| What I look for in a camera |
[May. 23rd, 2009|06:54 pm] |
Echoing Eugenia's post about important features in a video-recording camera, here are my priorities when looking at a still camera, in this specific order.
- How large is the sensor?
- Does it have fast prime lenses that match the sensor size?
- Does it have aperture control?
- Does it have sensitivity control?
- How many pixels does it have?
The first two are really important: they are the ones that most fundamentally influence the final image quality (in terms of sharpness, low-light characteristics, and background blur).
Notice how the pixel count is at the bottom of the list. Yup. It doesn't matter. If you have a camera with a large sensor, a good prime lens, aperture control and sensitivity control, you're usually fine. Get your hands on a used 5D, stick a 50/1.8 on it, set the aperture around f/7, use the lowest sensitivity you can get away with, and you'll have files that can print to just about any size. |
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| JBQ: now on twitter |
[May. 20th, 2009|05:25 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  crazy | ] |
Since I obviously can't get myself to write long blog posts any more, I decided to open my own twitter account to get a taste for twitter. So far so good.
Looking back at internet fashion, I skipped Hotmail, did Geocities, skipped Myspace, Delicious and Facebook, hopped on Gmail, and now I'm on Twitter. I'm probably missing some in the list. |
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| It's not the economy, stupid! |
[Apr. 19th, 2009|08:32 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bitchy | ] |
Today was warm in tha area, and quite a few people showed up at the local Mexican joint to have a taste of summer in the evening, on the patio by the water.
The restaurant stupidly closes at 9pm, and barely after 8pm they were turning customers away as they didn't have enough waiters left on duty (even though neither the patio nor the room was full)
Based on the number of customers they turned away, I'd guess that thye missed several hundred dollars of sales just in the 10 minutes that they had us waiting.
Next time, plan better, and you'll be helping the economy! |
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| Xbox 360: more impressions |
[Mar. 8th, 2009|08:08 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  calm | ] |
I like:
-the community games. I haven't come close to checking them all out, but there are some real gems in there.
-the ability to install any game on the hard drive.
-the games that don't exist on the PS3.
-the fact that the video output is 1080p all the time, so I can set my TV to it "dot-by-dot" mode, which only exists in 1080p and sticks only as long as the video output doesn't change.
-the charging cable that's long enough to play while charging.
I dislike:
-the controller layout, with the asymmetry between the analog sticks.
-I'm still not a fan of the entire user interface, I find the menu hierarchy annoyingly deep, and the whole thing feels like it's overly tuned toward selling additional stuff all the time.
I'm still not sure about:
-the machine's capabilities as a games console. Forza 2 is a notch or two behind Gran Turismo 5, Kung-Fu Panda (bundled game!) falls into tearing and dropped frames as early as the first game scene. |
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| Xbox 360: first impressions |
[Mar. 5th, 2009|07:16 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | grumpy | ] |
We bought an Xbox 360 (the elite variant), and it's been an interesting experience compared to the PS3 (and Wii). It's hard to pinpoint it, but overall it feels clunky. From the plastic of the device itself to the fact that the bundled controller is powered by AA batteries, from the fact that there's an external power supply and an external breakout cable for audio to the lengthy setup process, from the lame intro video to the overblown user interface of the main menu, from the odd trapdoor that hides the USB slots to the fact that the prices in the online store don't match an actual currency, it's definitely one full notch below the PS3 in terms of overall experience.
Going through the process, what comes to my mind is Joel Spolsky's "Hitting the High Notes" article, where it simply feels like the Xbox team can't hit the same high notes as the PS3 and Wii teams.
