Metal Mickey

"Colin Blackburn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:MPG.1988b5c13b5a0131989b41@localhost...

Quoted message said:

Perhaps we need strategically placed metal cyclists?

news.bbc.co.uk3089045.stmOpen ↗

quote: "Graffiti a possibility, but we won't mind a moustache or two. "

Oh aye, you'll be lucky.

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 16:10:27 +0100 someone who may be Colin Blackburn <[email hidden]>
wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Perhaps we need strategically placed metal cyclists?

news.bbc.co.uk3089045.stmOpen ↗

Perhaps the metal bollards designed to look like children should have a paving slab in their hands,
ready to throw at any speeding motorist. After the first slabbing watch the speedophiles discover
how easily they can keep to a sensible speed when given an incentive.

Metal cyclists could perhaps have large D-locks in their hands to perform a similar function. These
could also be activated if motorists passed too close.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E I will always explain revoked
keys, unless the UK government prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

Colin Blackburn <[email hidden]> wrote in news:MPG.1988b5c13b5a0131989b41@localhost:

Quoted message said:

news.bbc.co.uk3089045.stmOpen ↗

From the article:

"The money for the bollards comes from a government regeneration fund that is also paying for a new
drop off area outside the school."

A new drop off area? Nice to see the government encouraging the couch potato attitudes of
parents and children isn't it? :-/ What's wrong with walking, most of the kids will be within
walking distance.

Graeme

W K said:

"Graffiti a possibility, but we won't mind a moustache or two. "

Do they mean us?

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. chapmancentral.comchapmancentral.comOpen ↗ [currently
offline awaiting ADSL transfer to new ISP]

Graeme said:

What's wrong with walking, most of the kids will be within walking distance.

Less so round here, where the council has just changed the local catchment boundaries so that
children who live 200 yards from the Kingsfield School will fall outside the catchment area and will
instead have to cross the A420 twice, walking past the school in question, to go to a school which
is apparently not as good.

I'm about 200 yards on the wrong side of the boundary, so hopefully the situation will have changed
or we'll have moved by the time my daughter starts secondary school in 2013.

--
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( juggler.netdannyOpen ↗ ) Recumbent cycle page:
speedy5.freeserve.co.ukrecumbentsOpen ↗ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine

"Danny Colyer" <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Less so round here, where the council has just changed the local catchment boundaries so that
children who live 200 yards from the Kingsfield School will fall outside the catchment area and
will instead have to cross the A420 twice, walking past the school in question, to go to a school
which is apparently not as good.

You kind of wonder what goes on in the minds of the people who work out these boundaries. Common
sense seems to take a back seat in so many of these decisions.

I remember yonks ago seeing a programme (I think it was one of the Johnny Ball series) where they
used bubbles to determine the shortest route between four different cities. Apparently this is a
genuine road planning method. Perhaps something similar could be applied to school boundaries, I'm
sure it would be a lot more fun than Councillor X saying "I'd like our Tarquin to go to school Y,
therefore the boundary needs shifted a mile this way."

Have fun!

Graeme

Danny Colyer said:

Less so round here, where the council has just changed the local catchment boundaries so that
children who live 200 yards from the Kingsfield School will fall outside the catchment area and
will instead have to cross the A420 twice, walking past the school in question, to go to a school
which is apparently not as good.

That's so that councillors who live two miles away and far closer to another (also less good) school
can be in catchment. They've been to Reading to see how it's done.

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. chapmancentral.comchapmancentral.comOpen ↗ [currently
offline awaiting ADSL transfer to new ISP]

Graeme said:

You kind of wonder what goes on in the minds of the people who work out these boundaries.

"My house will be worth another ten grand if it's in catchment - where's that pencil?"

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. chapmancentral.comchapmancentral.comOpen ↗ [currently
offline awaiting ADSL transfer to new ISP]

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I remember yonks ago seeing a programme (I think it was one of the Johnny Ball series) where they
used bubbles to determine the shortest route between four different cities. Apparently this is a
genuine road planning method.

Ah well, now you are talking 3-dimensional Voronoi tessellations! I can imagine they might use a
2D Voronoi tessellation or its inverse the Delauney triangulation but the 3D stuff is probably
better on telly.

Colin

Colin Blackburn <[email hidden]> wrote in news:MPG.1989a52130da8b14989b42@localhost:

Quoted message said:

Ah well, now you are talking 3-dimensional Voronoi tessellations!

Oh yeah, that was it, the name was on the tip of my tongue, honest ;-)

Have fun!

Graeme

Colin Blackburn said:

Perhaps we need strategically placed metal cyclists?

news.bbc.co.uk3089045.stmOpen ↗

Colin

I think they'll find that the real flesh-and-blood children of Radford are /harder/ than
these bollards.

Graeme said:

"Danny Colyer" <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Less so round here, where the council has just changed the local catchment boundaries so that
children who live 200 yards from the Kingsfield School will fall outside the catchment area and
will instead have to cross the A420 twice, walking past the school in question, to go to a school
which is apparently not as good.

You kind of wonder what goes on in the minds of the people who work out these boundaries. Common
sense seems to take a back seat in so many of these decisions.

It's a bit more complicated because the demographics of areas of housing tend to change with time.
So, new estate tends to have lots of young families and a school. After a few years, young families
are all grown up so the catchment area grows to keep the school numbers up.

The effect is for catchment areas to tend to migrate away from the centre of the
town/village/oldest school.

John's Cat <[email hidden]> wrote:
( Ithink they'll find that the real flesh-and-blood children of Radford ) are /harder/ than
these bollards.

Isn't there a danger that (at least) the locals will get to mistake the real flesh-and-blood
children for the rather-less-likely-to-wander-into-the-road bollards?

Quoted message said:

Perhaps we need strategically placed metal cyclists?

news.bbc.co.uk3089045.stmOpen ↗

Colin

How long before the local Baseballcaps start using them as target practice?

John's Cat said:

It's a bit more complicated because the demographics of areas of housing tend to change with time.
So, new estate tends to have lots of young families and a school. After a few years, young
families are all grown up so the catchment area grows to keep the school numbers up.

That's almost, but not quite, what's happened here.

New housing a couple of miles round the ring road houses a lot of young families, and there isn't a
school closer.

However, the older housing also houses a lot of young families, whose children will now be unable to
go to the nearest school. To expect children who live 200 yards from a perfectly good school to go
to a school a few miles away is ludicrous.

The real irony is that not so long ago one of the schools was threatened with closure, due to
declining student numbers IIRC. I can't remember which one, and I've recycled the paper with that
story in it.

--
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( juggler.netdannyOpen ↗ ) Recumbent cycle page:
speedy5.freeserve.co.ukrecumbentsOpen ↗ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine