Something seriously wrong with this report...

Aircraft returns to Gatwick after part of wing falls off

...over Belguim when it was reported? Why not land the thing ASAP? Why return to Gatwick?

Because no part of the wing fell off. Buried deep it called it an "over wing slide" That would be a part of the emergency escape slide for the door over the wing. Mind you headline writers are required to get it wrong to increase circulation.

That may be true, but with the MH17 & MH370 incidents, shouldn't it be a matter of priority to get the plane on the ground asap, after all, better safe than sorry!

If the plane had either not finished climbing or had just finished climbing, it would take just as long to land at an airport straight down as it would to land back where it started. At altitude, a commercial aircraft has to cover a certain amount of distance to get back down to land, and I believe that it would be 100 miles or more in some cases...

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BOINC WIKI

Oops
http://abc7.com/news/burning-tanker-briefly-threatens-boyle-heights-homes/375626/
Saw this one from work.

---

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

I've seen them cycle every few minutes on their own, just in case there's an undetected malfunction.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

Copper thieves .....

---

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

I've seen them cycle every few minutes on their own, just in case there's an undetected malfunction.

In California the sensors are cut to pickup a car's mass at the very least, a motorcycle has less mass, this could be made more sensitive I'd think, but so far I've not seen any change, I once had sat at night on a motorcycle for close to 10 minutes, since no one came, I looked all around Me and said screw it and I went against a RED light as if it were a stop sign, before I started driving cars full time I rode on a motorcycle, I still have the motorcycle addendum on My license to this day. So I know from experience of what I speak of.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

I've seen them cycle every few minutes on their own, just in case there's an undetected malfunction.

In California the sensors are cut to pickup a car's mass at the very least, a motorcycle has less mass, this could be made more sensitive I'd think, but so far I've not seen any change, I once had sat at night on a motorcycle for close to 10 minutes, since no one came, I looked all around Me and said screw it and I went against a RED light as if it were a stop sign, before I started driving cars full time I rode on a motorcycle, I still have the motorcycle addendum on My license to this day. So I know from experience of what I speak of.

From what I understand the sensors were much more sensitive but kids would leave scrap metal on them to cause a false trip. As the result they went to far the other way.

---

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

I've seen them cycle every few minutes on their own, just in case there's an undetected malfunction.

In California the sensors are cut to pickup a car's mass at the very least, a motorcycle has less mass, this could be made more sensitive I'd think, but so far I've not seen any change, I once had sat at night on a motorcycle for close to 10 minutes, since no one came, I looked all around Me and said screw it and I went against a RED light as if it were a stop sign, before I started driving cars full time I rode on a motorcycle, I still have the motorcycle addendum on My license to this day. So I know from experience of what I speak of.

From what I understand the sensors were much more sensitive but kids would leave scrap metal on them to cause a false trip. As the result they went to far the other way.

Frankly they frequently fail. Know of one intersection here were if you are in the left lane it won't sense, but it does in the right lane. Try and make a complaint for that to the signals people, if you can ever find a phone number to bitch to. That is one reason there are multiple loops. Hard for a bike to be over more than one though. Also because a lot of idiot drivers don't stop behind the line but in the crosswalk, the loops are set a bit forward. I've had to tell more than one car driver to put the engine block over the loop.

As to sensitivity, I've see some that will sense a bicycle.

---

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

I had one time that the guy that pulled up behind my bike did not pull close enough until I got off and asked him politely.

---

BOINC WIKI

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

I've seen them cycle every few minutes on their own, just in case there's an undetected malfunction.

In California the sensors are cut to pickup a car's mass at the very least, a motorcycle has less mass, this could be made more sensitive I'd think, but so far I've not seen any change, I once had sat at night on a motorcycle for close to 10 minutes, since no one came, I looked all around Me and said screw it and I went against a RED light as if it were a stop sign, before I started driving cars full time I rode on a motorcycle, I still have the motorcycle addendum on My license to this day. So I know from experience of what I speak of.

From what I understand the sensors were much more sensitive but kids would leave scrap metal on them to cause a false trip. As the result they went to far the other way.

