"Finally, would the British Empire accept a referendum by residents of it's colonies in the new world, for example, on breaking away from motherland and becoming independent?"
Australia,
New Zealand,
Malta,
India,
Canada,
Sri Lanaka,
Singapore,
Malaysia,
Jamaica,
Lesotho,
Botswana,
Kenya,
Ghana,
Kuwait,
Oman,
Brunei,
Papua New Guinea,
This is just a short list of countries that voted for independence or gained independence from England using diplomatic means. Countries like Australia and New Zealand are quite proud that we gained our independence with a vote, not a war.
In fact the states that have been actively fighting the British have remained in British control the longest (Ireland).
You might be able to add Scotland to this list, after centuries of fighting the English for independence, it looks like they'll get it just by voting.
Yes. I'd love to hear an unbiased review from a site that doesn't sell them....bought myself a WiFi hotspot and a cheap service plan (FreedomPop) today to start down this path.
There is an unbiased site, but you need to own a unicorn to get membership.
I'm still looking for a wiring loom for a Honda Integra (Acura RSX for the Americans).
Live in Texas, pretty simple tax return. I've always used TurboTax online and never had any complaints. I think I chose the $30 option.
Ever since I've been old enough to pay tax, the Australian government has offered free software (e-tax) to allow me to file tax free of charge (e-tax looks like it's interface is still in Windows 3.1). I find it to be criminal for the government to force a charge for you to file your taxes.
Even though I opt to pay an accountant to do my taxes for me, I have the choice.
I like the UK system - if you're an employee and you're happy with the tax your employer has withheld on your behalf, you don't have to do anything. You get a statement at the end of the year telling you how much you've been paid and how much tax has been withheld - if you think they've got it wrong, or you want to claim deductions, you file a tax return saying so.
Its the same system in Australia, but everyone has to file a tax return.
Where things get complex is when you have investments that are earning money, property, stocks, term deposits and the like.
It would not be hard to make it clear to people how much "The Man" is taking.
You'd think so but I'm an accountant and I do our company payroll. You would be *amazed* at how seldom many people look at their paycheck, particularly if it is direct deposit. I get asked all the time how much vacation people have left even though it is printed right on our paystubs every two weeks.
I'm not amazed at how few people look at their payslips. Most employers in Oz send them electronically these days, it's nice to have them sent to my Gmail account where they automatically get tagged and filed.
The solution for people asking you how much leave they have left is to get a system that allows users to check this for themselves. Most employers I've worked for have an Intranet page where you can put in your preferred leave dates and it will tell you how much leave you will have accrued by that date.
Since Apple has no control over quality of implementation
But one great aspect of CarPlay has already done something I thought would not happen for a while - breaking the car manufactures monopoly on in-car mapping.
These two points contradict each other.
If Apple has no control over implementation, then implementation is till reliant on the good will of the car manufacturers to put it into _THEIR_ in car entertainment systems.
I don't know if CarPlay will gain any traction.
It wont, precisely because the manufacturers don't want to give up their monopoly.
And you waste a load of shotgun shells that are going to be extremely valuable in the post apocalypse.
Depends, the 20 gauge are plentiful but the lever action shotgun they go in is rare and breaks easy (single shotgun's reload speed is atrocious), the 12 gauge is rare, but the combat shotgun is even rarer. I'll stick to the cowboy repeater backed up with a 10mm SMG and varmint/hunting/sniper rifle for long range.
On the other hand, some things (like animals and pedestrians) require some means of illumination at night.
I wonder how we ever managed to survive before electric light...
Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.
You're not going to read a book or do rocket surgery but you can walk around outdoors without electric lights even when there's no moon. I've done plenty of hiking, etc. under a full moon.
The thing about starlight is that it's primarily reflected light from our own sun and this changes depending on which part of the lunar cycle you're in. I used to live in a small mining town 1500 KM from the nearest city (so its easy to find a place with no artificial light), you'd have times when it was pitch black and other times where you could see for a KM however the contrast was extremely washed out, so whilst you'd spot a person walking you'd have trouble seeing their face. Put simply, you'll have a lot of trouble spotting white lines on black roads.
Try doing your hiking under no moon and see how much light there is.
If this paint works as intended, it will be a godsend for anyone travelling remote roads at night, where I live there are thousands of kilometres of unlit roads.
