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Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

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Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#31

Post by arethuza »

Psyonic wrote: post #28
jrockway wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, bikes are basically considered toys. If you're a kid, you ride one on your sidewalk to enjoy a sunny Saturday afternoon. If you're an adult, you buy one that costs $3000 to impress your friends. You put it on the back of your car, drive it to a fun location, and pedal around for a few hours once a month. It's way too dangerous to even consider thinking about maybe possibly riding it to work or something, b…

A co-worker at my last job said she even had people go so far as to throw stuff out their windows at her as they passed while she was cycling... ever happened to you?

I had kids throwing stones and once a brick at me while cycling back from work. With the brick it was at night and I was aware of something passing my head and then I saw it when it hit the road.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#32

Post by stan_rogers »

Confusion wrote: post #25
jrockway wrote: post #11

Police said that Mr. Smith was following bicycle safety recommendations such as wearing light-colored clothing, using reflectors and riding in the bicycle lane. This is a common misconception. Reflectors are worthless. Riding in the bike lane exposes you to great danger -- car doors flying open to the right, aggressive motorists passing too closely on the left. If you take the lane, you're out of the "door zone", and…

As for reflectors; they only work when there is a clear path from an illumination source to the reflector and back to your eye. Sometimes that happens, but more often than not, it doesn't. Firstly, reflectors are designed to deflect light into as many directions as possible. A small beam in becomes a wide beam out. And they succeed marvelously at that. Secondly, any reflector worn by any cyclist or pedestrian will re…

Um, no. Reflectors are normally either cube corners (in molded plastic reflectors) or embedded spherical beads (vinyl ribbons and screen-printed fabrics), and both of those are designed to act as ideal retro-reflectors; slight imperfections allow for a small spread of the reflected light, but the spread is only a couple of degrees. Traffic signs and the paint used for lane markings and crosswalks work the same way. Any other arrangement is a diffuser, not a reflector.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#33

Post by Confusion »

stan_rogers wrote: post #32
Confusion wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As for reflectors; they only work when there is a clear path from an illumination source to the reflector and back to your eye. Sometimes that happens, but more often than not, it doesn't. Firstly, reflectors are designed to deflect light into as many directions as possible. A small beam in becomes a wide beam out. And they succeed marvelously at that. Secondly, any reflector worn by any cyclist or pedestrian will re…

Um, no. Reflectors are normally either cube corners (in molded plastic reflectors) or embedded spherical beads (vinyl ribbons and screen-printed fabrics), and both of those are designed to act as ideal retro-reflectors; slight imperfections allow for a small spread of the reflected light, but the spread is only a couple of degrees. Traffic signs and the paint used for lane markings and crosswalks work the same way. A…

'As many directions as possible was an exaggeration', but 'a couple of degrees'? By that definition, every bicycle here has a diffuser. I can perfectly see reflectors of bicycles a few meters to the right, yet my lights shines there under an angle of at least 10 degrees.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#35

Post by points »

sliverstorm wrote: post #13

The comment on the article reveals completely the lack of intelligence and elitism of the commenter. It may be wonderful to think that the people who man lower-end jobs are somehow less deserving than you, and somehow should be executed. But without those people filling those low-end jobs, our world would fall apart. No matter what you think of them, you need them, whether you realize it or not. And on the other hand…

I disagree. It shows a lack of taste and tact maybe, but I wouldn't read anything else into it. It's just some guy trying to be funny on the internet.

IMHO It's not clever or witty enough to be very funny, so it's more in the 'infantile humor' bucket.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#36

Post by acangiano »

jrockway wrote: post #29
Psyonic wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A co-worker at my last job said she even had people go so far as to throw stuff out their windows at her as they passed while she was cycling... ever happened to you?

Nope. Mostly honking and one case of being told I was a bastard. I live in the city, though, and people are used to bikes. If someone threw something at me, the police would have the license plate number so fast it'd be scary. Littering is a $500 fine.

> If someone threw something at me, the police would have the license plate number so fast it'd be scary. Littering is a $500 fine.

That'd be assault, on top of littering.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#37

Post by BahUnfair »

sliverstorm wrote: post #13

The comment on the article reveals completely the lack of intelligence and elitism of the commenter. It may be wonderful to think that the people who man lower-end jobs are somehow less deserving than you, and somehow should be executed. But without those people filling those low-end jobs, our world would fall apart. No matter what you think of them, you need them, whether you realize it or not. And on the other hand…

As a student who worked in a fast food kitchen for 3 years, I can confirm that you can absolutely love a job that is bottom-of-the-pile.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#38

Post by mixmax »

Not trying to be snarky, but why is this upvoted?

It's an article about an unfortunate guy that got killed on his bike and died. How is this interesting? What am I missing? Since the article has 100+ points there's obviously something I've sompletely missed. What is it?

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#39

Post by GiraffeNecktie »

mixmax wrote: post #38

Not trying to be snarky, but why is this upvoted? It's an article about an unfortunate guy that got killed on his bike and died. How is this interesting? What am I missing? Since the article has 100+ points there's obviously something I've sompletely missed. What is it?

You clearly missed the point of the article which was specifically to respond to the insensitive anonymous online commenters who had dismissed the man as a worthless nobody. The reporter dug into his life to give us a rounded picture of who he was and why every life, no matter how modest, has meaning and value.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#40

Post by Sandman »

points wrote: post #34

Um Why is this hacker news?

I agree with you. I guess you're being downvoted because, according to the guidelines, a proper thing to do when you feel that an article isn't HN material is flagging it, not commenting that it shouldn't be on HN.
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