I'm pretty sure that this is the straw that broke the camel's back. At some point you have to stop adding stuff. Well, no... You don't HAVE to. But you SHOULD. Who thought that this would be a good idea and how come nobody smacked them? Were they drunk? Stoned? It's a text editor. Well, no. It's supposed to be a text editor. There's probably a compiler built into it by now. It's got games in it. It's got a browser in it now, if you want to build it. It's no longer a text editor.
You can't even say it's a text editor with a straight face - can you? I know I can't. I tried. Nope. I tried again. I can kind of keep a straight face and say it but I know I couldn't tell a n00b that it was a text editor with a straight face. Hell, I wouldn't wish emacs on a n00b - I don't even wish it on me! And the GNU folks are still calling it, on their page, a text editor.
We bitch about systemd for overreach but emacs is the worst offender at breaking "The Unix Way" that I can think of! You can probably now use emacs as a fucking video player. Ain't nobody getting any work done now. But, damn it, you'll have a shortcut for it. Probably something with a a colon.:tv or something. I'd not be surprised if someone figured out a way to use init, the kernel, and emacs and have their own damned tiny ass distro. I almost think you could do that with not much more. It'd be lacking some features but I'd not be surprised if someone finally did it.
I mean, come on now, this is just past the point of insanity. I am not even embarrassed to admit that there are features in emacs that I've never even discovered - I'm positive of this.
You'd be surprised what I learn from reading all these posts. However, your over-thinking it and your kid's a pig. Why? He didn't wash the boxes out so he had dirt from his shoes in there when he later used that same box to store cookies. I believe that's called shooting yourself in the foot with C but, alas, I'm a very, very bad programmer who hasn't really programmed anything except for some PHP in like 15 years.;-) Seriously, I had professionals take over my code base completely by 2000. I've programmed a few things in Perl, a couple of quick things that I needed in C, and a bunch of PHP and I haven't even done much of that since 2009 or so.
In short, thanks. You folks make me think. And you should tell your kid to make sure he cleans that memory space of the folks I'd hired would have yelled at me and told me I was doing it wrong. So, wash those boxes out between storing cookies in them or shoes in them. Otherwise you'll have contamination issues. Or maybe a buffer overflow. *nods*
I think this might apply to both of you so I will place it here.
I hold my PhD in Applied Mathematics and I could do maths by rote, in my head, really quickly and easily but I never understood it until I had a teacher explain why it was that The formula for finding the area of a triangle actually made sense. (Duh, you're squaring it. It's half of that.) At that point it just "clicked" in my head and from that point on, and with more instruction from that same teacher, I grasped the concepts and not just the rote - I understood and could visualize the maths involved.
I imagine that point is different and some people may never get that. I can look at a complicated algorithm, work it out, and visualize it. I might even be able to solve it in my head - even if it's kind of complicated.
All because a teacher told me that you're really just squaring and solving for half the value to find the area of a triangle. Sure, I knew the formula but it just had never clicked. When it clicked - I got it.
There are other things that sometimes just finally click and I understand them. Like, I had the hardest time (and I'm a real mathematician) understanding why a one-time-pad couldn't be brute forced and then it clicked - it can be anything. You don't know, it's everything that has that many letters. It's just something that clicked and I got but it took two people pretty much beating into my head before it finally clicked.
That's how my head works. I don't think it's unique but once it clicks, it's a "complete" thing. So, it's nice when it does click but it doesn't always click so I've done many things (not mathematically related) by rote. They've just not yet clicked. I don't have a better to put it. But, if you can find a teacher who can find the special way to make it click for their students - that's a good instructor in my humble opinion.
I don't know if that makes much sense but that's the best way I can think of to describe it. Hell, it might have even been you who was helping me with the OTP thing. I just couldn't grasp it - and then it just clicked.
That's kind of how I taught myself to program. I had to learn. It was required for me to do what I wanted to do so I just started looking at other people's C and I'd already done a lot of what your wife did with BASIC. The difference is, probably, that I actually hated computers back then. I really did. I bought a book on C programming, I still own it somewhere - forgot the name but it was good, and looked at lots and lots and lots of code. I also, by then, had USENET and a comp sci grad student as a friend who was with me at the beginning, sort of.
I really did, I hated computers with a passion. I despised them. I didn't even really start to like them until the early/mid 1990s.
Need? Probably not, we don't need it. Is it good to have? I'd say yes. Why? It's a fine introduction into some logical thinking that gives you near immediate gratification or notification that you failed and need to improve. Why is it a matter of "need" anyhow? Kids don't need lunch, they'll live without it. We still feed them. They don't need history, we still teach them. Why does "need" matter to you in this case?
Just because you feel like swapping lies on the internet about your supposed ability in third grade doesn't mean that everyone is quite the special snowflake you're pretending to be. Yeah, sorry - I don't believe you were programming in C and ASM in third grade. Sue me... Why don't I believe you? Your faulty logic indicated by "questioning" if it was something that they "need" instead of realizing that it is one of many options to be considered and that "need" is hardly a consideration in this matter. The kids don't even "need" to learn to read. There's countless illiterate people. Hell, the kids don't even "need" to go to school.
No, you probably still can't program in C or ASM. You might be able to bang out Hello World in BASIC with some help.
Heh... Prednisone really does make me cranky but I'm still calling you on your bullshit question. Really? You expect that to pass on Slashdot?
That's one way to try to look at it but there's still quite a bit of wealth disparity. Maine has some surprisingly rich people and a lot of wealthy property owners who come on vacation. While you're busy looking for reasons, check Maine's per capita mental illness rate, educational level, and see if you can find a decent metric for potentials for upward mobility financially.
Also, please be aware that I'm not trying to steer you to an answer, lead you to a conclusion, or calling you necessarily wrong. I do not know the reasons for the disparity myself and I've pondered and researched and I can not make any real conclusions. We do have high wealth disparities. For instance, I sold my business for a good sized 9 digit sum - and retired to Maine. Wayne, Maine supposedly has one of the highest millionaires per capita in the US. The coast is loaded with VERY wealthy people. We've got maybe five things that I'd call "cities." Even those have very little firearm related crimes.
We don't even need a permit to carry concealed any more. I still have my permit because it's valid in other States. I also don't need to wait or go through a background check because I already have my permit. I own an obscene number of firearms. A lot are collector items that I just felt needed to be owned by someone who'd keep them in good condition and they're in a moisture and temperature controlled environment, protected with a separate alarm, surrounded on all four side by 1' reinforced concrete - with extra rebad, plating, and a steel door that's embedded in the concrete - the frame is, at least. That's obviously locked and there are further safes inside that room. I consider myself more a custodian of some of them than an owner. If that makes sense.... They also seem to mate 'cause every time I turn around, I'm finding myself with more. I am literally thinking about building another room and, while I am at it, having the first room cut a little and have the whole thing covered in a layer of case hardened steel or similar. Just to add the extra layer of protection...
I think we need to have, as a nation, a serious conversation about how we should be educating kids, adults, everyone - about safe and responsible firearm ownership. It's a right but rights come with obligations and we're not doing out end of it very well. I am, I try to - at least. Hell, I even own two (legal) select fire (automatic) rifles. If I did not feel that I was safe with them, I'd not own them. I own them because they're a piece of history, they're fun, and I enjoy improving my skills. I like it, a lot. I'm not your typical gun nut - I think all the amendment are kind of important. I think we need to really discuss the 2nd and iron out what we owe out society in order to maintain that right. We have failed to uphold our end of the social contract. I saw we, I'm an American too. I do what I can. But, I can only do so much.
I do kick myself. I turned down a Thompson with two drum magazines for $7500. I just didn't want to do the paperwork and I'd just picked up the M14. So, I still kick myself for letting that piece of history go. But, again, I don't know what the answers are and I'm not saying your wrong - I'm saying keep looking. Your views of Maine aren't entirely accurate. There's some serious wealth here - a lot of it is moldy money or in land or other hard assets like that. I spent a shitload on land but there are people who have much more land than I do and I have 5 digits worth of acres just in one connected parcel - I had to get a bunch of it at different auctions from paper companies.
Yet, my house is locked and the alarm is on. In a few hours a friend will be there, opening it up, and getting the pool table ready, all while I'm gone. The key is easy to find and the alarm code is known by all my friends. So, I don't know what the difference is.
