They "fail safe". A signal with no light at all means the same as red (to the train driver), should that happen. No power to the barriers at the crossing causes them to fall and block the road. The system that stops the train if it passes a red signal requires power to hold it in the "ok to proceed" position.
Also, level crossings aren't anywhere near as common in the UK as they are in the USA. They're still by far the most dangerous part of the railway, but the fault is almost always (or even always?) the fault of impatient or incompetent drivers and pedestrians. I don't think it's permitted to build them on a new line.
Take a look (zoomed in) at any town in the UK -- there's no need to look at Streetview.
Roundabouts are easy to spot. Mini-roundabouts mean "roundabout rules" (give way to traffic waiting on the junction, or to your right) in a smaller space. They're just a big white dot in the middle of the junction.
The markings on the road at traffic lights are a thick, solid line across the left lane(s), and nothing on the right.
The markings at a non-signalled junction are a thick, double dashed line on the left, and a single-dashed line on the right. Also, there's often a large inverted triangle (a giant "Give Way"/Yield) sign painted on the road.
Most junctions are the third type, being minor roads. Second most will be traffic lights (on dense, inner city roads). But most major roads use roundabouts.
Same as railroad crossings. There's no guarantee that the lights or the gates work... so I slow down or stop every time I cross.
In the UK, there is a guarantee that the signal (to the train) is red if the level crossing lights / barriers (for car drivers) are off/raised, or defective. Any train passing a red signal has the emergency brake applied automatically.
(Though there was a case last year of a small passenger train taking about 5km to stop, as the company that was required to maintain it hadn't refilled the sand (to add friction while braking) and high winds plus autumn leaf fall made the rails as slippery as they ever get.)
but the trigger usually requires you to stop at the light. Also you seem to forget that rural lights at night can have a several minute wait on the "low-priority" side
Round here, one sensor is at the junction, but another is some way down the road. The driver may need to slow slightly, but often doesn't need to stop.
On larger roads, there's often a third sensor *after* the junction, to see if the road ahead is blocked with traffic.
If you get rid of the nickel, you essentially need to get rid of the quarter.
Interesting. Could this be why every other country on earth* has (or had) 20 cent coins instead of 25c?
No, that's because it makes change a bit more efficient. If your coins are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, etc (1x, 2x, 5x, x is 1, 10, 100 etc) you almost always need less coins to make change than if your coins are 1, 5, 10 and 25.
Hmmm... my manager curses occasionally. Generally only when something especially annoying happens -- e.g. her manager has an accident, and she has to cover for him.
But one of my colleagues says "fuck" as much as some people say "like". "I was, like, arguing with the other guys on the project, like, and they were like, 'Let's do it this way'." becomes, "Fuck, I was arguing with the other guys on the fucking project, and they fucking said 'Let's fucking do it this way'". It's very unprofessional, and I find it hard to take him seriously when he can't talk without swearing. He often raises eyebrows around the office "Fuck, Sam, come and look at this! Fucking amazing!". What's wrong with "Hey Sam!"?
I don't think I've ever heard anyone else in my office swear (while at the office).
We already have an MS SQL database for the HR, finance (etc) systems, so using that might be as cheap (or cheaper) than a new Postgres database, given existing staff (DBA) knowledge and some odd way they fudge the numbers. (Recurring costs for MS software are apparently negotiated and paid for centrally, rather than charged to the department using the software. Daft.)
Essentially, arguing on grounds of inital/ongoing cost is difficult. My best cost argument is the no-cost license for Postgres means we could change our architecture, have ten times as many servers, have virtual servers, have lots of development servers -- anything -- without having to pay. I'm also concerned that although Microsoft sees us as "academic" at the moment, that might change -- we aren't a university, and the government is telling us we should be trying to make money with our skills/data where we can.
So, a good, technical reason is much better. Various limitations have ruled out MySQL (e.g. problems with multiple engines -- you may have to choose between full-text search and transactions, for example). Postgres has the edge over MS SQL at the moment -- partly flexibility, partly the GIS extensions, I'll elaborate if anyone's interested. But SQL Server at least claims to do these things too.
(*Legally, I can't call it cheese here. The supermarkets call packs "singles", but I think the legal term is "cheese analogue" -- I've seen that term on extremely cheap frozen pizzas sold in corner shops).
I've programmed PHP to use SQL Server and MySQL, the MySQL statements typically run in milliseconds, it usually takes SQL Server two or three seconds to respond.