I'm looking forward to seeing what it's capable of in terms of games. |
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| You still don't get it, do you? - Vous comprenez toujours pas, hein? |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|07:22 pm] |
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| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | predatory | ] |
I stopped by our local Circuit City on my way to grocery shopping tonight, looking for some kind of deal on whatever they'd have there (and especially console games). Well, 3 days into their clearance sale, they still had plenty of games around, in spite of the long lines that people had reported last Sunday morning. Looking at the prices in detail, the reason was pretty clear: they had slapped a 10% price reduction on prices that started very significantly higher than the competition. So, after not understanding why they couldn't get their stuff moving, they got bankrupt and in liquidation, and even that is not a strong enough signal for them to review their pricing policy. I have little reason to pay $54 for games that amazon sells for $30.
J'ai fait un saut au Circuit City du coin en allant faire des courses ce soir, pour voir s'ils avaient des bon prix, en particulier sur leurs jeux sur console. Petite explication pour mes lecteurs Français: Circuit City est un gros vendeur d'éléctronique que a fait faillite et qui est en liquidation. Après 3 jours de soldes, ils avaient encore beaucoup de jeux en rayon, malgré les longues queues qui s'étaient formées dimanche matin. En voyant les prix de plus près, la raison en était très claire: il n'avaient baissé les prix que de 10%, alors que les prix originaux étaient bien plus élevés que la compétition. En gros, après n'avoir pas su comprendre pourquoi ils n'arrivaient pas à vendre leur marchandise, ils se sont retrouvés en faillite et en liquidation, et même ça n'a pas été assez pour les faire réfléchir a leux politique de prix. Je n'ai aucune raison de dépenser 54 dollars sur dex jeux que je peux avoir pour 30 dollars chez amazon. |
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| Mixed Feelings - Des Sentiments Mélangés |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|06:35 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  confused | ] |
On the one hand, today is a historic day, with the US getting its first black President. This is quite some progress for a country where segregation existed barely 2 generations ago (in fact the last remnants of segregation fell after I was born), and where less than 150 years ago slavery was such an accepted practice that the country split into a bloody civil war over it.
On the other hand, I can't forget that, on the same day where the people of the whole country voted to elect President Obama, Californians also passed the shameful proposition 8, which altered the California constitution to legitimize bigotry, intolerance and homophobia.
So, I'm not in a partying mood.
D'un coté, aujourd'hui est un jour historique, où les États-Unis ont pour la première fois un Président noir. C'est un progrès remarquable pour un pays où la ségrégation raciale existait il y a à peine 2 générations (en fait certains aspects de la ségrégation existaient encore quand je suis né), et où il y a moins de 150 ans l'esclavage était une pratique tellement acceptée que le pays s'était déchiré avec une guerre civile sanglante.
D'un autre coté, je ne peux pas ignorer que, le même jour où le pays tout entier votait pour élire le Président Obama, les Californiens ont aussi passé la honteuse proposition 8 par référendum populaire, ce qui a modifié la consitution de Californie pour légitimiser la bigoterie, l'intolerance et l'homophobie.
De ce fait, je n'ai pas le cœur à la fête. |
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| Jetlagged, or ill? - Décalé, ou malade? |
[Jan. 12th, 2009|01:46 am] |
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| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | awake | ] |
I woke up at 1:30am, after sleeping less than 5 hours. While that's been steadily improving over the last few days, it's still pretty messed up. I feel tired all the time, I don't have any appetite, I even have a few symptoms that suggest that I might be a bit ill. I can't actually sleep as much as I would like or need. I have no energy at all, and everything feels unpleasant. Whatever the cause is, I hope I recover soon.
Je me suis réveillé a 1:30 do matin, après avoir dormi moins de 5 heures. Ça s'est amélioré c'est derniers jours, mais ç'est encore anormal. Je me sens fatigué tout le temps, je n'ai pas d'appétit, j'ai même quelques symptômes qui suggèrent que je suis un peu malade. Je n'arrive pas à dormir autant que je le voudrais et autant que j'en ai besoin. Je n'ai pas d'énergie du tout, et rien ne paraît agréable. Quelle que soit la cause, j'espère que ça ira mieux bientôt. |
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| Heck of a jetlag - Un décalage horaire d'enfer |
[Jan. 9th, 2009|11:45 pm] |
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| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | awake | ] |
8:45am, Saturday morning. I naturally woke up about half an hour ago. Not too bad a jetlag recovery, only 2 days after coming back from France, right? Wrong! It's 8:45am in France, not in California. I've been accumulating a pretty big sleep deficit (I'd say about 10 hours in 3 days), which makes me tired and grumpy, and to make things worse I pretty much haven't caught back at all on my jetlag. The next few weeks are going to be pretty hard as I get used to California time again.