Frankly they frequently fail. Know of one intersection here were if you are in the left lane it won't sense, but it does in the right lane. Try and make a complaint for that to the signals people, if you can ever find a phone number to bitch to. That is one reason there are multiple loops. Hard for a bike to be over more than one though. Also because a lot of idiot drivers don't stop behind the line but in the crosswalk, the loops are set a bit forward. I've had to tell more than one car driver to put the engine block over the loop.

As to sensitivity, I've see some that will sense a bicycle.

And then you also have the over-cautious idiots who won't pull far enough forward to be over a loop.

I've seen more than one where I'm convinced the loops are connected to the wrong inputs in the cabinet. A car pulls up on one side and the system gives a signal to the other side.

Which leads me to the ones that are just overengineered. They only give signals based on what the sensors see before the cycle starts. So if someone pulls up in the left turn lane (left turn on arrow only) when the cross traffic has already gone yellow so a single car can go straight, the left turner will have to wait for a complete cycle of whatever the minimum time is for the cross road, even if there's no traffic on it.

More aggravating than that are the ones that go the minimum time even with no traffic coming, then finally change just as some traffic does come. If a human had been running the light, he would have run the whole cycle earlier and the traffic on the main road would never have had to slow down.

However, I'm impressed by ones that will turn one direction red so a car going the other way can make a left on an arrow-only.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

I can't be bothered to comment ...

Traffic lights

Sounds to me like the Labour are politicizing it by ignoring the part where the proposal says each intersection would be studied to see if this plan would be safe. Still, I agree with them.

Well, after the earthquake the signals will be out, better get some practice in treating them like four way stops .......

Oh, I assume by now they are all LED, so they could cut them to half bright in those very dark low traffic hours. Or use the in road sensors to only turn them on when a vehicle is approaching. Oh those push here to cross buttons that don't do anything might have to actually do something as well.
<ed>In a lot of the US, the signals go four way flashing red at night, so you don't have to wait a full minute for the signal to change.

The in-road sensors are a bad joke for some, like on a motorcycle, the sensors act as if there is nothing there and so the signals stay on red, so it's either stay there for hours waiting on end for a car to pull up behind you, or cross/make a left turn on red... This happens at night.

I've seen them cycle every few minutes on their own, just in case there's an undetected malfunction.

In California the sensors are cut to pickup a car's mass at the very least, a motorcycle has less mass, this could be made more sensitive I'd think, but so far I've not seen any change, I once had sat at night on a motorcycle for close to 10 minutes, since no one came, I looked all around Me and said screw it and I went against a RED light as if it were a stop sign, before I started driving cars full time I rode on a motorcycle, I still have the motorcycle addendum on My license to this day. So I know from experience of what I speak of.

From what I understand the sensors were much more sensitive but kids would leave scrap metal on them to cause a false trip. As the result they went to far the other way.

Frankly they frequently fail. Know of one intersection here were if you are in the left lane it won't sense, but it does in the right lane. Try and make a complaint for that to the signals people, if you can ever find a phone number to bitch to. That is one reason there are multiple loops. Hard for a bike to be over more than one though. Also because a lot of idiot drivers don't stop behind the line but in the crosswalk, the loops are set a bit forward. I've had to tell more than one car driver to put the engine block over the loop.

As to sensitivity, I've see some that will sense a bicycle.

And then you also have the over-cautious idiots who won't pull far enough forward to be over a loop.

I've seen more than one where I'm convinced the loops are connected to the wrong inputs in the cabinet. A car pulls up on one side and the system gives a signal to the other side.

Which leads me to the ones that are just overengineered. They only give signals based on what the sensors see before the cycle starts. So if someone pulls up in the left turn lane (left turn on arrow only) when the cross traffic has already gone yellow so a single car can go straight, the left turner will have to wait for a complete cycle of whatever the minimum time is for the cross road, even if there's no traffic on it.

More aggravating than that are the ones that go the minimum time even with no traffic coming, then finally change just as some traffic does come. If a human had been running the light, he would have run the whole cycle earlier and the traffic on the main road would never have had to slow down.

However, I'm impressed by ones that will turn one direction red so a car going the other way can make a left on an arrow-only.