Under a 2002 law it was made illegal to change the IMEI unless you're the manufacturer.
However, under a 2006 amendment to the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 it was made illegal to even OFFER to do this. You don't have to actually change the IMEI to commit the offense, you just have to offer or say you will. Punishment is up to 5 years in prison.
The smartphone blackmarket could be wiped out just by enforcing this law.
Somewhere in South London:
Crim 1 orrigh' me ol China, we've half-inched this mugs dog an' bone. Crim 2 Now we just have to change the IMEI. Crim 1 But that's illegal my sahn. Crim 2 You're right guv, better give up then.
Sorry, but this is a complete fallacy perpetuated by people with no idea about how the hospitality industry works. In most countries, taking money for upgrades will get employees fired. In most developing countries, even the allegation of it is enough.
On a recent trip to Vegas for a wedding, 11 people in the group tried this, 11 people failed, 10 of them were told that it never works and they'd get fired if they got caught and handed the money back visibly (cameras watch the staff, not just the punters). Taking tips is one thing, giving out hotel resources in exchange for money is another.
It also crams the numbers of everyone with an interest into "first day sales" figures. Be ready for the April 17th "Google sells a bazillion Google Glass in one day!" articles.
Yes, the normal way of padding your first day sales stats (with 4 months of pre-orders) is so passe, even Apple is doing it.
Generally speaking, unless it's a motorcycle cop specifically tasked to speed/traffic, when a cop pulls you over, he's got a bunch of latitude. He adds a bunch of factors up in his head and decides if you're getting a ticket.
Cops do have a lot of latitude, even when specifically tasked to traffic (I.E. highway patrol). However if they've decided to ticket you, they're going to ticket you.
So you cant talk your way out of a ticket, but you can talk your way into one. If they've only stopped to caution you, being a smart arse turns that caution into an infraction.
Quite simply to have a halfway decent gaming rig you are plunking down a minimum of $1200
Hairyfeet would dispute that figure. He claims to have put together a competent gaming PC for under $500, not including a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
On the other hand, there are a few genres that get released on consoles far more often than on PC, even when they aren't exclusive to one console. Fighting games are one of them; the PC version of Mortal Kombat 2011, for instance, was two years late. Party games, designed for two to four players holding controllers, are another genre where PCs get the shaft. True, those require bigger monitors than a single-player or online game, but that doesn't explain why established video game publishers seem to ignore the growing home theater PC market.
Vice versa, there are genre's that don't get released on consoles (proper simulators) and genre's that get released but continually fail (strategy). Each platform has it's strengths, however in genre's that are on both platforms the PC always has the advantage, better graphics, better controls, faster loading. Play an FPS on PC and you realise how bad console controls are.
I'm an ardent PC gamer, but I'll happily admit that fighting games on PC suck. Games like that are the reason I keep a Wii about the place (and when friends come over, it's easier to get the Wii out) but when I want to play a remotely complex game, I'll go to the PC. So called "hardcore" console gamers deride the Wii as being casual... well no shit, casual is where the console excels and casual games are the exact reason I have a console at all. There's nothing wrong with simple, accessible and fun games. The problem is actually whit the so called "hardcore" that are trying to compete with PC's instead of being consoles.
I don't see the PC entering the console world any time soon. But I can see something like the Steambox killing off the PC wannabe consoles.
The console makers stopped focusing on making it a game machine, instead trying to make an 'entertainment center.' If you want to push the envelope in graphics, you need to go to the PC.
It because console makers started trying to make consoles into PC's and failing at it.
Nintendo is still making money hand over fist because the Wii was a console designed to be a console. Simple, accessible, fun games.
Every generation since the Atari has claimed their console was the end of the PC. Every time they've been wrong. PC hardware is constantly improving, consoles pick a point in time and freeze it there. So even when a console manufacture picks the best GPU for their console from the R&D labs, it's superseded by the time the console is even released and it will continue to get further behind the times until the next console is released. This is what Sony did with the PS3, they used a 7800 derived GPU but the 8000 series was released before the PS3. Sony had to pick a 7000 series because the 8000 hadn't even been invented when they had to chose hardware.
And it's not just graphics, if you want to push any envelope or even just access a certain genre (I.E. strategy) you need to go to the PC.
The PS3/Xbox 360 didn't kill the PC, the PS4/Xbox 1 certainly hasn't either. Neither will the next generation.
