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John Nash Has Died

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Re: John Nash Has Died

#61

Post by goodcanadian »

po wrote: post #40
tyfon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I _always_ buckle up, even in bus. I've gotten looks from taxi drives in south Europe for this, they treat it as an insult. I feel it's better to insult than be dead. Afaik since you get fined quite severely in Norway where I live (and most of Europe) if you don't wear a seat belt, the rate of use is much higher than the US. He will be missed. Hopefully it can put focus on such a simple thing to save lives.

Here's a fun fact: the yellow school busses most North Americans get trucked to school in usually don't have seatbelts. The reason is that they follow a different school of thought regarding safety. The basic idea is that instead of giving everyone seatbelts that unruly kids won't adjust properly and will use to whack each other's teeth out, you make really high padded seats so that in the case of an accident the pas…

The trouble with the theory is that the seats on the buses I rode on were neither particularly high nor particularly soft. On the bus I rode regularly, the back of the seat in front did not have exposed metal, but many in my town did. Frankly, the fabric covered ones were not much better as you could feel the metal bar beneath the fabric. Even as a kid, I knew I was likely to get seriously injured in the event of an accident. Thankfully, accidents are rare. Perhaps, newer buses are somewhat better, but I imagine most of the old ones are still in service.

Re: John Nash Has Died

#62

Post by macspoofing »

po wrote: post #6

Such a tragic loss. Like many people, I never wore a seatbelt while riding in a taxi. I'm not really sure why, it just seemed somehow to be the social norm and I went along with it. Then one day, my co-worker and his girlfriend were both severely injured while in an accident crossing the east river in manhattan. Ever since then, I've gotten in the habit of using my seatbelt while in a taxi, car, bus, or whatever. Som…

>I've gotten in the habit of using my seatbelt while in a taxi, car, bus, or whatever.

Are there seatbelts in buses?

Re: John Nash Has Died

#63

Post by Lozzer »

sillygoose wrote: post #53
cletus wrote: post #11

The culture around seatbelts in the US confounds me. As an Australian I've spent my entire life wearing seatbelts. It's second nature. I don't even think about it. Taxis or otherwise. In fact I think it's required in all cases. But in the US people seem to view the choice to turn a mild car accident into a severe or even fatal one as some kind of moral stance or personal freedom. Or rather any effort to require their…

The state punishing people for not wearing seatbelts represents the idea that people need to be protected from themselves, by force. If we go along that road, what's next? Should police officers be everywhere, ready to snatch a beer from an adult's hand if he seems to have had "too much" to drink already? What's too much? How do you know? The Nannier a state gets, the closer you are to complete tyranny. Instead, we c…

Didn't wear a seatbelt and headbutted the person in front, snapping their neck. Sucks to be them, I guess. But at least you stuck it to the man.

Re: John Nash Has Died

#64

Post by JWLong »

technologia wrote: post #31
vinceguidry wrote: post #12

Lucky motherfuckers. I hope when I'm that old I can get a nice quick death too. And to top it off, they got to die together! That just takes the cake. None of that nasty grieving business, feeling like your life is over but you're still alive. Really, I can't think of a better way to go. Hats off to you, Mr. Nash.

What the fuck man? John Nash was an incredible man and it is tragic that both he and his wife passed away in this way. They didn't deserve to go out this way and this is really disrespectful to them.

"There's no such thing! Our bodies break down, sometimes when we're 90, sometimes before we're even born, but it always happens and there's never any dignity in it! I don't care if you can walk, see, wipe your own ass... it's always ugly - ALWAYS! You can live with dignity; you can't die with it!" — House

Re: John Nash Has Died

#65

Post by tacon »

tomjen3 wrote: post #42
protomyth wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, a lot of people subscribe to the mantra "never let a crisis go to waste". I miss the quite contemplation of the dead and then a thoughtful analysis of if we have a problem and what we can do to solve it. I guess that's long gone or only alive in niche areas. rest in peace troubled brilliance

As much as I hate to argue against thoughtful analysis, sometimes never letting a good crisis go to waste can radically improve chances that others don't die - and at that point I can live with not giving sufficient respect to the death.

