Early Risers.

[BoD]

An interesting summary Rick.

Am I correct in assuming that in the vast majority of wayside collisions it is the motorist that is at fault/erred/lost concentration or whatever.

[NGT6 1315]

The subject of tramway mishaps has cropped up.  As my city of abode hosts the World's largest system a few comments might not be amiss.

 

"Lonely Planet" has this to say on the subject: "Trams weigh half as much as an ocean liner and seldom come off second best in a collision".  That's about right but what if the other vehicle is also a tram?

 

There are various scenarios:-

 

1.  Stationary tram ahead is struck by moving tram behind.  Known as a "Car-ahead collision" and the most common incident where only trams are involved.  Perhaps one a month on a network of 500 tramcars and 250 kilometres though that includes nudges in depots.

 

2.  Stationary tram behind is struck by moving tram ahead (i.e. rolling back).  Known as a "Rear-on collision" and extremely unusual now.  Was more common before most trams featured electronic control and could physically roll back if the brakes were released before power was applied.

 

3.  Moving tram in collision with moving or stationary motor vehicle.  Known as a "Wayside collision" because it has occurred along the side of the tram way.  In theory.  Some are definitely fair and square across the tramway such as motorists who make turns into the path of a moving tram.  Several minor incidents take place most days.  Major incidents involving injury or worse are very rare indeed.  In almost all cases the tram suffers little more than scratched paint or a slightly dented panel and can continue after details are exchanged between drivers.  The car isn't always so lucky and often requires towing.

 

4.  Stationary tram struck by moving motor vehicle.  Also known as a "Wayside collision".  

 

5.  Moving tram in collision with pedestrian or cyclist.  Known as a "Knock-down" for obvious reasons and irrespective of the severity which may range from no injury to fatal.  

 

Our trams have marked lanes in many inner suburban and city-centre streets but share the road with all traffic elsewhere.  In some places it is permitted to drive on the reserved tramway either at all hours or in designated hours as signposted.  In other places tram lanes are sacred.  Australia-wide driving law states that trams have right of way over absolutely everything else on the road except for (1) Emergency vehicles displaying warning lights / using sirens; (2) Funeral corteges and (3) State motorcades / processions when the vehicles used display National or International flags.  State or Royal visits would be the only such occasions.  

 

My friend from the Frankfurt light rail system once had a variation of Scenario 3 where some numbnut crashed their car into the side of his moving train while passing a level crossing. That kind of scenario still seems fairly baffling to me!

 

The German highway code is – unfortunately in some instances – a bit muddled when it comes to interaction of road users and trams. Generally, trams are subject to the same right-of-way rules also applicable to road vehicles, unless otherwise signed. However, my impression is that this ambiguous nature of traffic regulations in this country may contribute to scenarios like in the following quick-and-dirty drawing…

 

 

Ordinarily, trams exiting a depot or reversing loop are considered as if they enter the road from private property, meaning they must yield to road users. However, in the above scenario (which exists on Jahnallee right outside the Angerbrücke depot), road users must yield to trams emerging from the depot to turn onto the city-bound track as per the sign. In practice, too many road users plainly ignore said sign.

 

I do think that if the highway code gave unconditional right-of-way to trams (with allowances for emergency response vehicles and similar special categories like those you mentioned, Rick) and that fact was generally communicated to learners, it would make things much easier for everyone.

 

Incidentally, the GDR highway code was much less ambiguous in many respects – including behaviour opposite trams. It was, for example, completely prohibited to pass trams while stood at a stop, regardless of whether passengers were on the road, and trams did, in fact, have universal right-of-way unless otherwise specified. The former in particular is something I wish had been kept as I figure it would significantly help avoid dangerous situations!

[Gwiwer]

An interesting summary Rick.

Am I correct in assuming that in the vast majority of wayside collisions it is the motorist that is at fault/erred/lost concentration or whatever.

 

As I spent ten years working in car insurance claims I'm in a reasonable position to answer that.

 

When we received a claim for a car : tram collision the usual story from the motorist was "The tram swerved into my path".  To which our question was "Was the tram on its tracks?".  The reply to that was invariably "Oh yes, of course ....."

At which point the motorist often had realisation dawn upon them before we actually advised them of their liability in the matter.

