Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

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nez
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Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by nez »

Image

or has someone got one on a motorbike?
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

I need a "motorists stay back" flag for the trike...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
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drossall
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by drossall »

TIFFs don't work in all browsers. Here's the OP's picture for users of Firefox and others.

Pretty small vehicle...
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stay_back.jpg
stay_back.jpg (13.87 KiB) Viewed 4846 times
nez
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by nez »

Thanks very much. I did originally edit the post with an http link because my own browser wouldn't read the picture I'd posted. I never understood the reason.
drossall
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by drossall »

Post pictures in JPG or PNG format if you want reliability. There are some others that work too. GIFs are OK, but not necessarily optimal for photos (OK for line drawings, sketches and the like). TIFFs can be uncompressed, so inefficiently large, and are not a recognised standard format for the Web.
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gaz
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by gaz »

If the photo's been compressed is it actually a pic of a 30ft limousine? :wink:
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thirdcrank
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by thirdcrank »

If I may derail this photography technique thread with a red herring about warning signs on vehicles. the other day I saw a roadworks van from a utilities company and it had large signs on the body panels along the lines "Pedestrians, keep well away from this vehicle at all times." The warning was easy to read but hard to obey as the vehicle had been parked blocking the greater part of the pavement while the driver popped into the newsagents. :evil:

No camera with me so I cannot demonstrate how to download pics to illustrate a post. :(
Kent79
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by Kent79 »

How far away would the average pedestrian have to be to read the sign? So drivers are just complete idiots!
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mjr
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by mjr »

drossall wrote:Post pictures in JPG or PNG format if you want reliability. There are some others that work too. GIFs are OK, but not necessarily optimal for photos (OK for line drawings, sketches and the like). TIFFs can be uncompressed, so inefficiently large, and are not a recognised standard format for the Web.

PNGs are basically for similar situations as GIF but a bit nicer to use in some ways. PNG is still lossless compression, so complicated things like photographs can end up as large files.

Post photographs to forums as JPG almost every time - JPG compression is "lossy" and aims to discard the bits you notice least first. If you use JPG for something like a line drawing and set the compression too high, you may be able to spot "ripples" from hard edges, like you can on digital TVs which use a similar compression method. Not the end of the world, but if you dislike it, you can reduce the compression, or try saving as a PNG instead and see if the file is small enough.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

PNG is what I tend to use nowadays - it's not patent encumbered...

Wikipedia excerpt comparing the two:
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format can produce a smaller file than PNG for photographic (and photo-like) images, since JPEG uses a lossy encoding method specifically designed for photographic image data, which is typically dominated by soft, low-contrast transitions, and an amount of noise or similar irregular structures. Using PNG instead of a high-quality JPEG for such images would result in a large increase in filesize with negligible gain in quality. In contrast, when storing images that contain text, line art, or graphics – images with sharp transitions and large areas of solid color – the PNG format can compress image data more than JPEG can. Additionally, PNG is lossless, while JPEG produces noticeable visual artifacts around high-contrast areas. Where an image contains both sharp transitions and photographic parts, a choice must be made between the two effects. JPEG does not support transparency.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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mjr
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by mjr »

[XAP]Bob wrote:PNG is what I tend to use nowadays - it's not patent encumbered...

Descriptions of natural mathematical relationships (such as the JPEG compression algorithm) are not valid patents. If you tolerate that sort of thing (like the US seems to, among others), evil people will try to patent all of nature and charge things for living.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

mjr wrote:
[XAP]Bob wrote:PNG is what I tend to use nowadays - it's not patent encumbered...

Descriptions of natural mathematical relationships (such as the JPEG compression algorithm) are not valid patents. If you tolerate that sort of thing (like the US seems to, among others), evil people will try to patent all of nature and charge things for living.

Whilst I agree in part there compression algorithm is not "natural" it was developed by human endeavour, and those people deserve the opportunity to reap the rewards of their labour.

Now - the current patent system is horribly broken (particularly in the US, but elsewhere as well), as is the copyright system, so don't think I'm defending them...

One of the reasons I tend to support non patented formats is that it avoids all the infighting and lock in of other formats, additionally it sends a (small) message that technology works best when it it free (as in speech, not necessarily beer). It also means that I am not going to get embroiled in any of the stupid legal proceedings which inevitably ensue.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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mjr
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by mjr »

[XAP]Bob wrote:Whilst I agree in part there compression algorithm is not "natural" it was developed by human endeavour, and those people deserve the opportunity to reap the rewards of their labour.

Simplifying greatly because this isn't really the place, that compression is based on Fourier transforms (actually DCT I think), which were discovered while describing heat transfer. It's almost as natural as you get, like most mathematics. Giving people monopoly rights to reap the rewards of nature is extremely unjust.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

mjr wrote:
[XAP]Bob wrote:Whilst I agree in part there compression algorithm is not "natural" it was developed by human endeavour, and those people deserve the opportunity to reap the rewards of their labour.

Simplifying greatly because this isn't really the place, that compression is based on Fourier transforms (actually DCT I think), which were discovered while describing heat transfer. It's almost as natural as you get, like most mathematics. Giving people monopoly rights to reap the rewards of nature is extremely unjust.

No - giving them those rights in virtual perpetuity is unjust.
After all most drugs are just "things that were possible" but they cost alot to develop, and there is a period of time when the companies involved can charge well above the incremental cost for each tablet.

If I discover a plant in the depths of the amazon that cures all cancer (just so people don't get excited I suspect such a plant doesn't exist, and I'm not looking for it anyway) after decades of searching and testing should I not be allowed to have a period (not defined here) where I can recoup the cost of the expeditions?

Similarly if I spend 5 years slaving away and designing an algorithm for image compression that is brilliant - should I not be allowed a fair recompense for that work - maybe by selling it under as an exclusive supplier of the algorithm for some amount of time...

Intellectual effort has to be rewarded - but in the case of algorithm design it is hard to reward it fairly. After all, you may only be a few days ahead (or horrifyingly, behind) another person working in the same area - yet you still need some protection.

Don't get me wrong I think the patent (and copyright) systems are HORRIBLY broken at the moment, but they are also important.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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mjr
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Re: Captured the smallest vehicle with 'stay back cyclist'?

Post by mjr »

[XAP]Bob wrote:If I discover a plant in the depths of the amazon that cures all cancer (just so people don't get excited I suspect such a plant doesn't exist, and I'm not looking for it anyway) after decades of searching and testing should I not be allowed to have a period (not defined here) where I can recoup the cost of the expeditions?

Sorry but no. That's speculation and I don't think we should encourage it. If you have the skill/inclination/whatever to carry out such expeditions, then you should be paid a reasonable amount to undertake them... rather like how Fourier was paid by the French state, although that was partly due to patronage and I hope we'd find some fairer selection method these days.

Of course, we live in a situation where lucky speculators do get rich in some fields, but fortunately our patent system claims not to allow maths speculation. I know solving this is hard - it's my day job and it's not straightforward getting paid to create, rather than keep getting money for old work which is what most software authors do - but the idea of legally locking up knowledge of nature seems horrifyingly backwards.

Now back to those "stay back" signs... how about printing some of our own copyright (CC-By-SA) A6 versions on yellow paper? ;-)
Attachments
Mockup: Drivers - Stay back - Pass wide
Mockup: Drivers - Stay back - Pass wide
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
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