Weird News

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

I think car+passenger transport trains running on tracks along side our existing freeways
would be more economical, faster and safer than Google/GM/etc's driver-less cars "just because they can".

If you can take the train, you don't need the damn car. Where these vehicles shine is locally, where there isn't an alternative. And don't tell me improve public transit, that's a red herring that's expensive, impractical, and won't work in 95% of the US.

[footfootfoot]

If the auto industry hadn't destroyed the rail industry, that might not be the case. We'd probably not have as bad a problem with Global Warming if the rail industry had prevailed.

(and if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle)

[Lamplighter]

If you can take the train, you don't need the damn car.
Where these vehicles shine is locally, where there isn't an alternative.

That sounds like a stockholder of Hertz/Enterprize/Budget/etc.

And don't tell me improve public transit, that's a red herring
that's expensive, impractical, and won't work in 95% of the US.

Agreed.

[ZenGum]

Bleeding heart liberal pinko socialist here ... and ... agreed.

Too much distance, not enough people, public transport just isn't economically viable.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The nice thing about self drivers, if you cut them off, they will stop or evade you. You can't count on people to do that.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

My latest post above was a feeble attempt at humor.

I believe you meant sarcasm. That part was subtle and obvious.

Driverless cars means more jobs when we no longer need chauffeurs and autobody repair shops. That's not sarcasm. That's how jobs are created.

Unload the car. Then tell it to go park itself in the garage. Another feature that has long been demonstrated. But, like in all innovative products, it takes many years to get to market. Even cell phones that track the arrival of your bus were demonstrated over a decade before it became common in State College PA. Innovation takes that long.

A driverless car is inevitable. But many want to blame the machine rather than the source of most failures - the human. Did we not learn this from cars whose brakes did not work? Of course. Only reason those cars crashed in every case - human failure. Often followed by more human responses - lies or denials.

And again, the way to make jobs is to replace humans from mundane tasks. A car can drive itself to the car wash when it needs cleaning. Why waste a human minute?

[Lamplighter]

OK, I know you folk in the East are not terribly concerned,
but here in the Pacific NW, and especially in Oregon, we are deeply
involved with cougars (mountain lions).

A few years ago that dreaded organization, The Humane Society,
launched a public campaign to put an end to the use of dogs (hounds)
while hunting cougars, etc.
Surprisingly, ,that public referendum passed, mainly by the
highly populated Portland, Salem, and Eugene voters.
The ODFW rules were changed, and since then have prohibited the use
of dogs in hunting cougars, bears, and maybe one or two kinds of other game.

It's always been legal in Oregon(with a hunting license) to hunt them,
but a single hunter or even group of hunters is very ineffective,
and many hunters are taken by the "thrill of the hunt" and
"reading the hounds" as the dogs chase and "tree" the animal.

So, hunters were outraged by the vote, and it's been a public fight ever since.
And now, a Bill has been introduced in the Oregon Legislature to nullify the public referendum.

Now in Oregon, that right there is a No, No.
Legislators often lose their next election if they vote to overturn a public referendum.

But now this... a string of 3 sightings of cougars in the PDX metropolitan area...(very coincidental ?)

KATU.com
6/1/13
ODFW to investigate cougar sighting near OHSU

PORTLAND, Ore. – Two people, separately, say they saw a cougar
early Thursday morning near Oregon Health & Science University in Southwest Portland.
And the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating whether
a wild cougar is prowling around the hospital's parking garages.
The calls about a mysterious cat came from separate hospital rooms at about 2 a.m.

OHSU checked security cameras and found nothing.
But on Friday, police put up warnings for the 20,000 patients, employees and students at the hospital.
<snip>
The last time biologists from Oregon Fish and Wildlife confirmed an actual cougar roamed the area was in Gresham in 1996.
According to ODFW, there has never been a documented case in Oregon of a cougar attacking a person.

[orthodoc]

*sniff* *sniff* *rat*

[ZenGum]

Trap, transport and release?

[ZenGum]

This could have gone in the Headlines thread, but the whole story is cool:

Far-Right Extremists Chased Through London by Women Dressed as Badgers

I am particularly heartened by the fact that while the BNP and EDL turned out about 50 people, the antifascists UAF and HNH turned out considerably more, and both were dwarfed by the protest against badger culling.

Turns out badger lovers tend to be antifascists too.

Young women dressed in fake fur were seen chasing doughty nationalist supporters down London's Whitehall as a large number of security forces in iridescent jackets looked on from police lines.

I can't find it now but there was also recently a situation where a dozen or so vaguely right wing types were protesting outside a mosque, so the Muslims put the kettle on and they all had a cup of tea and some biscuits and ended up playing soccer together.

[tw]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Turns out badger lovers tend to be antifascists too.

Wow. Wisconsin has fans even in London: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIyixC9NsLI
... and hate of snakes.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Trap, transport and release?

shoot, shovel and shut up.

[ZenGum]

And to make it worse, the unicorn wasn’t even on holiday with us.

[footfootfoot]

Hawkins was captain of the soccer team and a top student at her Dawsonville, Georgia high school, but a shitty car surfer.

Takes one for the team in the Darwin Award competition.

[glatt]

Teens make stupid mistakes. Their brains aren't fully developed yet. I see stories like this and hope it won't be my kids in the future.

A local kid died last week doing a similar stunt with a skateboard holding on to a car. Tragic. We didn't know him, but we know a lot of people who did, and they were all really bummed.