8:45, samedi matin. Je me suis réveillé il y a environ un demi-heure. Pas trop mal comme adaptation au décalage horaire, seulement 2 jours après être rentré de France? Faux! Il est 8:45 en France, pas en Californie. J'ai accumulé de grosses pertes de sommeil (environ 10 heures en 3 jours), ce qui me rend fatigué et irritable, et en plus je n'ai pratiquement pas rattrapé mon décalage horaire. Les semaines qui viennent vont être assez difficiles pendant que je me ré-habitue a l'heure Californienne. |
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| 10 years ago Meme via Max, via Clawfoot, via GandalfGreyhame... |
[Dec. 21st, 2008|07:53 am] |
1) How old were you?
THEN: almost 25
NOW: almost 35 (geee, am I good at math or what?)
2) Where did you go to school?
THEN: Had graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, was in final internship while at ENSEEIHT.
NOW: graduated from ENSEEIHT in 99, been working since then.
3) Where did you work?
THEN: Software Engineering intern at Be.
NOW: Software Engineer at Google.
4) Where did you live?
THEN: San Mateo, CA, with a schoolmate.
NOW: Foster City, CA, with my wife.
5) How was your hairstyle?
THEN: Messy, had grown for 5 months.
NOW: Long ponytail, more than halfway down my back.
6) Did you wear braces?
THEN: No.
NOW: No.
7) Did you wear contacts?
THEN: No
NOW: No.
8) Did you wear glasses?
THEN: Yes.
NOW: Yes, and my formula hasn't changed in 10 years.
9) Who was your best friend?
THEN: Tough choice. I'll say Matthieu (who ended up being my best man a few years later), but it's close.
NOW: My wife :)
10) Which of your pets were still alive?
THEN: Some of my malawi cichlids were still alive in my brother's fish tanks.
NOW: My wife :)
11) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend?
THEN: Nobody.
NOW: My wife :)
12) Who was your celebrity crush?
THEN: Nobody.
NOW: My wife :) (she's a celebrity)
13) Who was your regular-person crush?
THEN: Nobody.
NOW: My wife :)
14) How many piercings did you have?
THEN: None.
NOW: None.
15) How many tattoos did you have?
THEN: None.
NOW: None.
16) What was your favourite band/singer?
THEN: Iron Maiden.
NOW: Awww, that's hard. Green Day, the Killers, Audioslave...
17) Had you smoked cigarettes?
THEN: Never.
NOW: Never.
18) Had you gotten drunk?
THEN: Yep.
NOW: Yep (but now I tend to get sick before I'm really drunk).
19) Had you driven?
THEN: Yup.
NOW: Yup (licensed driver for 18 years almost to this day).
20) If so which car?
THEN: '98 Escort ZX2 (co-leased with my housemate).
NOW: '99 Camaro Z28, '03 Focus ZX5.
21) Looking back, are you where you thought you would be in 2008?
Yes and no. Yes, because I was at the point where I had decided to stay a bit longer in the US after my internship (to my family's great dismay), though I didn't know how much longer that'd be. No, because I didn't expect to be married. |
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| Nice car |
[Nov. 23rd, 2008|08:58 pm] |
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| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | enlightened | ] |
I was given a rare opportunity to drive an exotic car to a race track (and back) during the week-end, and to ride it on the track as a passenger.
