Sudden stop is never harmless for a person even if we could eliminate the external mechanical injuries entirely - the brain continues forward and meets the facial bone structure inside the skull, internal organs rupture as they keep moving forward while the skeletal structure stops... Enter the airbag.
The airbags inside the car are meant to cushion the hard surfaces of course and the curtain bags are meant to keep people and their limbs in the protective passenger area when the car spins, but also they are acting as a counterforce and slow the speed of the person a little more gently, versus an instant stop to a solid object such as the dashboard, causing internal injuries as well as the external trauma.
Also airbags are a very good reason to wear a seatbelt - if you pop the airbags while colliding at relatively slow speeds, you'll probably lean forward a bit from the deceleration only to be punched in the face by the bag (and probably get some vertebrae renovated).
So while installing external airbags to cushion the pedestrian impact sounds like a good idea it probably isn't, as the bag suddenly expanding from the direction of the vehicle would simply add to the energy and "punch" the pedestrian away from the car at the 200mph at which an airbag expands.
Lastly, I'm all in for the gel from Demolition Man, why aren't we funding it?? Would it come in different scents and colors? :-D Really the car could one day - when detecting an unavoidable collision - spray out a foam or expanding gel that would cushion the surfaces and also decelerate the fall of the pedestrian - I'm thinking Final Fantasy Spirits Within -soldiers drop gel"?
Ignorance is bliss, they say - it was still John, but you just didn't know it.
Also, back then when it was allowed to have more imaginative names we were also able to have actually meaningful arguments online. Now you have to be in the line of "non-entity_#83591" without any opinions on anything to not offend anyone, and mostly voicing a different opinion results in a veritable s*tstorm that has no relevance to the topic that was discussed. SJWs and white-knighting simps... /sigh.
If it's free, then you're the product. Or will eventually be, plenty of projects have started out with good intentions and a noble cause only to be ultimately bought out, userbase and all. Creating something like Vivaldi 4.0 is not cheap, someone has poured cash in - who that is, I think the end-user should be entitled to know.
Not really an email issue so sorry if maybe somewhat off topic but on the subject of validation I can't not bring this up - this, remember the guy whose name was Null? https://www.wired.com/2015/11/null/
Thanks for the article, it's a very readable journal, sharing experiences and writing up also the reasoning behind decisions contributes to future builders.
Maybe someone already said it but I'll echo anyway - unless it's all about going outside the comfort zone to learn new tools, the person building should always first picture what needs to be built, then pick the right materials and tools for the project. Taking their own skills into account when using said tools of course.
Preferably even think a little ahead about your content to come if the site is meant to last for years when picking the tech. Ask yourself some "whatifs". Like what if you want to later on make some trade for yourself and set up shop for your crafts or skillset, can it be done easily enough as well?
TL;DR - Useful and well written article, there's never enough easy-read, non-commercial, experience-based journals about site building basics to help newcomers. Cheers!
Suddenly - have a picture of "Victor Musgrave having spotted a drain cover". That's some meme potential right there. That alone made the article worth it, thanks!
Joking aside I think the urban infrastructure of today could use more of these small touches of aesthetics around. Why does everything modern have to be so boring, somehow I don't see a few ornamental street lamp posts or manhole covers wrecking any governmental budgets.
> ... the urban infrastructure of today could use more of these small touches of aesthetics around. Why does everything modern have to be so boring ...
I can't help my overall perception that nearly every single fixed item in the public space (including buildings, lamp posts, benches, door fittings, fences, pavements, ...) has these unbearably boring asthetics today, compared to the design of a few decades ago. Back then, many of these things had textures, ornaments, and other elements that gave the eyes something to look at and hands something to touch.
Almost everything that's put in the public space today is boringly sleek, agressively glossy ... anonymous brushed stainless steel ... a lot is made up of simple primitive forms, planar, spherical, cylindrical ... that's it.
Yeah, they probably do cost less, these minimalistic designs ... but do they really in the long term? Don't they get replaced more often (because noone cares about them anyway) with something new yet equally bland ... more often than those old designs that were richer in details?
Never thought to think about it this way - back in the day I just assumed they are most likely just trying to get more visibility with the news of the app going behind a paywall making conversation - and then later playing the "ok you win -card" and reversing the decision (with the customers are more important than money feels). Though back then there was no Signal or any other real mainstream usable alternative, and also Zuck hadn't bought them out yet I believe.
But you might be right, if the snowball was about to go out of control this would have been a smart way to throttle growth, a little uncertainty would do the trick and is also conveniently quickly forgotten without significant PR loss. Good angle!
