More ironies: Accident prevention foundation fined for failing to take safety measures The Industrial Foundation for Accident Prevention in India has been penalized $121,000 for not taking safety measures while training employees. A sudden blast severely burned 6 trainees. Apparently safety rules were violated in part because IFAP was warned not to conduct the training […]
Category: Offbeat
From David Sleet
Editors comment: David recently sent this to some colleagues and I asked if he would permit me to post it as a blog. He agreed. For those of you too young to know, Skinner was a famous (and occasionally controversial, American psychologist perhaps most well known for ‘conditioning’. Sleet wrote: I recently re-read parts of […]
Self-driving cars! (No joke… )
Go to this link… I hope it works. Some day this could reduce traffic fatalities by more than seat belts and airbags put together (copy link into your browser) http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_thrun_google_s_driverless_car.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-04-05&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email […]
Metaphysics 101
Our small town paper, the Free Trader, carried this as: “Wanted: Unwanted animals e.g., pigs, goats, etc. My question is – can they be unwanted if someone wants them? […]
Writing tip (2)
Unless someone can explain the difference between use and usefulness, why not please an editor, save 7 letters, and choose the simpler word? Or even, use and usage, which, more often than not, is not used correctly. […]
Injury v. Accident: Google N-gram Viewer
Have a look at Google labs N-gram viewer. It is either a really cool bibliographic and linguistic research tool or an incredible time sink … or maybe both. Google has digitized millions of books in English, mostly, but also in several other major languages. Single words and “n” word combinations are catalogued and described in […]
Airbag Bicycle Helmet?
Well, here’s a twist on the bike helmet. Swedish graduate students have invented an airbag that deploys from a collar to protect the head. The system was designed to meet the demand of bicyclists who object to helmets because they are unstylish or interfere with hair style. Hovding Crash Test Video It is activated, apparently, by accelerometers […]
Another Approach to Suicide Prevention
It’s no secret that I am a fan of suicide barriers on bridges that have become “suicide magnets.” I believe that there is decent evidence to suggest that these fences reduce suicide on the treated bridge without necessarily increasing suicide on nearby structures or by other means. This speaks to the impulsive nature of the […]
Drunk Pedestrians
David Sleet alerted us to this news item from the Telegraph: Romanian street sign warns drivers of ‘drunk pedestrians.’ The red caution signs show an inebriated person on his knees, clutching a bottle. The text apparent reads “Attention – Drunks.” The signs were erected after a number of collisions between motorists and revelers. Other than […]
Karaoke Violence?
I was somewhat surprised to read about karaoke-associated killings in a recent New York Times article. Focusing on incidents in the Philippines, the report detailed the violence (often alcohol fueled) that disputes about air time or song quality might provoke. Most interestingly, it referred to at least half a dozen homicides sparked by a specific […]