Jan and Klodi's Party Bus - part II **off topic discussion**

Lumen

buffalo wrote: »

How do you sharpen your axes Lumen?

On the jawbones of my victims, but that's not important right now.

Thud

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

If the man had been on a GAA club weekend away, the headline would have been "GAA player assaulted woman..."

I don't think it represents any axe grinding against cyclists.

GAA is usually used the opposite way, when someone dies young they are usually described as a "local GAA star"

buffalo

Piece on potential 30kph residential zones in Dublin on Radio 1 just now. One external viewpoint represented - the AA. Why is it that Conor Faughnan is the only regular contributor on RTE to anything related to the use of roads?

Fighting Tao

Didn't he used to do the AA Roadwatch slot? Must have made a few friends.

Wishbone Ash

buffalo wrote: »

Piece on potential 30kph residential zones in Dublin on Radio 1 just now. One external viewpoint represented - the AA. Why is it that Conor Faughnan is the only regular contributor on RTE to anything related to the use of roads?

Presumably because Morning Ireland is primarily a 'drivetime' programme and most of its listeners are driving.

Fighting Tao wrote: »

Didn't he used to do the AA Roadwatch slot? Must have made a few friends.

The AA Roadwatch report is broadcast externally from the AA head office not from within the RTE studio.

Rogue-Trooper

Had to drop the car into the garage this morning and will be collecting it later so got the Dart into work.

Christ on a bike. Is it always like that?! All that was missing was these guys.........




Gimme wind, rain and close-passes anyday over that.

Can't wait to get back on my bike tomorrow.

Chuchote

buffalo wrote: »

Piece on potential 30kph residential zones in Dublin on Radio 1 just now. One external viewpoint represented - the AA. Why is it that Conor Faughnan is the only regular contributor on RTE to anything related to the use of roads?

He's the expert. Media always have a couple of go-to experts on any given subject, and theirs are the informed opinions that will be broadcast. Fashion changes; remember the various points at which David McWilliams, George Lee or Constantin Gurdgiev were always wheeled out on business programmes?

There's no really authoritative person who can talk about road redesign and cycling. Perhaps someone from the group who designed the National Transport Authority's cycling plan for Dublin could offer him- or herself; however, if they're civil servants they couldn't really be seen to be pushing an agenda, unlike the AA which is a private company. (On the other hand, if the NTA hired in outside muscle for the job, that person could become the media expert easily enough.)

By the same token, Margaret Ward and others were putting together a list of women experts who could speak on specific subjects; if there's a woman who could speak with good knowledge on cycling, cycleways, etc (Nee?) it would be worth contacting them and offering herself.

tomasrojo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The AA Roadwatch report is broadcast externally from the AA head office not from within the RTE studio.

Amazingly, RTÉ use the AA Roadwatch office as a city-centre studio.

Not joking. I didn't quite believe it, but it's confirmed alluded to in one of William Campbell's current affairs podcasts.

I also understand that guests on RTÉ radio programmes, including Conor Faughnan, introduced as 'from a city centre studio' are, in fact speaking from the AA studios, in direct contravention of the BAI's total ban on the sponsorship of news and current affairs programmes.

http://blog.hereshow.ie/2016/06/heres-how-41-donal-byrne-of-rte/

The rest of the post about the AA and RTÉ is worth reading, I think. Good interview too.

tomasrojo

Just in case it's not clear, AA Roadwatch is a lobby group for motorists, and it is persistently called upon for "expert" testimony by RTÉ.

As William Campbell says at the end of that blog post:

Donal suggested that I should ask RTÉ corporately what exactly is AA Roadwatch, and I have done so. So far, I have not received any response. I will update this page if it arrives.

Quite bizarre that they should have 158 broadcasts a week from a particular organisation but have no ready reply as to what sort of organisation it is.

Chuchote

tomasrojo wrote: »

Just in case it's not clear, AA Roadwatch is a lobby group for motorists, and it is persistently called upon for "expert" testimony by RTÉ.

As William Campbell says at the end of that blog post:

Quite bizarre that they should have 158 broadcasts a week from a particular organisation but have no ready reply as to what sort of organisation it is.

Well, this is Ireland. In France, Bison Futé (= "the smartest buffalo in the herd") is a traffic information service given out by broadcast, on Twitter, on motorway electronic noticeboards, etc; it's run by the Department of the Environment there. In Ireland, services like this are part of private companies. You takes your country and you gets your ethos.

tomasrojo

RTÉ is a public body though. It makes the decision about whom to invite in to share their expertise, and, why, those nice AA people who give them city-centre studio space are just the ticket.

Chips Lovell

Noticeable chill in the air on the commute this morning. That's the summer gone I suppose.

GJG

tomasrojo wrote: »

Just in case it's not clear, AA Roadwatch is a lobby group for motorists, and it is persistently called upon for "expert" testimony by RTÉ.

As William Campbell says at the end of that blog post:


Quite bizarre that they should have 158 broadcasts a week from a particular organisation but have no ready reply as to what sort of organisation it is.

I don't agree that the AA is a lobby group for motorists. They are a lobby group for the motor industry, whose interests are often antagonistic to motorists. In every such instance, the AA pushes against the interests of the motorist.