This is who I sent my '82 245 to be restored and mildly upgraded - including torsion bar additions, and bigger rear torsion bar, different suspensions, cam adjustment, compression adjustment, skid plate, etc...
I *highly* recommend them. I am on the opposite coast, I shipped it out, flew out when it was ready, and drove it around the country coming back to Maine. I thought about having them do the drop in. You can bolt the 5.0 Mustang engine right into it with almost not modification at all but I opted not to - I didn't want to take away the magic. It does 0 to 60 in 3.8 days.
It's expensive but it's worth it if you really love your brick. I can slalom in it, surely. With the camber adjusted I bet I hit the.90 mark for LA (seat of the pants guessing I've never taken it to test) so it's fine for what it is. If you call 'em up, tell 'em what you've got and what you want, and you've got the cash - they're do the restoration for you. They're a great company. Take a gander if you're curious. Basically almost everything was tightened and replaced with stronger components where applicable or meaningful. I had the skid plate added just to keep it better protected as I don't own any trailer queens. Every car I own is meant to be driven.
Turn to the direction that the closest traffic is moving and accelerate so that you sideswipe that car and the car going 100 misses you and goes out into the rest of the traffic? Does this contrived situation have time for that as a response? I've taken many, many driving courses (none of which would probably recommend that as a good idea but it does sound like the best possible chance). Basically (assuming normal US traffic) you'd cut hard to the right and punch the accelerator as quickly as you can so that you'd sideswipe the traffic - maybe. Reality is, no functional car will ever be completely "death proof" and I'm sure there's some journalist exaggeration going on. I sure as hell did not read the article. I may be still kind of bed-ridden but I'm no heretic.
I can't find the video but Volvo was once doing a demo for the automobile journalists. They were showing how the car would automatically stop and not hit a person standing in the way. Yeah, it pasted the dude pretty well. All on video, it was probably about 2008 to 2010 or somewhere in that range. I can't find the video but it's funny as hell. The dude lived and wasn't seriously injured - the car slowed, not enough, and the driver hit the brakes enough to slow it down even more but it was not stopping on its own. Great video - and I'm a fan of Volvo and I still think it was funny. He walked away, finished his shtick and limped a little. It basically hit him and he bounced off and fell down as I recall. Great fun was has by all the journalists.
Tell him to take bags of kitty litter, double wrap them in trash bags, and put them as far back in the truck as he can. That will help him get traction and if he gets stuck then he can open one and use the kitty litter to put down in front of the wheels and get traction that way.;-)
(I live in Maine. I'm cheating and wintering in Florida this year. However, that's an age old trick. Some people just go get sand from the town lot and fill up grain sacks with that. I recommend the kitty litter and wrapping it so that it doesn't get wet and freeze solid.)
Studs. Stud your tires. They're usually legal until May 15 in states where ice and snow is common. You buy the tires, they've got holes, they stud them with studs you pick out of varied length. I have some with 3/4" studs but that's for ice racing and they went on my Saab that I rallied with but blew the engine. They do quite nicely on ice. They are too long for road use and they would be dangerous as hell on asphalt until they wore down.
You can get road legal studded tires (probably) depending on your State. You usually can't put them on until November and they have to come off in April or May, something like that. I can't remember the exact dates and I'm too lazy to look. But there's an example at that link. Those would NOT be street legal and would be dangerous on asphalt. You only want, maybe, 1/4" studs - maybe a bit larger 3/8 or so but not too much. It's a combination of how much vs how little. You get little traction with longer studs on asphalt - steel doesn't stop as well on asphalt even though you might think it would. It just digs into the road and ruins the road and you skid quite a bit. Or you can, it depends on who's driving, as well.
But, studded tires... They are a thing, they are legal, and they are awesome. I refuse to put them on my Volvo. That would negate the fun.
Fold down the rear seat in a 245 and it fits a twin mattress beautifully and you still have room for your luggage and whatnot - it's a perfect little vacation wagon, I've gone across the country and back and up and down it several times in a beloved, restored, '82 245. It's a bit better than restored, better than factory, but not so as you'd notice from the outside. It even has the true hub caps, matching. (I keep spares - I lose 'em too often 'cause I put that poor thing in the damnedest of places.)
You can comfortably sleep two and have luggage for two and just hit a hotel every couple of days and shower in truck stops. It's kind of cool and you can, maybe, hit 27 MPG in Kansas but plan on 23 at best and 18 more often than not - for that specific model and year. That with the reduced drag from having a skid plate added - the mileage used to be worse. The timing is slightly tweaked, a few more performance mods added (not much, mostly stability) added and it's a nice, fantastic, tank. I described it in some detail above - I obviously love cars, that's why I end up in these threads. This one is quite special. You and a loved one can tour in it. I own an RV but I've still done it in a Volvo. It's just magical, different, and people are amazed 'cause I keep it in really fine condition - you can eat off the engine if you wanted. I have someone who details and works on all of my cars for me, every single Saturday, in my own garage - even if I'm not home. I pay him well and he's been doing it for years now. He asks for a tool, I give him the money, I own the tool, he uses it. Sometimes he takes it back to his own shop, I don't mind.
I'm a little obsessed with automobiles. Just a little. Err... I can list 'em all if you want?;-) I won't but they'd surprise you. I don't own any trailer queens. They all get driven. They're not what most people would want. Like, I have a prized 1988 Honda Accord LX that I shipped back to Japan to get fully restored. I'm third on the list for a real Fairlady from that same guy (he only does a few cars per year). I have a '73 Jeep. A 2015 BMW. An '86 Maxima. '85 Supra. '78 911 in Targa trim. And the list just goes on - I've got a whole collection of stupid things. But they're fun and I might as well as enjoy my time. I do not own but want to buy a Hilux. I will have a real surplus auction HMMWV in the next two months - almost certainly. I'll be adding a Tesla Model S - and take some pictures and video of it doing fun stuff just for you guys to see.
So, yeah, and I can go on. I've got a few incomplete project cars but I have 33, now, that are totally complete but I've not driven the 33rd one yet - it was just completed over the holidays and I'm not home. It's a 1978 Chevy that's built to have been modified into a tow truck and has all the tow truck accessories including lights and stuff now. I so can't wait to drive it! It's what I like. So, I do it. I accumulated a few dollars and I can't take them with me and, oddly, I still manage to someone make more than I can reasonably spend just from investing. I had no idea that investing was this lucrative. I make much more now that I don't work than I ever made working! So, I like automobiles (how can I not buy an EV like a Model S from Tesla?) and I like firearms 'cause they go boom and make me work to improve my skills. I hunt with 'em and I eat what I kill, so there's that. But I really just like shit that makes noise, goes fast, or is somehow dangerous. I'm like a five year old without parents and an allowance. I'll take the tow truck out in the winter and pull people out of ditches for free when they get stuck, I already do that in a plow truck but a tow truck will be even more awesome. I kind of miss winter - I'm spending it in Florida. There are no people to pull out of ditches. I will soon have half naked chicks on my beach for Spring Break, so there's that but I have a girlfriend now. So, I can only watch.
Ah well, I'm sure I've bored you enough with my talk of Volvo. But, they don't make an RV that I
Wow, sorry to bug you again but I went digging a little more and found this which is much more valuable than the last link: https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/v...