 

I cannot recall one single incident in which the tram driver was found at fault when in collision with a moving motor vehicle.  I can remember just one case where the tram driver was found liable because his moving tram had struck a stationary car which was stopped ahead in traffic.  His protestation about rail and weather conditions made no difference as if you strike a stationary party ahead it's your fault no matter what.

[Gwiwer]

 

 

It was, for example, completely prohibited to pass trams while stood at a stop, regardless of whether passengers were on the road

 

Where trams share the road the same is true here.  Where they run on reserved track and stop at raised platforms then there is usually a physical barrier between them and other traffic anyway and passengers enter / leave the platform via a marked pedestrian crossing which sometimes also has traffic lights.

 

Trams run along the central part of shared roadways leaving a lane to their left (we drive on the left) which is variously used for parking or as a live traffic lane.  You may overtake a moving tram on the left subject to speed limits but you MUST stop behind a stationary tram even if the lane ahead is clear.  You may NOT overtake a tram on the right as you would be using the wrong side of the road and also driving toward oncoming trams.

 

Two exceptions apply.  You must stop first in both cases.  If you are then directed to come past a stationary tram by a uniformed tramway officer (which can be the driver) you may do so.  This allows traffic to pass a tram which may be waiting time, broken down or which has terminated and requires to shunt to the other track.  You may also pass a tram stopped at a tram stop whether or not the doors are open if you have first stopped, you have given way to all persons in the roadway, no-one remains in the roadway and you are the first vehicle in line facing a green traffic light at the front of the tram.  In both cases the sped limit is 10kph.

 

In practice only the first exception is ever used regularly.  The second has sufficient conditions that not every motorist even knows of it let alone ever finds themselves in that exact situation.  The tram driver will probably take umbrage and sound a warning gong if you try it anyway - they are as dyed-in-the-wool as regards the Must Stop rule as every other city driver.

 

Visiting country and interstate drivers who have little or no experience of trams and haven't passed a driving test alongside them - now that's another story!

[Ian Abel]

 

EDIT: In case you think this is just theoretical, I just remembered that it actually happened to a friend recently. He was using Outlook on his company supplied laptop. It crashed. After a huge amount of mucking around I think his IT department was able to restore some of his email, but the last time I spoke to him he thought a big chunk of it was lost forever.

There's a lot to "suggest" in these sorts of scenarios, and AndrewC echoed what I was going to post, but for the records here goes - this from the perspective of a user and software developer having built everything from super-mini operating system emulators to defense radar target tracking systems to database handlers to business systems;

i) Any email or other software is only as good as its weakest link -> the USER

ii) Any "weakest link" that doesn't follow rule #1 "BACKUP UP YOUR CARP, NO SERIOUSLY, BACK UP YOUR FREAKING CARP!!", is destined to be disappointed sometime, sooner or later.

iii) Just because you think/trust "someone else" is saving your s8it, don't omit to "BACK UP YOUR CARP"!!! It's still "yours" at the end of the day, and no-one else cares the way you do about it. Simple fact. So, if you care about it "BACK IT UP", if you don't, don't complain if it gets lost.

 

Having said that, I find Outlook to be a perfectly usable tool. I have a couple of email accounts, AND since I'm still working, and at least 80% of our clients require us to use an email account on "their system" for project related communications, without Outlook, and the ability to have it all organized in one place, I'd be opening anywhere from 3-10 different email sites/accounts on a regular basis. Not happening any time soon! The ability to have Outlook poll every email I need to monitor and collect it in one easy to access application scores over EVERY other idea/suggestion/method.

With the right/correct settings and BACKUPS run routinely I don't lose emails. I've had my personal email account since about 1989 and not had a "lost email" issue...ever.

Cloud services - no matter what/who is maintaining them are as useful or not as the ability to access those services. There are occasional outages but overall the uptime is remarkable.

 

On Apple and incompatibilities - in a previous life (i.e. late 80s-early 90s) I was a Mac developer, registered as such with Apple. Their philosophy has ALWAYS been, if it doesn't work with "our stuff" it's "their" problem not ours, "they" are the folks with an issue not us. Always a little too arrogant for my liking pretty much since they first Mac was introduced...