For example, there's a lot more restrictions in play - especially the penalties on placing more cities. They dropped the health mechanic of Civ IV for growing cities and population, but they replaced it with a bogus penalty to culture and research from additional cities. It just doesn't feel right. The tech tree is bogus and it's clear that they structured the tree as they did for game balance rather than any sense of realism. Even worse is the culture trees. They don't feel even remotely realistic.
I agree with all of this, but it's not Civ5's real problem.
The real problem is the absolutely retarded AI. The AI doesn't expand (seriously, 1500 AD and China still has 1 city) cant fight a war, wont bother advancing tech very far and the diplomacy system is a complete joke (I've surrounded your last city with battleships and rocket artillery and they wont give me a few gold to go away).
Is it the Ethnic or the Violent words you're having trouble with.
Not just race, but religion, culture, upbringing. Kind of like the conflict between Irish Catholics and Protestants. Countries like Australia, Sweden and Finland tend not have radically different ethnic groups that are in conflict with one another. If we compare this to a place like Iraq where you have Shiite's, Sunni's and Kurds in constant conflict.
I suspect that what the parent poster refers to is the fact that at least here in Finland and Sweden people drink a lot when they drink but not necessarily a huge total - i.e. no daily alcohol consumption with every meal but instead until they pass out during weekends. Probably because alcohol is heavily taxed and thus they need to get intoxicated before they can really start consuming without thinking about the cost...
This,
And thank you.
I spoke about a drinking culture, not alcohol consumption. going out and getting rat-faced is quite socially acceptable so people tend to drink until they're properly drunk, sometimes to the point of binge drinking.
If the framerate is jerky then they didn't plan the game properly.
There's no excuse on a console where you know the exact resources available, right down to individual clock cycles.
Well if you plan your game based on specifications that were a complete lie, then yes, yes you have an excuse.
The Xbox One and PS3 were overhyped and under delivered. They've handed this generation to the lacklustre Wii U, despite not being a big improvement actually does what Nintendo said it would.
I don't buy this "it's just human nature" argument.
The prevalence of cell phone use while driving is much greater than that of driving drunk. It is not because it is less of a "human nature". It is because there are stronger deterrents.
If people faced similar penalties to those of DUI (jail time, loss of driving privileges for extended periods of time, etc) for having their hands on the phone while driving, you can bet "human nature" would change accordingly.
The penalty for being on the phone is A$300 and 3 demerit points (accrue 12 demerit points and it's off the road for 3 months). However on public holidays and long weekends we double the amount of demerit points per infraction. So for this coming weekend (Good Friday and Easter) you can expect anyone caught on the phone to get the same fine, but 6 demerit points.
While using cellphone (and now smartphone) have been accused of causing a lot of accidents, they are not the only distraction. Long before the advent of the cellphone, a lot of traffic accidents were caused by drivers adjusting their radio (either looking for station of turning up/down the volume), or adjusting the seat, or the air condition, or whatever.
And here is even more evidence that Americans are simply not taught to drive properly.
The absolute first thing you do when you get into a car is adjust your seat and mirrors.
Adjusting the radio or AC isn't even in the same league of distractions as a smartphone. People do need to be able to handle taking their eyes off the road in front of them momentarily. You need to do this to check your mirrors, instrumentation and blindspots when needed. When people use a smartphone they don't just take their eyes off the road for a fraction of a second, they take their entire minds off the job of driving for up to minutes at a time.
Comparing phones to changing the radio station is a strawman and a bad strawman at that. It's like saying that attractive women must be banned from riding motorcycles or walking along the side of a street because a male motorist might become distracted. It's utter bollocks because you as a driver, are expected to maintain enough discipline that you can ignore distractions and are smart enough not to play with the radio and AC or spend too long oogling at a hot chick on the side of the road. It used to be the same with phones until people demonstrated they would prioritise their phone call/text above driving.
Slashdot Mirror
Australia,
New Zealand,
Malta,
India,
Canada,
Sri Lanaka,
Singapore,
Malaysia,
Jamaica,
Lesotho,
Botswana,
Kenya,
Ghana,
Kuwait,
Oman,
Brunei,
Papua New Guinea,
This is just a short list of countries that voted for independence or gained independence from England using diplomatic means. Countries like Australia and New Zealand are quite proud that we gained our independence with a vote, not a war.
