The Night Mail

[SM42]

57 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

No touch screen display within the driver's eye view should be operational when the engine is running.  I have always been staggered that they meet Construction and Use regulations.  We ban using phones while driving partly because the driver may look at the display, then manufacturers install displays for them to play with.

 

Meanwhile anyone who puts their mobile phone next to the A-pillar, creating an even bigger blind spot, should be sentenced to cycle repeatedly round a busy roundabout until they are either knocked off or soil themselves. 

 

They are allowed under the C & U regs as they give information about the state of the car and its position on the road only 

 

I put my sat nav by the A pillar 

 

It blocks my view of the first 2 ft of bonnet immediately in front of the windscreen. 

Any cyclist on that position is already in trouble. 

 

It's the people who put it dead centre  under the rear view mirror I can't undetstand. 

 

That's a bit ypu need to see out of. 

 

Andy

[AndyID]

10 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 designed to operate all contactless.

 

"contactless" as in "employing fewer people"

 

We were having a problem with ants chomping on some of the woodwork in the house so we decided to get the pros in to sort it. We called quite a few outfits and all we got were automated responses except for one where a real person picked up the phone. They immediately got the business.

 

The field manager guy came round the same day. I told him about the phone business and he told me the company he works for had tried to do the same automated crepe. He went ballistic with them and they got rid of it.

[jamie92208]

45 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

This is like one of our office buildings.  The blinds can be operated by a menu in each corner of the building; up/down & tilt more/less.  Unfortunately they are also automatic so decide when it's too bright or not.  You set them how you and your colleagues like them and ten minutes later it over-rules you.  I've described it as like having an Electronic Mother-in-Law in the office.

I once went to a domestic where a real, not electronic mother in law was the problem.  My colleague and I separated the husband and wife and started asking them their version of events. The Mil was sat at the back of the kitchen.  Every time we asked a question of either spouse the fpdragon in law answered my colleague was not Pc and after a few questions turned to the gorgon and said." If you don't shut you f**king mouth woman, I'm goi g to lock you up.". Her jaw dropped open and she went silent.  At this point the husband held his hands out and asked us to take him away.  When we got outside he turned to us and said, I've been wanting to do that for years. I don't care what happens now, it was worth it to see her face. 

 

All good fun on a Sunday morning in Morley. 

 

Jamie

[PupCam]

On 29/09/2024 at 19:41, J. S. Bach said:

You don't have a ZOOM? I thought everyone had a ZOOM, even I have one!

 

I've got a ZOOM.    It's an old Vivitar 70mm-210mm.   Wasn't bad in its day  but its day is past and it hasn't be used or even seen for years.

 

On 29/09/2024 at 16:51, The White Rabbit said:

Speaking of keeping on the straight and narrow... 

 

Honey Wagon Mk 2... a reincarnation as a camera wagon. Not this weekend, the weather is ... pants. But after some invites to others' lines, the old grey matter started churning and I thought about getting a different angle on things. I don't have a camcorder, just a compact digital camera, with a video option. This is around 20 years old and is starting to slow down a bit now. But I've had some good results from it and thought I'd try a little experiment. As well as shooting the odd clip of trains passing, I thought a driver's eye view could be interesting. So I took the 'honey wagon' one plank and removed the timber insert. With care, the compact camera will fit on the wagon. For obvious reasons, I had to build a cradle for it to sit in - this time, I used some spare plastic sheet and Plaststruct as an insert.

The cradle is rather basic and crude but holds the camera securely in place. I tried it on my shunting puzzle layout and then on a neighbour's line at his next steam up. The footage came out well, it shows the camera's age but was well received by the others attending. Our 'official' group cameraman has used the idea since with better and more modern equipment and is threatening to show some at the Exeter show next month.

 

 

 

I won't post the You Tube links (they show some details which it may not be appropriate to publicise) but took a few screengrabs.

 

 

I coupled the wagon to a battery 'diesel' loco and ran this as smoothly and steadily as possible round the line. This shot is coming 'off shed'.

 

 

Another idea I had was to do something a bit different - reverse the direction of travel and get another group member to drive a train behind me, to get some footage of a train from a train. It took a little practice but this gave some interesting angles:

 

 

 

Anyone for a remake of 'The General'? 

 

I do like a video a driver's or pilot's eye view hence my forum moniker.    This is a good few years old now but was the culmination of my down-linking live video experiments from, in this case, a  good friend's 1/3 scale Sopwith Pup

 

 

 

23 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

The moronic lane assist  on the crap courtesy car I have just flashes an orange light on the dash panel and tries to steer the car - usually into the hedge - but at least it is fairly easy to override it. Tomorrow I'm going to spend some time playing with the onboard computer to see whether I can figure out how to turn it off. On Tuesday I have to drive the thing down to Bedford and back and the thought of what it will try to do on the motorways is too horrible to contemplate.

 

12 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

This rant was brought to you on behalf of the Luddite Car Appreciation Society. Motto; keep things simple for the Luddites.

 

Please note that no sheds were harmed in the production of this statement.

 

Via La Shedless

 

All such "aids" should be banned in this Luddit's opinion.   Drivers should DRIVE the vehicle not the vehicle driving itself.   Anything that enables the driver to take their eye off of the ball are not a safety aid they are a hazard and an accident waiting to happen.

 

8 hours ago, polybear said:

At the very least all cars should have a spare wheel well big enough for a full-size wheel.

 

...... and a spare wheel to fill it.

 

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

Teslas are an abomination. From the manual:

 

"Use the touchscreen to control many features that, in traditional cars, are controlled using physical buttons (for example, adjusting the cabin heating and air conditioning, headlights, etc.). You also use the touchscreen to control media, navigate, use entertainment features, and customize Model S to suit your preferences. For hands-free access to common touchscreen controls, use voice commands (see Voice Commands).

If the touchscreen is unresponsive or demonstrates unusual behavior, you can restart it (see Restarting the Touchscreen)."

 

And you know why they do it that way?. It's cheaper than knobs and buttons.

 

(They even tell you how to reboot it when their crepy software goes haywire 😮)

 

Clearly they know their software is carp if they feel obliged to tell you how to reset it should it become "unresponsive".

 

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

I still haven't managed to figure out how to shut down the 'driver assist' carp on the loan car and tomorrow I have to drive it to Bedford where I'm giving a talk in the evening.

 

Oh where and when?   Do tell us more.   Should I venture out to come and heckle enjoy an interesting hour or two?   Will you be speaking of those funny red coloured moving machines?