1944 Safety cage 1944 Laminated windscreen 1959 Three-point safety belts in the front as standard 1960 Padded instrument panel 1964 Prototype of the first rear-facing child seat is tested in a Volvo 1966 Twin-circuit triangular (three-wheel) backup braking system 1966 Crumple zones 1967 Seat belts in the rear 1968 Head restraints front 1969 Three-point inertia-reel safety belts in the front 1972 Three-point safety belts in the rear 1972 Rear-facing child seat and child-proof door locks 1972 Volvo Experimental Safety Car (VESC) 1973 Energy-absorbing steering column 1974 Energy-absorbing bumpers 1974 Petrol tank relocated for enhanced safety 1978 Child booster cushion for children 1982 Under-run protection 1982 Door mirrors of wide-angle type 1984 ABS, anti-locking brakes 1986 Brake lights at eye level 1986 Three-point safety belt in the middle of the rear seat 1987 Safety belt pre-tensioner 1987 Driver's airbag 1990 Integrated booster cushion for children 1991 SIPS, side impact collision protection 1991 Automatic height adjustment of front safety belts 1993 Three-point inertia-reel safety belt in all seats 1994 SIPS, side-impact airbags 1997 ROPS, Roll-Over Protection System convertible (C70) 1998 WHIPS, protection against whiplash injuries 1998 IC, inflatable curtain, 1998 DSTC, Dynamic Stability and Traction Control 2000 Volvo Cars Safety Centre inaugurated in Göteborg on 29 March 2000 ISOFIX attachments for child seats 2000 Two-stage airbag 2000 Volvo On Call safety system 2001 Volvo Safety Concept Car (SCC) 2002 RSC, Roll Stability Control 2002 ROPS, Roll-Over Protection System SUV (XC90) 2002 Lower cross-member at the front - protection system for oncoming cars 2002 Development of virtual "pregnant" crash-test dummy 2003 PACOS - Passenger Airbag Cut-Off Switch 2003 IDIS, intelligent system for driver information 2003 Patented new structure at the front reduces collision forces 2003 Bangkok's Traffic Accident Research Centre (TARC) is inaugurated 2004 BLIS, system for information about the offset rear blind spot 2004 DMIC, door-mounted side airbag for convertibles 2005 Presentation of Volvo's co-driver system 2005 Multi Lock, combined alcolock and lock for the safety belt and key for speed restriction (research project) 2006 ACC, Adaptive Cruise Control 2006 Personal Car Communicator (PCC) 2006 Collision warning with brake support 2006 Active Bending Lights (ABL) 2007 Integrated two-stage child booster cushion 2007 CWAB, Collision Warning with Auto Brake 2007 Driver Alert Control 2007 Lane Departure Warning 2008 Alcoguard 2008 Pre-Prepared Restraints 2008 City Safety, low speed collision avoidance 2009 Adaptive Cruise control with queue assist 2009 Collision Warning with full auto-brake and pedestrian detection
The bottom-most section is the more interesting part to me. The rest is also interesting. That's "just a few" of their examples. I didn't notice a more comprehensive list but it's impressive. When my kids were younger and moved in with me, instead of staying with their mother, I got rid of my sports car and got a Volvo.
You're sort of on to something. Volvos are one of the more expensive cars to insure because they are designed, pretty much, to break apart on impact. The expense of doing so is what keeps the passenger compartment from taking much damage so it sacrifices as much as the whole front end or rear end just to keep the passenger compartment safer by reducing the impact. They don't just have crumple zones - they have separation zones. In fact, they've been known to buy back certain wrecked Volvos to study them but I don't know if they do that now that they're owned, nominally, by Greeley. (I think it's Greeley that bought them, some Chinese company.) They're still made and designed in Sweden and the quality is still just as high and safety is still a priority.
For example they were the first with the three point safety harness. Side impact curtains (I think). Collapsing steering wheel column was them too? Maybe? I don't really recall and I don't have the book handy (I'm in Florida) and I'm too lazy to Google. But yeah, they're expensive to insure because they sacrifice the rest of the car - meaning EXPENSIVE repairs (or totaled) from what might otherwise have been a fairly minor accident. I insure my license and, to do so, I have to list all the cars that I own (a lot) and it actually jumped quite a bit when I added the Volvo that I had restored and modified.
Err... I don't know if you can do that in the UK? Here, I can insure my license. Any vehicle I drive is covered up to a total of $1e6 in damages, injury, etc... I think a passengers are up to 250k, and the rest is for cars and property so I'm mostly covered no matter what I drive. It wasn't that much more expensive to add that higher amount so I just added it. It works, it's also pretty low, considering, as I've no moving violations on my record except for one that's long since off my record (speeding as a teen) and I have no reported accidents in over 40 years of driving. So, yeah, it's worth it for me to keep that level of coverage as it's not too bad and it's cheaper than trying to insure all the cars and just keep swapping the insurance papers over and over depending on what I'm driving that day.
Even if I drove your car, if I crashed it - it's fully insured. I have no idea if they offer that in the UK. I know when I rented a car in the UK, both times, I paid for additional insurance and they cared not one bit about my piddly US insurance. I don't actually know if that would cover a rented car in the UK or not, to be honest. I've never even bothered to ask. I also, sure as hell, can't understand the gibberish that is the insurance paperwork. I don't even think they use real words. It's probably Swahili or something.
But, of interest to you perhaps, Saab is either making or will be making an EV for the Chinese market and then they intend to go world-wide with it if it is successful. That was the latest rumor I heard and I know you're into green vehicles. It might be something to tweak your interest in a few years as your Leaf? (maybe, I think that's what you said you drove - maybe Prius but I seem to recall Leaf) gets to be a little long in the tooth. I might grab one if it's sporty enough, maybe just to get one for the missus to drive around. We shall see.
Yeah, I think it's Greeley (spelling?) that owns them now? A Chinese company. They are still engineered and built in Sweden as far as I know. I have a fully restored and modified 1982 245 GL that is an absolute riot to drive in the snow or over rough terrain, it's a tank - complete with skid plate. It does 0 to 60 in 2.6 days but once you get it up to speed, it happily stays there - I like to take it out when there's a foot of snow or so on the ground and it's unplowed. That's when it's the most fun. That's what I had it modified to do. I had the timing adjusted, compression tweaked, suspension tightened, and a skid plate put in. Oh, and stronger and a second torsion bar added. Nice company, out on the left coast. I shipped it out and then flew out and drove it back. It's only got about 350,000 miles on it. It's fantastic. It is not a factory color though. I had it painted dark forest green. ]
I'm pretty sure I've posted pics of it here or on Fark. I put it up on the top of the mountain, it handled it like a champ. It loves the Golden Road (see Wikipedia, private road, no speed limit, trucks have the right of way) and if I didn't like it so much, I'd throw a 5.0 Mustang engine in (they swap easily) and rally it. There's a small New England rally group. My last one was a Saab 900S Turbo. The motor blew and I've just never bothered getting it replaced. I might go with a Mini or a WRX next, I'm not sure.
I've a fondness for Volvos and Saabs. Especially the older ones. Though some of the newer Volvos are sexy, they're just not as sexy as my brick.
Those accident could have easily been avoided - just not by you. The statement is still true. I've mentioned it a million times, it seems, but I'll add it again. I'm a driving and automobile aficionado. I've taken many, many advanced driving courses, trained with professionals, driven in rally races, raced on track days (not real races), rented exotics and coaches, and truly learned to control a vehicle to the best of my ability. He is correct. The accidents you were in could have been avoided - just not by you.
Here's another fun one. Almost every single accident is because someone was driving too fast for the conditions. If that doesn't make sense, read it again and don't read more into it than it says. If you slide at 5 MPH into the ditch in a snow storm - you were driving too fast for the conditions. If you're drunk and back into another car at 2 MPH, you were driving too fast for the conditions. Sometimes, the maximum safe speed is zero for certain drivers and certain conditions.
Here's a little tidbit that I can share with you. You know how they claim we are now, in the US, at a point where the majority live in urban areas? The Census folks changed the definition quietly. Urban used to be a matter of density per mile (I know, I worked in traffic modeling and you take that into account). Now, they call any town with more then 1500 people an urban area. Or a town with 2500 people - if that town has a residential institution like a jail, nursing home, assisted living center, or the likes - that's urban. So any town, pretty much, is now considered urban. I dug out the citation for it not too long ago - you can find it on the census info pages.
It changed in the 2010 Census. Suddenly, magically, more than half of us live in urban areas. Well, not me, my home in Maine is in an unincorporated township but yeah, that's a funny tweak and I'm not quite sure why they made that change. I'm sure there's a reason for it it - I just don't know why. It used to be something like 50 people per square mile or something - I forget now. But it's not like that now. The town can be huge and have just 1500 people and it's urban - no matter how large the town's physical size is.
I don't know what the end game is but it strikes me as odd.
I have a PhD in Applied Mathematics, retired 8 years ago, and am well within the 1% because I was fortunate enough to ride the crest of the wave that became traffic modeling. I do have reasonably good soft-skills but I find the assumption that I've an affinity for subterfuge to be borderline retarded. I do have some skewed morals but they're definitely skewed in the direction of not harming others as I consider that deplorable. I dare say, by your metrics or anyone's metrics, I'm quite successful. I'm well within the 1% - even by American standards. Hell, I'm probably closer to.5% honestly. All because I was fortunate and at the right place at the right time and able to take a few risks. I even have a clean conscience.