In fact the states that have been actively fighting the British have remained in British control the longest (Ireland).
You might be able to add Scotland to this list, after centuries of fighting the English for independence, it looks like they'll get it just by voting.
Yes. I'd love to hear an unbiased review from a site that doesn't sell them. ...bought myself a WiFi hotspot and a cheap service plan (FreedomPop) today to start down this path.
There is an unbiased site, but you need to own a unicorn to get membership.
I'm still looking for a wiring loom for a Honda Integra (Acura RSX for the Americans).
Live in Texas, pretty simple tax return. I've always used TurboTax online and never had any complaints. I think I chose the $30 option.
Ever since I've been old enough to pay tax, the Australian government has offered free software (e-tax) to allow me to file tax free of charge (e-tax looks like it's interface is still in Windows 3.1). I find it to be criminal for the government to force a charge for you to file your taxes.
Even though I opt to pay an accountant to do my taxes for me, I have the choice.
I like the UK system - if you're an employee and you're happy with the tax your employer has withheld on your behalf, you don't have to do anything. You get a statement at the end of the year telling you how much you've been paid and how much tax has been withheld - if you think they've got it wrong, or you want to claim deductions, you file a tax return saying so.
Its the same system in Australia, but everyone has to file a tax return.
Where things get complex is when you have investments that are earning money, property, stocks, term deposits and the like.
Well that's just mean, why would you taunt them like that, you must know that lifeless bodies are worth less.
Depends how fresh they are, organs are worth a great deal these days.
It would not be hard to make it clear to people how much "The Man" is taking.
You'd think so but I'm an accountant and I do our company payroll. You would be *amazed* at how seldom many people look at their paycheck, particularly if it is direct deposit. I get asked all the time how much vacation people have left even though it is printed right on our paystubs every two weeks.
I'm not amazed at how few people look at their payslips. Most employers in Oz send them electronically these days, it's nice to have them sent to my Gmail account where they automatically get tagged and filed.
The solution for people asking you how much leave they have left is to get a system that allows users to check this for themselves. Most employers I've worked for have an Intranet page where you can put in your preferred leave dates and it will tell you how much leave you will have accrued by that date.
Which model?
Since Apple has no control over quality of implementation
But one great aspect of CarPlay has already done something I thought would not happen for a while - breaking the car manufactures monopoly on in-car mapping.
These two points contradict each other.
If Apple has no control over implementation, then implementation is till reliant on the good will of the car manufacturers to put it into _THEIR_ in car entertainment systems.
I don't know if CarPlay will gain any traction.
It wont, precisely because the manufacturers don't want to give up their monopoly.
And you waste a load of shotgun shells that are going to be extremely valuable in the post apocalypse.
Depends, the 20 gauge are plentiful but the lever action shotgun they go in is rare and breaks easy (single shotgun's reload speed is atrocious), the 12 gauge is rare, but the combat shotgun is even rarer. I'll stick to the cowboy repeater backed up with a 10mm SMG and varmint/hunting/sniper rifle for long range.
On the other hand, some things (like animals and pedestrians) require some means of illumination at night.
I wonder how we ever managed to survive before electric light...
Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.
You're not going to read a book or do rocket surgery but you can walk around outdoors without electric lights even when there's no moon. I've done plenty of hiking, etc. under a full moon.
The thing about starlight is that it's primarily reflected light from our own sun and this changes depending on which part of the lunar cycle you're in. I used to live in a small mining town 1500 KM from the nearest city (so its easy to find a place with no artificial light), you'd have times when it was pitch black and other times where you could see for a KM however the contrast was extremely washed out, so whilst you'd spot a person walking you'd have trouble seeing their face. Put simply, you'll have a lot of trouble spotting white lines on black roads.
Try doing your hiking under no moon and see how much light there is.
If this paint works as intended, it will be a godsend for anyone travelling remote roads at night, where I live there are thousands of kilometres of unlit roads.
Under a 2002 law it was made illegal to change the IMEI unless you're the manufacturer. However, under a 2006 amendment to the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 it was made illegal to even OFFER to do this. You don't have to actually change the IMEI to commit the offense, you just have to offer or say you will. Punishment is up to 5 years in prison. The smartphone blackmarket could be wiped out just by enforcing this law.