All the way on the road, the car was screaming "play with me". It clearly wanted me to drop a gear and go 30 mph faster, but that'd have been illegal enough to land me into trouble for sure. It's obvious that such a car is built for the track, not for the road, and if any of the lucky people who own such cars don't actually drive them on racetracks the way those cars are meant to be driven, the owners in question really don't know what they're missing. |
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| California seasons |
[Oct. 26th, 2008|08:26 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Bedroom | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | crazy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Live 105 Soundcheck | ] |
California seasons are crazy.
I remember hiking in Pinnacles on Halloween '99 with a black short-sleeved T-shirt, and being too hot and wishing I had worn white instead.
I remember skiing in Squaw Valley in late October '04, when they got 60 inches of snow dumped on them in October.
This year has been unusually rain-free on the peninsula, with less than a quarter of an inch of rain in both March and April, not a single drop or fain from May to September, and about half an inch so far in October (yes, that's less than an inch of rain in 7 months).
Once again, it looks like we're not really gonna have much fall at all this year, switching essentially from sunny summer (temperatures were in the 80s last week and are forecast in the upper 70s until next Friday) to rainy winter (rain forecast in 3 of the first 4 days of November).
Anyway, since California seasons are crazy, I figured that there'd be no harm in doing a spring cleanup in the time when people would normally enjoy fall but when we're about to switch straight from summer to winter. Confused yet? I am too. So, yeah, today was bedroom spring cleanup day, and the result is a bedroom with fewer piles of toys on every available surface and fewer dust bunnies hiding in the dark corners (I even went bunny-hunting under the bed). |
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| Half-price |
[Oct. 21st, 2008|09:03 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | At home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  depressed | ] |
On the day I started at Google and we announced Android, our stock closed at 725.65. Today, when we released Android, our stock closed at 362.75, i.e. almost exactly half of what it was on the day of the announcement (within about 0.02%). |
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| Parfaitement con |
[Oct. 21st, 2008|07:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | At home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | proud | ] |
As promised, Android is now open-source.
The launch hit a few hurdles, and the most interesting one was that the webkit.org mirror for the original WebKit simply couldn't take the heat, and melted into oblivion never to be seen again, under the repeated attacks of the hordes of Android enthusiasts.
That was the source of many headaches for the people watching over the download process, and of many amusing conspiracy theories for the rest of us. |
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| Math scores again! |
[Sep. 22nd, 2008|08:00 am] |
The Tech Report mentions that "While most desktop drives spin at either 5,400 or 7,200RPM, the Caviar GP's spindle speed lies somewhere between the two, and Western Digital won't say exactly where."
Really?
That's funny, because the spec sheet just a page below that snippet mentions that the drive has a rotational latency of 5.6ms: that's the average time it takes for the disc to rotate to an arbitrary angle, i.e. it's the exact duration of a half-revolution (oh my, the average of a linear function is the half-way point!)
Now, be warned, from this point the math is really advanced. There are 60 seconds per minute, 1000 milliseconds per second, and 2 half-revolutions per revolution. Armed with all that knowledge, it takes an insane amount of effort to figure out that the rotational speed of that specific hard drive is 60*1000/(2*5.6), i.e. 5400 RPM.
Was it really that hard? |
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| Quit whining already! |
[Sep. 21st, 2008|07:22 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | In bed | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | grumpy | ] |
In photography, there's a common wisdom that equipment doesn't matter (much). The idea is that a good photographer can manage to make interesting pictures with just about any camera. I have some few good pictures that I shot with equipment that is typically considered to not be "serious": basic film point-and-shoots (even with APS film!), entry-level digital cameras, bottom-of-the-range consumer SLR zooms, and even toys like Holgas and Lomos. I've made good prints on a basic 4-ink printer, not even printing on photographic paper (which looked great when shown in challenging light). I've used some equipment that is known for having some serious flaws, and I still got good some very usable results out of it. I'm not saying that any of those gave me the same high image quality or flexibility that I get with my best equipment, but there's a huge gap between being perfect and being unusable where good pictures can and will be made.