 

 

Hello World

Thursday on Long Island and nothing to report from yesterday, just dungeon working, that's IT

 

Good to have something to carp on about (see above) as otherwise I'd be pitifully wordless, though that is probably the better scenario

 

15 on the drive in , high overcast with the sun peeking through. 21 for a high.

 

Off to JFK around 2PM for the flight home, then back to my every-other-week schedule for travelling here...

Have a good day all.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Ian Abel

[trisonic]

In your case my advice would be to see what those who use their Macs with music software say. You must in your field have people you trust. A lot of the advice on the internet is "flawed". I have found this to be particularly so with advice concerning Android devices.

I quite like Mavericks - and I don’t like Yosemite’s dashboard. I have to reload Logic Pro 8 anyway. If it works why change? I’m still getting updates on Mavericks...

 

Best, Pete.

[trisonic]

The weak link on my Mac is Microsoft’s Office Suite........   I deny it all access to the outside world now and it is still crap.

 

Frankly I like Apple’s view as detailed by Ian.

 

Cheers, Pete.

[Ian Abel]

The weak link on my Mac is Microsoft’s Office Suite........   I deny it all access to the outside world now and it is still crap.

 

Frankly I like Apple’s view as detailed by Ian.

 

Cheers, Pete.

Just to clarify regarding my "Apple View". I'd not for a minute say I disagree with the view, in fact I admire it. With their place in the industry (even way back) it makes everyone else sit up and take notice and also tend to fix stuff (even if it isn't broken). Having that sort of control and influence has helped move the technology forward much faster than what was the norm before Apple arrived on the scene. That, I can also state from being in the industry from '67, when computers were "real"  (so bloody big they needed room(s) to exist!)

The arrogance of the large players "pre Apple" in computing wasn't matched with actually DOING SOMETHING. Most of them simply were arrogant and on their own islands. The demise of those player is legion. Amdahl, Unisys, ICL, Honeywell, IBM (mainframe systems), DEC, Data General, and many more. They "could" have been players, but missed the boat.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Ian Abel

[BoD]

You can see Apple's point of view to a certain extent but I have been caught, on a couple of occasions between Apple and an App developer for the iPhone / iPad.

The app worked fine on iOS X  but didn't work when Apple updated their operating system to iOS X+1. 

According to Apple it was the App developers fault.

I didn't care who was at fault,  just a bit cheesed off that I had paid for an App that worked perfectly until Apple's upgrade.

Edited October 8, 2015 by BoD

[NGT6 1315]

Where trams share the road the same is true here.  Where they run on reserved track and stop at raised platforms then there is usually a physical barrier between them and other traffic anyway and passengers enter / leave the platform via a marked pedestrian crossing which sometimes also has traffic lights.

 

Trams run along the central part of shared roadways leaving a lane to their left (we drive on the left) which is variously used for parking or as a live traffic lane.  You may overtake a moving tram on the left subject to speed limits but you MUST stop behind a stationary tram even if the lane ahead is clear.  You may NOT overtake a tram on the right as you would be using the wrong side of the road and also driving toward oncoming trams.

 

Two exceptions apply.  You must stop first in both cases.  If you are then directed to come past a stationary tram by a uniformed tramway officer (which can be the driver) you may do so.  This allows traffic to pass a tram which may be waiting time, broken down or which has terminated and requires to shunt to the other track.  You may also pass a tram stopped at a tram stop whether or not the doors are open if you have first stopped, you have given way to all persons in the roadway, no-one remains in the roadway and you are the first vehicle in line facing a green traffic light at the front of the tram.  In both cases the sped limit is 10kph.

 

In practice only the first exception is ever used regularly.  The second has sufficient conditions that not every motorist even knows of it let alone ever finds themselves in that exact situation.  The tram driver will probably take umbrage and sound a warning gong if you try it anyway - they are as dyed-in-the-wool as regards the Must Stop rule as every other city driver.

 

Visiting country and interstate drivers who have little or no experience of trams and haven't passed a driving test alongside them - now that's another story!

