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#103703 05/20/03 06:02 PM
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nor are we necessarily constrained

No, we aren't, but my point is that, while it may be sufficient to explain the traffic tie-ups, it is not necessary. Therefore, we need not wonder--with astonishment--at the soul of one for whom this crawl brought pleasure.


This is not to say that we may not take the pleasure of so wondering.

#103704 05/20/03 06:10 PM
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tsuwm Offline OP
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>The Traffic Check Wallahs on my local radio station frequently make judgmental remarks about "onlooker delays" causing significant slowing of traffic.

perhaps; or often they'll say that the accident has been cleared but to expect continued delays, in both directions!


#103705 05/20/03 06:16 PM
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And if the accident has been cleared, how can it be blamed for the delays? I remember many times I would encounter traffic jams that cleared up with no rational explanation after passing some point in the road that had no evidence of anything untoward having happened. Could it be a case of self-perpetuation?


#103706 05/20/03 06:17 PM
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years ago, in Scientific American, the mathmatical recreations column, there was a mathmatical explaintion of the residual effect of a traffic jam.. the effect can last up to 4 hours, and it travels, not unlike the waves caused by a stone thrown into a pond.. except the pattern is linear (just a slice of the 'pond' is seen.)

and the ripple effect of slowed traffic travels in both directions, moving away from the sourse (at a speed relitive to the highway speed, and traffic volumne.

so the next time you are driving along, and suddenly traffic slows for a few hundred feet, and then resumes, with no obvious reason, you 'll recognize you have just past through a ripple left over from an accident, several miles up the road, and several hours in the past!


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a mathmatical explaintion of the residual effect of a traffic jam

Reminds me of another item, also from Scientific American, if I remember correctly, that a wave of brake lights travels backwards at some ungodly speed in traffic that exceeds a critical density.


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like cells in the veins of society...



formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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WaddidIsay? WaddidIsay?


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WaddidIsay?

I dunno, what *did you say?


#103711 05/21/03 01:34 AM
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Back to the opening post; when I saw this word in another thread before seeing this thread, my reaction was, "I wish they'd use English!" I still don't trust that Mrs. Byrne.


#103712 05/21/03 02:40 AM
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I wonder if it is a misprint for epicuricacy? Somebody's attempt to coin a word from epicurean and cacos meaning bad? So somebody treats bad events as a source of epicurean pleasure?

Edit. I take that back. From a clue in one of the pieces on Julian Burnside's site linked to by Dr. Bill, I have found in LSJ (http://makeashorterlink.com/?P229134A4 the Greek word epikairos meaning seasonable, opportune, advantageous. Kakos is the Greek for bad (cacophany). So epicaricacy could be a coinage for finding bad things opportune.

Bingley


Bingley
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