In contrast, I seem to see a lot of equipment perfectionists in the world of advanced hobbyists videographers. Case in point, people's reactions to Canon's announcement about the 5DII and its video-recording abilities. The camera has a large sensor (and therefore large lenses) which will allow a lot of control over the background blur. It can use interchangeable lenses that are very affordable, blazingly sharp, have mechanical manual controls for zoom and focus, and are available in a huge variety of focal lengths (and some specialty lenses, like fish-eyes, macros, or tilt-shifts). Its low-light capabilities are going to be essentially unmatched, thanks to a sensor that has 50 times as much surface as that of an HV20. It seems to compress video at a bit rate that should be the best by any camera at a similar price point. It stores videos in a real progressive format, with square pixels, directly stored in files that can be quickly imported into a computer. Bah, It can even take pictures with an image quality that is so good that some people will buy the camera without even caring for its video capabilities.
So, what's the big deal? The big deal is that the only frame rate available seems to be 30 fps, and that videographers consider the lack of support for 24 fps (or, even more mind-bogglingly absurdly, 23.976 fps) as being an absolute showstopper. Never mind that the vast majority of this footage will be displayed on 60 Hz computer LCDs. Never mind that the few cases where it'll get displayed on an actual TV are very unlikely to go through a processing chain that can properly display 24 fps with an even cadence. Never mind that if it ever gets successful enough to get broadcast on TV, a 30fps source will result in far less judder than a 24fps one (even in the 50Hz world). Never mind that extremely few hobbyists movies have ever done or will ever do the kind of frame-by-frame effects for which 30fps requires a higher budget to be able to process all the frames. Never mind that shooting in 60i (in SD, no less) didn't stop Morgan Spurlock from getting his movie nominated for an Academy Award.
So, quit whining, get the damn camera, use it, create some great footage. If you really want cinematography to be recognized as art, you'd better damn learn to do what artists do and forget about your tools and concentrate on what you're creating.
One thing is sure: if Eugenia and I get a 5DII, I'm likely to shoot some videos with it. |
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| 10 million gets you nothing this days |
[Sep. 9th, 2008|09:44 pm] |
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| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | disappointed | ] |
So, there are some rumors that the premiere of "Fringe" was made with a $10M budget. I know that the USD was down the toilet, but I didn't know it was that far down. Barely a few years ago, $10M would get you some really good movies made. "Pulp Fiction" was made on less than $10M. So was "Usual Suspects". Or "Donnie Darko". And even if you argue that Pulp Fiction's budget would be over $12M in today's dollars, I'll reply that its running length makes a 90-minute pilot look very short.
At least, if it was worth the hype... Unfortunately, Fringe didn't make me feel "damn, I've never seen a TV series like that". It's no "Lost", no "House", not even "Firefly" for that matter. |
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| Apple planned obsolescence: the good, the bad, the ugly. |
[Sep. 9th, 2008|07:59 am] |
While I originally thought that we had maxed out the RAM in Eugenia's PowerBook, it turned out that we were still operating it at about half of its maximum capacity. Eugenia reminded me that we hadn't maxed it out when we bought it because the relevant RAM was too expensive at the time. One point goes to Apple for using a memory controller for which a memory upgrade would still be relevant 5 years after the machine's original release. I ordered a 1GB SODIMM to replace the 512MB on that's still in there.
The sad part however is that this specific PowerBook supports two banks of memory, but that one of those banks is permanently soldered to the motherboard. Of course, that wouldn't be a big deal if that bank was maxed out as well, but since it happens to only be populated with 128MB while it would obviously be capable of holding 1GB, we'll be forced to operate that machine with 1152MB of RAM overall, when its chips could obviously could support 2GB. Apple loses one point for arbitrarily limiting us to barely more than 1GB when 2GB would be a very good option at this point.