A clear example would be public transport facilities. A reliable public transport system is in the interests of motorists, because it gives them the option to use their car or not as they choose, and when they do choose to use it, they benefit from the reduced congestion.

Good public transport is against the interests of the motor industry, because it would give people the option of not buying a car, and without good public transport, congestion is in their interests because people will tend to buy higher-spec cars if they spend more time in them. Opposing public transport from Luas to QBCs has always been the highest lobbying priority of the AA.

The AA have also lobbied to have children cycling banned from cycling, so as to force parents drive them to school.

The question that the RTÉ guy dodged was not so much what sort of an organisation the AA is, but what exactly are the AA Roadwatch broadcasts.

• You could argue that they are programming, but since the AA pays the costs, that would make them sponsored programming, and sponsorship is prohibited by lobbying organisations, as the AA declares itself, and sponsorship of programmes where the sponsor has an interest in the content is also prohibited.
• You could argue that they are advertising, but again advertising by lobbying organisations is prohibited.
• You could argue that the AA are contributors to programmes such as Morning Ireland, but these programmes are required to have balance, which they clearly don't in this regard.

RTÉ get around this problem by simply refusing to say what AA Roadwatch is.

tomasrojo

Well put.

(Lobbying against children cycling to school is new to me.)

ThisRegard

GJG wrote: »

The AA have also lobbied to have children cycling banned from cycling, so as to force parents drive them to school.

They have?!?

The AA are generally quite receptive to cycling, Faughnan himself advocates that cycling is a better method to get around the city.

RobertFoster

ThisRegard wrote: »

They have?!?

The AA are generally quite receptive to cycling, Faughnan himself advocates that cycling is a better method to get around the city.

...as long as cycling is slower than driving:

Comments included in the AA submission included: “Ridiculous for a city centre commuter route – adding to congestion – cyclists passing out cars – senseless, bring in law for cyclists to wear high viz jackets and helmets – unnatural to do 17mph in a modern car. Infuriating and a money making scheme.” url=http://irishcycle.com/2016/11/22/department-of-transport-pushes-aa-idea-of-80kmh-on-urban-roads/]IrishCycle.com[/url

Something about the use of mph makes me picture an old man grumbling. 17mph?! It's unnatural, it's against God...

ThisRegard

Dunno, I've heard Faughnan himself on more than one occasion saying cycling within the city is the sensible thing to do. But I'd still like to see where they said that school kids should be banned.

magicbastarder

ThisRegard wrote: »

Dunno, I've heard Faughnan himself on more than one occasion saying cycling within the city is the sensible thing to do.

and he was the voice of reason while appearing on pat kenny's show a while back when kenny started ranting about the behaviour of cyclists. faughnan pointed out that drivers were known to behave stupidly too.

buffalo

RobertFoster wrote: »

...as long as cycling is slower than driving:

Something about the use of mph makes me picture an old man grumbling. 17mph?! It's unnatural, it's against God...

Whereas the internal combustion engine is a perfectly natural object... evolved or intelligent design?

tomasrojo

I suspect their submission maybe wasn't all that rigorous, since they turned 30km/h into 17mph.

buffalo

tomasrojo wrote: »

I suspect their submission maybe wasn't all that rigorous, since they turned 30km/h into 17mph.

17mph sounds a lot slower though, and therefore more unacceptable.

I was once advised by a solicitor not to say I was cycling at 30kph in a courtroom situation as a judge might think it's very fast, but rather to say I was cycling at under 20mph.

magicbastarder

i wasn't sure if tomasrojo was alluding to different methods of expressing speed; km/h and mph, rather than using kph and mph for example.

CramCycle

Also 30kmph is more than 17mph, just saying.

tomasrojo

CramCycle wrote: »

Also 30kmph is more than 17mph, just saying.

Sorry, yes, that was the point I was making. They weren't even rigorous enough to do the calculation right.

A commenter on the IrishCycle.com page suggests that these were suggestions made by members of the AA in response to a survey, rather than official recommendations by the AA.

Chuchote

Weepsie wrote: »

I've parted ways with my Wilier Escape frame. It's left me a little sad, but it's in good hands. Great fun to cycle, could take a battering and just a nice looking bike. Collateral damage to getting a swanky carbon frame and apartment living

ednwireland

went to get some groceries in lidl came out with a belt sander for 20 euro ffs.

Lusk_Doyle

ednwireland wrote: »

went to get some groceries in lidl came out with a belt sander for 20 euro ffs.

At least it won't have broken the bank which will leave money for the inevitable repair of your botched attempt at sanding the floor!

Beasty

I've been asked by some college students if they can post a survey they are doing into the Dublin Bikes Scheme in the forum. They've told me they are helping redesign the official Dublin Bike App. It's not something we would normally allow in a dedicated thread and as they are not regulars around here I've agreed to post the link for them:

Dublin Bike Survey

magicbastarder

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

At least it won't have broken the bank which will leave money for the inevitable repair of your botched attempt at sanding the floor!

a belt sander bought in lidl would make for a fun job at sanding a floor.

AstraMonti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L4paI1ZeS0

I am getting angry when there is a 3% incline and this guy is going with a fecking fridge on his shoulders.