Journalism and cycling

Arcade_Tryer

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

http://connachttribune.ie/tds-loggerheads-proposals-overtaking-cyclists-999/

You win some, you lose some!

“If you are not a cyclist it can be very difficult to imagine just how intimidating it is to be overtaken by a vehicle too closely."

As a motorist and pedestrian mainly I can understand this. For example, people who overtake, but instead of crossing to the other side of the road, come right up alongside your car on your side of the road. And when crossing a pedestrian crossing, cars often proceed to move off aggressively well before the person walking has completed the journey to the other side. These are two simple examples of how both motorists and pedestrians can be intimidated in a similar manner to cyclists with regards to close overtaking by motorists. Obviously the common denominator is motorists, and the behaviour is symptomatic of a sense of superiority many motorists have towards other road users. If you want to see entitlement culture in Ireland, save yourself a trip to the Post Office, and simply observe the behaviour of so many motorists.

magicbastarder

eh; we only moved fully to metric on road signs a few years ago. it's hardly embarrassing for someone who grew up with imperial measurements to keep using them. i'm kinda confused as to why it's such an issue.

Tenzor07

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

http://connachttribune.ie/tds-loggerheads-proposals-overtaking-cyclists-999/

I think this Canney clown must be related to the Healy-Rae's? The ones who want to block the lowering of drink driving limits because of how it could affect rural Ireland!

AndrewJRenko

magicbastarder wrote: »

eh; we only moved fully to metric on road signs a few years ago. it's hardly embarrassing for someone who grew up with imperial measurements to keep using them. i'm kinda confused as to why it's such an issue.

Metrication came into Ireland around the time that Minister Canney started secondary school. He's had four decades to get with the programme.

magicbastarder

yes, i agree that in theory metrication arrived ireland decades ago. it's hardly as if it was an overnight success though.

until 2005, speed limits on signs were imperial. it was only then that cars had to start using metric for odometers and speedometers. even when i was growing up (born mid 70s) it was rare to hear adults using metres, any reference to length or distance tended to be feet or miles.

ThisRegard

Deedsie wrote: »

It's embarrassing hearing elected representatives speaking in imperial measurements. As you were saying we are a metric country for years. It's a far more straightforward system and should be fully implemented by now.

TD's speaking about feet and miles just highlights their ignorance of what they are actually talking about.

I'm only 40 and use feet and inches for small lengths, kilometres and metres for everything else. It's a throwback to being easily able to picture the length of a ruler. Why are they still 1 foot/12 inches long?

RobertFoster

ThisRegard wrote: »

I'm only 40 and use feet and inches for small lengths, kilometres and metres for everything else. It's a throwback to being easily able to picture the length of a ruler. Why are they still 1 foot/12 inches long?

I don't think a metre stick would fit in many school bags Perhaps it's because 12 inches is close enough to 30 cm?

Any time I mention a metric weight or measurement to my parents they ask me what it is "in old money". Conversely, feet and inches I can still visualise, but stones and pounds I have to ask what that is "in new money" :pac: I channel surfed onto that Operation Transformation programme on RTÉ recently, it was like an alien language.

ThisRegard

Let them carry around a half metre stick then!

I'm also fecked when it comes to weight, still prefer stone, but slowly trying to adapt to the new fangled kgs. The fact that the likes of Strava and Garmin Connect are more suited to them is the driving force.

tomasrojo

When I was doing the prenatal course with my wife, the nurse was explaining how to make up formula milk, and how it was two ounces of water to one scoop of formula powder (or something like that). I had no idea what she was talking about. In the form to say what you thought of the course, I was complimentary, but mentioned that they should include metric equivalents. It goes both ways. I'm not going to bother learning what a fluid ounce is. I really don't care, any more than I care how many farthings were in a shilling(*).

(*)Actually, if you read any of the more detailed Beatles books, especially the ones with an emphasis on the music business, it's handy to have a look-up table.

robyntmorton

I go shopping for an elderly aunt at the weekend. On the list usually is a pound of sausages. Ask at the butcher counter, and the (young) butcher stares at me blankly as he asks "what's a pound?"