 

Interesting information, Rick! If I may just take the cue once again…

 

Overtaking trams in this country is legal only on the right, except if tracks are laid directly near the right hand kerb and do not allow overtaking on the right. On shared roadways, overtaking trams on the left is just as illegal as overtaking on the right is in Australia, though I've seen plenty of occasions where that rule is blatantly ignored. Of course, as we have rear view mirrors only on the right here in Leipzig and thus have little chance for warning third parties, overtaking trams on the left can be highly dangerous to passengers who might feel like crossing the road immediately ahead of a stopped tram, so I inevitably mutter, "for they know not what they do" whenever I observe motorists misbehaving like that.

[AndrewC]

I have so much carp backed up I may just open a chippie.   

The current issue with Apple seems to be they don't properly test their upgrade paths. Their last 4 releases of iTunes for Windows have resulted in me having to remove, reinstall from scratch, and rebuild my library. The iPhone and iPad upgrades to 8 and then to 9 were both painful with a full reset and restore needed on the pad for ios8.

[DDolfelin]

How old is your kit? I've just updated a 2010 Macbook.

 

Well done.

Unfortunately I'm maxed out on upgrades on the G5 I use for e-mails.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Late on parade, mainly due to more protracted phone calls to insurance company/HMRC and various other bodies.  How I hate officialdom in all its guises.  However, as they say, you can't beat CIty Hall, and I hate to say it, but when I was in insurance, a promise made was a promise kept, and if I had been managing a department so badly run as one of the major insurance companies that I am dealing with, I would have resigned.  I understand that the entire financial services industry is now tarred with the same brush. 

 

Good to hear that Jock made more than four continuous hours of sleep, and that the pain is starting to abate.  Let's hope that it's the beginning of the marked improvement which the treatment promised. 

 

And sorry, but it really needs to be generic greetings to everybody else for the mo.

 

Sorry, but the debates about Apple OS issues go right over my head, as I still use a PC on Windows 7 and that's about as much as I can cope with.  I'll upgrade to WIndows 10 if and only if I really have to.

 

Going out for a walk now with 30747 and Lily.  And whoop-de-do I'll have my first trip on a bus since my op on Saturday when I head down to the surgery for my flu jab. 

 

Back later

Reagrds to All

Stewart

[Tony_S]

No, I use Pages and Numbers. Works better, and can export to xls and docx. Pages outstrips Word by a mile,in my opinion. And it's a lot cheaper. I've also used Libre Office, and that's good, too.

I am sure what you say is completely true though and for many users would be a good reason to use Pages or Office Libre. However exporting to xls and docx isnt quite good enough for some users. We wouldn't have spent money if the free stuff was 100 % compatible. Some of the professional tools/add ons used in academic writing that are available are specifically for Word in Windows and Mac versions. I am not upgrading from something that works to something that doesn't until Microsoft release a patch/fix to cope with El Capitan. Aditi would be cross if she had to lug her Sony VAIO to work instead of her Macbook Air.

Insent a message to Matthew advising him not to upgrade his Mac yet, I suspect Christmas when he is at home would be safer.

Tony

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Aft'noon all,

 

Very best regards to all with ailments of any kind.

 

As intended the attractive Autumn scenes of yesterday spurred Is on to venturing out today. We retraced much of my cycle route in the car, stopping for an Eccles cake and coffee at Wetton Mill before a short walk high on The Moorlands in the sunshine..... 

 

Cuckoostones Autumn.....

 

....towards Hartington.....

 

....towards Buxton.....

 

....towards The Mermaid....

 

Towards the Cheshire plain across The Roaches....on a clear day Fiddlers Ferry power station near Widnes, some 50 miles distant can be seen on the horizon.....

 

A half hour with a relative who has suffered similar conditions to Is used up the last of her reserves and the cumulative exertions led to her afternoon nap just now but we plan on turning out for fish & chips from Longnor by 6pm.....once the clocks change this won't be an option.

 

Enjoy what you do

 

Dave

Edited October 8, 2015 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71

[Purley Oaks]

I'm a little wary of Mac updates now, too, since one a couple of years ago gave my Macmail issues - you'd delete or move messages to trash and they'd all reappear next time you logged-in! Finally solved by reinstalling OS-whatever. At the moment my Mac iTunes doesn't display my iPod, probably something to do with one being updated and one not. Grrr!  But as the Mac knows my iPod wouldn't it be able to update it automatically?