Can you give an example?
We're evaluating Postgres vs MS SQL at work, and at the moment haven't found any problem big enough to rule either out.
For behold, thy God is a jealous and angry grammar nazi! Honor thy noun clause and verb clause, that thy days may be numbered long upon the Earth.
Super-pedant: That would be "your God". Thou is the informal, friendly you (like German du, or French tu). You is the formal, polite you (like German Sie, or French vous).
When the weather's suitable, cycling to work is good. It's still not fun, but it's using my commute time to provide exercise, saves petrol, and sometimes gets me home faster than driving would.
I was going to suggest that.
You said "petrol" and have a.co.uk homepage. When is the weather not suitable for cycling to work in the UK? (Speaking as someone who has cycled to work almost every working day of the last 3½ years -- I don't own a car.) £15 on some waterproof trousers, and £20 on last year's fashionable cycling jacket is all I need. I hardly ever need the trousers.
If it's sometimes faster than driving, I'd guess it's normally only a few minutes slower.
I work out once a week, for 20 minutes at a time, and have wonderful improvement in my blood pressure and resting pulse rate in the last six months.
I was only 22 when I started cycling to work, which was about 30 minutes each way (so, at least 10 times a week), but after a few months my parents commented that I looked healthier. I didn't measure my pulse or blood pressure.
Some years later I still cycle to work, although I've moved slightly closer -- it's now only 20 minutes. On the way home I often try and go a bit faster for the exercise.
As a guy, I've never had a problem with a pat down, but I've only had your garden variety.
I've only taken one flight from the US since the TSA appeared on the scene.
I went through the metal detector (the body scanner had a sign: "out of order"), collected my stuff, and had almost left the security area when someone called me back. He said he was worried I was hiding things in my baggy trousers (they were essentially flares), so his colleague gave me a pat-down search as well.
I get a "pat down" search about once a month. They're a relatively common requirement for entry to some concerts and nightclubs in London. They're checking for weapons, so the bouncer typically pats my pockets, checks around my waist, then checks my boots. If I'm wearing flares they sometimes think to check the legs -- just brushing down with their hands. The impression I've always had is that they're checking my clothes rather than my body.
The TSA person's search was in no way a "pat down". It was a thorough body search -- I'd never had anything like it before. He rubbed his hands down my legs with significant pressure, kept me standing in an uncomfortable position (arms raised throughout -- even though it was supposedly only my baggy trousers that were a concern). He made a very thorough check around my groin, including sweeping his fingers in the spaces around (including underneath) my genitals. Every time anyone's touched my like that before, it was for sex. Does that make it sexual assault? It was awful.
If I was given a search like that in the EU I'd walk away and make a fuss -- but in the EU I'm confident of my rights, and my citizenship. But what could I have done on my way home after a business trip to the USA?
I can't believe there's actually a crime fighting organization called the Serious Organized Crime Agency. It's hard to imagine how they could have a sillier name,
They could be called something like the the Department for Homeland Security, or the National Bureau for Investigations.
(Seriously, the American names sound silly to me. Far too self-important and pretentious.)
traceroute -T rnbxclusive.com traceroute to rnbxclusive.com (83.138.166.114), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.1.254 (192.168.1.254) 3.944 ms 3.803 ms 3.698 ms
2 * * *
3 * * *
4 linx.edge1.lon.rackspace.net (195.66.226.116) 32.608 ms 33.136 ms 33.262 ms
5 vl911.core5a.lon3.rackspace.net (92.52.76.203) 34.481 ms vl912.core5a.lon3.rackspace.net (92.52.76.245) 35.372 ms vl911.core5a.lon3.rackspace.net (92.52.76.203) 35.897 ms
6 aggr310a-core5a.lon3.rackspace.net (92.52.76.111) 36.828 ms 33.412 ms 33.855 ms
7 S82574.clubonside.dk (83.138.166.114) 20.927 ms 24.706 ms 24.217 ms
It seems to me they haven't seized the domain at all. They've seized a server from Rackspace in London, and arrested the person who owned it. That seems fine.
I'd question the web page they've put up instead -- not in principle, just the incorrect claims and excessive hyperbole.
Additionally, the WHOIS data still records an individual (not SOCA) as owning the domain.
My guess is they've arrested him, seized the servers, and installed their own server instead to respond. The web page is stupid, and the claims it makes should be criticised, but arresting the guy and seizing the servers as evidence is exactly what they should do.