I don't know why people paint with such large brushes, they really do miss the finer details. Given your presence here, you're filthy rich compared to the vast majority of people on the planet. Depending on where you live and how you get to work, I may have saved you a half hour of travel - each and every day, maybe more. You're welcome. I'm not a monster.
If you ever make it up to Maine, I'll let you play in my wood shop. It's a hobby. I do cabinets and furniture for friends and family. I do a lot of it with hand tools and am probably a little to proud of my joinery. If you give me a coping saw, a sharp chisel, and a pencil or scribe I can make a dove tail joint faster than you can set up your router jig and do it that way. Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax is a beautiful finish and if you want a beautiful stain, make a paste with instant coffee and warm water and apply it with a cotton cloth. Sand, then wax, and then wax again. Then wax once a year for a few years and it will last a lifetime.;-)
One of the good things about getting lucky in life - I get to buy the best of toys. I don't have a lathe - I don't really know how to use one well enough to bother with it. I've a friend who turns just fine but I do think I'd like to make a willow lathe and try that out sometime.
I often have large amounts of cash for a variety of reasons. I have to contact (well, they ask that I do) my credit union 72 hour (or so) in advance if I want to take out more than $20,000 in cash. They're used to it now, they even give me a suitcase like thing (no handcuff on it) and I bring it back when I'm done. I am stopped but I'm still sort of on wanderlust right now and I recently had a few folks from Slashdot over so I won't say how much or where I have it but I have a goodly stash of cash on me right this minute. It's okay though, I'm in Florida and I'm armed.;-)
No, seriously, I'm armed. I'd just give a robber the money, fuck shooting someone. But, I prefer to carry large sums of cash for a variety of reasons. So, that's the only real reason I know that the credit union, specifically, asks that I call ahead and let them know when I will be taking a lump sum out. They're okay with it but I guess they don't keep that much in the safe normally. I took a significant amount with me this time as I plan on picking up a couple of vehicles and having them shipped back to Maine. Cars get a whole lot cheaper when you can walk to your trunk and open it, open a safe, and pull cash out. You can usually expect to drop 10% just by doing that.
So, yeah, I can confirm that my experience is that they ask me to call ahead. I also have to fill out a form which is pretty stupid. I don't think they ever do anything with the forms. I've written some pretty strange reasons on 'em and they've never said a word.
No but greed and exchanges of a valuable asset are natural. Hell, check the penguins and their pebble stashes, they'll straight up rob each other for a pebble. So, maybe the name money isn't natural but greed sure as fuck is.
As I don't leave (or even usually carry) a firearm with the magazine inserted (it's an added safety measure on my part) it's not entirely uncommon for me to lose/forget a magazine that has a full load of rounds in it. I could see me doing that by accident. However, to forget the entire firearm? I don't think I can do that. It does sort of become a part of your body after a while, but that's when you really have to stop and maybe even change your carry location. You need to always remember that you have one. It's a matter of safety - your safety. If shit goes down and a cop notices you leaving the scene and you've forgotten you have a firearm in your waistband then it's gonna be a long afternoon or, perhaps, a very short afternoon.
I believe very strongly in EVERY right we have, including the 2nd Amendment. I also think those rights have certain responsibilities. If you forget your firearms then you really shouldn't own one. I'm sorry but no excuses. They are tools, tools designed to harm. I have had my CWP for nearly 40 years and spent 8 years in the Marines. I still feel strongly that we should have some sort of mandatory education concerning firearm safety if we are going to continue having firearm ownership. I think every man, woman, and old-enough child should know how to safely handle any firearm they come across or how to safely secure it until such time as a qualified person can secure the weapon for them.
I own not one, but two, select fire (automatic) rifles. One of them fires a.308 Winchester. (It's an M14, yes it is legal, yes I have the paperwork.) And, frankly, that's stored in a safe that's inside a whole room that is pretty much a safe by itself. The walls are 1' concrete with a steel door that's embedded into the concrete. It doesn't scare me to own it. What scares me is some stupid shit who has no idea what he or she is doing with it and has it in their possession. Me? I know what the hell I'm doing. I treat it with care, like it's loaded, and maintain strict safety discipline with it. My kids, adults now, know how to field strip it and are comfortable with most of my firearms though my daughter doesn't like the larger caliber weapons.
It's a right we have. We damned sure ought to uphold our end of the bargain and learn about them and stop being afraid of them. Bad people do bad things. Firearms don't - unless you don't care for them properly.
Dunno where you heard that from but that does not mirror my experience. I've been to Israel twice and both times the security was neat but inside the airport. The ask you very key questions and gauge how you answer them. I spoke not a word of Hebrew so I breezed through - also, my passport is stamped from all over. I believe you might be correct in that's how they'll do it (or have done it) when there are signs of trouble but that's not what I experienced either time.
A "gun" is not a device whose purpose is to kill people. The rest of what you said is true, however. Some firearms (not usually guns) are designed to kill people. Guns are usually meant for hunting. Even some pistols are primarily meant to hunt. Many, many firearms are solely designed for target shooting. Some "guns" are also meant for target shooting, such as trap shooting.
A firearm is a tool. Some are designed specifically to harm humans. I own two select fire firearms that are classed and, quite specifically, designed to harm humans. I own far more that are designed for hunting or target shooting. Truth be told, I really own more firearms than I could ever possibly use but they're a lovely collection that spans several hundred years and they're all kept in a fairly secure environment unless they are on my person, in a case, or being transported. For instance, I have three firearms with me right now, here in Florida. Two are a pair of matching Ruger's and a modified 1911. I have safes for all three, holsters for all three, and my CWP is valid in Florida. I also tend to carry large amounts of cash. Funny enough, if someone were to rob me, or try to rob me, I'd talk them down and just give them the money. They're hardly ever loaded, the magazine's usually in my pocket. I sure as shit am not gonna shoot someone over a few dollars when, frankly, I've got plenty.
I have many tools in my toolbox. When home, I hunt for a lot of what I eat. I've been unfortunate enough to witness and participate in combat - I laid down suppressive fire, and I have no desire to harm anyone. They're a deterrent more than anything but, if need be, I'll use them. I also am not going to go charging in on some active shooter scene - not my job, I'm not Rambo. I'm going to load my magazine, chamber a round, protect the missus, and retreat to a defensible position. Dude, I carry a.22 LR most of the time - I hardly ever take the 1911. Sure, I can kill someone with it but it's probably gonna take a few shots. I'm obviously not wanting to harm anyone and, if I must, I'm hoping for least damage possible. That and I have both the big and little pizza box so I'm quite confident in my accuracy.
Well, that and I shot in competitions growing up and even a few later on in life. I'm not that good, compared to the guys at the professional competition shooter level - that's very different training. I do okay, I have a few trophies from when I was younger, but I wouldn't want a competition shooter on my side in a firefight. Well, not entirely true - some of the newer competitions are actually starting to be a bit more realistic. So, maybe... I'd really rather not be in a firefight at all.
I only want to stop the threat - not kill them. Call me crazy but you just can't take death back where as you can probably pull a.22 round out with a pair of needle nose pliers and some gauze. However, I can put a full magazine into the center mass if needed. I just really, really don't want to do that. I will if I have to so they should probably stop after one. I've found just the presence has made tense situations calm. Just adjust your jacket so that they notice you're carrying and things magically get calm. Funny how that works. Of course, they probably don't realize it's just a.22 LR. Either way, it'd suck dick to get hit with 10 of those and I usually have three magazines on me if I'm carrying. But, as stated, I very seldom actually have the magazine inserted. I just don't put myself in situations where it's so dangerous I need to be able to draw and fire in a split second. Fuck that... That's how you screw up and go to jail. That's how you screw up and kill an innocent.
I just wish we had more people educated about safe firearm operation and about firearms in general. 'Cause, you know, they're probably not carrying "guns" around with them. Those would be pistols or sidearms. They may be semi-automatic, even. But they're probably not just pistols but they're probably rifled as well.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm pretty sure that this is the straw that broke the camel's back. At some point you have to stop adding stuff. Well, no... You don't HAVE to. But you SHOULD. Who thought that this would be a good idea and how come nobody smacked them? Were they drunk? Stoned? It's a text editor. Well, no. It's supposed to be a text editor. There's probably a compiler built into it by now. It's got games in it. It's got a browser in it now, if you want to build it. It's no longer a text editor.
