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

ThisRegard wrote: »

Listening to the Newstalk item on the proposed 30kph limit for parts of Dublin. The usual clowns, and host, chimed in with the whataboutery on how evil cyclists, and them speeding.

Ciaran Cuffe said the limits will apply to everybody.

I was shocked at the presenter, unlike the previous chuckle brothers who balanced each other out, the new presenter was very much the middle aged neanderthal that is exemplified (parody like) by Jeremy Clarkson. He just kept prattling on about it being very slow, not really dangerous, blah, blah, blah. He done a study showing that bicycles could do over 30kmph (that's right, him in his evening herald jumper on the side of the Liffey seeing could a mate hammer it is now a study), so cars should be allowed go faster without causing danger.

Ciaran Cuffe handled himself very well, never phased, polite. I understand his comment about everyone, there is a whole different discussion that the neanderthal would not have comprehended that would have turned into a load of whatabouttery nonsense. I presume Ciaran frequents internet forums and knows a troll when he meets one by the way he just gave a little to save a lot.

Chuchote wrote: »

The lights turned green and I cycled across – and then, right in front of my wheel, a driver whipped through and around into Beaver Row. It wasn't even as if she was catching the end of the green filter; the green filter had changed to red a good 10 seconds before, and I'd started only when my light went green.

As Tom Jones would say, it's not unusual ♫♪♫

Reminds me of this scene (NSFW) about human nature. Traffic lights in Ireland hav significant delays, particularly in Dublin, for no really justifiable reason. Other than road designers expect people to amber gamble, and eventually after a time to run a red light. Some lights actually have a lull time of a few seconds from when one red goes till another turns. Unheard of in most similar countries (regarding traffic behaviour).

tomasrojo wrote: »

The real hold-out for Imperial seems to be human height. It's slowly on the retreat elsewhere, though I don't expect it to disappear. But you almost never hear an Irish person express the height of another human in cm or m.

Human weight is another hold-out, but at least it's pretty common to hear people's weight expressed in kg, especially in medical contexts.

Except for babies for some reason. People get very confused about metric babies.

I referred to my baby in kilos because thats what i know and also because that is what the nurse said. My wife and family looked at me with peculiarity. "and whats that?", my sister thought I was trying to show off, FFS.

tomasrojo wrote: »

I think the most common way internationally is to use cm.

EDIT: Apparently in the Netherlands, they say: one metre eighty. And in Spain.
Actually, based on this, I'd say "one eighty" is pretty standard:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=643437

I don't say one eighty, mainly because I am taller than that but if I was 180cm, I would say one eighty.

smacl wrote: »

And Ireland and the UK still use degrees, minutes and seconds for angles, whereas the rest of Europe has been using Gradians for decades. Working in the geospatial industry, its always fun when a surveyor brings some measurement equipment in from Europe and doesn't realise by default it has 400 subdivisions in a circle rather than 360. Makes for some very interesting maps...

Hands up, I did not know this, I feel improved with education today.