Finally, since we were thinking about upgrading that PowerBook, we also looked at changing the hard drive (especially since one of the benefits of growing the RAM is the ability to run a more recent version of MacOS, which pretty much requires a reinstall). Changing the hard drive on Eugenia's PowerBook is a major undertaking. There are more than 30 screws to remove, and that's the easy part: there are also quite a few cables to disconnect, some keys need to be removed from the keyboard, and there are a few similarly exotic operations. This is in very sharp contrast with the PowerMac 7200 that I used to own years ago, where it was possible to open the entire case and get a hard drive out (or an optical drive, or to add some main RAM, graphics RAM or cache RAM) without using a screwdriver at all. It's also in total contrast with IBM-designed laptops, that are so good in that domain that they play in a different league. It's so horribly bad on the PowerMac that Apple loses 2 points on that one.
That experience seems to summarize what I've seen from Apple: they can hit many high notes, pushing design and innovation further than just about any other company in the same business, but sadly they are also consistently inconsistent, and they routinely forget about a specific area and end up cobbling crappy hacks together that are akin the the proverbial chewing gum, paper clips and duct tape. I've owned 5 Macs from the mid-90s until now, and I can remember every single one of them for having the same kind of gross flaw, whereas I don't remember any of the other machines I've had for having such problems. |
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| The randomness of numbers... |
[Sep. 8th, 2008|09:32 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
As I was writing my previous post, I needed to check a few numbers to be sure that I had them right. One of the interesting numbers is the equivalent free fall height of a 35 mph crash. 35 mph is an interesting number because it's the speed limit in urban areas, it's the speed at which the NHTSA does its frontal crash tests (IIHS and EuroNCAP use 40 mph, though the tests aren't identical), and it's also a speed at which crashes where car occupants are unrestrained can result in severe injuries while properly restrained car occupants are likely to escape with nothing worse than minor injuries.
But, screw all that, the reason why I'm writing this is that the calculation of the free fall height resulted in a funny-looking number on my calculator: I ended up with 12.3456790123. Try it on Google calculator.
All right, let's put that together. I used 1.6 km per mile, and 9.8 as gravity acceleration. Start with 35 mph. Multiply by 1.6 for kph. Divide by 3.6 for m/s. Divide by 9.8 to get the equivalent free fall time in seconds. Square the result, multiply by 9.8 and divide by 2 to get the equivalent free fall height in meters.
1.6 is 8/5, 3.6 is 18/5 and 9.8 is 49/5.
The formula (35*1.6/3.6/9.8)^2*9.8/2 simplified into (35*1.6/3.6)^2/9.8/2. 35*1.6/3.6 is 5*7*8/5/18*5, i.e. 4*5*7/9, i.e. 140/9.
(140/9)^2*9.8/2 is (4*5*7/9)^2/49*5/2, i.e. 1000/81, which is fully expected to be 12.345679012345679... |
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| Driving in Greece |
[Sep. 8th, 2008|08:27 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | bitchy | ] |
Eugenia and I were in Greece last month for a quick vacation. I was there for a week, and I took a rental car in Athens and we drove home (which is approximately a 5-hour drive from Athens). While there we also drove around a fair bit, and I drove a total of about 750 miles / 1200 km in a week.
Driving in Greece is interesting. In a nutshell, drivers there have no respect for speed limits or for any lines or lanes that might be painted on the pavement. And the truth is, I understand why they do it. I don't like it, but I understand it: on most roads, there are few spots where it's possible to pass, and even fewer where it's possible and legal to pass. There are however quite a few trucks, which tend to drive slowly on open stretches of road, and even slower in mountainous areas, but definitely far above the limit in villages. Driving at the speed limit in villages means falling behind trucks, which in turns means missing opportunities to pass, and if you slow down while traffic is dense, other cars will pass you, such that you never even have an opportunity to pass the truck at all. The part that I dislike is that no matter what driving strategy you pick, something will be stressful: if you don't slow down in villages, you've got to be extremely careful since you're going to be driving 50 or 60 mph in a 30 mph village, with all the risks of accidents that come with such speed. On the other hand if you do slow down, other cars will pile up behind you and pass you, which is just about as dangerous.