You can't even say it's a text editor with a straight face - can you? I know I can't. I tried. Nope. I tried again. I can kind of keep a straight face and say it but I know I couldn't tell a n00b that it was a text editor with a straight face. Hell, I wouldn't wish emacs on a n00b - I don't even wish it on me! And the GNU folks are still calling it, on their page, a text editor.
We bitch about systemd for overreach but emacs is the worst offender at breaking "The Unix Way" that I can think of! You can probably now use emacs as a fucking video player. Ain't nobody getting any work done now. But, damn it, you'll have a shortcut for it. Probably something with a a colon. :tv or something. I'd not be surprised if someone figured out a way to use init, the kernel, and emacs and have their own damned tiny ass distro. I almost think you could do that with not much more. It'd be lacking some features but I'd not be surprised if someone finally did it.
I mean, come on now, this is just past the point of insanity. I am not even embarrassed to admit that there are features in emacs that I've never even discovered - I'm positive of this.
You'd be surprised what I learn from reading all these posts. However, your over-thinking it and your kid's a pig. Why? He didn't wash the boxes out so he had dirt from his shoes in there when he later used that same box to store cookies. I believe that's called shooting yourself in the foot with C but, alas, I'm a very, very bad programmer who hasn't really programmed anything except for some PHP in like 15 years. ;-) Seriously, I had professionals take over my code base completely by 2000. I've programmed a few things in Perl, a couple of quick things that I needed in C, and a bunch of PHP and I haven't even done much of that since 2009 or so.
In short, thanks. You folks make me think. And you should tell your kid to make sure he cleans that memory space of the folks I'd hired would have yelled at me and told me I was doing it wrong. So, wash those boxes out between storing cookies in them or shoes in them. Otherwise you'll have contamination issues. Or maybe a buffer overflow. *nods*
I think this might apply to both of you so I will place it here.
I hold my PhD in Applied Mathematics and I could do maths by rote, in my head, really quickly and easily but I never understood it until I had a teacher explain why it was that The formula for finding the area of a triangle actually made sense. (Duh, you're squaring it. It's half of that.) At that point it just "clicked" in my head and from that point on, and with more instruction from that same teacher, I grasped the concepts and not just the rote - I understood and could visualize the maths involved.
I imagine that point is different and some people may never get that. I can look at a complicated algorithm, work it out, and visualize it. I might even be able to solve it in my head - even if it's kind of complicated.
All because a teacher told me that you're really just squaring and solving for half the value to find the area of a triangle. Sure, I knew the formula but it just had never clicked. When it clicked - I got it.
There are other things that sometimes just finally click and I understand them. Like, I had the hardest time (and I'm a real mathematician) understanding why a one-time-pad couldn't be brute forced and then it clicked - it can be anything. You don't know, it's everything that has that many letters. It's just something that clicked and I got but it took two people pretty much beating into my head before it finally clicked.
That's how my head works. I don't think it's unique but once it clicks, it's a "complete" thing. So, it's nice when it does click but it doesn't always click so I've done many things (not mathematically related) by rote. They've just not yet clicked. I don't have a better to put it. But, if you can find a teacher who can find the special way to make it click for their students - that's a good instructor in my humble opinion.
I don't know if that makes much sense but that's the best way I can think of to describe it. Hell, it might have even been you who was helping me with the OTP thing. I just couldn't grasp it - and then it just clicked.
That's kind of how I taught myself to program. I had to learn. It was required for me to do what I wanted to do so I just started looking at other people's C and I'd already done a lot of what your wife did with BASIC. The difference is, probably, that I actually hated computers back then. I really did. I bought a book on C programming, I still own it somewhere - forgot the name but it was good, and looked at lots and lots and lots of code. I also, by then, had USENET and a comp sci grad student as a friend who was with me at the beginning, sort of.
I really did, I hated computers with a passion. I despised them. I didn't even really start to like them until the early/mid 1990s.
Need? Probably not, we don't need it. Is it good to have? I'd say yes. Why? It's a fine introduction into some logical thinking that gives you near immediate gratification or notification that you failed and need to improve. Why is it a matter of "need" anyhow? Kids don't need lunch, they'll live without it. We still feed them. They don't need history, we still teach them. Why does "need" matter to you in this case?
Just because you feel like swapping lies on the internet about your supposed ability in third grade doesn't mean that everyone is quite the special snowflake you're pretending to be. Yeah, sorry - I don't believe you were programming in C and ASM in third grade. Sue me... Why don't I believe you? Your faulty logic indicated by "questioning" if it was something that they "need" instead of realizing that it is one of many options to be considered and that "need" is hardly a consideration in this matter. The kids don't even "need" to learn to read. There's countless illiterate people. Hell, the kids don't even "need" to go to school.
No, you probably still can't program in C or ASM. You might be able to bang out Hello World in BASIC with some help.
Heh... Prednisone really does make me cranky but I'm still calling you on your bullshit question. Really? You expect that to pass on Slashdot?
That's one way to try to look at it but there's still quite a bit of wealth disparity. Maine has some surprisingly rich people and a lot of wealthy property owners who come on vacation. While you're busy looking for reasons, check Maine's per capita mental illness rate, educational level, and see if you can find a decent metric for potentials for upward mobility financially.
Also, please be aware that I'm not trying to steer you to an answer, lead you to a conclusion, or calling you necessarily wrong. I do not know the reasons for the disparity myself and I've pondered and researched and I can not make any real conclusions. We do have high wealth disparities. For instance, I sold my business for a good sized 9 digit sum - and retired to Maine. Wayne, Maine supposedly has one of the highest millionaires per capita in the US. The coast is loaded with VERY wealthy people. We've got maybe five things that I'd call "cities." Even those have very little firearm related crimes.
We don't even need a permit to carry concealed any more. I still have my permit because it's valid in other States. I also don't need to wait or go through a background check because I already have my permit. I own an obscene number of firearms. A lot are collector items that I just felt needed to be owned by someone who'd keep them in good condition and they're in a moisture and temperature controlled environment, protected with a separate alarm, surrounded on all four side by 1' reinforced concrete - with extra rebad, plating, and a steel door that's embedded in the concrete - the frame is, at least. That's obviously locked and there are further safes inside that room. I consider myself more a custodian of some of them than an owner. If that makes sense.... They also seem to mate 'cause every time I turn around, I'm finding myself with more. I am literally thinking about building another room and, while I am at it, having the first room cut a little and have the whole thing covered in a layer of case hardened steel or similar. Just to add the extra layer of protection...
I think we need to have, as a nation, a serious conversation about how we should be educating kids, adults, everyone - about safe and responsible firearm ownership. It's a right but rights come with obligations and we're not doing out end of it very well. I am, I try to - at least. Hell, I even own two (legal) select fire (automatic) rifles. If I did not feel that I was safe with them, I'd not own them. I own them because they're a piece of history, they're fun, and I enjoy improving my skills. I like it, a lot. I'm not your typical gun nut - I think all the amendment are kind of important. I think we need to really discuss the 2nd and iron out what we owe out society in order to maintain that right. We have failed to uphold our end of the social contract. I saw we, I'm an American too. I do what I can. But, I can only do so much.
I do kick myself. I turned down a Thompson with two drum magazines for $7500. I just didn't want to do the paperwork and I'd just picked up the M14. So, I still kick myself for letting that piece of history go. But, again, I don't know what the answers are and I'm not saying your wrong - I'm saying keep looking. Your views of Maine aren't entirely accurate. There's some serious wealth here - a lot of it is moldy money or in land or other hard assets like that. I spent a shitload on land but there are people who have much more land than I do and I have 5 digits worth of acres just in one connected parcel - I had to get a bunch of it at different auctions from paper companies.
Yet, my house is locked and the alarm is on. In a few hours a friend will be there, opening it up, and getting the pool table ready, all while I'm gone. The key is easy to find and the alarm code is known by all my friends. So, I don't know what the difference is.
