Post #123,746
11/2/03 9:15:13 PM
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You haven't driven in LA traffic jams, have you?
I have a standard. I live in LA. I don't voluntarily take it into traffic jams. (Well I don't voluntarily go into the traffic jams around here either, but when I do, my car is not the one to take if there is any choice.) My wife agrees that it sucks for that. If I had a significant commute, I would insist on an automatic.
I have many co-workers that I have discussed this with. Many of whom were raised on standards. Some of whom own them. All agree that if you have a significant commute in LA, you want an automatic. Several comment that traffic jams they have been through elsewhere would have been fine with standards, but around here???
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #123,750
11/2/03 9:38:22 PM
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I blame by bad left knee on standard in the border line
Did that for too many years, I guess.
The best advice I've
found in the book "Thinking in Java", was to have a look at Python. Marijan Tadin, on comp.lang.python
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Post #123,808
11/3/03 9:56:31 AM
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automatics trannies
A Los Angeles traffic jam I can, and have, handled in a standard transmission. Where automatics shine is in certain traffic jams in San Francisco--say, bumper-to-bumper halfway up one of our steeper hills, where a four- or five-speed requires far more rigorous fontal lobe input than slow driving ought to, particularly when some arsehole with an automatic has pulled up to within three inches of your rear bumper.
These special situations apart I'm disposed to paraphrase (rather broadly) Truman Capote's dismissal of Jack Kerouac and sneer "That's not driving--it's steering."
cordially,
Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
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Post #123,809
11/3/03 10:04:24 AM
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Treat the tailgaters as an opportunity...
... to save your leg a bit. Roll back the 3 inches and use their car as a nice prop. ;-)
That's a pet peeve of mine: people who have no clue that a stick shift on a steep hill requires a certain amount of rollback room, no matter how good the driver is. I've had people tailgate me up hills on snow-covered roads.
My main defense tactic is to start rolling backwards *before* the ass behind me gets it in his head to cinch up the slack. A few small bebops on the brake remind most people to leave the room. Some people quite satisfyingly freak out when they see the car in front of them rolling backwards without backup lights on...
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #123,813
11/3/03 10:20:38 AM
11/3/03 10:23:24 AM
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Re: automatics trannies
Yeah, but a manual can go down those hills with minimal braking, using low gear to control speed. This is a bigger advantage than the disavantage of rollback, which can be controlled by slipping the clutch slightly.
-drl
Edited by deSitter
Nov. 3, 2003, 10:23:24 AM EST
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Post #123,902
11/3/03 5:03:33 PM
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I can leave mine in LOW for that maneuver. Next?
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Post #123,906
11/3/03 5:16:01 PM
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Point
However an hour of bad LA traffic is far harder to handle than, say, an hour in the midwest.
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #123,913
11/3/03 5:51:47 PM
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Sitting still in smog is sitting still in smog.
It doesn't happen nearly as often out here, no, but when it does it's just as bad.
That said, from personal experience I think the traffic in DC is actually worse than in LA.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #123,914
11/3/03 5:54:31 PM
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Re: Sitting still in smog is sitting still in smog.
LA traffic is depressing because you can get in a jam at 1 in the morning! The PCH was jammed at all hours last time I visited.
Worst traffic I experienced was in Chicago - huge city with not enough freeways.
-drl
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