 

 Am currently on OS Mavericks 10.9.5. Imagine most future systems will be named after Yosemite peaks.

 

I imagine they're unable to test each new update with everything, so we have to deal with the problems.

 

But I still prefer Mac to Windaes

 

Mal

[Jock67B]

Afternoon all,

Managed to catch up between a couple of chores!

Christ, I do so agree about e-Bay and also Amazon's habit of following you up as a prospect because you've looked in to something - that's why I regularly clear 'cookies'. It is scary how these big companies keep your data and treat you as a prospect. Even YouTube I notice, has logged the fact that I often look at model railways as well as different types of music, and so when they e-mail me with subject of the day, they always add in some videos of both subjects. George Orwell was right with the 'big brother' prediction!

Ian(roundhouse), have a safe journey to Barrow tomorrow and I hope the exhibition goes well. Doubtless you will have researched all the local hostelries that are to be visited. Some photographs would be appreciated as usual!

Andrew, a very informative post about e-mails - I was lucky a couple of years back when the hard drive (Hitachi!) in my HP PC failed when it was less than eleven months old. As I had only just backed up two days before, I lost very little and it taught me to do frequent back ups to a separate portable hard drive. Good advice indeed!

Mike(60860), sounds like a real bargain meal - I take it you carry in your own wine? The Technical College at Harlow had a large catering department and they did something similar there. My mum and dad went regularly and although the quality was a bit hit and miss, dad particularly appreciated the price.

Ian(Abel), thanks for the clear IT instruction which, as you will read above, I already follow. I was given my iPad Air by my old company when illness forced my retirement - the only real issue I've had, apart from learning how it worked having used Windows since its inception, is what I call 'fat finger syndrome'. For this reason, I only use 'Word' on my desk top PC in my study as I find typing on a full sized keyboard much easier. Joanna agrees because she learnt 'short hand' and typing for her first office job on leaving school and her hands are still a blur as she types up all manner of homework pieces and the like for our grandchildren!

I will try to look in again later, but apparently we are dining on Fish and Chips this evening, which we will get from the only decent such establishment in Clacton, run by an old Greek family. Sad that in a seaside town, we only have one F&C shop/restaurant that I can fully recommend out of the twenty or so such establishments we have here. Of course the fish has to come from market in London, and I believe we have been spoiled by the produce of award winning shops in Cornwall and Scotland. I think we might like the produce in Whitby from what I've read on here!

Best wishes once again to all those recuperating and Mal, hope you get a start date for your treatment soon,

Kind regards,

Jock.

PS Dave(TG), thanks for another superb set of images that posted whilst I was typing! And likewise, the kind words from Stewart - I will report on tonight's results.J.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Jock67B

[BoD]

I tend not to get directed ads as I have changed the settings in Explorer so that it always blocks third party cookies and asks me if I want to accept cookies from new sites visited. Unless there is a good reason and the site needs cookies to allow it to do something that I need it to do I will simply click always block.

[Tony_S]

Well done.

Unfortunately I'm maxed out on upgrades on the G5 I use for e-mails.

Is that the one in the really cool looking tower case?

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

......congrats all ER's on zooming through the million views milestone!!!!

 

Dave

Edited October 8, 2015 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71

[BoD]

I think it's because we took the net curtains down and left the lights on.

Edited October 8, 2015 by BoD

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

I think it's because we took the net curtains down and left the lights on.

 

.....humanity in all its glory!

 

Dave

[BoD]

Of late it's been more gory than glory.

[Shedman5]

Evening, late on parade today however the gardens look fab well in my opinion they do!

 

Cutting/trimming and removing a large branch off a beech tree has been the order of the day amongst other things.

 

As I am considering the purchase of a Macbook I find all these discussions that are currently taking place of great interest!

 

Enjoy the evening folks

 

Alan

[Smiffy2]

The thing which struck me, when buying a PC laptop for Daisy, was how much I take the integration of the Apple line so much for  granted - for example, her mouse has to work with a dongle that takes up the USB port, mine work with the nearest computer, no plug ins. When I buy software on one machine it works on all of them - automatically... the keychain works... the controls are the same from program to program... Photos syncs seamlessly... it's a properly designed system.