This is who I sent my '82 245 to be restored and mildly upgraded - including torsion bar additions, and bigger rear torsion bar, different suspensions, cam adjustment, compression adjustment, skid plate, etc...
http://www.ipdusa.com/
I *highly* recommend them. I am on the opposite coast, I shipped it out, flew out when it was ready, and drove it around the country coming back to Maine. I thought about having them do the drop in. You can bolt the 5.0 Mustang engine right into it with almost not modification at all but I opted not to - I didn't want to take away the magic. It does 0 to 60 in 3.8 days.
It's expensive but it's worth it if you really love your brick. I can slalom in it, surely. With the camber adjusted I bet I hit the .90 mark for LA (seat of the pants guessing I've never taken it to test) so it's fine for what it is. If you call 'em up, tell 'em what you've got and what you want, and you've got the cash - they're do the restoration for you. They're a great company. Take a gander if you're curious. Basically almost everything was tightened and replaced with stronger components where applicable or meaningful. I had the skid plate added just to keep it better protected as I don't own any trailer queens. Every car I own is meant to be driven.
Turn to the direction that the closest traffic is moving and accelerate so that you sideswipe that car and the car going 100 misses you and goes out into the rest of the traffic? Does this contrived situation have time for that as a response? I've taken many, many driving courses (none of which would probably recommend that as a good idea but it does sound like the best possible chance). Basically (assuming normal US traffic) you'd cut hard to the right and punch the accelerator as quickly as you can so that you'd sideswipe the traffic - maybe. Reality is, no functional car will ever be completely "death proof" and I'm sure there's some journalist exaggeration going on. I sure as hell did not read the article. I may be still kind of bed-ridden but I'm no heretic.
I can't find the video but Volvo was once doing a demo for the automobile journalists. They were showing how the car would automatically stop and not hit a person standing in the way. Yeah, it pasted the dude pretty well. All on video, it was probably about 2008 to 2010 or somewhere in that range. I can't find the video but it's funny as hell. The dude lived and wasn't seriously injured - the car slowed, not enough, and the driver hit the brakes enough to slow it down even more but it was not stopping on its own. Great video - and I'm a fan of Volvo and I still think it was funny. He walked away, finished his shtick and limped a little. It basically hit him and he bounced off and fell down as I recall. Great fun was has by all the journalists.
Tell him to take bags of kitty litter, double wrap them in trash bags, and put them as far back in the truck as he can. That will help him get traction and if he gets stuck then he can open one and use the kitty litter to put down in front of the wheels and get traction that way. ;-)
(I live in Maine. I'm cheating and wintering in Florida this year. However, that's an age old trick. Some people just go get sand from the town lot and fill up grain sacks with that. I recommend the kitty litter and wrapping it so that it doesn't get wet and freeze solid.)
Studs. Stud your tires. They're usually legal until May 15 in states where ice and snow is common. You buy the tires, they've got holes, they stud them with studs you pick out of varied length. I have some with 3/4" studs but that's for ice racing and they went on my Saab that I rallied with but blew the engine. They do quite nicely on ice. They are too long for road use and they would be dangerous as hell on asphalt until they wore down.
I am lazy, I bought them, they're expensive. But, you can check here:
http://www.vermontracing.com/p...
You can get road legal studded tires (probably) depending on your State. You usually can't put them on until November and they have to come off in April or May, something like that. I can't remember the exact dates and I'm too lazy to look. But there's an example at that link. Those would NOT be street legal and would be dangerous on asphalt. You only want, maybe, 1/4" studs - maybe a bit larger 3/8 or so but not too much. It's a combination of how much vs how little. You get little traction with longer studs on asphalt - steel doesn't stop as well on asphalt even though you might think it would. It just digs into the road and ruins the road and you skid quite a bit. Or you can, it depends on who's driving, as well.
But, studded tires... They are a thing, they are legal, and they are awesome. I refuse to put them on my Volvo. That would negate the fun.
Fold down the rear seat in a 245 and it fits a twin mattress beautifully and you still have room for your luggage and whatnot - it's a perfect little vacation wagon, I've gone across the country and back and up and down it several times in a beloved, restored, '82 245. It's a bit better than restored, better than factory, but not so as you'd notice from the outside. It even has the true hub caps, matching. (I keep spares - I lose 'em too often 'cause I put that poor thing in the damnedest of places.)
You can comfortably sleep two and have luggage for two and just hit a hotel every couple of days and shower in truck stops. It's kind of cool and you can, maybe, hit 27 MPG in Kansas but plan on 23 at best and 18 more often than not - for that specific model and year. That with the reduced drag from having a skid plate added - the mileage used to be worse. The timing is slightly tweaked, a few more performance mods added (not much, mostly stability) added and it's a nice, fantastic, tank. I described it in some detail above - I obviously love cars, that's why I end up in these threads. This one is quite special. You and a loved one can tour in it. I own an RV but I've still done it in a Volvo. It's just magical, different, and people are amazed 'cause I keep it in really fine condition - you can eat off the engine if you wanted. I have someone who details and works on all of my cars for me, every single Saturday, in my own garage - even if I'm not home. I pay him well and he's been doing it for years now. He asks for a tool, I give him the money, I own the tool, he uses it. Sometimes he takes it back to his own shop, I don't mind.
I'm a little obsessed with automobiles. Just a little. Err... I can list 'em all if you want? ;-) I won't but they'd surprise you. I don't own any trailer queens. They all get driven. They're not what most people would want. Like, I have a prized 1988 Honda Accord LX that I shipped back to Japan to get fully restored. I'm third on the list for a real Fairlady from that same guy (he only does a few cars per year). I have a '73 Jeep. A 2015 BMW. An '86 Maxima. '85 Supra. '78 911 in Targa trim. And the list just goes on - I've got a whole collection of stupid things. But they're fun and I might as well as enjoy my time. I do not own but want to buy a Hilux. I will have a real surplus auction HMMWV in the next two months - almost certainly. I'll be adding a Tesla Model S - and take some pictures and video of it doing fun stuff just for you guys to see.
So, yeah, and I can go on. I've got a few incomplete project cars but I have 33, now, that are totally complete but I've not driven the 33rd one yet - it was just completed over the holidays and I'm not home. It's a 1978 Chevy that's built to have been modified into a tow truck and has all the tow truck accessories including lights and stuff now. I so can't wait to drive it! It's what I like. So, I do it. I accumulated a few dollars and I can't take them with me and, oddly, I still manage to someone make more than I can reasonably spend just from investing. I had no idea that investing was this lucrative. I make much more now that I don't work than I ever made working! So, I like automobiles (how can I not buy an EV like a Model S from Tesla?) and I like firearms 'cause they go boom and make me work to improve my skills. I hunt with 'em and I eat what I kill, so there's that. But I really just like shit that makes noise, goes fast, or is somehow dangerous. I'm like a five year old without parents and an allowance. I'll take the tow truck out in the winter and pull people out of ditches for free when they get stuck, I already do that in a plow truck but a tow truck will be even more awesome. I kind of miss winter - I'm spending it in Florida. There are no people to pull out of ditches. I will soon have half naked chicks on my beach for Spring Break, so there's that but I have a girlfriend now. So, I can only watch.
Ah well, I'm sure I've bored you enough with my talk of Volvo. But, they don't make an RV that I
Wow, sorry to bug you again but I went digging a little more and found this which is much more valuable than the last link:
https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/v...
