Islabikes new range

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:19:36 +0100
Tom Anderson wrote:

It's 'commute' in the sense of 'his sentence was commuted to
life in prison',

But surely that is used in the sense of one sentence being exchanged for
another - it doesn't actually mean that it was reduced?

Quoting Adam Lea :
"David Damerell" wrote in message
That you think operating lethally dangerous machinery in public is "fun"?
Are you effectively saying that to enjoy driving is morally wrong?

It's certainly very dubious. I don't think a reasonable person should be
enjoying themselves if they are in the right frame of mind for doing about
the most dangerous thing a typical person does - ie, nervous and
cautious. Someone else mentioned they can have fun while cutting things up
with an axe - now, so do I, but if you made me cut things up with an axe
in a crowded room full of people, I wouldn't enjoy myself.
--
David Damerell Distortion Field!
Today is Thursday, September.

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008, Rob Morley wrote:

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:19:36 +0100
Tom Anderson wrote:

It's 'commute' in the sense of 'his sentence was commuted to
life in prison',

But surely that is used in the sense of one sentence being exchanged for
another - it doesn't actually mean that it was reduced?

I'm sure it comes from the idea of swapping one for another, but i've only
ever heard it used to describe a reduction in the severity of the sentence
- from death to imprisonment, or imprisonment to a suspended sentence. I
think it has the sense of swapping one thing for another, lesser, thing.

tom

--
Know who said that? ****ing Terrorvision, that's who. -- D

David Damerell wrote:

Quoting Adam Lea :
"David Damerell" wrote in message
That you think operating lethally dangerous machinery in public is "fun"?
Are you effectively saying that to enjoy driving is morally wrong?

It's certainly very dubious. I don't think a reasonable person should be
enjoying themselves if they are in the right frame of mind for doing about
the most dangerous thing a typical person does - ie, nervous and
cautious. Someone else mentioned they can have fun while cutting things up
with an axe - now, so do I, but if you made me cut things up with an axe
in a crowded room full of people, I wouldn't enjoy myself.

I would certainly agree with you here. Can you accept, however, that
driving can be quite a safe activity? I was considering this today when,
unusually, there was fairly heavy traffic on my homebound commute (the
average speed on the motorway was probably only about 70 mph).

Often, on the most scenic stretch of my commute, I only need to leave
lane 1 of the motorway either to overtake HGVs or to leave the motorway.
It is fun. The changing light over the West Pennine Moors is beautiful,
even when only seen inbetween checks that, yes, actually, there's still
nothing in front of me for several hundred yards, there's still nothing
approaching me nearby in my lane (or even the adjacent one) and there's
still no other hazards.

The difference this evening was significant: often, I can enjoy the
scenery. There is often no traffic that gets at all close to my sedately
driven car. Today, there were a couple of tiresome tailgaters and I
regularly had to change lanes. This was not fun.

Cheers,
Luke

--
Red Rose Ramblings, the diary of an Essex boy in
exile in Lancashire http://www.shrimper.org.uk

Quoting Ekul Namsob :
I would certainly agree with you here. Can you accept, however, that
driving can be quite a safe activity?

No. Moving two tons of metal about an unsecured environment at 70 mph [1]
is an inherently dangerous activity.

[1] Let us pretend we live in a utopia where motorists are not almost all
criminals.
--
David Damerell Distortion Field!
Today is Thursday, September.

David Damerell wrote:

Quoting Ekul Namsob :
I would certainly agree with you here. Can you accept, however, that
driving can be quite a safe activity?

No. Moving two tons of metal about an unsecured environment at 70 mph [1]
is an inherently dangerous activity.

Which part of the conditions described do you find dangerous? And since
when did the average car weigh two tons?

Cheers,
Luke



--
Red Rose Ramblings, the diary of an Essex boy in
exile in Lancashire http://www.shrimper.org.uk

David Damerell wrote:
Quoting Ekul Namsob :
I would certainly agree with you here. Can you accept, however, that
driving can be quite a safe activity?

No. Moving two tons of metal about an unsecured environment at 70 mph [1]
is an inherently dangerous activity.

[1] Let us pretend we live in a utopia where motorists are not almost all
criminals.

You need some counselling for your patently obvious resentment issues. HTH

Tom Anderson writes:
I'm sure it comes from the idea of swapping one for another, but i've
only ever heard it used to describe a reduction in the severity of the
sentence - from death to imprisonment, or imprisonment to a suspended
sentence. I think it has the sense of swapping one thing for another,
lesser, thing.

Yep. My (Chambers') dictionary says, among other things,

"to exchange (esp. the death sentence) for a less severe punishment"

Still seems a little odd though: the use of the word "exchange" kind of
suggests that some other unfortunate offender suddenly gets the death
penalty instead of the 50 pound fine that they'd originally incurred.

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008, Kenneth MacKenzie wrote:

Tom Anderson writes:

I'm sure it comes from the idea of swapping one for another, but i've
only ever heard it used to describe a reduction in the severity of the
sentence - from death to imprisonment, or imprisonment to a suspended
sentence. I think it has the sense of swapping one thing for another,
lesser, thing.

Yep. My (Chambers') dictionary says, among other things,

"to exchange (esp. the death sentence) for a less severe punishment"

Still seems a little odd though: the use of the word "exchange" kind of
suggests that some other unfortunate offender suddenly gets the death
penalty instead of the 50 pound fine that they'd originally incurred.

I've just had an idea for the next revision of the Road Traffic Act ...

tom

--
Know who said that? ****ing Terrorvision, that's who. -- D

David Damerell wrote:
Quoting Adam Lea :
"David Damerell" wrote in message
That you think operating lethally dangerous machinery in public is "fun"?
Are you effectively saying that to enjoy driving is morally wrong?

It's certainly very dubious. I don't think a reasonable person should be
enjoying themselves if they are in the right frame of mind for doing about
the most dangerous thing a typical person does - ie, nervous and
cautious.

Do you think people that partake of hazardous sports where the primary
danger is to *themselves* never actually derive any enjoyment from it?

Deary, deary me.

Someone else mentioned they can have fun while cutting things up
with an axe - now, so do I, but if you made me cut things up with an axe
in a crowded room full of people, I wouldn't enjoy myself.

Not all the roads are actually crowded.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/