The most annoying ones are the ones that start just past the balk line - the ones you can't get to without entering the intersection...

---

BOINC WIKI

Frankly they frequently fail. Know of one intersection here were if you are in the left lane it won't sense, but it does in the right lane. Try and make a complaint for that to the signals people, if you can ever find a phone number to bitch to. That is one reason there are multiple loops. Hard for a bike to be over more than one though. Also because a lot of idiot drivers don't stop behind the line but in the crosswalk, the loops are set a bit forward. I've had to tell more than one car driver to put the engine block over the loop.

As to sensitivity, I've see some that will sense a bicycle.

And then you also have the over-cautious idiots who won't pull far enough forward to be over a loop.

I've seen more than one where I'm convinced the loops are connected to the wrong inputs in the cabinet. A car pulls up on one side and the system gives a signal to the other side.

Which leads me to the ones that are just overengineered. They only give signals based on what the sensors see before the cycle starts. So if someone pulls up in the left turn lane (left turn on arrow only) when the cross traffic has already gone yellow so a single car can go straight, the left turner will have to wait for a complete cycle of whatever the minimum time is for the cross road, even if there's no traffic on it.

More aggravating than that are the ones that go the minimum time even with no traffic coming, then finally change just as some traffic does come. If a human had been running the light, he would have run the whole cycle earlier and the traffic on the main road would never have had to slow down.

However, I'm impressed by ones that will turn one direction red so a car going the other way can make a left on an arrow-only.

Some of that depends on what is in the cabinet. The older the electronics the stupider the cycle. A modern computer one can adjust itself to conditions better than any traffic engineer could ever program it. A dumb one may have three programs, Rush hour, daytime and midnight. No matter the conditions, it follows the program.

That brings up a different issue. The computer controlled ones, are universally networked to a traffic center. One benefit is linking to the license plate reader camera which can see an approaching vehicle with flashing emergency lights and change the cycle for it. But, if they are on a network they can be hacked. While it is very nice to be able to change their program from a central point, that is also their greatest weakness. I hope they are still building the boxes so that even if commended to go all directions green, the relays in the box won't allow it and fail into flashing red four ways needing a manual reset. It would still be a nightmare for rush hour traffic, but no one will get killed by an accident.

---

That brings up a different issue. The computer controlled ones, are universally networked to a traffic center. One benefit is linking to the license plate reader camera which can see an approaching vehicle with flashing emergency lights and change the cycle for it. But, if they are on a network they can be hacked. While it is very nice to be able to change their program from a central point, that is also their greatest weakness. I hope they are still building the boxes so that even if commended to go all directions green, the relays in the box won't allow it and fail into flashing red four ways needing a manual reset. It would still be a nightmare for rush hour traffic, but no one will get killed by an accident.

I've never seen them use license plate recognition to change for emergency vehicles. Around here, such vehicles have an Opticon (sp?). This is a strobe that flashes in a coded pattern that is picked up by a sensor connected to the signal box. The ones here in town are programmed to respond not only for our own police and fire vehicles, but also those of neighboring towns and the county sheriff. If you look around when one of these is activated, you can see a white light flashing in the direction from which the vehicle is coming and on steady in all other directions. Sometimes, they arrive on a scene (accident or whatever) where the sensor can see the strobe and it keeps the light green that way indefinitely.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

That brings up a different issue. The computer controlled ones, are universally networked to a traffic center. One benefit is linking to the license plate reader camera which can see an approaching vehicle with flashing emergency lights and change the cycle for it. But, if they are on a network they can be hacked. While it is very nice to be able to change their program from a central point, that is also their greatest weakness. I hope they are still building the boxes so that even if commended to go all directions green, the relays in the box won't allow it and fail into flashing red four ways needing a manual reset. It would still be a nightmare for rush hour traffic, but no one will get killed by an accident.

I've never seen them use license plate recognition to change for emergency vehicles. Around here, such vehicles have an Opticon (sp?). This is a strobe that flashes in a coded pattern that is picked up by a sensor connected to the signal box. The ones here in town are programmed to respond not only for our own police and fire vehicles, but also those of neighboring towns and the county sheriff. If you look around when one of these is activated, you can see a white light flashing in the direction from which the vehicle is coming and on steady in all other directions. Sometimes, they arrive on a scene (accident or whatever) where the sensor can see the strobe and it keeps the light green that way indefinitely.

