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| Cars, boyz and petrol; Together forever? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 13 2008, 11:36 PM (356 Views) | |
| Eral | Jan 13 2008, 11:36 PM Post #1 |
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Kopi Luwak
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http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv-reviews/t...9988566405.html The three blokes who run this show are a very good team, and though I have no fetish for cars I watch it on occasion, because they are so funny. One segment, where they create their own water-cars, is on You-Tube, and it is the funniest thing I have seen since the Parrot sketch. When you watch the show, the presenters are obviously enjoying going fast and get a thrill from the dangerous nature of what they are doing: and it makes me very uncomfortable. It's an insight into an entirely foreign mindset, but I remain confused as to why they get such a thrill. I'm also really concerned about the message being sent: boys love cars, cars go fast, prove your masculinity by doing something dangerous. We have had years and years of "safe driving" messages: part of the money from car rego goes to the Transport Accident Campaign, which compensates victims of accidents and runs the advertising campaigns: and I think my attitude has been influenced by that. But how come this cars-are -sexy thing is still being celebrated? |
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| Nibsi | Jan 14 2008, 01:01 AM Post #2 |
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Te zijner tijd
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Because that's what's being told to us everyday. For every safe driving campaign, how much campaigns do you think focus on how the only way we can show what manly men we are is by getting this or that car? |
| -Nibby | |
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| Krazy | Jan 14 2008, 01:26 AM Post #3 |
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I haz powah!
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I watch Top Gear all the time, it's one of the best TV shows evar! Fact. You should watch that series, I think it has the one they drive through the deep south of America. One of the best shows ever, and if you think that fast driving was dangerous, you aint seen nothing yet. Like anything that involves danger, you get a buzz from driving fast. And it's a great feeling. And if there is something implied in that, that's because there is. 'Nuff said. Cars are sexy, never looked at a supercar as a piece of art? Coz they are. |
| "Well, ‘course dis one’s betta! It’s lotz ‘eavier, and gots dem spikey bitz on de ends. " | |
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| lara | Jan 14 2008, 01:26 AM Post #4 |
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Kopi Luwak
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heh I don't much like driving unless I can go fast. If there's no one around and I can really motor, that's fun. |
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| Regullus | Jan 14 2008, 02:59 AM Post #5 |
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Reliant
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I've seen Top Gear, specifically the Southern episode. I thought it was very funny. Even though I've actually been to the states shown and I can't say I encountered anything similar, as an American it gave me pause about re-visiting those states. I don't get wildly excited about cars but I can be deeply moved by heavy equipment. I was quite ... uh ... excited when we got the Truck.
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| Bex | Jan 14 2008, 03:18 AM Post #6 |
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puppet dictator
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Can't drive. Don't wanna. Don't care. |
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I belong to one of those families that does not speak to or see its members as often as we should, but if someone needed anyone to fall on a sword for her, there would be a queue waiting to commit the deed. -Min Jin Lee | |
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| LizDiggory | Jan 14 2008, 03:26 AM Post #7 |
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Breakfast
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Can Drive. Don't Enjoy it. |
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| Nibsi | Jan 14 2008, 04:02 AM Post #8 |
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Te zijner tijd
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I don't particularly like driving in town, but I do enjoy driving on the highway. |
| -Nibby | |
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| Inky | Jan 14 2008, 06:23 AM Post #9 |
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Thai
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I kind of enjoy driving on the highway because I get to see so much and there isn't the stress of traffic. I'd rather be on my bike or my feet, though. Actually, pretty much any kind of "thrill" just makes me wee my pants like a small girl and long for home and fresh-made brownies. |
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_____________ Jobbar du naken? | |
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| Krazy | Jan 14 2008, 09:49 AM Post #10 |
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I haz powah!
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I'm guessing you didn't write the slogans on your car... |
| "Well, ‘course dis one’s betta! It’s lotz ‘eavier, and gots dem spikey bitz on de ends. " | |
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| Regullus | Jan 14 2008, 02:47 PM Post #11 |
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Reliant
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No, no slogans. You think that made the difference?
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| Blood_Raven | Jan 14 2008, 03:03 PM Post #12 |
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Come burn with me.
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I like boys with big toys. I have a hot rod so fast cars are my thing. :) |
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TheFrozen North forums. Where it's at. Mood for today: Perfection | |
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| Krazy | Jan 14 2008, 07:23 PM Post #13 |
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I haz powah!
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Well, why else would they get threatened? You think they were just xenophobic towards Brits? BR: Nice. |
| "Well, ‘course dis one’s betta! It’s lotz ‘eavier, and gots dem spikey bitz on de ends. " | |
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| Regullus | Jan 14 2008, 08:00 PM Post #14 |
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Reliant
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Should've manly pinked. Yeah, I think it made a difference too. :D |
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| Eral | Jan 15 2008, 12:10 AM Post #15 |
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Kopi Luwak
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Cars can be beautiful, yes. And, victim of capitalism that I am, I love a new car myself. The smell, the shiny bits, the dials that work.
Regullus: my dad and brother have taught me the finer points of heavy machinery, but I don't actually get enthusiastic about it. As a driver of small cars, trucks make me nervous. Also, a Grollo cement-mixer once pretended he was going to run me over as I stood waiting to cross a road, and I have always considered them not-fun since then. :lol: I'm not questioning the knowing how many cams in the engine and all that stuff: that's just like any other obsession, baffling to everyone except those who feel it. It's the "be a race-driver" message that is a worry. Not everyone has the skills to handle the driving we see on the show: but it's easy to think you do. I like driving fast: but faster than 120kmh and I don't feel it's safe anymore. (I don't ride roller-coasters either: perhaps Inky feels the same about them :D ) We make high-performance cars that can do 220kmh, but the speed limit is 120, max. Four young boys were killed just before Christmas drag-racing across the Westgate Bridge at 160kmh. |
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| Krazy | Jan 15 2008, 07:23 AM Post #16 |
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I haz powah!