1944 Safety cage
1944 Laminated windscreen
1959 Three-point safety belts in the front as standard
1960 Padded instrument panel
1964 Prototype of the first rear-facing child seat is tested in a Volvo
1966 Twin-circuit triangular (three-wheel) backup braking system
1966 Crumple zones
1967 Seat belts in the rear
1968 Head restraints front
1969 Three-point inertia-reel safety belts in the front
1972 Three-point safety belts in the rear
1972 Rear-facing child seat and child-proof door locks
1972 Volvo Experimental Safety Car (VESC)
1973 Energy-absorbing steering column
1974 Energy-absorbing bumpers
1974 Petrol tank relocated for enhanced safety
1978 Child booster cushion for children
1982 Under-run protection
1982 Door mirrors of wide-angle type
1984 ABS, anti-locking brakes
1986 Brake lights at eye level
1986 Three-point safety belt in the middle of the rear seat
1987 Safety belt pre-tensioner
1987 Driver's airbag
1990 Integrated booster cushion for children
1991 SIPS, side impact collision protection
1991 Automatic height adjustment of front safety belts
1993 Three-point inertia-reel safety belt in all seats
1994 SIPS, side-impact airbags
1997 ROPS, Roll-Over Protection System convertible (C70)
1998 WHIPS, protection against whiplash injuries
1998 IC, inflatable curtain,
1998 DSTC, Dynamic Stability and Traction Control
2000 Volvo Cars Safety Centre inaugurated in Göteborg on 29 March
2000 ISOFIX attachments for child seats
2000 Two-stage airbag
2000 Volvo On Call safety system
2001 Volvo Safety Concept Car (SCC)
2002 RSC, Roll Stability Control
2002 ROPS, Roll-Over Protection System SUV (XC90)
2002 Lower cross-member at the front - protection system for oncoming cars
2002 Development of virtual "pregnant" crash-test dummy
2003 PACOS - Passenger Airbag Cut-Off Switch
2003 IDIS, intelligent system for driver information
2003 Patented new structure at the front reduces collision forces
2003 Bangkok's Traffic Accident Research Centre (TARC) is inaugurated
2004 BLIS, system for information about the offset rear blind spot
2004 DMIC, door-mounted side airbag for convertibles
2005 Presentation of Volvo's co-driver system
2005 Multi Lock, combined alcolock and lock for the safety belt and key for speed restriction (research project)
2006 ACC, Adaptive Cruise Control
2006 Personal Car Communicator (PCC)
2006 Collision warning with brake support
2006 Active Bending Lights (ABL)
2007 Integrated two-stage child booster cushion
2007 CWAB, Collision Warning with Auto Brake
2007 Driver Alert Control
2007 Lane Departure Warning
2008 Alcoguard
2008 Pre-Prepared Restraints
2008 City Safety, low speed collision avoidance
2009 Adaptive Cruise control with queue assist
2009 Collision Warning with full auto-brake and pedestrian detection
Here. I went and dug this out, I decided to not be too lazy:
http://www.volvocars.com/us/ab...
The bottom-most section is the more interesting part to me. The rest is also interesting. That's "just a few" of their examples. I didn't notice a more comprehensive list but it's impressive. When my kids were younger and moved in with me, instead of staying with their mother, I got rid of my sports car and got a Volvo.
You're sort of on to something. Volvos are one of the more expensive cars to insure because they are designed, pretty much, to break apart on impact. The expense of doing so is what keeps the passenger compartment from taking much damage so it sacrifices as much as the whole front end or rear end just to keep the passenger compartment safer by reducing the impact. They don't just have crumple zones - they have separation zones. In fact, they've been known to buy back certain wrecked Volvos to study them but I don't know if they do that now that they're owned, nominally, by Greeley. (I think it's Greeley that bought them, some Chinese company.) They're still made and designed in Sweden and the quality is still just as high and safety is still a priority.
For example they were the first with the three point safety harness. Side impact curtains (I think). Collapsing steering wheel column was them too? Maybe? I don't really recall and I don't have the book handy (I'm in Florida) and I'm too lazy to Google. But yeah, they're expensive to insure because they sacrifice the rest of the car - meaning EXPENSIVE repairs (or totaled) from what might otherwise have been a fairly minor accident. I insure my license and, to do so, I have to list all the cars that I own (a lot) and it actually jumped quite a bit when I added the Volvo that I had restored and modified.
Err... I don't know if you can do that in the UK? Here, I can insure my license. Any vehicle I drive is covered up to a total of $1e6 in damages, injury, etc... I think a passengers are up to 250k, and the rest is for cars and property so I'm mostly covered no matter what I drive. It wasn't that much more expensive to add that higher amount so I just added it. It works, it's also pretty low, considering, as I've no moving violations on my record except for one that's long since off my record (speeding as a teen) and I have no reported accidents in over 40 years of driving. So, yeah, it's worth it for me to keep that level of coverage as it's not too bad and it's cheaper than trying to insure all the cars and just keep swapping the insurance papers over and over depending on what I'm driving that day.
Even if I drove your car, if I crashed it - it's fully insured. I have no idea if they offer that in the UK. I know when I rented a car in the UK, both times, I paid for additional insurance and they cared not one bit about my piddly US insurance. I don't actually know if that would cover a rented car in the UK or not, to be honest. I've never even bothered to ask. I also, sure as hell, can't understand the gibberish that is the insurance paperwork. I don't even think they use real words. It's probably Swahili or something.
But, of interest to you perhaps, Saab is either making or will be making an EV for the Chinese market and then they intend to go world-wide with it if it is successful. That was the latest rumor I heard and I know you're into green vehicles. It might be something to tweak your interest in a few years as your Leaf? (maybe, I think that's what you said you drove - maybe Prius but I seem to recall Leaf) gets to be a little long in the tooth. I might grab one if it's sporty enough, maybe just to get one for the missus to drive around. We shall see.
Yeah, I think it's Greeley (spelling?) that owns them now? A Chinese company. They are still engineered and built in Sweden as far as I know. I have a fully restored and modified 1982 245 GL that is an absolute riot to drive in the snow or over rough terrain, it's a tank - complete with skid plate. It does 0 to 60 in 2.6 days but once you get it up to speed, it happily stays there - I like to take it out when there's a foot of snow or so on the ground and it's unplowed. That's when it's the most fun. That's what I had it modified to do. I had the timing adjusted, compression tweaked, suspension tightened, and a skid plate put in. Oh, and stronger and a second torsion bar added. Nice company, out on the left coast. I shipped it out and then flew out and drove it back. It's only got about 350,000 miles on it. It's fantastic. It is not a factory color though. I had it painted dark forest green. ]
I'm pretty sure I've posted pics of it here or on Fark. I put it up on the top of the mountain, it handled it like a champ. It loves the Golden Road (see Wikipedia, private road, no speed limit, trucks have the right of way) and if I didn't like it so much, I'd throw a 5.0 Mustang engine in (they swap easily) and rally it. There's a small New England rally group. My last one was a Saab 900S Turbo. The motor blew and I've just never bothered getting it replaced. I might go with a Mini or a WRX next, I'm not sure.
I've a fondness for Volvos and Saabs. Especially the older ones. Though some of the newer Volvos are sexy, they're just not as sexy as my brick.
Those accident could have easily been avoided - just not by you. The statement is still true. I've mentioned it a million times, it seems, but I'll add it again. I'm a driving and automobile aficionado. I've taken many, many advanced driving courses, trained with professionals, driven in rally races, raced on track days (not real races), rented exotics and coaches, and truly learned to control a vehicle to the best of my ability. He is correct. The accidents you were in could have been avoided - just not by you.
Here's another fun one. Almost every single accident is because someone was driving too fast for the conditions. If that doesn't make sense, read it again and don't read more into it than it says. If you slide at 5 MPH into the ditch in a snow storm - you were driving too fast for the conditions. If you're drunk and back into another car at 2 MPH, you were driving too fast for the conditions. Sometimes, the maximum safe speed is zero for certain drivers and certain conditions.
Here's a little tidbit that I can share with you. You know how they claim we are now, in the US, at a point where the majority live in urban areas? The Census folks changed the definition quietly. Urban used to be a matter of density per mile (I know, I worked in traffic modeling and you take that into account). Now, they call any town with more then 1500 people an urban area. Or a town with 2500 people - if that town has a residential institution like a jail, nursing home, assisted living center, or the likes - that's urban. So any town, pretty much, is now considered urban. I dug out the citation for it not too long ago - you can find it on the census info pages.
It changed in the 2010 Census. Suddenly, magically, more than half of us live in urban areas. Well, not me, my home in Maine is in an unincorporated township but yeah, that's a funny tweak and I'm not quite sure why they made that change. I'm sure there's a reason for it it - I just don't know why. It used to be something like 50 people per square mile or something - I forget now. But it's not like that now. The town can be huge and have just 1500 people and it's urban - no matter how large the town's physical size is.
I don't know what the end game is but it strikes me as odd.
