Johan, is it Post # 0b1 kenobi?

You know, I wrote off AMD on account of poor performance of their graphics hardware department (business-wise, relative to Nvidia). I practically forgot they also competed with Intel.

I just fitted one of these to our thread gate, using supplies ordered yesterday and received today, a Sunday, from Amazon (it's amazing that that's possible). Now we can come and go that way with our bicycles and leave the thread gate locked without having to go through the house again

Sorry, I'm too lazy to go out again and take a photo

Apparently I'm bad at math. You're supposed to replace your motorcycle helmet approximately every 5 years (I've heard) because the protective layers degrade over time and the helmet is less effective. I thought that I had been riding for 5 years, but upon closer scrutiny from Miranda it has only been 4 seasons. In any case, the other night I got drunk and ordered a helmet for $300 USD. My original helmet was about $200 CAD, but I sought better protection given my added knowledge. My "upgrade", if I decide to keep it, will be Snell 2010 certified, whereas my original helmet was merely DOT. That's the major difference.

I'm guessing that it will be D-loop instead of the clicky-ratchet fastener on my Joe Rocket helmet. That gives me slight pause because I imagine it will be difficult to do with gloves on, and on probably 10 or more occasions I've ridden off while forgetting to do my helmet up so it'll be even more of an adventure pulling over and taking gloves off to fasten it, but I imagine it's worth the added safety. Additionally, there is no retractable Sun visor, which seems consistent with Snell helmets so I assume it has a lot to do with the safety again. Nevertheless, it was certainly convenient to be able to swap between a darkened visor and clear visor while on the move. I'm concerned how that will affect me. I distinctly remember moving between heavily shadowed and heavily lighted spots back and forth on the same road and being able to transition on the move, but being practically blind for the moments in between. I can only assume that if I'm blind then the 5000 lb vehicle behind me probably also has a blind driver so pulling off of the road, if I can find it, is probably not the best idea.

In any case, this was my compromise:

https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/scorpion-exo-r2000-fortis-helmet

I stayed consistent and bought it in white/black. It looks decently bright to attract attention. Immediately when I told Miranda she said she could use the other one! Turns out, maybe true, but assuming they fit, and I don't think my other one does, I'd insist on her wearing the new one if we do partner up. Even with the helmet she is still missing a lot of expensive riding gear, and I still have gloves and pants to replace for myself. Riding a bike is so rewarding, but also so expensive...

You're probably somewhat correct in that the helmet won't magically fail in 5 years. However, it's not a complete myth according to Snell: http://www.smf.org/helmetfaq#aWhyReplace.

In general, while you can't know for certain that a helmet has degraded sufficiently to fail in 5 years, you also can't know for certain (without testing it, which is probably going to cost about the same as a replacement) that it hasn't. As you say, safety is a pretty damn good investment. It can be damn scary to come to grips with how vulnerable you are on a motorcycle. Over the few years I have ridden I have come close to quitting because of it. It's certainly a bit of peace of mind to imagine that your head is somehow relatively safe in the event of an accident. The thought that your helmet might not be working at peak efficiency is certainly cause for concern, especially over time. Last year I was even feeling nervous about it, which now I can't imagine why if that was only actually 3 years old. I digress. I think that motorcycling is also tailed by many myths so it's worth considering that this is just one of those. But again, $150 - 500 every 5 years is probably not an unreasonable precaution.

It may be true that motorcycle awareness was higher in the 70's, but [citation needed] that it was safer. Insert: Not only was the quality of gear less, but the performance of the bikes was lesser too (though there are still plenty of boats available if you're into that sort of thing)!

As for personal experiences, I have never been in an accident of any kind (knock on wood?), and have actually had relatively few close calls on my bike as well as cars. Nevertheless, the close calls on a bike are far more terrifying. And yes, phones are a major cause for concern...

Had a guy in a pickup truck blow through a 4-way stop a fraction of a second in front of me after I had already stopped and started. Probably the only thing that saved me was that my eyes happened to scan up the road as I was start off and I realized he wasn't slowing down and let off. Up here, I think it's possible to stay relatively safe, but you do need to be pro-active about it and drive defensively. It's not very hip, but neither are broken bones and skin grafts.

My helmet has arrived. It's pretty nice. Some true upgrades over my original helmet which I bought before I knew anything about the sport or gear. I think it will take some serious practice getting used to doing and undoing the double D-rings. My first helmet had a simple clicky quick-release system, but I think the double D-ring system is probably also a lot safer. It will also take some planning to work out which visor to use. My original helmet had a retractable Sun visor that could be dropped down while riding. Now I've got two separate visors that need to be swapped while off the bike (and obviously stored somewhere if you travel with it).

3... 2... 1...

I voted for Trump.

I would have, but they wouldn't let me.

I'm not saying Trump is a good candidate, but Hillary is worse.

We all need to work on fixing our political systems so instead of picking the lesser evil of the elite, we can pick the best person for the job.

Something about, "you're not from here!"

Also I don't think there's much hope left for him to do a good job. I haven't been paying much attention, but what I've heard so far has been pretty bad.

Ah, my bad. I didn't know you lived in Canada. Is it true that they sell milk in bags there?

How so?

That should be a state issue, in my opinion.

I agree with you there.

That's some anti-Muslim ban... It has no effect on the other 87% of Muslims not from those 7 countries!

In reality all he's done is said that the Federal Government will no longer be providing guidance on the issue and will instead defer the power back to states... which is absolutely where it needs to be.

I listened to his confirmation hearing too! I thought it was quite obvious that Sen. Franken's question was specific to Sessions being in contact with the Russians in his capacity as a surrogate on the Trump campaign. The fact that he met with the Russian ambassador twice in his capacity as a Senator is not really surprising. I think one of those times he actually met twenty or so ambassadors at once, one of whom was the Russian ambassador. I suppose his answer could have been better had he qualified it with a statement that he had no contact with the ambassador as a Trump surrogate... but oh well. I don't think he's done anything criminal in this situation so he'll probably not be forced out.

Well, actually, he had to resign because he lied about his contact with the Russian ambassador to Mike Pence, who then went and repeated the lie to the American public. If he had been honest and said "Yeah, Kislyak and I did discuss Pres. Obama's sanctions." then he would still be in office today.

I either agree with your other points or don't know enough about the situation to comment.

That being said, here's a couple more points that I disagree with Trump on:

• He won't release his tax returns

• He kicked CNN, the NY Times, and a bunch of other news orgs out of the press pool

• He's upping the military budget by $54bn

Pfft... that didn't stop me