What is it? CXLV

[R.H.]

Sounds like a reasonable use for the back of the head.

I'd really like to see that carb stand, any chance you can post a photo or send me one? The owner of this object has a pair of them.

Rob

[Leon]

Apparently RH has indicated that it is a traffic sensor to change the light when a vehicle is present. I thought they buried those sensors.

[no spam]

I read a story somewhere stating that insurance stats show that there are actually MORE accidents at red lights with the cams. Seems that people tend to slam on the brakes for a yellow light to prevent the chance of getting a ticket. This causes a lot of rear end collisions.

[Steve W.]

I'll have to dig it out. Haven't used it in a couple years since carbs went away. Not much to the support though it is an elongated H shaped piece made from spring steel. One end has two notches and the other has 3 sets of two notches. It clips in the end of the oval area.

[DoN. Nichols]

According to R.H. :

rec.crafts.metalworking as usual.

829) Weird! Perhaps the square notches are wrenches for some kind of valve, and the spike on the other end to chip away ice to allow connection of a hose to the valve in cold weather.

Or perhaps some kind of lever to start something moving.

830) Looks like an ice saw -- for ice fishing, or for cutting blocks of ice for storage (prior to refrigeration allowing the production of ice in the summer, instead of having to store it in the winter and dole it out in the summer. 831) Maybe purely decorative.

Maybe to join a pair of straps as part of a working horse harness.

If the two were mounted at right angles, I would consider it to be a form of caltrops instead.

832) You mean other than the lights themselves?

Those look like surveillance cameras -- often used by the DOT (or whatever it is called in your area) to judge traffic flow to allow traffic advisories. Usually the TV stations can connect in and monitor those as well, to show you how bad it would be if you were on the road instead of at home watching TV. :-)

833) No real guess on this one. Is it as flat as it looks? What are the lumps at the ends of the arms made of? They look like nearly dead ancient rubber -- to go with the rust pitted metal between them. 834) Jaws for a chuck for the old square-shanked drill bits used for wood. Where did the rest of the chuck go?

Now to see what others have said.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Kevin Craig]

So, can I borrow your chainsaw to --ummm-- "deal with an unwanted houseguest"? Would the responsibility for such an act be yours, or mine?

[J. Clarke]

So let's see, Osama rents a van from Avis, packs it full of fertilizer, and blows up a building and that's Avis's fault?

It is _not_ reasonable to hold the owner of an object legally responsible for its misuse by another person unless there is compelling evidence that he was aware that such misuse would be the result.

The person who is driving is the one who is in control and he is the one who bears responsibility for his actions.

[Steve W.]

3M Opticom, and Tomar Strobecom are the big two in light controls. They operate on the same principle though. They use a set frequency strobe to trigger the light.

10Hz for low priority: Increases your green light time. 14Hz for high priority: Turns your light green and all others red plus a few other items.

[Mark & Juanita]

I would feel better about this if I knew exactly *when* the camera issues the citation. Is it when a car is *in* the intersection as the light turns red? When a car enters the intersection just *after* a yellow light turns red (that may have been a very short yellow)? Or is it a second or so

*after* the light turns red? In the latter case, I have absolutely no problem with the concept. The other cases are bothersome because they do not in any way cause a traffic hazard and are often the result of misjudging the length of a yellow or making a poor choice when the light turns yellow. In those cases, the cars in the opposing direction will not have had a chance to enter the intersection, whereas in the last example, that is when accidents occur. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Patrick Hamlyn]

The camera doesn't issue the citation.... OK I know what you mean. But it would be interesting to get an email informing you of the fine on your 3G mobile before you cleared the intersection...

It depends on your local traffic laws... ie what constitutes illegally entering an intersection. Here in Australia it's illegal to enter after the light goes red, and also illegal to enter if you can't clear the intersection, ie if it's blocked by stationary cars waiting to exit. Red light cameras will get you for either.

[Morris Dovey]

| Of course, you could always choose to NOT RUN THE RED LIGHT!

Some of the politicos in our state capital decided that red light cameras would provide a convenient source of revenue - so they bought, installed, and monitored the cameras for a whole bunch of intersections...

They should have taken the time to watch traffic for a while first. In the first year of operation they were able to cite only a handful of drivers - seems like people around here just aren't in so much of a hurry that they feel the need to run red lights.

It'd be hilarious if it wasn't such an expensive screw-up.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Richard Heathfield]

I'm afraid I can't source this, but I remember reading of a Scottish town where traffic lights were installed. The good burghers of that town, however, were in no particular hurry, and they drove so slowly that the traffic light sensors couldn't detect them at all! This caused some serious traffic problems, as you might imagine.

[John Husvar]

Trouble is: They issue the ticket and enforce payment from the owner of the car, not the driver. Maybe you think getting penalized for something you didn't do and couldn't possibly have done is just fine. I don't. But then, I didn't like having teacher say s/he was going to punish everyone in the class unless and until the guilty party either confessed or was identified, (Read: ratted out) especially when the same teacher then ridiculed the "tattletale." (No, it wasn't me)

Feh, indeed.

[R.H.]

Yes it's flat, maybe a quarter inch thick, and the handles on the ends are made of wood.

Good guess on the welding electrodes last week, I believe this is the correct answer.

Rob

[Richard Heathfield]

If you drive at or below the speed limit *all the time*, which is a legal requirement anyway in the UK, then you don't have to worry about speed cameras even a little bit.

[Morris Dovey]

| I'm afraid I can't source this, but I remember reading of a | Scottish town where traffic lights were installed. The good | burghers of that town, however, were in no particular hurry, and | they drove so slowly that the traffic light sensors couldn't detect | them at all! This caused some serious traffic problems, as you | might imagine.

[ posting from rec.woodworking ]

Isn't technology grand?

Welcome - it's good to hear your voice again!

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Wayne Weedon]

Exactly why NEVER has one of these things has ever given me a fine !

I can still disagree with them on principal though, I do believe they have been used as a source of revenue, and seem to be excempt from normal planning requirements.

Wayne...

[Richard Heathfield]

[ posting from rec.puzzles ]

The problem with technology is that we're so wrapped up with proving we can do it that we rarely stop to wonder whether doing it is a bright idea.

Get thee back to comp.lang.c where thou belongst, sirrah!

[Richard Heathfield]

Actually, I just thought of why you *do* have to worry about them. Not the usual ones, the "whoa! you just redlined me! you're nicked, chummy" kind, but the kind that hang around in little gangs strung out along the road, and photograph *every* car, twice or more, so that they can average your speed over a given distance. These have serious implications for civil liberties, as they can be used to identify and record people's travel patterns, even though no offence has been committed. For the same reason, we should be very concerned by the plans to fingerprint all schoolchildren. (This is already underway in the UK.)

[Gunner]

I also understand that spray paint and paintball splatter are only a few ways that those cameras are vandalized on a regular basis in the UK..not to mention those chained and torn out by the roots.

Seems some Brits still have their nads ' Gunner

Political Correctness

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.