I've had more trouble with older (2003?) versions of Office reading DOCX files (with the plugin). I've gradually gone from trying MS Word first, to trying LO Writer first.
But it probably depends what your needs are. I generally don't need to care about the formatting being exactly the same.
Inkscape has connectors, and a button to "Make connectors avoid selected objects". It works -- but I don't know if it would be reliable with real work (Visio, in my experience, isn't, and gets 90% of things OK, but then requires fiddly tuning to make a few odd connectors not overlap shapes).
They've done this at a few London Underground stations since 2005 and since 2004 on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
In London, the music was played over the existing announcement system's speakers, so it was horribly distorted. Fortunately, it was only around the station entrance, not the actual platforms, so I could wait in peace.
Search "Data Protection Act" for the UK (or Irish) implementation of this EU law.
Also, note that the corporation must delete the records of you once they are no longer needed, even without you asking -- and they don't get to define what "needed" means. If I close my Facebook account, Facebook must delete everything they know about me in a reasonable time.
"The EU is talking about human rights, so stuff like copyright is trumped. That has always been the case."
Absolute privacy is not a human right. Construed as a human right, there's no such thing as a right to be forgotten.
There is if we decide to make it one. You may as well say there's no such thing as rights.
The first right of the European Convention on Human Rights is the right to life, and even that isn't absolute -- e.g. if the police shoot someone that can be acceptable (if they are protecting other lives with the minimum force necessary).
(Note: the ECHR covers different (many more) countries than the EU. They are not related.)
Slashdot Mirror
The signals to the trains can't fail?
They "fail safe". A signal with no light at all means the same as red (to the train driver), should that happen. No power to the barriers at the crossing causes them to fall and block the road. The system that stops the train if it passes a red signal requires power to hold it in the "ok to proceed" position.
Also, level crossings aren't anywhere near as common in the UK as they are in the USA. They're still by far the most dangerous part of the railway, but the fault is almost always (or even always?) the fault of impatient or incompetent drivers and pedestrians. I don't think it's permitted to build them on a new line.
The principle safety feature is turning traffic doesn't turn across oncoming traffic, and it's impossible to drive through at high speed.
They're more common in Europe since, as evidenced by most of this discussion, America isn't willing to invest in its infrastructure.
Cloverleaf junctions use a *huge* amount of land -- far more than a large roundabout -- and are much more expensive to construct and maintain.
On medium-sized roads roundabouts are more efficient than a set of lights on a normal junction.
Take a look (zoomed in) at any town in the UK -- there's no need to look at Streetview.
Roundabouts are easy to spot. Mini-roundabouts mean "roundabout rules" (give way to traffic waiting on the junction, or to your right) in a smaller space. They're just a big white dot in the middle of the junction.
The markings on the road at traffic lights are a thick, solid line across the left lane(s), and nothing on the right.
The markings at a non-signalled junction are a thick, double dashed line on the left, and a single-dashed line on the right. Also, there's often a large inverted triangle (a giant "Give Way"/Yield) sign painted on the road.
Most junctions are the third type, being minor roads. Second most will be traffic lights (on dense, inner city roads). But most major roads use roundabouts.
Even if your roundabout has more accidents than a simple intersection, they will be less severe as the traffic speeds are lower.
More accidents, but fewer injuries, is a good outcome.
(Though roundabouts normally give fewer accidents and fewer injuries.)
Same as railroad crossings. There's no guarantee that the lights or the gates work... so I slow down or stop every time I cross.
In the UK, there is a guarantee that the signal (to the train) is red if the level crossing lights / barriers (for car drivers) are off/raised, or defective. Any train passing a red signal has the emergency brake applied automatically.
(Though there was a case last year of a small passenger train taking about 5km to stop, as the company that was required to maintain it hadn't refilled the sand (to add friction while braking) and high winds plus autumn leaf fall made the rails as slippery as they ever get.)
but the trigger usually requires you to stop at the light. Also you seem to forget that rural lights at night can have a several minute wait on the "low-priority" side
Round here, one sensor is at the junction, but another is some way down the road. The driver may need to slow slightly, but often doesn't need to stop.
On larger roads, there's often a third sensor *after* the junction, to see if the road ahead is blocked with traffic.
(And FWIW, my bicycle activates these sensors.)
I think it's just the Netherlands and Finland that don't make 1 and 2 cent coins.
