Whee.

[denny]

Whitby is even more grim at this time of year. Closing the only decent cafe in town hasn't helped the place rise in my estimation either... it's the morning, and I want fried food, damnit!

Anyway, here I am, safe and sound. And bored. I might end up updating daily if I can be bothered to hop this far down the hill that passes for a high street, dunno what else I'm going to do with the daytimes. Think I'll go look for a bookshop actually... byeeee :)

Comments

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

Well going by the phone conversation I just had with my significant other, you are about to be taken shopping. If this is the case, try to discourage her from spending too much!!

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Barely saw the wench all weekend. I dunno, some people :)

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I shall see to it personally that she is suitably punished *grin*

[androktone.livejournal.com]

Theres a really good second hand bookshop tucked away up an alleyway in the middle of town..

[duranorak.livejournal.com]

You're alive! Yay! :)
Go charity shopping and buy me clothes. ~grin~

Love you, miss you, and all that jazz. Hope it gets more interesting from today.
Or you could always go find that boy and spend your days examining his equipment.

Happy Hallowe'en.

E.
x

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

I bought me clothes that you'll like,does that count?

[katishna.livejournal.com]

this is totally irrelevant but read this and tell me what you think:

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2003/10/30ky/wir-front-motorcycle1030-11361.html

if you are in an accident with a motorcyclist and he's not wearing a helmet, are you more responsible for his death, or does it just depend on who is at fault?

I'm interested in your opinion because you're a rider who has been injured...

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Interesting article, thanks for the link.

I'd say if you are in an accident and someone dies, that's largely the responsibility of whoever caused the accident. A lack of protective clothing won't kill you if you're not in an accident... an accident can kill you even if you are wearing protective clothing.

Having personally broken the UK's helmet law on several occasions, I have to say that I felt less safe without one, but I also noticed several benefits (which the article also mentions - better peripheral vision, hearing, etc). Whether you are safer with or without a helmet would probably depend greatly on the kinds of traffic and road conditions you were likely to encounter on any given journey.

Anyway, in my opinion, it's not the government's place to put into effect laws that restrict my actions 'for my own good'. The argument at the end of the article, about healthcare costs, is regularly given as an excuse for this kind of thing, but it doesn't really hold water - the common counter-example is smoking. The government still patches up smokers for their related illnesses, and as motorists are one of the few groups who pay more tax than smokers do, I think we're entitled to whatever health care we require.

[katishna.livejournal.com]

Yeah I don't think that helmets on motorcycles should be required. However I do agree that seatbelts in cars should be, since on a motorcycle you're only likely to kill yourself if you go out of control, while in a car you've got a lot more weight behind any mistakes you make.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

False logic... the seatbelt (and driver airbag, and side-impact-protection bars in doors, etc) are there to protect the driver of the car, not the people he crashes into. The common joke about all this stuff is, if they replaced the driver's airbag with a steering wheel mounted spike, I bet everyone would drive a lot more carefully!

That said, a seatbelt doesn't restrict the drivers view or other senses in the way a crash helmet does - I'd say they have less negative factors to worry about, in return for the positives they offer. The balance is a little more dubious with crash helmets, and very badly researched so far, which is why reports like this one are of interest.

[katishna.livejournal.com]

i could give a rat's ass about the driver, until he's tossed from his seat and loses control of 2000-odd pounds of steel.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. I don't think that's the main thing seatbelts are designed to prevent though - they're more to stop you going through the windscreen on impact... by which point you've probably already lost control of the car.

[cybersofa.livejournal.com]

What was it in the article that persuaded you (as you said in uk_bikers) that you could be wrong about mandatory helmet legislation being unsound? If anything, the freedom argument tends to persuade me in the other direction, although I don't support breaking the law.

Never happen in the UK, anyway. Rolling back the boundaries of nanny-statism - no. My new bike hasn't even got a headlight switch, so that's another choice I'm not allowed to make.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

The things in this article that contradict my current views are the practical side of things - I've previously seen stats saying that accidents increased when the helmet law came in in this country - if these figures are honest then the practical reasons for the legislation have more of a sound footing than I'd previously believed. I'm still not inclined to think the government has a right to make decisions just to save my arse though - it's my arse and I'll risk it if I want.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

We found a place on an alley between the street with Boyes on and the street with the station on. Called 'the Singing Kettle', and they provided us with a decent cup of tea and a lovely bacon buttie for a reasonale price... might be worth look next time?

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Yes, if I do go back again, I'm certainly going to have to do some exhaustive mapping of cafes.