Why OpenPGP is not wanted - stupid is in vogue right now

[Jean-David Beyer]

On 06/11/2013 12:23 AM, Robert J. Hansen wrote:
> On 6/10/2013 11:37 PM, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>> Of course he did not seriously propose the idea as a real course of 
>> action. But it is interesting to think about.
> 
> I drive a Mustang GT with enough engine work to make it genuinely
> dangerous to unprepared drivers.  When I was taking a couple of advanced
> driving classes (because I don't want to be a hazard on the road behind
> such a vehicle), one of my instructors -- a police driving instructor --
> told me about a collision he recently saw with a tricked-out Mustang GT
> like mine.
> 

I had been driving Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spiders for a while, and one
Giulia (same car, 1600 cc engine).

Then I bought a Lotus 26. I had driven my current Alfa to NYC (the
nearest Lotus dealer to Buffalo NY where I was living). I had already
bought and paid for the car, but it needed preparation so I could not
take delivery until the next day.

Nevertheless, the owner of the dealership took me to dinner at a fancy
French Restaurant on his bill. He started by buying me a Martini. I
drank it, but did not like it much. He then bought me another. I nursed
it along, but finished it. He then ordered me a third. I told him I did
not want it, that two were enough. He insisted. I took one sip to be
polite, but I was not going to drink any more.

He surprised me, though. He took the drink from my hand and smashed it
to the floor. He then pointed out the old saw about martinis were like
breasts on a woman: one is not enough, but three are too many.

His point, as he explained, was that the Lotus 26 was not like the Alfa
Romeos that I was accustomed to, and if I drove the Lotus the same way,
I would kill myself. He then explained some of the fine points of a car
that normally understeered but under the right circumstances, could
oversteer, and that I better go to a large vacant parking lot and learn
to handle that. Which I did. Luckily, in Buffalo at the time, there were
blue laws that prohibited shopping malls from being open on Sundays so
even if I spun out the car, other than a little excitement, I could not
really hurt anything. The Lotus 26 was not like the 300 SL or the W-186
in switching from under to oversteer, but it could do it. It saved my
life once or twice when driving on snow with glare ice (that I did not
know was there) underneath it.

But it takes nerve, when the front end is losing it to shift down a gear
and floor it, when instinct and reflexes make you want to hit the brakes.

But none of that will work on my Prius.