invincibility, garlic, and powers of two

[da]

The first thing anyone said to me yesterday morning was "I've seen two people killed right here." Salt and pepper beard, bike helmet. We were waiting for the light to change at the edge of the University, and had just watched a young guy, no helmet, bike out in front of a car. We chatted a bit. He's been working here for 20 years.

Today my jacket smells wonderful, like garlic and onions. Last night I made a convert to the joys of Spanish Potato Tortilla. It's a really easy recipe, except for the next-to-last step of "when it's half-way set in the middle, flip it onto a plate then slide it back into the pan." Which is always much easier than it sounds. I'm thinking about making an Instructable.com video or something, because tortilla's just too tasty to not share.

Finally: I like when powers of two show up in the day-to-day (what, me, geek?). Dan pointed out to me recently that miles-to-km is much more accurate at 8/5 than 3/2. On my commute this morning I had a (very small) realization that if your miles happen to be a power of two, you always get powers-of-two on both sides. And it's an easy calculation: multiply by 16 (bit-shift right 4) and divide by 10. So: more accurate than 3/2, quicker if you remember your bit-shifts, and more satisfying numbers too. 160 miles? 256 km. (only 1.49km off the real value). Going the other way, km-to-mile is divide by 16 and multiply by 10. 1024 km? 640 miles. See? Satisfying. At least, if you're me. :)

Comments

[kraig.livejournal.com]

Should the government be allowed to nag you to do other things too?
* smoking (but it makes a buttload off taxes)
* drinking alcohol (ditto)
* diet - cut out fatty foods? red meat?
etc.

While I agree in principle, it's a very shady line that leads us back down the road to leper colonies. ("See Billy? That's where all the smokers live. They're evil because they deliberately poison themselves. Let us now drive away over the speed limit in our perfectly legal SUV that gets worse mileage than a main battle tank. But we paid our carbon taxes, so it's ok.") I exaggerate a bit for comic and dramatic effect, but there is a line and I'm not sure where it should be drawn.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I do believe that "freedom" arguments start to hit walls when people other than the "victimless victim" are victimized. (As an example, I really hate when bicyclists don't use lights at night on the trail between the university and our house, because I need to know they're there.)

Seat belt laws are to me the "purest" example of restrictions of freedom that can be justified (reluctantly) on the basis of the freedom restriction being damn small, relative to the public health benefit. But it's definitely a slippery thing to grab.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

For me from a purely physics standpoint, bike helmets fall in the same category as seat-belts. They won't save you if you get t-boned by a dumptruck, but their cost (mussed-up hair; remembering to bring the helmet with you; slightly awkward hat-wearing if it's cold out; headgear with straps under the chin) is grossly out-weighed by their benefit.

Drop a head from six feet onto concrete, moving sideways at anywhere from 10-45kph. With no helmet, it *will* have severe concussion at minimum; with helmet, it *might* have minor or no concussion.

Since even the safest bicyclist why cycles regularly is destined to hit their head sooner or later (because the safest cyclist still has to deal with the rest of us bozos ;)
it seems to me an easy sell that it should be on the same side of the line as seat-belts for cars. But then, I don't care about hat hair or wearing straps, and four years ago I did fall and hit my head, and was fortunate enough to only scrape up my arms and legs a bit.

[mynatt.livejournal.com]

I understand your point, and in general I think they ought to be allowed to nag me more than outright forbid me to do things. Here, we're not allowed to smoke in workplaces (including bars), or be served alcohol if we're already smashed, and that's definitely okay by me. I don't want to move that fine line very far, but I would like to include some pressure to wear bike helmets, at least for children.

Also, I feel strongly about this because my helmet has saved me from a skull fracture, at least twice. (You should have seen the helmet afterwards.)

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

In the "things to think about" department: so far as I know, there are no laws specifically forbidding people from cutting in line.

I wonder whether "gentle societal suasion" might be a strong enough impulse to get adults to wear helmets.

This morning, I saw a guy slowly biking up the left side of the ring road. He thanked me when I warned him how dangerous it was, and immediately moved to the right.