The old woman next to me near broke herself laughing at him.

I would work more in metric, but it's no reason not to know the more common imperial measurements.

tomasrojo

I actually think there was a case for just metricating the more common units. You see this in Germany, where a Pfund is 500g. Probably too late now. It's easier to use just one system.

How do the Metric Martyrs manage to buy light bulbs in foot pound-force per second.

Fian

Also in my early 40s.

For me distance and speed tended to be in feet/miles/yards - everything else in metric (bar measurements of time obviously).

Actually in recent years distance is also going metric for me, that is mainly down to cycling tbh, I have started thinking in kilometres and Kph instead of miles since that is how i measures my rides.

I have no idea what americans are talking about when they refer to weight in lbs or temperature in fahrenheit. I would have a good idea of weight if someone described weight in "stones" though, but i would probably be more inclined to think in kilos. A person's height i would describe in feet and inches.

I imagine this is all relatively normal even for the younger generation - Presumably they would describe someone as being 6 foot two rather than (*quick google) 1.88 metres? They would know what 8 stone, 10 stone, 15 stone and 20 stone would look like in a person? Or am i just oblivious to being out of touch with the younger generation?

Fian

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

“If you are not a cyclist it can be very difficult to imagine just how intimidating it is to be overtaken by a vehicle too closely."

As a motorist and pedestrian mainly I can understand this. For example, people who overtake, but instead of crossing to the other side of the road, come right up alongside your car on your side of the road. And when crossing a pedestrian crossing, cars often proceed to move off aggressively well before the person walking has completed the journey to the other side. These are two simple examples of how both motorists and pedestrians can be intimidated in a similar manner to cyclists with regards to close overtaking by motorists. Obviously the common denominator is motorists, and the behaviour is symptomatic of a sense of superiority many motorists have towards other road users. If you want to see entitlement culture in Ireland, save yourself a trip to the Post Office, and simply observe the behaviour of so many motorists.

I don't want to come across as aggressive here, text does not convey tone well but let me say at the outset i am not trying to be aggressive, nor am i irritated at your comment above.

The thing is though - the examples you give do not at all correlate to being closely passed as a cyclist so no, you don't understand imo.

Mainly because in a car or on foot you are far more stable. When you are balanced on two wheels and a car passes you closely the wind puts you in jeopardy of falling over and into traffic. It is more frightening than being passed at the same distance as a pedestrian, also far more common. I could count on one hand the number of times a car has passed me so closely as the close passes I experience on the bike when i was walking - and I grew up in connemara, well used to walking miles along fairly narrow roads with no footpaths or hard shoulders.

Chiparus

robyntmorton wrote: »

I go shopping for an elderly aunt at the weekend. On the list usually is a pound of sausages. Ask at the butcher counter, and the (young) butcher stares at me blankly as he asks "what's a pound?"

The old woman next to me near broke herself laughing at him.

I would work more in metric, but it's no reason not to know the more common imperial measurements.

How much were the sausages? 6 bob, 3 shillings and 6d ?

Chips Lovell

I never really understood ordering sausages by weight. I usually just say "I'll have eight of those".

Roadhawk

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

I never really understood ordering sausages by weight. I usually just say "I'll have eight of those".

Some sausies are bigger than others

magicbastarder

Deedsie wrote: »

They are 30 cm rulers to me :-)

if they're a foot long, they're 30.48cm rulers.

CramCycle

So your both wrong is how I read that.

AndrewJRenko

magicbastarder wrote: »

yes, i agree that in theory metrication arrived ireland decades ago. it's hardly as if it was an overnight success though.

You're right - it wasn't/isn't an overnight success, and a big part of that is down to people like Canney and RTE's whole range of programmes that keep using imperial measurements - Operation Transformation being one of the worst offenders. If they switched to kgs instead of pounds, it would have a transformational effect on the culture of the nation.

magicbastarder

CramCycle wrote: »

So your both wrong is how I read that.

ah here; i'm not always right, but i'm never wrong.

tomasrojo

Deedsie wrote: »

Meterage doesn't have the same ring to it as mileage in relation to the distance travelled by a car over time.