Might be plate camera and sensor mounted in the same housing here. Not going to climb a pole over a street to see what is in the housing. Around here many intersections also have a pan and tilt live video camera as well.

I know of the system your town has, because they had those on the transit buses for a while to let them keep signals green, but I seem to remember someone figured out how to hack the system and they ripped the whole thing out. Of course, LA county has over 80 different cities to coordinate.

---

That brings up a different issue. The computer controlled ones, are universally networked to a traffic center. One benefit is linking to the license plate reader camera which can see an approaching vehicle with flashing emergency lights and change the cycle for it. But, if they are on a network they can be hacked. While it is very nice to be able to change their program from a central point, that is also their greatest weakness. I hope they are still building the boxes so that even if commended to go all directions green, the relays in the box won't allow it and fail into flashing red four ways needing a manual reset. It would still be a nightmare for rush hour traffic, but no one will get killed by an accident.

I've never seen them use license plate recognition to change for emergency vehicles. Around here, such vehicles have an Opticon (sp?). This is a strobe that flashes in a coded pattern that is picked up by a sensor connected to the signal box. The ones here in town are programmed to respond not only for our own police and fire vehicles, but also those of neighboring towns and the county sheriff. If you look around when one of these is activated, you can see a white light flashing in the direction from which the vehicle is coming and on steady in all other directions. Sometimes, they arrive on a scene (accident or whatever) where the sensor can see the strobe and it keeps the light green that way indefinitely.

Might be plate camera and sensor mounted in the same housing here. Not going to climb a pole over a street to see what is in the housing. Around here many intersections also have a pan and tilt live video camera as well.

I know of the system your town has, because they had those on the transit buses for a while to let them keep signals green, but I seem to remember someone figured out how to hack the system and they ripped the whole thing out. Of course, LA county has over 80 different cities to coordinate.

It's not hard to hack, or spoof with your own light, but it's not a problem around here either.

Not that many intersections have cameras, and I don't know of any that are steerable. Mostly just for red light enforcement. Chicago has some for speed, with much attendant controversy. Ostensibly, they're to keep kids safe near schools and parks, but everyone knows they're really just revenue generators. They're very good at that.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

And then you also have the over-cautious idiots who won't pull far enough forward to be over a loop.

I cant tell you how many dolts I have seen who stop at least a car length away from the loop. Pull up to the damn line, Thats why they painted it there.

Back in late 1978 I was stationed at Shaw AFB. in SC. they had thwe strobe lights mounted on our fire trucks that activated the red lights on base. That was the first time I ever saw them.

---

[/quote]

Old James

Not that many intersections have cameras, and I don't know of any that are steerable. Mostly just for red light enforcement. Chicago has some for speed, with much attendant controversy. Ostensibly, they're to keep kids safe near schools and parks, but everyone knows they're really just revenue generators. They're very good at that.

In California the Red Light and Speed cameras were declared unconstitutional and ordered turned off.

---

Not that many intersections have cameras, and I don't know of any that are steerable. Mostly just for red light enforcement. Chicago has some for speed, with much attendant controversy. Ostensibly, they're to keep kids safe near schools and parks, but everyone knows they're really just revenue generators. They're very good at that.

In California the Red Light and Speed cameras were declared unconstitutional and ordered turned off.

State or US Constitution?

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Not that many intersections have cameras, and I don't know of any that are steerable. Mostly just for red light enforcement. Chicago has some for speed, with much attendant controversy. Ostensibly, they're to keep kids safe near schools and parks, but everyone knows they're really just revenue generators. They're very good at that.

In California the Red Light and Speed cameras were declared unconstitutional and ordered turned off.

State or US Constitution?

IIRC Federal, but it was decided at the bottom rung of state court. I think the city didn't want to waste $$ on an appeal. The lawyers would cost more than the revenue from the tickets. If I remember the gist, it was because the camera system was rented and the company was the one issuing the citations, not sworn police officers.

---