And often a good crisis shifts more power into elite hands:

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine

Re: John Nash Has Died

#66

Post by delinka »

po wrote: post #40
tyfon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I _always_ buckle up, even in bus. I've gotten looks from taxi drives in south Europe for this, they treat it as an insult. I feel it's better to insult than be dead. Afaik since you get fined quite severely in Norway where I live (and most of Europe) if you don't wear a seat belt, the rate of use is much higher than the US. He will be missed. Hopefully it can put focus on such a simple thing to save lives.

Here's a fun fact: the yellow school busses most North Americans get trucked to school in usually don't have seatbelts. The reason is that they follow a different school of thought regarding safety. The basic idea is that instead of giving everyone seatbelts that unruly kids won't adjust properly and will use to whack each other's teeth out, you make really high padded seats so that in the case of an accident the pas…

We have a local school bus that took a head-on collision at speed (bus traveling 45mph, oncoming pickup at 60mph) and treated the occupants very well. The bus was full of high schoolers, the pickup was driven by another high schooler. The bus driver took a break near the ankle and none of the students sustained anything more than bumps and bruises.

Now, a lot comes into play here - the bus outweighs the pickup by several times, so it has the momentum to absorb the oncoming momentum and keep moving. But it's certainly not like hitting a flying bug. All that energy from the truck headed the opposite direction has to go somewhere, and it slows the bus dramatically in an instant. And these are high schoolers - no matter how many times the driver reminds them to sit down, sit correctly, they just won't. And even after all that, with no one besides the driver in a seatbelt, the students were all OK. (To satisfy curiosity: the driver of the pickup took serious injuries of which none were life-threatening; he spent two days in the hospital. He'd gotten impatient driving behind a tractor/trailer and decided to pass immediately after a curve without checking the lane first. This was a two-lane state "highway" and he was indeed in a zone that allowed passing.)

Then there's the Really Bad Accidents where the bus ends up on its side or upside down. Seatbelts are designed the hold under stress-- the button becomes near-impossible to operate and release. Smaller children will require the assistance of an adult. And there's ONE on the bus. With 50 kids. They make a safe belt cutter that a driver can carry, but now the driver has to visit every seat with multiple belts, cutting kids free, supporting them so they don't fall. This is not a scenario I'd care to have enter reality.

Re: John Nash Has Died

#68

Post by ngoede »

higherpurpose wrote: post #13
po wrote: post #6

Such a tragic loss. Like many people, I never wore a seatbelt while riding in a taxi. I'm not really sure why, it just seemed somehow to be the social norm and I went along with it. Then one day, my co-worker and his girlfriend were both severely injured while in an accident crossing the east river in manhattan. Ever since then, I've gotten in the habit of using my seatbelt while in a taxi, car, bus, or whatever. Som…

That's why I really like cars which make a sound if you don't have your seatbelt on. That way they don't give you the choice of not wearing the seatbelt and it's how it should be . This is why in such cases I strongly believe governments should force companies to enable something like that. The social norms are stupid and this would give you the excuse to ignore them without giving it a second thought (hey, the car i…

I visited Fort Lauderdale, FL earlier this year and it seemed like all the taxis were Priuses which of course all have a very loud you must buckle your seat belt noise.

Re: John Nash Has Died

#69

Post by _kyran »

raverbashing wrote: post #37
msutherl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to start buckling up in cabs now. Same as wearing earplugs at clubs, you might get weird looks, but it's better to be uncool than dead (or living with tinnitus).

Unless you're working in a club or going there very frequently, I'm not sure wearing earplugs is going to make a big difference Edit: see below for a better definition of frequently

Cutting out 12db makes a huge difference (as decibels are measured on a non-linear scale). It can make the difference between hearing this for the rest of your life or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HIfqyHbKgY
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