On larger highways that aren't quite freeways, like e.g. the road from Korinthos to Patra along the northern cost of Peloponnese, things aren't much better. Trucks do drive at the speed limit and there are no villages, so it all sounds like things should be smooth, but it's still a mess. The road is paved such that there's a single marked (very) wide lane in each direction, along with a shoulder that's not paved nearly as well and is just wide enough for one car, and a thick "do not pass" line painted down the center. The thing is, drivers have no respect for the marked lanes. The "normal" driving pattern is for cars and trucks to drive halfway onto the paved shoulder, which leaves enough space in the middle for one car or truck to pass in one direction by going halfway across the center line. Squeezing a bit more, you could have truck on one side and a car on the other side, both driving well onto the shoulder, each being passed by a car. Worse, you could do the same with two trucks each being passed by a car the same time, where things get tight (and, as you can imagine, it gets tighter as you replace more cars with trucks, though at that point you're getting dangerously close to adding yet another of those small monuments that dot the sides of the roads every few miles, which are added by relatives when someone dies in a car accident. Once again there's no good way to drive on such a road: close to the center you're expected to drive about 20 mph / 30 kph above the limit and pass whenever it seems remotely possible, which means that you have to be constantly careful about traffic ahead. Halfway onto the shoulder you have to be very careful about traffic coming behind you as faster cars fully expect you to pull further onto the shoulder when they pass you. Fully onto the shoulder you've got to be extremely careful about the state of the road ahead, since there are commonly shrubs that grow right right over the edge of the road, and every now and then a bad pothole or a bad bridge joint will rattle the car, or (much worse) a narrower bridge will suddenly shrink the shoulder by a foot or two with very little warning.
Ultimately, though, the part that shocked me most about driving in Greece was when I drove my sister-in-law and her 8-month-old baby from her parents' place back to her home, when it was already quite dark. She insisted that she'd ride in the back seat without any seatbelt, holding her baby in her arms. Apparently her doctor had told her that a baby's spine needed such support to resist the shock of an accident. I didn't want to argue, but a the same time I was petrified in fear at the thought of what would happen in case of a crash: a crash at 50 mph / 80 kph is about equivalent to a free fall from about 25 m / 80 ft. If I crashed at that speed, my sister-in-law's baby would come fatally crashing into the back of the passenger seat. She wouldn't have much time to grieve, as she'd be unavoidably hurled into the same seat about 10 to 15ms later and the shock would at least knock her unconscious (though honestly it's not clear that she's survive at all). And on top of that I'd have to hope that the seat back of the passenger seat would be able to absorb the impact, since otherwise Eugenia who was riding in front would be in a lot of additional trouble, as if crashing at 50 mph wasn't already a very serious crash already. Just like my sister-in-law later said, I drove slowly on the way back, my brother-in-law usually drives about 75 mph / 120 kph on the same road, while his wife holds their baby in her arms. How about trying to survive a free fall from 55 m / 180 ft and not trying to put all the hopes (however slim they might be at that point) on your side? All right, so I can understand that a layperson wouldn't instinctively recognize or understand that car speeds (and especially highway speeds) are in fact very high speeds - in the quiet comfort of a car, it's easy to get used to the speed. But the fact that a doctor would recommend to hold the baby in one's arms while riding in a car, instead of putting the baby in a good rear-facing child seat, was just shocking. I don't mean any of that personally for my brother-in-law or his wife: like I said, it's quite counter-intuitive that highway speeds result in very violent crashes, so unless you've studied point mechanics to the point where you can apply it to some real-world situations it's hard to imagine that there's much danger, and after all they were just doing what their doctor had said and honestly wouldn't really have any reason to doubt what their doctor would say. I am however angry at their doctor, because making any kind of statement that results in people carrying babies in their arms while riding a car is stupidly and dangerously (and borderline criminally) irresponsible in my opinion. |
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