I have a PhD in Applied Mathematics, retired 8 years ago, and am well within the 1% because I was fortunate enough to ride the crest of the wave that became traffic modeling. I do have reasonably good soft-skills but I find the assumption that I've an affinity for subterfuge to be borderline retarded. I do have some skewed morals but they're definitely skewed in the direction of not harming others as I consider that deplorable. I dare say, by your metrics or anyone's metrics, I'm quite successful. I'm well within the 1% - even by American standards. Hell, I'm probably closer to .5% honestly. All because I was fortunate and at the right place at the right time and able to take a few risks. I even have a clean conscience.
I don't know why people paint with such large brushes, they really do miss the finer details. Given your presence here, you're filthy rich compared to the vast majority of people on the planet. Depending on where you live and how you get to work, I may have saved you a half hour of travel - each and every day, maybe more. You're welcome. I'm not a monster.
If you ever make it up to Maine, I'll let you play in my wood shop. It's a hobby. I do cabinets and furniture for friends and family. I do a lot of it with hand tools and am probably a little to proud of my joinery. If you give me a coping saw, a sharp chisel, and a pencil or scribe I can make a dove tail joint faster than you can set up your router jig and do it that way. Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax is a beautiful finish and if you want a beautiful stain, make a paste with instant coffee and warm water and apply it with a cotton cloth. Sand, then wax, and then wax again. Then wax once a year for a few years and it will last a lifetime. ;-)
One of the good things about getting lucky in life - I get to buy the best of toys. I don't have a lathe - I don't really know how to use one well enough to bother with it. I've a friend who turns just fine but I do think I'd like to make a willow lathe and try that out sometime.
I often have large amounts of cash for a variety of reasons. I have to contact (well, they ask that I do) my credit union 72 hour (or so) in advance if I want to take out more than $20,000 in cash. They're used to it now, they even give me a suitcase like thing (no handcuff on it) and I bring it back when I'm done. I am stopped but I'm still sort of on wanderlust right now and I recently had a few folks from Slashdot over so I won't say how much or where I have it but I have a goodly stash of cash on me right this minute. It's okay though, I'm in Florida and I'm armed. ;-)
No, seriously, I'm armed. I'd just give a robber the money, fuck shooting someone. But, I prefer to carry large sums of cash for a variety of reasons. So, that's the only real reason I know that the credit union, specifically, asks that I call ahead and let them know when I will be taking a lump sum out. They're okay with it but I guess they don't keep that much in the safe normally. I took a significant amount with me this time as I plan on picking up a couple of vehicles and having them shipped back to Maine. Cars get a whole lot cheaper when you can walk to your trunk and open it, open a safe, and pull cash out. You can usually expect to drop 10% just by doing that.
So, yeah, I can confirm that my experience is that they ask me to call ahead. I also have to fill out a form which is pretty stupid. I don't think they ever do anything with the forms. I've written some pretty strange reasons on 'em and they've never said a word.
No but greed and exchanges of a valuable asset are natural. Hell, check the penguins and their pebble stashes, they'll straight up rob each other for a pebble. So, maybe the name money isn't natural but greed sure as fuck is.
As I don't leave (or even usually carry) a firearm with the magazine inserted (it's an added safety measure on my part) it's not entirely uncommon for me to lose/forget a magazine that has a full load of rounds in it. I could see me doing that by accident. However, to forget the entire firearm? I don't think I can do that. It does sort of become a part of your body after a while, but that's when you really have to stop and maybe even change your carry location. You need to always remember that you have one. It's a matter of safety - your safety. If shit goes down and a cop notices you leaving the scene and you've forgotten you have a firearm in your waistband then it's gonna be a long afternoon or, perhaps, a very short afternoon.
I believe very strongly in EVERY right we have, including the 2nd Amendment. I also think those rights have certain responsibilities. If you forget your firearms then you really shouldn't own one. I'm sorry but no excuses. They are tools, tools designed to harm. I have had my CWP for nearly 40 years and spent 8 years in the Marines. I still feel strongly that we should have some sort of mandatory education concerning firearm safety if we are going to continue having firearm ownership. I think every man, woman, and old-enough child should know how to safely handle any firearm they come across or how to safely secure it until such time as a qualified person can secure the weapon for them.
I own not one, but two, select fire (automatic) rifles. One of them fires a .308 Winchester. (It's an M14, yes it is legal, yes I have the paperwork.) And, frankly, that's stored in a safe that's inside a whole room that is pretty much a safe by itself. The walls are 1' concrete with a steel door that's embedded into the concrete. It doesn't scare me to own it. What scares me is some stupid shit who has no idea what he or she is doing with it and has it in their possession. Me? I know what the hell I'm doing. I treat it with care, like it's loaded, and maintain strict safety discipline with it. My kids, adults now, know how to field strip it and are comfortable with most of my firearms though my daughter doesn't like the larger caliber weapons.
It's a right we have. We damned sure ought to uphold our end of the bargain and learn about them and stop being afraid of them. Bad people do bad things. Firearms don't - unless you don't care for them properly.
Dunno where you heard that from but that does not mirror my experience. I've been to Israel twice and both times the security was neat but inside the airport. The ask you very key questions and gauge how you answer them. I spoke not a word of Hebrew so I breezed through - also, my passport is stamped from all over. I believe you might be correct in that's how they'll do it (or have done it) when there are signs of trouble but that's not what I experienced either time.
A "gun" is not a device whose purpose is to kill people. The rest of what you said is true, however. Some firearms (not usually guns) are designed to kill people. Guns are usually meant for hunting. Even some pistols are primarily meant to hunt. Many, many firearms are solely designed for target shooting. Some "guns" are also meant for target shooting, such as trap shooting.
A firearm is a tool. Some are designed specifically to harm humans. I own two select fire firearms that are classed and, quite specifically, designed to harm humans. I own far more that are designed for hunting or target shooting. Truth be told, I really own more firearms than I could ever possibly use but they're a lovely collection that spans several hundred years and they're all kept in a fairly secure environment unless they are on my person, in a case, or being transported. For instance, I have three firearms with me right now, here in Florida. Two are a pair of matching Ruger's and a modified 1911. I have safes for all three, holsters for all three, and my CWP is valid in Florida. I also tend to carry large amounts of cash. Funny enough, if someone were to rob me, or try to rob me, I'd talk them down and just give them the money. They're hardly ever loaded, the magazine's usually in my pocket. I sure as shit am not gonna shoot someone over a few dollars when, frankly, I've got plenty.
I have many tools in my toolbox. When home, I hunt for a lot of what I eat. I've been unfortunate enough to witness and participate in combat - I laid down suppressive fire, and I have no desire to harm anyone. They're a deterrent more than anything but, if need be, I'll use them. I also am not going to go charging in on some active shooter scene - not my job, I'm not Rambo. I'm going to load my magazine, chamber a round, protect the missus, and retreat to a defensible position. Dude, I carry a .22 LR most of the time - I hardly ever take the 1911. Sure, I can kill someone with it but it's probably gonna take a few shots. I'm obviously not wanting to harm anyone and, if I must, I'm hoping for least damage possible. That and I have both the big and little pizza box so I'm quite confident in my accuracy.
Well, that and I shot in competitions growing up and even a few later on in life. I'm not that good, compared to the guys at the professional competition shooter level - that's very different training. I do okay, I have a few trophies from when I was younger, but I wouldn't want a competition shooter on my side in a firefight. Well, not entirely true - some of the newer competitions are actually starting to be a bit more realistic. So, maybe... I'd really rather not be in a firefight at all.
I only want to stop the threat - not kill them. Call me crazy but you just can't take death back where as you can probably pull a .22 round out with a pair of needle nose pliers and some gauze. However, I can put a full magazine into the center mass if needed. I just really, really don't want to do that. I will if I have to so they should probably stop after one. I've found just the presence has made tense situations calm. Just adjust your jacket so that they notice you're carrying and things magically get calm. Funny how that works. Of course, they probably don't realize it's just a .22 LR. Either way, it'd suck dick to get hit with 10 of those and I usually have three magazines on me if I'm carrying. But, as stated, I very seldom actually have the magazine inserted. I just don't put myself in situations where it's so dangerous I need to be able to draw and fire in a split second. Fuck that... That's how you screw up and go to jail. That's how you screw up and kill an innocent.
I just wish we had more people educated about safe firearm operation and about firearms in general. 'Cause, you know, they're probably not carrying "guns" around with them. Those would be pistols or sidearms. They may be semi-automatic, even. But they're probably not just pistols but they're probably rifled as well.