Somewhere in South London:
Crim 1 orrigh' me ol China, we've half-inched this mugs dog an' bone.
Crim 2 Now we just have to change the IMEI.
Crim 1 But that's illegal my sahn.
Crim 2 You're right guv, better give up then.
Unfortunately, that's always the end result of having ads pay for journalism. At some point, there's always a conflict. And money will always will.
This, due to the unique way the BBC is funded, they don't have to cave to advertisers whims.
See above. Works well and often, despite publication.
http://www.thetwentydollartric...
Above says your name.
Sorry, but this is a complete fallacy perpetuated by people with no idea about how the hospitality industry works. In most countries, taking money for upgrades will get employees fired. In most developing countries, even the allegation of it is enough.
On a recent trip to Vegas for a wedding, 11 people in the group tried this, 11 people failed, 10 of them were told that it never works and they'd get fired if they got caught and handed the money back visibly (cameras watch the staff, not just the punters). Taking tips is one thing, giving out hotel resources in exchange for money is another.
It also crams the numbers of everyone with an interest into "first day sales" figures. Be ready for the April 17th "Google sells a bazillion Google Glass in one day!" articles.
Yes, the normal way of padding your first day sales stats (with 4 months of pre-orders) is so passe, even Apple is doing it.
Meh.
Generally speaking, unless it's a motorcycle cop specifically tasked to speed/traffic, when a cop pulls you over, he's got a bunch of latitude. He adds a bunch of factors up in his head and decides if you're getting a ticket.
Cops do have a lot of latitude, even when specifically tasked to traffic (I.E. highway patrol). However if they've decided to ticket you, they're going to ticket you.
So you cant talk your way out of a ticket, but you can talk your way into one. If they've only stopped to caution you, being a smart arse turns that caution into an infraction.
On most of the east coast, you'd better make sure to hand your PBA card over to the officer when he asks for your registration.
It's the same as handing $20 to the check-in clerk in Vegas with your ID.
The "$20 Trick" is an urban legend.
This,
Even if it did once work, every man and their dog knows about it so it's too well publicised to work.
The best way I know of to get any kind of upgrade is to be friends with someone who can hand them out.
Quite simply to have a halfway decent gaming rig you are plunking down a minimum of $1200
Hairyfeet would dispute that figure. He claims to have put together a competent gaming PC for under $500, not including a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
On the other hand, there are a few genres that get released on consoles far more often than on PC, even when they aren't exclusive to one console. Fighting games are one of them; the PC version of Mortal Kombat 2011, for instance, was two years late. Party games, designed for two to four players holding controllers, are another genre where PCs get the shaft. True, those require bigger monitors than a single-player or online game, but that doesn't explain why established video game publishers seem to ignore the growing home theater PC market.
Vice versa, there are genre's that don't get released on consoles (proper simulators) and genre's that get released but continually fail (strategy). Each platform has it's strengths, however in genre's that are on both platforms the PC always has the advantage, better graphics, better controls, faster loading. Play an FPS on PC and you realise how bad console controls are.
I'm an ardent PC gamer, but I'll happily admit that fighting games on PC suck. Games like that are the reason I keep a Wii about the place (and when friends come over, it's easier to get the Wii out) but when I want to play a remotely complex game, I'll go to the PC. So called "hardcore" console gamers deride the Wii as being casual... well no shit, casual is where the console excels and casual games are the exact reason I have a console at all. There's nothing wrong with simple, accessible and fun games. The problem is actually whit the so called "hardcore" that are trying to compete with PC's instead of being consoles.
I don't see the PC entering the console world any time soon. But I can see something like the Steambox killing off the PC wannabe consoles.
The console makers stopped focusing on making it a game machine, instead trying to make an 'entertainment center.' If you want to push the envelope in graphics, you need to go to the PC.
It because console makers started trying to make consoles into PC's and failing at it.
Nintendo is still making money hand over fist because the Wii was a console designed to be a console. Simple, accessible, fun games.
Every generation since the Atari has claimed their console was the end of the PC. Every time they've been wrong. PC hardware is constantly improving, consoles pick a point in time and freeze it there. So even when a console manufacture picks the best GPU for their console from the R&D labs, it's superseded by the time the console is even released and it will continue to get further behind the times until the next console is released. This is what Sony did with the PS3, they used a 7800 derived GPU but the 8000 series was released before the PS3. Sony had to pick a 7000 series because the 8000 hadn't even been invented when they had to chose hardware.
