Struggling to keep things neutral....

[skribs]

I don't either. Was I the one that got ignored? ha ha ha

You weren't. Past tense.

 

[geezer]

You weren't. Past tense.

Skribs- you aren’t really putting a bunch of people on “ignore” are you? I prefer the old way. I “manually” ignore people. Much better- you read what they post, decide it is total rubbish and don’t waste another moment on it. Works for me!

 

[JowGaWolf]

Skribs- you aren’t really putting a bunch of people on “ignore” are you? I prefer the old way. I “manually” ignore people. Much better- you read what they post, decide it is total rubbish and don’t waste another moment on it. Works for me!

I'm good with it. that way he can't see my super secret kung fu chi training.

 

[jobo]

Hey, as long as we are throwing out crazy analogies, like Skribbs with his Japanese internment reference, Can I do one too? Wearing masks is like driving at 55!!!

Allow me to elucidate . If you choose not to wear a mask and hang out with your chums, then you all are taking a foolish, selfish risk that not only endangers yourself but others, right? So we would never something like that! Right?

Well, listen to this: I got my drivers license at age 16 probably around August of 1971. The speed limit on the interstate freeways at that time was 70 - 75 mph, and everybody went at least 80. I did a lot of driving for a young man. We had a summer place in Sun Valley, Idaho some 900 miles away, and I did a lot of the driving when we went back and forth. In stretches of Nevada I'd push the family station wagon to 90. It had a BIG engine. I also flew the route in a Cessna 182 a few times. That was significantly faster and more fun.

Anyway, a few years later in '73-'74, we had a national petroleum shortage called the "Arab oil embargo" ...anyone remember that? Gasoline was really tough to get. Prices skyrocketed, there were huge lines at the service stations, and many people couldn't even get gas. In the colder parts of the country, fuel oil for heating was rationed and people were not only cold, they were really upset ...even panicked. Like Covid, it was a life-changing national crisis. Belatedly, Congress acted with some mandated fuel conservation measures like dropping the speed limit on all interstates to 55 mph. Worse, because of the increased cost of insurance and aviation fuel, Dad sold his share of the Cessna. No more flying for me

Ever drive the length of Nevada at 55 mph. As a teenager? ...BORING!

Well, funny thing. we in the USA eventually got past the fuel shortages of the mid 70s, but they never restored the speed limit. The "authorities" analyzed the statistics and found that limiting the speed limit to 55 saved a lot of lives. Cars got safer, roads got better, but in spite of all that, we were to be forever limited to driving at 55 mph for our own good. And the good of others ...for the benefit of people in the other cars on the road. And for the little ones asleep in the back seat.

Remember! "55 Saves Lives!"

So, most of us in the wide open West said, "Heck with that!" People bought radar detectors, used CB radios to network and spot speed traps, and basically did everything they could to drive fast and get away with it! Finally, after more than 20 years, in 1995 the federal law was repealed and now the speed limits are back up to 70-75 mph, or even higher in some states. Most people where I live cruise the interstates between cities at around 80-85 mph. Now, you get where you want to go fast. Only one downside, when there is a wreck ...it's bad.

So how do I drive? Honestly? Too fast. Usually cruise up to Flag and back at about 80+ mph. No worries. DPS normally won't ticket you until you're going 10mph over. I used to work for DPS and my step sister's husband is currently a highway patrolman. Excuse me. New thing ...now they are "state troopers". Except we old timers hate that. Stick with "patrolman".

My point? It's all about human nature. We want to do what we want to do. It demonstrably saves lives, ours and the lives of others, if we act very responsibly, doing things like driving slowly, wearing seat-belts ...and in these times of Covid-19, wearing masks.

Well, wearing seat-belts is not too much of an inconvenience. Most of us use them. Driving at 55 ...around here, nobody does that. When it comes to Covid-19, it really isn't just about interpreting statistics. People are people. It's hard to predict what we will do. But unless a LOT of people close to us start dropping dead, I'll bet we mostly just look the other way, take off the masks, go about our daily business and take our chances. Not advocating anything. Just sharing my personal suspicion.


BTW- Just to show how little "statistics" really affect us, here are some pretty strong statistics about how many lives would be saved if we all drove at 55:
Long-Term Effects of Repealing the National Maximum Speed Limit in the United States

Think how many more we'd save if we just stayed home! Oh right. That's what we were doing all spring. My bad.

they diid exactly the same in the UK, we still have TEMPORARY speed limits from the early 70s

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Flying Crane outright did. Or at the very least, strongly insinuated as such. A lot of people have said there's basically no downside to knuckling under.