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Yes, there are cars that can do 200mph, but they are electronically limited to 155mph in Europe. But the point is, not every road has a speed limit, race tracks, private roads etc. However, this old "speed kills" thing is too simplistic and misleading at worst. It should be "inappropriate speed for the prevailing conditions kills". This is the problem with arbitrary speed limits that are a compromise. For instance the motorway speed limit here is 70mph. Now on a clear, dry day, good visibility, I don't doubt it would be safe if the limit was 80mph. But on a foggy, rainy, heavy traffic situation, I'm not sure I'd want to be doing 70mph, probably more like 60 or even 50mph - but the law says I can do 70mph. And as it happens I get really really pissed off about speed limits, because the number of road deaths every year is tiny. A few thousand, and incidentally every year since the speed cameras were introduced they have risen. The county with no speed cameras, has the safest roads statistically. Speed cameras are all about robbing the motorists, under the veil of "road safety" when they make it worse. /rant Having said that I'm all in favour of introducing mandatory 20mph (currently 30mph) speed limit in front of schools and stuff, but I'm against making it a blanket speed restriction in urban areas which has been proposed. However, yes, any road accident fatality is a tragedy, and I'm not trying to make light of it, but in terms of deaths caused by ill-health from smoking, drinking etc in Britain at least they are a tiny percentage. |
| "Well, ‘course dis one’s betta! It’s lotz ‘eavier, and gots dem spikey bitz on de ends. " | |
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| Nibsi | Jan 15 2008, 11:38 AM Post #17 |
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Te zijner tijd
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For instance, about three quarters of the German Autobahn has no speed limit at all, and people doing over 200km/h is not uncommon. Yet, the amount of accidents is comparable to other nations. As Krazy said, it's not the speed that kills, it's the situation, and people not adjusting to it. |
| -Nibby | |
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| Eral | Jan 16 2008, 01:01 AM Post #18 |
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Kopi Luwak
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The faster you are going, the less time you have to adjust.
:( Speed cameras have had one beneficial effect: we all hate them so much it's become a civic duty to flash your lights and let on-coming traffic know they lurk ahead. B) I think road laws need to be specific, because there are just too many dumb drivers out there without the sense God gave wombats. Knowing what's safe, knowing what you should do while driving, is affected by so many factors it makes sense to me to codify it. There's always going to be situations where implementation is just plain stupid: for example the 40kmh outside schools rule- God, that's annoying: but I can see why the line's been drawn. It seems to me that the people who need to listen to road safety campaigns are often immune to them: but I know I am a safer driver today because of those campaigns. It concerns me that Top Gear shows screeching tyres and cars swinging off the road as if that is fun and sexy. Not a message good for young men full of testosterone. |
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| Nibsi | Jan 16 2008, 01:22 AM Post #19 |
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Te zijner tijd
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I think you're looking at it from the wrong angle Eral. They aren't trying to send a message, it's the other way around. Boys already 'know' that going fast and screeching tires are fun. They need to sell their program. So they provide us with fast cars and screeching tires. |
| -Nibby | |
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| Eral | Jan 16 2008, 01:43 AM Post #20 |
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Kopi Luwak
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It's not innate knowledge, Nibs. Someone told them. :rolleyes: |
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| Nibsi | Jan 16 2008, 01:47 AM Post #21 |
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Te zijner tijd
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Yes, but not Top Gear ;) |
| -Nibby | |
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| Krazy | Jan 16 2008, 08:12 AM Post #22 |
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I haz powah!
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Actually, I think the people who need to learn about road safety are the people in charge of it. Cameras cause accidents with people braking violently and causing a chain reaction of braking to avoid getting points on their license and a hefty fine for something relatively trivial. I'm not talking doing 120mph in a 50mph zone here, just what most people do - over the limit a little bit. Eyeballing the speedo and not the road, so you are doing 29.99999mph is dangerous because you are not concentrating on the road in itself. Strict enforcement of speed limits are counter productive to road safety. Before cameras road accidents in this country were declining. Since their introduction cameras have increased the amount of accidents, but those morons who installed them insist the cameras are working because they get millions of pounds of fines from people, 99.999% of which are needless persecution. Also, I'm going to mention the people who stick to 70mph come what may, hogging the middle lane in a motorway, refusing to budge are just as dangerous if not more so than those who drive faster because of the crowding around them and forcing other drivers to use unsafe manoeuvres to pass them. As for young PEOPLE (young women have accidents too!), they are going to be stupid anyway, just not when behind the wheel of a car. |
| "Well, ‘course dis one’s betta! It’s lotz ‘eavier, and gots dem spikey bitz on de ends. " | |
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| Eral | Jan 16 2008, 10:12 AM Post #23 |
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Kopi Luwak
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On the way down to Phillip Island a big V8 Commodore was behind me most of the way. The driver didn't rev up my arse, trying to make me go faster, didn't attempt to over-take at all, and kept a safe braking distance behind me the whole way. Most unusual. On coming to a traffic light, I got a look at the driver. 70 not out. B) |
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| Burgundy | Jan 23 2008, 07:21 PM Post #24 |
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Used to be alright; what happened?
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Some say he has a digital face. |
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"Though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Alfred, Lord Tennyson - Ulysses | |
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| Eral | Jan 25 2008, 12:32 AM Post #25 |
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Kopi Luwak
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So, Burgundybeerish. Do you specialise in I-just-dropped-some-acid poetry style posts, or did the mood just take you on this one? |
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4:33 PM Jul 13