And it's not just graphics, if you want to push any envelope or even just access a certain genre (I.E. strategy) you need to go to the PC.
The PS3/Xbox 360 didn't kill the PC, the PS4/Xbox 1 certainly hasn't either. Neither will the next generation.
big, coordinated marketing efforts. PC has no such coordination.
Quite ironic that PC gaming has remained dominant despite having no real marketing. Speaks to the natural superiority of the PC as a gaming machine.
For example, there's a lot more restrictions in play - especially the penalties on placing more cities. They dropped the health mechanic of Civ IV for growing cities and population, but they replaced it with a bogus penalty to culture and research from additional cities. It just doesn't feel right. The tech tree is bogus and it's clear that they structured the tree as they did for game balance rather than any sense of realism. Even worse is the culture trees. They don't feel even remotely realistic.
I agree with all of this, but it's not Civ5's real problem. The real problem is the absolutely retarded AI. The AI doesn't expand (seriously, 1500 AD and China still has 1 city) cant fight a war, wont bother advancing tech very far and the diplomacy system is a complete joke (I've surrounded your last city with battleships and rocket artillery and they wont give me a few gold to go away).
"Ethnic violence"? What's that supposed to mean?
Violence between different ethnic groups.
Is it the Ethnic or the Violent words you're having trouble with.
Not just race, but religion, culture, upbringing. Kind of like the conflict between Irish Catholics and Protestants. Countries like Australia, Sweden and Finland tend not have radically different ethnic groups that are in conflict with one another. If we compare this to a place like Iraq where you have Shiite's, Sunni's and Kurds in constant conflict.
I suspect that what the parent poster refers to is the fact that at least here in Finland and Sweden people drink a lot when they drink but not necessarily a huge total - i.e. no daily alcohol consumption with every meal but instead until they pass out during weekends. Probably because alcohol is heavily taxed and thus they need to get intoxicated before they can really start consuming without thinking about the cost...
This,
And thank you.
I spoke about a drinking culture, not alcohol consumption. going out and getting rat-faced is quite socially acceptable so people tend to drink until they're properly drunk, sometimes to the point of binge drinking.
If the framerate is jerky then they didn't plan the game properly.
There's no excuse on a console where you know the exact resources available, right down to individual clock cycles.
Well if you plan your game based on specifications that were a complete lie, then yes, yes you have an excuse.
The Xbox One and PS3 were overhyped and under delivered. They've handed this generation to the lacklustre Wii U, despite not being a big improvement actually does what Nintendo said it would.
I don't buy this "it's just human nature" argument.
The prevalence of cell phone use while driving is much greater than that of driving drunk. It is not because it is less of a "human nature". It is because there are stronger deterrents.
If people faced similar penalties to those of DUI (jail time, loss of driving privileges for extended periods of time, etc) for having their hands on the phone while driving, you can bet "human nature" would change accordingly.
Odd you should mention this. Where I live (Western Australia) cops will be targeting phone users.
The penalty for being on the phone is A$300 and 3 demerit points (accrue 12 demerit points and it's off the road for 3 months). However on public holidays and long weekends we double the amount of demerit points per infraction. So for this coming weekend (Good Friday and Easter) you can expect anyone caught on the phone to get the same fine, but 6 demerit points.
And here is even more evidence that Americans are simply not taught to drive properly.
The absolute first thing you do when you get into a car is adjust your seat and mirrors.
Adjusting the radio or AC isn't even in the same league of distractions as a smartphone. People do need to be able to handle taking their eyes off the road in front of them momentarily. You need to do this to check your mirrors, instrumentation and blindspots when needed. When people use a smartphone they don't just take their eyes off the road for a fraction of a second, they take their entire minds off the job of driving for up to minutes at a time.
Comparing phones to changing the radio station is a strawman and a bad strawman at that. It's like saying that attractive women must be banned from riding motorcycles or walking along the side of a street because a male motorist might become distracted. It's utter bollocks because you as a driver, are expected to maintain enough discipline that you can ignore distractions and are smart enough not to play with the radio and AC or spend too long oogling at a hot chick on the side of the road. It used to be the same with phones until people demonstrated they would prioritise their phone call/text above driving.