If you get rid of the nickel, you essentially need to get rid of the quarter.
Interesting. Could this be why every other country on earth* has (or had) 20 cent coins instead of 25c?
No, that's because it makes change a bit more efficient. If your coins are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, etc (1x, 2x, 5x, x is 1, 10, 100 etc) you almost always need less coins to make change than if your coins are 1, 5, 10 and 25.
Hmmm... my manager curses occasionally. Generally only when something especially annoying happens -- e.g. her manager has an accident, and she has to cover for him.
But one of my colleagues says "fuck" as much as some people say "like". "I was, like, arguing with the other guys on the project, like, and they were like, 'Let's do it this way'." becomes, "Fuck, I was arguing with the other guys on the fucking project, and they fucking said 'Let's fucking do it this way'". It's very unprofessional, and I find it hard to take him seriously when he can't talk without swearing. He often raises eyebrows around the office "Fuck, Sam, come and look at this! Fucking amazing!". What's wrong with "Hey Sam!"?
I don't think I've ever heard anyone else in my office swear (while at the office).
problems other than cost you mean.
We already have an MS SQL database for the HR, finance (etc) systems, so using that might be as cheap (or cheaper) than a new Postgres database, given existing staff (DBA) knowledge and some odd way they fudge the numbers. (Recurring costs for MS software are apparently negotiated and paid for centrally, rather than charged to the department using the software. Daft.)
Essentially, arguing on grounds of inital/ongoing cost is difficult. My best cost argument is the no-cost license for Postgres means we could change our architecture, have ten times as many servers, have virtual servers, have lots of development servers -- anything -- without having to pay. I'm also concerned that although Microsoft sees us as "academic" at the moment, that might change -- we aren't a university, and the government is telling us we should be trying to make money with our skills/data where we can.
So, a good, technical reason is much better. Various limitations have ruled out MySQL (e.g. problems with multiple engines -- you may have to choose between full-text search and transactions, for example). Postgres has the edge over MS SQL at the moment -- partly flexibility, partly the GIS extensions, I'll elaborate if anyone's interested. But SQL Server at least claims to do these things too.
Can anyone tell me what cheese is made of?
American cheese*? That's anyone's guess :-D
(*Legally, I can't call it cheese here. The supermarkets call packs "singles", but I think the legal term is "cheese analogue" -- I've seen that term on extremely cheap frozen pizzas sold in corner shops).
I've programmed PHP to use SQL Server and MySQL, the MySQL statements typically run in milliseconds, it usually takes SQL Server two or three seconds to respond.
Can you give an example?
We're evaluating Postgres vs MS SQL at work, and at the moment haven't found any problem big enough to rule either out.
...proper verb conjugation.
For behold, thy God is a jealous and angry grammar nazi! Honor thy noun clause and verb clause, that thy days may be numbered long upon the Earth.
Super-pedant: That would be "your God". Thou is the informal, friendly you (like German du, or French tu). You is the formal, polite you (like German Sie, or French vous).
When the weather's suitable, cycling to work is good. It's still not fun, but it's using my commute time to provide exercise, saves petrol, and sometimes gets me home faster than driving would.
I was going to suggest that.
You said "petrol" and have a .co.uk homepage. When is the weather not suitable for cycling to work in the UK? (Speaking as someone who has cycled to work almost every working day of the last 3½ years -- I don't own a car.) £15 on some waterproof trousers, and £20 on last year's fashionable cycling jacket is all I need. I hardly ever need the trousers.
If it's sometimes faster than driving, I'd guess it's normally only a few minutes slower.
I work out once a week, for 20 minutes at a time, and have wonderful improvement in my blood pressure and resting pulse rate in the last six months.
I was only 22 when I started cycling to work, which was about 30 minutes each way (so, at least 10 times a week), but after a few months my parents commented that I looked healthier. I didn't measure my pulse or blood pressure.
Some years later I still cycle to work, although I've moved slightly closer -- it's now only 20 minutes. On the way home I often try and go a bit faster for the exercise.
As a guy, I've never had a problem with a pat down, but I've only had your garden variety.
I've only taken one flight from the US since the TSA appeared on the scene.
I went through the metal detector (the body scanner had a sign: "out of order"), collected my stuff, and had almost left the security area when someone called me back. He said he was worried I was hiding things in my baggy trousers (they were essentially flares), so his colleague gave me a pat-down search as well.
