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Walking in Waterloo Region
(06-14-2018, 12:10 PM)Canard Wrote: Yaaaaas!

But the ka-PUCK is brilliant. It’s like the button doesn’t physically move. I haven’t decided yet if it’s just a big capacitive prox or what.

I was in Eindhoven in 2000. My master's advisor described the beg buttons as being "observationally equivalent to NIL". Those ones really didn't do anything when you touched them. These are so much better. There's no harm in pressing the button, and it is indeed fun.
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It actually doesn't go "ka-PUCK"... I just realized again today that they actually infinitely drill deep into the pole the more you push them - you press, and it goes "ka..." and then when you release nothing happens. MAYBE I DONT LIKE THAT ANYMORE I DONT KNOW
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(06-14-2018, 02:41 PM)GtwoK Wrote: Like the new trackpads in macbooks! In order to reduce mechanical components, *clicking* the trackpad really just activates a vibration motor inside the laptop to mimmick a mechanical click, while the trackpad itself doesnt move. Virtually indistiguishable Smile

I'm not so sure that removing a switch and adding a motor reduces mechanical complexity …
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Technically GtwoK didn't said anything about complexity, only that the number of components was reduced. The vibrations are used to provide other force feedback for other interactions as well. Mostly just deep pushes/force clicks, but there's a bit of extra sensitivity in the touch pad to enable features like in quicktime, where if you're clicking on the seek commands you can adjust your pressure to adjust the speed. More fine-tuned interactions and feedback than a straightforward binary switch.
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A good CTV piece with Brian Doucet on the poor state of pedestrian infrastructure in the region, especially crossings. https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/advocate-wa...-1.3982094

Apropos of nothing, when I played the video I got a pe-roll ad for a large-body pickup truck. Uh huh.
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A crossing guard was hit this morning on Westmount at Greenbrook. Serious but non-life-threatening injuries, thankfully, and no students were involved.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/868...kitchener/
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One hopes that someone's driving days have come to an end ...
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(06-21-2018, 07:42 PM)panamaniac Wrote: One hopes that someone's driving days have come to an end ...

Not before all the facts become known, I'm sure.
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Indeed - I'm wondering how one manages to hit a crossing guard in an intersection with traffic lights. That seems difficult to achieve ....
Sadly, one seldom sees follow-up reports on this stuff, unless someone is killed or there's a hit and run.
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An undesired contact occurred between two pedestrians and an automobile in Cambridge yesterday:

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1452350
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Level 2 pedestrian crosswalks being recommended at King and Cameron (page 21) and midblock on Walter (page 31).
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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(08-06-2018, 01:22 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Level 2 pedestrian crosswalks being recommended at King and Cameron (page 21) and midblock on Walter (page 31).

Thanks for the info!

They have a bit of a funny error on Page 23, where they have the warrant table, where they state traffic must be < 4,500 vehicles over an 8 hour period, and the actual value is 6,502 and then state that this is satisfied.  Of course, if you look in the actual appendix the number is 6000 - 7,500 vehicles over an 8 hour period.

It's worth noting here though, that this is still an onerous unnecessary and broken process for installing crossings.

Worst, it still requires a warrant of existing crossings, which is just stupid, how engineers don't get this, I cannot comprehend.

There are about 2-3 dozen places (2-3 in Vic park alone) in the city (just where I know of, never mind places I don't frequent), where I think a crossing is warranted, and I know it's warranted based on the local context, whether or not traffic justifies it.  But at each one, this whole study would be required, plus 20k for installation.

*sigh*...

But hey, I'm glad they're putting one in here.

Worth noting these crossings are better in every way than an IPS.  Neither pedestrians, nor drivers have to wait unnecessarily, peds get the right of way immediately, and drivers can proceed when peds are clear, neither of which are true at an IPS.
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...IPS?
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[Image: LvFwD1w.png]
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Apparently I'm using that term wrong.

By IPS I meant traffic signals for pedestrians. In the case of Cameron, it would be an IPS because it's at an intersection, but there are other cases where you would put signals, but not at an intersection. For some reason, those have a different name.
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