then notice the gap and begin to think that it's a good time to let the people out who are waiting, with a consequence that by the time you get there these ones are red too. This repeats all the way up the road, so if you hit one red light, you hit them all.
You could be philosphical and think, "why do I need to hurry?". The answer is that I don't need to hurry, but the constant stop/start does reduce the mileage I get from a tank of petrol, and it just irritates me for various other unquantifiable reasons.
If you work in a place where phones should not be present - e.g. airline pilot, cinema/concert usher, burger flipper even :-) - then you should not have a phone with you as the use of it is counterproductive to your job - i.e. it degrades the customer experience or potentially violates working regulations. If you are employed to do a function, that function has environmental parameters that shapes the way you perform it. It seems that your parameters include being in contact 24-7, in which case the participation in any other activity where your function interferes with the enjoyment of others in their pursuit of paid for entertainment is just plain rude.
I would agree with you that babies should certainly be banned from the cinema, that people rustling sweet wrappers should be dragged out and shot. I can live with the toilet thing up to a point as taking a dump/piss is a necessary part of everyone's everyday life - irrespective of what they are doing at the time (up to a point, I mean - if you are going on a long journey with no anticipated stops, you try to take the opportunity to go when it is present, and not at the point of maximum inconvenience to others).
If, however, you sat in the geeky "optimimum sound position" at the centre of the aisle in the centre of the auditorium (or wherever), you may still deserve cricifying :-), as on a par with annoying ringtones is the person that gets up mumbling "Excuse me, excuse me" as they force lots of people to shuffle around so that they can go pee / have a chat on their phone (I'm not saying that everyone should pee in a cup rather than disturb others, but they could think ahead a bit when they buy their 2-gallon supersize coke)
I also disagree that listening to the occasional beep mid film is ok - it distracts from the film. Most people want to actually immerse themselves in the film (isn't entertainment all about escapism, after all), and things like beeps will drag them out of that and lower the enjoyment. If you're not most people, then fine, you're entitled to that viewpoint, but assuming that other people share that view is a folly.
The issue here is the expectation that if you have a mobile phone, you must be reachable. Historically no-one was all that bothered if you weren't in when you were rung at the home phone - they just left a message. However now you are expected to cart around this small device that means you are contactable 24-7. I would question why you would want this? If it's for work and you are on call, then I expect that, but then don't go to the cinema/show/performance during that time as you will annoy everyone else with your job-related emergency. If it's various of your nearest and dearest that you cannot bear to not hear from for 3 hours then what are you doing in a place where you are expected to be silent and sit still for that length of time? You may think you have valid reasons for having your phone switched on, but most other people will view that as a reason for you not being there in the first place.
Someone has, although it's in a nursery, not at home
you forgot:
...
6. Profit!
One of many sites already
Ho hum.
Ignore my sig :-)
You would have thought that MP are supposed to actually listen to their constituents, wouldn't you? Maybe complain to Labour for them not listening (assuming someone there cares too!)
I know it's not aimed at this, but I wonder what would happen if you threw Weierstrass at this
Doh.
Hree is an epamxle of jsut taht, it's qitue esay to raed, ins't it? Agulohth it can get plluartraicy hrad wtih the lgnoer wdros.
b) slightly better is the knowledge that the main sites with this info have now been slashdotted so the info is *slightly* better protected now
c) unfortunately they will now suffer a barrage of well-meaning emails/phone calls informing them that their info is insecure and will end up having their emails & phones slashdotted (do we slashdot phones?)
I'll do my bit and not inform them
Don't forget to do the amazon.co.uk version too as well as the amazon.com version!!!
8) Don't recommend going to your website to find the solution. I'm ringing because your website is rubbish and doesn't do what I want it to.
9) have a menu system that covers everything, or at least has a category for "all other enquiries", I hate trying to force what I want into categories that don't quite fit (although I have a sneaky suspicion that I end up talking to the same person, whatever buttons I push)