You're reading into folks' positions things they're not saying. That's why they seem so extreme to you.

 

[jobo]

Hey, as long as we are throwing out crazy analogies, like Skribbs with his Japanese internment reference, Can I do one too? Wearing masks is like driving at 55!!!

Allow me to elucidate . If you choose not to wear a mask and hang out with your chums, then you all are taking a foolish, selfish risk that not only endangers yourself but others, right? So we would never something like that! Right?

Well, listen to this: I got my drivers license at age 16 probably around August of 1971. The speed limit on the interstate freeways at that time was 70 - 75 mph, and everybody went at least 80. I did a lot of driving for a young man. We had a summer place in Sun Valley, Idaho some 900 miles away, and I did a lot of the driving when we went back and forth. In stretches of Nevada I'd push the family station wagon to 90. It had a BIG engine. I also flew the route in a Cessna 182 a few times. That was significantly faster and more fun.

Anyway, a few years later in '73-'74, we had a national petroleum shortage called the "Arab oil embargo" ...anyone remember that? Gasoline was really tough to get. Prices skyrocketed, there were huge lines at the service stations, and many people couldn't even get gas. In the colder parts of the country, fuel oil for heating was rationed and people were not only cold, they were really upset ...even panicked. Like Covid, it was a life-changing national crisis. Belatedly, Congress acted with some mandated fuel conservation measures like dropping the speed limit on all interstates to 55 mph. Worse, because of the increased cost of insurance and aviation fuel, Dad sold his share of the Cessna. No more flying for me

Ever drive the length of Nevada at 55 mph. As a teenager? ...BORING!

Well, funny thing. we in the USA eventually got past the fuel shortages of the mid 70s, but they never restored the speed limit. The "authorities" analyzed the statistics and found that limiting the speed limit to 55 saved a lot of lives. Cars got safer, roads got better, but in spite of all that, we were to be forever limited to driving at 55 mph for our own good. And the good of others ...for the benefit of people in the other cars on the road. And for the little ones asleep in the back seat.

Remember! "55 Saves Lives!"

So, most of us in the wide open West said, "Heck with that!" People bought radar detectors, used CB radios to network and spot speed traps, and basically did everything they could to drive fast and get away with it! Finally, after more than 20 years, in 1995 the federal law was repealed and now the speed limits are back up to 70-75 mph, or even higher in some states. Most people where I live cruise the interstates between cities at around 80-85 mph. Now, you get where you want to go fast. Only one downside, when there is a wreck ...it's bad.

So how do I drive? Honestly? Too fast. Usually cruise up to Flag and back at about 80+ mph. No worries. DPS normally won't ticket you until you're going 10mph over. I used to work for DPS and my step sister's husband is currently a highway patrolman. Excuse me. New thing ...now they are "state troopers". Except we old timers hate that. Stick with "patrolman".

My point? It's all about human nature. We want to do what we want to do. It demonstrably saves lives, ours and the lives of others, if we act very responsibly, doing things like driving slowly, wearing seat-belts ...and in these times of Covid-19, wearing masks.

Well, wearing seat-belts is not too much of an inconvenience. Most of us use them. Driving at 55 ...around here, nobody does that. When it comes to Covid-19, it really isn't just about interpreting statistics. People are people. It's hard to predict what we will do. But unless a LOT of people close to us start dropping dead, I'll bet we mostly just look the other way, take off the masks, go about our daily business and take our chances. Not advocating anything. Just sharing my personal suspicion.


BTW- Just to show how little "statistics" really affect us, here are some pretty strong statistics about how many lives would be saved if we all drove at 55:
Long-Term Effects of Repealing the National Maximum Speed Limit in the United States

Think how many more we'd save if we just stayed home! Oh right. That's what we were doing all spring. My bad.

people generally have a problem with the concept of risk, things they do every day with out incident are automatically defined as low risk, unusual things that are inherently less risky than other activities they do regularly are considered higher risk

clearly the longer this goes on with out any individual getting infected the lower the risk that individual assign to it. that isnt science its just how people brain work, which is i suppose '' science'' just a different science

as for the driving metaphor, i feel all most no risk going at fairly high speeds, coz i can drive, i learnt on motorbikes hitting things is incredibly painful, , through anticipation keeping good observation road positioning and good reactions ive never in 40 yeas hit anything going forwards, ive hit lots of things going backwards, though all at three mph, so not the biggest problem and ive had not a few people drive into the back of me

so clearly from a personal risk assessment view, its far safer for me to be going faster than everyone else, forwards as this cuts the chances of me being crashed into considerably, try explaining that to the court and they think your mad

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Thread locked pending staff review.