That's an interesting thought. Spanish does have the term "metraje". A "full-length movie" is "un largometraje". Here it's the equivalent of "footage", as in feet of film. One of my Dutch friends told me they have a verb "millimeterise", which is to cut hair very short, which I rather like.

But there's no particular reason not to continue to use the word "mileage" any more than there's a reason to stop using "inch forward" as a verb. You can give mileage in kilometres, I think. Apart from there being other uses of old words where we're not too concerned about the total logical consistency (I can't think of any right now, but I'll think of one at four in the morning -- apart from "luthiers", who no longer, by and large, make lutes), the ultimate root of "mile" is the Latin for "thousand" and there are 1000 metres in a kilometre.

tomasrojo

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

You're right - it wasn't/isn't an overnight success, and a big part of that is down to people like Canney and RTE's whole range of programmes that keep using imperial measurements - Operation Transformation being one of the worst offenders. If they switched to kgs instead of pounds, it would have a transformational effect on the culture of the nation.

Do they not use both units, even just written on screen? That is quite weird. It's pretty customary everywhere else to use both, even one is just a token use.

tomasrojo

Deedsie wrote: »

Some things will always use imperial terminology. Pint etc

Pretty sure all of our railway distance markers are measured in miles.

Shoe size measurements are bizarre between different regions.

Regardless metric should be favoured and especially by representatives of our Government.

Well, the distance between links on a chain are best expressed in inches, since that is what they're obviously based on. Pints are really only used in pubs, along with a bunch of other fairly antiquated expressions of volume (1/4 gills and the like). It's strange to hear people in Ireland talk about politicians "not knowing the price of a pint of milk", because unless their politician has some sort of "Goodnight Sweetheart"-style time portal, he or she hasn't bought a pint of milk in quite some time.

The shoe sizes are a different affair really, as they're not a "metric" thing as such.

ThisRegard

tomasrojo wrote: »

It's strange to hear people in Ireland talk about politicians "not knowing the price of a pint of milk", because unless their politician has some sort of "Goodnight Sweetheart"-style time portal, he or she hasn't bought a pint of milk in quite some time.

Yeah, I never got that reference. I couldn't tell you the price of a pint, litre, 2 litre and those new 2.5 litre or whatever they are yokes, and I only bought 2 litres today.

magicbastarder

tomasrojo wrote: »

But there's no particular reason not to continue to use the word "mileage" any more than there's a reason to stop using "inch forward" as a verb.

just as you wouldn't metricise a saying like 'i wouldn't have an ounce of sympathy for him'.

CramCycle

Deedsie wrote: »

Some things will always use imperial terminology. Pint etc

I haven't had a pint in ages, half litres for everyone.

tomasrojo

People continue to use outdate scientific terms too, but in a figurative way. A "phlegmatic" temperament, even someone being "jovial" (as in, under the influence of the planet Jupiter). You can use these terms without believing in "the humours" or astrology.

rubadub

robyntmorton wrote: »

Ask at the butcher counter, and the (young) butcher stares at me blankly as he asks "what's a pound?"

You say butcher counter, so sounds like a supermarket, he was probably stacking shelves the week before, likely no more a "butcher" than anyone else who happens to be wearing an apron and perhaps hat.

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

I never really understood ordering sausages by weight. I usually just say "I'll have eight of those".

Roadhawk wrote: »

Some sausies are bigger than others

I only copped a few years ago that most are 1oz, I always knew there were usually 8 sausages in a half pound pack, and 16 in the full pound, but never twigged they were an oz. If you got extra large ones they were typically 2oz

You can see most are still in 454g & 227g packs

on this first list of 20 there are only 2 "metric sizes" i.e. not 227/454/908g, and one is turkey sausages. One is 360g with 6, so 60g each, close enough to 2oz
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/product/search/default.aspx?searchBox=sausages

tomasrojo

rubadub wrote: »

You can see most are still in 454g & 227g packs

Yeah, it's slightly amusing how many things are sold in an ungainly numbers of grammes and millilitres.

cdaly_

^^^ Most irritating among them are the '1 litre' smoothie cartons which are now only 900ml or smaller but still as tall as a 1l carton.