I get a "pat down" search about once a month. They're a relatively common requirement for entry to some concerts and nightclubs in London. They're checking for weapons, so the bouncer typically pats my pockets, checks around my waist, then checks my boots. If I'm wearing flares they sometimes think to check the legs -- just brushing down with their hands. The impression I've always had is that they're checking my clothes rather than my body.
The TSA person's search was in no way a "pat down". It was a thorough body search -- I'd never had anything like it before. He rubbed his hands down my legs with significant pressure, kept me standing in an uncomfortable position (arms raised throughout -- even though it was supposedly only my baggy trousers that were a concern). He made a very thorough check around my groin, including sweeping his fingers in the spaces around (including underneath) my genitals. Every time anyone's touched my like that before, it was for sex. Does that make it sexual assault? It was awful.
If I was given a search like that in the EU I'd walk away and make a fuss -- but in the EU I'm confident of my rights, and my citizenship. But what could I have done on my way home after a business trip to the USA?
Something I can do is not return in a hurry.
I can't believe there's actually a crime fighting organization called the Serious Organized Crime Agency. It's hard to imagine how they could have a sillier name,
They could be called something like the the Department for Homeland Security, or the National Bureau for Investigations.
(Seriously, the American names sound silly to me. Far too self-important and pretentious.)
for assuming you have jurisdiction in my country.
traceroute -T rnbxclusive.com
traceroute to rnbxclusive.com (83.138.166.114), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.1.254 (192.168.1.254) 3.944 ms 3.803 ms 3.698 ms
2 * * *
3 * * *
4 linx.edge1.lon.rackspace.net (195.66.226.116) 32.608 ms 33.136 ms 33.262 ms
5 vl911.core5a.lon3.rackspace.net (92.52.76.203) 34.481 ms vl912.core5a.lon3.rackspace.net (92.52.76.245) 35.372 ms vl911.core5a.lon3.rackspace.net (92.52.76.203) 35.897 ms
6 aggr310a-core5a.lon3.rackspace.net (92.52.76.111) 36.828 ms 33.412 ms 33.855 ms
7 S82574.clubonside.dk (83.138.166.114) 20.927 ms 24.706 ms 24.217 ms
It seems to me they haven't seized the domain at all. They've seized a server from Rackspace in London, and arrested the person who owned it. That seems fine.
I'd question the web page they've put up instead -- not in principle, just the incorrect claims and excessive hyperbole.
Additionally, the WHOIS data still records an individual (not SOCA) as owning the domain.
My guess is they've arrested him, seized the servers, and installed their own server instead to respond. The web page is stupid, and the claims it makes should be criticised, but arresting the guy and seizing the servers as evidence is exactly what they should do.
I've had more trouble with older (2003?) versions of Office reading DOCX files (with the plugin). I've gradually gone from trying MS Word first, to trying LO Writer first.
But it probably depends what your needs are. I generally don't need to care about the formatting being exactly the same.
Is there a non-crossing line tool in Draw? :)
I can't see one, but I've not used Draw before.
Inkscape has connectors, and a button to "Make connectors avoid selected objects". It works -- but I don't know if it would be reliable with real work (Visio, in my experience, isn't, and gets 90% of things OK, but then requires fiddly tuning to make a few odd connectors not overlap shapes).
They've done this at a few London Underground stations since 2005 and since 2004 on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
In London, the music was played over the existing announcement system's speakers, so it was horribly distorted. Fortunately, it was only around the station entrance, not the actual platforms, so I could wait in peace.
Search "Data Protection Act" for the UK (or Irish) implementation of this EU law.
Also, note that the corporation must delete the records of you once they are no longer needed, even without you asking -- and they don't get to define what "needed" means. If I close my Facebook account, Facebook must delete everything they know about me in a reasonable time.
Speaking as an American, I want the European version of privacy and the American version of Free Speech.
Speaking as a European. I 100% agree with you.
All of it? The US free speech leads to "God Hates Fags" at funerals, and other cruel harassments.
"The EU is talking about human rights, so stuff like copyright is trumped. That has always been the case."
Absolute privacy is not a human right. Construed as a human right, there's no such thing as a right to be forgotten.
There is if we decide to make it one. You may as well say there's no such thing as rights.
The first right of the European Convention on Human Rights is the right to life, and even that isn't absolute -- e.g. if the police shoot someone that can be acceptable (if they are protecting other lives with the minimum force necessary).
(Note: the ECHR covers different (many more) countries than the EU. They are not related.)